Session 6

 A few weeks back I dropped in a hook about a young boy named Byrne who had gone missing while fishing on the southern bank of the Thundhr River. Byrne also happens to be the son of the local cattle rancher Bran Drover. This last week, Lord Commander Rogget received word from Bran that he received a letter from the bandit Ruthless Bill detailing that he has Byrne in his possession, and demanding a ransom of 5000 GP. That letter also contained one of Byrne’s little fingers, and a bloodied dagger that Byrne received from his father on his birthday. For this session our adventurers, now considered local folk heroes due to their exploits against the wolfmen, decide to help Bran get his son back.

They head to Bran’s ranch, and greeted by his men. Bran himself tells them about the letter and it’s grizzly memento. He tells them about how Ruthless Bill and His Gang have harassed his ranch, his cattle, and even his men. The rancher lets the party know that he believes the gang’s hideout is somewhere in the Lowland Hills about a day west from his ranch. Bran doesn’t think Ruthless Bill has many members in his gang and probably wouldn’t pose much of a threat if they were caught unawares by an unknown group. He devises a plan where he will send out three men to deliver the money at the set location, while the party is making their way stealthy to the hideout. By only sending only three men, this leaves Bran with nine men to help him defend his ranch in case Ruthless Bill decides to make a visit.  

Ruthless Bill!

The party sets out the next morning and make their way through the northwestern area of the hills until the find two men on horseback. They attack the men, killing one instantly, while the other was thrown from his horse. He’s tied up and integrated. He gives up that the boy was back in an abandon mine. The party heads out, with their hostage guiding them, all the while expecting Ruthless Bill and most of his gang at their hideout. They arrive and see only two men guarding the entrance. Laughing Fox locates two wild boar, and puts them under his control. He tells the boars to attack the men. While one boar is injured from an arrow, it doesn’t stop him or his bacon companion from attacking, killing, and then feasting on the men.

Rumbo and the party came down, and they knocked the door loose and let the boars run in and cause mayhem after commanding them not to attack the boy. Except they didn’t find Ruthless Bill or his gang. It seemed Ruthless Bill did indeed take his most of his men to wreck havoc upon Bran’s ranch and cattle. They untied the boy, told him who they were, and proceeded to head back to his father’s. But before they left, they let the boy cut one of their hostage’s fingers off in retaliation, and let the hogs have him.  

 They missed Ruthless Bill and his men on their way back, though they did see some sort of optical illusion in the hills, like the Flying Dutchmen. Arriving, they saw some of the barns burning, blackened corpses of cattle, and Bran trying to get things settled down. Seeing his son, he gave him a hug, and thanked the party for their help. He also told them how only one of his men came back injured from the drop-off point, with the other two being killed. With that, the players ended the session at Bran’s ranch.

But we’re not quite done yet. Earlier in the week I finally brought in patron play. What’s that you ask? Well, the quick version is that it’s allowing an outsider party, probably someone who would like to play in a regular session, but not able to due to conflicting schedules, to run an npc or npc faction of the game. This eases the burden for the DM, but also has the potential to make the campaign more dynamic. There’s a good chance that someone controlling the npc or faction will make decisions and think of things that the DM will never think of. It’s pretty cool if I say so myself. So what does this have to do with this session?

Well, simple. I gave control Ruthless Bill and His Gang to a patron to see how their actions would effect the game. Not only that, but during the session, I was also in communication with Ruthless Bill’s player and was able to see how he would react to the players in real time. Really amazing! Patron play is great, and adds another dynamic layer to the whole game. But one that’s not really new, but sadly forgotten. Patron play is derived form Braunstein, a sort of proto-rpg from before the days of D&D, and one even played by Dave Arneson, co-creator of said D&D! It’s great, and the BROSR has not only brought this technique back into play, but like everything else we do, are using it and other forgotten rules to lead the charge in playing D&D the way it was meant to be played!

 Players & their XP total:

Rumbo Battlecock (10%): 44 XP

Laughing Fox (0%): 40 XP

Stonewall (5%): 42 XP

Henchman:

Mysterious Anon (formerly Man With No Name): 40 XP

Session 5

During the week, I dropped a hook about some werewolf attacks from the last two months during the week of the full moon. And with this new full moon week, the Lord Commander of Pottfort has placed it and the surrounding village Woodshome under marshal law. Players “bit” into the werewolf hook and took off to kill some wolfmen. But first, let’s talk about a downtime activity one of players did during the week.

Tony Rice is the party’s thief, and decided a week before to do some stuff around town. He found another party, and decided to follow them around, in hopes of stealing some of their stuff. Tony realized they were going to the Old Bastard and silently pursued them. On the second night, the party was ambushed by a group of 13 ogres. Four dead, three captured. Bodies were taken too. Tony returned to Pottsfort and let the authorities know what happened.

With that out of the way, lets get back to the werewolf problem. Before the party set out to the nearby Chickasaw tribe to see what the healing man knows about the werewolf attacks, they stocked up on silver weapons and got some henchmen, including two Chickasaw warriors and a mercenary with no name. Laughing Fox also bought a hunting dog and a war dog. The healing man and the Fr. Justine believed the remains of the three victims of the last two months had not only sacrificial markings and wolf hair on them, but smelled of brimstone. The group set out to the location of where the last victims were found and let the hunting dog sniff around and then let him sniff the wolf hair given to them. He took off in a southeastern direction.

 The group came across a group of Blackrot Swamp goblins looking around for something. The goblins seeing the group, decided talking, not fighting, was in their best interest. The party found out that the goblins were making their way to the Old Bastard to claim some treasure but were attacked by three werewolves and what they thought was a witch. They want revenge and agree to join the party. Under the condition that they will also get paid.

The now larger party found were lead to a clearing in the woods by the hunting dog. Searching around, the players found a large, angular rock. On top of the rock was dried blood, like an altar. The rock was pointing north to something large that was shimmering. They realized it was some keep, but Stonewall came to the conclusion that it was made invisible by elven magic. After standing around for some turns, Stonewall managed to undo the spell by saying the right elven word. While he was doing this, Laughing Fox located two black bears in the area and decided to put them under animal control. With the keep now visible, and it’s large door closed, but unlocked, Rumbo slowly opened the door and Laughing Fox sent the two bears bashing in.  

The group heard lots of growling and a woman shrieking. Inside, they saw the bears had kill a haggy looking woman, and was fighting a werewolf. It was quickly killed. The dead werewolf quickly returned to it’s human form and Rumbo noticed that there was a pentagram on its palm. They soon let the bears go, and then set up an ambush to kill the remaining two werewolves.

Not long after, the other two wolfmen (one in human form) and another witch appeared unawares that they were about to die. With a combination of flaming oil, and Rumbo along with the others using their silver weapons, the werewolf coven was wiped out from the face of this world. After this, the group decided to explore the keep. It was similar in look to the Pottsfort keep, but not as tall or wide. They noticed that keep seemed to made of a single piece of stone, instead of many. Weird. Exploring brought them success. Finding various treasures, they also found the remains of many victims in the basement. Hopefully this ends the werewolf scourge in the area. After returning, the party was rewarded with 600 gold for each dead wolfman, and another 200 for both hags.

TOTAL XP:

Rumbo (10%) = 602 XP

Tony Rice (5%) = 575 XP

Stonewall (5%) = 575 XP

Laughing Fox = 546 XP

Henchmen:

Two Chickasaw Warriors: 546 XP each

Man With No Name: 546 XP

Session 4

"It's best to let sleeping dragons lie." 

Before we begin, I need to make a correction to the last session. I was under the impression that Laughing Fox had the two goblins as his minions and they went with him back to Pottsfort disguised. That’s not so. Instead, he had them stay at the Old Bastard, acting as spies for the party. With that out of the way, let’s see what happened during this session!

We start out with the group finally opening the golden metal chest found all the way back in the first session. Glomm, the dwarven jeweler, was able to make some keys for the ancient dwarvish chest, one for each latch. There’s four latches in total; one on each side of the chest and they have to be opened at the same time. The group gathers around, with they four square like keys, and manage to open said chest. It hisses open, but not trapped! With the top off, they find three items: a black spike wrapped in golden tentacles, a map, and a gold ring with an onyx kraken with golden eyes. The onyx seems to glitter, like as if it’s made of stars. The ancient map shows the Devil’s Spine, in most of it’s foreboding glory. They see a skull like mountain at it’s southern western edge, Glomm thinks this is the Old Bastard. Sprinkled about the range, are several square blocks. This astonishes Glomm, as he didn’t realize there were so many Dwarven Blocks among the Spine. Or even on the other, northern side of the vast mountain range. They see a lake on the opposite northern side of the mountain, which seems to be dotted with ancient human cities along it’s coasts. But what captures the groups attention is the kraken symbol in the middle of the north eastern section of the vast mountain range. The symbol is just as black as the ring, but above it is a giant red X. Glomm has no idea what to make of it, and has never heard of a black kraken. He tells the group to maybe ask some of the native tribes, or perhaps go down to Rivertown and see if anyone knows about the strange symbol. With that, the group decides to open the wooden chest they found last session. Managing to unlock it, they find inside three potions and two scrolls. They’re unable to identify them at the moment.

Though a smaller group than that of the previous week, our four adventurers decide to head back out to The Old Bastard. Once there, Rumbo, Stonewall, Laughing Fox, Kazzik, and a new henchman, Nickos the Dwarf, decide to head back to the four chambers containing the escape tunnel found last week. On there way, the come across three orcs. They aren’t in a talkative mood and proceed attacking our party. An orcish arrow knocks out Nickos down to zero hp. He falls down, unconscious. The adventurers soon wipe out the orcs with little effort. Searching the orcs, they find that two carry a strange insignia: a black leg, with blood coming out of the top. Stonewall’s player has leave early, and takes Nickos back out to the wagon, and finds some healing herbs to stabilize his wounds. The rest of the group proceeds with their plan.

Getting to the escape tunnel, the party realizes it’s not a steep drop, but slopes under the stream they heard on the other side. The decide to send Laughing Fox’s spirit animal, a monkey named Buska inside the tunnel and to explore the other side. After a couple of turns, he comes back and tells Laughing Fox that on the other side of the tunnel is small stone chamber with set of stairs on the opposite wall leading twenty feet up to a door. Buska also mentions that the room is cold and the smell of dragon is coming from the other side of the door. Hearing this, the group decides to go down into the tunnel and check the other room out themselves. Getting in the small stone chamber, they realize that door on the stairs is actually a secret door, at least on the other side. They open the door slowly, with each side opening towards them. Rumbo and Buska peer inside and see large chamber, about fifty feet from floor to ceiling, and almost a hundred feet squared, except for the southwestern portion being cut at an angle. The two also see a large hole in the ceiling about thirty feet wide, with sun light pouring in. Inside, it looks like part of the underground stream was diverted and spills out into the chamber, making pond. Or did, as it’s now frozen, with a small glacier that rises about ten feet in the middle of the room. On that glacier, they see a sleeping, very young white dragon, with it’s small hoard of treasure. Looks like they found Whisper. About the frozen room, they see skeletons, and even the frozen corpses of goblins standing about the glacier.  

With this discovery, our players quickly decide to send in Bushka and for him to steal some of the loot. He goes, and a couple of turns later, returns with pack full of fifty gp, three gems, three rings, a scroll, and necklace that resembles that of the sun necklace found back in session one, except the medallions are silver, and the large middle piece is that of a moon, instead of a sun. With this haul, they decide not to take any more chances, close the secret door behind them, and make their way to the plaza in the middle of the level. They get to the plaza safely. Looking at the large stone door with the faces of the sun and moon carved into it, they realize that mouths of the celestial objects are actually slots, and adding two plus two, they place the large medallions into their matching slots. The door glows around it’s edges, and rumbles open about ten feet in the middle, revealing a forty-five degree angled hallway. Once more, they send in Bushka. 

He comes back reporting that the hallway is about sixty feet and leads inside a large cavern, with walls in the middle of the chamber with braziers with green, glowing fires lighting the vast room and a soft music playing within. On the western opposite side of the northern middle wall, sees a large man made pool, with land on the other side with stairs going down. In the north eastern section, Bushka sees a smaller chamber with some steps leading down to an altar with a statue of a large woman. He mentions that there may be a few smaller chambers in the southern part of the cave. With the session almost over, the group retrieves the necklaces out the mouths of the doors, and head back outside of the dungeon. On their way out, as they are leaving the middle of the intersection, the western hall becomes cold, and they see a ghostly figure floating their way, telling them to stop. Or at least they hear that in their heads. The group doesn’t listen and run out of the dungeon, with the ghostly voice echoing in their heads, saying “I’ll see you soon...” With Nickos wounded, they head to their secluded spot, and rest a full day and arrive back to Pottsfort unharmed four days later.

While light on loot, the party agrees that the session was a success with the information regarding that they found Whisper, what kind of dragon he is, and managing to open the large stone door and seeing some of what was inside. Sometimes success isn’t determined by the treasure found, but also by important intelligence that’s gathered.

Players:

Rumbo Battlecock (10%): 634XP

Laughing Fox (0%): 554 XP

Hazzik (10%): 634 XP

Stonewall (5%): 7 XP

Henchmen:

Lester: 0 XP

Nickos the Dwarf: 7XP

Session 3

Big crowd for this one! Seven players, plus two playing both of their PCs! And henchmen! Group headed back, with some light horses, mule, donkey, wagon, and other supplies. Tony tried to steal a horse, but failed, though he managed to get away without being seen. The three day journey was largely uneventful until the morning on the last day. The group spotted three goblins about seventy five or so feet away walking towards the Old Bastard. Two of the goblins held a pole between them with various dead animals. The other was walking behind. The first were unaware that their comrade in the rear guard had succumb to an arrow in the back, killing him. Soon the party rode up to the goblins, and the two surrendered. Dread Pirate Robert managed to convince the two to indulge information. It seems that the goblins are part of small group (now 12) that are working for a dragon named Whisper. Robert managed to convince the two goblins to guide them to Whisper, saying that he was old friends with the dragon.

Inside the entrance, they notice that intersection is once more lit. The goblins lead them north, to the plaza. They tell the group about how some were eaten by Whisper as punishment, and how he has sent them to go look for treasure throughout the level for the last few weeks. They’ve managed to find treasure throughout, but some haven’t come back. At the plaza, they come across three morlocks. The lead morlock was wearing a ragged robe and told the group to halt. It seems that Whisper has gained control of some the morlocks wondering around. The group basically tells the morlocks to screw off and leave them behind. The morlocks don’t pursue.

At the plaza, the group changes their plan. Instead of meeting Whisper, the group decides to search around the plaza, map it a bit better, and finally search the two story structure. The goblins tell them that they ransacked the lower level, but not the top floor. The group begins their search. Looking through the bottom floor turns up nothing. They find a set of stairs outside that go to the second floor. At the end of the stairs, there is ornate metal door. It’s locked. While the most of the group tries to unlock said door, Hazzik grapples up to one of the windows in the second floor. While it appears to be no glass, and he can see somewhat on the other side, his hand is unable to go through due some invisible force. The thief is unsuccessful in opening the door, but Bosca gives it the ol’ community college try and slams into the door, hoping it would break, bend, or do something. Unfortunately, it knocks him back down the stairs, causing six damage. While all this is going down, Laughing Fox decides to gamble with the two goblins, as a way to keep an eye on them. Using a dice game where a single dice is thrown against the wall by each player and the highest number wins, Laughing Fox beats both but decides to let them keep their small sums. He then ask them to play one final time: this time, if he loses, they keep his money. He wins, and they become his minions. Of course he cheats by using a little prestidigitation to make a dice that always says six.

The group realizes they won’t get anywhere, and head down south to the smaller intersection with stone doors on the east and west walls. They open the on the east wall, and inside is the previous large chamber from last session. This session, the group decides to search the room more thoroughly and are rewarded with finding a secret door in the north wall. The stones of the secret door are a bit concave, and the group looks to see if it’s trapped. Pushing the door with a ten foot pole and as it opens up, so does a pit trap at its foot. Looking inside, they see some shiny baubles and a skeleton at the bottom of a fifteen foot drop among some spikes. Tony does his Tom Cruise impression again and gathers up twenty gold and a black pearl. After that, the group makes a rope bridge to cross inside to the other side of the wall. On the other side, they enter a triangular room, with a twenty foot wide bridge set in the middle of the 45 degree angled northeastern wall. Directly west of the now opened secret door, they find a pedestal with two levers: one upright, the other pushed down. Pushing the one upright down, another door in the western wall opens, revealing a small room with a wooden, metal chest and a three foot tall marble statute of a woman with a jeweled necklace. Unable to open the chest, they take it and the statue with them and head out back the way they come. They also close first secret door so that no one else will find it.

They leave from the southern door in the large chamber and begin to try to open the wooden door at the end of the eastern passageway. They can’t get it unlocked, but manage to break it down with some axes. Unfortunately this draws the attention of five giant spiders. Before the spiders can surprise them, their chittering whispers gives them away (giant spiders can talk in the Red Frontier.) Hazzik throws some military oil at the giant eight legged freaks, setting the lead on fire, and causing the others to suffer from splash damage. Combat ensues, and the group kills three out of five spiders, sending the last two skittering away. The group then continues through the busted door. 

Inside they find four chambers with lots of jail cells aligning their walls. They also find some cell keys on the wall. Loud moaning begins to echo throughout the four chambers and the party realizes that many of the cells contain zombies. Veronica the cleric manages to turn about of the zombies, but leaving 16 continue to groan at the party with their undying hunger. They are all quickly dispatched by the party members. Looking through the corpses they find twenty copper, one silver, and one gold. A mighty haul indeed. In the middle of the jail cell in the north western chamber, the group sees that the zombie there, when it was still alive as a human, was making a whole and tunnel to escape. The players look into the tunnel and realize it goes underneath the nearby stream. They decide to leave and come back to investigate later. The group encounters nothing on their way back, and get back home to Pottsfort safely. One last thing. Goblins are notorious children kidnappers. Either to eat them or use them as slaves. Most people hate them. So Laughing Fox must keep his two new minions disguised, let's say with brown cowl.

Players:

Rumbo Battlecok (10%) 350 XP

Dread Pirate Robert (10%) 350 XP

Bosca the Fighter (10%) 350 XP

Giorgio Fishmonger (0%) 318 XP

Stonewall (5%) 334 XP

Tony Rice (5%) 334 XP

Hazzik the Delver (10%) 350 XP

Laughing Fox (0%) 318 XP

Veronica (5%) 334 XP

Henchmen

Lester the Miner

Conway Strong (0%) 318 XP

Markus (5%) 334 Xp

Session 2

 “The cold mountain winds don’t have as sharp or deep of a bite than that of the skinwalker’s maw.” Old frontier saying.

This session we've got a couple of returning players, along with a new player with all new characters! We've Bosca Rox (level 1 fighter), a former lumberjack, Stonewall (level 1 Elven Spellsword), and Laughing Fox a Chickasaw Shaman. Having heard of the treasures of the Old Bastard, and they decide to take a trip there to make their luck. They encounter nothing, and once at the Dragon's Eye entrance, they see the decomposing heads of the four Morlocks greet them. They enter in. Now I'm gonna assume, since they were from Pottsfort, then they've received information from the previous characters and even Rotho himself about what has been discovered so far in that evil, underground keep. And they put that info into good use this session.

Emerging from the entrance, they see the intersection, but it's no longer lit though the smell of oil lingers. They know about the Octagon chamber in the west, the plaza in the north, but decide to search the unexplored area of the east. Going down the eastern hall (road?) they find one room on the south wall twenty feet away from the intersection. It's unlocked, and the group makes their way in. Other than some ruined furniture, and a dusty, moldy smell, they find nothing. Leaving out, they go further down the passageway. Forty feet away from the empty room, the find another door on the north wall. Again, it's unlocked, and once more, the group heads in. They go through a small hallway of twenty feet and emerge into a very large stone chamber. It's ninety feet across and eighty north and south. Though the northeastern corner contains a smaller room about thirty by thirty feet. Before checking that room, they hear some rustling and the sound of feet or paws making their way to them. Their light gives away three giant albino weasels; each one looking hungrier than the last. The group makes quick work of the fowl beasts, killing two and the other one running away through the entrance of the room due to a failed morale check.

They head to the northwest direction of the chamber where the weasels were. The group finds a large a nest made out of debris. Searching the nest they find a ruptured leather sack containing 1500 gp. They also find a sword with strange runes written on it's blade. After this, they head back toward the room in the northeastern part of the chamber. they begin to hear what sounds like a stream on the other side. The door is once again unlocked, and the players carefully enter into small abode. Inside they smell oil and cinnamon, and the sound of rushing water grows stronger. The small room tapers off in the upper right corner, with four vases on the left, and chest on the tapered corner. And between the vases and chest, they see a spear and a hand axe. They look through the vases first and realize that whatever was in their, is dried, and not worth anything despite the smell they give off.

Next they grab the spear and small axe. The spear's shaft is made of dragon's bone, and it's metal tip bears runes similar to that of the sword. The hand axe's shaft is made of red ironoak, and like the previous two weapons, it's head has runes marked into it. They then put their focus upon the chest. It's about two or feet wide, and another foot in height and length. It's made of wood and metal and contains an outward lock. With no thief in the party, Stonewall manages to hack the lock off, triggering a trap. He fails his saving throw and is hit with poisoned darts that causes to grow sick and pass out to 0 hp. While Stonewall is down, Bosca and Laughing Fox look inside the now de-trapped chest. They find a bag of 500 gp, another bag with five jewels and a ring inside, and an odd looking piece of amber the shape and size of a large pear. Inside this amber they see what appears to be three human dancers, dancing in fire. Eerie. They decide to pick up Stonewall, their newly acquired loot, and head back of the Old Bastard. 

On their way out, at the intersection, things become frigid, and they hear down the western passageway someone shout "Who goes there?" in a hollow voice. They move quicker to the exit. After leaving the underground entrance, the group makes their way back to Pottsfort. They rest for the night in a secluded and sanitary spot, and Stonewall manages to regain 3 hit points. The next day they encounter nothing, but that changes when they set up camp again. By the fire, Stonewall and the other two spot what appears to be a woman in shadows, sixty feet away. Her eyes glow grey, and her she speaks out in a voice that sounds close "Can I come over to the fire? I'm so cold. And hungry..." She has the party's full attention. Walking closer, she continues to cry softly in the unnaturally close voice, and her limbs and teeth grow longer. Her skin peals off, revealing short haired, black fur. She grins, revealing a more skull like face. Stonewall throws a flask of military oil, and she alights in flames. She says she wants to be warmer. That they will taste good. Bosca tells her to leave while grabbing his axe. Laughing Fox uses prestidigitation, and causes her to see bright and flashing stars, distracting her. She swipes at Bosca, but misses. Stonewall throws another flask of oil, though it misses her, but some of the flames manage to splash on her. Laughing fox hits her with a bullet from his sling, and she begins to bleed between her eyes. Finally, Bosca takes her down with his axe, nearly cutting her in half at the chest. She goes down, turning to ash but leaving a shriveled, blackened heart, and her two glowing eyes. Laughing Fox scoops those up, and puts them into a pouch. The group encounters nothing else on their way back to Pottsfort.

After arriving back to saftey, the party heads to the small church. They meet with Fr. Justine who lets Stonewall stay and heal. They tell him about their encounter with skinwalker. Fr. Justine tells them that the description of the woman, before her transformation, sounded like that of Abigail, the mother of a family that went into self exile a few months back. No one has heard of them since. They hand over the heart and eyes, and Justine stabs them with a silver dagger and says a few prayers, finally destroying the creature once and for all. The group then heads over to Glomm the Jeweler and show him their new found treasure. He tells them that the weapons are indeed magical, and that the runes are an ancient form of dwarvish. The sword is called Orc Killer: it glows green around the presence of nearby orcs, and will inflict more damage upon them. The spear is called Wyvern's Bane, and glows a fiery red near dragons and wyverns, and brings extra pain to both of those winged serpents. Finally the hand axe is called Woodthorne, and will spit green flames against fae of wood. They then show off their jewels: five diamonds, two opals, four obsidian, and three tiger eyes. The amber though, that one catches his eye. He's never seen anything like it. Laughing Fox decides to contact his ancestors, asking their advice and knowledge on the strange piece. 

"Is it a danger to us?" 

"No" they say.

"Are the people inside dangerous?"

"Yes."

"Should we let them out?"

"No."

With that, the session ended and the party happy with their gains.

Total XP from Monsters and Treasure:

 

Bosca the Fighter: (10%) 3381 XP

Stonewall (Elven Spellsword): (5%) 3228 XP

Laughing Fox (Shaman): (0%) 3074 XP