Thursday 12 July 1280, Sunset (Loot and Pursuit)

*****

Duran steps forward and tries to shoot down the fleeing leader, but the leader disappears, lumbering into the shadows down the west tunnel before Duran can get off a shot. The archer quickly gathers the hirelings and takes off to chase the leader down and clear the cave, telling the others to tend to Varros.

Gaven yells after Duran and the hirelings, "take them down. Don't let them get back to Alanna."

*****

Remaining behind, Gaven tends to Varros and chides, "Perhaps you should buy some heavier armor. "

Too weak to retort, Varros plans to lick his wounds and shy away from combat in the most dignified way possible.

Gaven finishes binding Varros' wound, but the damage is fairly severe (OOC: Varros regains 1 hp; now at 2 hp total), and Varros still feels quite weak, though he is able to stand and move about on his own.

 *****

Once Oloc is sure that Varros' wounds are being tended to by Gaven, the Mage suggests that the group search the area as quickly as possible. "Reinforcements may arrive any time. Let us search quickly for anything of value."

Oloc searches the bodies in the immediate area first, and finds that the dead grey archers carry and swordsman carry loose change in their pockets worth about 80 gp in total. In addition, the dead swordsman wears a necklace, probably worth about 75 gp, wears leather armor with extremely intricate designs tooled into it. Oloc recognizes the pattern as elvish in origin.

Apart from their loot, however, Oloc also notices that several of the grey men bear a tattoo on the forearm – a tattoo in the form of a "G.F." rune.

Accompanied by Bill and Ollie, Oloc then sweeps outward with his search, looking about for anything tucked away in one of the caves which have been explored.

Turning first to the dead prisoner, Oloc and the porters find a gold ring on the ex-bodyguard's finger, probably worth about 100 gp.

In the bandit barracks, the treasure seekers locate about 20 gp worth of resellable mundane gear (eating utensils, clothing items, and the like), 10 gp, 50 sp, and 500 cp in loose coins, and a green stone that appears it might fetch about 60 gp.

Going over Swede's body, the group find a suit of leather armor, Swede's crossbow and sword, and a set of finely crafted vambraces.

In the bandit chief's cavern are found another 30 gp worth of mundane gear, similar to what was found in the barracks.

*****

Duran and the hirelings make haste after the fleeing grey archer and the leader.

The enemy archer is swift, and rapidly outdistances the wounded leader. Racing toward the entrance of the bandit lair the enemy archer simply vaults the barrier and disappears into Blackleaf.

The leader is another matter, and he makes an inviting target as he struggles to reach the entrance wall.

Duran and the hirelings unleash a hail of arrows, three of which strike the grey leader in the back, killing him.

Rushing up to the barrier, and looking out into the darkening forest, you cannot see the fleeing archer anywhere, and you're not even sure which direction he went. All you can see are the last fragile rays of crimson light that manage to wend their way through the branches of the trees, punctuating broad patches of shadow and falling night.

Examining the grey leader's body, Duran find a scroll in a cylindrical leather case, and three red gems, in a pocket, probably worth about 100 gp each. The dead leader wears leather armor, and bears a G.F. rune mark tattooed on his forearm.

He also carries a piece of parchment with instructions on how to find the cave of the Red Serpent bandits. It is written in the same hand as the note you received telling you reinforcements would arrive, the same hand as that which wrote the documents you found in Mackey's stash.

Additionally, when Duran draws the sword from the grey leader's scabbard, he notices that it feels lighter than one would expect.

*****

With the area secured, Karnak flies past Duran and the hirelings, out into the night, carrying his vital message off to Belloc.

*************************

OOC: Actions?

Bandaging Varros: d4 = 1 (1 hp restored, Varros is back up to 2 hp).

Once I rolled three obvious hits against the leader I stopped rolling for hits, and didn't bother rolling for damage since he had only 2 hp.

Time is now 7:00 p.m. (sunset).

As a reminder, you've heard rumors of Werewolves in Blackleaf, and we are still in week two of the month (full moon).

You'll need to decide (among other things) if you're going to try and return to Ham's Fork (or elsewhere) tonight, or if you prefer to hole up in the Red Serpent Bandits' caves.

Also, please remove one day's ration from your equipment list (unless you want to eat bandit food -- it's there, and it seems good enough.

Loot list:
80 gp
10 gp
50 sp
500 cp  (cumbersome)
1 necklace (75 gp, grey swordsman)
3 sets of leather armor (grey men leader and archers, cumbersome)
1 set leather armor with elvish design (grey swordsman, cumbersome)
1 gold ring (100 gp)
Miscellaneoux mundane gear (20 gp, barracks, cumbersome)
1 green stone (60 gp)
1 set of leather armor (Swede, cumbersome)
1 crossbow (Swede)
1 sword, long (Swede)
1 set vambraces (Swede; "sparked" when Duran hit them earlier)
Miscellaneous mundane gear (30 gp, Mackey's quarters, cumbersome)
15 sets of leather armor (bandits, bodyguards, Mackey -- this is the total number for all bandits, including those killed earlier, cumbersome)
1 scroll in a cylindrical leather case
3 red gems (300 gp total [100 each], grey leader)
1 sword (lighter than normal, grey leader)

Given the large amount of loot, I've marked certain items here as "cumbersome." I'm ruling you can simply carry out all the other items with no penalty.

Anyone carrying two "cumbersome" items will have his speed dropped one notch (120' becomes 90' etc.), and dropped again one notch for each "cumbersome" item after the first two.

Since we've just been "eyeballing" encumbrance, this seemed like a simple way to deal with such a large quantity of items.

In all you have 23 items listed as "cumbersome" (the complete list of everything you've picked up appears on the "Monsters and Treasure" page).

By my count, the party (9 members, including the hirelings and yourselves) could carry out 18 of the "cumbersome" items with no penalty to movement.

Carrying all the "cumbersome" items out will bring the movement of 5 party members down one notch.

Let me know if you want to carry it all out, or if you want to leave some of the cumbersome items behind.