People! Friends! Readers!
I have MUCH to report! We have changes to the party lineup; new friends step into old characters!
Too many exclamation points – let us begin.
Fiona: Lightfoot Halfling Rogue (Jenny)
Thalia: High Elf Wizard (Kurt)
Gallan(t): Wood Elf Fighter (Christina)
Ahfa: Human Paladin (Brent)
Zulu: Dwarf Cleric (Javin)
It’s a quiet morning-after at the Green Dragon Inn as most of the patrons are sleeping off the last evening’s festivities. But, for the holy people in our coterie, it is simply the beginning of a new and blessed day. Zulu and Ahfa awake with the sun and find Ricard Damaris cheerfully attacking his breakfast. He is very animated over a tome he’d perused the night before. Upon sharing the story with the cleric and paladin, he asks them three questions: When is the right time? Who are the right people? What is the right thing to do? Zulu and Ahfa answer as earnestly as they can and Ricard is pleased with the genuineness of their responses.
No doubt it is shaping up to be a great day…
The rest of the party comes downstairs later and it is EVIDENT something is different about the fighter, Gallan. There is an enthusiastic confidence now to the wood elf that is refreshing…and in fact, Gallan asks to be referred to as ‘Gallant’. Before the adventure-seeking at Castle Greyhawk begins, there’s a brief stop at Geeridan’s General Store for some essentials.
The road south out of Greyhawk runs along the River Selintan for a couple of miles before turning westward. Eventually the party comes to the village and bridge where Ricard nearly met his demise only days ago. Tracks are still discernible and carry on not only to the city of Dyvers (westward), but also lead away to the northeast on a Level ‘B’ Maintenance road.
Here, they be wagon tracks…
The party follows this lesser-trod path for awhile and not long after, a quick-moving fog has rolled into the area. And it’s not smoke, but fog, magical or not is unknown as Thalia demurs on doing a Detect Magic spell at this time. The group eventually begins an ascent towards three crumbling towers. The tower they reach first has a guardhouse/visitor’s center of sorts, which the group chooses to explore first. It’s stutteringly obvious that nobody has traversed this way in a long time; rusted hinges, door locks, dense overgrowth. The party discovers plank boards in the VC, with which they cross over the 30’ deep pit into the tower itself.
And as the group comes into the tower area, four wraiths and a skeletal warhorse animate into action. It. Is. Go. Time.
Within minutes, the wraiths are nothing but piles of rags on the floor and the warhorse is a pile of bones. But…oh, check out this highlight reel!
1. Zulu’s Critical Hit and 34 pt of Guiding Bolt damage (more early mornings with Ricard at the Green Dragon Inn, perhaps?)
2. “Ride the Thunder!” Thalia’s exuberant war cry as she casts Shatter.
3. Zulu and Ahfa’s strange feeling that these undead creatures may regenerate sometime soon (prompting Ahfa to create Holy Water to sprinkle over the rags and bones).
After some time investigation, a path outside of the ruins is found to lead down to a large stable-type dwelling, where a couple of horses are seen. Along with two wagons and a coach. This appears to be where the orc raiders took what they’ve been stealing and killing villagers for.
Well, how about that?
At the rear of the stable is a door. And through that door are twelve flights of stairs that go doooooooooooown. Good times. The door our mighty players eventually come to opens into a small, stinky cell replete with moldering hay and other organic whatnot. Investigations by the paladin turn up bones with teeth marks on them. EW. Zulu the Cleric scopes out the hallway beyond this room and finds all kinds of crates and barrels – further evidence of stolen goods. As he pokes around, he also notices faded bloodstains on the ground…as if the goods had been positioned to cover them. EW again.
The party, of course, proceeds carefully at this point now, making their way into a brightly lit and fragrant kitchen area. The two fireplaces are ablaze and fresh vegetable peelings are scattered across the wooden prep table. Clearly, this place is in use, has been in use, and will continue to be in use. And…judging by the size of the animal on the hearth rotisserie, the kitchen is servicing quite a few people. The kitchen leads into a feast-hall, where the sounds of eating are evident.
The plan is now for Fiona to go invisible (Thalia’s spell) and scope out the rest of the scene, while the rest of the party waits…
Good plan, yeah?
Fiona sees a large half-ogre and five orcs in the feast-hall. There is a set of doors at the far end of the room. Just then, two of the orcs rise and move towards the kitchen, likely for more ale. So…Fiona gets out her tricky bag of ball-bearings and scatters them at the entrance to split the bad guys, as it were. As the orcs reenter the feast-hall, they trip (the whole point, natch), spilling their ale all over. The hue and cry bring the other orcs over towards the kitchen, which gives Fiona a chance to slip out the exit at the far end, past the half-ogre.
There is much grunting and whatnot now in the kitchen as the orcs try to figure out what in the Nine Hells just happened. They don’t remember tiny little metal round things being there on their way to the kitchen, so how did they get there afterward? Where did they come from? There isn’t much time to contemplate this mystery because Ahfa decides he’s had enough hiding, especially when there is evil to be smited (smote? smit?). So, out he jumps to vanquish the evil-doers.
And a party that hides together, smites together. And when the battle dust clears, five orcs are dead or asleep and our noble champions suffer only minor wounds. But, Gallant, living up to their name, fires a longbow shot into the half-ogre who’s remained in the feast-hall, who responds and give chase immediately. The fight spills into the eating area and the half-ogre captain is gravely wounded and manages to stumble away before death comes a-calling. When Fiona returns to the party, it is to find her friends in various states of recovery and relaxation after the efforts.
And what has she been up to, exactly? Well…
1. She discovers a dark, rubble-cluttered hallway, which she won’t know more about until she can light her lantern to investigate further.
2. Another doorway takes her into a watery corridor and a secret entrance.
3. She explores what appears to be an elevator room, as two holes in the floor function as hand-pulley elevator platforms. The descending chute, choked with rock, is unusable, but the ascending one appears to have been in use recently as there are numerous crates and barrels here as well (all marked with various Greyhawk merchant logos). These items are larger and if Fiona had to guess, she’d wager these containers hold armor, shields, and the like.
After Fiona rejoins the party and they swap tales of their exploits, they all complete successful Athletic checks to leap over the ball-bearings and head to the elevator room. The goal is to perhaps search for Ricard Damaris’ Blade of Chaos. And explore the rest of this level as well.
As it stands, there seem to be two exits from this particular Tower. Up the elevator or back out the way they came.
Cheers to a exciting, ball bearing-filled morning!
Ever your scribe,
Heather