Blackmoor Campaign pt. 4.

[William]

A note on the weather:
I forgot to mention anything about the weather in my previous posts about the Blackmoor campaign. As this adventure is an introduction for players new to the OSR I gave them and adventure suitable as an introduction to the play style, which contains challenges so as not to be boring, but which does not introduce them to everything straight away. Their patron for the adventure is SIldonis ("The Wizard of the Wood"), and he has sent some of his familiars to keep watch on them whilst they are in The Northern Downs (where the ruined Keep is situated), so they will not get lost once they leave behind The Elf Road which took them from the town of Blackmoor the edge of The Downs. The PCs did not get lost however, so the familiar was not needed. I have also sent them on their quest during the Spring of the year NC 1021, so that they have favourable weather conditions to travel in. There was only a 1 in 6 chance of a mild Spring rainstorm, which would have had no worse effect than halving their movement, but luckily no storm happened. However, I have not made things too easy for them as they were attacked by some Giant Warrior Ants whilst in The Northern Downs before reaching the ruined Keep, and the familiar keeping watch at the time, being too small to take the Ants on themselves, stayed wisely out of the way.

During the game session on the 17th of February 2024 the players decided that they would send their PCs up into the first floor of the ruined Keep. They are doing so not knowing that there are dangerous plants on that level, and also not knowing that they have yet to find a magical Ring of Plant Control on the ground floor (which contains an emerald worth 2,100 gp!) They made their way through the ground floor, using their map in order to take a safe route through, as there are potential combat dangers on that floor which they have yet to overcome. Luckily there were no wandering monster encounters as they made their way through, though this was actually because they were efficient at making their way to the stairs leading to the first floor, so not enough time passed for a wandering monster check.

Upon making their way up onto the first floor the PCs entered a dust covered, disused upstairs guard room, which was emptied of weapons and armour in the years previously. From there they made their way round a good portion of the southern half of the upper Keep, including into a collapsed hall which has become a garden bed for a Jupiter Bloodsucker and some Archer Bushes, due to a collapsed landfill from the edge of the hills of The Northern Downs (the Keep sits upon a rise in the earth, near the edges of some hills in a small valley within the centre of The Downs). Combat ensued with the killer plants which they wisely removed themselves from, though they have vowed to go back and finish them off at a later time! They also explored a magic laboratory and found three scrolls which none of them can use, but they hope to get a decent reward for them either from Sildonis or back in Blackmoor town (the scrolls contain the spells Magic Missile, Ventriloquism, and Protection From Evil). In addition to this they found the private quarters of the previous Marshal of the Keep, plus a throne room for visiting Nobility and Royalty (used by members of the Thonian Empire, in the days when Blackmoor belonged to Thonia, before Blackmoor became independent and conflict began with the Thonians), which was guarded by more Crystal Statues. There were four statues so they wisely fled the room, knowing from previous experience that the statues will only guard a certain section of the Keep, in this case the throne room. Also, there was a wandering monster encounter with five Giant Spiders of the smaller variety which they managed to survive without any serious injuries, though Stefan Paske (the Sage) was bitten and had to make a saving throw which luckily he succeeded in doing (the "smaller Giant Spider's" poison is milder and comes with a +2 bonus to the save). They have still to find either of the secret doors which lead to where the magic crystal is hidden, both of which are in the southern half of the first floor, but hopefully they will do that in the next session.

Bill