Gygax and Greyhawk Session #37 - Around and Down

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 5/ Thief 5) w/ trained bear Wojtek & henchman Caron (Half Elf  MU1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 5) 

Date/Time

Brewfest-Godsday (early afternoon) to Brewfest-Godsday (early evening)

As the party examines the fallen hobgoblin, three more of the shambling creatures appear around the corner. These too are dispatched. Examination of the corpses show no signs of trauma apart from the sickly yellow pallor and drool. Pushing forward, the party turns the corner and spots a vine climbing up the  wall at the turn of the corridor, reaching towards a ragged opening in the roof. It seems to make no obvious threatening moves, so Goro pushes on the see what is around the corner. There is nothing there except a passage blocked by rubble. But a flower on the vine releases a cloud of dust into the half-orc's face, and Goro is hypnotically drawn into the plant, which send fine tendrils into his brain. The rest of the party leaps to the rescue; Skeef slips the ring of free action off the cleric's hand, allowing Solcha with her necklace of adaptation to safely enter the danger zone and try to pull him free. In the end, the party kills the plant by driving swords into it's bulbous root. Goro is a little more dense than usual, showing signs of mental decay.  Digging around the plant, they uncover a body with a bone scroll case and a potion bottle. 

On the way back down the corridor, they encounter another of the vines growing out of the fallen hobgoblin. This they dispatch quickly, and then drag all the bodies to the courtyard and burn them next to the troll-fire. Returning to the keep, they head for the main foyer and make for the stairs leading down. This triggers the flanking two-headed statues to animate and fight. One is destroyed, and the party figures out that they will only animate if you pass between them. So they scramble over the now empty statue base and head downstairs. 

The stairs descend quite a ways before coming to a T-intersection. Exit into the intersection is flanked by wolf headed statues, which they find do not animate. Along the corridor are a series of alcoves with troll skulls nailed to the back wall. These all glow a sickly green colour when approached, only to fade to darkness when left alone. Tinkering with the well at one end of the passage causes the closest troll skull to speak, reciting the following lines:

"Beneath the keep, a place to scry,

Where devils sing their songs, then die.

As deep cold wells keep waters fresh,

So keep she all her wickedness."

Further empty rooms are explored, and a strange door carved with  a dance macabre is encountered. It is both physically and magically locked, so Solcha opens it with her knock spell. It leads to another steeply descending stairs, this one covered in dozens of orcish skeletons, long dead. Feeling now they may be pushing their luck after a long and arduous day, they party decides to retreat back to camp to rest and refit ... 

GAINS

Magic User Scroll - 4 spells

Potion of ??

KILLS/VICTORIES

3 Yellow Musk Zombies

2 Yellow Musk Creeper

Caryatid Column 

LOSSES

Some of Goro's brains 

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #36 - Trolls and Other Things

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 5/ Thief 5) w/ trained bear Wotjek & henchman Caron (Half Elf  MU1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 5) 

Date/Time

Brewfest-Godsday mid-morning to Brewfest-Godsday early afternoon 

The party returns to the still silent ruins, and enters through the same postern door. Checking out the first unexplored opening to the right, they find a door. This leads into the base of the east tower, where a cantilevered staircase rises high into the darkness. This they discover is inhabited by three gargoyles. Two fly down to attack, while the third rushes up into the darkness above. The two combatants are dispatched, and without pause the party chases the third. It leads them to the top of the three story tower, and they see it descend into the courtyard below, out of reach and quickly out of sight. 

Backtracking one level, the party heads onto the second level of the ruined keep. They explore a corridor of statue-filled alcoves, including one of a troll painted copper. Ranzel makes a trollish-joke, and is rewarded by a low snickering rumble from beyond the door behind them.  This opens a dialog between the ranger and at least one, and supposedly many more, trolls. Speaking through just a crack in the open door, the party agrees to get them some 'bloody meat' for the troll(s) are hungry. They'd sent one of their number (Gurgo) to get food, but he hasn't returned. In payment, the spokes-troll (named Xur) promise to tell them what he knows about the key-stone. Xur also mentions something about a horned man 'down below' who may know about it too. 

While this is going on, most of the rest of the party pushes further down the corridor, looking for a way to outflank the troll room. They find a way, but are attacked by two dozen skeletons that animate from the jumbled remains of many men on the floor. Fight finished, the party (egged on by the famished Xur again), head back to the main level and push along the corridor around the base of the east tower. They encounter there a strange zombie-like hobgoblin, staggering and drooling a yellow ichor. This they dispatch withe ease and prepare to continue on their way ...

GAINS

25gp

368sp

KILLS/VICTORIES

2 Gargoyles

25 Skeletons

1 Yellow Zombie Thingy

LOSSES

None

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #35 - Hired Help

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 5/ Thief 5) w/ trained bear Wotjek & henchman Caron (Half Elf  MU1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 5) w/ henchman Koreyth the Master (Human Fighter 1) 

Date/Time

Harvester 24 morning to Brewfest-Godsday

Before leaving Nevond Nevnend, the parry decide to hire a few guards to keep an eye on their backs while on adventure. They also opt to recruit some henchman to help flesh our their ranks when partaking in said adventures.  The party as a whole takes on four heavy footmen and purchase a wagon and pair of draft horses (for the piles of treasure, of course). These footmen are tasked with guarding the wagon and any camp the party may set up in the wilderness. For their pay [5gp/month each] they will do no adventuring or otherwise get involved in anything but defense.  For assistance in the dungeons, Goro hires a short, stocky and strong fighter by the name of 'Koreyth the Master' and Skeef takes on 'Caron', a half elf magic user. Each are offered 200gp up front payment and a promise of a 1/2 share of non-magical treasure. Goro, leaning on his naturally suspicious orc-ish heritage, secretly casts know alignment on their new hires. Koreyth is a respectable chaotic good, but Caron is a worrying neutral evil. All agree the magic user needs watching. 

With a now expanded expeditionary force, the party strikes east towards the ruined castle. The five days of travel are uneventful except for a persistent drizzle over the last few days, and they arrive unmolested at their destination. After a nights rest in a grove of trees a respectable distance from the castle, they leave the guards and wagon behind and head towards the ruins. Skeef and Ranzel, invisible thanks to Solcha's elvish sorcery, take the lead some hundred yards ahead of the rest of the party.  They enter then ruins without any challenge, and the invisible pair head for a small postern door just inside the main gate. This leads into a gently sloping corridor with a wet floor. They disturb a rat who is lurking inside a pair of boots next to a door leading off the corridor; said rat disappears into a whole in the wall as they press on. When the postern door closes, they are plunged into darkness, so Skeef must lead the ranger by the hand. They explore a little further, noting several other passages and making their way to the area behind the main doors into the keep, which they'd noted as securely barred from the courtyard. Stairs were found going down, and a further passage leading north flanked by strange two-headed statues was noted. There was also a portcullis that showed sign of having been manually wrenched apart by something of great strength. 

The unseen duo retreat to meet the main body, and then all return to the corridor. As they do, a snarling troll covered in flecks of copper paint comes around the corner. After a half hearted attempt at parley, swords are drawn and battle begins. The troll is dispatched with little trouble, but the party is too slow in dealing with it's regenerating parts. The troll springs back to life and strikes down Koreyth before the party can once more 'slay' it. This time they chop it out into the courtyard and set the remains alight. 

Koreyth is thankfully still alive, but will need time to recover from his wounds. The party brings the henchman back to the guards and the camp, and then head back ounce more to the ruins. 

GAINS

None

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 troll

LOSSES

Koreyth [unconscious]   

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #34 - Horses and Hell

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 5/ Thief 5) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 4)

Date/Time

Harvester 8 morning to Harvester 24 morning

The two flying creatures get closer, and the party can see they are actually gargoyles. The pair split to attack the two visible party members (Goro and Solcha) from each flank. After a brief fight, one is knocked from the sky and the other turns back towards the ruined castle tower. The party now resumes it's approach, with just Ranzel invisible now.  There is no sign of activity in the sky or on the ground. so they all make their way into the courtyard. Ranzel follows horse-tracks and leads the party into a set of ruined stables. There they see three of their horses; Skeef's is missing. They are also confronted by a rough looking fellow with a leveled crossbow. This fellow claims the horses by right of abandonment, quoting ancient Tenh law. When asked where Skeef's horse has gone, the man answer with a sly look that it has gone on to a new owner. While the encounter almost comes to blows, the party decides in the end to buy back their remaining three horses and leave peacefully. 

Leaving the ruins, the party decides to head west to the capital, Nevond Nevend, to sell off their treasure and rest and retrain. The city of golden baked brick sits atop two hills overlooking the Zumker River. One hill is topped by the palace of Duke Ehyeh, the other by a cluster of temples. While the rest of the party scatters about their business, Goro heads for the temple of Heironeous. The half-orc feels unfairly constrained in his service to The Invincible on account of his race, and wished to advance further in the hierarchy. Unfortunately, the blue and silver robbed priests could not help him, so the half-orc decided direct appeal to his god was the only way forward. Heading to a deserted hill outside the city, he sacrificed magic items to Heironeous  and used his call lightning to expose himself to the power of his god. And from the swirly smoke that was left behind, a grizzled old mercenary appeared. It was soon clear this was the god, and Goro made his pitch. 

Heironeous, impressed by the devotion of the half orc, heard his plea. But would require a service in return. He tasked Goro to travel to the first level of Hell, Avernus. Rumors were about that his brother Hextor, Champion of Evil and Scourge of Battle, had sent his herald Chamazi to the Nine Hells, to reforge alliances with the Dukes of Hell or for some other equally nefarious purpose. Heironeous wished only for Goro to confirm the heralds' return. To make the passage to the outer planes, the god directs his cleric to find the keystone for the gate in the Hellgate tavern in Oxton, and indictes it could be found in the ruins of Nol-Daer. Which, it turns out, is the same ruins from which they'd just recovered their horses. 

Goro retuned to the city, and successfully enlisted his companions to help with the quest. So the party headed east once more for the ruins of Nol-Daer ... 

GAINS

None

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 gargoyle

LOSSES

none   

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #33 - The Barbarian King

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 4 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 4/ Thief 4) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 4)

Date/Time

Harvester 6 evening to Harvester 8 morning

The party once more take up a bottleneck position to deal with the descending undead. When Goro's attempt to turn the skeletal hoard fails, they resort to a long session of smash and chop to fill the bottom of the stairs with bones. Then the Barbarian King himself emerges, and tries twice to use the scepter in his left hand to force party members to flee. But all hold firm, and the undead ruler charges in with the mighty two hand bronze sword. In a tightly fought combat, the party prevails and soon stand over the now dead again remains of the Barbarian King. Pausing for breath, they then loot the corpse of the begemmed iron crown, two handed sword, scepter and chainmail. From the tomb itself they loot a bronze cauldron of yellow gems and a quartet of potions. After fighting off one last band of zombies, they are ready to move on. 

Burdened now with treasure, the party decides it best to leave the rest of the caves and head back to the shrine. When they emerge from the grotto, they are pleasantly surprised to see that, even though it was late afternoon, the mists have not descended and the valley was bathed in late afternoon sun. They decide to check out the village on their way to see what had happened to the dour inhabitants. These they found all dead, looking as if they simplify had dropped on the spot. Under Goro's direction, the party gathers the bodies and strip the huts of wood to build a balefire for the fallen. They then return to the shrine at the valley entrance to rest for then night, then prepare themselves in the morning to finally leave the valley of the Barbarian King. 

However, when they try to recover their horses, the animals did not respond to the summons. Ranzel finds tracks that suggest the horses did remain in the area until a few days ago, when human tracks appear which lead the horses away to the south-west.  The party follows these tracks most of the day, and near nightfall they come within sight of a ruined keep on an outlying foothill of the Griff Mountains. The tracks seems to lead up the the ruins, so Solcha casts invisibility on Skeef, and the druid/thief creeps up to reconnoiter. The fortress is comprised of a square keep and two large round towers. The walls were mostly intact, though tumbled down in a couple of locations. Skeef slinks into the courtyard, and notes two different types of flying creatures overhead; a hawk or bird, and something larger and humanoid flying higher above. He also notes a procession of humanoid forms coming down a wide set of stairs, probably from inside the keep itself. 

Skeef doesn't stick around, and returns to report what he saw to his companions. They decide to find a sheltered spot to rest for the night, and would then  decide what to do in the morning. Their sleep is interrupted by a pack of wolves, whom they avoid by climbing a tree and Skeef placates with his druid-ly ways. In the morning Solcha casts invisibility on Ranzel, and with the two invisible scouts a hundred yards ahead, they party climbs up towards the ruins. They'd made it about 400 yards from the keep when two humanoid flying forms appeared in the sky above, and starts to fly towards the party ...

GAINS

Chainmail +2

Bronze two handed sword +2

Scepter of Command

4 potions of ...

Iron Crown of the Barbarian King [10000gp]

30 yellow gems [3000gp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

22 skeletons

5 zombies

The Barbarian King

LOSSES

none  

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #32 - Deeper Delving

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 4 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 4/ Thief 4) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 4)

Date/Time

Harvester 3 evening to Harvester 6 mid-day

After Goro's attempt to turn the approaching undead fails, the party sets themselves up to either side of the narrow passage in the wall and set about cutting down zombies. Quite successfully, and there is soon a pile of twice-dead bodies on the floor of the sunken room. That done, they turn now to search among the horrific frescos for secret doors. They find no secret doors, but do uncover four more areas of poor stonework under the plaster. Pushing their luck, they uncover two of them and start removing stonework. The first they enter leads into a tomb decorated with frescos of dark twisted forest and humans being strangled by tree monsters. Along the walls slump eight bodies, wrapped in winding sheet, and with long dark vines or roots growing out of them. At the end is a round depression filled with more clay jars, these much smaller than the norm. Before entering, the party lights one of the bodies on fire with oil, which activates it and three others. These attack, trying to strangle with their vines, but again thanks to clever tactical use of the narrow opening, these vine-zombies are slain. But the party suffers more injury themselves, so they decide it best to retreat, rest and recover.  

Making their way out of the tomb, they find night has fallen and the mist is thick about them. And rather than risk what may lurk within, they decide to camp in the entrance grotto for the night. But even here their sleep is interrupted by phantom warriors, so they retreat further back into the tomb. The rest of the night passes without interruption, and once the mist rises, the party heads back to the shrine at the valley entrance and settle in there for a few days. They are surprised find they do not heal as in the past, though everyone's life force is slowing returning.  

Now recovered, they head back to the tomb and the chamber of the plants. Entering the chamber fully, they find the ceramic jars all contain liquid; 5 a sweet, golden liquid, 3 a thick green syrup, 5 an acrid red liquid, and two (wrapped in birch bark), a pungent orange liquid. This disturbance of grave goods activates the last four vine-zombies, who are dispatched like the rest. 

Exploring the next chamber, the party finds a tomb of similar design/dimensions to the last. It's frescos depict animals and man-animal hybrids torturing faceless humans, and the room itself is stuffed full of mummified animal corpses. The air is heavy with spice and grave, and torches flicker with a strange green light. At the far end is a covered well, sealed with stucco and painted with a cat's eye. Ranzel pries off the lid, and the room explodes in a ball of fire. Once the smoke clears, examination of the well reveals it leads to another chamber full of wrapped bodies, both human and animal. Solcha uses her wand of magic detection which indicates an item of significant value in the lower chamber. A search uncovers a magical ring, which Skeef puts on. He suddenly feels a little feverish, but it seems to pass. 

Proceeding around the round chamber, they uncover the last two loose stone walls. The first opens into a crude chamber of jumbled human bones, obviously the final resting place of lesser men and slaves. The fourth opening leads into a narrow staircase, leading down. The walls shows more scenes of brutal conquest, pillage, blood sacrifice and orgies. It leads into a chamber filled with grave goods left for use in the afterlife; food, tools, household items. Beyond is a larger chamber with a beaten earth floor, unlike the others in this tomb  which so far have been of fitted stone. At the end of the chamber is a pair of stone doors sealed with red ochre clay. Goro and Ranzel break the seal and pry open the doors, which lead to a short staircase going up and a pair of wooden doors. The doors are decorated with a faded painting of what can only be the Barbarian King; a muscular bearded man wearing an iron crown, and holding a scepter and a sword. After the thief checks for traps, Goro and Ranzel pull open these doors as well. From the inside comes the sound of something stirring and a rattling of bones. As the party retreats down the stairs to a better tactical position, they hear a hollow, dead voice echo from the chamber: "WHO DARES DISTURB MY REST; PREPARE NOW TO MAKE YOUR ETERNAL REST WITHIN THESE WALLS"...   

GAINS

Ring of Protection +1

5 jars of sweet, golden liquid

3 jars of thick green syrup

5 jars of an acrid red liquid

2 jars (wrapped in birch bark) of a pungent orange liquid

KILLS/VICTORIES

14 Zombies

8 Vine Zombies

LOSSES

none 

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #31 - Lootable Tombs

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 4 / Magic User 4)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 4/ Thief 4) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 4)

Date/Time

Harvester 3 mid-day to Harvester 3 evening

The party decides to leave the bear statues for now, and search more of the cave complex for clues. After examining a bat-filled shaft, they opt to not temp fate at an intersection guarded by a trio of bear statues. But looking at their map, they see a possible way around and loop back in that direction. They find more passages branching off, and another burial chamber with offerings on the floor and blackened bodies in the alcoves. These they bypass and find at the other end of the cave a chamber of fitted stone, the first seem thus far. Inside is an open sarcophagus with a wrapped body, and with a bronze cauldron of gold dust at the foot. Taking care to not actually disturb anything just yet, the party sets up a rope and grapple so they can go out in the hallway and pull the body up from a distance. 

This works fine, except it summons black shadows form the corpses in the cave, and shortly after the wrapped and mummified corpse they'd disturbed also arrived. A furious fight is begun, with the shadows draining strength to go along with the already drained life force from which most suffer. Though a close run thing, in the end the party is victorious. They loot the burial chamber of it's grave goods and the cauldron of gold dust, and liberate a magical ring and cloak along with some gems and jewelry from the mummy. 

Two of the gems were in the mummy's eyes, which made the party think of the eyeless statue they'd recently left. So they head back in that direction, and Solcha bravely places the gems in the barbarian statues eyes. And the wall it is on immediately slides open, revealing a narrow 4' wide and high crawlspace. This leads into a corridor of more regular dimensions, and after bypassing a pit trap there, they come to another tomb. A body, dressed in armor of shinning bronze and with a bronze axe and shield, lay on a bier at the end of the room.  This they haul to the floor using the rope and grappling hook trick, and are pleased to see that it does not animate and attack them. Closer examination reveals that much of the accouterments are a sham. The armor and axe are just soft copper, and the clothing and furs cheap pastiche. The shield and gold jewelry are at least real. 

Searching behind the brier for a secret door, the party finds instead a poorly constructed wall covered in plaster. They are able to disassemble the stones easily, and pass through into a circular chamber. Murals cover the walls, showing scenes of the worm, the eagle, the wolf and the bear. All are unpleasant to see, focused on gore and death and blood. The centre of the room is a sunken floor with alcoves along the walls. In these the party finds more grave offerings. They also find the goods match with the animal totem of the opposite wall: ash and dirt for the worm, crushed rodents for the eagle, lamb skulls for the wolf, and human bone for the bear. 

Deciding the time had come to retreat, rest and heal, the party prepares to leave. But Skeef, keeping watch at the entrance, calls a warning. A large group of zombies are approaching ....

GAINS

3 gems (350gp each)

630gp gold dust

300gp worth of grave goods

Jewelry (300gp) 

Cloak +1

Ring of Fire Resistance

Shield +1  

KILLS/VICTORIES

3 Shadows

1 Mummy 

LOSSES

none