Frimmsreach Episode #12

EPISODE #12

Game Date: 06-23-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat, Frothgar

Supporting Cast: Argus, Quilliam

The team makes their way down and round a rough-hewn flight of steps until they hear the unmistakable sounds of orcs arguing. Argus rushes forth, the others following behind him. Battle is joined in a very large, natural cavern.

Behind the cyclopean orcs comes a surly looking, angry dwarf who stops short of the fight and commands by divine right of Frimm that one of the orcs lie down and go to sleep…which is does.

Soon 3 of the orcs are dead from arrows and sling stones while the sleeping orc is tied up by the dwarf. Introductions are made. The dwarf is Frothgar, cleric of Frimm. The dwarf is angry for a good reason. He was traveling with 12 dwarves to join a dwarven stronghold in the underground of the north, part of a larger resistance to the norg of Frimmsreach. The cyclopean orc tribe, slavers, had raided the stronghold and then slaughtered his companions. He had fallen down a hole and was trying to make his way back to the battle site, which seemed to be above this cavern.

The tied up orc is questioned, threatened, and – when he kicked Frothgar’s knee and tried to escape – ultimately killed. Such is the short, crude life of evil creatures.

The group explore the room and find little of interest. They take the tunnel that the orcs came through and eventually come to the main vein of this underground network fully 100’ above the current location. Here they discover the battle site with scattered dead orcs and dwarves. Frothgar gives last rites to his brethren and burns their bodies with dignity, aided by Gul’Daryh’s simple fire cantrip. Sparruu grants last rites to the dead orcs…cursing them to a tormented afterlife.

Argus thinks he spots a critter…something small. But nothing is seen. They travel on, following the tunnel northward on the trail of perhaps 40 cyclopean orcs and their dwarven captives…all destined for the slave market at Frimmsreach.

Sparruu, granted the ability to detect evil for an hour by Miana Musian, spots orcs lying in ambush! The battle is short but an alarm horn is blown ahead. The orcs are alerted to the presence of enemies.

A small creature resembling a bipedal lizard steps out of the shadows, beckoning the PCs to follow. Sparruu detects no evil and happily concedes. The team is led down a small passage that the humans must crawl through until, after many twists and turns, they come to a room with other lizards. These lizards, who Gul’Daryh knows to be called the izzuri, are of various colors with crests and spots and other markings. Their leader seems to be one with a great red crest.

The izzuri who lead them down, who seems to be called Zoom, chats with his friends in a different language then asks the heroes (in common) if they would do a favor for the lizard folks in exchange for help stopping the orcs.

The team is asked to slay the longotha…the tentacle monster hiding in the stone pillar they encountered earlier. It could be the same one, or it could be a different one…the team is not sure. But the izzuri fear this monster and cannot seem to get rid of it. They are attempting to make the tunnels safer for their kind by carving more passages, more steps, and getting rid of dangerous monsters. They have cousins in the south who want to move north…can’t live with longathas.

An agreement is reached. The team will try to kill the monster.

But how?

End of Episode #12

Frimmsreach Episode #11

EPISODE #11

Game Date: 06-16-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat, Quilliam

Supporting Cast: Argus, Sideth

The rat-things surround our heroes in the old, circular library room. Argus, having been attacked first, is flat on his back and out of the fight. Daggers are thrown, darts are thrown, and arrows are loosed. The melee commences with most of the party taking hits, some of them significant. Sparruu, praying for help from Miana Musina, finds his deity rather silent over and over again. Could it be that he/she wants no part of the Temple of Vell? Is this a message that Sparruu is on the wrong path?

Quilliam is confronted with one of the automatons and his dagger is shattered by the creature’s powerful bite. Skat is quick on his feet, dispatching the threat with a well-placed backstab. Gul’Daryh’s arrows go wide but eventually the team manages to destroy their enemies and end the fight none-too-soon.

Licking their wounds they suddenly realize Sideth, the rather quiet witch, is no long with them. Did she enter the room at all? Is she on the other side of the door? A mystery.

Searching the library they find a long-dead body dressed in simple robes and carrying a large, blank book. Lying next to him is a pair of spectacles. Putting them on they suddenly see words on the blank book. Quilliam and Gul’Daryh surmise the book is a large treatise on the casting of one particular spell…the nature of which is not known.

They find a book of spells that nearly kills Sparruu upon picking the lock holding it shut. They find a ring that allows them to read and understand many languages…but as Quilliam learns the ring creates such a hunger for reading that it is a struggle of will just to take it off and stop. Best left in the pocket for now.

Further searching reveals a hidden door. A bookshelf swivels to reveal a small reading room with a shelf of more unusual books. The back of this room was breeched. The wall is in ruin and a crude stairway has been carved on the other side. In this room Gul’Daryh discovers a strange spellbook of unknown contents.

The heroes decide to rest. Gul’Daryh lights a torch and sings his firesong to bring much-needed restoration to the tired party.

The next morning sounds emanate from the reading room. Upon entering they find nothing but it seems the books are in disarray. Someone was there. They head through the broken wall and down the steps to a deep underground pool in which Sparruu recognizes there is great evil. They press on past the pool, deeper into this labyrinth…

End of Episode #11

Witch (another revision)

Took one more stab at creating a witch that felt right. My thing is I like to keep a character class limited to less than 500 words, in the spirit of B/X. Or as close as possible. And, in that same spirit, I like to use elements that already exist. So here's the latest witch revision...

WITCH

Requirements: Wis 12, Cha 12

Prime Requisite: Wis, Cha

Hit Dice: 1d4

A witch is a female practitioner of ancient magic. Witches live alone or with other witches. They commune with natural spirits, create magic potions, and cast a variety of spells. Witches with a score of 13 or greater in both Wisdom and Charisma gain a 10% bonus on experience earned.

Witches may not wear armor and may only use the staff, dagger, and other small weapons (sling, blackjack, etc.) when casting spells.

Witches progress in saving throws, attack values, spell progression, and levels as magic-users. They are able to learn magic-user, cleric, or druid spells of the following types: summoning, divination, charming, and transformation. Witches rely heavily on prepared components for their spells and do not require the use of spellbooks. The casting of a spell represents the use of prepared components which must be replenished before the spell can be cast again. If a witch fails a saving throw against a physical attack or trap she must also make a saving throw for her spell bag, magic sack, or whatever she carries her components in. On a failed roll one of the components to a random spell will be lost and the spell cannot be cast until she has a chance to prepare another batch. Witches are good at cobbling together components from found items and from the wild.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Commune with Spirits: Once per day a witch may attempt to summon an otherworldly entity into a magic circle, gaining the ability to question it exactly like the spell contact other plane. To summon, the witch must pass a saving throw vs. spells, adding her Charisma modifier. The entity, usually a spirit or minor demon, is trapped in the circle and cannot affect the world outside it. The witch may adjust one of the three conditions of the spell to her benefit by an amount equal to her level (knowing, truthfulness, or chance of insanity).

Familiar: A witch may summon a familiar, per the spell, at any time when she does not already have one. The familiar will arrive within 1d4 turns and will have HD equal to 1/2 the witch's level.

Flight: In addition to all other spells, witches of any level may cast the magic-user spell fly once per day and an additional time per day for every 3 levels of experience (3, 6, 9, etc.).

Potions: A witch can create a number of potions per month equal to her level + Wisdom modifier. The player may select potions from the Labyrinth Lord Potions table, or from other sources made available by the LL. A witch has a 10% chance per level of being able to identify a potion.

Grimoire: A witch may create a grimoire or "book of secrets" that only she is allowed to read. Having a secret book gives the witch a 2-in-6 chance of being able to cast an additional spell per day or she may create 1 additional potion per month (player choice). If the book is discovered by anyone else and opened the witch loses these benefits as well as suffering 1 permanent hit point loss. Creating a new book reverses these effects, but takes 1d4 days to complete.

Skyclad: When naked, the witch is wrapped in natural magic. She gains saving throw bonuses equal to half her level (rounded down). In this mode the witch may wear no more than 1 piece of jewelry or other accoutrement.

White Wailer

When your PCs are in the colder lands...

White Wailer

No. Enc: 1

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Movement (flying): 150’ (50’)

Armor Class: 6

Hit Dice: 2+1

Attacks: 1 (touch or wail)

Damage: Special

Save: F2

Morale: 10

Hoard Class: None

XP: 90

Sometimes the wind itself can take on a living form...often unpleasantly. The white wailer is a living cloud of ice and cold desperate to suck the life out of mortal creatures. Some say they merely want to know what it feels like to be alive.

The wailer can approximate the shape of a human face, arms and hands. The touch of a white wailer causes 1d4 cold damage and the target must save vs. spells or be frozen in place exactly like the effect of a hold person spell. The duration of this effect is only 1d4 rounds and the target may attempt a save vs. spells at the start of each round.

White wailers get their name by issuing a terrifying wail. This wail can be heard from 500' away, though its nasty effects only occur within a cone starting at the creature's mouth and extending out 20' with its end being 10' wide. Those within this cone must save vs. breath attacks or be frozen (per the touch attack) and lose 1d4 points of Constitution per round that they remain frozen. If this drain results in a reduction of the character's Con modifier then their maximum hit points are reduced accordingly. This draining makes the PC feel immediately fatigued and disheartened. Drained Con will return naturally at a rate of 1 per hour without magical intervention. The white wailer's tactic is to fly down, make a wailing attack, then fly away and return to do it again in 1d6 turns. In this way they can whittle their enemies down over time.

Those whose Con scores are reduced to 3 or less must make a saving throw vs. death or die. Those whose Con is reduced to zero are dead. Magical fire deals triple damage to a wailer.

Frimmsreach Episode #10

EPISODE #10

Game Date: 06-09-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat, Quilliam

Supporting Cast: Argus, Sideth, Bolgart

Sparruu is being dragged into darkness by an unknown threat while Argus chases after. The others scramble down the rope to the cavern floor in pursuit.

The tentacle pulls our gnomish hero to a cavern room with a pillar of stone at the center. Various tentacles wiggle from holes in the pillar, seeking to drag prey – broken if necessary – into a cavity at the pillar’s heart. Inside the cavity lurks the potato-like body of this fiend! Blades glance off the stone and cut into the tender tentacle flesh. Argus cleaves a tentacle in half. Quilliam zaps it with a magic missile.

With the help of the barbarian’s muscles the team is freed from the grasp of the creature. Sparruu tosses oil at one of the holes, splashing over the surface of the column instead. But no matter…Skat tosses a lit torch and engulfs the column in flame! The crew flee the room, Argus lingering long enough to take a barbaric (and stupid) swipe at the stone pillar.

Our heroes rest for a moment back on the broken stairs before descending further to a series of zig-zag landings bearing ancient reliefs of Vell the Night Owl…a god of the West. This zig-zag leads them to a very long, wide temple chamber that appears to be abandoned. Each side is lined with sets of ornate columns revealing ancient stories of Vell’s exploits against the rat and mouse gods. Running along the center of the room are three small pools of still water. Argus, being unwise, drinks from one. But the others do not notice anything strange…the water seems safe?

At the end of the room is a ten foot tall statue of Vell at the base of a set of stairs leading up to three shut doors of stone and iron. The statue’s eyes peer to the right and a single odd feather sticks up in the middle, pointing behind the statue.

The heroes approach the third door, the half-orc Bloggart, following along at the behest of his master Lara the Sky Reader, seeming uninterested. The gnomes look the door over and see nothing amiss. Sparruu reaches out to turn the handle…and a ghostly owl swoops down from the ceiling toward him, attempting to rip out his very soul! But Sparruu is quick and lucky.

They back away from the door, uncertain how to proceed. Argus strolls up to the first door and grabs the handle after Sparruu suggests drinking from the pool may have made him immune to the traps. Nothing happens, though the door is locked. Skat applies his craft to the lock and the door comes open, leading the party into a hallway that appears to be of dwarven design. Strange in these parts…

Nothing is found among the dwarven rooms, though the hall ends abruptly.

Back on the landing, they consider the middle door. It comes open easily and seems to lead down a hall similar to door #1. But something is not right. Sparruu holds Argus back from entering. He has a funny feeling about it. He decides to climb the statue of Vell and mess with that odd feather.

The feather moves, the doors shut. A click is heard from the third door that previously summoned the ghostly owl. Gul’Daryh bravely opens the door…and it leads up and into a large round room filled with books.

And rat-like automaton guards that come to life and menace the party!

Bloggart the half-orc runs back down the steps to the door, which has shut on its own. He grabs the handle and the ghostly owl re-appears, ripping the soul from his body.

Our heroes have been placed in a dangerously precarious situation!

End of Episode #10