A Day of Rest at Karnack’s Castle

January 17th, 2016

Day #2-28 (Earthday, 8th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) After a good night’s sleep at Karnack’s castle, the party awoke well refreshed. After a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and biscuits, they were free to wander around inside the castle or even to go outside. They were told there was good fishing in Bridgefield Creek about a quarter-mile north of the castle, in spite of the fact it was still drizzling after an all night rain. Nobody went fishing or hunting, though, everyone was too tired from their 60-mile trek to the castle. Falafela managed to make her way to the craft shop inside the southwest corner of the castle. There she befriended Makurrh, the main craftsman/tinker for the castle. Together they discussed things mechanical, including various types of locks. Falafela asked if there were any locks she could practice picking, and Makurrh provided a couple of locks from the workbenches. He also mentioned “It would be bad form for a guest to actually practice picking any locks on actual doors within the castle, though, methinks! One would certainly not want to get caught performing that mischief!” Falafela also put in a little practice time trying to climb the inner stone walls of the castle.

Opalent was also working in the craft room, making jewelry, asking other jewelers for any techniques they would share. She was also interested in purchasing any gems that may have had special qualities. “Alas,” was the answer from Bella Dora, “I believe our gems are just of the ordinary sort.” Bella also added that, “We don’t have a lot of gems here, just a few rubies and opals, and one small topaz. We do have a little silver and gold that can be fashioned into rings and bracelets, though.” Bella did show Opalent how to make a simple jeweled ring. Vandin hung out at the blacksmith’s, talking about forges and smithing. Vandin was particularly amused by a story from the smith about a party of adventurers who found a staff and then angered the wizard amongst them. Lightstep spent time praying, especially as he was worrying about the villagers of Crystal Shores and about the evil ring the party had found. Towards the evening, Vandin, Vox and Douag started to drink a little too much ale. After nightfall, the party all retired to their quarters for the night.

— The Dungeon Master

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Journey to Karnack’s Castle: The Third Day

January 16th, 2016

DM note: at last the party arrived at Karnack’s castle, although not without a bit of night-time excitement!

Day #2-27 (Waterday, 7th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) By this time, around midnight, Lightstep was getting too tired to stay awake. He decided to wake Flenda to stand his watch. He also said he had been unable to sleep due to worrying about the evil ring they were carrying to Karnack’s castle. In the meantime, Falafela stayed on the hill to keep an eye on the other camp with the campfire. At this time, Vandin was snoring, although not loudly, and it sounded like he was saying “stones stones stones” during his exhalations. When Flenda and Tureg then took over the watch, they were informed about the horse snorting nearby. While Tureg stayed in his party’s camp, Flenda went to the top of the hill to observe the other camp. By this time, even the starlight had winked out as the sky had totally clouded over, and the wind picked up a little as it seemed a weather front was starting to pass through. After Flenda had attuned her eyes to the dark and had watched the campfire from a distance, she silently crawled on her belly like a reptile through the knee-high grass towards that other, mysterious, camp.

Around 3 am, Tureg woke the next watch pair of Gwenette and Jorgio. Tureg informed the duo that Flenda was on the hill watching another camp, and cautioned them to keep their voices low. Gwenette climbed the low hill, but although she moved back and forth on her side of the hillcrest, she could not locate her sister. Finally, Gwenette noticed, even in the almost total darkness, what looked like some bent grass leading towards the other camp. Gwenette also looked towards the campfire, and she thought she saw her sister sitting around that fire with several other people. So, Gwenette did what was reasonable for the daughter of barbarians to do — she too crawled towards the other camp. As Gwenette got close to the other camp, she could hear her sister’s voice, and could recognize the Karzulun language. So, when Gwenette had made it within about 20 feet of the camp without being detected (she was downwind of the horses), she finally stood up and said, “Flenda, you shouldn’t go sneaking off like that! You had us all worried!”

Then the four Karzuluns, led by Jen Jise, all stood up and welcomed Gwenette. They said, “Damn! Your father did a good job teaching you two to move silently. We never heard either of you coming!” So the girls sat and enjoyed the warmth of the fire, while telling their long-lost friends of their recent adventures. The girls mentioned how they had been captured by orcs, and got a ribbing about that from the Karzuluns. The girls mentioned how they had been careless to go berry and herb picking away from their village without taking any weapons. The tale continued with the story of their rescue by their friends on the other side of the hill. The raiders were finally impressed when Flenda displayed the two orc ears she had taken as a trophy from Losnoth! Finally, when it started getting lighter in the east (there would be no sunrise as it was totally overcast), the girls decided they should go back to their own camp, and they invited the Karzuluns to come along. So, the two girls and the four men and the men’s four horses all walked quite casually towards the girls’ camp.

By this time, the entire camp of adventurers was wide awake, and had lookouts posted on the hill, so they saw the others approaching them. They weren’t sure if they were about to be betrayed, so they had their weapons at the ready. But Flenda hailed the party, saying, “You’re not going to believe this, but we found some old friends of our parents! Our father used to ride with these rascals!” So then when the two parties met, introductions were given all around. Jen Jise mentioned (using the common language) that if this group was good enough to rescue Flenda and Gwenette from a nest of orcs, then they were worth keeping company with. After a quick bite of food (the Karzuluns had their own food in their saddlebags), the party departed towards Karnack’s castle to the north. The Karzuluns walked their horses alongside the others, asking questions about the particular quest the group was on. The Karzuluns mentioned they would only accompany the party to the castle, but they would not enter the castle as they (the Karzuluns) were usually not on good terms with other people. Although the main party had traveled many miles in the past two days, they quickened their step with the freshening northeast breeze bringing promise of a spring rain.

Finally, the group arrived at Karnack’s castle around 10 am, passing by fenced gardens and pastures with goats, sheep, and cattle. The Karzuluns then said their farewells, mounted their horses and rode back to the south. Approaching the castle from the south, the group could see a wall made of gray fitted stone that was about 80 yards wide and about 20 feet high, with crenellations atop the walls. There were also two towers, one on either side of the main gate, the towers being about 30 feet high. The main gate itself was made of two heavy wooden doors with iron reinforcement, each of which measured 10 feet tall and eight feet wide. The castle itself was also atop a hill that was about 20 feet taller than the surrounding countryside, and a somewhat steep switchback road led up to the gate. At the castle gate, a guard who was above the gate hailed the party. “Halt! Who goes there?” Lightstep and Opalent did most of the speaking, mentioning they had come to see Karnack, and that they had been sent by Herschel Gobinmyer of the village of Crystal Shores. The guard said, “Hold your places.” There was about a 10 minute delay as another guard took a message to Karnack. Finally, the gates opened, and the guard said, “Enter!”

Inside the castle courtyard, the group could see a stable to their right, and past the stable was a partially enclosed building with much firewood. To the left was a privy, and also a row of two-story wooden buildings nestled up against the inside castle wall on the side. To the far left was a keep with a large square tower on top, with the top of the tower at least 50 feet above the ground. To the far right was another inner wall, with a smaller tower that measured about 40 feet high at the far corner. Directly across the courtyard, about 75 yards away, was another wall, and quite noticeably, atop that wall was a large crossbow that could fire more than one bolt at once, and that crossbow was manned by guards and was aimed right at the party! There were also a number of small carts in various locations in the courtyard, and various civilians going about their tasks. The party, which numbered nine, also noticed that there were nine guards around them in the courtyard. The guards were all clad in scale mail, carrying large gray shields emblazoned with a black diagonal band. The guards were all also armed with sheathed long swords and wore small iron helmets.

A lieutenant of the guard spoke. “Karnack will see two of you at this time. Please follow me.” With that, the guard turned on his heel and Lightstep and Opalent followed him, followed by another guard. The lieutenant led into the base of the eastern tower, then inside the wall towards the east. Then the wall turned north. After more than 50 yards in this new direction, the group passed through a wall into a barracks, then ascended a circular stairway to Karnack’s tower. Karnack, a human of about 60 years, stood about 5’5” tall, weighed probably 150 pounds, sported a fu manchu moustache, and was bald except for a light-gray turban that was secured in its front with a red feather through a gold medallion. He also was wearing a long medium-gray robe with some brocaded decorations woven into it (sort of like a paisley pattern).

After introductions, Karnack bid Lightstep and Opalent be seated on two padded chairs that were of a dark wood with red velvet on the seats, and the two guards retreated to the stairway, where they remained at attention. Karnack then sat down behind his desk. Karnack spoke, “I understand you were sent here by Herschel Gobinmyer?” Lightstep answered, “Yes. He wrote out this letter to you.” With that, Lightstep removed the rolled scroll of gray parchment from his ivory scroll tube and handed it to Karnack. Karnack, after examining Herschel’s seal that had been impressed into the sealing wax, then broke the seal and began to read Karnack’s letter:

Spiritday, the 5th of Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC

The olde village of Crystal Shores

My Dearest Olde Friende Karnack,

A couple of weeks ago, the village of Crystal Shores was beset upon by a strange pestilence. A number of the villagers developed sore throats, then began to cough frequently, then some of them “turned” into a sort of mindless creature who then attacked other villagers, apparently in an attempt to bite those other villagers! Two of the villagers “turned” and had to be killed to prevent them harming others. Others then burned their bodies in an attempt to prevent the spread of the pestilence, although I had wanted to examine the bodies to see if I could detect any reason for the malady.

These strange happenings began about a month ago when a traveling cleric passed through our village, and then shortly thereafter, four more men, three fighters and one magician, passed through Crystal Shores, seemingly in pursuit of the cleric. We never saw any of those individuals again. At about the same time as those individuals passed through, two of our village’s young maidens, Flenda and Gwenette Deathmar (daughters of Vilan and Vilanious) disappeared. At the time, we sort of wondered what had happened, but nobody from the village wanted to go searching for the girls, believing that they would show up of their own accord, as, after all, they both are quite the free spirit.

In any event, about two weeks after they disappeared, the girls came back to the village, escorted by a party of adventurers who had rescued the girls from some orcs who held the girls captive at the old ruins of Losnoth, which is about 15 miles due south of Crystal Shores. The girls related their story of how they had gone off berry picking in the jungle to the southeast of the village and had been surprised and surrounded by the orcs, even though it was in the daytime. As it was, just as the orcs were about to sacrifice Flenda on an altar in the interior of the Losnoth ruins, the party of adventurers who stand before you now were in the vicinity and heard Flenda’s scream. The party then came to her aid, slaying the nine orcs at the interrupted sacrifice without loss to themselves (although one of the dwarves in their party was gravely wounded). Flenda then directed the party to where her sister Gwenette was held captive, and the party slew several more sleeping orcs. As a bonus, the party also freed two gentlemen, names of Fredo and Jorgio, although Fredo has recently been killed at Mont du Plat.

When the party returned the girls to the village, they related all of the above to me. While the sisters returned to their parents home, the other adventurers stayed the night at our local inn, only to find the innkeeper, his wife, and daughter had turned into “zombies” (for want of a better word) overnight. The party managed to capture the folks from the inn rather than killing them, then came to me straightaways to relate what had happened.

Now, I had been developing a theory that something had poisoned the local water supply from the lake and river, and that that something had started poisoning the water shortly after the cleric and his pursuers had passed through Crystal Shores. I state this because I have not developed any of the signs of the illness, but then again I do not drink the local lake water. I collect rainwater, and also make spiced pumpkin ale from my large pumpkin patch, and eat mostly vegetables from my own garden. There are several other villagers who do not as of yet show any signs of sickness either, and they seem to also drink more of other beverages than lake water. For example, we have a local goatherd where he and his family mostly drink goat’s milk and eat the meat from their goats they have slaughtered themselves–none of them are sick. However, several fishermen and others who are routinely near the lake have fallen to the sickness.

Now, although I only briefly spoke with the traveling cleric on his way through our village, he said he was on his way to the ruins at Mont du Plat as he had heard there was a valuable artifact somewhere in the ruins. He planned to retrieve that artifact and return it to his church so they could convert it into money or some such plan. However, it seems that the cleric’s pursuers somehow knew the cleric was going to Mont du Plat to find some valuable relic, so they no doubt had plans to relieve him of that valuable bauble.

So, back to the party who stand before you. They were entreated to travel to Mont du Plat to see what they could find. What they found were several more zombies in the dungeon of the old ruins there, and the party had to slay those zombies, although losing two of their party in the battles. I formerly mentioned Fredo; they also lost the dwarf Persis. The party believes that four of the zombies they killed were the pursuers, as three of those zombies were clad in armor, and the fourth was dressed as a mage. They also found the body of the dead cleric, and that cleric’s backpack and diary. The diary mentions how the cleric found the ring in the ruins; I have enclosed that diary for your perusal.

But the most disturbing thing the party found was that the cleric’s arm had been severed, apparently in a fight with his pursuers, and his arm had fallen down the underground well. The party then recovered the arm from the well, and, on the ring finger of the hand of the dead cleric, was the ring the adventurers will now present to you. I pray you DO NOT TOUCH THE RING! It does appear the ring has the power to convert ordinary persons into zombies, and it seems that while the ring was in the well, its evil was able to be transmitted through the water to our downstream village. It should also be noted that us villagers have noticed the fish were so lethargic that they could easily be caught by hand, and some of the forest animals, such as deer and even wolves, have been seen acting queerly where they would just wander somewhat aimlessly. That ring does radiate a powerful aura of evil, so beware!

I have consulted my books of lore, but could find no reference to such a ring. I pray you can find information about the ring, and of even more importance, I am dearly hoping you can discern a method with which I can restore the sick villagers back to their former health. Please help us! If you can, we will be eternally in your debt.

As always, your most obedient servant,

Herschel Gobinmyer

Karnack mostly read it aloud, relating the party’s story of how they rescued some human captives from orcs at Losnoth, then after returning two young maidens to their village of Crystal Shores discovered that villagers were getting sick from some mysterious malady. The village druid, Herschel, had been unable to determine the cause or to devise a cure. Then the party visited Mont du Plat and found the evil ring that had apparently been polluting the water that flowed downstream to Crystal Shores. Karnack read, “… the ring the adventurers will now present to you. I pray you DO NOT TOUCH THE RING! Hmmm,” Karnack continued, “let me see the ring.” With that, Lightstep very carefully opened the bone scroll tube, and gently dropped the ring in its wrapping onto Karnack’s desk. Karnack then used a couple of wooden picks, much like chopsticks, to open the wrapping. He beheld the ring with its numerous small skulls for the first time, and let out a low whistle. He then finished reading aloud the letter from Herschel.

Charnalite ring

The ring that was found at Mont du Plat.

“It does appear we have a quandary,” said Karnack. “I have learned of such mischievous magics in the past, but do not directly recall such a ring. I must consult my tomes to see if I can discern any information about it. In the mean time, you and your companions are all my guests.” Karnack then spoke to the guards at the stairway. “Lieutenant, return these two guests to their companions, and make sure they are all well fed. Arrange baths for them, if they wish. Also provide them lodging in the west wall.” Just before Lightstep and Opalent left (leaving the ring and the bone scroll tube with Karnack), Karnack mentioned that it would most likely take him at least a day to find the information, even with the help of his scribes.

Lightstep and Opalent then retraced their steps to the courtyard, along with their guards, and then were ushered, along with their companions, to one of the larger wooden buildings inside the west wall of the castle. This building was the castle’s civilian mess hall. It had four eight-foot long wooden tables with wooden benches on two sides of each table. The dinnerware was ceramic, with the flatware being of beaten iron. Just about the time the party entered the building, the skies finally opened, and it began to rain a hard, steady, cold rain. The party was treated to the best meal they had enjoyed in a while, enjoying rabbit stew with carrots, onions, and potatoes, and fresh baked bread. There was plenty of salt and pepper for seasoning, too. Fresh cow’s milk was supplied to wash it all down.

While enjoying his meal, Vandin espied another dwarf sitting at another table. Since the other dwarf appeared to be a fighter, Vandin approached the other dwarf with a friendly greeting. Vandin was taken aback momentarily, however, when the other dwarf responded in a less than cordial manner, saying something that sounded like “go pluck yourself!” After a moment’s hesitation, Vandin asked if the other dwarf would like to join the group, promising an equal share of any treasure gained. With that, the other dwarf revealed his name as Douag (pronounced “doo-agg”), and agreed to join. Vandin then regaled Douag with tales of slaying five orcs in a row at Losnoth as they kept coming through a door one at a time. And then Flenda impressed Douag even more by showing him the two orc ears she had taken as a trophy!

After the meal, the party rested and was shown to where they would be quartered for the night inside the western wall of the castle (to get there they had to enter the ground level of the western tower beside the main gate, then travel inside the wall). Wooden walls had been erected to create separate rooms along the inside wall, with wooden doors for each room. On the floor in the rooms were mattresses stuffed with hay or moss, and there were plenty of woolen blankets. Some civilian servants asked if anyone wanted to bathe, and also offered to wash clothes for anyone who desired such. Plain gray robes were offered for anyone who decided to partake of bathing or clothes-washing. Lightstep wanted to find out what was in the vial of clear fluid he had procured from Mont du Plat, so he decided to take a small sip. He decided it tasted like plain, ordinary water, although he still wasn’t sure was it was. Eventually, the party all retired for the night in the rooms assigned to them.

— The Dungeon Master

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Journey to Karnack’s Castle: The Second Day

January 16th, 2016

We now leave the action at the spider farm south of Rushtu’un, and return our attention to the other group of adventurers who are traveling to Karnack’s castle.

Day #2-26 (Airday, 6th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) The party were all awake by 6 am, ate some food, then began their march towards Karnack’s castle once again, with Vandin and Vox in the lead, as usual. The day promised fair weather, as at dawn there was not a cloud in sight. They continued to march mostly towards the northeast, always keeping the Braztook Hills at least a couple of miles away to their right. Fortunately, Herschel Gobinmyer had given them a fair map and had mentioned prominent landmarks to navigate by. The group reached the road between Ganzir-Galad to the west and Fenshaft to the east about an hour before noon, so they lay down behind a low hill where they could not be spotted from the road, and ate lunch and rested for about 30 minutes. They then crossed the road, turned mostly north for another five miles, then were able to resume their northeastern course. Finally, in the late afternoon, after journeying about 20 miles, they made camp again. After dinner, the party realized they had collectively eaten about half of the rations they had started this journey with. They reckoned it should be OK, though, as they reckoned they should only have another 10 or 15 miles of marching to reach Karnack’s castle on the morrow.

Before retiring for the night, again without a campfire, the party decided on their night watch order: 1st watch: Vandin & Vox; 2nd watch: Falafela & Opalent; 3rd watch: Lightstep & Tureg; 4th watch: Gwenette & Jorgio. Vandin and Vox stood their early watch uneventfully, and then around 9 pm Falafela and Opalent took over. As it grew darker, there were only the stars for light, as the moon was a late-rising moon. Toward the end of their three-hour watch, both Falafela and Opalent heard a horse snort just on the other side of the low hill to the east of the party’s camp. Lightstep had been awake since making camp, as he was worried about his dangerous cargo of the evil ring that had been found at Mont du Plat, and he too heard the horse. So, he decided to sneak to the top of the low hill and see what was on the other side. Maybe 75 yards away was a small campfire, and Lightstep could make out the shapes of several horses and possibly several human-sized shapes near the fire.

— The Dungeon Master

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Midnight Raid on the Farm!

January 16th, 2016

DM note: 6th Dewsnap in the Wilderlands is equivalent to our “modern day” April 14. So, it is still springtime in the Wilderlands. It is also long past time to start introducing weather to the adventures.

Day #2-26 (Airday, 6th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) Back in Rushtu’un, Atlas and Quodak Windsailor were sawing logs a couple of hours after midnight in their private bedroom at the Traveler’s Place, when suddenly there was a commotion. Thump thump thump thump thump! Someone was banging on their door, yelling, “Wake up! Everyone up! Get dressed, bring your weapons and meet in the street in front of the sheriff’s office!” Atlas and Quodak quickly rubbed the sleepies out of their eyes, donned their gear, then went down the stairs. On their way to go outside, they asked Orek what was happening. Orek answered, “One of the sheriff’s deputies just came by and said there was a raid on the farm a few miles south of here. Sheriff Hook is trying to raise a militia to go and rescue the farm workers.” Then Atlas and Quodak went outside into the cool night air.

Out in the street, just about everyone from the town had gathered in front of Sheriff Hook’s office. Hook raised his arms to quiet the crowd, then he spoke in a loud voice so everyone could hear him. “About 20 minutes ago, a worker from the farm to the south of here came to my office and related a tale that some creatures had attacked his master’s farm. He said these creatures were smaller than human-sized, about the size of goblins, but they had dark skin. The attackers had already killed some of the farm workers soon after the attack, and had captured other workers. The attackers struck about an hour after nightfall, when all the humans at the farm were asleep. I am raising the militia, and request every able-bodied man to volunteer to go with me and two of my deputies to the farm to rescue the workers who are still alive, and to kill or drive away the invaders. For those who will go along, please step forward. Those who are staying in town, please step back.”

After just a moment or so, about two-dozen volunteers had stepped forward, including the two innkeepers, Orek and Jacob Lightfeather. Hook quickly sorted some folks out. He said, “Mayor Strobel will be in charge here in town while the militia is away. To help guard against our village being attacked, I want all citizens to gather in either the Traveler’s Place or at the Weary Voyager. Fortify those two places, and be alert. Orek and Jacob, you two take charge of anyone who takes refuge in your businesses. The rest of you volunteers, I will divide you into three squads that will be led by Culain Cleb, Howard, and myself.”

Hook then sent Atlas (ring mail, shield, scimitar & short bow), Quodak (studded leather, shield, jo stick), Hook’s deputy Harrison (studded leather, long sword), a construction worker named Bud (no armor, club), Edward (chainmail, shield, spear), and Jazzmin Nightwind (leather, dagger), a woman, who insisted on going along, to be commanded by Culain. Howard (a magic-user) was directed to take Alewyn van Ronk (no armor, short sword & light crossbow), Cedric (leather, broad sword), deputy Cesure (studded leather, long sword), a construction worker named Haro with a large hammer (no armor), Hillman (studded leather, shield, spear), and the cleric Sigfreid Golman (chainmail, shield, hammer). Hook (studded leather, shield, long sword) himself commanded Roberre Marley (no armor, dagger), the cleric Winslow Kellen (chainmail, shield, mace), and five construction workers: Arlford (club); Borgo (club); Diedo (short sword); Fareigh (pitchfork); Manlo (spear) — none of the construction workers had any armor.

Hook reminded everyone to keep quiet on the march, and to show no lights. The moon would be late rising, and was past its last crescent, in any case, so it would be dark on the march. Then, the militia was off to the farm, being led by the escaped farm worker. It was a three-mile march, and when the group was about a half-mile away from the farm, Hook reminded everyone once again to keep quiet. Hook then directed Culain’s group to take the left wing, Howard’s group to take the right wing, and Hook would keep his group in the center. The columns then cautiously approached the farm. While on the march, Atlas asked someone what kind of a farm they were going to, and was somewhat alarmed when he found out it was a spider farm! Atlas revealed he had a phobia about spiders! Fellow marcher, deputy Harrison, said, “Yeah, it’s a spider farm. They raise giant spiders and harvest the webs and make them into strong cloth. Don’t worry, the spiders are kept underground and are restrained by heavy timbers.” In spite of hearing that the spiders were restrained, Atlas was worried, wondering what he had got himself into.

When the first buildings of the farm came into dim view about 40 minutes before sunrise, Hook quietly passed word for everyone to hold their places. He then sent Roberre Marley, a half-elf, to creep forward and reconnoiter. After 30 minutes, Roberre returned, and said, “I only saw two non-human creatures walking from one building to another, and no humans at all. There are a couple of horses in the stable at the south end of the farm, and the horses are fairly spooked. That is all.” Hook decided to wait a few more minutes for the sun to rise, surmising that if the creatures were like goblins, even though the farm worker called them “shadow goblins,” then the creatures probably didn’t see too well in daylight. Also, Hook knew that almost all of his party were humans, and so they didn’t see too well in the dark, and in the early dawn it was quite likely to still be dark inside the buildings.

Finally, dawn came in, although nobody saw the sun rise as there was a solid cloud cover overhead. Hook made a suggestion as to how to proceed, but it met some resistance. Howard offered a different course of action, so Hook said, “Howard, you should take charge then.” So now Howard was calling the shots.

The group was approaching the farm from the southwest since they had circled to the south of the farm on the approach, thinking that the northern approach was more likely to be guarded. In that southwest corner of the farm was the residence of the owner, Ulayah Reyn, and of his daughter, Heri. Culain’s group was kept at the western edge of the house, while Howard’s group circled to the eastern side of the building. Hillman, Sigfried, Alewyn, and Cedric went into the residence, and after a minute they all came back out and said there was nobody inside.

Next, Culain’s team went to the next building to the north, the women’s dormitory. It was a one story wooden building, 30 feet by 40 feet in dimension, with a single door on the eastern wall. Atlas entered the building first, closely followed by Quodak. While there were wooden cots around the outside of the walls, the center of the interior was clear, except for the rotund owner of the farm, Ulayah, who was tied to a chair and who was surrounded by several shadow goblins. Atlas had his scimitar at the ready, and he swung it with all of his considerable might, neatly slicing the closest shadow goblin in half! Quodak quickly tried to attack the shadow goblin closest to him, but missed on his first strike with his bo stick. Then a wild melee ensued, with Edward, deputy Harrison, Bud, and Jazzmin all also entering the building and the fray. There were still three shadow goblins surrounding Ulayah, and two more who were off to the side, napping. Two of the shadow goblins were a bit larger and stronger than the rest, and they were vicious fighters. One of those shadow goblins, in fact, rendered Atlas hors de combat as Atlas fell heavily to the ground after being struck multiple times by the shadow goblin’s short sword and dagger combination.

More human reinforcements poured into the building, including two of the construction workers from Hook’s group, Arlford and Borgo. At the same time, the napping shadow goblins awoke and also joined the fray. Culain then muscled his way into the building, and he proved to be very effective immediately, using his shield and spear to quickly dispatch two of the shadow goblins. In the meantime, the two leader shadow goblins were now each double or triple-teamed but were still holding their own. Then when Culain turned his attention to one of those shadow goblins, it finally went down with Culain’s spear through its vitals. Just at that time, Jazzmin Nightwind, who had maneuvered herself to the rear of the last remaining shadow goblin, dispatched it with a deft backstab.

The humans took stock of their casualties. Edward and Quodak were the only humans still on their feet who had received wounds; however, Atlas, and the two construction workers Arlford and Borgo, were down. It was found that Arlford was dead, although Borgo still lived. Atlas was covered in so much blood that he was believed dead until Jazzmin checked for a pulse. Finding one, she cried, “He’s still alive!” and so she and some others quickly bound Atlas’ wounds to prevent the further effusion of blood. And, in the background, the owner of the farm Ulayah was still yelling and screaming and struggling against the ropes that bound him to his chair. Someone then cut Ulayah loose and tried to calm him down. Atlas and Borgo were placed on cots along the south wall of the dorm, and the dead shadow goblins were stacked along the north wall.

<to be continued>

— The Dungeon Master

DM note: Unfortunately, play had to be suspended just where the above narrative left off. When it eventually resumes, the further action will be added to this post.

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Journey to Karnack’s Castle: The First Day

January 15th, 2016

This post begins the journey of the group from Crystal Falls to Karnack’s castle. The wise old druid of Crystal Falls, Herschel Gobinmyer, had directed the party to travel to see Karnack to see if Karnack could discover anything about the evil ring that had been found at Mont du Plat, and to see if anything could reverse the apparent zombie curse that had befallen Crystal Shores.

Day #2-25 (Spiritday, 5th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) The party arose from Mylene’s loft around 7 am, then gathered up the girls and Jorgio from the Deathmar’s house. They all ate as much food as they could, then departed the village of Crystal Shores around 8 am. They decided, since they had to march around 60 miles, that they should pace themselves at about a 2 miles-per-hour speed. Around an hour after high noon they reached the ruins of Mont du Plat, crossing over to the north side of the south branch of the River Bushkill on the low bridge. They then traveled past 6 buildings, a few of which had the stench of death about them. The party did not stop to investigate, though, as they were in a hurry to reach Karnack’s castle. The druid Herschel Gobinmyer had actually tried to get the adventurers to rest an extra day before they began their trek, but they all felt good enough to start as soon as possible.

About an hour after passing through Mont du Plat, the party stopped for a 30 minute long lunch break and rest. (They had also been resting for 5 or 10 minutes per hour of marching.) Then they resumed their march. After around 10 hours of marching, at about 6 pm, they had left the river behind (it was merely a creek at this point, anyway) and finally emerged from the jungle and into the clear. They could see that ahead of them was mostly clear terrain, with a few scattered low hills to their front, and they could plainly see the Braztook Hills on their right, to the east. They decided to make camp at this time, as they had already marched at least 20 miles. They made no fire, lest it attract any unwanted attention. They ate dinner, then posted a paired watch of Opalent and Vox, then Falafela and Vandin, then Flenda and Lightstep, and finally Gwenette and Jorgio, each pair standing watch for three hours. When Falafela and Vandin were standing watch, they heard a loud crash from the direction of the jungle, right near where they had been marching during the day. They surmised it was merely a dead tree falling, and since it did not wake anyone else up, they decided to just watch even more intently, but nothing else occurred during the rest of the night.

— The Dungeon Master

DM note: To make it easier to read the adventures in proper chronological order, I have added a link in the sidebar under “Fantasy Role-Playing” that points to the D&D Adventure Log. You could even bookmark that link, if you enjoy reading these adventures.

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Resting and Recuperating at Rushtu’un

January 14th, 2016

So, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted about Dungeons & Dragons adventures. I had some computer troubles over the Christmas holidays that kept me from posting. But now those computer issues have been resolved, and it’s time to post some more adventures!

Day #2-25 (Spiritday, 5th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) The next morning after their adventure down the well, Atlas, Edward, and Quodak met Hillman at the Sheriff’s office in Rushtu’un and each collected their 15 Gold Piece (GP) share from the recovered treasure. They also took the 15 GP share for Preston (which they gave to him when they visited him shortly after). They then went with the Sheriff to Netto’s General Store, where Netto appraised the values of the pearl, the bloodstone, and the silver cloak clasp. Netto figured the cloak clasp was worth about 20 GP, while he placed a value of 25 GP on the bloodstone, and 100 GP on the pearl. None of the adventurers had the money to buy out the others’ shares of those items, so the Sheriff kept them for safekeeping for now.

Then the party traipsed over to the Weary Voyager to see how Preston was getting on. They found he had regained consciousness, so Quodak cast two Cure Light Wounds spells on Preston, which cured 6 Hit Points of damage. (Quodak had prayed early upon arising to regain his spells.) The proprietor of the Weary Voyager, Jacob Lightfeather, thanked Quodak for helping to heal Preston’s wounds. Quodak also made a trip to Mingo’s Marvelous Maps, et cetera, where Quodak was able to sell his crude map of the dungeon to Mingo for 1 Silver Piece (SP). While Quodak kept the original map, Mingo made a much nicer map, drawing with ink upon parchment. Quodak mentioned to Mingo that there was still some kind of unknown beast in the dungeon in a large cavern that was filled with water, so perhaps some other adventurers would purchase such a map to go exploring.

After noon, Quodak went to Netto’s General Store and bought a new 50-foot rope, a small knife, a “mess kit” (consisting of a beaten metal plate, bowl, and cup), and some salt and seasonings that were wrapped in small paper envelopes. That all cost 2 GP, 4 SP, and 2 Copper Pieces (CP) total. Meanwhile, Atlas went to Alewyn’s Arms and bought a short bow, a quiver, and a dozen arrows for 22 GP and 8 SP. Then both Atlas and Quodak signed up at Culain’s Fighting Academy for some fighting lessons, Atlas to learn the fundamentals of using a short bow, and Quodak to learn more about using his bo stick more efficiently. That cost each of them 4 GP for the first week’s lessons, paid in advance, of course. Then, late in the afternoon, the duo returned to the Traveler’s Place, and had their last free meal and last free night’s lodging.

Also during the day, Sully Westerbrook’s widow was brought to town by two of Sheriff Hook’s deputies to make a positive identification of her late husband’s body, and needless to say she was grief-stricken about having to perform that unwelcome deed. Some other women of the town did their best to console Mrs. Westerbrook. After Sully’s body was identified by his widow, some townsfolk had a short funeral service after which they buried Sully’s body in the side yard of his house. The bones of the unknown carpenter were buried just outside of town in an unmarked grave.

Also, various townsfolk looked at the head and the feet of the strange beast that was killed by the adventurers, and Sheriff Hook said he thought it was called a meazel. While he had never seen one in person before, it sort of matched a description he had heard several years before by some other travelers who had passed through the village of Rushtu’un.

Experience points: Monsters killed in the dungeon (on 4th Dewsnap): 6 giant rats (7 XP each, plus 1 XP per HP) = 6 * 7 + 16 HP = 42 + 16 = 58 XP; 1 meazel (85 XP + 4 XP/HP) = 85 + 4 * 26 = 85 + 104 = 189 XP. Total monster XP = 58 + 189 = 247 XP. Treasure: 100 GP, 40 SP, 50 CP, a gold ring, silver necklace, silver cloak clasp (20 GP value), steel dagger, a pearl (100 GP value), a bloodstone (25 GP value). There was also the 25 SP found at the rat’s nest, adding 1.25 GP equivalent value. Total money value = 638.5 GP.

Total experience point value is 247 + 639 = 886 XP. This needs to be divided by two regular characters (each gets a full share) and three non-player characters (each gets a half-share). This makes 7 half-shares to be divided, so 886 / 7 = 127 XP per half-share (Edward, Hillman, Preston), or 253 XP per full share (Atlas, Quodak). Atlas & Quodak each get a 10% XP bonus due to their high strength & wisdom, respectively, so they each get 278 XP.

Treasure division: The party had to turn in the gold ring, the silver necklace, and the steel dagger, but nobody claimed to have lost the silver cloak clasp or the pearl or the bloodstone, so the party can keep them and divide their value. Out of the money, Sheriff Hook took out the 75 GP rewards (50 GP for Sully, 25 GP for the missing carpenter), then gave the rest of the money to Sully’s widow, so each member of the party could get 15 GP from the rewards. Each member of the party got to keep their 5 SP from the rat’s nest.

Total accumulated experience points: Atlas 278; Quodak Windsailor 278; Edward 127; Hillman 127; Preston Daniel 127 XP.

— The Dungeon Master

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Meanwhile, in Rushtu’un…

December 26th, 2015

Of course, when Dungeon Mastering for Dungeons & Dragons, there is no need for the Dungeon Master to confine himself (or herself) to only DMing for one party. It is possible to run separate campaigns with different players playing different characters, such as what is related below. As of yet, I have not located Rushtu’un into a particular part of the Wilderlands, but I reckon I will try to make it somewhere near where the other group of adventurers are based.

Day #2-24 (Fireday, 4th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC) At the same time that Falafela, Lightstep, Opalent, Vandin, Vox, et al were fighting the zombies in the dungeon at Mont du Plat, there were some other adventurers named Atlas and Quodak Windsailor, a human fighter and a human cleric, respectively, who arrived in the village of Rushtu’un around 3 o’clock in the afternoon after a long day’s march. As they came into town from the west, the first buildings they saw were the Traveler’s Place on their left, and the Sheriff’s office on their right. They enquired at the Sheriff’s office first, and spoke with a deputy. The deputy informed Atlas and Quodak that a local villager had disappeared last night, and that the sheriff was out tacking up reward posters for information leading to finding the missing man, Sully Westerbrook.

The duo then went back across the dirt road to the Traveler’s Place where they were greeted by the proprietor, Orek. Orek asked them what they wanted, and served them. Quodak was sated with just a bowl of soup (that was very filling, nonetheless) and a glass of ale, for 3 silver pieces (SP). Atlas ordered a full meal of roast beef, potatoes, and carrots, and washed it down with a mug of mead, all for 1 gold piece (GP) and 5 SP. Bread was also supplied to both. While the party waited for their food, they spoke with Orek who mentioned there had also been some thievery going on lately. Orek was upset because it was bad for business when customers who stayed the night at his place found some of their possessions missing in the morning. He said he believed it was the work of the elf, Jacob, who ran the competing Weary Voyager Lodge in town.

While the duo were speaking with Orek, they were approached by another patron, Edward. Edward said he was planning to collect the reward by trying to find the missing Sully, although he’d like to have some help, and would Atlas and Quodak join him? They all agreed that three searchers were better than just one or two, even if it meant splitting the reward more ways. Quodak also bought a beer for 5 copper pieces (CP) for Edward while they were talking. After their meal was finished, Atlas and Quodak decided they’d like to check out more of the town before booking a room for the night. Edward decided to stay behind, for now. As Atlas and Quodak left, they filled their waterskins from the private well behind Orek’s place.

The duo stopped by Jordy’s Forge, a blacksmith shop, on the south side of the road. Jordy was busy hammering away at some iron on his anvil when the party approached, but he was ready to lay his hammer down for a moment to talk with some newcomers. Jordy didn’t know anything about the disappearance of Sully, but he did mention that he believed there were some humanoid creatures gathering in some woods outside of town, and that those creatures were planning an attack against the village. Jordy also spoke about another relative newcomer to town who ran a school that taught people to be good fighters. He said that new fellow had been a great soldier in a far off city, but for whatever reason had decided to settle in Rushtu’un. Then party then thanked Jordy and his two young apprentices, and moved on.

The next stop was on the north side of the road at Mingo’s Marvelous Maps, et cetera. Quodak bought two maps (at 1 SP each) of the town and of the surrounding area, as well as a leather map case for another 15 SP. Quodak asked how waterproof the leather map case was, and Mingo assured him that it was well-treated leather that would keep his maps dry in everything except total immersion in water. Mingo tried to interest the duo in buying some magic scrolls, but at hundreds of gold pieces for a scroll, the duo just couldn’t afford to buy any scrolls.

Back to the south side of the road the party went, this time stopping at Culain’s Fighting Academy. Culain immediately tried to sign them up to take fighting lessons for 4 GP per week, for two to four weeks in duration, but the party declined, although expressing possible future interest. They then asked Culain if he knew anything of Sully’s disappearance. Culain said that the night before he heard a brief scream that was interrupted, then all was quiet outside again. He said he quickly went outside to look around, but didn’t see anything and that nobody was in sight in any direction. He did say the scream seemed to come from the east of him, though.

After the party thanked Culain, they left him and proceeded towards the east, to the village’s community well. There, Quodak put his forester skills to good use. He was able to discern, amongst other footprints, some horse or mule tracks that came near the well. Then, there seemed to be a disturbance in the tracks, with the tracks sort of shuffling about, before the tracks proceeded onward as before. He also noticed a couple of drag-marks, like boot-heels, being dragged from the site of the disturbance towards the well. The drag marks ended at the well. There were also two weird footprints that sort of looked like they were from a very large duck with webbed feet but with pointed toenails. As it was getting later in the afternoon, it was too dark to see down the well, so the duo tied a torch to some cord, lit the torch, and lowered it down the well. They could sort of see something that looked like a crack in a sidewall of the well, just above the water’s edge, although they could see no sign of Sully in the well itself.

Atlas and Quodak then quickly went back to the sheriff’s office to inform of what they had found. As he had finished his rounds around town, they got to meet Sheriff Hook in person. The sheriff left his deputy behind and accompanied Atlas and Quodak to the well. Along the way, the sheriff mentioned there was another reward for various missing valuables that had recently been stolen. He also mentioned there had been another missing person recently. Two weeks ago, a traveling carpenter had come to town looking for work. He was missing the following morning, but the sheriff (and Orek) thought the carpenter had merely run off to get out of paying his bill. But now the sheriff thinks that disappearance may be related to Sully’s disappearance. After showing the sheriff the tracks at the well, Atlas and Quodak went to Netto’s General Store, which was next to the Sheriff’s office. There, they bought 3 ropes, a couple of iron spikes, and 5 torches (total cost was 12 SP and 6 CP).

The duo then went back to the Traveler’s Place to fetch Edward to join them, and found that someone named Preston Daniel had joined Edward. Well, four might be better than three, they reckoned. Then, when they went outside after Edward and Preston had gathered up their belongings, including their weapons, they met the sheriff again. The sheriff remarked that if they were going to go down the well, they might want to recruit some more folks, so the sheriff led them all to the Weary Voyager Lodge. There, the party got to meet Jacob Lightfeather, the elven competitor to the half-orc Orek. Jacob mentioned that he believed the thefts around town were the work of Orek in an effort to discredit Jacob. While the party briefly spoke with Jacob, the sheriff went around the room, quietly talking with a few folks. Two men then got up from their tables and approached the party. One was a young fellow named Hillman who was quite enthusiastic to join up for adventure. The other, Fineous (nicknamed “Four Fingers” because he was missing the pinky finger on each hand), wanted 200 GP up front to go searching for Sully, so the party declined to have him join them.

Finally, around 6:30 pm, after the sun had just set, the party congregated at the well. They quickly tied a rope around the base of the well, tying a bowline-on-a-bight on the other end to make two loops so party members could sit in the loops and be lowered down the well, one-by-one. They also drove in a couple of spikes to hold the rope down and to keep it from sliding up and over the well walls.

Hillman volunteered to be the first one down the rope into the well, carrying a torch as he went. As he neared the water, he cried out that there was a crack in the wall big enough for a man to crawl into. The other party members followed him down, one by one. The sheriff stationed a deputy at the well to ensure nobody would tamper with the rope while the adventurers were below.

The party entered a narrow passage in which they almost had to crawl through. The floor was very muddy, with a couple of inches of standing water in most places. After mostly crawling for about 40 feet, they finally emerged into an area large enough so they could stand. They also lit a second torch, as the constant dripping of water from overhead seemed likely to extinguish their single torch. There were passages to the left and to the right, and the party started by taking the right tunnel.

After a number of left and right turns in the twisting tunnel, they debouched into a larger area that had some trash in it, things like broken sticks, tree roots, paper and other scraps. When Quodak went to investigate one pile of rubble in a corner of the chamber, he disturbed a nest of giant rats that were hidden in the trash. Suddenly, four giant rats sprang at the party, soon to be joined by two more rats. There was hardly enough room to swing a weapon, but when all was said and done, Hillman had killed three of the rats, Atlas killed two rats, and Edward finished off the last rat. Hillman and Edward used their shields and spears to good effect against the rats. However, party members Atlas, Quodak, and Preston had managed to get bitten by the rats, and trying to clean the wounds in the filthy, damp, chamber was impossible. Quodak finished his interrupted search of the debris, and found a stash of 25 SP that he shared equally with everyone, 5 SP to each party member.

The party then proceeded into the tunnel at the far side of the giant rat chamber. After more twists and turns of more than 100 feet, they came into a much larger chamber that had a large pool of dark water in it. Atlas and Quodak approached the water’s edge to investigate, especially looking for any human footprints or any of the large, webbed prints they had seen near the well. Suddenly, a large snake-like object flashed out of the water and at Quodak. Fortunately for him, it missed, then withdrew into the water again. Quodak and the others didn’t wait around for a repeat of whatever it was, but instead high-tailed it back into the tunnel they had just come from. They then retraced their footsteps past the rat’s nest area and back to the original junction they first passed through after descending the well.

This time the party took the left passage from the junction. About a hundred feet later, then came upon a four-way intersection. They took the passage to their left. After a 90-degree right-hand turn, they came into a large chamber, about 50 feet by 60 feet in size. They noticed some smaller tunnels that went into the walls of the chamber, but the tunnels were too small for any humans to enter. This chamber also was relatively dry, and unlike most of the rest of the tunnels, this area was devoid of rats, whether of the normal or giant-sized variety. The party then retraced their steps to the four-way intersection.

From the intersection, the party traveled down the path that was straight ahead from their original direction of travel. After more than 200 feet of travel down the dripping, muddy, winding tunnel, the intrepid adventurers emerged into a chamber that was about 70 or so feet long by about 40 feet wide. This chamber had a stench of death about it, and in the chamber the party found a human skeleton, most likely from the missing carpenter, and a partially eaten human corpse that was wearing clothing that matched the description of what Sully Westerbrook was wearing when he was last seen at The Sink Hole the previous evening. The party then started packing the skeleton bones into two large sacks of Quodak’s, and they tied Sully’s body to their 10-foot pole.

Before the party left the chamber, Quodak tossed his torch towards a far corner of the chamber, which was in shadow. This disturbed a creature that was hiding there, and it charged! Unfortunately for Preston, he was the closest to the creature, and he took the brunt of its attack. The humanoid creature was flailing away with both arms at Preston, one hand with claws, the other hand with a sharp, shiny object in it that later proved to be a very fine steel dagger. Preston was felled, and Atlas stepped between Preston and the creature. While Quodak quickly rendered some first aid to Preston to bind his wounds, Hillman joined in the counter-attack against the creature. Eventually, Edward was able to maneuver to in back of the creature, and he dispatched it with two well-placed strikes from behind. Atlas did receive some injury from the creature, but he then cut off the creature’s head and feet and stuffed them into a third large sack to take back to the village as proof of what they had found. They also investigated the chamber more thoroughly, finding a small sack that contained 100 GP, 40 SP, and 50 CP, a plain gold ring, a silver necklace, and a silver cloak clasp (besides the steel dagger the creature was weilding). They also found amongst the carpenter’s bones a small pearl and a bloodstone.

The party now faced a dilemma as they had four relatively able-bodied adventurers available, but they now needed to take two bodies out of the lair, one being the unconscious Preston, the other the dead Sully. They also had a sack of the creature’s head and feet, and a small sack with recovered treasure. As the party prepared to depart for the well entrance, they tied the creature’s treasure sack to Sully’s body, then Edward and Quodak hoisted the 10-foot pole with Sully to their shoulders. Atlas and Hillman were carrying Preston between then, with Atlas also holding the lantern.

Just as the party was getting ready to depart, Hillman expressed his thoughts out loud. He said, “If all four of us are carrying the two bodies, we won’t be in any position to resist any attacks. I think we should re-think this! I believe we should have a guard out in front, then two of us can alternate which body we carry in the middle, followed by a rear-guard. The guard in front can carry a lantern, and the guard in back can carry a torch. Then, when the carriers in the middle get tired, they can switch with the guards.” So that’s what the party changed to. They initially had Atlas leading with the lantern, then Quodak and Edward alternated carrying Preston or Sully’s body in the middle, followed by Hillman as the rear-guard with a torch. The rear guard also carried the sack with the bones of the skeleton they found. Also, just before they departed, Quodak cast a Cure Light Wounds on himself, which cured 2 hit points of damage.

About halfway back to the well, shortly before they reached the four-way intersection, the guards and carriers switched places. Now Edward was in the lead with the lantern, then Atlas and Hillman were carrying the bodies, then Quodak brought up the rear with a torch.

When the party finally reached the well, Edward called out “Hello, up top!” A deputy sheriff leaned over the edge of the well, holding a lantern to cast some light down the well, as night had fallen over the village. The deputy replied, “You are all back already?” “Yes,” Edward called back, “and we have a person who is seriously injured, and will need help hoisting him up the well!” The guard then called for help at the well, and within a few minutes a number of additional villagers appeared topside at the well, including Orek, Jacob Lightfeather, and Sheriff Hook. When it became apparent that more ropes were needed, the Sheriff sent the deputy to Netto’s General Store to requisition a couple more ropes. With the additional ropes lowered down the well, Quodak used his old forester skills to tie a bowline on a bight knot in each rope, so then each additional rope had two large loops that would not tighten.

Preston was placed into the loops, with one loop tied around his knees and the other loop under his armpits. They tied his arms to the rope to keep his unconscious form from slipping out of the loops as he was raised to the surface by the people above. As soon as Preston reached the surface, Jacob said to take Preston to the Weary Voyager Lodge for better care for his wounds. Next, the ropes were lowered and the pole that Sully was lashed to was itself lashed to the loops, and his body was raised to the top. Next up were the sacks containing the skeletal bones, and the recovered treasure. Then, the party went up in the order of Atlas, Edward, Quodak, then Hillman. Hillman said since he was the first one down that he should be the last one up.

Once Preston arrived at the Lodge, he was bathed and his wounds were stitched up by some of Jacob’s staff. The others followed Sheriff Hook to his office, where the loot was displayed. Of the 100 GP recovered, the Sheriff mentioned that the party had earned the 50 GP reward for finding the missing Sully Westerbrook. The Sheriff mentioned that he would have to bring Sully’s wife into town the next day for positive ID, but that was just a formality, as the Sheriff was certain that it was Sully who had been found. The Sheriff, while uncertain that the recovered bones were those of the missing carpenter, decided they probably were of the carpenter as they looked fairly fresh, and no other persons had been reported missing recently. So, the Sheriff said the party had earned the additional 25 GP reward for finding the carpenter, or at least what was left of him. The Sheriff then stated that he would like to give the remaining 25 GP, plus the 40 SP and 50 CP to Sully’s widow, and the party agreed to that.

The Sheriff declared that the gold ring matched the description of a missing ring of Jacob Lightfeather’s, so the ring would be returned to Jacob. The shiny steel dagger matched a dagger that had been stolen from the dwarf Shilton Nimrod, an employee of Jacob’s. The silver necklace belonged to Jazzmin Nightwind, an out of work teamster who was hanging around town. But the Silver Cloak Clasp, and the pearl and bloodstone did not appear on any lists of missing items, so the Sheriff said they were for the party. Of course, there would have to be some way to split the monetary value from those items. In any event, the Sheriff kept all of the money and other items for safekeeping overnight, and said everyone could retrieve the items the next day.

After that, Hillman departed for the Weary Voyager Lodge to spend the night, while Atlas, Edward, and Quodak retired to the Traveler’s Place. Orek said he would provide two nights of free lodging, plus free meals, for the trio, although, Orek did say they would all have to bathe before they could spend the night as they all stunk from the dungeon they had been in. After bathing, the party retired for the night.

— The Dungeon Master

DM note: As one can see from reading  the tags to this post (and other posts), one can weave quite a setting in the fantasy world of D&D. Besides the main player-characters (PCs), there are plenty of non-player characters (NPCs) for the PCs to interact with. Plus, lots of place names, for villages, businesses, geographical locations, etc.

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Zombie Encounter at Mont du Plat

December 22nd, 2015

After our party of intrepid adventurers escorted Flenda and Gwenette back to their home in the village of Crystal Shores, they discovered unexpected adventure awaited them early the next day!

Day #2-24 (Fireday, 4th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): Fortunately for our intrepid party of adventurers staying the night at the Inn of the Blushing Trout in Crystal Shores, the night passed uneventfully. However, upon arising the next morning and heading downstairs from their bedrooms to the main room of the inn, the party found that the innkeeper Sathe Lidorn, his wife Beefa and daughter Lido had all turned into living dead “zombies.” A pair of the zombies attempted to attack the party, but since the zombies were rather slow, the party was able to herd them, holding chairs like lion tamers, to get all three zombies behind the bar in the main dining room area. Then the party corralled the zombies by stacking a couple of tables across the bar opening into the main room. They then quickly repaired to tell Herschel and Wider about what had transpired. Herschel convinced the party they should make haste to go to Mont du Plat. Herschel also said he would get some other villagers to try to more properly restrain the innkeeper’s family.

The party did stop at Vilan’s to see if Flenda and Gwenette wanted to go along to Mont du Plat, and they did, after speaking to the druid Herschel, who mentioned to them they could do a good deed by helping to find the pestilence that was affecting their fellow townsfolk. The party did stop by Mylene’s to obtain a 5-gallon wooden keg, and then Herschel cast a spell to Create (pure) Water in the keg, so at least the party knew they would be starting off with some clean water to drink, as Herschel once again reiterated he thought there was something wrong with the water in the village. The party then lashed a couple of long poles to the keg to make it easier to carry, and especially enlisted the help of Jorgio and Fredo to help carry the water jug as they were unencumbered with any heavy armor.

Then, after a hasty breakfast of jerky and hardtack, although most of the morning was gone, the party departed for Mont du Plat to the east. They followed a trail along the south bank of the south branch of the River Bushkill. There was a jungle to the south that approached very near to the river, so the party kept an eye out for any marauding orcs or other troublesome creatures that might be hidden in the foliage.

Finally, the party arrived at Mont du Plat after a journey of about 10 miles that took about four hours, also drinking a bit more than half of their water supply. They noticed a bridge over the river to their left with a line of what looked to be several houses on the other side of the river. They also saw that the river seemed to come out of a cave higher up on the hill in front of them, and then there was a waterfall with another wooden bridge crossing the river about 50 feet higher than the party’s current elevation. Instead of crossing the river, the party took the road to the right, which started uphill at a healthy angle. They first passed a ramshackle farmhouse on their left. That structure had a severe lean or tilt to it, and looked like it would fall over at any minute. Next was a house of stone walls with a wooden shingled-roof. It had a corral but no animals in it. Next was a sod house with a thatched roof, and then finally a fairly well maintained wood frame house with its front door barely hanging on by its top hinge. Most of the old village looked like it was very run-down, with buildings that hadn’t been cared for in some time.

After another 20 yards or so, the party reached another fork in the road. They stayed to the left, heading back towards the river, still gaining elevation, but not so steep as before. After a left-right chicane-type bend in the road, eventually the road took a sharp right turn, with an old blacksmith shop on the inside of the bend. Behind the smithy were some medium-density woods. If the party had gone straight ahead on the road, it would have crossed the river on that higher wooden bridge that they had seen when they were 50 feet lower. The group could also see an old miller’s residence across the river, and its water-wheel was still being turned by the river, and the water wheel was still turning its grinding wheel, although nothing was being ground between the millstones. The waterfall in the river began just past the miller’s water wheel, to the right of that high bridge. From this position the party could see the road continued higher on the near bank of the river, and there was another wooden footbridge just above where the river debouched from the rocky hill.

The party took the right fork in the road from the smithy’s place, gaining another 10 feet of elevation. The road paralleled the river, and the adventurers saw a stone arch with a large opening in it off to their right. They left the road to investigate that arch, and saw it had stairs leading down into the dark underground. Behind that stone portal the party could see trees, and scattered amongst the trees were broken rocks that looked to have once been the foundation or walls of a building, although there were no standing walls any more. Without any further ado, the party got out some torches, lit them, and proceeded to head down those stairs, although they left their water keg outside the entrance to the stairs.

At the bottom of the winding stairs in the dungeon, the hallway turned abruptly to the left. About 60 feet further on, the hall turned to the right, and immediately after that turn another hallway went to the left (as well as straight ahead). The party took that left corridor at that first intersection. They soon came to a rectangular chamber whose ceiling had partially collapsed in its center, making an hourglass-shaped room. The room had a very foul odor, and many rats were scurrying about. There was also a whistling noise coming from the other side of the room. The party could also occasionally hear some shuffling sorts of noises, but could not determine their direction of origin. The floor was covered with slippery green moss, and party members Falafela, Opalent, and Tureg lost their footing and fell on their backsides, getting covered with the slimy moss, while trying to cross the room. Eventually the entire party made it through the partial collapse in the middle of the room to the far side of the room and discovered another passageway at the diagonally opposite corner, which they continued down. This hallway also quickly turned right, with another branch hallway to the left just after the turn. The passage straight ahead was blocked by a cave-in after 20 feet or so, so the group decided to investigate the passage to the left.

The passage opened into a room that was about 30 feet by 60 feet in size, and one corner opened into a larger, semi-circular area, although that additional area had seen a cave-in and so its size could not readily be determined. This chamber was also dry, including the floor, so the party didn’t have to worry about slipping and falling like in the previous room they had traversed, although this room did also have an unpleasant odor. The whistling noise that had heard in the previous room was louder now and was determined to be coming from somewhere in the caved-in area in this chamber. There were some scraps of timber on the floor, but nothing else to discover, so the party retraced their steps. On their way back through the hourglass-shaped room, Lightstep, Persis and Gwenette managed to fall on the slippery moss on the floor, and Falafela fell a second time, thus getting more thoroughly covered with the stinky slime.

After exiting the mossy-floored room, the party went to their left, down what had previously been the “straight ahead” hallway. They eschewed taking either of two hallways on their right that they passed, instead bearing straight ahead where they finally entered a large chamber after traveling about 100 feet. Their two torches could not light the entire chamber, but they could see that the room must have been elegant, once. The walls still had some remnants of carvings, although they had been eroded by years of water dripping down them. The floor was rather muddy with some standing water, except for some large piles of rubble that had collapsed from parts of the ceiling. As the party noted there were some wide steps on the opposite side of the room from whence the party had entered that led up a raised dais. While the party was engaged in looking at the walls and the dais, they suddenly became aware that they were about to be attacked by four zombies!

The 11 members of the party quickly fanned out to meet the zombie attack, with Lightstep, Persis, Tureg, Vox, and Vandin meeting the attack head-on, and with Falafela, Flenda, Fredo, Gwenette, and Jorgio maneuvering to get behind the zombies for attacks from the rear. Magic-user Opalent wisely stayed out of the fray, and was ready to render first aid to anyone who may have needed it. As it was, the party quickly dispatched the zombies. Vandin first felled one with a mighty blow from his hammer. Falafela backstabbed one zombie out of existence while Jorgio proved his worth by dispatching two zombies with well placed backstabs with his short sword. Vox was the only member of the party who received any battle damage from the zombies, but it was merely a flesh wound.

The party then left that chamber through the opposite passageway, which was at the far end of the room, about 90 feet away, along the same wall they entered by. That corridor ended quickly in the straight-ahead direction, due to a cave-in, thus the party took its right turn and went down that hallway instead. After close to 100 feet, the corridor turned to the right, then after another 40 feet or so it made another right turn. After another few feet, the corridor opened into another chamber. Falafela ventured into the room by herself, without a torch, and managed to not fall down even though the floor in this room was also covered by slimy moss. She heard some footsteps in the dark, then quickly retreated to join the rest of the party in the hallway.

The party waited for the zombies in the room to come to them at the corridor’s mouth. While one zombie slipped and fell down in the middle of the room, two zombies made their way to where Vox and Vandin were waiting to receive them. Vox took some damage from a zombie, then fell back, his place in the front rank quickly taken by Tureg. Then Vandin took some serious damage from the other zombie and fell back; Flenda took his place in front.

While Lightstep cast two Cure Light Wounds spells on Vandin and Vox (the spells were not very effective), Flenda cut down one of the zombies. The other zombie got knocked off its feet and Flenda, Tureg, Fredo, and then eventually Lightstep entered the room. Tureg slipped and fell on the slimy floor, but the others stayed upright. Flenda quickly dispatched the fallen zombie, but the other zombie that had earlier fallen had got up and made its way to the party, killing Fredo with its first attack. Flenda then worked her way around behind that zombie and backstabbed it down, never to rise again. Naturally, Fredo’s brother, Jorgio, was heartbroken at the loss of his brother. He did not want to go on. Some of the party also thought it would be wise to make their way out of the dungeon at this time to lick their wounds, but the sisters from Crystal Shores, Flenda and Gwenette, reminded everyone that their fellow villagers were falling sick and becoming zombies, and they wanted to try to find the source of that mysterious malady as quickly as they could. So, the party, minus Jorgio who stayed behind with a torch to watch his brother’s body and keep the rats away from it, pressed on.

The chamber they were in was L-shaped, and after they turned into the left leg of the “ell,” there was another passage leading out of it. However, there was an irregularly shaped pit about 10 feet deep across the mouth of that passage. Flenda and Opalent jumped across the pit first, then tied a rope to Opalent’s 10-foot long pole and braced it against the floor of the passage as an aid to others who would cross. One-by-one, the party crossed at the narrowest part of the pit where it was only three feet wide. The only casualty was Vandin who fell into the pit and took some minor damage. He would have been injured more severely except he had a grip on the rope and so didn’t fall too hard. The party then fished him out of the pit with the rope. After they all got across the pit, they then traveled about 70 more feet and then turned left into another chamber that was about 30 feet by 40 feet in size. Part of the left-hand sidewall was collapsed, making a pile of rocks about 3 feet high and about 5 feet in hemispherical diameter.

This chamber contained four more zombies, and while all of the previous zombies the party had encountered in this dungeon were dressed as simple villagers, three of these newly encountered zombies were clad in chainmail and were carrying swords, and a fourth zombie was wearing a robe fit for a wizard. During the initial melee, the dwarf Persis was killed by one of the fighter zombies. While other fighters were battling the zombies, Opalent took off her backpack and got out her only flask of oil. She then grabbed Falafela’s cloak, doused it with the oil, and put it on the end of her 10-foot pole. She then lit it with a torch, and dropped the flaming cloak on the head of the nearest zombie. While that zombie was burning to its extinction, another zombie took some minor damage from the blaze. The party also recognized that the flames were holding the other zombies at bay, seemingly fearing the fire. Opalent and Falafela then boldly led the way into the room with their torches and forced the three remaining zombies back. The other party members all scrambled into the room, staying close behind the two torch-bearers except for Vandin who scrambled up and over the rock pile along the wall. Eventually, the party members changed places with the zombies and then Falafela and Opalent used the burning torches to push the zombies back down the hallway the adventurers had used to enter the room.

After a couple of minutes, the zombies were maneuvered to the edge of the pit the adventurers had crossed. The torch bearers, Falafela and Opalent, then maneuvered the zombies so they fell into the pit. The party then formed a sort of “bucket brigade,” passing larger rocks from the rock pile in the room down the hall to Vandin and Vox, who threw the rocks at the zombies in the pit until those zombies were no longer moving. The party then took a short break in the hallway to eat some jerky and hardtack, and to drink from their waterskins, as the recent battles had temporarily exhausted them all. They also lit new torches, as their old torches were just about burned out.

Falafela examined the burnt zombie back in the room, and found 25 GP in its belt pouch, and passed two turquoises and a clear rock crystal she also found to Opalent. Someone also observed that the dead wizard-zombie in the pit had a bone scroll case looped over its neck and shoulder with a leather strap. Opalent tried to fish the strap with her 10-foot pole, but was unsuccessful as the strap was too firmly wedged under the dead zombie’s body, so someone lowered Falafela into the pit with the rope to retrieve that scroll case. Falafela declined to check any other belt pouches on the other zombies for fear of catching a zombie disease. Falafela said she figured the belt pouch on the burnt zombie had been purified by fire, hence was not dangerous, so she didn’t mind pinching its contents.

The party then left the room with the rock pile through a different passageway than which they had entered. After about 40 feet there was a hallway on their right, but they eschewed traveling in that direction at this time. After another 60 feet or so, there was a side passage to their right. They checked that right-hand passage, thinking it would lead them back to the formerly elegant chamber in which they had battled four zombies earlier, but after about 80 feet or so that corridor was blocked by a cave-in. So, they retreated down the hallway and went the direction they were headed before investigating that side passage. After a quick left-and-right turn it went straight for about 60 feet, then turned right. After another 30 feet, it turned right again and opened into a round chamber, about 30 feet in diameter, with a well with a raised stone wall in the middle of the chamber. Leaning against the well was the dead body of a cleric, missing its right arm. There was also much dried blood splashed around the chamber as if a great battle had taken place there.

When the party looked down the well, using a torch for illumination, they could see the surface of the water about 20 feet below. There was also a large sausage-shaped object bobbing on the water. That object was the size of a human arm, most likely the missing arm of the dead cleric who was leaning against the wall of the well. There was also a rusty chain with a bucket suspended from the ceiling on a pulley, so the party tried lowering the bucket to capture that floating arm. But try as they might, nobody could get the arm into the bucket. Lightstep then used his last spell, Detect Evil, and there was much evil radiated from the direction of the arm in the well. Therefore, it was decided to lower Falafela into the well to retrieve the arm. Falafela was tied to a belaying rope, and due to her not wanting to touch the ghastly arm lest she be turned into a zombie, she held another rope with a lasso loop in it. When she was lowered to near the water level, she was able to slip the lasso loop around the arm and tighten it, all without actually having to touch the arm. Then, after Falafela was raised out of the well, the party raised the arm, exceedingly carefully, it may be said! The party noticed there was a large, unusual ring on the ring finger of the hand on the arm. The ring had numerous skulls carved into it, and gave everyone the creeps. Nobody wanted to come close to touching the ring, so it was decided to wrap it in Opalent’s black cloak, then tie it to the center of Opalent’s 10-foot pole. Flenda and Gwenette volunteered to carry the ghastly thing on the pole.

The party then decided it was well nigh time to depart the dungeon. On their way back, Falafela ventured into the side passage they skipped on their way to the well (this time carrying a torch). It was a sort of library, although dilapidated, mostly by water that had dripped down from the ceiling. Some mice were eating some old food in one corner. Shelves of books and scrolls lined two walls, and in one corner was a small desk with a small stool, with a small backpack under the desk. On top of the desk was some writing parchment, and while most of the inked words were illegible due to water damage, Falafela could clearly read two words, “I’m sorry,” written in the common language of the realm. The inkwell had been toppled over, and all of the ink had dripped onto the floor and had dried there. Falafela quickly perused the spines of the books on the shelves, but most were either incomprehensible, or else were too damaged to be of use. So Falafela grabbed the backpack from under the desk, and after sliding the backpack out from under the desk, noticed there was a bone scroll case that had been under the backpack, so she also retrieved that scroll case.

When Falafela rejoined the party in the hall, she mentioned what she had seen in the room. Vox volunteered to carry the newly found backpack. Some now-anonymous person in the party suggested using the desk as a bridge over the pit they would have to pass on their way out, so they carried the desk with them (it was neither large nor heavy). Just as the party was finally on their way out, they heard a large booming sound with an echo, as if another part of the ceiling somewhere in the dungeon had collapsed. They quickly got to the room where Persis’s body lay, and took a few minutes to cover it with a cairn made of the rocks from the rock pile. Vandin also took Persis’ sword with him. Next, the party placed the desk across the pit leading into the next chamber, so they were able to cross the pit and the dead zombies in the pit without further incident. They found Jorgio in the chamber where they had left him, sitting alone in the dark with his brother’s body. Jorgio expressed how he was very happy to have the party rejoin him, as his torch had burned out probably 30 minutes ago, and he realized he should have asked for one or two spare torches to be left with him!

Jorgio gathered up his brother’s body, and carried it over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The party then retraced their way through the formerly elegant chamber, then down the long hallway to the left turn, then another right turn, then up the steps to fresh air. The adventurers were all happy to be out of the dark, damp, dank Mont du Plat dungeon. Jorgio realized they would have trouble carrying Fredo’s body all the way back to Crystal Shores, so they quickly improvised a grave, burying Fredo under another cairn of rocks made from the waste rocks laying around the woods that had formerly been part of the Mont du Plat castle. While Fredo was being buried, Vandin impaled Persis’ sword in the ground, and said a short prayer to his fallen comrade. The party also freely drank pure, fresh water from the water cask they had left outside the entrance to the dungeon.

The party then spent the next several hours trudging back to the west to Crystal Shores, lugging their now almost empty water keg with them. About halfway back, they saw a lone wolf, which appeared to be a normal, and not a zombie, wolf. When the party reached Crystal Shores, although it was already dark, they went to visit Herschel the druid straightaway, although Flenda and Gwenette went off to their parents’ home, taking Jorgio with them. Herschel, being informed that the arm and/or ring radiated evil, first cast a Dispel Magic spell upon them, followed by a Detect Magic spell. The Dispel Magic spell evidently failed, as the arm/ring still radiated magic. Herschel then went through the backpack that Falafela had fetched, and found several items: a silver holy symbol, a small flask with a clear fluid in it, presumably water, a book about the dead cleric’s faith of Gairel, two days worth of iron rations (that nobody present wanted to eat!), and, hidden in a fold inside the backpack was a small coin purse that contained 18 GP and 40 SP. The best of the items, though, was a small diary. Herschel started to read the diary, noting that the cleric’s name had been Austius. The diary noted Austius’s career in the clergy. Most of it was rather boring, but near the end, Austius noted how he had found the ring in the dungeon at Mont du Plat. He also noted how he had detected an evil aura about the ring, but was unable to let it go, instead being seduced by its power. But there were no entries that tied the ring to any sort of zombie curse. Falafela mentioned the pages on the desk with the words “I’m sorry,” and Herschel surmised those pages may have been Austius’ next diary entry, or part of a new diary.

The party also surmised (as did Herschel) that the cleric had found the ring, but had then been surprised by the four adventurers who had pursued him to Mont du Plat. In the ensuing battle, it seems that the cleric had managed to turn his slayers into zombies, but not before losing his arm and bleeding to death near the well. Herschel was now convinced that it was the ring in the well that was poisoning the water downstream towards Crystal Shores, but as a precaution he was still going to cast a spell to create pure water for a week or so, and tell the remaining villagers to not drink the lake or river water for at least that period of time. Herschel also mentioned that one more villager had turned into a zombie during the long day in which the party had been away, that being Simius Soderman, the wife of Baduk Soderman, the carpenter. She had been confined to her home. There were also zombies confined in the Inn of the Blushing Trout and the Tavern of the Cracked Mug. Herschel had also found that the tinker, Melchar Furrowbrow and his wife Vinar and his young son Loftus (all gnomes) had been found to be zombies, but must have been so for a few days already.

Herschel expressed that he still hopes to find a cure that will turn the zombified villagers back into their former selves. He spent the rest of the evening consulting his personal library, but could not find any mention of a ring such as was found at Mont du Plat. He mentioned a wise sage friend of his, Karnack, who has a castle to the northeast of Ganzir-Galad. He suggested that the party venture there after they rest for a day or so. Herschel also cast two Cure Light Wounds and one Cure Serious Wounds spells on Vandin and Vox so they were fully cured of their wounds from their battles at Mont du Plat.

Experience points: Monsters killed at Mont du Plat: 11 zombies (20 XP each, plus 2 XP per HP) = 11 * 20 + 141 HP * 2 = 220 + 282 = 502 XP. The party captured three villager zombies at Crystal Lake; they will receive their XP for that (because it was good to capture the villagers instead of killing them as the villagers may be able to be cured): 3 zombies (20 XP each, plus 2 XP per hit point) = 3 * 20 + 2 * 33 HP = 60 + 66 = 126 XP. (Total of 628 XP for capturing/killing monsters.) Treasure: 43 GP, 40 SP, 1 bone and 1 ivory scroll case (worth 5 GP each, or 10 GP total), = 55 GP equivalent. The party also found two magic-user scrolls, Continual Light and Nystul’s Magic Aura, and a cleric scroll, Create Water, in the found scroll tubes, but will not receive XP for them unless they are sold. Also, 1 backpack, a silver holy symbol, a vial of clear fluid, 2 days worth of iron rations (which were discarded due to health concerns), two turquoises, and a clear rock crystal, which were all together worth the equivalent of 149 GP. So, the total money (and equivalent) XP value is 55 +149 = 204 GP equivalent.

Total experience points: 502 + 126 + 204 = 832 XP total. This needs to be divided by five regular characters (each gets a full share) and four non-player characters (each gets a half-share). Fredo and Persis, NPCs who were killed, do not get any shares. This makes 14 half-shares to be divided, so 832 / 14 = 59 XP per half-share (Flenda, Gwenette, Jorgio, Tureg), or 119 XP per full share (Falafela, Lightstep, Opalent, Vandin, Vox). The fighter Vox gets a 10% XP bonus due to his Strength of 16, so he actually earned 131 XP.

Before the party retired for the night, they divided the treasure thusly: Falafela: 9 GP, small coin purse; Flenda: 1 small turquoise; Gwenette: 1 small turquoise; Jorgio: 7 GP, 40 SP, leather backpack (from Austius); Lightstep: 9 GP, ivory scroll tube, clerical scroll with Create Water, glass vial with a clear liquid, silver holy symbol of the god Gairel (from Austius’ backpack); Opalent: 1 clear rock crystal, 2 magic scrolls with Continual Light and Nystul’s Magic Aura; Vandin: 9 GP; Vox: 9 GP. Tureg said he did not need any of the treasure as he had just inherited 21 PP and 135 EP from his fallen comrade Persis. Herschel kept the book about Gairel as well as Austius’ diary.

It was decided that the bone scroll tube they found would be used to carry the evil skull-head ring to Karnack’s castle. Lightstep agreed to carry it himself, just before the party were about to cast lots to see who would carry the evil thing.

Also, before the party retired for the night, Flenda and Gwenette’s parents, Vilan and Vilanious Deathmar saw that their daughters were each equipped with leather backpacks, wineskins, and wool blankets. The parents also ensured their offspring each had 7 days worth of jerky, dried fruit, and hardtack to take with them, as well as four torches each. The girls also scrounged up a wineskin for their friend Jorgio, and made sure he also had 7 days worth of food and 4 torches. Tureg searched through the village and found another 4 torches for him to take along, also.

Then Flenda, Gwenette, and Jorgio retired for the night at the Deathmar’s house, with the other party members sleeping in the loft of Mylene Ackmard’s barn. It was decided that two party members should stand watch at all times throughout the night, just in case one of them turned into a zombie in the middle of the night. Lightstep and Vandin took the first watch, with Vandin relating the story of how he received his “Lakesplitter” surname from a distant relative who was said to have cleaved a lake in two. The rest of the night passed without incident.

Total accumulated experience points: Lightstep 605; Vandin Lakesplitter 576; Falafela 566; Opalent 566; Vox the Just 309; Tureg 271; Flenda 74; Gwenette 61; Jorgio 61.

— The Dungeon Master

Will the party ever find a cure for the zombie villagers? Keep reading future posts and find out!

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Journey to Crystal Shores

December 21st, 2015

This is another installment related to some Dungeons & Dragons adventurers.

Day #2-23 (Earthday, 3rd Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): Finally, after several days’ rest, the party departed from Elwood’s citadel early one morn, when the dew was still heavy upon the grass. They were Falafela the halfling thief, Lightstep the halfling cleric, Opalent the elven magic-user, Vandin Lakesplitter the dwarven fighter, Vox “the Just” the human fighter, along with their dwarven fighter pals Persis and Tureg, and also with the rescued captives from Losnoth, Flenda and Gwenette and Jorgio and Fredo. This time the party took all of their possessions with them, including their money, as it was uncertain when they would get back to Elwood’s citadel. On the two previous trips to Losnoth they had left most of their money in the care of Elwood. They followed the familiar path along the stream to the northeast towards Losnoth, but when they drew near to that place, they skirted it and turned north instead. Just before they turned north from Losnoth they all also drank their fill from the small stream, and filled all of their water-skins to the brim. Several miles north of Losnoth the party came upon the half-eaten remains of an animal, most likely a deer, probably half-eaten by the roving leopards they had been told about when at Elwood’s citadel.

Along the journey, the sisters mentioned how some of the villagers near their home had started coming down with some mysterious illness just before they were captured by the orcs. People had become lethargic, got sore throats, and then started coughing. They were hoping they would find everyone well when they got home. They also hoped their parents were well and hadn’t worried about them too much.

Finally, about 15 miles north of Losnoth, and about 25 miles total from Elwood’s citadel, the party came into the small fishing village of Crystal Shores, which lay along the south shore of the diminutive Crystal Lake. The sisters Flenda and Gwenette pointed out some local places to the party, particularly the Inn of the Blushing Trout and the druid’s residence, and then the girls left the party to rush home to re-unite with their parents.

First, the party went to the Blushing Trout and spoke with the innkeeper, Sathe Lidorn. Sathe and his daughter Lido attended to the adventurers while Sathe also mentioned that his wife, Beefa, was sick and in bed. Sathe seemed to cough more than would seem healthy when serving food to strangers, and Lido was strangely pale and sickly looking, so the party decided to just eat their hardtack and jerky they had toted from Elwood’s instead of eating who knows what. The party then went next door to Mylene Ackmard’s barn. Mylene mentioned how she was trying to establish a stop on a caravan route, and while she had three wagons ready to roll, she hadn’t acquired any draft horses to pull the wagons just quite yet.

Next, the party paid a visit to the resident cleric, Wider Veldar, at his church dedicated to the Goddess Koassek. Wider asked the party to kindly leave their weapons outside the shrine when they came inside to talk, and Vandin stayed outside to guard the armory. Wider confided to the party that he was quite concerned about how everyone was getting quite sick. He also repeated the story (first told by Sathe and Mylene) about a lone cleric who had traveled through Crystal Shores about four or five weeks ago, followed by a party of four adventurers. They all traveled upstream along the river to the east. While neither the cleric nor the adventurers ever returned to Crystal Shores, it was shortly after their passage that village folks started getting sick. Wider mentioned how a number of villagers seemed to think that the passing cleric and adventurers had something to do with the illness, but Wider is mystified how they could have caused anything like what was happening in the village. The party also noticed that Wider had quite a large pumpkin patch behind his church.

The party then continued downslope towards the lake, stopping at the residence of Herschel Gobinmyer, the druid. Herschel was a bit older than most of the other residents of the village, and he invited the party to partake of some delicious spiced pumpkin ale that Hershel brewed himself. Herschel mentioned that he noticed a number of sickly animals in the area in addition to the humans, and he was mystified because he couldn’t cure the disease in any of his animal friends. He also related the story of Zeb and Trigo, two villagers who became sick and then turned into sort of “living dead” creatures who started to attack other people. Trigo was a dwarf who used to dig for coal in the vicinity, and Zeb was a fisherman. He pointed out the plume of black smoke to the northwest along the lakefront that was Trigo and Zeb’s funeral pyre. Herschel said he wanted to examine the bodies to see if he could glean any information, but the other villagers were afraid of the two dead bodies coming back to “life” again only to attack more people. The villagers also wanted to contain any spread of the disease, so they burned the bodies. Herschel also confided that he thought the cleric and/or adventurers who traveled to the east may have caused the illness somehow. He also mentioned the ruins at Mont du Plat, about 10 miles east along the river. He strongly suggested the party travel there to try to get to the bottom of things, to see if they could determine anything that might be causing the pestilence that was plaguing Crystal Shores. The party tried to invite Herschel to join them in their quest to Mont du Plat, but he remarked that he was too old for any more adventuring.

The party then went to visit with Flenda and Gwenette’s parents, Vilan and Vilanious Deathmar. Vilan was the town’s leatherworker, and when the party approached his residence, Vilan had a large aromatic (meaning it smelled really bad) pot of boiling leather in front of his place. Vilan admitted that he was the person who had to kill Trigo, as Trigo and Zeb were about to attack another villager and that villager’s wife. Vilan, who also had a darker complexion than other villagers, admitted to being a “barbarian from the north.” While he thanked the party profusely for rescuing his daughters, he mentioned how the girls came to be so warlike. He said they just naturally took after their father, although Vilan also said with a chuckle, “But if anything, at times their mother is even more warlike than me!” He said he queried Flenda about the two orc ears on her belt, and he said how he had smiled when she related the story of being rescued, but then after having her bonds cut she was too late to join in the slaying of the orcs who were just about to sacrifice her, so in her frenzy she at least took a “trophy” of the ears!

The group then went to the Inn of the Wasp and spoke with its proprietor, Enaldie Gryni. One feature of Enaldie’s place is the large fishing net set to catch drunken guests who might fall off his elevated porch. While there were a few other patrons in the place, none of them would speak with the party. In fact, most of the other patrons were shooting dirty looks in the party’s direction. Enaldie did get Opalent, Vandin, Persis and Tureg to try his special drink, the “Wasp Stinger,” for a silver piece per drink. Most of the others merely had ale for 3 copper pieces each. Fortunately, the “Stingers” did not have any bad effects on the party, and when they found that they could not rent rooms at Enaldie’s inn due to ongoing renovations of the sleeping area, the party decided to go back to the Blushing Trout to procure rooms for the night.

While most of the party headed back to the Blushing Trout, Lightstep and Opalent did a little more exploring. They traveled northeast along the lakeshore, passing the boarded up home of Zeb along the lakefront, and then poked their heads into the Tavern of the Cracked Mug next door. There were three men in the tavern, clustered around the bar. None of them seemed to notice the door opening. Lightstep and Opalent then decided the prudent course of action was to retire from the scene, closing the door behind them.

The party then retired for the night, with the males in one room and the two females Falafela and Opalent in another room, while Flenda and Gwenette slept in their own beds at their parents’ home. Since none of the males of the party quite trusted Jorgio and Fredo, the other guys took turns staying awake “on watch” to make sure none of their possessions vanished in the night. They were all glad to have beds to sleep in after having hiked 25 miles or so during the day’s journey to Crystal Shores, and except when on guard duty, they all slept quite soundly.

— The Dungeon Master

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Getting to Know the Rescued Captives

December 21st, 2015

After their third adventure at Losnoth, the party returned to Breathy Footsore’s inn near the citadel of Elwood the Blue.

Days #2-17 through #2-22 (Waterday, 17th Thawmist, through Waterday, 2nd Dewsnap): Once back at Breathy’s inn, most of the party stayed in their two cabins, with the women, Falafela, Opalent, and their guests, Flenda and Gwenette, staying in the nicer of the two cabins, while Lightstep, Vandin, and Vox shared the more run-down cabin with Persis and Tureg. Since the party didn’t totally trust the two brothers they rescued, Jorgio and Fredo bunked upstairs in the dormitory at Breathy’s inn. On 18th Thawmist, Elwood interviewed the party, and was interested to hear about the large stone idol in the sacrifice room. Pangborn left Elwood’s citadel on the next supply wagon that returned to Popinjay so he could give his personal report to Hawkmoon. Tureg slowly regained his strength, and by the 2nd Dewsnap he was in pretty good shape once again.

While the party was resting in order for Tureg to heal, Flenda and Gwenette filled in the party as to how they came to be captured by the orcs. Gwenette did most of the speaking. “We come from a village about 15 miles north of Losnoth. That village is named Crystal Shores, and it is on the south shore of a lake named Crystal Lake which is just south of the Marshes of Rust. The lake is not that large, but is a wide spot in the south branch of the River Bushkill that flows to the River Trollhraun, which itself flows to the Winedark Sea. Flenda and I decided to go berry and herb and mushroom gathering in the nearby Alder Thicket, which are some thick woods to the southeast of our village. Some folks call it a jungle. Anyway, it was a nice spring day a couple of weeks ago, and although my sister and I are skilled in the use of swords and such, we decided there would be no danger to us, so we took no weapons with us. Hah! That was our mistake. We wandered into the woods around mid-morning, when suddenly we were surrounded by eight orcs. We were astonished to see them in the daylight, but seeing as we had a thick canopy of tree leaves over us, the light was not strong and so it bothered not the orcs. We were quickly bound and marched through the woods to the south, then made a camp at the edge of the forest until dusk.”

Gwenette continued, “When it got dark enough the orcs blindfolded us, then marched us to the west. They probably thought we wouldn’t know which way we were headed, but since we were out of the trees it had to be to the west as the other three directions would have all been still in the trees. Finally, we were marched up a hill covered with rock rubble, then down into the dungeon. Although still blindfolded, we could tell we were underground as footsteps echoed off of the hard rock walls in the corridors. After a number of turns, we were finally shoved into the room in which you found me.”

Both girls then spoke of the long hours and days spent in the room, when finally a party of orcs came and fetched Flenda, after having first given her the white silk gown and white slippers to wear. They marched her off to the sacrificial chamber, tied her down, and were preparing a ritual sacrifice. Flenda then said, “I was trying to uphold my heritage of being descended from a tribe of fierce warriors, and tried to maintain my silence, but when it looked like I was well and truly doomed, I let out a yell like I was trying to summon any nearby kin to my aid. Then a miracle happened as the next thing I knew some unknown party was laying into the orcs and felling them about. Then a tall elven princess, at least I thought she was a princess, cut the ropes that bound me to the altar. But aarrggghhh! The orcs were already all slain. Oh, but I wanted to pay them back dearly! But at least I got the ears as a trophy from one of them!” Flenda chuckled as she mentioned gathering the ears.

During this period of resting, Flenda took time to carefully preserve those orc ears, drying them in the sun, even salting them from a supply of salt she obtained from one of Breathy Footsore’s daughters, Shannowy. Flenda also begged a new set of clothing from Shannowy, as Flenda did not want to go around wearing the white gown she was rescued in all of the time as she did not get to recover her own garments from Losnoth when she was rescued. Flenda also got some leather from a soldier at Elwood’s citadel, and she fashioned a belt to wear. And on the belt she fastened those orc ears by poking holes in the tops of the ears and tying them to the belt with some leather cord.

All the while, while waiting for Tureg to heal, Flenda and Gwenette were chafing at the bit to return to their home, but Elwood wisely talked them out of trying to travel alone, mentioning the known hunting leopards in the area, not to mention that if they had been captured by orcs in the wilderness once, they could be captured the same way again. The sisters did mention they were unarmed the first time, but were now armed with swords and wouldn’t be easily taken the next time. The party was willing to escort the girls to their home, of course, but did not want to leave Tureg behind.

Fredo and Jorgio talked a little about themselves, too. They said they had been taken under similar circumstances, although their village, Jungala (pronounced with a long “u”), was about 10 miles to the southeast of Losnoth, as far as they could reckon. Their village was right on the verge of a more southern part of the Alder Thicket, and the two brothers had gone into the woods to check on some animal traps as they were both apprentice fur-trappers. They had also been suddenly surrounded by about nine or ten orcs, bound, and marched to the dungeon at Losnoth. They had been armed with daggers, but quickly realized the folly it would have been to match their two daggers against five times as many swords. While the brothers were both keen to send word to their village of their whereabouts, they did seem content to pass the days near Breathy’s in the company of Flenda and Gwenette, in particular. It didn’t take too much talking by Elwood to convince the brothers to not try to venture home by themselves either, but rather to wait until the other members of the party could escort them to their home.

While the party was taking this break, the month changed from Thawmist to Dewsnap. Using Balozkinar’s Corrected Commoners Calendar, each month has exactly 20 days, divided into four weeks of five days each. The days of the week are, in order, Airday, Waterday, Earthday, Fireday, and Spiritday. The calendar allows for no “week-ends” as are known in some other areas. Also, at the end of the year is an End of Year Festival of usually five days, although it will have six days during a leap year. Then the New Year begins on the Vernal Equinox, when spring starts. Thawmist and Dewsnap are two of the spring months, followed by Flowerbloom and Sweetrain.

— The Dungeon Master

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