Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 75 - The Wizards End

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Wealsun 12 (morning) to Wealsun 14 (morning) 

The party takes one last scan of the bedchamber and decides it is time to head back down to the laboratory to figure out what to do with whatever pulsed and swirled above the pentagram. But as they head for the stairs, Solcha notes a strange crunching sounds emanating from her backpack. Opening it up, she is horrified to find a pair of the big green worms crewing up her spell book! One is quickly squished, but the other escapes to the sounds of muttered sweary elfish.   

One back in the laboratory, they decide to remove Asflag (assuming that is who it is) from the swirling ashen cloud, hoping that will close the gate or portal. A complex collection of rope is used to brace around the pillars at the edge of the room. Solcha lassos the legs as they pass by, and the whole party heaves and pulls the body out of the cloud. Horrified, they see the upper half of the body is partly skeletal, defleshed, torn and bleeding and diseased. Equally horrifying is the view through the 'hole' left in the cloud; a gloomy dull grey landscape emanating waves of ennui. As the party turns to see what can be done to help/pump information from Asflag, a cloud of green-grey spores shoot out of the cloud causing all the hack and cough. This is shortly followed of a trio of strange creatures, like man-size storks with wickly long and sharp beaks, and human like hands.   Battle ensures, and the party takes much hurt before the three vile things are destroyed. 

Turning to Asflag, they try to question the wizard. But being short of tongue and missing part of his brain, communication is difficult and degenerates into grunts and pointing. Solcha use a potion of ESP to pry into what little grey matter is left. She learns the wizard had been trying to entrap the Oniodaemon from the glooms of Hades, but something went wrong and he was himself pulled partly into the Lower Plane. Asked how to close the gate, his response was a bit confusing and garbled, but they party surmised either someone has to go though  the cloud and close the gate from the other side; or they had to 'reverse' the pentagram on the floor.  They opted for the second, and the party started work under Solcha's supervision, shifting the diamond powder forming the pentagram into the mirror image of that protective device.  Chanee, refusing to even touch such an evil thing, dispatches the dying Asflag and stuffs the body back in the hole, hoping that will block it while the party works. That work takes painstaking hours to shift the grains perfectly one by one. Nearly complete, it is interrupted by another strange creature that pushes Asflags body out of the way and bursts  out of the grey haze; round with five wicked clawed arms, three legs and a beetle like head. It grabs Skeef with all five claws and nearly kills the druid with one blow; luckily the blades and magic of the rest of the party destroy it before it destroys Skeef. 

Successfully completing the mirror pentagram, the party watches the cloud quickly fade and disappear. And then they sweep up the diamond dust, hoping the gate does not come back. Which luckily for them, it does not. They also gather up the dead wizard, wishing to speak with dead with him later. 

They leave the tower, going over the wall (on which they note the flickering electrical protection is now weaker than before) and head for a new inn, "The Tall Queen", to try shaking any wizardly attentions. There Skeef and Solcha examine the spellbook, and the thief opens the three locks on the lead bound tome. This releases an enchantment that withers Skeef's left leg, a ray that drains Baqua's strength, and an umber hulk that tries to kill them all. Everyone survives, and they settle in to rest so they can memorize new spells in the morning. 

In the morning, Goro speaks with Asflag and learns the crystal ball and carpet of flying are actually his; it would appear the two College wizards had lied about their ownership. He also extracted the command word ("command word") for the carpet of flying before letting the wizard return to his final rest. However, when Solcha goes looking for the crystal ball, she finds it is missing. A locate object from Goro points them to the College of Wizardry and Thaumaturgistry; it seems the gnome Endoc obtained the object of his desire afterall. 

After letting Solcha salivate over her new (sadly somewhat worm-eaten) spellbooks for a bit, the party prepared to head out to the College and discuss payment for a successful job from their employers ... 

GAINS

3 gems [3x 100gp]

Diamond Dust (15000gp)  

2 Spell Books

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Bookworm

3 Diakk

1 Deghordaemon

12 Umber Hulk 

LOSSES

Full use of Skeef's left leg 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 74 - The Upper Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Wealsun 9 (early morning) to Wealsun 12 (morning) 

The party returns to the The Unicorn & Tankard and settles in to rest, recover spells and heal up. Having taken quite a battering , the healing part took a few days. They also are accosted by the three wizards who hired them, who interrogate the party about the state of the job, including their individual "side quests". The scoundrel Tullintot takes to opportunity to charm Goro into making sure the party turns over the spellbooks when found.  

On the third day, the party returns to Asflags tower to rescue their petrified companion. They climb the wall, enter the towers servant entrance, and move swiftly through the entrance hall with the brass snake chandeliers, and back to the landing on the second floor. Where thankfully Chanee still stands, Goro and Skeef open up with a barrage of dispel magic. But alas none are successful on the paladin. So the party retraces steps, heads to another inn (to avoid the attention of their wizardly employers) to rest up and memorize more spells. And once more return; and this time is successful in bringing the paladin back to flesh and dispelling the petrification trap on the door as well. And the charm person on Goro. 

Beyond the door is Asflags circular library, stuffed with long curved lines of shelves loaded with books, scrolls, and tablets. The party proceeds carefully using find traps and detect magic to wend their way safely towards the centre, where lies two large tombs that appear to be spell books. Both are trapped, so Solcha carefully slips them into sack to investigate latter. Goro likewise wipes clear a shelf of volumes on the lower plane; for research purposes of course. 

Having looted the library, they head up the stairs to the next floor. This passage is interrupted when Solcha notes a strange green worm crawling up Goro's leg. She flicks it free with her sword, and the critter wiggles away like greased lighting. Vermeology complete, they reach the top of the stairs and enter the wizards laboratory. At the center, above a pentagram of silvery powder,  swirls a vaporous mass of dark ashen grey. Out of which stick a a pair of legs. Asflag, or part of him, presumably. Chanee helpfully informs the party that this thing is Evil. The party concurs. Solcha checks the pentagram, and a quick glance suggests it is intact. Feeling confident they can leave this thing in their rear, they party proceeds to the trap door in the ceiling which leads into Asflags bedchamber. They see right away the carpet of flying, crystal ball, and a chest. Which they pop open to find a fortune of gems, gold and platinum. But looting is interrupted when an octet of gargoyles burst through the (curiously unseen from outside) windows and attack. The battle turns in their favor by a tried combination of spells from Solcha, blades from Goro, Chanee and Baqua, and a stink cloud from Skeef (who transforms into a giant skunk). 

GAINS

carpet of flying [6x9]

crystal ball

400pp

1100gp 

Black Opal (1000 gp) Black Pearl (500 gp) Black Star Sapphire (1000 gp) 2 Bloodstone (50 gp) Bright

Green Emerald (5000 gp) Carnelian (50 gp) Citrine (50 gp) Deep Blue Spinel (500 gp) Emerald (1000

gp) Eye Agate (10 gp) Freshwater Pearl (10 gp) Golden Yellow Topaz (500 gp) 2 x Iolite (50 gp) 2

Jade (100 gp) Jasper (50 gp) Jet (100 gp) Lapis Lazuli (10 gp) 3 x Moonstone (50 gp) Obsidian (10 gp)

 2 x Star Rose Quartz (50 gp) Zircon (50 gp). [10490gp total gems] 

KILLS/VICTORIES

4 gargoyles 

LOSSES

None 

   

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 73 - Stone Paladin

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Wealsun 8 (night) to Wealsun 9 (early morning)

Moving on, the party finishes their exploration of the basement with a tromp through the wine caller. There they encounter wine, webs and an ettercap which is soon destroyed. When additional detailed searching fails to find further areas to explore, the party moves up to the main level. There they find Asflags ballroom, a massive room with space for  hundreds of guests. Surrounding this central area are a series of utility spaces such as storage, powder rooms, and a cloak room. In the cloak room, Goro fiddles about with the cloak pegs and finds one is actually a button. He presses it, and with a mechanical whir and grinding of stone, half the room floor starts to descend. Everyone hops on and it lowers them 50' to the end of a long tunnel. This is followed to  the end, where a narrow circular staircase twists upwards. At the top is a trapdoor, which initial efforts cannot open; it feels like there is something on top of it. A second try and it flies open, leading the party into the centre of the rock garden which they noted on their earlier stroll amongst the flower beds. They are somewhat startled when the largest rock starts moving and tries to roll over Solcha. The elf dodges, and she and the rest of the party decide the return to the tunnel, hearing what they assume is the moving boulder roll over on trapdoor of it once closed. 

There being no obvious way to get the elevator to rise again, they treck back up to stairs to the ballroom. Poking about the stage at one one of the ballroom, they find a violin on the conductors podium. Goro takes it up and starts to play; and finds he cannot stop. And begins to play faster and faster and faster. As the rest of the party desperately tries to break it or wrest it from the clerics hands, Chanee breaks into a dance along with the music. In the end, the paladin collapses from exhaustion, and Skeef uses warp wood to destroy the violin and break the spell. 

Done with ballrooms. the party moves through the double doors at the north east end of the room. These lead into a long entry hall hung with tapestries depicting pastoral scenes. At one end of the room a brass-railed stairway curves up. As the party moves into the room, the hear a faint sound of metal on metal, and suddenly a rain of brass snakes drop from the ceiling. These prove hard to hit, so the party retreats up the stairs. The snakes do not follow, and they find themselves in front of another set of double doors. Chanee reaches out to open them, and as soon as his left hand touches the brass handle, the paladin is transformed into stone! 

The party now faces a dilemma; how to get their now quarter-ton comrade past the snakes and out of the tower. But they can think of no way to do so and still avoid getting bitten to death buy the brass snakes. In the end, they decide to leave the paladin behind, and return when fully healed and re-spelled to recover him. 

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Ettercap

1 Fire Snake 

3 Brass Snakes  

LOSSES

Channe the Stone Paladin 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 72 - The Beast(s) are Beaten

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Wealsun 8 (evening) to Wealsun 8 (night)

... the buzzing man-thing advances on the druid and rewards Skeef with a massive number of bee stings. The party, a couple dozen feet away, turn to assist their comrade and the shambling insect collection is soon dispersed. Checking out the wooden boxes that first attracted the druids attention, they are found to be ordinary bee hives. Leaving these behind, they continue down the pebbled path, only to be accosted by the nearest scarecrow. But finally they make their goal, passing through the flower gardens and up to the tower itself. They circle around to the back servants entrance, where a smear of blood leads up to the door and through a hinged flap at the bottom. 

Entering, the party follows the trail of blood downstairs and through a wrecked kitchen. The blood leads through a partly smashed door, which proves difficult to open due to the half-eaten dead donkey behind it. They enter this next room cautiously, Skeef and Baqua gliding through shadows as the rest of the party turns the corner to get a better look inside. They find a charnel house of mostly devoured bodies, and from a nest of table linen in the far corner leap two sleek cat-like beasts with tentacles growing out of their shoulders. They are slain in a relatively short combat, and the party moves on. 

They next encounter a strange mummy-like creatures to which both weapons and Skeef (transformed into a giant beaver) get stuck. Further rifling of the erstwhile-servants quarters gave them some loose change, and they ultimately end up back in the kitchen and in the adjacent cold room. Apart from various dried and packaged foods, the only thing of note in the room is a covered well from which traces of a ghostly blue light emerge. Uncovering the well releases a swarm of odd flying creatures, looking like a bundle of bristly grey hair with two bulbous glowing eyes and a long tail. These are vicious, and attach to their victim with a bite and then sting with an electrical jolt with the tail. And they keep emerging from the well. Goro swiftly throws the lid back on the well, and the party retreats from the room before getting overwhelmed. 

GAINS

300gp

Silver Holy Symbol of Trithereon [25gp]

86cp

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Scarecrow

2 Displacer Beasts 

1 Adherer

6 Volts  

LOSSES

none

 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 71 - Asflag's Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Wealsun 2 (morning) to Wealsun 8 (evening) 

The party pokes about for some rumors of adventure, while Skeef heads off to fence the brilliant Helm of Morandril Hath he'd been lunging about since winter. Two items of interest, both linked to wizards, are learned. One rumor speaks of the mage Meldime, who awaits some unknown but mysterious cargo to arrive by ship. But said ship seems to have been lost in fog off the port at Brampton, and he is looking for help to find it.  The second speaks of strange creatures and monstrous killings in the night around the wizardly towers in the Seers District. The party opts for rumor #2, as Solcha wanted to make  contact with locals  mages and learn some new spells anyway. 

And so they find themselves at the College of Wizardry and Thaumaturgistry, meeting with the vertically challenged gnome illusionist Endoc and the frumpy wizardous Mirim.They explain one of their guild, Asflag,  appears to have disappeared from his tower; likely carried off during some summoning ritual he was known to perform. Of no real concern to the College, except now the strange creatures the wizard used to guard and staff his tower have begun to escape and terrorize the district. Which puts the unspoken agreement (to police their own) the College has with her Nobel Brilliance the Countess Belissica in peril.  So on behalf of the College the two (joined now at the last minute by the dandy mage Tullintot), offer the party 2000gp (half up front) plus whatever the can recover from Asflags tower, as payment for dealing the the monstrous menaces inside the lost wizards' abode. The two also offer rewards for recovery of two items Asflag had borrowed and never returned to them; a crystal ball of Endoc's and a carpet of flying of Mirim's. The party mumbles a non-committal answer to this last request, and negotiate 2000gp in value of spell training for Solcha before closing the deal. 

The party scouts the lost wizards' home, finding it to be a smallish tower inside a large walled estate. Noting a smear of blood near the south east corner of the wall, they surmise the electrical security system of which they were warned has failed there, allowing monsters out. And so perhaps it will let them in; and indeed they clamber over the wall and safely get inside. They find themselves in a pleasant refuge, facing an extensive water garden, with formal and vegetable garden leading towards the tower itself towards the other end of the enclosure.  Beginning their exploration, they follow a path past a series of grotesque statues, which spring to life as gargoyles and attack. They slay three, while the other three flee to the top of the tower. Dusting off, the party's next stop is a series of utility buildings along the west wall. They mostly ignore the zombie gardeners and animated garden tools found therein, and head along the path to the tower instead.  Skeef detours off into the trees to investigate some square wooden boxes; and discovers a swarm of bees forming a man shaped monster that buzzes towards the curious druid ... 

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

3 gargoyles 

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 70 - Rescue Successful!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 6) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 6 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 6) 

Date/Time

Flocktime 20 (morning) to Wealsun 2 (morning)

First part of the plan is to get the still convulsing Baqua and her paladin guardian out of Tortage. The pair are booked late in the afternoon aboard a slow barge to Radigast City. With them on the way to safety, the remaining trio bides time until after midnight, then  proceed to the mansion of Lord Fhaylin Jark. Using a combination of invisible sleath, climbing and silence, they break into the lady's bedchamber, unseen and unheard. A trio of female guards stand watch, but web and silence keep them out of the way. They find the young woman chained to the bed, and quickly free the terrified captive. She is taken away by Skeef in the form of a giant eagle, while Goro and Solcha follow with fly spells. Leaving an obscuring spell behind then, they fly out over the Nyr Dyr and intercept the barge with Chanee and Baqua. Careful application of gold buys the captain and crews cooperation and silence, and a day later the party finds itself safe for the moment in the capital of the County of Urnst. 

Along the way, the young woman regains her composure and tells her tale. Her name is Janna, daughter of a Tenha chieftain. Lord Fhaylin Jark had been a guest at their manor and taken a liking to her. When rebuffed, he arranged to have her kidnapped and brought to him in Tortage.  Obviously quite traumatized, she wishes only to return home. Goro makes contact with the local temple of Heironeous, and through their good offices makes arrangements to place the woman under the protection of Her Noble Brilliancy, the Countess Belissica of Urnst.

Their knight errant duty fulfilled, the party settles into  a decent inn (The Unicorn & Tankard) so Skeef can make some local contacts for training. And to decide what to do next. There is still the Orb to be dealt with, but it is still two months until the moons are new and the Ghost Tower appears. So the party opts to settle into Radigast City for awhile and look for means to make some coin and take it a little easy as summer approaches. 

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

none

LOSSES

none

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 69 - Into the Pirate Den

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 6) 
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 6 / Fighter 6) 
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 6) 

Date/Time

Flocktime 17 (early  morning) to Flocktime 20 (morning)

... there came a shout of 'fire!' from one of the crew. There, atop the mast, floats a glowing ball of light. Aftera few moments trying to figure out what to do, Swirir bellows at one of the crew to climb up there and make sure it wasn't actually burning down the mast. Goror intervened and used Baqua's gloves to scurry up there, while Skeef transforms into a giant eagle and Solcha prepares her spells. The thing is not fire, but a ball of glowing light. It drifts away from the mast, then circles Skeef in the sky, before plunging to the deck and  crisping a crewman in a crackle of lightning. The party then turns on it, but neither Skeef nor Goro seem able to strike it. In the end, a fistfull of magic missiles from  Solcha snuffs it out forever. 

The remaining two days to Tortage are uneventful. Swirir though started to suggest he could tranship the party to another vessel, as the do-gooders might not feel welcome in the den of scum of pirates that was the capital of the Principality of Redhand. They also got the distinct impression that the dwarf was afraid they might be trouble for his business. The party opted to stay aboard of course, being intent on rescuing the lady in the cabin, but placated the captain my insisting they'd be getting off as soon as the barge docked. 

Arriving in Tortage, the party disembarked, sending Chanee and Baqua off to the somewhat clean "Mermaids Arms" inn so the halfling could finish her recovery. The other, now invisible, three followed a party of Lord Fhaylin's men who arrive at the docks to pick up the woman. Two figures stand out; a brawny, pirate-y half orc with a pirate band and a female half elf with her own better equip female guards. They carry the still comatose woman up and out of the dock district to a more upscale area close to Prince Zeech's castle. There they enter a respectable house through a guarded gate. 

Skeef turns into a sparrow to scout the windows, and was able to get an idea of the interior. He did note the kidnapped lady is now settled in a well appointed bedchamber, guarded by two of the female guards and tended by a handful of servants. He also observed two other ways into the house; a balcony leading into the Lady's bedchamber and a small hatch at the attic level. Also of note was a conservatory where a captive elf was observed, forced to play for Lord Fahlin and companions; and elsewhere in the house a dark shrine to some god, perhaps the dreaded Hextor who is strong in Tortage. 

The trio settles in to observe all the comings and going throughout the day and evening, and begins to formulate their rescue plans.  

GAINS

none

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 Will-o-Wisp

LOSSES

none