Arden and Company walk through the Keep gates by midmorning. The sky is cloudy but no rain. The company is greeted by the guards and residents. The site of a cloak wrapped body astride one of the horses causes all to pause. Guards stand at attention and merchants doff their caps.
Sir Kent meets with Arden, Martin, and Sgt Tenning. The sergeant corroborates Arden’s retelling of events in the Caves and the orc encounter. Sir Kent is sorry to see a good man die, but this is a painful reality on the borderlands. Knowing that a warband of orcs has been routed gives honor to the fallen soldier. A military funeral will be held in three days in his honor. Arden asks if the man had family at the Keep. Sir Kent replies no, but he will send a letter to the Duke of Dent describing the orc attack and the fallen soldier. Arden asks Sir Kent what the man’s monthy wages were at the Keep. It is 10 pieces of silver per month. Arden offers Sir Kent 120 silver pieces to be sent to the man’s family. Sir Kent thanks Arden and asks him what he would have done if many more soldiers had fallen? Arden doesn’t know, but the soldier was brave and should be rewarded.
Notes–In all, there were 1,548 sp recovered. [I converted gold to silver since my campaign is on the silver standard.] The four principals of the Company will receive 206sp each and the henchmen will gain 103sp (a half share). The archers are paid for their service by Sir Kent, but Arden will give them some silver for their good service. Each PC earned 180xp and the henchmen 90xp. No xp for Sir Kent or the archers. Overall, I thought it went rather well. I really wanted to ignore the high roll for numbers of orcs appearing, but I didn’t. The battle looked grim but Arden and Company managed to best them. There are multiple threads to follow now that the PCs have made it back to the Keep. I look forward to playing soon.
Great news! I almost forgot to write about this, but Arden and Company’s henchmen have earned a little more than 100 xp and now I feel justified in converting each of them into true character classes. They will all be getting a big increase in hit points and should be much better in combat.
More to come…
Damn Elf Press 