Blackmoor Campaign pt. 2.

[William]

In their second session on the 27th of January 2024 the PCs made their way onto the grounds of the Keep. The outer walls are ruined and the gates are beyond repair, but the Keep within is in fine condition up to and including the first floor (there's also a dungeon below), though the Keep is dilapidated any further up than that. Abbie Megarry hid in and amongst the rubble with the horses and armed with her Longbow and Long sword. The Northern Downs are largely deserted apart from "wildlife" so the PCs are not expecting an attack or surveillance from an intelligent opponent. The PCs controlled by the players then made their way to the gates of the Keep, visibly spooked out by the deathly silence from beyond the portcullis.
Whilst the players are within the Keep Abbie will be safe as the wildlife does not make its way onto the grounds of the Keep, though there are large Centipedes, normal sized Rats, and occasionally large Spiders to be found inside.

Once the PCs had the outer portcullis up (requiring all their combined STR) they made their way into the inner hallway, requiring some torchlight to see fully and another combined effort in order to raise a second portcullis to take them fully into the Keep. The PCs explored a decent amount of the ground floor area, though they have yet to find the secret door which hides the ground floor treasury. The Armoury, long disused guards quarters, the kitchen, dining room, sleeping quarters, and even a sewing room (used for garment repair) were all explored by the PCs. However, much of the ground floor of the Keep on the western side has still to be explored by the PCs, plus a firearms storage area that is still to be found too, but there will be opportunities next session for that.

So far the players have come face to face with a pack of Rats which they managed to get rid of rather effectively. They also discovered some Purple Moss that released its gases which managed to put one of them to sleep, but the other party members were brave and pulled the affected character away from the nausea inducing plant. They have also had more than one run in with the Keep's Crystal Statue guards, including one incident where they discovered a diary belonging to a previous Magic User occupant of the Keep. The diary details amongst other things the general whereabouts of the magic crystal that they have been quested to find, although they will still have to find one of two possible secret doors in order to get the crystal in their possession. The diary in question, along with a collection of scrolls and a spell book, was guarded by four Crystal Statues which caused them to run and retreat to another part of the Keep. They only managed to garner the diary but there will be more sessions, and at least there was only a small amount of injuries and no fatalities. So far so good.

The players, all of whom are new to OSR gaming, have by now fully realised the potential lethal nature of combat in OSR games.

Bill