587 CY, Second Day of the Festival Week of Richfest: Dungeon! (completed)

22 July 2015

After some discussion, the party decided to send Kheldar out through the secret door, to see what, if anything, was going on out there. No sooner was the decision made than the western door burst open, and four painfully thin, naked, gray-skinned humanoids rushed into the room. Half the party was caught flat-footed, allowing the ghouls to jump Billet Graham and Karox. The thieves and Rook were not surprised, and so scrambled to hide, while three ghouls clawed and bit at the cleric, and one flailed at Karox. Graham was soon covered in scratches, and paralyzed.

As soon as Karox recovered, she struck her assailant down with one mighty blow. The thieves maneuvered behind two of the ghouls that were still ripping at poor Billet Graham, and Rook hid behind Barry the bearer. For his part, Barry recovered from his shock, and threw two vials of holy water at the foul undead, striking one squarely. Though the water burned dead gray flesh like acid, and the thieves slashed at them from behind, the ghouls persisted. Karox cut one down in her one-hit-one-corpse way. But then with ill luck, (a natural 1 followed by a 1 on the d6), she was blinded by a spray of Graham’s blood coming off a ghoul’s claws.

And then, with the two strongest fighters disabled, bugbears slunk in through the secret door. Everyone spotted them, and Rook cast Color Spray at the first four, knocking two unconscious. One of the survivors made a beeline for Barry and cracked him across the head with a morningstar, and Barry was down. The other took a cheap shot at the blinded Karox. Two more bugbears moved in.

Karox was soon surrounded by three bugbears, while the fourth went to attack the most apparent fighter: Anaïs. Rook cast Audible Glamer, mimicking goblins outside the western door, calling for help. He successfully distracted two of the bugbears, giving the party a minute of grace. Karox got her back against a wall, and was quickly surrounded by three bugbears.

And now armed and armored men pushed through the secret door. Panic was rising. Rook made himself invisible and found a corner to hide in. Anaïs was still beset by the bugbear; Karox was still blinded and being thoroughly beaten by the bugbears; Graham was still paralyzed (and would be for at least another five minutes); Kheldar was swinging and missing, being swung at and being missed.

Finally, Karox managed to clear her vision, and she drank the Potion of Heroism that she had been reserving for a special occasion. That revivified and imbued her with twice her former fighting ability. With a roar, she cut down a bugbear with one hit. A foolish man-at-arms filled its place, and they all continued to beat on Karox. Finally, the last of the ghouls went down. But then, the leader of the men grabbed Graham and put a knife to his throat.

“We have your cleric!” he shouted. “Surrender or I’ll kill him!”

The leader waited for a reaction, but went unsatisfied. Anaïs whipped out her Ribbon of Darkness and tried to deploy it. Technically she succeeded: she let go of both ends, and it sailed into the far corner, covering the dying Barry. Karox kept looking for an opening while she tried to defend herself against three attackers. Kheldar picked up the Ribbon, and tossed it along the wall, covering Anaïs and her attackers, and she took the opportunity to jump clear. That netted the desired result: one of the panicked men swung blindly, and killed the bugbear. The other stumbled out of the darkness, into the leader.

Then, before the leader could make good on his threat, Cuthbert intervened: the good Billet Graham felt his paralysis end. He slumped, as if falling unconscious, and the leader foolishly dropped the knife and grabbed him under the arms. Graham smashed the evil bastard in the face with his mace, and turned to confront him.

Kheldar, too, attacked the leader, who then pulled his sword, turned and swung at the invisible gnome. Of course, he missed. Kheldar ran away to try backstabbing one of the bugbears on Karox. With the leader thoroughly distracted, Graham was able to cast Hold Person, freezing the fighter attacking Karox, and the two stationed at the secret door. None of them managed to resist, and were frozen in place. He and Kheldar did the trick again, with Kheldar attacking the leader, allowing Graham to cast Hold Person again, freezing the leader and one of his remaining men. Karox, still being beaten with the bugbears’ morningstars, felled one of the bugbears.

A different leader of the men looked in from the secret door, and called “Retreat!” He pulled the two Held men through the secret door. Kheldar quickly beheaded the dead leader and—still made invisible by his cloak—“floated” the head in front of the secret door.

“Depart or die!” Kheldar cried.

When none of his other soldiers responded, the new leader closed the door. The battle was over quickly after that. Rook finally came out of hiding, grabbed a hammer from the dead leader, and killed one of the Held men.

Wasting no movement, the survivors—as it turned out, everyone but poor Barry the bearer—looted the bodies and set them ablaze. Graham said that was the quickest way to ensure the bodies couldn’t be reanimated by a necromancer. That was enough fun: before their enemies could return, the party limped out via the main stairs (conveniently free of green slime). As a parting gift, the thieves rigged up a crossbow trap on the secret door, using all three captured crossbows.

On the way back to Hommlet, Kheldar encouraged Rook to study the enemy leader’s head, which he still carried (with the thought that Rook could use Change Self to impersonate the man).

Kheldar stopped by the tower to talk with Burne, while the others continued into the village. He found that the mage was in Verbobonc, but Rufus received the gnome. He agreed that it would be a good idea to retrieve the supplies that the party had discovered in the storage rooms. Since the party was in no shape to go back, he told Kheldar he would take a couple of wagons and some of “the Badgers” to take care of that. He asked how many enemies remained, and was visibly dismayed that they didn’t know. At the same time, he reiterated what Viscount Wilfrick had told Kheldar: there was too much going on in the north, and Wilfrick was most unlikely to spare any troops for the Hommlet situation.

Anaïs got an introduction to the Druid of the Grove, Jaroo Ashstaff, thanks to her buddy Kheldar.  Jaroo gladly healed her (two Cure Light Wounds castings, at 10 gp each, giving her 5 more hit points).

Although Graham wanted to ask for immediate help from Canon Terjon, at least for healing, and hopefully for a volunteer, Rook convinced him to wait until the next day, until his brother, a Canon of Cuthbert, would arrive. Graham agreed.

587 CY, Third Day of the Festival Week of Richfest

The next morning, Graham healed Karox completely, leaving himself at 4 hit points, and Anaïs at 6.



This campaign is going on hiatus for a few months, while we boldly go back to Rhonda’s paused USS Newton campaign!

587 CY, Second Day of the Festival Week of Richfest: Dungeon! (continued)

15 July 2015

Behind the fateful door ... a storage room. Sigh. The party glanced over the pallets of spears and pole arms, and various barrels and crates. Next! The door beside that one led to a similar room, filled with similar goods: two pallets of shields, two pallets of leather armor, and some barrels. After their initial disappointment, a rough inventory of those chambers showed that the shields were all new, painted with a large, yellow eye, topped with flames. The leather armor was also new, though unadorned. The barrels contained chunks of salted pork of varying sizes, and behind those were two small kegs, most likely containing spirits. The first room held 50 spears, 10 glaives, 6 guisarmes, 3 battleaxes, 70 black capes with the flaming eye sigil, a crate of 120 arrows, another crate of 200 crossbow bolts, and 13 crates of assorted root vegetables.

Rook sacrificed one of the spears (and almost sacrificed Barry the Bearer): he told Barry to go poke at the green slime by the stairs. Seeing the smoking destruction wrought upon the spear, the party discussed using the slime to destroy the stored goods, to ensure the villains got no chance to use them. There were counter-proposals to take it all back to town for a profit. In the end, it was decided they would re-lock the storage rooms and decide what to do with it all later. To finish off this western extent of the dungeon, the thieves ventured up the green-slime stairs, being careful all the way up, including checking for traps and looking above for slime. They found a gold ring forgotten in the corner of a step, and they found that the stairs led up into the burned pantry area where they had previously killed a nest of giant rats. Good. They burned the green slime to make that stairway safer for their use as a secondary egress. To finish off this western extent of the dungeon, the thieves ventured up the green-slime stairs, being careful all the way up, including checking for traps and looking above for slime. They found a gold ring forgotten in the corner of a step, and they found that the stairs led up into the burned pantry area where they had previously killed a nest of giant rats.

Now they were satisfied that the entire area west of the ogre’s den had been explored, and so they went back through the secret door, through the small antechamber at the bottom of the secret stairway, and through the secret door broken by Karox. Kheldar took point, checking the stairs for traps and for green slime. He neglected to check the secret door for traps, though he did spot the trip wire after the fact. It led from the door to a small crossbow mounted in the ceiling of the stairway, pointed at the door. Just as he turned to warn those behind him, Karox opened the door wider, so she could pass, and took a poisoned dart in her unprotected shoulder (where she had lost a pauldron to the green slime). Luckily, she made her saving throw and suffered only minimal damage from the dart. The thieves dismantled the trap and Kheldar gained a dart crossbow, albeit one with a very limited ammunition supply. The party negotiated the rest of the staircase without incident.

At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor branched east and west, so they went west, which then turned south, wiggled, and eventually let into a large chamber, with three doors in the south wall, and a passage leading off to the west. They checked each door for traps, and opened them one by one. The first let onto a small, empty room. The middle one opened on a blank wall. As they opened it, the party all heard a loud rattle and clang from somewhere in the dungeon. A chain led from the inner surface of that door, through the wall, which led them to suppose that they had triggered a trap elsewhere. The third door let onto a long corridor, bearing south, with a branch to the southeast.

They had closed that door and were considering their options, when a deep voice said from behind, “What ho.”

In the western passage stood a large, hyena-headed man in light armor. Others of the same sort stood in the passage behind him, all with weapons in hand but not ready.

The gnolls—as someone recognized—inquired as to the party’s purpose. When the party replied that they were looking for the necromancer, the gnolls remained neutral. In fact, the hyena-men were willing to look the other way while the PCs passed, for a price. A little haggling revealed that the price was 8 gold pieces per party member. During the haggling, more gnolls crowded into that passage, revealing their total number to be 9. Anaïs met their price from the party’s communal gold bag: 48 gp. There were dissenting opinions, but the loudest, Barry’s, didn’t count. The gnolls took their toll and went back the way they had come.

During the haggling, Kheldar managed to sneak past the gnolls. He found a dead-end chamber, plainly living quarters for the gnolls. It smelled badly of wet dog. Though a quick rifle didn’t reveal anything of real value, he did find an open water barrel, which he poisoned with the snake venom he had been carrying for some time.

Next: that southern passage. Karox opened the third door, and Kheldar led the way once more, staying to the left and checking for traps. [Despite many turns of slow progress, checking for traps the whole way, I hadn’t yet rolled a wandering monster.] Since the branching corridor was on the left, he led the party that way, to a door. Kheldar checked the door for traps and listened—both with negative results. He stepped aside so that Karox could open it, which revealed a corridor heading due east, with another door just past the one Karox had opened, on the north side of the corridor. Kheldar repated the dance, and Karox opened the door, though not without some (loud) struggle.

When she did finally open it, she saw a long corridor running to the north, and two ranks of three crossbowmen each, 30 feet from the door, with more armed men behind them. She also saw three crossbow bolts penetrate her armor, though none did her much damage. After the surprise had worn off, she closed the door, and the party reversed course, in haste. They were chased back to the gnoll-parleying room, where they made their stand. One thief stood to each side of the door, while Karox and Graham stood in the middle, about ten feet into the room. The first pair of enemy fighters took the bait and charged in. Anaïs backstabbed the one on her side, killing him, but Kheldar missed his. No problem: when the fellow moved into the room, Kheldar managed to trip him, and their new illusionist friend, Rook, stepped in close to throw darts at him.

The bad guys rethought their tactics, and let the door close. They shouted through the door, in Gnollish, “Come out and kill the intruders! Where are you?” When Karox opened the door, there was a double rank of crossbowmen again, though this time she wasn’t surprised and didn’t get hit. The standoff was broken when the gnolls came into the room again, appearing interested. Rather than be attacked from their flank, the party elected to go through the door. Karox charged the crossbow men, and got hit twice, once critically. That bolt struck a nerve, stunning her. Fortunately, Billet Graham was right behind her, and used his own Sanctuary-protected body to shield her. As the crossbowmen reloaded, he cast Hold Person, freezing two of them.  That ended his Sanctuary spell, but seemed a good trade-off. More enemies appeared behind the ranks of crossbowmen.

Meanwhile, Kheldar, effectively invisible and silent with his elvish gear, sneaked past the increasingly dense mass of enemy troops, back down the southeast corridor. That was not easy, dodging so many jostling men.  For fun, he called back, in Common, “Kill the gnolls!” loudly enough to be heard by the gnolls. For his next trick, he managed to slip through the first door unobserved. Through the next door, however, he found a pretty man in fancy plate mail. Though the man didn’t apparently see him, he definitely saw the door open. Kheldar beat a strategic retreat, and hid in the eastern corridor that the party had not yet investigated.

Rook took out one of the crossbowmen with his Color Spray spell, while Graham fought with swordsmen. Anaïs turned the tide with trickery: she called to the gnolls, “Did you hear that?” (referring to Kheldar’s fake command, “Kill the gnolls!”). She lied, “They’re coming for you,” which was sufficient to incense the gnolls [who were greatly dissatisfied with the loot and other opportunities presented by the Master]. They ran past the PCs, and chased the human enemies back the way they had come. That gave Kheldar a chance to rejoin the group, and sufficient time for Karox to recover from her waves of pain and nausea. That respite also gave Rook some time to have a poke around the gnolls’ living area. He found one thing of possible value: a chunk of carved wood with a gnoll likeness. He made off with this “gnoll tiki,” because you never know.

Before long, though, the gnolls were beaten back. Only four of the nine survived to run away, back to their lair. That seemed an opportune time for another strategic retreat on the party’s side. This time they fell back to the relative safety of the ogre’s chamber. Oh: their way was barred by a portcullis that had dropped from the ceiling, blocking their way to the stairs. No matter: Karox easily bent the bars widely enough for her to pass, which let everyone else easily pass.

The party heard clanking noises from beyond the secret door, but no one was brave enough to look.

587 CY, Wealsun the 13th: Training!

8 July 2015

Back in Verbobonc, everyone trained and leveled up. The cleric, the fighter, and the elf magic-user all went up one level, the PCs to 3rd and the magic-user to 4th. The thieves trained longer and went up two levels, to 4th. Unbeknownst to Graham and Karox, their training was paid for in part by the takings from the inn.

Taking advantage of the greater selection of merchants and goods in the bustling town of 13,000 people, Billet Graham bought plate mail and exchanged his large shield for a medium shield, which is easier to use.

To Kheldar's dismay—but not surprise—when asked about providing help with the known Evil in the moathouse and its dungeons, the viscount responded that he had no one to spare at present, and that he was confident in the party's continued success, as they had "hit those miscreants hard, by Cuthbert!" He also remarked that he expected the baddies would be busy regrouping, and perhaps even reconsidering whatever schemes they had in motion near Hommlet. Wilfrick readily assented to sending a letter of confidence in Kheldar, by courier, to the Mage Burne of Hommlet, to clear up any lingering doubts as to his character.

Over the course of their two weeks of training and resting, Billet Graham took on another bearer at the recommendation of a local Canon--another stalwart worshipper of Saint Cuthbert, of course. Unlike his predecessor, Barry was tall, loud, and definitely male. Perhaps not the brightest, but his faith and his back were strong. Also of note, another of the faithful, a trickster named Rook, joined the party. He appeared to be of the wildlands to the west: slight of build, with golden skin and straight, black hair, well adorned in jewelry and most ingratiating.

Except for Kheldar, everyone's training was concluded as of the penultimate day of Wealsun. They enjoyed a short celebration that evening, followed by a day of rest during Kheldar's last day of training, and set out for Hommlet once more on the first day of the festival week of Richfest.

587 CY, First Day of the Festival Week of Richfest: To Hommlet!

The trip to Hommlet was uneventful, praise Cuthbert.

On the way into the village, Anaïs stopped off at the moneychanger’s, to give him a gift of Velunan ham. Lem was despondent, and revealed that he had been robbed just the day before. The thieves killed one of his dogs, and got away with a number of uncut emeralds.

The others continued on to the Inn of the Welcome Wench. Karox ordered up the Dinner of Seven Courses, expanded to eight courses for the week of Richfest, with a lovely poached river trout preceding the first of the meats.

As soon as Anaïs arrived in the common room, the mage Burne swooped in, and invited the entire party of heroes to feast with him in the back room. And so they did. Burne asked after everyone’s welfare, and related village news: the only Evil of note in the past fortnight had been a burglary at the moneychanger’s, and a fatal attack on his dog by some animal both silent and vicious.

Over dessert, Burne finally got to the meat of what he wanted: help with the inn burglary of a month past. The party asked if Valiniriel had not returned: he had not. Burne said that in any case, he had not trusted the elf to return in a timely manner, and so had called in an old friend, Brendara, to assist in the questioning. Brendara had cleared Kobort and Turuko of the theft, and simultaneously learned that Turuko suspected Furnok of Ferd, seconding Burne’s suspicions. Unfortunately, Furnok had left the day before, and no one even knew which direction he had gone. Nonetheless, Rufus took a few men and went in search of the shifty fellow, to no avail.

Burne asked the heroes many questions:

• What do you know of Kobort and Turuko?
• What do you know of Furnok of Ferd?
• What do you know of the robbery of this inn, one month ago?
• Have you seen or heard about any of the jewelry stolen from ostler Gundigoot and his good wife?
• Whom do you suspect of this burglary?
• Do you have any ideas about how the burglary could have been accomplished?

Meanwhile, Brendara was listening from the adjoining room, and began her ESP spell as soon as she heard him preparing his first question.

Those with guilty thoughts had to make four Cool checks (Wisdom, +4 for being skilled liars and not having much in the way of conscience). Kheldar did well, though he did let thoughts of Ostler Gundigoot’s living quarters come to mind. Anaïs did much worse: she completely failed to control her thoughts, and (as came out later), recollected killing Valiniriel in an alley in Verbobonc. Really and thoroughly killing him. Oh, shit.

The response was swift and unexpected: first, Anaïs fell asleep at the table, then Kheldar.

Brendara came into the room. Burne picked up Anaïs, and Brendara picked up Kheldar. Karox got to her feet, but felt a blade at the back of her neck, as Rufus intervened. The new guy, Rook, tried valiantly to talk people out of rash action, but when Billet Graham came across the table at the magic-users, Rook gave up on diplomacy and hid under the table. Burne dropped Anaïs, and countered the spell Graham was starting (Sanctuary), by casting Hold Person on him. The only one still active, Karox turned to fight, and Rufus hit her hard in the face and neck with the blade and guard of his sword. She was undeterred, but unable to keep the magic-users from carrying her compatriots out of the room as Rufus held her off. Rook made himself invisible and followed the magic-users at a discreet distance, while Karox continued to attack Rufus. Rufus was calm about it, though her continued attacks were reducing that calm. He finally convinced her that her friends had been lawfully taken into custody, and she was not going to get them back by violence. He said that they would be held and tried as he and Burne saw fit. Then he left her, and jogged after the magic-users.

Rook followed Burne and Brendara to the tower, though he declined to sneak inside. He overheard their discussion on the way, and so knew at least why Anaïs and Kheldar had been arrested: Brendara had seen a murder in Anaïs’ mind. Anaïs had vividly recollected stabbing an elvish man in an alley, making sure he was dead. Brendara hadn’t seen what led up to the violence, though she had the impression it hadn’t been self-defense. She had taken Kheldar because she knew the two rogues were close. Burne agreed it was the most prudent move.

The Hold Person spell on Graham lapsed after a while, after which he and Karox went to ask Canon Terjon for advice. Unfortunately, though they knocked at both of the rear doors of the church, neither Calmert nor Terjon answered.

Meanwhile Kheldar talked with Burne, Rufus and Brendara. He claimed (truly) to know nothing of whatever death Brendara had seen in Anaïs’ mind. Brendara’s ESP bore that out, and he used the viscount’s letter as further leverage, so that in the end Burne was convinced of his innocence and they let him go.

Anaïs’ case was not nearly so easy: through judicious use of truth, lies and something in between, she pled that Valiniriel had “assaulted” her (here, she used her feelings of anger and helplessness at his blunt blackmailing regarding the inn heist, to manufacture thoughts and feelings she hoped would fool Brendara’s scanning). She claimed that she had felt she had no recourse, lest he assault her again. Burne was plainly unhappy at the thought of letting a murder go unpunished, but Anaïs and Kheldar were very convincing. It was, after all, something that had occurred out of Burne’s jurisdiction, it was done in self defense, and Brendara had strong sympathy for the pretty half-elven girl.

In the end, Burne and Rufus decided they could let Anaïs go only on the condition that Kheldar would be responsible for her actions, and suffer any penalty along with her, for future transgressions. Of course, Kheldar agreed. In addition, Burne and Rufus confiscated 1500 gold pieces from Anaïs, that she claimed as the proceeds of Valiniriel’s purse.

So … joyous reunion …. some sleep … and another hike out to the moathouse in the morning.

587 CY, Second Day of the Festival Week of Richfest: Dungeon!

The trip to the moathouse was quiet and uneventful. There were no frog attacks, and no new tenants in the moathouse. The adventurers quickly, yet cautiously, opened the secret door and descended the stairs to the antechamber. The broken secret door was still broken, and once more, they went through the other secret door, to the west.

First surprise: the ogre’s body was gone. They opened the door to the large, L-shaped room, and threw a torch down the southerly leg, so they could see any zombies that might lurk there. It was unoccupied, and in fact there were no discarded zombie bodies, so someone had cleaned up. Kheldar reconnoitered the westerly leg of the room using his new elvish cloak, while the others waited in the doorway.

Second surprise: Kheldar found the ogre’s body. It was standing stock still, among a gaggle of other zombies, all crowded together on the far side of the other stairway. There were some familiar faces there, and some badly burned ones. Hmm …. The zombies didn’t spot him, so he sneaked back to the others.

After a long conference, the party elected to split up around the stairway, and attack the zombies. Kheldar fired the first shot, a flask of oil with a burning rag around its neck. That was the signal for the others to step up and do the same. Soon, some zombies were charred beyond use, and their companions were moving to attack the adventurers.

Standing at the foot of the stairs, Karox discovered a dripping green slime in the archway, when it dripped on her shoulder. Her armor was soon sizzling and smoking. That didn’t seem like a good development …. Anaïs had encountered Green Slime before, and told her to take the armor off quickly, without touching the deadly slime. Karox stepped back and swiftly unbuckled her pauldron, dropping it to the floor with no mishap.

Meanwhile, Billet Graham took a position at the other end of the staircase, and presented his holy symbol of Saint Cuthbert, a silver cudgel. In a firm, loud voice, he commanded the undead to depart, and two of them quickly fled from him, though unfortunately the ogre was not fazed. In the short battle that followed, Kheldar notably took one of the zombies down with a sling bullet through the eye; Karox hacked one from crown to breastbone, and beheaded another. Anaïs and Graham also did their parts.

The only one of the party who held back was the newest member, Rook.  His sole contribution was an attempt to throw a vial of holy water in the face of a weakened zombie that threatened the ladies and Kheldar.  However, his lack of combat experience showed: he hit Karox with the holy water, succeeding only in drenching the back of her neck, and splashing Ricky/Pædro.  Kheldar's abominable little friend was quite upset at his impromptu bath, making noises that sounded as if someone had stitched a tomcat to a chihuahua.

After the battle, Kheldar was determined to dismember the zombies, to prevent recycling. Rook and Barry kept watch over him, while the others retreated to the ogre’s former room, to rest and be healed. A sweaty half-hour later, the zombies were diced, and Pædro the six-legged rat-mole had found two doors behind the pile of junk against the west wall (barrels, crates and shelving, all broken). Rather than open new doors, Kheldar insisted that they check out the southern corridor/leg of the room, with its five doors and archway.

With good luck and a keen eye, Anaïs found a small green gemstone behind a loose stone in the first of the five cells. A search of the other cells netted a foul stench, an unidentifiable gobbet of flesh, and a puddle. Through the arch was a torture chamber, complete with two bodies: one on a stretching rack, some parts removed; the other mostly a skeleton, manacled to a general purpose torturing bench. Still in a dismembering mood, Kheldar cut the heads off, while Pædro/Ricky found something tasty on the floor. The thieves searched the walls and floor for secret doors or anything else of interest, but found nothing there.

Satisfied that they were alone, for the time being, the party went back to the main staircase room and moved the junk away from the two doors. Both were in good repair, with new, well oiled locks. And naturally, both were locked. Kheldar unlocked the one on the right, and stood back while Karox opened it ….

587 CY, Wealsun the 9th: Into the Dungeon, for Real This Time!

3 July 2015

With the overcast sky showing hints of dawn, our heroes reopened the secret door and descended the narrow stairway into the dungeon. The stairs ended in a 10-foot by 10-foot by 10-foot room with no apparent egress—a root cellar? Karox found a secret door in the east wall, by throwing herself against it. Valiniriel found another secret door in the west wall, via more delicate methods.

A quick look through the eastern door revealed stairs descending. The party elected to go west, to explore before delving deeper. Through the western door, Anaïs saw the back of a giant, yellow-skinned humanoid wearing a couple of bearskins stitched together. She also spotted his bardiche leaning against the wall. The party elected to attack, so we checked for surprise—neither side was surprised. The giant tied initiative with Anaïs as they both lunged for his weapon. She got there first, but missed her grab, and he yanked it away, slashing her from shoulder to hip and putting her down and out in one hit. The more cautious thief, Kheldar, sneaked around behind the giant, while the cleric and fighter charged in. Valiniriel held back, in the usual formation. The giant was unable to hit the heavily armored cleric and fighter, and Kheldar missed his chance at a backstab. Largely thanks to Karox, the giant was soon dying on the floor.

Graham quickly tended to Anaïs’ wounds, rescuing her from death. She rested quietly, while the rest of the party examined the giant. Upon closer inspection, someone decided it was an ogre—purple eyes with white irises are pretty distinctive. They searched the room, finding a gnawed foot, probably human. In the ogre’s nest, Kheldar found a Cloak of Elvenkind, just his size! And in a chest, they found a 3 gp, 23 sp, and 41 pounds of copper.

Though once more conscious, Anaïs was unable to engage in combat or any strenuous activity. She needed a good day’s rest, but no one, including her, wanted to quit the dungeon so soon. She elected to stay in the rear and use her bow.

Next, they were faced with two normal doors out of the room. One was barred from this side, the other unlocked. They chose the barred door, hoping the ogre was keeping something in, rather than out. Indeed, that turned out to be his larder, and within were two lightly used men and a poor gnome, looking like one big bruise. The men were happy to be freed, and promised to send a reward back to Hommlet. The gnome was grateful, but not immediately in a position to make his way out. He took the food and water offered by Kheldar, gave Kheldar a plain iron ring, and passed out.

Through the only remaining door: a large, L-shaped chamber. The area to the west contained a pile of junk, and stairs up. The southern branch was somewhat of a corridor, with a line of doors on the western wall, five in all. Kheldar scouted, and was able to see the far end of the corridor, just past the fifth door. There was also an archway in the wall opposite the doors. As soon as he had passed the first pillar in that door area, he spotted two middle-aged human women, naked but for ragged skirts. Gypsies? They appeared drunk, and interested in him, though they didn’t speak. Hmm … he ran away, and they pursued, as best they were able. Good Billet Graham used the power of Cuthbert to repel the ladies, which proved that they were some form of lesser undead. But then a door hinge squealed further down the corridor, just out of the torchlight, and two young men, also poorly dressed, shuffled forth. These were obviously undead, having gaping chest wounds.

The party quickly took up positions on either side of the pillar, and attacked the silent undead as they came forth. And more came forth. Each minute, another pair emerged from another door, each time closer to the party. Because rolling 1s on attack rolls was the new vogue, the party had great difficulty repelling the undead, which soon overwhelmed the front line and tried to eat the thieves and magic-user. They learned that arrows do only one point of damage. They also learned that Cuthbert was not very willing to help in turning the undead. Graham turned another two, but had better luck whacking them with his Holy Mace, which turns undead as a 5th-level cleric. Somehow, the more vulnerable members avoided death at the hands of the shufflers—someone decided they were zombies.

Eventually, five of the “zombies” were grouped in the far end of the chamber, hiding from the nasty cleric, and the rest had been dismembered to a sufficient degree to break the magic that animated them. That was enough. That was more than enough: Graham was nearly down, Anaïs was recovering from being mostly dead, and even Karox had been hit hard, with a broken leg. Kheldar dashed in and dumped some oil on the cowering undead, and lit them on fire. Then the adventurers retreated the way they had come, gathering up the gnome in the process.

In fact, they kept retreating. Even before they had reached Hommlet, they had decided to go to Verbobonc, to report and to reflect on their victories and failures (i.e. to train and level up). They were also piling up treasure that they wouldn’t get decent prices for in Hommlet.

587 CY, Wealsun the 10th: Rest!

Our brave adventurers spent one last day in Hommlet so that Graham could heal Karox’ broken leg.

587 CY, Wealsun the 11th: To Verbobonc!

The ogre’s chest of copper went to pay for the rental of a wagon and team, to take the loot up to Verbobonc. The thieves went out early to retrieve previously buried treasure, and met the wagon on the road.

587 CY, Wealsun the 12th: Verbobonc! Rest! Training!

The thieves require two weeks for training, while the cleric and fighter require only one week. The party will be free to move on or venture back to Hommlet on the 28th, the last day of Wealsun. As a reminder, Wealsun is followed by the festival week of Richfest. This is midsummer, followed by the month of Reaping, the first month of high summer.

587 CY, Wealsun the 6th: Into the Dungeon!

23 June 2015

The party got ambushed in the courtyard of the moathouse, and surprised for three segments. New bandits within the inner part of the keep lit oil on the steps, making that approach hazardous, and archers started doing what they do to the party, through the arrow slits. In the ensuing arrow-storm, Feodoric got arrows in the neck and in the heart. He didn't survive. Valiniriel and Anaïs went down. Kheldar ran up close to the inner wall, to be out of sight of the arrow slits. Billet Graham cast Sanctuary, so that the bandits would have to save vs. Spells before they could target him. Regrouped, the three survivors each picked up a body and ran for it. Though a few arrows came from the wall at their backs, they were not pursued.

The party spent two days recuperating in Hommlet, and burying Feodoric. Canon Terjon remarked that it was such a waste, having spent a Neutralize Poison spell on Feodoric just the day before.

587 CY, Wealsun the 9th: Revenge!

Looking for revenge, the party sneaked back to the moathouse before dawn. Kheldar and Anaïs sneak-attacked the bandit guards on the parapet, killing them easily. Kheldar's buddy Ricky/Pædro, the six-legged rat-mole, went inside to scout, and did an excellent job. He told them where and roughly how many bad guys, though he forgot to mention the dogs. The whole party assaulted in a kind of coordinated fashion, taking the rag-tag bandits in a pincers movement. No real injuries on the good-guys' side, and no survivors on the other side, except the bandit leader, whom Anaïs took to the snake room and tied up.

The party then looted the bodies. McGee rolled a 1, so Karox was able to break the Wizard Lock on the door to the Black Chamber. Their plan is to open the secret door and descend into the darkness.

587 CY, Wealsun the 4th: Once More Back to Hommlet!

16 June 2015

At the locked door, the party reconsidered, and elected to return to Hommlet, to heal and refresh themselves. Valiniriel applied the requested Wizard Lock to the door, to ensure a safe retreat, and the good cleric immediately healed the worst wounded: Anaïs and Kheldar. The consensus was that Valiniriel would heal well enough on his own, as would Feodoric, after being healed by (they hoped) one of the priests of Cuthbert, back in Hommlet.

The weather held fair, allowing the adventurers to enjoy the countryside on their walk back to civilization. The elf wizard took special note of a handful of red-winged blackbirds sitting in a willow tree, about halfway back to Hommlet.

It was mid-afternoon when the adventurers returned from their easy day in the ruins. The first stop in Hommlet, for the Billet and his bearer, was the church. While the rest of the party went their various ways, Graham sought aid for Feodoric. Once more, Priest Calmert seemed more concerned with a sizeable donation, than with succor. Yet when he asked his superior, the canon (whom he did not introduce), the matter of donations was as good as dropped. The good canon seemed brusque, yet he soon healed poor Feodoric from the Giant Rat Rabies. In fact, the canon was plainly displeased at his priest’s earlier behavior, and Graham overheard raised voices regarding the seeking of over-large gifts to the church.

Graham left through the worship hall of the church, so that he might pass by the donations box, and was compelled to stop and talk with an aggrieved farmer. The man turned out to be a shepherd named Gerd, who had lost two sheep the night before—not his first such loss. Plainly devout, he was very glad to relate his troubles to the attentive billet: the sheep were not taken by wolves, plainly, for wolves always leave some sign, and his dogs had not barked in the slightest. When this first happened, two or three weeks since, he had thought the sheep taken by a former laborer, whom he had let go. Yet he had not seen that worker anywhere about Hommlet in the following weeks. The man had not taken work at Lord Burne’s tower, and no one had seen him elsewhere around. So what could it be? What else, or who else, could pass by the watchful dogs and spirit away two sheep?

Valiniriel went straight to dormitory room in the Inn of the Welcome Wench. Karox resumed her post in the apple orchard, keeping to herself.

Not sure about the order of events; pretty sure it doesn’t matter.

Anaïs headed straight to the moneychanger’s, and Kheldar went back to the inn, where he found Valiniriel dicing with the scoundrel they had spotted on their magic-seeking adventure the previous night (the fellow with something tubular hidden at his waist, and a dagger in his boot). Relieved of the last of his silver, Valiniriel was happy to give his seat up to Kheldar. The man’s name was Furnok, Furnok of Ferd, and he gave Kheldar a toothy grin before asking if he played dice. “Of course!” Alas, though Kheldar used his loaded dice, he still lost two hands to the grinning stranger. That bit of cash bought him a bit of information: Furnok as much as offered his services to the party, seeming impressed with them.

After that, Kheldar spoke with the ditzy serving wench, Polly, asking if she knew of any local historians who were interested in the war with the Temple of Elemental Evil some years past. Polly mentioned the druid of the grove—that was new to Kheldar, and so he went to some lengths to ascertain which grove Polly meant. “But,” she said, “he’s new, and probably wouldn’t know that much.” When Kheldar asked if there were anyone old in the village, Polly brilliantly replied, “The Elder!” Yes, Elder Handwell was certainly the one to talk to about the past, and he would be at the bonfire this evening. “Bonfire?” Sure, the one at Gerd’s place, just after sundown.

The last of Kheldar’s conversations in the inn was with the innkeeper, Master Gundigoot. Kheldar gave into his safekeeping a platinum piece that he claimed to have found in the front yard of the inn. He went on at some length, explaining that the only honest thing a person could do in that circumstance was to give it to the innkeeper until someone came looking for it. All the while, Gundigoot was either scowling at him or looking over him at the common room.

The moneychanger, Lem, was quite happy to see his daisy-picking friend. The guards and dogs were stone-faced, as before. Anaïs showed him the nice, jeweled dagger they had won from the giant snake in the ruins. Though he agreed it was pleasing to the eye, and no doubt worth a fair amount, he declined to buy it from her, explaining that he only dealt in currency and gems, having little room or talent for dealing in goods. He volunteered his opinion that she would not get a fair price for it at Rannos and Gremag’s shop. And finally, he invited Anaïs to a bonfire and dance in shepherd Gerd’s pasture that evening, where he promised to show her all of the local dances. She accepted.

Anaïs, Graham, Karox and Kheldar went to the traders’ shop, hoping to pick up some goods, sell some goods, and equip the traders’ boy, Ulfric, with the scale mail they had found. After much haggling, they could not get Rannos to let his boy go out in anything less than good chain, though they did unload what they had found (except for the jeweled dagger, which they did not offer to the traders). In the way of purchases, they bought more oil, rope, and a short bow and arrows for Anaïs. She had wanted a longbow, but the traders wanted 75 gp for the only one they had available—a normal longbow costs an already exorbitant 60 gp. The 75 might have been warranted, as the bow as finely made, and even painted in green and gold, in what looked to Anaïs like an elvish pattern, but in the end, at least partly due to lack of trust of Rannos and Gremag, they opted for the more economical short bow. In the midst of his sales pitch, Rannos offered to let them take the bow to the tailor’s, “Because he’s a bow man, and he’ll tell you what an excellent piece of equipment you’re holding, he will!”

The Billet called on the tailor next, hoping to add a “bow man” to the party. Though the tailor was devout and claimed to be deadly with throwing knives and crossbow, he was a wee man. He admitted that the militia hadn’t asked him to join, and he had heard it was due to his small size, and Graham’s conscience wouldn’t let him take the man on, thinking he would be killed by the first hard blow.

Kheldar also called on the leather worker and got the brass-decorated shield repaired (leather handle). He met the leather worker’s dipsy-doodle daughter who mistook him for a leprechaun, and pronounced him “so darling!” She was pretty, and nice enough to get away with that. Leather worker was reasonably friendly, speedy, and didn’t overcharge.

A bit after sundown, Anaïs, Lem, Kheldar, Billet Graham, and half the village walked out to Gerd’s pasture, where he had a huge, roaring fire going, and a free cup of cider for everyone.

Kheldar found the elder and pumped him for information. Though farmer Handwell was somewhat knowledgeable about the war, he had no clue about Prince Thrommel’s disposition, and no good guesses as to who his captors might have been. He did, however, offer to feast the party at his house, “At the successful conclusion of your sallies against Evil!”

After that fishing expedition, Kheldar slipped away from the gathering, to have a snoop around the moneychanger’s place. As he had observed before, there was a guard and a dog out front. The guard held the dog’s leash, rather than having it staked in the yard as before. Out back there was a second dog, as before, though no guard in sight this time. The dog had free run of the back and side yard, within a fence. Because fortune favors the brave, Kheldar sneaked through the brambles and climbed the unguarded side of the house, out of sight from the front and back. He avoided a nasty fall when the spring-loaded gutter tipped as he put weight on it. Up top, he found a roof of medium slope, covered with wooden shakes. No obvious way in. He considered trying to pry a shingle loose around the chimney, but gave up—for the moment.

Speaking of fishing expeditions … Anaïs’ first pocket-picking attempt, at the bonfire, was a complete failure. She rolled a 00, and ended up holding hands with the mark’s girlfriend. That girlfriend was Polly, one of the Inn’s serving wenches, and she soon sought out Anaïs while their men were otherwise occupied in the privy field. She was furious, seemingly because Anaïs had been trying to poach on her plot. There was one blow struck, a slap with knuckles that Anaïs failed to dodge, followed by a huge scene, with Anaïs crying out that the crazy girl had struck her, and Polly collapsing to the ground. The villagers plainly didn’t know what to make of it all. In the end, she went back to Lem’s place and “spent the night.” Well, actually, she did spend the night. Oh, and it came out that Lem’s brother has a half-elf wife. His family is from the Kron Hills, and that borders Celene, and he explained that they, “Just grew used to being around beautiful women there.”

Also at some point that evening, Kheldar loitered in the upstairs hallway of the inn, trying to ascertain whose room was whose. The only one he pinpointed was that of a fellow he had seen before, but not really noticed. He introduced himself, and found that the plainly dressed man was named Spugnoir.

587 CY, Wealsun the 5^th: The Moathouse!  Again!

Whew! That was a long day.

Overnight, Feodoric recovered from the worst of the nasty gash in his/her leg. Valiniriel reported over breakfast that he had been up late, in conference with Burne and Master Gundigoot regarding the theft of the innkeeper’s fortune. They wanted him to use his ESP spell sometime soon, while they questioned some suspects, and they had invited any of the party who might want to attend. He had agreed, though he seemed to be seeking the party’s permission or something—perhaps simply warning them. In any case, Valiniriel needed another two hours to prepare his spells for the day, so they got started around 9am.

Another two-hour walk to the moathouse. No frogs at the causeway this time. On the way, Kheldar made a point of looking for friendly woodland creatures, and finally was approached by a six-legged rat-mole-thing named Pædro, who was eager to accompany him, having heard from a certain muskrat that there was great adventure (and biscuit) to be had. Pædro gladly rode atop Kheldar’s backpack.

In brief, the party scouted out the areas previously cleared. They found only the legs of the huge spider, all of the lizard, all of the loathsome tick, many crisped and pulped rats, but only the remains of the snake, butchered with blades.

It took little discussion to decide they would attempt to get into the northeast room via the fallen wall, rather than attempting to go through the Wizard locked, barred and bolted door. Anaïs fastened a rope atop the rubble pile in the west wall, and the party traversed the ramparts, pausing to have a good nose around the top of the circular tower, looking for a secret trap door: nope. On the east side of that room of the unknown, they roped down to the grassy verge. Kheldar had a look in an arrow slit on the way down, and spotted the back of a man in leather armor, working at something in a fireplace.

Again, Anaïs climbed the rubble pile to set a rope, allowing the rest of the party to ascend safely.

BUT! Just as she was nearing the top, two crossbowmen sprang out from the hole in the wall, and surprised the party! They loosed two volleys—12 bolts in all—at Anaïs, yet due to her lithe springing to and fro, only four bolts connected. Luckily, (partly because I rolled for normal bow damage, 1d6, instead of crossbow damage, 1d4+1) Anaïs only took 5 points of damage from the barrage. That could have been much worse—deadly worse. When they had recovered, the party returned fire, slaying the crossbowmen. Anaïs made the rope fast, and everyone came up.

Karox went first, down the slope into the room, followed by Billet Graham. Missiles of many sorts were shot and hurled at her, though all missed: another crossbow bolt, a javelin, and a spear. The next round, there were seven bandits spread around the room, and the bandits had initiative after the thieves. Anaïs used a magical ribbon to create a path of utter darkness through the middle of the room, covering Karox and Graham, so that the enemy couldn’t see them to swarm on them. That caused more than a little consternation, buying enough time for Valiniriel to cast Sleep over the entire room, ending the conflict.

Karox and Billet Graham were caught in the spell. Before waking them, the thieves went around and killed all of the bandits but the leader and lieutenant. They removed all bandit armor, weapons and loot, and dumped the bodies in the moat. Then they awakened the sleeping party members, tied up the leader and lieutenant, and explained to Graham that regrettably all the other bandits had been killed in the fighting.

The party spent quite a bit of time searching the room, finding nothing of real value, though they did find a secret door in the middle of the west wall.

Under just the threat of torture, the lieutenant cracked and told Kheldar exactly where to find their real loot, buried under the rubble. Karox was helpful enough to dig the 130-pound chest free. Inside was a hundred pounds of copper, two bolts of expensive cloth, crystal decanter and goblets, an inlaid wood box with ivory handles, and four arrows graven with runes on heads and shafts. Both the prisoners claimed to know nothing about the secret door.

After spending another hour looking, they finally found the opening mechanism for the secret door (moving a curtain-rod bracket to the side). Inside was a narrow stairway, winding clockwise, leading downwards.

Now with prisoners and bulky loot, the adventurers called it another early day, and marched back to the village under overcast skies.

They stopped at Burne’s tower, to gift him with the bandits. He seemed pleased, and his associate Rufus took charge of the new workers. When asked, Burne confirmed that the bolts of cloth had been reported stolen. He accepted them, though he told the party to sell the rest of the goods, as he hadn’t heard reports of their theft, and the rightful owners had probably been killed.

587 CY, Wealsun the 4th: Once More into the Moathouse!

10 June 2015

With all the party members hale and well rested, all spells prayed for or memorized as required, the party broke their fast in the common room of the Inn of the Welcome Wench, preparing to set out once more for the moathouse in the swamp, the warning post of the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Before they had finished their breakfast, the tall, awkward, birdlike trader, Gremag, found the party. His purpose was to let his customers know that the boy they had rented, Ulfric, would require proper protection if he was to accompany them into danger. A leather jerkin was not nearly sufficient—the lad required a chain hauberk, or better. Fortunately, Gremag had a hauberk of stout chainmail back at the shop, which he thought would surely fit Ulfric.

Though everyone played along to the point of heading to the shop, in the end, they decided they didn’t need Ulfric at the cost of 2 gold pieces per day plus 75 gp up front (or the payment plan, of 12 gp total per day for 7 days). Haggling didn’t really get them anywhere, nor did Billet Graham’s attempts to elicit holy zeal in the fight against evil. And so they left without their archer. Gremag wished them luck.

On the way out, Kheldar kept his eyes open, and was able to befriend a muskrat, with pieces of biscuit and promises of more. Two hours hiking saw the brave band to the moathouse, where they were, as feared, set upon once again by giant frogs, though this time only two, and small fry at that. The frogs were dealt with at no cost to the party, who confidently crossed the drawbridge into the courtyard (confident once Kheldar had again scoured the eastern half of the drawbridge for traps.

They had a quick peek in on the spider’s lair. Though most of the body had been carried off, the legs and head remained. Kheldar tried to find the venom gland(s), but failed his Lore check and so just made a further hash of the already well distributed remains.

Rather than heading straight to the double doors atop the stairs, the party scouted around the courtyard, where they found bootprints in a track between the front gates and the double doorway atop the stairs. They made good use of the thieves, who climbed the walls to peer into arrow slits with their infravision. Anaïs even gained the parapet, and walked the rear half of the fortress, hoping to find a back way in. The reconnaissance proved largely fruitless, however. The rooms appeared to be empty, or filled with nothing more interesting than shattered furniture or ruined taxidermy. Where she was able to investigate, the collapsed walls didn’t appear to offer passage inside to anything larger than a rat.

And so, to the doors at the top of the staircase. The thieves scanned the left doorway for traps, and finding none, sent the redoubtable Graham through first. Feodoric followed quickly, with a torch, for the large hall beyond the doors was gloomy. Everyone came into the 50-by-50 room. Kheldar examined the stout door in the easternmost end of the north wall, evidently leading into a square tower that jutted off that corner of the moathouse. He found no traps, heard no noise, but did discover that the door was barred and bolted from the inside. The party elected to leave that door alone for the present.

There were few surprises in the south wing. They found a wide staircase leading up, though Anaïs could confirm that there was nowhere for the stairs to go beyond the ceiling, and the pile of rubble on the landing appeared to be the legitimate end of the staircase. One room contained a lot of dirt and little else, despite a lengthy search. Another held the remains of at least one large bed, split and hacked until the largest piece was no larger than a foot in length. Another sheltered a small bat colony.

Even the giant snake in the largest room was no surprise, as Anaïs had spotted it from the outside. While the bulk of the party set up in the hallway outside the room, Anaïs climbed back to the parapet and sneaked around to toss a Molotov oil flask through the ruined wall, onto the snake. This she did very well, and the flask shattered on a rock, showering the snake in flaming oil. The snake fled blindly from the conflagration. When it tried to flee down the corridor, the party set on it, fanning the flames with their widely missing swings … except for Kheldar who had successfully hidden from the beast (not so hard, since it was on fire and thus a bit distracted). He backstabbed it with a natural 20, thus doing quadruple damage and killing it. (We’re trying a new rule to keep natural 20s and natural 1s from making a mess of combats: a natural 20 will do max. damage, but will only indicate a Critical Hit if a 6 is rolled on a further d6; a natural 1 will always miss, but will only indicate a Fumble if a 1 is rolled on a further d6.)

After the requisite rest, the party searched the large room, while Kheldar butchered the snake further, seeking any treasure it may have swallowed—none, as it turned out—and attempting to harvest its venom glands. The venom hunt was a complete success: Kheldar rolled a perfect success on his Lore check (a 1, rolling below Wisdom, though it should have been Intelligence to know/remember a fact) and was able to cut the gland out and secure it in an empty flask brought along for that purpose.

Someone (Graham, I think) found a jeweled dagger among the rubble where the snake had rested. That went to Anaïs, at least temporarily, so she now has two fancy daggers, neither of which she really wants to throw.

When they got back to the large hall at the top of the stairs, Kheldar’s muskrat buddy was nowhere to be found. The rat!

The north wing didn’t go so well. Actually, it didn’t start out so well: Kheldar peeked into a narrow-ish (only 5 feet wide) passageway, finding a horde of giant rats looking back at him. He ran away, and the rats did not follow. The party used that bit of good fortune to their advantage, rigging another Molotov flask. Kheldar went back to the opening and tossed the bomb more or less blindly, setting fire to several of the critters. That time, the rats followed. Wisely, the party was ready for the burning rodents, and swung … and swung … and swung, mercifully sparing the rats from contact with the weapons of any but the wizard, who killed one before it expired from the flames. In the ensuing melee, the rats were eventually killed, though Anaïs Fumbled (a 1 followed by a 1 on the d6), striking Valiniriel— mercifully just 2 points. The first rat to attack Kheldar rolled a natural 20 (but not a Crit), and bit him for a full 3 points of damage. Feodoric was savaged for 1 of his/her 2 hit points. Kheldar and possibly others were upset that Valiniriel didn’t see fit to use Magic Missile to finish off the rats. Feodoric had the bad luck to catch Giant Rat Rabies from her/his bite, so that’s a ticking clock on the party, and probably an expensive cure, unless they want to leave Feodoric laid up for about a month, with a chance of death. The fire bomb had set a fire that didn’t look to be abating, so they left that passage/room unexplored.

The room full of mounted animal heads and pelts turned out to be infested with ticks up to 1 inch in diameter—they left that alone. The other small room they had been able to see into from the courtyard was similarly uninteresting. They had a listen at the double doors leading into the large barracks room at the end of the corridor, where Kheldar heard sounds of movement, something man-sized, probably. Kheldar went back out, to have a peek in through the arrow slit again. This time, he spotted a giant lizard in the south end of the room, quite close the arrow slit.

After a hasty conference, they sent Anaïs out with Karox’s bow, to climb the rubble and throw flaming oil through the arrow slit. She would then shoot it with arrows, and the party would rush it from the double doors (I don’t know why they didn’t just have her shoot it until she killed it). That kind of worked: Anaïs dropped the oil flask almost on her feet, and had to retreat to let the flames burn out. She only had the one flask, so she shot the lizard with an arrow, doing four points of damage. The uproar kicked the combat off. Karox’s door wasn’t stuck, but Billet Graham’s was, and he failed to force it. Sigh. They had terrible luck with opening doors all night. When Karox got inside, the lizard had moved around, and was right next to the doors. It surprised her, and got a free hit, but missed because of her armor and large shield. They mobbed the thing, and failed to kill it. Graham got bitten for 5 points, and Anaïs slipped and fell on the rocks rushing to get back inside, also taking 5 hit points, so Valiniriel hit the thing with Sleep, making for an easy kill. Loot from a chest in that room: some copper pieces, given to Feodoric; a suit of scale mail, possibly to be used to equip Ulfric; a light crossbow; a case of 24 crossbow bolts. Keeping to the tradition of gutting their kills, the party also found a medium shield in the belly of the huge lizard. It’s a nice looking shield, with bronze chasing and fine detailing, though it will require a new leather handle.

Still feeling pretty good, and with a few unwounded members, the party proceeded to check out the last door in the corridor: the kitchen. Hmm … avoid the butcher-block table mounded with mold … oh, a small cask … AAH! GIANT TICK IN THE FIREPLACE! GETITOFF! GETITOFF! GETITOFF! Such was Billet Graham’s nasty surprise. The thing bit him, most foully, and latched its sharply pointed legs around him, holding tight. Though Karox gave it her best shot, her blade slid off the thing’s hard carapace. Anaïs stuck it with her shortsword, with little apparent effect. Graham spent his round casting Cure Light Wounds on himself, to keep death at bay, though he knew the blood drain would take more of his life. Shortly thereafter, he fell unconscious. Oh no!

But all was well: Valiniriel had used his last Sleep spell, allowing the party to finish off the horror without further mishap.

Still somehow confident enough to continue, the brave adventurers went back to the rat room. Now that the fire had nearly burned out, the remaining two giant rodents were able to come squeaking and spitting out of the passage. They were dispatched without incident, and the way was found to lead to a staircase down. Dunn-dunn-dunn!(geon)

Putting that to their backs, they went to the barred and bolted door, hoping to clear the upper works before venturing below. The party arranged themselves, and Karox threw her (considerable) weight against the door. It creaked and groaned (or was that she?) but did not give, and she had to admit defeat. Two plans were put forth for breaching the portal: dousing it in oil and burning it (slow but sure), or battering/hacking it down. It was hung such that it swung into the space beyond, eliminating the chance of removing the hinges with anything short of an axe. It was decided to fetch the sturdy work tables from the kitchen and have the four strongest members use them as battering rams.

In all of this time (3 hours), no wandering monsters were encountered, and the day had turned out quite fine. Valiniriel has three Magic Missile spells, ESP and Wizard Lock remaining. Billet Graham has two Cure Light Wounds and Sanctuary.

587 CY, Wealsun the 2nd: Adventure!

2 June 2015

On the way out of town, the party stopped at the castle construction site, to talk with laborers and with the magic-user Burne. He agreed to show them around the village when they got back, and revealed that he and Rufus are vassals of the Viscount of Verbobonc. There was a bit of subterfuge, as Kheldar and Burne each tried to make sure the other really knew Wilfrick. Further out, not far along the overgrown trail, Kheldar sought and found a woodland creature to befriend. The plump (18-pound) rabbit had a good reaction to him, told him it had heard big thumpy runners (the horsemen) the night before, and agreed to accompany him. It was happy to be carried.

Progress along the overgrown track was slow and tiring, taking them two and a half hours to clear a little over two miles of severe overgrowth, most of it while climbing hills. Finally, the land leveled out, and then the trail descended into a shallow, swampy area, and not long after that, they came to the ruins of the moathouse.

They hobbled all of their horses just off the end of the causeway leading to the moathouse, and left Feodoric to guard them. The party advanced cautiously, and rather than being surprised by the Giant Frogs in the weeds, they spotted the frogs, and in fact surprised them! Kheldar got off six sling bullets in his two segments of surprise, killing one of the larger frogs. Karox only had one segment to act, though her bow gives a rate of fire of 2, so with the triple rate for surprise, she got six arrows off, killing one of the “small” Giant Frogs. In the first full round of combat, the speedy Kheldar and Anaïs went before the frogs, though they didn’t kill either of the remaining couple, and Anaïs lost her dagger in the weeds. Then the frogs jumped in. The larger one jumped clear over the party, and bit Valiniriel on the leg, nearly taking it off. The smaller one jumped right in front of Billet Graham. In simultaneous attacks, it missed, and he didn’t, though he didn’t kill it. Everyone swarmed the frogs, but Valiniriel got bitten again, and half-swallowed. Then they finished the frogs off. Graham healed the magic-user, and while he recovered, the others searched around the frog pond, and inside the frogs, recovering a few sling bullets and arrows, but losing Anaïs’ dagger. They also found a 100 gp gem in the largest frog.

Next … Karox invited Feodoric along, and the entire party advanced to the drawbridge, where Kheldar checked for traps on the eastern half, and found none. They trooped across single-file and into the courtyard.

They turned to the tower next, not wanting to leave it unexplored behind them. Kheldar peeked through the arrow slit and saw nothing. Karox opened the heavy, warped door with no problem, and Kheldar sent his bunny friend in, asking it to go to the other side and back. The Huge Spider within couldn’t resist the snack, and pounced as the bunny was making its return trip. It surprised the party, so they didn’t get a chance to shoot at it before it yo-yo’d back up. They readied two flame arrows, and Kheldar climbed the outside of the tower. He fastened a rope on a merlon, and peeked over the edge. Surprise! Literally: the spider surprised him and bit him with a natural 20, crippling his arm with 2xd6 or 12 points. He failed a difficult (-30%) Climb Walls roll to rope down as he was falling unconscious, and thus took falling damage of 2d4-2. All told, he was at -6 and will have gnarly scars on his arm. Luckily, Kheldar matched that critical hit with a natural 20 on his Saving Throw against poison. Graham healed him, but not enough to even get him conscious (though any attention was sufficient to keep him from dying). Graham insisted on killing the spider before they went back to town. So, he cast Sanctuary on himself, and walked inside the tower, while Karox stood by with a flame arrow ready. Unfortunately, Graham couldn’t see the spider, as he doesn’t have infravision. Fortunately, it failed its Saving Throw, and so couldn’t attack him. Karox stepped in anyway, and fired blindly, hoping to at least light up the ceiling area. She scored a critical hit, and hit the spider anyway. That made it mad, and it jumped down to kill her. Graham hit the thing for a little damage. Anaïs used her round getting into place for a backstab, but then Valiniriel cast Magic Missile and finished it off in a spray of ichor.

For the looting phase of that encounter, Anaïs climbed the handy rope to the top of the tower, and poked around in the spider’s nest. Icky stuff, but no treasure. Examination of the floor of the tower did not reveal any hidden trap doors, though a thorough search of the dried husks and other litter netted some silver and copper coins, and an ivory box the size of a large book. Low on spells and with one unconscious comrade, the party debated options, and finally elected to retreat to Hommlet.

Back in Hommlet, the party inquired at the church about healing for poor Kheldar. Unwilling to pay the steep 50 gold pieces for a single Cure Light Wounds spell, they stayed overnight at the Inn of the Welcome Wench, so Brother Graham could pray for four Cure Light Wounds spells. Anaïs generously paid for everyone’s food and lodging for the night.

587 CY, Wealsun the 3^rd: Healing!

After a night of restorative sleep, Kheldar was still not at all well. Valiniriel seemed better, though still not at full strength. Graham used his four Cure Light Wounds spells and quickly fixed them both up.

With a day to kill in the village (waiting for the cleric to replenish his spells), the party did a little exploring. Kheldar found the mage Burne in the common room being fussed at by two local farmers. They were nearly demanding that he “do something” to stop the brigand attacks. After they departed, Burne mentioned to Kheldar that the inn was in a bit of an uproar, as the innkeeper had been robbed, though none of the patrons had. He was perplexed as to how the thieves had managed to locate the well hidden money box. Kheldar played dumb and shocked.

There was also some trading to be done: they visited the traders’ shop for more arrows, where they met the owner, Rannos Davl, a greasy, round, slow man, and his assistant or maybe partner, Gremag, a greasy, tall, thin, odd man (both human). Rannos offered them 65 gp for the ivory box, though they elected to get another estimate. He also sold Karox 20 arrows for 4 gp, which is a little high, though at least the arrows looked good. And the party took his offer of a man-at-arms named Ulfric, who is “good with a bow,” though he seemed a bit green—he claimed to have “been up against it,” in a battle with some brigands. Rannos took one day’s rental, 2 gp, up front, and laughingly warned the party to make sure to bring Ulfric back. They declined the offer of another bearer, a likely lad, but superfluous to their present needs. Kheldar briefly cased the place, noting the very sturdy door to the back room, and two good-looking locks.

At the party’s request, Valiniriel cast Detect Magic from the front yard of the inn, covering both a few items they had among them and everyone in the common room of the inn. He thus identified Anaïs’ newly acquired dagger as magical. No one else asked him about anything specific, so he didn’t mention any other party magic items. He did point out a waist-high scroll (or other item of similar proportions and size) and boot-high dagger, both concealed on a sneaky-looking fellow in the common room.

Kheldar wanted to check out—i.e. case—the moneychanger’s shop, so he went over to get the frog gem assayed. The moneychanger, Lem, offered him 75 gp for it, if he would send the others over, “especially that young elf lass.” Done. Kheldar’s observations didn’t reveal any obvious weaknesses—the guards and dogs are taciturn and single-minded. The front dog refused Kheldar’s offer of a cold cut, with a most ungracious growl and snarl. Anaïs duly went over, got an offer of 80 gp for the ivory box (to be considered later), and accepted an offer to go out daisy-picking with Lem. Happy Day!

587 CY, Wealsun the 1st: The Party Assembles!

27 May 2015

The Party, in Alphabetical Order:

• Anaïs, played by Rhonda: Female half-elf thief of mild disposition
• Billet Graham, played by Brett H.: Male human cleric of St. Cuthbert and many loud words
• Feodoric (NPC): Mute male or female human bearer hired by Graham
• Karox, played by Chris: Female human warrior of few words (extra large)
• Kheldar, played by Jeff: Male gnome thief of sneaky, yet charming disposition

The party met in the village of Hommlet, late in the day.  The thieves, Kheldar and Anaïs, had arrived a few hours earlier, and were sitting (separately) in the Inn of the Welcome Wench.

Kheldar the gnomish scamp was wandering from time to time, talking with people, and switching his full beer mugs for their less full ones, thus appearing to drink more than he actually was.  He had been sent by Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc to continue his search for the purportedly kidnapped Prince Thrommel of Furyondy.

The boisterous cleric of Cuthbert, Billet Graham, entered the inn not long before sundown with two accompanying him: his “man”, Feodoric (a small youth of indeterminate sex, with fine, curly red hair and no voice) and a very large warrior woman named Karox.  The Matriarch of Verbobonc had sent Graham to investigate reports of bandits and worse Evil in the vicinity of Hommlet, and she had given him charge of the miscreant Karox, both as bodyguard and target of Cuthbertian reform.  No one questioned the apparent lack of coordination between the two major powers of Verbobonc, in sending their agents separately, around the same time, to the same place.

In subsequent conversation, Anaïs said she had been sent by her local cleric (of Wee Jas) for the same reason as Graham and Karox.

Well-met over fine ale and large meals, the party naturally decided to pursue their mostly congruent goals together.

As the evening wore on, Kheldar did some sneaking and spying, perhaps suspecting something off about the local oaf and beer-drinker, Elmo.  That yielded naught, as did a bit of illicit snooping upstairs, in the rooms.

Eventually came time to bed down for the night.  Rooms were 1 GP and up, so Graham and Kheldar took cheap lodging in the dormitory upstairs.  Karox opted for a spot in the apple orchard next door, and Graham easily persuaded Feodoric to accompany Karox.  Anaïs took a separate room.

After bedtime, Kheldar did more sneaking about, discovering much less than he might have wished.  After his disappointment, he finally retired to the dormitory room.

In the dead middle of the night, Feodoric woke Karox, pointing at two headless figures on horseback, on the church road.  They wheeled and galloped towards the church.  Karox went back to the inn to report this to Graham.  The lad in the common room asked her business, and she told him on her way up to the dormitory.

The entire party assembled, armed themselves, and went out to track down the riders.  At the church, they heard the riders approaching down the north road, and they lined up across the road to stop them.  The riders spotted them, and veered off north of the church, to head across the fields, to the east.  The two of the party with infravision (Anaïs and Kheldar) easily saw that the “headless” riders had heads and faces, though their heads were tucked low between very high shoulder pads.  The party did not pursue the riders.  On the way back to the inn, they came across an elf in robes, with a staff, standing in the middle of the road.  He introduced himself as Valiniriel, and invited himself along with their assumed outing on the morrow.

When the party returned to the inn, they found most of the patrons awake, drinking mead in the common room.  They had apparently been awakened by Billet Graham’s less than stealthy departure, and the night boy’s report of Evil so nearby.  People were swapping stories of Evil occurrences thereabouts, such as a werewolf spotted on the east road, a ghost seen by the miller’s wife a fortnight past, and those poor folks set upon by brigands on the north road, who had to come into the village stripped bare naked.

Kheldar and Anaïs robbed the innkeepers’ hidden moneybox while the owner was downstairs with the awakened patrons, and his wife was distracted with a cunning ruse of Kheldar’s invention.  He showed Anaïs the large iron box full of jewelry and coin.  She then took the loot out in a pillowcase and buried it along the north road, though she may have been seen, at least in silhouette, by someone smoking a pipe out back of the church.  Meanwhile, Kheldar sneaked into an unlocked room temporarily devoid of tenants (who were downstairs with most of the patrons), and hid the iron box under that bed.

587 CY, Wealsun the 2^nd: Adventure!

The next morning, a not completely fresh party broke their fast in the common room, and prepared to set out.  When questioned on his motivations and qualifications for accompanying the party, Valiniriel responded that—being a youth—he required experience of the larger world.  He claimed “arcane knowledge” as qualification.  He further suggested the logical direction for their first explorations was East, since that was where so many sightings and Evil occurrences had been reported, including the “headless” riders and a werewolf.  Also, he pointed out that the ruins of the moathouse (outpost of the Temple of Elemental Evil) lay in that direction, not too far from town.