Wine Cellars of Duke Marqest

[mightyeroc]

Here are a couple of witness statements from the two hirelings that Bordric Burnside employed:

Odgle, the Halfling: "My employer kicked the ol' bucket down in the cellars. Right shame that was; he was quite the bold dwarf, with a peculiar, but fancy hat! The ghost of the Duke haunts those cellars beneath the gatehouse, so you'd be wise to steer clear!"

Hemessa, the Door Spiker: "Um...Bordric the dwarf hired me to keep the doors open...but then he just kept breaking them down with his hammer! I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but, um, I felt a little useless. I got really scared when he tried to climb the Wizard's Tower, and he suddenly caught fire! I think that tower might be protected by magic or something! And below the gatehouse, all the blood and-and...body parts, and g-g-gross stuff..." *Hemessa faints*

These were written by the Player for our Facebook Group that I created so they can trade info and I can post rumors and such as NPC's from town.

[mightyeroc]

Here is a first hand account from the Player of Jeff the Handsome (Fighter) in my current monthly Labyrinth Lord Game.

Jeff, raising a tankard of the darkest drink he can find: "Today, we mourn the poor souls who are no longer with us. But, in their memory, we celebrate the victory that each of us has had, having ventured forth and returned with spoils and stories for a lifetime! The bravery that each friend showed in the face of peril many times over - that is to commended. So, let's drink to the band that won the day, and drink to the days to come! For we will win those, too, and anyone brave and capable enough to join us is welcome! Cheers, my friends, and let the stories and drink be shared!"

Later, surrounded by interested ears: "... And we managed to escape the clutches of that dreadful ghost - those of us who had their wits, at least. We pulled each other through doorways, up ropes, and out into the air - I made sure of it. After having felled a dreadful beast with teeth like daggers, and a second that made men its meal, we would not be bested by some spirit.

But there were those who were hired to join us on this quest that didn't make it. Not because we failed them, but because they failed us. You see the fellows over there - they were smart enough to work with us, and have reaped the rewards. But the few who decided their greed and treachery were more important were duly rewarded... with death. I feel for them - they were capable compatriots, to the last, and we will mourn them still. But for those interested, I'd say that this side of the table is much nicer than that side of the grave. Now, which of you knows the arcane? We're to have a discussion..."

[mightyeroc]

For session 2 I'm going to just hit the highlights of the session that occurred on August 27th 2015.
So here we go:

The Glorious Bastards Roster:
Dave: Calvin 1/2ling & Stan 1/2ling
Tyler: Gulidenstern & Rosencrantz Wizards at large
Josh: Benny the fortunate (thief) & Serra the Blessed (cleric)
Matt: Jeff the Handsome (defacto Leader)
Alex: Tom Brady (thief) & Julien Edleman (Fig)
Tony: Barty Krautch (Wiz) & Albert Garner (Fig)
Andrew: Stnegrimm (dwarf) & Felix the Sneaky (thief)
Sal: Zagathoth Cthoo (Sinewy Barbarian) & "Sweet" Loo (Cleric)
Joe: Hagar (Sinewy Barbarian) & Leonard (wiz)

The Glorious Bastards +4, head through the shattered wall between the Gatehouse and the Squire's Tower making a bee-line for the Brothers Tower. About midway across the courtyard the group is fires upon by a catapult atop the Brothers Tower! A shower of debris and assorted torture chamber odds n ends rain down upon the party.
Rosencrantz is speared to the ground through the left foot by a pitchfork head and dies! Meanwhile Calvin is trapped under half of an Iron Maiden!
DEATH TOLL: 1
The bulk of the group heads for cover in the old stable at the base of the Brothers Tower. Vexus and Minion await at the southern end of the stable. Hagar runs back to lift the Iron Maiden off of Calvin.
The eastern Gatehouse tower opens and a horde of screaming naked creatures begin to emerge. Vexus casts a web of pulsing red veins that hampers the bulk of the screaming gits at the tower door, but about a half dozen look to make trouble! As the party watches on from the cover of the stable they see Vexus burst into flames and gesture madly at the gits who seem cowed by this action and join their friends "humping" the pulsing veins on the gatehouse.
Discovering no ground entrance to the tower Cthoo the Barbarian leas his way to the stable roof and then the battlement overlooking the courtyard. He secures a rope and oversees the ascension of the rest of the group.
The Glorious Bastards +4 array themselves upon the southern battlement just outside the door to the Tower. It is at this moment that the prolonged quiet from atop the tower garners suspicion and the party collectively looks up just in time to see the cauldron of boiling oil being poured down upon them! Cthoo kicks the door to the tower in and he and a few others escape the searing death rain!
Stan the Fighter, Calvin the 1/2ling, Guildenstern the wizard, Benny the Fortunate, Serra the Blessed, Julian E. the fighter, Stonegrimm the dwarf, & Felix the Thief are ALL killed! Jeff the Handsome loses both his trusted hirelings as they pushed their master through the boiling oil to preserve his good looks!
DEATH TOLL: 10
Nine members of the Glorious Bastards lie dead, but the group presses on! Within the tower the group now faces new puzzling challenges. A locked trap door in the floor and the muffled sounds of voices from below! Stairs that ascend upward to a barred trap door and a set of chains coming down through a hole in the ceiling, crossing the rafters to disappear into a hole in the stone wall of the tower itself!??!?
The trap door in the floor is opened to reveal some imprisoned hirelings, survivors from a prior adventuring group.
New PC's:
Andrew - Spike the Door Spiker
Dave - Brad the Porter
Tyler - Beezie Potts the Potion Tester
Josh - Olaf son of Molaf the porter
The group's strength replenished with addition of four "Meatshields" I mean helpful Hirelings the group splits its efforts between the chains and the trap door to the upper floor.
Much to the consternation of Cthoo, the chain is eventually snapped and as the upper half hangs limply from the ceiling the rest shoots off through the hole causing a deep resounding boom from somewhere below. Meanwhile Albert and Barty have chopped their way through the trap door and entered the second level of the tower.
A large seamless metal box is found and as Barty, Albert, Jeff, Tom Brady mess around with it they uncover a vast hoard of unrefined Oricalchum. Exposure to this begins to cause temporal fluctuations as well as physical and mental mutations to manifest in those in close proximity to the box. In the meantime Cthoo ant the rest of the group have decided that getting out alive is the best course of action and begin to set spell, muscle and oil into a plan to burn the contents of the Brother's Tower.
As the acid-tripping effects build in the upper floor and newly spawned mutations collide with good (or bad) decisions. A portal to HELL is opened and Barty Krautch finds himself devoured by a Demon Lord of the Lower Planes! Jeff inadvertantly kills Brady with a sling stone sent awry by temporal disturbances, Spike and Brad physically mutate, and Jeff discovers he can teleport!
In the CHAOS that ensued, Olaf son of Molaf cryogeically freezes himself and the Oricalchum, Jeff teleports back to the Dog & Bone Tavern, Albert becomes a pet for the Demon Lord, Tom Brady becomes "something", Brad the porter grows an extra pair of arms, Spike gets antenna, Beezie disappears in HELL, a permanent portal to HELL is opened in the tower, and everyone else escaped the tower!
DEATH TOLL: 11, MISSING: 1 (Beezie), HOSTAGE: 1 (Albert)
Upon returning to town the remnants of the Gloriuos Bastards +4, are surprised to find Jeff already there (Teleportation) and partying like a Mad-man! A green flaming skeleton appears in the bar with a ransom note for Albert. Much carousing followed!
Until next time......