Frimmsreach Episode #5

Episode #5

Game Date: 04-28-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat

Supporting Cast: Norgyl, Oda, Urtel

Tossing the orc camp, the group finds a few arrows of ill construction and some scattered coins. In the large lean-to they discover the chopped up remains of Li and Odur, the spice merchants. Gul’Daryh grants these remains a proper and dignified burial in the ice and snow.

Meanwhile Skat pops open the orc chief’s cleverly trapped chest to discover the bulk of the small tribe’s ill-gotten gains: a sack of coins, a green-glowing magic dagger, a moon ring, Li and Odur’s magic bowl and spoon, a large emerald, 9 small gems, and an arcane scroll.

As darkness descends the party discovers the tracks of a large group of orcs leading out of the camp to the north. Perhaps the chief and his stalwarts set out to chase the barbarian (possibly Argus!). The crew set out after the orcs.

A few hours of tracking through the snow brings them to a small valley in which lies a large, round cave opening. Seven of the red orcs, including the chief, lie in wait nearby watching the cave. Sparruu and Skat overhear the orcs discussing the matter. There is talk of a “snake witch” and something called a “ganguth”. It is surmised that the barbarian and his mysterious female companion entered the dark cavern, possibly followed by as many as 7 orcs.

Plans are hatched as normal. Sparruu successfully draws several orcs away as the others circle around in an attempt to gain access to the cave. The orc chief makes his situation worse by splitting his own team and our heroes are able to engage the orcs in smaller sets, picking them off rather easily. Skat lands a perfectly executed dagger throw against the fleeing orc chief while Gul’Daryh rains arrows upon orcs that approach him from downhill.

The white snow runs red and the party is victorious. Urtel, who has been rather quiet, is granted the 2-handed sword carried by the orc chief. He swings it wildly, unskilled in its use.

The gang of six stand at the 12’ tall round mouth of the ice cavern…

End of Episode #5.

Frimmsreach Episode #4

Episode #4

Game Date: 04-21-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat

Supporting Cast: Norgyl, Oda, Urtel

Excited and scared by the prospect that his brother Argus may be near, Norgyl rushes south down the road in search of the last place the cyclopean orcs may have been. The party, battered from recent battles, accompanies.

They soon find a wagon seemingly abandoned on the road, it's beast of burden, a hairy pig-like creature, dead before it. Sparruu stealthily takes a closer look to find blood and signs of battle. Inside, he finds Skat...a rather confused gnome waking up with a nasty bruise on his head. The orcs had attacked the wagon, knocking him out.

Skat had been traveling with two human men who he believed to be wizards called Li and Odur, spice merchants. Afraid for his companions, Skat is eager to find out what happened to them. Gul'Daryh determines that orcs carried their victims off the road to the north.

The group hides the wagon in a snow drift and, upon Skat's suggestion, takes some of the spices...which seem to have peculiar properties. Sparruu's experimentation determines that the red spice burns the eyes, though not magically. The blue spice seems to have the power to heal. The purple spice makes you blind. And the gold spice doesn't seem to have any particular properties besides being quite tasty.

Recon reveals a small orc encampment nearby to the north. The orcs have constructed semi-permanent lean-tos. After getting some much-needed rest the team set out to see if the lost humans and perhaps Argus himself are being held by the orcs. Alas, they discover the orcs have already killed poor Li and Odur and are going to have them for dinner. But there is no sign of Argus.

A well-laid plan is hatched. Unfortunately Skat is not as silent as he would like to have been and Gul'Daryh's magic is...unpredictable. Battle ensues amid an inexplicable swarm of bees, the result of arcane misfiring. While Skat struggles to deal with a stubborn orc, temporarily blinded by a dash of the red spice, Sparruu handily dispatches several orcs on the backside of the encampment. Gul'Daryh blinds several orcs with the purple spice and engages the rest in battle while Norgyl, Oda, and Urtel deal with the orc guards below the lean-tos.

The battle is short. The orcs do not prevail. One orc remains living and Norgyl stays the killing blow of Skat to ask it about his brother. The orc, half-blind and wounded, reveals that the spice merchants are indeed for supper but the barbarian Argus - and a "small woman" - escaped the orc chief's captivity. Rather than betray his chief the orc makes a break for it...and feels Gul'Daryh's arrow mercifully take him down.

The party is battered once more as they begin to examine the orc camp for clues and, perhaps, a bit of ill-gotten treasures.

End of Episode #4.

Frimmsreach Episode #3

Each Episode is a 2 hour Labyrinth Lord play session over Skype or other interweb services.

EPISODE #3

Game Date: 04-14-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh

Supporting Cast: Norgyl, Oda, Urtel

The group gets plenty of rest in the comfort of the mysterious safe igloo and then sets out. They note that Urtel often clutches at a rather nice necklace around his neck. It is a black chain with a green gem. No one asks about it. Later, Urtel is witnessed to convulse and have a bit of a spasm. But due to other dangers this observation is not discussed.

They decide to continue trusting the magic frogs. Urtel momentarily urges them to follow the orange path indicated by the magic map, which deviates from the frog path. He claims to have been down that path and to have seen a cave. But he is easily convinced to abandon the idea.

Following the frogs leads them down many paths. White wailers are calling in the distance and the paths are increasingly confusing, seeming to spiral in on each other. The party suspects illusions might be at work. Gul’Daryh climbs a tree to get a look around but sees only more trees. Then the white wailers close in, chasing them down the final frog path and to the end of the forest.

Battle is joined! Sparruu and Gul’Daryh are caught by the wails, frozen for several moments. But arrows, axes, and Windsongs prevail and the group makes it out of the Ice Forest alive.

Outside they ascend a steep slope and discover that while they may be out of the woods they are not out of danger. Cyclopean orcs are nearby! These one-eyed red monsters stand between the party and the road to Frimmsreach.

A plan is devised. Sparruu Bedazzles the orcs to lure them while Gul’Daryh and the others attack from behind. The Half-Elf’s fire magic and swordplay take out the cyclopean leader while the others are decimated by Sparruu and gang.

Among the minor loot taken from the one-eyed monsters is a brass ring bearing the emblem of a wolf…it is Norgyl’s brother’s ring! Could Argus be so close? Did the orcs leave him dead?

The gang take off in the direction they suspect the orcs’ last raid occurred.

End of Episode #3.

New monster: Cyclopean Orc

Frimmsreach Episode #2

Each Episode is a 2 hour Labyrinth Lord play session over Skype or other interweb services.

EPISODE #2

Game Date: 04-07-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh

Supporting Cast: Norgyl, Oda, Urtel

The intrepid heroes investigate a 10’ tall Norg lying prone next to a bench in the Ice Forest. Turns out he’s stone cold dead, despite Sparruu’s best efforts to check for signs of life. On his person they find some dried goat meat, a small vial of yellow liquid, a mirror, 17 gold coins, a battle axe, and an odd map that appears to be magical.

Gul’Daryh believes the vial contains some form of potion related to poison.

The map shows the Ice Forest with a faint orange path traced out. This path seems to line up with the party’s current route as dictated by Oda’s magic frogs. Other paths seem to change periodically when you’re looking at them, leading the party to assume this is a magical map.

The Norg’s necklace, an indicator of his identity and station, is taken in order to present it to the Norg of Frimmsreach and his body is cleverly covered in snow near the bench for easy retrieval.

The party presses on, using the magic frogs to check the logic of the map, which appears to be logical. Things would be going smoothly but for the circling, wailing, cloud-like monstrosities that threaten our party. The threats come to a head and, when Gul’Daryh climbs a tree for a better look, battle is joined!

The cloud-like monstrosities feel the wrath of Gnomish sling-stones as Sparruu proves they are mortal. But the Gnome feels the cold as the eerie song of these white wailers freezes him in place, along with Oda and Norgyl. Gul’Daryh shakes off the cold and sings his own Windsong, causing the remaining creature to become docile…giving him time to scramble up a tree and do some Burning Hands action.

Long story short, Norgyl, freed from his icy paralysis, uses the dead Norg’s axe to dispatch the final white wailer. The party is shaken, wounded, and their health significantly drained. They press on as quickly as possible, Norgyl carrying his unconscious wife, until they reach one of the safe igloos scattered throughout the Ice Forest.

However this igloo is not empty. An ugly, misshapen man occupies it, threatening to kill them all for disturbing him. Sparruu applies his Bedazzling powers – beginning to reveal his nature as a cleric of Miana Musina. The charmed man, named Urtel, vacates the premises under the promise that better igloos of a “royal” nature are nearby. The party moves in, finding the man’s fertility goddess statue and a dirty sock.

Urtel comes back but the heroes and the ugly man come to a peaceful agreement to share the igloo. They get a solid and extended rest, feeling the warm healing magic of the igloo revive them to full potential.

End of Episode #2.

New monster: White Wailer

New NPC: Urtel, a very ugly, large human with an axe of poor quality.

Frimmsreach Episode #1

Each Episode is a 2 hour Labyrinth Lord play session over Skype or other interweb services.

EPISODE #1

Game Date: 03-31-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh

Supporting Cast: Norgyl and Oda the barbarian couple

As Sparruu, Norgyl, and Oda prepare to enter the Ice Forest they are unaware of being followed by a pack of 6 frost coyotes. Gul’Daryh, who has tracked the creatures across many miles, engages the beasts, killing one with an arrow. Norgyl and Oda rush to help him as Sparruu makes a lethal backstab against the coyote’s leader. Once the alpha is down the rest of the creatures break and run, tails tucked.

The travelers introduce themselves to Gul’Daryh and accept his help going into the dreaded Ice Forest, an alleged short cut to the great city of Frimmsreach where Norgyl's brother Argus is held slave.

The Forest is known to be a maze with lethal threats but Oda has a bag of 13 magic frogs that could lead the way at every turn.

Inside the forest they find an empty igloo which seems to be a kind of safe house. It is noted that the legends speak of such safe houses through the forest. Soon the band are assaulted by a screaming wind creature which Gul’Daryh successfully lulls with his potent Windsong. The group rushes ahead while they have time and, at their 3rd turn come upon a 10’ tall body lying next to a wooden bench. This matches a series of tracks the half-elf has already discovered.

End of Episode #1.

The spell Windsong comes from Theorems & Thaumaturgy (hereafter Th&Th).

New monster: Frost Coyote

Frimmsreach Campaign

I run Monday night game over Skype, for now. And it's going great. I use Labyrinth Lord + Advanced Edition Companion with a proper helping of house rules to get the kind of gaming experience I really want. I think my players are enjoying it...they haven't sent me death threats or stopped showing up yet. I must be doing something right.

The current adventure is set in the frozen north of my campaign world of Yria. In this region an ogre-like race of humanoids called the Norg are the dominant people. The party of PCs are traveling to the great city of Frimmsreach, ostensibly to help a young barbarian couple find a relative who was sold into slavery by his own father.

At this point there are two PCs:

Gul'Daryh (pronounced gul-dar-UH) is a Half-Elf Ranger/Elementalist who was raised in the wild northern forest of Pricklewood. The Elementalist is a class that comes from the excellent Labyrinth Lord supplement Theorems & Thaumaturgy, which I highly reccomend.

Sparruu is a Gnome Cleric/Thief, of the Miana Musina tradition. This is a trickster god of my setting. I'll post the full write-up for the Miana Musina Cleric a bit later.

Now into the game...

Trolls, Labyrinths, and Weird Dice

This is my gaming blog. I design RPGs (The Pool and The Questing Beast) and I write RPG materials (Howler module). I run games frequently and these days I tend toward old school gaming, especially D&D.

I'm currently running two ongoing campaigns. One of them is a Dungeon Crawl Classics game with a party of characters that are 90% chaotic (as are their players). The lone lawful character is the thief...go figure.

My other campaign is a Monday night online game using Labyrinth Lord, my choice of poison for old school gaming.

I'll probably post game notes here that are meant, more-or-less, for my players. If you happen to follow the blog for some strange reason I hope you find these adventure notes entertaining in some odd way.

Game on.