I had to cancel session 49.
Wealsun 3, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
Although Reed Underbough had big long-term plans, initially, the Sword & Spear Inn was going to be a small, very exclusive inn, considering the size of the tower Reed had bought. That said, there was already a waiting list for people wanting to stay at the inn run by the famous Company of the White Oak. Herv was more than happy to just sit in the unfinished common room, telling stories to the hanger-ons who assumed - because of his apparent old age - that Herv was the senior-most member of the Company and trained all of its members. They also assumed this because Herv actively encouraged it. Herv had also been dodging some legal problems he had in the recent past by pretending to be his own grandfather whenever anyone from the city came around.
Reed learned from the guild, rather than Ambrosio himself, that the hobbit footpad had asked to be reassigned. When confronted on it, Ambrosio claimed to fed up with dangerous dragons and ghosts, but when Reed mentioned that Ambrosio was now due for a 20% share of the loot, Ambrosio came around - but insisted on a contract stipulating that he would never be in the front half of the marching order.
Haruspex Niv had sequestered himself away during downtime, not with his beloved books, but with the Magicians Guild, and specifically those magicians who said the witch's wand of lightning that had been retrieved broken from Castle Greyhawk could be restored. It was a costly process, practically cleaning out Niv's hoarded treasure, but now he had a wand of lightning, and felt very powerful indeed.
Percy was a bishop of his church now, a role that came with new responsibilities for leading church services on godsdays. Although Percy had long been comfortable in his secular lodging at the Blue Dragon Inn, his superiors now fussed that he should take a bishop's proper house in the Garden Quarter. This was not only about rank and privilege, but practical concerns as well - a few weeks back, a woman had tried breaking into Percy's quarters at the inn, only to be caught by the inn's security.
Arlin Fadagoria, his elven bodyguard, had now irritatingly reminded Percy multiple times that he should have not left so quickly on that last expedition to Castle Greyhawk without him, and perhaps Herv or Lim Rem Grink might have been spared.
The elven community in Greyhawk apparently thought Runeflinger, of all the elves now in the group, was the most important member (perhaps they thought he was too important to learn the Common Tongue of Man, though he had secretly run into debt funding tutoring for himself). He had been approached twice about work for the White Oak Company by other elves.
An elf child went missing, seen dragged into the sewers recently. Unfortunately, the long-lived elves lacked the proper perspective for timeliness and told Runeflinger this a week later. Further, Elysande Barohir, a female elven explorer (the closer translation for the elven word for adventurer) had recently followed the rumored route to the Hidden Dale of the Ringstones, only to stumble across the ruins of an unknown city! She wanted to hire the Company of the White Oak to explore and map the city, and could front 2,000 gold to entice them.
Eirenden was now considered a full member of the Company, so valuable his information about the upper works of Castle Greyhawk had been. Recently, he was approached by the Fellowship of the Torch, a mercenary company that considered the White Oak Company rivals, and they had tried to poach him. The Fellowship claimed to have a lucrative contract to go east and clear out the Troll Fens, and while they were big on pie-in-the-sky promises about shares and bonuses and glory, they were sketchy on details unless they were sure Eirenden was onboard.
Now they were gathered together, at the unfinished Sword & Spear Inn, the three senior-most surviving members of the Company of the White Oak, and the two newer members who were already proving to be invaluable, to decide where to go next.
Castle Greyhawk had lost its luster for much of the Company, having proven to be a deadly place. The Greyhawk Sewers had also proven to be deadly. Rumor had it that Robert the Burglar had died while taking a splinter group of the Company to the deadly Temple of the Latter Day Elder Gods. The Hidden Dell of the Ringstones was deadly. Basically, they were surrounded by deadly everywhere they looked - and yet here was promise in the newly discovered -lost city. It had killed none of them yet!
They went to talk to this Elysande.
Elysande was, officially, staying at the Blue Dragon Inn. She spent a great deal of her time away from the inn, though, so the Company had to arrange to meet her in the morning when she went to the stables to see her horse.
“Runeflinger I was expecting, but I welcome everybody’s presence,” she said. “I will tell my story briefly, for there are non-elves present and I do not wish to age them unnecessarily.
“It was 25 days ago today that I found myself in the Menhir Hills, seeking the Hidden Dell of the Ringstones. I had heard they had been found, the missing menhirs that had once stood near Greyhawk City, and wished to see them again for myself. I had, in fact, paid for directions from a guide who said he had once led your company there, but on that day I thought myself led astray. The hills were not as had been described to me. I investigated further, until I found a waterfall and, by chance, glanced behind it. There I saw a vast city, ruined and overgrown in neglect, and weird in design. I had no desire to risk exploring it alone; the hills themselves were dangerous enough, as they are crawling with orcs these days. I would like to see this city explored and mapped, even if not by my hand. Which is why I am willing to pay 2,000 gold in gems or jewelry for such a map, half up front and half upon completion.”
Little did she know the trouble that last part would bring to her…
Should they, Eirenden wondered, hire a guide? Perhaps the same one the Company had used in the past? No, the senior members were confident they could find this city, if it was in the same location the Hidden Dell had been. Reed had been there more recently than anyone, so he would lead the way. Did they need anyone else? Surprisingly, the Company, which once leaned heavily towards fighting men, now had a shortage of them amongst its active members. Eirenden decided it was time to get his own henchman to fight beside him. The others, particularly Reed, impressed upon him that the Company had no dwarves among them and could use a dwarf for their innate abilities. So Eirenden recruited Lautre, a dwarven veteran, to accompany them.
Wealsun 4, 622 CY
Cairn Hills
The route was a familiar one, at least to the Company’s senior members. Reed Underbough, Haruspex Niv, Percy, Runeflinger, Eirenden, and their henchmen Muelara Wynna, Ambrosio, Alrin Fandagoria, and Lautre set off north from the City of Greyhawk (Niv had actually planned to ask Peter to accompany them, but Peter could not be found!). The courting couple, Bella and Everard, came along to tend the mules and cart.
They passed through the Village of Hawfair Green, the edge of the cultivated world of Greyhawk, without stopping, and also passed the old side road that led to Castle Greyhawk. They reached the Village of Stonebridge, the edge of civilization in the wilderness, atop the gorge in which the River Selintan flowed. Crossing west, they passed the gnomish villages of Grossettgrottell before camping under the stars.
Wealsun 5, 622 CY
Menhir Hills
On the second day of the trip, the Company crossed through the long north-south valley that marked the boundary between what was known as the Cairn Hills in the east and the Menhir Hills in the west. The hills here were taller, more rugged, and the trail they followed was often obscured and hard to follow. Indeed, many of the Companions who had last been this way were no longer with them. Several times they thought they were lost and it led to long delays.
Wealsun 6, 622 CY
Menhir Hills
Come the third day in the hills, the Companions were sure they were lost. They had thought this was the way to the Hidden Dell of the Ringstones, but the hills here were much higher than they thought they would see. A waterfall crashed off the top of the highest hill, no doubt fed from a spring at the top.
Elysande had mentioned a waterfall. Could this be it? And who was going to look behind it first? Before they could decide - two giant trapdoor spiders sprung from under the rocks and attacked. The spiders were quickly dispatched. Then there was, half-joking, talk about pushing the new henchmen through first. Lautre was willing to try it if rope was tied off to him, but Reed glanced first. One by one, so did the others.
A strange sight greeted them on the other side of the waterfall -- a 15' tall pillar with a large tusked skull atop it, like the mythical oliphants of old. Beyond it was a large open courtyard, its flagstones broken up and now overgrown with ivy and other lush vegetation. Other pillars, with similar skulls, could be seen around the perimeter of the courtyard, all of them free of the ivy. On the north side of the courtyard was a long ditch lined with trees, and it looked like the ditch had a stream at the bottom of it. On the south side of the courtyard were some diagonal rows of old crumbling, overgrown buildings, surrounded by more trees. On the west end of the courtyard was a tall curtain wall, maybe 25' tall. Some towers and other high-roofed buildings could be seen over the curtain wall.
Shambling towards them was what appeared to be an undead bugbear. Moments later it was gone, when Percy turned it to ash.
Everyone moved into the courtyard and started examining the pillars. The tusks looked valuable, but no one wanted to risk retrieving them. A cursory search of the rest of the courtyard turned up nothing else dangerous or valuable, so they moved to the ditch. It was only a ditch on this, its easternmost end. To the west, closer to where it met the curtain wall, it was well-constructed and obviously a canal. There was a pool surrounded by high reeds at its mid-point. While they were looking around, some of them had rocks thrown at them. The rocks were coming from (slightly) large black squirrels hiding in the trees. Rock-throwing squirrels was definitely something unusual, even in a world with giants and dragons. When someone got hit with a rock, the Company’s magic-users had enough of that and dropped all the squirrels with two sleep spells. Then the Company had to decide if they would kill the squirrels. It was actually a difficult decision for the Company to make, but the squirrels’ side lost in the end and the Companions dutifully went around killing every one that had dropped out of the trees.
Following the ditch-canal to the curtain wall, they found the bushes growing here were covered in unusually colorful berries. No one was interested in experimenting with them, but they filled a sack and the remainder of a mostly-full backpack with them.
Ahead, there was a large, crumbling gap in the wall they could climb through to explore the city inside. But first, Reed used his magic boots to alight on top of the wall. Now he could see that this was once an upscale part of town, but the mansions on the other side of the wall were crumbling ruins. He could also see the scope of the city, and how much there would be to map. He climbed down to discuss it with the others.
How much were they really supposed to map? Suddenly, the lack of details to their arrangement with Elysande seemed to gain new significance. Would a rough map suffice? Were they to only map out major streets, or every street and alley? Every building? The project now seemed daunting. Eirenden suggested they go climb the hills that appeared to ring the entire city, as if it were sitting in a giant crater that covered many acres, and circle the whole area first, to get a sense of the perimeter of their map. But no one else was crazy about doing any hill climbing; they were all interested in those crumbling mansions.
The mansions won out. Climbing through the gap in the curtain wall, everyone found themselves outside the nearest old manor. To the north were what looked like short silos, while to the south were more once-nice homes, and spread out around the homes was various statuary. But before anything could be examined, Haruspex’s ESP spell picked up that they were not alone. There were intelligent creatures planning an ambush attack on them from inside the nearest mansion. What should they do? Try to bait them out into the open? Lob spells into the building? They spent too long debating it - they were under attack! Arrows flew out of the mansion’s windows at them!
The Company’s archers gave better than they got, picking off what appeared to be hobgoblin archers at the windows. Hobgoblins did, then, emerge from the building. Instead of nice neat rows, they poured from every door and window, coming out with swords and other weapons to melee. This frustrated Haruspex, who had a wand of lightning now, but no nice neat rows of opponents to wipe out. The hobgoblins did not last long, but the second wave that came out, about the same size as the first, fared better. The Company was made up of adventures too experienced to be overcome by mere hobgoblins, but their henchmen and hirelings were not faring as well and began dropping one after another.
Runeflinger had evaded the whole battle by turning invisible early. Now he snuck up to the manor and peeked in, only to see a third wave massing to come out. He informed the rest of the Company, and Haruspex responded by launching a fireball into the ground floor of the manor. When Runeflinger checked inside, the entire third wave was charred corpses. The remains of the second wave stayed a minute longer, but then tried to flee. Only one managed to get away. Runeflinger was, while still invisible, pursuing the one who got away. The hobgoblin was pausing for breath behind a smaller building nearby. Runeflinger attacked, killing the hobgoblin, but not quickly or silently.
The noise from the fight disturbed the occupant of the house -- as an enormous cave bear emerged!
Runeflinger wanted nothing to do with that and ran back to the safety of the group. The group did not want anything to do with that bear either, so as it came at them they tossed a dead hobgoblin at it to slow it down. The bear, glad for a snack, tore the hobgoblin in half. Haruspex took advantage of the bear’s pause by aiming a lightning bolt at it, but when the bolt only succeeded in making the bear mad, then no one wanted to stick around to deal with it! More hobgoblins were tossed in the bear’s path to distract it, but the Company ran for the hills. Literally for the hills - the hills outside the city. And the trails leading east to…
Wealsun 8, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
The Companions found Elysande and asked for their remaining 1,000 gold. The elven maid had not, after all, specified exactly what had to be on the map, and they had made a map - just a very incomplete map. Elysande was displeased that they were not respecting the spirit of the agreement. Finally, after much discussion, it was decided a written contract was necessary. Every street larger than an alley would need mapping, and every significant building, with very tight definitions of what constituted as significant. Finally, the contract was finished and notarized, giving the Company the promise of another payout ahead.
Unexpected revenue came from another angle - when they took the berries to be identified by an herbalist, they learned the berries were magic! They got 60 gold for the berries they brought back.
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