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.

A wandering monster roll revealed an ogre, one itching for a fight. The party closed with him, and exchange blows. Rondel cast charm on the poor lout, which the ogre failed. They now had a new best friend, Grerag. 

by Jeff Preston, CC by 3.0

Finding the tower, Fulvus scouted ahead, doing sneaky halfling stuff. A warning arrow and shouted challenge let them know that the tower was occupied, and they exchanged words with the guard. He was not impressed with their credentials and fired another arrow at them. Rondel ran out of patience and magic missiled him. Following that, Gergag burst through the tower door with the party behind. They found a chamber with a short pillar topped by a hemisphere of cracked glass. This may have been a component in the "barrier." But first, let's clear the tower.

The elves charged to the tower roof, but no guard was to be found. Mareth confirmed that the guard wasn't simply invisible by utilizing an ad hoc detect invisible - swinging his polearm around... No guard.

Satisfied that the guard had retreated, the party started down stairs below the tower. While investigating a stone column extending downward from the first floor, they were set upon by three guards. Another brief fight, and the guards were vanquished, although Rondel ended up much worse for wear. He decided to remain safely in the back for any ongoing explorations.

The party cleared a couple of storerooms, and continued farther down. Where they encountered ogre #2 for the day. He had been left as a guard, but really wanted to wrestle. Good thing they brought their own ogre for just such an occasion... Grerag, in spite of being wounded, bested the second ogre, and was left to guard him. 

Next, the party was blocked by a charmed dwarf, but were able to bypass him by dropping a name the original tower guard had mentioned. (Gary sent us...) They discovered a priest in the midst of a summoning, surrounded by defaced statues. Frederick attempted a backstab, but was thwarted by the priest's mail. The party set upon him, and forced a surrender. The priest had been attempting to summon an avatar of Medeg, an apocalypse goddess. Cleared of his charmed condition, the dwarf noted that Rondel looked like he'd traveled ten miles an a nine mile road, and offered a healing potion.

Returning to the ogre wrestling ring, the party, with the help of Grerag, convinced Trurok, the second ogre to follow them. The next day, a surreptitious charm spell turned Trurok, as well. The ogres were temporarily housed in a cave outside of town, and left with rations. The chaos priest was turned over to Proctor Armin and his crew.

Original tower/shrine map

So yes, the party now has "hired" muscle. The current plan is to use the ogres for civil improvement projects - digging ditches and helping erect palisades. I just need to figure out how much livestock the two will go through. White elephants and all...

So another chaotic session, always good - with four returning players, we had the flexibility to do a bit of world building and town business before they decided what to investigate this session. I had the tower roughed up, so it was an easy pull from the slush pile. Grerag was honestly a random encounter, and the party has him (and Trurok) for at least a month of game time before their next saving throw... Silly OP B/X spells...