Nerd Dice: Part I: Snake Eyes

The party arrives in the town of Oxbend, somewhere north of the Trollbark Forest. It's a small town, closely surrounded by forest. Its most distinctive feature was a healthy stream running through the center of the town, which is spanned by a sturdy bridge. The town only has one tavern, called the Sleepy Dragon, and our weary heroes head straight for it. They notice that a large part of the tavern is devoted to gambling.

They begin speaking with the locals as they purchase drinks. Apparently something bad had happened about a week ago, but the locals don't attempt to elaborate. Then a quite snazzy looking fellow enters the tavern, introducing himself as Sleek Calhoun. He is the town's priest, and the casino area of the tavern is actually a temple to their goddess, Tymora. The temple is open to anyone who wishes to try their hand at a game of chance, as long as they leave a donation and pray to the goddess.

Galatea asks Sleek about the bad business of a week ago. Sleek unhappily relates the following story. It seems that Sleek himself had once been gifted by Tymora with mystical dice made of dragon bones. The nature of the dice was such that when once concentrated on a number and then rolled the dice, the dice would always show that number. Sleek enjoyed the benefits of the dice for a long time, but when he decided to become one of Tymora's chosen, he knew that the dice had to move on to their next owner. In a grand ceremony with the entire town present, he took the dice in a glass bottle weighted with sand and tossed it into the stream to be carried on to where chance would take them.

Unfortunately, they weren't carried far enough. Just downstream they were discovered by a massive orc called Karag One-Eye. As soon as he discovered the nature of the dice, he showed up at the temple every day and cleaned out the house. His actions weren't against any law of Tymora's, and the townsfolk feared retribution if they should refuse One-Eye his larcenous visits.

The party listened somewhat sympathetically, but returned to their R&R. Niddock Houk Linnpert Farkaddo Slumputtle decides that he'd like to try his hand at worshipping Tymora. He makes the required donation and asks for Lady Luck's blessing as he enters the casino. He proceeds to gamble and loses 2 pieces of gold, which makes him decide to start making smaller bets. He wins back 4 silver pieces and decides he's had enough.

Galatea pays for the drinks and some food with a song that the tavern's patrons enjoy. As the group finish their meal, they hear a loud scuffle outside, and as Garg the halfling goes to the door to investigate, it bursts inward, knocking him aside. A menacing orc with a scar over one eye strolls in, followed by six men. They sit down at a table and the orc loudly invites any takers to play dice with him.

Strangely, Niddock Houk Linnpert Farkaddo Slumputtle hadn't been burned enough the first time he gambled, because he takes up the offer. He promptly loses the remainder of all his money. Galatea notices the gnome's losing streak and marches over angrily, chewing out the orc for taking money that's owed to her. The orc brushes her off, and Garg decides to join in, by offering to play a game with the orc using his special invisible dice. The orc gets angry this time, and threatens the tiny druid, only to be interrupted by Roid, the halfling's bodyguard.The situation stops just short of a fight, and One-Eye ends his night by entering the casino and cleaning out the house once more with his mystical dice, then leaving.

Sleek comes back to ask the group to help get rid of One-Eye. He gives them directions to a camp down the river where One-Eye was staying with his men. While some of the party are content to wait until morning, Ned decides to head off immediately. So of course, by default, Galatea and the wolf follow, and therefore Garg and Roid tag along too.

They follow the river, walking along the riverbank until they come to an enclosure with a low wall containing two huts. One-Eye and his men were living it up around a bonfire near the huts, celebrating the evening's ill-gotten gains. The group stay hidden behind trees and decide to wait until everyone goes to sleep.

Eventually, the men retire to the big hut, and One-Eye goes alone into his own personal hut, leaving one man out on sentry duty. Garg sneaks around the wall and reaches one of the huts, which both have thatch roofs. He lights some twigs on fire and throws them up onto the roofs.

The others spot the flames catching on the roof of the largest hut and burst into action. Roid and Galatea shoot the sentry with their bows, and the gnome finishes him off. The other humans break out of the burning hut as the thatch flares up, only to be attacked by the wolf and the wild halfling. Ned uses illusion to misdirect them at every turn, and short work is made of the humans.

Finally, One-Eye emerges from his hut, fully dressed in armor and looking meaner than ever. Roid Rage charges out of cover to combat him. The orc is powerful, but four on one is too much for him, and he's finally brought down.

The group search the camp, finding a few valuables and of course the money that One-Eye had been "winning" in the temple. In a pouch on the body of the orc they find the dragon bone dice and pocket them.

While they are still at the camp, Niddock Houk Linnpert Farkaddo Slumputtle disappears, and a glowing humanoid figure appears in the clearing. Garg is impressed by the figure and asks it if it grants wishes. The figure seems to nod, and as Garg makes wishes, they all seem to come true in some way, and then the figure disappears. But no one else seems to notice any tangible results from the wishes as they walk back to Oxbend.

By the time they get back to town, it's very late, and no one else is about, so the group retire to their rooms and settle in for much-needed sleep in the tavern. In the morning, Sleek is relieved to find that One-Eye has been dispatched and the dice recovered. But Ned isn't ready to let the dice go too easily and charges 50 pieces of silver for them. Sleek grudgingly pays it and gives the dice another send-off, apparently confident they won't fall into the wrong hands again.