Sunday, March 11, 2012

Bradley Keep - Session 4

Bradley Keep is the name of my Labyrinth Lord sandbox campaign. The goal is to highlight some of the best that the OSR community has to offer.

Date: Sunday March 11, 2012

Adventurers:
  • Dorf the Dwarf (Tim)
  • Stikky Fingas - Human Thief (Allen) 
  • Linus the Courageous - Human Fighter (Jen) 
  • Graelyn Thorn - Elf Magic User/Cleric (Gina)
  • Samantha the Butcher - Human Magic User & Marsha - Rottweiller (Brad)
  • Bargar - Torch Bearer (NPC)
The party finished off the last session by killing off Mierra, the skeletal seneschal. They started this game by searching the body, finding a pouch with a brass key. Pocketing the key, they head down the hall to the west and find two doors and a hallway to the north and a set of double doors to the south. They investigate the double doors and find a library with an ethereal woman arranging books. Calling to her, she turns, puts her finger to her lips and shushes. Graelyn enters, but his plate makes a bit too much noise. The noise sets off the librarian again, and again she shushes. Getting frustrated Dorf mocks the librarian's shushing. She turns and screams, causing aural damage to all of the characters. They slam the door and run off. 

Moving back down the hall the try the first door to the north. They notice some kind of magical script. Unable to decipher it on the spot, they continue to the second door to the north. They find the door locked and while Stikky tries to pick it, a creature shambles out of the darkness. Samantha unleashed the dog and the rest of the party fire ranged weapons and drop the zombie maid. They find a ring with a small gem on her finger and a skeleton key, which opens the door Stikky was working at. They find  a small room with a desk. In the desk, there were three scrolls, some parchments, arcane inks, quills, and a magnifying glass. They head up the hallway to the north and find a door about halfway up the hall. The room is unlocked. They find a large desk, a comfortable chair, and a small end table. A creepy little creature comes from behind the chair and flies at the group. It first swooped at Marsha, but missed the dog. On the next round, it moved to Stikky, biting and killing him. The group made quick work of the creature, but not without a huge loss. They loot the room, finding a bottle of absinthe on the end table, a quarterstaff hanging above the fireplace, and a polished onyx gem stone with an "R" embossed in gold. Deciding to cut their losses and get some additional help, the group heads back to the keep for a couple days of R&R.

The group pawns off the ring and discovers the onyx has some magical properties. Dorf decides to blow through some of his earnings and "hires" a woman for the evening. Trying to be classy, he breaks open one of the wine bottles from the Tower. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side and he succumbs to the poison contained within. He dies and the woman steals anything of worth on his person and flees. While Samantha tries to decipher her scrolls, she unfortunately discovers that one of them is cursed, striking her blind. She is taken to the temple, where she agrees to tithe 10% of her earnings to the Church of St. Cuthbert to have the curse removed. They also purchase a couple potions of healing. Graelyn purchased a Talbot hound and a carrier pigeon. The group recruits a new thief, The Artless Dodger, and another fighter, the Elf, Savron. Graelyn consumes a large amount of the absinthe, finishing the bottle. He is drunk, but seems to have some sort of magical ability of True Sight. After wrapping up the loose ends, they gather up the drunken Graelyn and head back to the Manor. 

On the trip back to the Manor, Savron spies a beautiful woman near a tree who beckons him. As he approaches with the Dodger. As the two get a bit closer, she disappears into the tree. They find no sign of her anywhere. When they get to the yard around the Manor, Graelyn inspects the statue of the gnome and realizes it was once a living creature. They take him into house and he identifies another magical cloak that has a protection from fire spell cast upon it, which the dodger dons. They then drag the drunk over to the magical script written above the first doorway. It reads "This Space Intentionally Left Blank." Confused, teh troupe moves back to the first room they had explored, the parlor. In the parlor, Graelyn identifies a number of potions. They also find some strange magical sling stones, and a secret passageway through up through the chimney. The party empties their water skins into the magical fire (a small elemental) and destroy it. The Dodger climbs the chimney and finds the master bedroom. The rest of the group climbs with the assistance of a rope dropped by the thief. In the room they find a electrum key under the mattress and a small jar, labelled "Oil of O'Lay". They check two doors on the eastern wall, finding a modern bath room, complete with magical toilet. The other room is literally full of skeletons. Each round, another skeleton emerges from the void beyond. After two rounds, they force the doors closed, stopping the assault. They then move to investigate the room to the north, finding a nursery with ornate crib and toy box. They pull out a finely crafted music box, a small gem, and a number of mundane toys. The main doors were made of an alien metal and would not open. Samantha goes back into the bathroom and applies some of the Oil of O'Lay. When she leaves rejoins the group, she looks noticeably younger. The still drunken Graelyn stated that they were attuned to a specific person.

Since there were no other exits, they went back down the chimney. Moving back down the hallway, they are approached by another ethereal form which starts miming for them to join her in the room at the end of the hall. Inside, they discover a skeleton in a porcelain tub. Eventually, they realize the ghostly figure would like the group to bury her remains. Linus and Savron gather up the remains, run outside and proceed to bury them. The ghost dissipates when the action is completed. The Dodger checks the two doors to the north of the hallway. The first is clearly the living quarters of the maid. They quickly search the room, but only find her  her wardrobe. In the room across the hall they find the zombie butler. They make quick work of it, discover a second skeleton key, a strange golden device (which the confused players quickly identified as a modern pocket watch). 

We wrapped the game at this point. They will continue exploring the rest of the manor at the next game.

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