This is self-indulgent trivia, but I think there's at least a couple friends who might also find it amusing.
Recently (in February or March?) I joined Nick's new game in the city-state of Orm, much to my pleasure. We who are participating were obliged to roll up new characters, to be native neophytes of the world under its dying sun. This was a great opportunity for me, something I've been wanting to do for a while--my other B/X characters are almost all mixed up with one another for various reasons, and it would be nice to have a fresh start separate from their interests.
I was hung up on the name. Almost all of my human characters have Greek-inspired names (Eleutheria, Ismene, Nebridius, Eleithiya, Aspasia, etc). There are a couple oddballs here or there: Jimmy Neckbeard (a halfling who claims dwarfish ancecstry), Laurantha (an Elf shamelessly named after Dragonlance's Lauranthelas), Goldilocks (an NPC orphan that one of my characters adopted, and I thence rolled into a character), Xev (semi-deceased, shamelessly ripped from one of my favorite sci-fi TV shows, Lexx).
So what could I do that's new?
Well, nothing new that I looked at hooked me; my smattering of basic Arabic left me uninspired, and it was the main source I was toying with. I haven't gotten much traction out of my thin German for fantasy names, and despite the seeming-medieval setting of assumed-D&D, I prefer the weirder bits of Classical and older pagan history for my characters and inspiration.
So alright, I think, why not re-tread old ground? I named my first B/X character Xanthos, explicitly out of the Iliad. He's still my main character; if I'm naming a new "main" character, why not do that again?
Technically, my inspiration for Xanthos was that that was the name of one of Achilleus' horses, the one that speaks to him (if I'm remembering right); but I also knew that the name was shared with one of the rivers that bordered the fields where the Achaeans and Trojans joined battle.
So, why not name this new character after the other river? Perfect! Same source-material, but a sideways justification. (I also considered using just any old name from the Iliad, like Meriones or Idomeneus--and specifically them, because I once had a wild-haired dream of writing a play using them, which was a bad idea, but I like those characters in particular--but I decided it would be better to use place names, so that I could win my own glory! rather than competing with literal heroes)
My memory was that there were two rivers on the plain of battle before Troy. The plain was sometimes called Scamander because of one of the rivers that bordered it; if Xanthos was one of the rivers, I reasoned, then Scamander was the other one. Hence the new character's name: Scamandros!
Alas, I clearly haven't reread the Iliad any time recently. Xanthos and Scamander are the same river, known to mortals as Scamander, and to the gods as Xanthos. The other river that I was thinking of that bordered the plain was the Simoieis ...
So now I've got two characters running around in different games both named after the same river, by different names. I won't lie that I briefly thought that they must be the same soul, transmigrated via the fantasy of D&D to occupy both bodies in wildly different places; eh, but better they're just two souls coincidentally co-named. After all, I was looking to branch out to begin with!
Monday, May 18, 2020
Friday, May 15, 2020
Returning From a Successful Expedition, Scamandros Recounts to a Friend
[Returning to the Burning Witch tavern after the most recent expedition into the Complex just outside the city-state of Orm, Scamandros and company lay out their loot to be divided amongst themselves upon a table. Like Scamandros, Fergus and Fancy appear unharmed; while Thea and the dwarf Feeble Finn both seem to have suffered prodigious nosebleeds (and earbleeds?). Of the four hirelings, Terk has one arm thoroughly wrapped in a blood-soaked cloak, while Kiddo and the others all seem as unscathed as the first three of the company.
Before the hirelings split, Scamandros produces a bottle of dark berry wine from his person, purchased some time ago when the merchant Bartamus Fludge came through town, and he also counts out 12 gold pieces from his purse.]
Hold up, comrades! Take this bottle of wine and this gold and split it up amongst yourselves for your valiant services today--and know that with future successes like this, the bonuses will only be greater. My thanks to all of you, and I'm sure that I speak for all in the company today. Now go, eat, and be merry!
Now, my adventuring fellows, my suggestion is that we take what we suspect to be enchanted to my compatriots at the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun to be identified. Our library of tomes in Old Imperialish (Phasmo's specialty) and Gnomish treatises (my own particular), combined with Crannoc's nose for dweomers will have every property properly understood in a trice, and for a pittance to boot!
And Finn--you may retain what you will of the equipment I purchased as you wish, or return it; I would simply ask that you pay me the coin that I used to purchase anything you keep, while anything returned will expunge the relevant debt to me. But count the arrows as free; oft have I heard the refrain from archers, "Love not thy ammunition." Altogether, I spent fifty-eight gold, not counting the arrows. (I can provide an itemized receipt if needed)
[And turning away from the wrangling over remaining particulars, Scamandros spots sometime-companion Betina the Blind among the other patrons of the tavern.]
O! Betina! Share a pint with me, won't you? I've just returned from the Complex. I'll tell our tale, if you regale me with the particulars of the white altar. (I'm sorry I missed that expedition, I got caught up in the mixing of alchemical reagents and completely lost track of time!)
--Friend proprietor! Bring us a pitcher of chestnut ale won't you? Here's four gold, I hope that covers it. (and I'm sorry I've forgotten your name, I'm sure I'll remember it next I'm in)--
So! I have vague ambitions to seek the rumored "Yeast Fields" within the Complex for the brewing of alchemical potions, but my companions seemed more interested in "reconnaissance in force" (and hopefully a bit of dis-covered recompense), and we opted to seek the rumored elevator. But we were sidetracked by a rumor of a recent expedition in the northwest of level one, and of certain places left unexplored therein.
Thence, therefore, did we march, past the staked-heads west of the Pit, and around through the secret door and under the great arch. Several paths lay before us at the next juncture, and we elected for the nearer doors.
The first door we opened led to others; the next revealed disappointment in an old storage room. But to our horror, Thea pointed out a translucent flowing amoeboid come through the door in pursuit! It descended on Finn, congealing around his head and extracting the fluids of his braincase most terribly. Fortunately, he was able to cast it off with his hands, and I darted in to strike its nucleus just right such that it "popped" and dis-integrated.
Relieved of that horror, we turned to the next door, and behind it found an octagonal room containing a singular chest. Certainly treasure was secreted within! But wary as ever, we held back from our enthusiasm, and Fancy the Bard gave his touching-pole to--Termin, I think was the name? A hireling of his, anyway--to prod open the lid. Well, that he managed to do, but not without the mishap foreseen! A dart was cast forth, and delivered what must have been a fine dose of poison to the poor man. He had to sit down and put head between his knees until his heart stopped "pattering", as he said (meanwhile, we were elated to find within the chest a reasonable amount of electrum coins).
Continuing to open the many doors before us, we next discovered a storage chamber, already looked-through by the three occupants, caught in the act of tapping on the walls in seek of secret doors. They attempted to mislead us by declaring a "musical" interest, but Fancy showed them real music, and two of the three became entranced. They revealed themselves as servants of the Sorcerer-King Valtropis, seeking certain treasures told to them by the Gnomes to be hid within that reach of the Complex. The armor we recovered (over there) is theirs; alas, they forced our hands, and we had to slay them, rather than remain cordial! Fergus' understanding of the dweomers of sleep proved his worth in this clinch of conflict.
Well, the walls didn't hold any secrets; I can't decide if the Gnomes gave poor information, or if the Vat-Spawn only poorly understood their intelligence? Regardless, we continued our investigations.
The next room contained nothing but alcoves and a dusty recliner, but two other floating amoeboids came on after us while investigating. Fortunately our combined arms proved their match, and they too were soon "popped" (I should not neglect to mention the bravery of our hirelings here, who were the ones to deliver the final blows to both horrors; I think Glys killed one all alone with her crossbow). Fancy, digging through his knowledge of lore declared the amoeboids were "metroids", whatever that may mean, but also suggested that we just call them "suck clouds" given their proclivities.
My astute observations and fine deductive mind next allowed us ingress through a certain wall formerly assumed to be true, but now found to contain a secret door. The first door within proved merely a closet; but our hirelings, set to guard, called out from the corridor, and filing out from our investigations, we discerned a fleshy tentacular horror squelching toward us from the darkness. This too fell before our arms, and I will not feign modesty that it was my own magic missile that dealt the killing blow (though Fergus did call out for it in the final act).
The last that we explored was another room, containing only a corpse, dressed in one of the finest shirts of mail that I have ever seen. Indeed, it is there upon the table, being wrangled over by my comrades! Fain, of course, were we to remove the armor from a dead man, and remand it to one of our own who would more happily use it ... but none of us wished exactly to be the hand that took from the dead. Terk was volunteered, much to his chagrin (as perhaps you saw).
He went as ordered, and returned after but a moment, and something was crawling in his arm, under the skin. The horror of it almost paralyzed. Fergus suggested cutting it out with a dagger; Finn suggested hacking the arm off entire with a falchion. Fancy blanched at both (as did Terk), but could not immediately recall whatever lore he was clearly seeking behind his eyes.
So! Terk we grasped, all of us, and held him down without analgesic, and Fergus applied his dagger in imitation of a surgeon.
To no avail! Blood poured, and the man howled, but the thing still writhed in his arm.
But, "Fire!" Fancy suddenly declared, and he lit a torch, and while continued to hold poor Terk down, Fancy applied the brand to the flesh, and forth came the grub, terrified like a tick from the flame, and Fergus cut it atwain with his knife.
Seeing all this, a light did we see in Thea's eye, and she muttered something to herself about, "The silent death," and went to the corpse. I know not what she did, for I was engaged with Kiddo consoling poor Terk and wrapping his arm; but when we returned to the corpse to retrieve its armor, Thea did declared it free of the wretched grubs, and lo! nothing further untoward occurred when handling it.
Well! Such are the deeds as we have just accomplished them. But I think I missed any true retelling of your own adventure to seek out the white altar. How is it that you came by your new unlooked for power of touch? And I think, also, that I have missed word of some of your other adventures, if you have any wish to expound on deeds of daring-do!
Before the hirelings split, Scamandros produces a bottle of dark berry wine from his person, purchased some time ago when the merchant Bartamus Fludge came through town, and he also counts out 12 gold pieces from his purse.]
Hold up, comrades! Take this bottle of wine and this gold and split it up amongst yourselves for your valiant services today--and know that with future successes like this, the bonuses will only be greater. My thanks to all of you, and I'm sure that I speak for all in the company today. Now go, eat, and be merry!
Now, my adventuring fellows, my suggestion is that we take what we suspect to be enchanted to my compatriots at the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun to be identified. Our library of tomes in Old Imperialish (Phasmo's specialty) and Gnomish treatises (my own particular), combined with Crannoc's nose for dweomers will have every property properly understood in a trice, and for a pittance to boot!
And Finn--you may retain what you will of the equipment I purchased as you wish, or return it; I would simply ask that you pay me the coin that I used to purchase anything you keep, while anything returned will expunge the relevant debt to me. But count the arrows as free; oft have I heard the refrain from archers, "Love not thy ammunition." Altogether, I spent fifty-eight gold, not counting the arrows. (I can provide an itemized receipt if needed)
[And turning away from the wrangling over remaining particulars, Scamandros spots sometime-companion Betina the Blind among the other patrons of the tavern.]
O! Betina! Share a pint with me, won't you? I've just returned from the Complex. I'll tell our tale, if you regale me with the particulars of the white altar. (I'm sorry I missed that expedition, I got caught up in the mixing of alchemical reagents and completely lost track of time!)
--Friend proprietor! Bring us a pitcher of chestnut ale won't you? Here's four gold, I hope that covers it. (and I'm sorry I've forgotten your name, I'm sure I'll remember it next I'm in)--
So! I have vague ambitions to seek the rumored "Yeast Fields" within the Complex for the brewing of alchemical potions, but my companions seemed more interested in "reconnaissance in force" (and hopefully a bit of dis-covered recompense), and we opted to seek the rumored elevator. But we were sidetracked by a rumor of a recent expedition in the northwest of level one, and of certain places left unexplored therein.
Thence, therefore, did we march, past the staked-heads west of the Pit, and around through the secret door and under the great arch. Several paths lay before us at the next juncture, and we elected for the nearer doors.
The first door we opened led to others; the next revealed disappointment in an old storage room. But to our horror, Thea pointed out a translucent flowing amoeboid come through the door in pursuit! It descended on Finn, congealing around his head and extracting the fluids of his braincase most terribly. Fortunately, he was able to cast it off with his hands, and I darted in to strike its nucleus just right such that it "popped" and dis-integrated.
Relieved of that horror, we turned to the next door, and behind it found an octagonal room containing a singular chest. Certainly treasure was secreted within! But wary as ever, we held back from our enthusiasm, and Fancy the Bard gave his touching-pole to--Termin, I think was the name? A hireling of his, anyway--to prod open the lid. Well, that he managed to do, but not without the mishap foreseen! A dart was cast forth, and delivered what must have been a fine dose of poison to the poor man. He had to sit down and put head between his knees until his heart stopped "pattering", as he said (meanwhile, we were elated to find within the chest a reasonable amount of electrum coins).
Continuing to open the many doors before us, we next discovered a storage chamber, already looked-through by the three occupants, caught in the act of tapping on the walls in seek of secret doors. They attempted to mislead us by declaring a "musical" interest, but Fancy showed them real music, and two of the three became entranced. They revealed themselves as servants of the Sorcerer-King Valtropis, seeking certain treasures told to them by the Gnomes to be hid within that reach of the Complex. The armor we recovered (over there) is theirs; alas, they forced our hands, and we had to slay them, rather than remain cordial! Fergus' understanding of the dweomers of sleep proved his worth in this clinch of conflict.
Well, the walls didn't hold any secrets; I can't decide if the Gnomes gave poor information, or if the Vat-Spawn only poorly understood their intelligence? Regardless, we continued our investigations.
The next room contained nothing but alcoves and a dusty recliner, but two other floating amoeboids came on after us while investigating. Fortunately our combined arms proved their match, and they too were soon "popped" (I should not neglect to mention the bravery of our hirelings here, who were the ones to deliver the final blows to both horrors; I think Glys killed one all alone with her crossbow). Fancy, digging through his knowledge of lore declared the amoeboids were "metroids", whatever that may mean, but also suggested that we just call them "suck clouds" given their proclivities.
My astute observations and fine deductive mind next allowed us ingress through a certain wall formerly assumed to be true, but now found to contain a secret door. The first door within proved merely a closet; but our hirelings, set to guard, called out from the corridor, and filing out from our investigations, we discerned a fleshy tentacular horror squelching toward us from the darkness. This too fell before our arms, and I will not feign modesty that it was my own magic missile that dealt the killing blow (though Fergus did call out for it in the final act).
The last that we explored was another room, containing only a corpse, dressed in one of the finest shirts of mail that I have ever seen. Indeed, it is there upon the table, being wrangled over by my comrades! Fain, of course, were we to remove the armor from a dead man, and remand it to one of our own who would more happily use it ... but none of us wished exactly to be the hand that took from the dead. Terk was volunteered, much to his chagrin (as perhaps you saw).
He went as ordered, and returned after but a moment, and something was crawling in his arm, under the skin. The horror of it almost paralyzed. Fergus suggested cutting it out with a dagger; Finn suggested hacking the arm off entire with a falchion. Fancy blanched at both (as did Terk), but could not immediately recall whatever lore he was clearly seeking behind his eyes.
So! Terk we grasped, all of us, and held him down without analgesic, and Fergus applied his dagger in imitation of a surgeon.
To no avail! Blood poured, and the man howled, but the thing still writhed in his arm.
But, "Fire!" Fancy suddenly declared, and he lit a torch, and while continued to hold poor Terk down, Fancy applied the brand to the flesh, and forth came the grub, terrified like a tick from the flame, and Fergus cut it atwain with his knife.
Seeing all this, a light did we see in Thea's eye, and she muttered something to herself about, "The silent death," and went to the corpse. I know not what she did, for I was engaged with Kiddo consoling poor Terk and wrapping his arm; but when we returned to the corpse to retrieve its armor, Thea did declared it free of the wretched grubs, and lo! nothing further untoward occurred when handling it.
Well! Such are the deeds as we have just accomplished them. But I think I missed any true retelling of your own adventure to seek out the white altar. How is it that you came by your new unlooked for power of touch? And I think, also, that I have missed word of some of your other adventures, if you have any wish to expound on deeds of daring-do!
Monday, May 11, 2020
A Dialogue Between Scamandros and a Goat
[Scamandros the Seer, drunk on much spring wine, is escorted back to the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun by a goat blessed by the shepherds of Old Orm, to whom he expounds concerning his latest adventure within "the Complex"]
Well, my horn-ed friend, there we stood before the stairs descending to the seeming depths of greatness! Myself--Riverborn Scamandros!--and my companions ... allow me to count them if you would, while you chew your cud ... Betina the Blind, a fighting-woman whose sword I trust though her eyes are gone; Journeyman Crannoc and Phasmo, two fellow magic-users of the College of old, and now business-partners anew; and Frim Frimerson, a fighting-man of mien most dour. With us too were Kiddo, my trusted lictor, she bearing forth my partha shield with all the ancient Teucrian ancestry; and Veteran Ornie, once an oarsmen in the galleys of the Cerulean Sea, if I took his meaning right.
"Baa-ah!" what? And you also desire a name heroic, o! goat? Then here, take this crown of dandelions from off my brow, and I shall name you ... Anthouaix. Eh, be not ashamed! Thou art thus the Goat of the Flower!
Now ... We had come by way circuitous, half explained by Crannoc as he pored over his myriad maps. An elevator there was, would take us to the depths (though the lowest depths, they said, would split color itself!). We aimed to ride it down seeking fortune, but Crannoc's notes depicted a door unlooked-through, but of interest.
Well, looking through it was much blood, dried; and the next door held the same; but the next was always unexplored until a stair led down before us. Phasmo cried out in excitement--
Yes, this is where I tried to start, so stop your bleating! What's next begins adventure--
Anyway, we descended the steps, and found ourselves in a hall, flanked by painted statues of a man bearing a key, and a woman with a globe held high. Most interested in the key was Phasmo, but our investigations were cut short by the arrival of several beetles.
Very large beetles, with great scything mandibles.
Eschewing conflict, we tried a doorway in the corridor to the east, and opened it upon a roomful of pugnacious blue-furred beasts. Alas! they seemed intent on our flesh as delicacy, but Betina slammed shut the door, while Crannoc devised an ingenious plan to spike it shut, but with a rope coiled round the spike that we might pull it forth and release the hounds of hunger upon the beetles of our despair should they come in pursuit.
All followed per Crannoc's plan; we ourselves moved deeper into the complex.
(Very well, Anthouaix, I too require a moment to relieve certain natural pressures. Soon, now, we will arrive in Old Orm, and you will see our Athenaeum; I advise you not to eat of any tome.)
We entered into a star-shaped room; a set of stairs descended deeper into the Complex ... again, Phasmo cried in delight to discover a deeper truth ... but all that opened before us was a crescent-shaped shrine with an ancient altar. Its face was worn with the pawings of many a hopeless pilgrim, or so I surmise; for some reason my companions all knelt before the stone and placed their hands against it like--
--yes, like fools, I agree! "Baa-aah!" Very cutting, Anthouaix--
And before anything of value could be dis-covered, the skittering of beetle-legs was discerned upon the stair. Oil we spread, ready for fire, and Frim (son of Frimer Frimson, grandson of Frim Frimerson, if I got the lineage right ...) and Betina the Blind stood valiantly forth, backed by the spears of lictor-Kiddo and Ornie, and the sorceries of Riverborn Scamandros, Journeyman Crannoc, and one Phasmo!
A vicious battle followed! One of the two remaining insectile horrors was laid low by the swords and spears of my companions, along with my own magical dart!; while the other was stilled by the magical prism of Phasmo, illusionist extraordinaire. (I think that I must call upon my companions to learn more of magic, don't you think Flower-Goat?)
The still-and-sleeping beetle we fettered as a bull of old-and-ancient Minos ...
Ah, well, here we are--the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun. Ramshackle it may be, but it contains a wealth of ancient knowledge. Well, I guess it's time we parted ways and you went back to your--stop chewing on my cloak! I just had this made for the festival! Shoo! Shoo, you damn goat! If you eat this, how else am I again to impress Veturia??
[Reeling from an excess of drink, Scamandros tugs the tips of the cloak he spent some money on from the mouth of his attendant goat and sits down outside the portal of the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun to meditate on the missed opportunities of the night of the Vernal Equinox, when cherry-wine thickened his tongue and made twisted his advances to the maiden Veturia Casca ...]
Well, my horn-ed friend, there we stood before the stairs descending to the seeming depths of greatness! Myself--Riverborn Scamandros!--and my companions ... allow me to count them if you would, while you chew your cud ... Betina the Blind, a fighting-woman whose sword I trust though her eyes are gone; Journeyman Crannoc and Phasmo, two fellow magic-users of the College of old, and now business-partners anew; and Frim Frimerson, a fighting-man of mien most dour. With us too were Kiddo, my trusted lictor, she bearing forth my partha shield with all the ancient Teucrian ancestry; and Veteran Ornie, once an oarsmen in the galleys of the Cerulean Sea, if I took his meaning right.
"Baa-ah!" what? And you also desire a name heroic, o! goat? Then here, take this crown of dandelions from off my brow, and I shall name you ... Anthouaix. Eh, be not ashamed! Thou art thus the Goat of the Flower!
Now ... We had come by way circuitous, half explained by Crannoc as he pored over his myriad maps. An elevator there was, would take us to the depths (though the lowest depths, they said, would split color itself!). We aimed to ride it down seeking fortune, but Crannoc's notes depicted a door unlooked-through, but of interest.
Well, looking through it was much blood, dried; and the next door held the same; but the next was always unexplored until a stair led down before us. Phasmo cried out in excitement--
Yes, this is where I tried to start, so stop your bleating! What's next begins adventure--
Anyway, we descended the steps, and found ourselves in a hall, flanked by painted statues of a man bearing a key, and a woman with a globe held high. Most interested in the key was Phasmo, but our investigations were cut short by the arrival of several beetles.
Very large beetles, with great scything mandibles.
Eschewing conflict, we tried a doorway in the corridor to the east, and opened it upon a roomful of pugnacious blue-furred beasts. Alas! they seemed intent on our flesh as delicacy, but Betina slammed shut the door, while Crannoc devised an ingenious plan to spike it shut, but with a rope coiled round the spike that we might pull it forth and release the hounds of hunger upon the beetles of our despair should they come in pursuit.
All followed per Crannoc's plan; we ourselves moved deeper into the complex.
(Very well, Anthouaix, I too require a moment to relieve certain natural pressures. Soon, now, we will arrive in Old Orm, and you will see our Athenaeum; I advise you not to eat of any tome.)
We entered into a star-shaped room; a set of stairs descended deeper into the Complex ... again, Phasmo cried in delight to discover a deeper truth ... but all that opened before us was a crescent-shaped shrine with an ancient altar. Its face was worn with the pawings of many a hopeless pilgrim, or so I surmise; for some reason my companions all knelt before the stone and placed their hands against it like--
--yes, like fools, I agree! "Baa-aah!" Very cutting, Anthouaix--
And before anything of value could be dis-covered, the skittering of beetle-legs was discerned upon the stair. Oil we spread, ready for fire, and Frim (son of Frimer Frimson, grandson of Frim Frimerson, if I got the lineage right ...) and Betina the Blind stood valiantly forth, backed by the spears of lictor-Kiddo and Ornie, and the sorceries of Riverborn Scamandros, Journeyman Crannoc, and one Phasmo!
A vicious battle followed! One of the two remaining insectile horrors was laid low by the swords and spears of my companions, along with my own magical dart!; while the other was stilled by the magical prism of Phasmo, illusionist extraordinaire. (I think that I must call upon my companions to learn more of magic, don't you think Flower-Goat?)
The still-and-sleeping beetle we fettered as a bull of old-and-ancient Minos ...
Ah, well, here we are--the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun. Ramshackle it may be, but it contains a wealth of ancient knowledge. Well, I guess it's time we parted ways and you went back to your--stop chewing on my cloak! I just had this made for the festival! Shoo! Shoo, you damn goat! If you eat this, how else am I again to impress Veturia??
[Reeling from an excess of drink, Scamandros tugs the tips of the cloak he spent some money on from the mouth of his attendant goat and sits down outside the portal of the Athenaeum of the Dying Sun to meditate on the missed opportunities of the night of the Vernal Equinox, when cherry-wine thickened his tongue and made twisted his advances to the maiden Veturia Casca ...]
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Greyhame Game Expeditions 89 and 90
Expedition 89, 2 April's Roster:
Torrack, Gunther, and Thor (ogres)
Coball and Iliana (clerics)
Leafit (Elf)
Torrack is of such a level as to seize a cave or cavern system for himself and gather a band of ogres under him. His announced intent is to attempt to educate such a band of ogres and introduce them to civilization.
To that end, he gathered a group of comrades at the Waldburg, Kord's castle just east of Brakeridge, and the party set out toward the mountains to the east, hoping to find a cave. They didn't ask around about rumors or attempt to hire any guides, but just struck out into the wilderness, hoping to blindly stumble into success.
Well, some kind of disaster struck them down. A day after their departure, Iliana returned from the wilderness to Kord's castle, chattering about "tentacles from the dark" and "the stones themselves! The stones themselves had teeth! Everyone dead ..."
Guided by her, Ham and a larger party discovered a double-cavern entrance at the south end of a cliff-face set under and between the Whitecrown and Greyhame mountains. From within, they recovered the bodies of Torrack and his party, all badly mangled and partially digested. Over the next few days, with difficulty, Ham was able to raise from the dead all but Thor, whose body was just too far gone.
------
Expedition 90, 4 April's Roster:
Clark (paladin)
Mizer and Blackleaf (magic-users)
Koko (woman-ape)
Lucky Bob (travelling man)
Tiwo (thief)
Rolf Rolfson, Thorgil, Clothis (clerics)
Following up on two previous expeditions into the Howling Tower to discover what happened to Okok the Ape-King and to help him drive out the Getae holding the tower, the adventurers gathered in Brakeridge with the intent to delve into the Howling Tower Dungeon once more. On the 86th expedition, a number of slaves were delivered from the Tower, saved from servitude under the Getae; these slaves were able to offer a small bit of intelligence concerning the Getae, namely that the chief of the Getae, one Tamoric, was gifted by the Red King of the Getae with a huge red ruby that glitters of its own light, and which was set into the base of a huge axe; after this, according to the slaves, it seemed that certain vile sacrifices became more common.
Knowing that werewolves abound in the area, they bought up a bunch of wolfsbane (and noted that wolfsbane has become common in town, hung up over lintels and nailed to doors), Koko groused about not having armor and ordered a suit especially made for her ape frame from a local armorer, and then they set out.
Wolves howl in the wilderness; strange howling emanates once more from the Tower; the party gathered on the hillside by the secret insect-hole that leads into the Tower dungeons and sent Rolf in first. On the way in, they discovered a renewed number of large egg cases in the larger cavern outside the dungeon proper, and elected to smash them all before continuing.
Emerging once more into the crypts under the tower, the adventurers quickly made their way north to the door where they'd encountered large numbers of goblins before; listening in, they seemed to hear another such group of goblins and wolves. They briefly debated whether to clear them out again, but decided to move on.
At the next door down the corridor to the west, the party listened again, and heard ritual chanting and muted whining and howling. This seemed more interesting than mere goblins; because there were two doors into the chamber, the group decided to split up with Clark, Mizer, and Tiwo taking the south door, and everyone else at the northwest door.
The plan was that Clark should open the south door, distract those inside, and then while whoever or whatever was inside was distracted, the others would burst in from the west. This went down generally as intended--Clark opened the door and stumbled in, and found a little more than he bargained for.
A barbarian chief with a silver circlet at his head and a huge axe slung over his shoulder (giant ruby sparkling at its pommel) knelt before a statue of an Elf queen, a tripod smoking with incense at his side. Attending him were eight well-armed barbarian huskarls, a pack of wolves with intelligence gleaming in their yellow eyes and a horrible beast, its body like a hulking baboon, its head like a great shaggy wolf, and from its shoulders sprouting six swaying serpent heads.
The barbarian stood and turned to Clark and suggested that the paladin step in and disarm himself. Clark refused, denying the magic, but he did step in with his sword raised. "I challenge you, one on one," Clark declared confidently, and the barbarian chief smirked in reply. "Let us to the holmgang, then," the barbarian replied, and his huskarls drove daggers into the floor in an arena square. Hefting his axe, the chief stepped in, and Clark stepped in with his sword ... and the two set about to ineffectually swinging their weapons around as both player and referee rolled nothing but 3s and 5s for several rounds.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided they wanted in on the action, so in the door was kicked. Blackleaf bathed everyone in the room with a fireball, which both the chief and Clark shrugged off, but which knocked out some of the wolves. A web spell aimed at the eight huskarls by Mizer was fizzled by an axe thrown back at him; Koko charged in, sword flaming, and directly engaged the horrible baboon-snake demon, while Thorgil and Clothis closed with the wolves, and Lucky Bob, Rolf, and Tiwo stood back shooting crossbow bolts.
Koko's melee went poorly; though she snicked off a couple snake heads, the others got numerous bites in against her, and she felt fiery venom coursing through her veins, seizing her muscles. Blackleaf followed Mizer's web with one of her own, this one actually covering the barbarians and preventing them from joining the fray. Mizer covered himself with mirror images. Clark and the barbarian traded misses; Clothis and Thorgil knocked out some wolves.
Seeing this fight turning against him, the barbarian chief changed; his skin flushed bright blood red, from his shoulder sprouted a serpent's head, and from his mouth burst forth a full wolf's head. ... But even with all three attacks he still managed to miss Clark. Koko drank a potion of antivenin, and succeeded her second save with a natural 20, ending the threat of poison, while the rest of the party mopped up the chief's allies.
At this juncture, the chief attempted to escape invisibly, but Blackleaf had a wand of enemy detection which briefly set his outline alight before Thorgil dispelled all magic in the room with a dispel magic scroll. The chief was discovered in the corner, while the barbarians all were released from their webs.
Half the party crowded around the chief while the others meleed the barbarians. Surrounded, the chief sent forth a stroke of magical lightning which laid Blackleaf low and cooked Thorgil and Clothis without killing them. After another round, the chief again turned invisible, and the northwest door opened and closed.
Clark, Thorgil, and Clothis ducked out the door after the chief while the others dealt with the huskarls. Another stroke of lightning blasted through the corridor, but the adventurers had healed themselves enough with potions and lay on hands that they survived. Despite his regenerative abilities, the chief was at low hp at this point, and three characters whaling on him (including a critical hit, I believe) laid him low. But not dead--his body continued to regenerate even as he lay unconscious, an axe blade buried in his head.
The thing that finally ended his weird life was to divest him of everything on his person, including a fair number of gems, the silver circlet, and the axe. As the party was fairly well beaten up, they elected to gather the chief's body and possessions, and then return to the surface and the safety of town, to return to drive out the Getae another day.
Back in town, the axe was discovered to be magical (of course), and was proffered to Axxxl the Mask, local sage, to be identified. It is an axe +3, dancing, but Axxxl mentioned that there was something abominably evil about it and offered to pay 40k in gold to take it off their hands, not trusting it with them ... but they refused, and Clark won the argument to keep it.
So the chief of the Getae of Tower lies dead, his body in the hands of the adventurers ... but the Getae remain in their fastness, and Okok the Ape-King remains in the dungeons below ...
Torrack, Gunther, and Thor (ogres)
Coball and Iliana (clerics)
Leafit (Elf)
Torrack is of such a level as to seize a cave or cavern system for himself and gather a band of ogres under him. His announced intent is to attempt to educate such a band of ogres and introduce them to civilization.
To that end, he gathered a group of comrades at the Waldburg, Kord's castle just east of Brakeridge, and the party set out toward the mountains to the east, hoping to find a cave. They didn't ask around about rumors or attempt to hire any guides, but just struck out into the wilderness, hoping to blindly stumble into success.
Well, some kind of disaster struck them down. A day after their departure, Iliana returned from the wilderness to Kord's castle, chattering about "tentacles from the dark" and "the stones themselves! The stones themselves had teeth! Everyone dead ..."
Guided by her, Ham and a larger party discovered a double-cavern entrance at the south end of a cliff-face set under and between the Whitecrown and Greyhame mountains. From within, they recovered the bodies of Torrack and his party, all badly mangled and partially digested. Over the next few days, with difficulty, Ham was able to raise from the dead all but Thor, whose body was just too far gone.
------
Expedition 90, 4 April's Roster:
Clark (paladin)
Mizer and Blackleaf (magic-users)
Koko (woman-ape)
Lucky Bob (travelling man)
Tiwo (thief)
Rolf Rolfson, Thorgil, Clothis (clerics)
Following up on two previous expeditions into the Howling Tower to discover what happened to Okok the Ape-King and to help him drive out the Getae holding the tower, the adventurers gathered in Brakeridge with the intent to delve into the Howling Tower Dungeon once more. On the 86th expedition, a number of slaves were delivered from the Tower, saved from servitude under the Getae; these slaves were able to offer a small bit of intelligence concerning the Getae, namely that the chief of the Getae, one Tamoric, was gifted by the Red King of the Getae with a huge red ruby that glitters of its own light, and which was set into the base of a huge axe; after this, according to the slaves, it seemed that certain vile sacrifices became more common.
Knowing that werewolves abound in the area, they bought up a bunch of wolfsbane (and noted that wolfsbane has become common in town, hung up over lintels and nailed to doors), Koko groused about not having armor and ordered a suit especially made for her ape frame from a local armorer, and then they set out.
Wolves howl in the wilderness; strange howling emanates once more from the Tower; the party gathered on the hillside by the secret insect-hole that leads into the Tower dungeons and sent Rolf in first. On the way in, they discovered a renewed number of large egg cases in the larger cavern outside the dungeon proper, and elected to smash them all before continuing.
Emerging once more into the crypts under the tower, the adventurers quickly made their way north to the door where they'd encountered large numbers of goblins before; listening in, they seemed to hear another such group of goblins and wolves. They briefly debated whether to clear them out again, but decided to move on.
At the next door down the corridor to the west, the party listened again, and heard ritual chanting and muted whining and howling. This seemed more interesting than mere goblins; because there were two doors into the chamber, the group decided to split up with Clark, Mizer, and Tiwo taking the south door, and everyone else at the northwest door.
The plan was that Clark should open the south door, distract those inside, and then while whoever or whatever was inside was distracted, the others would burst in from the west. This went down generally as intended--Clark opened the door and stumbled in, and found a little more than he bargained for.
A barbarian chief with a silver circlet at his head and a huge axe slung over his shoulder (giant ruby sparkling at its pommel) knelt before a statue of an Elf queen, a tripod smoking with incense at his side. Attending him were eight well-armed barbarian huskarls, a pack of wolves with intelligence gleaming in their yellow eyes and a horrible beast, its body like a hulking baboon, its head like a great shaggy wolf, and from its shoulders sprouting six swaying serpent heads.
The barbarian stood and turned to Clark and suggested that the paladin step in and disarm himself. Clark refused, denying the magic, but he did step in with his sword raised. "I challenge you, one on one," Clark declared confidently, and the barbarian chief smirked in reply. "Let us to the holmgang, then," the barbarian replied, and his huskarls drove daggers into the floor in an arena square. Hefting his axe, the chief stepped in, and Clark stepped in with his sword ... and the two set about to ineffectually swinging their weapons around as both player and referee rolled nothing but 3s and 5s for several rounds.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided they wanted in on the action, so in the door was kicked. Blackleaf bathed everyone in the room with a fireball, which both the chief and Clark shrugged off, but which knocked out some of the wolves. A web spell aimed at the eight huskarls by Mizer was fizzled by an axe thrown back at him; Koko charged in, sword flaming, and directly engaged the horrible baboon-snake demon, while Thorgil and Clothis closed with the wolves, and Lucky Bob, Rolf, and Tiwo stood back shooting crossbow bolts.
Koko's melee went poorly; though she snicked off a couple snake heads, the others got numerous bites in against her, and she felt fiery venom coursing through her veins, seizing her muscles. Blackleaf followed Mizer's web with one of her own, this one actually covering the barbarians and preventing them from joining the fray. Mizer covered himself with mirror images. Clark and the barbarian traded misses; Clothis and Thorgil knocked out some wolves.
Seeing this fight turning against him, the barbarian chief changed; his skin flushed bright blood red, from his shoulder sprouted a serpent's head, and from his mouth burst forth a full wolf's head. ... But even with all three attacks he still managed to miss Clark. Koko drank a potion of antivenin, and succeeded her second save with a natural 20, ending the threat of poison, while the rest of the party mopped up the chief's allies.
At this juncture, the chief attempted to escape invisibly, but Blackleaf had a wand of enemy detection which briefly set his outline alight before Thorgil dispelled all magic in the room with a dispel magic scroll. The chief was discovered in the corner, while the barbarians all were released from their webs.
Half the party crowded around the chief while the others meleed the barbarians. Surrounded, the chief sent forth a stroke of magical lightning which laid Blackleaf low and cooked Thorgil and Clothis without killing them. After another round, the chief again turned invisible, and the northwest door opened and closed.
Clark, Thorgil, and Clothis ducked out the door after the chief while the others dealt with the huskarls. Another stroke of lightning blasted through the corridor, but the adventurers had healed themselves enough with potions and lay on hands that they survived. Despite his regenerative abilities, the chief was at low hp at this point, and three characters whaling on him (including a critical hit, I believe) laid him low. But not dead--his body continued to regenerate even as he lay unconscious, an axe blade buried in his head.
The thing that finally ended his weird life was to divest him of everything on his person, including a fair number of gems, the silver circlet, and the axe. As the party was fairly well beaten up, they elected to gather the chief's body and possessions, and then return to the surface and the safety of town, to return to drive out the Getae another day.
Back in town, the axe was discovered to be magical (of course), and was proffered to Axxxl the Mask, local sage, to be identified. It is an axe +3, dancing, but Axxxl mentioned that there was something abominably evil about it and offered to pay 40k in gold to take it off their hands, not trusting it with them ... but they refused, and Clark won the argument to keep it.
So the chief of the Getae of Tower lies dead, his body in the hands of the adventurers ... but the Getae remain in their fastness, and Okok the Ape-King remains in the dungeons below ...
Friday, April 5, 2019
Greyhame Game Expedition 88
Following up on their re-explorations of the Howling Tower dungeons during expedition 86, the party attempts to clear goblins, wolves, and werewolves from the first level, discovers a mysterious stair down, and on the second level of the dungeon, claimed the treasure previously barred to them on the belly of the black dragon statue ...
28 March's roster:
Koko (woman-ape)
Clark (would-be paladin)
Lucky-Bob (travelling man)
Blackleaf, Merlin, and Mizer (magic-users)
Coball, Thaddeus, and Rolf Rolfson (clerics)
and Tiwo (Getae thief)
Before setting out once more for the dungeon-complex under the Greyhame Mountain, some rumor-mongering: First, the party hears about the appearance in town of Drang the goblin, his Elfin associate Stormy, and their entourage of ogre-servants. These individuals have taken up semi-permanent rooms at the Black Dragon's Mede, a local inn-and-tavern, and seem to be in the business of offering adventure hooks ... except that at this moment, another group of adventurers had earlier snapped up the hook and were off gallivanting in seek of it. Perhaps next week something will be available ...
Second, also currently at the Mede is one Xanthos, master-thief extraordinaire, magic-user unparalleled, and leader of the Cult of the Black Dragon. This Xanthos is a long-time dungeon-companion of Clark from of old, and the party agrees to pay him 1000 gp for information about the statue discovered in the dungeon last time, at a hint from Clark ... and lo, the dark-cloaked, dragonfire-scarred fellow explains, "That is an image of Anglamorath the Black, the Dragon of Night; she is the dark between the stars, and when the Rainbow bridge is thrown down, her wings will overshadow the world, and she will come again in power and glory and her enemies will fall before her, and her worshipers will glory in her vengeance. So--who wants to join the Cult?"
Tiwo agreed to offer allegiance to Anglamorath, and in return, Xanthos taught him certain secret words and countersigns that would allow him to retrieve the treasure from the statue.
Lastly, rumors run through town of a "lost" expedition in the west, in which the half-Elf Cairn died of strange light, the ogre Torg met an unpleasant end digested in the belly of a monster, while their comrade JH barely escaped from the dungeon, bearing the body of Tarn, who had succumbed and drowned from the kiss of a nymph.
To the dungeon!
Descending into the Howling Tower dungeon by the secret insect-tunnels, Clark was leading, and he ran into three insectile horrors gathered in the central part of the tunnels--two of the horrors caught in the midst of copulating while the third waited on the side. In the short melee that followed, Clark was paralyzed by the poisonous tentacles of one, but the horrors were swiftly dispatched by a pile-on of dogs and spear-wielding Mizer (who learned the use of the spear through certain ancient rituals taught him while apprenticed to an ancient and powerful magic-user).
The party then dragged Clark into the dungeon and debated whether to carry him along or wait for him to be freed of the rigor of paralysis. Fortunately, the effect wore off even while they argued, and the expedition was able to continue in good time.
Guided to the door wherein they were surprised by a large group of goblins and wolves on a former expedition (#85, I'm not writing it now, sorry), the party argued as to whether to split up for a pincer-attack or not. Lucky Bob and co. argued "not" and as the rest of the party acquiesced, they turned to burst in the door to surprise whatever lay beyond.
Behind the door lay a large chamber, filled with goblins, wolves, goblin-detritus, and a few low fires for rat-cooking. Blackleaf and Merlin each got off a spell of sleep before the goblins could do anything, knocking out almost all of the goblins and even a few wolves. What followed was a chaotic melee as Clark, Koko and Thaddeus advanced to attack with swords and maces. The few remaining goblins attempted to get off their own magic, but while two managed to magically douse the party's torches, the other two were struck and had their spells fizzled.
The wolves then joined the melee, and it soon became evident that they were not mere wolves. But the party was well-equipped with magic and silver weapons and had no trouble dealing damage to the werewolves, though the creatures were not easily dispatched because of high hp rolls. Midway through the combat, the remaining goblin-leaders broke and fled, earning opprobrium from their wolfish companions, but the party allowed them to flee. Several rounds later, the final werewolf (of five) dropped its head and in Common growled, "Spare me! Mercy!"
Mercy was granted by the predominantly Good party; pumping their new captive for information, they learned his name, Vitrig, learned that the goblins and wolves still largely dominate this first dungeon level, and rediscovered the wolf-and-goblin altar in a secret room, covered anew with offerings of silver and gems. Tying Vitrig up, the party continued on their way to explore more of the first dungeon level.
Exploring the eastern boundaries, the party opened several empty tombs, and then finally a chamber seemingly guarded by two silver statues in the form of Elfin maiden-warriors. There were further doors leading from the chamber, but when the statues uttered a hollow challenge in Chaotic--one dissimilar to the countersigns taught to Tiwo by Xanthos--the party elected to withdraw rather than risk fighting golems.
Continuing exploration, the party entered a large hall with several pillars, and surprised about a dozen bizarre creatures clustered around one of the pillars ... Another sleep spell dropped a few of the creatures, but that led to battle as they turned to deal with the intruding adventurers. And so the party came face to face with strange things, goblin in shape, but with four long gangling arms from either shoulder, two vestigial arms from their chests, plates of black exoskeleton covering parts of their bodies, and two huge black multi-faceted eyes staring out from over mouths drooling and gaping around large fanged mandibles--spider-goblin-things!
Because of a good initiative roll and use of a web spell to immobilize half of the creatures remaining awake, and then a fireball spell that wiped out the webbed and sleeping creatures, the encounter passed quickly with the party triumphing. It was discovered that the creatures were, with their own webs, tying up the deceased body of an Elf-woman to the central pillar, whom Lucky Bob elected to take up and carry out of the dungeon to be raised from the dead.
About to turn back and return to town, the party was recalled to the lure of treasure by Blackleaf and Koko--to come all this way and forget about the treasure-laden dragon statue? Goaded on by this reminder, the party quickly found their way to the stair down to the second level. There, an encounter with wolves was avoided, and then the party found themselves in the great gallery before the shining black statue of Anglamorath.
Tiwo gave the countersigns and demanded in Chaotic that the dragon relinquish her treasure; then going up, he attempted to prize off the gems on the belly ... and nothing happened. Working quickly, and with the help of the Chaotic followers of Kord, Thaddeus, Coball, and Merlin, the party managed to prize off some two dozen gems and thousands of gold and silver coins. Fortunately, they had brought enough sacks into the dungeon in which to stuff all this treasure, and so they were able to haul all of it out, fireballing another small pack of wolves on their quick-march back to the surface.
Returning to town, only Clark and Mizer elected to carouse, and thus is word of their deeds and rewards spread throughout town.
28 March's roster:
Koko (woman-ape)
Clark (would-be paladin)
Lucky-Bob (travelling man)
Blackleaf, Merlin, and Mizer (magic-users)
Coball, Thaddeus, and Rolf Rolfson (clerics)
and Tiwo (Getae thief)
Before setting out once more for the dungeon-complex under the Greyhame Mountain, some rumor-mongering: First, the party hears about the appearance in town of Drang the goblin, his Elfin associate Stormy, and their entourage of ogre-servants. These individuals have taken up semi-permanent rooms at the Black Dragon's Mede, a local inn-and-tavern, and seem to be in the business of offering adventure hooks ... except that at this moment, another group of adventurers had earlier snapped up the hook and were off gallivanting in seek of it. Perhaps next week something will be available ...
Second, also currently at the Mede is one Xanthos, master-thief extraordinaire, magic-user unparalleled, and leader of the Cult of the Black Dragon. This Xanthos is a long-time dungeon-companion of Clark from of old, and the party agrees to pay him 1000 gp for information about the statue discovered in the dungeon last time, at a hint from Clark ... and lo, the dark-cloaked, dragonfire-scarred fellow explains, "That is an image of Anglamorath the Black, the Dragon of Night; she is the dark between the stars, and when the Rainbow bridge is thrown down, her wings will overshadow the world, and she will come again in power and glory and her enemies will fall before her, and her worshipers will glory in her vengeance. So--who wants to join the Cult?"
Tiwo agreed to offer allegiance to Anglamorath, and in return, Xanthos taught him certain secret words and countersigns that would allow him to retrieve the treasure from the statue.
Lastly, rumors run through town of a "lost" expedition in the west, in which the half-Elf Cairn died of strange light, the ogre Torg met an unpleasant end digested in the belly of a monster, while their comrade JH barely escaped from the dungeon, bearing the body of Tarn, who had succumbed and drowned from the kiss of a nymph.
To the dungeon!
Descending into the Howling Tower dungeon by the secret insect-tunnels, Clark was leading, and he ran into three insectile horrors gathered in the central part of the tunnels--two of the horrors caught in the midst of copulating while the third waited on the side. In the short melee that followed, Clark was paralyzed by the poisonous tentacles of one, but the horrors were swiftly dispatched by a pile-on of dogs and spear-wielding Mizer (who learned the use of the spear through certain ancient rituals taught him while apprenticed to an ancient and powerful magic-user).
The party then dragged Clark into the dungeon and debated whether to carry him along or wait for him to be freed of the rigor of paralysis. Fortunately, the effect wore off even while they argued, and the expedition was able to continue in good time.
Guided to the door wherein they were surprised by a large group of goblins and wolves on a former expedition (#85, I'm not writing it now, sorry), the party argued as to whether to split up for a pincer-attack or not. Lucky Bob and co. argued "not" and as the rest of the party acquiesced, they turned to burst in the door to surprise whatever lay beyond.
Behind the door lay a large chamber, filled with goblins, wolves, goblin-detritus, and a few low fires for rat-cooking. Blackleaf and Merlin each got off a spell of sleep before the goblins could do anything, knocking out almost all of the goblins and even a few wolves. What followed was a chaotic melee as Clark, Koko and Thaddeus advanced to attack with swords and maces. The few remaining goblins attempted to get off their own magic, but while two managed to magically douse the party's torches, the other two were struck and had their spells fizzled.
The wolves then joined the melee, and it soon became evident that they were not mere wolves. But the party was well-equipped with magic and silver weapons and had no trouble dealing damage to the werewolves, though the creatures were not easily dispatched because of high hp rolls. Midway through the combat, the remaining goblin-leaders broke and fled, earning opprobrium from their wolfish companions, but the party allowed them to flee. Several rounds later, the final werewolf (of five) dropped its head and in Common growled, "Spare me! Mercy!"
Mercy was granted by the predominantly Good party; pumping their new captive for information, they learned his name, Vitrig, learned that the goblins and wolves still largely dominate this first dungeon level, and rediscovered the wolf-and-goblin altar in a secret room, covered anew with offerings of silver and gems. Tying Vitrig up, the party continued on their way to explore more of the first dungeon level.
Exploring the eastern boundaries, the party opened several empty tombs, and then finally a chamber seemingly guarded by two silver statues in the form of Elfin maiden-warriors. There were further doors leading from the chamber, but when the statues uttered a hollow challenge in Chaotic--one dissimilar to the countersigns taught to Tiwo by Xanthos--the party elected to withdraw rather than risk fighting golems.
Continuing exploration, the party entered a large hall with several pillars, and surprised about a dozen bizarre creatures clustered around one of the pillars ... Another sleep spell dropped a few of the creatures, but that led to battle as they turned to deal with the intruding adventurers. And so the party came face to face with strange things, goblin in shape, but with four long gangling arms from either shoulder, two vestigial arms from their chests, plates of black exoskeleton covering parts of their bodies, and two huge black multi-faceted eyes staring out from over mouths drooling and gaping around large fanged mandibles--spider-goblin-things!
Because of a good initiative roll and use of a web spell to immobilize half of the creatures remaining awake, and then a fireball spell that wiped out the webbed and sleeping creatures, the encounter passed quickly with the party triumphing. It was discovered that the creatures were, with their own webs, tying up the deceased body of an Elf-woman to the central pillar, whom Lucky Bob elected to take up and carry out of the dungeon to be raised from the dead.
About to turn back and return to town, the party was recalled to the lure of treasure by Blackleaf and Koko--to come all this way and forget about the treasure-laden dragon statue? Goaded on by this reminder, the party quickly found their way to the stair down to the second level. There, an encounter with wolves was avoided, and then the party found themselves in the great gallery before the shining black statue of Anglamorath.
Tiwo gave the countersigns and demanded in Chaotic that the dragon relinquish her treasure; then going up, he attempted to prize off the gems on the belly ... and nothing happened. Working quickly, and with the help of the Chaotic followers of Kord, Thaddeus, Coball, and Merlin, the party managed to prize off some two dozen gems and thousands of gold and silver coins. Fortunately, they had brought enough sacks into the dungeon in which to stuff all this treasure, and so they were able to haul all of it out, fireballing another small pack of wolves on their quick-march back to the surface.
Returning to town, only Clark and Mizer elected to carouse, and thus is word of their deeds and rewards spread throughout town.
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Greyhame Game Expedition 87
A real-world two-part expedition, but interrupted in-game only by a pause in media res back at the camp outside the dungeon ...
The roster for 25 and 29 March:
Sten (halfling)
with Henry (magic-user), Tal (thief), and Foz (free goblin)
Nigel (16 year old boy-wonder magic-user)
Shoopie (dwarf)
with Zanatos (cleric)
Clark (paladin)
Tomu (dwarf) and Erbin (fighter)
and a small army of hirelings and dogs
At the Black Dragon's Meed Inn & Tavern back in town, a strange party arrives: a goblin, obviously the leader, introduced himself as Drang, his female Elf companion as Stormy, and the chief of his five-ogre entourage as Barduk; the four ogre-servants carried for their goblin-master a chest, obviously heavy, from which Drang counted out several thousand gold for a year's stay at the inn.
He then turned to the adventurers gathered in the tavern common room--Henry and Sten were holding a reunion of old friends with Nigel, Shoopie, and Zanatos--and the goblin Drang offered a further "obscene amount" of gold if these obvious ne'er-do-wells and adventurers would seek out a zone for him, lost of old under the Greyhame Mountain. A treasure map was offered--actually a letter and an account from the chronicles of the Brondings, which together suggested the location of the lost item--and a precise amount was agreed upon.
Thus offered compensation, the party acquired what they needed in town, and then set out for the Greyhame Mountain. Their clues led them into the Glimmervaults, those ancient caverns whose ceilings glimmer in the dark as if with the night's stars. Certain among the party had adventured in the 'Vaults previously (some so long ago as to have been in a previous incarnation of the dungeon, in a previous campaign!). Armed with their own map, they oriented themselves and then struck out into unexplored areas.
The caverns extended for a good way to the south and east; in a certain portion, the cave ceiling seemed to vanish into the night sky, though under constellations strangely distorted; and further on was discovered a great lake of dark waters glittering under stars. Another cave was found filled with a herd of giant pallid cave-locusts, while in one section stone doors were held closed by great iron bars warning with inscriptions of "the pollution of death is barred inside these halls."
While standing on the shore of the dark lake, the party was attacked by huge whited salamanders that swarmed out of the waters like slimy crocodiles; two of the dogs were slain here, but the foul creatures were driven back into the waters by a liberal application of flaming lamp oil. It was about this time that the party elected to return to their camp outside, uncertain of their prospects further in the dungeon without a little extra muscle.
The extra muscle came in the form of Clark, Tomu, and Erbin, whose players joined us on the 29th; and with their reinforcement, the party returned into the darkness.
Under a starry sky, the party discovered a secret cache of treasure in a stone tree; but were surprised from behind by a group of about a dozen corpses shambling toward them, corpses covered in growths of wispy grey mold, whitecap mushrooms, and other fungal growths. These did not turn away from Zanatos' holy symbol and prayers, but Clark was able to cause them to fight each other by the use of his ring of fungus control. But while the party argued as to what to do with the discovered treasure, they were interrupted again from behind by the snuffling and crunching of cave bears enjoying the surprise feast of fungal zombies.
----
"Yeah, we fucking killed those bears!" Nigel interjects into the midst of this accounting by the carousing characters.
"With the help of my ring of animal control," Shoopie adds; "But you should slow down on that beer, boy."
"Who are you calling boy? I'm a man! I'm sixteen--that's the age of majority!"
"Until you can grow one of these," Shoopie replies, tugging at his beard, "I'm afraid you're no man."
----
Continuing the account, the party found themselves in a cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites; fortunately, Clark happened to look behind and witness one of the stalagmites shuffling and shifting just a little closer to the party. Alerting his fellows, he then advanced to investigate, followed cautiously by Sten ... and stepping within range, Clark found himself suddenly faced with an explosion of whipping tendrils from the weird stalagmite. Several latched onto him with glue-like secretions and then Clark found himself being dragged onward into the darkness and the suddenly revealed maw of stony teeth gaping from the stalagmite's side.
So began a desperate battle in the dark; as the party moved to Clark's aid, they found themselves accosted by two others of the stalagmite-horrors, the tendrils of which dragged a number of characters into the threat of crunching maws. Tomu and Erbin were two such caught, while Shoopie and Sten also found themselves struggling against the in-reeling tendrils. Each round in the grip of the tendrils while in melee range, the monsters were able to crush their victims in their jaws, and Erbin faced the swift death of his hireling, and then his own terrible death. Arakh the orc, Nigel's companion from adventure of old, also found death here, and Clark himself was brought low by too many rounds in the stony grip of his foe.
Nigel cast a lightning bolt spell to no effect, but Henry's fireball softened up two of the creatures, while Zanatos' cure spells helped bolster Clark long enough to heal himself further by laying hands on himself. Once the first of the three creatures was slain, though, its body oozing a foul yellow ichor, the party was able to combine efforts, and their various magical strength and swords were able to cut down the last two stony pillars of death.
At this point, much thought was given as to whether to retreat, but the call of sweet lucre proved irresistible, and the party moved deeper into the dungeon. Discovering halls of worked stone, decorated with imagery of Elves dancing under stars and trees of oak and firs, the party entered cautiously and discovered a number of fallen bodies, apparently killed of old by their own hands. These proved, as suspected, to be undead, which arose and drew swords of shadow from the empty scabbards at their sides.
And the danger of encounters with the undead was remembered here under pillars like stone trees, as Nigel and Zanatos both suffered the loss of life energy when struck by the cold shadowed swords. But the undead horrors were finally destroyed ...
----
At this point, the account is interrupted again as the carousing characters break into old reminiscences. "Yeah, seems like we might have to make another trip to Rix's dungeon, to bathe in the healing waters there," Shoopie declares.
"Rix!" Nigel says. "I still haven't forgiven you all for murdering Rix!"
"Forgiven us for that--what about all the other stuff we've done to you?" Sten pipes up from behind the bar. He has to stand on a barstool to see over the top, while he continuously pours his best stock of wine for himself and proceeds to guzzle it down. "Like when Xanthos paid for your 'lovely' wife to be raised from the dead?"
"Yeah, or when we sold you off to the Goblin King for a night?" Shoopie adds. Grinning evilly from behind his beard, he reaches out making a pinching motion with his fingers. "Beautiful boy!" he adds in a nasally imitation of the Goblin King's crooning.
"I will rip your head off and shit in the hole if you say that again," Nigel responds, totally dead pan, getting his fingers ready to cast fireball.
----
Anyway, hauling out all the treasure they'd acquired from halls of the dead, the party found themselves obstructed by the appearance of a gang of creatures, black-skinned, gangly-armed, and with greasy white hair. With hooked noses sniffing, they shuffled out of the darkness, ready to rend with outstretched claws.
A short round of combat established for certain the nature of these creatures, as the wounds cut by the adventurers' swords rapidly began to heal. Only Shoopie's sword versus regenerating creatures and Sten's flaming sword caused lasting wounds. But the punishment dished out by the party proved too much for the trolls, lasting or not; and in the end only one of the creatures escaped into the darkness, leaving its fellows on the cavern floor, covered in oil and set fire until burned to death by the characters.
So ended this expedition into the Glimmervaults--wildly successful if the amount of booze bought and drunk on the night of their return is any indication; and yet Drang remains at the inn, not entirely satisfied with the outcome of the expedition ...
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Greyhame Game Expedition 86
It's been a long time since I posted regarding this game (Expedition 30, the killing of the Goblin King, was the last time). Actually, it's been since October last year that I've posted at all, but we're finally playing the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon itself again, so I feel the impetus ...
So ...
------
Much has happened in the time since the killing and capturing of the Goblin King. An entire year has passed, and another half a year beyond that. Many of the adventurers from the original expeditions have moved on or retired, but others are still in the thick of it, risking much for sweet, sweet lucre.
Kord the Half-Orc has captured the castle of Waldburg to the east of the original hometown of Brakeridge; Lailith the Matriarch has taken the castle of Drachenturm from a nest of wyverns and had it repaired.
The Goblin King was turned over to the Elves for a large weregild, and he has presumably been tortured and crucified, as the Elves swore they would do. The Lord of Werewolves has allied himself with Viteric, Red King of the Getae barbarians, and together they make war on the Elves. An undead dragon and its hoard were discovered in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower. Another dungeon-complex entire was explored in the hills to the northwest, and the cult of Skotia, goddess of darkness and death, was driven out, while the shrines and burial halls of Law and Good within were restored.
New adventurers have arrived to join in on the exploration of the deeps seeking gold, power, and glory, and at long last, expeditions have returned to the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon, led by Koko the Woman-Ape, who sought Okok the Ape-Chief somewhere in the Howling Tower ...
------
the roster for 21 March:
Koko (woman-ape)
Torrack and Torg (ogres)
Mizer and Blackleaf (magic-users, Blackleaf formerly an Elf)
Alan and Rolf Rolfson (clerics, Rolf a Getae tribesman)
Lucky Bob (traveling man)
and four hirelings
and five dogs
During last week's session, Koko, Blackleaf, and others discovered that the Howling Tower was howling again--wolves have gathered in large numbers in the wilderness around it, as well as some eerie, eldritch howling from within--and more surprisingly, the tower had been surrounded by a stockade of wooden palisades and longhouses populated by a tribe of Getae barbarians and their wolf and goblin allies. Not much was discovered during this expedition, but a number of slaves were freed from within the tower's dungeon, and they were able to relate that Okok and the other apes were driven down from the tower into the depths of the dungeon.
With that intelligence, the goal of this week's expedition was to delve into the depths and discover just where Okok had ended up. Koko took the lead, taking the company of adventurers to the secret entrance on the side of the ridge that pierces directly into the tower dungeon without need to enter the tower itself (which remains fortified behind the barbarians' stockade). This secret entrance once housed terrible insectile horrors, but for now retains only their large, empty egg sacs.
Emerging from the tunnel into the dungeon, Koko and Alan pored over the maps from previous expeditions and agreed on the fastest route through the first dungeon level to the stair down to the second. To that end, they skirted around the perimeter of the level and avoided any encounters with goblins or wolves (which still inhabit the dungeon in large numbers).
Coming down to the second level, Alan pointed out that perhaps one of his dogs could scent out Okok and his apes. Having the dog sniff Koko, and then letting it sniff around in the corridors of the second level, the dog soon scented something and pointed the party through several corridors, south, and then west. They passed through the room with the star well, which seems open to the night sky itself, and then headed west through some chambers not previously explored.
The main chamber thus explored was a huge gallery with a glittering black statue of a dragon in the center of the hall, marked ANGLAMORATH in the Elvish script. The belly of this serpentine idol was studded with gems, gold, and other coinage. But as Alan reached out, hoping to pry off a gem, he recoiled in pain, and then looked in horror on the gaping mouth of the idol, from which a huge and terrible serpent of blackest hue was slithering its way out.
Alan attempted to turn the giant snake into a log with snakes to sticks, but it had no effect; neither did Koko's ring of animal control. Then the serpent was free to attack, and it chomped down hard on Alan, nearly killing him.
A short, hard battle ensued. Mizer and Blackleaf threw a number of magic missiles at the creature, while the ogres and their dogs joined Alan and his hirelings in melee. But the next round, the creature breathed forth a cloud of acrid, toxic vapors, and Alan and his hirelings fell dead in the midst. Blackleaf attempted to dimension door the creature away and over the star well down the corridor, but the creature made its save; then Mizer cast web over it, and the serpent was slain as it thrashed about trying to break through.
The creature's body melted into foul black ichor and roiling billows of acrid smoke; but alas, even with the guardian destroyed, the magic in the statue prevented anyone from seizing its treasure without taking damage.
Returning to their purpose, the party looked to their tracking hound. It pointed west; after a short series of corridors, and a room with a stair down to the next level, the party found itself in a series of natural caverns with formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and listening carefully, they could hear dimly the sound of a feminine voice raised in song to the south, and too, the huffing of apes.
At the end of these passages, the party found a large chamber, half-filled with a pool of crystalline water fed by a deep stream that cut between the corridor and the chamber. In the midst of the pool, perched on a rounded off stalagmite, a naked and beautiful naiad sang sweetly for an audience of six apes, one among them the great silverback Okok, chief of the apes.
Koko immediately moved forward to join Okok--they were previously on friendly terms, after an expedition long ago, when the party had granted Okok the red flower of fire in return for friendship and/or treasure. Plucking each other's fur for lice, they exchanged pleasantries; Okok boasted of his warrior apes, despite having been driven out of the tower by the Getae, and Koko offered the chance to make an alliance and drive the Getae out of the tower from below. Okok was quite happy to agree to this.
Meanwhile, the naiad was making eyes at the party, but she couldn't stop singing to talk without the other apes getting riled up. It seemed the apes were enjoying a feast of raw giant crawfish, fished out of the cave pool, while listening to the wonderful singing of the nymph. After some abortive attempts to draw the apes away or cast a magical sleep over them, Torrack the ogre finally offered the cask of wine he was carrying (and another crawfish that the party had slept when attempting to get across the stream earlier), all to be a feast if only the apes would lead them to the next chamber over where more of their fellows were resting. This finally won the apes over, so they all moved on, allowing Blackleaf some time to speak with the naiad alone.
She called herself Niriel, and declared that she had been swept down into the dungeon by the swift flowing stream, but unable to return up to her sisters in the Brokenbrand Falls because of the strong current on the one hand, and the dungeon full of wolves and goblins on the other hand, and by the gods! would she be grateful if the adventurers would help her get out of the dungeon, and please, please, I don't want to sing for these dirty apes anymore.
The apes perked their ears at the sudden lack of singing, but Okok settled them--"Don't worry, friends, once we've feasted here, we'll go out and squeeze her again to get her singing again," and the apes went back to feasting.
So; Koko had found Okok and made alliance with him at last. It was agreed that Okok would remain in the dungeon, and that the adventurers would return soon to begin their joint operations against the Getae and their werewolves. Meanwhile, Niriel was wrapped up in a spare cloak to hide her nakedness, and bundled out of the dungeon, protected in the midst of the party as they made their way out on the double. Outside, she took her leave of them (and their cloak), promising to tell her sisters of the favor done her by them, with the implication of a favor owed by the naiads if ever it should be called in.
Back in Brakeridge, Alan, Mizer, and the ogres caroused, and their drunken boasting is of course the source of the intelligence spilled above.
So ...
------
Much has happened in the time since the killing and capturing of the Goblin King. An entire year has passed, and another half a year beyond that. Many of the adventurers from the original expeditions have moved on or retired, but others are still in the thick of it, risking much for sweet, sweet lucre.
Kord the Half-Orc has captured the castle of Waldburg to the east of the original hometown of Brakeridge; Lailith the Matriarch has taken the castle of Drachenturm from a nest of wyverns and had it repaired.
The Goblin King was turned over to the Elves for a large weregild, and he has presumably been tortured and crucified, as the Elves swore they would do. The Lord of Werewolves has allied himself with Viteric, Red King of the Getae barbarians, and together they make war on the Elves. An undead dragon and its hoard were discovered in the dungeons beneath the Howling Tower. Another dungeon-complex entire was explored in the hills to the northwest, and the cult of Skotia, goddess of darkness and death, was driven out, while the shrines and burial halls of Law and Good within were restored.
New adventurers have arrived to join in on the exploration of the deeps seeking gold, power, and glory, and at long last, expeditions have returned to the Greyhame Mountain Dungeon, led by Koko the Woman-Ape, who sought Okok the Ape-Chief somewhere in the Howling Tower ...
------
the roster for 21 March:
Koko (woman-ape)
Torrack and Torg (ogres)
Mizer and Blackleaf (magic-users, Blackleaf formerly an Elf)
Alan and Rolf Rolfson (clerics, Rolf a Getae tribesman)
Lucky Bob (traveling man)
and four hirelings
and five dogs
During last week's session, Koko, Blackleaf, and others discovered that the Howling Tower was howling again--wolves have gathered in large numbers in the wilderness around it, as well as some eerie, eldritch howling from within--and more surprisingly, the tower had been surrounded by a stockade of wooden palisades and longhouses populated by a tribe of Getae barbarians and their wolf and goblin allies. Not much was discovered during this expedition, but a number of slaves were freed from within the tower's dungeon, and they were able to relate that Okok and the other apes were driven down from the tower into the depths of the dungeon.
With that intelligence, the goal of this week's expedition was to delve into the depths and discover just where Okok had ended up. Koko took the lead, taking the company of adventurers to the secret entrance on the side of the ridge that pierces directly into the tower dungeon without need to enter the tower itself (which remains fortified behind the barbarians' stockade). This secret entrance once housed terrible insectile horrors, but for now retains only their large, empty egg sacs.
Emerging from the tunnel into the dungeon, Koko and Alan pored over the maps from previous expeditions and agreed on the fastest route through the first dungeon level to the stair down to the second. To that end, they skirted around the perimeter of the level and avoided any encounters with goblins or wolves (which still inhabit the dungeon in large numbers).
Coming down to the second level, Alan pointed out that perhaps one of his dogs could scent out Okok and his apes. Having the dog sniff Koko, and then letting it sniff around in the corridors of the second level, the dog soon scented something and pointed the party through several corridors, south, and then west. They passed through the room with the star well, which seems open to the night sky itself, and then headed west through some chambers not previously explored.
The main chamber thus explored was a huge gallery with a glittering black statue of a dragon in the center of the hall, marked ANGLAMORATH in the Elvish script. The belly of this serpentine idol was studded with gems, gold, and other coinage. But as Alan reached out, hoping to pry off a gem, he recoiled in pain, and then looked in horror on the gaping mouth of the idol, from which a huge and terrible serpent of blackest hue was slithering its way out.
Alan attempted to turn the giant snake into a log with snakes to sticks, but it had no effect; neither did Koko's ring of animal control. Then the serpent was free to attack, and it chomped down hard on Alan, nearly killing him.
A short, hard battle ensued. Mizer and Blackleaf threw a number of magic missiles at the creature, while the ogres and their dogs joined Alan and his hirelings in melee. But the next round, the creature breathed forth a cloud of acrid, toxic vapors, and Alan and his hirelings fell dead in the midst. Blackleaf attempted to dimension door the creature away and over the star well down the corridor, but the creature made its save; then Mizer cast web over it, and the serpent was slain as it thrashed about trying to break through.
The creature's body melted into foul black ichor and roiling billows of acrid smoke; but alas, even with the guardian destroyed, the magic in the statue prevented anyone from seizing its treasure without taking damage.
Returning to their purpose, the party looked to their tracking hound. It pointed west; after a short series of corridors, and a room with a stair down to the next level, the party found itself in a series of natural caverns with formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and listening carefully, they could hear dimly the sound of a feminine voice raised in song to the south, and too, the huffing of apes.
At the end of these passages, the party found a large chamber, half-filled with a pool of crystalline water fed by a deep stream that cut between the corridor and the chamber. In the midst of the pool, perched on a rounded off stalagmite, a naked and beautiful naiad sang sweetly for an audience of six apes, one among them the great silverback Okok, chief of the apes.
Koko immediately moved forward to join Okok--they were previously on friendly terms, after an expedition long ago, when the party had granted Okok the red flower of fire in return for friendship and/or treasure. Plucking each other's fur for lice, they exchanged pleasantries; Okok boasted of his warrior apes, despite having been driven out of the tower by the Getae, and Koko offered the chance to make an alliance and drive the Getae out of the tower from below. Okok was quite happy to agree to this.
Meanwhile, the naiad was making eyes at the party, but she couldn't stop singing to talk without the other apes getting riled up. It seemed the apes were enjoying a feast of raw giant crawfish, fished out of the cave pool, while listening to the wonderful singing of the nymph. After some abortive attempts to draw the apes away or cast a magical sleep over them, Torrack the ogre finally offered the cask of wine he was carrying (and another crawfish that the party had slept when attempting to get across the stream earlier), all to be a feast if only the apes would lead them to the next chamber over where more of their fellows were resting. This finally won the apes over, so they all moved on, allowing Blackleaf some time to speak with the naiad alone.
She called herself Niriel, and declared that she had been swept down into the dungeon by the swift flowing stream, but unable to return up to her sisters in the Brokenbrand Falls because of the strong current on the one hand, and the dungeon full of wolves and goblins on the other hand, and by the gods! would she be grateful if the adventurers would help her get out of the dungeon, and please, please, I don't want to sing for these dirty apes anymore.
The apes perked their ears at the sudden lack of singing, but Okok settled them--"Don't worry, friends, once we've feasted here, we'll go out and squeeze her again to get her singing again," and the apes went back to feasting.
So; Koko had found Okok and made alliance with him at last. It was agreed that Okok would remain in the dungeon, and that the adventurers would return soon to begin their joint operations against the Getae and their werewolves. Meanwhile, Niriel was wrapped up in a spare cloak to hide her nakedness, and bundled out of the dungeon, protected in the midst of the party as they made their way out on the double. Outside, she took her leave of them (and their cloak), promising to tell her sisters of the favor done her by them, with the implication of a favor owed by the naiads if ever it should be called in.
Back in Brakeridge, Alan, Mizer, and the ogres caroused, and their drunken boasting is of course the source of the intelligence spilled above.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)