Session 55
City of Greyhawk
It was shaping up to be a hot summer and Reed Underbough, Percy, Eirenden, and Leif Thunderbeard were talking about going on a short, easy expedition somewhere and where that might be - when Haruspex Niv showed up. This shocked everyone because Niv’s name had been on the list of members allegedly killed by the Iron Workers Guild. Haruspex explained that he saw the thieves coming and faked his own death to elude them, and had been lying low since.
Should they seek revenge against the Iron Workers Guild? No trip into the sewers, where the guild operated out of, had ever gone well for them. And with Lord Ellis gone, the Iron Workers had no reason to keep going after them. Besides, Reed had a suggestion that soon tantalized all of them. With Niv’s magical firepower…maybe they could finally take out that dragon Eirenden had discovered under Castle Greyhawk…
The idea seemed to have a good risk:reward ratio, since they had killed a dragon easily before, and dragons were known to hoard lots of treasure. But they were few in number and ready to hedge their bets any way they could. Eirenden sought information about this dragon he had seen. It was a black dragon, and he paid to learn that they breathed acid in a long line, about as far as a javelin could be thrown. Acid was not something they could defend against…except to keep lots of targets between them…
City of Greyhawk
With the rapidity that came with the promise of lots of gold, the Company had assembled a group of 12 archers and 8 light foot infantry, including Krillin, Patroneous, and Joe, and a medium named Aerik Fenn. These were not henchmen, but hirelings paid in advance, with the promise of a big bonus later. They were told that the Company was going under Castle Greyhawk to retrieve a treasure hoard - but they were careful not to mention that they had to kill a dragon first.
Castle Greyhawk
Having breezed through the Village of Hawfair Green, the Company and their retinue made their way for the lonely castle - but bypassed the upper works and allowed Eirenden to show them the entrance to the dragon lair he and his original party had found on their only foray here.
There, on the east slope of the bill on which Castle Greyhawk stood, was rubble from some long-lost outbuilding, mixed with loose rocks and dirt. A long time ago they had dug the rubble away and revealed the tunnel to the dragon lair, but now it was all filled in again. The Company put their new hirelings to work clearing the rubble away, and Eirenden and Leif pitched in to display their magically-enhanced and naturally prodigious (respectively) strength. Eventually they had cleared a path they could all use - but making so much noise that the Company did not want to use it. Rather, they ordered everyone to withdraw for the night, hoping to take the dragon more by surprise in the morning.
That night everyone camped outside around the Leaping Trout Tavern in Hawfair Green. There was much merriment, for the hirelings assumed they were only resting before digging up treasure in the morning. The Companions noticed that Krillin had no official leadership role, but he was more charismatic than the other hirelings and many looked up to him. Aerik Fenn stuck close to the Company, while Eirenden took a liking to Patroneous. Eirenden was thinking about taking him on as a henchman, if Patroneous survived the morning.
The next morning they all returned to the tunnel and the hirelings were sent in first. The Companions were so far behind that they didn’t even see what was going on when combat started up in the front ranks. It turned out, the dragon had added two goblin sentries to the tunnel since Eirenden was last here, and the hirelings had noisily killed them. Should they return to Hawfair Green and come back still another day? No, they were this close - they would press on.
Aerik Fenn, unaware of these deliberations, saw what was going on and was concerned that Krillan’s actions would keep his fellow mercenaries from ever being hired again.To remedy the situation, Aerik cast Charm Person on Krillin to get him to stay and convince the others to stay. Ultimately, this worked, though it also took a bribe, the promise that the hirelings would get a greater treasure share. Only one hireling, Joe, refused to go in and kept trying to convince the others not to. Reed led Joe back towards the surface, on the pretense of having a talk with him, but then Reed backstabbed Joe, killed him, and hid the body.
As soon as the Companions went inside - that was when the dragon showed up from a side cavern. The dragon spat acid and it killed six hirelings instantly. The Companions loosed missile weapons at the dragon with ridiculous accuracy, and Haruspex Niv’s lightning bolt from his wand was super-effective. The dragon was killed before it could get in a second attack.
The treasure pile was large and spread out, some of it in sacks and the rest just loose on the floor, and took a long time to count. It proved to easily be one of the largest treasure hauls the Company had ever recovered. It even included what appeared to be a wand and a rod. To the Companions’ chagrin, enough of the hirelings survived that the Company had to give them an entire equal share of the treasure to split between them - and even that was looking like it would come to about 300 gold per man!
Searching the two caverns further, they found a tunnel leading west that would take them deeper under the castle. But to which level? Even Leif, a dwarf, was having trouble guessing. Everyone was curious to see where it led, but the hirelings who had stopped being useful as dragon fodder were now a liability that needed to be dumped back into civilization. They would lead the men back again to Hawfair Green to celebrate (and with a dragon head and body parts to prove the tales they would tell!) and pretend the expedition was over, but then head back into the dungeons the next morning. But first…they had enough experience with Charm Person to know that Krillin had been charmed, and they assumed Aerik Fenn had done so because he was willing to betray his comrades-in-arms for the good of the Company, and so he was offered full membership.
It was the most chaotic the Company of the White Oak, which had once solidly leaned towards lawfulness, had ever been. Percy, the last champion of Law in the company, had been present the whole time, but things were either done behind his back or he turned a blind eye to them.
Goodmonth 2, 622 CY
Castle Greyhawk
Reed, Percy, Haruspex, Eirenden, Leif, and Aerik returned to the dragon’s lair, but this time with only their loyal henchmen Muelara Wynna, Ambrosio, Arlin Fadagoria, and new henchman Patroneous. Reed, now recognized as their most experienced member, both led the company and attempted to map the dungeon as they went. And in the dungeon proper they now seemed to be, for the rough tunnel soon gave way to smoothly carved 10’ x 10’ corridors that seemed very familiar in design.
They soon came to a door, and Muelara’s ESP spell revealed sentient beings on the other side. Those beings turned out to be six gnolls, who were no match for the Company and quickly wiped out. Their treasure was a paltry sum of silver and gold pieces, but what else they guarded were two cell doors. One led into an ordinary, and empty, cell, but through the bars of the other door’s window they could see an ivory box sitting alone in the cell. No matter what they tried to get the door open, it all failed. Frustrated, the Company moved on.
From here they could have moved south, but instead they backtracked east and planned to take a passage they had skipped to get to the gnoll lair. When they reached that fresh corridor, they were confronted by a spectral figure floating quickly towards them. Percy, recognizing it for either a wraith or a spectre, turned it and the thing sped away from them. The Company followed. It was a long slanted passage that was taking them down and around, and eventually took them to a door. But now they chickened out, fearing that more wraiths and spectres were on the other side, and they headed back up.
Now they went back and took that passage south. At its far south end was a pair of double doors and, behind these, Muelara detected the wailing thoughts of those wishing they had stayed dead. Again the Company blanched and took another way, this time a side door to the west. The first little room on the other side was empty, but the next contained a group of dwarves, eight in number, all workers of the Greyhawk Construction Company. Their leader (or perhaps just the most talkative one) was Brynja. For small bribes, the dwarves relayed small pieces of information. Yes, this was dungeon level 3. They described the layout of the corridors to the west of this room (they were particularly proud of the “square roundabouts,” which they seemed to have had some hand in constructing). The Company tried to intimidate the dwarves into giving up more information by telling them how they had slain a dragon. When the dwarves seemed unimpressed and even got all sarcastic about it, the plan backfired and the Company became intimidated.
Despite having had the area described to them, Reed had trouble mapping the corridors to the west and travel was slowed. They ignored corridors to the north and south and continued west. Behind a door, Muelara detected sentient thoughts worshiping something evil. Still intimidated, the Company decided to avoid it and went around the room to the south.
Further west, they found two side-by-side doors to the north. The first door opened onto a 10’x10’ room with doors to the north and east (the east door obviously led into the area behind the neighboring door). But neither of these doors could be opened by any means. More unopenable doors! They left, but then thought they would try the other door. That also led into a 10’ x 10’ room with a door to the north and to the west - but they could not open those doors either. Frustrated, they gave up and continued exploring west.
Soon they came around a corner to the south and discovered yet another door they could not open! They mapped some more corridors after this, but were so frustrated by the riddle of the unopenable doors that they left, vowing to come back some day after acquiring a Knock spell…
Goodmonth 9, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
A week had passed and some significant events had occurred during downtime. Reed had the New Thieves Guild’s best forgers on forging a letter of transferral from Lord Ellis to the Company of the White Oak for the letters of credit in his name the Company had pilfered. And it worked - the Bank of Greyhawk believed the letter without even testing it - and the Companions who raided Lord Ellis’ manor found themselves 9,000 gold pieces richer.
Reed and his henchman Ambrosio had been looking into the situation at Mannering Manor.
Lord Ellis’ magic items had been mostly distributed, but there was still some bitter contention over his magic plate armor, with both Niall and Leif having equal claims to it (and the armor was magically able to scale to both their sizes).
With these circumstances fresh in mind, the Companions Reed Underbough, Percy, Haruspex Niv, Eirenden, Niall Brightflame, Runeflinger, and Aerik Fenn gathered to discuss what should be their next priority. Reed tried once more to make a case for the Company raiding Lord Mannering’s manor, but Reed had miscalculated greed being a motivator for adventurers still flush from a dragon’s hoard. Without any evidence of wrongdoing on young Lord Mannering’s part, or proof of mismanagement of his estate, the others were not having it.
Niall favored returning to Castle Greyhawk, and reminded everyone that Prospero had told them long ago that the items they needed to stop The Adversary were hidden under Castle Greyhawk. But he also had another idea. He recalled how John Grond, Father Langdon, and the other “old guard” of the Company had been turned undead and attacked the Company at Castle Greyhawk a few months back. Percy had turned them all and they fled, never to be seen again. But they were still out there, somewhere, and might still have all their old magic items in their possession…
This idea appealed to everyone, both laying their old friends to rest, and reacquiring lost magic items. But how to find them…?
The idea came to them to hire a wizard who could scry the location for them. Prospero was the wizard they knew best, but he was a difficult man to get in touch with. But there was another wizard, the Striped Mage, who they had dealings with in the past, though it had been quite some time.
Goodmonth 10, 622 CY
City of Greyhawk
The Striped Mage was intrigued by the idea and, for 1,000 gold, volunteered to track them down. And he did, though they were not together, as the Company might have thought. Indeed, they seemed to be scattered all over the place! Rom Riverbluff’s body was somewhere near Hawfair Green. Father Langdon was in the wilds north of Castle Greyhawk. John Grond was wandering the first dungeon level of Castle Greyhawk. Vask was somewhere in the Temple of the Latter Day Elder Gods.
Goodmonth 11, 622 CY
The Village of Hawfair Green
When the Company of the White Oak was spotted in Hawfair Green, it usually meant they were heading to Castle Greyhawk. People began showing up at once to see them before heading out to the castle, but were shocked when the Company showed up this time with questions. Why yes, there had been strange going-ons lately - farm animals going missing and found later, eaten. Everyone assumed it was a monster loose from the castle, though they did not usually stray this far to the main road. Many people had information on where the monster had struck last, much of it conflicting, but eventually one farmer was able to show where the monster had last feasted on one of his cows.
With a Locate Object spell focusing on Rom's magic shield, they tried to search the area - and got lucky, for the cow-killer was still nearby, lurking in a grove of trees. It was, in fact, Rom Riverbluff, now a wight. A wight that did not last long at all against the combined might of the still-living Company of the White Oak. Why would an undead Rom be feasting on livestock? Various guesses were made, but ultimately it did not matter. What mattered was, what to do with Rom’s remains? It was decided to cremate them on a pyre, during a ceremony Percy would officiate, and then they would retire to the Leaping Trout Tavern to toast to Rom’s memory and, from those who knew him, share stories.
Goodmonth 12, 622 CY
The wilds north of Castle Greyhawk
The Company had never veered off the side road to Castle Greyhawk before on its north side. They found some low hills, lots of trees, and a long creek. Again, they used Locate Object to detect Langdon's prayerbook, but this time it took a lot of searching, well north of the castle, before they tracked down where the wraith that was once Father Langdon was hiding. Father Langdon lasted no longer against the Company than Rom had. When Langdon’s wraith form was destroyed, some of Langdon’s former possessions dropped to the ground in corporal form, including his old prayerbook. Of Langdon himself, only enough ash remained to half-fill a flask. There was not even enough left here to give Langdon the funeral Rom was given. But as close as they were to Castle Greyhawk, and what remained of John Grond, they were uninterested in retreating to Hawfair Green to do any toasting.
The upper works of Castle Greyhawk seemed abandoned until they stopped at the Shrine to Boccob and found a lowly adept manning it alone. He was very glad for company/protection, and not at all interested in going into the dungeons.
The Company decided to use the old trapdoor entrance to the dungeon, something they had not bothered with in a long time. They found the door had a big crack in it now, as if someone had tried to break it, but it still worked, and still led down to a mostly deserted first level. But they did know where they could find some people, or more specifically, some elves. So they headed to the grand spiral staircase.
En route, Niall wondered if they should not dispose of the large weasels on this level, as they passed their lair, but no one else was interested. Haruspex, indeed, was rather nostalgic about the weasels and told everyone of his first adventure down here, two years ago, and how the weasels had saved them from berserkers.
There were always elves guarding the staircase and today was no exception - except there was only one elf, and he was a nervous sentry. Some of his brethren had been slain of late by a wraith wandering this level. The wraith had last been seen to the south.
The party’s map of this level covered some of the south; it showed that two paths split off directly south of here; one to the southeast and one to the southwest, but the southwest path was through a secret door. Surely the elf would have mentioned a secret door if it was relevant? The Company went southeast. They followed a long north-south tunnel for as long as they could, passing several doors, until an ESP spell detected thoughts behind a door. Scared thoughts. Instead of breaking in, Niall just knocked.
It was humans on the other side of the door, but they were not interested in coming out; they knew of the fearful wraith wandering this level. They were not interested in joining the fight against the wraith either.
The Company pressed on, finding another door through which Reed heard a deep, grumbling voice muttering. It sure sounded like John Grond! The Company spent a lot of time planning an ambush for John. Niall, with invisibility cast on him, was going to pound on the door and call to John to coax out his old friend. The Company would be way down the corridor to the north. Reed would be lurking in a 5’ wide side passage that John would need to pass to reach them and Reed would leap out and backstab the wraith.
The problem was, it was not the ogrish John Grond behind the door, but a real ogre! The ogre came out to investigate, charged at the party, and went down in three hits.
The ogre had no treasure on it, but it had a sack of 300 gold pieces back in its room. The room had wooden pillars and, more intriguing, little creatures rolling around on the floor that vaguely resembled goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins. Had this been a daycare for the dungeon? Eirenden was curious if Haruspex knew any mages in the city doing research on monster spawn, to test if nature or nurture made them evil. But no one was really interested in trying to trap and transport these feral little creatures and ultimately the Company decided to just abandon them here.
Moving on, the Company decided to ignore the east door in the room and try the 5’ wide side passage Reed had used earlier. This turned into a larger corridor and doubled back to a room on the opposite side of the door they had just ignored a short time ago; this room had a pool in the middle of the room surrounded by bones. Since there was obviously no wraith here, the Company avoided the pool and backtracked the way they had come. This time choosing a 5’ wide side passage east, they found a long north-south corridor that was 5’ wide to the north and 10’ wide to the south. Pursuing the wraith south, they hit a T-intersection, went east down another narrow passage which turned north, and here they found a series of connected rooms manned by humans and hobgoblins working together.
Armed with glaives, these foes fell quickly to the Company’s smaller, faster weapons - though the Company took two humans prisoner. These men, human and hobgoblin alike, had nothing more than some electrum pieces between them, but they had something more useful - information. They had seen the wraith and were willing to lead the Company to where they saw it in exchange for their freedom.
The Company followed them and wound up backtracking almost to where they had started - with the prisoners saying the wraith was heading towards the corner where the Company knew a secret door to be. Niall was fit to be tied - why had the elf sentry not mentioned this hours ago?!
Locate Object was cast. They headed through the secret door. They went through a normal door, through a side passage, and found themselves at a new room, one of this level’s museum-like rooms. Four stuffed ducks were on display on pedestals, similar to another room they had found a long time ago with a stuffed albatross on display in it. Only this time, they knew John Grond's magic sword was nearby.
Like the others, this wraith failed to last an entire minute in combat with them. Like Langdon, there was a half-flask’s worth of ash to recover. And John Grond’s magic sword clanged to the floor. Aligned with chaos, the Companions were careful to pick it up without touching it directly, and put it in a sack. It would fetch them a tidy sum, if Percy’s church paid them for the chance to destroy it..
No comments:
Post a Comment