Summer Games, part 3

Three sessions in a row!  2024 is turning into a great gaming year for me.  I even got to play some Magic this Wednesday.

Our cast:

Varda, the Elf

Dave, the Fighter

Roro, the Halfling

Dack, the Thief - currently a swine

Brother Frank, Cleric of Avrae

Land, Cleric of Ikea - rolled and run by Dack's player

Anyhow, we left off last week with Dack turned into a swine and everyone off to meet with Frankie Breakbone, the moneylender.

Frankie Breakbone, courtesy of MtG card Tavern Swindler by Pauline Voss

As might be expected, the conversation ended with our heroes having a month to find the money needed to pay her back.  About 1000gp between Dave, Dack, and Frank.

They also learned that Circe might turn Dack back into a human for a price.  Her price being the recovery of a large gem that she is fairly certain is on the third level of the dungeon - at least her divinations suggest as much.  

Circe the Witch.  Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is an alias.

When does she want it?  Before she sails back to her island in the Aegean Sea in a few months.  With that, she dismissed the party and her guards escorted them out.

Balking at Circe's demand, the party makes use of the I Know a Guy houserule, and Varda introduces the table to Cornelius de Bleu, a wizard who had enough of a crush on her to follow her to Skara Brae and set up shop.  It turns out, he also had an outrageous French accent, kind of a mix between Monty Python and Pepe LePew.  Note that about halfway through, the DM slipped into a bad Antonio Banderas impersonation.  Ah, wizards.

Cornelius was willing to provide an answer out of kindness to his crush.  His researches suggested that if a person were to walk backwards across the Bridge of Broken Souls (item 94 on this table).  Unfortunately, Cornelius wasn't certain where said bridge might actually be - perhaps in the dungeon. (DM Note - it would be funny if it had to be crossed to retrieve the gem Circe wants).

By this point, Dack's player had finished rolling up and equipping Land, Cleric of Ikea, so the party followed Dack the Swine's lead to the temple of Ikea, where it nosed into Land.  After introductions, we learned that Dack had been raised by the temple, but did not jive with their neutral ways.  Still, Land remembered and felt pity for the swine, so offered up that the temple of Ikea had access to the dungeon, and would provide it to its members.

As they prepared for the delve, they discussed the rumors they had heard over the past few days, and I, the DM had each of them roll on d30 rumor table.  They learned the following:

Ebeneezer Hardbottle is still willing to pay for maps.

Tristan's bride-to-be was kidnapped and her dowry stolen by bandits on the first level.

A flaming sword was lost to the orcs on the first level.

A treasure-laden funeral barge floats on a vast reservoir deep down on the tenth level (this was a popular topic, being rolled three times).

The Church of Starry Wisdom keeps a treasure vault on the second level.

Spinning a Wheel destroyed the gossip and their friends.

A pair of ogres named Smash and Grab enjoy ale and mules.

Some folks bathed in a pool and woke up ... different.

Rumors shared and bags packed, they headed down a dark spiral staircase, farther down than they initially thought possible (DM note - all the way to second level) where the air grew cold and still - like see-your-breath cold.

The stairs bottomed out into a 30'x30' chamber with an opening in the center of each wall.  Peering down two of them, they saw nothing but alcoves in the walls and darkness stretching out past their torch and candle light.  Without checking the third opening, Roro the Rash called out "Hello!" down a passage and was rewarded with a distant shuffling and moaning that grew closer and closer until their light revealed a pair of zombies shambling towards them!

The zombies were met with bowstring and steel, but alas! poor Land, Cleric of Ikea, fell to the blows of a zombie! This enraged Dack the pig, and looking in the rules, we found that Boars are listed, and as Dack is a male, we ran with it.

The final zombie fell beneath the furious feet of an enraged Dack-boar! 

And with that, we ended!

BX combat is fatal!