Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 88 - From Crypt to Caverns

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  18 (slightly later) - Patchwall 8 (midday) 

As the demon charges the party, Skeef throws down the figure of wonderous power and a mastodon immediately blocks the fiends path. Goro and Solcha turn their focus on Lady Deveri, assuming she is the primary target. Another demon appears, but Goro and Solcha take out the succubus while the rest of the party and mastodon take down one of the demons. At this point, the second demon disappears and the combat if over. 

After collecting the jewelry from the oily smear that once was Lady Deveri, the party turns thier focus on the stone sarcophagus she'd been standing behind. Wrenching off the lid, they find the inside full of silver coins. And below the coins lies a body, a wooden stake through its heart. Solcha takes a lock of it's hair and places it on one of the blank pages of her vampire tome; and is rewarded as the page fills with writing, the story of Mathew Deveri. A great illusionist, Mathew made a pact with Orcus, Demon Lord of the Undead, trading his soul for great power and unliving life. He slew the rest of his family who opposed him, sparing only his granddaughter, whom the party knew as Lady Elohira Deveri.  She in turn was cursed to take on the form of a succubus. But alas, the story of the the Deveri's has now come to an end. 

Scooping up the silver coinage, the paladin then beheaded the body and Goro poured holy water into it's mouth, once and for all destroying the vampire. And it is then time to leave, and the party flies back to Greyhawk for rest and resupply before heading west to the Yatil Mountains and their search for the Lost Caverns.

.

.

.

The time in Greyhawk and the journey west are uneventful, and the party now finds themselves in the northern reaches of the March of Bissel, facing the mountain path to which their map has led. Choosing once more to fly rather than walk, they soar about 100' above the trail, following it deep into the mountains. They encounter two other groups; a warband of surly dwarves who are uninterested in small talk or help, and a raiding party of gnolls who take a few potshots at the carpet before the party pulls away. After flying back to warn the dwarves about the gnolls, they party retrances their path. They find themselves, just as night is falling, back at the wide pass and trail intersection where they had earlier encountered said gnolls. Wishing to avoid any trouble, they opt to camp away from the intersecting paths (and the route of the gnolls), heading to the flanks of the mountains to the south east to find a place to rest. And to their surprise, there they find another hidden path, winding south east!

After another uneventful night, the party rises and follows this new path. After avoiding another warband, this one of goblins, the path brings them under the eves of a tall tooth-like peak. At the base is a cavern, and the party moves in to explore. Obviously once inhabited and used by intelligent creatures, it is now empty. Delving deeper, they come to a winding passage, slopping down below the mountains. As the passage levels off, the party sees ahead that more cavens await them ...   

GAINS

Jewelry (24300gp total)

7000sp

KILLS/VICTORIES

Lady Elohira Deveri

1 Type IV Demon

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 87.5 - Interlude with Demon Baby

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Harvester 18 (early hours)  - Harvester  18 (slightly later)

The party paused a few moments to catch their breath, while Goro took this moment to collapse into an exhausted sleep. Undoubtedly a side effect of the kiss of the Lady Deveri. Meanwhile, the rest of the party searched the Lady's chambers for loot and secret doors. Loot they found, including two chests of gold and a curious locket with an ancient cameo image of what appeared to be the Lady herself. Skeef also noted curiously that there were no clothes in the room; the Lady's wardrobe was empty.  

Leaving the snoring half-orc behind for now, the party pressed on into the next room. There they found at the far end a crib from which came the sounds of a cooing newborn. They also noted the bowl of bloody raw meat sitting on the feeding table, and so were not too surprised to find that the swaddled newborn sported a pair of horns, fangs and tiny bat wings. There was a spirited debate as to what to do with the demon-child, but in the end Chanee convinced the party this cute bundle of joy was indeed irredeemably evil. And so the paladin slew the horned babe; but he still felt bad about it. 

 Meanwhile, the rest of the party had pushed aside the crib and discovered a secret, door. This led to a set of stairs that circled down into what appeared to be the family crypt. And as they entered, they could see at the far end the Lady Elohira Deveri. Once more clad in human form, she stood behind a stone sepulchre. And between her and the party stood a towering demon of the Abyss ... 

GAINS

1265gp

68sp

Locket (2000gp) 

KILLS/VICTORIES

Josette, the Baby Demon 

Gygax & Greyhawk Session # 87 - A Date with the Deveri's

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 14 (morning) - Harvester 18 (early hours)  

Taking a few days to spend their new found wealth, the party finds themselves now the centre of attention in the City. Word of their success with Judge Porthos attracts others looking for men (and women) of brawn and brains to help them with their troubles. After separating the wheat from the chaff, the party finds themselves with three possible offers of employment/pleas for help:

• The merchant Merzueos Zhen, looking for someone to recover the contents of a caravan of fine cloth, pigments and dyes that's been lost to a bandit ambush. He offers 3000gp for the successful recovery of his goods. 
• A delegation of villagers look for help dealing with a medusa that is turning them, one by one, to stone.
• Another group of villagers carrying a request from a Lady Elohira Deveri, asking for their assistance with an unspecified problem

Immediately turning down the medusa problem, they opt to negotiate with the merchant. However, their hard driving bargaining to squeeze more coin from Merzueos Zhen simply drives him off to look for cheaper help. Throwing their lot with Lady Deveri instead, they get directions from the peasants to her small manse just under the eves of the Gnarly Forest. They fly there easily and swiftly, arriving in the late afternoon at the village. There they are directed to the Lady's home a half mile deeper into the forest. 

Her home proves to be a small stone manse surrounded by very overgrown grounds. After a short encounter with the half-elven groundskeeper Gothwald and his dogs, they are presented to the Lady Deveri. Of faintly fey appearance, the Lady is so pale of skin to be almost translucent, wearing a long blue gown and much jewelry. With her are two men in full armor and bearing knightly livery; Sir Garon Attriris and Sir Raith Attiris, knights errant from the Kingdom of Geoff. 

Lady Deveri brushes off all questions regarding why the party has been summoned. Instead they are feted with a fine meal and the attention of the Lady. Chanee in particular draws her eye, to the somewhat visible discomfort of the two knightly brothers.  Feast over, the party is led to their chambers. Two to each room, except Chanee who gets a private room. But the paladin is not alone for long, as Skeef sneaks over in mouse form to join him. And very soon someone tries to enter through a secret door to the outside, which the paladin had fortuitously found ahead of time and barred shut. 

Shortly thereafter, a woman's screen is heard in the hallway. Rushing out, Chanee and Skeef see one of the brother knights looming over a struggling Lady Elohira. The paladin does not hesitate and rushes in to save the lady in distress. As he forces the knight back, he indeed feels his place is truly at her side rather than with his usual wandering rabble. Which rabble now begins to appear in support, with Goro dropping a dispel magic as the fight moves into the Lady's chamber. This breaks the charm on the paladin, and seriously displeases Lady Elohira. Who is more displeased as a now suspicious party turns on her, as well as the pair of knighly brothers. And the cocktrice she suddenly releases from a hidden cage.  As the battle rages, the Lady suddenly begins to transform, bat wings growing from her shoulders and fangs from her mouth. A succubus! Turning on her demonic charms, she uses her kiss to drain strength from the half-orc who by now is flailing away at her with his mace.  The rest of the party tries their best to help the now bruised and bleeding paladin, while also dealing with the cocktrice. Both quite difficult to do in such cramped quarters. 

The party, however, is successful is slaying the brothers and the cockitrice, but the lady/succubus escapes them by suddenly disappearing ...  

GAINS

A good meal 

KILLS/VICTORIES

Sir Garon Attriris and Sir Raith Attiris 

Cockatirce 

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