Adventuring Party Has No Idea How They’ll Carry All This Gold
"Usually we just hand wave the travel back to the town."
Local band of adventurers, The Azure Lookout, have come upon a bit of a problem recently in the ancient Tomb of the Forgotten Clergy. Though the tomb is known for defeating even the most experienced raider, the group had little issue with the many monsters, traps, and puzzles. Instead, they are stuck on a logistical problem: how are they going to carry all the treasure they’ve looted?
“We never even considered it,” says Lookout member Fielder Dannish. “We’ve never had any problems carrying heavy loads before. I have four sets of armor and five swords in my backpack right now.” Dannish, along with the other Lookout members, will have to consider encumbrance for the first time. “I was thinking if we just waited here, it would all just resolve itself,” says veteran Lookout Ulneer Sans Gleef. “But we’ve taken 3 long rests, and nothing has changed. Usually we just hand wave the travel back to the town.”
Some members are blaming themselves for the group’s predicament, such as guild wizard Sernoun Alfter. “I never added Floating Disk to my spell book,” laments Alfter. “And if I go back now to buy the spell scroll, all the other adventurers will know we have something heavy to carry down here.” Alfter is aware of other spells that could assist, such as those that teleport, but they are not available either. “I only take spells that deal damage,” says the wizard.
Group leader Darling Sinclair is also filling the weight of regret, in the form of a missed opportunity. “When we were leaving town, we kept seeing laborers for hire,” Sinclair tells The Dungeon Tribune. “But two silver a day? I didn’t want to have to make change for a platinum piece. But looking back, it’s almost like someone was trying to tell us something. And if I had hired a laborer, they could have carried the change for me.”
The most obvious solution given the group’s resources is to use their bag of holding. But reports from an anonymous source close to the adventurers indicate that it may already be full. “It’s filled to the brim with other treasure that they never bothered to deal with,” says the source. “They’d have to clear out thousands of copper pieces.”
This type of problem isn’t exactly new, but it is one newer adventurers rarely have to deal with. “Tombs and dungeons used to have much more treasure in them,” says historian and author of Helzet’s Guide to Dungeons, Elmoor Helzet. “But over time, those dungeons have all been looted. Most of those left untouched weren’t worth the effort during the golden age of dungeoneering.” The fact that The Azure Lookout has found one with so much treasure is very rare, according to Helzet. “I hope they haven’t fallen for the old ‘gold-painted lead’ trick, or worse, cursed treasure.” When asked about the possibility of the treasure being cursed, Alfter commented that “he didn’t bother with detect magic.”