Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 85 - Midnight Opal Meets Soul Gem

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 7) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7) 
Chanee (Human Paladin 6)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Goodmonth 11 (later night) -  Harvester 11 (day) 

... Solcha, in the lead, reaches the end of the shaft first. She emerges into a large dome of that blue-silvery metal. And then is then nearly blinded by an intense flash of light off to the left. When her vision clears, she notes that the only thing in the room is a large white gem floating 4' off the floor at the centre. This could only be the Soul Gem, twin of their Midnight Opal. The party emerges one by one, the spell casters dropping protective spells as they emerge, and Skeef staying hunkered down in the shaft for now and supporting with spells. The intense light flashes again, and they realize it emerges from the gem, illuminating a different sector of the room each time. They try guessing where each flash will appear, assuming it is not good for them, as they try to figure out what to do with the Opal and Gem.  And it is not good, as one flash catches them. Baqua turns a translucent white and drops dead, her soul floating towards the Gem. The others are lucky to just have themselves and their belongings bleached the same white. 

Finding there is a force-field round the gem, they try many ways to get past it. In the end they just press the Opal against it, and eventually it breaks through and smashes into the Gem. Solcha then uses her rope trick scroll to get her out of there, except Channe who stays behind to guard Baqua's body and to see what happens. The paladin sees the two combine into a swirling cloud of ectoplasmic black and white before exploding, sending a shower of thousands of black and white souls throughout the dome. Baqua's soul returns to her and she stands up once more alive. The rest head for the shaft and head down into the tower. 

The tower now begins to shake and rumble, so the party (now out of the rope trick refuge) figure they have to get back to the first room and get out of here. They do this with relative ease, finding all the monsters who might stop them have been killed. They successfully get back to the room with the padded chairs, then out of the dungeons below the ruined keep to emerge onto the surface just as the twin moons Clene and Luna are setting and the rosy fingered dawn rises to the east. 

After a day and night to rest and recover, they load onto the carpet (and Skeef turns into his eagle form) to head for the City of Greyhawk to prepare for the next stage of their journey west to the Lost Caverns. There they rest more, train and trade, and then look at their empty coin purses trying to figure out what comes next. 

 

GAINS

None

KILLS/VICTORIES

None

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 86 - Public Service

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 8 / Thief 8) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 7) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 8) 
Chanee (Human Paladin 7)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Harvester 11 (day) - Harvester 14 (morning)  

The party is sitting in their inn, commiserating over a lack of ready funds, when a foppish young man enters. He goes to the bar and speaks to the barkeep, who points in the party's direction. The man comes over and introduces himself as Tristram Whackerton-ffoulkes, chief clerk to the Honourable Judge Porthos, a senior judge of the Free City of Greyhawk. The judge it seems is in need of short term bodyguards; very short, as in just for one night. Based on what Tristram has heard, the party is both highly capable and highly broke. Well, he's not wrong there, so the party accompanies the clerk to Judge Pothos manse in the Garden District. 

They find Judge Porthos awaiting them; a short round man in saffron and gold robes. He is unwilling to provide many details of why he needs protection, but is willing to pay 1000gp per person to keep him safe here in his mansion this night. Probing by the party reveals little more (though Solcha uses ESP to later learn someone is stalking the Judge, someone the Judge seems to have unknowingly wrongly convicted and had executed), but in the end they settle on a fee of 1350gp each and a free raise dead should they need it. The Judge is also adamant that he not be left alone at all during the night, and he refuses to spend the night anywhere but his mansion. 

The party spends the day preparing the manse with traps and tripwires, identifying choke points, and preparing spells. Judge Porthos treats them to a fine meal (but no wine, please) before dismissing the servants. The Judge then equips himself with what the party assumes to be magical defensive gear, and they all settle down inside Goro's protection from evil 10' radius to await what may come. 

What comes first is two groups of humanoids, a quartet of troglodytes and one of gnolls. These stumble into the room where the party and Judge are hunkered down, but only fight briefly before fleeing. presumably to let someone/something know the target has been found. All is quiet for  another hour, until Skeef hears faint chanting outside. And suddenly the wall of the room bursts inward, revealing a blocky earth elemental. Unable to pass the protection  circle, it goes to work on the ceiling trying to collapse it onto the party and the Judge. This forces the party to act, with Solcha and Skeef heading for the hole in the wall and the rest of the party battling the elemental and protecting the judge. 

Skeef and Solcha see, on the patio below, a shadowy human form who is obviously directing the elementals' actions. Flanking him are the gnolls and trogs, who now begin to climb up the rubble from the wall to attack. Druid and magic user drop a series of spells on the figure, which results in the elemental breaking free of control and turning on it's summoner. The figure quickly flees into darkness, but not before hurling something up into the house and shouting a word. And suddenly there is a mastodon creaking the floorboards in the room. While most of the party fights the beast, Goro drags the Judge away to a safer place while Skeef (as a bat) and Chanee head outside to find the shadowy figure. This is easy, as he has circled back to the front of the house. Confronted  there, the figure screams "Make way! I have no fight with you! I want Porthos!!!" before finally falling to the paladins' blade. 

Dawn finds the manse somewhat worse for wear that before. But the party fulfilled the terms of their contract, and walk away with a few more gold to prepare for their next adventures. 

GAINS

6 x 1350gp

chime of opening

wand of paralyzation

figure of wonderous power (marble mastodon)

scroll (limited wish) 

KILLS/VICTORIES

4 troglodytes

4 gnolls

1 earth elemental [16HD]

1 mastodon  

Arkalyne Tottoni the Shade

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 84 - Through Earth, Fire and Water

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 7) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7) 
Chanee (Human Paladin 6)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Goodmonth 11 (night) - Goodmonth 11 (later night) 

Pushing aside the three carcases, the party continues along the wall. And almost immediately comes to a wrought iron staircase going up, and a mound of stone and earth nearby. The mound proves to be the sphinx's lair, and a pile of treasure is looted from there. Everyone then heads up the stairs, which leads them into well lit area full of trees and undergrowth. The growth is too thick for anyone but the druid to pass through, so they follow a winding pebbled path through the verdant vale. It proves to be a maze of branching paths, and at some intersections they are ambushed from above by strange monkey like creatures. The paths eventually lead to a small clearing. At the centre is a rose garden. Kneeling back on to the party is a brown robed figure, softly singing and tending the garden. Skeef immediately drops an entangle spell on the figure, and Goro follows with a silence. The figure rises and turns to face the party, pulling back it's hood. And revealing a feminine face with a writhing mass of snakes for hair! The medusa's gaze immediately turns Solcha to stone. The others shake off the effect, and averting eyes turn to attack. Goro eventually throws a bag over her head, allowing petrification-free attacks on her. Once the medusa is dead, they cut off the head and leave it in the bag for potential future use. And Goro uses a hoarded dispel magic scroll to bring the elf back to flesh-dom.   

After looting a small coffer hidden in the rose garden, the party continues around the maze until they come to another wrought iron staircase. This leads up to a field of fire, with just a few safe paths and platforms. At the far end they can see another staircase; but standing next to it is a huge fire giant. The party (less Skeef) jumps on the carpet to loop around the outer wall towards the giant and stairs. At about the halfway point, the giant turns to pick up a stone from a nearby pile, and hurls it at the party. Which encourages the party to 'put on the gas' and zoom over to take the giant on face to face.  Skeef transforms into a giant eagle so he can fly above the flames and straight across to room to join them. But when he gets halfway across, he is suddenly pushed upward with great force, getting smashed against the ceiling and partway into a shaft leading up. 

As eagle-Skeef claws his way to safety, the rest of the party take on the giant. Solcha takes a boulder to the face, but otherwise the fight goes smoothly and the giant is soon dead. Once more they loot a pile of treasure and head to the stairs. But are annoyed to find the stairs are an illusion. And swiftly realize they are going to have to go up the reverse gravity shaft Skeef has discovered. 

One by one, they pass below the shaft and "fall" up, going through the shaft and exiting into a water filled area. They 'fall' up to the ocean, splashing down into 15' of warm salt water. Having seen strange shapes swimming about during their fall, the party all swiftly swim to an adjacent sandy island. They all then jump once more on the carpet to scout from the air. They see a mass of coral fills part of the sea, and in it is a cleared space. Closer examination shows something on the bottom. As Baqua crawls along the walls to join them, Solcha and Goro (protected from drowning by amulet and potion) dive in. They find a round metallic hatch with a wheel-like device at the centre. Solcha starts to turn it, as Goro (now assisted by a dolphin-Skeef) holds of the manta rays that now converge on the trio. Once the hatch is open, Solcha swims "down" the revealed shaft. She breaks into an air filled shaft, and simultaneously gets a nauseous feeling as gravity twists back to normal. The elf swims back to let everyone know, and then one by one they descend/ascend the shaft to their next challenge ... 

GAINS

Gems (8x50, 1x10, 500, 700, 5000, 10000) 

3000gp

Be-gemmed platinum crown (8000gp)

Potion of Healing

Potion of Sweetwater

Footman's Mace +2

Bracers AC4

Ring of Feather Falling

KILLS/VICTORIES

5 Su-Monsters

1 Medusa

1 Fire Giant

1 Ixitxachitl 

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 83 - Are You Man Enough?

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 7) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7) 
Chanee (Human Paladin 6)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Goodmonth 10 (night) - Goodmonth 11 (night) 

The night passes without incident, except for Skeef's sudden return from whatever space/time warp he'd stumbled into. After preparing spells and healing, the party enter the last, south east, tower. This one warns them to "TAKE CARE WHERE YOU STEP". And the first room they enter has a floor inscribed with a black 10'x10' grid. So they very carefully tap and search their way across the room, Skeef in the lead. They cross without incident, but when the druid/thief tries the same in the next gridded room, a giant lizard materializes in front of him and must be slain. So instead, the party rolls out the carpet of flying and fly over the grid. Except Baqua, who uses her gauntlets to work her way across walls and ceiling. 

After likewise passing through another gridded room, they next enter yet another gridded room in which 16 bugbears stand statue-like scattered across the space. And at the far end can also be seen a stone sarcophagus. The party attempts once more to fly over to the sarcophagus and avoid all trouble. However, this time that does not work; four of the humanoids animate and race to attack them when they land. These are slain with relative ease, and the lid of the sarcophagus is removed to reveal a mass of copper and silver coin, a small number of gems, and the fourth "key".

Grabbing the key, the party flies onward, once more animating 4 bugbears when they exit the room. They are able to out-fly (and Baqua out-climb) them, reaching the end of the passage facing yet another blue-ish metal wall with the ubiquitous 'key' carving.  After turning to face and slay the four pursuing bugbears, the party opts to rest here in the corridor to allow the spellcasters to rest and memorize spells once more. By that time, the full moons will have risen above the horizon, giving them access to the ghostly tower above. 

When everyone is ready, they place the four key pieces in the engraving. This causes the wall to slide open, revealing a 20'x20' room furnished with 8 thickly padded reclining chairs.   Which  everyone rushes to, assuming the worst. And they are just barely seated when they all feel themselves slammed back in the chairs by a great force, which dissipates after about 10 seconds. Looking up, they can now see a 5' opening in the ceiling that had not been there before. Skeef once more leading the way, they climb up ...

... into clouds of billowing warm mist that block view of anything more than 10' away. Underfoot is stone and rubble, but otherwise there is no sign of anything. Flying up with the carpet, they find the room is about 80' high. The party then proceeds to march in a straight line until they hit a wall, and then walk along it to see what they encounter. The room proves the be circular, and after getting about a quarter of the way around, they suddenly hear a flap of wings and a thud as a creature lands in front of them. 

It is a gynosphinx, and the lion-lady immediately begins to question them and leave unsubtle hints in her husky voice that she is in need of male companionship. Unwilling to contemplate interspecies liaisons (although she was clear none of them is 'man enough' for her), the party tries to reason with the sphinx. Maybe if she  tells them about the soul gem, they can help her leave the tower to "find a man" herself? 

This seems to enrage her, and screaming something about being trapped here by Galap-Dreidel, she attacks. And is joined by two massive pteranodons who'd been ciciling in the mist above. It is a short combat that sees Chanee and Baqua suffer a symbol of pain before the three beasts are slain. 

GAINS

gems (10, 50, 50, 1000) 

KILLS/VICTORIES

4 Bugbears

1 Giant Lizard

1 gynosphinx

2 pteradons 

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 82 - It's All Fun and Games

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7) 
Chanee (Human Paladin 6)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Goodmonth 10 (mid-afternoon) - Goodmonth 10 (night) 

As the party leaves the crystal pillar room, Skeef suddenly disappears and his place is taken by the returning Chanee. Their mage mutters something about metamagical margins, and once more they collectively shug and move on. Briefly exploring  silent, dark and then silent/dark rooms, they arrive in a large chamber with multiple 8' high tunnels leading into it. Observing a large metal chest in one corner, the party advances. And then an earthquake like rumbling strikes, and a massive beetle headed humanoid bursts forth from one of the tunnels.  Baqua is hurt grievously, and spends the rest of the combat alternating between a berserk rage and dumb stupor. Luckily the combat is short, and the party returns to treasure hunting. And indeed they find it; a mass of gold and silver coins, plus another of the silver-blue metal 'keys'. 

Leaving the dead umber hulk behind, the party pushes on until they once more encounter a metal wall with another recessed carving of a square with a circle on each corner. Now they know there appears be be multiple ways to proceed once they have all four keys. They retreat, scooping up the coins onto the carpet of flying, burying them in the courtyard for now as it's much too heavy a load to carry. 

The party moves next to the NE tower. The message on the entry corridor walls reads "IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES". At least that sounds reassuring ... Beyond is a room with colored circles painted on the floor; lines of blue, green, yellow and red. Sensing a trap, the party all cross the room taking care to touch each colour only once with a different hand/foot each time. Cartwheels all the way. They pass successfully. But on the other side they encounter something that stymies them; an impenetrable curtain of beads!! The party spends hours looking for a secret door, and tries all forms of circle dancing in the previous room, to find a way to pass by. In the end, Solcha in frustration just runs at the beads; and passes through! On the other side a band of gnolls awaits her, but she is able to talk to them long enough for others to get through the curtain (but not without injury and embarrassing face-plants in some cases) and assist her. 

Gnolls dead, the party continues on to the end of the passage where 5 alcoves await. Each has a roughly human shaped indentation. Chanee immediately walks over and gets into one. Metal bands spring out from the sides binding the paladin at wrist and ankle, And the alcove them turns 180 degrees and whisks away down a tunnel into darkness. The others shrug and do the same, finding themselves in a room with a black and white checkered floor. At the far side is kingly statue, 7' tall with a crown and sword, holding one hand palm out towards the party. Thinking back to the message, the party recognizes the floor as a chess board. And so they move across mimicking moves of the chess pieces on whose tiles they have landed. They successfully cross and after a perfunctory look at the statue, move on. A long winding corridor leads them once more to a blank metal wall with carving. 

Figuring they must have missed a 'key' somewhere, they head back to the statue. Goro takes it by the hand, and a door pops open in its chest. And there is the third 'key'. Now battered, they decide to retreat once more to the surface. But along the way have to batter past the bead curtain once more, and fight some guardian bugbears, before emerging into the dark of night in the surface ruins and set up camp. 

GAINS

5000sp

7000gp

KILLS/VICTORIES

Umber Hulk

6 Gnolls

4 Bugbears

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 81 - Of Things Best Not Seen, and Things Best Not Said

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 7) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7) 
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Goodmonth 10 (midday) - Goodmonth 10 (mid afternoon) 

As the party finishes gathering the treasure and the strange metal object, their redoubtable paladin suddenly vanishes from sight. With Solcha muttering something about 'powerful wizard magical time dimensional dilation temporal fields' or something, the party shrugs and moves out the room and down a long winding corridor. After several twists and turns, they see that something lurks in the darkness ahead. The strange reptilian creature lifts its head and gazes at the party. Goro barely shrugs off a sense of suddenly stony-ness before the might of the party falls on the thing, Several more near-petrifications occur before the beast is battered to bits. Just around the corner they encounter a room; which blazes with the night of a thousand suns when Goro stick his continual light  coin in for a look. After much experimentation, they discover the room is filled with very highly polished metal mirrors, orientated to 'build up' light and reflect it in an almighty blaze. 

Further down the passage they open a door and release a giant rolling stone boulder. The party flees before it and takes refuge in the mirror room as the stone ball crashes on down the corridor. Once danger is past, they return to the door, open it, and are surprised to find another boulder rolling towards them. This 'boulder and run' process continues for some time until Skeef casts stone shape to drive a passage though the walls and around the trap. Curiously, once they get into the 'boulder' room, they find no boulder or anything else of interest. 

Beyond they follow another wide passage that leads to a solid wall of the strange blue-ish metal. In the centre at about waist level is a recessed carving of a square with a circle on each corner. The party notes right away that (a) it kind of looks like the ruins of the tower and (b) the weird blue-ish metal thing from the manticore lair fits exactly into one side. Solcha also searches and finds hints of a doorway, but no sign of how to open it. Figuring the metal piece is a key, and that they need three more to get beyond the metal door, the party retreats and heads back to the surface ruins and the NW tower. 

Descending below the NW tower, the party walks a wide corridor with another cryptic message carved on the wall "TAKE CARE WHAT YOU SPEAK AND WHERE YOU LOOK". Goro immediately pulls out his candle wax to prepare to plug his ears. At the end of the corridor they come to a door. Beyond is a room, at the centre of which is a crystal pillar topped by a 8' diameter crystal sphere. Inside the sphere swirls mist and something(s) else. On the base are carved four words: IXAM, ALRASTIL, PENTUKO, MYRG. Finding that door exiting the room is locked and unopenable, the party sits down to puzzle out the words, assuming they are some sort of clue. Several hours and much ink later, they can make no sense of it. So Goro boldly reads the four words aloud. And immediately a mist drift out of the globe and deposits four monsters in front of the cleric; and ice toad, minotaur, owl bear, and carnivorous ape. These tear into the half orc, all hitting hard, before his companions come to assist. In the end all four are slain. The party also noted the crystal ball has shrunk to about the size of a kobolds skull. And the exit door is nowe unlocked ... 

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

Basilisk

Owl Bear

Ice Toad

Minotaur

Carnivorous Ape  

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 80 - The Ghost Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 7) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7) 
Chanee (Human Paladin 6)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]

Date/Time

Reaping 14 (morning) - Goodmonth 10 (midday)

The party spends the next three weeks around Trigol, preparing for the next stage of their adventures. As the date of the double full moons approach, the party departs town on the carpet, Skeef eagle in tow. Their destination is the rugged southern shore of the Nyr Dyr and the Ghost Tower. And there they  intend to finally rid themselves of the midnight opal, and perhaps rid themselves of the constant trouble it has brought. 

Their travel was wet and cold, but otherwise uneventful. Arriving at their destination in the evening, they see high on a promontory over the Nyr Dyv a ruined square keep. Though the walls still stand, they are pieced by numerous gaps, and the four corner towers are tumbled down onto themselves. And from their flying perch, they see the central keep or tower has likewise collapsed into a pile of rubble. After confirming that there are no foes about, the party lands and sets up camp for the night inside the confines of the keep. 

Next day, they begin to explore the ruins. Approaching the SE corner tower, they find a door still stands leading from the courtyard into the tower. The door is of an odd, untarnished metal. But barred by a terribly rusted lock. Solcha knocks this open, and then pushes open the door. Inside a spiral metal staircase, in remarkably good shape, leads down into darkness. Reaching bottom, they proceed along a long 20' wide corridor. Along one wall is an inscription, written in massive letters: "NOT TO BE BELIEVED. Passing carefully through one room, they explore another that leads off the corridor. It contains a strange set of desiccated membrane-covered wings, pinned up and hanging from the ceiling.  Beyond this further down the passage, they enter a room in which the ceiling has partly collapsed. As they attempt to move through, a beastly creatures springs atop one rubble pile. It has the face of a man, body of a lion, and wings of a bat. And with  drooling rumble says only "man flesh!" before firing spikes from it's tail. Spells and swords take it down, but not before it peppers the party with piecing. Behind the rubble pile they find the remains of previous victims, and a small smattering of treasure: a scroll case, two potions and a suit of unrusted chainmail.  

GAINS

Potion of Flying

Potion of Water Breathing

MU Scroll - Rope Trick

Chainmail +2 (elf sized) 

KILLS/VICTORIES

Manticore 

LOSSES

none