((Session 39 is missing because no one showed for that scheduled session.))
Session 40The Village of Hawfair Green
Almost every member of the Company of the White Oak had spent the past month, including most of the week-long festival of Needfest, in the City of Greyhawk. The only exception was Vask, who had accompanied Fridswid, Tor Hiertaal, and some other individuals back to Hook Harbor. Thanks to Vask, it had been revealed that Baron Dolph of Cairnway had been replaced with a doppelganger by the Horned Society, and all but Vask had left for Elmshire to see if the Horned Society had attempted the same trick there.
Without more information to go on, the Company had decided Castle Greyhawk was their best option for adventure and tomorrow would be their first expedition there of the new year. But first they were in Hawfair Green, where the usual winter crowd was gathered at the Leaping Trout Tavern to hear their tales (both tall and otherwise) of Castle Greyhawk. But this crowd was joined by an unexpected participant when the far-traveling wizard Prospero walked in.
Soon they were conversing privately with Prospero, who knew of the threat of the Horned Society, but not if there was any connection between them and the Adversary. Again, Prospero warned them of Petothalraun, the avatar of the Adversary. Of Petothalraun, both communing and contacting other planes could only reveal that the avatar was now somewhere in the western Flanaess – that part of the continent in which the Domain of Greyhawk was. Further, Prospero encouraged them to continue delving deeper into the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. The castle had awoken, he said, for them – everything they needed to deal with the coming danger was in that dungeon, they just had to be bold enough to delve deeper and find it all. And if they did not all survive…he compared it to separating the wheat from the chaff…
Fireseek 1, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk
After walking the 3 ½ miles from Hawfair Green, Haruspex Niv, Reed Underbough, John Grond, Father Langdon, Rom Riverbluff, and Vask, along with their henchmen Peter, Harvard, Herv, Muelara, and Genevite, along with their cart and mules, and Gert the Bear reached Castle Greyhawk. The drawbridge was up, but this posed no difficulty when several members of the Company now knew the magic word that lowered it.
First thing, they went to the Shrine of Boccob – to find it occupied by three armed and armored men, ready to defend themselves! The men, Hagrad, Ruran, and Warley, were fighting men and the only survivors of a fledgling adventuring party that had just been devastated by hobgoblins on the first level. So ill-informed were they that they were shocked to learn there was more than one level of dungeon! Langdon warned them crossly about drawn weapons in the shrine and they were apologetic. For the promise of 2 gold a man, the three of them agreed to go stay in the stables with the Company’s cart and mules to guard them, as Everard was not here to do it and no one wanted to spare their own henchmen.
With that taken care of, the plan was to go down to level 3 of the dungeon for two purposes – one, to show Langdon the shrine to Boccob on that level they had found during his brief retirement, and two, to find the dragon’s lair. If Prospero wanted them to find weapons enough to deal with an avatar, they would surely find them in a dragon’s lair. Plus, some of them were feeling ready to test their mettle against a real threat.
The fastest route down was from the tower stairs. That led to the middle north part of the level 1 dungeons, and from there they just had to proceed a little south to get to the main spiral staircase that led down to level 3 (and below). At the spiral staircase, they were met by six elves with bows out, who seemed only interested in watching the Company. Only when the Company interacted with them did the elves share any news – that the number of elves and dwarves controlling this level was growing and they had the hobgoblins on the run to the corners of this level.
Descending to level 3, they first went south to the great hall that contained the Boccob shrine. Langdon could confirm that the symbol behind the altar matched his particular sect. All the non-chaotic party members touched the altar for its blessing benefit (which did not seem to last long). All the henchmen were very wary of the pillars that looked like giants, holding up the ceiling.
When it came time to leave, they decided to go single file up a 5’ wide passage north which soon led them into a new room – one filled with snakes! About a hundred vipers were slithering all over the floor of a room that had a glass display case at its center. The Company spent a long time debating tactics to solve this puzzle, but finally settled on one. Rom would pour flasks of oil down onto the floor to drive the snakes back, then someone behind him would light the oil on fire to keep them back. First Rom peppered the snakes with arrows to thin them out between the entrance and the case. The snakes were aggressive, but none of them came close to biting him and quite a few wound up getting burned alive.
The case was actually a sealed glass cube with no openings, but its contents could be clearly seen – 100 gems, or at least ornamental stones, plus a gold ring on a little cushion. But how to get to the items? Langdon’s Find Traps spell had already told them that the display case was not trapped, but after transporting the case from that room back to the great hall, they spent considerable time standing over it, debating if there was any way a trap could have evaded detection.
It was because they were all so busy that the orcs were able to ambush them (plus, they had seen the party’s light and stayed well back, out of range of Niv’s active ESP spell, until it was too late). Suddenly, 15 orcs were charging into their midst! Thanks to a hasty Sleep spell from Niv, there were soon only 5 orcs in their midst – but Rom, Vask, and all the henchmen had been put to sleep too! Particularly since John was now a swashbuckler who could make many attacks in quick succession, the remaining five were going down fast when – wave two, with 15 more orcs arrived! Instead of casting more spells, Niv was going around waking people (Gert curled up beside Vask and thought Niv was attacking him when he shook Vask – so Gert shoved him away!), as did Reed, leaving John to do most of the fighting. In the end, a few people were injured, but none seriously, and all but three orcs were dead, who all surrendered.
Two of the orcs spoke some rudimentary Common, but Muelara spoke their tongue and did most translation for them. The orcs knew where the dragon’s lair was and were willing to lead the Company there in exchange for their lives. But first, there was still the glass case to deal with. Just to be extra safe, the orcs were made to shatter the glass, revealing all the treasure, which the Company quickly scooped up. Wary of the ring, no one put it on.
Now the orcs led them south from the great hall down a 10’ wide corridor, turned east past stairs going up (the Company had seen these before), and went further east here than before. At the end of the corridor was a door to the south. This led into a parallel east-west corridor, and they took another door to the south. This led to a third parallel corridor, but this time they took it east and then north and then east again. And this took them to a large, unusual chamber.
What was most unusual about it was the big “X” on the floor made out of five squares of black stone laid out in the floor, 10’ on a side. In the center square sat a big chest. The way to the dragon was through the doors on the east side of the room…but now the Company was consumed with curiosity about that chest. The orcs said the only safe way to approach the chest was on the black squares – if you touched the white in between squares, you “disappeared forever.” Because none of the orcs were charmed and compelled to tell the truth, they were made to step out on the black squares and retrieve the chest – if they did so, and then opened the chest, they would be free to leave with their lives. So they did open the chest – spewing a cloud of spores all over the chamber.
More than half the Company was still cooling their heels out in the corridor, but John, Langdon, and Muelara had all been supervising in the chamber with the orcs. They all rushed out. John and two orcs kept coughing and coughing. The two orcs literally coughed themselves to death. John was only lightly hurt by all the coughing, and finally it stopped for him. The remaining orc was forced to retrieve the treasure from the chest, but all it found was a silver gem-studded ring and a clerical spell scroll. Langdon claimed the scroll at once, which would let him cast Bless, Find Traps – and Raise Dead. Again, no one put on the ring.
Now everyone was thinking of leaving the dungeon; the dragon could wait for another day, now that they knew roughly where to find it. En route to the spiral stairwell, Reed stepped in an ochre jelly spread out on the floor! It closed up around him, seriously injuring him with its acidic body, but John and Herv pulled him out quickly and they all ran. This was their second time encountering a blob-like monster on the way to the stairs down here – possibly the same monster! – and they used the same route to circumnavigate it.
There was no sign of the elves on the first floor, nor anyone else.
Back at the stables, they found one of the three men, Ruran, had lost his nerve and fled the castle. The other two had remained and now collected their gold, and then got escorted safely out of the castle to boot!
John Grond didn't know it, but after he breathed in the poisonous spores, he had 11 hours left to live. It was then 11 am.
By noon, the White Oak Company was done talking to their guards at the stable, being in no hurry to brave the cold.
After a 3.5 mile walk, they returned to Hawfair Green at 1 pm. The Leaping Trout Tavern had people there waiting to see them return, but Stout Stanley, the tavernkeeper, was not ready for the "feast" he had planned for them yet, plus more people wanted to be there for it, so it was pushed back to 3.
It was at 3:30, halfway through their dinner, that John noticed his lung congestion had not fully gone away. Concerned, he left dinner at once.
Concerned for John, people followed out onto the road, where John looked like he was trying to steal a horse. His friends took over negotiating for the rental of the man's steed when John, sensing urgency, just took off on it.
It was 10 miles back to Greyhawk, with 1 hour of daylight remaining. He made good time that first hour, crossing 7 miles, but had to slow down at that point, due to the growing darkness and the bitter, below-freezing cold, which made galloping painful for the horse.
With 4 1/2 hours remaining, John reached the gates of Greyhawk - but it was late enough that the gates of the city were closed for the day, and the chapels he wanted were all on the other side. He had to bribe the guards 2 gold to let him in.
He knew where he could find a shrine dedicated to the Gnostic Oeridian Patriarchy and forced his borrowed steed to continue on, even though the city guard told him to dismount and walk his horse. The shrine was occupied, but not be a cleric who could help him; they would need a curate who could cure diseases.
John showed lots of gold and one was fetched. It took a half-hour for one to come. John was told he would need to pay 400 gold, but what he needed could be done. And so it was.
With just four hours left to spare.
Session 41
Fireseek 14, 622 CY
Village of Hawfair Green
With much of the Company of the White Oak tied up with other activities back in the City of Greyhawk (or living comfortably on their spoils and unwilling to brave the fierce winter), only Reed Underbough and Rom Riverbluff, with their henchmen Herv, Muelara, and Genevieve, were heading to the castle. But they were met by two novice adventurers who wanted in on this next trip to the castle.
One was Maximus, a veteran who won his way into full membership of the company on a bet, by out-wrestling Herv. The other was Veronica Flameglow, an acolyte of Genevieve’s acquaintance, and Genevieve spoke up for her character, and that she would be an asset to the team.
A 3 ½-mile march later, they were crossing the drawbridge into Castle Greyhawk. They had brought only one new mule along, a last-minute purchased in the village, and brought the mule with them instead of dropping it off in the stables. The castle was silent as the grave…
Breaking the silence, the companions finally stopped to talk about how they would enter the dungeons, and how far down to go. It was decided to explore more of level 2, and to access it via the stairs from the tower, and then use the central stairwell the elves guard.
As it happened, three elves were on sentry duty at the stairwell. They bowed respectfully when addressed in Elven by Reed and Rom, or when Veronica asked Rom to translate for her. The elves had little news to report about level 1; there were still a good number of hobgoblins eluding them in the corners of the dungeon. About level 2, they reported there were areas in the middle of the level where only orcs would be found, making it an ideal place to test the mettle of the new blood. Maximus, in particular, was eager to test himself against orcs.
The Company took the stairs down to the second level and headed immediately west and then south. There were only two previously explored doors down that way and the Company moved past them into the dark unknown of a long corridor. It turned out not to be too long after all, and ended at two doors.
Behind the east door was a large-ish room, dusty, uninhabited, yet someone had left a very wide, valuable-looking painting hanging on the back wall. The walls were swept for secret doors while Reed made sure the painting looked safe to take down. Since it did, he had Herv and Muelara remove it from its frame so they could roll it up and carry it, but Herv tore the corner of the painting. There were no other ways out of that room, so they returned to the south door.
The south door led to what looked like an abandoned artist's studio, with dusty easels, but nice-looking rugs on the floor. They took the rugs, found nothing underneath, and headed through a door to the south.
The next room was more art gallery, this time with a single tall painting on a wall of a horse. Rom helped with removing this painting from its frame and they had no trouble this time. There were doors to both the east and south here and they opted to head east after Muelara heard a door slamming somewhere behind it.
The east door led to some short, windy corridors that snaked around a kitchen, and one that someone had just left, since there was a kettle still bubbling in the hearth! Rather than check out the kettle, they raced after who had left, soon finding a group of seven men, unarmed and unarmored, just standing around a lit torch and talking at an intersection of corridors. The men seemed very glad to see adventurers and introduced themselves as belonging to the Order of the Gilded Spoons. Their purpose was to feed adventurers who braved coming this deep into the dungeon, and they had not seen any for some time! Instead, they spent their time feeding orcs, a sort of culinary tribute to keep the orcs from attacking them.
The orc lair, in fact, was behind a door the Company had just passed while racing after the chefs. The chefs told them to return to the kitchen for a feast after the orcs were dealt with.The orc lair was actually an old game room with chess tables, and the Company surprised five orcs who looked like they were either playing chess or just examining the boards. Muelara could have dropped them immediately with a Sleep spell, or between Herv and Rom they could have mopped up the orcs quickly, but they all hung back to give Maximus and Veronica a chance to prove themselves. Neither of them proved particularly effective in combat, as one would expect of novices, and it was mostly the old guard who finished off the orcs. The orcs, for their part, had very little in the way of treasure, the best being the wooden chess pieces.
There was a trapdoor in the floor of the room and the Company spent a lot of time trying to open this door, finally breaking most of the orcs' weapons on breaking the hinges off. When they finally pried open the trapdoor - they found it had been a false trapdoor and there was nothing but smooth stone beneath it – and no secret door under the trapdoor to be found. So they left the room through the south door, and right over the concealed real trapdoor. Muelara set off the trap and was impaled on a spike at the bottom of it, while Maximus was seriously hurt by the fall and Herv just lightly hurt. Luckily Genivieve could now cast healing spells or Muelara would have died right there.
With everyone fished out on the east side of the pit trap, they followed the corridor east, north, and west, and finally came close to the kitchen again. They had passed some ways to go east and north to accomplish this, but tummies were rumbling and people wanted their feast. When they returned to the kitchen, only one of the chefs was still there. He explained that the others had raced off to other kitchens to await them, as their adventure continued. Excitedly, the chef scooped the contents from the kettle into wooden bowls for the Company and they found their "feast" was nothing but rather plain looking porridge. Everyone, particularly Maximus, was suspicious of the porridge, but while they were quietly discussing among them how to detect poison, a hungry Rom was woofing down his bowl.
Instead of being poisoned, Rom felt better, like he'd just been healed a little. Maximus was the next to eat his bowlful and felt the same. After that, the porridge seemed to lose its potency and it did nothing for anyone else. The chef was quite pleased with himself and said they knew other recipes they would make for the Company in the future.
Everyone was taken aback when Reed asked for the chef's name and he said he didn't know! None of the chefs remembered their past lives before finding themselves chefs in the dungeon. Reed named him Gordon, and everyone – including Gordon – liked this name.
Saying good-bye to Gordon, the Company set out again, but Reed was growing increasingly concerned about straying too far from the stairs up, and Maximus, who was still seriously hurting, was not excited about risking worse encounters in the dungeon. So they all agreed to return to the surface, but not necessarily to leave the castle yet…
The tower that was adjacent to, but seemed detached from, the keep, had never been explored beyond parts of the ground floor. They started with the shrine to Zagyg on the ground floor, but this time found it guarded by three warriors, two with crossbows trained on the Company. They were hostile, quick to accuse Maximus of blasphemy when he spoke of Zagyg, but Muelara decided she would end their debate with a Sleep spell. The crossbowmen were excellent shots, though, disrupting her spell with a seriously wounding crossbow bolt, while Herv was hit by the other bolt. Once melee was joined, though, the warriors found themselves easily outnumbered and outclassed. Two were rendered unconscious instead of outright killed, but the Company decided to kill them anyway. They were going to take urns out of the shrine as loot, but they appeared to have ashes in them and they left them alone – but still took the rugs.
In a nearby storage room, they found more urns. While going through them, they found more ashes – and a small gelatinous monster that popped out of its urn. Everyone backed away, but Veronica remembered how they had all been afraid of the porridge and that turned out fine. The gelatinous monster was somehow cute, in a way. Was it safe to pet it…?
No, turned out to be the answer, as its acidic surface dissolved some of her glove and burnt her skin. Now everyone fled – fled the room, the tower, and the castle!
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