Greyhame Game Expeditions 89 and 90

Expedition 89, 2 April's Roster:
Torrack, Gunther, and Thor (ogres)
Coball and Iliana (clerics)
Leafit (Elf)


Torrack is of such a level as to seize a cave or cavern system for himself and gather a band of ogres under him. His announced intent is to attempt to educate such a band of ogres and introduce them to civilization.

To that end, he gathered a group of comrades at the Waldburg, Kord's castle just east of Brakeridge, and the party set out toward the mountains to the east, hoping to find a cave. They didn't ask around about rumors or attempt to hire any guides, but just struck out into the wilderness, hoping to blindly stumble into success.

Well, some kind of disaster struck them down. A day after their departure, Iliana returned from the wilderness to Kord's castle, chattering about "tentacles from the dark" and "the stones themselves! The stones themselves had teeth! Everyone dead ..."

Guided by her, Ham and a larger party discovered a double-cavern entrance at the south end of a cliff-face set under and between the Whitecrown and Greyhame mountains. From within, they recovered the bodies of Torrack and his party, all badly mangled and partially digested. Over the next few days, with difficulty, Ham was able to raise from the dead all but Thor, whose body was just too far gone.


------


Expedition 90, 4 April's Roster:
Clark (paladin)
Mizer and Blackleaf (magic-users)
Koko (woman-ape)
Lucky Bob (travelling man)
Tiwo (thief)
Rolf Rolfson, Thorgil, Clothis (clerics)


Following up on two previous expeditions into the Howling Tower to discover what happened to Okok the Ape-King and to help him drive out the Getae holding the tower, the adventurers gathered in Brakeridge with the intent to delve into the Howling Tower Dungeon once more. On the 86th expedition, a number of slaves were delivered from the Tower, saved from servitude under the Getae; these slaves were able to offer a small bit of intelligence concerning the Getae, namely that the chief of the Getae, one Tamoric, was gifted by the Red King of the Getae with a huge red ruby that glitters of its own light, and which was set into the base of a huge axe; after this, according to the slaves, it seemed that certain vile sacrifices became more common.

Knowing that werewolves abound in the area, they bought up a bunch of wolfsbane (and noted that wolfsbane has become common in town, hung up over lintels and nailed to doors), Koko groused about not having armor and ordered a suit especially made for her ape frame from a local armorer, and then they set out.

Wolves howl in the wilderness; strange howling emanates once more from the Tower; the party gathered on the hillside by the secret insect-hole that leads into the Tower dungeons and sent Rolf in first. On the way in, they discovered a renewed number of large egg cases in the larger cavern outside the dungeon proper, and elected to smash them all before continuing.

Emerging once more into the crypts under the tower, the adventurers quickly made their way north to the door where they'd encountered large numbers of goblins before; listening in, they seemed to hear another such group of goblins and wolves. They briefly debated whether to clear them out again, but decided to move on.

At the next door down the corridor to the west, the party listened again, and heard ritual chanting and muted whining and howling. This seemed more interesting than mere goblins; because there were two doors into the chamber, the group decided to split up with Clark, Mizer, and Tiwo taking the south door, and everyone else at the northwest door.

The plan was that Clark should open the south door, distract those inside, and then while whoever or whatever was inside was distracted, the others would burst in from the west. This went down generally as intended--Clark opened the door and stumbled in, and found a little more than he bargained for.

A barbarian chief with a silver circlet at his head and a huge axe slung over his shoulder (giant ruby sparkling at its pommel) knelt before a statue of an Elf queen, a tripod smoking with incense at his side. Attending him were eight well-armed barbarian huskarls, a pack of wolves with intelligence gleaming in their yellow eyes and a horrible beast, its body like a hulking baboon, its head like a great shaggy wolf, and from its shoulders sprouting six swaying serpent heads.

The barbarian stood and turned to Clark and suggested that the paladin step in and disarm himself. Clark refused, denying the magic, but he did step in with his sword raised. "I challenge you, one on one," Clark declared confidently, and the barbarian chief smirked in reply. "Let us to the holmgang, then," the barbarian replied, and his huskarls drove daggers into the floor in an arena square. Hefting his axe, the chief stepped in, and Clark stepped in with his sword ... and the two set about to ineffectually swinging their weapons around as both player and referee rolled nothing but 3s and 5s for several rounds.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided they wanted in on the action, so in the door was kicked. Blackleaf bathed everyone in the room with a fireball, which both the chief and Clark shrugged off, but which knocked out some of the wolves. A web spell aimed at the eight huskarls by Mizer was fizzled by an axe thrown back at him; Koko charged in, sword flaming, and directly engaged the horrible baboon-snake demon, while Thorgil and Clothis closed with the wolves, and Lucky Bob, Rolf, and Tiwo stood back shooting crossbow bolts.

Koko's melee went poorly; though she snicked off a couple snake heads, the others got numerous bites in against her, and she felt fiery venom coursing through her veins, seizing her muscles. Blackleaf followed Mizer's web with one of her own, this one actually covering the barbarians and preventing them from joining the fray. Mizer covered himself with mirror images. Clark and the barbarian traded misses; Clothis and Thorgil knocked out some wolves.

Seeing this fight turning against him, the barbarian chief changed; his skin flushed bright blood red, from his shoulder sprouted a serpent's head, and from his mouth burst forth a full wolf's head. ... But even with all three attacks he still managed to miss Clark. Koko drank a potion of antivenin, and succeeded her second save with a natural 20, ending the threat of poison, while the rest of the party mopped up the chief's allies.

At this juncture, the chief attempted to escape invisibly, but Blackleaf had a wand of enemy detection which briefly set his outline alight before Thorgil dispelled all magic in the room with a dispel magic scroll. The chief was discovered in the corner, while the barbarians all were released from their webs.

Half the party crowded around the chief while the others meleed the barbarians. Surrounded, the chief sent forth a stroke of magical lightning which laid Blackleaf low and cooked Thorgil and Clothis without killing them. After another round, the chief again turned invisible, and the northwest door opened and closed.

Clark, Thorgil, and Clothis ducked out the door after the chief while the others dealt with the huskarls. Another stroke of lightning blasted through the corridor, but the adventurers had healed themselves enough with potions and lay on hands that they survived. Despite his regenerative abilities, the chief was at low hp at this point, and three characters whaling on him (including a critical hit, I believe) laid him low. But not dead--his body continued to regenerate even as he lay unconscious, an axe blade buried in his head.

The thing that finally ended his weird life was to divest him of everything on his person, including a fair number of gems, the silver circlet, and the axe. As the party was fairly well beaten up, they elected to gather the chief's body and possessions, and then return to the surface and the safety of town, to return to drive out the Getae another day.

Back in town, the axe was discovered to be magical (of course), and was proffered to Axxxl the Mask, local sage, to be identified. It is an axe +3, dancing, but Axxxl mentioned that there was something abominably evil about it and offered to pay 40k in gold to take it off their hands, not trusting it with them ... but they refused, and Clark won the argument to keep it.

So the chief of the Getae of Tower lies dead, his body in the hands of the adventurers ... but the Getae remain in their fastness, and Okok the Ape-King remains in the dungeons below ...

Greyhame Game Expedition 88

Following up on their re-explorations of the Howling Tower dungeons during expedition 86, the party attempts to clear goblins, wolves, and werewolves from the first level, discovers a mysterious stair down, and on the second level of the dungeon, claimed the treasure previously barred to them on the belly of the black dragon statue ...


28 March's roster:
Koko (woman-ape)
Clark (would-be paladin)
Lucky-Bob (travelling man)
Blackleaf, Merlin, and Mizer (magic-users)
Coball, Thaddeus, and Rolf Rolfson (clerics)
and Tiwo (Getae thief)


Before setting out once more for the dungeon-complex under the Greyhame Mountain, some rumor-mongering: First, the party hears about the appearance in town of Drang the goblin, his Elfin associate Stormy, and their entourage of ogre-servants. These individuals have taken up semi-permanent rooms at the Black Dragon's Mede, a local inn-and-tavern, and seem to be in the business of offering adventure hooks ... except that at this moment, another group of adventurers had earlier snapped up the hook and were off gallivanting in seek of it. Perhaps next week something will be available ...

Second, also currently at the Mede is one Xanthos, master-thief extraordinaire, magic-user unparalleled, and leader of the Cult of the Black Dragon. This Xanthos is a long-time dungeon-companion of Clark from of old, and the party agrees to pay him 1000 gp for information about the statue discovered in the dungeon last time, at a hint from Clark ... and lo, the dark-cloaked, dragonfire-scarred fellow explains, "That is an image of Anglamorath the Black, the Dragon of Night; she is the dark between the stars, and when the Rainbow bridge is thrown down, her wings will overshadow the world, and she will come again in power and glory and her enemies will fall before her, and her worshipers will glory in her vengeance. So--who wants to join the Cult?"

Tiwo agreed to offer allegiance to Anglamorath, and in return, Xanthos taught him certain secret words and countersigns that would allow him to retrieve the treasure from the statue.

Lastly, rumors run through town of a "lost" expedition in the west, in which the half-Elf Cairn died of strange light, the ogre Torg met an unpleasant end digested in the belly of a monster, while their comrade JH barely escaped from the dungeon, bearing the body of Tarn, who had succumbed and drowned from the kiss of a nymph.

To the dungeon!

Descending into the Howling Tower dungeon by the secret insect-tunnels, Clark was leading, and he ran into three insectile horrors gathered in the central part of the tunnels--two of the horrors caught in the midst of copulating while the third waited on the side. In the short melee that followed, Clark was paralyzed by the poisonous tentacles of one, but the horrors were swiftly dispatched by a pile-on of dogs and spear-wielding Mizer (who learned the use of the spear through certain ancient rituals taught him while apprenticed to an ancient and powerful magic-user).

The party then dragged Clark into the dungeon and debated whether to carry him along or wait for him to be freed of the rigor of paralysis. Fortunately, the effect wore off even while they argued, and the expedition was able to continue in good time.

Guided to the door wherein they were surprised by a large group of goblins and wolves on a former expedition (#85, I'm not writing it now, sorry), the party argued as to whether to split up for a pincer-attack or not. Lucky Bob and co. argued "not" and as the rest of the party acquiesced, they turned to burst in the door to surprise whatever lay beyond.

Behind the door lay a large chamber, filled with goblins, wolves, goblin-detritus, and a few low fires for rat-cooking. Blackleaf and Merlin each got off a spell of sleep before the goblins could do anything, knocking out almost all of the goblins and even a few wolves. What followed was a chaotic melee as Clark, Koko and Thaddeus advanced to attack with swords and maces. The few remaining goblins attempted to get off their own magic, but while two managed to magically douse the party's torches, the other two were struck and had their spells fizzled.

The wolves then joined the melee, and it soon became evident that they were not mere wolves. But the party was well-equipped with magic and silver weapons and had no trouble dealing damage to the werewolves, though the creatures were not easily dispatched because of high hp rolls. Midway through the combat, the remaining goblin-leaders broke and fled, earning opprobrium from their wolfish companions, but the party allowed them to flee. Several rounds later, the final werewolf (of five) dropped its head and in Common growled, "Spare me! Mercy!"

Mercy was granted by the predominantly Good party; pumping their new captive for information, they learned his name, Vitrig, learned that the goblins and wolves still largely dominate this first dungeon level, and rediscovered the wolf-and-goblin altar in a secret room, covered anew with offerings of silver and gems. Tying Vitrig up, the party continued on their way to explore more of the first dungeon level.

Exploring the eastern boundaries, the party opened several empty tombs, and then finally a chamber seemingly guarded by two silver statues in the form of Elfin maiden-warriors. There were further doors leading from the chamber, but when the statues uttered a hollow challenge in Chaotic--one dissimilar to the countersigns taught to Tiwo by Xanthos--the party elected to withdraw rather than risk fighting golems.

Continuing exploration, the party entered a large hall with several pillars, and surprised about a dozen bizarre creatures clustered around one of the pillars ... Another sleep spell dropped a few of the creatures, but that led to battle as they turned to deal with the intruding adventurers. And so the party came face to face with strange things, goblin in shape, but with four long gangling arms from either shoulder, two vestigial arms from their chests, plates of black exoskeleton covering parts of their bodies, and two huge black multi-faceted eyes staring out from over mouths drooling and gaping around large fanged mandibles--spider-goblin-things!

Because of a good initiative roll and use of a web spell to immobilize half of the creatures remaining awake, and then a fireball spell that wiped out the webbed and sleeping creatures, the encounter passed quickly with the party triumphing. It was discovered that the creatures were, with their own webs, tying up the deceased body of an Elf-woman to the central pillar, whom Lucky Bob elected to take up and carry out of the dungeon to be raised from the dead.

About to turn back and return to town, the party was recalled to the lure of treasure by Blackleaf and Koko--to come all this way and forget about the treasure-laden dragon statue? Goaded on by this reminder, the party quickly found their way to the stair down to the second level. There, an encounter with wolves was avoided, and then the party found themselves in the great gallery before the shining black statue of Anglamorath.

Tiwo gave the countersigns and demanded in Chaotic that the dragon relinquish her treasure; then going up, he attempted to prize off the gems on the belly ... and nothing happened. Working quickly, and with the help of the Chaotic followers of Kord, Thaddeus, Coball, and Merlin, the party managed to prize off some two dozen gems and thousands of gold and silver coins. Fortunately, they had brought enough sacks into the dungeon in which to stuff all this treasure, and so they were able to haul all of it out, fireballing another small pack of wolves on their quick-march back to the surface.

Returning to town, only Clark and Mizer elected to carouse, and thus is word of their deeds and rewards spread throughout town.

Greyhame Game Expedition 87

A real-world two-part expedition, but interrupted in-game only by a pause in media res back at the camp outside the dungeon ...

The roster for 25 and 29 March:

Sten (halfling)

with Henry (magic-user), Tal (thief), and Foz (free goblin)

Nigel (16 year old boy-wonder magic-user)

Shoopie (dwarf)

with Zanatos (cleric)

Clark (paladin)

Tomu (dwarf) and Erbin (fighter)

and a small army of hirelings and dogs

At the Black Dragon's Meed Inn & Tavern back in town, a strange party arrives: a goblin, obviously the leader, introduced himself as Drang, his female Elf companion as Stormy, and the chief of his five-ogre entourage as Barduk; the four ogre-servants carried for their goblin-master a chest, obviously heavy, from which Drang counted out several thousand gold for a year's stay at the inn.

He then turned to the adventurers gathered in the tavern common room--Henry and Sten were holding a reunion of old friends with Nigel, Shoopie, and Zanatos--and the goblin Drang offered a further "obscene amount" of gold if these obvious ne'er-do-wells and adventurers would seek out a zone for him, lost of old under the Greyhame Mountain. A treasure map was offered--actually a letter and an account from the chronicles of the Brondings, which together suggested the location of the lost item--and a precise amount was agreed upon.

Thus offered compensation, the party acquired what they needed in town, and then set out for the Greyhame Mountain. Their clues led them into the Glimmervaults, those ancient caverns whose ceilings glimmer in the dark as if with the night's stars. Certain among the party had adventured in the 'Vaults previously (some so long ago as to have been in a previous incarnation of the dungeon, in a previous campaign!). Armed with their own map, they oriented themselves and then struck out into unexplored areas.

The caverns extended for a good way to the south and east; in a certain portion, the cave ceiling seemed to vanish into the night sky, though under constellations strangely distorted; and further on was discovered a great lake of dark waters glittering under stars. Another cave was found filled with a herd of giant pallid cave-locusts, while in one section stone doors were held closed by great iron bars warning with inscriptions of "the pollution of death is barred inside these halls."

While standing on the shore of the dark lake, the party was attacked by huge whited salamanders that swarmed out of the waters like slimy crocodiles; two of the dogs were slain here, but the foul creatures were driven back into the waters by a liberal application of flaming lamp oil. It was about this time that the party elected to return to their camp outside, uncertain of their prospects further in the dungeon without a little extra muscle.

The extra muscle came in the form of Clark, Tomu, and Erbin, whose players joined us on the 29th; and with their reinforcement, the party returned into the darkness.

Under a starry sky, the party discovered a secret cache of treasure in a stone tree; but were surprised from behind by a group of about a dozen corpses shambling toward them, corpses covered in growths of wispy grey mold, whitecap mushrooms, and other fungal growths. These did not turn away from Zanatos' holy symbol and prayers, but Clark was able to cause them to fight each other by the use of his ring of fungus control. But while the party argued as to what to do with the discovered treasure, they were interrupted again from behind by the snuffling and crunching of cave bears enjoying the surprise feast of fungal zombies.

----

"Yeah, we fucking killed those bears!" Nigel interjects into the midst of this accounting by the carousing characters.

"With the help of my ring of animal control," Shoopie adds; "But you should slow down on that beer, boy."

"Who are you calling boy? I'm a man! I'm sixteen--that's the age of majority!"

"Until you can grow one of these," Shoopie replies, tugging at his beard, "I'm afraid you're no man."

----

Continuing the account, the party found themselves in a cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites; fortunately, Clark happened to look behind and witness one of the stalagmites shuffling and shifting just a little closer to the party. Alerting his fellows, he then advanced to investigate, followed cautiously by Sten ... and stepping within range, Clark found himself suddenly faced with an explosion of whipping tendrils from the weird stalagmite. Several latched onto him with glue-like secretions and then Clark found himself being dragged onward into the darkness and the suddenly revealed maw of stony teeth gaping from the stalagmite's side.

So began a desperate battle in the dark; as the party moved to Clark's aid, they found themselves accosted by two others of the stalagmite-horrors, the tendrils of which dragged a number of characters into the threat of crunching maws. Tomu and Erbin were two such caught, while Shoopie and Sten also found themselves struggling against the in-reeling tendrils. Each round in the grip of the tendrils while in melee range, the monsters were able to crush their victims in their jaws, and Erbin faced the swift death of his hireling, and then his own terrible death. Arakh the orc, Nigel's companion from adventure of old, also found death here, and Clark himself was brought low by too many rounds in the stony grip of his foe.

Nigel cast a lightning bolt spell to no effect, but Henry's fireball softened up two of the creatures, while Zanatos' cure spells helped bolster Clark long enough to heal himself further by laying hands on himself. Once the first of the three creatures was slain, though, its body oozing a foul yellow ichor, the party was able to combine efforts, and their various magical strength and swords were able to cut down the last two stony pillars of death.

At this point, much thought was given as to whether to retreat, but the call of sweet lucre proved irresistible, and the party moved deeper into the dungeon. Discovering halls of worked stone, decorated with imagery of Elves dancing under stars and trees of oak and firs, the party entered cautiously and discovered a number of fallen bodies, apparently killed of old by their own hands. These proved, as suspected, to be undead, which arose and drew swords of shadow from the empty scabbards at their sides.

And the danger of encounters with the undead was remembered here under pillars like stone trees, as Nigel and Zanatos both suffered the loss of life energy when struck by the cold shadowed swords. But the undead horrors were finally destroyed ...

----

At this point, the account is interrupted again as the carousing characters break into old reminiscences. "Yeah, seems like we might have to make another trip to Rix's dungeon, to bathe in the healing waters there," Shoopie declares.

"Rix!" Nigel says. "I still haven't forgiven you all for murdering Rix!"

"Forgiven us for that--what about all the other stuff we've done to you?" Sten pipes up from behind the bar. He has to stand on a barstool to see over the top, while he continuously pours his best stock of wine for himself and proceeds to guzzle it down. "Like when Xanthos paid for your 'lovely' wife to be raised from the dead?"

"Yeah, or when we sold you off to the Goblin King for a night?" Shoopie adds. Grinning evilly from behind his beard, he reaches out making a pinching motion with his fingers. "Beautiful boy!" he adds in a nasally imitation of the Goblin King's crooning.

"I will rip your head off and shit in the hole if you say that again," Nigel responds, totally dead pan, getting his fingers ready to cast fireball.

----

Anyway, hauling out all the treasure they'd acquired from halls of the dead, the party found themselves obstructed by the appearance of a gang of creatures, black-skinned, gangly-armed, and with greasy white hair. With hooked noses sniffing, they shuffled out of the darkness, ready to rend with outstretched claws.

A short round of combat established for certain the nature of these creatures, as the wounds cut by the adventurers' swords rapidly began to heal. Only Shoopie's sword versus regenerating creatures and Sten's flaming sword caused lasting wounds. But the punishment dished out by the party proved too much for the trolls, lasting or not; and in the end only one of the creatures escaped into the darkness, leaving its fellows on the cavern floor, covered in oil and set fire until burned to death by the characters.

So ended this expedition into the Glimmervaults--wildly successful if the amount of booze bought and drunk on the night of their return is any indication; and yet Drang remains at the inn, not entirely satisfied with the outcome of the expedition ...

Greyhame Game Expedition 86

It's been a long time since I posted regarding this game (Expedition 30, the killing of the Goblin King, was the last time). Actually, it's been since October last year that I've posted at all, but we're finally playing the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon itself again, so I feel the impetus ...

So ...

------

Much has happened in the time since the killing and capturing of the Goblin King. An entire year has passed, and another half a year beyond that. Many of the adventurers from the original expeditions have moved on or retired, but others are still in the thick of it, risking much for sweet, sweet lucre.

Kord the Half-Orc has captured the castle of Waldburg to the east of the original hometown of Brakeridge; Lailith the Matriarch has taken the castle of Drachenturm from a nest of wyverns and had it repaired.

The Goblin King was turned over to the Elves for a large weregild, and he has presumably been tortured and crucified, as the Elves swore they would do. The Lord of Werewolves has allied himself with Viteric, Red King of the Getae barbarians, and together they make war on the Elves. An undead dragon and its hoard were discovered in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower. Another dungeon-complex entire was explored in the hills to the northwest, and the cult of Skotia, goddess of darkness and death, was driven out, while the shrines and burial halls of Law and Good within were restored.

New adventurers have arrived to join in on the exploration of the deeps seeking gold, power, and glory, and at long last, expeditions have returned to the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon, led by Koko the Woman-Ape, who sought Okok the Ape-Chief somewhere in the Howling Tower ...

------

the roster for 21 March:
Koko (woman-ape)
Torrack and Torg (ogres)
Mizer and Blackleaf (magic-users, Blackleaf formerly an Elf)
Alan and Rolf Rolfson (clerics, Rolf a Getae tribesman)
Lucky Bob (traveling man)
and four hirelings
and five dogs


During last week's session, Koko, Blackleaf, and others discovered that the Howling Tower was howling again--wolves have gathered in large numbers in the wilderness around it, as well as some eerie, eldritch howling from within--and more surprisingly, the tower had been surrounded by a stockade of wooden palisades and longhouses populated by a tribe of Getae barbarians and their wolf and goblin allies. Not much was discovered during this expedition, but a number of slaves were freed from within the tower's dungeon, and they were able to relate that Okok and the other apes were driven down from the tower into the depths of the dungeon.

With that intelligence, the goal of this week's expedition was to delve into the depths and discover just where Okok had ended up. Koko took the lead, taking the company of adventurers to the secret entrance on the side of the ridge that pierces directly into the tower dungeon without need to enter the tower itself (which remains fortified behind the barbarians' stockade). This secret entrance once housed terrible insectile horrors, but for now retains only their large, empty egg sacs.

Emerging from the tunnel into the dungeon, Koko and Alan pored over the maps from previous expeditions and agreed on the fastest route through the first dungeon level to the stair down to the second. To that end, they skirted around the perimeter of the level and avoided any encounters with goblins or wolves (which still inhabit the dungeon in large numbers).

Coming down to the second level, Alan pointed out that perhaps one of his dogs could scent out Okok and his apes. Having the dog sniff Koko, and then letting it sniff around in the corridors of the second level, the dog soon scented something and pointed the party through several corridors, south, and then west. They passed through the room with the star well, which seems open to the night sky itself, and then headed west through some chambers not previously explored.

The main chamber thus explored was a huge gallery with a glittering black statue of a dragon in the center of the hall, marked ANGLAMORATH in the Elvish script. The belly of this serpentine idol was studded with gems, gold, and other coinage. But as Alan reached out, hoping to pry off a gem, he recoiled in pain, and then looked in horror on the gaping mouth of the idol, from which a huge and terrible serpent of blackest hue was slithering its way out.

Alan attempted to turn the giant snake into a log with snakes to sticks, but it had no effect; neither did Koko's ring of animal control. Then the serpent was free to attack, and it chomped down hard on Alan, nearly killing him.

A short, hard battle ensued. Mizer and Blackleaf threw a number of magic missiles at the creature, while the ogres and their dogs joined Alan and his hirelings in melee. But the next round, the creature breathed forth a cloud of acrid, toxic vapors, and Alan and his hirelings fell dead in the midst. Blackleaf attempted to dimension door the creature away and over the star well down the corridor, but the creature made its save; then Mizer cast web over it, and the serpent was slain as it thrashed about trying to break through.

The creature's body melted into foul black ichor and roiling billows of acrid smoke; but alas, even with the guardian destroyed, the magic in the statue prevented anyone from seizing its treasure without taking damage.

Returning to their purpose, the party looked to their tracking hound. It pointed west; after a short series of corridors, and a room with a stair down to the next level, the party found itself in a series of natural caverns with formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and listening carefully, they could hear dimly the sound of a feminine voice raised in song to the south, and too, the huffing of apes.

At the end of these passages, the party found a large chamber, half-filled with a pool of crystalline water fed by a deep stream that cut between the corridor and the chamber. In the midst of the pool, perched on a rounded off stalagmite, a naked and beautiful naiad sang sweetly for an audience of six apes, one among them the great silverback Okok, chief of the apes.

Koko immediately moved forward to join Okok--they were previously on friendly terms, after an expedition long ago, when the party had granted Okok the red flower of fire in return for friendship and/or treasure. Plucking each other's fur for lice, they exchanged pleasantries; Okok boasted of his warrior apes, despite having been driven out of the tower by the Getae, and Koko offered the chance to make an alliance and drive the Getae out of the tower from below. Okok was quite happy to agree to this.

Meanwhile, the naiad was making eyes at the party, but she couldn't stop singing to talk without the other apes getting riled up. It seemed the apes were enjoying a feast of raw giant crawfish, fished out of the cave pool, while listening to the wonderful singing of the nymph. After some abortive attempts to draw the apes away or cast a magical sleep over them, Torrack the ogre finally offered the cask of wine he was carrying (and another crawfish that the party had slept when attempting to get across the stream earlier), all to be a feast if only the apes would lead them to the next chamber over where more of their fellows were resting. This finally won the apes over, so they all moved on, allowing Blackleaf some time to speak with the naiad alone.

She called herself Niriel, and declared that she had been swept down into the dungeon by the swift flowing stream, but unable to return up to her sisters in the Brokenbrand Falls because of the strong current on the one hand, and the dungeon full of wolves and goblins on the other hand, and by the gods! would she be grateful if the adventurers would help her get out of the dungeon, and please, please, I don't want to sing for these dirty apes anymore.

The apes perked their ears at the sudden lack of singing, but Okok settled them--"Don't worry, friends, once we've feasted here, we'll go out and squeeze her again to get her singing again," and the apes went back to feasting.

So; Koko had found Okok and made alliance with him at last. It was agreed that Okok would remain in the dungeon, and that the adventurers would return soon to begin their joint operations against the Getae and their werewolves. Meanwhile, Niriel was wrapped up in a spare cloak to hide her nakedness, and bundled out of the dungeon, protected in the midst of the party as they made their way out on the double. Outside, she took her leave of them (and their cloak), promising to tell her sisters of the favor done her by them, with the implication of a favor owed by the naiads if ever it should be called in.

Back in Brakeridge, Alan, Mizer, and the ogres caroused, and their drunken boasting is of course the source of the intelligence spilled above.

DIY 30 #6: Star Elves

In the depths of space, strange things lurk, things alien and inscrutable to man. When the stars themselves were singing over the world, singing for their lost child, the players in my Greyhame Game came into contact with just a few of these bizarre entities; meanwhile the townsfolk of Brakeridge and its surround were threatened by the slavers of the Star Beasts, who descended in their black ships to carry men and women away to the stars.

But the Star Beasts in their black ships are not the only dwellers in the vast abysses. Shining in the depths, singing their eerie songs, sailing on the solar winds that blow ethereally across the void are luminous beings without body--the Star Elves. Not truly Elves, nevertheless of all terrestrial races they resemble Elves the most, and their language is rooted in the same starsong that sounded over the world when the Elves first stepped down under starlight.

One such of this race of star-beings walks the earth now, clad in flesh and accompanying the Greyhame characters. Ikasha is her name, and she looks like this (of course):

She was lured down from the solar winds by the ancient magic of the Lord of Werewolves, and given a body of flesh by the Goblin King, and then was held in the dungeons of the Greyhame Mountain as the Goblin King and Lord of Werewolves attempted to negotiate some kind of alliance with the star-things. But the stars and the other Star Elves were uninterested in anything terrestrial creatures might attempt to offer them; they only wanted their child back, and so the stars began to sing above the world, calling for her (but she couldn't return to them!) and slowly approaching the world ....

But the characters rescued her from the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower (I don't think I wrote a play report for that session). It turned out that Ikasha loved having the sensations of a corporeal body, and wanted to remain on the earth for a time. The characters had her communicate with the Star Elves on a Throne of Seeing in the dungeon, and the Star Elves agreed that so long as Ikasha was happy with her body and sensations, they would allow her to remain.

And so the doom of the world at the hands of the Star Elves and their fellow alien creatures was averted ...

------

Star Elves
AC 0 (or 9/as-armored when embodied)
HD 1-12 (per level, max level 12 like Elves)
THAC0 per level
damage: touch 1-6 cold fire + 1 radiation damage

irradiating presence -- revealed in their full luminosity, a Star Elf irradiates the area immediately around itself (in melee range), causing 1 radiation damage per round (metal armor is enough to shield against this radiation damage); undead are also affected by this radiation

turn undead -- per a cleric of a level equal to the Star Elf's hit dice

semi-ethereal -- not truly ethereal, Star Elves may pass through anything through which light may pass, e.g. a Star Elf could pass through glass, or through a chink in a door, but would not be able to pass through solid stone

cast spells as an Elf of the same level as their hit dice, though the magic of the Star Elves is alien and unknown to Earthly magic-users

save as Elves
240' ethereal movement, or as an Elf when clad in flesh or otherwise embodied
morale 9

Star Elves are luminous beings, literally shining bodies of coherent light. If they require a body for some reason, they have a kind of magic that allows them to form a body of stardust or nebular material which to inhabit; this body could resemble anything, but the Star Elves tend to prefer a slender Elfin form.

DIY 30 #5: Slaves of the Star Beasts

(This post was written several months ago concerning a development in my Greyhame Game in which Star Beasts were descending to terrorize the land; the trouble has since been dealt with, but I haven't written about my Greyhame Game here for a while because the number of games--two per week--got to be too many ... anyway, I'm posting it as DIY 30 to save a bit of time!)

My players ignored the descent of the Black Ships of the Star Monsters three times (session 30, 31, and 32 of the Greyhame Game, none of which really appear on this blog), other than to send hirelings off-screen to aid with the defense (and/or to die, killed by bizarre star-things). In a kind of Blackmoorian fit, they continued to delve into the dungeon, ignoring the crisis in the realm of men, and so a great number of the people of Brakeridge and its nearby towns have now been captured and carried away to the stars as slaves of inhuman monsters ... Well, such is player agency! I figured I'd post this, now that the Star Thing has generally been settled, and there's little chance of encountering them again for some time.

------

The Star Beasts are re-worked Moon Beasts from Pathfinder and from Matt Finch's Swords & Wizardry version of them in the Cyclopean Deeps and its sequel. Likewise their associates, the Denizens of Leng ...

They dwell as parasites on the vast Star-Things that carry the Star Elves here and there across the cosmos, following Solar Winds and Star Seeds, and whatever else may be "Out There". In the way that humans and cats dwell one by another, neither quite subduing the other, never quite communicating, yet nevertheless associated, so the Star Beasts and the Star Elves dwell ... and which is which in the terrestrial analogy??

Regardless, where the Star Elves are content to travel and Sing among the Stars, the Star Beasts descend and take slaves wherever they may, and sell them on the next terrestrial or jovian world, OR across dimensions in some other Place unknown to the ken of those not well versed in the secrets of the universe ...

These Star Beasts descend in Black Ships, preceded by a silvery mist, upon which their black shape may be seen against the starry night; then their slave-contingents and their crew of Beasts and Leng-Denizens descend to round up the next batch of slaves ...

---

Each Black Ship of the Star Beasts carries 1-3 contingents of slaves (d20 roll for each contingent):

1
18 P'wek, tripedal and three-armed creatures from a distant world. They each wield 2 spears with wickedly barbed blades (1-6 damage) and carry a shield; they advance with the shield in front and thrust over it with their spears.
AC 4 / HD 2+2 / THAC0 17 / MV 120' / ATK 1-6/1-6 / Save as Fighter 2 (SF2) / M 8

2
20 Tachii, reptillian creatures with finned heads and without tails. Once per day they can spit up to 10', and the target must save v. breath weapons or be blinded (-4 to attack, +4 to AC) for 1-3 rounds.
AC 6 / HD 1* / THAC0 19 / MV 180' / ATK 1-6 / S F1 / M 7

3
24 Klackons, insectoids with armored carapaces like plate armor and armed with spears. They need never check morale, as they are united in purpose by shared pheromones and consider any individual's life worth only what it offers to the greater good.
AC 3 / HD 1 / THAC0 19 / MV 120' / ATK 1-6 / S F1 / M 12
(source: Master of Orion and Master of Magic games)

4
24 Humans, from another world, pallid and miserable. They speak no known tongue. Four of them are armed with laser wands, which when directed against someone, force the target to save v. death rays or take 2-12 damage, half of which is radiation damage.
AC 7 / HD 1-6 hp / THAC0 20 / MV 120' / ATK 1-6 / S Normal Man / M 6 (8 with leader)

5
24 Sectoids, small humanoids with grey skin, bulbous heads, no nose, and large black eyes. They are armed with light crossbows (1-6 damage); 2 are psionic, and 1/day may mind control (as charm person) or cause panic (as cause fear), and may use ESP within 60' at will.
AC 8 / HD 1-1 / THAC0 20 / MV 120' / ATK 1-6 or psionics / S NM / M 6 (8 with leader)
(source: X-Com games)

6
18 Mutant Humans, taken from a Tomb World from across the stars. 6 have useful mutations (d12): (1) spit acid 20', 2-12 damage (save v. breath for half); (2) third arm, gain second attack; (3) acid blood, causes 1-3 damage to opponent when struck in melee; (4) immune to fire, even fireball-type sells; (5) poisonous bite, 1-3 damage and save v. poison or die in 1 turn; (6) horned skin, AC 5; (7) defensive vomit 1/day, all within melee save v. poison or at -2 to attack for the rest of the melee; (8) psionic, may use ESP 30' at will; (9) third eye, able to see invisible; (10) redundant organs, take only half damage from all attacks; (11) stinking sweat, all in melee save v. poison or nauseated and at -2 to hit and damage; (12) super-chameleonic skin, able to become invisible at will
AC 7 / HD 1 / THAC0 19 / MV 120' / ATK 1-6 / S F1 / M 8

7
8 Kzinti, ferocious bipedal cat-men with naked rat-tails, ears like naked bat-wings, and who only speak the Heroes' Tongue. Each is armed with a wtsai short sword with which he can deal 3-8 damage, in addition to a claw and a bite attack.
AC 6 / HD 3+3 / THAC0 16 / MV 210' / ATK 3-8(wtsai)/2-5(claw)/2-7(bite) / S F4 / M 10
(source: Larry Niven's Known Space stories)

8
24 Alkari, bird/pterasaur men from a low-gravity world. Because of their keen eyesight, they are at +2 to hit with their light crossbows (1-6 damage). They cannot fly in normal gravity.
AC 7 / HD 1-1 / THAC0 18 (ranged) / MV 180' / ATK 1-6 / S NM / M 8
(source: Master of Orion games)

9
12 Synths, synthetic humanoids that are immune to charm person, sleep, illusions, poison, or cold (and maybe some other effects, appropriate to androids). They strike with their fists, each dealing 1-6 damage.
AC 5 / HD 2+2 / THAC0 17 / MV 180' / ATK 1-6/1-6 / S F3 / M 10

10
18 Kuo-Toa, amphibious fish-men ancient enough to evolve in parallel on other worlds. They suffer a -1 "to hit" in direct sunlight, but due to their slippery skin, they are only grappled or affected by a web 25% of the time.
AC 4 / HD 2 / THAC0 18 / MV 90' / ATK 1-6 / S F2 / M 9

11
18 Slug Men, disgusting and slimy slugs with arms that leave trails of slime wherever they go. They have a decent armor class because of the secretions from their skin, and take only half damage from blunt or piercing weapons because of their rubbery make-up.
AC 5 / HD 2 / THAC0 18 / MV 90' / ATK 1-6 / S F2 / M 8

12
8 Green Men of Mars, genetically modified for normal gravity--so, 10' tall and with four arms. They disdain shields, but may fight with up to 4 weapons or 2 two-handed weapons (or 2 normal and 1 two-handed).
AC 7 / HD 3+3 / THAC0 16 / MV 120' / ATK (by weapon) 1-6/1-6/1-6/1-6 / S F3 / M 9
(source: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom stories)

13
18 Hlaka, grey-furred creatures with 2 leathery wings and 3 eyes on their flattish face. They have a tail with a poison sting (save v. poison or die in 1 turn), and may attack with it (2-in-6 chance) or their weapons (4-in-6).
AC 5 / HD 2 / THAC0 18 / MV 150'/fly 300' / ATK 1-6 or 1-4 plus poison / S F2 / M 6
(source: MAR Barker's Empire of the Petal Throne RPG; same for entries 14, 15, and 16)

14
12 Hlyss, vaguely insectoid creatures with 4 segmented legs, 2 arms, and a chitinous exoskeleton. They have a tail that stings (save v. paralysis or paralyzed for 1 turn). They may attack with both their weapon and sting in the same round.
AC 4 / HD 2 / THAC0 18 / MV 90' / ATK 1-6/paralysis / S F2 / M 9

15
18 Pe Choi, creatures vaguely like man-sized walking sticks with black chitin that provides an armor class like plate+shield. Their broad senses of hearing and vision (which extends beyond the spectrum humans can sense) allows them to see invisible within 200' with a 60% success rate. Furthermore, they are surprised only on a 1 in 10 chance because of their natural ESP.
AC 2 / HD 1+3* / THAC0 18 / MV 120' / ATK 1-6 / S MU2 / M 8

16
12 Shen, black-scaled, dragon-like humanoids with beak-like snouts and glittering crests along their skulls. Their tails have a knobbed, bony appendage with which they strike on a 2-in-6 chance, while they have a 4-in-6 chance of striking with their weapon.
AC 2 / HD 3 / THAC0 17 / MV 90' / ATK 1-6 weapon or 1-4 tail / S F3 / M 9

17
8 Mutons, buff humanoids skinned with green cybernetic and nano-reactive armor. Their muscles are similarly enhanced, and their organs are doubled in order to be redundant, and they take only half damage from any physical attack (even magic weapons). But for all that, they have no mind to themselves and are extra susceptible to mind-influencing effects, saving at -4 vs. charm person, suggestion, illusions, etc.
AC 3 / HD 4+1* / THAC0 15 / MV 210' / ATK 2-7 / S F5 / M 11
(X-Com)

18
12 Silicoids, creatures whose structure is silicon-based. They are essentially rock-men; their outer hides are tougher than plate armor, they are immune to poisons, and any type of fire-damage heals them for a number of hit points equal to the damage that would have been dealt (by a fireball, for instance). And yet, their silicon nature makes them slow so that they automatically lose initiative ...
AC 1 / HD 3+3 / THAC0 16 / MV 30' / ATK 1-8 / S Dwarf 5 / M 9
(Master of Orion games)

19
8 Tentaculats, otherworldly things which resemble nothing so much as brains with a single beak, held up by a fringe of a dozen tentacles. They float through the air rather than supporting themselves upright, and may attack with 4 tentacles, each of which forces a save against paralysis or the target is paralyzed 1-4 rounds, plus 1 bite attack for 1-8 damage.
AC 7 / HD 3 / THAC0 17 / MV 120' / ATK x4 paralysis/bite 1-8 / S MU3 / M 8
(X-Com 2: Terror from the Deep)

20
18 Taxxons, ever-hungry, sapient, centipede-beings. Their soft flesh is easy to cut, but their voracious mouths deal 1-4 damage and may bite twice, and if they strike with both bites, they may seize a character to deal 3-12 damage per round automatically until thrown off some how; moreover, given their hunger, their morale is almost unbreakable as they seek to devour the next creature (unless strongly commanded not to by their masters).
AC 8 / HD 2+2 / THAC0 17 / MV 180' / ATK 1-4/1-4 plus seize 3-12 / S F3 / M 11
(K. A. Applegate's Animorphs series)

They Killed the Goblin King! (Greyhame 30)

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.

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)

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.

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)

The Three Crowns

Kord, half-orc fighter/cleric of Kord the god of strength, was seeking a means of advancing beyond the limit of cleric level 4 set for half-orcs. His god sent him a dream-quest: find the Black Crown of the Getae and make yourself their priest-king, and I will reward you with greater power.

Seeking out the aid of Axxl the Mask, one of the local sages in the Greyhame Game (and paying him a fair amount of gold for the sage's work and time), Kord is told something of the lore of the Three Crowns ... The short of it is:

The White Crown is hid in the Mouth of the River ...
the Black Crown is held by the Old Man Under-Mountain ...
and the Red Crown was lost, but has been seen again, on the brow of Veiteric, chief among the Getae ...

------

When the Brondings came down out of the north to seize their kingdom from the Chaotic princes and barbarians who had squabbled since time immemorial, Brond was at their head, and on his brow there shone the White Crown of the Brondings.

Brond it was who fell in love with a naiad queen on the banks of the Coldwater River, and it was there, later, that he was ambushed by the Getae under the falls. Rather than surrender his sword, he broke it against a rock, and was slain there; but the naiads took the sword at their queen's behest, and reforged it in secret, and gave it to Brond's son, Gram, for vengeance. And so the Brokenbrand Falls had got their name.

Roland blowing his horn Olifant at the battle of Roncevaux after failing
to break his unbreakable sword Durendal; but it may as well be Brond,
having broken his sword ...

Then the Brondings warred against the Getae of the forest and their Elfin masters; and they drove back the Elves to the eastern reaches of the Dwimmerholt, and overmastered the tribes of the Getae.

Ever had the Getae been led by two kings, the War-King and Priest-King; now the Brondings renewed that custom, but they gave to the Getae two crowns, the Red Crown for the War-King, and the Black Crown for the Priest-King, and the two crowns of the Getae were bound by powerful oaths and ancient magic so that those who wore them were sworn forever to serve the wearer of the White Crown (the rightful king of the Brondings).

For a time, then, there was peace in the land; and several generations knew war only as they went to seek it in foreign realms, for gold or for glory. ... But Chaos has a way of worming into the hearts of men, and corrupting the Order they have built when they think their cherished kingdoms are secure ...

So it was that the last of the Brondings, Durand-King, fell for and wedded a serpent in the guise of a woman, and her influence poisoned the realm. The tribe of Galad, scions of a knight who had served loyally under Brond and who were led now by his great-great grandson Aldanus, denounced the queen as a serpent; but Durand refused to listen, and he named the sons of Galad wolves and traitors to be hunted down. Armies were raised; the tower of the Galad tribe was reduced and taken, and the tribe was hunted down and destroyed root and branch.

But of old, the Galad tribe had been the keepers of the Crowns of the Getae, situated as they were between the Bronding kingdom and the forest realms of the Getae; and so they had their revenge. The Black Crown they secreted deep in the caverns below the Glimmervaults, entrusted to an elusive earth-spirit known only as the Old Man Under-Mountain. And with the Red Crown, the last surviving nephew of Aldanus, one Aldaric, raised the tribes of the Getae in rebellion against Durand-King.

So a great battle was fought in the depths of the Dwimmerholt--Aldaric Galad, nephew of Aldanus, wore the Red Crown of War; but he was cut down in battle, and the Crown was lost in the confusion that ensued. ... And for a long time it was lost or thought destroyed; but there are rumors now that a certain chieftain of the Getae, Veiteric hight, wears a band of red gold upon his brow, and that his glance cows all who look on him, and that his word is law among the forest tribes ...

As for the White Crown, it was taken from Durand-King after his victory in the Dwimmerholt, taken by a council of his own knights. They had stood by their king when Aldanus Galad first denounced him, but after the extermination of that gallant tribe, they came around to see Durand-King as the tyrant and wolf that he was. So they ambushed him one day while he hunted, and took the White Crown from his brow, though they left him his life--to their demise in the end.

Still, the Crown they took to the naiads of the Brokenbrand Falls, to secret away as they would, until one worthy of the Bronding kingship should come again and claim it. Legends say that the naiads hid the White Crown in the Mouth of the River--though that makes little sense when the mouth of the Coldwater lies so many hundreds of leagues to the west, pouring into Ocean ...

So that is the tale of the Three Crowns, so far as it goes; it touches upon much of the history of the realms, but not all of the history is needed to understand their significance.

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)

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)