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

Frost Coyote

Here's a simple cold-based beastie to throw at your low level PCs.

Coyote, Frost

No. Enc: 2d6

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Movement: 180’ (60’)

Armor Class: 7

Hit Dice: 1+2

Attacks: 1 (bite) or frost breath

Damage: 1d4 or special

Save: F1

Morale: 6

Hoard Class: None

XP: 21

Frost coyotes are white or off-white with yellow eyes that glow in darkness. They are more intelligent than normal coyotes and quite clever hunters (90% chance to track prey up to 1d4 miles away). They have a malicious nature that draws them to torment and torture their prey before eating it. Once per day a frost coyote can breath a cloud of frost up to 5' away similar to the Magic-User spell cone of cold dealing 1d4+1 points of damage to any creature within the cone that fails a save vs. breath attack.

Frimmsreach Episode #9

EPISODE #9

Game Date: 05-26-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat, Quilliam

Supporting Cast: Argus, Sideth, Bolgart

Argus, drunk and sick on Olliman’s Mystical Mana Juice™, has racked up a 150 gp debt. Sparruu dips into the barbarian’s funds to pay it off and explains to the norg how they discovered the dead norg’s body back in the Ice Forest. Nothing much comes of it. The norg don’t seem to have cared for the one they called Bara the Sky Sweeper. They suggest going to see his sister, Lara the Sky Reader. They take the norg axe that Argus was carrying along with the gold and are on their way.

Quilliam, a travelling mage in search of knowledge, has come to old Raferta’s tent to seek wisdom. She quickly suggests he should join our intrepid heroes on their quest to find the dreaded ganguth. He readily agrees.

The team head to Nani’s Room and Board where they get some relatively cheap rooms and promptly dump the vomit-stinking Argus onto a bed (after Gul’Daryh’s cantrip cleans him up a bit). Discussions are had, plans made. Sideth admits to having a peculiar sense of something important deep within the ganguth's lair. She wants to go back and look into it.

The next morning they set out, purchase a new axe for Argus, have one final meeting with old Raferta, and head south, backtracking to the ganguth’s lair.

Some frost coyotes aside, the team finds little trouble in this journey and are soon picking their way through the lair, across the deadly ice bridge, and back into the gaudy demesnes of the foul monster. They find it ransacked, cleaned out, mostly emptied. Through the back door they go with Argus in the lead.

Crack! The ancient stairs of stone and ice cave in, sending the strapping barbarian 20’ down into a dark cavern. Sparruu shimmies down a rope to check on the boy. Moments later some unknown threat snatches the gnome by the ankle and drags him rapidly into darkness…

End episode #9.

Frimmsreach Episode #8

EPISODE #8

Game Date: 05-19-14

Cast: Sparruu, Gul’Daryh, Skat

Supporting Cast: Argus, Sideth

Having braved the Ice Forest and bested a small tribe of red orcs, the party prepares to make the final leg of the journey to the city of Frmmsreach. Norgyl and Oda part ways with our heroes. Argus, brother of Norgyl (and the reason for the couples’ dangerous trek through the Ice Forest) is not going with them. The young, muscled warrior is dead set on heading to the big city with Skat, Sparruu, and Gul’Daryh. His brother offers him the great axe of the dead norg to take on his journeys and bids him farewell.

The journey to the city is cold but uneventful. Argus pulls the two-wheeled cart the whole way, as if to prove his vitality (and secure his drinking money upon selling the cart). The party sees more-and-more travelers as various roads merge into the great northern road which terminates at Frimmsreach.

The city lies before them, tall as a mountain. They enter its 300’ tall gates and, upon disclosing their purpose to the 12’ tall norg guards, they enter.

The city under Frimmsreach, inside its very belly, is Frimmsbottom. This is a space enchanted to be comfortable to most people, warmer than the frigid air outside. Here the party sees many incredible things and many terrible things. The slave blocks are very active. Violence in the street is almost overlooked. It is a menagerie of oddities, necessities, food, and unsavory activities. Sparruu and Argus enjoy some of this, particularly the delicious “ice camel” kabobs.

The heroes go and see a gnome called Trelloff, one of the local foodies and spice merchants. After a bit of negotiation they come to an agreement on the value of the wagon and its precious spices. The savory gold spice is identified as having the power to repel evil creatures…so naturally they keep a bit of it but walk away from the deal with two things. First, over 500 gold pieces jingling in their collective pocket (though this belongs to Argus by all rights). And second…the knowledge that there is no such thing as an “ice camel” and that you gotta do something with the bodies of dead slaves and criminals.

“Soylent Green is random encounters…” – Andy

Argus heads off to get properly drunk while the others make a path to the magical district of this bizarre bazaar. But once the barbarian is out of their midst Skat notices the team is being followed by what appear to be common thugs. The scene turns sour. Sparruu attempts to bedazzle some passerby into causing a commotion and drawing the attention of norg guards…but no suck luck. Blades flash! Skat emasculates the leader and Sparruu drops faerie fire on the rest…claiming it will kill them. In the end the thieves are routed with only the leader tasting death.

Norg guards immediately arrive and ask what the heck is going on. “He fell on his dagger” seems to be an adequate response. But now the dead body is the party’s responsibility and they are instructed to take it to the “meat sheds”. This turns out to be an unseemly place to the west of the district where hunters bring their kills and virtually all other bodies are “disposed of”.

Quickly the team drops off the unfortunate thief’s body (after looting it, naturally) and heads back to the magic district. In that district it becomes clear that many vendors are purveyors of junk…which the norg seem to love. Instead of stepping into a particularly gaudy glowing mushroom house the party instead enters the quaint tent of an old witch. Inside Sideth quietly procures what are obviously witchy spell components and the like. Then the heroes begin to ask the old lady, whose name is Raferta, about the nature of various items they have acquired. At a meager cost of 20 gold coins each she gives them all the information she can about:

-A ring with starburst patterns that can “turn” spells.

-A gray potion that grants the drinker the strength of a giant.

-A bowl and spoon that a chef can use to bend people to his will.

-A pair of bear skin gloves that transform your hands into claws.

While the witch is examining these items the gang notices a beautiful young girl sitting at the back of the shop, knitting. She says nothing, but smiles. She is beautiful beyond compare, mesmerizing by her mere presence. The grandmother doesn’t like this attention and sends poor Lezza to the back.

As the team begins to leave they inquire about what sort of trouble they might get into in the area. And old Raferta puts a challenge to them. Her granddaughter is under a curse that makes her mute. Bring back the rib bone of a vicious ganguth and she will be cured!

It just so happens our heroes know of such a beast…

Meanwhile Argus is dragged before the tent by two norg guards. He is so drunk his insides come out and the guards inform the others that the young lad owes 150 gold pieces to the barkeep known as Markus.

What could the lad possibly have imbibed in a few hours that cost so much?!

End of Episode #8

Barbarian!

In my current Labyrinth Lord campaign I have a few NPC barbarians. I realize that a barbarian is basically a fighter. And I realize there are lots of takes on the barbarian class out there to be had. But, as with the witch, I needed something that fit my own campaign world. So here is my barbarian.

I went for something that was a little bit Conan, little bit ranger, and little bit hilljack. Not overpowered, not redundant.

And here's the pdf for it too.

BARBARIAN

Requirements: Con 12

Prime Requisite: Str, Con

Hit Dice: 1d10

Barbarians are a hearty, uncivilized lot that inhabit cold mountains, deep forests, badlands, and virtually any landscape outside the scope of civilization. These savages take care of their own and will fight to the death to defend family, friends, and others of their tribe.

They are often unaccustomed to magic and may harbor fears and superstitions against it. Because of this distrust, barbarians suffer a -2 penalty on saving throws vs. spells.

Barbarians use the ranger's level progression, saving throw, and attack value charts. They are proficient with any weapon common to the area in which their tribe lives. When using foreign or elegant weapons they have a -2 penalty to hit. They may wear any armor, though it may affect some of their class abilities.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Battleclad: Barbarians who wear no armor may adjust AC by ½ their level out of toughness and battle fury.

Rage: A barbarian may choose to forgo all pretenses of battle finesse and attack his enemies in a blind rage. In this mode the character makes two attack rolls, each at a -3 penalty. If successful, such attacks deal +1d4 damage. For every 3 levels of experience (levels 3, 6, 9, etc.) the barbarian can make an additional attack roll, but always at a -3 penalty. If the barbarian attempts to make an attack on a round directly following a rage attack he suffers a -1 to hit and may not rage. It takes a moment for him to regain his composure.

Wild Movement: Barbarians run, jump, and climb like wild beasts, based on the climb walls skill of a thief of the same level. This skill does not allow them to climb sheer surfaces like a thief, but instead they may climb trees and cliffs, leap over small canyons or across small rivers, or out-run most normal humans and humanoids.

Resist Elements: Barbarians gain +2 to save against the effects of natural weather or -2 to damage from natural weather.

Detect Magic: A barbarian has a 2-in-6 chance to detect the presence of magic in an item or surrounding a place or person. The player must announce an intention to be aware of such magic. The barbarian cannot assess the nature of magic, simply its presence.

Tracking: Barbarians track as rangers of the same level but with a base 75% chance of success.

Witch! (revised)

I wasn't entirely happy with my witch character class for LL/B/X, originally posted here. So I tweaked her a bit into what I feel is more representative of what I was going for. The main changes were to simplify the summoning power, give her the ability to fly, and remove the AC bonus for being naked. I didn't want to make this a character that, if clothed, was less powerful. So while naked she definitely has a great advantage in saving throws but no advantage to AC and she is limited on how many rings and things she can wear.

So here's the witch...again. And here's a pdf of the class for your pleasure and enjoyment.

WITCH

Requirements: Wis 12, Cha 12, Int 9
Prime Requisite: Wis, Cha
Hit Dice: 1d4

A witch is a female practitioner of ancient magic. Witches tend to live alone or with other witches. They can commune with natural spirits, create magic potions, and cast a variety of spells using natural ingredients, often cobbled together on-the-spot.

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

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 people or monsters, and transforming living things into different forms. Witches gain +5% XP earned per Prime Requisite above 12.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Commune with Spirits: A witch may summon one supernatural entity per day. The entity will appear in the witch's magic circle in 1d4 turns. The creature is trapped in the circle and cannot affect anything outside it. The witch may ask a question, which the entity is obligated to answer. The witch may only summon one entity per day. If she attempts to ask a second question it is up to the LL how the entity will answer, if at all.

Upon reaching the 9th level of experience a witch may compel a summoned entity to perform a task before it is released from her charm. The entity may then travel freely but only toward completion of the command. The entity is allowed a saving throw vs. spells minus the witch’s Cha modifier to resist the witch's command.

It is up to the LL to determine what kind of entity is summoned, though typically the HD of the entity should not surpass that of the witch.

Familiar: Witches possess the ability to cast the spell summon familiar without the gp cost. They may cast this spell at any point when they do not currently have a familiar. A witch’s familiar gains 1 additional Hit Die per 3 levels of the caster.

Flight: In addition to all other spells, witches 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.

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