Grendel's Stepdad

Play Report Aug 26 2025 - DCC Keep on the Borderlands Open Table (IRL)

Introduction

My largest table to date! Two of my players brought their younger nieces along.

To run the mass combat at the moathouse, I used Gongfarmer Militia and By This Poleaxe. They fit together well and were able to model the Battle of the Moathouse the way I envisioned while prepping. Converting the DCC statblocks to BTP was really easy as someone with relatively limited wargaming experience.

A few things I would have done differently this time. First, I will definitely offload the mass combat rules to the players. I was reluctant to do so for some reason, but this led to me running both the man-to-man combat and the mass combat simultaneously. I was able to muddle through for the most part, but it was a bit of strain.

Second, I kept forgetting that Lareth was a cleric, of course. I need to refresh myself on the cleric in general in DCC; we’ve been without one at the table since the second session. Lareth was still able to almost kill Mylan instantly with his staff of striking, so not too big a deal in the long run.

We bade farewell to the player running Mylan the thief! Sorry to see him go, but he can always drop back in should life permit.

Report

In attendance:

A great setback for the forces of Evil Chaos! The Ogre-whelming Force led a force some sixty strong to root out evil Priest of the Eye, Lareth the Beautiful, and his foul retinue.

Among the forces that set out from the Keep: the Odd Ducks, landsknecht from the riverlands back West; led by the bold and braggadocious Red Bernadette, the Famous Siegebreaker Brothers, dwarf sappers, a number of “furloughed” Keep Watch, sent on holiday by the Castellan with a wink and a nudge; and assorted hired muscle, would-be adventurers lured by plunder and the Ogre-whelming Force’s reputation.

In his turn Lareth commanded a group of at least forty. This garrison included a score of zealots from the Cult of the Eye; a dozen gnoll archers led by wind adept Clever Skinner; a handful of bugbears; and a group of orc war pigs from the Caves of Chaos, clad in mail and carrying halberds.

During battle preparations, Carrick was visited by an old priest from his hometown. Brother Bert had come at the request of Carrick’s parents to administer last rites, lest Carrick fall in battle unshriven. Bert, an old warrior himself, offered to induct Carrick into his old knightly order, the Hospitaller Order of the Sunflower. As initiation, Carrick would carry a potted sunflower into battle and see it survive the day intact.

Bill the Boatman’s river craft were chartered for the expedition, despite Bill’s protests. After this, he said, The Castellan and I are even. Five keelboats were to carry the expedition to a point just beyond view of the moathouse, then they would continue quietly through the marsh to the moathouse. From there, the dwarf sappers would mine the tower where the gnolls had been seen; the Odd Ducks would try to take the drawbridge; and the main force would pour in through a breach in the side.

Things went awry early on as the bugbears dragged several watchmen into the swamp. The Famous Siegebreaker Brothers were able to slip away undetected to plan their explosives, and a brief parlay with Lareth transpired. Mylan feigned assent to Lareth’s offers for just long enough to take a swing at the priest’s hamstring, but Lareth’s mail turned the thief’s blade.

The battle was joined in earnest, with heavy casualties on both sides. Birdy and Alice conjured a choking cloud of dust and ash to harry the defenders. The Odd Ducks were attacked by giant crayfish under Lareth’s command, but Red Bernadette herself felled the beast, allowing her men to push through the orcs holding the drawbridge. Lareth, the cultists, and the bugbears fought viciously in the central courtyard, where the bulk of the blood was spilled. Clever Skinner called upon the Toothed Wind, slaughtering all those outside of the moathouse–including the Siegebreaker brothers. However, she wasn’t fast enough to stop them knocking her off her perch as the tower exploded!

Carrick took the glory of dispatching Lareth himself while keeping his sunflower standing tall! Rudy and his manservant Manville chased the gnoll Clever Skinner into the collapsed tower. Not yet beat, Clever Skinner blew a lacerating gust at Rudy and Manville, felling the latter. Rudy then took revenge upon the gnoll with a quick cleave of his battle-axe. In her last act, she turned her bone ritual blade upon Rudy, but the wind living within it seemed to feast upon her instead…

With the moathouse leaders slain, the remaining forces surrendered or scattered. Several cultists and orcs were captured, with the surviving gnolls slipping away in the confusion. The Ogre-whelming Force claimed a bevy of treasure, including coins, scrolls, and lost goods from the rescued merchants; Lareth’s ring, mail, and staff; and Clever Skinner’s dagger and ritual implements. Two warhorses were also claimed, with one of them bearing the hogtied elf Ilmara, who had been questing for a back way into Quasqueton. She bore evidence of torture and was barely conscious, but was alive.

Back at the Keep, the Ogre-whelming force was feted by all. The Castellan, overjoyed at having a major victory on his watch, granted the band an apartment as headquarters. The band christened their new home “Birdy’s Nest.” Manville was cremated and his ashes given a place on the mantel. Carrick was sworn in to the Knights of the Sunflower by Brother Bert.

A few days later, Ilmara was well enough to speak. She told the band that she had found a stone key to an ancient portal network, with one such entrance in the pine barrens called the Spiderwood. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her expedition was attacked by giant spiders and forced to scatter, at which point she lost the key and was captured by Lareth. She also noted seeing a woman with raven-black hair among the pines.

By Ilmara’s reckoning, this key should still be somewhere in the Spiderwood…

#b2 #dcc #play reports