Company of the White Oak Campaign - Bonus Gary Con Session + Session 46

(From my Gary Con report: )

Despite my providing pregens we spent about a half-hour on people’s characters. I also gave them the chance to take on 1st level hirelings, since their numbers were lower than I’d planned on. But maybe that was okay, as it gave them a chance to familiarize themselves with what they were playing (or hiring). After that, with very little background, we launched right into an expedition to the castle!

 

It was interesting to see how they played differently from my regular players. Getting into the infamous castle dungeons was not important to them! They spent time investigating the outside of the hill the castle stood on and found a concealed dragon lair entrance no one had ever found before. Now, they were playing 3rd level characters, so I was plenty worried about this session ending super early! At first they were debating about whether this could be an illusion, but they did the right thing in the end and ran.

 

Next they explored the main keep in the upper works of the castle. They triggered an illusory trick of unending stairs downwards and, when they got back “up” found a pack of skeletons -- nothing they couldn’t handle with some turning. The ground floor rooms were mostly cleared out, so they went up. In the southeast tower, they went up again, to the third level of the tower, and encountered giant spiders. The spiders nearly killed two party members who went up a ladder to investigate, but the adventurers were able to suck the venom out in time and save themselves (second saves).

 

Staying on the second level, they killed some goblins…found the magic sword in the throne room and claimed it (after they nearly lost a Lawful character from grasping the Neutral sword)… found the wraiths watching in the balcony over the haunted ballroom on the first level. They used a ladder from the tower to get down into the ballroom, where the dwarf drank magically nourishing ale, and then fell off he ladder as he was trying to bring food back up for the “king” and “queen” in the thrones. The wraiths were not as appreciative as the party had hoped; the “queen” began energy draining one of the clerics until he went from becoming a priest to an acolyte. The other priest turned the wraiths and sent them flying.

 They found an armory where they found platemail armor for everyone who didn’t already have some. And then they moved up again! On the third floor they found a study guarded by a giant lizard! They put the giant lizard to sleep, but then forgot about it while they were searching the room and they wound up having to fight it after all. The study had a small fortune in books (plus some other items, but mainly for the books). In reading one of the books, the now-acolyte learned that they would waste away from a curse in a matter of minutes if they took too many valuables from the room -- unless they won a game of chess first.

 

The now-acolyte sat down at the chessboard and his mirror image appeared in the chair across from him. They played and the acolyte was checkmated. The dwarf and one of the elves (the one who’s player made lots and lots of puns) were able to checkmate their duplicates, though, so they were able to leave the room and cleared out all the treasure on multiple trips, leaving it all by the front door downstairs.

 

And they could have left there with a good-sized haul, but they got greedy and pressed on. They found a master bedroom where the floor was covered in all kinds of animal skins -- tigers, wolves, and bears mostly. As the other elf moved into the room, he felt compelled to go lay down on the bed and fall to sleep. As the acolyte moved into the room to retrieve him, the animal skins all animated and attacked. The other cleric thought it was madness to go in against such odds, as there were 12 animal skins attacking, and they were out of healing spells, but the others went in. And started dropping. Three party members were mauled so badly they were dying on the floor. The first elf and the second cleric fled with the hirelings (and the dwarf’s mule), leaving the second elf to enjoy his sleep while the others bled out around him.

 

But for those two, it was a very successful expedition, having netted more than 6,000 gold in treasure!

Session 46

Planting 7, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk

It was still unusually cold for this time of year, and a rainy, dreary day. Word had reached Haruspex Niv and Percy that Reed Underbough was assembling his own Company of the White Oak. Unable to ignore it further, they confronted Reed at the Green Dragon Inn today. 

Reed seemed flabbergasted that anyone would suspect him of anything. He was just recruiting to fill out the Company again, after the loss of six of their members. Reed reminded Percy that he had helped out (once or twice) at the St. Cuthbert Orphanage that Percy was so attached to. Percy, of course, knew that Reed was a thief and thieves were not to be trusted…and yet, it seemed that this was perhaps no power play by Reed. The matter would be ignored, this time. 

Niv, for his part, was more aligned with Reed, and had only come to see how Percy would react.

Also present at this short confrontation had been new recruits Niall Brightflame, elven swordsman and seer; Runeflinger, elven conjurer; Bowie Laughingbottle, hobbit lyrist; and Fulton Ironstone, human veteran. They were unaware that the Company was gradually drawing closer to the day when they would have to choose sides in the ultimate battle of law vs. chaos (and Runeflinger would not know unless someone translated if for him, as he only spoke Elven). They only knew that the Company of the White Oak meant adventure, and were eager to have one. Reed had been telling them of the sewers under the city and the strange characters he heard lived down there.

Why not? For most everyone in the room, the sewers were just rumored to be a place of adventure. For Haruspex Niv, the only one who had been down there, this was a chance to see how his new companions would fair against the strange, otherworldly men…
As everyone knew, the sewer grates in the city could only be opened with magic keys…unless, as Reed pointed out, someone possessed an uncanny knack for picking locks? Reed succeeded at the same old grate, behind the Music Building in Grey College, that Niv had once gone down (with a borrowed key). 

With them were their henchmen, the familiar Herv and Muelara Wynna, plus new hirelings of Haruspex’s and Percy’s – Lem Rem Grink and Arlin Fadagoria.

Although the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk smelled bad, in parts, the air down there was remarkably fresh, as if protected by magic, some genius of engineering, or both. The sewers of Greyhawk, though…this was where every bad smell in the city went down to die. 
Niall, accustomed to pleasant odors, wished he had a perfumed handkerchief to wear over his face. 

Haruspex led them northeast, “upstream,” beside a trench of sewage. Up ahead, the trench crossed in front of them, blocking their way into the first chamber they encountered. Niv knew that the entrance to the otherworldly men’s lair was on the southeast side of that chamber.
Reed was the first to jump across -- easy as pie with his magic jumping boots. He climbed the far wall of the chamber and spiked rope to the wall, then ran the rope back to the trench. He tossed it across to Percy, who spiked it to the wall on his side. While Runeflinger was telling everyone who could understand him that they should go back up top and find materials to build a makeshift bridge from, Percy tested the rope and was the first to cross successfully. Niall, impatient and not trusting the rope, was the first to try to jump across without magical aid, but lost his footing on the sewage-slick floor and came up short of the other side. Reed and Percy had to help pull him out, as the elf was too covered in slick sewage to pull himself out on his own.

Niall, as he spat something he hated to think about out of his mouth, said he was ready to leave and go risk his life at Castle Greyhawk, but Haruspex pulled rank and told him he was going to have to stay. They would all prove themselves down here.

Meanwhile, the rope held for Runeflinger, but Bowie and Fulton tried to cross together, the rope unraveled, and dumped them both into the sewage.

Once everyone had wiped themselves off as clean as they could get, they approached the large steel doors. A bright white light shown around the chamber from a glass window in the door. A shutter opened and a man shouted at them in an unknown tongue. Niv tried to charm the man, but it didn’t work and he shut the shutter. Niv also tried to cast a Sleep spell through the door, but they could not hear that it did anything. Niv cast ESP and sensed no sleepiness; only someone’s deep feeling of depression and fear that he would never see home again.

The Company decided to exit the chamber up the northeast exit and, from the next intersection, watched the chamber they had just left. Fifteen minutes later, they could hear the steel doors scraping on the stone floor as they were pulled open. The chamber flooded with light and three men in loose-fitting clothes and round helmets came out, carrying weapons that looked kind of like spears without spear tips. Muelara cast Sleep and all three men went down. But how to get to the three men, with others watching from the room beyond? 

Runeflinger turned invisible, thanks to one of his own spells, and walked in front of the open doors to look beyond. Beyond was an enormous cavern flooded with what looked like magical light coming from large bulls-eye lanterns, but also coal-burning braziers scattered about. There was a central tower with some sort of machine mounted atop it that two men could operate, that incorporated a large pipe. Around the tower were three things that looked like small metal shacks, and a fourth one was closer to the entrance. There were three more normal-looking buildings at the rear of the cavern. Sixteen men, all dressed in the same uniforms and carrying the same strange weapons, were in sight, but only half were actively watching the entrance.

Runeflinger dragged one of the men away. He went back to get the second. By now, the guards seemed to have guessed what was going on and held the spear to his shoulder, pointing it into Runeflinger’s chamber. There was a CRACK like thunder and light and smoke came out of the “spear.” Runeflinger heard something ricochet off the back wall, but never saw the missile. He got away with the second man, but did not go back for the third.

They searched the bodies. They had no armor on, other than the helmets. They had knives, plus another sheathed weapon, though this weapon looked like a like a little crossbow without most of its parts. Niall examined it and could make neither heads nor tails from it. It was Muelara who deduced it functioned like a crossbow, with sling bullet-like missiles in tiny chambers inside it -- but pulling the trigger did nothing. Haruspex had seen these before and sold them off to the Slagg dwarven clan, who were amazed by the metallurgy that went into them. 

The men began to wake up as they were being tied up and they screamed in their language, but were quickly gagged. No reinforcements came from the bizarre area behind the open steel doors. The Company cautiously advanced closer again. Niv reached out to sense their thoughts and read their concern, and that they were going back for bigger weapons. The Company debated their chances. Perhaps they could take them after softening them up with a fireball? Would the fireball cross the threshold into this land where a different type of magic held sway? In the end, they completely chickened out. They would not even cross this way again to leave; they would need to find a different way out of the sewers.  

The way they chose was north (hoping it would loop back west, where they knew there was another grate to escape from). They passed a side passage where Niv had been a prisoner in a cell many months ago, but whether he had blocked this from his memory or simply chose not to mention it to the others was unclear. They continued past that, and some more side passages that went east, and focused on two that went west. Both of them led to doors (up short flights of steps). Niv’s ESP spell was still active, so he searched for thoughts behind the doors and detected boredom, and waiting for a fight, behind each door. Unless this was just a coincidence, it was likely the same group behind both.

Niall was jokingly encouraged to knock on the door, and he surprised everyone by doing so. When someone on the other side asked for a password, Niall responded with an insult in Orcish. The man on the other side thought that was hilarious and let him in. 

Both doors led into the east end of the stands around a small arena. There were six men, in leather armor and lightly armed, just hanging out here in the stands. There was going to be a big

show here at midnight and they were just killing time. Niall asked them if they could show the way out of the sewers. The man who answered the door agreed, but demanded quid pro quo of an unusual nature – he wanted Niall and his friends to form into teams and fight each other in the arena, and they would show the winning side out.

One Sleep spell later, only that one thief was left standing in front of Niall, and Niall beat him unconscious with his fists.

One of the sleeping ones was woken up and asked the same question, and he became much more compliant. Reed had an additional question this time too. One of the bounties on criminals in the city Reed knew about was for Garyne the Shroudrender. Was he in the sewers? 

Yes, he was! Garyne was a wanderer, but would likely be at the arena games that night. The Company was shown to an exit, with all their prisoners in tow! The exit was through a private building neighboring Grey College, a building owned by the Iron Workers Guild.

The footpads from the arena were marched to the nearest watch station and turned in. They were minor criminals with minor bounties – the Company collected 35 gold pieces for all of them, and only 15 gold more for all the armor and weapons they had stripped off of them. The two otherworldly prisoners were turned over to Niv’s Magicians Guild so they could be magically interrogated. There was some discussion about the strange items taken off of them – sell them or keep them? The Company resolved to keep these ones. 

And with that, the Company split up to rest. Spellcasters wanted their spells back before midnight. Niall went out and bought that perfumed handkerchief he had wanted earlier. Because they were going back. They were going back down at midnight for Garyne.

At midnight, they saw a crowd of people being admitted into the Iron Workers Guild’s building, defying the curfew (as they all were). Rather than pass for paying customers, they decided to let themselves back in through the grate, cross the sewer trench, and take those in the arena by surprise. Only…

There were a lot of people in the arena. A crowd of 50 had come. In the nicer seats in the northwest corner was Garyne, plus one of those otherworldly soldiers – and a man in dark blue clothes and a silver mask over his lower face. This last man stood up and addressed the crowd with a megaphone. He was clearly their leader, which meant he could only be one man – Black Cobra. In addition to welcoming them to tonight’s games, he also bragged about how soon they would be ruling over the City of Greyhawk, for which he received a standing ovation!
Then the games began. Six men in rags, armed with spears, were led into the arena from the lower level portcullises. And then another portcullis opened – and a large white ape entered the arena! To wild cheers, the men fought against the ape. Blood was getting spilled on both sides, but chiefly on the men’s.

And that was when Haruspex began casting a Fireball spell. The thieves were well-rehearsed for such treachery and called out to alert crossbowmen in the room to the presence of the spellcaster. Niv would have been skewered by two bolts – but Niall jumped out and took both hits himself. Niv launched a fireball into the northwest corner of the room.

Black Cobra and Garyne were both lightly injured, but everyone around them had gone down in flames. Black Cobra resisted a Hold Person spell from Percy, but was moderately wounded by a backstab from Reed, who had already quietly moved into position for this. One more missile from across the room dropped Black Cobra. Garyne tried to escape through the northeast door with Black Cobra under one arm, but dropped the man when he found both Reed and Niall hard on his heels. Both Reed and Niall resisted a Hold Person spell from Garyne, and then they both stabbed him and he spilled so much blood that he was seriously injured – and surrendered to them.

Meanwhile, in the battle for the arena, Sleep spells dropped on either side took care of most of the nearby spectators, but more moved in to attack. Niv’s new apprentice, Lem Rim Grink, was the first to fall on the Company’s side and Niv had to drag him out. Runeflinger turned invisible around that same time and escaped from the room, fearing the worst. Bowie was also seriously hurt and had to fighting withdraw from the room. Fulton was overpowered and was next down on the ground and dying!

Meanwhile, Reed and Niall had only so far disarmed Garyne and bound his hands when they noticed subordinates forming up around the fallen leader, Black Cobra, to defend him. Niall took down a robber, but then a lucky, critical hit from a lowly apprentice thief moderately wounded him and he was ready to back out of this fight, dragging Garyne with him. Reed tried alone to tack Black Cobra back, but was getting overwhelmed by five thieves at once and, after five minutes of furious fighting, he had to flee as well. 

On the other side of the room, Muelara had just turned invisible as well to beat a hasty retreat when Percy was backstabbed by a sharper and dropped! Muelara came over and administered a healing potion to Percy as he lay dying that saved his life. 

Herv had initially done very well against the apprentice thieves around him, but then two robbers were rallying thieves against him and he had to fall back at last, picking up Fulton on his way out. Arlin Fadagoria, Percy’s new hireling, had also acquitted himself equally well, falling back at the same time once seriously wounded. 

A revived Percy began casting healing spells in the hallway while Niv and Herv held the exit. He brought back Fulton and Lem, though Lem at almost the last minute before it was too late.
And then they all got away! 

Company of the White Oak Campaign - session 44-45

Session 44

Readying 26, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk

 

John Grond, Father Langdon, Major Rom Riverbluff, Vask, Maximus, and Hence had gathered with the hirelings Harvard, Genevieve, Gendri, Bella, Everard, and the animals Gert the Bear and four mules at the Chapel of Boccob and the stables within the castle grounds. They had already spent the night, planning on heading down to level 3 of the dungeon this morning. They had already learned much.

 

Just like elsewhere in the hills, there seemed to be much more wolf activity here around the castle, and they heard their howls all through the night.

 

The elves (led by Garadlius) and the dwarves (led by Finngur) had control of most of level 1 of the dungeon now, with just some hobgoblins holed up in the stockrooms in the southeast corner of the complex. They had mapped most of the level out and found it came to 80 rooms. The elves revealed that they held the Tower of Boccob as well. Indeed, they had already held it earlier when Eneever Zig arrived, but he had waded through them as if they were nothing, killing some of them until they fled out of his way.

Captain Throk’s company no longer held the main keep of the castle; most of their heads were now just skulls on pikes out in front of the keep, and actually had been for some months.

 

With this ominous news in mind, they all descended the main stairwell that connected level 1 to level 3 (and beyond), leaving only Bella and Everard to guard the mules.

 

The first goal was to wipe out the giant spiders – four, the size of shepherd dogs -- they had long known about, and see if that room led anywhere. They were well-prepared, tossing flaming oil into the webs inside, and then making short work of the burning spiders as they rushed out to attack. The spider on Rom took a little longer to finish off, and Rom was accidentally punched hard by John while he was trying to punch the spider off of him, but soon that last spider was a sticky mess under Rom’s boots.

 

The only treasure in the room might have been an antique wooden throne, but the fire had charred that almost beyond recognition. The room actually turned out to be a dead end, so once the Company was done here, they moved on to a new area to explore.

 

The next plan was to see what was north of the Hall of Boccob’s Shrine. They found a narrow side passage that would allow them to avoid the Chamber of Vipers, and found themselves in a new chamber, one containing a kettle drum on a dais, and a niche in the north wall. They avoided the drum, but searched the niche and found a secret storage space with a spare drum in it. Langdon checked it for magic, but it had none.

 

From here, they took a diagonal corridor southwest – and encountered five ghouls leaping and cavorting towards them! They stood their ground as Langdon turned them, making all five flee the way they had come.

 

The way they had come was a small L-shaped room with what looked like a well in it. Here, they also encountered two wraiths! Langdon again turned them, and all seven undead fled up a corridor to the north – at which point they heard a loud voice scream “Who is turning my undead?”

 

Everyone was eager to face this new threat and charged up the corridor in tight ranks – which turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do. At the top of the corridor stood a necromancer, casting a lightning bolt spell! Two missile weapons attempted to thwart the spell, but it was not disrupted in time. A powerful bolt of lightning flew through the corridor – killing everyone!

Session 45

Coldeven 26, 622 CY
The Village of Hawfair Green
The Leaping Trout Tavern

 

Four adventurers had gathered here, at this tavern that had gained a reputation for becoming a launching point for expeditions into Castle Greyhawk’s infamous ruins. Stout Stanley, the tavernkeeper, had gently ribbed them. “Trying to become the next Company of the White Oak, are you?”

 

The four companions were Graggil Coinpurse, dwarven acolyte of the Old Oeridian Church (the only one to have met members of the White Oak Company); Orina Susantaro, human acolyte of the Church of the Water Gods; Fulton Ironstone, human veteran; and Robert, dwarven burglar (the only experienced adventurer among them). The plan was to go together to Castle Greyhawk the very next day and seek their fame and fortune (and hopefully encounter no dragons!).

 

And then two hobbits stepped in.

 

One of them was none other than Reed Underbough, senior member of the Company of the White Oak and sharper, and with him was a new acquaintance, Bowie Laughingbottle, a lyrist.

 

“I hear you are adventurers,” Reed said, “and I have need of an adventuring party.”

 

Reed began to explain the job. Five miles south of the city was the Barony of Mannering. The citizens of the barony were cruelly taxed and the baron was hoarding fantastic wealth. The plan was to loot that treasury and redistribute the wealth. There were, however, some wrinkles in the story that gave everyone pause. Reed was very upfront about how he represented one of the competing thieves guilds of Greyhawk and that the thieves guild would decide how the money was redistributed. Also, Reed had no evidence or proof that the baron had broken any laws to hoard his fantastic wealth.

 

Reactions were mixed. Orina found this highly objectionable. Fulton was just eager to get to the castle and saw this as an unwelcome distraction. Graggil was tempted by the challenge of it, and Robert just wanted to steal something from somewhere! As leverage, Reed offered them all full membership in the Company of the White Oak if they went on the mission with him. Bowie suggested they vote on it. What won, in the end, was the idea of tabling any decision-making until they had all returned to the City of Greyhawk and done their own research into the matter.  

 

Coldeven 27, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk

 

Orina went to consult a priestess of the Church of the Water Gods, who maintained a chapel here in the city. The priestess was concerned about this plan, as Orina described it. The Baron of Mannering was, at the age of 20, still a ward of the Unorthodox Common Church of Greyhawk, which were allies of the Water Gods and surely were not involved in chicanery?

 

Graggil’s superiors at the Temple of the Old Oeridian Church were even more concerned. Rather than assist the thieves guild, they wanted Graggil to help bring this thief to justice. Graggil turned down this counter-mission, on the grounds of it being too dangerous.

 

Robert bought many rounds for people at taverns to get them to loosen their lips. He heard from someone who knew Cambria, a theurgist or thaumaturgist who worked as the stewardess of the barony.

 

Fulton was not interested in gathering information. He had never been to the city before – he spent all day sight-seeing!

 

Reed, for his part, went to the Orphanage of St. Cuthbert to see the soon-to-be Baron Mannering himself. Mannering was concerned at this rumor of malfeasance in the administration of his holdings, and vowed to send a servant to look into it. He was not willing, however, to let Reed travel with his servant.

 

Everyone met up that evening to discuss. Orina, initially so against the mission, now had suspicions the thieves guild was onto something. How could it be legal to keep a 20-year old from ruling his own lands?  Bowie volunteered to look into the legal standing of this, but Reed wanted Bowie to accompany them on whatever mission they undertook and promised to have his new apprentice, Ambrosio, look into the matter for them.

 

In the end, a majority of hands went up for going to Castle Greyhawk instead. And so…

 

Coldeven 28, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk

 

On the last day of the month, Reed and his new companions all went directly to Castle Greyhawk. They had secured the White Oak Company’s cart and mules, and Percy’s hirelings to care for the same. Orina had her own mule. Since Percy’s hirelings, Bella and Everard, knew the route to the stables well, they were sent on ahead with the mules. And, of course, Reed’s constant companions Herv and Muelara were there as well.

 

On the west side of the keep, they noticed something that was news to Reed – skulls mounted on pikes. Orina examined the skulls and found the decomposition was over a month old. But this was only a curiosity that delayed them before descending the courtyard’s trapdoor into the dungeon.

 

The north part of the level was still clearly in the hands of the elves, who were the only ones they met down below. The elves did know who those skulls belonged to, and explained the sad fate of Captain Throk’s men (who had held the keep for about four months) when they got in Eneever Zig’s way.  They also reported seeing more undead skeletons on this level of late, while the last of the hobgoblins were holed up in the storerooms in the southeast corner of this level.

 

As much as Reed encouraged them to press deeper into the dungeon, the thought of only fighting hobgoblins held much more appeal to the novices. The elves agreed to escort the Companions further south than they had ever gone before, off the bottom of Reed’s maps. And there they left the Companions, outside a door.

 

The cautious Companions listened to the door and heard noises. Muelara cast ESP and heard thoughts about how much the creatures on the other side wanted bread, but they were scared of the baker. Was it ethical to attack monsters who ate bread? The Companions’ whispered debate ended quickly with a resounding yes.

 

Behind the door was a small room with three hobgoblins in it! The Companions made short work of the hobgoblins and looted them for some modest treasure.  From here, they continued south through a succession of doors into more small rooms that were unoccupied and perhaps part of a larger hobgoblin lair, who were out right now. Or perhaps those three had been the last?

 

Reed again worked to steer them towards greater challenges, and convinced them at last to return to the spiral staircase and take it down to level 2.

 

On level 2, they headed west to some unexplored territory and, upon turning a corner, ran into an offal-like jelly monster! Instead of running, this time they stayed and fought!

 

Or at least all the novices did. Reed and his henchmen seemed to run away! They were actually circling around, to come at the jelly monster from behind. In the meanwhile, Orina was pulled to the ground by the monster! Her comrades found the acidic nature of the jelly was damaging their weapons, so they pulled back and tried to pump the jelly full of arrows, despite how dangerous it was shooting into such close quarters. Indeed, it proved to be a fatal mistake – Robert the Burglar shot Orina in the face, killing her just as the jelly was dissolving her legs.

 

In the end, the Company won, but at the terrible cost of losing Orina Susantaro. There was a chance of bringing her back with Muelara’s healing potion, but it looked like she would permanently be a cripple if she did come back. Her body was left there, interred underground in the dungeon, and they moved on after Graggil said a short prayer for her soul.

 

From there they followed many long corridors, west, south, back east, and then back north. But instead of going in a circle -- they found themselves at a location that Reed was definitely not expecting to see again. It was the Great Hall that contained the Shrine of the Boccobites -- that Reed knew to be on level 3 of the dungeon! They were trying to figure it out when they heard a large number of monsters approaching. Reed told everyone about the waves of orcs that had hit them last time they were here and discretion suddenly became the better part of valor. The Companions beat a hasty retreat back the way they had come and made it safely out of the Castle -- now experienced Castle explorers who had been to three levels of the famous dungeon!