(The young man playing the character of the druid turned 11 years old
on Sunday last, and for one of his birthday presents, the DM played out
an encounter written just for him. However, the DM will not take
credit for the scenario below...all kudos go to Simon!)
Thirty-some years ago...
Strolling
casually down The Processional one fine morning in the fair city of
Greyhawk, Lance Dallas, a young elven druid, enjoys the mid-morning
sunshine and gentle breeze coming off the river. He enjoys much less,
however, the grimy neglect of the city itself; not to mention the
ever-present murmur of people all around him. He's looking for nothing
in particular when he Spots a young, well-dressed woman looking about
her frantically, as if she appears to be searching for something...
or someone.
Shortly
after he sees her, she spots him and practically sprints over, an
enormous smile of relief on her face. "Thank gods I've found you," she
cries desperately. "You've got to come with me, I really need your
help," she pleads. And while Lance is obviously uncomfortable with the
young woman pulling on his arm, he can hardly resist her pleas for
help. With a weak, "Uh...okay?", he allows himself to be herded to a
large building, where a banner that reads "Greyhawk Canine Society -
Competition TODAY!" hangs above the entrance.
However,
that's not the only thing to catch Lance's attention. The entrance is
blocked by a multitude of shaggily-dressed protesters who are carrying
placards that say "Four Legs Good" and "Canine Power" and "Down with Dog
Exploiters". As they get closer, Lance's decent Spot check allows him
to see that a significant number of the protesters are
half-gnolls...grotesque, hyena-looking humanoids. They shout taunts as
the young woman rushes Lance inside, where complete chaos greets the
druid. People are rushing to and fro, and the sound of barking dogs and
frazzled owners overwhelm Lance immediately.
The
druid quickly realizes he has been plucked off the street to act as the
judge for this disorganized pell-mell circus of a competition. And
why? Did his fine Elven features give him away? His stained natural
hide armor? His crude, natural weapons? His forest-green garb? Any and
all of those, probably, he mused. That day would come (not soon
enough, in Lance's honest opinion) when he'd get his Large animal
companion (he wanted a lion so desperately), and there'd be NO doubt in
people's mind that he was indeed a druid.
At any rate, the
young woman steers Lance to an empty chair at a table, where a mug of
ale and a sandwich await. Soon after, a pompous-looking slick
approaches to shake his hand vigorously.
"Donnywood.
Frank Donnywood. Show coordinator! So so so glad to have you here. We
were in a bit of a spot, what with our last judge...but, ah well, never
mind that..." the man says. Lance discerns a little suspicion and
unease in the man's voice, but decides against saying anything, much
less asking about that last judge.
"Your job is quite
simple. Our six contestants will enter the arena here with their
canine, you will examine it, and assign it a score. The highest score
wins, of course." Here, Frank Donnywood's grin gets a little too big
and false-looking. "This is all a very good-natured, civilized event,
you see, and therefore, it's important we demonstrate goodwill and
compassionate towards our contestants. So, no killing, maiming,
jinxing, etc. of the participants!" And with that, he rushes off,
clapping his hands together and shouting, "Ten minutes to showtime,
people!"
Lance remains at the table, a little agape and
taken aback at this sudden turn of the morning's events. Three people
then accost him at his judge's seat in very rapid succession:
1.
A pigtailed, wide-eyed little girl named Melissa shyly tells Lance that
her mother is very ill and that she hopes to win the competition with
her puppy "Colin" because then, she can buy medicine and heal her mom.
Lance smiles uneasily upon the child, who really is just too saccharin
to be true, especially after she places a brownie on the table next to
his mug of ale, and simpers at Lance before edging away.
2.
A well-dressed, extremely self-satisfied man approach the table and
introduces himself as Lord Andrew Utgart. He informs Lance that judging
this contest should be very very easy since his dog, Pippin Marmalade
Hogswaggle the Ninth won last year, and therefore, is the prime standout
to take the crown home again this year. A few comments about
upstanding bloodlines later, he drops a small leather pouch onto the
table, and Lance does a well enough Listen check to know he's hearing
the sound of coin hit the table.
3. Shortly after, a
pleasant-looking, but dumpily dressed older woman rushes up, glaring in
the direction of Lord Andrew. She hisses that Lord Andrew is a
scoundrel, a snob, and an all-around "very terrible" man. Then, she
brightens up and introduces herself as Ducky D'Wynter. And although she
says she's distant nobility, even Lance takes in her shabby appearance
with a skeptical eye. At any rate, she's not so much about winning as
she's about keeping Lord Andrew from doing so. She also drops a little
jingly next to Lord Andrew's leather pouch.
Lance may not be the tallest fir in the forest, but even he knows exactly what's going on here. Bribery!
When
the contestants enter, Lance asks them to "Walk", "Shake" and
"Speak"...meanwhile rolling a d20 + 8 (Knowledge: Nature) for their
"score". And honest to gods, the following judging highlights presented
below are taken word for word from the 16-year-old paladin scribe's
notes.
1. Wuffles, Lord Vertunarare...?
2. Weirdo teenager McBaggins with stupid kobold dog
3. Weirdo homeless wizard dude with weirdo zombie dog...Dr. Dreadlocks
4. Lord Andrew McDufus with Pip Pip (who appears to be suffering from a broken leg that is being covered up by a painkiller)
5. Ducky the Wucky with her cute puppy, Pokey Pee, suxs at commands, pees on Lance and sniffs his crotch.
6.
Melissa (scribe added words 'drug dealer' in parenthesis here) and
"Colin", who has red eyes, flames out of mouth (WTF like dragon!), is
actually Hellhound (Lance's Knowledge: Arcana), SCARY
It's
the roll of the dice and addition of the scores that finally render The
Weirdo Zombie Dog the winner. Things seem like they're about to get
crazy, what with an overemotional, near-suicidal Lord Andrew and
vindictive Hellhound on the loose...when the front doors of the hall
burst open and the half-gnoll protesters enter the arena, hoisting their
placards high into the sky and demanding the contest be shut down
IMMEDIATELY.
Lance, however, could not give two flips
about this new, potentially dangerous development. He's Searching out
the crowd for the little pig-tailed girl, Melissa. He seems bent on
learning more about her. Of course, in the throng of teeming people, he
doesn't roll high enough to see her, although he spots the Hellhound
cornering a protester off to one side. He runs outside, perhaps with
the idea that he'll see her leaving the premises, but that proves
fruitless as well. He's about to head down the street and return to his
lodgings when he bumps into Tilly, who sports a black eye and cut
across one cheek. Lance is rather surprised to see her smiling madly,
as if she's just had the time of her life. She tells Lance he did a
marvelous job and that the event itself went relatively well, all things
considered. She gives him a quick peck on the cheek (the scribe
includes the sidenote of "LOL") and shoves a nice, hefty leather pouch
into his hand...payment, she says, for his services today.
Upon inspecting his goods, Lance finds the following:
1. In the pouch from Lord Andrew is 80 copper coins that had been painted gold
2.
Ducky D'Wynter's pouch contains 3 gold pieces, 60 silver pieces, and
one pretty blue-green gem that appears to be a basic piece of seaglass.
3. 25 gold pieces are the contents of the third pouch, the one from Tilly.
Lance
inspects the brownie and detects some malevolence about it...but
whether it's a poison of some sort or just a burnt bottom, he is unable
to tell. The scribe, however, takes some creative liberties with the
baked good and proclaims it to be a "pot brownie mixed with ashes of the
little girl's ancestors".
And that is perhaps why Lance has not set foot back in the Free City of Greyhawk in many, many years.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Monday, August 10, 2015
The Greyhawk Expedition - The Dungeon Awaits
The DM/scribe spent last week out West visiting relatives, and so yesterday and today was all slapdash, hurly-burly preparation for this afternoon's session. Our new additions were willing to play again...and oh, was the honeymoon about to be over.
Lest you forget...
Lest you forget...
Brent: G'leric, a gnome wizard, and G'at the bat
Spencer: Urick, a human paladin, and his mount, Zeeb
Emily: Ember the Executioner, a human fighter
Elliot: Lance Dallas, an elf druid, and his familiar, Lionel
Dan: Fayt Vaanil, a elf rogue
At the session last, the party had reconvened in the trees to decide upon the next course of action after the dwarven guardhouse escape, and there was much talk of double-crossing the Wartower Wardens so as to avoid the one-quarter fee. Fayt then does a little Diplomatic handiwork in which Stillguar finally agrees to charge the PCs nothing if they can clear the dungeon levels of any orcs. Oh...those famous contract agreements...usually the beginning of the end...or something like that.
1. Urick, the paladin, chooses to leave his trusty mount behind for the dungeon crawl, and as everybody knows A Paladin without his mount is like a day without sunshine. Right? Hopefully, it's not a sign of bad things to come.
2. The dwarves ask the players to complete inventory cards for their records, and it occurs to some of the players now that these overbearing, do-nothing dwarves could take their rules and regulations and shove them where the the torch don't shine.
3. Grebold leads the crew around the back, where the Tower of War's ruins still present an impressive view in the gray morning. A 10-foot pit has been dug in front of the massive wooden doors (which are carved with designs of chariots, war hounds, etc). The chasm is unjumpable, and Grebold offers the use of two two-foot-wide wooden planks that function as a bridge of sorts.
4. Upon pulling the planks back across the pit for safekeeping, Ember rolls a poor Strength check and drops one of the planks into the 30-foor deep pit below. Fortunately, the sound is only wood on dirt, and not wood on water or wood on metal spikes or worse, wood on dangerous creature's teeth. The plank is left to be dealt with later.
There is much discussion and many things to think about, because now the party has been charged with two tasks: to return stolen goods to the Able Carter Coaching Company and kill orcs. Sounds like good times ahead.
But first, the huge wooden doors that prevent entry into the ruins. G'leric notices right off that these doors are not, in fact, Pella doors. Most of the characters try Strength checks and fail to open the doors, even when they team up together. G'leric, the tiny fun-sized gnome, gets in on the fun, and strains an arm muscle in the process of trying. Eventually, the group decides to use the primal strength of Lionel and have him pull the door open with G'leric's Amazingly Heavy Rope. It works, but Lionel has to roll successful Strength and Balance checks to do so. No problem for the massive feline.
Upon pulling the creaking doors open and entering the huge chamber, the group sees a two-level room, and some 60 feet away, is a wagon that has begun to roll towards them. Atop it, a swordwraith rides along with two warhorse skeletons. Another two swordwraiths on similar mounts begin to ride at them from the lower level. And the paladin is as happy as a clam in June because - UNDEAD CREATURES! A paladin lives for turning undead creatures. However, this young paladin's greenness is evident as he fails his first two turn checks...perhaps he wasted all his energy on shouting cockily, "I got this!" when he figured out there was undead about.
It's apparent that the wagon's driver is intent on trampling the players, and players are intent on getting the hell out of the way and getting into battle positions. And, let the good times roll, shall we?
1. G'leric wastes no time in casting Summon Monster...and the party is totally unfazed as a giant freaking centipede suddenly poofs into the room.
2. In moves that would evoke envy in the Cowardly Lion, Lionel claws and bites at one warhorse skeleton...leaving it in a very wobbly condition. Make no bones about it.
3. Urick finally gets Turning right, and one rider-horse combo is completely vaporized.
4. The wagon rolls to a stop and the driver attempts to back the wagon up in order to trample...this time, Lance the Druid is caught under the wheels and takes a fair bit of trample damage.
5. The huge centipede misses his Bite attack.
6. Lionel does some more massive bite/claw damage to a horse, and the shifty little gnome wizard edges in with his quarterstaff for a hit at the knees. Shortly after, the warhorse perishes and G'leric lifts his arms up exultantly in what is to become his signature "kill" move...never mind that he didn't actually deal the kill blow.
7. Ember does what she does best and kills a couple of wraiths who are stupid enough to stand around. Then, she looks around helplessly, looking for more victims so as not to waste her Great Cleave feat.
8. Urick puts the final wraith out of its misery, but not before Lionel fumbles a Bite check and injures his master, Lance.
A body Search turns up a number of longswords, which Urick stacks fastidiously up against the wall near the door. Fayt appraises the wagon and the eight chariots on the upper level, and it turns out that these here whips would sell for 7,500 and 5,000 gps...respectively. The rogue, however, is bothered by some little gem of information he feels he ought to remember when it comes to these chariots, but that is just not coming to him right now. The druid asks for healing and then complains about how few hit points are restored to him by the paladin...talking about biting the hand that heals you, sheesh.
There are two ways to go from this room: out of a door on the west wall, and down the stairs near the upper level of the hall. The party opts to investigate the door first, which leads outside to the stables. Several living horses are tied up there, and Lance and Ember Search a pile of wood off to one side. Blotches of orange and black peek out of the jagged planks and pieces, and it's obvious to the druid (by means of his Track feat) that these coaches met a terrible fate at the hands of pillaging orcs.
Back in the main hall, G'leric realizes the chariots and wagon have a special magic on them...and if they are removed from the ruins, swordwraiths will manifest nightly to hunt down the thieves. Hm. Something to think about, for sure...but not now...later. Fayt suggests leaving the chariots with the dwarves to "get them back", as it were, until the rogue FINALLY remember that little tidbit of information from earlier - the dwarves know about the hunting swordwraiths too. Dammit.
Everyone would have to be blind not to see the openly muddy bootprints that lead down the stairs. Orc tracks, of course. One flight down the footprints abruptly disappear into a wall instead of continuing down the stairs. Poor Search checks all around turn up nothing, and only when a couple of the party members attempt the check again is a Secret Door revealed....
MORE STAIRS! Like twelve flights! Everyone Moves Silently, of course. The stairs end abruptly onto a slightly-ajar stone door. When the rogue pushes it open further and peeks around it, he sees a 10' by 10' chamber with nothing but a moldy pile of hay in one corner...and an ungodly smell of filthy, rotting flesh. Fayt pokes at the haypile and uncovers bones. Heal checks allows Ember to determine that they are in fact "bones". A closer look reveals that they are human, elf, and dwarf bones...that they are at least 20 years old...and many of them have been scored by what looks like teeth marks.
Exiting the room leads to a hallway, and players can see four more doors down the length of it. The south end is cluttered with boxes, crates, and barrels of all sizes. While several of the players mean to check out the contents of the boxes et al, Ember decides to veer off to examine an exit on the left..and good for her as she peeks into a kitchen and sees orcs moving back and forth, preparing a meal for others. The fighter continues to Move Silently and the kitchen orcs neither see nor hear her. Meanwhile, Fayt and Urick investigate the other rooms not blocked by boxes, turning up nothing but more moldy hay and bones. G'leric and Lance are looking at the contents of the various crates, finding things like bags of flour, sugar, etc. G'leric especially notices the boxes are devoid of dust, meaning they've only just been placed here recently. Interesting. Lance wonders if any of the items here are on the Able Carter Coaching Company's "Goods Missing" list...and the DM reminds the party they did not actually return to the ACCC and obtain the supply list from Thalivar.
Craaaap.
Anyway.
Fayt, returning from his room Search, sees an open barrel of ale and plants his face right in it...just in time for Ember's return from her little trip. She informs the party of what she's seen in the kitchen, and the party acts accordingly.
The paladin pulls out his sword and the wizard pulls out his quarterstaff, resigned to doing his duty, and tells the party "he will take care of it." Listen checks at the kitchen door reveals sounds of feasting and general merriment, and OOG, Spencer's pot of macaroni and cheese water boils over. G'leric's exceptional Listen check puts the orc count between three and seven. The kitchen at present is deserted and a fierce, but quiet, debate rages about how to fight the orcs. The party enters, except for Lance, who decides to remain outside and morph into an animal - a lion. Fayt sidles across the room for a slice of roast pork and another dip of ale (there is a hallway that leads to another room - the feasting sounds are definitely from here), and when Urick attempts the exact same thing, a loud roar of "INTRUDERS!" erupts from the adjacent dining area. It would appear the bad guy's Spot checks outdid the paladin's Hide check. And here we go...
1. G'leric finishes casting Summon Monster again, and a fiendish dire wolf appears suddenly in the hallway that leads to the feasthall. Sweet.
2. A huge, hulking, smelly half-ogre captain and four orcs are hostile and have no intention of letting our party go peacefully amid the haste and noise.
3. Urick the Paladin shouts "For Heironeous!" as he enters the fray, and there is some confusion as to whether he meant: "Heinous" or "Uranus" or the fighter's suggestion, "Hermione!"
4. The dire wolf bites at one orc and kills it.
5. The half-ogre captain is practically foaming at the mouth as he hacks away at the fighter (and paladin), and it is realized that Ember and Urick are up against a raging barbarian.
6. "Bring it, ugly" is cried by the paladin in an attempt to divert the blows from the fighter. If anything, it ticks off the half-ogre more and he slices viciously at the fighter, rendering her unconscious. On the bright side, though, with the fighter on the floor, the barbarian gets no more concealment from her, which allow the rogue to open fire with his crossbow without penalty. A noble sacrifice on the part of Ember.
7. Two massive lions (and little G'leric) enter the room to join the fight. The wizard fires his crossbow and while the lion brothers attack.
8. Using his awesome Smite Evil, the paladin magnificently separates the half-ogre's head from his body and Lays Healing Hands on the fighter. She is now conscious, but feeling pretty darned shaky. Soon after, the paladin sets about the task of cutting off the orcs' right ears, as evidence for the dwarves upstairs. Gross thing, though, he just stuffs them in his backpack, no gauze or Ziploc baggie or anything!
9. G'leric wanders over to the still-prone fighter with a cup of ale, saying, "You look like you could use a drink." Indeed.
10. Searching the bodies turns up some armor, weapons, and various potions (Lesser Restoration and Cure Mod Wounds). Ember glugs a Cure potion, and begins to feel much better.
Fayt returns quickly to the last two rooms back in the hallway...the ones that had been blocked by stolen goods. A Search of haypiles there turns up one old silver candelabra, worth 40 gp once it's cleaned up. He pockets the goods and says nary a word to anyone.
Upon exiting the kitchen, there are two possible courses of action:
1. Begin to clear the wall of rubble to the players' right...which appears to be a caved-in passageway. The PCs actually begin to do this, and spend two hours making little headway in the debris before stopping.
2. Follow the uncluttered hallway to the left, which turns a corner some 25 feet hence.
After #1 proves to be fruitless, the PCs move on to #2. Fayt's Spidey Trap-Sense is tingling but an inadequate Search check turns up nothing. Only when Fayt steps closer to the doors just around the corner and hears the ominous tell-tale 'click', does he realizes what's going on. A slab of stone slides down to take the place of the exit and the wall on the far side (some 10 feet away) begins to slide towards them. A Spellcraft check (a quick one, really) on the part of the wizard reveals that while the trap is mechanical, there is an element of magic that seals the doors in front of them once the trap is set off.
The rogue is under a slight amount of duress now as he must Disable the Device before he and his party are crushed between a heavy stone slab and heavy, magic-sealed, wooden doors. Space is becoming very limited and claustrophobia is about to set in when Fayt manages to stop the device and open the doors in front of them. Another corridor is in front of our group, and there is a small stream of stagnant water along the length of it. At the western end, the corridor appears to abruptly come to a halt, and it is the rogue who finds a secret door there that leads into an elevator room. The hand-cranked ascending elevator is in good working order, while the descending elevator shaft is choked with rubble and debris, making it useless. Boxes, crates, and other packages litter this room, and upon opening them, the players find small goods: shields, daggers, light weapons, basic rations, etc. Some of the boxes are branded with the letters 'ACCC' on their sides, and isn't that swell?
Moving back out of the elevator and into the water-filled corridor, the party moves east, towards another set of double wooden doors. G'leric is the only one who rolls a decent Listen check, and he opts to sneak through the unlocked doors and peek his head around the corner to survey the scene. A huge room, some 65-feet long, contains at least two orcs and one hill giant (that the gnome can see in his haste). After a quick discussion about a plan of action, G'leric creeps back to the room and lobs a Fireball at the hill giant he can see. The smell of singed giant hair and flesh soon fills the air, and while the giant is not dead by a long shot, he is incredibly ticked off. He sends two orc henchman off in search of the party, which is exactly what our players wanted. The party hustles back to the elevator room to await the orcs to burst in and meet their makers, as it were. Except...
1. The paladin's Listen check tells him the orcs have taken the other route, instead of directly coming to them. They are on the way back towards the kitchen area. So, hastily, Urick exits the room in hot pursuit to lure the orcs back. And, while the paladin is quick, orcs are quicker, and it is in the feasthall where Urick finally catches up. He yells at them and takes off, and of course, without delay, the hunter becomes the hunted.
If you're reading this carefully, you'll understand why this is about to become a big problem for the paladin.
1. The Compacting Trap from earlier has reset...just in time to be re-set off by the paladin.
2. His Disable Device ranks are practically nonexistent.
3. He bangs furiously on the doors in the hopes his party will hear him.
4. Hermione is definitely on Urick's side - Fayt hears the noise and comes running.
5. At least a half-dozen failed Disable Device rolls on the part of the rogue enable him to hear the agonizing screams of Urick as he takes 34 points of squish damage. He does finally get the door open and the paladin practically collapses into his arms.
6. A frenzied rush back to the elevator room allows all the players to move into position for attack, and they will all get one attack of opportunity since they'll be surprising the orcs.
7. The orcs meet their death at the hands of G'leric and his Scorching Rays.
8. In a scenario that makes one STH and say, "well, isn't that ironic?", suggestions of "lay hands on yourself" to the weakened paladin prove to be fruitless; Urick realizes he only gets to lay on hands ONCE a day.
9. Instead, he is given a Cure potion and feels marginally better.
The rogue volunteers to venture out and lure the other two orcs into the room, and when they finally arrive, our brave adventurers are simply on fire with their Attack rolls. Ember and Fayt score Criticals while G'leric gets the kills with well-placed Magic Missiles.
The entire party moves back to the elevator room and several minutes pass while the group debates on the next course of action. It's apparent the group could really do with some rest and hit point restoration, and that is exactly what happens next. With someone stationed on watch, the group hunkers down in the elevator room for a bit of sleep. Fayt the rogue elf takes first sleep, and when he's done with his four hours, Lance Dallas crashes out...and Fayt the Rogue decides to investigate a secret door the party found earlier in the searches, but were unable to open.
And that is how the sun goes down on the second full day of the Greyhawk adventures. Two jobs, two hill giants, and one secret is what awaits our valiant party tomorrow!
At the session last, the party had reconvened in the trees to decide upon the next course of action after the dwarven guardhouse escape, and there was much talk of double-crossing the Wartower Wardens so as to avoid the one-quarter fee. Fayt then does a little Diplomatic handiwork in which Stillguar finally agrees to charge the PCs nothing if they can clear the dungeon levels of any orcs. Oh...those famous contract agreements...usually the beginning of the end...or something like that.
1. Urick, the paladin, chooses to leave his trusty mount behind for the dungeon crawl, and as everybody knows A Paladin without his mount is like a day without sunshine. Right? Hopefully, it's not a sign of bad things to come.
2. The dwarves ask the players to complete inventory cards for their records, and it occurs to some of the players now that these overbearing, do-nothing dwarves could take their rules and regulations and shove them where the the torch don't shine.
3. Grebold leads the crew around the back, where the Tower of War's ruins still present an impressive view in the gray morning. A 10-foot pit has been dug in front of the massive wooden doors (which are carved with designs of chariots, war hounds, etc). The chasm is unjumpable, and Grebold offers the use of two two-foot-wide wooden planks that function as a bridge of sorts.
4. Upon pulling the planks back across the pit for safekeeping, Ember rolls a poor Strength check and drops one of the planks into the 30-foor deep pit below. Fortunately, the sound is only wood on dirt, and not wood on water or wood on metal spikes or worse, wood on dangerous creature's teeth. The plank is left to be dealt with later.
There is much discussion and many things to think about, because now the party has been charged with two tasks: to return stolen goods to the Able Carter Coaching Company and kill orcs. Sounds like good times ahead.
But first, the huge wooden doors that prevent entry into the ruins. G'leric notices right off that these doors are not, in fact, Pella doors. Most of the characters try Strength checks and fail to open the doors, even when they team up together. G'leric, the tiny fun-sized gnome, gets in on the fun, and strains an arm muscle in the process of trying. Eventually, the group decides to use the primal strength of Lionel and have him pull the door open with G'leric's Amazingly Heavy Rope. It works, but Lionel has to roll successful Strength and Balance checks to do so. No problem for the massive feline.
Upon pulling the creaking doors open and entering the huge chamber, the group sees a two-level room, and some 60 feet away, is a wagon that has begun to roll towards them. Atop it, a swordwraith rides along with two warhorse skeletons. Another two swordwraiths on similar mounts begin to ride at them from the lower level. And the paladin is as happy as a clam in June because - UNDEAD CREATURES! A paladin lives for turning undead creatures. However, this young paladin's greenness is evident as he fails his first two turn checks...perhaps he wasted all his energy on shouting cockily, "I got this!" when he figured out there was undead about.
It's apparent that the wagon's driver is intent on trampling the players, and players are intent on getting the hell out of the way and getting into battle positions. And, let the good times roll, shall we?
1. G'leric wastes no time in casting Summon Monster...and the party is totally unfazed as a giant freaking centipede suddenly poofs into the room.
2. In moves that would evoke envy in the Cowardly Lion, Lionel claws and bites at one warhorse skeleton...leaving it in a very wobbly condition. Make no bones about it.
3. Urick finally gets Turning right, and one rider-horse combo is completely vaporized.
4. The wagon rolls to a stop and the driver attempts to back the wagon up in order to trample...this time, Lance the Druid is caught under the wheels and takes a fair bit of trample damage.
5. The huge centipede misses his Bite attack.
6. Lionel does some more massive bite/claw damage to a horse, and the shifty little gnome wizard edges in with his quarterstaff for a hit at the knees. Shortly after, the warhorse perishes and G'leric lifts his arms up exultantly in what is to become his signature "kill" move...never mind that he didn't actually deal the kill blow.
7. Ember does what she does best and kills a couple of wraiths who are stupid enough to stand around. Then, she looks around helplessly, looking for more victims so as not to waste her Great Cleave feat.
8. Urick puts the final wraith out of its misery, but not before Lionel fumbles a Bite check and injures his master, Lance.
A body Search turns up a number of longswords, which Urick stacks fastidiously up against the wall near the door. Fayt appraises the wagon and the eight chariots on the upper level, and it turns out that these here whips would sell for 7,500 and 5,000 gps...respectively. The rogue, however, is bothered by some little gem of information he feels he ought to remember when it comes to these chariots, but that is just not coming to him right now. The druid asks for healing and then complains about how few hit points are restored to him by the paladin...talking about biting the hand that heals you, sheesh.
There are two ways to go from this room: out of a door on the west wall, and down the stairs near the upper level of the hall. The party opts to investigate the door first, which leads outside to the stables. Several living horses are tied up there, and Lance and Ember Search a pile of wood off to one side. Blotches of orange and black peek out of the jagged planks and pieces, and it's obvious to the druid (by means of his Track feat) that these coaches met a terrible fate at the hands of pillaging orcs.
Back in the main hall, G'leric realizes the chariots and wagon have a special magic on them...and if they are removed from the ruins, swordwraiths will manifest nightly to hunt down the thieves. Hm. Something to think about, for sure...but not now...later. Fayt suggests leaving the chariots with the dwarves to "get them back", as it were, until the rogue FINALLY remember that little tidbit of information from earlier - the dwarves know about the hunting swordwraiths too. Dammit.
Everyone would have to be blind not to see the openly muddy bootprints that lead down the stairs. Orc tracks, of course. One flight down the footprints abruptly disappear into a wall instead of continuing down the stairs. Poor Search checks all around turn up nothing, and only when a couple of the party members attempt the check again is a Secret Door revealed....
MORE STAIRS! Like twelve flights! Everyone Moves Silently, of course. The stairs end abruptly onto a slightly-ajar stone door. When the rogue pushes it open further and peeks around it, he sees a 10' by 10' chamber with nothing but a moldy pile of hay in one corner...and an ungodly smell of filthy, rotting flesh. Fayt pokes at the haypile and uncovers bones. Heal checks allows Ember to determine that they are in fact "bones". A closer look reveals that they are human, elf, and dwarf bones...that they are at least 20 years old...and many of them have been scored by what looks like teeth marks.
Exiting the room leads to a hallway, and players can see four more doors down the length of it. The south end is cluttered with boxes, crates, and barrels of all sizes. While several of the players mean to check out the contents of the boxes et al, Ember decides to veer off to examine an exit on the left..and good for her as she peeks into a kitchen and sees orcs moving back and forth, preparing a meal for others. The fighter continues to Move Silently and the kitchen orcs neither see nor hear her. Meanwhile, Fayt and Urick investigate the other rooms not blocked by boxes, turning up nothing but more moldy hay and bones. G'leric and Lance are looking at the contents of the various crates, finding things like bags of flour, sugar, etc. G'leric especially notices the boxes are devoid of dust, meaning they've only just been placed here recently. Interesting. Lance wonders if any of the items here are on the Able Carter Coaching Company's "Goods Missing" list...and the DM reminds the party they did not actually return to the ACCC and obtain the supply list from Thalivar.
Craaaap.
Anyway.
Fayt, returning from his room Search, sees an open barrel of ale and plants his face right in it...just in time for Ember's return from her little trip. She informs the party of what she's seen in the kitchen, and the party acts accordingly.
The paladin pulls out his sword and the wizard pulls out his quarterstaff, resigned to doing his duty, and tells the party "he will take care of it." Listen checks at the kitchen door reveals sounds of feasting and general merriment, and OOG, Spencer's pot of macaroni and cheese water boils over. G'leric's exceptional Listen check puts the orc count between three and seven. The kitchen at present is deserted and a fierce, but quiet, debate rages about how to fight the orcs. The party enters, except for Lance, who decides to remain outside and morph into an animal - a lion. Fayt sidles across the room for a slice of roast pork and another dip of ale (there is a hallway that leads to another room - the feasting sounds are definitely from here), and when Urick attempts the exact same thing, a loud roar of "INTRUDERS!" erupts from the adjacent dining area. It would appear the bad guy's Spot checks outdid the paladin's Hide check. And here we go...
1. G'leric finishes casting Summon Monster again, and a fiendish dire wolf appears suddenly in the hallway that leads to the feasthall. Sweet.
2. A huge, hulking, smelly half-ogre captain and four orcs are hostile and have no intention of letting our party go peacefully amid the haste and noise.
3. Urick the Paladin shouts "For Heironeous!" as he enters the fray, and there is some confusion as to whether he meant: "Heinous" or "Uranus" or the fighter's suggestion, "Hermione!"
4. The dire wolf bites at one orc and kills it.
5. The half-ogre captain is practically foaming at the mouth as he hacks away at the fighter (and paladin), and it is realized that Ember and Urick are up against a raging barbarian.
6. "Bring it, ugly" is cried by the paladin in an attempt to divert the blows from the fighter. If anything, it ticks off the half-ogre more and he slices viciously at the fighter, rendering her unconscious. On the bright side, though, with the fighter on the floor, the barbarian gets no more concealment from her, which allow the rogue to open fire with his crossbow without penalty. A noble sacrifice on the part of Ember.
7. Two massive lions (and little G'leric) enter the room to join the fight. The wizard fires his crossbow and while the lion brothers attack.
8. Using his awesome Smite Evil, the paladin magnificently separates the half-ogre's head from his body and Lays Healing Hands on the fighter. She is now conscious, but feeling pretty darned shaky. Soon after, the paladin sets about the task of cutting off the orcs' right ears, as evidence for the dwarves upstairs. Gross thing, though, he just stuffs them in his backpack, no gauze or Ziploc baggie or anything!
9. G'leric wanders over to the still-prone fighter with a cup of ale, saying, "You look like you could use a drink." Indeed.
10. Searching the bodies turns up some armor, weapons, and various potions (Lesser Restoration and Cure Mod Wounds). Ember glugs a Cure potion, and begins to feel much better.
Fayt returns quickly to the last two rooms back in the hallway...the ones that had been blocked by stolen goods. A Search of haypiles there turns up one old silver candelabra, worth 40 gp once it's cleaned up. He pockets the goods and says nary a word to anyone.
Upon exiting the kitchen, there are two possible courses of action:
1. Begin to clear the wall of rubble to the players' right...which appears to be a caved-in passageway. The PCs actually begin to do this, and spend two hours making little headway in the debris before stopping.
2. Follow the uncluttered hallway to the left, which turns a corner some 25 feet hence.
After #1 proves to be fruitless, the PCs move on to #2. Fayt's Spidey Trap-Sense is tingling but an inadequate Search check turns up nothing. Only when Fayt steps closer to the doors just around the corner and hears the ominous tell-tale 'click', does he realizes what's going on. A slab of stone slides down to take the place of the exit and the wall on the far side (some 10 feet away) begins to slide towards them. A Spellcraft check (a quick one, really) on the part of the wizard reveals that while the trap is mechanical, there is an element of magic that seals the doors in front of them once the trap is set off.
The rogue is under a slight amount of duress now as he must Disable the Device before he and his party are crushed between a heavy stone slab and heavy, magic-sealed, wooden doors. Space is becoming very limited and claustrophobia is about to set in when Fayt manages to stop the device and open the doors in front of them. Another corridor is in front of our group, and there is a small stream of stagnant water along the length of it. At the western end, the corridor appears to abruptly come to a halt, and it is the rogue who finds a secret door there that leads into an elevator room. The hand-cranked ascending elevator is in good working order, while the descending elevator shaft is choked with rubble and debris, making it useless. Boxes, crates, and other packages litter this room, and upon opening them, the players find small goods: shields, daggers, light weapons, basic rations, etc. Some of the boxes are branded with the letters 'ACCC' on their sides, and isn't that swell?
Moving back out of the elevator and into the water-filled corridor, the party moves east, towards another set of double wooden doors. G'leric is the only one who rolls a decent Listen check, and he opts to sneak through the unlocked doors and peek his head around the corner to survey the scene. A huge room, some 65-feet long, contains at least two orcs and one hill giant (that the gnome can see in his haste). After a quick discussion about a plan of action, G'leric creeps back to the room and lobs a Fireball at the hill giant he can see. The smell of singed giant hair and flesh soon fills the air, and while the giant is not dead by a long shot, he is incredibly ticked off. He sends two orc henchman off in search of the party, which is exactly what our players wanted. The party hustles back to the elevator room to await the orcs to burst in and meet their makers, as it were. Except...
1. The paladin's Listen check tells him the orcs have taken the other route, instead of directly coming to them. They are on the way back towards the kitchen area. So, hastily, Urick exits the room in hot pursuit to lure the orcs back. And, while the paladin is quick, orcs are quicker, and it is in the feasthall where Urick finally catches up. He yells at them and takes off, and of course, without delay, the hunter becomes the hunted.
If you're reading this carefully, you'll understand why this is about to become a big problem for the paladin.
1. The Compacting Trap from earlier has reset...just in time to be re-set off by the paladin.
2. His Disable Device ranks are practically nonexistent.
3. He bangs furiously on the doors in the hopes his party will hear him.
4. Hermione is definitely on Urick's side - Fayt hears the noise and comes running.
5. At least a half-dozen failed Disable Device rolls on the part of the rogue enable him to hear the agonizing screams of Urick as he takes 34 points of squish damage. He does finally get the door open and the paladin practically collapses into his arms.
6. A frenzied rush back to the elevator room allows all the players to move into position for attack, and they will all get one attack of opportunity since they'll be surprising the orcs.
7. The orcs meet their death at the hands of G'leric and his Scorching Rays.
8. In a scenario that makes one STH and say, "well, isn't that ironic?", suggestions of "lay hands on yourself" to the weakened paladin prove to be fruitless; Urick realizes he only gets to lay on hands ONCE a day.
9. Instead, he is given a Cure potion and feels marginally better.
The rogue volunteers to venture out and lure the other two orcs into the room, and when they finally arrive, our brave adventurers are simply on fire with their Attack rolls. Ember and Fayt score Criticals while G'leric gets the kills with well-placed Magic Missiles.
The entire party moves back to the elevator room and several minutes pass while the group debates on the next course of action. It's apparent the group could really do with some rest and hit point restoration, and that is exactly what happens next. With someone stationed on watch, the group hunkers down in the elevator room for a bit of sleep. Fayt the rogue elf takes first sleep, and when he's done with his four hours, Lance Dallas crashes out...and Fayt the Rogue decides to investigate a secret door the party found earlier in the searches, but were unable to open.
And that is how the sun goes down on the second full day of the Greyhawk adventures. Two jobs, two hill giants, and one secret is what awaits our valiant party tomorrow!
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