Castle Greyhawk
John Grond, Father Langdon, Major Rom Riverbluff, Vask, Maximus, and Hence had gathered with the hirelings Harvard, Genevieve, Gendri, Bella, Everard, and the animals Gert the Bear and four mules at the Chapel of Boccob and the stables within the castle grounds. They had already spent the night, planning on heading down to level 3 of the dungeon this morning. They had already learned much.
Just like elsewhere in the hills, there seemed to be much more wolf activity here around the castle, and they heard their howls all through the night.
The elves (led by Garadlius) and the dwarves (led by Finngur) had control of most of level 1 of the dungeon now, with just some hobgoblins holed up in the stockrooms in the southeast corner of the complex. They had mapped most of the level out and found it came to 80 rooms. The elves revealed that they held the Tower of Boccob as well. Indeed, they had already held it earlier when Eneever Zig arrived, but he had waded through them as if they were nothing, killing some of them until they fled out of his way.
Captain Throk’s company no longer held the main keep of the castle; most of their heads were now just skulls on pikes out in front of the keep, and actually had been for some months.
With this ominous news in mind, they all descended the main stairwell that connected level 1 to level 3 (and beyond), leaving only Bella and Everard to guard the mules.
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The first goal was to wipe out the giant spiders – four, the size of shepherd dogs -- they had long known about, and see if that room led anywhere. They were well-prepared, tossing flaming oil into the webs inside, and then making short work of the burning spiders as they rushed out to attack. The spider on Rom took a little longer to finish off, and Rom was accidentally punched hard by John while he was trying to punch the spider off of him, but soon that last spider was a sticky mess under Rom’s boots.
The only treasure in the room might have been an antique wooden throne, but the fire had charred that almost beyond recognition. The room actually turned out to be a dead end, so once the Company was done here, they moved on to a new area to explore.
The next plan was to see what was north of the Hall of Boccob’s Shrine. They found a narrow side passage that would allow them to avoid the Chamber of Vipers, and found themselves in a new chamber, one containing a kettle drum on a dais, and a niche in the north wall. They avoided the drum, but searched the niche and found a secret storage space with a spare drum in it. Langdon checked it for magic, but it had none.
From here, they took a diagonal corridor southwest – and encountered five ghouls leaping and cavorting towards them! They stood their ground as Langdon turned them, making all five flee the way they had come.
The way they had come was a small L-shaped room with what looked like a well in it. Here, they also encountered two wraiths! Langdon again turned them, and all seven undead fled up a corridor to the north – at which point they heard a loud voice scream “Who is turning my undead?”
Everyone was eager to face this new threat and charged up the corridor in tight ranks – which turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do. At the top of the corridor stood a necromancer, casting a lightning bolt spell! Two missile weapons attempted to thwart the spell, but it was not disrupted in time. A powerful bolt of lightning flew through the corridor – killing everyone!
Coldeven 26, 622 CY
The Village of Hawfair Green
The Leaping Trout Tavern
Four adventurers had gathered here, at this tavern that had gained a reputation for becoming a launching point for expeditions into Castle Greyhawk’s infamous ruins. Stout Stanley, the tavernkeeper, had gently ribbed them. “Trying to become the next Company of the White Oak, are you?”
The four companions were Graggil Coinpurse, dwarven acolyte of the Old Oeridian Church (the only one to have met members of the White Oak Company); Orina Susantaro, human acolyte of the Church of the Water Gods; Fulton Ironstone, human veteran; and Robert, dwarven burglar (the only experienced adventurer among them). The plan was to go together to Castle Greyhawk the very next day and seek their fame and fortune (and hopefully encounter no dragons!).
And then two hobbits stepped in.
One of them was none other than Reed Underbough, senior member of the Company of the White Oak and sharper, and with him was a new acquaintance, Bowie Laughingbottle, a lyrist.
“I hear you are adventurers,” Reed said, “and I have need of an adventuring party.”
Reed began to explain the job. Five miles south of the city was the Barony of Mannering. The citizens of the barony were cruelly taxed and the baron was hoarding fantastic wealth. The plan was to loot that treasury and redistribute the wealth. There were, however, some wrinkles in the story that gave everyone pause. Reed was very upfront about how he represented one of the competing thieves guilds of Greyhawk and that the thieves guild would decide how the money was redistributed. Also, Reed had no evidence or proof that the baron had broken any laws to hoard his fantastic wealth.
Reactions were mixed. Orina found this highly objectionable. Fulton was just eager to get to the castle and saw this as an unwelcome distraction. Graggil was tempted by the challenge of it, and Robert just wanted to steal something from somewhere! As leverage, Reed offered them all full membership in the Company of the White Oak if they went on the mission with him. Bowie suggested they vote on it. What won, in the end, was the idea of tabling any decision-making until they had all returned to the City of Greyhawk and done their own research into the matter.
Coldeven 27, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
Orina went to consult a priestess of the Church of the Water Gods, who maintained a chapel here in the city. The priestess was concerned about this plan, as Orina described it. The Baron of Mannering was, at the age of 20, still a ward of the Unorthodox Common Church of Greyhawk, which were allies of the Water Gods and surely were not involved in chicanery?
Graggil’s superiors at the Temple of the Old Oeridian Church were even more concerned. Rather than assist the thieves guild, they wanted Graggil to help bring this thief to justice. Graggil turned down this counter-mission, on the grounds of it being too dangerous.
Robert bought many rounds for people at taverns to get them to loosen their lips. He heard from someone who knew Cambria, a theurgist or thaumaturgist who worked as the stewardess of the barony.
Fulton was not interested in gathering information. He had never been to the city before – he spent all day sight-seeing!
Reed, for his part, went to the Orphanage of St. Cuthbert to see the soon-to-be Baron Mannering himself. Mannering was concerned at this rumor of malfeasance in the administration of his holdings, and vowed to send a servant to look into it. He was not willing, however, to let Reed travel with his servant.
Everyone met up that evening to discuss. Orina, initially so against the mission, now had suspicions the thieves guild was onto something. How could it be legal to keep a 20-year old from ruling his own lands? Bowie volunteered to look into the legal standing of this, but Reed wanted Bowie to accompany them on whatever mission they undertook and promised to have his new apprentice, Ambrosio, look into the matter for them.
In the end, a majority of hands went up for going to Castle Greyhawk instead. And so…
Coldeven 28, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk
On the last day of the month, Reed and his new companions all went directly to Castle Greyhawk. They had secured the White Oak Company’s cart and mules, and Percy’s hirelings to care for the same. Orina had her own mule. Since Percy’s hirelings, Bella and Everard, knew the route to the stables well, they were sent on ahead with the mules. And, of course, Reed’s constant companions Herv and Muelara were there as well.
On the west side of the keep, they noticed something that was news to Reed – skulls mounted on pikes. Orina examined the skulls and found the decomposition was over a month old. But this was only a curiosity that delayed them before descending the courtyard’s trapdoor into the dungeon.
The north part of the level was still clearly in the hands of the elves, who were the only ones they met down below. The elves did know who those skulls belonged to, and explained the sad fate of Captain Throk’s men (who had held the keep for about four months) when they got in Eneever Zig’s way. They also reported seeing more undead skeletons on this level of late, while the last of the hobgoblins were holed up in the storerooms in the southeast corner of this level.
As much as Reed encouraged them to press deeper into the dungeon, the thought of only fighting hobgoblins held much more appeal to the novices. The elves agreed to escort the Companions further south than they had ever gone before, off the bottom of Reed’s maps. And there they left the Companions, outside a door.
The cautious Companions listened to the door and heard noises. Muelara cast ESP and heard thoughts about how much the creatures on the other side wanted bread, but they were scared of the baker. Was it ethical to attack monsters who ate bread? The Companions’ whispered debate ended quickly with a resounding yes.
Behind the door was a small room with three hobgoblins in it! The Companions made short work of the hobgoblins and looted them for some modest treasure. From here, they continued south through a succession of doors into more small rooms that were unoccupied and perhaps part of a larger hobgoblin lair, who were out right now. Or perhaps those three had been the last?
Reed again worked to steer them towards greater challenges, and convinced them at last to return to the spiral staircase and take it down to level 2.
On level 2, they headed west to some unexplored territory and, upon turning a corner, ran into an offal-like jelly monster! Instead of running, this time they stayed and fought!
Or at least all the novices did. Reed and his henchmen seemed to run away! They were actually circling around, to come at the jelly monster from behind. In the meanwhile, Orina was pulled to the ground by the monster! Her comrades found the acidic nature of the jelly was damaging their weapons, so they pulled back and tried to pump the jelly full of arrows, despite how dangerous it was shooting into such close quarters. Indeed, it proved to be a fatal mistake – Robert the Burglar shot Orina in the face, killing her just as the jelly was dissolving her legs.
In the end, the Company won, but at the terrible cost of losing Orina Susantaro. There was a chance of bringing her back with Muelara’s healing potion, but it looked like she would permanently be a cripple if she did come back. Her body was left there, interred underground in the dungeon, and they moved on after Graggil said a short prayer for her soul.
From there they followed many long corridors, west, south, back east, and then back north. But instead of going in a circle -- they found themselves at a location that Reed was definitely not expecting to see again. It was the Great Hall that contained the Shrine of the Boccobites -- that Reed knew to be on level 3 of the dungeon! They were trying to figure it out when they heard a large number of monsters approaching. Reed told everyone about the waves of orcs that had hit them last time they were here and discretion suddenly became the better part of valor. The Companions beat a hasty retreat back the way they had come and made it safely out of the Castle -- now experienced Castle explorers who had been to three levels of the famous dungeon!
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