Virtual Greyhawk Con 2 recap

I've just found the time to write about the games I played at Virtual Greyhawk Con 2.

Friday - I played a gnoll druid named Tharakx in "Escape from the Vault of the Drow" run by DM Josh. The rest of the party were:

• Sifu, a dwarven paladin
• Elengos, an elven warlock
• Ourxrek, a gnoll fighter
• Grek, a troglodyte monk

We were taken by hobgoblin servants to the fungus fields with other slaves. Once there we were given saws and carts. While working a group of bugbears separated us from the rest of the slaves and gave us a copper symbol of one of the drow houses and a bag of coins to do some job. Their were about to explain the job when several giant spiders attacked the everyone working in the fields.

After defeating the spiders and the bugbears, we took their equipment and decided to follow the spiders who had taken several prisoners, one of them a dwarf that knew an alternate exit from the Vault. After crossing the mushroom forest we arrived at the edge of the Vault and spotted the spiders entering a cave mouth 60' above the ground. We were lucky to spot at the entrance of the cave a roper that fed on the silk-wrapped corpses dropped by the spiders. Then we proceeded to kill it by missile fire and climbed into the cave. The tunnel led to a chamber where the prisoners were webbed to the walls. My druid shifted into a spider and started to free them while the rest fought the spiders that jumped on us. 

In the end we killed the spiders, freed the prisoners and escaped the Vault.

Saturday - I played my old character Alof, a human cleric of St. Cuthbert from Verbobonc, in the "The Tomb of Tasbraev Tenneb" run by DM Leslie. The rest of the party were:

• Krovas the Tall, a human fighter/thief from Safeton,
• Enoch Pratt, a human fighter from Hardby,
• Kred, a dwarven fighter,
• Taira Trelop, a female half-elf thief

After exploring the area the group decided to investigate a stone circle that supposedly hid an entrance to the tomb. The stones were covered by a strange moss and there was a charred corpse nearby. The moss attacked Krovas mind and we burned it with flaming oil from a safe distance. Then we found a slab that hid a ladder to a room. In the room started a spiral staircase anchored on one side and separated from the wall, where a strange mucus oozed down. Several side passages opened but we kept going down, until we arrived to a square room that had another spiral staircase. When we looked down we saw the mucus was flowing up! After some deliberation we continued down through the stair but felt we were going up. Arrived to a circular domed room with smooth and repulsive mauve lighting, The dome portrayed an eclipsing sun that if looked at too long caused vertigo. Corridors with murals  exited the room, both depicting two moons in different phasing (full & crescent), a green/brown/blue planet with white polar parts (the Flanaess) and a fourth planet jet black with purple light. Also an inverted ziggurat with a red skull. The west corridor led to another circular room partially collapsed with rubble. Some footprints could be seen in the dust and also some bits of torn cloth and flecks of dried blood. The east corridor ended in a dragon mouth and led to another circular room with a bronze statue of a medusa with ruby eyes upon a pedestal in the center. There were statues of different people in different poses surrounding the pedestal. Krovas tries to move a statue but it breaks, screams and starts to bleed. We hear a sound of stone grating over stone, then saw some footprints on the dusty floor and ended capturing a hooded figure named Chum.  Alof uses his ESP ability on him and finds he fears someone. He then pulls the tail of the medusa 3 times and a secret door shows. After a corridor and a  T-intersection we go to the right and find a barred door. We go down a flight of stairs and find a chamber with a table, a chair and another door. Krovas realizes Chum must have had an invisibility ring and back to get it. Meanwhile the rest opens the door and finds Mayra, the prisoner girl. We go to the other branch of the T-intersection and find more prisoners in cages and pits of dead bodies. The girl turns into an Avernal Maiden surrisig and attacking Alof! She casts Darkness, Alof casts Light, and the rest attack her. She flies away and starts calling her father. A pit fiend appears and we flee.

Sunday - I played Emerly Gosre, a female cleric, and our group was instructed by Lady Eclavdra, Queen of the Vault, and Lyme, Lord Mage of House Eilservs, to kill the drow sage Erastoriûl Ka’arndrik who has betrayed your masters. The rest of the party were:

• Pharmakeia, female assassin, 
• Nivara, female fighter,
• Deleri Karv, male magic user, 
• Veldrin, male fighter/magic user

We were to navigate the monster infested sewers of the Vault to the basement of the Carnelian Tower, the residence of the sage. In the sewers we found a hag that tried to sell us some souls and, after our refusal, attacked us. When magical and physical attacks failed, Emerly sent her to its plane with an Abjure spell. We reached the basement of the tower and encountered a silver filament slime, an ooze-like creature that shoot tendrils that we found, the hard way, it sucked your memory, and was immune to magical attacks. We decided to flee before it ended up depleting our resources. After that we came across an altar and realized there was no more time to play, failing our mission. Most certainly our heads in pikes now decorate the entrance of House Eilservs...

Bonus - With the gift certificate I won from Frog God games I got the Swords & Wizardry PDF version of the following: 

• Against Tsathogga 
• Baron's Gambit 
• Grimmsgate 
• Cyclopean Deeps Chapter 1 
• Cyclopean Deeps Chapter 2

My Virtual Greyhawk Con 2 Schedule - update

Yesterday I received a notification that the event I was going to participate on Saturday got cancelled. Luckily there were still some events with available places and I managed to get into one. Here's my updated schedule for Virtual Greyhawk Con 2.

Hobbs & Friends of the OSR zines

This week, after a long wait,  I finally received from Goodman Games the three Hobbs & Friends of the OSR zines by fellow gamer and friend Jason Hobbs.

#1 Excavation of the Tomb of Lorninane - a mini-dungeon location centered around an excavation site.

#2 Bettlebee Ridge - a starting town surrounding the Ridge with buildings, detailing their content and the various people living there.

#3 Halfmen of Hirsute Hollow - DCC adventure to be played between Sailors of the StarlessSea and Well of Souls.

In the first two you can takea glimpse at Jason's homebrew game world called the Emergent Empires.

All of them have cool art by Craig Brasco and Hawk.

You can get them from DriveThruRPG too.

James Earl Mackie

  James Earl “Jimmy” Mackie, was born on March 17th, 1855 (Age 24) in Sewanee, Tennessee. 

His father died during the Civil War at Third Battle of Chattanooga in 1863, and he and his mother fled to Nashville. After a pause in the hostilities, they moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1865. 

His mother died in 1869, shortly after they arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, where some relatives lived. He didn’t stay long with them and decided to go West to Fort Smith, where many refugee slaves, orphans, Southern Unionists, and others came here to escape the guerrilla warfare raging in Arkansas, Missouri, and the Border States. The place, despite the absence of federal troops since 1871, thrived and was a bustling community full of brothels, saloons and outlaws, just across the river from Indian Territory (Coyote Confederation).

After robbing a bank in Fort Smith he fled to Tulsa, in the Coyote Territories, and changed his name to Jordan Eugene “Dusk” McCoy. There is a bounty of $600 for his capture. When money ran out he traveled South into Texas and, with two associates, tried to rob a bank in Dallas. The heist went awry, with one of his associates dead and another missing. Unable to go back to the Coyote Territories he fled towards the Mexican border and now goes by the name of Johnatan Edmund Mackay, AKA John E. “Johnny” Mackay.

Aylen the Black & Fress

Aylen the magic-user and Fress the thief were created for a D&D Holmes game run by Aron Clark. Fist, we played The Lichway (1978) by Abie Fiore taht was published in White Dwarf magazine #9. The rest of the party were:

Tark (dwarf)

Balzon (fighter)

Franz (fighter)

Caspian (magic-user)

Later, after exploring The Lichway we delved into The Halls of Tizun Thane (1980), also by Abie Fiore, from White Dwarf magazine #18. This time the party had some new members:

Rollo (thief)

Chad (fighter)

What follows is a summary I put together after the fall of Aylen & Fress.

"Pressed by the fact that Fress wouldn't be able to control Lokota the demon much longer, Rollo and Aylen agreed to move forward into Thaark's four-story tower. Chad followed with his lantern. The bottom room was a richly furnished dining room with a long table fully dressed with china and glassware occupying the center. On one end of the table, a fireplace big enough to roast a boar with a 12-inch tall figurine of a casting magic user on the mantle and a dragon skull on the wall above it. On the other end he table a big mirror. Rollo checked the fireplace but found nothing. While Lokota waited here the rest went through a door and up a spiral staircase. The room was relaxing lounge with rugs and comfortable chairs, and also a fireplace. Upon inspection the group discovered the fireplaces were connected, so Fress and Rollo decided to climb the chimney while Aylen and Chad went up the spiral stairs. Lokota waited in this room after laboriously navigating the staircase. The thieves, Rollo carrying just his sword and Fress a dagger, a torch and his waterskin, nimbly ascended the sooty shaft into a dark room smelling of wool and parchment. Strange snores and mumbling could be heard from the room above. Rollo opened the heavy door to let Aylen and Chad in, the torchbearer's lantern revealing a library with countless tomes, some opened in wooden stands, with the floor covered by a thick woolen rug. Fress called Lokota to get there too. Aylen cast Detect Magic hoping to find something of interest here but only perceived a strong dweomer emanating from the room above. Lokota started to make a strange keening noise that was reciprocated from above and a thunderous voice could be heard through the fireplace. 'Who dares to enter my dominions unannounced!?'

The sound of heavy footsteps lumbering down the stairs set everyone but Lokota, that stood its ground, into motion. Rollo hid around a corner, Aylen behind a bookstand, while Chad and Fress tied a rope to a metal ring and threw a rope down the chimney. Thaark, an apeish fur-covered brute clad in a purple robe and wizard hat, both too small for its frame, bursted into the room. The group was slow to react but the demon looked confused by what he saw. Rollo and Fress tried to sweet talk the fiend but things didn't turned as expected and the demon started to cast! Rollo swung his sword but missed. Fress emptied his waterskin on Thaark. The demon cast Charm Person on Fress but the thief resisted. Lokota moved in and launched a barrage of attacks (claws, talons and beak). Aylen cast Frost Shroud on the demons, freezing the water and dealing more damage. Rollo took a step back and reached for his bow but with his frostbitten fingers couldn't take a shot. Fress moved next to Aylen, that was casting again, to retrieve some holy water from her back pack. Thaark used his magic again, this time a blast of fire engulfed the room. Aylen, Fress and Chad fell burned to the ground. Rollo dived away just in time avoiding the flames. The room started to burn, wood, parchment and wool feeding the blaze. Lokota, apparently unaffected by the fire, lounged forward and teared Thaark's flesh with claws and talons, killing the demon, but also grazing Rollo with its beak in its charge. The surviving thief, ignoring Lokota now free from its master, grabbed some potion from the shelves and urged the demon to help him. Lokota agreed and rushed to help Aylen and Fress; poor Chad was a charred corpse beyond all hope. Sadly, despite Rollo's bravery and efforts none of them made it through.

There he stood, face to face with a masterless demon that longed for a heart to be free. He offered the hearts of his fallen companions, that the demon gladly accepted. As Rollo escaped, Lokota feasted on the corpses Aylen and Fress before flying away from the inferno of what once were Tizun's Halls.