Company of the White Oak Campaign - sessions 40 & 41

 ((Session 39 is missing because no one showed for that scheduled session.))

Session 40

Needfest 7, 621 CY
The Village of Hawfair Green

Almost every member of the Company of the White Oak had spent the past month, including most of the week-long festival of Needfest, in the City of Greyhawk. The only exception was Vask, who had accompanied Fridswid, Tor Hiertaal, and some other individuals back to Hook Harbor. Thanks to Vask, it had been revealed that Baron Dolph of Cairnway had been replaced with a doppelganger by the Horned Society, and all but Vask had left for Elmshire to see if the Horned Society had attempted the same trick there.

 

Without more information to go on, the Company had decided Castle Greyhawk was their best option for adventure and tomorrow would be their first expedition there of the new year. But first they were in Hawfair Green, where the usual winter crowd was gathered at the Leaping Trout Tavern to hear their tales (both tall and otherwise) of Castle Greyhawk. But this crowd was joined by an unexpected participant when the far-traveling wizard Prospero walked in.

 

Soon they were conversing privately with Prospero, who knew of the threat of the Horned Society, but not if there was any connection between them and the Adversary. Again, Prospero warned them of Petothalraun, the avatar of the Adversary. Of Petothalraun, both communing and contacting other planes could only reveal that the avatar was now somewhere in the western Flanaess – that part of the continent in which the Domain of Greyhawk was. Further, Prospero encouraged them to continue delving deeper into the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk. The castle had awoken, he said, for them – everything they needed to deal with the coming danger was in that dungeon, they just had to be bold enough to delve deeper and find it all.  And if they did not all survive…he compared it to separating the wheat from the chaff…

 

Fireseek 1, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk

 

After walking the 3 ½ miles from Hawfair Green, Haruspex Niv, Reed Underbough, John Grond, Father Langdon, Rom Riverbluff, and Vask, along with their henchmen Peter, Harvard, Herv, Muelara, and Genevite, along with their cart and mules, and Gert the Bear reached Castle Greyhawk. The drawbridge was up, but this posed no difficulty when several members of the Company now knew the magic word that lowered it.

 

First thing, they went to the Shrine of Boccob – to find it occupied by three armed and armored men, ready to defend themselves! The men, Hagrad, Ruran, and Warley, were fighting men and the only survivors of a fledgling adventuring party that had just been devastated by hobgoblins on the first level. So ill-informed were they that they were shocked to learn there was more than one level of dungeon! Langdon warned them crossly about drawn weapons in the shrine and they were apologetic. For the promise of 2 gold a man, the three of them agreed to go stay in the stables with the Company’s cart and mules to guard them, as Everard was not here to do it and no one wanted to spare their own henchmen.

 

With that taken care of, the plan was to go down to level 3 of the dungeon for two purposes – one, to show Langdon the shrine to Boccob on that level they had found during his brief retirement, and two, to find the dragon’s lair. If Prospero wanted them to find weapons enough to deal with an avatar, they would surely find them in a dragon’s lair. Plus, some of them were feeling ready to test their mettle against a real threat.

 

The fastest route down was from the tower stairs. That led to the middle north part of the level 1 dungeons, and from there they just had to proceed a little south to get to the main spiral staircase that led down to level 3 (and below). At the spiral staircase, they were met by six elves with bows out, who seemed only interested in watching the Company. Only when the Company interacted with them did the elves share any news – that the number of elves and dwarves controlling this level was growing and they had the hobgoblins on the run to the corners of this level.

 

Descending to level 3, they first went south to the great hall that contained the Boccob shrine. Langdon could confirm that the symbol behind the altar matched his particular sect. All the non-chaotic party members touched the altar for its blessing benefit (which did not seem to last long). All the henchmen were very wary of the pillars that looked like giants, holding up the ceiling.

 

When it came time to leave, they decided to go single file up a 5’ wide passage north which soon led them into a new room – one filled with snakes! About a hundred vipers were slithering all over the floor of a room that had a glass display case at its center. The Company spent a long time debating tactics to solve this puzzle, but finally settled on one. Rom would pour flasks of oil down onto the floor to drive the snakes back, then someone behind him would light the oil on fire to keep them back. First Rom peppered the snakes with arrows to thin them out between the entrance and the case. The snakes were aggressive, but none of them came close to biting him and quite a few wound up getting burned alive.

 

The case was actually a sealed glass cube with no openings, but its contents could be clearly seen – 100 gems, or at least ornamental stones, plus a gold ring on a little cushion. But how to get to the items? Langdon’s Find Traps spell had already told them that the display case was not trapped, but after transporting the case from that room back to the great hall, they spent considerable time standing over it, debating if there was any way a trap could have evaded detection.

 

It was because they were all so busy that the orcs were able to ambush them (plus, they had seen the party’s light and stayed well back, out of range of Niv’s active ESP spell, until it was too late). Suddenly, 15 orcs were charging into their midst! Thanks to a hasty Sleep spell from Niv, there were soon only 5 orcs in their midst – but Rom, Vask, and all the henchmen had been put to sleep too!  Particularly since John was now a swashbuckler who could make many attacks in quick succession, the remaining five were going down fast when – wave two, with 15 more orcs arrived! Instead of casting more spells, Niv was going around waking people (Gert curled up beside Vask and thought Niv was attacking him when he shook Vask – so Gert shoved him away!), as did Reed, leaving John to do most of the fighting. In the end, a few people were injured, but none seriously, and all but three orcs were dead, who all surrendered.

Two of the orcs spoke some rudimentary Common, but Muelara spoke their tongue and did most translation for them. The orcs knew where the dragon’s lair was and were willing to lead the Company there in exchange for their lives. But first, there was still the glass case to deal with. Just to be extra safe, the orcs were made to shatter the glass, revealing all the treasure, which the Company quickly scooped up. Wary of the ring, no one put it on.

 

Now the orcs led them south from the great hall down a 10’ wide corridor, turned east past stairs going up (the Company had seen these before), and went further east here than before. At the end of the corridor was a door to the south. This led into a parallel east-west corridor, and they took another door to the south. This led to a third parallel corridor, but this time they took it east and then north and then east again. And this took them to a large, unusual chamber.

 

What was most unusual about it was the big “X” on the floor made out of five squares of black stone laid out in the floor, 10’ on a side. In the center square sat a big chest. The way to the dragon was through the doors on the east side of the room…but now the Company was consumed with curiosity about that chest. The orcs said the only safe way to approach the chest was on the black squares – if you touched the white in between squares, you “disappeared forever.” Because none of the orcs were charmed and compelled to tell the truth, they were made to step out on the black squares and retrieve the chest – if they did so, and then opened the chest, they would be free to leave with their lives. So they did open the chest – spewing a cloud of spores all over the chamber.

 

More than half the Company was still cooling their heels out in the corridor, but John, Langdon, and Muelara had all been supervising in the chamber with the orcs. They all rushed out. John and two orcs kept coughing and coughing. The two orcs literally coughed themselves to death. John was only lightly hurt by all the coughing, and finally it stopped for him. The remaining orc was forced to retrieve the treasure from the chest, but all it found was a silver gem-studded ring and a clerical spell scroll. Langdon claimed the scroll at once, which would let him cast Bless, Find Traps – and Raise Dead. Again, no one put on the ring.

 

Now everyone was thinking of leaving the dungeon; the dragon could wait for another day, now that they knew roughly where to find it. En route to the spiral stairwell, Reed stepped in an ochre jelly spread out on the floor! It closed up around him, seriously injuring him with its acidic body, but John and Herv pulled him out quickly and they all ran. This was their second time encountering a blob-like monster on the way to the stairs down here – possibly the same monster! – and they used the same route to circumnavigate it.

 

There was no sign of the elves on the first floor, nor anyone else.

 

Back at the stables, they found one of the three men, Ruran, had lost his nerve and fled the castle. The other two had remained and now collected their gold, and then got escorted safely out of the castle to boot!

 

 

John Grond didn't know it, but after he breathed in the poisonous spores, he had 11 hours left to live. It was then 11 am.

 

By noon, the White Oak Company was done talking to their guards at the stable, being in no hurry to brave the cold.

 

After a 3.5 mile walk, they returned to Hawfair Green at 1 pm. The Leaping Trout Tavern had people there waiting to see them return, but Stout Stanley, the tavernkeeper, was not ready for the "feast" he had planned for them yet, plus more people wanted to be there for it, so it was pushed back to 3.

 

It was at 3:30, halfway through their dinner, that John noticed his lung congestion had not fully gone away. Concerned, he left dinner at once.

 

Concerned for John, people followed out onto the road, where John looked like he was trying to steal a horse. His friends took over negotiating for the rental of the man's steed when John, sensing urgency, just took off on it.

 

It was 10 miles back to Greyhawk, with 1 hour of daylight remaining. He made good time that first hour, crossing 7 miles, but had to slow down at that point, due to the growing darkness and the bitter, below-freezing cold, which made galloping painful for the horse. 

 

With 4 1/2 hours remaining, John reached the gates of Greyhawk - but it was late enough that the gates of the city were closed for the day, and the chapels he wanted were all on the other side. He had to bribe the guards 2 gold to let him in.

 

He knew where he could find a shrine dedicated to the Gnostic Oeridian Patriarchy and forced his borrowed steed to continue on, even though the city guard told him to dismount and walk his horse. The shrine was occupied, but not be a cleric who could help him; they would need a curate who could cure diseases.

 

John showed lots of gold and one was fetched. It took a half-hour for one to come. John was told he would need to pay 400 gold, but what he needed could be done. And so it was.

 

With just four hours left to spare.

Session 41

Fireseek 14, 622 CY
Village of Hawfair Green

With much of the Company of the White Oak tied up with other activities back in the City of Greyhawk (or living comfortably on their spoils and unwilling to brave the fierce winter), only Reed Underbough and Rom Riverbluff, with their henchmen Herv, Muelara, and Genevieve, were heading to the castle. But they were met by two novice adventurers who wanted in on this next trip to the castle.

One was Maximus, a veteran who won his way into full membership of the company on a bet, by out-wrestling Herv. The other was Veronica Flameglow, an acolyte of Genevieve’s acquaintance, and Genevieve spoke up for her character, and that she would be an asset to the team.

A 3 ½-mile march later, they were crossing the drawbridge into Castle Greyhawk. They had brought only one new mule along, a last-minute purchased in the village, and brought the mule with them instead of dropping it off in the stables. The castle was silent as the grave…

Breaking the silence, the companions finally stopped to talk about how they would enter the dungeons, and how far down to go. It was decided to explore more of level 2, and to access it via the stairs from the tower, and then use the central stairwell the elves guard.

As it happened, three elves were on sentry duty at the stairwell. They bowed respectfully when addressed in Elven by Reed and Rom, or when Veronica asked Rom to translate for her. The elves had little news to report about level 1; there were still a good number of hobgoblins eluding them in the corners of the dungeon. About level 2, they reported there were areas in the middle of the level where only orcs would be found, making it an ideal place to test the mettle of the new blood. Maximus, in particular, was eager to test himself against orcs.

The Company took the stairs down to the second level and headed immediately west and then south. There were only two previously explored doors down that way and the Company moved past them into the dark unknown of a long corridor. It turned out not to be too long after all, and ended at two doors. 

Behind the east door was a large-ish room, dusty, uninhabited, yet someone had left a very wide, valuable-looking painting hanging on the back wall. The walls were swept for secret doors while Reed made sure the painting looked safe to take down. Since it did, he had Herv and Muelara remove it from its frame so they could roll it up and carry it, but Herv tore the corner of the painting. There were no other ways out of that room, so they returned to the south door.

The south door led to what looked like an abandoned artist's studio, with dusty easels, but nice-looking rugs on the floor. They took the rugs, found nothing underneath, and headed through a door to the south.

The next room was more art gallery, this time with a single tall painting on a wall of a horse. Rom helped with removing this painting from its frame and they had no trouble this time. There were doors to both the east and south here and they opted to head east after Muelara heard a door slamming somewhere behind it.

The east door led to some short, windy corridors that snaked around a kitchen, and one that someone had just left, since there was a kettle still bubbling in the hearth! Rather than check out the kettle, they raced after who had left, soon finding a group of seven men, unarmed and unarmored, just standing around a lit torch and talking at an intersection of corridors. The men seemed very glad to see adventurers and introduced themselves as belonging to the Order of the Gilded Spoons. Their purpose was to feed adventurers who braved coming this deep into the dungeon, and they had not seen any for some time! Instead, they spent their time feeding orcs, a sort of culinary tribute to keep the orcs from attacking them. 

The orc lair, in fact, was behind a door the Company had just passed while racing after the chefs. The chefs told them to return to the kitchen for a feast after the orcs were dealt with.The orc lair was actually an old game room with chess tables, and the Company surprised five orcs who looked like they were either playing chess or just examining the boards. Muelara could have dropped them immediately with a Sleep spell, or between Herv and Rom they could have mopped up the orcs quickly, but they all hung back to give Maximus and Veronica a chance to prove themselves. Neither of them proved particularly effective in combat, as one would expect of novices, and it was mostly the old guard who finished off the orcs. The orcs, for their part, had very little in the way of treasure, the best being the wooden chess pieces. 

There was a trapdoor in the floor of the room and the Company spent a lot of time trying to open this door, finally breaking most of the orcs' weapons on breaking the hinges off. When they finally pried open the trapdoor - they found it had been a false trapdoor and there was nothing but smooth stone beneath it – and no secret door under the trapdoor to be found. So they left the room through the south door, and right over the concealed real trapdoor. Muelara set off the trap and was impaled on a spike at the bottom of it, while Maximus was seriously hurt by the fall and Herv just lightly hurt. Luckily Genivieve could now cast healing spells or Muelara would have died right there. 

With everyone fished out on the east side of the pit trap, they followed the corridor east, north, and west, and finally came close to the kitchen again. They had passed some ways to go east and north to accomplish this, but tummies were rumbling and people wanted their feast. When they returned to the kitchen, only one of the chefs was still there. He explained that the others had raced off to other kitchens to await them, as their adventure continued. Excitedly, the chef scooped the contents from the kettle into wooden bowls for the Company and they found their "feast" was nothing but rather plain looking porridge. Everyone, particularly Maximus, was suspicious of the porridge, but while they were quietly discussing among them how to detect poison, a hungry Rom was woofing down his bowl. 

Instead of being poisoned, Rom felt better, like he'd just been healed a little. Maximus was the next to eat his bowlful and felt the same. After that, the porridge seemed to lose its potency and it did nothing for anyone else. The chef was quite pleased with himself and said they knew other recipes they would make for the Company in the future. 

Everyone was taken aback when Reed asked for the chef's name and he said he didn't know! None of the chefs remembered their past lives before finding themselves chefs in the dungeon. Reed named him Gordon, and everyone – including Gordon – liked this name. 

Saying good-bye to Gordon, the Company set out again, but Reed was growing increasingly concerned about straying too far from the stairs up, and Maximus, who was still seriously hurting, was not excited about risking worse encounters in the dungeon. So they all agreed to return to the surface, but not necessarily to leave the castle yet…

The tower that was adjacent to, but seemed detached from, the keep, had never been explored beyond parts of the ground floor. They started with the shrine to Zagyg on the ground floor, but this time found it guarded by three warriors, two with crossbows trained on the Company. They were hostile, quick to accuse Maximus of blasphemy when he spoke of Zagyg, but Muelara decided she would end their debate with a Sleep spell. The crossbowmen were excellent shots, though, disrupting her spell with a seriously wounding crossbow bolt, while Herv was hit by the other bolt. Once melee was joined, though, the warriors found themselves easily outnumbered and outclassed. Two were rendered unconscious instead of outright killed, but the Company decided to kill them anyway. They were going to take urns out of the shrine as loot, but they appeared to have ashes in them and they left them alone – but still took the rugs. 

In a nearby storage room, they found more urns. While going through them, they found more ashes – and a small gelatinous monster that popped out of its urn. Everyone backed away, but Veronica remembered how they had all been afraid of the porridge and that turned out fine. The gelatinous monster was somehow cute, in a way. Was it safe to pet it…?

No, turned out to be the answer, as its acidic surface dissolved some of her glove and burnt her skin. Now everyone fled – fled the room, the tower, and the castle!

Reviewing the Beatles Solo Albums in Order - The End

At some point I stopped blogging about this project, as I had fallen behind in writing up what I was listening to, and then I would have to go back and listen to them again. Which was enjoyable, but time-consuming.

I am not used to finishing the big projects I start, which is why I'm happy - but also sad - to have finally finished listening to all the Beatles solo albums in chronological order*.

 

I have listened to many a fantastic album, and some terrible albums, and some just not-so good albums, but it was a journey worth taking. It's been a parallel journey to my own my entire life, though I was only paying attention to it periodically.

 

What have I learned? I'm astounded by people who still say John or George are their favorite solo Beatles. Though they all have produced impressive work, Paul has produced almost five times as much material as John did in his life, almost four times as much as George produced. By sheer volume alone, Paul is unmatched, but add the dazzling quality of RAM, Band on the Run, Flaming Pie, and New on top of all that, and be staggered by the sheer awesomeness of it all.

 

And I've learned that Paul in particular never runs out of contributions to make to us. At the age of 79 - 79! - he produced McCartney 3. And, while much of it is admittedly self-indulgent, and his voice is obviously weak from age, the song "Women and Wives" is, at least, a worthy addition to his catalog. Then he encouraged young people to remix this weak album as McCartney 3 Imagined and they actually managed to make it weaker, telling me that the younger generations *still* aren't ready for Paul to hand the baton off to them yet.

 

And Ringo, poor Ringo, with a bum rap for so long, has produced some fantastic albums, long since the days of Good Night Vienna. Time Takes Time, Ringo Rama, and Zoom In are all things you need to hear if you haven't already. His last EP, the very last thing I listened to for this project, was Change the World. And, boy, did they ever. Interestingly, as if anticipating this might be his last album, he brings us full circle at the end - no, not back to "Love Me Do", but to a cover of "Rock Around the Clock." This has been a time-bending trip across the entirety of all of rock n' roll. The solo Beatles have been my Virgil, leading me to Paradise. Thanks, guys.

 

(*"All" albums means all albums with new material or new arrangements on them. I did skip some of the best of and concert albums.)

...No, I'm not done yet. I was thinking about the rhetorical ending I tossed in at the last moment and realized it was a more apt metaphor for the project than I'd at first considered it to be. Dante's Divine Comedy has some interesting parallels to my listening project.

I started my journey, like with the Inferno, by listening to John and Yoko's experimental albums. If there's an Afterlife where bad people are punished, they are made to listen to Yoko Ono there.

And there are periods of Purgatorio I heard too. George, when he just didn't care anymore and churned out albums like Gone Troppo. Ringo and Paul both went through dry periods where they had trouble finding a way to reconnect to their audience.

And there is Paradiso - not as an end goal, though, to be reached. My Paradise are the moments you pass through where everything is perfect. Being emotionally swept up in the powerful early tracks on All Things Must Pass. Listening to RAM for flaws and finding none. Feeling joy for Ringo when he clearly got his groove back on Time Takes Time. Hearing John happy and just having fun on Rock n’ Roll.

Company of the White Oak Campaign - Interlude 9 + Session 38

Patchwall 13, 621 CY
Sewers of Greyhawk

At long last, Lara Darro had got her wish. Now she just had to survive it.

In a dark, dank recess of the Greyhawk sewers, as sewage rained down into the basin at the back of the chamber, the man known as Black Cobra stood on a raised platform over the edge of the basin, speaking to a subordinate holding a lantern who had followed him here. Whatever secret message Black Cobra was telling the man to go deliver did not matter to Lara Darro, as the man was not going to live long enough to deliver it. Her first poisoned crossbow bolt was aimed at the subordinate, not Black Cobra. To kill him like that, without him even knowing who killed him…it would be too easy.

The crossbow bolt flew true and the venom on the quarrel was even now making its way into the bloodstream of the man through his chest. The lantern fell out of his hands as the man clutched at his chest, but the lantern rolled and did not break as it hit the platform. Burning oil did spill out from it, creating a small pool around where the lantern rolled to a stop.

In an instant, Black Cobra spun around and hurled a throwing dagger in the direction the crossbow quarrel had come from. It came up short -- he had to have known it would come up short, Lara thought, but hitting had not been his main goal. The dagger shed bright light that illuminated the high corner of the room where Lara was, the recess in which she perched with her crossbow, quickly reloading. It was her turn now and she fired her second shot – only to see its trajectory veer slightly before it would have hit him and missed him by less than an inch. No doubt he was shielded by some abjuration magic – a magic ring or bracers, perhaps.

Black Cobra raised his right fist, on which he wore a ring over his black leather glove. He spoke a command word three times and three glowing arrows appeared in the air, one after another, and flew at Lara. One missed and flew backwards through the air until it hovered next to Black Cobra.

 

The two that hit dispersed into nothingness on contact, leaving Lara unharmed. Lara was glad she had spent that gold on researching her foe and learned of his primary weapon. The risk of stealing that Brooch of Shielding from Roger Bacon had paid off.

 

But now Black Cobra had tossed something on the platform between them and dark, thick smoke was quickly erupting from the object. She could not risk losing sight of her target. Lara would have to abandon this position. Discarding the crossbow, Lara leaped into the air and did a double flip on her way to landing on the platform, about 30 feet from Black Cobra. She had no weapons in hand now, but she did not need them nor want them. Her exposed hands had no fingernails, but retractable claws that unsheathed as she stretched out her stubby, paw-like fingers. She charged forward, straight into the smoke cloud. She felt resistance as her claws tore something. When she emerged from the smoke cloud, so did Black Cobra.

 

Lara Darro, being only three feet tall, had to look up at him. She wore a padded coif around her head, but her human-like face was exposed. In the darkness her pupils had narrowed so that they looked more like cats eyes now. She wore leather clothes – dark brown coat, surcoat, and hose -- but not leather armor, and her short hose was cut in back to let out her long, furry, prehensile tail.

 

Black Cobra was not wearing any kind of armor either, but wore a leather surcoat stained a dark blue color. His gloves and boots were black leather, and he wore a black skullcap from which hung a black mask concealing his face. There was a tear in his surcoat, but no sign of first blood yet.

 

Black Cobra’s underling was lying on the platform nearby them, already dead.

 

Flickering light from the burning spilled oil illuminated both of them.

 

“So not unexpected to see you,” Black Cobra said. He had a dagger in his off hand, but his ring hand was still free to direct the magic missile hovering beside him. “It is so exciting having a personal nemesis, is it not?”

 

“This is no game, murderer,” Lara said. “I have come to avenge my kin. And reclaim the weapon that is my birthright.”

 

“That weapon I am saving for a special occasion. But if you want revenge, take it if you can.” With that, he sent his last missile flying at her and went for the short sword sheathed at his side all in one swift motion.

 

The missile was dispelled by the brooch, as the last two were. Lara closed the distance between them again in an instant, her razor claws getting closer. Black Cobra blocked one set of claws with his dagger, but was too slow drawing the sword and felt the other claws slash into his right thigh. Lara was in close now, almost too close for the sword, but Black Cobra was able to bring his knee up between them and kick her away. Now he brought both weapons into play, but Lara did a backflip to escape the whirling blades.

 

It was Black Cobra’s turn to charge now, but before his sword reached its mark Lara tumbled past him, her claws catching his hamstring. He cried out, in frustration as much as pain, but as he spun around he found her tail within reach of his boot. He stomped on it, and his sword bit into her shoulder.

 

It hurt, and worse, Lara had every reason to expect it was envenomed. She would need to finish this quickly so she could quaff the antivenom potion she had in the pouch at her back. Luckily, she saw the opening she needed. While his sword was on the backswing, and he had his dagger raised to defend himself, she leaped up, jumped onto his left forearm, and was about to tear both his mask and most of his face off with her claws.

 

That was when the crossbow bolt punctured her right shoulder. In that moment of blinding pain, Black Cobra was able to throw her off his arm and bring his sword around for a quick thrust, stabbing her right in the gut.

 

Lara fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Black Cobra could have finished her off right there, but he was now in a toying mood and landed his dagger’s blade deep into her thigh.

 

“I…should have broken into you…home, killed you in your sleep…” Lara said, fighting back the pain. Would she bleed out before the poison coursing through her veins finished her off? “I know…who you are.”

 

“Then you take that secret to your watery grave,” Black Cobra said. With his good leg, he kicked her hard enough to send her plunging over the edge of the platform and into the basinful of sewage beneath them. He came up to the edge and watched to see if she surfaced. She did not.

 

“A well-timed shot,” Black Cobra said without looking to the crossbowman who had assisted him. “I am glad I suspected I was being tailed and had you follow me. I am also glad you are taking to our world’s weapons so quickly, Feldwebelleutnant Lantz.“  

 

The man at the far end of the platform still wore the grey military uniform of the 243rd Infantry Division of the Imperial German Army, but the crossbow he held was one of this world. “Jawohl, herr Cobra,” Lieutenant Lantz said, “but we had crossbows on our world too. We consider it a primitive weapon, but we must adjust to our present circumstances, do we not?”

 

“Only for now,” Black Cobra said. “The day will yet come when all your world’s weapons will be of great use to you.”

 

“You believe that, do you not? Hence why we have our alliance.”

 

“I do. I have dreamed that it will be so…” 

Session 38
Prologue

 

The Company of the White Oak had received job offers in the past and turned most of them down, but they had two unusual ones this time that they were too curious to ignore.

 

Gendri had continued to procrastinate about exploring Odd Alley. He was feeling restless, thought of himself as no more than a hireling with a full share in the company, and was contemplating leaving their active roster. During this time he was was approached by a man who works for a man called Undron Nalvistor, and wanted to know if the Company of the White Oak was willing to undertake an unusual job in Hook Harbor, a small port town where the Selintan River passes through the Barony of Cairnway up north. He wanted them to create a ruckus that would keep the entire town guard distracted for four hours there, but it had to be this Starday, and the job would pay 500 gold.

 

Ulrich Fallingwater had recently graduated to an adept of the Unorthodox Common Church of Greyhawk, where his patron deity Odin was revered, and was busy learning how to cast clerical spells most of the time. One day, while off in the city enjoying some me time, Ulrich was approached by a woman who represented a party who wished to remain anonymous, who wanted to hire the Company of the White Oak to thwart whatever happened in Hook Harbor this upcoming weekend. She knew they had already been offered 500 gold; she could match that offer, or any other better offer the first party made.

 

No one wanted to be beholden to these mysterious benefactors, but clearly something intriguing was about to happen in Hook Harbor. So they resolved to skip the upcoming expedition back to Castle Gyeyhawk and travel further north instead…

 

Sunsebb 3, 621 CY
Selintan River

 

The Midbay Cruiser was a merchant cog going upriver to the Nyr Dyv, the Lake of Unknown Depths. There was room on board for Haruspex Niv, Percy, Reed Underbough, John Grond, Father Langdon, Ulrich Fallingwater, and Vask, plus the hirelings Harvard, Biros Frapple, Herv, Muelara, and the bear Gert (which got a ride in the cargo hold!). With a team of oxen pulling the cog on a towpath on the right bank, and men with poles keeping the cog from being pulled ashore, they made their way slowly but steadily up away from the sprawling city, past Castle Greyhawk (out of sight, off to the east), under the Great Stone Bridge, through the Selintan Gorge, and finally to Hook Harbor, overlooking Midbay (the southern portion of the lake) where it met the Cairn Hills, on the west bank.  By now it was well past dark and past Hook Harbor’s curfew, so the team camped on the shore near the boat. The boat was staying overnight because there was a new play debuting at the local theater the next day, called The King in Yellow. Captain Basil had heard such good things about it that he was going to let the whole crew go see it.

 

They also asked Captain Basil if he had ever heard of an Undron Nalvistor, but he said he had not.

 

Sunsebb 4, 621 CY
Hook Harbor

 

That morning, the Company stuck together to investigate, but did not want to walk around town with all their adventuring paraphernalia, so they stopped at the Mercenary’s Guildhall at the center of town. Here, a man named Edzin served as a contact liaison to all four of the major mercenary guilds of Greyhawk – the Bronze Band, the Fellowship of the Torch, the West Kingdoms, and the Blackrazor Guild. The White Oak Company was independent, unaffiliated with any guilds, but became officially recognized in Hook Harbor before renting  storage space for their arms, armor, and gear, with everyone choosing a different amount to leave behind. Edzin even knew Baron Dolph was expected to arrive in Hook Harbor today, presumedly to see the play’s debut.

 

It was still early morning, around 8:30 am, when they heard tell that the first act of disruption had occurred in Hook Harbor – an attack on the weaponsmithy, The Arsenal, on the west side of town. By now, the Company already had a good idea that the theater was going to be the real target and this attempted robbery was just a distraction, so instead of rushing there to investigate they all headed to the theater to guard it. There was a lot of noise behind the fence surrounding Gileon’s Playhouse & Hostlery, but as Reed observed from a neighboring roof, this was last minute set construction going on inside and not any kind of attack. They stayed here, spread out around the playhouse, even after hearing that the group that attacked the weaponsmithy had fled west into the woods.

 

Now, the Company decided it was time to look elsewhere for information, and what better place than a tavern? They moved, en masse, to the Sign of the Bat-Winged Boar. There, they spoke with the hobbit tavernkeeper, Stevo. Yes, Stevo said, he did know Undron Nalvistor. After the companions shared their theory that Undron wanted to stop the play, Stevo confirmed that Undron hated all plays and this was definitely the right call. He even described Undron for them.

 

Now the Company split up. John and Reed, with Reed’s hirelings, went to question the weaponsmith, William. Percy and Ulrich went to see the chapel in town. Everyone else stayed behind at the tavern. Vask, who was with Gert, was not going in anywhere, but stayed outside performing with Gert, and attracted a small audience everywhere he went.

 

At The Arsenal, John, Reed, Herv, and Muelara found it under attack a second time! A mixed group of clerics and thieves, a fighter, a gnoll, and a skeleton were killing the town watch members guarding the place. Muelara dropped them all with a sleep spell, save the skeleton, which was easily destroyed. John and Reed bargained with the town watch for possession of the robbers’ loot and managed to get half, plus first dibs. Then John questioned William and learned that William had been most concerned about what the robbers might have been there to steal. After some coercion, William revealed that he had magic ore in his possession (or, more specifically, buried in his yard) and was waiting to ask Baron Dolph to hire him to make a magic weapon from it. John was trying to scam William into hiring them to protect him for 100 gold when Langdon showed up, having followed John with questions of his own for William. By now, John had got William up to 60 gold and he offered to pay this in front of Langdon as if the idea had been his. But now John was intrigued by this magic ore and wondered if William could craft a magic item for them instead…

 

Meanwhile, en route to the chapel, Percy and Ulrich heard the Winchester Brewery, also on the west side of town, was just attacked. But they went on to the chapel, where they met a canon named Belmary, who explained to them about the Water Gods pantheon of Geshtai, Osprem, Zerbo, plus Beory and Procan, and all three of them prayed together for a safe resolution to the ordeals of the day.

 

Around noon, a slow-moving carriage surrounded by wagons full of armed men arrived in town and headed straight for Hook Keep. The Company, regathered at the tavern, followed this carriage and its retinue, only to see a man who must have been the baron exit the carriage and speak with his vassals at the main gate. The Baron, in turn, spotted them and bade them approach – though, it turned out, mainly out of curiosity about Vask’s bear. Gert was able to dance while balancing a helmet on her nose, which amused Baron Dolph enormously. He found more serious, though, the Company’s pronouncement that evil forces were at work in town. Learning what they knew, he was prepared to go announce the play would be cancelled, but the Company counselled him not to, in the hopes of drawing Undron and any other villains behind this out into the open.

 

At this point, the Company became officially deputized by the Baron and sent to guard the playhouse. At last, they spoke to Gileon at the theater. Gileon was very excited for the play, having been a big hit in the Great Kingdom for the past three years and finally making it out here to the “wilderness” of the Domain of Greyhawk. Gileon not only did not recognize Stevo’s description of Undron, but laughed at them for believing such a well-known liar. Stevo, after all, also said he was a wizard and had been hunting the bat-winged boar on his sign for decades.

 

Around 1 pm, a crowd started to gather outside the playhouse, of people wanting to get good seats when the play started in two hours.

 

At 1:30, the next assault happened – on the crowd outside the playhouse! From out of nowhere, two men in platemail, leading a group of zombies, a goblin, a gnoll, and an ogre, slunk out from around the nearby buildings and attacked the would-be theatergoers. The assault was over almost as soon as it begun, thanks to the zombies being blasted into dust and the rest being put to sleep (along with a lot of the crowd). Only one of the two men in platemail was still on his feet, and he was handily defeated by overwhelming force. The non-humans were killed on the spot, while the town watch dragged the human prisoners to the stocks outside the keep, where the Company was able to question the man they had just defeated.

 

His name was Reynard and, while everyone else they had defeated all day had no idea who hired them or why, Reynard was important enough to know. This was all prelude to keep the town in disarray before an attack on the Baron himself. Reynard was in charge of the prelude, while the actual attack would be conducted by a woman named Oriel. Haruspex’s ESP spell confirmed none of this was deception.

 

The Baron agreed to serve as bait for this trap and the play began to a full audience. The Company was spread out in the audience. The play was proceeding just fine until – a ghostly woman, matching Oriel’s description, floated out onto the stage. She said that Dolph would be punished for his crimes and she moved towards him. Those closest could see she had something in her hand. At first, it did not seem like weapons could stop her, as sling stones and crossbow bolts just passed right through her. Vask’s magic battle axe was able to injure her, but she was still able to reach the Baron and place a brooch on his chest. And then – the Baron vanished!