S&W White Box: Recap; Session 11, 8/16/10

True to form, I missed this session. Looks like trying to put back to back appearances together is not as easy as it seems. The school year starts next week for Kathy both as a teacher and a grad student, so I don't know how that will change my attendance.

Either way, the party descended down to the 2nd (presumably) level and faced a higher caliber of challenges...

SESSION ELEVEN (08.16.10)

Godsday the 18^th of Planting, CY 576

“The Dungeons”

Level three of the dungeons below

 The Castle of the Mad Archmage

Cast of Characters

Fen Sen the Conjurer (3^rd level Magic-User)

Galathos the Swordsman (3^rd level Fighting-Man)

Kor the Dwarven Footpad (2^nd level roguish Fighting-Man)

Old Man Halgron the Priest of St. Cuthbert (3^rd level Cleric)

“Harolde” hired lantern-bearer/porter

“Karhle” hired lantern-bearer/porter

“Willim” hired lantern-bearer/porter

MIA: Dantry the Elven Warrior/Seer (2^nd level Fighting-Man, 2^nd level Magic-User); Gloin the Dwarven Warrior (2^nd level Fighting-Man)

Apparently the wenches at the Green Dragon Inn were serving up plates of courage the evening prior to our band of adventurers’ latest expedition. Although missing the services of the Dwarf Gloin (who quite possibly had imbibed too much of the liquid courage the wenches had also been serving) and the Elf Dantry (who had travelled to the Gnarley Forest on a fey mission) they were joined by an acquaintance of Galathos’, the Dwarven Warrior named Kor. Kor and Galathos neglected to explain the particulars of their relationship or why the Dwarf eschewed armor and was very proficient in sneaking around. Glad for another arm, they steeled themselves against the expected danger and they wound their way through the Storage Rooms and descended down deep into the darkness, all the way down to the Dungeons. Galathos seemed extremely eager to put the magical warhammer found in the previous exploration which he had claimed to the test.

The foursome and their hirelings came to a portcullis that they proceeded to open noisily; once into the room beyond they were startled to find two large carnivorous apes charging them. The seven foot tall and extremely broad beasts loped towards the party as Old Man Halgron and Galathos stepped to the front in order to protect Fen Sen and the hirelings. Unnoticed, Kor crept into the shadows of the room and began to circle around behind the aggressive apes. Trading blows with the unbelievably strong apes, the Fighting-Man and the Cleric suffered hefty damage from the bludgeoning fists of the primates. Fen Sen attempted to ensorcell the apes into slumber, but was dismayed when his spell failed to have the desired effect. Halfway around the room, Kor spied some humanoids peeking around the corner of an unexplored corridor. The humanoids’ hairy hides were dark reddish-brown in color, their faces were bright red-orange, their noses blue-red, and their yellowish eyes reflected the torchlight. The creatures were armed with shields and swords and armored in a type of scale with breastplates. As the creatures backed away from the fracas, the Dwarf continued on behind the unsuspecting apes.

Beginning to second-guess their decision to descend so deep, Galathos and Halgron began to fall backwards while Fen Sen readied his newly learned spell and Kor studied the apes for a moment of weakness. Again the apes and the men traded blows, forcing Halgron to retreat behind Galathos to send a quick prayer to St. Cuthbert for magical healing. The Magic-User succeeded in summoning up his magical energies to craft an illusory warrior to aid the party in battle as the Dwarf failed in his roguish attack from the rear. The next moments of the melee sped by in a blur, with a confused turmoil of action. One ape was brought down, the party fell back into the corridor, and four of the humanoids marched out of the far corridor and towards the melee. With the one remaining ape held off by the Old Man and Fen Sen again calling on his Art to force the approaching humanoids into slumber, this time successfully. Galathos struggled to release the piton holding the portcullis up as the four closing creatures collapsed to the floor. The Fighting-Man finally knocked the piton free, causing the portcullis to crash down on the ape and trapping it on the other side. After dispatching the wounded beast the party re-entered the room, finished off the slumbering monsters and began searching for the loot that they clearly were owed.

Finding nothing and fearing that their struggles had been for naught, they began to closely inspect their surroundings. Eventually Kor discovered something odd about the stonework in the north-eastern portion of the room. Realizing that a section of the wall was movable, he began pushing that section down a newly found secret passage. As the party wondered where the sneaky dwarf had gotten off to, Kor found himself in a hidden armory stocked with an amazing collection of armaments. Another room held shackles, a cold brazier, and what appeared to be implements of torture. Relaying his findings back to the party, Galathos stood guard as the rest of the group bundled up as much of the weaponry as they could and set fire to the rest. As they were preparing to head back to the surface to drop off their loot a mysterious pearlescent floating bubble began bobbing down a diagonal corridor towards the Fighting-Man. Perhaps nervous from his last encounter with a mysterious orb, Galathos called out to the others and they hustled back up the stairs with Galathos knocking the portcullis back down in a rear-guard action. Seeing that the bubble had stopped on the far side of the gate, he fired off a couple of arrows with the second hitting the bubble causing it to erupt in a fiery explosion.

Thinking that that was enough for one day, they headed back up to the surface and returned to town. The party was able to sell the acquired weaponry for a decent amount of gold orbs and while at the shop the armorer informed Galathos that his commissioned suit of plate was almost finished. As excited as a schoolboy, the warrior convinced the rest of the group to wait on the armor before heading back down on another expedition.

Again, they headed down to the Dungeons- this time discovering that the stairs had been blocked with wrecked furniture that needed to be cleared out. Once down close to the portcullis they kept hearing the sound of breaking glass. Fearing a trap, they backed up and were none too surprised when the gated corridor was lit in the oily flames. Waiting until the furniture had burned down to smoldering embers they again forced the gate open and threw a torch into the room to provide illumination. As the torch flew out into the room two arrows spun through the air from the right. Peeking into the room they were confronted with five more of the humanoids, these armed with bows. Between the magical talent of Fen Sen, the martial skills of Galathos and Old Man Halgron, and the deft quickness of the lightly equipped Kor they gradually overcame the humanoids, taking two prisoners and managing to kill the rest with few injuries of their own. Turning to the prisoners the party…

Coin: 0

KIA: 2 carnivorous apes, 7 hobgoblins

POW: 2 hobgoblins

Treasure: various and sundry arms and armor (338 gp worth)

Rooms Explored: 4

Experience: 255 each (1020 total)

S&W White Box: Recap; Session Ten, 8/9/10 PART 2

And here's a character write up from our resident Magic User, Fen Sen, played by Oscar:

Recollections of Archmagus Fen Sen 10

It was mid Planting in the year 576 after a week of rest and relaxation after our Xth expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk. The Old Man did not join us as he was serving penance for something having to do with some Elven noble. Some of the rumors told said Halgron used the Elf as a chamber pot although I doubt the veracity of such claims. In his place we accepted the kind offer of assistance from the Elven warrior mage Dantry. I believe to this day his mission handed down from his noble lord was to keep an eye upon the Old Man’s companions. Proof I have not.

Lacking St. Cuthbert’s benevolence we made sure to limit the noise of our adventuring. Well at least at first, until Galathos decided it was a brilliant idea to search for a concealed chamber where Gloin and Dantry swore none was present. Why is it we kept listening to the overly bold redheaded warrior?

The answer was, at the time, that the man was right once of every three crazy ideas, suggestions, and actions and the sum total of that once in adventure and coin earned exceeded our pain felt and blood spilt in the other two. Woe that had continued in such vain.

The better part of two hours were wasted with pick and shovel opening six holes a foot deep and wide into a wall. All revealed it was solid and finally the Ramseur and Flamberge wielding giant relented in his insistence.

We moved on and were ambushed by some well placed goblin archers. After making short work of them we encountered two giant snakes which we dispatched with arrows and my arcane. Later we discovered even more treasure, this time ensconced within goblin drums.

Finally we encountered a skeleton warrior bearing a golden necklace and a Warhammer. If that had not been strange enough, its bones had either been painted with the thinnest imaginable layer of silvered paint, or it had been dipped in same. We managed to give it its final death however not before it had mauled Gloin severely and given Galathos a nasty wound and dented both of their armor.

We returned to our rooms at the Green Dragon Inn and as the norm we enjoyed an evening of wine, spirits, song, and wenches. Also as my wont, my evening of carousing ended early followed by some very exciting time in my chambers with that very fair and comely librarian lass. Shame I cannot recall her name these many years hence for I should have liked to know her future even with the aspersions that ended our time together. I still maintain she was not nor could be involved in the theft of several valuable tomes from her employer.

The following morning, also as my wont I spoke and gestured the words and runes of power granting me the ability to detect the arcane upon our treasures. I truly expected nothing, yet discovered to my amazement both the Warhammer and a Purple Fletched Arrow bore the unmistakable bluish aura of ensorcelled items.

The following week was spent in research at the library for the usual fee of 100 gold coins. A steep fee at first glance, but a mere pittance considering the vast wealth of knowledge contained within. I recall paying the fee myself as the others found themselves tapped out recovering from their injuries, carousing far too much, and maintaining and repairing their armor and weapons.

Those were good times.

S&W White Box: Recap; Session Ten, 8/9/10 PART 1

Here's a session I did make. Gloin is steadily gaining on 3rd level, I believe he's around 750 experience away. A couple big hauls and he's there...

We had a new player with us, named Brian, playing the Elf. I believe he played in a prior session I missed, but this is the first time I've played with him. He was very quiet and didn't say a whole lot. Hopefully, he enjoyed himself either way. Maybe after a couple of sessions he will feel more comfortable opening up.

Here's the write up from our DM, Bill:

SESSION TEN (08.09.10)

Waterday the 12^th of Planting, CY 576

“The Storage Rooms”

Cast of Characters

Dantry the Elven Warrior/Seer (2^nd level Fighting-Man, 2^nd level Magic-User)

Fen Sen the Seer (2^nd level Magic-User)

Galathos the Swordsman (3^rd level Fighting-Man)

Gloin the Dwarven Warrior (2^nd level Fighting-Man)

“Harolde” hired lantern-bearer/porter

“Karhle” hired lantern-bearer/porter

“Willim” hired lantern-bearer/porter

MIA: Old Man Halgron the Priest of St. Cuthbert (3^rd level Cleric) was too busy repenting at the temple for his latest transgression

After receiving word that their fellow companion Old Man Halgron had sequestered himself in his temple to suffer penitence for the matter of the elven gentleman, the remainder of our fearless heroes trudged out of the Free City of Greyhawk towards the ruined Castle Greyhawk. Now bolstered by the addition of Dantry the Elven Warrior/Seer making his second foray the party quickly descended back down to the first dungeon level, the so-called “Storage Rooms”.

Heading back towards the circular chamber with the ensorcelled statue, they wisely (lacking Halgron’s healing magic) avoided touching the statue which had previously created all that attention grabbing commotion. The party proceeded to head east, then south towards unexplored territories. The first room they came to contained dusty furniture, a silver candelabra, a bowl full of ashes, a dented tin wine goblet, and a rusty dagger. Wondering if all magical daggers appeared as rusty items, they made sure to secure the found weapon before proceeding on. The other exit from the room led to a smaller room that was empty save for a wooden cradle with the letters “NG” carved into one side.

Moving on the explorers proceeded carefully into a third room, this one containing a corpse lying next to a chest and a cluster of two dozen large sticky eggs. With Fen Sen and Gloin watching the nest, Galathos and Dantry inspected the fallen adventurer and the chest. After deciding that the chest was not trapped and that the corpse had likely suffered a poisonous bite, Galathos carefully opened the chest and discovered a hefty quantity of coinage and nine sticks of incense. Despite Gloin’s advice to leave the nest of eggs alone the party decided to try and see if they could rouse anything. After stirring some snake activity with a thrown torch, Galathos found a use for the vial of cheap perfume that he had found while exploring. Breaking the vial open all over the snakes’ nest caused two giant snakes to slither out after the retreating party. Dantry and Galathos kept their distance peppering one snake with arrows, Gloin quickly retreated back out of the room, and Fen Sen dropped the injured serpent into ensorcelled slumber. After dumping and lighting oil in the doorway they fired on the remaining snake and tossed another flask of flaming oil onto it.

Feeling confident after easily dispatching the two giant snakes and collecting a fair bit of treasure without suffering any harm they proceeded east and came to a stuck door which Gloin dropped his shoulder into. The party found themselves staring across the room at a room full of goblins. The shocked goblins dropped their dice game, stumbled to their feet, and tried to draw their weapons as Gloin, Galathos, and Dantry charged into battle; with Galathos ruthlessly targeting the shifty goblin that spent more time pocketing the coins off the table than in readying himself for combat. Having the drop on the goblin party the adventurers quickly cut down four of the seven goblins. Two of the remaining goblins dropped their weapons but were cut down by the party anyway along with the one armed goblin.

After searching the goblin’s corpses, cots, and collecting the coins from the table they proceeded through the door out of the room. Taking the corridor west, they entered their fifth room of the foray. Finding only a wineskin and a quiver with a single arrow Galathos consulted his map and determined that their must be a secret chamber located behind one of the walls. Despite Gloin’s dwarven knowledge to the contrary, Galathos and Dantry went to work on the western wall with picks. Realizing the loud noises they were causing would likely attract some untoward attention the party secured the door to the room and hoped for the best. After finally admitting defeat in finding his “secret room”, Galathos gave up.

Gloin re-opened the door and the party was startled to see that the facing door was now ajar. Scared that something had heard the sound of their excavations and was now laying in wait the dwarven warrior crept around the corridor and tossed a torch down the hallway. Unfortunately for the dwarf a goblin archer drawing a bead on him took this fine opportunity to release two arrows, with one piercing Gloin’s leg. Galathos crashed through the open door while Gloin and Dantry charged the archer’s position. Galathos discovered another archer drawing on him but he managed to get across the room in time to severely cut the creature down. After the dwarf and the elf made short work of their foe the party covered the rest of the area and met back up in the sixth room.

In Galathos’ haste across the room he passed by four large clay jars that Fen Sen now investigated. Noting that each of the jars had a leather lid stretched over the opening he first thought they were drums, but quickly found that they were containers. Carefully exploring each one, he was delighted to find a gold necklace and even more coin. So far this trip was proving to be quite profitable. After packing away the new treasure they proceeded south to a locked iron door.

After spending much effort and time in bringing down the secured door, the party eventually found themselves in the open doorway of their seventh room. After seeing nothing in the room but a large quantity of sand Gloin strode through the threshold of the doorway and entered the room. As soon as he set foot in the room a silvery skeleton sprung up from the sand-pile. Wearing a gold necklace and wielding a wicked warhammer the skeleton closed with the fighting-men. Before his line of sight was blocked by the ensuing melee Fen Sen tried to score a hit with a thrown dagger but was disappointed when his effort did nothing but clatter off the far wall. As the warriors engaged the skeleton in close combat he hung back wondering if his remaining spell (another sorcerous slumber) would have any affect on the undead creature. The three warriors traded blows with the skeleton, with Gloin suffering several damaging hits and Galathos losing his pole-arm as the ranseur was cracked in half by the skeleton after getting lodged in its ribs. With Gloin having to withdraw from combat to let Fen Sen bandage up some of his wounds Dantry and Galathos continued their barrage on the skeleton, eventually causing enough damage to bring the foul creature down. After claiming the necklace and the hammer as their own, the party rifled through the sand pile but found nothing else.

Feeling very fortunate that they had managed to amass a nice sum of treasure, and not having any way of restoring Gloin’s health, the party retreated back through the Storage Rooms to the main staircase back up to the surface and back to town. In the common room of the Green Dragon Inn the next morning the party was delighted to hear from Fen Sen that he had discovered that the hammer and the arrow were magical. Toasting their success the four adventurers make their way out of the Inn in their own directions with some preparations to take care of before their next trip and vowed to each give Old Man Halgron a hard time at dinner that night, assuming of course that the priest’s superiors allowed him out of the temple.

Coin: 192 gold pieces, 170 silver pieces, 88 copper pieces

KIA: 2 giant poisonous snakes, 9 goblins, silver skeleton

Treasure: “magical” warhammer, “magical” arrow, 9 sticks of incense and wooden box, 6 bone dice, 6 small painted wooden blocks, small vial with hot red liquid, chunk of smoked fish, split dried peas, 10 gummy candies; Sold (425 gp): gold necklace, 2 daggers, 2 short swords, 1 pick, 2 short bows, silver candelabra, silver and costume jewelry necklace, quiver, 24 giant snake eggs, non-magical rusty dagger

Rooms Explored: 7 (78 Total)

Experience: 410 each (1640 total)

Fun With Carousing Mishaps

Over at Jeff's Game Blog, there is a table for Carousing Mishaps. Through the past S&W sessions, we've tried our hand at carousing a few times; Gloin has tried and failed twice and our resident Cleric, Old Man Halgron, succeeded twice and failed once. He was awesome enough to write up a little fiction to cover his loss. Enjoy!

Nawanog, local tavern cook and Halgron’s long-time friend, wrote:

So, Old Man Halgron rolled in one night, stumbling, piss drunk, armored and covered in gore. He was swinging that damned flail about with his spindly arms, scaring everyone half-way to hell and yelling, “So when I reached in that crack to get the diamonds, the demonic bugger crawled out on to me, drilling into my flesh and sucking out my blood! Cuthbert’s wrath took care of ‘em though! We popped his bloated tick ass – splattering the wall with my nearly divine blood, favorite of Cuthbert that I am! Haha!” He winked at me and began laughing uncontrollably - I could see ropes of saliva whipping through the air from the corner of his mouth as his head jerked this way and that. I took a step back.

“Wonderful, my good man, wonderful – have a seat and tell me more!” said I, praying the old fool would let go the flail.

“More ale, then! A round for all!!” he said, continuing, “So we slew the goblins, we slew them all – you shoulda seen me!” He motioned as if to strike, but I threw up both hands, terrified. He paused, eyeing me, or something behind me, carefully, “Amazing I was, Cuthbert’s brightest star, no doubt! Wait - where’s that fool singer you keep around here? He should hear this!!” He craned his neck, turning left. Now I could even see a piece of bone in his stringy white hair..goblinoid maybe? Or maybe it was a broken beak of some kind? Also, when did he get that silly Cuthbert eye patch and why was it on his forehead?

And that’s when the elven nobles entered, dressed in expensive furs and silks and escorted by a few city guards. One guard said, “All stand to recognize the noble lord – “

“Well, she’s beautiful – I love elven girls!” Halgron blurted, dropping his flail and darting toward the noble, sloshing ale all over. Quick old fart when he’s drunk! Before anyone could react, he’d swept up the elf in his bloody, dirty arms, and was smothering him with kisses. Horrified, the guards pried him off, restrained him and began apologizing to the lord.

One guard looked at Halgron, “You sir, have embarrassed us one too many times! Some time to sober up in jail will do you WELL!”

At that point, Halgron’s friend Galathos appeared, with a bag of gold extended. “Take this, friends, and be off. He’s drunk and means no harm, as any fool can see!”

So ended one of the Old Man’s less successful attempts at carousing.

Wealth wasted: 100 gold
Fine: 175 gold

S&W White Box: Recap; Session Nine, 7/19/10

On 2nd shift for this one, so I was not present...

Recollections of Fen Sen the Archmagus 9

It was the 6^th of Planting and we’d just finished piling up the chests to take with us when we left when we heard a bit of a commotion and an Elven warrior in plate mail lugging a massive pike found himself staring at the business ends of our steel. He hailed Dantry, and we invited him to adventure with us as one’s defense cannot have a surfeit of warriors. Better that I share the spoils of adventure with several than not cash in at all. The concept would prove quite fortuitous the same day only a few hours later.

We discovered a statue of a middle aged woman holding an infant in the center of a large circular room. After making our basic preparations, spiking the door open and establishing a guard, the warriors attempted to shift the statue. While it did not budge, the slightest touch caused us to hear a woman singing a lullaby most loudly.

This was bound to attract the attention of the dungeons denizens thus we prepared ourselves. Nigh had we girded that a flock of those retched flying bloodsucking anteaters tried to approach. With only a minor wound to our newest addition, Galathos slew two with his long bow and I slumbered three more. The Old Man used his flail giving the foul beasts the righteous blessing of his god.

Over the next two hours we slew two monster ticks the size of adult cats, found a corridor connecting us with what had been Old Guard territory in the northeastern section of our map, discovered several traps, and begun a battle with miserable goblins.

After a lull several more goblins attacked, this time dropping mighty Galathos with two arrows to his heart. I saw and heard the crash of his plate mail encased body and feared the worst. We managed to defeat the raiders only a few minutes later.

The Old Man made to verify our comrade’s passing and discovered the faintest bit of life in our stout redheaded mad swordsman. The arrows to his heart were slowed by one of the heavy plates in his maille leaving them only lightly embedded in his ribs. The heads dislodged and removed, and both of St. Cuthbert’s daily blessings of healing spirit later our ranseur and flamberge wielding carnage dealer was somewhat hale.

With little monetary gain to show for our wounds we decided to ignore our adventuring party’s weakened state and finish exploring several chambers before returning to the City for some well needed rest and recuperation. We were most glad we did as within an hour, and without casualty, we had discovered a sack heaping with gold coins and twenty heavy lead bars. One of those bars had a thin layer of lead over gold.

Gathering up our discoveries we headed to the exit making sure to give the Clerics of Galanthor a suitable gift of 17 gold, 5 silver, and 6 copper coins.

As usual I planned upon giving another significant sum upon my return when our efforts had been rewarded.

S&W White Box: Statistics Up To Session Eight

Well, it's another Monday and I am stuck at work on the 2nd shift, so no game for me this week again. Our DM, Bill, was gracious enough to post this nice summation of the numbers game through the first 8 sessions.

Enjoy!

Dungeons of Castle Greyhawk Campaign

(Castle of the Mad Demi-God, Castle of the Mad Archmage)

Swords & Wizardry: White Box

After a glorious eight adventures the party of intrepid explorers have survived just over half of “the Storage Rooms” (being the first level of the dungeons below Zagig Yragerne’s castle, the so-called Mad Archmage). They began their spelunking on Starday the 8^th of Coldeven, CY 576 and as of Earthday the 6^th of Planting are still at it after twenty-seven days (including downtime).

When not delving they have been doing their part in stimulating the economy of the Free City of Greyhawk- spending coin at various locales, most notably including: the Outdoor Survival store (run by Eggler Greggle Gleggler the renowned cobbler); Arneson’s Arms & Armor (with an extensive pole-arm department); and at the Green Dragon Inn (where their growing tales of derring-do and (more importantly) their growing pile of coins have secured them permanent residency).

And for amusement in their downtime: Old Man Halgron has been splitting his time between proselytizing the young females of Greyhawk and asking for forgiveness at the Temple of St. Cuthbert; Galathos has been involving himself in the nefarious underside of the Thieves’ Quarter and the Slums; Fen Sen has been studying and learning in the University Area and Clerksburg; and last but certainly not least, Gloin has become the life of the party and leads the Greyhawk social scene in carousing.

Cast of Characters

Fen Sen the Seer (2^nd level Magic User)

Galathos the Swordsman (3^rd level Fighting Man)

Old Man Halgron the Priest of St. Cuthbert (3^rd level Cleric)

Gloin the Dwarven Warrior (2^nd level Fighting Man)

Hirelings

Karhl Fen Sen’s Porter/Lantern-bearer

Harolde Fen Sen’s Porter/Lantern-bearer

Willem Galathos’ Porter/Lantern-bearer

Characters Met

Frahnk the ex-Porter/Lantern-bearer

Terabithia the Elven Warrior-Seer (2^nd level Fighting Woman, Magic User)

Talin the Dwarven Warrior (2^nd level Fighting Man)

Bill Harker the “Magic User” and Ivan his crow “familiar”

Opponents Defeated

47 Kobolds

18 Old Guard Regulars

1 Old Guard Corporal

5 Magublek goblins

4 large Spiders

6 Zombies

1 Ghoul

1 insane Fighting Man

17 Giant Rats

4 Stirges

6 Skeletons

3 giant Centipedes 

 

Total Accumulated Coinage

1,691 gold orbs (gp)

2,650 silver nobles (sp)

2,330 copper commons (cp)

 

Notable Retained Treasures

Rusty magical dagger (+1 to hit and +1 to damage something undisclosed)

Red tear drop shaped magical gem, now provides infravision in Halgron’s left eye

“Cursed” marionette (clown doll)

Magical potion (vaporous grey liquid, made taster feel light and semi-transparent)

Priestly scroll of Protection from Chaos

“Magical” potion of “Reduction”

Brass key

S&W White Box: Recap; Session Eight, 7/5/10

What's this, a session I was actually able to attend? Thankfully the holiday actually stuck and I got off from work. Of course, now that Monday was a holiday, I imagine we will all work on Saturday since they won't have to pay any overtime. Kind of makes you wonder what the purpose of a holiday off might be...

Recollections of Fen Sen the Archmagus 8

Moments before the group led by Galathos was to leave, Gloin arrived giving Talen the opportunity to stay with his Elven companion.

While we waited Gloin regaled me with his adventures upon the lake cruise, which I have distilled into a few simple words: he had a great time!

The others returned without Talen and Terabithia but with the Old Man, hence it was for us a net gain. Both our new friends indicated they might be rejoining us once they’d solved their issues in the City.

With our original adventuring group back together we pressed on within what we were calling “The Old Guard Area” on the map.

We discovered a large chamber with a well and proceeded to inspect it discovering what may have been a water elemental. Using Galathos’ grapple and a rather fragrant 8 day dead kobold corpse we went fishing. When that proved a failure, our large redheaded warrior offered to go down there with the ensorcelled dagger, and we promptly agreed.

After a few minutes we hauled him up beaten and battered at the edge of death. Gloin then offered to descend and finish the elemental as it had to be near death with the dozens of wounds inflicted by Galathos. We agreed and lowered him down and a few minutes later we raised him close to death’s door. Seeing the beating our warriors had taken in such a short time, I declined taking my turn in the well and made pains to disabuse the Old Man from doing so as well.

We then decided to slay the beast by polluting the well and reducing its life giving water. While we could do nothing for the moment about the amount of water we certainly could pollute it and all of us voided our bladders with the Old Man voiding something else. As he put it he was going to hang his ass over the side and give the beast a shit sandwich. What a colorful turn of phrase that still brings all these years later a grin to my face. Hence that room became known as “The Urinal.”

We moved on encountering some undead, a group of kobolds, and a group of giant rats. The former were burned with oil and filled with arrows returning them to death while the two latter groups I put to sleep and then we easily delivered them from the miserable existence that was their life. We kept one named Snotbill who under Gloin’s interrogation gave us some useful information. The few Old Guard survivors had abandoned the area and descended one level deeper into the dungeon fortifying their holdings there. He also told us of two different goblin tribes and an orc tribe holding sections of this level and gave fairly decent directions to their areas upon our still incomplete map. These directions helped greatly in our future planning, such that it was with Galathos effectively leading us not only in combat but increasingly outside of it as well.

Snotbill also confirmed there was an entrance controlled by the Elves however he had not personally seen it and another controlled by the Dwarves, the one we descended maintained by the Clerics of Galanthor.

We encountered yet another group of kobolds and put them to blade as well. Snotbill took the opportunity to attempt an escape earning Galathos’ gauntlet punching him in the face. The blow slew it, not a terrible loss.

We discovered a great deal of treasure, including a gold bracelet, several gems, piles of coins, a fairly nice painting, chunks of quartz, marble, and hematite, a vial of some ensorcelled liquid labeled “Reduction”, a semi-ornamental silver candlestick, a new set of plate mail, a crossbow, a short bow, a huge number of arrows, a large black pearl, and four books. Enough to fill our packs and thus we returned to the City for resupply, healing, and adventures betwixt sheets. That young librarian sure did well for me, but I digress.

We sold everything except the potion and the brass key resulting in a massive influx of coin. Gloin and the Old Man spent a great deal of it in their usual pastimes with the dwarf electing to spent some more time enjoying the fruits of his labors. Galathos commissioned himself a suit of field plate armor, and I purchased a cart to increase our hauling capacity before converting most of the rest of my coin to gems.

We returned to the Castle ruins and the brothers of Galanthor were happy to see us. They were even happier when I thanked them yet again for their storage of my cart and for the care and up keep of my mule, and happier still when I gave them 36 gold pieces for their continued efforts on our part.

The Old Man gave them something as well. Galathos, well he was Galathos.

We descended deciding to finally solve the Painted Statue and found the paints we’d stored there had been stolen. The Old Man painted it black and then it demanded red. Deciding we really were going to solve it, we returned to the City collecting every prime paint color plus pink and then returned and proceeded to paint her red, then white, then blue, then yellow, and finally pink before the fair voice fell silent. We tried all manner of ways to get the voice to reveal its secret to no response.

Galathos flew into a rage, snatching his pick axe off Karhle’s pack and proceeded to break the statue into tiny pieces.

We then decided to travel through the goblin area to reach the southeastern end of the level as it was much quicker than going through the areas formerly of the Old Guard.

After slaying two of the foul beasts we discovered a concealed treasure room we could not get into. An hour’s work with Galathos and his pick and we had an opening two feet wide by three tall, sufficient for me or the old man when unarmored. I decided it was my turn and ventured forth.

Within were four chests, only one locked. Using the lockpicks I managed to open it to everyone’s amazement, including my own. Within there was nothing, even after I explored it for concealed compartments within the lid, walls, and bottom. I decided to check underneath and shifted the chest tripping the trap.

The other three chests began slowly sinking into the floor, and I was having none of it. I hollered for Wilhelm’s help as he was armored now in leather courtesy of his master and because he was just a bit stronger than my porters. I then began hauling the chests out of the holes. By the time Galathos’ man got there I’d freed all three of the sinking chests and heaved the two lighter ones to the opening.

With Wil’s help I got the heaviest chest to the opening and then sent the lighter ones through before having him lead the chest while I pushed it out from behind. I was the last to leave the concealed chamber and while it hadn’t been very dangerous I did earn more than a little respect from my colleagues, admittedly much of it I’d lost for refusing to attack the elemental.

Our haul was the three chests of average construction, 84 gold, 155 silvers, 806 coppers, four clear gems, and a cloak pin in the shape of a silvered rose. We split the coin between the porters, and the gems went into my pack as usual. The cloak pin Galathos put on, before I’d had the opportunity to verify if it was ensorcelled or not.

We then prepared to move on leaving the chests in a pile against the south side of the main east-west corridor. We’d collect them later unless the goblins swiped them beforehand.