SCOTT CASPER'S ULTIMATE GREYHAWK

SOUTH PROVINCE CAMPAIGN

Continuing Chapter One:  The Phantom Menace

 

WARNING:  This update includes SPOILERS for Skull Keep, the sample

dungeon from the 1979 Dungeons & Dragons game book. 

 

Cast:

Barada, Neutral male Flannish human mercenary (1st level fighter)(played as NPC).  

Alexander Petrok, Lawful Neutral male Oerdian human templar of Zilchus (1st

level paladin variant) (played as NPC).

Perpegilliam Brown, Neutral male Hairfoot hobniz rogue (1st level Thief). 

Hristo Neutral Good male Wesevud ("Central") noniz ex-town watchman and

rogue (1st level fighter/1st level thief)(played as NPC).

Vladamir Kostitov, Lawful Good male Oerdian human prestidigitator for the

Governor's Guardsmen (1st level Illusionist). 

Abraham the Radiant, Neutral Good male Oeridian human acolyte of Pelor (1st

level Cleric).

Dargog, Neutral male Blu-Jebline rogue (1st level Thief). 

 

Setting:  Skull Keep, South Province

 

Readying 22, 581 CY

 

(From the journal of Vladamir Kostitov)

"1)  Stairway down from level 1:  This is where we entered dungeon level 2."

 

The thieves Peri and Hristo descended the stairs carefully, and came to a four-way

intersection at the bottom.  Behind them, the remaining 11 members of their band

moved as quietly as they could to follow.  The thieves scouted out each hallway, and

reported where they went to Capt. Kolos as soon as he reached the lower level.  The

path most attractive to their templar leader was straight ahead, as this way led to a pair

of double doors.       

 

"2)  Torture Room:  There were various instruments of torture in this room but little

else."

 

A torture rack was leaning against the wall to the right, and a smoking brazier stood

by a pair of double doors in the opposite wall.

 

"3)  Goblin Camp:  There were 16 goblins in here waiting for us.  We defeated them

while suffering several light injuries.  We took three goblins with us as captives."

 

After several attempts to bash in the double doors, they finally gave way.  The band

could now see a huge room dimly lit by torches.  Inside, 16 goblins were either ready

for battle, or picking up their shields and weapons.  The band had time to rush its

first two ranks of fighters into the room before melee was joined.  Although

outnumbered, the band had superior armor and was able to deal serious damage to

the goblins while only receiving light or no injuries.  This did not hold true for the

templar, Aaron, however.  He was critically injured, but was saved when Abraham

called on Pelor's healing magic.  By the time only three goblins remained, they threw

down their weapons to surrender.  The victors tied their prisoners up, and prepared

to move on.  Meanwhile, Dargog had been looting their fallen comrades' bodies,

and  took all their knives.

 

"4)  Skeleton Room:  When we entered this room the scattered bones animated into

six skeletons.  We were able to defeat them fairly easily."

 

Even though the goblin room had three other exits, Kolos wanted to return to the

four-way intersection and choose another corridor.  He chose a hallway that ran west

and opened into a chamber where skeletons were slumped on the floor beneath

chains hanging from the walls.  As soon as the room was entered, most of the

skeletons rose from the ground as if they were alive.  This supernatural sight caused

most of the party to flee, leaving Alex, Abe, Peri, and a few others behind to fight

these creatures.  Abe recognized them as undead abominations, and tried to call upon

his deity to turn them back.  But, as before when the band had encountered undead

skeletons, Abe's faith faltered.  Luckily, they discovered that a few blows would

shatter these things, and the others returned with their courage restored after running

back upstairs.

 

"5)  Rat Room:  This room was swarming with giant rats nearly three feet in length.  In

the end we counted 12.  We defeated them easily also."

 

On the other side of the skeleton room was a door, and that door led to a small room

with one door in each wall.  The opposite door was locked.  The south door, however,

led to another small room filled with refuse, and 13 large rats crawling over it.  The rats

were about two feet in length, and it took quite awhile to dispose of them all even

though Kolos and Barada could attack them fairly quickly. 

 

They had wanted to clear the rats out of this room because it had a south-facing door,

and a doorway facing west.  They took the doorway, and went down a long hallway

that ended at a door leading to another room. 

 

"6)  Mage's Study:  This room contained little besides a desk, which presumably

belongs to the mage we encountered in room 7."

 

The room had a pallet and blanket in one corner, and a writing desk on a rug in the

middle of it.  A squeaking sound was coming from somewhere in the room, and this

turned out to be a mouse in the desk.  There were two other exits -- a door in the

opposite wall and another door facing east.  They correctly guessed that this would

lead into the same area as the other locked door, and Dargog successfully picked the

lock after Hristo failed.

 

"7)  Mage's Laboratory:  This room contained many things:  several tables and books,

a large orangutan in a cage and 2 humans.  One ordered us to leave and when we

refused they both attacked.  One was a skilled warrior and the other a powerful mage. 

The mage attempted to use a glowing wand on us but was disrputed by one of our

group.  The fight did not last long, and they were defeated but not before the mage was

able to magically charm Barada.  So, we were forced to knock him out as well.  The

enemy warrior was killed but we were able to capture the mage."

 

When they unlocked the door, the wizard inside pointed a wand at them and told them

they had five seconds to leave.  When Barada rushed him, the wizard spoke a command

word ("Tospegakin") and backed around his table for cover.  Barada lept over the table

and managed to slice the wizard with his sword, apparently disrupting whatever attack

the wizard had planned.  Others tried to rush into melee with the wizard, but the warrior

was a dangerous foe and was able to hold everyone else at bay.  Before Barada could

strike again, the wizard got off a spell, and commanded Barada to defend him.  Kolos

managed to slip by the warrior while Alex kept the warrior busy, and now Kolos and

Barada battled each other.  Vlad ended the threat of Barada with a Color Spray spell.

 

Meanwhile, the wizard tried to escape through the other locked door, but Abe started

hurling sling bullets across the room at the wizard, and struck him three times before the

wizard could unlock the door to escape.  The wizard collapsed.  The warrior was

overwhelmed and slain shortly thereafter. 

 

This room was a treasure trove for Vlad.  He took the wizard's wand.  Searching the room

turned up a spellbook, and two other books.  One, Marin's Guide to Hepmonaland,

allowed them to identify the orangutan in the cage.  The other book was a copy of The

Dance of Nerull.  Hristo, still low on equipment after being a prisoner of the pirates, was

graciously given the wizard's dagger, which several members of the party assumed was

also magical.

 

Next everyone debated what to do with the prisoners -- a perennial task of the band.  It

was suggested that they could go in the cage with the orangutan, but they opted for

keeping the three goblins and the unconscious wizard tied up on the floor.  Barada woke

up, and it seemed the charm spell had ended when the wizard lost consciousness.  He

would continue with the party, but Aaron, Miltar Bertov, and Dargog would remain

behind to guard the prisoners.

 

"8)  Wax Statue Room:  In this room there was nothing bud a bed and an exquisite wax

statue of a woman."

 

Exiting the wizard's workroom through the now unlocked east exit, the band came back

into the small room with four doors.  Taking the north one, they found that it led into a

corridor with three other doors in it.  Two of them were in the middle of the hall across

from each other.

 

After bashing in the door on the right, the front line fighters were faced with a woman

holding a staff.  They were reluctant to attack this woman, but approached her warily in

case she attacked.  She not only failed to attack, but did not move at all, and when Peri

pushed on her and she rocked back and forth, it became clear that she was a wax statue.

Peri searched the room and found some candles in a cabinet.  After that, they left and

moved on.

 

"9)  Steam Room:  In this room there was a device that turned the water from the

underground river that flows under it into incredible amounts of steam that constantly

flooded the room."

 

Hot steam filled the room across the hall.  A whistling sound emanated from a red hot,

metal box sitting against the south wall.  While everyone was curious about it, no one

wished to examine it. 

 

"10) Wizard Statue Room:  The doors to this room will not open by any physical means

unless the rotating wizard statue which lies in the middle of the room is facing that door."

 

This large room at the north end of the hallway had nothing in it but a door in each wall

(double doors to the east) and a statue of a wizard pointing a wand at them in the middle

of the room.  No matter which door they went to, they found it was stuck so tight that no

amount of physical strength could open them.  Then, Abe began searching the statue

for secret compartments, and discovered that the statue rotated on its base.  Suddenly,

Peri and Vlad understood how the room worked.  They turned the statue to face the

double doors, and found that those doors now opened easily.

 

"11) Pillar Room:   There are stone pillars in each corner of this room.  There were also two

statues standing at either side of the far door when we entered.  As we approached them

they sprang to life and attacked.  We defeated them while suffering some minor wounds."

 

Along the middle of each side wall stood what appeared to be men in chainmail with

battleaxes.  However, the heroes quickly guessed that these were more wax statues. 

However, they were also cautious of a trap, and so were not taken too much by surprise

when the wax statues animated and began swinging their axes at them.  The fighters were

taken aback when their sword thrusts did not bother the statues much, but after

puncturing each statue a few more times, they collapsed into piles of broken wax. 

 

Double doors on the far end of the room led back into the abandoned goblin lair.  The

band turned around, and headed back to the statue room.

 

"12) Spiral staircase:  This circular room contains only a spiral staircase which goes up,

and out for that matter, and down to level 3."

 

The single door heading west out of the statue room led down a short hallway to another

door.  This door opened into the stairwell room that the band had used before.  On the

other side of the room was a door which they knew led to a hallway which led left and

right.  They were apprehensive of going that way, as they had fled from walking skeletons

the last time they were here.  Still, they went through the door.  There were no skeletons to

be seen.  However, down the hall to the left, there was torchlight coming from a room. 

They went to explore.

 

"13) Gnoll Leader:  Here we encountered 2 creatures.  A gnoll and another large feline

humanoid which I am unfamiliar with.  We parlayed with them briefly, learning that the

feline creature was the leader of the 20 gnolls which we had seen on the surface last time

we were here.  We got into a brief skirmish with them, but after suffering several injuries

they quickly surrendered."

 

The two, green-haired monsters laid down their weapons after a few minutes of combat. 

The one with a dog-like head had been fighting with a two-handed sword, but had not

been faring well against the party with their smaller, faster weapons.  The monster with the

lion-like head sat down and patiently waited to parlay with its captors.  Luckily, Vlad had

once learned some of the goblin tongue, and the monster was speaking something like it. 

Slowly, they were able to communicate that the dog-headed monsters were gnolls, and

that they had been summoned here from the south by the pirates, who had made them a

good offer of guarding the dungeon in exchange for treasure.  If the humans let him go,

the monster promised to lead the gnolls out of Skull Keep.  They discussed how to handle

the situation, and agreed to take the two creatures prisoner and add them to the rest of

their captives. 

 

The route they had taken had returned them very near to the wizard's study, and so they

went a little further down the hall, entered the study, and knocked on the locked door to

the workshop to be let in.  In their absence, Dagog and Miltar had become close friends,

and had apparently been talking the whole time they were gone.  This amazed everyone,

as they had barely heard a word from the hobgoblin since they had first met him in the

tavern.  But everyone was much too tired and battle-weary to care, and watches were

posted so the rest of the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle could get some rest.

 

TO BE CONTINUED