PRYMPTOWN COURIER
Vol. 2, No. 6 (June 1999)
EDITORIAL
I'm now four months behind in my plan to run this campaign,
and report on it in the courier, once each month.
But that's not what this editorial is about.
First, I want to say how cool this campaign is.
Oh sure, a DM is supposed to think his campaign is cool, and
I'll freely admit to being biased. Not
that long ago, though, I got an e-mail from one of my players. He said I probably don't get enough positive
feedback, but he wanted me to know that this was a really great campaign. Of course, he may very well have been
boot-licking there. But not that long
ago, I ran the fourteenth playing session of the campaign, and couldn't help
but admire what was going on.
Admittedly, it dragged out for a long time, and some of the
less-active members of the party were bored,
but the players of Alex, Peri, and Vlad debated the future direction of
the campaign for hours -- in character!
As revealed at the end of this issue's updates, the party now has quite
a few options to follow on what they want to do next. I love the challenge of running non-linear
campaigns, and this time they had choices which could have conceivably split
the party apart. Still, they managed to
hammer out a schedule that worked to the party's benefit without compromising
their own agendas. Now that's
role-playing!
So, I guess the point is, it's not just ego that makes me
think this is a great campaign. It's
been a group effort.
Secondly, all compliments aside, much concern has been
voiced to me from my players over the other players. As more of the characters gain secrets, the
more my players struggle to protect them.
Peri's player has long complained now that the others have allowed
player knowledge to discriminate against Perpegilliam. And perhaps it is difficult to make oneself
forget that Peri is keeping a substantial sum of treasure all to himself.
Vlad's player was in an enviable position lately. This session, he was given a massive secret
-- the answers to all the mysteries of the first year's session. Because only one other player was present,
the rest of the players had no inkling to all the knowledge Vlad now had. And because I'm still behind in my write-ups,
we've already had two more playing sessions without anyone else being the
wiser. Now we'll see just how good my
players are at not using what they know...
SCOTT CASPER'S ULTIMATE GREYHAWK
SOUTH PROVINCE CAMPAIGN Updates 23 & 24
Concluding Chapter One:
The Phantom Menace
Cast:
Barada, Neutral male Flannish human mercenary (1st level
fighter)(played as NPC).
Alexander Petrok, Lawful Neutral male Oerdian human templar
of Zilchus (1st level paladin variant) (played as NPC).
Perpegilliam Brown, Neutral male Hairfoot hobniz rogue (1st
level Thief, played as NPC).
Hristo Neutral Good male Wesevud ("Central") noniz
ex-town watchman and rogue (1st level fighter/1st level thief)(played as NPC).
Vladamir Kostitov, Lawful Good male Oerdian human
prestidigitator for the Governor's Guardsmen (1st level Illusionist).
Dargog, Neutral male Blu-Jebline rogue (1st level Thief,
played as NPC).
and introducing -- Gabriel Lanovastorm, Mentherim-Dwur veteran
(1st level fighter)!
Setting: Prymp
Quote of the Month:
"We are so dead."
~Vlad's
player, upon realizing that the lives of everyone depended on the dwarf.
Runner-Up: "No
one gets out alive!"
~The
Thieves' Guildmaster (I always wanted to say that...)
Readying 24, 581 CY
Vladamir called the party together at Hristo's hostel room
to discuss the two chests they had found in the rowboat they had taken from
Skull Keep. Once Hristo had been
convinced that he did not have to clean up his room anymore, the gnome was able
to pick the locks without much trouble.
There was quite a bit of treasure inside to divide amongst the party --
both coins and a few gems. These latter
items were given to Alexander to have pawned.
Vlad had a host of other tasks to accomplish, while everyone else went
to do their own thing.
Vlad's first stop was to the Garrison, to report to Senator
Gart Barlos how the raid on Skull Keep went.
While passing through the Old Market, however, Vlad spotted the templar
captain Kolos. Kolos walked along
looking forlorn and depressed. When Vlad
stopped him and asked what was wrong, Kolos grudgingly explained that he had
been demoted. When he fled from the
undead under Skull Keep, and allowed men under his leadership to die, he showed
lack of valor unbecoming to a templar.
Alexander had been promoted in his place. While secretly knowing Alex must be thrilled,
Vlad extended his deepest sympathies before going on his way to the Garrison.
Meanwhile, at the dwarven chapel to Vergadain, head priest
Goromin Emoker was holding an audience with two visiting dwarven
travelers. One was Krowenun Marg,
warrior priest of Moradin. The other was
an associate of Marg's, one Gabriel Lanovastorm. A debt to family was owed by Marg, and he was
here to repay it by gaining Gabriel a position in an adventuring party, which
the youthful Gabriel eagerly anticipated.
Goromin told them of two adventuring companies. One, the Ahlissan Fist, was formed a year
ago, and had adventured far only recently to return. The other, just recently formed, was called
the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle. The
first group was heading west again, but the second group stayed close to home
and was based out of the tavern of the same name. It was there that Krowenun and Gabriel decided
to go.
Vlad entered the Garrison, and was admitted to the senator's
office. Someone was seated in the room
with his hands in chains, and it was none other than Renspa, the pirate captain
Vlad and the others had captured not long ago!
The senator was also there, and Barlos invited Vlad in. Vlad had a written report and copies of the
party's maps of the dungeon to give him.
Barlos was again impressed with Vlad's diligence. Barlos explained that, while the other
pirates had been hung, Captain Renspa was a ranking officer of the Provincial
Navy, and thus a political prisoner.
Barlos asked Vlad to remain in the room for a moment while Barlos
stepped outside with the report. Renspa
attributed his defeat by Vlad's illusions to luck. Vlad countered by informing him that the
remaining pirates in Skull Keep had been defeated. Renspa growled that he would yet have his
revenge, as Vlad was no match for the pirate lords of Galdol.
At that time, Barlos returned and dismissed Vlad.
Vlad's next stop was Prymp Keep, where Barada was being
detained until they could determine if he was still under the wizard's
charm. The watchmen informed Vlad that
no magic was detected on Barada. Satisfied,
Vlad asked them to release his comrade, and then had to hastily explain to
Barada why he had been in a cell all night.
Barada's memory of recent events was hazy, but he accepted Vlad's
account. Barada left to meet up with the
others.
A short time later, at the Grinning Gargoyle Tavern, Gabriel
and Krowenun entered. The dwarves,
dressed as soldiers ready for battle, sat at an empty table. They were quickly joined by Hershel the
tavernkeeper. Gabriel asked for the
whereabouts of the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle. Hershel was glad to brag about his patrons,
and did so until Barada and Hristo entered.
The dwarves introduced themselves, and made it known that they wished to
join. Krowenun told them that he was an
experienced adventurer, veteran warrior, and priest of Moradin. He would join their band for two shares of
treasure, or one share and leadership of the party. Gabriel was willing to join for one share of
treasure, but boasted that he would be the strongest member of the band.
Barada guffawed, at which point Gabriel challenged him to an
arm wrestling match. The flan agreed,
and the match was on. Barada won, but
offered the dwarf a rematch. Gabriel won
this time, but then he laughed so Barada punched him in the face. But Barada had been impressed, and told both
Gabriel and Krowenun to come back that evening to petition the whole group for
membership.
Vlad reached town hall to seek out the laird or his
advisor. A courtier directed him to the
latter. Nemis Coraz was very glad to see
Vlad and the spellbook he had for sale.
Coraz examined the book, and promised to magically examine it if Vlad
allowed him to keep the book until that evening. Vlad agreed.
Vlad's next task was a more personal one. He managed to find his sister, Cassandra, at
the chapel of Pelor. She was expecting
Abraham, not yet having learned his fate.
He had seen her at breakfast that morning in the Kostitov household, but
had not told her then. The words came
reluctantly, and they had a telling effect on the priestess. She immediately blamed herself for having
recruited Abe in the first place. As
grief-stricken as she was, with Vlad's consoling, she was able to pull herself
together well enough to realize that she had a memorial service for which to
prepare. Vlad left her to that labor.
It was later that day when the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle
were to regroup at the inn for which they were named. Barada was there, and Vlad soon joined
him. The hobgoblin Dargog skulked in,
and plopped down in a chair where his hood would still conceal him. The others ignored the hobgoblin, who had
been invited into the party almost exclusively by the proddings of the late
Abraham the Radiant. So they waited for
the others.
While they waited, two dwarves entered. They introduced themselves as Krowenun Marg,
warrior priest of Moradin, and Gabriel Lanovastorm, a lordless fighter. Both were interested in joining the band, and
had returned to present their case to the whole group. And though few members of the band were
present, Vlad wished to hear what they had to say. Krowenun offered his experience and power to
the party, in exchange for two shares of treasure or one share and leadership
of the party. Vlad didn't like this at
all. Krowenun, feeling insulted, told
them he would offer his services to Prymp's other adventuring company, the
Ahlissan Fist. After Krownenun left,
Gabriel offered his services to the party for a single share of treasure. This sounded far more suitable to Vlad, who
agreed with Barada that it would be okay if this dwarf joined the party.
However, after much waiting, no one else from the group
appeared. Vlad was particularly
concerned, and told the others that he would go to the chapel of Zilchus to
look for Alexander. He sent Dargog out
to the Dock District to look for the others.
Barada and Gabriel remained behind.
Vlad was halfway across town to the chapel of Zilchus when a
sling stone flew towards him. Vlad head
was grazed, and he quickly lost consciousness...
Barada and Gabriel grew tired of waiting. They decided to go to the chapel and see what
was taking Vlad so long. They too
journeyed about halfway across town, but then Gabriel noticed a crouching
figure on a nearby roof. Barada produced
his short bow to defend them. Gabriel
retrieved his battle axe from his back, as he saw others slinking towards them
from the shadows. A second figure rose
from a neighboring roof, and spoke some incantation. Barada and Gabriel both felt light-headed for
a moment, but the feeling quickly passed.
Soon, they were too busy attacking and defending to worry about it. After the spellcaster on the roof
disappeared, the odds seemed to be five to two.
However, the five were wearing leather armor and mostly attacking with
clubs or slings. With their superior
armor and weapons, the two were shortly t victors.
Since the streets were still deserted along this stretch of
road, they decided to drag the dead and unconcious into an alleyway before the
town watch came along and fined them for fighting in town again. They guessed that this same bunch had already
encountered Vlad and managed to defeat him.
So that made it a matter of finding where they took him. First the stopped at the chapel to conform their
suspicions. The templar, Kolos, answered
the door, and told them that he had not seen Vlad since that morning, and he
had not seen Alex since that afternoon.
They then went to Prymp Keep to ask the watchmen at the gate
if they had seen anything. And they did
the same thing at the west gate to the New City. No where was there any clue to their
companions' fates. So they began to
wander about town at random, hoping to run into just anyone who could help
them. As it grew later into the night,
their wanderings took them into the Wealthy District, and directly outside Town
Hall. There, they pounded on the locked
doors, hoping that someone would come out and help them. Instead, both of them became intensely
sleepy, and fell to the ground in a deep slumber.
Vlad awoke in a large, wooden room. He was tied hand and foot to a chair he was
sitting in. Beside him were his
companions, who were all similarly trussed up.
Alex, Hristo, Dargog -- even Perpegilliam, who had been missing since
Skull Keep -- were there. The room was
illuminated by an oil lamp on a small table, and by that light, Vlad could see
his captors. There were two
seedy-looking men holding drawn blades, with one by the table and the other by
the room's only exit. With them was an
imposing half-orc, ugly and cruel-looking, in black leather armor. He was apparently their leader, as he spoke
for them. The half-orc told them he was
responsible for bringing them all together, so that he might find out what they
each knew of the Flying Turtle Guild.
Someone was waking up Barada and Gabriel. It turned out to be the bard, Heironymous
Nodd. He asked them why they had been
lurking around the town hall, so Gabriel told him their story. As concerned as Nodd seemed, he informed them
he could not help. There was another
urgent task he had been performing when he spotted the two of them. He helped them up, wished them luck, and
headed off. Barada and Gabriel left too,
though again without purpose. They
returned to the scene of the attack on them, only to find that their attackers
were no longer in the alleyway where they had been disposed. While circling town again, they ran into a
watch patrol. The watchmen, though concerned
that these two were out past curfew, were willing to believe the story of what
had happened to them, and offered to help.
Just then, Gabriel had an idea.
He asked Barada if his adventuring party had any enemies in town, and
where they might be hiding out. The only
place Barada could think of was the Rusty Bucket Tavern, where they had tried
to flush out the Flying Turtle Guild just recently. Gabriel told the watchmen to follow him, as
they headed to the Dock District and the aforementioned tavern.
Vlad learned that he was being questioned by the master of
Prymp's thieves' guild. He had already
questioned the others, and not learned what he wanted. Alex was gagged. Dargog was asleep or unconscous. The thieves had been operating quietly in
Prymp for sometime, setting up a nice operation for themselves. Things were changing now that the Provincial
army was camped to the south and looked like it was getting ready to attack
Prymp this spring. Instead of being
subtle, the thieves were now prepared to take as much as they could from Prymp
and then run. Their recent raid on the
chapel of Zilchus, thanks to information that the templars would be away, was
just the start of their daring new campaign.
Only one thing was holding them back.
For a long time, they had heard rumors of a rival guild, one so
mysterious that no one had even seen them in action. These thieves wanted to make sure that this
Flying Turtle Guild didn't pose a threat to their plans. And the only people who might know about it seemed
to be the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle, who had been publicly making inquiries
about this mystery guild for the last three weeks.
However, despite all this information, Vlad had little
information to offer in return. Their
attempts to draw out the guild had failed, except for one attempt on their
lives outside the Rusty Bucket Tavern.
Peri seemed to be the only one who could even verify their existence, as
he had lost his father to the guild, and had been followed by them several
times recently. At this, Peri chimed in,
and offered to join the thieves' guild.
He claimed he wanted to be on the winning side, and would do whatever he
could to help find the Flying Turtle Guild.
The half-orc was intrigued, and asked if Peri would even be willing to
slay his companion, Alexander, for them.
Peri mused on this long and hard.
Too long, perhaps, as someone opened the door before he could
answer. Another thief came in, and
announced that a watch patrol was heading towards the building. Their leader beckoned for his two companions
and led them out of the room to investigate.
Outside, Barada, Gabriel, and the watchmen were nearly to
the Rusty Bucket Tavern when they spotted some suspicious characters running
from a warehouse three doors down from the tavern. As the watchmen raced after them, others
jumped out from the shadows to attack the patrol.
Inside, Peri continued straining against his bonds, as he
had been doing in every spare moment since being captured earlier that
day. With supreme effort, he managed to
free an arm by dislocating his shoulder.
Without blacking out from the pain, Peri managed to climb out of his
bindings. Vlad, being so recently
captured, had not been carefully searched and still had a dagger secured on his
person. He had Peri take it and cut
everyone loose. He did not get farther
than freeing Vlad, however, before the guildmaster returned. The guildmaster drew his sword, ran into the
room, and swung at Peri. Peri fell down,
as if struck, and feigned death. Then
the half-orc grabbed Alex and took him hostage.
While holding the others at bay, the guildmaster dragged Alex's chair to
the back wall, and opened a secret door that led out back behind the
warehouse.
Outside, Gabriel ran around to the back of the warehouse to
see if there was another entrance. The
dwarf spun around the corner to see a half-orc emerging from a secret
door. In his clutches was a burly human
bound and gagged in a chair. The
half-orc glared at the dwarf, and slowly drew his sword to his captive's
throat. The dwarf slowly drew a throwing
dagger from its scabbard. The half-orc
was dumb-founded by such a stupid response to a hostage situation, and paused
long enough for Barada to emerge from around the far corner. Barada charged, and the confused half-orc
threw his captive at the advancing Flan's feet.
The three combatants then entered a fearsome melee, but Gabriel was the
one who landed most of the blows. The
half-orc fell dead. Watchmen came around
to the back of the building to investigate and complimented Barada. Gabriel thumped his chest and announced the
victory had been his, to which Barada could only grumble a reply.
Back inside, Vlad had freed Hristo and Dargog. Peri had vanished while he was doing so. With everyone else back together, the
Grinning Gargoyle Band retired for the night and got some well-earned sleep.
Readying 25th.
That afternoon, Vlad appeared at Town Hall. He was escorted into the laird's office. Seron Tapinov was waiting, as was his
advisor, Nemis Coraz. Heironymous Nodd,
the bard, followed Vlad inside. They
told Vlad that they were very interested in acquiring the spellbooks they had
taken from the wizard of Skull Keep and the pirate ship, and offered him 1,200
gp for them. Although they could not
offer that sum in coinage, they were prepared to offer a letter of credit for
that amount which could be redeemed anywhere in Prymp. In addition, they would give Vlad some
information which he might find even more valuable. Nodd checked to make sure no one was near the
door.
Vlad was in the presence of the inner core of the Flying
Turtle Guild.
Actually, the original idea had been to call it the Winged
Turtle Guild, but the false rumor had become corrupted soon after it was
circulated.
Several years ago, these members of Prymp's elite realized
that the South Province might move to end their town's independence
someday. They began to develop a secret
organization which would allow them to take unofficial action to oppose any
provincial activity. To cover their own
activities they created a fictitious thieves' guild. The idea of a mystery guild caught on
quickly. No one knew who they were or
what they were up to, because everyone was watching for the wrong things. The "guild" sponsored adventuring
parties, as it had the Ahlissan Fist one year ago. The parties were sent secretly on missions
down south, disrupting provincial communication and supply lines for the
"guild," but always on the cover of exploring Skull Keep -- which was
reported each time to be empty.
The trouble started for them when the Band of the Grinning
Gargoyle, especially Perpegilliam Brown, kept making inquiries about the Flying
Turtle Guild. Ironically, Peri suspected
the guild had done away with his father, when in fact his father was on a
secret mission to Hexpools. Fearing that
Peri and the others were getting too close, the guild leaders arranged for a
mock attack on Vlad and his companions several nights ago at the Rusty Bucket
Tavern. One of their agents was told to
free some vagrant mercenaries Vlad had arrested that morning, but not to equip
them well enough where they would be a serious threat. The agent had fired arrows at the party from
a nearby rooftop, but was told to make sure not to hit anyone. Of course, when the party nearly killed their
agent and took him hostage, the guild leaders had to arrange his escape. The laird paused to apologize for arranging
the attack, and for any harm caused.
Clearly, there was no longer any reason not to take at least
some of the Grinning Gargoyle Band into their confidence. They had proven themselves as valuable
operatives already for the guild, albeit unknowingly, and there were many tasks
the band could perform.
To the northwest, they could go to Chathold, capitol of
Almor. Almor had once been Ahlissa's
chief trading partner, but had turned its back on Ahlissa because of the pirate
raids. Prymp needed ambassadors who
could reestablish trade.
To the east, there was an abandoned citadel along the
coast. Between that citadel and Skull
Keep, Ahlissa may have the fortifications it needs to defend itself by
sea. However, the Ahlissan Fist was
already on its way there to make sure the citadel was usable.
To the south, the Province holds many if not all of the
villages south of Vecheld Gesto. Like
the Ahlissan Fist before them, the band could run interference to slow the
army's preparations for war.
And to the west, there was Galdol, a town firmly in the
grips of the South Province, and ruled by the pirate lords. Little was known about the pirate lords of
Galdol, except that they were acting as the herzog's navy leaders, and posed
the most direct threat to the free towns of the Ahlissan Coast.
Lastly, Tapinov, Coraz, and Nodd asked that Vlad tell no one
the revelations he had learned here -- especially not Alexander Petrok. Alex's father, Phillip, was Head Templar to
the Chapel of Zilchus and Captain of the Watch, but where his loyalties would
lie if the town fell into provincial hands was unknown. Thus, it would be Vlad's task to convince the
others to undertake one of those aforementioned missions, while giving them as
little information as possible.
But, after asking that Coraz and Nodd step outside, Laird
Seron Tapinov told Vlad of a fifth, more personal mission -- one in which Nodd
was helping him with just earlier that evening.
The laird wished to know why his daughters shoes were worn. Some how, even though her room was under
guard, his daughter was leaving the house at night. Come morning she would be in her room, but
her shoes would be dirty and worn-out.
This mystery had driven the laird to distraction with worry, and he
asked for Vlad's help. However, Vlad's
mind was elsewhere, envisioning the glory and excitement of taking on the
provincial army...
HRISTO'S STORY
Once upon a time, there was a gnome. Most people called him Hristo. Of course, that was not his real name, but
that was the name by which everyone knew him.
Sometimes he would forget what his real name was, so Hristo worked just
as well. Hristo was still a young gnome,
having seen only three decades, and so far he had not found anything he was
particularly good at. His father was a
traveling gem trader and tried to show his son how to appraise stones. Hristo gradually became better at it, but had
no head for business. His father
despaired of ever being able to turn his trade over to his son someday, and
feared he would have to leave it to his daughter instead.
Hristo found he much preferred to spend his time with human
company. They were always laughing and
having fun. Hristo learned that if he
fell or walked into something, that people around him laughed harder and had
more fun. Hristo taught himself all
manner of tumbling tricks for amusing the humans with in each village he and
his family visited.
In most villages, Hristo stayed in a room at the local inn,
and each such room was much like the ones before it. It had plenty of room for him to lay out his
clothes, and to fold his clothes, and to arrange his clothes. After a hard day of working with his laundry,
he would go out on the town and visit the taverns, and then return to his room
for a good night's sleep. But then one
night, Hristo noticed a light from under a door he hadn't noticed in the room
before, and got up to see what was on the other side.
He found a garden.
It was like no garden he had ever seen. The garden was in sections, with low stone
walls around each section. In some
sections, the gardens looked well-tended.
In other sections, it was overgrown with weeds. Water trickled through small troughs, or
small gargoyle mouths in the sides of walls.
It seemed an idyllic place.
And it was an inhabited place, for running towards him was
another gnome. In fact, this other gnome
nearly bowled Hristo over, but stopped to apologize and introduce himself. He was known as Pilf, and he was a frequent
visitor of the garden. Apparently, he
was running from someone he called the Countess, who was angry about a
practical joke Pilf had played on her.
It turned out that Pilf knew a great many jokes, and was excellent
company. Hristo liked his new friend. Every night, Hristo would come back to the
garden to talk or play with Pilf. He
even met the Countess, who was a real elf.
Hristo had never met an elf before.
She wore a grey silk dress, and was undoubtedly very attractive by
non-gnome standards. However, she was
not the forgiving type, and only insulted Pilf whenever he was around.
Pilf admired Hristo's knack for tumbling and
acrobatics. Pilf said he had a lot of
similar skills he could teach to Hristo, if Hristo paid him for it. Hristo was thrilled, and brought his life
savings to the garden in exchange for training.
Pilf explained that some people might call Hristo a thief if he used
some of his new skills in public, but really they were just meant for pranks
and fun.
After the last night of his training, Hristo woke up late
and still tired. When he stumbled out of
his room, his father told him that the time had come for them to move on to the
next village. Hristo balked, saying he
had made a good friend here in the garden, and did not want to leave. His father was puzzled. There was no garden, he told his son. Hristo told him about Pilf and all his
adventures in the garden. His father
only shook his head, and said it was a shame Hristo was not so imaginative when
he was awake.
The family did move on, eventually to settle in the town of
Prymp. Over time, Hristo forgot about
the garden.
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