Saturday, March 16, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #13 - The Lichway

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 2)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 2 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 2/ Thief 1) and his war dog 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 2 / Fighter 1)

Date/Time
Flocktime 8 morning to mid-afternoon 



Immediately upon entering the dungeon, and thanks to the sharp-eyed elf, the party avoids an ambush from a band of kuo-toa. While the ichthyoids do not immediately attack, they block the path into the tomb. Seeking higher ground and firm flanks, the party retreats up one of the towers, there encountering another ambush from a kua-toa 'whip' assassin. Caught between the two, the party in now embroiled in a fight. Ranzel takes the brunt of the blows, but in the end Goro drives off the leader with a command, at which point the rest break and flee back into the water. 

Licking it's wounds, the party pushes on into the dungeon to explore the areas beyond Dark Odo's lair. Most rooms are of little interest, full of rotting or decayed supplies. In one they recover a collection of strange old incense and a potion of healing hidden inside a hollow stone in the floor. In another room they encounter a trio of glowing purple dogs, braying at a quartet of goblins perched on a shelf high above the canines reach. Skeff's speak with animals reveals the dogs have been in this room since the party killed Dark Odo's crew, and they are starving, The goblins wandered in and have been trapped by the dogs. Skeff convinces to dogs to go feast on some of the bodies left in the passageway, then leads them to a room at the end of the hall and bars them in  with  couple of bodies for a snack. The dogs are not happy by this turn of events. 

Meanwhile, Solcha and Goro question the goblins. They are part of a band lead in to explore the dungeon by the subchief Lugzug. This group was scouting ahead when they were caught by the dogs. The party confirms Lugzug leads just a small band of goblins; the full tribe lairs elsewhere outside the tomb. Oddly reluctant to murder goblins in cold blood, but unwilling to leave potential foes in their rear, the party leaves them stranded on the shelf and bars the door shut to slow any pursuit. 

Having exhausted all the small rooms, the party emerges next into the far end of the Lichway, traversed weeks earlier by the sprinting ranger. In the centre of a large octagonal chamber is a low stone block, atop which is a silver cage holding that strange gorilla-coral creature from which the haunting whistling sound blanketing the dungeon emerges. It reacts violently at the sight of the party's lantern, but calms when Solcha closes the shutters. A search uncover a stone panel in the base of the block, behind which is a key hole. Which fits the key found by the party under the vampire statue's tongue. They dare not turn it now though, until they better understand the possible dangers. Through experimentation, they also learn the 'holy symbol' in the shape of the creature they found in the flooded room makes a sound similar to the creature when spun around in the air. The sound calms the creature and makes it retreat from the person making it. 

Leaving the cage behind, they proceed down the Lichway to explore further. The walls are covered in stone slabs carved with short words or phrases in some unknown language.  They pry open a few and confirm each contains a immobile skeleton; but when they attack or abuse the remains, they animate and attack back. Delving further they come to an intersection with a 15' tall metal skeleton at the centre. It appears harmless, but no one really believes it is. Faced with the prospect that it may be a danger, the hundreds upon hundreds of entombed skeletons, and the still uncertain danger of the whistling creature, the party pauses to consider options before doing anything rash ...

GAINS
15ep
18gp
6pp
Potion of healing 

KILLS/VICTORIES
3 kua-toa
1 skeleton

LOSSES
None 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #12 - Interlude with Bandits

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Solcha (Elf Fighter 2 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 2 / Thief 1) and his wardog 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 2 / Fighter 1)
Balthus (Human Fighter 2) and his wardog Slasher

Date/Time
Planting 19 mid-day to Flocktime 8 morning



The kua-toa are curiously reluctant to engage in combat, focusing instead on protecting whatever sits on the bottom of the pool. Ranzel is able to skewer one however, and the second then flees down the river. Skeff, being lighting armored, then jumps in the pool and recover a treasure filled leather sack that was chained on the bottom. At this point, the party is getting loaded down with coin and opts to head back to Vestval and thence onto Oxton for a bit of rest and training before returning to the dungeon. 

Travel to and time in Oxton is uneventful. Pinella and Paxon choose to take their leave of the party, accepting a gift of treasure as they go. After 8 days in town, the party is ready to return to the mountains. Skeff convinces them to spend a little time in the wilderness as he wishes to find a new animal companion, a mountain lion or a bear. They have no luck encountering animals, but do fight a band of starving bugbears and stumble upon the bandit camp of Fulva the Half-Ear. The party fends off a probe by  a group of bandit scouts on horseback, capturing one in the process. Their captive (Mordric), does not want to give up much information, especially not on their numbers. But based on their observations, the party knows there are 50+ bandits at least. Mordric tells them they raid the roads and byways to the south, retreating into the mountains when pursuit gets too hot. Hoping to make peace if not friends with the bandits, the party release Mordric back to his companions. The party then returns towardstheir own camp, encountering another band of mounted bandits along the way. Both sides ignore each other. 

On the next morning, the tomb of the Salanders beckons ... 

GAINS
397pp
237gp
2 gems (10gp, 100gp)

KILLS/VICTORIES
1 kua-toa
6 bugbear
1 bandit (captured)

LOSSES
None 

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #11 - The Fall of Dark Odo

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 1)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 1 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 1 / Thief 1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 1 / Fighter 1)
Balthus (Human Fighter 1) and his wardog Slasher
Jenny the Mule 

[Pinella (Human Magic User ?)]
[Paxon (Human Cleric ?)]

Date/Time
Planting 19 mid-day to Planting 19 late-day

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aY8d49

Without delay, the party quickly searches the cluster of rooms around the central combat zone. All prove to be bed chambers, one larger and more ornate than the others. That one was obviously home to the cleric of Nerull; the others are non-descript. But all are unoccupied, so the party again quickly pushes into the next room where they assume Dark Odo had been lurking. It too is unoccupied, but the still smoking water pipe suggests that it hasn't been empty long. Another door leads into what appears to be Dark Odo's bedchamber, while at the other end is a pool, around the back of which climbs a ramp lit by coloured lanterns. When a few quick checks for secret doors and passages reveal nothing, the party accepts their foe has given them the slip and settle into looting mode. From a hidden chamber under Dark Odo's bed came a spell book, immediately claimed by Pinella as her own. The cleric Mudras' chamber yields a duvet full of gold, and various chests in all the rooms yield another small collection of coin. 

The party's attention now turns to the pool. It seems to be about 10-15' deep, but the bottom cannot be clearly seen. A waterfall tumbles into the pool from the east wall next to the curving ramp, and behind it Skeff discovers a chain attached to the wall, and which leads down into the pool. The party tries to pull it up, but it seems either firmly attached to the bottom or to something of great mass. Closer inspection of the pool reveals two figures swimming near the bottom; more kua-toa is the guess. 

Meanwhile, Solcha discovers a secret door along the east wall. It leads to a narrow passage and ends in a secret door, now bared open by a spike. It looks down over the flooded chamber 15; below. A rope is tied to the spike, and it would seem this is the escape route used by Dark Odo and her henchwoman. Also noted is the absence of the shackled kuo-toa; it's bonds had been carefully cut. Pushing further, Ranzel finds Dark Odo's tracks in the eastern passage. Where they also find their mule, dead and disemboweled. 

Retracing their steps, the party returns to the cluster of rooms and decide to push on rather than pursue Dark Odo. They move into a short passage that ends in a T-intersection. And when Ranzel, walking point, steps into the intersection, a door at the northern end of the passage flies open. Two slathering war dogs rush out, released by a man who himself holds back from combat. As the party turns to face this threat, another comes from a second  door to the south; Dark Odo and a pair of her henchmen. The dark mage immediately drops all the party with a sleep spell, leaving only the sleep-resistant Solcha standing. She immediately interrupts Dark Odo's next spell with a magic missile, then starts to kick her comrades awake. Soon a viable fighting band is re-formed. The dogs and henchman to the north are taken down, as are the pair of henchmen who have charged from the south. Leaving just Dark Odo. She frantically casts an invisibility spell, hoping to escape unseen. But Goro stopped any immediate fleeing with a command. And she did not account for the fairie fire outlining her form, Skeff's contribution to the fight. And the druid also provides the 'coup de grace', charging at the dark mage and bludgeoning her to death with his mighty shillelagh.   

After taking a few moments to recover, the party once more turns to looting. They recover a couple of rings of unknown provenance, Dark Odo's spellbook, and a collection of loose change. Then, feeling chuffed, they decide tackle the monsters in the pool. Skeff casts entangle  on the watery weeds on the bottom, which seems to catch one of the creatures. The party then lowers Ranzel into the pool headfirst, hoping the ranger will skewer the second creature with his spetum. But alas, that does not work, and the party if left wondering how to deal with their underwater foes from here ...  

GAINS
214sp
1650gp
Pearl [523gp]
Ruby [1000gp]
Ring [100gp]
Ring of Protection +1 
Bag of Pale Powder
Earthen Pot of Ashes 
Brass Waterpipe [10gp]
Dark Odo's Spellbook 

KILLS/VICTORIES
1 War Dog
Runas
Jessup
Tuxarra
Dark Odo

LOSSES
Jenny the Mule 

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #10 - Captives and Culprits

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 1)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 1 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 1 / Thief 1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 1 / Fighter 1)
Balthus (Human Fighter 1) and his wardog Slasher
Jenny the Mule 

[Pinella (Human Magic User ?)]
[Paxon (Human Cleric ?)]

Date/Time
Planting 18 - morning to Planting 19 mid-day


The party leaves Vestvale and climbs once more into the mountains. An uneventful day and night bring them back to the tomb. Before delving deeper, they opt to place Jenny and the cart in an isolated room. On their way, they interrupt three kuo-toa, who are tearing  limbs from the men slain by the party days ago. Though the ichthyoids make no threatening moves, the party attack  to avoid leaving any foes in their rear. Two are killed, and one captured. The captive speaks no language common to the party, but rather than kill him they shackle the creature to the wall in the flooded room. Jenny is also locked in the adjacent hallway before the party makes its way through the thus far unexplored door exiting the west wall of the flooded room. 

Goro and Skeff, listening at the door, hear a frightened female voice and a gruff male one. Bursting in the room, the party discovers a young woman, bound and unclothed on a crude bed, about to ravished by her disfigured and ugly jailer.  The party rushes the man and knocks him out. Questioned, he is uncooperative, and after first shackling him in the flooded room, Balthus eventually has Slasher rip this throat out. The woman's name is Pinella, a magic user captured by Dark Odo's henchmen. She states the other surviving member of her party, Paxon of St Cuthbert, is in the adjacent cells. She has no equipment or spell book, but provided with clothing and a dagger she joins the party. The room is otherwise unexceptional except for the jailers gear and a bell rope hanging over the cot. 

Entering the cellblock, they find Paxon and learn it is almost time for the evening meal to be delivered. The party sets an ambush, and kills Erig the fighting man as he comes in with the captive's paltry supper. Recovering and equipping Paxon, the party pushes on down a corridor hidden by secret doors, and then into another room with multiple doors leading off of it. There they surprise the gnome Trob the Black sitting at a table. The gnome call's out for Dark Odo before the party can cut him down.  Half the party rushes through a door the gnome had called out to, while the rest set up defenses in the main room. In the side room they do not encounter Dark Odo, but the female fighter Runas. She holds them off long enough to escape through another door. Meanwhile, in the main room, the party is attacked when  the cleric Mudras of Nerull, and the thief Orwen emerge from two other rooms. There are tense moments when the cleric of the dead god starts casting spells, but in short order the two are dead and the party if left to decide what to do next ...

GAINS
17sp
14 ep
106gp
8pp

KILLS/VICTORIES
2 Kuo-Toa (1 Surrendered)
Foul-Faced Viviok
Erig
Trob the Black
Mundras of Nerull
Orwen the Thief

LOSSES
None

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #9 - The Mighty Fishmen

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 1)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 1 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 1 / Thief 1) and his wardog Spot
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 1 / Fighter 1)
Jenny the Mule 

Date/Time
Planting 15 - midday to Planting 18 - morning


... Listening at the door, Skeff hears an indistinct voice in the next room. Opening the door, the party faces a man in wizardly robes and holding an elaborate staff. But they quickly suspected "The Mighty Amdor" is more sham than shaman. He is friendly and helpful though, explaining he is part of Dark Odo's crew who was 'left' here in this part of the dungeon. She and the rest of her henchmen (mostly thugs but with at least one cleric) are deeper in the complex of room. He also tells them about The Lichway, the long passage where the Salander buried their dead. Devoid of further use, Amdor is told to leave the dungeon and head for the nearby village of Vestvale. Which he does. 

Moving on to the double doors at the end of the rune hall, the party enters a hexagonal room where once more the strange whistling sound is heard and continues to be heard throughout their exploration. To the right is a bridge, with rails of human bone and posts topped with wax-encased skulls. It crosses flowing waters and also leads deeper into the dungeon. To the left is the tall statue of a vampiric figure, mouth open wide and fangs barred, pouring water from a jug into a floor gate. As the base of the statue is an inscription, the language of which changes to the readers native tongue:

Bathe, Salander, and restful
Ease your cares;
Til the Singer stills his song
Then rise to claim your wares 

Skeff searches and finds a silver key under the statue's hinged tongue. Then while searching the flowing stream under the bridge, the party is attacked by 4 ichthyoid humanoid creatures that scramble up out of the water. In a  drawn-out, bloody fight, Spot the Wardog is killed, as are two of the creatures. The remaining two flee back to the stream. 

The party wonders if they should cross the bridge, as they suspect it leads to The Lichway, a name that fills them with fear of legions of the undead. So Ranzel, still under the effects of a potion of speed, offers to run down the corridor beyond the bridge to get a rough idea of what is there, while hopefully being too fast to be caught by anything hostile. The ranger is successful in his sprint down a long wide corridor flanked with stone slabs, noting branch passages at the 1/3 and 2/3 points, as well as a more complex intersection at the halfway point.  At that halfway point he also observes a low platform on which stands a 15' tall skeleton, while at the far end of the passage is a low platform with a silver cage holding a creature that looks somewhat like a gorilla made of coral. But no undead are seen. 

However, the party decides to retrace steps and try another door they'd bypassed. This leads into a large chamber, filled with water to the level of the entrance. Another set of doors is seen on the opposite wall, and on the north wall there are signs that another door has been bricked over. The party surmises this is the other side of the door they saw on the dock when they first ended the dungeon. Careful search and rat abuse revealed the water is shallow around the edge, but in the centre is a deep pit filled with human skeletal remains. From the top of the pit they recover one skeleton with treasure; a weird bone and serpent mace, strange holy symbol (?) and a bag of gold. 

With wounds aplenty and healing spells few, the party decides to retreat to Vestvale to rest, recover and refit. There they find Amdor the Mighty, whom they decide to this time take back with them. They spend a few nights at the Black Stag Inn until fully hale and hearty again, and then prepare the head back to the tomb of the Salander ... 

GAINS
Snake Mace +1 
Weird holy symbol (?) 
364gp
10ep
2pp

KILLS/VICTORIES
2 Kuo-Toa

LOSSES
Spot the Wardog 

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #8 - Goblins and Gold

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 1)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 1 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 1 / Thief 1) and his wardog Spot
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 1 / Fighter 1)
Balthus (Human Fighter 1) and his wardog Slasher

Date/Time
Planting 11 - morning to Planting 15 - midday


Staying each night in a village along the way, the party's four day journey across the high plains and into the mountains is uneventful. The directions they have ben given lead them to a path and through a pass in the mountains, and eventually to a dark cave entrance. Footprints show others have been here before them. The short passage leads into a huge cavern filled with an underground lake or sea. A bridge over a river leads to a series of docks and watchtowers. A set of double doors, carved with flames bordered in skeletal forms, lies to the south but a permanently barred with iron beans, chains and locks. After looting a sunken barge and fighting a giant lamprey, the party moves through the only apparently operable doors, leading east. Three old and desiccated bodies lie inside the entrance of a room filled with rune inscribed floor tiles. When disturbed the bodies rise to life and attack, but are rapidly dispatched. 

Three doors lead out of the rune-inscribed chamber. Through the one to the south, the party surprises a group of goblins and a hobgoblin torturing a stirge.  These too are dispatched with ease and their coins looted (as well as a valuable gem hidden in a straw-filled mattress). Leaving through another door, the party proceeds down a winding passage before it ends at a set of double doors. They backtrack to see what lies behind another door they passed along the way; beyond it is a ruined torture chamber and a single hobgoblin rooting around. They corner and question him, learning only that other humans may be found in the tomb complex alongside the goblins and hobgoblins.  He tries to buy his life, but Goro the crusader will not take the deal and the hobgoblin is killed. 

Retracing their steps to the rune-room, the party goes to the northern door. The room on the other side, is faintly lit by torchlight. And they startle three men preparing to burst through a door in the eastern wall. These three turn on the party, and after a short combat all three (plus an archer hidden in the shadows) are dead. Looting the bodies of gold and arrows, the party now turns to the eastern door to see what lies beyond ...

GAINS
Onate Golden Goblet [200gp]
Silver Armband [50gp]
Flash of Strong Fishy Liquor [25gp] 
Gem [1000gp]
475gp
40sp
15cp

KILLS/VICTORIES
1 Giant Lamprey
2 Zombies
1 Ghoul
4 Goblins
2 Hobgoblins
Veneman, Luge, Argun, Pipluk 

LOSSES
none 

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Gygax & Greyhawk Session #7 - On To New Adventures

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 1)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 1 / Magic User 1)
Skeff Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 1 / Thief 1) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 1 / Fighter 1)
Balthus (Human Fighter 1)  

Date/Time
Planting 5 - midday to Planting 11 - morning



Before making any decision between exploring the isle or moving on to other things, Skeff charms a blackbird to gain aerial reconnaissance . The bird reports no human structure on the isle except some stones and a long narrow thing separating one side of the island from the other. A large serpent lay on one side of the long thing, and the only human was on the other side. The shinning light they party observed from the mountain came from a cliff at the end of the island, beyond the serpent area. The party is still uncertain whether they should alight on the island, citing a combination of low spells and multiple wounds, as well as reluctance to interfere with the scaredness of the island to the Kharan tribe if there was no clear reason to do so. Leaving the second question unresolved, the party retreats back to the gnoll cave to rest for the night and address the first. 

Next day, they head back to the lake and make steps to cross the shallows. They get halfway and are challenged by a wild man in robes of strange material, yelling at them and swinging a staff over his head. He forbids them entry. Questioned, he explains the tribe worships Mok' Slyk, the Serpent who consumes souls of the dead. The island is sacred to him, and the valley on Hardway Mountain is the path cut by Mok' Slyk as he descended from space to the primordial Oerth.  Goro notes this being is some sort of ur-deity, ancient and long forgotten by the world. After several more attempts to talk their way past Arn, the party decides to leave and not provoke a confrontation. Instead, now that they know roughly where they are in Tenh, they head west towards the crossroads town of Oxton. After a short but frightening encounter with a troll one night, and a pleasant one the next day with a group of pilgrims of Beory going to worship at some sacred burial mounds to the north, they arrive safe and sound in town after a few days travel. 

They check and reject a few inns (Dancer and the Dark Mage, The Troll's Hand, The Hellgate) before settling in for a few days at the Ox & Lyre. In addition to resting and refitting, the party looks for rumors of further adventure. They learn of three possibilities:

  • Hygar the Ox-Driver is heading east to the Troll Fens and the borders with the Theocracy of the Pale. Duck Ehyah II is there again this campaigning season, upgrading defenses against both the trolls and the Faithful Bands of the Pale across the Yol River. He looking for company and protection along the way. 
  • Jakael Foss, recently arrived from Nevond Nevend, passes word that the Duke has put out a call for armed bands to clear old bandit holds and orc lairs along Rockegg Pass above Calbut. It seems the Duke wishes to deal with the raiders from the Hold of Stonefist in the next campaigning season, and wants to clear out any minor annoyances along the way first. See Marshal Iaba of the Tenha Host in Nevond Nevend  for more details. 
  • While discussing their encounter with the pilgrims with  a local man (Gyar Uldan), they are reminded of the reverence the Flann of Tenh have for their dead. It would be unwise to disturb barrows and graves in the Duchy. On the other hand, non-Flann burials are free for the plundering. Gyar tells them of one such place just a few days away in the Griff Mountains. A local near-do-good by then name of Black Odo headed off to the tomb just as the snow cleared from the uplands. She and her henchman have not been seen since. Another group followed after her just a few days ago.
The party decides to stay local and (hopefully) loot-rich, and get directions from Gyar to the tomb, beginning  their journey back east the next day. 

GAINS
none

KILLS/VICTORIES
1 Troll

LOSSES
none