Final adventure report part 2
Bonus map region!
The crow brought another message from up above (the government has a logistical coordinator watching out for the PCs) which informed them that there was another small portion undiscovered, opposite the beach which had the tile puzzle on it.
The PCs decided to explore this, first climbing onto the arch on the near shore and securing rope to it, then using Walk On Air to unroll the rope above and across the water's surface, to affix it to
the other side. There, a small altar stood, with some smoke-blackened censers and a few runes carved (listing the names of the tomb crafter dwarves, and giving thanks to the Spirit of the Cave for allowing them to build here).
Unfortunately, the PCs who got there were mostly agility-based, not academic-based, so they missed most of the options here. A speleid nymph can appear here by putting a gem in the censer and lighting oil there, and the speleid can gift the PCs with certain rock-altering oils which can reduce DR, or cause parts of the battlefield to entrap stone-based beings, and so forth.
In any case, this was something intended to give them an easier time of fighting Groshpalk's servitors, so it was academic by this point.
Bonus aquatic threat!
SJG author David L. Pulver is rightly known for the rigor of his science fiction writing, especially in the superb work of the Transhuman Space "hard" space exploration setting.
However, he is also the creative mind behind the published stats for a Deep Chimera (aka Amphimera) in Pyramid 3-113, a Crab-Shark-Squid-Pufferfish-Eel hybrid which poses a grappling, biting, pincering, spine-impaling electrocution combat challenge for delvers who get too close to water. Despite the elegant simplicity of its monster design, the Amphimera still somehow languishes in obscurity. I included it here in my adventure, as my humble tribute to help it someday ascend to RPG ubiquity.
The barbarian attempted to wash her bloodied armor and clothes in the underground river (she being a former washerwoman by trade) and
found herself attacked by the Amphimera - in waves of increasingly disconcerting coordination by apparently-unrelated animals (first the grappling tentacles, then the crushing pincers, then spine and an eel head). Long story short, after about 10 seconds of combat, both the barbarian and the amphimera decided they had mutually bitten off more than they could chew, and they both retreated quickly to safety.
Much to the dismay of the PC group, the last attack the amphimera attempted was a (hitherto unrevealed) massive shark bite, which though unsuccessful, did effectively conclude all further scientific desire to explore and instead prioritized party recovery and egress.
The group did, however, recover two large crab claws (about a yard long each) from the detritus of the battle. Cooked in the magical cooking pot of the "Nookin Festers" which they looted from the dwarves, it proved a nourishing and nutritious meal to help their healing.
ND&D: Non-Dungeon Dialogue & Denouement
My group, it turns out, actually prefers dialogue and character interaction, so they happily played out their recovery out of the well to a celebratory inn. The destruction of Groshpalk caused all the Rock Mites and Stone Golems aboveground to sink back into the earth without trace, saving the building and all those within.
A few disputes arose, but were handled with diplomacy checks. First, the innkeeper, Kickpebble, asserted a claim to all items found below his property. The PCs argued back and forth with him on this, but the government agent intervened to support the PCs, arguing that the innkeeper was actually at fault, because he had failed to routinely dose the well with government-provided water purification tablets until the night before the resupply wagons arrived. Then he had thrown the entire bunch of tablets in, causing enough "verterine" gas to emit, and weaken the masonry walling off Groshpalk's tomb.
A two-day trip to and from the dwarven town hall also showed that Kickpebble's claim to the entire land deed was controversial - apparently in the chaos of the final war against the current human government, Kickpebble's ancestors murdered the rightful owners and seized their property in exchange for helping the humans. After this information was shared in a closed-door meeting, Kickpebble became very quiet about this thereafter, although the PCs were willing to give him the maternal Moonstone from Groshpalk's mother. ("Dwarven crafts to stay in Dwarven lands, can't say fairer than that!")
It helped that most of the things they were taking with them were originally elven and human artifacts, anyway.
Loot and Profit
The party did have a decent amount of granite and gemstones from the Granite Wolves and Rock Trolls they overwhelmed, and selling those gave them a comfortable profit margin. The innkeeper, eager to keep his inn and avoid scandal, allowed them to stay there for free for one week. (In terms of actual healing, they needed a few extra days and did pay prorated).
The pyromaniac wizard succeeded on a Writing skill check (with the huckster mage's help) and was able to pen an academic treatise on the nature of summonables, which sold for $100.
The huckster mage employed the pyromaniac wizard's aid and also passed a Writing check, to produce a lurid pulp adventure tale with mass market appeal. Upon settling on a title ("Raiders of the Lost Shark") the pyromaniac wizard decided she wanted nothing to do with the pamphlet and insisted that her name be removed as co-author. They made an additional $100 from this.
Let's Spend The Next Adventure Finding an Expert or MacGuffin That Can Tell Us What These So-Called "Plotte-Hookes" Do
The two spellcasters have tablets which will reveal spells (incidentally, spells not normally allowed in DFRPG - I intend there to be a continued controversy in-campaign about the dangers of teleportation magic.)
The mouseman has proven himself to be a fully willing fifth column turncoat for GM collaboration in mischief against the party's immediate efficiency. Since Caravan to Ein Arris also has a counteragent subplot, the mouseman may well end up doing a few false flag operations.
The S'uckler may have a fallen noble/reactionary anti-government plot in future, I just haven't developed it much in this initial adventure.
The barbarian herself came from half-orc settlements as a human who earned their survivalist respect. The next adventure will take them back to her home turf, and feature half-orc glassmakers and artisans.
The half-elf nudist cleric lost his player and became a quasi-NPC, but could be the center of a character plot about following a fragment of a long-lost deity. This may tie in to a planned greater campaign theme of the nature of apotheosis and theogenesis.