As the adventurers were frequent guests at the Inn of the Dancing Goats and now have some renown across Scandia, some changes were made to the menu (with their permission, of course):
Barduris' blue plate special (a meat and three) changes daily ~ no substitions!
Penny-Whistle's tea time breakfast ~
Breakfast tea
Scones or crumpets or knackebrod with a poached egg.
Herbed goat cheese
Elderflower marmalade or lingonberry jam.
Gringnr's ~ grilled langoustines and quail egg omelette.
Elderberry's ~ tall tankard of "amber" ale.
Aristobulus' ~ mountain hare tartare.
Bon appetit!
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth
Session XIII - Exploring the western section of the Black Forest Citadel or ~ who was sicker with ichor!.
The Players:
Gringnr as:
Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric
Aergraith as:
Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue
ssfsx17 as:
Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter
Penny as:
Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!
. . . other PCs in the game:
Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage
Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger
The action:
After spending the night in Maria's chambers, the party sets out to explore what they believe is the gnoll section of the citadel. Carefully checking for traps, they go west towards that section and find a room along the way with a north entrance.
Elderberry checks for traps and opens the door. The adventurers see gnolls, one laying on the floor and the other appears to be asleep.
A fighter (was it Gringnr?) moves up to the prone gnoll, when suddenly a hideous resembling an enormous maggot bursts out of the gnoll carcass to attack.
The creature has a segmented shelled body with mandibles at both ends. Its underbelly has 6 claws which she uses to attack the fighter who is then paralyzed!
An incredible battle takes place in which several members of the party take damage and get paralyzed. Ultimately the adventurers win the day and kill the monster, who explodes in a death throe releasing foul smelling ichor and a hoard of tiny maggots.
Some adventures take minor damage from the explosion while others gag, retch or vomit!
The party rests and recovers from the disgusting battle with the flesh crawler. They then continue east and see that the corridor goes south. Elderberry carefully moves forward to have a look down the south passage. As he steps forward along with Gringnr, they trigger a
a floor trap and down comes a portcullis grate just missing Gringnr.
The group attempts to lift the gate, but two shadow mastiffs come charging at the party. The large, heavily muscled beasts are terrible foes, but the party has defeated such creatures before and with that experience are able to kill the monsters quickly.
The gate is lifted and the party moves south into the gnoll section of the dungeon. They find the gnoll barracks and listen at the door. Elderberry hears the yips of the gnolls and it sounds like they are drinking and gambling. The door is not locked or trapped.
Gringnr opens the door and takes some small damage from boulders that fall from a crude door frame trap. The party piles into the room and the battle commences. The gnolls prove to be tough fighters and there are many, but the adventurers are tougher and defeat the gnolls!
The adventurers, in an earlier session has cleared the southeast section of the dungeon which contained hobgoblins and found an ulfberht which was given to Barduris!
End session.
XP = 227 per PC.
GPs = 14 per PC.
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth
Session IX A - Morlock's Tower or ~ "A great-great grandottir dreams!"!.
[Earlier session journal catch up]
The Players:
Aergraith as:
Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue
ssfsx17 as:
Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter
Penny as:
Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!
Gringnr as:
Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric
Treebore as:
Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage
Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger
The action:
After scouting around the citadel complex, the adventurers decide to enter through the east opening where they only spotted two hobgoblins exit for brief moments to relieve themselves. The monsters didn't seem to pay any attention to their surroundings as though they did not expect any trouble.
The party waits until early morning and enter the citadel. In a northern room, they find the hobgoblins drunk and asleep. They are quickly dispatched and the room is search. The secret access staircase is found.
The staircase is too small for Barduris, Verthak and Aristobulus, so they will ascend via the main stairway up to the top level and the others will follow the secret staircase.
Everyone makes it up to the top level and they are hailed by Cassandra and others ~ Barnabus, a hobbit burglar and Amleth.
From a hidden room, two clerics emerge and present themselves to the party. Maurice and Jovan tell them they have been forced to work for Moribundus, but they of good alignment and wish to leave.
The clerics unlock all the cells and Cassandra tells the party that the Princess was taken away in the night. Jovan tells the group that he thinks the Princess is locked in a dungeon under the lower level wizard's room.
The group go down to the main level and open the door to the wizard's chamber and find 4 zombies. The party clerics turn them and then destroy them. A trapdoor is found and the group descends to find a cell where the Princess is held. They unlock the door and she comes out.
But instead of turning towards the ladder, she slowly looks to the other side of the dungeon room and stairs for a moment in thought. She remembers her dream from last night. She walks over to the west wall and find a door.
She enters another room and realizes it's a tomb and there in the middle lies a stone sarcophagus. The top is carved with the likeness of King Haakon holding his sword.
With the help of the party, she opens the top and finds the magic sword of her great ancestor lying on the stone casket which contains the remains of the king.
She takes the sword and it clearly radiates magic. The stone top is replaced and the party exit the tomb and close the door. They climb out of the dungeon and and then find their way down out of the tower to the hobgoblin citadel entrance.
There they are greeted by wood elves holding vogel griffs for the adventurers. They fly back to Argyle where they can see Magnus' forces marching towards the castle of Orsino.
End session.
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth
The heroic adventurers fly on griffons from the watchtower back to Argyle where the Princess Olivija is re-united with her father King Magnus. She presents the great sword of Haakon and tells him of the discovery of the tomb.
King Magnus accepts the surrender of Orsino and his forces.
Prisoners are released and re-united with their families.
Orsino's men from the surrounding lands who were forced into service are excused and released.
Blogue and his men are guillotined to the applause of all.
Grimhook is stockaded and battered with rotten food that was to have been fed to the prisoners. He is humilated to the delight of everyone.
Amleth will be sent to Fountains Abbey for deprogramming and deconditioning and then he'll work at the infirmary which houses the lepers, where he will abase himself and learn humility. If the penance is successful, he may return to Dania.
Maurice and Jovan will also travel to the Abbey to begin service as acolytes studying to become lawful good warrior priests. They will then return to their country to ferret out any and all evil threatening those realms.
Mercenaries are stripped of all armor and weapons and are banished from the realm.
The King dissolves the Duchy of Malbrooke and the ancient name . . "The Danelands" is proclaimed.
The city of Argyle will also have its name restored to Argancia.
Orsino's castle will be torn down and its stone used to repair harbors, bridges and other structures ruined.
Morlock's tower will also be disassembled with the exception of Haakon's tomb. A small monument will be build over the tomb along with a statue of the once great king of the Danes.
Hylde returns from the forest with her charges, many of the women and children that belonged to the men forced into service.
She is greeted warmly by the King, and there is much cheering by all the people gathered.
Tents are erected and the King's men begin to roast meats and serve food and drink to the half starving populace. Orsino's celler are raided for wine, mead and ale.
Envoys from from the King's allies arrive to announce the defeat of all enemy forces.
The next day the King and his forces return to Dania where a parade is held along the route through Svenborg.
Back at the royal castle, the adventurers are knighted by King Magnus and pinned by the Princess. The adventurers can now wear the colors and heraldry of Magnus on their surcoats if they wish.
In attendance are:
The Empress Brigitte of Normandia
Sir Roland d’Laci Gautier of Normandia
Lucius T. Cuttlefoot, Esquire
Count Rhuveinus of Franqueforte
Sir Godric the Lionheart of Lithuania
Eric the Red, Jarl of the Norsemen
Sir Regis Mallory, Abbot of Fountains Abbey
Gaston the Bard
A splendid time was had by all.
[In Progess]
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth
Name sources/inspiration of people, places and things in the module for anyone who may be interested:
Dania – city near Ft. Lauderdale, FL where I used to go see Jai Alai at the fronton there.
Argyle – street/El stop in Chicago. Vietnamese and other restaurants there.
Maurice the acolyte in Morlock’s tower – my grandfather Henri’s middle name
Morlock – The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
Orsino – Shakespeare
Hylde – from Norse mythology – my great grandmother’s name was Hildur which was also my mom’s middle name. I also had an aunt named Hilda.
Amaryllis – a beautiful flower, but I can never forgot Ron Howard as a kid in The Music Man – lisping the name of the little girl.
Seemed like a great name for a hobbit.
Moribundus – the definition of moribund had plenty of good description for the warlock – but what got me looking into the word was remembering Peter Gabriel’s song, Moribund the Burgermeister from his first solo album after leaving Genesis.
Ladnar Greenleaf – a Thai dish. Another great name for a hobbit or perhaps a gnome. Greenleaf is a street in Chicago where I attended grammar school. Also, after Curly Greenleaf, friend of Gord the Rogue by Gary Gygax.
Delbert – hippy friend of my uncle – and yet another great name for a hobbit.
Amleth – from the Scandinavian legend that was the predecessor to Hamlet.
Overwatch – assasins and commandos of Blogue, from Half-Life 2.
Hector Villa-Lobos – after Heitor Villa- Lobos, the Brazilian composer.
Prospero – Shakespeare and later in Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe. He also was my wizard PC in Treebore’s Ravenloft game many years ago.
Gaston the Bard – another one of my PCs, after the author of The Phantom of the Opera ~ Gaston Leroux.
Raoul a worker at the DG Inn – after Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who helped save thousands of Jews during WWII. Hmm, just reading that he worked at the Chicago World’s Fair in ’33, the year my mother was born! Amazing life and career, but a sad and terrible ending for a great man. Fucking Russkies!
Hans Greenleaf – son of Ladnar and Lucilla, after my great great grandfather Hans.
And most of the Scandinavian people names are actual ancestors of mine.
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth
As mentioned at end of game last session, I'm thinking about a small section in the module to offer the use of mass combat rules for the armies during the Battle of Argyle.
CKs can use Fields of Battle if they have it, or the excerpted rules from FoB that are presented in the CKG.
Another thing I thought might be interesting ~ a jousting tournament!
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth
And so, the silver dragon was found or shall we say that ~ the silver dragon found these heroic adventurers and tested their metal while traveling and dungeon delving with them.
And later, the damsel in distress ~ Princess Olivija of Dania is rescued by the brave adventurers with the help of the great silver dragon, Lord Argenteus.
The realm of The Danelands is delivered from evil and its people freed from tyranny.
Finally, all the authentic pages of the Codex Argenteus that were found and returned by the great adventurers to be restored to that document for presentation to the Council at Glittertind.
[In progress]
Lord Tadhg - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Ardmore
"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth