Goodman Games

This is being run by a friend of mine, we have made it though 2 sessions so far. We are going to try an play as far into castle white rock as we can, so they will have spoilers if you plan on playing you may want to avoid.

1st Session:
The Saga of Castle Whiterock

Chapter 1: The Sinister Secret of Whiterock Part 1

The players are a group of refugees that have fled over the mountains into the Kingdom of Morrain in order to escape the
wars in their kingdoms.

On their way to Cillimar, they are convinced by a man on the road to change their course to Hightower, the home of the Altazan the Wizard, where opportunity awaits them.

But once arriving in Hightower, they find a squalid shantytown that has built up around the wizard's tower. People come
from all across the land to see the wizard, but very few are admitted to see him. A small community has sprung up around the tower to serve or to prey upon those who gather here.

The players are received by the wizard's assistant Garig, who tells that he will pay them hansomely if they discover the whereabouts of a party he sent to map ancient structures in the hillside and to return a gem that he believes one of them stole from the wizard. The heroes agree.

Some time later, they discover the campsite of the party, beneath an ancient menhir adorned with gnomish runes. When
touched, a secret door magically opens, revealing a passageway leading down into the darkness.

The heroes descend into the darkness, bringing their pony and pig along with them. They discover a room, with one corner of the ceiling collapsed onto an old chest. The opposite end of the room leads to a hallway that ends at a door.

The players discover that the door is false and will most likely trigger a trap, so they wedge the door to prevent it from opening.

Then they tie a rope to the beam that lies upon the chest and pull. Part of the ceiling collapses, spilling stones and bones onto the stone floor. The bones clatter and dance around and form three skeletons, each with glowing blue quartz crystals in their eye sockets.

As a result of the fight, several of the players fall in battle. The pony panics,tramples and kills nearly half the party to escape back up the stairs.

The party finds a secret door. Down a hallway, they see three small creatures. They look like pale "Dobbies" (from Harry Potter), but with feral faces, jagged teeth and stringy hair. They are dropping rats into a boiling cauldron.

The heroes attack. Three of their number fall and the dobbies retreat. The heroes drag their fallen back and decide to head
back to Hightower.

Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Whiterock Part 2

Of the nine heroes who set out on the mission for the wizard's assistant, only three decided to return to Hightower.

Nethok the Dwarf, Penny the Beggar, and Tanda the Animal Handler. The adventure had sharpened these three's skills and Penny was now a Thug, while Tanda was now a Witness of Karana, and Nethok is an Apprentice Dwarf

Returning to the wizard's tower, the three recruited six more travellers to help them and then met with Garig again. Negotiating further, they had him agree to pay them 20 pieces of gold for the return of the gem, which he insisted only held sentimental value for the wizard. It was of no value.

After buying what supplies their meager funds could purchase, they returned into the hills to the menhir.

Now, travelling with Nethok, Penny, and Tanda were the following:

Lorian - an elf sage

Rat - a Halfling gypsy

Nungo - a mute minstrel

Urla - a female dwarven miner

Lissa - a sturdy female blacksmith

and

A Lyda- a herdswoman and her dog.

The adventurers descended once again into the first room, but something was different. A person appeared to be lying on the floor in front of the trapped door.

Rat and Nethok slowly approached, but when they got near the person stood up. It was a skeleton! It yanked on the door, activating a trap. The floor fell out from under them. Rat and Nethok plunged forty feet below into scummy water where three more skeletons tried to pull them to the bottom of the pool.

Above, while everyone was looking down, the three Dobbies snuck out of the secret door and attacked. They were driven off after they wounded a few of the adventurers and ran off deeper into the dungeon.

Meanwhile, Nethok was fighting for his life beneath the waves. Rat had freed himself but cracked his head against the wall while swimming in the dark, knocking him out.

One by one, the rest of the party decided to join their friends and lept down into the hole. Tanda climbed down and dropped in. The Lyda neck was broken by the fall into the water.



After fighting off the skeletons, the adventurers were attacked by a young owlbear, who disemboweled Penny.

Tanda was able to locate Penny's body and a wand made of a rib bone, with glowing runes upon its side.

The adventurers discovered three naked captives. They were members of the first party sent out by the wizard. Rico the halfling, Rob a barrelmaker and Bob a wheelwright.

The party was able to scrounge up a small fire and rest here. As they rested, Rat and Lissa realized the events that had taken place had strengthened them. Lissa was now a Bandit and Rat was a Journeyman



After resting, the party descended a spiral staircase into a room filled with giant mushrooms and vines. The Rico was strangled by an assassin vine over the door, but was rescued after the plant monster was killed.

Nethok shoved him into the door's mouth and he somehow successfully deciphered a Gnomish puzzle lock and opened a door that looked like a storm giants face.

Following the path downward, they came across a chamber with eight crystal pillars. They sent in Urla the dwarf and soon, the floor began to sink with standing in the middle.

As she descended, images formed in the crystals, showing the building of a wondrous Clockwork City by the gnomes. But then it showed the gnomes induring orc invasions, giant invasions and even dragon attacks!

With a flash of insight, Nethok realized that the Dobbies were what was left of the Gnomes!

When the platform reached the bottom of the octagonal chamber, the pillars unleashed a fear trap, that incapacitated most of the party. Six dobbies rushed out and killed Urla and drug her body away. Then the floor rose back up to the level of the adventurers.

Every one stuffed their ears with sculpting clay and rode the platform back down. This time, they pretended to be victims of the fear trap. When the six dobbies rushed in, the adventurers suprised them.

They slew four. One escaped. And they captured the last one.

Bob the Barrelbuilder recalls something he found in a barrel long ago, memories awakened by the inscriptions in the crystal chamber. He is now an Astrologist!

When the next chapter begins, the players will begin by interrogating the dobbie.

Chapter 3 - The Sinister Secret of Whiterock part 3 and The Upper Ruins of Castle Whiterock

Our adventure begins with our heroes still trapped in the gnomish dungeon! The heroes interrogate the dobby they have caught and realize it is a gnome, somehow twisted and malformed.

Bob the wizard charms the creature, causing it to to mimic his speech patterns and facial expressions. From the gnome they discover that he is one of the Si-hel, a group of gnomes who worship a great Dark Crystal.

The heroes find the mushroom teepees where the Si-hel live, all abandoned, except for three living prisoners that they rescue.

Next they attack the island of the Dark Crystal. At the bottom of a great caldera lies an island covered with giant mushrooms and out of which rises a great glowing crystal.


Tanda casts Holy Sanctuary on herself and descends to the island. The crystal calls out to Nethok, who is maddened and permanently disfigured. He turns on the party, nearly killing half of them. Tanda spots the gem the wizard is looking for in the Oracle's eye socket. She stabs it out, but after a quick spell duel with the Oracle, Tanda is taken down by the Si-hel warriors.

Bob charms the undead skeleton of Urla and sends it against the Oracle, killing her.

Rat scurries down to the island, loots Tanda's corpse, then strikes the Dark Crystal! It sends a shock through the entire caldera, cracking open an underground river that starts to flood the caldera.

Bob instructs everyone to cut the tops off of the giant mushrooms and use them as boats. In the end, only Rat, Nethok, Lissa and Bob escape the flood.

The heroes return to Hightower and meet with the wizard's assistant Garig. He seems overly pleased to buy the gem. The heroes listen through the door, and hear him discussing starting preparations with Stigor.

Next, the heroes visit the Smelly Fish and meet the dwarf Hugor, who promises to lead them into Castle Whiterock on the next day.

Rat sneaks off and buries his gold, then sneaks back.

The heroes recruit six more travellers to join their number.

The heroes then are approached by Cyrus, a monk of the Order of the Dawning Sun. He explains that 500 years ago, a monastary stood on beside Castle Whiterock. In it was the legendary Library of Forgotten Lore. The monks have returned to excavate the ruins of Castle Whiterock and wish to hire the players to search the dungeons for them. They agree and spend the night in their tent.

The following morning, Cyrus and one of the monks lead them up the mountain and into the upper ruins of Castle Whiterock. The monks receive them and lead them to a tent. Inside the tent is a table with two benches. On the table are pieces of potter and other artifacts.

The heroes are served drugged wine and as it starts to take effect, the "monks" collapse the tent on top of them and knock them all into unconsciousness with clubs. All except for Rat, who is able to scurry away and escape.

Soon, the heroes realize they've been captured by a group of Slavers known as the Brotherhood of the Iron Manacle. Each member has their sign tattooed on their back.



A group of white-skinned orcs emerge from deeper in the dungeon to buy the heroes from the slavers. Bob uses his ESP Charm Person and wins over the minds of two slavers. They argue to keep him and are successful. He is kept by their bunks to heal.

Meanwhile, Rat returns to Hightower. He decides to sneak into the wizard's tower. There he finds Garig and Stigor dead. ( The party had insinuated to Cyrus that the wizard was going to move against the monks, so the monks took them out ) He sees no sign of the wizard and the entire place had been ransacked. The only thing of use that he discovered was the missing wizard's notes on Castle White Rock.



Next, Rat returned to the monk's tent. He waiting for the sole monk to return, captured him, interrogated him, then killed him.

Next, he set a trap for the other monks who would surely return and waited...

Chapter 4 -The Upper Ruins of Castle Whiterock part 2

Cast of characters:

Bob the Wizard: Nathan
Gunther the Gravedigger Warrior: Nathan
Janis the Elf: Scott
Rat the Halfling: Jason
Selene the Thief: Trina
Thugra the Elf: Joey

Bob the Wizard is being nursed back to health by the two slavers he charmed. The half-orc, the half-elf and Selene enter. The half-orc states that he knows why the two slavers saved Bob. He thinks they are going to try to ransom him back to some rich family and betray the slavers. They begin to torture the two slavers.

Lucan the half-elf takes Selene aside. He's trying to recruit her to join the Brotherhood of the Iron Manacle. He sends her back to Hightower to try to get more victims. She is having second thoughts though.

Meanwhile, Thugra has communed with the King of Elfland. He sends her a mithril coat and sword. In return, he asks that she find a missing elf named Saphirra.

Meanwhile, Rat has been hiding in the monks tent. He hears three men approach. Cyrus is making a deal with the man who works with the gnome charlatan. The slavers want the gnome to pretend to be the wizard Altazan, so people will continue to come to Hightower. The man agrees.

Brother Kale and Brother Cyrus then enter the tent. Kale falls into the spike trap, Rat has set and Rat kills Cyrus with a crossbow shot. Then he slits Kale's throat.

Leaving the tent, he encounters one of the Half-Elf gypsies. Rat proposes they meet and discuss business. He sets up a meeting with their leader in the Smelly Fish in an hour.

Rat then leaves and goes to where he buried all his gold and digs it up.

Returning to the city, he meets Thugra, Selene and six new travellers entering Hightower. ( Nathan and Scott's new characters)

They speak and begin to share information. Rat sees the man who works for the gnome approaching the newcomers. He stops him and tells him he knows their plans. The man runs. Thugra chases him and kills him in the middle of the street.

Gunther reaches out to Thugra and asks why she did that. Thugra shouts "Do not touch me!" and slices him down with her sword. Doragin (Scotts dwarf) smacks Thugra with his blacksmith's hammer, but Janis ( Scott's elf ) cuts Doragin down.

Rat and Selene go into the Smelly Fish and meet 4 half-elf gypsy brothers. Rat gives them two coats of chain and makes a deal with them to run the town. The half-elves agree.

They go back into the street and decide to go after the gnome charlatan. Rat shouts to the village that the wizard is dead and the gnome should be killed. The half-elves overhear and feel betrayed.

The gnome runs for it. Rat knocks him down with a sling shot. Thugra decapitates him and holds the head up for the townsfolk to see.

Soon after people break into the wizard's tower and start to ransack it. The town goes wild. The halfling trader flees town. The half-elf gypsies quietely slip away with their four wagons. After sacking the wizard's tower, almost all of the town is abandoned and set afire.

The "heroes" leave Hightower to burn and travel towards Castle Whiterock. Rat is sent ahead to try to climb the mountain up to the watchtower. Once he is near, he is spotted by a lookout. The lookout sinks to arrows into him, but Rat is able to take him out and slip into the tower.

The rest of the party walk up the mountain road and knock on the front door of the keep. Inside, Rat sees the slavers prepare for an ambush.

The heroes are led in, but Thugra and Gunther make them suspicious by eagerly wanting to see their horses. Thugra pretends to fall under one, grabs some horse dung and them summons two more horses.

The slavers call the alarm and a batle ensues. Four slavers are killed and Lucan the half-elf is slain by Rat. The slavers retreat into the castle proper. The heroes find Bob in a tent, but Bob charms Thugra and Janis, severely weakening them.

Selene and Rat go back to the top of the watchtower. They convince Gunther to open the barred door at the bottom of the tower, which relases a giant rust spider. During the battle with the dust spider, the slavers emerge again to attack, but are driven back by more horses.

Treacherous footing on a rocky path causes Thugra to fall three times and the third fall kills Bob. Janis runs to help, but also falls on the treacherous path and is killed.

The rust spider is wounded to the point where it flees.

The heroes then steal all 14 of the slavers horses and flee back to Hightower.

Once they get to Hightower, they see that the town is now deserted, save for the Prophet of Cthulu and the drunken dwarf. Most of the town has been burned to the ground.

They find some wood and barricade the doorway and plan to rest the night in the wizard's ransacked tower. In the morning, they plan to travel to Cillimar to sell the horses and to buy equipment.

Chapter 5 -The Upper Ruins of Castle Whiterock part 3

Our adventurers awake after spending the night in the ransacked wizard's tower. After resting and splitting up the loot, they decide to travel to Cillimar to sell the horses.

They discover some refugees from Hightower who flee when they spot the adventurers. Thugra chases one down and takes their copper and what little food they have.

A few hours later, they meet a six members of the Cillimar Lantern Watch riding towards Hightower to investigate the news of slaughter there. The players claim to be travelling from Goatshead and that they witnessed chaos. Thugra and Selene go on about squirrels as if they are crazy. The Watch rides on.

When our adventurers reach Cillimar, they are directed to the King's Gate so they can pay taxes on their horses they wish to sell. Wanting to avoid paying taxes, they sneak into the city at night from Swamp Road to the south.

They bribe the guards and head into the Rogue's Court. Thugra gets into an arguement with some harlots and thinks about killing them, when she is talked down by a Dwarf member of the Thieves Guild and her party members.

They sell their horses and other things and look for a nice tavern.



Our adventurers come to Inn of the Slumbering Drake and pay for room and board. In the morning, they set out to buy equipment and supplies.


The Lady Chauntessa and Ixnay the Psuedodragon

After speaking a bit with Thugra and Esteban, the Lady Chauntessa, owner of the Inn, asks the heroes to join her for a private meeting. She tells them of her lost love, an adventurer who journeyed into Castle Whiterock and never returned.

She agrees to pay them if they will seek any information regarding him that they can find.

Her friends help the adventurers disguise themselves so that they can once again try to defeat the slavers.

Disguised as adventurers, our heroes knock on the front door of Castle Whiterock and then ambush the slavers once they are let in. They quickly take out their half-orc leader. Four survivors flee into the castle, but the heroes are able to capture them, partially because of Selene giving Gunther a potion that causes him to grow to be 18 feet tall temporarily.

But after a short interrogation, the heroes kill all four captives.

They meet Melchin the Black Monk, a member of a rival order of monks who seek the ancient treasures of the Library of Forgotten Lore. They agree to work with him.

Later the heroes discover the Slaver's treasure horde that was guarded by an owlbear skeleton.



While the heroes rest, Rat climbs up to the tower and sends a message via bird to Cillimar. It says something on the lines of "we have what you're looking for, and it's mine now!"

A day and a half later, two warriors come to the castle, presumably because of the letter. After a fierce battle, the men are killed.



The next day, while bored of resting, Thugra and Rat explore a fallen tower and disturb a giant praying mantis.

As this session ends, the heroes continue to rest in the ruins of Castle Whiterock, but they see six riders approaching up the mountain road...

Chapter 6 - The Slave Pits of Despair Part 1

For five days, our adventurers have rested in the ruins of Castle Whiterock. Over the course of those five days, they have learned a few things about each other.



Rat

-Rat's real name is actually Rodric Ambrosius Truefoot. But he gets irrate if called anything other than Rat.

-Rat has a twin brother named Marcus who blames him for the death of his family.

-Rat sleeps with a dolly named Perwinkle in one hand, a dagger in the other.

- Rat is superstitious of ghosts. He feels that those he has killed are haunting and want him dead.

-Rat Speaks goblin in his sleep, but denies this when awake.

-Bounty hunters are after Rat.

- Rat hates slavers with a burning hatred.

-Rat has a bunny tattoo which he claims is a guild mark.



Gunther

-Gunther is known for being gassy.

-Gunther is a loner, and obsessive/compulsive about being clean. He claims his own tent and makes it spotless and gets quite angry when anyone else enters.

-Gunther thinks he can cook, but his food is horrible.



Selene

-Selene reveals that she has a somewhat unhealthy fascination for female halflings.

-Selene has a skull birthmark on her abdomen.

-Selene seems drawn to Castle Whiterock for a reason she does not know.



Esteban

-Esteban's father was a priest of Cthulu. Esteban left home after accidentally burning down the temple.

-Esteban has decided he wants to be the party diplomat.

-Esteban mutters sermons to Cthulu in his sleep.



When our game begins, five days have passed. Thugra is missing, but the heroes don't think much of it. Gunther is on duty in the watchtower and sees six riders approaching along the road.

Rat sneaks out to hide upon the mountain path. The others wait for them.

The riders approach and appear to be an orc, a knight, a priest, a warrior woman, a blind elf and a small half-elf girl. The knight demands interest, claiming that his business is his own. When threatened by our heroes from the murder holes, the riders retreats back down the mountain road and into the forest.

Shortly after, our adventurers spot the half-elf sneaking up the mountain path and climbing along the mountain ridge, in the exact same path that Rat took before. All of our adventurers hide in the watchtower and when the half-elf gets near, they fill her with arrows and pelt her with sling stones until she falls off the cliff and to her death a hundred feet below.

Then the adventurers signal the riders below with a mirror and a torch. Thinking that their half-elf has successfully infiltrated the keep, the riders gallop back up the mountain path to meet her.

Our heroes consult Melkin, the Black Monk. He says to kill all of the riders. So, our heroes lure the party into the space between the two gates and lock them in. They then ignite oil that they have soaked the stones with and while the party and the horses burn, they finish them off with crossbows. It is a slaughter.

Afterwards, they rummage through the rider's gear that survived and find a few things that they believe to be magical.

Gunther takes the breastplate off of the corpse of the warrior woman and puts it on. But it turns out to be cursed and transforms Gunther into a woman! Gunther asks the party to refer to him as Hilda.

After gathering their things, our heroes as Melkin the Black Monk to watch the road and they descend down into the orc tunnels to try to find the captured slaves.


Banner of the Orc Slavers

The heroes descended into the tunnels and came across a group of orc slavers with a pygmy minotaur. A savage blow from an orc split Hilda/Gunther from head to waste, dropping her. When the minotaur advanced, Selene and Esteban retreated, leaving Rat to face the monster alone. Although he tried valiantly, Rat ended up run through by the minotaur's spear. Selene and Esteban fled to the surface.

Once there, they asked the Black Monk to watch the ruins for them, while they returned to Cillimar to recruit reinforcements.


The ring in Armigon's vision

In the Inn of the Slumbering Drake, Selene and Esteban encountered Armigon the Cleric of Palagia and Glorm the Grim, a bounty hunter. Armigon saw a vision of Esteban and Selene in his holy pearl, following by the vision of a magical ring. This prompted Armigon to work with the heroes.


The Lady Chauntessa, owner of the Inn of the Slumbering Drake

The Lady Chauntessa, appearing more grim this time, asked the party if they had heard any news of her missing love, Benthor and was saddened when they told her they had not. She urged them to continue their search.

Our heroes return to Castle Whiterock and once again descend into the orc tunnels. This time, they tear through the orc guards and slaughter the pygmy minotaur. They moved deeper in, coming to the slave pits, where after a heated battle with orc guards and trollhounds, they free the slaves. During the battle, Armigon turned the tide by unleashing a tsunami of Palagia's might, a tornado of sea water, leaving him weakened. Afterwards, Armigon asked Palagia again for a miracle which displeased her. To attone, he threw all of his coins into the water spout as a sacrifice to his goddess.



The heroes rescue the slaves/captives and discover where their gear was stashed, then flee back up to the surface.

The next game will begin when the heroes reach the upper ruins of Castle Whiterock with the captives they have freed.



Here is a list of those who were rescued:

(Three captives were mauled to death when the trollhounds were knocked down into their pit cells.)

Amur - a simple farmer who lived outside of Cillimar

Gotha - Amur's wife.

Hugin- a black haired dwarf with a massive hook nose and jet black eyes who agreed to pay his debt to the heroes for saving his life.

Sapphira Silverhue: A beautiful, silver-haired femaile elf, who claimed Thugra's sword as her own.

Katanya Glimer: A female gnome with gray hair and large blue eyes.

Nethok: A pale skinned, feral-looking dwarf with just strands for hair. (Joey's character)

Lissa the Blacksmith: (Candace's character)

Thugra the Elf: (Joey's Character)

Hilda/Gunther: (Nathan's Character)

A farmer and an elf: (Trina's characters)

Three of Scott's characters

Chapter 7: The Slave Pits of Despair part 2

Our heroes escort the rescued slaves back up to the upper ruins of Castle Whiterock. They begin to divide up the treasure and decide what to do with everything, when it becomes clear that Glorn intends to take Rat away with him to claim his bounty. The party kills Glorn. This combined with the manner they question the survivors causes a rift in the group.

A bird flies in with a message, presumably with a message from the slavers in Cillimar who want to meet.

Saphirra, Benthor, and Hugin lead the rescued slaves down the mountain, not trusting the party.

In the night, while the party sleeps, the White Talon Orcs sneak up out of the tunnels to ambush them. Rat hides in the fallen tower, using the dead mantis head to scare off any orcs. The rest of the party flee down the mountainside.

Just before the sun comes up, the party (minus Rat) reaches Hightower. They see that a few shacks have been built up around the tower and that the door has been repaired.

They bang on the door, and it is answered by a Lantern Watchman. The Lantern Watch now man the tower. Once inside, they encounter Sapphira, Benthor, Hugin and the other rescued slaves, who begin to shout and point out our heroes as having killed a bounty hunter and threatened their lives.

When the Lantern Watchmen tell the party to hold, so they can be questioned, the party flees. Esteban is knocked unconcious by a Lantern Watchman. But Selene, Thugra and Armigon steal horses and flee, Selene heading west and Thugra and Armigon heading north.

Selene is able to elude her pursuer.

Thugra and Armigon are forced to fight with two riders that over take them. They kill the two riders and then decide to return to Hightower and try to rescue Esteban.

When they return, they find the Lantern Commander, Sapphira, Hugin and a guard outside the tower and they attack them. Thugra is cut down off of her horse and Armigon flees.

Esteban and Thugra are brought to Cillimar to testify before a Magistrate. Esteban tells everything to the Magistrate (except the innocent party murder) and blames it on Thugra. Thugra is thrown into the city dungeon and Esteban is set free.

Days later, Esteban meets Rat, Selene, Armigon and a fledgling wizard named Talengard in the Inn of the Slumbering Drake. They decide to return to Castle Whiterock.

In the Inn, they encounter a bard who asks if anyone has seen her sister. The party tells her that they found her burned body on Castle Whiterock and she departs crying. This raises the attention of the undertaker who questions them. But they insult him and send him on his way.

The heroes return to Castle Whiterock dressed as monks. The orcs let them in and deliver them to their leader, Rogar. He strikes Armigon and says that was for their earlier failure.

Believing the heroes to be new slavers, they strike up a deal and the orcs return into their tunnels, but say that want new slaves soon. Rogar leaves ten orcs.

Immediately, when their leader leaves, the orcs begin gambling and carousing and shirk their duties.

Later, the party ambushes the ten orcs and kills them all, except one who they interrogate. After learning all they can from him, they kill him too.

Then they descend again into the tunnel of the Whiterock Orcs.

They fight the outer guard and kill them. Then they move inward, encountering an orc wizard with a captive gnome.



They defeat the wizard and free the gnome. But Talengard spooks him and he runs. Talengard puts him to sleep.

The session ends with the party making ready to move deeper into the orc tunnels.

Wow, is this actually how that box set plays, or you making a lot of additions? I am going to have to pick this product up!

Well as far as we can tell, but it's very open to your style of play.

Chapter 8: The Slave Pits of Despair, part 3

Our session picked up immediately where it left off last time, with our heroes within the tunnels of the Orcs of the White Talon.

After killing the Orc Sorcerer and freeing the gnome slave, our heroes heard the sound of a door opening and quick footsteps on stone. Three orcs rounded the corner dragging a captive dwarf. (Later to be named Ajax, Landon's character)

After a quick fight, the dwarf is freed, but Talengard is knocked unconscious. Armigon smashes the gnome's head in as a sacrifice to Palagia.

The heroes continue further into the tunnels until they discover the White Talon chieftan Kaergna lounging on a throne with his orc harem. The fighting is severe against Kaergna, his trollhound and his harem. In the end, the chieftan cuts down Selene, Rat, Armigon and Ajax with his great axe. But just as he is closing in on Esteban, the thief lands a critical shot with his crossbow, slaying the mighty orc.

Esteban rolls his friends over, but discovers they are all dead.

Esteban returns to Cillimar and rests for a week to heal.



During this time he is contacted by Gillia, a Magistrate of the City, Mavok, a Knight of the Highguard, and Toric, a Commander in the Lantern Watch. Esteban's testimony against Thugra and his tales of slaver activity was reported to the Lord Mayor of Cillimar, who has now ordered that the slaves be dealt with.

Magistrate Gillia asks Esteban to act as a guide to the adventurers they have gathered to take on the slavers. (The new party)

A day later, Esteban meets the adventurers in the Inn of the Slumbering Drake. They were:

Geena, a cleric of Justicia ( Trina)

Feldar Longstrider a wizard (Nathan)

Fushogi, an asiatic dwarf (Jason)

Urza, wild, wooly-haired dwarf (Landon)

Magistrate Gillia meets them and asks them to find what they can about the slavers operation and to report to her or the Lantern Watch often.

Before they leave the Inn, the heroes are approaced by the Undertaker again asking questions about Castle Whiterock. Geena uses the sight of Justicia to see that his intentions are evil and she commands him to leave. He does and the party follows. They chase him into an alley and after a fight, subdue him and call the Lantern Watch.

They escort him to Lantern Keep where they learn that he was the leader of the Slavers in Cillimar. The Lantern Watch have now shut down his operation that was operating out of his Funeral House.



The heroes then journey back to Castle Whiterock, where they are met by Melkin, the Black Monk. The monk welcomes them and wishes them well. But then he takes Esteban aside and asks him why he is consorting with servants of Justicia. He also tells Esteban that they may have to kill Geena if she gets in their way. Esteban returns to the party and tells them what the monk said, but they do not act on it at this time.

The following morning, the heroes travel down into the orc tunnels.

There they confront Rogar and the last of the orcs and kill them. They free the remaining eight slaves and locate the treasure horde of Kaergna.

Within the horde, they discover a box of dirt, which disolves into a dirt mephit named Grime. Grime offers to be Feldar's familiar. The party returns to the surface where they care for the ex-slaves.

The Black Monk makes a deal to interrogate the mephit. In exchange Feldar is able to discover a great deal more about the history of Castle Whiterock. (see Trina's notes). The Black Monk, however, learns nothing from Grime.

Angered by Grime, Feldar holds down the mephit and tells Fushogi to chop its head off. The mephit flees to Geena and has adopted her.

As the session ends, the heroes discuss whether to escort the slaves back to Cillimar.

Chapter 9: The Lower Dungeons of the White Roc Orcs and the Cloud Giant Tower

The game begins with the players leading the eight freed slaves out of the dungeons. The players are met by Melkin, the Black Monk. He tells them that a member of his order has arrived named Shayla and that she is a leper.

Melkin also proposes that the heroes rebuild the monastery as a small keep. And that maybe some of those they rescued may want to remain here and work it.

Only Bloos the Squire, Isolde the Animal Handler, and Dydendra the Blacksmith agree.

The party decide to escort the others back to town.


Creature that rose from the kobold cauldron

On the way to Cillimar, the heroes encounter a group of kobolds, one of which is casting find familiar. The players attack, causing the spell to go haywire. A demonic sludge monster is nearly summoned, but he party destroys it.

In Hightower, the players meet a group of 20 dwarves, led by Prince Kordrim. They learn that the Prince is on his way to Cillimar and is looking for a red lizardman creature who stole a valuable book from his father's city of Ul-Yazmotk.

That evening, Fushogi is challenged by a drunken dwarf to a battle and Fushogi defeats him quickly.

The next day, the party reaches the Gate of Sorrows in Cillimar. They part ways with the dwarves and send the freed slaves off with some gold.

Esteban is given a note, asking him to visit a gem shop. When the players arrive, Esteban recognizes the gnome girl that they had freed earlier. She asks about her brother Findle. (Armigon had smashed Findle's head in as a sacrifice to Palagia) They tell her he's dead. She offers a reward if they will bring his body back to her.

Next, they visit Chauntessa in the Inn of the Slumbering Drake. She identifies some items that they have and warns them against working with the Black Monk.

Next, the party reports in with Magistrate Gilia and she pays them for the destruction of the orcs. She says that the Lord Mayor is curious of the Bleak Theater and asks that they discover what it is.

The party then buys supplies and returns to Castle Whiterock.

The players make several trips and clean out everything that would have been of value belonging to the White Talon Orcs. They discover two trollhound pups and have Isolde care for them.



The players then delve further into the dungeons, this time coming across the domain of the Orcs of the White Roc. They make it through traps and two bugbear guards and then into an orc alchemy lab.



After the unpredictable fight in the alchemy lab, Foshugi has a powerful magical shield cast upon him by Feldar and Esteban appears to have improved invisibility on him. They decide to rush through the dungeon while these spells are in effect.

They race through mining tunnels and find a buried cloud giant tower. They fight seven foot orc guards in a battle that almost goes horribly wrong. Geena's torso is turned in to that of a bronze dragon and Esteban is horribled corrupted by his magic. But in the end, they win. Once the orcs fall, they are hear Drugila, the leader of the orcs shouting at them from within the tower.


Drugila

She warns them to go away and that her crusade will not be impeded. The players charge into the tower and find the 10 foot tall half-orc, half-giant levitating above them. They attack and Feldar spellburns himself and summons a giant meteor that brings Drugila near death. The other players finish her off and reel down her levitating corpse.

Feldar can barely move, so they carry him back up to their camp on the surface.

Once there, the players decide it's time to deal with the Black Monk once and for all. They confront him and the leper.



The leper rips off it's clothes to reveal itself to be a draconian. The red-skinned lizard creature the dwarves were looking for. Feldar spellburns the rest of his body out to annihilate the draconian with lightning balls. Leaving him near death and with his soul sold to the demon lord of evil amphibians.

The Black Monk tries to flee into the lake, but is killed and the players drag his body out.

Among his things, they find the book that the dwarves were looking for.

The next day, Geena, Esteban and Foshugi travel to Cillimar and deliver the book and the body of the draconian to Prince Kordrim. In return he gives them all magical items and sends a contingent of 20 dwarves to Castle Whiterock to build a small keep there for them.

Esteban returns the body of Findle to his sister and is given and iounn stone.

The players also deliver the Black Monks papers to Chauntessa who gives them a magical shield.

The players return to Castle Whiterock and rest for a month and a half.

The keep is now complete. And Feldar has now pledged himself to the Frog Lord and has converted Bloos the Squire.




The party returns down into the dungeons and revisits the Cloud Giant Tower.

At the top they discover a great iron crown, a silk banner and an animated, but damaged Cloud Giant skeleton.



They destroy the skeleton. Again, Feldar has spellburned so they head back to the keep with plans to rest again.

Chapter 10: The Lower Dungeons of the White Roc Orcs and the Cloud Giant Tower part 2

The game session resumes after a half a month. Feldar has rested to recover from his spellburning. Our heroes decide to travel to Cillimar to sell some of their loot.

Just outside Cillimar, our heroes meet Urza the Dwarf who has been waiting for them. For some reason, Esteban decides to take Crystal Crown out of his pack and sets it on the ground. Next he places the Ring of the Froglord on one of the crystals of the crown. The ring melts and this causes a huge quartz crystal to sprout from the ground. Geena destroys it with her mace, causing an explosion felt all through Cillimar. But a crystal frog skeleton remains and burrows into the ground.

The guards detain them and escort them to the citadel of the Lord Mayor. There they are interrogated by Jor, the Castellan of Cillimar, along with Magistrate Gillia and Sir Mavok of the High Guard.

During the interrogation, Esteban takes out the Crystal Crown, which takes control of the minds of Urza and another dwarf (played by Sean). Feldar decides now is a good time to put on the crown and it takes over his mind too. The three attack and a bloody battle ensues.

Jor flees. Mavok and Gillia are killed. Urza is imprisoned. Feldar is defeated and decapitated. Many knights and guards are killed. Foshugi destroys the Crystal Crown by smashing it. The release of magical energy nearly caves in the citadel.

The next day, the heroes are brought before the Lord Mayor of Cillimar, Jor and the Lady Wizard advisor. Hilda (Nathan's gravedigger that put on a cursed breastplate and turned into a woman) and three new recruits (Seans characters) are commanded to assist the heroes. The Lord Mayor is angry and goes over all the threats that face his city.

The heroes agree to continue to explore Castle Whiterock and find out what was done with the slaves and find out what is the Bleak Theater.

Our heroes then spend about five days in Cillimar, preparing to leave. They speak to a number of people while here. Chauntessa approaches them again and begs them to report their findings to her, before she delivers them to the Lord Mayor. The party does not agree, so she takes Esteban aside and charms him.

Finally, the party travels back to Castle Whiterock. Isolde has been training the trollhounds. Geena chastizes Bloos for continuing to serve the Frog God. Then Geena chastizes Dydendra for not doing enough blacksmithing.

Then the party goes back down into the tunnels beneath Castle Whiterock.



They discover that the halls of the Orcs of the White Roc have now been abandoned by the orcs. Now they have been reclaimed by Troglydites.

Our heroes kill them all, although two of Sean's characters are killed. Our heroes then discover a cave blocked off by a huge stone slab. They remove it and discover a Nixie trapped within.



The Nixie says she is trapped and begs the heroes to help her by slaying a giant crustacean in the next chamber. She gives them a magical ring as payment.



Geena and Talengard bicker over the ring, but finally Geena wins it. It is a ring of waterbreathing.

Foshugi and Esteban decide that they dont' want to have anything to do with this and leave the room, putting the slab back into place.

At first Talengard decides not to help, but the Nixie charms him.

The party swims to the next chamber, but Talengard is instantly cracked in half by the Giant Crayfish. The rest of the party quickly change their minds and flee. The Nixie tries to charm Bongo, but fails and he attacks her. She flees into the water, but Hilda swims after her and cuts her head off.

The game ends as the party travels back up to their keep to recover.

Deceased characters:

Those who didn't make it. We shall remember them fondly...maybe...?


1. Cotan the Armorsmith ( Joey ) - His head was caved in by a skeleton wielding a bone club.

2. Tom the Halfling (Trina) - Slipped into boiling rat stew and then skewered by a Sih-hel gnome's spear.

3. Gid the Caravan Guard (Nathan) - Run through with a spear during a Sih-hel gnome ambush.

4. Darla the Herdswoman (Candace) - Snapped her neck when she jumped into a pit trap and fell over 40' into water.

5. Penny the Beggar ( Nathan ) - Disembowelled by a young owlbear.

6. Urla the Dwarf ( Candace ) - Sent down a shaft to explore ahead by the party. Subjected to a fear trap and then stabbed by six Sih-hel gnomes. Dragged away and buried beneath the Dark Crystal. Raised the next day as a skeleton in the service of the Dark Crystal. Charmed by Bob the Wizard and ordered to kill the Oracle of the Dark Crystal. Left behind when the gnomish dungeon was flooded. Later, Bob summoned the skeleton to meet him in Hightower. But townsfolk saw her, panicked and destroyed her.

7. Tanda the Cleric of Karana ( Trina ) - Stabbed to death by a mob of Sih-hel gnomes in front of the Dark Crystal.

8. Unfortunate Farmer 1 (Scott) - Neck broken when Nethok's mind was taken over by the Dark Crystal and the dwarf shield bashed him under the chin.

9. Unfortunate Farmer 2 (Scott) - Hacked down by Nethok's axe when the dwarf was possessed by the Dark Crystal.

10. Unfortunate Weaver (Scott) - Drowned after Rat struck the Dark Crystal, which caused the caldera to be flooded by an underground river.

11. Unnamed Halfling ( Nathan ) - Drowned in the dungeons of gnomes, while looking for an exit.

12. Unnamed Wheelmaker ( Nathan ) - Drowned in the dungeons of the gnomes, while looking for an exit.

13. Ten characters captured by slavers and sold to orcs! (Nethok the dwarf who was later rescued) and nine Funnels)

14. Bob the Wizard ( Nathan ) - After spellburning himself down almost to death, he was killed after he charmed Thugra and the disoriented elf tried to sprint up a treacherous rocky incline carrying Bob over her shoulder. She slipped and the two fell. Three times. Bob did not survive the third fall.

15. Janis the Elf ( Scott ) - Died after Bob had charmed him and he rushed down a treacherous rocky incline to Bob's rescue. Lost his footing, fell onto the jagged rocks and broke his neck.

16. Hilda/Gunther the Gravedigger ( Nathan ) : Killed by an orc who jumped off of a table and sliced her from the side of her head, down to her waist. She was revived by the orcs for the purpose of being used as a slave. Was later rescued by the party.

17. Rat the Halfling ( Jason ) : Was skewered by a pygmy minotaur. He was revived by the orcs for the purpose of being used as a slave. Was later rescued by the party.

18. Glorn the Grim ( Jason ) Killed by the party when he tried to take Rat away to claim the bounty on his head.

19. Thugra ( Joey ) Taken down by the Lantern Watch, Sapphira and Hugin at Hightower. Thugra and Armigon tried to rescue Esteban from the guards at Hightower. Armigon was cut down. Armigon fled. Esteban and Thugra were taken to Cillimar, where Esteban testified against Thugra. Esteban was set free. Thugra was imprisoned in the city dungeon.

20. Selene/Tara (Trina) - Thrown into a firepit by orc harem members. They then threw an entire cow carcass on top of her. When she got out of the pit, she faced Kaergna, the Orc Chieftan, who cut her in twain with his great axe.

21. Armigon (Nathan) - Racing to save Selene, Armigon was hewn down by Kaergna's great axe.

22. Rat (Jason) - After standing heroically against Kaergna, he too was cut down.

23. Ajax ( Landon ) - After being chewed on by a ferocious Troll Hound, he was cut down by Kaergna.

24. Feldor Longstrider the wizard (Nathan): Decided to place the Crystal Crown upon his head in the dining hall of Cillimar's Lord Citadel's Keep. Possessed by the crown, he started killing those around him. Was defeated by the party and had his head chopped off to remove the crown.

26,27, and 28. Three zero level characters (Sean): Were killed in the dining hall of Lord Citade's Keep, when Feldor, Urza and another dwarf went mad under the influence of the Crystal Crown.

29 and 30. Two more zero level characters (Sean): Killed by troglydites in the tunnels beneath Castle Whiterock.

31. Talengard the Wizard (Joey): Was charmed by the Nixie to help him defeat a giant crayfish. He swam first into the underwater chamber and was immediately snapped in half by the giant crayfish's pincers!

Nice body count! DCC RPG is more deadly than 3.5 D & D. I didn't kill even a half of your total in the red book.