Arath Session 3

Arath makes it to the temple keep. It’s been another day, so he’s down to 4 days of rations remaining. My plan has been to get to the temple, set up a base of operations, and use that as a launching point to explore the mountains and maybe start to build some experience. That plan is not going to work. Arath gets to the gates, and tries to talk to the guard. The guard only speaks old gallan (despite my luck allowing a re-roll with +1 edge), and Arath has no way to talk with him. They are not friendly, and have no affinity for outsiders.
 
At this point, entering the keep is a non-starter. They seem to have speaking their language as a prerequisite to enter. That door closed pretty quickly. He could try to sneak in, but to what end? He’s got a few days of food, and it’s not likely that they have much that would be useful. And he’s level 1.
 
At least the temple is on a vantage point to see into the valley below and get a glimpse of the desert ahead. That’s a lot of desert. There’s nothing on my map that he could see from here, so it’s either get some fortunate bounces of the virtual dice I am using, or keep wandering.
 
Can he see anything of interest from here? Natural 1! There sure is!
Is it a merchant caravan? A merchant caravan would be about the best possible news. It is! The dice are being very nice to me.
 
There was a Dragon magazine article once about randomly generating merchant caravans… let’s see how strong my Google skills are today.
(searches)
Turns out that they are very, very weak. I didn’t find the article I was looking for, and the things I did find were not what I was hoping for.
 
Okay. I’ll go with my dice. I decide that there are d12 wagons, with a minimum of 4. I get 11. Bigger caravan. Okay. Are these humans? No. Dwarves? Yes. Lost their community? Yes. Monster? Yep. I’m going to say they don’t talk of it, and don’t want to talk of it. That’s a thread to pull later.
 
They are a broken dwarf clan that now wanders about as a merchant caravan with 11 sturdy but squat wagons. They are led by mules. We’ll say this consists of 10 + 1d12 dwarves – so 15 of them.
 
Arath approaches and hails them. Mind check for reaction. Success. Great. He decides to negotiate with them in honesty and good faith. He needs friends. He had a successful mind check, so there’s no reason to mess that up. He explains who he is, how he got where he is, and about his encounters with the scorpion and the minotaur. They agree that the scorpions are a common problem in these mountains, but they know nothing about the minotaur or what master it might have served. They are heading northward, and run a route through the mountains where they stop at several small dwarf strongholds bringing food and supplies to their cousins. They can tell Arath about the existence of Ubek’s oasis, 60 miles to the west-northwest. That is his best option. He shows them his wealth and asks if they can sell him gear… they will barter with him.
 
Their seer is able to distinguish that the wand is cursed, but the dwarves will take that from him. It is interesting to them, and has some value, although not much. They will give him 2 potions of healing and a week’s supply of water and rations for it. That is more than I could have hoped for, so it’s a deal. As for cash, Arath has a longsword (worth 4 gp on a trade in) and the 72 gp in wealth… that gives him 76 gp to work with. That’s easy. He gets a mighty blade for 50 gp and a suit of chainmail for 25, leaving him with 1 gp. He encamps with the dwarves for the night, and learns a few things about the desert. I’m going to say that he picks up enough to give him +1 edge to any mind check he makes about general desert stuff. They spend all night telling him myths and legends, so rather than trying to write down everything, I’ll just give him that +1 edge to general desert lore and go with that.
 
In the morning, he sets off into the desert wastes.
 
Arath - Brooding Fighting Man 1 (XP 27)
Armor 3; Hits 12; Move 60’; Greatsword (6); Sling (1)
Might 4 (5); Mind 1; Reflex 1
Fortitude; Luck; Two-handed (+1 edge); Warrior (+1 to hit)
Greatsword 6; Chainmail 3; Sling 1; Adventurer’s Pack; 10 days rations; 7 days water; Gauntlets of Might +1; 1 gp; 2 potions of healing