AAR-003: Who attacked the Caravan?

Who attacked the Caravan:  A new caravan trying to make their way to Throal for the first time on the newly discovered river path is attacked by a group of bandit name-givers.  All that is known about the group is there was a Circle 3 Wizard among them.  The job is to recover the lost goods that were stolen and hopefully help the wizard leading this expedition to find the evil Wizards Grimoire to make his own.

GM: Jacob
Difficulty: Circle 2 Hard
Total Players:  3-5
Time:  2pm GMT (10am EST)

Seeking Character:  Ulfgar Gemcutter, 2nd Circle Dwarven Wizard.  Buffs, good looks, and personality is what he brings to the table.  Also willing to research for those that need it at the end of the time.  Mapmaker and Physician also.

Thane Cawdor, Troll
3rd circle
Sky Raider
Is willing to join this expedition. He has nothing against bandits personally, but also has no objection to bashing them and taking their stuff. In fact doing so seems even more challenging than attacking caravans!
Shield Bash, Battle Shout.

Heartscry is for helping! As we already know, Heartscry and Ulfgar together make fighting-type allies unbeatable.

Heartscry, 3rd Circle Windling Illusionist. Unrelenting positivity, buffs to close combat attack and damage, stealth, visual perception, and awesome defense. Did damage once, but may have been imagining it.

I hesitant say I can make this..

AAR:

Found: Grimoire containing Levitate (3) and Dodge Boost (2) Wizard Spells.
Rewards: 1100LP, 300SP
(Some crazy hard encounters, full fat reward for socializing the goofy thugs at the caravan and not slaughtering everyone like murder hobos even though you had the chance. Fitz and Snogly might be back. Can't believe no one picked up any of the fire-blackened swords! Slight LP ding for no one getting a clear shot on the elf Thief Adept with the secret door and the quick panache escape. Full rewards for rescuing civilian Troubador and much of the looted cargo.)

* Leads and Hooks: Who was that masked man? (Mysterious Elf); Ant Hole?; Nine Diamonds of the Sixteen Towers?; Floating City?; Ayodha Liferock?

Upon dispatching and dispersing the myriad bandit forces, the few remaining conscious were aware they were severely outmatched, and vanished into the jungle, probably to be eaten by tiger-eating plants. While Fitz was never able to point out any bodies on the way to the fort, there -were- six captives there, including Marilenavae, an Elven Troubador who had been... let's say "well treated" by the bandits. She was singing and dancing for their entertainment, which caused them to miss the assault on their front gate. Marilenavae is ever so grateful to the adepts, and flounces off back to the Floating City to speak with some of her friends about how dashing windling-bedecked Trolls are. (She could talk about how dashing T'skrang swordsmen are, but that's a bit like painting a kettle black.)

Three of the small outbuildings aginst the palisade are stocked almost floor to ceiling with loot - from crates of spices; to heavy, oaken chests bound with elemental metal; to bolts of fine cloth; to dusty bottles of Travar wines grown inside the storm-shield during the scourge, vintages previously unheard of anywhere in the world that had only newly been minted, and jealously guarded. The Merchants of Travar are very pleased to have their wares back, but they're not running a charity here! After lavishing some attention on the adepts, a few modest rewards are handed out for their time and danger.

It turns out that the wizard had been waiting in the tree-line and levitating cargo out of the back of the wagons, causing them to drive on without noticing the losses for some time. It only took a few escapes, or a few ransoms, for the word to get out that some Wizard was using Third Circle Spells to commit banditry on the unpatrolled routes along the Serpent. Since Riverboats were never a target, the T'skrang were happy to let the banditry continue, forcing land-bound traders to pay the fees for river travel, on which the Arapagoi have a monopoly.

As I understand it, the wizard was the only unconscious body bashed. I think our plan is to escort the 6 former captives and the bandit prisoners (including Fitz and Snedly) to the floating city and turn the bandits over to the authorities. Next time he is in the floating city Thane is going to make a point of asking what the authorities ended up doing with them.

When the merchants count their cargo, they come up short a large number of those fancy bottles of wine. Consensus opinion is that the bandits must have drunk them. And indeed, most of the empty bottles are found the next morning. Thane has a massive hangover.

Sorry, did I say everyone got 300sp for this mission? I meant to say everyone gets a BILL for 7,700sp.



Ulfgar raises his hands and for a moment the pattern between them is visible to everyone. A series of interlocking triangles like a saw. Through the frame of his fingers he views the Bandit Wizard, and the blurring weave of his spell begins to come apart like candy floss behind a garden hose. Swathes and tears wash away in an astral wind, and Ulfgar's focused will is a violet halo flickering between his hands and head, the weave of Murris' spell washing backward, clinging against his pattern as weak as tree-moss in a hurricane, only to be inevitably whipped away. Without sound, there is a SENSE of explosion, of finality, and the Bandit Wizard rocks back on his heels and raises his hands as he scampers away, while the backlash of astral power washes over the victorious dwarf, scattering Ulfgar with faintly visible star-motes that never disturb the fabric of his robe, even as the pattern is strengthened, and tied to his. Ulfgar's embroidered robe is now a minor pattern item.

Also don't forget to write down your tusk/spear on your character sheet.