Session 47
City of Greyhawk
Fulton Ironstone wanted to go adventuring again. Why wasn’t the Company of the White Oak contacting him about going back to Castle Greyhawk?
He sought out Reed Underbough, one of the senior members, but Reed was busy.
He sought out Percy, another senior member, but Percy was occupied with important matters.
He knew of Haruspex Niv, the remaining senior member, but did not know how to find him!
So he was in a tavern, sulking out loud, when something nearby asked him about adventuring. The creature looked like an ugly hobbit and called itself Zivka.
Zivka was tired of working in this tavern for scraps (and living off of petty theft on the side). She (for she was a she, though few people recognized it) had connections with the New Thieves Guild, but hadn’t trusted her to do anything yet. If she could prove herself to them, she might be able to become somebody…but to do that, she needed allies.
As she talked to Fulton and urged him to reveal more about what he knew about adventure opportunities, Zivka noticed a man at a neighboring table was eavesdropping on every word. The man did not look particularly dangerous, but he did have a sword. Maybe he would be useful too!
The man known as Onyx had only come for a drink, not to find adventure. But that did not mean he was not interested. He needed work and, supposedly, there was money to be found in adventuring. He was quickly talked into it.
Now, as it just so happened, there was a member of the Company of the White Oak present that day -- Robert, the adopted dwarf brother to Rom Riverbluff. Robert was mulling over an offer he had recently had to sell Rom’s villa, Robert’s main inheritance. Robert heard Castle Greyhawk mentioned and his interest was piqued. But what Robert was really interested in was something different. In the last conversation with Rom that Robert had ever had, Rom had mentioned that he always was interested in the rumors of an abandoned temple north of the city, somewhere south of Castle Greyhawk, but he had never been able to convince the others to go look into it. So Robert got up, went over to this conversation, and mentioned the temple.
Castle or temple, it made no difference to Fulton -- he just wanted to go adventure! Zivka, though, had other ideas. Adventuring was actually too risky, but there was good money in bounty hunting and adventurers could make good bounty hunters. She had heard that Reed Underbough, fast climbing the rungs in the guild, was now also a successful bounty hunter. This could be her path to success too. Onyx liked the bounty hunting idea. Even Robert was swayed into it and the temple idea was tabled.
But what bounty to pursue? They all split up to find out what options there were. Zivka got the first nibble from the guild. Her contact, a young footpad named Nordell, said there was a 300 gp bounty on a conjurer named Mandel Flox. Flox might have a vendetta against a senior guild member - nothing that member could not deal with himself - but the guild could show how dismissive the threat was by sending the low rank and file to take him out. Or not, the bounty was 300, dead or alive. Zivka was fine with the dead part.
But where to find this Mandel Flox? Zivka was the one who came through again. She reckoned that the Conjurers Guild would know where this guy was, and she knew where the Conjurers Guild was. She went and knocked on the door.
A man answered the door and tried to get her to scram. He was not going to tell anyone where any guildmember could be found, even if he did happen to know, and certainly not for anything less than a cut for half of whatever they were going to make off this information.
Luckily, Onyx just happened to have reached the same conclusion about trying the Conjurers Guild and arrived in time to hear the tail end of this. Wouldn’t this doorman get in a lot of trouble, Onyx asked, if word got out he could be bribed to give away information on guildmembers? Suddenly, the doorman was most eager to assist -- for a one-quarter cut instead. It was a deal!
Mandel Flox was staying at the Left-Handed Inn, in the Slum Quarter. It was one of the nicest buildings in the Slum Quarter, though still pretty slummy. The four adventurers showed up that same afternoon to case the joint. Onyx and Fulton had the easy jobs of being paying customers. Zivka had to beg for a job serving drinks. Robert asked for a job as a bouncer. He had to wrestle the innkeeper’s best bouncer for the job. They stalemated for three minutes, but he still got the job.
From there it was a waiting game. The inn slowly filled up with people, though many were heading to a gambling room in back. And there was much drinking and drunkeness as the day turned to evening. A drunk guy picked a fight with Onyx who punched him in the nose, then Zivka and Robert broke it up. Right after that, they heard a serving wench call a customer by the name of Flox.
Robert shadowed Flox easily to his room, a second floor room that Flox had his own key to. Robert could not pick the lock on the door, though. Everyone else joined him at the door. Zivka tried to lure Flox to open the door, but he was not interested in being disturbed. Finally, Zivka tried the lock, even though she was sure she would fail, and succeeded. They burst in on Mandol Flox - as he was feeding his cat!
Three times Flox tried to cast spells at them, but Zivka managed to hit him with a thrown dagger each time and disrupted his spells. Onyx stabbed him as well, but it was Zivka’s last stab that was final and soon Mandol Flox was bleeding out on the floor. The cat had tried to attack them too, but Robert threw it out the window. Robert and Fulton tried to keep him alive, but they did not have the skill. Zivka was fine with letting him die. Onyx, overcome with bloodlust, decided to cut the head off. Everyone was disgusted, but no one stopped him. They even helped him sneak the head out of the room, with Robert tossing it down to Onyx, waiting in the street outside the window. Mandol Flox’s headless body was hidden in his room’s wardrobe.
Planting 22, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
The next day they collected their 300 gold from the New Thieves Guild -- and even gave the doorman from the Conjurers Guild his share. Then they went shopping! More weapons, silver weapons, holy water were all acquired. Because…these four people had been bitten by the adventuring bug - and now going to explore that abandoned temple was too tempting to resist!
But how to find an abandoned temple in the wilderness? Again, it was Zivka that came through. Now that she had money, her superiors at the guild were more interested in talking to her! For what seemed now like a pittance (but would have been expensive yesterday), the guild was going to tell her exactly what she wanted to know. What she was looking for was the Temple of the Latter Day Elder Ones. He even warned here that the last time anyone had been there they were attacked by giant beetles. And they even had a map showing how to get there…
Planting 23, 622 CY
North of the City of Greyhawk
Off any road, off any path or trail, the four adventurers set out from the northernmost gate of the City of Greyhawk. They crossed through cultivated fields, and then reached the hunting grounds of the rich people of the city. Well, if they were caught poaching, that could go worse for them than cutting off a conjurer’s head, so they went very wide around those grounds…
…and, seven miles later, came to a four-story, square step pyramid made of weathered stone and covered in ivy. Stairs led up one side to the uppermost level.
Zivka suggested they circle around it and see it from all sides. So they did -- stumbling across six giant dung beetles the size of beagles! The battle was joined! Well, by everyone but Zivka, who backed out of the melee, leaving the other three to be even more outnumbered. Robert was pulled down and bitten until he lost consciousness, and then the beetles started to eat him. Since she had a bow now, she picked off the ones eating him. Onyx managed to defeat the beetles on him, as did Fulton, now the only member of the Company of the White Oak present.
With the last of the beetles disposed of, they collected some goods off of Robert (man, did he have a lot of flasks of oil on him!) and turned their attention back to the temple. They had come an awful long way to not check it out any further…
Zivka suggested searching the ground floor to see if there were any hidden entrances. The ivy was so thick, though, it was hard to say if anything might be concealed beneath. She came up with the idea of burning the ivy away, and they did have a lot of flasks of oil to do it with.
As the ivy burned - large spiders the size of cats sprang out of the burning ivy! Ten of them died on the spot, but a full dozen managed to leap clear -- and were looking for something to kill! Three against twelve? Those were not odds any of them wanted to face - but did they flee back to the city, or up into the temple…?
The temple steps were the closest avenue of escape, so up they went. And, as they climbed, something very strange happened to the sky. The sun seemed to be sailing through the sky very quickly and, by the time they reached the top -- it seemed to be already nightfall! There was no sign of the spiders now, but the sky above looked menacing…
At the top of the steps was what looked to be a doorway, but it was blocked by a stone block that perfectly fit the doorway. Examining the doorway, they did see small markings, possibly magic runes, upon it, but none of them could decipher them. Zivka made a rubbing with some parchment, so she could take it back to the guild. Fulton was going to try shouldering the block and see if he could budge it when - he passed right through it!
Zivka was able to figure out quickly that the block was an illusion and passed through it, but Onyx could not convince himself the block wasn't real. He had to tie a rope around himself and have them pull him through when he wasn't ready for it. And then they all found themselves…in the first room.
It was a large room, mostly empty, except for three pillars. Upon touching each pillar, they found that a doorway appeared in the pillar, revealing a ladder that went down to the next level below. Fulton volunteered to go down first. With his sword in one hand he slowly climbed down into the shaft on the left…and found he was not alone in there. Three more dung beetles, of the same giant size, were lurking in the dark of the shaft and skittered to attack.
Zivka had more oil and she tossed it down, hoping to catch the beetles with it (and also thinking there were more at the bottom of the shaft), but she was getting more on Fulton than on the beetles.
"No torch! No torch!" Fulton yelled up frantically.
Not that it mattered. The beetles' bites were too much for Fulton and he passed out from the pain. He fell 10' off the ladder to the floor of the room below, along with one of the beetles that was on him. Zivka threw down the torch, burning the beetle on him, but also alighting the two beetles in the shaft as the lit torch sailed past them. They fell to their deaths in the conflaguration below.
Now there were no members of the Company of the White Oak left.
Onyx volunteered to go down next. He took what he could off of Fulton, but Fulton and much of his equipment was char now.
The room below was in the same dimensions, but the outside perimeter was cluttered with what looked like construction equipment and bits of scaffolding. There were also three doors out, and a pedestal on which something shiny and silvery sat.
Onyx completely ignored the pedestal and dug through the scaffolding, finding nothing but normal-sized bugs.
By now, both of them were thinking this was too dangerous to continue and they needed to get out. The illusory block was only visible one way, so it was easy for them to leave. They descended the steps of the temple, noting that the sky did not change back as they came down.
Taking one last look back, they noticed just one of the large spiders was skittering towards them. This time, they ran and fled back to the city!
Session 48
Flocktime 10, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
Eirenden, the elven veteran/seer, could live comfortably for a long time on the wealth he walked out of Castle Greyhawk with, but unlike the only other survivor of their expedition, Vincent the Acolyte, Eirenden longed for more adventure. But who to adventure with? Who was willing to brave the upper levels of the keep of Castle Greyhawk other than he? Well…there were rumors that the Company of the White Oak had made many expeditions to the castle over the past two years…
Eirenden at last found Reed Underbough, the Hobbit Sharper and senior member of the White Oak Company, in a tavern. Although Reed was also comfortably well-off from his adventuring career, he had ambitions to upgrade from his modest house to a private tower, and that meant going back out into the field. Reed had been mulling over either a return to Castle Greyhawk or at last taking that heist job of raiding the Mannering Manor treasury.
Haruspex Niv, the thaumaturgist, was normally happy to remain locked away in his library, but he was a good friend of Reed’s and indeed they had just been discussing the Mannering Manor job. If Reed wanted to do it, Haruspex was on board…but he was wary of going up against a magic-user at least as skilled as he was, and the steward at the manor was said to be a thaumaturgist too.
At the same time, Bowie Laughingbottle, hobbit lyrist, came around looking for Reed. Bowie had just dropped a lot of money at an auction, had a new harp to show off, but also was interested in replenishing his fortune again.
Then they got distracted talking about how Rom Riverbluff’s old villa was for sale. Should they buy it?
Then Eirenden told them about the wealth he had walked out of Castle Greyhawk with, having explored the second floor of the keep. This piqued everyone’s interest, for the White Oak Company, after all this time, had barely seen any of the second floor. Now they all wanted to go back! But they were also wise enough to know that they needed a cleric with them. There was always Percy…but Percy was such a goody-goody and did not fit the direction the rest of the Company was now taking. They needed someone else, so they dropped 270 gold on a fast recruitment drive for a new cleric and met Brother Vincent (not the same Vincent Eirenden had escaped Castle Greyhawk with -- pure coincidence). Brother Vincent was a priest on the adventurer’s path -- and a Boccobite; it had been important to Niv that he be a Boccobite -- and eager to come along for a ¼ share. But their efforts were in vain, for word got to Percy that they were going back to Castle Greyhawk and he invited himself along. Now they had two clerics!
Flocktime 10, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk
And soon three clerics! When they reached the castle, Brother Vincent wanted to pray at the Chapel to Boccob. Once there, they met Father Vortigern, now a vicar (he had only been a priest when Langdon once knew him). Vincent and Vortigern knew each other, yet somehow had no idea they would both be at the castle at the same time Vortigern was unwilling to leave the chapel, as he was needed there for some ritual, but he had a healing spell available if they needed further aid later. And he’d check on their mules in the stables every so often.
Reed, Haruspex, Percy, Eirenden, and Bowie, accompanied by the hencmen Herv, Muelara Wynna, Brother Vincent, Ambrosio, and Lem Rim Grink, went from there to the main entrance of the keep. It seemed much more deserted than ever. Eirenden was able to tell them things the others did not know, like what happens when you pull the arm of the statue in the corner, and about the king and queen on the upstairs balcony.
First they climbed the southwest tower all the way to the top and found there were giant spiders up there (Eirenden, remembering how much trouble the spiders in the southeast tower had caused, thought he was back there for a moment). Nobody wanted to face giant spiders, so they were ignored. The Company came back down to the second floor and quickly made their way to the balcony. They could all take turns approaching the entrance and seeing the thrones where the king and queen sat. But now that they were there, no one had the nerve to mess with them. The door was closed.
The room before the balcony room had been passed through before, but had never been examined. There was a trapdoor in the ceiling that pulled down. Reed wanted to open it - but cautiously, tying rope to the handle and standing a good distance away before he pulled…
And that was when they heard the ghostly wails coming from outside.
There was an arrow slit facing the east end of the courtyard just outside the room they were in, so they headed there and took turns gazing out at an amazing sight.
Flying over the courtyard were three lamassu - the man-lion spirits that were said to be watching and protecting the Company of the White Oak as they progressed towards their “destiny.” They were being attacked by three flying, wailing wraiths, accompanied by a cackling witch on a flying broomstick - hurling lightning bolts from a wand! The lamassu were able to physically attack back the wraiths with their claws without being energy drained and were holding their own, but just barely.
Should they get involved? While others were uncertain, for Percy that was a resounding yes. He stepped up to the arrow slit and turned the wraiths. The wraiths who, upon further inspection, bore weapons and armor identical to John Grond, Father Langdon, and Rom Riverbluff, and still wore tattered tabards of the White Oak Company….All three of them fled and flew far out of sight as Percy called down the wrath of the Gods of Law on them.
The witch was distracted by the lamassu and the loss of her aerial support, so she did not even notice when Harusex Niv unleashed a magic missile at her and it missed, and it was too late for her when he followed up with a fireball spell. She was only moderately hurt by the fireball, but it was enough to make her lose her balance on her broom and she plunged 30’ to the ground below and stopped moving.
The battle appeared to have been won, until a powerful roar announced the arrival of a new combatant. From around the north side of the keep flew a red-scaled dragon - an armored knight with a lance mounted on its back! The knight and dragon renewed the assault on the lamassu, ignorant of the voyeurs watching from the arrow slit. One of the lamassu crashed to the courtyard floor and was as motionless as the witch, and the other two appeared quite battered. Both dragon and rider remained unharmed by magic missiles that missed from both Haruspex and Muelara, but when Eirenden hit with an arrow from his bow, the dragon turned its attention to the arrow slit…
Everyone ran, and just in time, as the room behind them was engulfed in fire that licked at Bowie’s heels!
They fled south, to the landing at the top of the grand staircase, and then past that into the southwest tower again, on the floor below the giant spiders. Here were plenty of arrow slits for them to mount a better offense from relative safety. From here, Muelara used her necklace of missiles to launch her own fireball at dragon and rider, lightly injuring the rider. More arrows flew from Eirenden’s bow, and Reed and Herv were able to join in with crossbow and bow respectively. But what really turned the tide of battle for them was when the lamassu grasped the dragon by the wings and hurled the dragon to the ground. For a short while, the battle continued on the ground, but the knight retreated around the south end of the keep, leaving the dragon to face the two remaining lamassu alone.
Now the odds finally looked good enough for the White Oak Company to leave the building. When they emerged into the courtyard, though, they found the dragon already gone. It was not too late and Percy was able to cast a healing spell that brought the downed lamassu back on its four feet. Then the lamassu all bowed to the assembled Company. They thanked the Company for coming to their aid, but warned them that they were about to be tested again.
Two things happened next. The dragon and rider, reunited, circled the keep for another pass at them. Again, the knight and rider were more interested in the lamassu and the Company was spared. But at the same time, the ghostly image of the witch rose out of her own body!
This was too much for Eirenden, Herv, and Lem Ren Grink, who all bolted from the scene. Eirenden and Herv both happened to flee in the same direction, towards one of the northwest towers in the curtain wall, while Lem ran to the southwest. To keep the group together, everyone chased after Eirenden and Herv, leaving Lem to his own devices.
When Herv reached the tower he started battering the door down. Then he and Eirenden hid in the corner and soiled themselves. And for good reason, because the witch’s ghost was floating after them. A plan was hastily concocted to flee to the roof of the tower and cross the top of the curtain wall back to the east side of the castle, and seek sanctuary in the Chapel of Boccob. But how to keep the ghost from following them there?
Percy raised his enchanted mace and told the others to go; he would guard their backs, alone.
Everyone was good with that. But once on the curtain wall, the rest of the Company saw an opportunity to assist the lamassu again. Spread out on the top of the wall, even Bowie and Ambrosio, who had been lurking in the background all this time, were able to join their slings to the cause of assaulting the dragon and rider. And the missile weapons were apparently taking their toll; for the dragon and rider soon fled the scene again.
Meanwhile, Percy held the ghost at bay with his mace. Trying to turn it had no effect, but neither was …whatever the ghost was trying to do to him. It felt like an out-of-body experience for a moment, but he resisted. When the dragon bellowed in its retreat, it distracted the ghost and it floated outside to check on the scene there.
Soon, Reed, Haruspex, Bowie, Vincent, and Ambrosio were back at the chapel, explaining to a frightened Father Vortigern what all those terrible noises he’d been hearing outside were. How, they asked, do they defeat a ghost? Vortigern suggested holy water, and procured a vial for everyone. Would he come with? No, but he would pray for their success, and keep the chapel safe until their return. Percy arrived, having bolted after them as soon as the ghost turned away. Percy was carrying Eirenden with him, having had to make the choice of which cowering comrade to rescue when he fled. Eirenden was just now starting to recover…but what of Herv?
The Company crept out of the chapel and back across the courtyard. The dragon, rider, and lamassu were all gone this time. The only one around was…Herv, just standing there, outside the northwest tower. Or was it Herv? He looked to be 70 years old! When they approached him, he responded to their questions very strangely, saying they should all rest and post no guards now. To test if this was Herv, Ambrosio was pushed to the fore and made to offer Herv a vial of holy water to drink. Herv quaffed the drink, and choked in pain.
Battle was joined at that point - the aged Herv versus everyone else. Despite his advanced years, Herv seemed bolstered by supernatural power and easily held his own for minutes against everyone else, until they finally brought him down.
Now what do they do with him? They dragged him back to the chapel to ask Father Vortigern. He was mostly sure that no ghost would be able to enter the sanctity of the chapel, which meant Herv was no longer possessed. Percy risked healing him. When Herv woke up, he called Reed “boss” and everyone agreed it sounded like Herv again.
The remaining question was…what happened to Lem Rin Grink, Haruspex’s lost apprentice? They found him when they scoured the rest of the courtyard, lying against the curtain wall, his head bashed in by a blunt weapon. Who had slain him? The mystery went unsolved.
One silver lining…the witch’s corpse was still there, and she was loaded! A vain creature, she was wearing a fortune in jewels, plus there was the matter of a broken wand and broom that could hopefully still be repaired…
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