Session 8 : 8/1/14

The Party: Braggle (H:3), Xero (Th:4), Dac'Ti Nooge (E:2)

Summary:

Xero poked around town trying to find someone who could take them to Hedeby by boat. As fortune had it, Cuccio, "Captain" of the riverboat Jaded Seamstress, was headed down river in 5 days time with a full load of timber for the ship yards of Hedeby. Prices were discussed, and Xero rather generously offered several gold for the assistance.

After five days, and unable to convince the rest of the the party to travel by river, Xero, Braggle and newcomer, Dac'Ti Nooge, boarded the Jaded Seamstress, along with Captain Cuccio, his first mate Gonzo, and 8 rowers, for a 3-4 day journey. In his bag, Xero kept the famed standard of the last garrison of the fort at Trelleborg.


The trip started out uneventful, but early one morning, a swarm of 3' long mosquitoes attacked the party and crew. The little buggers were viscious and tough and were only driven off after half of their number were killed, along with two of the crew, while another crewman, Braggle, and Dac'Ti  were severely wounded.

Cuccio was beside himself and begged his generous passengers to permit him to land and take the wounded to a temple for assistance. The party could see no reason not to, and so the boat anchored not far from Fort Hael, and the village of Hael's Shadow.

In Hael's shadow, Xero and Braggle made a generous donation to the shrine of the Iron Tiger there to procure healing for all parties in need. After a night in the inn, they returned to their trip but bad weather overnight had turned the water choppy. Poor Xero and Dac'Ti spent much of the morning hurling breakfast into the river.

During one such expulsion, Dac'Ti noticed a large dark shape beneath the surface of the river and, seeing nothing wrong with this plan, poked it with his 10' pole.  In doing so, he succeeded in angering a very large crocodile. 

The creature thrashed and crashed into the ship, and finally managed to gain a foot hold, all the while Dac'Ti slammed his dagger into it's head. It was of little use though, despite assistance from Xero, Braggle and the captain. The great beast grabbed hold of Dac'Ti in its powerful crushing jaws and descended into the murky river with the body. All that remained to be seen of Dac'Ti were the blood clouds that billowed up from below like peones on the water's surface.

The remainder of the trip was unexceptional and the party arrived finally at the docks of Hedeby. After turning in their weapons with the Ministry of Safety, they entered the city and set off straight away to Castle Hedeby at the city's center, to meet with the Jarl. Penn Dixon, one of the rowers from the Jaded Seamstress tagged along for giggles.

Of course, one does not simply walk into Castle Hedeby and the usual confrontation with the guards came to pass. 

Xero however, in great dramatic fashion, unfurled the lost standard and demanded entrance. Their request was granted but only conditionally - the standard would have to be examined by their expert.

Sure enough, it was the real deal and with that news came great celebration.

No. Seriously. A HUGE celebration.

Session 7 : 7/16/14

The Party:

Polarian the Seer (M:2), Brother Burkey (C:4), Garreth (C:1), Xero (T: 4), Braggle (H:3),  Sabbitha (M:2), Zrax (F:2).

Summary :

Prior to the delve, Brother Burkey, despite a pitiful Charisma, put out the word on the street that he was looking for a meatshield henchman to join the group in the capacity of torch bearer, loot hauler and to be willing to fight. Amazingly, he managed to find a taker, one Durin (F:1), grounds keeper of the Shining Sparrow and seeker of greater fortunes.

[Since this was a short session, we jumped right to where the party left off last time, forgoing the trip to the ruins and descent to the 2nd level. Next session, we'll return to that format. ]

The party continued the exploration of the crypts, with the intent to get a sense of the scope of the perimeter of the 2nd level. 

Zrax and Braggle led the way into the unknown.

http://sirotonogreen.deviantart.com/

Almost immediately they encountered a wraith but Brother Burkey called upon his god, Fahrvergnügen, and drove the creature into the corner where it was quickly brought down with judicious use of holy water. In the burial chamber there, they found a box with a glowing sigil on top.

Xero, who had gathered an undead skeleton's skull last delve, put it on the box and the skull turned into stone. 

Creative use of a 10' pole by Zrax knocked the box to the ground and as luck would have it, the lock mechanism broke and the contents spilled out - a scroll and a small vial among a pile of silver and one large beautiful amethyst sphere. Sabbitha, who runs a small apothecary in town, was able to identify the potion by the scent as being one of fire resistance. 

Neither magic-user has read magic, and so no one has any idea what the scroll contains.

As the party debated some finer tactical points they were set upon by a gang of murderous necromantic pixies, who did some damage but were dispatched without much concern.

In the same set of crypts, the party found the lost standard of the last garrison of Trelleborg. Knowing full well that reward for this is substantial, the party debated making an immediate exit of the dungeon to prepare for a trip south, to Hedeby. For good or ill, they decided to continue exploration, and a short time later were set upon by a pack of ghouls.

They returned to their southward advance and heard screeching and growling and other terrible sounds. SWAT mode engaged, they tossed a lit flask of oil down the hall to light the way, rather than risk being surprised by anything. The flaming pool of oil lit up the crypts and drew the attention of two tall, bulky, fugly, gobliny looking thugs who, seeing the source of the fire, charged. 

http://www.allanalegado.com/

Combat was brutal. 

Braggle was dropped, paralyzed to the ground. Sabitha prepared to cast light directly into the eyes of one of the creatures, but was struck and paralyzed before she could get off the spell. Still, the party killed one of the things (they were thouls) and Polarion cast Charm and ensorceled the remaining monster. Lacking any kind of language commonality, Polarion used the secret signs of Chaos to communicate simple commands to the thoul, who now took a space in the front rank of the party.

The source of the screeching was found to be a bound and gagged harpy and several others were found bound and gagged in another crypt. Taking no chances, the party dispatched them. For their troubles, they found a potion of gaseous form and a rope of climbing (which had been used to bind the first harpy they found).

A brief sojourn down an eastward hall led to an encounter with a pack? of giant tiger beetles. The thoul proved somewhat ineffective in combat until he scored a hit and paralyzed one of the beetles, allowing its easy slaying. One of beetles managed to deal some damage to Zrax, but they were eventually dispatched, with Braggle delivering a particularly smiting blow.

A final encounter with some zombies who resisted turning by both Garreth and Brother Burkey, finished off the exploration for the day. 

With the thoul disguised in a cloak, the party returned to Gorgoroth to rest and to plan a trip to Hedeby. 

Session 6: 6/25/14

The Party:
PC2 (F:1), The Dwarf (D:1), Xero (T:3), Braggle (H:2), Sabitha(MU:1), Brother Burkey (C:3)

The Summary:

As the party approached the ruins, Xero, Braggle and Brother Burkey had the sense that, although things seemed the same as last time, someone or something had been here (that feeling you get when you just know that your landlord has let the exterminator into your appartment but nothing appears out of place). 

The "regulars" felt it was worthwhile to check if the merchants were still there before entering the ruined tower. What they found was an abandoned site which would have been unnotable save for the trail of wagon tracks leading in two directions down trails, a large semi-wet spot on the ground that turned out to be blood, and the presence of some human finger bones in the ashes of the stone fire rings. Satisfied that there was nothing further worth exploring here, they returned to the tower.

Careful examination revealed foot prints going in and out of the tower - more going in than coming out. Although some of the prints may have been theirs, there were several more which were clearly not. Finding the trap door to the dungeon open confirmed their suspicions/fears that the merchants were up to no good.

Although a full sweep of the entire first level was suggested by Xero, after the party retrieved their tank and found doors had been burned down approaching the nearest flight of stairs down, but not in the direction of the elevator shaft (where they found their trap was still in place), they abandoned both the tank and the idea to sweep the level.

Down below, they found whoever had been through had not gotten very far before either being killed or abandoning their quest. The party made their way down to the room with the giant winged boar statue and then took the southern door. On the other side, they found themselves in a crypt.

Highlights:

• Realizing a strange carved stone eye was a trap - which still incinerated two 10' poles
• Being attacked by a pack of ghouls and narrowly avoiding a TPK because PC2 made his save and the final ghoul's morale broke.
• PC2's death at the hands of, well, I forget what killed him. Probably something undead.
• Finding PC1? (MU:1 and PC2's replacement), tied up with all of his gear and unsure of how he got there.
• Skillful use of some old church pews to bridge across a magically trapped floor to loot the body interred on the opposite side.
• Turning and then killing the ghoul-in-the-box.
• Finding a secret door that led to a hidden chamber containing a seated skeleton in lace garments (ordinary dwarf skeleton), a seated figure wrapped head to toe in fabric (mummy) and one empty chair. Behind them stood a seven skeleton guard in plate mail and armed with halberds.  
• Destroying the above with fire, arrow and sword and netting a significant treasure.

Session 5: 6/13/14

The Party:

Batok (M:1), Zrax(F:1), Brother Burkey (C:2), Vern Dosh(D:1), Braggle(H:1), Xero (T:2), 

The Summary
Over breakfast at the Mournful Phoenix, and after settling up their room tabs with Burzom, the party learned that some smoke had been seen in the direction of the dungeon.They made visual confirmation and proceeded to the ruins where they could hear, from the woods to the north, laughter.

Xero snuck through the woods and spied upon what an encampment - several tents, a wagon, horses, and 4 men drinking at a table. He returned to the party to relay the information, which in turn led to a tactical discussion.

Zrax, of the Chaotic Slacks and man of action, walked into the woods and called out to the camp, and although they responded, they were not interested in coming out to his position. Instead, they told him they were merchants and he should come to join them - they had beer. No one believed the men were merchants.

Brother Burkey, drinker extraordinaire, put on his best drunken appearance and stumbled into the camp, while Braggle, Xero and Vern Dosh spread out through the woods to cover him.

After their initial surprise, the campers were quite taken with Brother Burkey, to the point that they tapped a keg for him. Although the men themselves were observed discretely disposing of the beer from their cups, they made no move to do him in. It wasn't until four more of their number arrived from a hunting excursion that they even tried to make him leave.

As they struggled to move the mountain of a man, in full plate, Vern Dosh observed a tall, well built man in black robe over plate, with skin as red as a Templar's Cross, and glowing violet eyes headed toward the camp attended by two others, who dressed similarly to the merchants. He was not happy to see the visitor, or that the keg had been tapped. Despite being ordered to bring Brother Burkey back, the men let him go before returning to their obvious leader.

While sneaking back to meetup with the party, Vern Dosh snapped a twig loud enough to alert the camp. After a half hearted effort to pursue the party, they dropped back, leaving the party unharmed.

Once inside dungeon, the party retrieved their tank and then finished exploring the first level to their satisfaction - killing some giant centipedes and shriekers (in the ubiquitous fungal garden) in the process, and making a haul of a variety of items, including many which Batok confirmed were spell components. Among the items, dozens of stoppered glass vials.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/D%26DShrieker.JPG/200px-D%26DShrieker.JPG

The second level started with an encounter with an obsidian living statue of a dwarvish warrior. It was brought down with relative ease. 

A few rooms later, they interrupted a twisted mass led by a ghoul, preaching to a congregation of zombies:

http://vigilantcitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/610x2.jpg
this is not how i imagined it, but i like the picture too much not to use it.

The ghoul definitely raised some eyebrows, but it, and its followers, was dispatched rather handily, by the party, fronted by the duel blades of Braggle and Zrax.

The remainder of the exploration turned up a good bit of silver coin, as well as religious supplies - holy water, candles- and a 25 gallon cask of oil. Some of the oil was transferred to stoppered glass vials for use as half-flask missile weapons.

In the last room they would explore, they came across a 30' tall statue of a winged boar. 

http://subeta.wikia.com/wiki/Stone_Winged_Boar

Cautious after their encounter with the living statue earlier, they made their way around the perimeter of the room searching for secret doors and the like. One of the great black stone pillars was found to make a hollow sound when tapped. 

A quick search by Xero and Vern revealed a secret panel, which, when pushed, sent much of the party hurtling upwards. Brother Burkey alone was spared the effect.

For most of the party, they found themselves stopped just short of the ceiling, but for the two closest to the pillar, spikes awaited them. Xero was lucky, and suffered only a minor injury, but Vern Dosh was run through his vital organs, and died instantaneously.

Such is life in the dungeon.

Inside the pillar, Brother Burkey found a gold statuette of the winged boar, and a sack of silver.

The party secured themselves to the pillar and when the man of the cloth and beer stein closed the panel, the strange effects disappeared. 

After looting Vern's body, they exited the dungeon without further incident, in large part due to their insistence on wedging every door they encounter. Contrary to their suspicions, the red-man and his "merchants" were not there waiting for them outside the ruined tower.

Session 4: 5/9/14

The Party:

Brother Burkey (C:1), Arwen (E:1), Valor (T:1),  Thief Who's Name Escapes Me (T:1), Brickle (H:1), Fallos (M:1)

The Summary

Having heard from the previous expedition about their exploits, and gathering the map and one of the keys recovered, a different band of adventurers set out for the dungeon beneath Trelleborg. After spiking all of the doors in the tower, they reviewed the map and, led by Brother Burkey, developed a tactical plan for securing the 1st level: check each room already explored, then wedge it shut. 

They descended the stairs and took a SWAT approach, hurling flaming oil into the room and unleashing an arrow. Satisfied that the lack of response indicated the absence of a goblinoid ambush, they made their way down. Unfortunately, a pair of fairly tough, giant geckos had taken up residence there. The party might have been a bit too confident in their ability to deal with the reptilian menaces, who initially had tried to avoid the party. Angered, wounded and more or less cornered, they dropped down to attack. 

And things did not go well.

The hits that landed on their thick scaly hides did little to slow the geckos down and both Brickle and Valor were sent to the great dungeon in the sky. Things seemed desperate, so Fallos burned his spell, Sleep, and brought down the geckos, who were then dispatched easily by a vengeful Arwen.

What happened next will be a thing of legend: the party brought the bodies of the fallen out of the dungeon, up into the secured tower, before looting them and redistributing their gear.

Back down into the dungeon, joined by Braggle (H:1) and Valor the 2nd (T:1), the party headed East towards the portcullis. As they approached, they came under fire from beyond the edge of their torch light - the goblinoids had setup a defensive position in the hall using furniture, stones and yari, like quills on a porcupine. As one might easily predict, the hero of the gecko battle, Fallos, was struck and died immediately.

(Fallos was replaced by Dolm the Fighting Man (F:1) )

Utilizing one of the great equalizers in the dungeon crawler's arsenal, they lobbed flaming oil at the goblinoids and unleashed their own arrows. The goblins, casualties sustained, fell back and closed the portcullis. The party heard a strange clanging that grew fainter and when they crossed the barrier, found the goblins were gone. 

From this, they surmised the pit in the room beyond the portcullis was, in fact, an elevator shaft. After waiting out the fire they had started, they dropped a torch into the pit which showed it to be quite deep, at least 150 or 200 feet. Before moving on, the two thieves rigged a trap over it, to cause havoc for anyone coming up.

The goblin escape was not a setback, because the party had a plan to execute anyway. Methodically they went from door to door of each previously mapped room, forced it open to make sure nothing was inside worth dealing with, and then spiked it shut. 

Upon finding two empty cisterns on a wooden wheeled cart, an idea was born. A few turns later, Braggle and Arwen, bows at the ready, were each in a cistern on the cart, which was being pushed along by the remainder of the party.

Yes, they made a tank!

Torches were mounted to the cart but not lit - navigation was handled by the two demi-humans. Although slow, it proved effective.

Unlike the previous expedition, the party braved the latrines this time.

As they peered down into the darkness, they discovered gems and coins in the shit heaps 20' down, not to mention sewer tunnels. Retrieving the treasure, using fire to burn away the waste - a process affectionately now known as "shit mining" - netted a hefty reward for their labors.

Other highlights:

• Bandits, affiliated with the Red Right Hand Thieve's Guild, came upon the party
• Said bandits were burned to a crisp, although their leader was shot in the eye with an arrow (natural 20) and then a second arrow followed the same path, split the shaft and pierced even further into his brain (another natural 20), dropping him where he stood. 
• In a bit of irony, it was the two thieves who showed such archery aplomb and killed this representative of a guild from the largest city on Nattefrost.
• Some traders who had somehow wandered into the dungeon were bartered/intimidated (same thing, right?) out of their goods - a very nice haul of bolts of fabric - before being ordered out.
• Another gecko was dispatched. Oddly, human remains on a plate were on the floor of that room, as if someone was feeding it.
• A note scrawled on one door indicated that they shouldn't enter unless they really liked little furry forest creatures. Of course the party had to enter. Dolm, attacking the pulsating blue shapes on the floor, triggered a trap, failed his save, and is now an anthropomorphic rabbit 

• To my recollection, at least 2 characters are 2nd level now, and the rest are close. Except the elf and halfling, who have a long way to go.

I almost forgot, there were two in-town events:

• Brother Burkey, who had been absent since his first delve, had secured the services of Gar Draka to translate the dwarven runes that appeared on the mural of the golden-spired underground city.
• Valor the 2nd, negotiating on behalf of the party, made an arrangement with Sister Ingrid for the production of two cure light wounds potions. 

Session 3: 4/18/14

The Party:

Bealor E:1, Melkiades E: 1, Zrax F:1, Tika F:1, Honest the Bear E: 1, and later, a thief (can’t remember his name) and a magic-user who died in his first round of combat and who’s name escapes me, if I ever knew it.

The Summary:

Beginning the day with the traditional breakfast at the inn, Burzum (inn keeper) sought out Zrax and informed him that a survivor of the most recent caravan attack was being cared for a the Shrine of the Punishing Ox. 

After breakfast, the party tramped over there to do some questioning - and learned a bit about the attackers, who, one member suspected, might be a dragon based on the pattern of flame described as used in the attack. Their questioning limited by the state of the survivor, they pressed on into the dungeon.

Feeling their oats, the party strolled into the tower. Unbeknownst to them, over night the tower entrance had become inhabited by a flock of stirges, who, angered at being disturbed attacked. 

Although one managed a hit, it, more than half were quickly killed, sending the remainder flying off into the woods.

The rest of the path to the stairs down was clear and the party found the trap door wedged shut, as they had left it when they exited last session.

This time when the got near the bottom of the steps, an arrow shot clattered into the steps a few feet in front of them; they were under attack by black metal goblinoid archers. 

Bealor, in his first act, Zrax, he of the chaotic slack wearing, charged the goblinoids, threw himself through the air and crashed into their front line, instantly killing one and knocking down another. From there it was a bloodbath, as the party killed one goblinoid after the other. When one tried to escape, Tika tackled him.

Combine this with the corpse-paint pic from the 1st session
and this is close to what the goblinoids look like.

They grilled him for information - which he provided - and slit his throat. Rooting through the belongings of the leader, they found a key which they believe is likely for the portcullis blocking the corridor to the East.

They discovered the goblinoid dojo, most notable for its training dummies of white ape skins/heads on wooden frames, and training equipment for open hand arts, and a large symbol painted over dwarven propaganda frescoes. 

Thereafter, they made a systematic exploration of the level wherein:

• they killed a black metal goblinoid band (not before the drummer killed Melkiades with his bass drum)
• they killed a bugbear artist painting a disturbingly beautiful mural of a large black goat with 10 legs coming through a tear in the night sky
• they killed a goblinoid study group wearing Hogwart’s style robes (one goblinoid even wore glasses) and took their book
• they were attacked by a roving pack of carrion crawlers, who, before their own demise, ended the brief existence of Bealor.
• Somewhere in there Malikiades replacement arrived, and was promptly killed by some goblinoids before they were killed.
• The leader of that group, against all odds, was held for questions and allowed to go, under promise that he leave the dungeon.

Of the 7 characters that journeyed into the dungeon, 4 returned to Gorgoroth to rest up and ready for the next delve.

Session 2: 3/14/14

The party: Zrax F:1,Sabbitha MU:1 (mother of Chains the Cleric), Brother Burkey C:1, Halt Th:1, Honest the Bear(Elf with a Comb-over) E:1, Tika F:1 Alera F:1, Mordechai Th:1

The Summary:
Over drinks at the tavern, the original party met several other adventurers who had come into town to followup on rumors they had heard about the dungeon. In typical D&D fashion, everyone decided it would be great to join forces to head into the dungeon as soon as possible.

Still, only Zrax, from the first expedition, was able to get himself out of bed early enough to make the trip in the next morning with the group of newly arrived explorers and ne'er do wells.

Over breakfast, he chatted with Burzum about the mysterious people in black robes the party saw on their return trip. Burzum could offer no help, other than that there had been some reports of raids on caravans and prisoners appeared to have been taken and maybe they were somehow related.

In the predawn hours the party set out. The air was cold with a light drizzle, which turned to a downpour as they reached Trelleborg.

In front of the dilapidated tower, lay two limbless corpses of the type of goblinoids encountered on the first delve, with a large chunk missing from each of their abdomens. The bits of bloody rope gave away that these were, in fact, some of those that were left tied up.

Although Zrax urged the party to head towards the stairs to the dungeon proper, much of the party wanted to explore the tower, and so that was the approach taken. Highlights included:

• Setting off a sleep gas trap on a metal box containing some silver and knocking out half of the party.
• Discovering a side view painting of a map of what appears to be the dungeon under Trelleborg
• Mordechai made an impressive dive under the billowing tentacles of an Air Jelly to reach a chest, and suffered only a minor electrical burn when the party pulled him and the chest out via rope.

Having secured the tower to their satisfaction, they descended the steps they had found previously.

Two goat headed spiders descended upon the party, but were unable to do more than offer some weapons practice for the group. The cleric and Mordecai hacked off the goat horns, for use as daggers or possibly for sale. 

In the second room they entered, they found a skull of what appeared to have been a unicorn (horn cut off), surrounded by a weird goopy substance and some bloodied rusty manacles. A disconcerting, disembodied gurgling sound which seemed to bounce around the room, stopped for a moment when Honest the Bear called out to "Master." The goop was promptly lit aflame with torch and oil, although not before the skull was stowed safely in Halt's backpack.

Not far from that room, they came to a portcullis blocking their passage. Beyond, they could see a room with a 10' wide hole in the center that had been obviously and purposefully placed there. They easily found a lever, for what is presumably the portcullis, but a key hole near the lever dashed their hopes a bit - especially when neither thief could pick the lock. Tika and Zrax tried to lift the great gate but with little success.

Undaunted, they explored one of the junctions they had passed previously and entered into what appeared to be a large dining room. Here they found the remains of a vile feast of rat tails, giant centipede and what appeared to be large humanoid forearms. The wooden cups, and empty keg from the Haunted Keep Brewery, gave evidence that whoever ate this mess washed it down with some good ale.

In addition to the Iron Chef selection of delectables, they took a moment to marvel at the two large murals: one a propaganda type piece showing Dwarven miners toiling at excavating the earth, and another of a beautiful many-spired city of gold, that appeared to be in a cavern of sorts. The latter bore some runes in the lower right but none of the party speaks/reads Dwarf, so the cleric copied down the runes for later translation. 

The attached kitchen bore witness to the party's slaughter of a giant hydra-pede. During their exploration of the kitchen and attached cistern room, a patrol of 5 goblinoids arrived, but they too were outgunned by the party, who promptly killed and robbed them - including taking their armor and weapons. The bodies were left for the rats. 

At this point,with time running short, the party retraced their steps out of the dungeon and back to town to rest.