Dolmenwood Tales #10. Travelling to the Oak Tree

I know that I am behindhand with posting the write-ups of the session of two weeks ago. But I have been busy and better late than never. As usual, I say thanks to DoronTheElf for his patience and effort in writing these summaries for the group and my blog. This time I have not so much to add, so there won’t be the commentary of the session at the bottom of the post.

PCs:

• Mallomahr, the Dolmenwood Elf
• Baldrick, the Friar
• Vardast Blackwall, the Paladin [My character]
• Crinkledink, the Woodgrue
• Sóncræft, the Ministrel

Henchmen Hired:

• Theune the ‘Tome Keeper’, 1st-level magic user. Graduate of the the Royal Institute of Physicks and Sorcerers in Castle Brackenwold. Loyal to Mallomahr.
• Breyir the ‘Headlopper’, 1st-level fighter. Trained in Prigwort. Loyal to Crinkledink. Personality: prankster.
• Griya the ‘Braggart to Burn’, heavy footman. Personality: braggart.
• Mannog the ‘Grim’, light footman. Personality: kill-joy.

Straight from DoronTheElf’s playlist

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28th of Lymevald, day 16 at Dolmenwood

As you were fighting with the animated bramble and the Drunes, Mallomahr saw a tall figure, dressed in colourful clothes, coming from the back of the room. As one of the brambles was falling down motionless and burnt, the figure shouted ‘everyone stop’ and the rest of the Drunes lowered their weapons.

The Drune Master explained that his people mistook Mallomahr for a frost elf, and he asked explanations for your intrusion. He also asked about the Tomb of Sir Chyde and whether you discovered any other portals to the Fey realm apart from the fountain at the lower level. The Drune Master finally asked whether you can recover a chalice from an underground realm below a giant oak tree. The Drunes have located the position of the tree but they cannot spare any men right now; they are involved in a bloody feud with the Goat Lords. The Drune Master said that he doesn’t know much about what you might encounter there; he has only heard rumours that the dwarves who live down there worship an idol of solid emerald. He also mentioned that you should replace the chalice with a stone that he will give you, noting that there is no risk involved for you. Finally, he said that his people will escort you there, showing all the landmarks on the way, and that you can stay at night in the Drune outpost if you wish (with the condition that you will be blindfolded as you will be taken to your rooms).

You decided to spend the night camping in the forest but you couldn’t find a camping site so you headed back to the cave. You spent the evening listening to the merry songs of Soencraft (“Money For Thieving (& the Traps for Free)” by the Dire Wolves, “Welcome to the Dungeon”, “Put a Hex on You”) and Crinkledink… Baldrick asked for Crinkledink’s song “The Laughing Pigs”!

At night Vardast heard during his watch an animal screech followed by the sound of an animal screaming.

1st of Haggryme (The Fading of Winter), day 17 at Dolmenwood

The next day you found around the cave feathers and what appeared to be pieces of an animal carcass. Two Drunes (Celleddach and Gwentmarg) joined you for the travel further west into the woods. Soencraft played with his lute the famous travelling song “Eye of the Were-Tiger”. Theune lit her cherry-wood pipe and introduced Baldrick to smoking too… Theune explained that the pipeweed she is using is not very common and that it helped her in her arcane studies. This pipeweed is called “speckled wyrm”: a blend of greyish, rough-cut leaf with strands of silver. The smoke is woody and is speckled with glittering, silver motes. The taste is hoppy and brings about a state of intent concentration.

In your lunch stop, Crinkledink mixed a dose of the psychedelic compound called “triple-sod” with some wine in order to drug the two Drunes…
Triple-sod’s primary effect: beautiful geometric visuals. Side effect: sentiment reversed, that which is normally beloved perceived as hateful, and vice versa.
[rules: unless otherwise noted in a compound’s description, the effects will kick in one turn after consumption and last for 1d4 hours].
The Drunes started wandering aimlessly around the trees as you questioned them. Baldrick asked them what gods do they worship and they mentioned that they regard knowledge as sacred and key to their tenets is the hoarding of knowledge. You also asked how someone can become a Drune. They replied that they were raised as kids among the Drunes and that you must be borne by a Drune to become a Drune. They also noted that the Drunes are involved in a fight with the Goat Lords due to Malbleat’s recent encroachment into Drune territory. They also mentioned that the Drunes don’t like the Frost Elves and they are always concerned about the return of the Cold Prince from his exile into Dolmenwood.

After an hour, the effects of triple-sod waned. The Drunes were not happy that they were drugged… But they finally brought you to a wide and clear forest glade, with an ancient, gnarled oak tree in the centre. Among the roots of the oak, there was a hole, 3′ across. You found many prints and tracks around the hole: boot-prints and hoof-prints.

As Griya and Mannog were holding the rope, Vardast slowly descended into the underground…

Experience points:

20XP per character for exploration, clever use of equipment (use of caltrops, triple-sod, etc.)

Dolmenwood Tales #9. The Drune Outpost

Drunes, also known as ‘The Watchers of the Wood’ (from Wormskin zine)

Here the new write-up of DoronTheElf. A new player has joined our Roll20 campaign!

PCs:

• Mallomahr, the Dolmenwood Elf
• Baldrick, the Friar
• Vardast Blackwall, the Paladin [My character]
• Crinkledink, the Woodgrue
• Sóncræft, the Ministrel

Henchmen Hired:

• Theune the ‘Tome Keeper’, 1st-level magic user. Graduate of the the Royal Institute of Physicks and Sorcerers in Castle Brackenwold. Loyal to Mallomahr.
• Breyir the ‘Headlopper’, 1st-level fighter. Trained in Prigwort. Loyal to Crinkledink. Personality: prankster.
• Griya the ‘Braggart to Burn’, heavy footman. Personality: braggart.
• Mannog the ‘Grim’, light footman. Personality: kill-joy.

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The soundtrack recommended by DoronTheElf

28th of Lymevald, day 16 at Dolmenwood

You did some more shopping in the morning and then you headed back to the Owl Cave. Sóncræft the Minstrel joined your party.

As you were travelling towards the Owl Cave Crinkledink fell into a stream, after which he was feeling freezing cold.

You arrived at the entrance of the Owl Cave as the sun was setting. You explored the cave again and you found humanoid tracks as well as signs that someone moved across the pit. You also found signs that someone searched the room of the creature with the petrifying gaze. Finally, you went back to the room with the statue. Sóncræft recognised that it probably depicts St ‘Holyhock’, the patron saint of jubilant merrymaking. Sóncræft carefully marked the area with some chalk.

You moved the staff of the statue (which worked as a lever) in the main room and the door to the passage opened. A few steps down there was another door and a lever.

The door opened to an intersection of two paths. You took the path to the north. You found an old stone shrine and two old stone idols (dragon-like). In another room you found a burlap sack in the shape of a person hanging from the ceiling; hundreds of caterpillars, locusts, and cockroaches were dripping from the sack. You continued north where you started feeling a current of air and hearing the sound of rustling leaves. You found a door as well; Crinkledink heard sounds of humans speaking to each other. In the meantime Mallomahr moved further north when suddenly he saw this thicket of thorny wood and curling bramble, animated into humanoid form. A wicked green fire flickered in its vaguely formed eye sockets. The animated bramble moved to attack Mallomahr and Sóncræft and it failed while the Elf managed to hit the bramble with an arrow and Sóncræft lit a flask of oil to stop the brambles. Meanwhile the door opened and a woman appeared, wearing the black woolen cloak typical of the Drune and carrying a staff wreathed in green flames. Vardast lifted the head of the creature with the petrifying gaze bringing it in line with the woman’s eyes and head but to no effect… The female Drune started mumbling incantations casting a spell which paralysed Crinkledink. Meanwhile, Baldrick was trying to move at the front. In the second round, Breyir grasped the paralysed Crinkledink and tossed him aside, next to Theune and Baldrick. Mallomahr moved in front of the female Drune who suddenly laid down her staff, moved back, and called Mallomahr inside the room. You heard the other Drunes shouting ‘intruders’ and ‘spies of the Cold Prince’ and one of them brought down his staff to Mallomahr’s shield breaking it down (‘shields shall be splintered’ rule). Vardast moved close to Sóncræft to support him; the Minstrel lit a second flask and the animated bramble which tried to push forward caught fire and fell down motionless…

Experience points:
20XP per character for exploration, clever use of the environment, etc.
5XP for the animated bramble killed.
25XP in total per character.
12.5XP for the retainers.

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Commentary

I think this has been the fair of bad tactical decisions, but let’s proceed in order.

The overall delving it was not too bad: we have double checked the Owl’s Cavern: we have discovered thanks to Sóncræft novel information about the same statue of the Saint Vardast is obsessed with. The mess has happened later. We have delved below, we have grabbed the idols for some cash, avoided the carcass sorrounded by insects, and we have decided to go towards north. After we crossed the stone corridor, we have ecnountered some animated plants that attacked us. We tried to hold the entrance, but the drunes have surprisedf us froma s ecret passage: we were between the anvil and the hammer. Sóncræft has played it well: while he was retreating he created a wall of fire with the oil flask to slow down the animated plants. But the Drunes have casted Hold Person and paralysed Crinckledink. Mallomahr has counter-attacked but he risked to die to let Breyir to grab Crincledink and step back. Vardast has tried to use the medusa head on range to petrify the Drunes, but he discovered in the worst moment that the head has no magical powers after the Medusa was dead— contrary to the folk belief. So, I wasted one turn! I proposed to retreat back to the stairs and face them there, but we did not have the time: the drunes cut in half our column.

In the end, we have survived the TPK thanks to luck: the female drune has failed her check and she has been charmed by Mallomahr. If the dice had rolled otherwise, we would have been all dead…

Dolmenwood Tales #8 Back to Lankshorn

Here the 8th part of our write-up of the Dolmenwood campaign that DoronTheElf has written. Not so much going on, but we have discovered a couple of interesting things.

PCs:

• Mallomahr, the Dolmenwood Elf
• Baldrick, the Friar
• Vardast Blackwall, the Paladin [My character]
• Crinkledink, the Woodgrue

Henchmen Hired:

• Theune the ‘Tome Keeper’, 1st-level magic user. Graduate of the the Royal Institute of Physicks and Sorcerers in Castle Brackenwold. Loyal to Mallomahr.
• Breyir the ‘Headlopper’, 1st-level fighter. Trained in Prigwort. Loyal to Crinkledink. Personality: prankster.
• Griya the ‘Braggart to Burn’, heavy footman. Personality: braggart.
• Mannog the ‘Grim’, light footman. Personality: kill-joy.

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26th of Lymevald, day 14 at Dolmenwood

After clearing the cave, you camped outside.

You opened the second scroll that you found in the lair of the creature with the petrifying gaze. The scroll had on top the following symbol: a crescent moon descending upon a chalice. The scroll had these notes written:

‘The High Coven thanks you for your help. We have identified an entrance to the Mythic Underworld [there is a drawing here showing a giant oak tree with a hole]. A holy chalice with the power to reverse death is guarded by a silent evil. If we find the chalice, we can use it to seal our pact with the Drune’.

The High Priestess

27th of Lymevald, day 15 at Dolmenwood

The next day you traveled back to Lankshorn. When you reached the pine glade with the dark stone plinth and a pair of guardian monoliths you saw a merchant with his guard looking around. They explained that they are coming from the south, carrying pipeweed. There was fog the previous day and they got lost in the woods. At night, a hooded figure-carrying a staff with writhing green flames-paralysed the merchant’s guard and abducted the merchant’s son (a boy in his early 20s). The merchant was hoping that you could show him the way to Lankshorn.

When you arrived at Lankshorn, it seemed deserted: there was no one in the streets or in the market square. You knocked the door: Margerie took you inside complaining that since you came there is trouble in the town. She explained that all the villagers are hiding at their houses: they are scared of the two goat soldiers who have just arrived at Lankshorn. She told you that the goat soldiers were asking about you and Lord Barrathwaite expects you to visit his house to explain yourselves.

At Lord’s Barrathwaite’s house you found sitting around the table the Lord, the vicar of Lankshorn Father Dobey, and two goat folk: one goat man and one goat woman, they were both very tall, with black fur, wearing armour, and heavily armed. They asked you whether you know anything about the two goat-men who were found slaughtered at the Tomb of Sir Chyde that you raided a couple of days ago. Indeed you told them that on top of the corpses you found a stone, with a carved owl in flight. The goat-woman exclaimed: ‘It is them then, the Drune’! Father Dobey explained that the Drune is the real name of the hooded men and women whom the villagers call the ‘Watchers of the Wood’; the villagers are scared to utter their real name.

The goat-woman asked whether you found anything of interest in the tomb. She explained that Lord Malbleat demands that any book, especially of arcane or esoteric nature, is brought to him.

You mentioned the incident with the hooded person/creature who abducted the merchant’s son. The goat-woman said that probably this was the work of the Drune. She also mentioned that Lord Malbleat suspects that there is a Drune outpost in the area around the Owl Cave; if you find more information about this, you will increase your chances of being liked by Lord Malbleat.

You asked whether you can visit Lord Malbleat any time soon and the goat-man replied that they will talk with their Lord and let you know.

You also asked about the scroll that you found in the cave, which mentioned a ‘High Coven’ and a ‘High Priestess’. The goat-woman said that this message has probably come from a local witch coven which may work together with the Drune.

You went then to Orthax the clerk who was also looking for you. He said that he will you charge you a fee for keeping your magic mirror and the weapons you found in the tomb safe. He was planning initially to use your mirror to make some money in one of the local fairs… In return, you wouldn’t pay a fee for one month. He backtracked though saying that you can negotiate an agreement/contract in the next couple of days. You exchanged the gems you found in the Owl Cave for a fee. You also charged Orthax to send a messenger to ‘The Consulting Wizard’ of Prigwort, mentioning that Merridwyn the Vivimancer needs help and that you are interested in hiring her for a job.

You visited Sydewich in the ‘Man of Gold’ apothecary. You bought his last stock of his philtres: ‘Orgon’s scintillating philtre’ and ‘amber nectar’. You also bought his alchemical tonic, brewed in-house. He told you that this clear, fizzing liquid may rouse the unconscious or make someone more likely to resist paralysis. He will also identify for you the white powder you found in the cave. Crinkledink also bought fungi/mushrooms: 1) The ‘red deceiver’, tall, cherry red, odour of oranges and cloves. Mild poison, causes painful light-sensitivity. 2) ‘Goat giblets’, which is like a blob of slime, cream yellow colour, goat odour. Nourishing and psychoactive. Mild side effects.

You also shopped for adventuring equipment. Friar Baldrick headed to the butcher where he bought a big, air-dried leg of pork (Lankshorn prosciutto??)

You headed back to the inn where you had a hearty meal of breaded trout with apple sauce and ale.

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Commentary

It did not happen anything in particular, but we have unveiled news and rumors about Dolmenwood. The lore around the Drune and the coven of withces is extremely interesting. I would like to recover as Vardast the chalice in the dungeon. (I guess it is the Hole in the Oak module by Gavin Norman?) Perhaps, it could be useful for the Church of the One Tru God, betting that Father Baldrick could be interested by such quest.

The meeting at Lord Braithwait’s mansion has been hilarious for me: as Vardast, I pretended to be dumb, thinking that they would have accused us; in the end, they accused instead the Drunes, so nothing to worry about. In general, I do not have sympathy for such sort of folk and their arrogance. However, I will cooperate for the time being with such goatmen since I have no sympathy for the Drunes as well.

What I liked of the session is that with the loot from our visit to the Owl’s Cave has opened up new possibilities: selling the items and the gems helped us to arrange better expeditions and plans; e.g. building a custom cart with the help of the local carpenter or buying new potions from the apothcary. It open ups new options in the game world, and this is what I love about old-school gaming: having new options to grow up as charcter besides mere levelling up with XP of the character sheet. Next time we will have more tools to cope with uncertainty.

“Vecchio Carnevale Bloghereccio”: Generatore Casuale per Divinità e Culti Innominabili – Random Generator for Unspeakable Gods and Cults

This post will be both in Italian and English

Art by Drew Merger of Corey Press

Introduzione al “Vecchio Carnevale Bloghereccio”

Questo mese mi unirò al Vecchio Carnevale Bloghereccio, un’iniziativa che la comunità OSR italiana organizza: ogni mese: c’è un tema, ed ognuno scrive e posta sul proprio blog del materiale old-school relativo a tale tema mensile. Per esempio, l’argomento di questo Marzo sarà la religione.

Ho deciso di tradurre il contenuto anche in inglese cosicché la comunità internazionale dell’OSR possa vedere cosa la scena italiana sta producendo. Un sacco di gente sta producendo tantissimo materiale vecchia scuola fantastico, ed è giusto condividere a coloro che non parlano italiano.

La mia idea connessa al tema della religione è “divinità dimenticate che strisciano nell’oscurità di boschi e montagne”. Due mie grandi ispirazioni — a parte la sword & sorcery clasica — sono H.P. Lovecraft e Berserk di Kentaro Miura: entrambi condividono l’idea di divinità o semi-dei innominabili — ad esempio, gli “apostoli” — in agguato nelle profondità delle selve, mentre corti di umanoidi mostruosi e cultisti folli li servono e venerano. Qualche volta l’arbitro di gioco deve vivacizzare le cose e buttare qualcosa del genere nel bel mezzo della campagna. Mi piacerebbe fornire cinque tabelle per determinare (a) origine, (b) aspetto fisico, (c) il luogo in cui si nascondono, (d) quale corte di creature la venerano ed (e) i riti di venerazione principali. Non fornirò dettagli specifici bensì categorie che possono accendere l’immaginazione dell’arbitro di gioco.

Genera al volo la tua orribile divinità dimenticata che risiede in boschi maledetti, paludi, valli e montagne rocciose!

L’Origine

Tirare 1d10	Origine del dio innominabile
1	Alieno La divinità è una creatura che proviene dalle stelle o da un lontano mondo di esseri corrotti.
2	Infernale La divinità proviene dalle profondità dell’Inferno.
3	Interdimensionale La divinità proviene da una dimensione non-euclidea che si sovrappone a quella degli abitanti del mondo di gioco.
4	Essere Fatato Corrotto La divinità era una creatura fatata corrotta dalla potenza del caos.
5	Membro Esiliato di un Pantheon La divinità era un tempo membro di un pantheon. Gli altri dei lo hanno bandito dal loro concilio a causa di crimini atroci.
6	Nato dal corpo di un dio defunto La divinità è nata da una parte del corpo di un dio morto, come ad esempio un arto, la testa od un organo interno.
7	Un Patto La divinità era un tempo un mortale che sottoscrisse un patto con un’altra divinità innominabile per diventare un servitore delle tenebre.
8	Rito Magico Fallito La divinità è il risultato di un esperimento occulto fallito che ha dato forma individuale alle orrorifiche forze cosmiche che l’incantesimo cercava di controllare.
9	Tra la vita e la morte La divinità è un’entità sorta fra la vita e la morte per un imperscrutabile scherzo del destino.
10	Sentimenti Negativi dei Mortali La divinità è nata dalle emozioni intense di un gruppo di mortali che ha provato rabbia, dolore, depressione e altre sensazioni così negative da plasmare la realtà.

Aspetto Fisico

Tirare 1d8	Aspetto della divinità Innominabile
1	Abominio È solo un’accozzaglia di arti a caso, interiora e parti di animali fusi insieme con un significato che nessuna mente mortale potrebbe afferrare.
2	Insettoide La divinità condivide i tratti di insetti come ragni, mantidi, scarebei, ecc.
3	Antropomorfico La divinità ricorda un essere umano, ma c’è qualcosa di profondamente inquietante, come ad esempio l’odore del suo corpo, la proporzione degli arti e così via.
4	Bestiale La divinità ricorda una bestia selvaggia mutata (es. lupo, orso, iena).
5	Volante La divinità ha l’aspetto di una creatura volante simile ad un volatile.
6	Fantasma La consistenza della divinità quando si muove è ectoplasmatica, non ha una forma né definita né chiara.
7	Vegetale La divinità assomiglia ad una pianta, un fiore, un albero o qualche altra versione distorta della flora.
8	È… disgustoso Tirare due volte su questa tabella ed unire i risultati (es. Un 4 ed un 3 su due tiri significa che la divinità è sia antropomorfa che con tratti bestiali). Se viene tirato un 8 una seconda volta, tirare finché non si avrà un risultato differente tra 1-7.

Luogo in cui la Divinità Dimora

Tirare 1d8	La tana della divinità innominabile
1	Caverna
2	In fondo ad un crepaccio o burrone.
3	Nelle profondità di una fonte d’acqua (es. lago, stagno, fiume).
4	Al di sotto di un pinnacolo roccioso sacro o un dolmen di pietra.
5	Dentro una rovina o sotterraneo dimenticato da tempo.
6	Tempio segreto costruito e mantenuto attivamente dai cultisti.
7	Dentro un albero gigante.
8	Nexus di potere arcano nelle terre selvagge.

Chi sono gli adoratori?

Tirare 1d8	Chi sono gli adoratori di questa divinità?
1	Umanoidi mostruosi (es. uomini lucertola, goblin, gnoll).
2	Tribù di barbari\selvaggi.
3	Popolani superstiziosi ed ignoranti.
4	Creature Fatate (es. folletti, spiritelli d’acqua, fauni).
5	Creature non-morte (es. ghoul).
6	Persone deformi o storpie rigettate dalla società.
7	Maghi.
8	Gruppo d’elite locale (es. nobili di qualche tipo, ufficiali, casta di sacerdoti).

Qual è il rito centrale del culto della divinità?

Tirare 1d8	Rito centrale del culto della divinità
1	Sessuale o orgiastico.
2	Dare vita ad una prole mostruosa.
3	Sacrifici umani o animali.
4	Danzare con le creature delle tenebre.
5	Lanciare un incantesimo.
6	Cannibalismo.
7	Mangiare o bere secrezioni del corpo della divinità.
8	Suicidio di massa.

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Introduction about the “Vecchio Carnevale Bloghereccio”

I will join this month the “Vecchio Carnevale Bloghereccio” (“The Old Bloggy Carnival”), an initiative that the OSR Italian community organises every month: there is a theme, and everyone writes and post on their blog DIY old-school material related to such monthly theme. For instance, the theme of March will be religion.

I have decided to translate it as well in English so that the international OSR community can see what the Italian scene is producing for the hobby. A lot of folks are making tons of aweome old-school stuff, and it is worth sharing to non-Italian speakers as well.

My idea connected to the theme of religion is “forgotten gods who lurk in the darkness of woods and mountains”. Two great ispirations of mine — besides the classic sword & sorcery — are H.P. Lovecraft and Kentaro Miura’s Berserk: both share the idea of unspeakable gods or semi-gods — like the “apostles” — lurking the depths of the wilderness, while courts of monstrous humanoids and mad cultist worship and serve them. Sometimes, the referee needs to spice up thing and throw something like that in their campaign. I would like to supply five tables to determine (a) the origin, (b) the appearance, (c) the place in which they hide, (d) what court of intelligent creatures worship them, and (e) what are the key rites. I won’t give specific details but rather categories that could ignite the imagination of the referee.

Generate on the fly your horrible forgotten god living in cursed woods, swamps, valleys or rocky mountains !

The Origin

Roll 1d10	Origin of the Unspeakable God
1	Alien The god is a creature comes from the stars or a long distance world of corrupted beings.
2	Hell The god comes from the depths of hell.
3	Interdimensional The god comes from a non-euclidean dimension overlapping ours that the folk of the campaign world cannot perceive.
4	Corrupted Fey The god was a fey creature who has been corrupted by the power of chaos.
5	Exiled Member of a Pantheon The god was once a member of a pantheon. The other gods have banned it from their council due to atrocious crimes
6	Born from the Body of a Dead God The god was born from a part of the body of a dead god, like a limb, the head or an internal organ.
7	A Pact The god was once a mortal who has signed a pact with another unspeakable god to become a servant of the darkness.
8	Failed Magical Rite The god is a cast-off resulted from an arcane experiment which has given a individual shape to the horrorific cosmic forces that the enchantment should have governed.
9	Between Life and Death The god is an entity rised between life and death for an unfathomable joke of the destiny.
10	Strong Feelings of Mortals The god was born from the intense feelings of a group of mortal experiencing anger, pain, depression, and other similar negative emotions at the point that they shaped the reality.

The Appearance

Roll 1d8	Appearance of the Unspeakable God
1	Abomination It is is just a mash up of random limbs, guts, and parts of animals merged together with a sense that any mortal mind cannot grasp.
2	Insectoid The god shares traits with insects like spiders, mantises, scarabs, etc.
3	Anthropomorfic The god resembles a human being, but there is something deeping disqueiting about, like the smell of their body, the proportion of the limbs, and so on.
4	Feral The god’s appearance resembles a mutated savage beast (e.g. wolf, bear, hyena)
5	Flying The god has the guise of a flying creature like a bird, and it can fly in the air.
6	Ghost The consistency of the god when walks it is ectoplasmatic, it does not have a clear defined shape.
7	Plant The god looks like a plant, flower, tree or other distorted version of flora.
8	It is… Disgusting Roll twice on this table and mix the results (e.g. A 4 and a 3 on two rolls. It means that the god is anthropomorfic and it has traits of a feral beast). If you roll 8 twice, roll until you will have a different result between 1-7.

The Place in Which the God Dwells

Roll 1d8	The Lair of the Unspeakable God
1	Cavern.
2	At the bottom of a rift or ravine.
3	In the depths of a water source (e.g. lake, pond, river).
4	Beneath a sacred rocky pinnacle or stone dolmen.
5	Inside a long forgotten ruin or dungeon.
6	Secret temple built and actively maintained by cultists.
7	Inside a gargatuan tree.
8	Nexus of arcane power in the wilderness.

Who Are The Worshippers?

Roll 1d8	Who are the worshippers of such god?
1	Monstrous Humanoids (e.g. lizardmen, goblins, gnolls)
2	Tribe of Barbarians\Savages
3	Uneducated Superstitious Peasants
4	Fairy Creatures (e.g. pixies, nixies, fauns)
5	Undead Creatures (e.g. ghouls)
6	Deformed or Crippled People Rejected from the Society
7	Magic-Users
8	Local Elite Group (e.g nobles of some sort, officers, caste of priests)

What Are The Key Rites of the God’s Cult?

Roll 1d8	Key Rite of the God’s Cult
1	Sexual or Orgiastic
2	Giving Birth to Monstrous Spawn
3	Animal or Human Sacrifice
4	Dancing with Creatures from the Darkness
5	Casting a Spell
6	Cannibalism
7	Eating or Drinking a Secretion of the God’s Body
8	Mass Suicide

Dolmenwood Tales #6-7: Exploring the Owl Caves

We are back with another session summary of our Dolmenwood campaign. I am not the referee, that is DoronTheElf who has written this write-up. Since we were busy we different commtiments, Doron had summarised two sessions in one single report.

PCs:

• Mallomahr, the Dolmenwood Elf
• Baldrick, the Friar
• Vardast Blackwall, the Paladin [My character]
• Crinkledink, the Woodgrue

Henchmen Hired:

• Theune the ‘Tome Keeper’, 1st-level magic user. Graduate of the the Royal Institute of Physicks and Sorcerers in Castle Brackenwold. Loyal to Mallomahr.
• Breyir the ‘Headlopper’, 1st-level fighter. Trained in Prigwort. Loyal to Crinkledink. Personality: prankster.
• Griya the ‘Braggart to Burn’, heavy footman. Personality: braggart.
• Mannog the ‘Grim’, light footman. Personality: kill-joy.

No recommendation from Doron regarding the soundtrack, so here my proposal!

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26th of Lymevald, day 14 at Dolmenwood

The fight with the owls continued… As Vardast was lost in a trance, Crinkledink took one of the holy wafers from Vardast’s backpack and fed Breyir who was paralysed [using water or wine I guess?] .

Rules: the holy wafer heals 1hp and there is 1 out of 6 chance that it will remove paralysis.

Meanwhile Baldrick prayed to his God and Saints, removing the paralysis from Theune. Theune released her magic in the next round sending four owls to sleep! The rest of the owls, seeing their kind incapacitated, fled. Vardast woke up from his trance but he couldn’t remember his name, as the owls fed on his mind and thoughts…

You put the four owls into sacks and decided to wake up one of them. Mallomahr made an effort to communicate with the owl in Sylvan, and it worked! The deal: the owls will offer safe passage through the cave, if the party brings to them three living creatures.

You went into the forest for hunting. Crinkledink found four wild boars and he decided to use his music and song magic (‘mad revelry’)… Both the boars and all of you burst into irrepressible laughter for at least an hour while Crinkedink tied three of the boars and brought them to the cave. The owls fed on the thoughts and flesh of the boars and granted you safe passage.

You searched the cave thoroughly. In one of the pillars, there were two graffitis: ‘Friar Borroth’s Company of Bandits’ and ‘Beware of the dark terror beyond’. You moved to the passage on the left where you found a pit trap covered with tree branches and soil. As you continued in the passage upwards you saw several stone statues: one ogre and several humans. All had an expression of horror in their faces and they were hyper-realistic, as if living creatures had been somehow turned to stone! As you were searching the passage you found a secret door which was stuck, and further in the passage more stone statues were found. You finally reached a room divided by a curtain. Behind the curtain, there was a hooded figure. As Mallomahr was spying behind the curtain, Breyir told you that the secret door of the passage swung shut.

Rules:
Stuck doors: many of the dungeon doors that you will encounter will be stuck. You can only make one attempt at ‘open doors’ as a party, this can be rolled by someone with high strength (I mistakenly told you that three of you can roll at the same time, I mixed this up with the ‘listening at doors’ attempt). If this first attempt to open a stuck door succeeds, then that means the door is opened easily and you can potentially surprise anyone who is inside the room. If the attempt fails, the door is stuck. You can force it open using tools or other equipment after 10 minutes, but there is no chance of surprising anyone who is inside the room and a wandering monster encounter will be made.
Doors swinging shut: the doors are likely to swing shut after you pass, and therefore be stuck again, unless you use iron spikes or other wedges.
I am inspired here from Philotomy’s concept of ‘The Dungeon as a Mythic Underworld’:
‘[The underworld] is inimical to men; the dungeon, itself, opposes and obstructs the adventurers brave enough to explore it. (…) Generally, doors will not open by turning the handle or by a push. Doors must be forced open by strength… Most doors will automatically close, despite the difficulty in opening them. Doors will automatically open for monsters, unless they are held shut against them by characters. Doors can be wedged open by means of spikes, but there is a one-third chance (die 5-6) that the spike will slip and the door will shut…‘
Reference:
http://www.philotomy.net/musing/mythic_underworld/ and https://www.grey-elf.com/philotomy.pdf
Doors being often stuck reinforces the conceptualisation of dungeon-delving as an exercise in risks/rewards calculation. If the door is stuck you can spend 10 minutes to open it, risking a ‘wandering monster’ encounter or you can decide instead to move to another part of the dungeon.

The hooded figure opened the curtain and Vardast demanded explanations: ‘Reveal your identity’! Indeed, the creature took back its hood and, as you all had already averted your gaze looking elsewhere, you suddenly heard the sound of snakes hissing and you saw with the side of your eyes snakes writhing around the head of the creature. Vardast was hit by the creature’s snakes, the first ‘save or die’ in the game, but he defeated the snakes’ poison! Mallomahr tried to use his Fey magic but the magic fizzled as it reached the creature. Baldrick hit with his staff.

Rules: the staff makes d4 damage in B/X – OSE and it is a slow weapon (attacking last in the combat round). I thought that it did d6 damage, my mistake! This could perhaps make a difference and make the battle more difficult for you, who knows?!

The creature finally fell dead and Vardast took its head with him.

You found the following treasure: 21 gems (worth of 3000gp in total), two scrolls, and three potions. You also found a tiny wooden box with a white powder and a bowler hat that Baldrick liked and kept… One of the scrolls was a rough map of the Owl Cave, and it marked with an ‘X’ two areas of interest.
[I forgot to roll for one additional treasure table. I rolled at home: you have two more potions and one additional scroll, I will say more about this in our next game.]

Vardast has cut the head of this b**ch

You went back to the main cave and explored the first area of interest where there was a statue of a humanoid hooded figure with a staff. The staff of the statue was loose, and it operated as a level opening a secret door with steps going downwards.

The passage on the right, towards the second area of interest, smelled of sulfur, and the flames of your torches started becoming bigger and bigger as you went through the passage. You entered a room where you found in the back of the room a 5′ high (1.55 meter) statue of roughly humanoid form and rimed with a sparkling crust of mineral deposits and two tapestries on the walls on the left and right of the statue. One of the tapestries depicted scenes of humans drinking, hunting, feasting. The other had written in it the following: ‘Friar Borroth’s Company of Bandits’. The tapestries had two holes each. When you removed the tapestries from the wall, you saw that the holes in the tapestries corresponded to similar holes in the walls. As you were searching the room, you saw that the statue was sitting in a pressure plate. To move the statue away from the pressure plate you tied a rope to the statue; Breyir started pushing it from the back while some of you were towing with the rope. You managed to move the statue and the pressure plate upon which it was sitting lifted upwards making a ‘clink’ noise. Suddenly, you heard a hissing sound coming from the holes in the walls and a gas filled the room. Breyir’s torch ignited the flammable gas leading to an explosion which left Breyir wounded and bloodied; Vardast managed to jump and escape the blast… [I will roll to see how much damage was done to the statue 🙂 ]

Experience points
Everyone: 556.5 XP
Retainers: 265 each
Baldrick and Crinkledink level up!

Treasure share (assuming that you sell the 21 gems in the exchange office at Lankshorn)
Everyone: 600 gold pieces
Retainers: 300 gold pieces each

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Commentary

We were damn surprised regarding the Medusa: we did not expect a fight. Vardast tried to speak to her peacefully, asking who she was; in return, she attacked us. Well, we have been naive: who it could be a female creature alone in a cave full of stone statues? I deemed reasonable sacrificing some AC and having a penalty to the roll ro face her in combat with Vardast’s magic sword recovered in the tomb of Sirt Chyde. Also, a comedy moment has happened in the middle of such savage fight! I forgot that Mallomahr attempted to pass me a mirror to reflect the Medusa’s sight, and I remembered about it only at 3/4 of the fight

Vardast “Quickly! Pass me the mirror! ”

Mallomahr “ I have already thrown it to you. Don’t you wield it?”

Vardast “NO. Where the f**k is it?”

Mallomahr “I thought YOU had it!”

It was on the floor…. broken. I had the idea to check beneath the bed and I found more gold coins, the map of the cave, and a vial of a strange colourful liquid. Rule number one in any dungeon delve: examine every damn niche or object you can interact with! I tried it on the statues to see whether it was a potion to heal petrification. No result. My goal is asking to the local apothecary what sort of potion is that.

I have been lucky to survive in the room with the statues of the saint. Vardast is a paladin of the Church of the One True God; the bishop in Castle Brackenwold has called to clear up the older abbeys and recover the relics of the saints; so, it was natural for him to drag that statue out of the cave. I have been too rapacious while I wanted to bring back the statrelicue to Lankshorne; and I did not ask whether there was a strange smell or something in the air. The fire of the torches ignited the gas, and me and Crinckledink have survived for a lucky vs Death save roll. But I cannot count every time on a lucky dice roll. I’ll be more careful in the future. Then we decided to go back in town since we beat the Medusa and earned a lot of gold; it would have been a shame to die after such deed.