Dolmenwood 1

This report covers session one of a Dolmenwood campaign refereed by the fantastic inner_blaze. Spoilers abound. Some details may have been lost in translation.

Characters

• Brom Tolmen, 1st level human knight (played by yours truly)
• Impudence-Hath-Victory, or “Ivy,” 1st level elf enchanter
• Kitty Pouncemouse, 1st level grimalkin magician
• Kungus Cobwallop, 1st level woodgrue enchanter
• Marib Twiggler, 1st level mossling friar

Party On, Kungus

We began in media res, on the afternoon of 12 Chysting, with the party hiking up Drumen Knoll toward a ruined keep.

• In Prigwort, the party had been offered 200 gold pieces to recover a missing teen, Arda Vague, who had visited Drumen Knoll and heard enchanting music.
• Unbeknownst to the others, Marib had been hired by Sergeant Marge Breckson to investigate reports of crookhorns snooping around the knoll.
• Ivy, Kitty, and Kungus had read of a pellucidium chalice hidden in a magic pool in a secret hall beneath the keep.

As the party approached the keep, they could hear a cacophany of eerie keening pipes accompanied by raucous drumming, trumpeting, guffaws, and shouts. Kungus, the consumate party animal like many a woodgrue, felt compelled to join the festivities and jogged towards the keep, with Ivy close behind. Beyond an arched entryway carved with icicle and wave motifs, Kungus found four diseased-looking crookhorns dancing around a bonfire, playing music and drinking.

When a fifth crookhorn sounded the alarm from a tower, the dancing crookhorns ceased their revelry, casting aside their instruments and hefting spears. Kungus produced a clay ocarina and began to accompany the pipe music, hooting and dancing in a mad revelry. Four of the crookhorns felt an irresistible compulsion to join his dance, and the other succumbed to peer pressure.

Ivy and Marib seized the opportunity to investigate the keep. They discovered a stairway leading underground and a woodgrue shank roasting over the fire. Ivy and Marib then danced among the crookhorns with a rope, tying them all together. One crookhorn grew aggressive, and a clumsy melee ensued—until the outnumbered crookhorn surrendered.

Marib began questioning the crookhorns and learned that a blue elf man, imprisoned below, was the source of the pipe music. When the crookhorns proved unwilling to disclose their reasons for journeying to the keep, Brom made a show of retrieving Marib’s cookware from her pack. He declared that if the crookhorns had no more information to offer, then the party should simply eat them. He then went about “seasoning” the crookhorns with oil and spices.

The panicked crookhorns revealed that they served the Nag Lord and were in league with a Prigwort constable named Rodger. The crookhorns claimed that their leader, Grognott, could be found below. Brom and Marib kept watch while theh others dispatched the crookhorns.

The party investigated the watch tower. Then they discovered a shaft leading through the rubble of a collapsed tower, covered in guano and greasy black feathers. The party covered the shaft with a large stone before descending the stairs.

Below the keep, they party found a sleeping two-headed cockerel tethered to a closed door. An invisible Ivy crept up to it, severed its tether, and then stuffed it into Brom’s bedroll. This enabled the party to whisk the stifled cockerel away from the keep before it could alert the keep’s occupants. Marib placated the creature with sausages before the party returned to the keep.

Read the report of session two here.