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

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 79 - Depths and Death

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 5)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 5)]

Date/Time

Richfest 3 (morning) - Reaping 14 (morning) 

The party spends the next day in rest and recovery under the protection of Willowrose and the treants, who are getting ready to move the forest back to it's original position. That night, under the Midsummer Eve moon, Skeef and the two initiates of Obad-hai, Ban and Malichi, harvest their mistletoe. Next morning, as the party prepares to leave, they decide to go check out this cave/cleft and lava flow where Duncan said the trolls originated. They are concerned that something else could emerge and wreck more havoc. They find the rock face easily, a hours flight south of the current location of the forest.  It is a narrow cleft in the stone, half filled with a now solid lava flow.  There is just enough room to squeeze in, so the party decide to delve a little to see what lies beyond, and perhaps find out where the trolls had come from. It proves to be no simple cave however; 8 hours of descending through the narrow passage and the party finally emerges into a wider tunnel of terraces, flowstone, strange rock formations, all lit by a faint mauve radiance from the lichen growing on the walls. Skeef questions a blind cave salamander, who can provide little information except that two and four legged creatures do pass this way at times. The party is wary of going too much further, but Solcha does send a wizard eye to scout ahead. At the edge of its range, she spies a pair of humanoids with pitch-black skin and white hair, standing guard and watching the passage. She recognizes these as drow, the dreaded dark demon worshiping elves of the Underdark.  Her eye  also spies another 10 drow resting in a side passage. This looks like too much to just blunder into, so the party quietly retreats back up the passage. Once they've gone a fair distance, Skeef blocks of the passage with stone shape to protect their rest tonight and the surface world in general from further excursions from the Underdark. 

Next morning, the party continues back towards the surface. Just as they sense sunlight ahead, Goro at the head of the line is surprised to find the entrance webbed shut.  A quick search for giant spiders ensues; none are found. But they do hear a chuckle, and they see a man suddenly appear on the opposite side of the web. It is Polistera the wizard, back again! He once more offers them their lives in exchange for the Midnight Opal. The party answers with violence. And is quickly in a very tight spot. Magic just bounces off the wizard, but he cuts down Solcha, Chanee and Baqua with a cone of cold. With just Goro and Skeef still standing, the half orc bursts through the web thanks to his ring of free action. He then turns to lay into Polistera with his sword, while Skeef transforms to a giant skunk and sprays the wizard. This causes him to make a flying retreat, while Skeef pursues as a giant eagle. Goro turns to grab the opal for safe keeping, and is then attacked by some invisible foe. Skeef chases off Polistera and then he and Goro finish off the unseen attacker. And then they immediately pile everyone onto the carpet and fly at full speed to the town of Trigol to get assistance for their deceased friends. 

The next week are spent in the care of the priests of Heironeous, followed by some training and other upkeep as they party prepares to head off to the Ghost Tower to deal with the Midnight Opal once and for all.   

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

Invisible Stalker 

LOSSES

Solcha

Chanee

Baqua 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 78 - The Grand Alliance

 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 5)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 5)]

Date/Time

Richfest 1 (mid-day) - Richfest 3 (morning) 

While Duncan heads back through the woods to gather his folk for the coming confrontation with the trolls, the party settles down to rest for the evening and into the night under the watchful eye of Willowrose and the treants. They awake under the stars, memorize spells and prepare to intercept the troll warparties; the trees of the forest had passed word to Willowrose confirming that the foul humanoids continued to move through the night to some unknown final destination, Based on the information, the party was able to plot an intercept course so they and their firbolg and treant allies could catch them as dawn broke.  

The party, half dozen giants and ten of Willowrose folk head out under the light of a waxing Luna,  and are successful in catching the first band of trolls unaware and in the flank as the sun rose. As the party's battle line advances, the firbolgs charge into the trolls, the treants animate the trees to grab and hold the creatures, and the party follows with supporting magic and (carefully controlled) fire to make sure the trolls stay dead.They repeat this with a second band of trolls, the creatures being to dumb to come to each others aid even  with the sound of battle ringing through the forest. But having defeated this second band, they receive a nasty surprise when Eydral the troll shaman/chieftainess catches them in an ambush. Alas, even though some of the now battered firbolgs have to fall out of the line, the tried and true combination of giant/trees/magic & fire is too much for even the wily Eydral. And certainly was for the final band of trolls they hunt down nearby. They burn (carefully) all the bodies, loot Eydral of a mass of strange, uncouth jewelry, and then return to Willowroses court and the firbolg clan to celebrate their collective victory. 

GAINS

Strange, uncouth jewelry (17000gp) 

KILLS/VICTORIES

Eydral + 33 Trolls

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 77 - Trolls?!? Why Does it Always Have to be Trolls!

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 5)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 5)]

Date/Time

Wealsun 28 (morning) to Richfest 1 (mid-day) 

The party rises with the sun and heads towards the rambling margins of Buran Wood. There Skeef uses a speak with plants to ask the trees why they are moving. And the answer he receives is "we answer the call of the Lady of the Forest". Skeef tries to get more details on who or what the Lady is, but the trees aren't very clear; she seems to look both human and not-human. The druid asks the trees where they can find the Lady, and are pointed in the vague direction of the centre of the wood. The trees also say they have sent word to the Lady of the party, but there is no indication of how long that communication will take. 

Following the trees' directions, the party hops aboard the carpet of flying (and Skeef turns into his usual giant eagle) and flys a search pattern over the forest heading south-west. But the thick canopy of the ancient wood stymies their search. Nightfall finds them setting up camp just inside the forest under a bluff next to a stream; they'd discovered the trees would move around impassible obstacles so this would be a safe place to rest. Except for the band of trolls that emerg out of the deepening twilight. These tear viciously into the party, bring Chanee to near death and batters the rest of the party badly. Three of the trolls are slain, and two succumb to fear and flee into the night. The party is just cleaning their blades and burning bits of troll when someone else emerges from the darkness; a trio of humans dressed in clothing of woodland hues. They cautiously introduce themselves as Rhune, his sister Tanree and cousin Kinren, saying they are travelers who got trapped when the wood moved over them. They probe the party as to their intentions and question them about their fight with the trolls. When they seem satisfied, the three alter themselves into the form of shortish-giants, and bade the party follow them to the rest of their clan. There the clan leader Duncan can answer their questions.  

The party agrees, and follows the trio through the still moving trees to a temporary camping site on the verge of a small lake. There Chanee receives aid for his hurts, and the rest of the party gets the story of the moving wood. The giants have lived peacefully in Buran Wood for years uncounted, sharing it with the treants who also live here. But about a week go, a ravanging band of trolls, lead by a viciously cunning shaman named Eydral, appeared suddenly in the wood. The giants fought them, but were getting overwhelmed by the regenerating trolls. And so turned to fire; which immediately brought out the wrath of the treants and their queen Willowrose. Fire being anathema to these guardians of the wood, she decided the best thing to do is move the wood. And so Buran Wood became mobile. But the trolls are still there, and the giants are still fighting them, though they are now much depleted in numbers. 

The party convinces Duncan to lead them to Willowrose so they can mend the rift between the two and allow all to turn their attention on the trolls.  He agrees, and next morning leads the party through the shambling  trees to a clearing near the centre of the wood. There they find the slim Willowrose, who looks like a cross between a willow tree and and dryad, with her court. First thing the party does is inform her the wood is about to overrun the human village of Dunsinane; Willowrose immediately halts the moving trees. They then convince the treats to join with the party and the giants to fight the trolls. Willowrose however is adamant that use of fire must be very strictly controlled; no combat using fire inside the wood and any other use very carefully controlled. Both the party and the giants agree, and start to plan how to best deal with the trolls. Willowrose tells them her trees say the trolls have left the cave where they've been holed up for the last few days; the movement of the trees has now left them outside the forest canopy. The foul beasts are heading north east through the woods, moving in hunting bands towards some unknown destination. Although there is a roadside inn that has just been brought inside the verges of the forest ... 

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

3 Trolls

LOSSES

Chanee (temp) 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 76 - To The Woods!

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 5)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 5)]

Date/Time

Wealsun 14 (morning) to Wealsun 28 (morning) 

The party rolls Asflag up in the carpet and head off to the College of Wizardry and Thaumaturgistry and a meeting with their employers, leaving Baqua invisible outside with a silenced pebble in case things got out of hand. The conference went off the rails quickly, Mirim accusing the party of not completing the terms of their contract; it seems she had been keeping a close magical eye on them and noted several potentially dangerous creatures the party did not dispose of. And then accusations started to fly about the 'side' deals; although Endoc seemed content. In the end, the party under duress opted to forgo their contract payment and get out of town since Miran and Tullintot seemed intent on getting the carpet and spellbooks and just making their lives difficult in general.  

Quietly burying Asflag outside the city walla, the party uses their new flying transportation to head south towards Trigol, a trading hub on the border between the County and the Kingdom of Nyrond. There they settled in the train and rest, and Goro is able to make contact with the local temple of Heironeous and arrange for Skeef's leg to be un-withered.  And then Skeef reminds everyone he needs to harvest some mistletoe, and told them of an old oak forest halfway back to Radigast City where he needs to be by Midsummers Eve. And so once more they head out on the carpet of flying and in a few days find themselves in village of Dunsianae just north of Buran Wood. 

Settling in at "The Ancient Dog" to wait the few days until Midsummer, they soon note a pair of robed figures tucked in the shadows next to the hearth. They appear to be watching the party, so Chanee strides over and turns on his paladin charm. The two are convinced to join the party at their table, and immediately introduce themselves to Skeef as Ban and Malichi, initiates of Obad-hai. It seems they too have come to Buran Wood to harvest mistletoe. But have noted something troubling: the wood is moving! It is ambling north towards the village, slowly but surely, and will likely overrun Dunsinane within 3 days. The locals haven't noticed yet; they tend to shun Buran Wood and their fields don't extend that far south. 

The party sets out that night to examine to edges of  the wood, and confirm the story told by the two young druids. They mark the edge of the wood with a stake and then head back to the inn, intending to follow-up in the morning to see just how far the wood has moved.

GAINS

Skeef's Leg

KILLS/VICTORIES

none

LOSSES

none