Back-to-Basics Original Dungeons & Dragons Greyhawk Campaign - Interludes 1 & 2

Interlude 1

In the Barrier Peaks stands the castle of Mordenkainen. Many protective guards and wards protect its walls from those who could even reach it to begin with, as remote as the castle is. But unlike, well, any living thing, we can soar through an upper window on the thirteenth floor, through a study, down a hall, through a larger hall, around another corner, and into one of the private rooms of Mordenkainen himself. He is sitting in a chair while an elf servant trims his beard.

Suddenly, Mordenkainen lurches forward, stumbling out of his chair. He reaches out for something solid to help steady himself. He turns, looks around, and says to the elf maid, "Did you feel that?" in her own tongue.

She did not. Concern knits Mordenkainen's brow. For a full minute he looks at the floor, deep in thought. Finally he decides on a course of action; he walks to the nearest side wall and gives a very special rap of his knuckles upon it, causing a door to appear there. He opens it, and steps through. We follow.

Mordenkainen has stepped into his divination room. He uncovers a crystal ball, touches it, and speaks a command. "Show me Tenser. Allow me to speak with him."

The image of another of Oerth's most famous mage's appears in the ball. He's eating a sandwich.

"Tenser," Mordenkainen says, "I have felt a great disturbance. Something feels amiss to me. Do you not feel it?"

"Is that why my sandwich tastes off?" Tenser asks. "What goes on?"

"That I do not know, though...I have a strange premonition that gives me some inkling...I will get back to you."

Mordenkainen touches the crystal ball again and the image blurs and disappears. He thinks twice before saying what he says next. "Show me the Mad Prophet. Allow me to hear him."

The image of a dimly-lit cell, illuminated by the flickering light of some distant torch, appears in the ball. In the gloom, covered in matted hair almost as thick as fur, is a man. The man cackles with a hoarse, dry voice.

"Who is watching me? Basiliv? Rary? Mordenkainen? It does not matter...you will all come to me in time...and, in time ...will come to see what time will mean in time."

Interlude 2

Ready’reat 1, 620 CY

The ogre lumbered away, but only three more paces across the courtyard before falling forward, its head lolled to the side, and three of Eirenden’s arrows sticking out of its back.

“Don’t let them fall back to their tower!” Eirenden called out. He had another arrow already notched and was sighting his next target of the fleeing ogres.

But Rulf, further back, had just had a gravelly voice whispering in his ear. “Stop!” Rulf shouted. “Everyone, fall back to me! Zig’s orders!”

“Zig isn’t here,” Vincent said, holding his bloodied wound, but still with enough strength left to him to sound defiant.

“He will be,” Rulf argued. “Everyone, form a defensive circle around this spot!”

Rulf backed away into the circle of Eneever Zig’s henchmen forming up as instructed. Even Vincent. He had no love for Rulf, but he was wise to fear disobeying Zig.

Motes of magical energy began to dance in the spot near where Rulf stood. They spun briefly in a vertical oval shape before disappearing in a brief flash of light -- and then Eneever Zig stood in that spot. He wore a black conical hat and black robes that his white beard hung over, and he clutched a wizard’s staff. He could not have looked more the stereotype of a wizard had he consciously tried.

“Well? You found it?” were the first words out of Zig’s mouth.

Rulf seemed to know to what he referred. “Yes. We located the Bottle City. Did you wish to see it right away? We were just dispatching the rest of the ogres in this place.”

“Leave them,” Zig said. “They do not concern me. I would be taken to the Bottle City at once, but I have a new task for after you lead me there. Take the men and secure the main tower of the castle, so I may make use of it upon my return.”

“The main tower is held by a group of elves…” Rulf said.

“I know. You may try convincing them to leave if you wish, but if they resist, kill them. Kill them all.”

Back-to-Basics Original Dungeons & Dragons Greyhawk Campaign - Sessions 7 & 8

Session 7 (two weeks later...)

In Sittingbourne, Haruspex Niv paid for all but the ship’s crew to sleep the night in the Red Lion Hostel.

The next morning, Niv, his hireling Peter, Siliceous Slagg, Jake, Sagan the Nameless, and John Grond returned to the Rhenee Mistress and continued their riverboat tour southward, reaching the Village of Faversham that same morning. The wagon and horses were unloaded, the horses given some time to stretch, and the party considered their best course of action. Though John wanted to seek out information at Pelor’s Inn, Sagan suggested any guards at the west gate to the village (Faversham being a walled village, even if the wall was not very high) would be a better source of information. The two sentries were very surprised to see anyone wishing to go to Ashford; no one had been coming or going to Ashford for some time, since a hydra was lose in the area (something the party had heard rumors about weeks earlier). The party decided to chance it, but bought a pair of goats to bring along as hydra food in case they ran into it.

Outside the village was an abbey. Jake had always wanted to visit this abbey and begged leave of the others to see it.

Jake-less, they survived the day, seeing no sign of a hydra. But neither did they reach Ashford that day, given their late start. They camped the night behind a low hill away from the road and set one-man watches. It was at the end of Niv’s first watch that a small band of local adventurers from Ashford happened upon them. They were hunting a barrow wight, traveling with goblins, that had been sighted in the area. They knew of Propsero -- indeed, they knew he had been shut him in his home for over a week, refusing to leave, even to help with this wight business. This lent extra weight to their mission of helping to move Prospero, the task the Striped Mage had given them. Further, the adventurers were concerned the party might be wights in disguise. John submitted to tests to prove he was no wight, and the local adventurers pushed on.

In the morning, they reached Ashford and John checked the local stores for silver weapons, but found none. They set out to find Prospero’s house, got lost in the forest, but doubled back and found it a few hours later. And that was when they encountered eight little grey men -- kobolds -- who warned them they had no business with the wizard and to leave. It seemed like it would be a simple matter to put them to sleep with a spell -- but they seemed unusually resistant to the spell and only four went down. The other four were defeated, with two taken prisoner, but not before John, Niv, and Peter had all been injured, Niv and Peter seriously.

They were searching the bodies and finding some silver pieces when nine more kobolds arrived from the woods with the same warning. John killed one of the prisoners to try and break the morale of the fresh wave, but it did not work. Another sleep spell was attempted, this time by Sagan, but he was hit with a spear and his spell disrupted. Niv, Sagan, and Peter all retreated to the house with the remaining kobold prisoner while Slagg and Grond tried to hold off all their opponents. Indeed, they won in the end, dropping seven more kobolds and the two remaining ones fled, but by now both Slagg and Grond were seriously injured as well.

Meanwhile, the others were exploring the ridiculous-looking house, filled with curious knickknacks, and clocks that were impossibly miniaturized. Most importantly, Peter found Prospero sitting in his living room. Prospero was confused and indecisive, but claimed this was because of some unknown spell afflicting him. He was further aware that his house was surrounded by monsters that were not just unusually magic resistant, but “impossibly” magic resistant. To test this, Niv and Sagan both cast their remaining spells on the prisoner, trying to make the kobold like them, but it did not even seem to need to try and resist the spells.

Slagg came in, announced the battle was over, and asked for a healing potion. Luckily, Prospero had one with extra-healing properties, so Slagg and Grond could split it between them. It didn’t heal very much, though.

They saw another test shortly of this “magic resistance” when they convinced Prospero to come outside and they saw a large green monster about to attack Grond. Prospero dropped a Cloudkill spell on it, but the spell didn’t do much but obscure its vision. Everyone fled back inside.

While packing Prospero’s valuables, John stole a “magic coffeepot,” and Sagan found a magic talking mirror on the upstairs floor. The mirror told them of a secret passage under the house that Prospero claimed to have forgotten. It was a tunnel that led six miles east; the magic mirror was even able to show them that the end of the tunnel was clear. So they all made their escape, leaving their horses, wagon, and goats behind for the huge green monster…

Prospero recovered his wits as soon as they were some distance down the tunnel. Once they were out, Prospero took his things (minus the pilfered coffee pot) and teleported to the City of Greyhawk. Before he went, he asked them to make contact with his friend, Roger Bacon, in the Village of Faversham. They needed to go back there anyway to pick up Jake from the abbey.

Peter, Niv’s hireling, was badly shaken by having to flee from a troll -- he just kept going, never to be seen again (so far).

After a week in Faversham, during which time Prospero never returned, Sagan and John decided it was time to return to the Striped Mage and inform him of their success. They had, after all, helped Prospero move, just not in the way they had expected. Upon returning to Greyhawk City, though, they were shocked to learn that the Striped Mage had died, apparently from old age! All of his indentured servants were expected to attend his wake that weekend…but some of them would soon have other plans…


Session 8
Patchwall 14, 620 CY

On a beautiful autumn Starday morning, seven adventurers rode out from Greyhawk City, northward toward the Cairn Hills. The rented carriages carried them over the side trail that led to the infamous ruins of Castle Greyhawk. For Haruspex Niv, Siliceous Slagg, and Jake, it was a return. For Sagan the Nameless, John Grond, Tuko "Lumpy" Burrstone, and Jolith Rhygar, long denied the chance to seek fame and fortune by their master, the Striped Mage, the day of his wake was a fittingly spiteful time to at last visit the Castle.

Not long after one of the carriage drivers had told them about an ogre ambush on the last carriage tour to the old castle, two ogres charged the party just as they were unloading from the carriages. First blood went to Jolith’s sling, but the ogres responded in kind with hurled spears and one random throw impaled Sagan and the other impaled one of the carriage drivers. Jake tried to magically heal Sagan, but it wasn’t enough -- Sagan the Nameless died. The battle was quickly ended, for the injured ogre fell afflicted by Niv’s charm spell and, between the charmed ogre and John (who could speak Ogrish), they convinced the remaining ogre to stand down.

After huddling up, the adventurers came up with a pretty audacious plan to deal with the ogres. They bribed the ogres into compliance by feeding them the horses from one of the carriages, then bribed the remaining carriage driver into returning to the city, not report what happened to the other carriage, and use the money left on Sagan to pay for his funeral. A few choice gear items were removed from Sagan (and carried by John). After the carriage was away and the ogres were done eating, the adventurers asked for an escorted tour of the castle grounds.

The ogres showed the adventurers their home and inside was a human cleric chained to the wall -- what the ogres offered to share as dessert. The adventurers sent the charmed ogre off on a false errand, surrounded the remaining ogre, and killed it. They freed the cleric, Brother Langdon, who had come on a solo pilgrimage to the Shrine of Boccob here at the castle. They found Langdon’s gear (and 30 gold from the ogre besides), and brought him along to keep him safe. Then they retrieved their charmed ogre and convinced him to go into the dungeon with them, through the trapdoor entrance they knew so well.

The ogre did not care for the tight confines of the dungeon and had never been down here before, but proved an invaluable door opener. The jail cells in the entry hall were empty this time, so they were able to move on quickly. The old brigand lair was now being shared with hobgoblins (they had 15 gp between them), but with the ogre’s help the hobgoblins were quickly dispatched (though Lumpy was seriously hurt by their polearms) and the brigands surrendered (they had a decorative shield worth 20 gp). The old orc lair was empty. They searched the sarcophagus room and found treasure they had missed months earlier (a 100 gp tourmaline and a 25 gp incense burner). Lastly, they found a new room with a trapped chest in it (Jolith triggered the trap, which was supposed to hit him with magical cold, but something went wrong with the trap and he took no harm). Inside was the biggest cache of treasure they had ever seen before -- 4,000 gold pieces worth of gold and jewels, and three magic potions.

Leaving the castle with their spoils, their charmed ogre pulled the carriage halfway back to the city, where they left the ogre to his own devices, and then they walked back home the rest of the way.

Back-to-Basics OD&D Greyhawk Campaign - Sessions 5 & 6

Session 5 (two weeks later...)

At the end of that summer, the three freemen adventurers - Siliceous Slagg, Jake, and Haruspex Niv - decided to finally go to Grossettgrottell and see if Mather and his clan had a reward for them. They were joined by Niv’s newly hired man-at-arms, Peter, and a new adventurer, Sagan the Nameless, who they suspected was spying on them for Eneever Zig, but let him come anyway.

After an uneventful trip into the Cairn Hills, they finally reached Grossettgrottell, which seemed to be no more than a thorp full of gnome shepherds with a human-sized inn. The inn was run by Halril, an elf maiden, who entertained merchants who could not or would not go down into the warrens (a friendly merchant of this sort they met was John Rown) and gnome shepherds waiting for the bowling games to start. Though they made sure the inn could put up their wagon and two draft horses, it seemed accommodations were scarce because this was a fest day, or a market day, and indeed they were missing it even now in the warrens below.

Moving outside, Slagg quickly found the concealed tunnel entrance to the underground warrens. They were stopped at a guard outpost where the gnomes were suspicious until Slagg described Mather and his nephews, and then they were admitted, and warned not to pet the badgers (they had many opportunities to, but chickened out).

The entry tunnel went past a side passage with a dwarven glyph over it, but they ignored it and pressed on to the trade hall cavern. In this enormous cavern they found the marketplace just starting to break down for the day. They hired a gnome guide for 2 sp who took them to a tunnel that led to the Amdur Clan’s section of the warrens, home to Mather and the nephews, Horach and Pincnan. Here they were received warmly and told they could stay as long as they wanted. A feast would be prepared for them – but the chef Ipayah refused because she had no violet mushrooms for everyone’s favorite dish. The mushrooms could only be found in the Forbidden Caves.

At first, the party wanted nothing to do with the Forbidden Caves. They found the Amdurs’ drinking hall and, socializing with the gnomes there, learned of undisclosed bounties on kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs that infested the Cairn Hills. They told about kobolds bursting into flame when killed, and goblins having special abilities, which may or may not prove to be true. But the Forbidden Caves were starting to sound more tempting, especially when Horach and Pincnan agreed to come and point out poisonous mushrooms to them (the whole “forbidden” thing was really more of a guideline…).

In their first cave, they found poisonous, sticky mushrooms, and normal-sized beetles that seemed to like heat. In the second cave, they found destroying angel mushrooms that were, besides being deadly poison, would explode with a flash if thrown. Jake was collecting some when three giant centipedes attacked him, but they were quickly dispatched by the party without harm. Niv made Peter collect the bodies and place them in his pack.

In a third cave, they found a slick slope and decided it looked too dangerous, so they backtracked to a side passage. Down this way they found a fourth cave with a 4’ cube carved stone in the center of it. Though initially wary of the cube, Jake went in and touched the back side of it, at which time the side facing a small side passage turned white and the side facing a shallow niche turned black. There was definitely some puzzle here, but they decided not to mess with it. It was getting late and they wanted to find their way back. Which they did!

Session 6 (Two weeks later…)

On the two-week anniversary of the party’s arrival in Grossetgrottell (this week’s market day-fest was taking place in the neighboring village of Chataignier), the party was planning to go back and explore the rest of the Forbidden Caves. Haruspex Niv, Jake, and Sagan the Nameless found Siliceous Slagg, who had been spending time with his fellow dwarves in Grossettgrottell, while the others had been staying close with the gnomish Amdur Clan. Their reunion was cut short by a commotion -- the mayor’s son, Zeph, had been kidnapped! Everyone who wasn’t away in Chataignier was mobilized to search, including every burrowing mammal, but the only clue was that something had been seen heading towards the Forbidden Caves!

Mather was rallying his people when he spotted the party. Singing their praises as experts in rescuing gnomes, he also volunteered to come with them, armed with his lucky dagger and a shield he had bought. They also had Niv’s man-at-arms hireling, Peter, along with. Slagg volunteered that he knew of a dwarven hero staying in the area, but the others did not like the thought of splitting treasure with a hero and decided six people was quite enough thank you very much.

The party headed back into the caves, being more careful to map this time, and used Niv’s ESP spell to try and home in on the gnomenappers. They covered a lot of familiar ground at first, making sure the four caves they knew about were not occupied and looking for tracks. It was when they returned to the cave with the magical stone cube in it that Niv’s spell finally detected evil monsters ahead. Still, the party took the time to try and detour around the direction the thoughts emanated from, suspecting an ambush. So they came at a cave with three goblins and four giant rats in it from a slightly different angle. The rats charged at them and the goblins threw their spears, but Jake blocked the tunnel entrance with his shield and the spears all glanced off -- and then their opponents were all dropped by Niv’s Sleep spell. They had minimal treasure -- 12 sp -- and it was decided (after killing the rats) to tie up the goblins and see if they had any information of value. It turned out, their boss was a gnoll, and the gnoll had gnomenapped Zeph. The goblins were guarding his back as the gnoll headed deeper into the caves. After questioning them, Slagg dispatched them with his axe.

The next cave had a high ledge overlooking it like a balcony and there was a lone goblin guard watching them from the balcony. The party went back to get the three throwing spears from the dead goblins and come back, but when they did they found the lone sentry had gone and got all his friends -- four of them -- to come man the balcony with him. They lobbed javelins at the party, lightly injuring Slagg, and nearly killing Mather (he was saved at the last minute by Jake’s only cure spell). The javelin-tossers were chased back by flaming oil, but soon the cave was filled with smoke and too dangerous for the party to stay. Luckily, there was another tunnel down here to try…

Which lead to a cave with the gnoll in it, accompanied by a lone goblin, and a sack with something moving in it. The goblin met the advancing party and blew out Jake’s torch (being able to blow out torches was something the gnomes had told them goblins could do -- and it turned out to be true!). The gnoll was running towards a tunnel on the other side of the cave when the lights went out; Sagan tossed a Sleep spell down the tunnel as far as it could go and caught the gnoll in it, which they found out after Slagg dispatched the remaining goblin. Sure enough, Zeph was sleeping now in the bag, but they woke him up. Mather comforted Zeph while the gnoll was tied up. The party quickly decided they would bring back their prisoner to face gnomish justice…and maybe collect a reward for capturing him. They also found the cave the gnoll had fled into was the cave of violet mushrooms -- the very delicacies they had been looking for last time! They filled the sack that had held Zeph with the delicious mushrooms and started to head back.

But not all the way back yet. There was something Sagan had noticed while mapping…that a dead end they had seen earlier seemed to come to the other side of the balcony cave. They all went there and searched it for secret doors. They almost found none, but Peter found it, searching a little further back in the tunnel from the dead end. This lead to the secret lair of the six remaining goblins, who were felled by another Sleep spell. In a chest, they had 9 cp, 300 sp, and 31 ep, which the party took.

And lastly, Jake wanted to back and gather 16 more “exploding” destroying angel mushrooms, enough to fill the remainder of space in his backpack.

When returning to the Village of Corippo, they returned Zeph, and were treated to a 50 gp reward, plus 20 more for bringing them the blackguard who had abducted him. The violet mushrooms were worth 50 gp to the Amdur Clan (and shared only with the Amdur Clan, cementing their cooking- related power in the community!). Jake looked into if the destroying angel mushrooms were saleable and learned that the four he’d picked two weeks ago would rot in the next few days, meaning his collection was of limited value.     

My Back-to-Basics OD&D Greyhawk Campaign - Sessions 3 & 4

Session 3 (Two weeks later…)

 

The wagons rolled over the drawbridge into the courtyard of Castle Greyhawk once more. Rulf, acting like he thought of himself as a sergeant when he did not outrank any other indentured servant, called for everyone to line up and sound off, while the wizard Eneever Zig reviewed them. Zig’s instructions were short this time. Instead of waiting here, Zig was going into the dungeon himself, to speak to someone in the Bottle City. He explained how this was literally a city in a magic bottle, on the second dungeon level. He did not even assign guards to the wagons before walking off.

 

Jake, Haruspex Niv, Siliceous Slagg, and Baron von Hage (Baron was his first name) were not interested in guard duty, they abandoned Rulf and the others for the trapdoor that led into the dungeon, intent on collecting bounties.

 

Passing the dungeon cells, they found a third gnome in the first cell! The gnome was chained up and made it clear an ambush was waiting for them in the second, adjoining cell. Forewarned, the four bounty hunters surprised two brigands lurking in the next cell, a variant of the trap the brigands had left here for them last time, but more dangerous because one of the brigands had an alarm horn in hand. Thankfully, the brigand dropped the horn when surprised, and neither brigand lasted long (one slain, the other, Bill, captured).

 

The gnome was freed. His name was Mather, and he had come looking for the two gnomes freed two weeks back, but was himself captured and tossed in here as fresh bait for the bounty hunters. Mather, unlike his cousins, wanted to accompany them and avenge himself, and was given Baron’s dagger.

Bill was questioned about the location of the Master. He had no idea, but he explained some dungeon economy to them. Rather than being paid money he was allowed to keep, Bill was given a weekly allowance that he could use to buy replacement weapons, good wine, or a romp with the Master’s harlots. This seemed like a good clue to the bounty hunters and they insisted Bill lead them to the harlots. Niv cast his ESP spell so he would sense thoughts they approached and would be harder to surprise.

 

The way to the harlot rooms seemed deserted, though. Bill suggested that it might be meal time; his sense of time was thrown off by the week he had spent in the cell as part of the trap for them. Eventually they reached a locked door that they could not break down, but the noise of them throwing themselves against it brought the attention of the harlots on the other side. When they claimed to be the Master, it brought the madam, Muriel, to the door.

 

There was a brigand in the room who was now half-dressed, had picked up his spear, and rushed in to fight, with Muriel fighting alongside him with her dagger. But the brigand went down fast and Muriel surrendered. She had fought to make a show of loyalty, but her only real loyalty was to her girls. She said she had few encounters with the Master, and most of her dealings were with a lieutenant, Gregory. It was Gregory with whom Muriel had an arrangement that her girls would always be compensated. She was asked if the women would want to leave the dungeon if escorted, but she said some had been down here long enough they did not remember the surface world anymore. She agreed to lead them into the vicinity of Gregory’s quarters, but would not risk being seen with them and let him know she had betrayed him. She also implored them not to kill Gregory, as her girls would no longer be safe then.

Two more brigands had been in the next room of harlots, but one escaped and only one remained to guard the other’s escape, wielding only a scimitar in his hands. He was a capable swordsman and it took some time for Slagg, Baron, and Jake to drop him.

 

A short distance away, at Gregory’s quarters, they fought and killed a guard outside the room, and Baron was finally able to upgrade his armor to what this man had been wearing. By now, Muriel had vanished (Mather had her dagger now, though). The door to Gregory’s room was locked, and another door on the other side that seemed to lead into the same area was locked. Niv sensed no thoughts within, so making lots of noise breaking a door down did not seem useful enough to them. Instead, they moved on to a new part of the dungeon past here.

 

The next rooms were also empty of people, but they were not empty. One contained a blue opal in a chamber full of centipedes, including two giant centipedes, which were easily killed. Mather helped in the combat here, despite still having no armor. Another room contained a stuffed albatross on a wooden pedestal, with a pair of dice next to it. A third room contained even more elaborate and puzzling contents. There was a pool of water (curiously, saltwater!) with a chain hanging from a pulley above it. In a small adjoining room was a winch controlling the chain. The bounty hunters tried lowering the chain into the water, and tried baiting the chain with the stuffed albatross, but caught nothing on their fishing expedition.

 

While trying to solve the puzzle, they were caught by three guards on patrol and the bounty hunters fought them and killed them. Mather, again, proved useful (so much so that he was convinced Muriel’s dagger was magical), but by now both Slagg and Baron had been injured and Jake only had a healing spell for one. Leaving Baron moderately injured, they decided it was time to start heading back. Returning to the harlots’ rooms, they found Muriel had returned here. She told Mather her dagger was not magical, shocking him to learn that it was all himself who had been so successful in combat. Muriel had discussed their offer of freedom with her girls and three of them wished to go.

 

They got turned around once on the way back out, but realized they had taken a wrong turn when they reached a pit they had never seen before. Luckily, they had still been dragging Bill around all this time, and Bill led them out. However, not far from the first bandit lair, they opened a door and found four wandering giant rats. Two of them jumped on Baron and tore him apart. Mather killed them both, while Slagg and Jake took care of the other two.They tried to revive Baron, but all they got out of him were his final words. “I had a good time…don’t tell anyone how I died.”

 

Returning to the courtyard (Bill was forced to carry Baron), they found all the other servants badly hurt and one of the wagons smashed! Two ogres had ambushed them from the roofs of the nearby round towers and hurled rocks down on the nearest wagon to smash it. The ogres had been chased off after a horrendous battle.

 

Eventually Zig returned and he had news too: the dungeons had changed since he was down there last and he could no longer find the Bottle City. He offered a 200 gp reward if they happened to find it. No one had, of course, but they did have treasure to show Zig. The dice found by the albatross had fading magic, or some residual magic, to them. Curious, he gave them 50 gp for the dice. The blue opal was worth far more -- 2,000 gold pieces. Now the bounty hunters had a serious discussion -- use the money to resurrect Baron, or pay for their freedom? The 2,000 split three ways would make all three of them free men (or two men and a dwarf, at any rate). The desire to be free men won the day, but to assuage their guilt they agreed to give the remaining 200 gold to Baron’s next of kin.

 

And so they all left, with the remaining wagon, to return to the City of Greyhawk…

 

Session 4 (Two weeks later...)

 

Though Haruspex Niv was eager to get Mather to Grossettgrottell (and possibly a reward), Jake and Siliceous Slagg made him wait, vowing they’d do that after one more trip to Castle Greyhawk. They brought Goryc along (even though Goryc is still an indentured servant of Eneever Zig!).

 

Thanks to a wealthy patron Jake met the previous week, they had a carriage ride and men-at-arms escort all the way to Castle Greyhawk. Once there, they realized they could do anything they wanted, with no mission from Zig. They looked around the entrance and found an ogre’s “nest” in one of the square towers, but the ogre wasn’t home (the heroes know there are at least two).

Then they checked out the stables on the south side/high end of the castle grounds. There they found a working wagon, miscellaneous possessions from old workers, and – on the third floor – a haunted room. Jake performed a ceremony to try and put the undead to rest, but the ceremony only upset – a wraith! Niv and Goryc ran (I wasn’t taking the blame if they got energy drained while they were NPCs). Slagg had a silver dagger, so he stayed and fought. Jake poured holy water on his morning star so he could fight too. And they won! (Chiefly because the wraith was a terrible fighter/I could not roll more than a 10 to hit/forgot silver weapons do half-damage. Oops!) The room contained some loose change, a holy symbol, and more importantly a workbench full of a master blacksmith’s tools in pristine condition.

 

Rather than move on in exploring the castle, Slagg had an unusual suggestion: why not quit now with the spoils they had? They could load everything that looked saleable into the wagon and push it downhill to the courtyard entrance. If they hurried, they would get out before the ogre(s) came back. After some discussion, they agreed as a group to leave, left the castle, and met their escort just outside. Their carriage had two horses; they bought one outright from the driver and returned at half-speed to civilization. Rather than return all the way to Greyhawk City, they stopped at the Village of Hawfair Green, so they would reach it by late evening.

 

My Back-to-Basics OD&D Greyhawk Campaign - sessions 1& 2

 Prologue (Session 1)

They came in a covered wagon, not allowed to see the route through the hills they took to reach the castle. They were only allowed out when they were in its courtyard. Their actions were limited because they were the indentured servants of a wizard – one Eneever Zig.

The wizard himself was there and waxed nostalgic about where they were – Castle Greyhawk. He talked about how generations had looted its dungeons and been responsible for the beginning of a new social class, the adventuring class. And, even though the castle should have been cleared out by now, someone or some force had restocked the castle dungeons with monsters and treasure. Zig wanted those treasures, and any treasure brought to him would help pay for their emancipation. He even showed them a way down, revealing a concealed trapdoor in the courtyard.

The initial five servants were Card, Jake, Korrin, Rex, and Thorin; of them, only Jake was human. They found the dungeon, at least near this entrance, was truly a dungeon in form and function, and one of the first three cells were inhabited. They freed two gnomes and sent them up to the surface. Their jailors were a group of bandits at the end of the hall. Not many of the bandits were there in their lair, so they went down quickly.

From a bandit they left alive they learned of a nearby maze area the bandits avoided. This sounded promising to the five adventurers. They explored some of it, finding a spear trap behind a false door, and eventually found their way to a room with kobolds in it. They also made short work of the kobolds. Then they found a larger room with a row of three doors and, after they tried one, they found this area was inhabited by a lot more kobolds – too many to handle! They fled for their lives, Rex sacrificing himself in an attempt to slow the kobolds down…

Session 2: Five Months Later

Eneever Zig returned to the castle, with two wagons full of servants and other retainers this time. He wanted information more than treasure this time, and put a bounty of 100 gold on the head of Gurth, the bandit leader. Jake, having survived the first foray months earlier, returned to guide three new adventurers, Goryc, Hauspex Niv, and Siliceous Slagg. They went down via the same route.

At the prison cells, they found the same two gnomes! They had never made it out of the courtyard, having been captured by an ogre five months ago and returned to the cells. They had someone else in the cells with them, but this man turned out to be one of the bandits. He pulled a dagger to Goryc’s throat and demanded the others leave! Niv was fast with a charm spell and put the bandit under his power.

The charmed bandit led them to the bandits’ rooms. The bandits were spread out over two rooms, with Gurth in the second room. All of the bandits were dispatched, save Gurth and one other (the charmed one was killed by Slagg). They collected some treasure and returned up top to claim their bounty. The light of day hurt the eyes of the bandits, so accustomed had they become to living underground.

Zig asked them to pin Gurth down, then used a medallion to read Gurth’s thoughts. The medallion killed Gurth, but not before giving up his thoughts to Zig. Zig did not get the answers he wanted, but he now placed a bounty of 200 gp on someone Gurth knew as “The Master.” Zig also appraised the treasures the adventurers brought back. Goryc suspected Zig of lowballing them and cast a magic-detecting spell. None of their treasure was magical – but he did learn that Zig was protected by two invisible, magical guardians nearby him. At least they got 100 gold which, when added to their bounty, gave them 200 gold to pay down their servitude. Just 550 gold each left to go…

The captured bandit that wasn’t Gurth was eager to trade information for his life and told of a lieutenant who might know where the Master was. The prisoner was forced to lead them down and took them to a room full of eight orcs. Prepared for them in advance, the two magic-users dropped all eight of them with two sleep spells before the orcs could even reach them. They killed all the orcs, but left one alive for questioning. Their new prisoner told them the lieutenant they sought was a “half-goblin” named Herg and gave them directions on how to find Herg.

The adventurers followed the directions, passing three doors that led into rooms that housed huge weasels. They left the weasels alone and made their way to a large muralled hall and a pair of double doors, just as the orc had described. But the double doors were extremely hard to open.

While working on the doors, a man with a candle and a cape made of rat pelts approached them. This man was a roving furrier, buying rat pelts, and had been down here so long he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave and promised to think it over.

Meanwhile, the magic-users found, if they each touched one door that they opened for them. Unfortunately, the orc had lied. This was not Herg’s lair, but the lair of nine berserkers. Short on spells and not feeling confident, the adventurers tried to quickly trap the men inside the chamber, but the men were able to easily open the doors from inside. The adventurers fled the way they had come, but the berserkers were faster and caught up to them around the corner, in the hallway with the weasel rooms. The adventurers staged a fighting withdrawal up the long hallway, but would likely have lost the battle had Niv not started opening doors and letting weasels out. The weasels wound up doing more harm to the adventurers than anyone else down here had, but they also kept the berserkers busy and allowed them to escape.

Downtime Spending Rules for OD&D

Downtime Spending

In OD&D, where game time is meant to correspond to real time, I saw a need for mechanics to determine what happens during those 2 weeks of game time between our sessions.

 

You pick the social class you want to live like, and that determines how much it costs per week, as follows:

Lower Lower Class (bums on the street) - 1 cp

Middle Lower Class (what you were as indentured servants) - 1 sp

Upper Lower Class (freemen, working class) - 1 ep

Lower Middle Class (common tradesmen) - 5 gp

Middle Middle Class (guild tradesmen) - 10 gp

Upper Middle Class (merchants) - 20 gp

Lower Upper Class (knights) - 60 gp

Middle Upper Class (barons) - 180 gp

Upper Upper Class (dukes) - 360 gp

Upper Upper Class+ (princes) - 720 gp

Upper Upper Class++ (kings) - 1,440 gp

What Happened to You Doing Your Week of Downtime? Table

Roll       Result

1 or less Someone kills you in your sleep and takes all your stuff

2            There is a 5 in 6 chance that someone beats you up, robs you of 10-60% of your wealth, and leaves you with 1 hp

3            You have a 4 in 6 chance of catching an ailment/disease/infestation (referee’s call)

4            You have a 3 in 6 chance of one of your contacts/followers/hirelings/henchmen leaving you

5-9        Nothing happens

10          You have a 3 in 6 chance of picking up a new contact/meeting someone to hire

11          You have a 4 in 6 chance of someone seeking you out to hire you to do something (plot hook!)

12          You have a 5 in 6 chance of a sponsor finds you and offers to pay your way to the next social class up next week

13+       You are accepted into the hierarchy for your class or race (your choice) or advance up in that hierarchy (permanent one step up on the social class table)

Social Class Modifiers

LLC -4

MLC - 2

ULC -1

MC - no modifiers

LUC +1

MUC +2

UUC +4

[This next part is adapted from an early Dragon magazine: ]

Further, like in the original Blackmoor campaign, you can earn XP *again* by additional spending during downtime, in the following ways:

- Religious sacrifice. Any classes, no more than 1/week, no limit.
– Philanthropy. Non-chaotics only, no limit (half-value for Neutrals).
– Spell Research. Magic-users only, up to 250 gp per level per day.
– Clan hoards. Demi-humans only, no limit, but must travel to the location of the clan & its hoard.

- Guild/Church tithing. Any classes, no more than 1/week, up to 10% of everything you have.
– Carousing. Non-lawfuls only (half-value for Neutrals). Max spent is 500 gp per level per night (or 250 if at less than full hp). A character needs a CON score of 2 per day (so a CON of 14+ is required to keep going all seven days of the week), and the character needs an equal number of days of rest afterwards.

For downtime extra spending, 1 XP is earned for every 2 GP spent (so 50% of its initial XP value when earned).

South Province Campaign: Session 85 Notes

[As I vacate all my files from old Yahoo!Groups, a variety of them will find their way here to this old blog. And not remotely in order. This is a write-up from pretty late in the campaign, so don't feel bad if you have no idea what's going on in this one. Earlier ones are coming!]

85th Playing Session Notes
Alex
Fireseek 20, 582.  Earthday morning, 10 am.
Alex is interviewing three new employees contracted through the Blue Salamander Guild – Miro, Milen, and Dimitris.  They all seem passibly fluent in lawful speech, but Andel has not divined their true nature yet.  Miro and Milen will be added to the estate guards, while Dimitris is to head north, check for Oaklock in Arogaz Avon and then move to Crossroads to contact Alex’s other informants there.

While on the estate, Depello Vargus is escorted to see Alex.  Depello serves Freiherr Yuliana Kurkulas.  Yulilana is responsible for overseeing the ritter sub-class while in Hexpools and Depello is to be his liason to her.

Fireseek 21, 582.  Freeday morning, 10 am.
Depello is on the estate trying to make plans with Alex to attend a ball held at Rheingraf Mehdi’s estate on next Moonday.  Kullin Kostova arrives, representing Laird Daridus, wanting Alex to appear at city hall and accept an award on Sunday.  Three more couriers are waiting at the gate, first among them carries an invitation for a banquet at the Artisan’s Guild Sunday evening, and a gift of a silver brooch (worth 10 gp).

Fireseek 22, 582.  Starday.

On this day the whole band talks about the “Big Picture.”

Fireseek 23, 582.  Sunday afternoon, 4 pm.

Alex is meeting with Desinail Oeskos, half-Suel Treasurer (7^th level, age 55) of the Church, at the temple.  Desinail relates that Voldran Mardov is on his way to Kalstrand with an entourage to present Alex’s argument to the Grand Acquisitioner.  However, the Church is concerned about the likely perception tha the Church stands to gain from this, especially if their chief witness is politically active.  Desinail asks what chapel Alex has sworn his life to defending and when he last served guard duty there.

Fireseek 23, 582.  Sunday morning, 3 am.

Alex wakes Joseph, who had arrived just last night, and makes him groom and saddle Zephyr in the dark to show him that life as a ritter’s page or squire is not easy.  Joseph does well, but is slowed down by asking Alex questions about adventuring.  They are interrupted by the sound of elvish singing.  Sure enough, Oaklock is on the villa grounds, having arrived late last night and not wishing to disturb anyone.  Oaklock did run into Dimitris, and relates that Freiherr Gorova will allow his engineer, Filip the White-Knuckled, to come to Hexpools for only 2 weeks of consultation if 300 gp are paid in advance for security.

Fireseek 24, 582.  Moonday evening, 5 pm.

Mehdi’s ball is underway and Alex arrives with Kesley on his arm.  Julius Weathermay is working the crowd and hits on Kesley (“You’re beautiful, charming, elegant – let’s ditch your bodyguard and go paint the town!”).  Mehdi arrives and gently chastises Weathermay for party crashing (JW:  “I had nothing in writing that said not to come.  When I snub you for parties, I always end you a warning to stay away.”)  Weathermay is here looking for Alex.  He offers to hire the BoGG for 100 gp a month.

Rains in the night.

Fireseek 25, 582.  Godsday afternoon, 1 pm.

Godsday services were performed by Tramir Rovos (played by Wilford Brimley), canon of the church.  His slow, plodding sermon was highlighted by the announcement of Voldran Mardov’s safe arrival in Kalstrand for a “very important summit.”  Afterwards, Rovos agrees to talk to Alex, but has no news of the summit itself, nor even knows its purpose.  Tramir agrees that the church will watch his villa and handle all requests for Alex alone and not the full Band.  Alex announces he is leaving for Aragoz Avon the next day, but in the meanwhile, leaves funds behind so the Church can commission the creation of an Amulet of Prot. From Fear (1,000 gp?).

Fireseek 26, 582.  Waterday afternoon, 2 pm.

Alex is on the road to Inamark, leading the way on Zephyr while Joseph drives the Band’s wagon, with Kesley in back.  They just encountered two wagons whose horses and passengers were being accosted by 5 huge (2’, ½ HD) squirrels and 1 giant (4’, 1 HD) squirrel.  A passenger slays a huge squirrel with a Magic Missile, Zephyr tramples a giant squirrel, and the rest flee.  The wagons hold refugees from Porton, who have seen their town transformed into an army base since the BoGG’s “attack.”

Vlad

Fireseek 19, 582.  Waterday afternoon, 4 pm.

First day of scribing.  Benus Steinus has questioned a class of four and dismisses all but Vlad as being unworthy of this level of study.  Benus leads Vlad to a door to a ruined mausoleum, locked from the outside.  Through that door is encounter 1 of the Crypt of Lyzandred (the mourners can become 4 zombies and the coffin holds a ghast).  Benus explains that real risk makes the puzzles more challenging.

Fireseek 20, 582.  Earthday morning, 5 am.

Vlad wakes to notice a glyph on the back of his left hand that looks like it was burned there.  It itches, but doesn’t hurt.  Jedidiah the Kilmoulis was there, and likely Mikhail, Ivan, and Maldrik.  None of them can explain it.  Benus cannot be contacted for 3 more hours.  The college is a building without doors or furniture – just a place where teachers and students meet and talk standing or sitting in one of five rooms.  When asked later, Benus says it is Vlad’s job to reason it out.  The glyph is really branded, not magical.

Fireseek 21, 582.  Freeday evening, 7 pm.

The cabal meets at Balagros’ villa (or elsewhere?).  Holian, Aria, Weiss, Vest, Wormer, Richards, and three more (1 2^nd lvl, 2 1^st) attend.  Holian is friendly to the idea of sharing spell research.  Aria is hostile and vanishes.  Weiss thinks the idea has merit, but wants safeguards to make sure no one is stealing or hording research.  Vest is uncertain because there is no precedent.  Richards is excited about it.  Holian alone can make scrolls.  Day 5 of Vlad’s spell research.

Fireseek 22, 582.  Starday morning, 7 am.

Vlad is stopped before leaving the warehouse by Metodi, who had an early morning guest – a gnome named Beryl has been there for an hour asking for Vlad.  Beryl is a 1 HD female gnome who brings apologies from Trosli that he could neither come himself nor send illusionists.  Instead, Beryl offers herself as an apprentice.  Trosli is on a secret mission to Idee and that’s all Vlad can coax from her.  Holian and Richards are the first to agree to Vlad’s proposal of spell sharing.

Fireseek 23, 582.  Sunday morning, 9 am.

Benus sends Vlad through a door to encounter area E5 (the ogre is an ogrillion, saplings at 1+1 HD).  The garden is surrounded by a 5' stone wall.  If Vlad hops the wall, he finds himself in a field with a greenish fog and unusually short grass scattered, odd-shaped trees and surrounded by hills.  There is a 3 in 6 chance of an encounter every 10 minutes (see p. 3).  It rains that night.

Fireseek 24, 582.  Moonday morning, 11 am.

Vlad goes to E6 after 3 hours of playing dragon chess with Benus) the 6 gnomes are I 2/T 2).  The door to the warehouse is stuck.  Outside is a farm with several other warehouse-like buildings around it.  20 green kobolds try to prevent Vlad from snooping.

Fireseek 25, 582.  Godsday night, 10 pm.

Metodi appears to need to see Vlad, but it is in fact a disguised Holian.  Holian reveals that 6 members of the cabal know Vlad and Metodi's secret, but had kept it to themselves.  He reveals that he has brought an invisible guest, and Davim of Dargvonessa appears.  Davim asks the cabal for sanctuary as he has a death sentence waiting him for impersonating nobility.  This is day 7 of Vlad's INT training.

Fireseek 26, 582.  Waterday morning, 11 am.

Vlad is sent to E8 (the steward is a F2 in black tabard over studded leather, the cook is a C2, also AC 7, the servants are illusion-covered zombies).  They fight to keep Vlad from leaving the kitchen.  There are 4 ghouls in the adjoining dining room and 3 more in the hallway.

Fireseek 27, 582.  Earthday afternoon, 4 pm.

After solving another math problem, Vlad fled into a village on the other side of the door.  The locals were slaves being supervised by a pair of big, shaggy monsters Vlad color sprayed.  Vlad has been searching the village for clues as to what's going on and only coming up with the occasional giant rat.  At first he kills some, but soon realizes they are at least semi-domesticated.  Then Vlad finds a skeleton in an old shed.  

Ivan

Fireseek 19, 582.  Waterday evening, 6 pm.

Ivan had another hard day. Dimitar Geshov was critical of Ivan's parrying skills, but never explained well enough what was wrong with his stance on the low strikes.  Ivan is having supper at the Fountain Inn with Boyan and brings up his desire to open a bowyer's shop.  Boyan thinks Ivan should talk to Beredik of the Arrow-Shot Boar Fletcher's Shop a block west of the guild hall.  If Ivan hurries, he catches Beredik closing his window for the day.  Beredik reveals that the best bowyers in the city are Khason, whose shop is in the Armory and is responsible for the city guard's bows, and Roza, his former apprentice (and rumored lover) who makes bows for the guild.

This is day 3 of his training.  Ivan has six +1 arrows already.  The javelin was verified.

Fireseek 20, 582.  Earthday afternoon, 1 pm.

Ivan has to incorporate all eight guards with the long sword into his defense against three attackers.  Ivan is attacked up to 5 times by a 1^st level f (Ivan is AC 8 fighting defensively), a 2^nd lvl f, then a swordsman named Zolam starts exploiting Ivan's dependence on overhand guards and striking low.  All damage is subdual.

Fireseek 21, 582.  Freeday morning, 9 am.

Geshov will only train a half-day on Freedays, from 11 to 4.  Ivan shows up early to look into dexterity training, but is intercepted by Zolam and two of the fighters who were talking about him the other day (Aleko and Cveti).  They (unconvincingly) act nice and try to find out how Ivan got the magic javelin.  

Geshov agrees to look into what the guild can do for him, especially in regards to goal #3.

Fireseek 22, 582.  Starday night, 8 pm.

Ritter Boudevska has Ivan summoned to him by Squire Lavel.  Samos Boudevska offers Ivan the position of Squire.