Thursday, October 6, 2011

Greyhawk Session 4

Sadly, it looks like Xel’s player will have to indefinitely leave the group due to his work schedule, but we had a full complement of our other players so this delves roster included:

Akzey, a shieldmaiden of Kos
Leerc, a stoic fighting-elf
Synecdoche, an unlucky fighting-dwarf
Slimey, a thief from a dark and foreign country
Nilrem, magic user of sinister countenance
as well as their bevy of hirelings and Baldric, Nilrem’s bodyguard and stooge

Leerc himself attracted a hench(wo)man.  She was a female fighting elf who looked something like a member of the East German swim team.  They all met at the Green Griffin and planned their expedition into the underworld just as a terrible storm poured torrential rain down the filth-filled streets.  Slimey suggested that the group wait out the storm, with some concordance from Aczey.  Nilrem, on the other hand, suggested that a rainy day is as good a day as any, and convinced the party to set out for Greyhawk Castle.

The soon arrived, but found that Xel had taken their map with him when he left on Gnomish business.   As such, the party decided to map a bit more methodically this time.  Synecdoche suggested that they head south, since his Dwarven nose could determine directions in the dungeons confines, and that they continue south until they could go no further.   This brought them to the magic mouth chamber.  Slimey elected to scout ahead into it, and the party – fearing another encounter like the one from their previous excursion into that room – agreed with his decision.

Slimey, it turns out, was ultimately after mischief.  He waited for the Magic Mouth to begin its message, then seeing that it was on the ceiling he lay on his back and attempted to urinate into its mouth.  Though the odds were against him, Slimey succeeded (I gave him a 1 in six chance).  The magic mouth seemed indifferent to it and continued its welcome, dribbling urine back down onto Slimey in the process.

After this, the party continued on their way.  They ignored several doors and side passages instead seeking to determine how far the one passage led.  It turns out this was quite far, but they eventually found a dead end.  Suddenly, they one of their porters was struck with an arrow.  He fell dead as more of the wicked things shot through the parties ranks.  Turning, they were confronted with a number of orcs blocking the exit. 

The party elected to duck into a nearby door.  This they spiked shut and after doing so the party split their time studying the room’s contents and negotiating with the orcs.  The orcs pounded heavily on the door with their leader belching “Milk man!”  Synecdoche , as the only one who could speak to them, informed them they didn’t need any milk and insulted the speaker’s intelligence.  Another orc laughed at this jest, infuriating the orc who had spoken.  Soon the orcs were stabbing and beating each other.

The room itself contained a fountain decorated with images of frogs “playing leap frog.”  Its water was cool and clear, and Slimey through caution to the wind and decided to drink from it.  He found that the hangover he possessed, or that he claimed to possess when he defecated at the entrance of the dungeon – a separate incident from the magic mouth – disappeared.  The fountain immediately emptied like a flushing toilet.

At this point, the battle outside quieted down.  Synecdoche and Slimey removed the spike from the door and peered out into the hall.  They saw what seemed to be the only three survivors.  Two were carrying a third, wounded one down the hall while snorting and squealing with glee.  The party gave chase, killing two with ranged weapons, but decided to let the other one escape when it became clear they would wander off track.

Since there was no obvious exit further south, they decided to search through the nearby rooms.  They found most of these served some sort of storage purpose, but several of them had already been looted by someone in the recent past.  At first they thought this must have been themselves, but they soon realized that none of them remembered the particulars of these rooms and so began to expect some other power. Exploring down a side passage, they found some similar rooms.  

This caused them to become a bit reckless, and one of the rooms they opened without checking contained six gnolls.  Unfortunately for the gnolls, the party won initiative and soon were tossing bottles of flaming oil into their ranks.  After one round, only two survived.  They, being of a cowardly and opportunistic race, decided to surrender rather than fight.  The gnolls showed the party the location of a hidden treasure before asking to be released.  Nilrem and baldric set upon the surrendering creatures, killing both of them before Synecdoche and Aczey could stop them.

With these creatures slain and their new treasure gained, the party returned to the surface and the session ended.  They were rather surprised when I gave them full experience for the orcs, but they were (indirectly) responsible for those creatures’ deaths.  All in all it was a good session.

2 comments:

  1. "The magic mouth seemed indifferent to it and continued its welcome, dribbling urine back down onto Slimey in the process."

    That. Is. Amazing. The whole thing. Fantastic.

    I've been enjoying these reports. You definitely seem to be doing a good job of creating a distinctly Gygaxian/Greyhawkian vibe in contrast to your Nightwick Abbey sessions.

    Speaking of the Abbey (and thinking of its musical inspirations), if you're not aware of the band Danava I'd highly recommend them. I've been listening the hell out of their new album and I think it's right up your alley. Check out the killer keyboard break on this track, for instance.

    At any rate, looking forward to more campaign reports as always!

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  2. You definitely seem to be doing a good job of creating a distinctly Gygaxian/Greyhawkian vibe in contrast to your Nightwick Abbey sessions.

    Thanks. When designing the dungeon I tried to keep the Giant Bowling alley that's supposed to be in the castle in the back of my mind.

    Check out the killer keyboard break on this track, for instance.

    Holy crap!

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