OD&D: Ravensburg Session 10

Characters:

Boneswa (Elf-F2/MU2): Tim (+Gothridge Manor)
     Corder (Fighter-2): NPC
     Rosalind (Cleric-1): NPC

The Rumor Mill:

• With the Bugbear menace gone, the market for Grim Forest wolf pelts has picked up again.
• Karl Nobbins and his band of adventurers, regulars at the Surly Dragon Inn, went into the Black Tower three days ago. They haven't come back yet. 
• A green dragon was spotted flying westward from Dankmarsh, over the Sundered Hills, toward the sea. Boneswa the elf and his band were the first to spot the dragon outside of Dankmarsh. A merchant caravan from Mudport spotted it again just days later, confirming Boneswa's observation.
• Creighton (recently entered into Boneswa's service) reports that Durston Lowell has been doing business with gnomes -- greedy, unscrupulous, unprincipled gnomes. 

The Action:

Boneswa and his henchmen head once more for the Black Tower, this time in the hopes of finding Karl and his company. This is their first return since hearing the rumor of rumblings and tremors ("as if stone and earth were being moved") and since hearing the rumors of Simon of Bellamy's return.

Climbing to the top of the hill, Boneswa immediately notices two things:

1. The tower ruin has changed – what once was a round tower ruin no more than knee to waist high is now an octagonal tower ruin, roughly chest to head high.

2. A set of boot prints makes a beeline for a patch of trees and brush just north of the tower proper.

Boneswa follows the trail and comes to the remains of an old cistern, once overgrown, but now cleared away. The trail seems to end here. Corder and he lift the lid, revealing a completely dry cistern with ladder leading down to an iron maintenance hatch. They climb down, open the hatch and find themself inside the dungeons once more.

The dungeons themselves are different. The halls here are dimly illuminated by phosphorescent moss, and the walls are smoother than they had been on Boneswa's previous visits.

The band's exploration leads them mostly eastward.

Encounters of note (numbered above) included:

1. A run-in with two known NPC adventurers of ill-repute: Orthelm and Rathilda (and their seven henchmen). This involved an uncomfortable parley and a rapid parting of ways.

2. The discovery of Karl Nobbins' body along with his henchmen and a host of dead goblins. Examination of the bodies indicates the henchmen and the goblins killed each other off in a fight, while Karl survived with cuts and bruises – but was subsequently killed with his throat slit from behind. The bodies of the adventurers and the goblins had been picked clean. Boneswa picks up Karl's broken shield to take back to Ravensburg.

3. The discovery and liberation of some sort of "creature of light" apparently imprisoned within the masonry of the dungeon itself.

4. The discovery of an area to the east where the phosphorescent mold disappears, only to be replaced by an uncanny green witch-light.

5. A fight in the latter area with an animated statue of Vecna (perhaps a vestige of the dungeon's original builders defeated long ago by Simon of Bellamy and his allies?) resulting in victory and loot in the form of a 500 gp ruby.

Returning to Ravensburg, Boneswa heads to the Surly Dragon and tells the innkeeper, Big Willie, of Karl's demise. He also mentions his suspicion about Orthelm and Rathilda. Big Willie vows to find out ("I know people in this town, people who will talk to me") and, in short, wring Orthelm's and Rathilda's necks if Boneswa's suspicion turns out to be true. Boneswa also hands over Karl's broken shield. Big Willie, an ex-adventurer himself, keeps a "wall of honor" in his place, where he hangs momentos of lost comrades. Willie gently places the shield on the wall, and Bonewsa buys a round for the house before leading a toast to Karl's lost band.

Boneswa then goes to Natalia Stoynich's shop to cash in his ruby, and to let her know of the changes to the Tower. Natalia fears she was wrong and that Simon may well have returned. She says she'll keep buying items from Boneswa but will have to examine them extra carefully to ensure they're not cursed.

And here we ended the session.

OD&D: Ravensburg/Black Tower Session 4

Last night Roghan the Fighting-Man joined up with Boneswa the Elf to plumb the depths of the Black Tower once more.

Player Characters 
   - Boneswa the Elf ( +Tim Shorts )
   - Roghan, the Fighting-Man ( +Rob Conley )

Sidekicks
   - Sister Regina, a Cleric (Boneswa)
   - Corder, a Fighting-Man (Boneswa)
   - Presto, an Elf (Roghan)
   - Lena, a Magic-User (Roghan)

New Rumors

In Ravensburg's Surly Dragon Inn, Roghan and Boneswa picked up two new rumors:
   - A large cat – perhaps a mountain lion? tiger? – has been spotted on the edges of the briars.
   - Goblins are based in the southwest of the dungeon's first level.

Exploration 
The party entered the tower and headed east with the plan of exploring how far the dungeon extended in that direction (the dungeon is relatively large but it's not a megadungeon, so the party knows there are definite edges to it). Once they could go no farther east, they turned north, pushing for the edge of the dungeon that way. In the course of their exploration, they found a spiral staircase leading down to a lower level (or levels), but they did not follow it down.

Enemies 
The party had three encounters with zombies who seem to have infested the northeast section of the dungeon. One cloaked zombie turned out to be a spellcaster who blasted Corder (one of Boneswa's sidekicks) with a magic missile, before being taken down.

Oddities
   - The party discovered a secret wall compartment that contained a tiny silver orb, about 1" across. The orb responds to questions with beeps and whistles (think R2-D2).
   - The party passed through a previously explored room where they had found a child's ragdoll and a fingerpainted parchment depicting a happy family (mom, dad, little girl, all smiling on a sunny day). In an adjacent room, the party discovered a zombie devouring the remains of a man and a woman, non-adventurers in "civilian" traveling clothes.
   - In another room the party encountered a fist-sized gem floating in mid air. Roghan's sidekick Lena approached it with a 10' pole and prodded it. A hail of arrows shot from the walls, but Lena's use of the 10' pole made it easy for her to dodge them (+4 to her save). The gem however disappeared. It turned out to be a projection of some sort. The party drove an iron spike into the hole from which the projection originated.

Loot
   - Ornate, finely crafted gold ring with a gem chip (worth 300 gp, but the party wants to see if it is perhaps a family heirloom to anyone in Ravensburg, who might be willing to pay more for its return).
   - 50 gold coins in a pouch
   - A wooden unholy symbol (from the zombie mage's neck)
   - A bundle of silverware hidden up a kitchen chimney (worth 40 gold)

OD&D: Ravensburg/Black Tower Game Report 3 (Brother Reginald goes to the hereafter)

Two Wednesdays ago our group was again reduced to just +Tim Shorts and me. So another casual session of Ravensburg it was, with Tim's elf, Boneswa, heading into the Black Tower alone with his two sidekicks, Brother Reginald the Cleric and Corder the Fighting-Man. Joining the small party this time was Kenny, the Torchbearer (note to +Ken H: Tim chose the torchbearer's name, not me).

On their way to the tower, Boneswa and company met the same man they had encountered last time, with orange-reddish hair and beard, streaked with black, sitting on a log at the edge of the briars, relaxing and smoking a pipe.

Boneswa spoke a bit more at length with the fellow, whose name was Tom. From him Boneswa learned that goblins and other things had been entering the tower, at the beckoning of a new master. As for Tom himself, he merely watched the comings and goings of people and creatures to and from the dungeon. Tom wished the party luck as they headed on.

Entering the dungeon and heading south, Boneswa and company encountered more of the hairy, bearded, leather-armored warriors they had encountered in their last expedition. These turned out to be furious berserkers, and in the ensuing fight Brother Reginald was slain.

Returning to Ravensburg, Boneswa and his companions delivered Brother Reginald's body to the Church of Saint Baldric. There Reginald's sister, also a cleric of Saint Baldric, joined the party to take up the work of her brother, smiting chaos with the party.

After some healing, a funeral, and the gift of a healing potion, the party returned to the tower. This time they found Tom's log on the edge of the Briars unoccupied. Examining it, they found tufts of what looked like his hair – but found it was feline in nature.

Proceeding to the dungeon, Boneswa and his followers defeated more berserkers. They also found a room with several iron cages. One cage had its door ripped off, with bits of blood and animal fur on the bars that looked very much like the hairs found on Tom's log.

Lootwise, the highlight of the expedition was the acquisition of a 400 gp gem.

OD&D: Ravensburg/Black Tower Game Report 2

Last week, and last night, the Wednesday night group was unable to get everyone together again, so we hopped into the Black Tower once more (the "casual corner" in Ravensburg) to just to toss some dice. Here is last week's session report; I hope to post last night's report later today.

Boneswa the Elf (+Tim Shorts) was joined by the Fighting-Man Rhogan (+Rob Connelly). Counting their sidekicks (elf, fighting-man, cleric, magic-user), this brought total party strength up to 6 members.

This time Boneswa the Elf (+Tim Shorts) was joined by the Rhogan the Fighting-Man (+Rob Conley). Counting their sidekicks (elf, fighting-man, cleric, magic-user), this brought total party strength up to 6 members.

The adventurers encountered more rats and, more importantly found conclusive evidence that there were in fact zombies in the northeast of the dungeon's first level – keeping the head of one zombie as evidence. The party also encountered three rather hairy, bearded warriors in leather armor (1). Rhogan's sidekick, Lena, charmed them, and sent them off to the north to hunt giant rats.

Numerous rooms were explored. The most curious was one with unusual triangular ceiling tiles in a complex pattern. Some of the tiles had a slightly different color. Rhogan used a 10-foot pole to press on one. It glowed. It also pointed to the next discolored one. Rhogan proceeded to that one and again pressed it, and it glowed, pointing to the next one and so on. This process was repeated until Rhogan had made his way along a tortuous path across the room to the exit on the opposite side. Rhogan warned the rest of the party to follow the path of the ceiling tiles as they must have been put there for a reason. The rest of the party did so, and nothing calamitous happened (evil grin).

Also of note, the party found dropped on the floor in one room a child's rag doll and parchment with a finger painted image of a happy family. Both looked very new. This elicited expressions of puzzlement and concern.

In another room the group found an altar once belonging to the recently defeated cult of Vecna. This particular altar appeared old and not used in ages, however.

Otherwise the adventurers picked up a reasonable amount of treasure and headed back to Ravensburg. On their return trip, they encountered a man with orange-reddish hair and beard streaked with black, sitting on a log at the edge of The Briars, relaxing and smoking a pipe (2). After exchanging a few pleasantries, the group returned to the city and turned in their zombie head to Lieutenant Argus of the Black Guard for a hefty reward.

NOTES:
(1) The party would encounter more of these guys a week later (last night).
(2) The party would encounter this fellow again a week later (last night) as well.