The Town of Hommlet
The Company of the White Oak had just returned to Hommlet yesterday, having spent most of their downtime in the City of Verbobonc, up north. They had arrived early yesterday and did not have to leave right away this morning, affording them their longest look yet at the young town. The Velunese Temples, the Temple of the Heavenly Virtues and the Temple of the Journey, were both well- represented here, with chapels to both located on the same street on the north side of town. Percy already had connections with the Temple of the Heavenly Virtues, thanks to his orphanage work in Verbobonc, which afforded him and Brother Langdon a much-needed look at prayerbooks. Langdon, now a Battle Vicar, was able to prepare his first spell of the second order of miracles by studying their prayerbooks, despite Boccob’s lack of affiliation with their church. Meanwhile, John Grond left a small donation with the Temple of the Journey, so they would bless their trip.
The road east led them into the Gnarley Forest, the first time they had actually stepped foot into the forest after all this time of traveling around it. The road was clear this time, with no highwaymen blocking the way, so they reached Nulb that afternoon. They knew of Nulb’s bad reputation and, fearing they would be spotted by spies of the temple if they spent too long here, they sent Reed Underbough to scout around, looking for a trail that led suspiciously away from the village. In the meanwhile, there was no harm in them standing around looking like mercenaries in such an area like this. Soon, though, Reed returned with news that he had found such a path, heading south, deeper into the forest. They followed it and soon came to a site of ruin.
That the Temple of Elemental Evil was once grand was evident from the pieces of the black basalt cathedral that still remained intact. No piece of plaster seemed to have gone unshaped, nor block of stone without engraving. But these were not beautiful adornments -- every piece of plaster was molded into a hideous face, each block of stone engraved with glyphs or runes of ill omen. Much of the cathedral now was smashed to rubble. Thorny brambles grew up thick around the ruins, and in the ruins, and ravens were everywhere, perched on any high stones, and staring unnaturally at the company as they approached. They moved into the rubble and found, from the smashed pillars, that they were standing in what had once been the nave of the temple. From here, they could tell that the east wing was surprisingly still intact and accessible through the rubble. But first, they carefully circled around outside, wanting a peek through the smashed windows. Reed, on Herv’s shoulders, announced that it was empty -- and there was a door they had missed going into the room he saw.
Returning inside, they climbed through the rubble and found the intact door. It was bashed open by Vask, and led into a long-since looted room, that only had stairs going down in it…
They had come this far. Forming up into mostly familiar ranks, they headed down the stairs. The hirelings Harvard and Herv, having proven themselves to their bosses, were moving up in the ranks, while the new guy Rom was left in the rear to hold the mule reins. At once, they noticed similarities with the Castle Greyhawk dungeons -- the same unnaturally drab greyness of the stone used, and even similarly stale, foul-smelling air. One difference was that corridor ceilings peaked here, rather than flat across. They soon reached a four-way intersection, so they paused and asked Reed to search for tracks.
And he did find some, booted feet coming from the same way they had come, but turning right. Following, they found themselves in a very long corridor, though it jogged over to the right a few times. Ahead, the the passage forked. Reed bent down to check the dust, but sneezed and blew away the evidence. Choosing the side passage, they found a hexagonal, ruined throne room. It seemed deserted, but because they were cautious they noticed bats in the rafters and their guano on the floor. This had not been their home for long, given the uneven quantity of guano on the floor. They found nothing of value, so they returned to the main corridor and continued on.
After awhile, the corridor turned and seemed to double back on itself, but this led to a perpendicular corridor with a promising-looking door in it -- and dim light seen under the door! Reed listened to it and heard two bored men talking about if they were hungry. Bursting in, the Company quickly overpowered the two sentries in the tiny room, all while mocking them about being hungry. They left one alive for interrogation and learned that they were part of a force of bandits who controlled a suite of at least five connected rooms down here. No reinforcements had come from the neighboring room to back them up because they had to constantly patrol around the suite to keep giant spiders away. Their leader, Commander Wilhelm, was in one of those rooms. He led a company of 20-30 men, but was looking to recruit more for launching raids on the Town of Hommlet.
Tying them up, the Company moved on to the next room, and the room after that, finding progressively nicer barracks, but ones emptied of their active patrols. The room after that housed Commander Wilhelm, his lieutenant, and two other men, all standing around a map on a table. The two lesser brigands fell quickly, but Wilhelm and his second-in-command went back to back in the center of the room and put up a ferocious battle, wounding several in the party and seriously wounding Herv. Wilhelm was paralyzed by the thin ray fired by Niv’s headband-wand, but even then the lieutenant fought on alone for two more minutes before finally giving up and surrendering. The map on the table showed the Town of Hommlet and its environs. The leaders sported some decent treasure that was claimed. The next and last of the five connected rooms was a storage room with some nice furniture and little more portable treasure. It also had a concealed door that led into more corridor.
This hidden corridor was twice the width of the previous ones and seemed to double back towards the entrance to the five-room suite. But rather than continue exploring in this direction, the Company decided to go back and deal with getting their prisoners out of the dungeon. The sentry, so helpful in squealing on his bosses, was going to be released into the wild, but the leaders would be taken back to Hommlet to see if there were unclaimed bounties on them.
When they finished funneling back through the suite of rooms, they met one of the patrols -- eight brigands who had been missing earlier. Niv made short work of them with a sleep spell. They also learned that there was an area controlled by goblins to the south. John briefly pushed for trying to find a new route back around the goblin area, but it was decided to backtrack the long but known route that had got them here.
Finally returning to daylight, the Company emerged out of the ruins -- and smack into an encounter with over a dozen giant ravens! Another sleep spell dropped more than half of them out of the sky, and the rest were chased off with missile fire. The way was clear to return to Hommlet!
Session 21
Planting 6, 621 CY. Earthday
The City of Verbobonc
The weather turned cloudier, and it rained that afternoon. How fortunate that they were back in the city by then, spending most of the day indoors. The wizard Scottenkainen was a charitable host, allowing them to stay a few hours at his tower while his servants gathered the treasure from under lock and key they had stashed in his care. Scottenkainen had a lot of small talk about the weather to share, but what everyone wanted to hear about from him was about the vampires.
"The curious thing of your story of these vampires is that they spoke to each other as equals," Scottenkainen related. "Vampires prefer to be solitary hunters, or surround themselves with a pack of vampire spawn they can control. It may show the strength of this 'Adversary' they work for who forces them to work together...or it could be familial bonds manifesting in their afterlife.
"Verbobonc and Veluna have not been entirely free of vampires over the past 100 years, but they were thought eradicated here by now. Also, there are no legends of two vampires working in tandem here. I did, however, remember this..."
Scottenkainen produced a book, a popular work called The Travels of Lord Robilar. "Have you read it?" he asked everyone. "It is thought to contain many fanciful tales, but I suspect that Lord Robilar really did many of the things this book records. It includes a chapter about the crypts under Castle Greyhawk and..." he turns to a bookmarked page and reads: "a band of four full-strength vampires controlled this level. I slew one, and then another, but those other two found no more courage than life in their blood after that and avoided me at all costs....I wonder,” Scottenkainen mused as he closed the book, "if those vampires were ever caught and killed; the book doesn't say."
“Interesting! Very interesting indeed,” John Grond said.
Vask nodded; he thinks he got all that. “What about this?”
“Your battle axe…?” Scottenkainen asks.
“It’s magical. What can it do?”
Scottenkainen had a servant take the axe. “I can examine it overnight. I should be able to identify its properties. Is there anything else?” he asked, noticing the look on Vask’s face.
“Yes…if you were to get anymore information about Prospero, or the vampires…”
“Yes, I will send you a message by avian messenger if I learn anything important.”
Soon, the Company found available lodging enough for everyone at the Red Dona Inn, in the Business Quarter. It would be their last night in Verbobonc, but no one felt like celebrating; everyone was eager to get back to Greyhawk.
Planting 7, 621 CY. Freeday
The City of Verbobonc
Vask learned there were no extra enchantments on his axe [Battle Axe +1] and said his good-byes to Scottenkainen. Those who had accompanied him joined the others in the Foreign Quarter, spread out on either side of the Velverdyva River, searching for Captain Sigurd. They wanted to hire The Dragon’s Bane to transport them back to the Town of Maraven. But there was a hitch -
As they found out from some reputable-seeming businessmen that afternoon, Sigurd and his longship and crew had left just that morning to take other passengers downstream. Not interested in spending a lot more time looking for a replacement, John called out to a Rhenee bargeman by the docks. “Who has the best and fastest barge on the river?”
The man pointed to the man next to him. “That would be my barge,” said the second man. The second man was Captain Rodar. The transaction was brief; for 40 gold, half now and half later, they would take the entire Company down to Maraven on the lake.
There was someone else there on the docks that day looking to get to the City of Greyhawk, Brother Ulrich the Maimed. He wanted a ride and he needed his transportation cheap. John heard this and suggested Ulrich ride with them, so long as he chipped in seven gold.
It was half of all the money Ulrich had left in the world, but he needed to spend it. His vision had told him he was needed at Castle Greyhawk, and he had to find out why.
“When do you wish to leave?” Rodar, asked.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Planting 8, 621 CY. Starday
Velverdyva River
To ensure their loyalty, John showed up with grog for the rowers before they disembarked.
The Velverdyva River left Verbobonc, flowing downhill to the northeast, away from the Kron Hills and into the broad valleys west of the Gnarley Forest. They sailed past the Village of Eglath at midday.
As they traveled, each member of the Company reflected on what had brought them to this point.
John Grond had been a hired grunt, willing to sell out anyone for a gold piece. Now he was a leader of men -- no longer a hireling, but employing his own hirelings! -- loyal to the company that either had never noticed his Ogrish descent, or simply didn’t care.
Langdon had been told by those fools in Hommlet that this was a time of testing, arranged by the gods, but Langdon knew this was Boccob’s mysterious plan and all would be revealed to him in time. He had been made a vicar from a lowly acolyte in mere months and would return to Greyhawk a senior cleric of his church.
None of this was Percy’s concerns. Percy’s priorities were orphanages, like the one he grew up in, before the church took him in and made him one of their own. That, and looking good while doing it, of course.
Vask did not think of himself as a smart man, so he was loyal to men who were, like the Wizard Prospero, and would remain so until the day Prospero finally released him from his service. But now he had divided loyalties, to a Company so generous they had entrusted all their magic weapons to him.
Reed Underbough was usually overlooked by everyone -- literally, given his small size. It served his purposes to remain so, but he liked how the Company valued his skills. How would they all react if they knew of the side jobs he did…the bad things he did to get in good with the thieves’ guild? But then he looked up at Herv, his hulking bodyguard, and felt a little safer.
Rom Riverbluff was appropriately named, he had in fact grown up on a bluff along the Velverdyva River and knew the river like the back of his hand. Not that the Company had asked him to serve as a guide, or tried to hire a guide. Sometimes Rom had the sneaking suspicion he was the smartest person in the room…but he was also on the bottom rung of the ladder in this Company. Maybe he should keep more observations to himself until he had climbed it higher.
In the afternoon the river passed the port town of Oakham, a medium-sized town with impressive fortifications facing the forest. There was a bit of river traffic congestion here that they had to wait through. Captain Rodar had “caravaned” here with a second barge that needed to be dropped off. From here, everyone continued on the larger, longer barge.
Soon they were making good time again, reaching the Village of Thaymouth that evening before twilight. Thaymouth was a small village of maybe 100 people, most of them not even living on the river, but centered around Tays’ Run, a short distance upriver. They had a waystation situated closer to the river, intentionally well clear of the village, and here the Company and the Rhenee planned to enjoy the grog they’d been holding back from all day.
One of the Rhenee noticed something. “The village…there are no people. No animals. No lights….”
It was true. The Company volunteered to go explore and find out what was happening, or had happened, and Brother Ulrich came along (minus Haruspex Niv, who was feeling under the weather, and his charmed hireling Gregory, who stayed with him). They lit torches and a lantern to help see, though it was not completely dark out yet either. Their first clue was at the first house they came to. It was a small mottle and daub hovel. Its windows had curtains instead of glass. But it was conspicuously missing a window. The wall there had been bashed in by something heavy, maybe multiple blows from a mace. Inside, they found a dead dog, killed by a blow to the head.
There were tracks all around, some barefoot, some in shoes, from people of all ages and sizes. They moved deeper into the village, looking for people and only finding tracks. People had been herded from east to west across the village, gathering in the middle. Other buildings were damaged and, at each broken wall or door, there were bare footprints.
Twenty minutes since leaving the barge, while still trying to figure out where the figures herded across the village headed next, someone spotted a silhouetted figure standing between them and the barge. It was an emaciated, naked figure -- but not actually in silhouette, it was a pitch black figure. Vicar Langdon sensed it was something supernatural, held forth his cross and called on Boccob to turn it away, but the figure did nothing. Percy, eager to show the strength of his church, stepped up to try the same, and this time the figure took a step towards them instead.
Saraband sighted another one, a little further away to the southwest.
John, Harvard, Reed, and Vask tried missile weapons, including Vask’s enchanted javelin, but their weapons just glanced off of them.
The bargemen could see something was going on, but not what. The Company could see the bargemen arming themselves in the distance, but they were not heading out to help. Even though the Company had the creatures outnumbered ten to two, they were beginning to feel outnumbered and called for a retreat to the barges.
Langdon, Percy, Rom, and Ulrich all made it back to the barge, but the rest were cut off by the black figures and tried to fight it out. That made three who made it back to the barge rally and come back (Ulrich stayed behind to keep the bargemen from fleeing the scene with their transportation), only to join a full retreat. Vask’s battle axe had taken off one of their hands, but it was the only harm anyone had done to them; they were immune to non-magical weapons. Herv had been knocked down and seriously injured, but managed to crawl away to join the others, and John fled with a light wound from being throttled. From the barge, Percy threw flaming oil that illuminated one of them, but the black figures had not been even moderately damaged the whole time.
There was another hamlet two hours’ journey downstream, but that would not be fast movement; the Company had to gather at the fore of the barge and light the way with their torches and lanterns, to make sure they did not crash into the shore or something in the river. Finally, they spotted the lonely pier at the next village. There was no dock warden, which worried Ulrich, but there were lights in the village and it seemed they had not suffered a similar attack (Ulrich wanted to warn them about it, but the homes in the village were sealed up tight for the night). The Company kept watches while camping on the shore, while the bargemen kept their watches on the barge.
During the night, on second watch, Langdon and Saraband noticed the bargemen were all awake and having a suspicious meeting. Nothing came of it, but Langdon alerted the following shift.
Planting 9, 621 CY. Sunday
Velverdyva River
Following the river north, they reached the Port Town of Stalmaer, home to about 3,000 people, at the confluence of the Att and Velverdyva Rivers. “Only the nearness of the Gnarley Forest, just a few miles away now, keeps this town from growing larger. And if not for the Greenjerkin Rangers, there probably wouldn’t be this many people willing to live here,” Rom said, volunteering more information than he had the whole trip.
The Rhenee wanted to sail past, but the Company insisted on stopping. There had been a new complication late last night when the clerics tried to heal John and Herv; the spells didn’t work. Perhaps someone in Stalmaer could help them.
Stalmaer, still being on this side of the Velunese border, had a chapel dedicated to the Temple of the Heavenly Virtues, of which Brother Ulrich was an acolyte, plus Percy’s Common Church of Greyhawk shared deities with their church, so they felt they had good standing when they went inside and asked to see a priest.
Brother Henricus agreed to meet with them at once, based on their frightening story of what had happened in Thaymouth. He shared Langdon’s and Percy’s belief that what they had encountered was some form of undead, but it was beyond his training and he left them in the chapel while he went to the nearby home of a superior.
In less than an hour he returned with Anencletus Laevinus, canon of the church. Anencletus recognized the description -- these were mummies! And John and Herv could not be healed because they were cursed now with mummy rot. A spell could undo this and, by the grace of his gods, Anencletus had been prepared by them and given the ability to perform this miracle twice today! It would just require 300 gold, for each miracle. Ulrich begged for charity, but Anencletus quoted chapter and verse from the holy texts, that “no man may receive healing or curing without sacrifice, either by coin or use of arms in the church’s service, and charity is in this case to disrespect the gods who grant thee thy holy powers.”*
(*”By use of arms” is commonly interpreted as allowing lone clerics to administer healing or curing to any comrades-in-arms they have.)
And so the Company pooled their resources so both John and Herv could be alleviated of this mummy rot (which was looking particularly bad on Herv already). It took, and both men could be healed again, as Langdon and Percy soon proved.
Anencletus asked if the Company would be willing to go back and try to find out what had happened to the villagers, or if any were left alive, but …nope, not going back there!
Poorer for this side trek, the Company wearily returned to the barges, but found the bargemen in much better spirits -- and with spirits! They wanted to repay their passengers for the grog John had provided and had gone out and bought some of their own. John and Harvard drank up, but everyone else recalled Langdon’s warning of their strange behavior in the night and refused the offer.
Leaving Stalmaer, they floated downriver into the Gnarley Forest. The bargemen were observed looking increasingly nervously at each other before only John and Harvard both fell asleep, drugged. There was no choice for them now, they were going to have to fight the rest of the Company.
Or at least they thought they would. Saraband dropped a sleep spell on the barge that was so potent that it rendered almost everyone present asleep, except for three members of the Company vs. one remaining bargeman. And that fight took almost no time to wrap up. Rodar and half the crew were tied up and left that way, while the other half was released and told they would be forced to deliver themselves to the next town for justice.
Justice that would take until…
Planting 11, 621 CY. Godsday
The Town of Caltaran
By now, the Company and their captured barge had spent a two nights at lonely riverside hostels and inns inside the forest, but had now emerged and once more found themselves in the Domain of Dyvers. Having already passed Westguard Fortress (itself attached to no neighboring community, as Eastguard Fortress was), their next destination was Caltaran, a small town of about 1,700 people. The Company alerted the dock wardens to the situation with their prisoners and the wardens summoned the town guard. The town guard were pretty racist and had no love for the Rhenee, so they were more than happy to take the Company at their word and arrest the bargemen. They confiscated the barge and its cargo (the Company had already looked into the cargo and found it was mostly valuable-looking furs. There were probably not smuggling furs, as openly as they were transporting the barrels the furs were stored in, but it could have been stolen merchandise. Not wanting to get too tangled up in the legalities there, John, Vask, and Reed had removed about 40 gold pieces’ worth of furs to sell for the Company’s benefit.)
To compensate the Company, the town guard arranged transport on a cog heading to Dyvers that was leaving that same day. Now the Company was traveling in style -- on a boat with a below deck!
Planting 13, 621 CY. Earthday
The Town of Maraven
Once again skipping over the City of Dyvers, the Company disembarked from their cog in the town on the eastern end of Dyvers’ Domain. Before leaving town, they ran into Peter, Haruspex Niv’s original hireling! Peter was apologetic for having fled like a coward, even when faced with the overwhelming might of a troll. He asked to be taken back into Niv’s service…provided he would not be asked to fight anything as menacing as a troll again.
Planting 14, 621 CY. Freeday
The Western Road
Having forded the Silver Stream and passed the side road that led south to Gawkes Mere, the Company continued to follow the easternmost edge of the Gnarley Forest, coming around to the area where they once had a strange, near-encounter with unseen strangers at a nearby campfire. It was noon when they passed that spot this time -- and they were ambushed by unseen slingers! Several members of the Company were lightly injured. The attack was coming from the north side of the road, from behind low cover. Nothing that could block a sleep spell! While Saraband cast, most of the rest of the Company charged off the road and found two strange new creatures standing over six sleeping ones. The creatures looked like brown bears [I had mistakenly called them small bears at the time, but that was not true], but with small gourd-like heads. As they prepared for battle their heads grew larger, with big toothy mouths and big facial features and lots of fur. The two tried to defend themselves with hand axes, but they did not last long as outnumbered as they were. As they died, their heads assumed their original forms. The last of them, who took three hits before going down, his head still looked like a gourd, but one that animated into a crude face and spoke: “You are powerful, but more are coming.”
Searching the area afterwards, the Company found a trail leading south…
TO BE CONTINUED
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