Gygax and Greyhawk Session #44 - Maddok

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 5) 

Date/Time

Patchwall 18 (noon) to Patchwall 23 (morning) 

The party then proceeds to move quickly through the rest of this newly uncovered complex of rooms; they want to find the keystone, but also don't want to leave the dragon hoard unprotected for long. They search through a wizards lab scorched by fire, and very briefly look into what appears to be a summoning room with a smudged summoning circle on the floor and sign of fire, death and destruction. Solcha used her wand to uncover a spellbook, a scroll and a curious box containing pale grey wafers. They also find a curious non-magical volume entitled "Of Fabolous Relics and Artifacts, Thaumaturgical and Magical, being a Catalogue of Items of Power and Prestige from Times of Sorcery Past” by Ostolic of the Tales that contains stories and legends of various magical items including: Daoud’s Wondrous Lanthorn and Iggwilv’s lost treasures, the Iron Flask of Tuerny the Merciless, Codex of the Blood Tyrants, a a trio of weapons (the sword Blackrazor, the trident Wave, and the hammer Whelm, hidden long ago by the wizard Keraptis in White Plume Mountain. 

They quickly secure these items, and having not found the keystone here, decide to check the dragon's hoard. But as they leave the double doors and step into the recently unearthed stairway, they are met there by a somewhat devilish looking fellow and the dwarf Akbad. The devilish fellow, the mysterious Maddock, starts to cast a spell but is interrupted by a blow. And then an intense combat ensures, with Skeef falling to a lighting bolt, Akbad trying to stop the fighting, and Goro and Ranzel pinning Maddock so Solcha could stab him. In the end the party kills him, and Akbad snaps out of his charm. As the party loots Maddocks body, the dwarf explains Maddok had surprised the dwarves as they built their wall, sleeping and slaying the rest, and charming himself. 

On the body, they find a range of magical and monetary treasure, Maddoks spellbook, and a sheaf of papers with notes about the castle and the excavation. And there is a small map of the lost wizards lab, showing a secret room the party had not found. They quickly head back in, get into the hidden room and there find the pulsing red keystone to the Hellgate awaiting them. 

After that, they now head to the dragon's hoards, and are pleased to see it is undisturbed. They break open the chess and crates and find a pile of coins, a handful of jewelry and gems, and a number of magic items. Over the next day and a half, all of it is carefully winched out of the cave and packed onto their wagon and journey back to Nevond Nevnend. 

GAINS

9014sp

1930ep

11746gp

7 x amethyst [100gp each]

4x jade [100gp each]

10x sardonyx [50gp each]

6x jasper [45gp each]

5x hematite [6gp each]

Silver and gem comb [1015gp]

Ivory harp [2000gp] 

Longsword +2, “Fiendtongue” 

Bracers of Defense AC 4 

Ring of Protection +1

Scroll of Protection from Devils

Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes

Scroll of Protection from Breath Weapon - Dragon

Spell Scroll [MU] - 1/Detect Invisibility

Spear +2

Shield +2 (Lion Rampant)

Platemail +1

16 Arrows +1

Potion of Extra Healing  

Potion of Extra Healing

Silver Amulet

12 grey wafers

Nyda's Spell book [partial]

4th: Fear, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Plant growth, Polymorph Self

5th: Distance Distortion, Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound

6th: Anti-Magic Spell, Guards and Wards, Bigby’s Forceful Hand 

7th: Cacodemon, Phase Door 

Maddok's Spellbook

1st: Charm Person, Sleep, Magic Missile, Identify, Read Magic, Enlarge, Hold Portal, Write, Protection from  Good

2nd : Mirror Image, Magic Mouth, Web, Rope Trick, Stinking Cloud, Darkness 15' Radius 

3rd : Lighting Bolt, Monster Summoning I, Slow, Haste

4th : Wizard Eye, Ice Storm 

KILLS/VICTORIES

Maddok

LOSSES

Skeef (Unconscious) 

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #43 - Dragons and Dwarves

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5) 

Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 4) 
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 5/ Thief 5) w/ henchman Caron (Half Elf  MU1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 5) 

Date/Time

Patchwall 18 (mid-morning) to Patchwall 18 (noon) 

The party starts to spread out, with Solcha and Caron swiftly crossing the cavern to get a good view into the passage beyond. And there they see a large black dragon stirring from it's rest. Solcha shouts a warning to the rest of the party, and then feels Caron exciting tapping her on the back: 'mistress, let me speak to it". Somewhat perplexed, she waves the magic-user ahead of her. Caron starts to speak to the wyrm in some unknown language. At first things seem to go well, but suddenly the dragon raises it's head and spits a stream of acrid acid across the cavern. This catches the unfortunate hireling, as well as Goro, getting into a charge position behind him. Caron is utterly destroyed, but luckily the cleric is made of sterner stuff. Goro and Ranzel charge in, swords swinging, while Solcha fires arrows aver their heads and Skeef summons some segmented ant-aid.  The dragon releases another breath, this time catching Ranzel. But the cleric and ranger, pumped up on potions of giant strength and heroism, eventually batter past it's scaly hide, while Solcha delivers the coup-de-grace with an arrow between the beasts eyes.

Taking advantage of their potion-pumped state, the party rushes about in anticipation of more trouble. A search of the dragon cave uncovers the skeletal remains of a second dragon(!), a neatly piled stack of chests and crates, as well as the remnants of a recent meal of horse flesh. Rushing to the side chamber from which the warning horn was heard, they find a small sparsely furnished bedchamber and a foul midden pit. but no occupants. Lastly, a search to the south brings them to face to face with another pair of spriggen, standing guard over a bedraggled group of dwarves. The spriggen are cut down swiftly, and the rescued dwarves (led by Akbad) are glad to answer the party's questions. They had been captured about a month ago by the spriggens and brought here to dig out the collapsed stairway that could be seen behind them. The work was being directed by a devilish looking fellow by the name of Madok, who is looking for a lost wizard laboratory. In fact, the dwarves were just about to break into the entrance to the lab when the party arrived and raised a havoc. But they have no idea where Madok could be found; he comes and goes on an irregular basis.

Solcha, using the last of her giant strength, cleared the last of the rubble. This reveals a landing on the stairs with a set of double doors, much battered but still intact. While Razke heads back down into the cavern to direct the dwarves to build a defensive wall, and Goro remained on guard on the stairs, Solcha and Skeef enter the doors. These lead into an entrance hall and then a large, half collapsed circular room painted with frescos of the Kutkuri noble clan and their crossed staves and horn. The pair head for a door on the opposite side of the chamber., but as they open it, are attacked from behind by a shadowy demon. Goro and Ranzel eventually arrive to assist, and the creature is slain ... 

GAINS

4 arrows +1 [from session #42] 

Caron's spellbook

KILLS/VICTORIES

Xilital the Black Dragon 

2 Spriggen

1 shadow demon

LOSSES

Caron (dissolved by dragon acid) 

Gygax and Greyhawk Session #42 - A Cunning Plan

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Ranzel of the Wood (Human Ranger 5) 

Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 4) w/ henchman Usborn (Gnome Fighter 2/Illusionist 1)
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 5/ Thief 5) w/ henchman Caron (Half Elf  MU1)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 4 / Fighter 5) w/ henchman Koreyth the Master (Human Fighter 1) 

Date/Time

Patchwall 15 (night) to Patchwall 18 (mid-morning) 

The party's rest and recovery is unfortunately interrupted on the first night by a pack of prowling wolves. These get within attack range of the watch before anyone knows they are there, and then fall upon those asleep around the fire.  One guard is killed in the exchange, and Usborn and Koreyth both are mauled unconscious. Half the wolves are killed and the rest dispersed into the night. 

Though now short handed, the party pushes on with their plan.  Proceeding back to the hole in the ground, Goro and Skeef receive invisibility spells from Solcha, and further mask themselves with silence from the cleric. The hidden duo then proceed down into the caverns below, followed by the rest of the party at a respectable distance. The two sneak their way down the first cliff face and get into position to surprise attack the two still in place gnome-like guards. Unfortunately their blades do not strike true and the guards are alerted. And suddenly enlarge from gnomish size and shape to 11' tall giants! One is slain quickly, but the other retreats into the side chamber and starts to raise a hue and cry. He is pined in place by skunk stink, silenced, and is soon taken down by Goro and Skeef; but it is likely the party's surprise is blown. 

Nevertheless, the party all now push on. Descending the next cliff, they are pelted by arrows from below. Caron ends that opposition with a sleep spell. Fanning out, the party searches another side cave which seems to be the guards quarters, pilfering a small chest of electrum and a spell scroll. Solcha scoops up some arrows to replace the ones she has shot, and the party pushes on behind Skeef, who is scouting ahead into the next, larger chamber. There they see four strange sickly pink man-shaped blobs. These shuffle towards the entering party, but do not seem to be overly hostile. After 'looking' at the party, they simply stand immobile. But Ranzel is having none of this non-hostility. Figuring the little blobs can't be good, he lashes out. The rest of the party follows his lead, and the quartet are chopped down. Though it takes an application of holy water to keep them from regenerating, a fact which seems to justify the ranger's homicidal rage.  

At this point, the party hears a horn sound from a small passage to their far left. And in the darkness beyond the end of the large cavern comes the sound of something large hauling itself from somnolence and into action ...

GAINS

670ep

Scroll (1 MU Spell) 

KILLS/VICTORIES

7 wolves

4 spriggan 

4 lemure 

LOSSES

Usborn [unconscious]

Koreyth [unconscious]