Play Report Aug 12 2025 - DCC Keep on the Borderlands Open Table (IRL)
Introduction
Session three, so it's officially a habit. A later report than usual due to a busy week! One of my regular players was out of the country, so a slightly smaller table today. Going to get some flyers up to keep the table in peoples’ minds, but without talking to myself in the FLGS Discord.
This was a slower session that wound up heating up in the last hour or so. A good bit of roleplaying and planning that paid off for the band. Will need to make sure I keep track of the rumors sown this time, which is lucky bonus of doing these reports.
Had a great moment when Mylan’s player realized just how sweet thief luck is—pretty cool adding +4-12 on a roll out of the blue!
My current focus is on keying some extra hexes on and prepping the Moathouse to my liking. Since the table ran the bandits out of the Moathouse early on, I'll need to figure out how the garrison has responded. Since I've characterized the gnolls as hunters, I'll probably put a couple up on the ramparts as archers, and add another small group of skeletal warriors.
During this session, I depicted Emridy Meadows as a region east of the Keep where the dead rise nightly to continue their battles, so I think that was good foreshadowing for adding the undead. Bugbears, I still need to work on a bit. I want to have them be haunted house/Halloween sasquatches but hitting the right tone for it has been tricky.
The gang has had great luck last few sessions. Hardly a scratch due to careful planning and cautious play. I attribute this to them being traumatized by the Caves of Chaos in session one, which had a palpable risk of a party wipe. I'm monitoring to see how the relationship with risk develops; the last thing I want is for them to become averse.
Report
In attendance:
The mercenary band known as the Ogre-whelming Force!
- Rudy, a warrior and artist with a battleaxe;
- Carrick, a jolly lad and stalwart spearman;
- Birdy, wizard and delver of arcane lore;
- Mylan, a thief of the utmost pragmatism
The band returned to the Keep and were feted by all for their victory over old Bonepicker. Over a toast of brandy from the ogre’s own flask—a keg they rolled along the trail home—the band realized that any good company needs a name. No better a name was proposed than “The Ogre-whelming Force.” Another toast was had to an auspicious name!
Mylan continued his tavern crawl, and learned of an elf who had gone missing in the Fell Fens some months ago. Carrick wrote a letter of good tidings to his family while Birdy pursued his old profession, glassblowing. Rudy and Carrick practiced their skills with axe and spear, and Birdy sought the Witch of the Western Tower for more magical tutelage. The Witch advised Birdy in matters of invoking mystical patrons, and said that the gnolls hold the necessary incantations to call upon a great Prince of Air.
The band then met with the Castellan, Gustave Guryan, and his elf advisor Marevine. Impressed with the group’s success, the Castellan offered to being sharing information and coordinating more directly with the Ogre-whelming Force. Plans were discussed, with the old moathouse at the edge of the Fell Fens identified as a major threat. Marevine seemed preoccupied with Quasqueton, and admitted to sending the missing elf looking for it. Birdy noted it was odd that someone searching for a way into Quasqueton would head in the opposite direction.
Eventually, the band settled upon a foray to the moathouse. The Castellan advised them to see Bill the Boatman at his docks on the River Goblindrink. The Castellan had recently spared Bill the noose, so the crooked boatman would aid the band at no cost.
As Birdy speaks the secret language of horses, the wizard took the time to try and glean some information from one of the Castellan’s destriers, Sleipnir. A horse-eye view of the Battle of Emridy Meadows was shared, and the horse asked for the band to keep an eye out for a seven pointed star stirrup that has belonged to his grandsire.
A short trip south through Hommlet to the landing passed without incident, and there they met Bill. The band accepted Bill’s offer of hospitality, breaking bread with the boatman’s enormous family. The next morning, they set out in a chartered keelboat rowed by several sturdy lads and lasses.
The route took them past an island covered in willows that seemed to move even with the wind absent. One of the rowers told the band that tall tales abound about that haunted place, with a supposed treasure hidden beneath unruly boughs. With the moathouse in mind, the band left the willows alone.
They did, however, stop near Emridy Meadows to see where they might find the stirrup Sleipnir had mentioned. A gang of orcs was picking through the old battlefield, gathering rusted metal weapons and tools for unknown purposes. The band gave the orcs a proper thrashing, though Birdy took one of their crossbow bolts. Among the orcs’ rusted junk was found Sleipnir’s stirrup. An interrogation of the surviving orc proved fruitless, so the band continued the final few miles to the moathouse.
To maintain the element of surprise, the band had their crew beach the boat upstream. They disembarked into the fens, and were beset by enormous frogs and fetid water up to their waist. They still prevailed, and arrived at the moathouse.
The band carefully reconnoitered and noted a massive spider lurking in the southwestern turret, which they distracted with frog meat and thrown marbles. A gang of bandits was flushed out and run off from the main tower using incendiaries lobbed through gaps in the mouldering roof. The band availed themselves of the bandits’ loot and excavated a stairway into the dungeon level.
In the stinking pitch-dark of the room below, Mylan spotted the ogre Hornswoggle waiting in the dark. Mylan foiled the monster’s planned ambush with a dagger to his heel, while Carrick pierced one of the ogre’s hearts! From there it was quick work as the party fell upon the mighty monster, who died in a pool of his own blood. Truly, the Ogre-whelming Force earned their name all over again!
Sensing they had pushed their luck as far as it would go for now, the band retreated to plan their next incursion…