They began descending the stair that wound around the shaft down to the third and fourth levels of the dungeon beneath the Howling Tower--the Goblin King's lair lay somewhere below, and within, presumably, the Star Child prisoner ...
The party included:
Baby-Face (thief 6)
Valor Justice (Elf 2)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Ham (cleric 5)
Thaddeus (fighter 3)
Torag (ogre 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 4)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5)
Maira (magic-user 1)
June (cleric 3)
Able (paladin 1)
(the party was a damned army, alerting everything ahead of them of their coming!)
There were two doors on the landing to the third level. Both were locked. Baby-Face picked one; it opened onto a goblin armory. But he failed to pick the other. The party began to smash it open; the noise attracted attention ...
From below, the party heard a familiar voice raised in anger: "Why do you continue to invade my house?" cried the Goblin King from the bottom of the shaft. And looking over from above, there he was, surrounded by a bodyguard of four spiderlings, and with Calirath, an Elfin-seeming woman with white hair, clad in nothing but her own coal-black skin.
"Well if you weren't such a dick!" Maira called back from above.
"Come and fight me!" the Goblin King answered.
Confusion ensued. Without a caller, the party talked over each other. I want to cast a spell, I want to shoot an arrow, what's going on? I called for initiative without spells--an arrows was loosed, and so battle was joined.
The Goblin King and crew won; the Goblin King himself, a straight-backed, strikingly handsome goblin with a weird Elfin shadow that moved independently, quaffed a potion and grew in size; his djinni, Calirath, began to transform into an aery form and a wind picked up in the room. The four spiderling bodyguards around the king stepped up to the foot of the stair, taking defensive positions. And from the back of the party, the silent demon spider crept down and attacked, but I rolled shit for attacks.
A party of dogs attacked the demon spider, all to no avail despite having silver-lined tine in their mouths--as a demon, it was immune to any attacks except those with a magic weapon. Koko moved back to attack the spider, using her ape ability to kind of climb the wall to get into the melee with the dogs, using her magic sword.
Aethelwulf, Little Bob, Ham, and some dogs moved down the stair to attack the spiderlings, while arrows were cast down around them at the Goblin King, to no avail. But even as Aethelwulf reached the middle point and cast his first javelin, fires lit up from the runic trap on the stair, engulfing all the front rank in fire for 1-6 damage; these fires would cover the entire stair on the next round.
Spells were prepared. The party won initiative, and Ham got hold person off on the Goblin King and his bodyguard. I rolled a 3 for him, but the spiderlings saved (third villain in three villain-encounters to fail his save against hold person, this is getting frustrating); Blackleaf also webbed the King; meanwhile, June attempted to hold person the rising whirlwind, but Calirath not being a "person", she was not affected.
Seeing the fires roaring toward them, several characters jumped. Able, June, and Little Bob each took 1-6 points of damage as they leapt. Meanwhile, Koko used her apish "feat of strength" ability to wrestle the spider off the stair--she tried to throw it at the Goblin King, but didn't quite succeed in that. As the spider was cleared from the back, the rest of the party moved up the stair and away from the rising fires (hmm, I should have dealt fire damage to Ham, Blackleaf, and June, since spells can't be cast if you move, but I didn't--oh well!) Baby-Face meanwhile used his thief "climb sheer surfaces" ability to descend from the stair without harm.
The demon spider was discombobulated for a round, then began to climb back up the wall; the spiderlings stayed where they were, holding the foot of the stair for the entire encounter; Calirath continued to transform into a whirlwind (5 rounds altogether is painfully slow).
Meanwhile, Koko charged back down the stairs through the fire (1-6 damage) to engage the spiderlings in melee alongside Aethelwulf. She managed to kill one, but also received a number of hits, including two critical hits, one of which she warded off by breaking her shield. And I should note that Aethelwulf, wearing his Ring of Fire Resistance was hanging out in the fires, immune to their damage (they were only dealing damage as "normal fires").
Ham, Torag, and Thaddeus all elected to jump off the stairs to take 1-6 falling damage each, and then gang up on the paralyzed Goblin King.
At about this time, the demon spider got back up to the stair and began munching on dogs (rolled randomly, characters or dogs/hirelings). Boar One (Ham's dog) failed his save against poison. Later, Duke (Maira's dog) would be killed by brute damage, while Whesker the Weasel (Baby-Face's snake-killing weasel) also succumbed to poison. And Astix (June's Celtic hireling) was knocked to 0 hp (just knocked out, even for a mere hireling), and made his save exactly to avoid death-by-poison.
Meanwhile, Calirath was finally fully formed into a whirlwind. She moved through Aethelwulf and Koko, dealing 2-12 damage to each, and Koko was KO'd, while Aethelwulf was forced to lay hands upon himself. But!--Valor Justice had a scroll on his character sheet, and nothing to identify it otherwise. He used it, and I rolled its effect randomly from the treasure-tables. Protection from Elementals! And reading the description, it creates a circle of protection 10' into which elementals cannot move or attack. And what's a djinni but a spirit of the air? I judged it effective, and the whirlwind Calirath was unable to affect the party at the top of the stairs with her howling winds.
During these rounds, Torag, Ham, and Thaddeus were beating up the Goblin King (normally I allow automatic kills against held opponents, but in the confusion of this combat, I was just granting +4 to attack) and doing some decent damage to him, but were attacked by his animated shadow; and so Baby-Face and Little Bob began to attack the shadow and deal damage directly to it with their magic weapons, until finally it dissipated (and the Goblin King looked pretty badly injured too).
Around this time, June happened to loose an arrow at the frozen Goblin King--and he rolled a 20! He took the King down to 1 hp; initiative was rolled, and the party won. I let June go first. Another hit, and the Goblin King is dead, slain by an arrow cast by a low level character, his eyes rolling up in his head even as his body is held in a magically rigid paralysis.
The whirlwind howled, moved down to attack those around the Goblin King, and KO'd Ham with the damage dealt. Then she began to wind down, returning to her woman-form.
Only the demon spider and the spiderlings remained ... the spiderlings were quickly dispatched; but the demon spider continued to fight (see casualties above), its armor class and magical nature keeping it proof against most of the creatures it was facing. Until Aethelwulf, Little Bob, and Blackleaf engaged it in melee with their magical swords (the fire had died down by then, but as Little Bob went back up the stairs, they reignited, dealing 1-6 damage to him). The spider managed to KO Little Bob, but the magic swords arrayed against it proved too much, and it expired on their swordpoints.
Lastly, the whirlwind was still winding down; as it did so, Ham attacked it, thinking it still an enemy--but Baby-Face, who had counseled against killing the Goblin King in the midst of the battle, now leapt in the way of the blow. He took the hit, but saved Calirath. And when the djinni had fully reformed, she turned to Baby-Face and declared, "If you can save the Goblin King--if you can get him raised from death--I will give you anything you want."
So the party marched out of the dungeon, Calirath carrying the slain form of the Goblin King--and what wandering monster would dare attack such a procession??
Back in town, the Goblin King was successfully raised by Lailith; and because Baby-Face asked Calirath to serve him, she pointed out the ring on the fallen Goblin King's finger to which her spirit was bound, and bade him wear it ... and now Baby-Face is a Thief 6 with two Rings of the Djinni.
Which means it's time for me to step up the challenge!
We were out of time ... we'll figure out the ramifications of it all next session. But all in all, very fun. There was a lot of nail-biting on behalf of the players, and a lot of me thinking "oh man, I'm going to kill all the low-level characters." But some fortuitous rolls (my bad save, a good roll on the scroll-type) turned the tide of fortune.
Showing posts with label dungeons and dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dungeons and dragons. Show all posts
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Sunday, May 13, 2018
A Generic Old Sword +1
I've occasionally seen the argument bandied about, that a generic Sword +1 (or any magic item +1) is just about the worst kind of magic item that can be found in the game.
The sense that I take from these statements is that magic items should all be interesting and unique, and an item +1 cheapens magic to just another game stat.
I agree in general with the sentiment. Magic should be unique and interesting! So what I used to do, back in high school, was never to give out any magical item unless I had carefully placed it in my dungeon. I remember the party was once forced to fight a demon that was harmed only by magical weapons with the single Dagger +1, which I had placed in a dungeon somewhere elsewhere ...
... one of the players was later so desperate for magic that other players (okay, I was one of them that session) played a joke on him by casting continual flame on a quiver of arrows and making them seem like some kind of flaming arrow.
Sure, you're right--that Dagger +1, even though it was the only magic item held by a party of 6 or so ~4th level characters, didn't actually have a name or anything. It was still just an item +1 ... but its magic still made that encounter more interesting ...
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So I agree with the general sentiment, that magic items should be unique and interesting, but I disagree with the practical idea that one should not include "generic rulebook stuff". How to make this jive?
First, what's the motivation to cut out the generic item +1? Is it for the players or for the referee? In every game I've run, players are always happy to run across the next Sword +1 or Shield +1 or whatever. Even if they don't immediately use it, they can add it to their "downtime" inventory, they can give it to a favored hireling, or just hold onto it to bribe the dragon instead of using their personal Sword +3 of Whatever Awesomeness.
Likewise, as a player, I'm happy to pick up extra items +1 to add to my inventory for use by my henchmen/hirelings--or, at first level, it's just fucking awesome to finally have a magic thing!
As a corollary ... sometimes I as a player just don't want a weird magic item ... I know, I know, "weaponize floating disc and mending" and all that, and use every item in weird ways, but still, sometimes I just don't see a use for the thing. Maybe someone else does--and I'll be glad to give it to them! But sometimes a Sword +1 would just be kind of generically useful ...
Second, assuming unique magic items is a thing for the referee ... you don't need every item to be magically unique to give a unique description to the item. A Sword +1 can be a sword "marked with the maker's mark of the Waterfall", or it can be a "narrow grey sword with weird Dwarvish runes", or it can be "a flashing scimitar with a spider hilt", etc. etc. etc.
I have some specific traditions of magic-sword forgings in my game that provide ready descriptions for otherwise generic swords. I need more such, surely; and I need the same for other "generic" magic items that could be found in the game; but I've gotten by so far with what I have ...
Third, the randomness of the tables in the book is a large part of the appeal. I had a dungeon that included a staff of power in one of the rooms on the first level because I rolled the 01 on percentile dice for a magic item present, unguarded (likelihood 1%!), and proceeded to roll within 91-95 (Wand/Staff/Rod), and then 22-23 (Staff of Power). Honest rolls. Which meant, when my players found it, that they had a staff of power! Its use was their prerogative ... only just now, six years later, have they finally "used it up". Without rolling it, there's no way in hell I would have placed it there--but with random generation ... well, sometimes adventurers get lucky!
Corollary to that--if you don't like the generic tables, write your own tables specific to your setting. I keep intending to do this for myself ... but really, I have no beef with items +1 (and I don't want to spend the time). My players eat them up. I generally have handy descriptions for them to differentiate one from the next (eh, I sometimes do). Too many?--items get lost. And even the generic magic item tables have a variety of interesting things that players have never seen, or have rarely really gotten a chance to play around with, session after session (Blackleaf in my Greyhame Game has a medallion of ESP 30'. It's the first time for me as a referee ... after 20ish years of D&D? ... to have to deal with it--and definitely the first time for her as a player of maybe five years. She abuses it at every door, and I roll with it ... someday there'll be a monster with an amulet of protection from ESP ... rolled randomly, of course)
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So call me a conservative in this regard, but I'm fine with a Mace +1 (its head is fashioned to resemble elephants with mighty tusks) and a Ring of Protection +1 (where a stone would be set instead is a piece of a saint's fingerbone). I'll place super-special magic-items here and there in the dungeon where I will, but for any old hoard (and a dungeon-level should hold several), I'll roll randomly just to see what shows up.
The sense that I take from these statements is that magic items should all be interesting and unique, and an item +1 cheapens magic to just another game stat.
I agree in general with the sentiment. Magic should be unique and interesting! So what I used to do, back in high school, was never to give out any magical item unless I had carefully placed it in my dungeon. I remember the party was once forced to fight a demon that was harmed only by magical weapons with the single Dagger +1, which I had placed in a dungeon somewhere elsewhere ...
... one of the players was later so desperate for magic that other players (okay, I was one of them that session) played a joke on him by casting continual flame on a quiver of arrows and making them seem like some kind of flaming arrow.
Sure, you're right--that Dagger +1, even though it was the only magic item held by a party of 6 or so ~4th level characters, didn't actually have a name or anything. It was still just an item +1 ... but its magic still made that encounter more interesting ...
 |
| "So help me if this is just some Sword +1, +3 versus Undead!" |
------
So I agree with the general sentiment, that magic items should be unique and interesting, but I disagree with the practical idea that one should not include "generic rulebook stuff". How to make this jive?
First, what's the motivation to cut out the generic item +1? Is it for the players or for the referee? In every game I've run, players are always happy to run across the next Sword +1 or Shield +1 or whatever. Even if they don't immediately use it, they can add it to their "downtime" inventory, they can give it to a favored hireling, or just hold onto it to bribe the dragon instead of using their personal Sword +3 of Whatever Awesomeness.
Likewise, as a player, I'm happy to pick up extra items +1 to add to my inventory for use by my henchmen/hirelings--or, at first level, it's just fucking awesome to finally have a magic thing!
As a corollary ... sometimes I as a player just don't want a weird magic item ... I know, I know, "weaponize floating disc and mending" and all that, and use every item in weird ways, but still, sometimes I just don't see a use for the thing. Maybe someone else does--and I'll be glad to give it to them! But sometimes a Sword +1 would just be kind of generically useful ...
Second, assuming unique magic items is a thing for the referee ... you don't need every item to be magically unique to give a unique description to the item. A Sword +1 can be a sword "marked with the maker's mark of the Waterfall", or it can be a "narrow grey sword with weird Dwarvish runes", or it can be "a flashing scimitar with a spider hilt", etc. etc. etc.
I have some specific traditions of magic-sword forgings in my game that provide ready descriptions for otherwise generic swords. I need more such, surely; and I need the same for other "generic" magic items that could be found in the game; but I've gotten by so far with what I have ...
Third, the randomness of the tables in the book is a large part of the appeal. I had a dungeon that included a staff of power in one of the rooms on the first level because I rolled the 01 on percentile dice for a magic item present, unguarded (likelihood 1%!), and proceeded to roll within 91-95 (Wand/Staff/Rod), and then 22-23 (Staff of Power). Honest rolls. Which meant, when my players found it, that they had a staff of power! Its use was their prerogative ... only just now, six years later, have they finally "used it up". Without rolling it, there's no way in hell I would have placed it there--but with random generation ... well, sometimes adventurers get lucky!
Corollary to that--if you don't like the generic tables, write your own tables specific to your setting. I keep intending to do this for myself ... but really, I have no beef with items +1 (and I don't want to spend the time). My players eat them up. I generally have handy descriptions for them to differentiate one from the next (eh, I sometimes do). Too many?--items get lost. And even the generic magic item tables have a variety of interesting things that players have never seen, or have rarely really gotten a chance to play around with, session after session (Blackleaf in my Greyhame Game has a medallion of ESP 30'. It's the first time for me as a referee ... after 20ish years of D&D? ... to have to deal with it--and definitely the first time for her as a player of maybe five years. She abuses it at every door, and I roll with it ... someday there'll be a monster with an amulet of protection from ESP ... rolled randomly, of course)
------
So call me a conservative in this regard, but I'm fine with a Mace +1 (its head is fashioned to resemble elephants with mighty tusks) and a Ring of Protection +1 (where a stone would be set instead is a piece of a saint's fingerbone). I'll place super-special magic-items here and there in the dungeon where I will, but for any old hoard (and a dungeon-level should hold several), I'll roll randomly just to see what shows up.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
the First Time I Played D&D
A good friend of mine had me create a character for a game I'd never heard of before. I was ... 9 maybe?
I played a fighter (simple to describe and create). I'm fairly confident I'd read The Hobbit by then, because I don't remember being phased by the presence of Orcs. What I do remember is that after killing several orcs in a semi-ruined city, I ran into one, an older orc who didn't immediately attack. I spoke with him; he asked me why I was killing his comrades.
How could I respond? I barely knew what kind of game I was playing. I have no memory at all why I was killing orcs to begin with ...
But I knew I was hooked. (Thanks, Jesse! I don't guess you know how much that little session expanded my horizons)
I pored over this friend's accumulated "monster manual", which was in the true old style of a three-ring binder filled with three-hole punched monster pages. Dozens of monster I'd never heard of. We made characters using his rules to attack our dads' dungeon (my dad and his are best friends from their college years, and played D&D together back when it was the LBBs); but we failed to do much of anything other than lather up an angry water-weird.
Back home, without any kind of actual D&D rulebook, I wrote a set of rules based on what I remembered, plus stats from the Master of Magic game that we had on the family computer. I introduced friends at school to the idea of the game; I remember I played a kind of gold dragon as a "DM character" for a little while, but ultimately abandoned that idea after fire-breathing my own enemy-creatures to death too many times.
Later on, I acquired the 2e Monstrous Manual as my first actual D&D book (I still have it; the binding is maintained with duct-tape now, and saving throw tables are written into its back pages). My only book then!--so all characters were Fighters without spells or special abilities. We still managed to make it interesting; one player was a minotaur with a Warhammer 40K-style chain-sword, one was a wererat, one was a halfling. A different game of mine with another friend had otter-people (courtesy of Redwall) and a vorpal demon-halberd emulating Ashitaka and his curse from Princess Mononoke.
Then at last, I acquired a Players Handbook--two, actually, both the first edition and the third edition versions ... I ran a short first edition game with a good friend and his ranger and cleric characters; but third edition games didn't really take off until high school ...
------
A response to an "old" guest-post over at Tenkar's Tavern that left me chewing on memories. Obviously, my experience in the beginning was similar to Michael Gross' experience, except I was the young referee trying to marshal players in the "wings" of the elementary school building during recess, using handwritten notes.
Which brings up another idea: D&D as a punk exercise, as articulated by the author of the Pits Perilous blog. You want to run a game? Great! Rulebooks are helpful, but they're not necessary. All you need is a gut understanding of a game that takes advantage of infinite freedom. The rules are yours to write/steal. ("Here are three chords; now go start a band," as the punk reference is made)
A seven-year-old can write a D&D scenario. Get to it!
(a further addendum: I had a friend in junior high and high school who had come up with his own "game" which started out entirely as a narrative give-and-take between him and us players. No dice, everything was his fiat; he had a world that he had imagined up, with a variety of strange creatures (most of them were reptilian something-or-others), and we explored it entirely through dialogue with him, without dice or anything. Just to point out that you don't even need the handwritten rules that some of us had; sheer imaginative force is sometimes enough. And thanks, Solomon! I really didn't appreciate your creation and originality as much as I should have back then!)
I played a fighter (simple to describe and create). I'm fairly confident I'd read The Hobbit by then, because I don't remember being phased by the presence of Orcs. What I do remember is that after killing several orcs in a semi-ruined city, I ran into one, an older orc who didn't immediately attack. I spoke with him; he asked me why I was killing his comrades.
How could I respond? I barely knew what kind of game I was playing. I have no memory at all why I was killing orcs to begin with ...
But I knew I was hooked. (Thanks, Jesse! I don't guess you know how much that little session expanded my horizons)
I pored over this friend's accumulated "monster manual", which was in the true old style of a three-ring binder filled with three-hole punched monster pages. Dozens of monster I'd never heard of. We made characters using his rules to attack our dads' dungeon (my dad and his are best friends from their college years, and played D&D together back when it was the LBBs); but we failed to do much of anything other than lather up an angry water-weird.
Back home, without any kind of actual D&D rulebook, I wrote a set of rules based on what I remembered, plus stats from the Master of Magic game that we had on the family computer. I introduced friends at school to the idea of the game; I remember I played a kind of gold dragon as a "DM character" for a little while, but ultimately abandoned that idea after fire-breathing my own enemy-creatures to death too many times.
Later on, I acquired the 2e Monstrous Manual as my first actual D&D book (I still have it; the binding is maintained with duct-tape now, and saving throw tables are written into its back pages). My only book then!--so all characters were Fighters without spells or special abilities. We still managed to make it interesting; one player was a minotaur with a Warhammer 40K-style chain-sword, one was a wererat, one was a halfling. A different game of mine with another friend had otter-people (courtesy of Redwall) and a vorpal demon-halberd emulating Ashitaka and his curse from Princess Mononoke.
Then at last, I acquired a Players Handbook--two, actually, both the first edition and the third edition versions ... I ran a short first edition game with a good friend and his ranger and cleric characters; but third edition games didn't really take off until high school ...
------
A response to an "old" guest-post over at Tenkar's Tavern that left me chewing on memories. Obviously, my experience in the beginning was similar to Michael Gross' experience, except I was the young referee trying to marshal players in the "wings" of the elementary school building during recess, using handwritten notes.
Which brings up another idea: D&D as a punk exercise, as articulated by the author of the Pits Perilous blog. You want to run a game? Great! Rulebooks are helpful, but they're not necessary. All you need is a gut understanding of a game that takes advantage of infinite freedom. The rules are yours to write/steal. ("Here are three chords; now go start a band," as the punk reference is made)
A seven-year-old can write a D&D scenario. Get to it!
(a further addendum: I had a friend in junior high and high school who had come up with his own "game" which started out entirely as a narrative give-and-take between him and us players. No dice, everything was his fiat; he had a world that he had imagined up, with a variety of strange creatures (most of them were reptilian something-or-others), and we explored it entirely through dialogue with him, without dice or anything. Just to point out that you don't even need the handwritten rules that some of us had; sheer imaginative force is sometimes enough. And thanks, Solomon! I really didn't appreciate your creation and originality as much as I should have back then!)
Monday, May 7, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 29
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
16 April's roster:
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
June (cleric 2)
Able (paladin 1)
Ham (cleric 5)
Thaddeus (fighter 2)
Coball (cleric 1)
(and halfway through the session)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
In town, Able, newly arrived paladin, hired two Celtic-type men-at-arms, one Vertix, the other Astix. He also acquired for himself two of the available dogs, a bloodhound and a ghosthound.
Aethelwulf, meanwhile, bought the two unique items available this session, a bottle of what was purported to be mead of poetry, the other the fingerbone of a saint. He placed the fingerbone in the pommel of his life-draining sword Drinker, then took the mead of poetry to Aldir the blacksmith. This Aldir had once had a fling with Blackleaf the Elf, but it had fallen by the wayside when Aldir decided he wanted to convert to the Good cult under Aethelwulf's tutelage; but Aethelwulf was interested in getting them together, because if Blackleaf married Aldir, a Good human, then Blackleaf would receive a human soul from the pairing ....
And so Aethelwulf drank of the mead, and spoke to Aldir at length in verse, describing the basic goodness of marriage, and spinning out the mythic tales of men and Elves marrying; perhaps indeed, he sang the Lay of Lethian! And because of the magic in the mead, he was convincing, and Aldir decided that he must ultimately wed Blackleaf.
Still, Aethelwulf had one further piece of business in town. He and the company had rescued several children from the Goblin King's dungeons last time, and now he kept them at the shrine while trying to figure out how to reverse the changes effected on them by the Goblin King's magic to make them into goblins.
Town business dealt with, the party decided on their next course of action--sneak into Oakridge castle to deal with Morrow, son of Morholt the Usurper! Though Morholt had already been captured and sent north, his son retained control of the castle, and now the party wanted to end the usurpation of Sonora's rightful claim to the seat once and for all.
The party sneaked into the dungeons of the castle through a previously revealed secret-entrance on the north side of the ridge. In one room, they burst in on a pair of guards, surprising them as the guards diced at a table. The party's dogs made short work of the men; and what were they guarding? The prison cells. These were filled with typical rabble--drunkards, petty thieves, and the like, and the party left them there. But through another set of doors and corridor they found a semi-newly installed torture chamber, and beyond that an oubliette from whence came a faint weeping.
The prisoner within was hauled out, one Alira, a young woman of the village. She refused to tell the party what exactly Morrow had done to her, and Aethelwulf had his hirelings Lessing and Aquinas escort her out of the dungeon to safety.
The party then proceeded to explore previously explored territory, robbing a couple more crypts of the dead lords below, until they stumbled through the well room and the wine cellar, and up stairs into the kitchen!
Six servants chopping vegetables were interrupted--they immediately fled at the intrusion of armed men, but Aethelwulf called them back, promising their freedom from Morrow's evil rule.
It was at this point that I remembered I had written a short table for "castle business" that I was supposed to use whenever I used the castle ... roll roll ... a feast! "We were preparing for a feast," the servants tell the party.
The natural plan on hearing that was to make it a Red Feast, and the party convinced the servants to let them hide below, and then come and get them when everyone in the castle had assembled for the feast and were into their cups somewhat.
I rolled a wandering encounter check to see if anything happened in the meantime; nothing; so at the duly appointed time, the servants came and led the armed party up through the kitchen to attack the unarmed Morrow and his men.
In the great hall, Morrow was seated at the high seat with his captain of the guard, his magic-user assistant, and six wild-looking men and women, while two dozen of his men-at-arms feasted in the hall below. During the surprise round, the party got a hold person spell off on Morrow and his magic-user and I rolled ... something like a 3 and a 5. So they were paralyzed; everyone else was unarmed, other than their daggers, and unarmored.
It was a slaughter. Even when the wild-men turned into wolves, they stood no chance; and Blackleaf's and Koko's timely appearance allowed Blackleaf to get a web spell off on the armed reinforcements that attempted to save the life of their lord, immobilizing the entire squad (except the captain, who managed to slay Astix the hireling before himself being felled). The magic-user, too, was easily killed while he sat, paralyzed by the hold person spell, holding up a morsel of venison on his fork, mouth hanging open, ready but unable to bite--he was struck through with several arrows loosed by June and Able, if I recall correctly.
During the melee at the high table, it was revealed that Morrow was a werewolf when a stroke from a normal sword did him no damage, while a silver arrow pierced his shoulder and bright red blood flowed forth.
But in the end, the party agreed that they needed to seize Morrow and haul him away before any more reinforcements showed up. They bound him as well as they could with speed, and then dragged him back down and out through the dungeon and back to town.
Thaddeus caroused, telling everyone this tale, but was able to hold his liquor without shenanigans ensuing. And so Morrow was captured two weeks after his father before him; and within the next weeks, certainly, the men-at-arms that Sonora left behind in Brakeridge hope to be able to take the castle back for their lady!
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Astix (Celto hireling), Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
16 April's roster:
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
June (cleric 2)
Able (paladin 1)
Ham (cleric 5)
Thaddeus (fighter 2)
Coball (cleric 1)
(and halfway through the session)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
In town, Able, newly arrived paladin, hired two Celtic-type men-at-arms, one Vertix, the other Astix. He also acquired for himself two of the available dogs, a bloodhound and a ghosthound.
Aethelwulf, meanwhile, bought the two unique items available this session, a bottle of what was purported to be mead of poetry, the other the fingerbone of a saint. He placed the fingerbone in the pommel of his life-draining sword Drinker, then took the mead of poetry to Aldir the blacksmith. This Aldir had once had a fling with Blackleaf the Elf, but it had fallen by the wayside when Aldir decided he wanted to convert to the Good cult under Aethelwulf's tutelage; but Aethelwulf was interested in getting them together, because if Blackleaf married Aldir, a Good human, then Blackleaf would receive a human soul from the pairing ....
And so Aethelwulf drank of the mead, and spoke to Aldir at length in verse, describing the basic goodness of marriage, and spinning out the mythic tales of men and Elves marrying; perhaps indeed, he sang the Lay of Lethian! And because of the magic in the mead, he was convincing, and Aldir decided that he must ultimately wed Blackleaf.
Still, Aethelwulf had one further piece of business in town. He and the company had rescued several children from the Goblin King's dungeons last time, and now he kept them at the shrine while trying to figure out how to reverse the changes effected on them by the Goblin King's magic to make them into goblins.
Town business dealt with, the party decided on their next course of action--sneak into Oakridge castle to deal with Morrow, son of Morholt the Usurper! Though Morholt had already been captured and sent north, his son retained control of the castle, and now the party wanted to end the usurpation of Sonora's rightful claim to the seat once and for all.
The party sneaked into the dungeons of the castle through a previously revealed secret-entrance on the north side of the ridge. In one room, they burst in on a pair of guards, surprising them as the guards diced at a table. The party's dogs made short work of the men; and what were they guarding? The prison cells. These were filled with typical rabble--drunkards, petty thieves, and the like, and the party left them there. But through another set of doors and corridor they found a semi-newly installed torture chamber, and beyond that an oubliette from whence came a faint weeping.
The prisoner within was hauled out, one Alira, a young woman of the village. She refused to tell the party what exactly Morrow had done to her, and Aethelwulf had his hirelings Lessing and Aquinas escort her out of the dungeon to safety.
The party then proceeded to explore previously explored territory, robbing a couple more crypts of the dead lords below, until they stumbled through the well room and the wine cellar, and up stairs into the kitchen!
Six servants chopping vegetables were interrupted--they immediately fled at the intrusion of armed men, but Aethelwulf called them back, promising their freedom from Morrow's evil rule.
It was at this point that I remembered I had written a short table for "castle business" that I was supposed to use whenever I used the castle ... roll roll ... a feast! "We were preparing for a feast," the servants tell the party.
The natural plan on hearing that was to make it a Red Feast, and the party convinced the servants to let them hide below, and then come and get them when everyone in the castle had assembled for the feast and were into their cups somewhat.
I rolled a wandering encounter check to see if anything happened in the meantime; nothing; so at the duly appointed time, the servants came and led the armed party up through the kitchen to attack the unarmed Morrow and his men.
In the great hall, Morrow was seated at the high seat with his captain of the guard, his magic-user assistant, and six wild-looking men and women, while two dozen of his men-at-arms feasted in the hall below. During the surprise round, the party got a hold person spell off on Morrow and his magic-user and I rolled ... something like a 3 and a 5. So they were paralyzed; everyone else was unarmed, other than their daggers, and unarmored.
It was a slaughter. Even when the wild-men turned into wolves, they stood no chance; and Blackleaf's and Koko's timely appearance allowed Blackleaf to get a web spell off on the armed reinforcements that attempted to save the life of their lord, immobilizing the entire squad (except the captain, who managed to slay Astix the hireling before himself being felled). The magic-user, too, was easily killed while he sat, paralyzed by the hold person spell, holding up a morsel of venison on his fork, mouth hanging open, ready but unable to bite--he was struck through with several arrows loosed by June and Able, if I recall correctly.
During the melee at the high table, it was revealed that Morrow was a werewolf when a stroke from a normal sword did him no damage, while a silver arrow pierced his shoulder and bright red blood flowed forth.
But in the end, the party agreed that they needed to seize Morrow and haul him away before any more reinforcements showed up. They bound him as well as they could with speed, and then dragged him back down and out through the dungeon and back to town.
Thaddeus caroused, telling everyone this tale, but was able to hold his liquor without shenanigans ensuing. And so Morrow was captured two weeks after his father before him; and within the next weeks, certainly, the men-at-arms that Sonora left behind in Brakeridge hope to be able to take the castle back for their lady!
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Astix (Celto hireling), Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Days of our Dungeons
I'm going to roll a wandering monster check to see if your wife comes by ...
The look of horror on the player's face when I declared this was wonderful. Her male character has in the past foisted two sexual relationships onto a loyal henchman as marriages (yes, the henchman is indeed bigamous); meanwhile the character has since married "respectfully" and without telling his now-wife the full story of his past.
And an NPC had just shown up with a young child, declaring it either the character's or the henchman's--"And you must now take care of her!" The henchman was away; the character tried to keep the child's appearance secret from his wife to prevent any further frustrations between the two (she had already been angered at the character for some other reason during an earlier session.)
I roll a black die (on a 1, the monster--the wife!--appears), a red die (on a 1 or 2 the monster is surprised--you have a moment to compose yourself), and a white die (on a 1 or 2 the party/character is surprised--you're caught in the act!) ...
Roll roll roll. No wife. Not yet. What do you do, now that you have this child foisted upon you?
------
The exchange struck me as pretty soap-operatic, or picaresque, and wonderful for it.
This was during a game back in March. We don't get to play together too often anymore as we live in different cities (same state, at least!), but we've been playing these characters for about six years now, and each of us has a stronghold of some kind, and we take turns DMing for each other. And after six years, a larger part of the fun with these characters that have grow on us is not tied so entirely to the dungeon or adventure--we've accumulated enough "episodes" and gathered enough of a cast of minor characters around us that a lot of the fun is the soap opera stuff--your wife doesn't know about your sordid past, but your sordid past just showed up looking for you.
What happens next? We'll find out on the next episode ...
-
-
-
(and check out Zak S.' essay about D&D as a picaresque if you want an actual essay about emergent narrative from episodic play; it's always worth another read)
The look of horror on the player's face when I declared this was wonderful. Her male character has in the past foisted two sexual relationships onto a loyal henchman as marriages (yes, the henchman is indeed bigamous); meanwhile the character has since married "respectfully" and without telling his now-wife the full story of his past.
And an NPC had just shown up with a young child, declaring it either the character's or the henchman's--"And you must now take care of her!" The henchman was away; the character tried to keep the child's appearance secret from his wife to prevent any further frustrations between the two (she had already been angered at the character for some other reason during an earlier session.)
I roll a black die (on a 1, the monster--the wife!--appears), a red die (on a 1 or 2 the monster is surprised--you have a moment to compose yourself), and a white die (on a 1 or 2 the party/character is surprised--you're caught in the act!) ...
------
The exchange struck me as pretty soap-operatic, or picaresque, and wonderful for it.
This was during a game back in March. We don't get to play together too often anymore as we live in different cities (same state, at least!), but we've been playing these characters for about six years now, and each of us has a stronghold of some kind, and we take turns DMing for each other. And after six years, a larger part of the fun with these characters that have grow on us is not tied so entirely to the dungeon or adventure--we've accumulated enough "episodes" and gathered enough of a cast of minor characters around us that a lot of the fun is the soap opera stuff--your wife doesn't know about your sordid past, but your sordid past just showed up looking for you.
What happens next? We'll find out on the next episode ...
-
-
-
(and check out Zak S.' essay about D&D as a picaresque if you want an actual essay about emergent narrative from episodic play; it's always worth another read)
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 28
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
12 April's roster: (I think? my notes are sketchy)
Blackleaf (Elf)
Koko (woman-ape)
Aethelwulf (paladin)
Astia (hireling raised to 1st level ... I forget her class)
Maira (new magic-user 1)
Little Bob (? was he present?)
Baby Face (? showed up late?)
Following last session's capture of Morholt, usurper of the rightful lordship over Brakeridge, the men-at-arms of Lady Sonora, rightful widow-lady of Brakeridge, took the lone watchtower in town (jokingly nicknamed "the Citadel").
Meanwhile, Sonora, Moria Morholtsdotr, and Morholt-imprisoned set off to the north to seek the judgment of King Vialar the Cruel over Morholt ... Lead (cleric) and Aria (Elf) elected to accompany the party, along with a number of mercenaries hired by Aethelwulf and Baby-Face
Dogs were bought by the characters in town. Blackleaf bought a bloodhound and named it "Droopy", forgetting her other dog already named Droopy and killed; but more excitingly, as Astia, former hireling-woman of Lead, equipped herself for adventuring, she managed to acquire the lone warbat rolled up with my spiffy new table. Named him Wayne, a fitting name.
And to the Howling Tower they all went.
Using the insectoid-tunnel-entrance, they entered into the first dungeon level with only a minor encounter--Koko the ape was paralyzed by the tentacle-attack of an insectoid horror in the tunnels, but the monster managed to escape death by backing off real-fast when the party moved in around it ...
Next in my notes are a series of crossed out numbers; I assume they're slaughtered goblins ... and cornered wolves, as the next textual note is, "Blackleaf throws meat to wolves--wolves snarl defensively, cornered. ... Party continues."
Beyond that, Blackleaf took point ahead of the party and ahead of their light, hoping to use her Elfin infravision to good effect to avoid surprise. The party moved quickly through the first dungeon level seeking the stairs down to the second level. On the second level, they sought out the Goblin-King's quarters about which they had been informed on a previous expedition. On the way, Maira was stopped by party members from "bothering" the pool that opens onto the stars and the vastness of space; and the statue room contained different statues again, this time a statue of a maiden, a dragon, and the Queen of Stars in full regalia.
Entering a room to the south of the statue room, the party found a throne room with a throne on the west side carved from a star-stone. Baby Face sat on it; but whatever happened he did not inform the rest of the party.
Moving on from there, the party found corridors to the west that led to a couple doors. The first door had thoughts behind it, detected courtesy of Blackleaf's medallion of ESP 30'. Thoughts about how best to spin this child up in spider silk?
The door is locked; Baby Face failed to unlock it; Koko used her apish feat of strength to force it, and inside, the party discovered a strangely handsome goblin hard at work sewing a human child into a cocoon of spidersilk. In the room with him were a large spider, and an Elfin woman with coal-black skin, white hair, and who was otherwise nude with the easy pride of a native of Barsoom, or some such.
"Why are you disturbing my work?" the Goblin King intoned as he turned to the party--for surely it was he, finally!
"To destroy your evil!" the party cried. They charged; but the Goblin King won initiative, got his spell off, and the party was webbed. He and his female assistant disappeared the next round with another spell, and disappeared through another door to the north; meanwhile the spider killed the dog Fluffy with poison, but was shortly thereafter killed and the web cleared by the party.
With the spider killed and the others fled, the party freed the child in the middle of the room, and then found six more already cocooned and half-transformed into goblins in the room to the north. Aethelwulf remanded the children to his hirelings, Nietzsche, Lesing, and Aquinas (he named them), and had them exit the dungeon while the party pressed on.
Meanwhile, the party found a secret door back to the star-throne-room. Continuing back out into the corridor south, they found a southern door; ESP revealed a jumble of hostile thinking beyond, and when thrown open, the door revealed a group of goblins being rallied by their King.
The goblins were slaughtered; the Goblin King disappeared again, while the coal-skinned woman stepped up to fight (spells from the party failed to affect the King and his compatriot ...). An inky black monstrous cloud began to appear behind the party, but Blackleaf successfully identified it as an illusion. As the party meleed the goblins and the woman, Aethelwulf demanded her surrender; and she proffered it once the Goblin King was gone.
Questions collated with Blackleaf's ESP established that the woman was Callirath, the djinni spirit who aided the Goblin King's escape from the Elves after he seduced her. The party demanded her knowledge about treasure, and she informed them about the treasure of Lososkelax the Spider, also on the second dungeon level; Blackleaf then attempted to sow unrest with the spirit by implying that the Goblin King, whom Callirath loves/lusts after, was more interested in the Star-Being he had summoned/trapped with his machinations. But Callirath was having none of it.
Lastly, the party swung by the spider's web-filled halls to find Loxoskelax and her treasure. They quickly murdered her 8+ hit dice and helpful smaller spiders and zombies, and then took her treasure. It wasn't of terrible value.
On the way back to town, Callirath turned into a whirlwind and escaped from her "captivity."
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
12 April's roster: (I think? my notes are sketchy)
Blackleaf (Elf)
Koko (woman-ape)
Aethelwulf (paladin)
Astia (hireling raised to 1st level ... I forget her class)
Maira (new magic-user 1)
Little Bob (? was he present?)
Baby Face (? showed up late?)
Following last session's capture of Morholt, usurper of the rightful lordship over Brakeridge, the men-at-arms of Lady Sonora, rightful widow-lady of Brakeridge, took the lone watchtower in town (jokingly nicknamed "the Citadel").
Meanwhile, Sonora, Moria Morholtsdotr, and Morholt-imprisoned set off to the north to seek the judgment of King Vialar the Cruel over Morholt ... Lead (cleric) and Aria (Elf) elected to accompany the party, along with a number of mercenaries hired by Aethelwulf and Baby-Face
Dogs were bought by the characters in town. Blackleaf bought a bloodhound and named it "Droopy", forgetting her other dog already named Droopy and killed; but more excitingly, as Astia, former hireling-woman of Lead, equipped herself for adventuring, she managed to acquire the lone warbat rolled up with my spiffy new table. Named him Wayne, a fitting name.
And to the Howling Tower they all went.
Using the insectoid-tunnel-entrance, they entered into the first dungeon level with only a minor encounter--Koko the ape was paralyzed by the tentacle-attack of an insectoid horror in the tunnels, but the monster managed to escape death by backing off real-fast when the party moved in around it ...
Next in my notes are a series of crossed out numbers; I assume they're slaughtered goblins ... and cornered wolves, as the next textual note is, "Blackleaf throws meat to wolves--wolves snarl defensively, cornered. ... Party continues."
Beyond that, Blackleaf took point ahead of the party and ahead of their light, hoping to use her Elfin infravision to good effect to avoid surprise. The party moved quickly through the first dungeon level seeking the stairs down to the second level. On the second level, they sought out the Goblin-King's quarters about which they had been informed on a previous expedition. On the way, Maira was stopped by party members from "bothering" the pool that opens onto the stars and the vastness of space; and the statue room contained different statues again, this time a statue of a maiden, a dragon, and the Queen of Stars in full regalia.
Entering a room to the south of the statue room, the party found a throne room with a throne on the west side carved from a star-stone. Baby Face sat on it; but whatever happened he did not inform the rest of the party.
Moving on from there, the party found corridors to the west that led to a couple doors. The first door had thoughts behind it, detected courtesy of Blackleaf's medallion of ESP 30'. Thoughts about how best to spin this child up in spider silk?
The door is locked; Baby Face failed to unlock it; Koko used her apish feat of strength to force it, and inside, the party discovered a strangely handsome goblin hard at work sewing a human child into a cocoon of spidersilk. In the room with him were a large spider, and an Elfin woman with coal-black skin, white hair, and who was otherwise nude with the easy pride of a native of Barsoom, or some such.
 |
| Like this except more nude, black skin, white hair |
"Why are you disturbing my work?" the Goblin King intoned as he turned to the party--for surely it was he, finally!
"To destroy your evil!" the party cried. They charged; but the Goblin King won initiative, got his spell off, and the party was webbed. He and his female assistant disappeared the next round with another spell, and disappeared through another door to the north; meanwhile the spider killed the dog Fluffy with poison, but was shortly thereafter killed and the web cleared by the party.
With the spider killed and the others fled, the party freed the child in the middle of the room, and then found six more already cocooned and half-transformed into goblins in the room to the north. Aethelwulf remanded the children to his hirelings, Nietzsche, Lesing, and Aquinas (he named them), and had them exit the dungeon while the party pressed on.
Meanwhile, the party found a secret door back to the star-throne-room. Continuing back out into the corridor south, they found a southern door; ESP revealed a jumble of hostile thinking beyond, and when thrown open, the door revealed a group of goblins being rallied by their King.
The goblins were slaughtered; the Goblin King disappeared again, while the coal-skinned woman stepped up to fight (spells from the party failed to affect the King and his compatriot ...). An inky black monstrous cloud began to appear behind the party, but Blackleaf successfully identified it as an illusion. As the party meleed the goblins and the woman, Aethelwulf demanded her surrender; and she proffered it once the Goblin King was gone.
Questions collated with Blackleaf's ESP established that the woman was Callirath, the djinni spirit who aided the Goblin King's escape from the Elves after he seduced her. The party demanded her knowledge about treasure, and she informed them about the treasure of Lososkelax the Spider, also on the second dungeon level; Blackleaf then attempted to sow unrest with the spirit by implying that the Goblin King, whom Callirath loves/lusts after, was more interested in the Star-Being he had summoned/trapped with his machinations. But Callirath was having none of it.
Lastly, the party swung by the spider's web-filled halls to find Loxoskelax and her treasure. They quickly murdered her 8+ hit dice and helpful smaller spiders and zombies, and then took her treasure. It wasn't of terrible value.
On the way back to town, Callirath turned into a whirlwind and escaped from her "captivity."
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Friday, April 27, 2018
Fire and Incorporeal Undead
... Immediately [Frodo put on the Ring], though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes [Ring Wraiths] became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings. ... In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their mantles were long grey robes; upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands were swords of steel. ... Desperate, he drew his own sword, and it seemed to him that it flickered red, as if it was a firebrand. Two of the figures halted. The third ... sprang forward and bore down on Frodo.
At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard himself crying aloud: O Elbereth! Githoniel! At the same time he struck at the feet of his enemy. A shrill cry rang out in the night; and he felt a pain like a dart of poisoned ice enter his left shoulder. Even as he swooned he caught, as through a swirling mist, a glimpse of Strider leaping out with a brand of flaming wood in either hand. ... (J.R.R Tolkien, "A Knife in the Dark", The Fellowship of the Ring, pp 240-1, Ballantine Books)
------
I was just (on 15 April) playing in Aleksandr Revzin's iteration of Michael Curtis' Stonehell Dungeon in a certain pink-lit, pain-oriented temple-area of the dungeon, and a number of incorporeal undead appeared through the walls to attack our party. I was pretty sure they were wraiths; when they touched and level-drained to death a first level fighter-comrade, I was more sure they were wraiths. Technically I still don't know ...
But when another comrade, using a character who is a droid-body sent down by an orbiting starship, fired a ray gun at one of the wraiths (FLAILSNAILS is weirdsometimes all the time), and Revzin our referee was considering whether it should affect an incorporeal undead, the same question ran through my mind. If I were referee, how would I adjudicate this?
Good thing I've done some thinking about this with my radiation rules. I'd adjudicate that a ray gun, as a kind of Coherent Radiation Emission Weapon System (CREWS for you Iain M. Banks fans), would affect such a creature, given that radiation damage does. So all well and good so far ...
But then I was thinking, what about fire? It's not coherent, but it is kind of a radiation ... or, one could say, it's also incorporeal, and so could affect bodiless things just as it does those embodied in flesh. Either way, it seems to me that open flames and fire in general should definitely affect incorporeal undead, even those "only affected by silver or magical weapons." After all, Aragorn and the hobbits are able to drive back the Ring Wraiths with torches at Weathertop! And fire is one of the main folkloric means of destroying a vampire, another kind of horrible undead ... Why not let miserable first level characters faced with lesser wraiths fight with fire??
------
All of which is a longwinded way of saying that I think torches should deal 1-4 damage against even incorporeal undead, while burning oil (though it cannot "cling" to something incorporeal) can burn from the ground below to cause 1-8 damage against the same.
Which is not to say that extremely cold undead (as many tend to be ...) will not immediately put out a torch or an oil-fire, either by mere presence, or in the course of being affected by it ...
I'm sure others have come to the same conclusions, and others the opposite. But for my game, I think incorporeal undead are affected by silver or magical weapons, or fire.
 |
| Aragorn cautions Frodo not to put on the Ring |
At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard himself crying aloud: O Elbereth! Githoniel! At the same time he struck at the feet of his enemy. A shrill cry rang out in the night; and he felt a pain like a dart of poisoned ice enter his left shoulder. Even as he swooned he caught, as through a swirling mist, a glimpse of Strider leaping out with a brand of flaming wood in either hand. ... (J.R.R Tolkien, "A Knife in the Dark", The Fellowship of the Ring, pp 240-1, Ballantine Books)
------
I was just (on 15 April) playing in Aleksandr Revzin's iteration of Michael Curtis' Stonehell Dungeon in a certain pink-lit, pain-oriented temple-area of the dungeon, and a number of incorporeal undead appeared through the walls to attack our party. I was pretty sure they were wraiths; when they touched and level-drained to death a first level fighter-comrade, I was more sure they were wraiths. Technically I still don't know ...
But when another comrade, using a character who is a droid-body sent down by an orbiting starship, fired a ray gun at one of the wraiths (FLAILSNAILS is weird
Good thing I've done some thinking about this with my radiation rules. I'd adjudicate that a ray gun, as a kind of Coherent Radiation Emission Weapon System (CREWS for you Iain M. Banks fans), would affect such a creature, given that radiation damage does. So all well and good so far ...
But then I was thinking, what about fire? It's not coherent, but it is kind of a radiation ... or, one could say, it's also incorporeal, and so could affect bodiless things just as it does those embodied in flesh. Either way, it seems to me that open flames and fire in general should definitely affect incorporeal undead, even those "only affected by silver or magical weapons." After all, Aragorn and the hobbits are able to drive back the Ring Wraiths with torches at Weathertop! And fire is one of the main folkloric means of destroying a vampire, another kind of horrible undead ... Why not let miserable first level characters faced with lesser wraiths fight with fire??
 |
| Viggo Mortensen was good, but Bakshi's Aragorn (top image) just seemed far and away more Aragorn to me |
------
All of which is a longwinded way of saying that I think torches should deal 1-4 damage against even incorporeal undead, while burning oil (though it cannot "cling" to something incorporeal) can burn from the ground below to cause 1-8 damage against the same.
Which is not to say that extremely cold undead (as many tend to be ...) will not immediately put out a torch or an oil-fire, either by mere presence, or in the course of being affected by it ...
I'm sure others have come to the same conclusions, and others the opposite. But for my game, I think incorporeal undead are affected by silver or magical weapons, or fire.
Friday, April 20, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 27
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, enchanted by haunting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
5 April's roster:
June (cleric 1)
July (half-Elf magic-user 1)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Lead (cleric 4)
Blackleaf (Elf 4?)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
and sundry mercenary hirelings, though no dogs this go-around
In town, Aethelwulf bought a bee-stinger dagger from a passing merchant (from d12 oddments table).
Little Bob hired a merchant to go south to specifically find and bring him snake-killing weasels, spending 300 gold for the service; seeing this, Kord did the same, but spent 600 gold for the fellow to seek out orc mastiffs. The merchants won't return for another two sessions at least (one week travel there, one week back, at minimum).
The party then put their heads together ... and conspired to infiltrate Oakridge Castle to kill/kidnap Morholt, the usurper-lord who had taken power after the late lord Albrecht III died--and to boot, Morholt had taken the widow of Albrecht, Lady Sonora, prisoner and held her with the intent to force marriage upon her--until our heroes put an end to that plot by freeing her!
So, their plan was to repeat the success they had had with the last infiltration mission when they rescued Sonora, except that this time the entire party was going to climb the tower to penetrate the keep. From Sonora, they learned that Morholt's chambers were "down the hall from my prison, and on the right. You can't miss it."
Okay, so the party marched their way out of town and around to the northwest to the north side of the ridge on which the castle of Oakridge overlooks the village of Brakeridge to the south. They kept to the trees; and though the treeline had been cut back from the castle's walls, it turns out that spells like sleep and hold person have a range of 240 yards when outside of dungeons, which is pretty much like a lobbed longbow shot. So the 12 guards on the two turrets of the keep, 6 on the west turret, 6 on the east, were all well within range, even with the characters lurking in the trees.
So Blackleaf cast sleep over the west group, and all of the guards fell into a magical sleep. The guards on the east tower failed to notice; Blackleaf cast another sleep spell sent 4 into a magical sleep. As the last two guards stood by, trying to figure out what just happened, Kord cast a hold person spell at them and they failed their saves.
Koko then used her ape-ness to climb up the keep's walls and cast down ropes, and the party slaughtered all the sleeping and held guards, all without alerting any of the other guards on the other turrets. On the keep, a trap door opened down into the interior; the party dropped through and found themselves in an E-W corridor with a door pretty much in front of them (and down the hall to their left was the door into Sonora's former chambers).
Blackleaf used ESP through the door and detected a human thinking about his lordship and other more alien thoughts. This must be Morholt's room, the party said, but then dithered in the hallway long enough that a hear noise check for those inside the room succeeded. The door cracked open; a large spider peeked out and whispered to Koko, "Go up the ladder and shout."
Koko failed her save against spells and immediately turned to do what was said, but Ham cast a hold person spell on her, and she failed that save too, so she was paralyzed. The party then burst through the door! But the guy on the inside was ready, and initiative was rolled ...
So as Kord burst through the door, he was met by a sword swung by the thickly-muscled arm of a consummate fighting-man, broad-shouldered and narrow hipped, hair dark, face blackened with a fighting-grimace. At his feet were two serpents that also struck out at Kord and Aethelwulf.
Over the next couple rounds, Kord took several hard hits from the man's sword; meanwhile, Kord and Aethelwulf each took a bite from a serpent, and both failed their saves. Both took an antivenin passed forward from those in the back; Kord made his second save, but Aethelwulf failed his, and as the paladin's heart began to palpitate wildly and sweat break out over his pallid skin, he fell over dead the next round.
But then Lead threw a hold person spell at the warrior, and he failed his save, and became suddenly rigid and unable to act. The serpents were both quickly slain, and the party piled into the room.
Blackleaf's ESP established that this man was indeed Morholt. The party disarmed him, and tied him up (as well as they could with him being rigidly paralyzed). Then they heard a knock at the door: "M'lord, are you okay? We heard shouting ..."
"No, no, perfectly fine!" someone in the party shouted back gruffly. "It was nothing--just knocked a desk over!"
A high reaction roll and cowed servants led to the servants slinking away, back down the hallway, leaving the party to do what they might to loot the chambers. They found themselves in a kind of antechamber with tapestries and with shelves of books. Through a second door, they found the master's chambers, with a number of obviously lootable items--a boar-hunting spear on the wall with a hunting horn, robes of fox and ermine furs, etc. etc.
The party grabbed what seemed easily movable and then headed back out to the corridor to go up the trapdoor and escape. But they heard thoughts/talking on the wall above. They almost talked themselves out of going up out of fear, but finally agreed to send someone up the ladder with Morholt and a dagger at his throat to try to get the guards above to surrender.
What ultimately happened, though, is that once the party got up onto the fighting-floor of the keep's roof, they had to fight through six guards, and try to prevent other groups of guards running to intercept them from other turret-tops. Blackleaf poured oil on the stairs and lit it on fire to prevent other guards from getting to the fighting-floor while Kord held the line against the last few guards. Six more guards were killed in the melee, but the party managed to descend their ropes while the oil-fires held the last few guards at bay.
So they had captured Morholt! They agreed to take him to Sonora; and she elected to take him and a number of her loyal fighting-men and go north to the courts of Vialar, the king of this northern kingdom, and to sue Morholt in the king's courts for his injustice in usurping the castle of Oakridge and holding Sonora hostage.
Meanwhile, other party members took Aethelwulf's body to Lailith, local cleric high enough level to raise dead. She raised him, but alas, Aethelwulf came back with heart palpitations left over from the poison's effects, so he heals at half the normal rate from his sickliness. He paid Axxl the Mask 2000 gold to research means of ending these palpitations ...
And lastly, Lead and Astia (Lead's hireling-woman) caroused, and Astia had a wild trip with some powerful drugs so that she feels like she has some kind of insight that she can call up as to the nature of reality, or something! And also, she earned her way out of normal womanness to being a full-fledged character.
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, enchanted by haunting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
5 April's roster:
June (cleric 1)
July (half-Elf magic-user 1)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Lead (cleric 4)
Blackleaf (Elf 4?)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
and sundry mercenary hirelings, though no dogs this go-around
In town, Aethelwulf bought a bee-stinger dagger from a passing merchant (from d12 oddments table).
Little Bob hired a merchant to go south to specifically find and bring him snake-killing weasels, spending 300 gold for the service; seeing this, Kord did the same, but spent 600 gold for the fellow to seek out orc mastiffs. The merchants won't return for another two sessions at least (one week travel there, one week back, at minimum).
The party then put their heads together ... and conspired to infiltrate Oakridge Castle to kill/kidnap Morholt, the usurper-lord who had taken power after the late lord Albrecht III died--and to boot, Morholt had taken the widow of Albrecht, Lady Sonora, prisoner and held her with the intent to force marriage upon her--until our heroes put an end to that plot by freeing her!
So, their plan was to repeat the success they had had with the last infiltration mission when they rescued Sonora, except that this time the entire party was going to climb the tower to penetrate the keep. From Sonora, they learned that Morholt's chambers were "down the hall from my prison, and on the right. You can't miss it."
Okay, so the party marched their way out of town and around to the northwest to the north side of the ridge on which the castle of Oakridge overlooks the village of Brakeridge to the south. They kept to the trees; and though the treeline had been cut back from the castle's walls, it turns out that spells like sleep and hold person have a range of 240 yards when outside of dungeons, which is pretty much like a lobbed longbow shot. So the 12 guards on the two turrets of the keep, 6 on the west turret, 6 on the east, were all well within range, even with the characters lurking in the trees.
So Blackleaf cast sleep over the west group, and all of the guards fell into a magical sleep. The guards on the east tower failed to notice; Blackleaf cast another sleep spell sent 4 into a magical sleep. As the last two guards stood by, trying to figure out what just happened, Kord cast a hold person spell at them and they failed their saves.
Koko then used her ape-ness to climb up the keep's walls and cast down ropes, and the party slaughtered all the sleeping and held guards, all without alerting any of the other guards on the other turrets. On the keep, a trap door opened down into the interior; the party dropped through and found themselves in an E-W corridor with a door pretty much in front of them (and down the hall to their left was the door into Sonora's former chambers).
Blackleaf used ESP through the door and detected a human thinking about his lordship and other more alien thoughts. This must be Morholt's room, the party said, but then dithered in the hallway long enough that a hear noise check for those inside the room succeeded. The door cracked open; a large spider peeked out and whispered to Koko, "Go up the ladder and shout."
Koko failed her save against spells and immediately turned to do what was said, but Ham cast a hold person spell on her, and she failed that save too, so she was paralyzed. The party then burst through the door! But the guy on the inside was ready, and initiative was rolled ...
So as Kord burst through the door, he was met by a sword swung by the thickly-muscled arm of a consummate fighting-man, broad-shouldered and narrow hipped, hair dark, face blackened with a fighting-grimace. At his feet were two serpents that also struck out at Kord and Aethelwulf.
Over the next couple rounds, Kord took several hard hits from the man's sword; meanwhile, Kord and Aethelwulf each took a bite from a serpent, and both failed their saves. Both took an antivenin passed forward from those in the back; Kord made his second save, but Aethelwulf failed his, and as the paladin's heart began to palpitate wildly and sweat break out over his pallid skin, he fell over dead the next round.
But then Lead threw a hold person spell at the warrior, and he failed his save, and became suddenly rigid and unable to act. The serpents were both quickly slain, and the party piled into the room.
Blackleaf's ESP established that this man was indeed Morholt. The party disarmed him, and tied him up (as well as they could with him being rigidly paralyzed). Then they heard a knock at the door: "M'lord, are you okay? We heard shouting ..."
"No, no, perfectly fine!" someone in the party shouted back gruffly. "It was nothing--just knocked a desk over!"
A high reaction roll and cowed servants led to the servants slinking away, back down the hallway, leaving the party to do what they might to loot the chambers. They found themselves in a kind of antechamber with tapestries and with shelves of books. Through a second door, they found the master's chambers, with a number of obviously lootable items--a boar-hunting spear on the wall with a hunting horn, robes of fox and ermine furs, etc. etc.
The party grabbed what seemed easily movable and then headed back out to the corridor to go up the trapdoor and escape. But they heard thoughts/talking on the wall above. They almost talked themselves out of going up out of fear, but finally agreed to send someone up the ladder with Morholt and a dagger at his throat to try to get the guards above to surrender.
What ultimately happened, though, is that once the party got up onto the fighting-floor of the keep's roof, they had to fight through six guards, and try to prevent other groups of guards running to intercept them from other turret-tops. Blackleaf poured oil on the stairs and lit it on fire to prevent other guards from getting to the fighting-floor while Kord held the line against the last few guards. Six more guards were killed in the melee, but the party managed to descend their ropes while the oil-fires held the last few guards at bay.
So they had captured Morholt! They agreed to take him to Sonora; and she elected to take him and a number of her loyal fighting-men and go north to the courts of Vialar, the king of this northern kingdom, and to sue Morholt in the king's courts for his injustice in usurping the castle of Oakridge and holding Sonora hostage.
Meanwhile, other party members took Aethelwulf's body to Lailith, local cleric high enough level to raise dead. She raised him, but alas, Aethelwulf came back with heart palpitations left over from the poison's effects, so he heals at half the normal rate from his sickliness. He paid Axxl the Mask 2000 gold to research means of ending these palpitations ...
And lastly, Lead and Astia (Lead's hireling-woman) caroused, and Astia had a wild trip with some powerful drugs so that she feels like she has some kind of insight that she can call up as to the nature of reality, or something! And also, she earned her way out of normal womanness to being a full-fledged character.
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
New Class: the Ogre
Back when the Greyhame Game was just picking up, only a few sessions in, one of the prospective players asked me if he could roll up an ogre character for the game. No, I immediately replied, wishing as referee to retain control of the game and its B/X basis (this particular player was familiar with 3rd edition and its rules for monsters as characters).
But then I relented. After all, directly from Holmes, "At the Dungeon Master's discretion, a character can be anything his or her player wants him to be. Characters must always start out inexperienced and relatively weak and build on their experience. Thus, an expedition might include, in addition to the four basic classes and races ... a centaur, a lawful werebear, and a Japanese Samurai fighting-man." (p.7, Dungeons and Dragons, by Gygax and Arneson, edited by Eric Holmes, 1979 edition)
So I agreed that he could play an ogre-character, but not until another character in the game had reached fourth level (given that ogres start off with HD 4+1). Well, today he remembered that conversation, and told me he was going to roll up an ogre tonight (probably for Thursday's game). I told him to roll it up as usual, 3d6 in order, and I'll write an ogre-class ... so here goes.
------
The OGRE
Strength is the prerequisite of the ogre class, and STR 13+ provides a bonus of 5% to earned xp, while a STR 16+ provides a bonus of 10% (non-cumulative). Ogres may not be of Lawful, Clannish, Good, or Evil alignment; Ogres of less than INT 13 also may not be of Arcane alignment.
Level 1 -- Bully -- 4d8 HD -- 0 XP
Level 2 -- Brute -- 5d8 HD -- 16,000 XP
Level 3 -- Masher -- 6d8 HD -- 32,000 XP
Level 4 -- Ogre -- 7d8 HD -- 64,000 XP
Level 5 -- Bluebeard -- 8d8 HD -- 120,000 XP
Level 6 -- Chieftain -- 9d8 HD -- 240,000 XP
Level 7 -- 7th Level Chieftain -- 9d8+4 HD -- 480,000 XP
Level 8 -- 8th Level Chieftain -- 9d8+8 HD -- 600,000 XP
Ogres may advance no higher than 8th level.
Languages known are Ogre, Orc, Troll, Stone Giant and a pidgin Common. Ogres with INT 13+ may learn additional languages (or be fluent in Common) normally. All ogres start play as illiterate, and remain so until/unless they spend time in-play learning to read and write.
Ogres fight and save as a fighter of a level equal to their hit dice (i.e. an Ogre 1 fights and saves as a Fighter 4). They may use any weapon or shield, but armor must be fashioned specifically for their frame, at great cost. Magic armor may not be worn unless fashioned for a giant-type creature to begin with.
Without armor, Ogres have an armor class of 6; they start the game with a suit of piecemeal armor that lowers this to armor class 5 when worn. To fashion armor for an ogre, the cost is 100 gold for leather (AC 4), 400 for mail (AC 2), or 1000 for plate (AC 0), at minimum.
Because of their great strength, ogres deal 1-10 damage when striking with clubs of their own make. Any other weapon in their hands deals an additional +2 to damage (i.e. a spear would deal 3-9 damage, rather than 1-6). This is in addition to any bonuses or penalties from an ogre's strength score, so an ogre with STR 13 will actually deal +3 damage on every hit with a normal weapon (or 2-11 damage with his own club).
All Ogres begin play with only three items: piecemeal armor, a club, and an ogre-bag. The ogre bag may carry up to 4000 coin of weight, and contains an additional 2-5 random items according to the table at the bottom of the post (roll once at first level; after that, what's in your bag is what you put into it).
At 4th level (Ogre HD 7), an Ogre may invest 5000 gold into raw materials, magical components, etc., in order to complete an esoteric ritual to sew and create a new ogre-bag which is actually a bag of holding. The creation of this bag takes from 1 to 3 months to create, though--as the ritual is largely involved in the slow process of stitching everything together--it may be interrupted by periods of adventuring. Nevertheless, any time spent adventuring does not count toward time spent creating the bag.
At 6th level (Chieftain HD 9, so basically "name level") an Ogre may carve out or seize a cave or some other underground complex as his lair. Depending on the Ogre-character's proclivities, the referee will provide the details for this adventure. Once the lair has been secured and any inhabitants driven off or subdued (or, if carving it out, any attempts to take it by other creatures are driven off), the Ogre will attract a tribe of 2-20 normal HD 4+1 ogres to join him. These do not serve per se, but may be bullied into doing the Ogre chief's bidding.
------
Contents of an Ogre's Bag
Roll 2-5 times on this table at first level. After that, what's in your bag is up to what you put into it.
11 - hemp rope 100'
12 - a battered lantern
13 - a week's worth of hardtack and pemmican
14 - two halves of a 10' pole
15 - a large, tarnished hand-mirror
16 - a scroll which is actually a randomly generated treasure map; you can't read it, of course
21 - a lump of wax
22 - a tangled mass of string and twine
23 - a large jar of lard
24 - 50 pieces of greasy parchment
25 - 2-12 iron ingots
26 - large cast iron cooking pot
31 - 4 large, round, river rocks
32 - a broken-off stalactite/stalagmite--may be used as a club that deals 1-12 damage
33 - a cool geode; you think it's worth something, but it probably isn't
34 - a little box of dirt you took off some halfling; doesn't seem worth much
35 - 1-6 chunks of ore; could be copper, might be gold
36 - 1-6 pieces of fool's gold
41 - a large bone whistle fashioned for your lips/mouth
42 - a long braided sling; casting large stones with it, you deal 1-8 damage
43 - soiled laundry (jerkin, etc.) that even you won't wear anymore
44 - a sewing kit with large bone needles--sometimes even ogres need to stitch something!
45 - a large whetstone and a large knife (shortsword) sharpened by it
46 - an idol of your god or giant-hero, whittled with some patience
51 - the corpse of a giant rat
52 - a live troll arm--you've got to keep eating from it day-to-day or it will grow into an angry troll
53 - 1-6 of what might be dragon teeth (the kind that grow armed warriors when planted)
54 - 2-12 orc heads
55 - a roper's gizzard containing 1-3 gems worth 10-100 gold each
56 - a wyvern's sting with one dose left
61 - a giant's femur, scrimshawed with scenes of battle
62 - a cask of fine wine of excellent vintage; you've been saving it for a real shindig
63 - a battered old book of poetry worth maybe up to 600 gold (except you can't read it)
64 - a rolled-up old tapestry worth maybe 100 gold to the right collector
65 - furs worth 100-600 gold
66 - 1000 gold
But then I relented. After all, directly from Holmes, "At the Dungeon Master's discretion, a character can be anything his or her player wants him to be. Characters must always start out inexperienced and relatively weak and build on their experience. Thus, an expedition might include, in addition to the four basic classes and races ... a centaur, a lawful werebear, and a Japanese Samurai fighting-man." (p.7, Dungeons and Dragons, by Gygax and Arneson, edited by Eric Holmes, 1979 edition)
So I agreed that he could play an ogre-character, but not until another character in the game had reached fourth level (given that ogres start off with HD 4+1). Well, today he remembered that conversation, and told me he was going to roll up an ogre tonight (probably for Thursday's game). I told him to roll it up as usual, 3d6 in order, and I'll write an ogre-class ... so here goes.
The OGRE
Strength is the prerequisite of the ogre class, and STR 13+ provides a bonus of 5% to earned xp, while a STR 16+ provides a bonus of 10% (non-cumulative). Ogres may not be of Lawful, Clannish, Good, or Evil alignment; Ogres of less than INT 13 also may not be of Arcane alignment.
Level 1 -- Bully -- 4d8 HD -- 0 XP
Level 2 -- Brute -- 5d8 HD -- 16,000 XP
Level 3 -- Masher -- 6d8 HD -- 32,000 XP
Level 4 -- Ogre -- 7d8 HD -- 64,000 XP
Level 5 -- Bluebeard -- 8d8 HD -- 120,000 XP
Level 6 -- Chieftain -- 9d8 HD -- 240,000 XP
Level 7 -- 7th Level Chieftain -- 9d8+4 HD -- 480,000 XP
Level 8 -- 8th Level Chieftain -- 9d8+8 HD -- 600,000 XP
Ogres may advance no higher than 8th level.
Languages known are Ogre, Orc, Troll, Stone Giant and a pidgin Common. Ogres with INT 13+ may learn additional languages (or be fluent in Common) normally. All ogres start play as illiterate, and remain so until/unless they spend time in-play learning to read and write.
Ogres fight and save as a fighter of a level equal to their hit dice (i.e. an Ogre 1 fights and saves as a Fighter 4). They may use any weapon or shield, but armor must be fashioned specifically for their frame, at great cost. Magic armor may not be worn unless fashioned for a giant-type creature to begin with.
Without armor, Ogres have an armor class of 6; they start the game with a suit of piecemeal armor that lowers this to armor class 5 when worn. To fashion armor for an ogre, the cost is 100 gold for leather (AC 4), 400 for mail (AC 2), or 1000 for plate (AC 0), at minimum.
Because of their great strength, ogres deal 1-10 damage when striking with clubs of their own make. Any other weapon in their hands deals an additional +2 to damage (i.e. a spear would deal 3-9 damage, rather than 1-6). This is in addition to any bonuses or penalties from an ogre's strength score, so an ogre with STR 13 will actually deal +3 damage on every hit with a normal weapon (or 2-11 damage with his own club).
All Ogres begin play with only three items: piecemeal armor, a club, and an ogre-bag. The ogre bag may carry up to 4000 coin of weight, and contains an additional 2-5 random items according to the table at the bottom of the post (roll once at first level; after that, what's in your bag is what you put into it).
At 4th level (Ogre HD 7), an Ogre may invest 5000 gold into raw materials, magical components, etc., in order to complete an esoteric ritual to sew and create a new ogre-bag which is actually a bag of holding. The creation of this bag takes from 1 to 3 months to create, though--as the ritual is largely involved in the slow process of stitching everything together--it may be interrupted by periods of adventuring. Nevertheless, any time spent adventuring does not count toward time spent creating the bag.
At 6th level (Chieftain HD 9, so basically "name level") an Ogre may carve out or seize a cave or some other underground complex as his lair. Depending on the Ogre-character's proclivities, the referee will provide the details for this adventure. Once the lair has been secured and any inhabitants driven off or subdued (or, if carving it out, any attempts to take it by other creatures are driven off), the Ogre will attract a tribe of 2-20 normal HD 4+1 ogres to join him. These do not serve per se, but may be bullied into doing the Ogre chief's bidding.
------
Contents of an Ogre's Bag
Roll 2-5 times on this table at first level. After that, what's in your bag is up to what you put into it.
11 - hemp rope 100'
12 - a battered lantern
13 - a week's worth of hardtack and pemmican
14 - two halves of a 10' pole
15 - a large, tarnished hand-mirror
16 - a scroll which is actually a randomly generated treasure map; you can't read it, of course
21 - a lump of wax
22 - a tangled mass of string and twine
23 - a large jar of lard
24 - 50 pieces of greasy parchment
25 - 2-12 iron ingots
26 - large cast iron cooking pot
31 - 4 large, round, river rocks
32 - a broken-off stalactite/stalagmite--may be used as a club that deals 1-12 damage
33 - a cool geode; you think it's worth something, but it probably isn't
34 - a little box of dirt you took off some halfling; doesn't seem worth much
35 - 1-6 chunks of ore; could be copper, might be gold
36 - 1-6 pieces of fool's gold
41 - a large bone whistle fashioned for your lips/mouth
42 - a long braided sling; casting large stones with it, you deal 1-8 damage
43 - soiled laundry (jerkin, etc.) that even you won't wear anymore
44 - a sewing kit with large bone needles--sometimes even ogres need to stitch something!
45 - a large whetstone and a large knife (shortsword) sharpened by it
46 - an idol of your god or giant-hero, whittled with some patience
51 - the corpse of a giant rat
52 - a live troll arm--you've got to keep eating from it day-to-day or it will grow into an angry troll
53 - 1-6 of what might be dragon teeth (the kind that grow armed warriors when planted)
54 - 2-12 orc heads
55 - a roper's gizzard containing 1-3 gems worth 10-100 gold each
56 - a wyvern's sting with one dose left
61 - a giant's femur, scrimshawed with scenes of battle
62 - a cask of fine wine of excellent vintage; you've been saving it for a real shindig
63 - a battered old book of poetry worth maybe up to 600 gold (except you can't read it)
64 - a rolled-up old tapestry worth maybe 100 gold to the right collector
65 - furs worth 100-600 gold
66 - 1000 gold
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Radiation Damage
I've been chewing on an idea for radiation, its damage, and the sickness caused therefrom, for my game ... for reasons ... mostly involving the Star Things currently descending over the Greyhame Mountain region.
Still, we'll see. This is a rough draft. It hasn't actually presented itself in my game yet ... yet ...
The first glimmering of this idea came to me through listening to episode 9 of "The Hall of Blue Illumination", a podcast dedicated to M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel setting; around the 1:20 mark (first link, episode 9), Victor J. Raymond mentions radiation damage and how Barker adjudicated that neither cure disease nor neutralize poison spells worked against its effects. What its effects were, alas, we know not--but the idea of radiation as a separate damage has stuck with me over the past few months ...
So anyway, I've got some super-secret write-ups for monsters and spells that cause radiation damage; this damage will apply to hit points as normal damage, but has the added effect that after certain thresholds, the damage causes "radiation poisoning/sickness." Trouble is, what's the threshold?
The chart on Wikipedia for "Whole Body Absorbed" Grays (Gy) seems like a good place to start, given its clear number values and possibilities for nausea, headache, and mortality. Unfortunately, the chart jumps from 1-2 Gy absorbed with 0-5% mortality, to 2-6 Gy with 5-95% mortality! Admittedly, this mortality is over the course of weeks; but dealing 3 damage to a character and having them die ~50% of the time after several weeks regardless of level ... just doesn't seem sporting.
So let's assume 1 radiation damage = .5 Gy (half a Gray). It can still be lethal pretty quick (6 such damage gets one to the "50% mortality in a few weeks" range), but still allows concrete understanding plus the possibility to run away really fast / put something between you and it really fast.
------
Radiation Effects
1) up to 2 radiation damage: sunburn, no other side effects
2) 3 to 4 radiation damage: save v. poison at +2 or nauseous all session, at end of session save v. poison or at -1 on all rolls for 1-4 weeks
3) 5 to 12 radiation damage: save v. poison or nauseous for 1-4 weeks, at end of session save v. poison or die in 1-4 weeks; successful save indicates survival, but nausea continues additional 1-4 weeks (i.e. 2-8 weeks of nausea)
4) 13 to 16 radiation damage: save v. poison at -2 or nauseous for 1-4 weeks, begin vomiting and otherwise incapacitated by severe headaches in 1-6 turns; at end of session save v. poison at -2 or die in 1 week, successful save indicates survival, but incapacitated for 1 week, nauseated for 2-8 weeks after that
5) 17 to 60 radiation damage: save v. poison at -4 or confused per the spell by nausea and severe headaches for remainder of session; at end of session, save v. poison at -4 or die in 1-3 days, successful save indicates survival but with 2-7 weeks incapacitated by sickness
6) 60+ radiation damage: save v. poison at -8 or die in 1 turn; success indicates that death is staved off 1-6 turns, but the character is confused per the spell for their last few turns
------
There should probably be additional debilitating effects of radiation sickness after, but I'll admit, I'll probably be more generous than Barker as regards spells like neutralize poison etc. curing radiation damage.
Still, we'll see. This is a rough draft. It hasn't actually presented itself in my game yet ... yet ...
Sunday, April 15, 2018
11-66 Table for Fighter Abilities at First Level
I wrote this table back in December, and only just rediscovered it. I was reading Jon Peterson's Playing at the World at the time, which is a history of our hobby from its roots in wargaming up through the early years of D&D. Alas, I cannot find the reference in the book at the moment, but apparently a number of referees came up with variant abilities for the Fighting-Man class to roll at first level, to help distinguish one from the next, somewhat in the way that Magic-Users and Clerics are distinguished by their choice of spells.
I was quite taken with the idea, and I thought an 11-66 table, with 36 entries, would provide enough variety for few fighters to be the same, but not take too long to write (also, I have a fondness for 11-66 tables after playing so much of Avalon Hill's Samurai, which uses one for random events each turn). So this is what I came up with; it probably could use a bit more creativity (like Zak S.' random advancement Alternative Fighter), but I'm still using bog-standard fighters in my game:
Fighter Abilities
When generating a fighter-character at first level, roll once on this table using 2d6. Read one as the tens and one as the ones.
11 +1 to hit with swords
12 +1 to hit with pole arms
13 +1 to hit with axes
14 +1 to hit with maces
15 +1 to hit with bows
16 +1 to hit with slings
21 +1 to hit with crossbows
22 +1 to hit with spears and javelins
23 +1 to hit with daggers
24 +1 to hit with hammers
25 +1 to hit in melee
26 +1 to hit with missiles
31 -1 AC with shields
32 +1 damage in melee
33 +1 damage with missiles
34 +1 damage
35 +1 to hit
36 +1 to hit when fighting alongside a companion
41 -1 AC in mail armor
42 -1 AC in plate armor
43 grant -1 AC from your shield to your companion next to you
44 may climb sheer surfaces as a same-level thief when in leather armor
45 may move silently/hide in shadows as a same-level thief when in leather armor
46 may open locks as a same-level thief (when not wearing gauntlets)
51 knows one first level magic-user spell (cannot cast it while armored)
52 knows one first level cleric spell
53 may turn undead as a first level cleric
54 +1 hp per hit die
55 may dual-wield weapons for -1 AC
56 may dual-wield weapons for +1 to hit
61 eldritch aura--may use normal weapons to strike creatures only struck by magical weapons
62 25 gp income per month
63 100 gp income per month
64 knightly title--some discretion as to what this entails, but certainly deference from inferiors, exemption from taxation or some other legal burden, access to a higher social circle, etc.
65 +1 morale to followers
66 +1 to number of retainers one may lead
I was quite taken with the idea, and I thought an 11-66 table, with 36 entries, would provide enough variety for few fighters to be the same, but not take too long to write (also, I have a fondness for 11-66 tables after playing so much of Avalon Hill's Samurai, which uses one for random events each turn). So this is what I came up with; it probably could use a bit more creativity (like Zak S.' random advancement Alternative Fighter), but I'm still using bog-standard fighters in my game:
Fighter Abilities
When generating a fighter-character at first level, roll once on this table using 2d6. Read one as the tens and one as the ones.
11 +1 to hit with swords
12 +1 to hit with pole arms
13 +1 to hit with axes
14 +1 to hit with maces
15 +1 to hit with bows
16 +1 to hit with slings
21 +1 to hit with crossbows
22 +1 to hit with spears and javelins
23 +1 to hit with daggers
24 +1 to hit with hammers
25 +1 to hit in melee
26 +1 to hit with missiles
31 -1 AC with shields
32 +1 damage in melee
33 +1 damage with missiles
34 +1 damage
35 +1 to hit
36 +1 to hit when fighting alongside a companion
41 -1 AC in mail armor
42 -1 AC in plate armor
43 grant -1 AC from your shield to your companion next to you
44 may climb sheer surfaces as a same-level thief when in leather armor
45 may move silently/hide in shadows as a same-level thief when in leather armor
46 may open locks as a same-level thief (when not wearing gauntlets)
51 knows one first level magic-user spell (cannot cast it while armored)
52 knows one first level cleric spell
53 may turn undead as a first level cleric
54 +1 hp per hit die
55 may dual-wield weapons for -1 AC
56 may dual-wield weapons for +1 to hit
61 eldritch aura--may use normal weapons to strike creatures only struck by magical weapons
62 25 gp income per month
63 100 gp income per month
64 knightly title--some discretion as to what this entails, but certainly deference from inferiors, exemption from taxation or some other legal burden, access to a higher social circle, etc.
65 +1 morale to followers
66 +1 to number of retainers one may lead
Friday, April 13, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 26
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
29 March's roster:
Lead (cleric 4)
Baby-Face (thief 5)
Valor Justice (Elf 1)
Little Bob (travelling-man 4)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Blackleaf (Elf 4)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
and a coterie of hirelings and dogs
To the Howling Tower, to deal with the Goblin King and his meddling with Star-Things!
On the second night out, the characters came across a pair of wolves, unconscious and lying in the woods, with a strange and shimmering silver cord rising from each up into the night sky toward the singing Stars. The party was baffled. Baby-Face suggested that the stars were sucking information out of them, but who knows?
Aethelwulf decided to put one out of its ... misery isn't quite the right word. Still, he slew one with his sword; the silver cord snapped as soon as the body was slain.
After that, Koko attempted to use her ring of animal control on the "surviving" wolf, to no avail; Blackleaf tried to read any thoughts in it with her amulet of ESP, but detected nothing within--not even an animal intelligence. It seemed the bodies were mere shells, alive in the barest sense of the word, and Aethelwulf killed the second one.
Then the party made camp, and I telegraphed that something was coming by asking for a watch schedule. Alas, but I have only just introduced actual encounters that require a watch schedule in the wilderness; I should probably request one as a matter of course when setting out from town.
Anyway, four watches were set over the course of the night, and I rolled the first watch, which Lead and Blackleaf had taken. So as they stayed up to watch over their comrades, Blackleaf suddenly felt as if some kind of insect were crawling over her back--and yet nothing was there!
The invisible thing's attack failed against Blackleaf. Hands attempting to find it failed to touch anything, but the swordpoint of a magic sword carefully pressed into the area around the weird crawling feelings resulted in contact with some kind of invisible presence. Those individuals who were wakened and had magic weapons proceeded to attack the invisible thing; despite penalties to their attacks, they managed to hit the thing and avoid hitting Blackleaf until finally whatever it was seemed to fall off; searching the ground with magical swordpoints finally revealed something on the ground that didn't seem to be moving around. The thing was dead? They couldn't see it or touch to really ascertain ... so they went back to their regular watch schedule.
Nothing further happened.
Arriving on the ridge atop which stands the Howling Tower, fronted by its two pyres of goblin and ogre corpses, the players agreed to enter through the insect tunnels on the north side of the ridge, which lead directly into the first dungeon level and bypass the Tower itself. Lead left his mule Sparkly outside (mules don't fit in the tunnels), guarded by Baby Face's hirelings Thorn and Cadmus.
The party made their way through the first dungeon level seeking for the stairs down to the second level. They encountered what seemed to be a mobile puddle of water as a wandering monster, but easily destroyed the ooze with an overwhelming number of attacks.
Descending to the second dungeon level, the party headed south. They passed through the room that contained the star pool, which has once been seen to contain a Cthulu-ish tentacular horror; but it seemed empty of anything but stars at the moment. Passing to the south, the party found a door that opened into a chamber with three statues in the NE, SE, and SW corners. One was of a beautiful, seductive Elf-maiden, one of Anglamorath the Dragon, and the last of Astora Queen of Stars in full regalia.
Through the eastern door of that chamber, the party found a north-south corridor that they followed south. They ultimately walked into a chamber which was a goblin-barracks containing more than a dozen goblins. A sleep spell incapacitated many, and the others were slaughtered. The party killed two, but tied up four of the sleeping goblins (amusingly, my notes read "sleeping orcs", a Tolkienian slip); questioning those left alive, they learned from the poor creatures that "the Goblin King can be found through the western corridor and down the stair," while "treasure could be found north with the webs and the snakes."
Leaving the goblins behind, the party went west through further corridors. They ran into a party of goblins and one wolf as wandering monsters. My notes are sparse; I believe that what happened was that the goblins were driven back into another room, which contained other goblins. But ultimately, the party encountered a party of goblins including three that seemed less crooked than their fellows, all of whom began casting spells when the party moved to the attack.
One of the goblin magic-users doused the party's lights so that all was darkness. One of them threw a web spell, incapacitating most of the party (I think initiative was simultaneous, though, because I remember dogs and frontline fighters getting into melee); the last of the goblins cast a sleep spell which dropped all the frontline dogs except Panzer, Little Bob's orc mastiff.
A short melee round ensued; meanwhile, for the webbed party, Lead the cleric lit a torch and set the web alight. So it burned up (in one round; in retrospect it takes two rounds in the rules, but whatever), causing 1-6 damage to all those stuck within. This fire damage killed the hirelings Clara and Ilana of Blackleaf, but the rest of the party was thus freed.
Beyond that, the combat was short--one of the goblins got off a second douse lights spell, but the characters lit another torch; and another one managed to get off a mirror image, which allowed him alone to survive the combat. After all the other goblins were slain, this last fellow was finally subdued and tied up. He directed the party to the Goblin King's inverse-tower in return for his life, and also let drop a mention that the captured children were turned into goblins by the King by being spun up in spider-silk; and then he was left behind by the party. Meanwhile, some characters were looting the room--they found a good deal of gold, a magic helm, a magic shield, a potion, a scroll, a bow, and a spear (much of it loot from the dead goblin-magic-users).
Through another short corridor, the party finally opened a door onto a long spiral stair down into the darkness. It seems to lead down to dungeon levels three and four, but our time was short ... behind a door on the landing, Blackleaf detected the thoughts of scared children. The door was forced open, and the party found a group of five scared and emaciated children.
Our time was short, so the party ushered the children out of the dungeon. The only thing of note on the way out was that passing through the room with the three statues, the party found the statues changed into images of horrid hags, and as the party passed through, they were all subjected to a kind of curse.
Nothing else happened on the way back to town. Local high-level cleric Lailith (who won't adventure in Greyhame until the other characters are closer in level) agreed to lift the curses for 1000 gold altogether. And with his share of the wealth, Baby Face paid off the last 1600 gold of his debt to the Thieves' Guild.
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
29 March's roster:
Lead (cleric 4)
Baby-Face (thief 5)
Valor Justice (Elf 1)
Little Bob (travelling-man 4)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Blackleaf (Elf 4)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
and a coterie of hirelings and dogs
To the Howling Tower, to deal with the Goblin King and his meddling with Star-Things!
On the second night out, the characters came across a pair of wolves, unconscious and lying in the woods, with a strange and shimmering silver cord rising from each up into the night sky toward the singing Stars. The party was baffled. Baby-Face suggested that the stars were sucking information out of them, but who knows?
Aethelwulf decided to put one out of its ... misery isn't quite the right word. Still, he slew one with his sword; the silver cord snapped as soon as the body was slain.
After that, Koko attempted to use her ring of animal control on the "surviving" wolf, to no avail; Blackleaf tried to read any thoughts in it with her amulet of ESP, but detected nothing within--not even an animal intelligence. It seemed the bodies were mere shells, alive in the barest sense of the word, and Aethelwulf killed the second one.
Then the party made camp, and I telegraphed that something was coming by asking for a watch schedule. Alas, but I have only just introduced actual encounters that require a watch schedule in the wilderness; I should probably request one as a matter of course when setting out from town.
Anyway, four watches were set over the course of the night, and I rolled the first watch, which Lead and Blackleaf had taken. So as they stayed up to watch over their comrades, Blackleaf suddenly felt as if some kind of insect were crawling over her back--and yet nothing was there!
The invisible thing's attack failed against Blackleaf. Hands attempting to find it failed to touch anything, but the swordpoint of a magic sword carefully pressed into the area around the weird crawling feelings resulted in contact with some kind of invisible presence. Those individuals who were wakened and had magic weapons proceeded to attack the invisible thing; despite penalties to their attacks, they managed to hit the thing and avoid hitting Blackleaf until finally whatever it was seemed to fall off; searching the ground with magical swordpoints finally revealed something on the ground that didn't seem to be moving around. The thing was dead? They couldn't see it or touch to really ascertain ... so they went back to their regular watch schedule.
Nothing further happened.
Arriving on the ridge atop which stands the Howling Tower, fronted by its two pyres of goblin and ogre corpses, the players agreed to enter through the insect tunnels on the north side of the ridge, which lead directly into the first dungeon level and bypass the Tower itself. Lead left his mule Sparkly outside (mules don't fit in the tunnels), guarded by Baby Face's hirelings Thorn and Cadmus.
The party made their way through the first dungeon level seeking for the stairs down to the second level. They encountered what seemed to be a mobile puddle of water as a wandering monster, but easily destroyed the ooze with an overwhelming number of attacks.
Descending to the second dungeon level, the party headed south. They passed through the room that contained the star pool, which has once been seen to contain a Cthulu-ish tentacular horror; but it seemed empty of anything but stars at the moment. Passing to the south, the party found a door that opened into a chamber with three statues in the NE, SE, and SW corners. One was of a beautiful, seductive Elf-maiden, one of Anglamorath the Dragon, and the last of Astora Queen of Stars in full regalia.
Through the eastern door of that chamber, the party found a north-south corridor that they followed south. They ultimately walked into a chamber which was a goblin-barracks containing more than a dozen goblins. A sleep spell incapacitated many, and the others were slaughtered. The party killed two, but tied up four of the sleeping goblins (amusingly, my notes read "sleeping orcs", a Tolkienian slip); questioning those left alive, they learned from the poor creatures that "the Goblin King can be found through the western corridor and down the stair," while "treasure could be found north with the webs and the snakes."
Leaving the goblins behind, the party went west through further corridors. They ran into a party of goblins and one wolf as wandering monsters. My notes are sparse; I believe that what happened was that the goblins were driven back into another room, which contained other goblins. But ultimately, the party encountered a party of goblins including three that seemed less crooked than their fellows, all of whom began casting spells when the party moved to the attack.
One of the goblin magic-users doused the party's lights so that all was darkness. One of them threw a web spell, incapacitating most of the party (I think initiative was simultaneous, though, because I remember dogs and frontline fighters getting into melee); the last of the goblins cast a sleep spell which dropped all the frontline dogs except Panzer, Little Bob's orc mastiff.
A short melee round ensued; meanwhile, for the webbed party, Lead the cleric lit a torch and set the web alight. So it burned up (in one round; in retrospect it takes two rounds in the rules, but whatever), causing 1-6 damage to all those stuck within. This fire damage killed the hirelings Clara and Ilana of Blackleaf, but the rest of the party was thus freed.
Beyond that, the combat was short--one of the goblins got off a second douse lights spell, but the characters lit another torch; and another one managed to get off a mirror image, which allowed him alone to survive the combat. After all the other goblins were slain, this last fellow was finally subdued and tied up. He directed the party to the Goblin King's inverse-tower in return for his life, and also let drop a mention that the captured children were turned into goblins by the King by being spun up in spider-silk; and then he was left behind by the party. Meanwhile, some characters were looting the room--they found a good deal of gold, a magic helm, a magic shield, a potion, a scroll, a bow, and a spear (much of it loot from the dead goblin-magic-users).
Through another short corridor, the party finally opened a door onto a long spiral stair down into the darkness. It seems to lead down to dungeon levels three and four, but our time was short ... behind a door on the landing, Blackleaf detected the thoughts of scared children. The door was forced open, and the party found a group of five scared and emaciated children.
Our time was short, so the party ushered the children out of the dungeon. The only thing of note on the way out was that passing through the room with the three statues, the party found the statues changed into images of horrid hags, and as the party passed through, they were all subjected to a kind of curse.
Nothing else happened on the way back to town. Local high-level cleric Lailith (who won't adventure in Greyhame until the other characters are closer in level) agreed to lift the curses for 1000 gold altogether. And with his share of the wealth, Baby Face paid off the last 1600 gold of his debt to the Thieves' Guild.
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Saturday, April 7, 2018
War Dogs for Sale
What feels like a long time ago (June 2012), I copied the general idea of Zak S.' d100 wardog table into the notebook in which I was keying my first megadungeon in my still-ongoing B/X game. It's much modified from Zak's table (and Noism's dogs, which Zak liberally lifted); my proud addition to it, which has taken some prominence in my recent Greyhame Game, was the entry of "Snake-Killing Weasel: 3 HD, x2 cost, murders snakes, morale fails 50%"; the characters Baby-Face and Aethelwulf have both purchased a number of such creatures for that game, and used them well in many a combat.
I break this table out pretty much every session; the value of a wardog that you can buy for 25 gold and then set in the front line so that it takes the brunt of the damage is pretty well intuitive to just about everyone who plays. But my notebook is getting beat up (my own characters are in it; some of the pages are stained, and the spiral coil is well-used), so I think it's time to write out a new copy of the table; and since I've been using it for almost six years, maybe it's time for some new entries!
War Dogs for Sale (d100 table)
1d4+1 dogs are available per session
normal cost 25 gold per dog
all dogs have AC 6 unless otherwise mentioned, and morale 8; all dogs know "heel", "come", "sic", and "stay" as base commands; HD 1 dogs deal 1d6 damage on a bite, HD 2 or higher dogs deal 2d4 damage on a bite
01-04 Well-Trained Dog: HD 1, never checks morale
05-08 Avenillish Cur: HD 1, AC 5, surprised only on a 1
09-13 Ghost Hound: HD 1+1, detects invisible within 60 feet
14-17 Aachen Weaseler: HD 1, AC 4 (highly agile)
18-22 Wolfhound: HD 2, +2 to hit
23-29 Pack Dog: HD 2, +1 to hit and damage when attacking with other dogs (+5 maximum)
30-35 Lion Dog: HD 2, can carry 250 coin of stuff
36-43 Boarhound: HD 2, 60% chance to track enemies, may wear armor (costs 25 gp, AC 4)
44-50 St. Bernard: HD 2, trained to drag unconscious allies to safety
51-62 Mastiff: HD 2, ordinary war dog, may wear armor (costs 25 gold, AC 4)
63-67 Hexenhound: HD 2, detects familiars, shape-changers, etc.
68-72 Half-Wolf: HD 2+2, +2 damage, 50% attacks allies if morale fails
73-77 Basilisk Hound: HD 1+1, -2 to attack, immune to gaze attacks (because they're blind)
78-81 Dungeon Terrier: HD 1, AC 5, surprised only on a 1, x2 damage to creatures dog-size or smaller
82-85 Bloodhound: HD 2, 80% chance to track target given to it via scent (i.e. dirty socks or something)
86-89 Orc Mastiff: HD 3+3, x3 cost, morale 10, invisible to infravision, 60% chance to track orcs, may wear armor as boarhounds or mastiffs
90-93 Snake-Killing Weasel: HD 3, x2 cost, murders snakes, morale fails 50%
94-95 War Bear: (as B/X black bear) HD 4, x6 cost, attacks 1-3/1-3/1-6, morale 7, may wear armor (costs50 gold, AC 4)
96-97 Warbat: HD 2, x4 cost, echolocate 60 feet [a silence spell will blind it], trained to scout ahead in darkness and come back with warnings, fly 180 feet/round, attack 1-4)
98-99 Hunting Pard: (like B/X mountain lion) HD 3+3, x6 cost, attacks 1-3/1-3/1-6, surprise on 1-3 if sent ahead)
00 Warbeetle: HD 3+3, x8 cost, AC 3, attack 2-12, morale 10)
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Jungles of Chult Session 4
our intrepid adventurers:
Nugiri (lizardman monk)
Takashi (human magic-user)
Nebin (halfling barbarian)
Qinsela (human druid)
Thrice-Orphaned (goliath fighter)
Vilnus (half-Elf bard, joined late last session)
with River Mist and Flask of Wine (cat-man fighter and thief) as guides
and hired help Olol, Benge, and Adoun
Last time we ended with the characters having just discovered the secret tunnel into the deeper parts of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, and ready to descend into the depths. They are seeking magical writings for the merchant-prince Wakanga, a magic-user himself, who is willing to pay "thousands of gold" for magical writings dredged up from the tombs ...
Now, just as they were about to descend further into the depths, the party was joined by a pair of new characters (my out-of-town friends were in town for the weekend, so we had them join!): Gona (dwarf monk) and a not-yet-named human druid.
So deeper they went. They descended into tunnel lined with statues. Behind one, the party discovered a secret door that led into an old guard post that was otherwise empty. Continuing through the main corridor, they entered into a large octagonal chamber with a door or open doorway in every wall, and a pool of scummy water at its center.
Looking around, the party decided to tackle things door by door and went to the door just to the left of the entrance; this corridor has a pressure-plate trap in the corridor beyond, the party didn't search for traps at all, and so they set it off--a lightning bolt discharged from the tomb at the end of the twenty foot corridor! The smell of burned flesh filled the corridor, and Vilnus and the nameless druid both dropped dead-dead, while Qinsela was knocked out and almost dead. ("Roll a new character, Josh," I declared, while Vilnus' player also started rolling a new character ... his seventh in the campaign yet ...)
During a short rest, Nugiri the lizardman decided to cook up the dead half-Elf. Nobody protested.
After the rest, the party checked the next door. They found it blocked with rubble and heard something clattering around on the other side, and elected not to clear the rubble.
Through the next door, they found another tomb. They searched the tomb and found a sticky black residue around the seams. Should they try to build a fire around it and cook whatever's inside? That plan was ultimately shut down; instead, they put the bodies of Vilnus and the nameless druid in the corner and then opened the tomb, hoping that if an ooze were inside, it would go for the bodies ... Well, a black ooze was inside, and fortunately for the characters, my reaction dice indicated something good, so the ooze did indeed go for the bodies.
A quick check of the tomb discovered nothing inside, so the characters fled and then stuffed the doorjamb with clothes pilfered from Vilnus' stuff (she had been an actor and had some extra costumes, apparently).
The next door opened onto a long stair down. The party moved on to the next door; they pilfered a silver snake idol and a dozen scrolls that contained writings in unreadable Yuan-Ti script. At this point, the new characters Walter of the Wandering Foot Family (halfling) and Komuzar (half-orc thief) showed up because they were finished being written up. I decreed them companions of Gona and the late nameless druid who had just caught up.
The next door opened onto an unfinished tomb; and the doorway after that opened into a room with three columns of snake-man warrior statues. The secret door behind one in the back corner was duly found, which opened onto a blank corridor, at the end of which the second secret door was quickly located.
Opening that, the party found themselves in a large, dark, underground space. Columns held the ceiling up; a chain descended from the center of the ceiling and then led off into the darkness just beyond their light spell, though the chain was clearly moving and scraping along the floor ...
Stepping into the room, the characters immediately spotted a large reptilian creature with eight legs on the far side of the room. It approached; as it stared at them with eldritch green eyes, Nebin the halfling felt himself rooting into the ground as if becoming part of the stone himself. The party quickly intuited that this was a basilisk and then charged to attack!
The combat didn't last long. The basilisk got a couple good hits in, but against eight 5e characters, it just didn't really have a chance. After it was dead, Nugiri did his thing and carved it up and cooked up some basilisk steaks, and also popped its eyes out and saved them in a jar.
From here, the party went "north" (it was north in my game, but not in Skerples' descriptions) and found a door of intertwining serpents that they couldn't unlock, a stair down to the west, and other doors to the east. Through the east door they went, and were confronted with an undead horror--a snake-man, anciently embalmed, eyes of red pinpoints in empty sockets, who greeted them in a hissing language none of them understood.
Nugiri responded in Draconic, saying, "Bitch, please," which is not the kind of thing I personally would say to a lich. The lich responded also in Draconic, "What did you say to me?" and then Nugiri cleaned up his act. He explained that they were just there looking around ... the lich, one Xiximanter, took Nugiri to be the owner of the entourage of humanoid slaves, and decided to be hospitable. He remembered the forms of entertainment, if not the details, and went to a pitcher and some goblets and "poured" nothing from the ewer into the goblets and handed the empty vessels around (Walter and another character poured actual wine out for themselves from their possessions).
Xiximanter explained that he was on the verge of a breakthrough in his experiments attempting to brew a potion of immortality. He assumed the empire of the Yuan-Ti was still alive and well above, though he hadn't seen anyone for quite some time. The players wisely avoided revealing the truth ... Xiximanter asked Nugiri if he could use any of the lizardman's "slaves" as fodder for his experiments, but Nugiri politely declined.
Bored now of the conversation, Xiximanter went into the room next door and pulled out of a pit a goblin all infected with fungus. He dragged the protesting thing into another room and attached it to a chair like the one from the Skekzis' castle in The Dark Crystal and proceeded to drain the essence from the goblin into a little vial, and then to use that in whatever experiment he was engaged in.
The party left, uncomfortable.
Heading back through the basilisk room, they encountered a skeleton jelly and were unable to destroy it. Takashi slowed it by blasting it with ray of frost, and the party escaped back to the octagonal room with the pool. There, they discovered that the ooze had moved--clothing no longer stuffed any of the doorjambs ... finding the ooze in another room, they stuffed its doorjamb with clothes, and then turned to explored down the stairs they had earlier ignored.
At the bottom of the stair, they found another large octagonal room, but this one had walls covered with the shields of all the Batiri, human tribesman, and other Yuan-Ti tribes that had been defeated by the empire back in the day, layering the walls like scales. In the center of the room was a huge stone figure of a night with a cobra's head that advanced to attack as soon as the door was opened. The players noped! and slammed the door and went back up the stairs.
Going back through the basilisk chamber and north, the party descended the stair there and found the cylinder-door. Gona and Komuzar went through counter-clockwise first and felt the pangs of spears stabbing their sides. Returning back, Komuzar then went in alone and went clockwise, and ultimately reported back the passage on the other side of the rotating cylinder.
These passages led into the fungus-goblin warrens, which skeezed out the characters--Walter in particular was nauseated by a room that was filled with garbage and pulsating slime-molds, and lost the wine that he had recently imbibed all over his own feet.
A single goblin was found in the next room, chewing on a bat; the characters dispatched it with a number of missile attacks. Chattering goblins could be heard in the room beyond that; Takashi hit on a good plan regarding them. He approached the doorway alone and poured out a sack of gold coins on the floor before him. As the dozen-plus goblins gathered around to collect the coins, Takashi let loose with a burning hands spell and killed most of them.
The others failed their morale; the characters gave chase up a stair and chased the goblins up into the sunlight, while they themselves found another secret door into the basilisk-room from the other side.
Continuing their exploration, the party went through the "south" end of the basilisk room, and then down a stair to the southwest. They ultimately entered into a room with a pit-trap and while Nebin made hi save to avoid it, Thrice Orphaned tumbled in, but took negligible damage. On the other side of the pit was a door; through that door was a chamber with a pit along the east wall, in the center of which was an eternally burning flame surrounded by charred bones, runny gold, and gems.
Takashi mage-handed the gems out of the pit; through the next door, the party found more doors, one of which was iron. At this point I read that the key to that door was embedded in the basilisk's neck, and I adjudicated that Nugiri had found it while carving up the basilisk for eating. Opening the door with the key, the party found a crap-ton of loot, more weird writings, and a stair down to gods-know-what even deeper beneath the tombs ...
The party elected to take the treasure and go--they still had a jungle to make their way back through.
Out of the dungeon without monsters bothering them, the party found their porter and two slingers still next to the boat in their paltry camp. Gathering everything up, they headed north through the jungle seeking the River Tiryki; from there they would boat back down to civilization. On the first day, they spotted some flying lizards, but the creatures avoided them; that night, a mysterious man arrived in camp. When they offered him food, he offered his name, Wtanda, and suggested that in return for their hospitality, he would lead them through the jungle to the river. They agreed; the next day passed without incident as they followed Wtanda. At the river, he took his leave of the party.
They then set out on the river with their boats, because travel downriver on boats is much faster than hiking up through the jungle; the next day they passed a party of other explorers, emaciated and calling for help from the shore, but the party passed them by, afraid of delays and cannibal-attacks.
And they arrived back in Port Nyanzaru without any further issue!
Wakanga was glad to buy the strange writings from the party for a significant sum; they were not the magical writings he sought, but were still something. Moreover, he was interested in their account Xiximanter, and expressed the possibility of funding an expedition to give slaves to Xiximanter in trade for his potions or knowledge or both ... we'll see what the players think next session; especially seeing that Wakanga also gave the party the journal of another expedition that he had in his possession, which details a failed expedition up the Soshenstar River ...
Takashi paid off his debt to the merchant prince Jobal; Nebin probably will do the same with Jessamine, but his player wasn't actually present for this session to make such a call.
Komuzar and Nugiri both went carousing after that, and by the fate of the dice, each failed their save and then rolled the result "acquired a slave". Komuzar bought Talis, a scribe from across the northern ocean; meanwhile, Nugiri bought Tzana, an old man, but surprisingly strong and spry for his old age.
------
Remembrance for the Dead
Vilnus (half-Elf bard 1), a nameless druid 1, Nsi Losi (human fighting-man 1), Biango (NPC porter), Iedos (tiefling paladin 1), Tehran Atzi (human cleric of Ubtao 1), Sound of Distant Rain (catman rogue 1), Chiratidzo (human druid 1)
Nugiri (lizardman monk)
Takashi (human magic-user)
Nebin (halfling barbarian)
Qinsela (human druid)
Thrice-Orphaned (goliath fighter)
Vilnus (half-Elf bard, joined late last session)
with River Mist and Flask of Wine (cat-man fighter and thief) as guides
and hired help Olol, Benge, and Adoun
Last time we ended with the characters having just discovered the secret tunnel into the deeper parts of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, and ready to descend into the depths. They are seeking magical writings for the merchant-prince Wakanga, a magic-user himself, who is willing to pay "thousands of gold" for magical writings dredged up from the tombs ...
Now, just as they were about to descend further into the depths, the party was joined by a pair of new characters (my out-of-town friends were in town for the weekend, so we had them join!): Gona (dwarf monk) and a not-yet-named human druid.
So deeper they went. They descended into tunnel lined with statues. Behind one, the party discovered a secret door that led into an old guard post that was otherwise empty. Continuing through the main corridor, they entered into a large octagonal chamber with a door or open doorway in every wall, and a pool of scummy water at its center.
Looking around, the party decided to tackle things door by door and went to the door just to the left of the entrance; this corridor has a pressure-plate trap in the corridor beyond, the party didn't search for traps at all, and so they set it off--a lightning bolt discharged from the tomb at the end of the twenty foot corridor! The smell of burned flesh filled the corridor, and Vilnus and the nameless druid both dropped dead-dead, while Qinsela was knocked out and almost dead. ("Roll a new character, Josh," I declared, while Vilnus' player also started rolling a new character ... his seventh in the campaign yet ...)
During a short rest, Nugiri the lizardman decided to cook up the dead half-Elf. Nobody protested.
After the rest, the party checked the next door. They found it blocked with rubble and heard something clattering around on the other side, and elected not to clear the rubble.
Through the next door, they found another tomb. They searched the tomb and found a sticky black residue around the seams. Should they try to build a fire around it and cook whatever's inside? That plan was ultimately shut down; instead, they put the bodies of Vilnus and the nameless druid in the corner and then opened the tomb, hoping that if an ooze were inside, it would go for the bodies ... Well, a black ooze was inside, and fortunately for the characters, my reaction dice indicated something good, so the ooze did indeed go for the bodies.
A quick check of the tomb discovered nothing inside, so the characters fled and then stuffed the doorjamb with clothes pilfered from Vilnus' stuff (she had been an actor and had some extra costumes, apparently).
The next door opened onto a long stair down. The party moved on to the next door; they pilfered a silver snake idol and a dozen scrolls that contained writings in unreadable Yuan-Ti script. At this point, the new characters Walter of the Wandering Foot Family (halfling) and Komuzar (half-orc thief) showed up because they were finished being written up. I decreed them companions of Gona and the late nameless druid who had just caught up.
The next door opened onto an unfinished tomb; and the doorway after that opened into a room with three columns of snake-man warrior statues. The secret door behind one in the back corner was duly found, which opened onto a blank corridor, at the end of which the second secret door was quickly located.
Opening that, the party found themselves in a large, dark, underground space. Columns held the ceiling up; a chain descended from the center of the ceiling and then led off into the darkness just beyond their light spell, though the chain was clearly moving and scraping along the floor ...
Stepping into the room, the characters immediately spotted a large reptilian creature with eight legs on the far side of the room. It approached; as it stared at them with eldritch green eyes, Nebin the halfling felt himself rooting into the ground as if becoming part of the stone himself. The party quickly intuited that this was a basilisk and then charged to attack!
The combat didn't last long. The basilisk got a couple good hits in, but against eight 5e characters, it just didn't really have a chance. After it was dead, Nugiri did his thing and carved it up and cooked up some basilisk steaks, and also popped its eyes out and saved them in a jar.
From here, the party went "north" (it was north in my game, but not in Skerples' descriptions) and found a door of intertwining serpents that they couldn't unlock, a stair down to the west, and other doors to the east. Through the east door they went, and were confronted with an undead horror--a snake-man, anciently embalmed, eyes of red pinpoints in empty sockets, who greeted them in a hissing language none of them understood.
Nugiri responded in Draconic, saying, "Bitch, please," which is not the kind of thing I personally would say to a lich. The lich responded also in Draconic, "What did you say to me?" and then Nugiri cleaned up his act. He explained that they were just there looking around ... the lich, one Xiximanter, took Nugiri to be the owner of the entourage of humanoid slaves, and decided to be hospitable. He remembered the forms of entertainment, if not the details, and went to a pitcher and some goblets and "poured" nothing from the ewer into the goblets and handed the empty vessels around (Walter and another character poured actual wine out for themselves from their possessions).
Xiximanter explained that he was on the verge of a breakthrough in his experiments attempting to brew a potion of immortality. He assumed the empire of the Yuan-Ti was still alive and well above, though he hadn't seen anyone for quite some time. The players wisely avoided revealing the truth ... Xiximanter asked Nugiri if he could use any of the lizardman's "slaves" as fodder for his experiments, but Nugiri politely declined.
Bored now of the conversation, Xiximanter went into the room next door and pulled out of a pit a goblin all infected with fungus. He dragged the protesting thing into another room and attached it to a chair like the one from the Skekzis' castle in The Dark Crystal and proceeded to drain the essence from the goblin into a little vial, and then to use that in whatever experiment he was engaged in.
The party left, uncomfortable.
Heading back through the basilisk room, they encountered a skeleton jelly and were unable to destroy it. Takashi slowed it by blasting it with ray of frost, and the party escaped back to the octagonal room with the pool. There, they discovered that the ooze had moved--clothing no longer stuffed any of the doorjambs ... finding the ooze in another room, they stuffed its doorjamb with clothes, and then turned to explored down the stairs they had earlier ignored.
At the bottom of the stair, they found another large octagonal room, but this one had walls covered with the shields of all the Batiri, human tribesman, and other Yuan-Ti tribes that had been defeated by the empire back in the day, layering the walls like scales. In the center of the room was a huge stone figure of a night with a cobra's head that advanced to attack as soon as the door was opened. The players noped! and slammed the door and went back up the stairs.
Going back through the basilisk chamber and north, the party descended the stair there and found the cylinder-door. Gona and Komuzar went through counter-clockwise first and felt the pangs of spears stabbing their sides. Returning back, Komuzar then went in alone and went clockwise, and ultimately reported back the passage on the other side of the rotating cylinder.
These passages led into the fungus-goblin warrens, which skeezed out the characters--Walter in particular was nauseated by a room that was filled with garbage and pulsating slime-molds, and lost the wine that he had recently imbibed all over his own feet.
A single goblin was found in the next room, chewing on a bat; the characters dispatched it with a number of missile attacks. Chattering goblins could be heard in the room beyond that; Takashi hit on a good plan regarding them. He approached the doorway alone and poured out a sack of gold coins on the floor before him. As the dozen-plus goblins gathered around to collect the coins, Takashi let loose with a burning hands spell and killed most of them.
The others failed their morale; the characters gave chase up a stair and chased the goblins up into the sunlight, while they themselves found another secret door into the basilisk-room from the other side.
Continuing their exploration, the party went through the "south" end of the basilisk room, and then down a stair to the southwest. They ultimately entered into a room with a pit-trap and while Nebin made hi save to avoid it, Thrice Orphaned tumbled in, but took negligible damage. On the other side of the pit was a door; through that door was a chamber with a pit along the east wall, in the center of which was an eternally burning flame surrounded by charred bones, runny gold, and gems.
Takashi mage-handed the gems out of the pit; through the next door, the party found more doors, one of which was iron. At this point I read that the key to that door was embedded in the basilisk's neck, and I adjudicated that Nugiri had found it while carving up the basilisk for eating. Opening the door with the key, the party found a crap-ton of loot, more weird writings, and a stair down to gods-know-what even deeper beneath the tombs ...
The party elected to take the treasure and go--they still had a jungle to make their way back through.
Out of the dungeon without monsters bothering them, the party found their porter and two slingers still next to the boat in their paltry camp. Gathering everything up, they headed north through the jungle seeking the River Tiryki; from there they would boat back down to civilization. On the first day, they spotted some flying lizards, but the creatures avoided them; that night, a mysterious man arrived in camp. When they offered him food, he offered his name, Wtanda, and suggested that in return for their hospitality, he would lead them through the jungle to the river. They agreed; the next day passed without incident as they followed Wtanda. At the river, he took his leave of the party.
They then set out on the river with their boats, because travel downriver on boats is much faster than hiking up through the jungle; the next day they passed a party of other explorers, emaciated and calling for help from the shore, but the party passed them by, afraid of delays and cannibal-attacks.
And they arrived back in Port Nyanzaru without any further issue!
Wakanga was glad to buy the strange writings from the party for a significant sum; they were not the magical writings he sought, but were still something. Moreover, he was interested in their account Xiximanter, and expressed the possibility of funding an expedition to give slaves to Xiximanter in trade for his potions or knowledge or both ... we'll see what the players think next session; especially seeing that Wakanga also gave the party the journal of another expedition that he had in his possession, which details a failed expedition up the Soshenstar River ...
Takashi paid off his debt to the merchant prince Jobal; Nebin probably will do the same with Jessamine, but his player wasn't actually present for this session to make such a call.
Komuzar and Nugiri both went carousing after that, and by the fate of the dice, each failed their save and then rolled the result "acquired a slave". Komuzar bought Talis, a scribe from across the northern ocean; meanwhile, Nugiri bought Tzana, an old man, but surprisingly strong and spry for his old age.
------
Remembrance for the Dead
Vilnus (half-Elf bard 1), a nameless druid 1, Nsi Losi (human fighting-man 1), Biango (NPC porter), Iedos (tiefling paladin 1), Tehran Atzi (human cleric of Ubtao 1), Sound of Distant Rain (catman rogue 1), Chiratidzo (human druid 1)
Friday, March 30, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 25
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
22 March's roster:
July (half-Elf 1)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 3)
Little Bob (travelling man 5)
"LET IT BE KNOWN ... THE WORSHIP OF KORD IS HEREBY OUTLAWED ON PAIN OF DEATH ..." read the placards that are nailed up throughout town this week.
"AND MOREOVER, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT BABY-FACE, LEAD, AND THEIR ASSOCIATES ARE HEREBY NAMED WOLVES AND MAY BE HUNTED TO THE DEATH THROUGHOUT THIS REALM.
"~MORHOLT, LORD OF OAKRIDGE CASTLE AND THE VILLAGES BRAKERIDGE AND KALLIA"
Last session, the party entered into Oakridge Castle by stealth and while one half rescued the Lady Sonora (whom Morholt had been holding hostage with the intent to force her to marry him using a love potion), the other half slew a number of his men-at-arms in their sleep. Unfortunately, one half of the party started off with a less successful gambit, attempting to gain entrance at the gate by claiming to be clerics of the god Kord, and thus announcing themselves as probably the perpetrators ...
Fortunately for everyone, the news that Sonora was rescued spread quickly through town. The villagers hate Morholt and love Sonora as they remember her late husband, the legitimate lord of the area whose power was usurped by Morholt after a suspicious hunting accident; so given the news that their lady was freed, the villagers sent word around to get Kord, Blackleaf, and the others out of town before Morholt's men-at-arms could come hunt them down.
So, out of town but nearby, the characters considered overthrowing Morholt once and for all and restoring Sonora to her ladyship ... but Blackleaf preferred to wait until they had a fuller party. And, moreover, the young half-Elf adventuress July showed up, newly arrived and ready to go adventuring, and it seemed more prudent to show her the adventuring ropes in a dungeon, rather than start off with a castle raid.
Thus, the party elected to return to the Howling Tower, there to explore and see what they might learn about the Star Things, while Kord expressed a desire to collect the body of Gram from the secret shadow-shrine.
Three days to the Tower ... wilderness attrition resulted in lost daggers and a lost shield, so I presume they were minor animal encounters. The Tower stands atop a ridge running down from the southwest spur of the Greyhame Mountain, just above the treeline so that it stands like a lone nail above the valleys on either side. In front of it stand two pyres filled with the bodies of goblins.
Kord remembered the secret tunnel entrance down to the crypts of the first dungeon level and led the party to it, and everyone elected to use it. About half way down is a wider space in which are sometimes insectile horrors; this time, the party found a number of large egg sacs which they decided to destroy before passing on down to the dungeon.
In the dungeon crypts, the party emerged about twenty feet from the secret shadow shrine. Given how close they were, that meant that Kord wanted to go in and get Gram's body, left their from another session. So the half-orc went in without any light (light inside creates animated shadows); meanwhile, Blackleaf heard a goblin voice stage-whisper "Oh, shit!" from the darkness just to the north, and heard two pair of goblin-feet padding quickly away through the dungeon.
The party gave chase, and with a lit lantern managed to shoot the two goblins down before they got far so that they could not warn their comrades elsewhere.
From this point, the party explored a number of tombs in the largely unmapped western portion of the dungeons. They fought a number of pallid, hungry undead humanoids which were easily turned by Kord and Ham with prayers to their god; and also a number of tentacled insectile horrors, some of which managed to paralyze Ham, Little Bob, and one of the dogs for a number of turns before the horrors themselves were killed.
In one tomb, the party discovered a sarcophagus that was cold to the touch. Koko the ape drank a potion that she felt made her invincible, and found within a colony of brown mold that was so cold that her breath came out as a mist and her fingers cramped up. In the midst of the colony was laid a sword ... ignoring the damage she was taking, Koko took out the sword ... at the party's behest, she laid it in the middle of the room, covered it with oil, and set it on fire. The mold on the sword immediately doubled in size and the room got noticeably colder! Koko was badly injured by the extreme cold, and so she wrapped the sword up with rags and then she and the party abandoned the room to the mold ...
Exploring further, the party found a couple means of ingress to a separate dungeon level to the west, one through a secret door, the other through a goblin barricade. These goblins Blackleaf magically slept, and the party took them prisoner. Then, using "truth potions" (the party's label for them ... sure they're labeled as such, but I don't remember ever handing such out ... I ruled that the potion got the goblin drunk and then he blurted out a kind of truth), the party learned from one of the goblins that there is a secret door with treasure behind it in the main goblin barracks on the first dungeon level.
Using this info, the party traced their steps back to the main goblin room on their map. Barging in, they found a number of goblins and wolves; Koko used her ring of control animal to force the wolves to attack the goblins, and meanwhile the party lit into the poor goblins with a vengeance. Once the room was secure, they did indeed find a secret door on the south wall, behind which was hidden a violent shrine to a goblin deity and vengeance against the Elves--on three decapitated Elf heads on the altar shone three circlets of silver and gold.
Collecting their loot, the party then made their way back to the surface. They avoided the stairs (a party of goblins was waiting there, ready to ambush them, but Blackleaf checked ahead without light and saw them) and left by the tunnel instead.
All in all, a simple session, but a good one. A good introduction for July and her player, I hope!
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghost hound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
22 March's roster:
July (half-Elf 1)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 3)
Little Bob (travelling man 5)
"LET IT BE KNOWN ... THE WORSHIP OF KORD IS HEREBY OUTLAWED ON PAIN OF DEATH ..." read the placards that are nailed up throughout town this week.
"AND MOREOVER, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT BABY-FACE, LEAD, AND THEIR ASSOCIATES ARE HEREBY NAMED WOLVES AND MAY BE HUNTED TO THE DEATH THROUGHOUT THIS REALM.
"~MORHOLT, LORD OF OAKRIDGE CASTLE AND THE VILLAGES BRAKERIDGE AND KALLIA"
Last session, the party entered into Oakridge Castle by stealth and while one half rescued the Lady Sonora (whom Morholt had been holding hostage with the intent to force her to marry him using a love potion), the other half slew a number of his men-at-arms in their sleep. Unfortunately, one half of the party started off with a less successful gambit, attempting to gain entrance at the gate by claiming to be clerics of the god Kord, and thus announcing themselves as probably the perpetrators ...
Fortunately for everyone, the news that Sonora was rescued spread quickly through town. The villagers hate Morholt and love Sonora as they remember her late husband, the legitimate lord of the area whose power was usurped by Morholt after a suspicious hunting accident; so given the news that their lady was freed, the villagers sent word around to get Kord, Blackleaf, and the others out of town before Morholt's men-at-arms could come hunt them down.
So, out of town but nearby, the characters considered overthrowing Morholt once and for all and restoring Sonora to her ladyship ... but Blackleaf preferred to wait until they had a fuller party. And, moreover, the young half-Elf adventuress July showed up, newly arrived and ready to go adventuring, and it seemed more prudent to show her the adventuring ropes in a dungeon, rather than start off with a castle raid.
Thus, the party elected to return to the Howling Tower, there to explore and see what they might learn about the Star Things, while Kord expressed a desire to collect the body of Gram from the secret shadow-shrine.
Three days to the Tower ... wilderness attrition resulted in lost daggers and a lost shield, so I presume they were minor animal encounters. The Tower stands atop a ridge running down from the southwest spur of the Greyhame Mountain, just above the treeline so that it stands like a lone nail above the valleys on either side. In front of it stand two pyres filled with the bodies of goblins.
Kord remembered the secret tunnel entrance down to the crypts of the first dungeon level and led the party to it, and everyone elected to use it. About half way down is a wider space in which are sometimes insectile horrors; this time, the party found a number of large egg sacs which they decided to destroy before passing on down to the dungeon.
In the dungeon crypts, the party emerged about twenty feet from the secret shadow shrine. Given how close they were, that meant that Kord wanted to go in and get Gram's body, left their from another session. So the half-orc went in without any light (light inside creates animated shadows); meanwhile, Blackleaf heard a goblin voice stage-whisper "Oh, shit!" from the darkness just to the north, and heard two pair of goblin-feet padding quickly away through the dungeon.
The party gave chase, and with a lit lantern managed to shoot the two goblins down before they got far so that they could not warn their comrades elsewhere.
From this point, the party explored a number of tombs in the largely unmapped western portion of the dungeons. They fought a number of pallid, hungry undead humanoids which were easily turned by Kord and Ham with prayers to their god; and also a number of tentacled insectile horrors, some of which managed to paralyze Ham, Little Bob, and one of the dogs for a number of turns before the horrors themselves were killed.
In one tomb, the party discovered a sarcophagus that was cold to the touch. Koko the ape drank a potion that she felt made her invincible, and found within a colony of brown mold that was so cold that her breath came out as a mist and her fingers cramped up. In the midst of the colony was laid a sword ... ignoring the damage she was taking, Koko took out the sword ... at the party's behest, she laid it in the middle of the room, covered it with oil, and set it on fire. The mold on the sword immediately doubled in size and the room got noticeably colder! Koko was badly injured by the extreme cold, and so she wrapped the sword up with rags and then she and the party abandoned the room to the mold ...
Exploring further, the party found a couple means of ingress to a separate dungeon level to the west, one through a secret door, the other through a goblin barricade. These goblins Blackleaf magically slept, and the party took them prisoner. Then, using "truth potions" (the party's label for them ... sure they're labeled as such, but I don't remember ever handing such out ... I ruled that the potion got the goblin drunk and then he blurted out a kind of truth), the party learned from one of the goblins that there is a secret door with treasure behind it in the main goblin barracks on the first dungeon level.
Using this info, the party traced their steps back to the main goblin room on their map. Barging in, they found a number of goblins and wolves; Koko used her ring of control animal to force the wolves to attack the goblins, and meanwhile the party lit into the poor goblins with a vengeance. Once the room was secure, they did indeed find a secret door on the south wall, behind which was hidden a violent shrine to a goblin deity and vengeance against the Elves--on three decapitated Elf heads on the altar shone three circlets of silver and gold.
Collecting their loot, the party then made their way back to the surface. They avoided the stairs (a party of goblins was waiting there, ready to ambush them, but Blackleaf checked ahead without light and saw them) and left by the tunnel instead.
All in all, a simple session, but a good one. A good introduction for July and her player, I hope!
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Remembrance for the Fallen:
Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghost hound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
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