Returning to the Watchtower, or, More Fun With OP Old-School Spells

Whew, that was a session....

So the gang got together for a bit more restrained mischief. We had:

• Frederick - Thief
• Slick - Another Thief
• Waegstan, née Bonk - Fighter
• Jax - Barbarian
• Rondel - Elf
• Mareth - Another Elf

First of all, we made sure that the charmed ogres are fed and busy digging a ditch around town. They like a job to do, after all... Although there is some grumbling regarding the local mutton supply.

Next, trailing a caravan came a gnome driving a somewhat odorous wagon. Hugo was his name, and he claimed to be a seller of potions of a restorative nature. After some haggling, the party were the proud owners of four "healing" potions of dubious quality. (Hugo is an NPC stolen/borrowed from other friends' campaigns, so has been putting some serious mileage on that wagon.)

After a brief discussion, it was confirmed that the party intended to revisit the tower explored in the last session. With the excitement of charming ogres and all, they hadn't given the space a good once-over.

Which was good, since I'd actually prepped for this... 

Tower and inevitable underground bits

The party returned to the locale with no wandering ogres or other critters encountered. Waegstan, always optimistic, strode toward the tower, taking arrow fire. Determining that the tower was now guarded by hobgoblins, the party made plans. Waegstan continued to dodge arrows as the two thieves successfully reached the door unnoticed. The remainder of the party wisely provided cover fire from the trees. 

Frederick and Slick breached the door SWAT-style, taking a third hob by surprise and quickly dispatching him. The two headed upstairs, as most of the remainder of the party now rushed the tower. The remaining roof hobgoblins were done in with minor injury.

This gave the party time to inspect a plinth with a cracked red glass hemisphere previously noted in the tower main level. After some poking about, they decided to chip off a bit of the glass for later analysis.

The Necromuseum of Tutmus-Ra-Hotep-Pthah III

Among my piles of files of downloaded maps from various cartographers, I had a map by Dyson, drawn as a bit of an homage to the passages and rooms of Quasqueton.

It has been another project completed in small fits and starts. What came of it is a desert tomb occupied by a vain and somewhat bored mummy, Tutmus-Ra-Hotep-Pthah III (or just Tutmus to his friends...).

This became a tomb adventure complete with various tropes of tomb-raiding and mummy-cursing. Although I did have a bit of fun with it, and ended up providing some options for different approaches to play. The adventure can be played straight tomb-raiding, or players can encounter a bored mummy invisibly stalking them, offering a tour of his abode, charming a couple away to dust the fixtures, or even acting as a sage source of knowledge. And please don't miss the gift shop... 

Download Me Here

Spent a three day weekend at Norwescon science fiction and fantasy writing convention. I had volunteered to run some games, but had no takers, so hung out with writers attending panels and readings. It has been a long time since I've gone to a writing conference or similar event, so was a fresh experience. Not a bad long weekend. 

Ok, better prep a bit for this weekend's brewery game. 

Those Charming Ogres... Game recap

Greetings, travelers. Pull up a chair and we'll recount the most recent Brewery Session...

This week had a smaller party of four, due to some no-shows.

• Frederick, thief
• Fulvus, halfling
• Mareth, elf
• Rondel, another elf

We started out in Neuforde, as is the custom. Our scene began with Proctor Armin, a higher-up in the Church of Garond, arriving in town with a small entourage for the christening of the new temple grounds. He greeted the local clerics, Nicolas and Eustace, recognizing Eustace from seminary days. Eustace gifted the priest with a recovered idol found in a forgotten shrine, and recounted the story of his rescue. 

Eustace introduced the characters, and Proctor Armin was effusive in his compliments. However, the good priest sensed something was amiss with Mareth, who showed him the cursed ring the elf had found in another crypt. Some sideways negotiation and discussion of tithes went back and forth, and eventually the party was around 500gp lighter in coin and other items. But at least the cursed ring had been negated. 

In light of the party's rescue of the young cleric, converting a former chaos cleric to the temple (via a charm spell, of course), as well as their actions in the area and gifts to the church, Proctor Armin gifted them with a writ of support to document their favored works in the eyes of Garond.

All gathered at the inn for a night of revelry and celebration of the temple groundbreaking. A few of the party members over-indulged, but it was only unfortunate Mareth, who, for the second time, got the opportunity to roll on the carousing mishaps table. He woke up to find himself in bed with one of the visiting clerics. Those lightweight elves....

Anyway, it was time to shake off the hangovers and do some exploring. The party was keen to further investigate the "nodes" shown on an old wall carving, as hints to a magical barrier that had once been in use in the area. 

The party reviewed their sketch of the stylized network of nodes, determining that one may reside southwest of town in the forests. They asked about, and found a local hunter who thought he recalled some tower in the woods, along the remains of an abandoned road. Hiring the hunter as a guide, the party headed into the woods.

Four Visits to a Tim Shorts Map

Tim Shorts posted up this map on the Reddits a while back, and I duly forgot about it with my other projects and distractions. Here we have a 5-6 room space, with pools and a few other features. A place ripe for description...

Original Post

I scribbled up one scenario over a lunch hour, but decided to fill out three more, as I haven't done a "4 Scenarios" writing project for a bit. So without further ado, we have four brief encounters, with four different denizens: humanoid, undead, monstrous, and dragon. 

Four Visits to Six Rooms

And we had a fairly entertaining session at the brewery last night, so putting together my notes for a writeup in the next couple of days. An ode to the OP charm spell of the good old days...