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.
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