Byr and Environs

And so our intrepid fledgling band arrived in the small farming community of Byr. Nestled away in the Cairn Hills foothills, Byr doesn't appear on any maps. It lies about 30 miles from the Free City of Greyhawk, and the weary travelers stopped at the Broken Web, the town's only inn, to spend the evening.

Immediately they were aware of the commotion in the town. Evidently, 5 local women had been kidnapped, and a party of the Town's Finest Men had gone to find them, and never returned. Local gossip blames a sighting of hobgoblins, but this is dismissed by the elderly, one-armed Akron Oheeyo (yes, that's as written!) to assure everyone that this is all about the return of the dreaded Chagmat, strange spider-folk that had attacked the town in his youth, costing him said arm.

The players quickly negotiate with Mayor Tobias a 5,000 gp reward for the return of the women alive. Akron assures the group that the Chagmat may be found at Little Boy Mountain, and he will serve as a guide - for half a share. The group all agrees, trying not to appear too over-enthusiastic, and spends a quiet night in the Inn (for free) before setting off at dawn.

Little Boy Mountain sits a little deeper into the Cairn Hills, and the party hikes about 13 miles to the base of the mountain uneventfully. They begin the steep ascent, and eventually arrive at a cave mouth partially up the rocky path cut into the face of the mountain.

They cautiously approach, with Dargeth leading the way. The cave seem natural and non-descript, with three tunnel entrances on the other side. As they are crossing the cavern, suddenly stalactites start falling on them - living stalactites!  - which they identify as piercers. Dargeth is injured, and the group, caught mid-way between the sides of the cavern, is forced to make a mad dash to the nearest tunnel entrance.

Through careful maneuvering and deft dodging, the group managed to avoid the Piercers while exploring the three dead-end tunnels. With nothing to show for their efforts, they emerged back into the sunlight and continued up the mountain.

Soon they came to another cavern. Carefully watching the ceiling, they explored the otherwise empty cave and found a small amount of loot and a ring that detected magic with the word Darandara engraved inside it. Maigrey the Elven Wizardress became the recipient of the ring, and when in casual conversation she said the word Darandara, she vanished from their sight! From her perspective, however, she realized she was viewing them from the Ethereal Place, and did not know how to get back! Eventually, Dar suggested out loud that sometimes saying a word backwards reversed the effects, and so it turned out to be.

At the third cavern, Skavenn the Ranger discovered clawed footprints outside the entrance. As they cautiously entered, they were confronted with a large cave littered with broken bones. As they entered the main cavern, a miniature tyrannosaurus rex (a bonesnapper) came charging across the floor. As everyone braced to be attacked, Maigrey calmly raised her hands and cast Sleep. The bonesnapper tumbled head over heels into a snoring heap on the floor. After some tentative first blows, the group dispatched the helpless beast. Inside its lair, they discovered a magical helmet and a magical rope.

Thinking to try one more cavern before nightfall, the party proceeded to the next cavern. When they entered, they discovered a brown mold that was making everything cold. Dargeth threw a torch on it, and suddenly they all had to flee as the mold grew in size and dropped in temperature at an astounding  rate. They decided that was enough for one day, and returned to the empty second cavern to spend the night.

Thus ended the first session. Considering we had both character generation and a fair amount of adventure, it was a very busy four hours!

Dar's Story

Full credit here to the player behind Dargeth Splinterhaft, who penned this brief character backstory, and earned himself the campaigns first skully! (And he really needed it, too!)
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Prelude I - Meetings, Brawlings, and an Unfortunate Fire.

Dar spat blood and watched the world spin.

“Damn, that tusked bastard is strong.” He aimed a vigorous kick at a chair, sending it tumbling into the midsection of a grinning half-orc. Catching his breath for a moment, he exchanged a glance with Benzen who was flushed with excitement or liquor. Most likely both. His companion was laying into a priestess and her burly guardian, alternating punches between them in a dizzying blur. He wasn’t even sure how they had gotten involved in the room-clearing brawl.

Dargeth took stock of his remaining opponents. The little thief that had tried to pick his pocket was out cold under a pile of broken furniture, scattered playing cards, and a handful of well-worn copper coins. The woodsman that she had spent the better part of the evening bickering with was unsuccessfully trying to avoid a torrent of crockery. The source of that mayhem was a peculiar-looking dwarf, perched unsteadily on the bar and throwing everything that he could get his hands on.

At first glance, Kim looked like every other dwarf that Dar had ever seen. He was chest high and seemed to be built out of solid stone. But, he never did understand why his beard was always done up in ribbons and scented with some kind of wildflower. Like many things in life, he was probably better off not knowing.

Still -- odd or not -- the stout cleric was invaluable in a pinch. He also seemed to be getting the best of the unfortunate ranger, who was starting to wobble from all of the solid blows to his head.

“Step back, I’ll show these louts,” snapped a shrill voice. “NO Radeg--” began another, but it was too late. A scrawny boy, stepped away from a group of similarly robed young men and into the fray. He extended a hand towards the tangle of Benzen and bruised and bloodied bar patrons. Ben’s instincts kicked in instantly and he dragged everyone down into a pile as a gout of flame shot over their heads.

The bar wasn’t so lucky. Spilled liquor burst into flame and roared down the length of the polished wooden beam, sending Kim diving to safety and destroying a few more tables. “Shit.” The fire continued to spread and the fool wizard still looked like he was going to try for another shot.

He aimed a cheap shot at the half-orc who was still circling him, breaking his knee. “Sorry tusky, but we’re out of time to play. You can pay me back some other time.” Not breaking stride, he continued towards the lad before he managed to kill someone. He drew forth his longsword, the steel blade softly singing underneath the din of the battle and planted the hilt firmly into the back of the magician’s skull. He crumpled instantly.

Dar grabbed him by the hair and started dragging him towards the door. “Time to go, lads. Fun’s over when the fire starts. And someone grab that fool thief before she burns to death. She owes us one and she can’t pay us back like that.”


Everyone ran, crawled, or was dragged from the burning tavern and sprinted off into the night with alarms already sounding.

Hours pass quickly.

A squad of guards glared at group of adventurers cornered in an alley. “Starting trouble in our town, eh? Your about to find out what a bad idea that is,” their leader sneered from behind ten men with crossbows. Loaded crossbows. With what looked to be razor sharp bolts.

Dar raised an eyebrow at Kim, “are you quite certain the Gods like us? You know, at all?” He stood tall and frowned at the guards, but kept his hands carefully away from his body.

Then he heard soft chanting and an almost unearthly voice from above whispered, “sleep now...” Nearly every guard slumped to the ground. The swaggering leader turned pale as the party rushed forward and delivered a brief but highly uncomfortable beating, rendering the last three men unconscious as well.

Dargeth grinned up into the moonlight at the slender elf. “I don’t believe we’ve met, but I must say I’m glad to do so!” She tossed a rope down to them and the group made their exit over the city wall and off into the wilderness.

As Dar drifted off the sleep that night, his aching muscles aggravated by the stony ground, he pondered some of the choices he had made in life. “Yes,” he thought, “this is still better than working in father’s store.” He stole a swig from Benzen’s flask and gratefully slipped into oblivion.

Catching Up : The Cast is Introduced

So three weeks ago (already), we met up for the first time at G&G in Redmond. The new group consists of two of the players from my Tuesday night gaming group, one of whom is my adult son. The other fellow brought his never-played-before wife. A third former member of the Tuesday crew also brought his two rookie teen-aged kids - for a nice round, old-school number of 6 PCs.  Great to have a group that's 50% novice - so many things to NOT have to unlearn!

Anyway, we spent the first hour or so rolling up Castles & Crusades characters. First new House Rule:  Character Generation: When rolling for abilities, players needed six d6. Three of them were placed in a Dice Pool, with the 6,5, and 4 showing. The other three were rolled 6 times. At any time, one of the dice in the roll could be replaced with one from the pool. The final results could then be assigned to the abilities as the player chooses.

So at the conclusion of character generation, we had the following cast:

·         Kimgal Darkview : A Dwarven Cleric of Ulaa

·         Skavenn Oakbow : A human Ranger with a Big Bastard sword.

·         Luna Dragonstripe : a human Rogue - she's completely trustworthy. Really.

·         Maigrey : a mysterious Elven Wizardress

·         Dargeth Splinterhaft : The Fighter. What more can one say?

·         Benzen ; the sword-wielding monk

Second House Rule: Skullies: Everyone starts with one Skully (gotta find some little skull tokens). A Scully can be used at anytime to reroll a dice roll just made. Skullies are rewarded mainly for - well, whatever I feel like - and Dargeth has already earned his first extra skully by writing up his backstory - posted soon for your enjoyment.

As to the Opening Scenario, in 1982, Larry DiTillio (yes, The Larry DiTillio of Masks of Nyarlathotep fame) published a scenario in Dragon Magazine number 63, called Chagmat. The followers of Chag have long held a soft spot in my heart, and I have run this scenario and variations of it - Return of the Chagmat (Greyhawk d20), Revenge of the Chagmat (Eberron) - since I read the original back when it first came out. So, hearkening back to the originals, I did the minor conversions necessary for C&C, and that's where we're going first...