Part 12: Bipped in the Nulb

“Hey, Lewis. Sorry I couldn’t make it last week. I had…business stuff come up.”

“You didn’t want to be here for another town exploration session. Don’t worry, William, we all understand. We actually haven’t finished with Nulb yet, since we had to divide treasure and make some new items, but there will be at least one interesting thing for your character to do today. Did you want me to catch you up on what happened last time? I’ve got Paul’s notes here.”

“That’s okay. Where is everyone, anyway?”

“Oh, Bob and Suzie are in their bedroom, playing some co-op game by the sound of things. Hal is running late, and Paul went to the store for a couple ‘Take and Bake’ pizzas. And you should listen to this anyhow; this module is so simple even you have been able to keep up.”


So one of the first things we did was go back to see the High Priest. Of course, all he had to say was,
Blah blah blah, the fungus figurine is evil, go to Nulb to advance the plot.

“The what?”

That idol we picked up next to Terjon’s holy symbol in Emridy Fields? Turns out it will summon a fungus being once per day and it’s an idol to the demoness…I’m pretty sure that’s not how you spell it, Paul. Oh well, it hardly matters, and I forget the name anyhow. We gave it to Bob’s NPC because she’s the resident cannon fodder provider.


When we got back to the blacksmith, he had brought out his masterwork collection of weapons and armor. At that point, everyone who didn’t have magic weapons upgraded to masterwork, since we’re all waiting for the moment when Hal gets Craft Magic Arms and Armor. We also got everything identified. That gold chain Lareth offered us was worth over 1000 gold pieces, by the way. Of course, his magic weapon and armor were worth even more, so we made a good decision, I think.


Oh, the blacksmith also had a locked chest he wanted us to open. Suzie couldn’t manage it, so Hal tried to use his scroll of Knock since he couldn’t copy it down anyhow. He was pretty steamed when Bob announced the target was “spell resistant.”
Overall, our haul was 12 potions of Cure Light Wounds with a few more powerful potions, two potions of Neutralize Poison, a potion of Bull’s Strength, another Cloak of Elvenkind which we sold, a ring of Freedom of Movement we gave to you, and a metal Shield +1 we sold since the Druid needs wooden shields. The Club of Striking turns out to be a +2 club that can spend between 0-3 charges and multiplies that number by 3 to add to its damage. Suzie wound up being the best option, so she’s using it with a light mace in her off-hand. Also, I considered using the Breastplate +1 for a while, but it has the same AC as the banded mail, and I don’t need the better mobility, so we sold it for the money.


After that, we finally had enough money to get some of the basic stat buff items. I believe Hal began by making himself a Headband of Intellect +2, then made the Gauntlets of Ogre Power +2 for your character. However, I successfully argued that my character should get them instead; after all, you have a magic weapon, magic armor, and a magic ring, while all I had was a masterwork sword. Besides, Hal always casts Bull’s Strength on you during important combats, and you know that spell doesn’t stack.


Let’s see…oh right, after settling the magic items, Paul went through his notes looking for loose ends, and we noticed that we still hadn’t cured the woodcutter’s daughter. Rather than have us run up and down the swamps looking for the lotus we needed, Bob just decided we found it on the trip back from the Moathouse, so that ended well.

If only I had been so lucky. The Swamp Lotus can only be found in a specific random encounter map, so I had to wander between Hommlet and Nulb for a good 20 minutes before I got lucky and found it. I couldn’t even ignore it for too long, either, since the quest ends incomplete after a few months when Amii just up and dies.

“Did you guys even get to the second town last week?”


Oh, yes, eventually.


Nulb, by the way, is a small village on a series of docks that acts as a port for the local river pirates. It’s smaller than Hommlet, but a whole lot meaner, as well.



It appears that Nulb’s inn does indeed have a character-switching logbook. Carry on.

The first place we visited was the local hostel and bar, but after talking it over, we decided against sleeping there.

“How come?”

Too many rats. Of the two-legged variety.
Specifically, we found out that the owner of the hostel is working for the Temple. He told us to go to a tower nearby and tell them he sent us.

“Just like that?”

Well, it was a bit more complicated. Paul had to butter him up about how great the Temple side did in that battle they lost ten years ago, and how awesome it is to be evil.
The bartender was basically the same deal. The only difference is that Paul had to lie about how we plundered the Moathouse of all it was worth. I’m not sure if they were aware that the other one was recruiting, though. Hmm.


Oh, right. Suzie went exploring and found the owner’s chest. The trap was no trouble for her, and we got a fairly good-sized pile of gold from it, with no one the wiser.


She also made a Spot check later that revealed a hidden compartment under the local blacksmith’s anvil.


Inside were a few gems, a +2 Longsword, and +2 Chainmail. The longsword wasn’t better than what we could use since Paul needs a rapier, but the chainmail was an improvement. It’s what I’m wearing now, in fact. You know, I probably shouldn’t get within visual range of the blacksmith so we can avoid that nasty business we had with the tavern adventurers.


I believe we can still do business with him, however, since he sells through his assistant. Hell, I think we even sold his sword back to him.
The man himself seemed quite eager to murder some Temple folk, from what I recall. However, he demanded some money first for outfitting, plus we have enough frontliners as it is. Plus, well, I’m wearing his good armor. It would make the trip a bit awkward.


Blah blah blah, found some shops with surprisingly good stuff in them…


…Bob did some more hilariously racist impressions…


Ah, yes! We found a man named Preston who was willing to sell us a house, which is a much more secure location than the hostel for a town like this. However, Bob used Paul’s Sense Motive to explain that Preston had a toothache, so we decided to settle that matter in case he’d give us a discount. See, Preston would have seen the dentist before now, but he needed to collect off a Gypsy fortune teller,


And she needed her damn crystal ball to tell fortunes.


We eventually tracked down the kid who stole it, apparently for the sake of some unnamed employer. The kid wouldn’t let it go since he wasn’t getting his money…


…So Suzie got fed up and stole it from him. I just wish we could have stolen a barn or something for that one quest in Hommlet.




Still, problems were solved, teeth were fixed, and we got a house in Nulb for a pretty good 500 gold. Oh, and everyone got a level except for Hal, who’d been spending his experience.

“What, already?”

Yeah, it did seem rather fast, didn’t it?

Almost like I went through ten minutes worth of random encounters looking for a stupid plant!

Oh, right, you should level up your character, too. It’s a pretty bare level, aside from Hal and I getting access to level 3 spells.


What else, what else…we visited the other tavern in town, and in spite of all the clients being river pirates, it was slightly more reputable than the hostel. I recall we found the pirate dentist there, too.

“So that was a real guy?”

Yes, and he was really quite “fabulous,” too. I couldn’t even blame Bob for that one; it was spelled out right in the module.


They also had some very nice equipment for Rogues. Suzie upgraded to masterwork lockpicks, and Hal got another scroll of Knock. He then failed to scribe it to his spellbook. Again.


We then spoke to a man about killing a fish.

“Seriously?”

Of course! He wants us to kill a giant gar for him, something I recall was in the Monster Manual as far back as 1st edition. I don’t know how either the fisherman or Bob expects us to kill a giant fish when we don’t own a boat, but I suppose we’ll find out when we get to it. Plus, if we do manage it, the fisherman promises he can get us a discount at all the stores in town.
The last person we met was the leader of the local pirate gang. He seemed amiable enough, all things considered, and he also challenged us to a one-on-one fight at the bar in the evening. Since you’re our man as far as that goes, we figured you’d want to be present when the fight goes down.

“Sounds like I didn’t miss that much, then.”

”Oh, don’t worry, I think we’ve done more than half this town has to offer already.”