CH. 2: Bear in Mine

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin rises sleepily. "oh, rain again. Makes the place so cold." Through a half yawn he responds to Darga "we didn't find it in Haahqae 's fruit bag, and it's not on Sekla, so it's either lost somewhere in his pack, or hiding from us. Are all gnomes disorganised?"

With regard to Trench's question about the loot, Gregeddin replies, "I'm quite fond of kingy, if we can spare something of material value that would be a plus."

"Coroccoco, forgive my observation, but you don't carry a great deal of possessions with you. Is that a pledge you have taken for religion?"

[JadedDM]

"Well, I all ready said I would take the tiara and kingfisher,"

"You want to take two things?" Kynaston asks Kendra with a disapproving frown.

"It's all rather pointless to try and divvy them up now," Coroccoco points out. "We don't know what any of it is worth. The tiara alone could be worth more than the rest put together, or it could be nearly worthless. We'll need to appraise these things."

"One thing's for sure, the copper coins are pretty worthless," Bear points out, scooping some out of the chest, then letting them fall from his fingers back into the chest. "There's about a thousand of them. Put together, that's worth about 10 steel. Hardly worth it."

"Ya kin give me whatever ya want fer my share. Did anybody find that medallion o' Zivilyn that Corococco was talkin' about? If not, we got ta go back inta th' mine and find it. That, an' the mine may not be cleared out, yet."

Coroccoco sighs. "There was no sign of it anywhere. It seems likely that Haahqae is right; it was destroyed in the fire."

Bear nods. "With Sekla dead, if there is anything else in there, it'll probably run off now. I'll check the mine again tomorrow, and if all is well, I can start trying to hire my miners back."

"Coroccoco, forgive my observation, but you don't carry a great deal of possessions with you. Is that a pledge you have taken for religion?"

The hobgoblin shakes her head. "Poverty on my part was not chosen, but thrust upon me," she admits.

[mgbevan]

To Coroccoco, Gregeddin then asks, "So if you are a person with a changed faith, need you still be encumbered with poverty? "

"Might you be suggesting that we take the contents back to haven, sell them and then divide the proceeds? That would be rather equitable. Bear, you are forgetting the value of the chest as well as the coins!" Gregeddin adds with a sarcastic flourish.

[Haahque]

Haahqae has his own ideas for what's most valuable, so he mutters a spell under his breath and looks for anything magical. Specifically at the rings, but it's good to check everything just in case one of those copper happen to be a magic penny.

(Haahqae casts detect magic on the pile of treasure and on his backpack where he stored anything else he picked up.)

[HorizonsDream]

"Hey, I have a family to support," Kendra says. "And there is plenty of stuff here to go around."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae confirms that the staff, Sekla's spellbook, and the scrolls inside the scroll case are all magical. The papers in hobgoblin and the rest of the treasure, however, emit no magical auras whatsoever.

"That seems reasonable," Kynaston says at Gregeddin's proposal. "Hopefully we can find someone in the city rich enough to buy this stuff."

Likewise, Coroccoco nods to Gregeddin. "It would be nice to sleep somewhere other than in the park," she admits.

The party eats what is left in the pantries for breakfast to prepare them for their journey home to Haven.

[Haahque]

"As I said before, I was never in this for the money. A job well done and a good book is all I need, so I'll take Sekla's novel over here, and I might as well take the rest of these papers too." Haahqae declares, picking up the items he announced. He leaves behind the kobold flute, bag of powder, tarnished silver ring, but hesitates before dropping his bag of dried fruit. "Maybe I'll also keep this for a snack on the road."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae discards the items he doesn't want, but keeps the bag of dried fruit, the papers and the scrolls, as well as Sekla's book.

Kynaston then places what is remaining back in the chest and hefts it up on his shoulder. It's very heavy (the chest itself weighing 10 lbs, and the copper coins totaling at 20 lbs), but amazingly it doesn't seem to slow him down any more than he was already. "Let's start heading home," he says.

"I will begin work right away on reopening the mine," Bear states. "So this is where we part ways. I thank you all again for your help in reclaiming the mine."

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin raises an eyebrow at Trench's heft and whistles softly, "alright solid plan and solid effort with the box. So we've got some of us in together and some not, fair dues if you like it like that."
Gregeddin rattles noisily towards the door, the three swords clanging on his belt. Before reaching the door, he turns to Bear and asks, "A pleasure doing business with you, please ask if you need further services. All that is left is the small task of our fees as agreed initially."

[HorizonsDream]

"You're welcome," Kendra says as she follows after the rest of the group to go home.

[Haahque]

"Well that was fun. Know of any other demonic portals that need closing? Dragons that need slaying? Ancient holy artifacts that need hunting down? Wizard towers with misbehaving magic users? You know, typical hero stuff for a band such as ourselves."

[JadedDM]

Bear nods to Gregeddin. "Aye, you got your fee...and several hundred more, by my reckoning," he says, gesturing to the chest Kynaston is carrying.

To Haahqae, he adds, "No, but I'm sure you'll find plenty of problems in the city."

[djhyland]

Darga nods at Bear's thanks and takes his pack up onto his shoulders. Turning to his companions, he says nothing, but waits patiently for them to finish their business and begin the trip back to Haven.

[Haahque]

"Oh well. I'm late for my performance at the Silver Tankard as it is. Maybe we could take a break for a day or two before going on another epic adventure."

Looking a little disappointed, but at the same time somewhat relieved; Haahqae turns and makes his way over to the doorway.

[mgbevan]

"Eh fair enough" Gregeddin sighs, "Well, keep us in mind for the future" and he moves to join Darga.