Gygax and Greyhawk Session #34 - Horses and Hell

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Harvester 8 morning to Harvester 24 morning

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

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

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

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

GAINS

None

KILLS/VICTORIES

1 gargoyle

LOSSES

none   

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #33 - The Barbarian King

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

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

Date/Time

Harvester 6 evening to Harvester 8 morning

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

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

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

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

GAINS

Chainmail +2

Bronze two handed sword +2

Scepter of Command

4 potions of ...

Iron Crown of the Barbarian King [10000gp]

30 yellow gems [3000gp]

KILLS/VICTORIES

22 skeletons

5 zombies

The Barbarian King

LOSSES

none