Hoards in and around Mirkwood (spoilers)

[Dunkelbrink]

So, with the magic rules in Rivendell I want to starting handing out magic items left and right (well, in an orderly fashion). So, what places in Mirkwood and surroundings (and the published books) would you say qualify for being a Hoard? I can think of a few, with suggestions of "hoard size" (number of asterisks):
- The Marshdwellers treasure chamber in the Marsh bell (*)
- The Goblin treasure hoard in Leaves and stewed hobbit (*)
- Valter the bloody's main camp (or maybe hidden in the forest?) in Kinstrife and dark tidings (*)
- Ghor the despoiler's personal stash in Darkness in the marshes (*)
- Lockmand's chest in Crossings of Celduin (* Gandalf counts as Sauron for this one since the treasure is cursed)
- Reanar's lair in Watch on the Heath (**)
- The secret vault in Zirakinbar in Watch on the heath (**)
- The Barrow in The Helm of peace in Darkening (*)
- The MIllfort in The staff of the roadwarden (* plus the staff itself)
- Tyulquin's lair in Saving the maiden (*)
- Treasure of the trolls in Paying the troll (* or maybe **)
- The Greydelve (*** or maybe severeral hoards with *-**)
- Treasure from the restless king's barrow in Nine in the hall (*)
- Elfsigil's and the outlaws' treasure in Wheels within wheels (*)
- The hoard of the forest dragon in Killing the forest dragon (***, with wondrous items being the ones listed)
- Treasure of castle Ormond and the vampire in The reach of the shadow (*-**)
- A number of places in Heart of the wild, like the Elftower (*), The Sorceress' tower (**) and Viglunds stash (*)...

Lots of possible places for finding items, but bear in mind that many of these hoards will be very difficult to find/claim. What do you say, is the amount and hoard levels reasonable? Of course, every treasure pile doesn't have to be a hoard.

If a group of players play through ToW and DoM they would probably amass one or two legendary weapons/armour pieces each, and a couple of wondrous items over the course of 30 years and with the assumption that the save up xp for items rolls and that they actually look for the treasure. To me that looks about right, but I could be wrong. Would appreciate feedback from a LM who has actually tested the hoard rules in play.

[aramis]

While the Marshdweller's treasure probably should be 20** or so (and the hoard is mildly corrupt), PC's don't have time to search it before being attacked... so, for practical purposes, no stars.

[Dunkelbrink]

But the players could potentially return, maybe with 20 dwarf warriors, and clear the marsh dwellers out and claim their treasure! My aim was to list potential hoards in à campaign around Mirkwood, not the chance of finding it. Reasoning that the marsh dwellers' hoard should have zero * since the players won't have the time to find it., well then Raenar the dragon's hoard would also have zero * since he is probably too hard to kill... That's not really the point.

[Corvo]

In my own imagination the Marsh-dwellers treasure was pretty enormous, at least ** in Rivendell's terms.
Indeed, my Fellowship did return some years later to the sunken city to retrieve the remains of their deceased companion, and -without really planning it- they drove the Mewlips out of the city, becoming incredibly rich in the process.

Neverthless, all this gold and silver troubled them a lot.

[Hermes Serpent]

One of my companies have decided that the Marsh Dwellers should be dispossessed of their treasure and after a couple of other adventures are currently in the Long Marsh waiting for our next session determined to wrest the gold from their slimy grasp. Having Treasure Hunters and their Shadow weakness predominant in the company doesn't help. I've told them it's probably cursed but the lure of wealth won over the doubters.

[Rich H]

But the players could potentially return, maybe with 20 dwarf warriors, and clear the marsh dwellers out and claim their treasure! My aim was to list potential hoards in à campaign around Mirkwood, not the chance of finding it.

I agree with you. I think documenting all the hoards is the best way to go as it allows for, and assumes, flexibility within a campaign and that players and LMs may develop ideas for the treasure to be claimed.

Good work on this, Dunkelbrink, I really appreciate what you've done here. I can't say how they'll work in play as I haven't tried the Treasure rules yet (in AP) but having this as a reference will be really useful for me.

[uhu79]

Thanks for the list Dunkelbrink, very helpful! And thanks to Rich for pointing me to it!

[mica]

I would have expected Tyulqin's lair to be strewn with the desiccated corpses of the victims she has drank dry over hundreds if not thousands of years. As such poking about amongst the webs would surely have a good chance of discovering something of note, certainly a ** or even ***. Finding time to do so and risking the enchanting webs however is another thing entirely.

[Dunkelbrink]

I would have expected Tyulqin's lair to be strewn with the desiccated corpses of the victims she has drank dry over hundreds if not thousands of years. As such poking about amongst the webs would surely have a good chance of discovering something of note, certainly a ** or even ***. Finding time to do so and risking the enchanting webs however is another thing entirely.

Maybe! Without the spider being slain it would certainly be a tough task to look through her lair. The companions could even find an illusion artifact...

You might want to reduce the Hoard qualities compared to those I stated above if you want the game to be a bit more balanced in terms of magic items. Maybe my players have been lucky, but already in the year 2952 after Tales of Wilderland and 6 years of Darkening they have found 3 Famous weapons and 4 Wondrous artifact (a group of 5 heroes). That is about 40 sessions into the campaign so it's not super early, but I would have preferred a slightly slower pace.

[Rich H]

One of these must be an Undead Hoard.

Did you see what I did there?