Farraginous Cogitations

The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford Session 4 Recap

Spoilers for "The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford" are included in this recap...

Our Heroes:

After the encounter with the fishing leprechaun where Gunther ended up in the stream and Wulf cut the leprechauns beard resulting in having his armor transformed, the party spent time filleting and cooking the fish and drying Gunther's armor.

When sated and dry, the party continued heading north and east following the river before heading more directly into the forest in the anticipated direction of Brandon's Barrow Mound. Deeper in the woods, they suddenly encountered a brilliantly golden furred fox dash past them. Almost immediately they were strange barking from the same direction the fox came from. They moved Seamus the Mule onto the path the fox had taken while they paused and debated what to do. Their discussions were interrupted by two Wolf-like Fae Hounds loped into view. Their massive, well muscled forms were covered in shaggy black fur and they had glowing eyes. Frantically sniffing around, with gruff voices they demanded the party tell them where the golden fox had gone. The party, initially contemplating chasing and capturing the golden fox for themselves, attempted to lie and say the fox had come from the very direction the fae hounds had just come. The hounds chided the party for trying to lie. They were soon joined by a couple Pompous Elvish Hunters dressed in extravagant furs. They sauntered up to their hounds, ignoring the party. When the party attempted to lie again to the fae hounds' repeated query about the direction of the golden fox, the elves warned them not to trifle with fae folk before sending the hounds off in the direction of the fox's scent.

Relieved to have avoided a martial confrontation with the fae folk and their powerful minions, the party at last came in site of Brandon's Barrow. Approaching through the wild grass, they saw a white stone slab set into the mound. A bleached, faded mural on its surface showing a conquering knight. The dirt below the door appeared work, hinting that it had been recently opened. Using their rope, pickaxes and Seamus, they managed to open the door themselves. Walking down a 10" decline, they entered an antechamber with mosaics on the wall.

The first mosaic depicted Brandon gathering his men and journeying to the dragon’s lair. Three figures stood out against the other knights: a shaggy giant of a man with a greatsword, a wizened priest, and a wild-eyed man with an axe. The second mosaic depicted Brandon slaying the dragon by driving his sword through its mouth. The third and final mosaic depicted Brandon and his men being knighted by a queen.

Hearing hushed voices and clattering noises to the east, the group investigate the room to the east and find 3 tired and disheveled goblins cautiously poking around in the burial alcoves in this crypt-like room. The goblins tell them they were sent here to claim the barrow as their new castle but that most of their comrades had been lost in the lower sections to fearful creatures. They eagerly join the party believing the party will help clear the lower levels.

Searching the alcoves, the party finds various treasures including a bejeweled sacrificial dagger, a chainmail shirt and a mace (both in excellent condition) as well as a secret door. Behind the door is another room. A chest of polished dark wood sits in the middle of the room. Stone shelves are built into the walls, upon which sit thick white candles in golden holders. Akshara pushes the lid, carved with twisting vines, flowers, and leaves, off with his pole. This causes a cloud of dust to be flung in the air dousing some of the candles they had lit. Inside the chest they find a quarterstaff and monastic robes, relics of St. Arthur. The party moves back to the antechamber they entered and continue west.

The next room contains several 8’ tall statues, one in each corner of the room. Each statue is a knight with a different word etched into the base:

Hearing water dripping to the northwest, the enter what appears to be a chapel with several disintegrating stone pews and a statue of a bearded man holding a spear. The statue is of St. Arthur, the patron saint of hunters. A crack in the ceiling is dripping water directly onto the statue and there is mold growing on the statue's face.

Akshara cleans the mold from the statue, releasing a cloud of spores causing him to cough fitfully. When he recovers, he feels a tired yet beneficent sensation.

Warden Note: Akshara receives the Deprived status after failing a STR save required by touching the mold and releasing the spores. However, he has also been blessed by the action of cleaning the mold from the statue. He now has a fictional advantage when they Save within the woods (the Warden will say how).

Moving east again, the party returns to the room with the alcoves and prepares to descend to the next level...

At the bottom of the stairs the party find a long corridor and bodies of three goblins in bloodied pieces. The walls and ceiling of the hall drip with condensation and icy mist. The cold, wet air sticks to their skin like cold sweat and the mist seeps in through cracks, falling in slow, gaseous streams. Carvings of animals pursued by hunters running through forest run in one continuous scene along the wall.

Entering the first opening to the south, the party find a circular pool of water built into the floor. Globs of green slime float on the surface of the water like algae. The glint of gold can be seen at the bottom of the 5' deep pool. Gunther strips off his armor and backpack and steps into the pool. He is immediately attacked by a Green Slime

Warden Note: Gunther makes a DEX save to escape the pool before the slime can hurt him. His DEX was a 13 and he rolled a 13 precisely. This enables Max to roll against his DEX again during downtime in the future and if he rolls OVER his DEX, he can increase it by 1.

The slime does not immediately try to follow and when Akshara advances threateningly with his torch, the creature recoils. Briefly debating if it would be possible to fight or lure the creature out of the pool, the party elects to instead move on.

Taking the only other exit available to them, the party enters what appears to be a shrine. A 3’ statue has been placed on a dais near the south wall, with offering bowls placed at its feet. There is a 10’ wide ring of small stones on the floor encircling the statue. One offering bowl contains various coins and the other, a handful of rubies. Between them is a golden locket with a small piece of paper between it's two halves. Gunther approaches the statue, intent on retrieving the treasures. When he steps past the ring of stones, the stones begin loudly and violently vibrating. Grabbing the locket and retreating, the stones stop moving. Opening the locket, he finds a folded up scroll of protection from evil. The members make varying attempts to interact with the offering bowls. Throwing a coin doesn't trigger the encircling stones. Neither does using a pole to pull the bowls to them. When someone tries to put the bejeweled sacrificial dagger in the offering bowl, the stones again begin vibrating when stepped past. They return to silence again when retreated past.

Searching the room the party discovers an incongruous groove in the stone. Using a pick-axe, they wrench open a hidden door leading to a short tunnel and another door requiring a pick-axe to open.

This door leads into a chamber containing a statue of a noblewoman standing in the center of the room. She holds a sword horizontally in front of her, with her proud eyes looking down before her. Flush with the wall behind her is a closed set of stone doors. Advancing into the room and nearer the statue, the members each hear a feminine voice in their head saying, “What makes a true knight?”. Gunther replies, "Valor, Piety, Wisdom, and Duty", and immediately the stone doors behind the statue open.

Gunther elects to stay behind to insure the doors don't close. As an added precaution, the party convince the goblins to sit on the floor by the doors. Akshara and Wulf enter the Tomb of Sir Brandon.

The room is dominated by a wooden dragon-headed ship. Inside the ship is a stone sarcophagus with a statue on its lid of a knight, who lies peacefully as if asleep, clutching a longsword. Treasures have been meticulously placed around the sarcophagus, the name “Brandon” engraved on the side. Inside is the browned skeleton of Sir Brandon, still dressed in his plate armor and holding his Holy Sword.

Suddenly, Gunther hears lumbering, irregular foot steps and the scrape of metal on stone. Entering the room from the same secret passage they had used, he sees a 7’ tall browned skeleton in rusted armor and a mustachioed electrum death mask dragging a broken greatsword behind it. The goblins, gibbering in terror, rush through the other door...

Warden Note: We ended the session here as we didn't feel we had suitable time to resolve combat before Adam needed to leave. As Max is out next week, we're postponing/skipping Session 5 until July 29th or 30th.

This ends Session 4.