Troll Lord Games

I run a C&C game at work, during lunch periods. I was keeping a blog on Gleemax (http://www.gleemax.com/Comms/Pages/Comm ... erid=11210), but have decided to put it over here as well, since Gleemax is still a bit wobbly, being in a largely unfinished state. Anyway, here we go:

The campaign Im running is based on Gary Gagyxs Castle Zagyg line of books. Or more precisely, the area around Castle Zagyg, since details of the actual castle havent been released yet. (Maybe Ill call the adventure around Castle Zagyg.) The legendary castle is supposed to be based around Garys original Castle Greyhawk stuff. But since its a magical castle, itll just magically appear, I suppose, when first castle boxed set is released.

Anyway, who needs a legendary castle built by a mad archmage with bizarre and cryptic dungeons, filled with monsters and treasures? Why, Ive got... the Free Town of Yggsburgh! And the surrounding bits of wilderness!

So, this campaign is based on the first Castle Zagyg book, Yggsburgh. It talks about the Free Town of Yggsburgh, and the surrounding wilderness.

Positives: theres a lot of detail in the book about the town, lots of random tables for adventuring and wilderness adventure hooks keyed to certain regions or locations. Theres also a nifty poster map, which Ive had laminated. The town is on one side and the wilderness is on the other. Im going to see if I can make the players encounter every single encounter/plot hook in the book! It even covers fashions in detail, which is good. A lot of other campaign books make you squint at the pictures to try and guess whats in season at the moment.

Drawbacks: the book isnt very well edited. Theres typos and weird spellings and one of the tables looks like the numbers should be reserved. Also, if youre into exotic flavourings, Yggsburgh wont help you out much. Its very vanilla. Its a rather detailed, mundane reconstruction of a city, with a sprinkling of fantasy on top. All of the magical elements are rather low-key.

But it does look solid enough to support this new campaign! Lets see how the first adventure goes, entirely improvised around the random tables...
_________________
Visit the Castles & Crusades wiki!
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/

I didnt really get a chance to prepare the adventure much, as I was planning on springboarding it based on the random tables. Plus it took a while to get players to finalise their characters. Only one has sent in a background so far, even though I pointed out the handy NPDC random background generator on the Wizards website.

So far weve got a Maeglinn (played by Michael), an Elf Rogue 3/Ranger 3 and Grrrrr, a Liowan Figher 3/Cleric 3 (played by Sandra.) We're using the Castle Zagyg multiclassing rules, which reminded one of the players suspiciously of how multiclassing worked under 1E. Im sure Gary Gygax wouldnt plagiarise anything, I assured him.

I found the rules for Liowan (lion humanoids) on the C&C boards, linked to the Wilderlands of High Adventure. Ive tentatively put Yggsburgh there. Ill tell you more about the world setting for the game in a later post.

Another player made up a human Assassin 2/Wizard 2/Ranger 2 but didnt show up for the first session.

I showed the players the map of Yggsburgh and the wilderness. The er, inherent simplicity of the names were marvelled at: e.g. Bigfish Lake, Deer Wood, Wychwood Forest.

Its because people from Yggsburgh are very pragmatic, especially with regard to naming geographical features, I explained.

I vote we stay away from there, Sandra said, pointing at Great Leech Marsh.

Anyway, the session got started. I tend to improvise things a lot, but a randomiser to base my improv stuff off is a great help.

The characters started off in the Outs Inn (where else?)

This is a really big inn in the foreign section of Yggsburgh, outside the city proper. It offers lots of services, but none of the PCs showed an interest in laundry or moneychanging at the games start.

Maeglinn, as per his background, was staying clear off the group of High Orcs in the corner. Grrr approached Maeglinn Grrrs deity had conveniently sent Grrr a dream that explained that his destiny was connected to Maeglinn. The two PCs approached each other and drank beer. They had a guarded conversation. They discussed the weather.

Time for an encounter! I rolled on Table 10. Outs Inn and Major Tavern... and got Riverboat Travellers. This hook was further explained in the text a young man getting off the riverboat wanted some help finding some treasure. This would nicely connect to Encounter 4: Mound Island.

The young man, Ivar, invited the PCs back to his boat. He explained he had a treasure map and some documents pointing to Mound Island. He needed the treasure to rescue his father from slavery in the nearby City of the Invincible Overlord. He said he planned to leave in three days.

What do you do? Grrr asked suspiciously, trying to subtly ask the what character class are you question? (I wonder if this is considered rude in D&D-based fantasy worlds?)

I know lost lore and I collect ancient legends, Ivar started to explain...

A bard, Maelgin muttered darkly.

The PCs went into Yggsburgh to get organised before the trip to Mound Island.

Grrr went off to pray at the local temple. That called for: Table 2: Temple Grounds, where a madman utters cryptic prophecies at the PC.

You will need to find a key, that is not a key; a key hiding in plain sight... the madman raved at Grrr. (Ill work out what that means later on.) Grrr discovered that the madman was cursed by his own gods. The madman said that he was formerly the Grand Marshal of the Knights of Yggsburgh, but had been cursed and forgotten by all when he tried to enter the legendary Castle Zagyg, which, as rumour had it, contained the power to raise mortals to gods.

Maeglinn went off to sell his randomly rolled magical item, a +4 Breastplate. He was forced to visit the Striped Mage, who lives in a candy-striped wizards tower. Yes, really. I rolled a 6, so the Striped Mage, wearing striped clothing, answered the door personally.

The breastplate was traded for +2 Leather Armour and a +1 Longsword, and Maeglinn got covered in flour and chicken feathers, because the Striped Mage was in an odd mood that day.

There Endeth Session One.
_________________
Visit the Castles & Crusades wiki!
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/

I can't find any notes for the rest of the Curse of Mound Island Adventure, so here's the start of the 'Golden Eyed God' adventure, or the 'Curse of the Glittering Knobs'.

Because, before I start with the update, I've just heard what happened to Gary Gygax. Sniff. I was just discovering his stuff for Castles & Crusades, too. I'm still running my campaign out of the Yggsburgh book, and it's still a ton of fun. It does seem bland to start with (and don't get me started on the editing), but the unique alchemy of Yggsburgh book + players makes for a tonne of fun. The map is great and everything is neatly keyed to the zillions of adventure hooks. I would like to personally thank Gary for writing the Yggsburgh book, which is one of the best adventure locations produced for C&C and I haven't even scratched the surface of what's going on in there yet. And all of that detail I thought I wouldn't need comes in handy. All of those tables and adventure hooks makes it an excellent springboard for a pick-up and go adventure game.

I'm still eagerly awaiting Castle Zagyg. I know Gary left tonnes of notes and maps with his co-writers, and have every confidence will see the finished boxed set(s), hopefully this year.

Anyway, here's what happened last session:

Yay! The players (Michael, Sandra and Mel) were able to meet again for a new session, the first time this year. Unfortunately, due to schedules, it may be a while before they can meet up again. The PCs were lacking in firepower and not enjoying their multi-classed characters, so I let them make up a secondary PC or cohort each. They also took the opportunity re-jig their current character builds. (I think Sandra has Grrr the Liowan, Dwarven Bard, Michael has Dwarven Cleric, Maeglinn the Elven Ranger and Mel has some, er, multiclassed characters. Possibly an Assassin/Wizard/Ran ger/Ninja/Witch, knowing Mel. Well, it'd be something legal at any rate. This is what happens when you run a lunch time game and the players keep their character sheets.)

The new characters started with a random magical item. Sandra's dwarf wasn't too happy with hers - a Tome of Wisdom +1, and tried to swap it for a Tome of Charisma +1 in Yggsburgh. However, she discovered that the locals seemed to be prejudiced against out-of-towners. She couldn't get in to see the Striped Mage and failed to give the appropriate 'inducements' to the head apprentice and so he sent her on her way with a coughing fit. She instead gave the tome to her cousin, Michael's dwarven cleric.

At the Outs Inn, the PCs noticed a big gathering of people clad in black (random table encounter) which turned out to be Death God worshippers preparing for an expedition. Wanting to get away from that grim company, the PCs decided to meet at the Dwarf Brewmeister Tavern with real beer. They encounted a group of dwarven bards and performers (random table encounter again) and heard about the curse on the Glittering Knobs (tee hee!) mines. Glancing at the map, they saw the mines were half way up the Nemo River towards Big Fish Lake.

The PCs ventured down to the docks, met up with their old friend Ivar the Bard. Ivar had rescued his dear Dad from slavery in the City-State of the Invincible Overlord, but the old man was scarred and could only talk in rough grunts. Perhaps it was a curse?

They sailed up near the Unnamed Island, where Ivar warned them of strange mists and lights at night. Rumours had it that a witches coven met there.

On the Nemo River, they encountered a.... (roll, roll) ... a giant log! (Just avoiding their old friend, the giant catfish, whom Grrrr the Liowan (lion-man) had found good eating.

The PCs visited the Blackstone Company Trading Post and went to the inn, which turned out to be a Dwarf Brewmeister Tavern franchise. The working mines were filled with 'small folk', being worked by gnomes, halflings and dwarves, and these were mostly the clientele of the inn. They met Ragnar Sunderfoot Junior, the drunken son of the town mayor. Ragnar took them home to meet his Dad, who told them more about the curse on the Abounding Lode mine.

Ragnar Sunderfoot Senior had hoped that Junior had brought home a prospective wife, but Sandra's dwarven bard, but informed him that she wasn't interested in settling down just yet. Ragnar told the PCs that the accursed mine was actually a gold mine and that the Big Folk weren't to know.

The area started to be mined-in forty years ago. There are four mines in the area. The Abounding Lode mine was good for around three years then the dwarfs vanished or a few ran out, gibbering wrecks, their minds shattered. Gnomes were hired next, but the same thing happened. They either went missing - or mad. Humans went in next (luckily, the mine was built to standard dwarven regulations of 10 x 10 feet). And they only lasted a week.

The survivors screamed of terrible things lurking deep the mine, in the dark, where the 'earth bleeds'. Other rumours spoke of a skeletons in dark chains, with glowing eyes.

Not deterred by the stories, the PCs agreed to go in and investigate the mine. Ragnar promised them a share of the mine's profits should they clear the trouble there, once and for all.
Michael's notes for next session:

-Talk to as many survivors as we can. Spells to help sanity?

-Talk to local cleric/healers what was tried on past

-We can probably borrow a few standard bits and pieces of mining gear from Ragnar. Picks, shovels, lanterns etc. May prove useful?

-Perhaps hire a guide?

-Mine gas bird alarm?

-Undead - Holy water etc prepare. Consecrate ground each night ?
_________________
Visit the Castles & Crusades wiki!
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/

Leaving a few of the partys numbers in the pub. (i.e. players no present), the group was determined to seek out as much information as possible before plunging into the Dark Depths of "their" gold mine.

Without too much effort, the PCs talked their Dwarven hosts into lending them basic mining equipment (e.g. picks, shovels, mining lamps etc)

All of which cames on a trusty Donkey. A beast called Wilbur.

Michael notes: To much Mr Ed for our GM I think.

Kiril Ogre Foe, the cleric, managed to scare up a pigeon in a cage (primitive gas alarm-no canaries in Blackstone) and a old, beer stained, map of "their" mine.

As a group, they talked to the Healer Priests who cared for the few living, addled Dwarves and Gnomes. They were kept in small featureless stone cells "for their own good".

They shouted and ranted manically at the world nearly constantly. From their pitiful cries, the PCs deciphered the following useful (?) phrases -
"Strange flickering gnomes" / "Pools of Liquid silver" (Mercury? Very poisonous stuff) / "Scalding Liquid came from the very Rock" / "Dwarves who are you friends and then not there"


Briefly the PCs hoped to get more sense from the one reasonably same Gnome but after uttering "It was a mistake to look upon the eyes of the Gold God" he too becomes a gibbering wreck.

Michael notes: Shadows/ Elementals/Svirfneiblin(sp?)/ Doppelgangers ? Very helpful stuff.

As well, as their screaming manic nature, many of the addled had grey or white hair but they were not prematurely old and spells will not heal them.

The PCs best guess was a curse by some malign divine force. This shouldn't have been any real surprise to the PCs as they did sign on for "The Cursed Silver Mine of Glittering Knob."

Sapho, their "freelance leather warrior" made contact with an unsavoury Dwarf and over a beverage or two and with an exchange of some coins gains the information that the PCs mine is secretly being worked! A Dwarf named One-eyed-Billy and his cohorts came to Blackstone each month. In the dead of night they shift out ingots and in provisions for a secret mining force.

One-Eyed-Billy of course lives in Yggsburgh (days away) and isn't due back for about 3 weeks. Surprise, surprise no easy checking up on this line of information is possible.

Is the low life telling the truth or has Sapho invested poorly??

After plenty to eat and drink (supplied by the dwarves) and a good nights rest, the PCs entered "their" mine.

Within 60 feet, they briefly spied the figure of a ghostly, flickering dwarf. Before they could even say hello, twang! Crossbow fire. No damage.

The Dwarf was gone !

Moving on they turned the first corner to be greeted by a handful (5-6) more of the flickering dwarves and a volley of crossbows. Fun place this mine of theirs!

Spells, return fire. Dwarves gone again. No footprints that Maeglin the Elf Ranger can locate. No secret doors etc that either he or Sapho can find.

Observations absorbed - ah, illusionary magic. The crossbow bolts dissolve away.

Deep down they delved, watching that steep gradient, lesser folk (humans) would fall and hurt themselves on things like that.

Suddenly gouts of red hot rock spurted from above their heads. Most leapt out of the worst, one takes a wound.

What was this now? A spinning, flying spiky ball of steaming rock with a mischievous face wanted to play with them. Some minor elemental ?

Smash, sham, bam and it quickly decided to fly very close to the ceiling. Suddenly it had three more friends. Did they gate in or ooze out of the rock ?

Each vomited forth steaming hot lava bombs. (Such nice folk in their mine) You don't catch the PCs twice. All avoid damage.

Sapho quickly cast Web (Did I mention that Sapho is Rogue/Mage ?) and the four are trapped in its sticky folds. Concentrated missile fire speedily ended the elemental Imps time on the Material plane.

Irony - many of the missiles are rocks. Thrown rocks used to destroy earth elementals. Ha, Ha.

Divine resonance sensing by Kiril on the area and the rocky remains. The mephits appear to have been summoned, summoned by some angry rock deity!
_________________
Visit the Castles & Crusades wiki!
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/

At this point, Mel leaves the campaign so the two players, Michael and Sandra are running two PCs each.

Sandra, running Grrrr the Liowan fighter and Sapho the dwarven rogue/wizard. Michael is running Kyril Ogre-Foe, a dwarven cleric, and Maeglinn the elf range. The two dwarves are cousins.

The PCs investigated the mephit chamber and discovered the tailings of recent mining, perhaps dwarven and/or gnomish miners. The latest ones are a couple of weeks old.

Study indicated that tools (e.g. pick and shovel etc) were used to mine. The most recent footprints are definitely dwarvish. The PCs crossed the hallway and moved down a steep decline.

Oops! Grrr, the statuesque Liowan fighter stumbled and fell!

Ahead was darkness. Sapho decided to reconnoitre. She returned telling of a large chamber, a small lake and a waiting ambush. A dozen (15) strange looking dwarves - one in stone armour!

The PCs went all tactical. They decided to quickly decide to enlarge Grr (40%) and cast Bless on the party. The plan was for Grrr to sneak forward and roar, hopefully disabling a few and drawing their greater numbers to the party in the corridor.

Alas, Grrr was spotted and shot with a crossbow bolt. But the plan worked - spells, superior skill and tactics quickly decimated the Dwarves. (Grrr took out four in a round and a spell from Kiril took out another five.

A leader type and a grunt are captured. Then everything went wrong..

A massive, multi tentacled beast with golden eyes oozed up from the subterranean lake. (There was lots and lots of gold in that lake) All PCs were mesmerized by its gaze.

The PCs came to their senses much later; images of those immense golden eyes still haunting them. They discovered that they had been mining for gold disregarding all else. Their former prisoners were digging at their side. The PCs were obsessed by giving gold to the beast. They were tired and famished. Days had passed.

The PCs soon recovered their wits, They grabbed noble Wilbur who had stayed by their sides, overpower two PCs who refused to leave the mine (must dig!) and took the prisoners as well. And then they departed the Cursed Mine.
Michael notes:
We have at least partially solved the Riddle of the Cursed Mine of Glittering Knob. Not removed the Curse or made the mine "ours" though.

Raganar should owe us some money. " 500GP per person that comes out " were his exact words.

Do our prisoners and Wilbur count ?

We need to spend time getting fit again - Food and rest.

We need to interrogate the prisoners. - Language problem. "Comp language" spell ?

How do we deal with the "Golden Eyed God" ? A save vs. its gaze is near impossible. Gaze reflection / blindfolds / poison the Lake ?

What is the Golden God? Research - Legends / Divine / arcane / Library ?

How will we cope without Mel ?

_________________
Visit the Castles & Crusades wiki!
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/

Walking out of the "Cursed Mine of the Glittering Knobs" (its really called the Abounding Lode mine), the PCs were greeted by ever-growing crowds of awed dwarfs, staring in shock at people leaving the mine that no one had ever returned alive from before. Just then, the party is no longer ordinary people. They are adventurers!

Should the PCs adopt a name? Would this help their standing in Yggsburgh or make them look foolish?

The PCs head straight to Ragnar who grudgingly (he foolishly didn't expect them to come out alive), handed over a promissory note for "500Gp per person who comes out alive" 2000 GP! This was after Ragnar closely looked at the contract and attempted to wriggle out of his previous words. (Wilbur the donkey and the prisoner didnt count, unfortunately)

The PCs had some discussions about "their" mine and had to keep reminding Ragnar that the mine was not his. They told him that the mine was being worked by Grey Dwarves and showed off the captive. The PCs told Ragnar to put guards on watch at the mines mouth, as food had to come in some time! Ragnar wasnt too happy about all that, the PCs reminded him that the Curse was not lifted and he grumbled a bit more.

Before leaving, the PCs rested up and chatted with their captive Gray Dwarf prisoner who held them in awe as superior beings. The captive couldnt really tell them much though.

The PCs caught a slow ore raft to Yggsburgh. They were planning to get more information on just what the Golden Eyed creature was they didnt really believe that it was a god.

Along the way, the PCs were assaulted by river pirates on a swift moving raft.

As they, close their captain yelled out "Hand over your gold peacefully and no one will be hurt!" The raft crew quivered in fright.

A very short combat followed.

A mighty arrow shot from Maeglin ripped the pirate leaders throat out and he dropped dead
(We started using the new critical hits table from Crusade #7 at this point, given Sandras love of randomness.)

Grrr roared and stunned the pirates and some where cast by Kirils Sound Burst. Sappho cast Sleep.

The PCs arrived in Yggsburgh with a captured raft, dead and captured river pirates and a barge captain and crew who were ultra impressed with them. (And also 3 potions)

As a bonus, the PCs collected the bounty (25GP total) on the river pirates from the Dock Master who also shouted them a round of drinks. The PCs retell the story at the Outs Inn. They figure they must be slowly increasing in status law men arent the nobles whos patronage their after, but its a start.

There were lots of wanted posters on wall. The PCs take notes of possible jobs for the future.

Next, the PCs head off to the City Library to try and work out what the creature is. Buffed by spells, librarian assistance etc Sapho works out that they are facing is a.

Cue drum roll.

A Greater Aboleth!

Michael notes: A massive, evil (surprise), tentacled fish thing (10-12HD ?) with NO real weaknesses. They love to enslave good creatures and are possessed of extremely strong controlling magic.

The PCs ponder how to increase their mental fortitude (Charisma saving throws). Perhaps a visit to the Striped mage. Yes, him again. The PCs paid Rodrigo, the Great Striped Mages apprentice, a "gratuity" to get him to see if his master will see us and ended up buying a "party magic item".

This was a hideously striped Cloak of Resistance(+1 on all saves). They speculate the cloak will beuseful against opponents other than just the aboleth.
Michael Notes:

Who wears the Cloak ?? Good Question Watson.

NB- Rodrigo and Master may be able to use spell component bits from creatures.

How do we kill it ? Poison ? Lots of Burning oil ? A fireball scroll ?

Perhaps we just kill/disrupt all its servants who are mining our mine and try to avoid it for a while.

While in Yggsburgh, lets try and have a chat to "One-eyed Billy" the supposed outside man in Yggsburgh. Is he in on things, controlled or is he real at all. I.e. was the information false.

Collect information on the Grey Dwarf.

_________________
Visit the Castles & Crusades wiki!
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/