"Who are you and why are you disturbing the peace of my grove?" he asked in a deep voice.
"We were exploring the Castle of the Mad Archmage and a our friend fell under the attack of a foul beast, a large spider. Can you help us?" they pleaded.
He approached and with the staff opened one of the coffers beside Larry's corpse.
"Hmmm... you ask for a big favor and this is of no use to me..." he said closing the coffer. "But... you may be useful..." he added pondering and pacing around.
"What can we do for you, oh, most powerful..." Cesar started to say. "Silence apprentice!" roared the druid, annoyed by the insolent interruption of his thoughts.
"That place of twisted magic is like a deep callus that ruins the natural beauty of the land. I will help you, but I need your word that you will bring me the Horns of Sonn from the Catacombs. Do so and your debt will be satisfied." he sentenced.
"How do we reach the Catacombs?" asked Ragnar the Elf. "Find the lizardmen tribe in the Dungeons and then go down from there." he answered. "I don't where in the Catacombs are the Horns, but I know who has them. A foul creature known as draugar, once human now a non-living thing that bring blights to fields and stock alike, is in possession of it." added the druid.
Some in the group recognized the name Sonn as a legendary druid-ranger of times long past.
"And remember, I will know if you don't keep your word. I can give life, but also take it, just like Mother Nature does, unemotionally." he warned the group. "Now, rest here and tomorrow I will send for you." he adds as he takes Larry's corpse away.
The night passed uneventfully and the growls of the brown bear woke up the group. They followed the bear to another clearing where they found Larry's corpse laying atop a flat stone raised from the forest floor by small stones. All around were small fires of scented woods, their smokes gathered on a cloud above the body. The druid intoned a chant and went around the stone putting out the fires. He then tapped Larry's forehead with the staff and his body turned into wisps of smoke that ascended towards the cloud. Then the cloud fell heavily on the flat stone and dissipated with a flash of light. A body appeared where Larry once lay, but it was not him. He awoke as if from a dream and hailed his companions as if nothing had happened.
"Only return here with the Horns of Sonn." said the druid. The growling brown bear ushered them away.
With that, the group went back to the ruins of the castle, but not before they buried the five coffers of treasure. After entering the upper ruins they decided to follow a different route down and took a spiraling staircase in one of the towers. In the room where the stairs ended they found some large centipedes that were swiftly dispatched.
They continued exploring down a corridor that led to a door and the corridor continued into the darkness. Ragnar the Elf heard some gruffy voices and laughs behind it but couldn't understand what they were saying. He kicked the door and found four dwarves that quickly went for their axes and crossbows. Before any blows were thrown they recognized them as part of the Blood Axe clan and apologized. They asked the dwarves about the Dungeons and the dwarves offered to reach that level through their domain on this level (Storage Rooms) for a 25% of the treasure found, or take their chances down the central shaft. The group bought a couple of shields from the dwarves and one guided them to the central stairs.
From there the party descended until they reached the end of the spiraling stairs that led to a pair of double doors. It opened to a dark and silent corridor that ran to left and right. They took it to the right and after about 60 paces there was a side corridor but they kept going. After another 60 paces a room with 3 exits and they kept going hugging the right wall. They found three rooms with giant beetles tending mushrooms that grew on the soil and dung covered floors. On the last room they found a door and when they tried to open it, the floor under their feet gave way throwing them down a sliding chute. They ended up sprawled on the floor of an empty room except for a couple of dwarven skeletons and an exit door.
Erynnor of tne Gilithrim is an elven fighter/thief (Swordsman/Robber) for an OSRIC play-by-post game on Discord. We are playing UK4: When a Star Falls, a TSR UK module from 1984 by Graeme Morris.
The rest of the party so far are Don Tavanym, a human fighter, Eldrin Greenwood, an elven thief, Ark Lysemius, a human cleric, Friederich Flintstone, a dwarven fighter and Kojak, a human magic-user.
STR 12, DEX 15, CON 10, INT 11, WIS 8, CHA 10
Last Sunday we had another session of my Lands of Cantona campaign with my son and nephews as players (wife couldn't play this time), set in Greyhawk and using the Labyrinth Lord rules.
After the happenings at the "Red Rapier" tavern the day before, the group went back the next day to the place to try find more clues about the Syndicate and a bandit named Rollo, that was involved in the ambush they suffered on their way to Cantona. To their dismay they found the place closed with nobody answering their calls. Ragnar, the elf fighter, asked a couple of beggars if they knew about another Syndicate hideout or someone named Rollo. At first they denied, but after some silver coins they recalled someone with that name saying he was going West. When Larry, the human fighter, showed some gold coins pushing for more information, more beggars appeared surrounding the trio and asking for coins. Seeing this, Tak, the human cleric of Trithereon, tossed away some silver coins and the beggars went after them, leaving them alone. Late that day Ragnar noticed he was missing a dagger.
With not more clues to follow in Cantona they decided to go back West to the village of Baz, where they suspected of Arim, the moneychanger being the one responsible for the attack on them, even though the message they found on the ambush leader was signed by "D". Anyway, after 3 days of travel without incidents they arrived at Baz at late afternoon. Both the trading post and moneychanger were closed so they went directly to the "Dice and Raven Inn" to get a meal and a room. Ragnar bought drinks for all the patrons, about a dozen of them, and asked for someone to tell a story. A man told them about the disappearance of Arn, a local forester, and his family, wife and two kids.
The next day they decided do go back to the Castle of the Mad Archmage ruins. They explored the NW part of the courtyard where several former stables were near one of the towers. Larry explored the tower navigating the unstable wooden stairs up. His luck ran out when he reached the second level and the floorboards gave in. He plummeted down but miraculously managed to grab a beam at the last moment and only end with a twisted ankle when he lowered himself to the ground. There was also a spiral staircase going down but they didn't explore it. In one of the stables they found the standing skeleton of a horse, that fell when touched. In another strange noises sounded when they entered but there was no one there. They searched the area inside out, with Cesar casting Detect Magic but nothing showed. At last Tak suggested it could be something of spiritual nature, so they built an ouija board with wood, horse bones and an oil Larry had, distilled from some silvery fungus he found in an abandoned tower (check the first session here). The message they received was that there has been a murder there.
After that they investigated a patch of very tall grass, not like the rest of the courtyard that was sparse soil. Ragnar ran into it and was tripped by the grass, hit his head hard into the ground and fell unconcious. Larry treaded carefully cutting the grass and freeing Ragnar. Then they turned their atention to the NE part of the upper ruins where two doors could be seen from the courtyard, a great ironwood door and a lesser oaken one. They chose the latter that, to their surprise, was opened by the spirit of a doorman that bowed to their entrance. The group tried to talk to him but it was unresponsive, so they tried the ouija board which was a total success. they explored the place finding an old armory with a few rusty weapons, a room with a flight of stairs down (which they didn't explore), a hall with long tables and benches (Ragnar was attacked by a giant tick here, but he killed with one blow), a narrow hall with arrowslits and a hall (where the great ironwood door led into) decoreated with old tattered banners.
They continued exploring to the South through a thick oaken door that could be barred from their side. It led to a short corridor that ended in a similar door that was shut. They proceeded to hack it with an axe making a lot of noise. When they finally opened it a group of bandits was waiting for them! They tried to parley but they reconized the elf and the druid and attacked them. The fght ended with the bandits dead and the group somewhat wounded.
The session ended with the sounds of more bandits approaching...
The core features I appreciate the most are:
If you’re running a lore-heavy campaign or just want to spend less time transcribing and more time playing, it’s worth the trial.
On the second day of travel, when the party, along with two men-at-arms and two torchbearers (these last two carrying the chest with the coins), reached that point, the alerted group of bandits sprung the ambush. Two archers and a crossbowman peppered them from higher gourd on the sides, while four footmen with sword and shield charged supported by a mounted bandit with spear and shield. All this happened commanded by a mounted bandit leader from the rear.
While Ragnar charged past the footmen to attack the leader, Cesar cast Entangle on the archers disabling them for the rest of the fight, and Larry, Tak and the men-at-arms faced the footmen. One of the men-at-arms fell, but so did a couple of bandits. Cesar the cast Faerie Fire on the remaining attackers. Meanwhile Ragnar had to sacrifice his shield pierced by a spear strike that otherwise would have ended him, and continued fighting holding his elven sword two-handed.
Mortally wounded the leader tried to escape but was killed by Ragnar. At the same time two more bandit fell and the remaining mounted bandit turned his horse and fled, and so did the crossbowmen. Since most of the party members were wounded they decided not to pursue the survivors. They bind their wounds the best they could, with Tak casting Cure Light Wounds on the elf who was hurt worse. The entangled archers were captured and tied down, and they buried the fallen men-at-arms. Also Cesar went after the spooked bandit leader mount and cast Animal Friendship on it. They gathered all the armors (6 leather, 1 chainmail, 5 shields) and weapons (5 longswords, 2 short bows, 18 arrows, 1 spear), and also a signet ring and a note from the bandit leader.
"The Druid and the Elf have the Arn gold. They drag it in a metal box. Intercept at the fork. — D."
Cesar cast Detect Magic on the lot and determined the bandit leader longsword, the only one with a gem adorning the hilt, had a aura. With that, they looked for a suitable place to camp and spend the night. The prisoners were interrogated separately and, after being threatened with duress, one declared he was new and knew nothing and the other "spilled the beans". The latter told them the leader received a pigeon on their camp in the woods and informed them to prepare to set up an ambush. He also gave up the name of the horsed bandit that escaped (Rollo). They discussed about the fate of the prisoners and finally decided to turn them to the authorities of Cantona. That night, the party's camp was attacked by a giant spider and I randomly rolled who it will attack: it snatched away the tied up prisoners!
To my amazement, Larry's approach was to shout to the four winds "I have a magical potion to sell!". Almost immediately three "customers" showed up interested. They warned him he couldn't be selling things without a permit from the guild and, if he accompanied them, they would gladly sort it out for him for just a 10 gp fee. He made a counter offer of giving 3 gp each to forget everything and let him be, but they pushed it. They told him to surrender the potion to them and they will split the earnings with him. When he refused one of the thieves proceeded to successfully pick pocket the potion (I rolled 05%!). The robbers then ran each in a different direction and Larry chased after one, managed to grab it by the collar, only to end up with a cloak in his hands. Frustrated, he just waited for the Watch to show up and went to their HQ to give a description of the robbers. While he was waiting, a satisfied Ragnar returned after managing to secure a brand new armor, a plate mail.
After Larry left with the Watch, Ragnar made some inquires around the market to see if anyone had seen anything. A beggar pleading "A coin for a veteran of the wars!" caught his eye and he asked him about the robbery. "Ah yes, they belong to the Syndicate..." said the beggar after securing some coins from the elf, who pressed for more information on where to find it. More coins changed hands and the beggar delivered "Look for any place with an inverted V over a line (the same symbol the signet ring had!) discretely engraved on the door jamb...". After asking for a precise place and some more coins, he came with the name of "The Red Rapier", a tavern on South of town. With that information he went back to the "The Giant Clam" to relay what happened to Tak and Cesar, and wait for Larry.
On his way back from the Watch HQ, Larry lost his way and got distracted by a lady of the night, just enough for a thief to get behind him and try to knock him out with a sap. Too bad for the thief that failed his move silently check and Larry swiftly managed to attack him (my nephew rolled a natural 20!). I ruled that he chopped the poor's guy hand clean off. The screams of the wounded thief and the street walker alerted the hood. Soon enough Larry was running for his life chased by an angry mob. Luckily he managed to get back to his friends unharmed. Over a dinner the group decided to check "The Red Rapier" the following day.
