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)
Showing posts with label oakridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oakridge. Show all posts
Monday, May 7, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 27
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, enchanted by haunting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
5 April's roster:
June (cleric 1)
July (half-Elf magic-user 1)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Lead (cleric 4)
Blackleaf (Elf 4?)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
and sundry mercenary hirelings, though no dogs this go-around
In town, Aethelwulf bought a bee-stinger dagger from a passing merchant (from d12 oddments table).
Little Bob hired a merchant to go south to specifically find and bring him snake-killing weasels, spending 300 gold for the service; seeing this, Kord did the same, but spent 600 gold for the fellow to seek out orc mastiffs. The merchants won't return for another two sessions at least (one week travel there, one week back, at minimum).
The party then put their heads together ... and conspired to infiltrate Oakridge Castle to kill/kidnap Morholt, the usurper-lord who had taken power after the late lord Albrecht III died--and to boot, Morholt had taken the widow of Albrecht, Lady Sonora, prisoner and held her with the intent to force marriage upon her--until our heroes put an end to that plot by freeing her!
So, their plan was to repeat the success they had had with the last infiltration mission when they rescued Sonora, except that this time the entire party was going to climb the tower to penetrate the keep. From Sonora, they learned that Morholt's chambers were "down the hall from my prison, and on the right. You can't miss it."
Okay, so the party marched their way out of town and around to the northwest to the north side of the ridge on which the castle of Oakridge overlooks the village of Brakeridge to the south. They kept to the trees; and though the treeline had been cut back from the castle's walls, it turns out that spells like sleep and hold person have a range of 240 yards when outside of dungeons, which is pretty much like a lobbed longbow shot. So the 12 guards on the two turrets of the keep, 6 on the west turret, 6 on the east, were all well within range, even with the characters lurking in the trees.
So Blackleaf cast sleep over the west group, and all of the guards fell into a magical sleep. The guards on the east tower failed to notice; Blackleaf cast another sleep spell sent 4 into a magical sleep. As the last two guards stood by, trying to figure out what just happened, Kord cast a hold person spell at them and they failed their saves.
Koko then used her ape-ness to climb up the keep's walls and cast down ropes, and the party slaughtered all the sleeping and held guards, all without alerting any of the other guards on the other turrets. On the keep, a trap door opened down into the interior; the party dropped through and found themselves in an E-W corridor with a door pretty much in front of them (and down the hall to their left was the door into Sonora's former chambers).
Blackleaf used ESP through the door and detected a human thinking about his lordship and other more alien thoughts. This must be Morholt's room, the party said, but then dithered in the hallway long enough that a hear noise check for those inside the room succeeded. The door cracked open; a large spider peeked out and whispered to Koko, "Go up the ladder and shout."
Koko failed her save against spells and immediately turned to do what was said, but Ham cast a hold person spell on her, and she failed that save too, so she was paralyzed. The party then burst through the door! But the guy on the inside was ready, and initiative was rolled ...
So as Kord burst through the door, he was met by a sword swung by the thickly-muscled arm of a consummate fighting-man, broad-shouldered and narrow hipped, hair dark, face blackened with a fighting-grimace. At his feet were two serpents that also struck out at Kord and Aethelwulf.
Over the next couple rounds, Kord took several hard hits from the man's sword; meanwhile, Kord and Aethelwulf each took a bite from a serpent, and both failed their saves. Both took an antivenin passed forward from those in the back; Kord made his second save, but Aethelwulf failed his, and as the paladin's heart began to palpitate wildly and sweat break out over his pallid skin, he fell over dead the next round.
But then Lead threw a hold person spell at the warrior, and he failed his save, and became suddenly rigid and unable to act. The serpents were both quickly slain, and the party piled into the room.
Blackleaf's ESP established that this man was indeed Morholt. The party disarmed him, and tied him up (as well as they could with him being rigidly paralyzed). Then they heard a knock at the door: "M'lord, are you okay? We heard shouting ..."
"No, no, perfectly fine!" someone in the party shouted back gruffly. "It was nothing--just knocked a desk over!"
A high reaction roll and cowed servants led to the servants slinking away, back down the hallway, leaving the party to do what they might to loot the chambers. They found themselves in a kind of antechamber with tapestries and with shelves of books. Through a second door, they found the master's chambers, with a number of obviously lootable items--a boar-hunting spear on the wall with a hunting horn, robes of fox and ermine furs, etc. etc.
The party grabbed what seemed easily movable and then headed back out to the corridor to go up the trapdoor and escape. But they heard thoughts/talking on the wall above. They almost talked themselves out of going up out of fear, but finally agreed to send someone up the ladder with Morholt and a dagger at his throat to try to get the guards above to surrender.
What ultimately happened, though, is that once the party got up onto the fighting-floor of the keep's roof, they had to fight through six guards, and try to prevent other groups of guards running to intercept them from other turret-tops. Blackleaf poured oil on the stairs and lit it on fire to prevent other guards from getting to the fighting-floor while Kord held the line against the last few guards. Six more guards were killed in the melee, but the party managed to descend their ropes while the oil-fires held the last few guards at bay.
So they had captured Morholt! They agreed to take him to Sonora; and she elected to take him and a number of her loyal fighting-men and go north to the courts of Vialar, the king of this northern kingdom, and to sue Morholt in the king's courts for his injustice in usurping the castle of Oakridge and holding Sonora hostage.
Meanwhile, other party members took Aethelwulf's body to Lailith, local cleric high enough level to raise dead. She raised him, but alas, Aethelwulf came back with heart palpitations left over from the poison's effects, so he heals at half the normal rate from his sickliness. He paid Axxl the Mask 2000 gold to research means of ending these palpitations ...
And lastly, Lead and Astia (Lead's hireling-woman) caroused, and Astia had a wild trip with some powerful drugs so that she feels like she has some kind of insight that she can call up as to the nature of reality, or something! And also, she earned her way out of normal womanness to being a full-fledged character.
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, enchanted by haunting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
5 April's roster:
June (cleric 1)
July (half-Elf magic-user 1)
Aethelwulf (paladin 4)
Lead (cleric 4)
Blackleaf (Elf 4?)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
and sundry mercenary hirelings, though no dogs this go-around
In town, Aethelwulf bought a bee-stinger dagger from a passing merchant (from d12 oddments table).
Little Bob hired a merchant to go south to specifically find and bring him snake-killing weasels, spending 300 gold for the service; seeing this, Kord did the same, but spent 600 gold for the fellow to seek out orc mastiffs. The merchants won't return for another two sessions at least (one week travel there, one week back, at minimum).
The party then put their heads together ... and conspired to infiltrate Oakridge Castle to kill/kidnap Morholt, the usurper-lord who had taken power after the late lord Albrecht III died--and to boot, Morholt had taken the widow of Albrecht, Lady Sonora, prisoner and held her with the intent to force marriage upon her--until our heroes put an end to that plot by freeing her!
So, their plan was to repeat the success they had had with the last infiltration mission when they rescued Sonora, except that this time the entire party was going to climb the tower to penetrate the keep. From Sonora, they learned that Morholt's chambers were "down the hall from my prison, and on the right. You can't miss it."
Okay, so the party marched their way out of town and around to the northwest to the north side of the ridge on which the castle of Oakridge overlooks the village of Brakeridge to the south. They kept to the trees; and though the treeline had been cut back from the castle's walls, it turns out that spells like sleep and hold person have a range of 240 yards when outside of dungeons, which is pretty much like a lobbed longbow shot. So the 12 guards on the two turrets of the keep, 6 on the west turret, 6 on the east, were all well within range, even with the characters lurking in the trees.
So Blackleaf cast sleep over the west group, and all of the guards fell into a magical sleep. The guards on the east tower failed to notice; Blackleaf cast another sleep spell sent 4 into a magical sleep. As the last two guards stood by, trying to figure out what just happened, Kord cast a hold person spell at them and they failed their saves.
Koko then used her ape-ness to climb up the keep's walls and cast down ropes, and the party slaughtered all the sleeping and held guards, all without alerting any of the other guards on the other turrets. On the keep, a trap door opened down into the interior; the party dropped through and found themselves in an E-W corridor with a door pretty much in front of them (and down the hall to their left was the door into Sonora's former chambers).
Blackleaf used ESP through the door and detected a human thinking about his lordship and other more alien thoughts. This must be Morholt's room, the party said, but then dithered in the hallway long enough that a hear noise check for those inside the room succeeded. The door cracked open; a large spider peeked out and whispered to Koko, "Go up the ladder and shout."
Koko failed her save against spells and immediately turned to do what was said, but Ham cast a hold person spell on her, and she failed that save too, so she was paralyzed. The party then burst through the door! But the guy on the inside was ready, and initiative was rolled ...
So as Kord burst through the door, he was met by a sword swung by the thickly-muscled arm of a consummate fighting-man, broad-shouldered and narrow hipped, hair dark, face blackened with a fighting-grimace. At his feet were two serpents that also struck out at Kord and Aethelwulf.
Over the next couple rounds, Kord took several hard hits from the man's sword; meanwhile, Kord and Aethelwulf each took a bite from a serpent, and both failed their saves. Both took an antivenin passed forward from those in the back; Kord made his second save, but Aethelwulf failed his, and as the paladin's heart began to palpitate wildly and sweat break out over his pallid skin, he fell over dead the next round.
But then Lead threw a hold person spell at the warrior, and he failed his save, and became suddenly rigid and unable to act. The serpents were both quickly slain, and the party piled into the room.
Blackleaf's ESP established that this man was indeed Morholt. The party disarmed him, and tied him up (as well as they could with him being rigidly paralyzed). Then they heard a knock at the door: "M'lord, are you okay? We heard shouting ..."
"No, no, perfectly fine!" someone in the party shouted back gruffly. "It was nothing--just knocked a desk over!"
A high reaction roll and cowed servants led to the servants slinking away, back down the hallway, leaving the party to do what they might to loot the chambers. They found themselves in a kind of antechamber with tapestries and with shelves of books. Through a second door, they found the master's chambers, with a number of obviously lootable items--a boar-hunting spear on the wall with a hunting horn, robes of fox and ermine furs, etc. etc.
The party grabbed what seemed easily movable and then headed back out to the corridor to go up the trapdoor and escape. But they heard thoughts/talking on the wall above. They almost talked themselves out of going up out of fear, but finally agreed to send someone up the ladder with Morholt and a dagger at his throat to try to get the guards above to surrender.
What ultimately happened, though, is that once the party got up onto the fighting-floor of the keep's roof, they had to fight through six guards, and try to prevent other groups of guards running to intercept them from other turret-tops. Blackleaf poured oil on the stairs and lit it on fire to prevent other guards from getting to the fighting-floor while Kord held the line against the last few guards. Six more guards were killed in the melee, but the party managed to descend their ropes while the oil-fires held the last few guards at bay.
So they had captured Morholt! They agreed to take him to Sonora; and she elected to take him and a number of her loyal fighting-men and go north to the courts of Vialar, the king of this northern kingdom, and to sue Morholt in the king's courts for his injustice in usurping the castle of Oakridge and holding Sonora hostage.
Meanwhile, other party members took Aethelwulf's body to Lailith, local cleric high enough level to raise dead. She raised him, but alas, Aethelwulf came back with heart palpitations left over from the poison's effects, so he heals at half the normal rate from his sickliness. He paid Axxl the Mask 2000 gold to research means of ending these palpitations ...
And lastly, Lead and Astia (Lead's hireling-woman) caroused, and Astia had a wild trip with some powerful drugs so that she feels like she has some kind of insight that she can call up as to the nature of reality, or something! And also, she earned her way out of normal womanness to being a full-fledged character.
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Clara and Ilana (normal women), Marlo and a number of dogs, Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Friday, March 30, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 25
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
22 March's roster:
July (half-Elf 1)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 3)
Little Bob (travelling man 5)
"LET IT BE KNOWN ... THE WORSHIP OF KORD IS HEREBY OUTLAWED ON PAIN OF DEATH ..." read the placards that are nailed up throughout town this week.
"AND MOREOVER, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT BABY-FACE, LEAD, AND THEIR ASSOCIATES ARE HEREBY NAMED WOLVES AND MAY BE HUNTED TO THE DEATH THROUGHOUT THIS REALM.
"~MORHOLT, LORD OF OAKRIDGE CASTLE AND THE VILLAGES BRAKERIDGE AND KALLIA"
Last session, the party entered into Oakridge Castle by stealth and while one half rescued the Lady Sonora (whom Morholt had been holding hostage with the intent to force her to marry him using a love potion), the other half slew a number of his men-at-arms in their sleep. Unfortunately, one half of the party started off with a less successful gambit, attempting to gain entrance at the gate by claiming to be clerics of the god Kord, and thus announcing themselves as probably the perpetrators ...
Fortunately for everyone, the news that Sonora was rescued spread quickly through town. The villagers hate Morholt and love Sonora as they remember her late husband, the legitimate lord of the area whose power was usurped by Morholt after a suspicious hunting accident; so given the news that their lady was freed, the villagers sent word around to get Kord, Blackleaf, and the others out of town before Morholt's men-at-arms could come hunt them down.
So, out of town but nearby, the characters considered overthrowing Morholt once and for all and restoring Sonora to her ladyship ... but Blackleaf preferred to wait until they had a fuller party. And, moreover, the young half-Elf adventuress July showed up, newly arrived and ready to go adventuring, and it seemed more prudent to show her the adventuring ropes in a dungeon, rather than start off with a castle raid.
Thus, the party elected to return to the Howling Tower, there to explore and see what they might learn about the Star Things, while Kord expressed a desire to collect the body of Gram from the secret shadow-shrine.
Three days to the Tower ... wilderness attrition resulted in lost daggers and a lost shield, so I presume they were minor animal encounters. The Tower stands atop a ridge running down from the southwest spur of the Greyhame Mountain, just above the treeline so that it stands like a lone nail above the valleys on either side. In front of it stand two pyres filled with the bodies of goblins.
Kord remembered the secret tunnel entrance down to the crypts of the first dungeon level and led the party to it, and everyone elected to use it. About half way down is a wider space in which are sometimes insectile horrors; this time, the party found a number of large egg sacs which they decided to destroy before passing on down to the dungeon.
In the dungeon crypts, the party emerged about twenty feet from the secret shadow shrine. Given how close they were, that meant that Kord wanted to go in and get Gram's body, left their from another session. So the half-orc went in without any light (light inside creates animated shadows); meanwhile, Blackleaf heard a goblin voice stage-whisper "Oh, shit!" from the darkness just to the north, and heard two pair of goblin-feet padding quickly away through the dungeon.
The party gave chase, and with a lit lantern managed to shoot the two goblins down before they got far so that they could not warn their comrades elsewhere.
From this point, the party explored a number of tombs in the largely unmapped western portion of the dungeons. They fought a number of pallid, hungry undead humanoids which were easily turned by Kord and Ham with prayers to their god; and also a number of tentacled insectile horrors, some of which managed to paralyze Ham, Little Bob, and one of the dogs for a number of turns before the horrors themselves were killed.
In one tomb, the party discovered a sarcophagus that was cold to the touch. Koko the ape drank a potion that she felt made her invincible, and found within a colony of brown mold that was so cold that her breath came out as a mist and her fingers cramped up. In the midst of the colony was laid a sword ... ignoring the damage she was taking, Koko took out the sword ... at the party's behest, she laid it in the middle of the room, covered it with oil, and set it on fire. The mold on the sword immediately doubled in size and the room got noticeably colder! Koko was badly injured by the extreme cold, and so she wrapped the sword up with rags and then she and the party abandoned the room to the mold ...
Exploring further, the party found a couple means of ingress to a separate dungeon level to the west, one through a secret door, the other through a goblin barricade. These goblins Blackleaf magically slept, and the party took them prisoner. Then, using "truth potions" (the party's label for them ... sure they're labeled as such, but I don't remember ever handing such out ... I ruled that the potion got the goblin drunk and then he blurted out a kind of truth), the party learned from one of the goblins that there is a secret door with treasure behind it in the main goblin barracks on the first dungeon level.
Using this info, the party traced their steps back to the main goblin room on their map. Barging in, they found a number of goblins and wolves; Koko used her ring of control animal to force the wolves to attack the goblins, and meanwhile the party lit into the poor goblins with a vengeance. Once the room was secure, they did indeed find a secret door on the south wall, behind which was hidden a violent shrine to a goblin deity and vengeance against the Elves--on three decapitated Elf heads on the altar shone three circlets of silver and gold.
Collecting their loot, the party then made their way back to the surface. They avoided the stairs (a party of goblins was waiting there, ready to ambush them, but Blackleaf checked ahead without light and saw them) and left by the tunnel instead.
All in all, a simple session, but a good one. A good introduction for July and her player, I hope!
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghost hound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
22 March's roster:
July (half-Elf 1)
Kord (half-orc fighter 4/cleric 4)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (fighter 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 3)
Little Bob (travelling man 5)
"LET IT BE KNOWN ... THE WORSHIP OF KORD IS HEREBY OUTLAWED ON PAIN OF DEATH ..." read the placards that are nailed up throughout town this week.
"AND MOREOVER, LET IT BE KNOWN THAT BABY-FACE, LEAD, AND THEIR ASSOCIATES ARE HEREBY NAMED WOLVES AND MAY BE HUNTED TO THE DEATH THROUGHOUT THIS REALM.
"~MORHOLT, LORD OF OAKRIDGE CASTLE AND THE VILLAGES BRAKERIDGE AND KALLIA"
Last session, the party entered into Oakridge Castle by stealth and while one half rescued the Lady Sonora (whom Morholt had been holding hostage with the intent to force her to marry him using a love potion), the other half slew a number of his men-at-arms in their sleep. Unfortunately, one half of the party started off with a less successful gambit, attempting to gain entrance at the gate by claiming to be clerics of the god Kord, and thus announcing themselves as probably the perpetrators ...
Fortunately for everyone, the news that Sonora was rescued spread quickly through town. The villagers hate Morholt and love Sonora as they remember her late husband, the legitimate lord of the area whose power was usurped by Morholt after a suspicious hunting accident; so given the news that their lady was freed, the villagers sent word around to get Kord, Blackleaf, and the others out of town before Morholt's men-at-arms could come hunt them down.
So, out of town but nearby, the characters considered overthrowing Morholt once and for all and restoring Sonora to her ladyship ... but Blackleaf preferred to wait until they had a fuller party. And, moreover, the young half-Elf adventuress July showed up, newly arrived and ready to go adventuring, and it seemed more prudent to show her the adventuring ropes in a dungeon, rather than start off with a castle raid.
Thus, the party elected to return to the Howling Tower, there to explore and see what they might learn about the Star Things, while Kord expressed a desire to collect the body of Gram from the secret shadow-shrine.
Three days to the Tower ... wilderness attrition resulted in lost daggers and a lost shield, so I presume they were minor animal encounters. The Tower stands atop a ridge running down from the southwest spur of the Greyhame Mountain, just above the treeline so that it stands like a lone nail above the valleys on either side. In front of it stand two pyres filled with the bodies of goblins.
Kord remembered the secret tunnel entrance down to the crypts of the first dungeon level and led the party to it, and everyone elected to use it. About half way down is a wider space in which are sometimes insectile horrors; this time, the party found a number of large egg sacs which they decided to destroy before passing on down to the dungeon.
In the dungeon crypts, the party emerged about twenty feet from the secret shadow shrine. Given how close they were, that meant that Kord wanted to go in and get Gram's body, left their from another session. So the half-orc went in without any light (light inside creates animated shadows); meanwhile, Blackleaf heard a goblin voice stage-whisper "Oh, shit!" from the darkness just to the north, and heard two pair of goblin-feet padding quickly away through the dungeon.
The party gave chase, and with a lit lantern managed to shoot the two goblins down before they got far so that they could not warn their comrades elsewhere.
From this point, the party explored a number of tombs in the largely unmapped western portion of the dungeons. They fought a number of pallid, hungry undead humanoids which were easily turned by Kord and Ham with prayers to their god; and also a number of tentacled insectile horrors, some of which managed to paralyze Ham, Little Bob, and one of the dogs for a number of turns before the horrors themselves were killed.
In one tomb, the party discovered a sarcophagus that was cold to the touch. Koko the ape drank a potion that she felt made her invincible, and found within a colony of brown mold that was so cold that her breath came out as a mist and her fingers cramped up. In the midst of the colony was laid a sword ... ignoring the damage she was taking, Koko took out the sword ... at the party's behest, she laid it in the middle of the room, covered it with oil, and set it on fire. The mold on the sword immediately doubled in size and the room got noticeably colder! Koko was badly injured by the extreme cold, and so she wrapped the sword up with rags and then she and the party abandoned the room to the mold ...
Exploring further, the party found a couple means of ingress to a separate dungeon level to the west, one through a secret door, the other through a goblin barricade. These goblins Blackleaf magically slept, and the party took them prisoner. Then, using "truth potions" (the party's label for them ... sure they're labeled as such, but I don't remember ever handing such out ... I ruled that the potion got the goblin drunk and then he blurted out a kind of truth), the party learned from one of the goblins that there is a secret door with treasure behind it in the main goblin barracks on the first dungeon level.
Using this info, the party traced their steps back to the main goblin room on their map. Barging in, they found a number of goblins and wolves; Koko used her ring of control animal to force the wolves to attack the goblins, and meanwhile the party lit into the poor goblins with a vengeance. Once the room was secure, they did indeed find a secret door on the south wall, behind which was hidden a violent shrine to a goblin deity and vengeance against the Elves--on three decapitated Elf heads on the altar shone three circlets of silver and gold.
Collecting their loot, the party then made their way back to the surface. They avoided the stairs (a party of goblins was waiting there, ready to ambush them, but Blackleaf checked ahead without light and saw them) and left by the tunnel instead.
All in all, a simple session, but a good one. A good introduction for July and her player, I hope!
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghost hound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 24
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 ...
15 March's roster:
Kord (half-orc fighter 3/cleric 4 ... he mislabeled levels before, I probably did too)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (newly minted fighter 1)
Baby Face (thief 5)
Valor Justice (Elf 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Lead (cleric 4)
Aria (Elf 1)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5, I think)
and all their hirelings and dogs
This is the week during which Morholt will force the lady Sonora to marry him, using a love potion possibly provided to him by the Elves.
But first, the characters had other business.
First, Blackleaf tested out a bunch of magic items gained from the hoard of Ulfior, undead thing, and discovered among other things a medallion of ESP and a ring of animal control along with a couple other minor things (some potions she sipped, none poisonous, including one seeming to be of strength, of invincibility, etc.). Discovering these things, Blackleaf then sought out Aldir (whom she is hoping to use to marry and thus to gain an immortal soul) while everyone else was preparing. She used her newfound medallion to read his thoughts concerning her (suspicion--is she here to tempt me with an illicit relationship again?) and then offered him a silver torc to dedicate to his god Adonai as a kind of peace-offering. He accepted it reluctantly.
Meanwhile, the party has a number of other magic items they needed to identify and which were less simple to figure out. So they sought out Axxl the Mask, semi-local sage, and for the price of 2000 gold, got him to agree to identify up to a dozen magic items over the course of the month. They gave him: 1) a scroll, 2) a scroll, 3) a helm, 4) a wand, 5) a sword, 6) a scroll, 7) a handaxe, 8) a flamberge-sword, 9) a scroll. I've been taking notes for the last twenty-three sessions, but fuck me if I remember what is what, especially when their notes don't tell them where they acquired the thing. Oh well, that's what I signed up for as referee. Four weeks from now I'll have to have identified all these things for them.
Okay, but really, Morholt is going to force Sonora to marry him. I roll ... 4 days before the deed is done. The party begins to plan ...
Send the eagle Kaaraak to reconnoiter Oakridge Castle to figure out where the lady is? Aria the Elf won't allow it (she is of Natural alignment, and playing it hardcore).
Finally, Baby Face uses his sending bone to send a message to Sonora: "We want to save you; where are you?"
The message returned is, "I don't know if I can trust you. I'm trapped in the northwest tower of the keep."
Meanwhile, Baby Face also approaches his Thieves' Guild contact Jaybird Jenny and gets a message sent to the "bandits" in the woods (who are actually the freed men-at-arms who were loyal to the former lord and who were imprisoned by Morholt before being freed by the player-characters ... and are now living as bandits). The message details the party's desire to free Sonora, will they help? "Tell us when and where to meet you and we will kill Morholt and his men," the bandits answer back.
"Meet us tomorrow night below the castle gate," the party sends the message back. Thirteen bandits show up, ready for trouble.
And so they attack the castle ...
The plan ultimately decided was to split the party. Half the party (the Extraction Team) including Koko, Blackleaf, Kord, Aria, Baby Face, and Valor Justice would have Koko the ape climb the northeast face of the keep with ropes, everyone would climb up, and they would go in an free Sonora.
Meanwhile, the Distraction Team--everyone else, including the bandits--would approach the front gates and create a distraction. Actually, the Extraction Team was supposed to wait until the distraction took place.
Anyway, the Distraction Team marched up to the castle gates. The guards hailed the large party of armed people approaching at night. "Who are you?"
"Clerics of the god Kord, come to bless the upcoming wedding!" Lead called back.
"We didn't invite you!" the guard leader calls back. "What the hell is going on?"
"If you refuse us, the god Kord's wrath will fall upon you!" Lead answered.
"I'm calling the guard captain," the guard returned.
The Distraction Team here abandoned their plan and retreated (at some point I reminded them of the secret entrance to the castle dungeons they've been through before ... was it here?). They decide to go around the castle and enter the secret door into the dungeons.
------
The Extraction Team waited in vain for a signal and finally decided to act on their own. Koko the ape climbed the keep face without a rope and noted six guards on the fighting-floor of the keep's roof. (The guards rolled a 6 on a d6 on their "notice check", the worst they could possibly roll; they're gossiping among themselves). Blackleaf then cast sleep and all six guards fell asleep. The Extraction Team then climbed up with the help of ropes thrown down by Koko. The guards were standing near a trapdoor down into the keep ...
------
The Distraction Team entered into the dungeons. The bottom level was unguarded; they immediately found a stair upward that led to a closed and locked door. With brute strength, they forced open the lock (they were there to make a distraction, after all).
Inside were six guards gambling at a table. The party charged forward and murdered all the guards before any alarum could be raised.
Continuing out into the corridors of the castle itself, the party turned south and ultimately broke into another room. There, they found five men sleeping in their beds and murdered them all mercilessly as they slept.
------
In the keep, the Extraction Team made a beeline to the west toward the door, behind which were heard two feminine voices. Baby Face failed to pick the locked lock, but then called on the unseen servant bound in his ring to open the door, and it miraculously could. Opening the door quietly, they surprised two women--one middle-aged but still beautiful, the other young, dark-haired, and very similar in face to Morholt--who were talking quietly to each other.
The party rushed in and held their mouths, telling the two women that they were there to rescue them. This worked, strangely, and the women trusted them. The older one identified herself as Sonora, the younger as Moria, daughter of Morholt, imprisoned by her father in the tower until she could be given away to the Elves of the Dwimmerholt. Once freed, the women quickly grabbed some valuables, and then agreed to be led out to the roof and carried down the wall ...
------
The Distraction Team continued a little deeper. They moved on to the next room and found another barracks with another five sleeping men whom they quickly killed. They then considered mercenary goals--what is there to loot? Between the two rooms, they had seen twelve footlockers altogether, and now split their attention opening all these lockers. In these they found a number of fine cloaks, suits of plate armor, and a number of other pieces of jewelry.
At the end of this time looting, Lead received a sending from Baby Face telling him to "Get out!" Consolidating everything, the Distraction Team then went out and back to the basement and then out through the secret door. I didn't roll any wandering inhabitants, alas.
------
Back in town, some of the party set out with the "bandits" and Sonora and Moria to their hideout in the woods north of town while others decided to remain in town and possibly spread rumors of the god Kord's wrath having befallen Morholt and his men. Rumormongering was done, much quickened by an excess of liquor as several of the characters caroused. Valor Justice and Thaddeus both saved, but Blackleaf failed her save and ran into a minor misunderstanding with the law--she happened to be in the way when the mercenaries in the "Citadel" (the only watchtower in town) were mustered out to go to the castle for an emergency, and they shook her down for 50 gp ...
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower ...
the secret treasury of the Bronding Kings is said to lie hidden behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
Jaer the Windlord looks down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles atop the Greyhame Mountain itself ...
and the Stars themselves are singing an eerie, eldritch song, night after night ...
15 March's roster:
Kord (half-orc fighter 3/cleric 4 ... he mislabeled levels before, I probably did too)
Ham (cleric 4)
Thaddeus (newly minted fighter 1)
Baby Face (thief 5)
Valor Justice (Elf 1)
Blackleaf (Elf 3)
Koko (woman-ape 2)
Lead (cleric 4)
Aria (Elf 1)
Little Bob (travelling-man 5, I think)
and all their hirelings and dogs
This is the week during which Morholt will force the lady Sonora to marry him, using a love potion possibly provided to him by the Elves.
But first, the characters had other business.
First, Blackleaf tested out a bunch of magic items gained from the hoard of Ulfior, undead thing, and discovered among other things a medallion of ESP and a ring of animal control along with a couple other minor things (some potions she sipped, none poisonous, including one seeming to be of strength, of invincibility, etc.). Discovering these things, Blackleaf then sought out Aldir (whom she is hoping to use to marry and thus to gain an immortal soul) while everyone else was preparing. She used her newfound medallion to read his thoughts concerning her (suspicion--is she here to tempt me with an illicit relationship again?) and then offered him a silver torc to dedicate to his god Adonai as a kind of peace-offering. He accepted it reluctantly.
Meanwhile, the party has a number of other magic items they needed to identify and which were less simple to figure out. So they sought out Axxl the Mask, semi-local sage, and for the price of 2000 gold, got him to agree to identify up to a dozen magic items over the course of the month. They gave him: 1) a scroll, 2) a scroll, 3) a helm, 4) a wand, 5) a sword, 6) a scroll, 7) a handaxe, 8) a flamberge-sword, 9) a scroll. I've been taking notes for the last twenty-three sessions, but fuck me if I remember what is what, especially when their notes don't tell them where they acquired the thing. Oh well, that's what I signed up for as referee. Four weeks from now I'll have to have identified all these things for them.
Okay, but really, Morholt is going to force Sonora to marry him. I roll ... 4 days before the deed is done. The party begins to plan ...
Send the eagle Kaaraak to reconnoiter Oakridge Castle to figure out where the lady is? Aria the Elf won't allow it (she is of Natural alignment, and playing it hardcore).
Finally, Baby Face uses his sending bone to send a message to Sonora: "We want to save you; where are you?"
The message returned is, "I don't know if I can trust you. I'm trapped in the northwest tower of the keep."
Meanwhile, Baby Face also approaches his Thieves' Guild contact Jaybird Jenny and gets a message sent to the "bandits" in the woods (who are actually the freed men-at-arms who were loyal to the former lord and who were imprisoned by Morholt before being freed by the player-characters ... and are now living as bandits). The message details the party's desire to free Sonora, will they help? "Tell us when and where to meet you and we will kill Morholt and his men," the bandits answer back.
"Meet us tomorrow night below the castle gate," the party sends the message back. Thirteen bandits show up, ready for trouble.
And so they attack the castle ...
The plan ultimately decided was to split the party. Half the party (the Extraction Team) including Koko, Blackleaf, Kord, Aria, Baby Face, and Valor Justice would have Koko the ape climb the northeast face of the keep with ropes, everyone would climb up, and they would go in an free Sonora.
Meanwhile, the Distraction Team--everyone else, including the bandits--would approach the front gates and create a distraction. Actually, the Extraction Team was supposed to wait until the distraction took place.
Anyway, the Distraction Team marched up to the castle gates. The guards hailed the large party of armed people approaching at night. "Who are you?"
"Clerics of the god Kord, come to bless the upcoming wedding!" Lead called back.
"We didn't invite you!" the guard leader calls back. "What the hell is going on?"
"If you refuse us, the god Kord's wrath will fall upon you!" Lead answered.
"I'm calling the guard captain," the guard returned.
The Distraction Team here abandoned their plan and retreated (at some point I reminded them of the secret entrance to the castle dungeons they've been through before ... was it here?). They decide to go around the castle and enter the secret door into the dungeons.
------
The Extraction Team waited in vain for a signal and finally decided to act on their own. Koko the ape climbed the keep face without a rope and noted six guards on the fighting-floor of the keep's roof. (The guards rolled a 6 on a d6 on their "notice check", the worst they could possibly roll; they're gossiping among themselves). Blackleaf then cast sleep and all six guards fell asleep. The Extraction Team then climbed up with the help of ropes thrown down by Koko. The guards were standing near a trapdoor down into the keep ...
------
The Distraction Team entered into the dungeons. The bottom level was unguarded; they immediately found a stair upward that led to a closed and locked door. With brute strength, they forced open the lock (they were there to make a distraction, after all).
Inside were six guards gambling at a table. The party charged forward and murdered all the guards before any alarum could be raised.
Continuing out into the corridors of the castle itself, the party turned south and ultimately broke into another room. There, they found five men sleeping in their beds and murdered them all mercilessly as they slept.
------
In the keep, the Extraction Team made a beeline to the west toward the door, behind which were heard two feminine voices. Baby Face failed to pick the locked lock, but then called on the unseen servant bound in his ring to open the door, and it miraculously could. Opening the door quietly, they surprised two women--one middle-aged but still beautiful, the other young, dark-haired, and very similar in face to Morholt--who were talking quietly to each other.
The party rushed in and held their mouths, telling the two women that they were there to rescue them. This worked, strangely, and the women trusted them. The older one identified herself as Sonora, the younger as Moria, daughter of Morholt, imprisoned by her father in the tower until she could be given away to the Elves of the Dwimmerholt. Once freed, the women quickly grabbed some valuables, and then agreed to be led out to the roof and carried down the wall ...
------
The Distraction Team continued a little deeper. They moved on to the next room and found another barracks with another five sleeping men whom they quickly killed. They then considered mercenary goals--what is there to loot? Between the two rooms, they had seen twelve footlockers altogether, and now split their attention opening all these lockers. In these they found a number of fine cloaks, suits of plate armor, and a number of other pieces of jewelry.
At the end of this time looting, Lead received a sending from Baby Face telling him to "Get out!" Consolidating everything, the Distraction Team then went out and back to the basement and then out through the secret door. I didn't roll any wandering inhabitants, alas.
------
Back in town, some of the party set out with the "bandits" and Sonora and Moria to their hideout in the woods north of town while others decided to remain in town and possibly spread rumors of the god Kord's wrath having befallen Morholt and his men. Rumormongering was done, much quickened by an excess of liquor as several of the characters caroused. Valor Justice and Thaddeus both saved, but Blackleaf failed her save and ran into a minor misunderstanding with the law--she happened to be in the way when the mercenaries in the "Citadel" (the only watchtower in town) were mustered out to go to the castle for an emergency, and they shook her down for 50 gp ...
------
Remembrance for the Fallen:
Gram, Dorcas, Frida, and Johann Haybaler (normal hirelings), Hauka and Wilmerand (weasels), Blade and Boar (boarhounds), Hubert the Peacock and Lysimmachus (normal men), a nameless mastiff, Livy (normal man), Orkie (orc mastiff), Fang (boarhound), Droopy and Snoopy (mastiffs), Dream Destroyer (ghosthound), Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), a nameless cur, Hot Dog and Cross (mastiffs), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boarhound), Tore (half-orc fighter 1/cleric 1), Jimmy the Snitch (dog), Orion (lion dog), Harambe (man-ape 1)
and for those Enchanted away:
Dol (fyrdman hireling)
Saturday, December 23, 2017
Greyhame Mountain Dungeon Expedition 15
Orcs have returned to the caverns of the Glimmervaults;
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance beneath the Howling Tower;
and the secret treasury of the ancient Bronding Kings is said to lie somewhere behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves have renewed their ancient alliance beneath the Howling Tower;
and the secret treasury of the ancient Bronding Kings is said to lie somewhere behind the Brokenbrand Falls, haunted by enchanting naiads ...
...
and Jaer the Windlord is said to look down on the world below from the Eyries of the Eagles on Greyhame Mountain itself ...
... but for this session, the local Thieves' Guild hired Baby-Face to attempt a heist in the dungeons of Oakridge Castle ...
18 December's roster:
Baby-Face (thief 5)
with Frita (hireling) and Whesker and Wilmerand (giant weasels)
Finbar (half-Elf druid 4)
with Heisenberg (charmed wolf)
Aethelfwulf (paladin 2)
with Hauka (giant weasel)
Blackleaf (Elf 2)
with Johann Haybaler (hireling)
Koko (woman-ape 1)
Aria (Elf 1)
with Kaaraak (eagle)
Lead (cleric 3)
Baby-Face's local Thieves' Guild contact is Jaybird Jenny--I'm afraid I haven't actually told this to the players directly yet, because I almost always forget one or two things I mean to bring to the table each session, alas.
Anyway, Jabybird Jenny approached Baby-Face with a job offer: We have information about a secret entrance into the dungeons beneath Oakridge Castle, she said, and more than that we have a target. Word is that Morholt-Lord has turned to the secret worship of Chaos in the dungeons beneath the castle, and that there is a secret treasury near the shrine ... and we've heard that an item in the cache there is a rare glass serpent, for which we have a buyer, if only we can get someone brave (foolhardy) enough to sneak into the castle ... anything else you steal is yours to fence as you can, of course ...
Naturally, the party was for it, and not just because of the potential payout, but also because they hoped to free Rendorsheeg (Elf 2) who has been locked up in the dungeon for seven weeks, pending his payment of a large fine of 4000 gp after getting into serious trouble with the law while carousing--trouble like slandering Morholt, who's a bit touchy given his precarious position as lord of the demesne.
Preparation-wise, the party did several things. Baby-Face bought a bottle of Mead of Poetry from the local market, as well as 4 sprigs of wolfsbane (with the idea of poisoning folks in the castle); Finbar went into the nearby wilderness looking for poisonous plants with the same idea as Baby-Face, and found some deadly nightshade. The party gathered information about Morholt and learned that he loves to go hunting and is often riding out after game; but that this week, Morholt was planning on holding a feast (hence the poison idea). They were also reminded that Morholt is a usurper, and that he holds prisoner the widow of the former lord (Lady Sonora, widow of Albrecht III.), hoping to acquire a love potion with which to force her to marry him and thus legitimize his claim to the local lordship.
Now, the Thieves' Guild described a particular gully to the north of Oakridge Castle wherein a secret door was to be found, and the party set out in the night to seek this entrance. The moon shone, but somewhat obscured by clouds, and the guards on the castle walls did not see them ... but the party did note that the stars sing, a strange, faint, sad and nostalgic song. It is in no language that any speak, but the Elves in the party recognized vaguely Elvish phrasings in the eerie star-song. This has been going on for about two weeks now, and is a new development that nobody in town can say anything about ...
Anyway, a secret door was found at the end of the gully which led into a dead-end corridor; this corridor contained a further secret door at its end, which opened onto a room with stairs leading up into the castle, and two doors. The party went for the western door and found a long south-leading corridor with one western door. Listening at the door, they heard conversation of bored guards, and opted to follow the corridor south.
Ultimately, the corridor turned east, then north, but as the party headed north, I rolled a wandering encounter. Three guards--a sergeant and two underlings--came around the corner from the north. Finbar cast charm person or animal on the sergeant and he failed badly, and so charmedly greeted Finbar as a friend. Some fast talking and showing off of many wineskins by Blackleaf led the sergeant to note, I forgot about the wine shipment for the feast in four days, but you're clearly it. Here, let me show you to the wine cellar. Despite the strange looks from his underlings, the sergeant then showed the party through to the wine cellar (well stocked with barrels of wine and beer and fine bottled wines). They talked to him about the possibility of freeing a prisoner, but ultimately he had a task in the dungeon that he had been distracted from.
When the party felt they had used this poor fellow to the best they could, Baby-Face attempted to backstab him and failed; and before anything further could occur, Blackleaf slept the three. Baby-Face then poured some whiskey over the guards and left an empty whiskey-bottle with them, intending to frame them as drunks ...
Further exploration revealed a series of tombs of the former lords of the castle; Aethelwulf tried in vain to prevent their looting, but the rest of the party ignored him. They then went through an eastern door and found a shrine to a Chaotic god with a huge grin and torture implements, containing four Hieronymus Bosch-type tapestries depicting chaos and torture. Here, Aethelwulf toppled the clearly Chaotic and Evil idol, and then the party headed back out to the corridor and ultimately to the west, where they'd heard the guard-muttering.
Lead "disguised" himself with the armor of the sleeping sergeant, and while the party waited around a corner, he alone went into the room whence the voices came--and found eight guards playing cards around a table. He attempted some fast talking about being a new guard-captain, but when he dropped his name, Lead, the guards recognized him as the companion of Baby-Face, who had insulted Morholt and Morholt's son while carousing, and the guards drew their weapons.
Lead retreated to the door and called for help.
A chaotic melee ensued as the rest of the party came up to join the battle. Lead held the door, whacking guards with his warhammer while the rest of the party did what they could from behind or muscled in around Lead and against the guards to enter the melee. Aethelwulf decapitated one; Baby-Face's weasels humped into the room and killed another; Koko the woman-ape broke the neck of yet another guard; and the rest were killed by arrows from Blackleaf and Aria and a variety of melee attacks.
Off of this guard post, the party found two different sets of cells; the first contained a group of 12 men-at-arms and 3 former-officers, all men loyal to Albrecht III. and imprisoned by Morholt, grateful to be released and sent out of the dungeon; the second set of cells included Rendorsheeg and a number of other bums, drunks, and local criminals, again set free by the party.
The party then returned to seeking the secret treasury of the Chaos shrine and the rumored glass serpent, but going to the eastern section of the dungeon, they found only another number of tombs of the old lords, including the recently created tomb of Albrecht III. Alas, our time was running out, and in our last ten minutes, the party agreed to return to town (and the castle only looks over the town, not even a day away). In their frustration, they at least looted the shrine of its tapestries and made out with 200 gp worth of tapestries for the lot of them.
No wandering guards molested them on the way out ... so back in town, Finbar and Rendorsheeg both elected to carouse ... and Rendorsheeg rolled the very same mishap as last time, "major misunderstanding with the law," that originally landed him in jail! But as an escaped fugitive, this is clearly no mere fine, but a search by Morholt's mercenaries for escaped prisoners!
And so next session will involve some kind of trouble with the law to be played out in-game ... There will be a reckoning ...
------
Remembrance for the Fallen
Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), Nameless Dog (1 hp cur), Hot Dog (mastiff), Cross (mastiff), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boar hound), 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)
... but for this session, the local Thieves' Guild hired Baby-Face to attempt a heist in the dungeons of Oakridge Castle ...
18 December's roster:
Baby-Face (thief 5)
with Frita (hireling) and Whesker and Wilmerand (giant weasels)
Finbar (half-Elf druid 4)
with Heisenberg (charmed wolf)
Aethelfwulf (paladin 2)
with Hauka (giant weasel)
Blackleaf (Elf 2)
with Johann Haybaler (hireling)
Koko (woman-ape 1)
Aria (Elf 1)
with Kaaraak (eagle)
Lead (cleric 3)
Baby-Face's local Thieves' Guild contact is Jaybird Jenny--I'm afraid I haven't actually told this to the players directly yet, because I almost always forget one or two things I mean to bring to the table each session, alas.
Anyway, Jabybird Jenny approached Baby-Face with a job offer: We have information about a secret entrance into the dungeons beneath Oakridge Castle, she said, and more than that we have a target. Word is that Morholt-Lord has turned to the secret worship of Chaos in the dungeons beneath the castle, and that there is a secret treasury near the shrine ... and we've heard that an item in the cache there is a rare glass serpent, for which we have a buyer, if only we can get someone brave (foolhardy) enough to sneak into the castle ... anything else you steal is yours to fence as you can, of course ...
Naturally, the party was for it, and not just because of the potential payout, but also because they hoped to free Rendorsheeg (Elf 2) who has been locked up in the dungeon for seven weeks, pending his payment of a large fine of 4000 gp after getting into serious trouble with the law while carousing--trouble like slandering Morholt, who's a bit touchy given his precarious position as lord of the demesne.
Preparation-wise, the party did several things. Baby-Face bought a bottle of Mead of Poetry from the local market, as well as 4 sprigs of wolfsbane (with the idea of poisoning folks in the castle); Finbar went into the nearby wilderness looking for poisonous plants with the same idea as Baby-Face, and found some deadly nightshade. The party gathered information about Morholt and learned that he loves to go hunting and is often riding out after game; but that this week, Morholt was planning on holding a feast (hence the poison idea). They were also reminded that Morholt is a usurper, and that he holds prisoner the widow of the former lord (Lady Sonora, widow of Albrecht III.), hoping to acquire a love potion with which to force her to marry him and thus legitimize his claim to the local lordship.
Now, the Thieves' Guild described a particular gully to the north of Oakridge Castle wherein a secret door was to be found, and the party set out in the night to seek this entrance. The moon shone, but somewhat obscured by clouds, and the guards on the castle walls did not see them ... but the party did note that the stars sing, a strange, faint, sad and nostalgic song. It is in no language that any speak, but the Elves in the party recognized vaguely Elvish phrasings in the eerie star-song. This has been going on for about two weeks now, and is a new development that nobody in town can say anything about ...
Anyway, a secret door was found at the end of the gully which led into a dead-end corridor; this corridor contained a further secret door at its end, which opened onto a room with stairs leading up into the castle, and two doors. The party went for the western door and found a long south-leading corridor with one western door. Listening at the door, they heard conversation of bored guards, and opted to follow the corridor south.
Ultimately, the corridor turned east, then north, but as the party headed north, I rolled a wandering encounter. Three guards--a sergeant and two underlings--came around the corner from the north. Finbar cast charm person or animal on the sergeant and he failed badly, and so charmedly greeted Finbar as a friend. Some fast talking and showing off of many wineskins by Blackleaf led the sergeant to note, I forgot about the wine shipment for the feast in four days, but you're clearly it. Here, let me show you to the wine cellar. Despite the strange looks from his underlings, the sergeant then showed the party through to the wine cellar (well stocked with barrels of wine and beer and fine bottled wines). They talked to him about the possibility of freeing a prisoner, but ultimately he had a task in the dungeon that he had been distracted from.
When the party felt they had used this poor fellow to the best they could, Baby-Face attempted to backstab him and failed; and before anything further could occur, Blackleaf slept the three. Baby-Face then poured some whiskey over the guards and left an empty whiskey-bottle with them, intending to frame them as drunks ...
Further exploration revealed a series of tombs of the former lords of the castle; Aethelwulf tried in vain to prevent their looting, but the rest of the party ignored him. They then went through an eastern door and found a shrine to a Chaotic god with a huge grin and torture implements, containing four Hieronymus Bosch-type tapestries depicting chaos and torture. Here, Aethelwulf toppled the clearly Chaotic and Evil idol, and then the party headed back out to the corridor and ultimately to the west, where they'd heard the guard-muttering.
 |
Lead retreated to the door and called for help.
A chaotic melee ensued as the rest of the party came up to join the battle. Lead held the door, whacking guards with his warhammer while the rest of the party did what they could from behind or muscled in around Lead and against the guards to enter the melee. Aethelwulf decapitated one; Baby-Face's weasels humped into the room and killed another; Koko the woman-ape broke the neck of yet another guard; and the rest were killed by arrows from Blackleaf and Aria and a variety of melee attacks.
Off of this guard post, the party found two different sets of cells; the first contained a group of 12 men-at-arms and 3 former-officers, all men loyal to Albrecht III. and imprisoned by Morholt, grateful to be released and sent out of the dungeon; the second set of cells included Rendorsheeg and a number of other bums, drunks, and local criminals, again set free by the party.
The party then returned to seeking the secret treasury of the Chaos shrine and the rumored glass serpent, but going to the eastern section of the dungeon, they found only another number of tombs of the old lords, including the recently created tomb of Albrecht III. Alas, our time was running out, and in our last ten minutes, the party agreed to return to town (and the castle only looks over the town, not even a day away). In their frustration, they at least looted the shrine of its tapestries and made out with 200 gp worth of tapestries for the lot of them.
No wandering guards molested them on the way out ... so back in town, Finbar and Rendorsheeg both elected to carouse ... and Rendorsheeg rolled the very same mishap as last time, "major misunderstanding with the law," that originally landed him in jail! But as an escaped fugitive, this is clearly no mere fine, but a search by Morholt's mercenaries for escaped prisoners!
And so next session will involve some kind of trouble with the law to be played out in-game ... There will be a reckoning ...
------
Remembrance for the Fallen
Arrow (pack dog), Freyja (normal woman), Nameless Dog (1 hp cur), Hot Dog (mastiff), Cross (mastiff), Orion II (lion dog), Bacon (boar hound), 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)
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Greyhame: Twenty Questions
I saw this post over at Coins and Scrolls, about 20 questions for his game, which was of course piggy-backing off of Jeff Rients' "20 quick questions for your campaign" posted several years ago. So naturally, I thought I'd give it a go for the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon game.
1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?
You tell me--whom do you worship? What alignment are you?
2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Page B12 of the D&D Basic Rulebook, or a handout that I have printed. If anything is locally of a different cost or unavailable, I'll tell you
3. Where can we go to get plate armor custom-fitted for this monster I just befriended?
That custom armor will cost twice or more the usual cost in gold, plus a week or more in labor at any smithy/armorer's shop. I'll adjust cost and time according to what seems reasonable.
4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
Axxl the Mask or Morla of the Mists (an undecided contest between equals ...); but they're semi-local--there are probably more powerful wizards further afield--and there's almost certainly an Elf-Queen of tremendous power in the Dwimmerholt forest to the east, but good luck finding her
5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
Locally, Morholt, usurper and current overlord of Brakeridge and the surround; he has a castle full of mercenaries loyal to him, and is seeking a love potion wherewith to overwhelm the resistance of the former lord's widow to marrying him.
6. Who is the richest person in the land?
Dusty Tam, a merchant-lord in the northern freetown of Bardastead. His epithet used to be "the Dusty" because he was always on the road, making money trading north and south along the trade road, but now that he's old, fat, and rich, obviously his "dust" is now gold-dust. He lends credit to several of the lords around here, probably including Morholt, definitely including Vialar, the king.
7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Normally I'd say, "To your friendly party-cleric, otherwise nowhere," but around Greyhame, folks have the advantage that Lailith, a Lawful Good cleric of high level, has recently set up a shrine in town. She is a player character; she represents what PCs are ultimately capable of at higher levels, and is also a personality with her own motives in allowing/disallowing magical healing on her part.
8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
Again, Lailith at her shrine--according to her own prices (e.g. raise dead she's willing to do for 300 gp, whereas I'd charge 5000 gp at any other shrine as referee ...); as for alignment change, each character would have to take that up according to their particular alignment and the nearest competent figurehead of such, which I would have to write up ...
9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join to get more spells?
No, sorry. MUs are jealous of their spells, books, lore, and powers. You might manage to apprentice yourself to a higher level fellow for the price of demeaning tasks ...
10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage, or expert NPC?
Axxl the Mask and Morla of the Mists double as alchemists/sages as well. Other experts can be hired in larger towns, north or south a few days' travel.
11. Where can I hire mercenaries?
2-7 are available for hire every session, plus 2-5 war dogs for sale. These are at local taverns, caravanserais, fighting pits, etc. In Brakeridge, they congregate at John's Place
12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed, or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
Back in highschool, in the Carolinian Empire, I would have characters secure their carried weapons with "peace bonds" that prevented their being drawn. But the Carolinian Empire is far to the west. As for magic--don't be a dick. Egregious charm person spells will probably elicit a bad reaction from townsfolk, but the occasional sorcery is not illegal
13. Which way to the nearest tavern?
Every town has one. The Black Dragon's Meed is rumored the best new tavern in Brakeridge.
14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
First, the Orcs in the Glimmervaults.
Second, the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves under the Howling Tower
Third, Morholt, current lord over the local area, ruling oppressively from Oakridge Castle.
Fourth, Vialar the Cruel, supposed king over all these lands.
15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Not at the moment. Besides, wars are more fun when you're higher level (and you're instigating them).
16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
Not in these parts; mostly, one goes into dungeons for glory and gold. In some parts of the world, though, the Mourners do hold gladiatorial games ...
17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
Sure! The Evil cult might be one. There's probably a thieves' guild. Maybe even assassins. Probably other secret societies--but they're secret. Ask around (discretely!)
18. What is there to eat around here?
5 gold buys you 7 days of rations. I've never yet met an adventurer ostentatious enough to spend gold on anything fancier food-wise
19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
The Red and the Black Crowns of the Getae
The White Crown of the Brondings
The Sword-That-Was-Broken
The secret treasuries of the Brondings behind the Brokenbrand Falls
Tales also tell of old shrines to Chaos deep in the Glimmervaults, filled both with undeath and treasure
20. Where is the nearest dragon, or other monster with H type treasure?
There may be a dragon down in the depths of the Glimmervaults; also, there's old rumor of some kind of ancient king interred with his excessive wealth high on the mountain behind the Brokenbrand Falls, but who awoke from death into undeath (not the Bronding kings, but an older king, perhaps from before even Thidrek's time and the wars of the Getae)
1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?
You tell me--whom do you worship? What alignment are you?
2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Page B12 of the D&D Basic Rulebook, or a handout that I have printed. If anything is locally of a different cost or unavailable, I'll tell you
3. Where can we go to get plate armor custom-fitted for this monster I just befriended?
That custom armor will cost twice or more the usual cost in gold, plus a week or more in labor at any smithy/armorer's shop. I'll adjust cost and time according to what seems reasonable.
4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
Axxl the Mask or Morla of the Mists (an undecided contest between equals ...); but they're semi-local--there are probably more powerful wizards further afield--and there's almost certainly an Elf-Queen of tremendous power in the Dwimmerholt forest to the east, but good luck finding her
5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
Locally, Morholt, usurper and current overlord of Brakeridge and the surround; he has a castle full of mercenaries loyal to him, and is seeking a love potion wherewith to overwhelm the resistance of the former lord's widow to marrying him.
6. Who is the richest person in the land?
Dusty Tam, a merchant-lord in the northern freetown of Bardastead. His epithet used to be "the Dusty" because he was always on the road, making money trading north and south along the trade road, but now that he's old, fat, and rich, obviously his "dust" is now gold-dust. He lends credit to several of the lords around here, probably including Morholt, definitely including Vialar, the king.
7. Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Normally I'd say, "To your friendly party-cleric, otherwise nowhere," but around Greyhame, folks have the advantage that Lailith, a Lawful Good cleric of high level, has recently set up a shrine in town. She is a player character; she represents what PCs are ultimately capable of at higher levels, and is also a personality with her own motives in allowing/disallowing magical healing on her part.
8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
Again, Lailith at her shrine--according to her own prices (e.g. raise dead she's willing to do for 300 gp, whereas I'd charge 5000 gp at any other shrine as referee ...); as for alignment change, each character would have to take that up according to their particular alignment and the nearest competent figurehead of such, which I would have to write up ...
9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join to get more spells?
No, sorry. MUs are jealous of their spells, books, lore, and powers. You might manage to apprentice yourself to a higher level fellow for the price of demeaning tasks ...
10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage, or expert NPC?
Axxl the Mask and Morla of the Mists double as alchemists/sages as well. Other experts can be hired in larger towns, north or south a few days' travel.
11. Where can I hire mercenaries?
2-7 are available for hire every session, plus 2-5 war dogs for sale. These are at local taverns, caravanserais, fighting pits, etc. In Brakeridge, they congregate at John's Place
12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed, or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
Back in highschool, in the Carolinian Empire, I would have characters secure their carried weapons with "peace bonds" that prevented their being drawn. But the Carolinian Empire is far to the west. As for magic--don't be a dick. Egregious charm person spells will probably elicit a bad reaction from townsfolk, but the occasional sorcery is not illegal
13. Which way to the nearest tavern?
Every town has one. The Black Dragon's Meed is rumored the best new tavern in Brakeridge.
14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
First, the Orcs in the Glimmervaults.
Second, the Goblin King and the Lord of Werewolves under the Howling Tower
Third, Morholt, current lord over the local area, ruling oppressively from Oakridge Castle.
Fourth, Vialar the Cruel, supposed king over all these lands.
15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Not at the moment. Besides, wars are more fun when you're higher level (and you're instigating them).
16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
Not in these parts; mostly, one goes into dungeons for glory and gold. In some parts of the world, though, the Mourners do hold gladiatorial games ...
17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
Sure! The Evil cult might be one. There's probably a thieves' guild. Maybe even assassins. Probably other secret societies--but they're secret. Ask around (discretely!)
18. What is there to eat around here?
5 gold buys you 7 days of rations. I've never yet met an adventurer ostentatious enough to spend gold on anything fancier food-wise
19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
The Red and the Black Crowns of the Getae
The White Crown of the Brondings
The Sword-That-Was-Broken
The secret treasuries of the Brondings behind the Brokenbrand Falls
Tales also tell of old shrines to Chaos deep in the Glimmervaults, filled both with undeath and treasure
20. Where is the nearest dragon, or other monster with H type treasure?
There may be a dragon down in the depths of the Glimmervaults; also, there's old rumor of some kind of ancient king interred with his excessive wealth high on the mountain behind the Brokenbrand Falls, but who awoke from death into undeath (not the Bronding kings, but an older king, perhaps from before even Thidrek's time and the wars of the Getae)
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Some Local Color ... a Sketch of Brakeridge
The town of Brakeridge lies in the southern marches of the realm ruled by Vialar (self-styled "the Good," but colloquially known as "the Cruel"), a realm which is a remnant of the wider kingdom once ruled by the old Bronding Kings. To the east of Brakeridge by about three days' travel lies the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon, contained within the southern spur of Greyhame Mountain itself, and an object of much interest in the past few months as adventurers have once again begun expeditioning within its depths with some regularity, unearthing ancient treasures.
Despite its name, Brakeridge actually lies mostly beneath the Oak Ridge and to the south of it, a height that was anciently lined with ancient oaks and other trees, but which stands mostly naked of trees in these latter days. From atop the Oak Ridge, the aptly named Oakridge Castle overlooks the town, the castle being the seat of the local overlord.
To the south, across the Whetstone River (not the river fed by the Brokenbrand Falls, for those curious) and about two days' travel on foot, the village of Kallia and surrounding farmlands sprawl through the valleys, also subject to the local lord of Oakridge Castle. Meanwhile, north along the trade road, about a week away at most, the nearest neighbor of civilization is the walled town of Bardastead, a freetown with a charter, ruled over by a council of its own aldermen (still subject to Vialar, of course).
If one were to travel further north, one would cross through a pass and ultimately come into the personal demesne of Vialar under King's Mountain; or, taking the southern trade road beyond Kallia, one would ultimately end up in the southern city-state of Calpurnia (where my other game is "home-based"), or even ultimately find oneself in the original city-state with my first megadungeon, the Catacombs.
And to the east, across the wall of north-south mountains of which the Greyhame is a part, lies the vast and mysterious forest of the Dwimmerholt, wooded realm of Elfin queens, werewolves, and the semi-barbarous tribes of the Getae, who were driven thence by the victorious arms of the Brondings.
------
As of this writing, Morholt remains the local overlord in Oakridge Castle--and yet, he is a usurper, no legitimate heir to the seat of power. The rightful lord, one Albrecht, died some months before the renewed interest of adventurers in the Greyhame Mountain Dungeons; and in a surprise move, Morholt, who had heretofore been a trusted captain, with a small army of mercenaries seized both the castle and Albrecht's widow, the Lady Sonora.
Installing himself as lord, Morholt has made it known that he intends to marry Sonora and thus appropriate the lordship of the castle both physically and legally. However, Sonora continues to resist, and thus continues to be imprisoned in the keep; and it is said that Morholt is in seek of a philter of love, that he might arrange the marriage without the legal trouble of coercion.
Considering these events, the local populace is rather disgruntled, as they thought Albrecht a just lord and the lady Sonora a woman of excellent taste in the arranging of feasts. A delegation of villagers was sent to Vialar in the north to complain, but nothing has been heard back from them, and as Morholt continues to send tribute, there seems little hope that Vialar should care to intervene. Moreover, because Morholt is an avid hunter and an great carouser and feaster, the cost of his lordship has lain heavily on the people he taxes, and the people are suffering under his avaricious demands.
------
Within the town itself are a few places of interest:
the "Citadel" -- a watchtower, part of what was going to be a wall around Brakeridge to help better incorporate the township; the tower remains, but the walls were pulled down by Morholt's mercenaries, as he feared the rising of the locals against his usurpation. Moreover, Morholt has disbanded the local fyrd/militia, and stocked the watchtower with a company of his own mercenaries, who supposedly keep watch and keep the peace, but who more often abuse and fine townsfolk with little reason. The tower is called "the Citadel" as a kind of local joke, it being the only fortification within town, and yet still only a simple thing.
the Brokenoak Inn -- the oldest inn establishment in town, the Brokenoak is a long meadhall in imitation of the old Bronding halls, complete with an oak standing in the center as a support pillar for the center of the roof, and a dais with an honorseat (reserved for special occasions or special guests). The oak, as the name suggests, is broken--of old, a lightning bolt blasted off the top limbs, leaving a kind of pillar, around which the inn was subsequently built. Cheap fares net a guest a shut-bed in the hall; guests with more coin, however, can reserve a room in one of the outbuildings around the hall itself.
John's Place -- a simple watering hole for both locals and for the merchants and traders coming and going on the north-south trade road. There always seem to be men and women here looking for rough work, either mercenaries or laborers willing to port treasure out of a dungeon for a fee; also, the trade in war dogs along the north-south road is strangely constant, probably fed in part by Morholt's and other lords' obsession with hunting, so there are war dogs available for sale here weekly.
the Black Dragon's Meed -- (and note well the pun on "meed: reward/recompense"/"mead: alcohol from fermented honey"!) a new inn in town and a perfect place for adventurers to rent rooms and to carouse after their delves beneath the dungeon. The proprietors are Sten, a veteran halfling adventurer, and Henry, a magic-user of some repute. They may have information, advice, or perhaps even magic available for those with enough coin ...
the Shrine of Saint Ursula -- another new structure in town, built by the higher level cleric Lailith and dedicated to her Lawful Good cult of Saint Ursula, a kind of dual-deity by accident: because of the name and some of the imagery of the cult, the local people have taken Ursula to be a mother-bear goddess; which is not inappropriate, considering that the saint is one known for her especial protection of mothers and children. Lailith offers regular healing services to the local populace, and is also capable of raising dead characters back to life for the paltry sum of 300 gold (her fee as of this writing).
the Shrine of Adonai -- the newest (as of this writing) structure in town, right now a humble wooden image off to the side of the village green. This Adonai is another Lawful Good god, a god of justice, carved as a kingly figure with a sword in his lap, pouring out drink from a horn with his right hand. The image was raised by Aetheulwulf, a newly minted paladin and a delver into the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon.
the Shrine of Peoni -- (yes, I stole this goddess from Harn) the shrine of the local farmers and townsfolk, dedicated to Peoni, a goddess of growth, fertility, healing, and the simple life. Alas, the priesthood here is not capable of any great healing, other than ministering to wounds with mundane poultices; there is probably little of direct interest for adventurers here, other than the fact that local dissidents occasionally use the shrine as a kind of sanctuary place to meet in secret and discuss their hatred of Morholt ...
Thorgir's Smithy -- the local smithy and sometimes armory for the old fyrd; Thorgir and his apprentices, Aldir, Tess, and Freygir, are capable of seeing to the community's need for such mundanities as horseshoes and barrel-hoops, but also of forging simple arms like spearheads, arrowheads, shield-bosses, helms, etc. They once supplied the Brakeridge fyrd/militia; now they supply adventurers; and though they cannot make better swords and armors, they do buy them from passing merchants and resell them at their shop, meaning that adventurers can purchase anything from the B/X equipment lists in town.
Despite its name, Brakeridge actually lies mostly beneath the Oak Ridge and to the south of it, a height that was anciently lined with ancient oaks and other trees, but which stands mostly naked of trees in these latter days. From atop the Oak Ridge, the aptly named Oakridge Castle overlooks the town, the castle being the seat of the local overlord.
To the south, across the Whetstone River (not the river fed by the Brokenbrand Falls, for those curious) and about two days' travel on foot, the village of Kallia and surrounding farmlands sprawl through the valleys, also subject to the local lord of Oakridge Castle. Meanwhile, north along the trade road, about a week away at most, the nearest neighbor of civilization is the walled town of Bardastead, a freetown with a charter, ruled over by a council of its own aldermen (still subject to Vialar, of course).
If one were to travel further north, one would cross through a pass and ultimately come into the personal demesne of Vialar under King's Mountain; or, taking the southern trade road beyond Kallia, one would ultimately end up in the southern city-state of Calpurnia (where my other game is "home-based"), or even ultimately find oneself in the original city-state with my first megadungeon, the Catacombs.
And to the east, across the wall of north-south mountains of which the Greyhame is a part, lies the vast and mysterious forest of the Dwimmerholt, wooded realm of Elfin queens, werewolves, and the semi-barbarous tribes of the Getae, who were driven thence by the victorious arms of the Brondings.
------
As of this writing, Morholt remains the local overlord in Oakridge Castle--and yet, he is a usurper, no legitimate heir to the seat of power. The rightful lord, one Albrecht, died some months before the renewed interest of adventurers in the Greyhame Mountain Dungeons; and in a surprise move, Morholt, who had heretofore been a trusted captain, with a small army of mercenaries seized both the castle and Albrecht's widow, the Lady Sonora.
Installing himself as lord, Morholt has made it known that he intends to marry Sonora and thus appropriate the lordship of the castle both physically and legally. However, Sonora continues to resist, and thus continues to be imprisoned in the keep; and it is said that Morholt is in seek of a philter of love, that he might arrange the marriage without the legal trouble of coercion.
Considering these events, the local populace is rather disgruntled, as they thought Albrecht a just lord and the lady Sonora a woman of excellent taste in the arranging of feasts. A delegation of villagers was sent to Vialar in the north to complain, but nothing has been heard back from them, and as Morholt continues to send tribute, there seems little hope that Vialar should care to intervene. Moreover, because Morholt is an avid hunter and an great carouser and feaster, the cost of his lordship has lain heavily on the people he taxes, and the people are suffering under his avaricious demands.
------
Within the town itself are a few places of interest:
the "Citadel" -- a watchtower, part of what was going to be a wall around Brakeridge to help better incorporate the township; the tower remains, but the walls were pulled down by Morholt's mercenaries, as he feared the rising of the locals against his usurpation. Moreover, Morholt has disbanded the local fyrd/militia, and stocked the watchtower with a company of his own mercenaries, who supposedly keep watch and keep the peace, but who more often abuse and fine townsfolk with little reason. The tower is called "the Citadel" as a kind of local joke, it being the only fortification within town, and yet still only a simple thing.
the Brokenoak Inn -- the oldest inn establishment in town, the Brokenoak is a long meadhall in imitation of the old Bronding halls, complete with an oak standing in the center as a support pillar for the center of the roof, and a dais with an honorseat (reserved for special occasions or special guests). The oak, as the name suggests, is broken--of old, a lightning bolt blasted off the top limbs, leaving a kind of pillar, around which the inn was subsequently built. Cheap fares net a guest a shut-bed in the hall; guests with more coin, however, can reserve a room in one of the outbuildings around the hall itself.
John's Place -- a simple watering hole for both locals and for the merchants and traders coming and going on the north-south trade road. There always seem to be men and women here looking for rough work, either mercenaries or laborers willing to port treasure out of a dungeon for a fee; also, the trade in war dogs along the north-south road is strangely constant, probably fed in part by Morholt's and other lords' obsession with hunting, so there are war dogs available for sale here weekly.
the Black Dragon's Meed -- (and note well the pun on "meed: reward/recompense"/"mead: alcohol from fermented honey"!) a new inn in town and a perfect place for adventurers to rent rooms and to carouse after their delves beneath the dungeon. The proprietors are Sten, a veteran halfling adventurer, and Henry, a magic-user of some repute. They may have information, advice, or perhaps even magic available for those with enough coin ...
the Shrine of Saint Ursula -- another new structure in town, built by the higher level cleric Lailith and dedicated to her Lawful Good cult of Saint Ursula, a kind of dual-deity by accident: because of the name and some of the imagery of the cult, the local people have taken Ursula to be a mother-bear goddess; which is not inappropriate, considering that the saint is one known for her especial protection of mothers and children. Lailith offers regular healing services to the local populace, and is also capable of raising dead characters back to life for the paltry sum of 300 gold (her fee as of this writing).
the Shrine of Adonai -- the newest (as of this writing) structure in town, right now a humble wooden image off to the side of the village green. This Adonai is another Lawful Good god, a god of justice, carved as a kingly figure with a sword in his lap, pouring out drink from a horn with his right hand. The image was raised by Aetheulwulf, a newly minted paladin and a delver into the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon.
the Shrine of Peoni -- (yes, I stole this goddess from Harn) the shrine of the local farmers and townsfolk, dedicated to Peoni, a goddess of growth, fertility, healing, and the simple life. Alas, the priesthood here is not capable of any great healing, other than ministering to wounds with mundane poultices; there is probably little of direct interest for adventurers here, other than the fact that local dissidents occasionally use the shrine as a kind of sanctuary place to meet in secret and discuss their hatred of Morholt ...
Thorgir's Smithy -- the local smithy and sometimes armory for the old fyrd; Thorgir and his apprentices, Aldir, Tess, and Freygir, are capable of seeing to the community's need for such mundanities as horseshoes and barrel-hoops, but also of forging simple arms like spearheads, arrowheads, shield-bosses, helms, etc. They once supplied the Brakeridge fyrd/militia; now they supply adventurers; and though they cannot make better swords and armors, they do buy them from passing merchants and resell them at their shop, meaning that adventurers can purchase anything from the B/X equipment lists in town.
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