Grendel's Stepdad

Play Report Sep 2 2025 - DCC Keep on the Borderlands Open Table (IRL)

Introduction

My largest table yet, but a more low-key session of exploration and trickery. Two new players showed up this session, one of whom was overjoyed to have found an in-person DCC table!

This session was heavily underwritten by ktrey's wonderful Wilderness Hexes over at d4 Caltrops. You the man ktrey. The Woodfolk in particular got the gears turning for me; I had been wanting to add a Neutral-aligned faction other than the lizardmen to the sandbox. I am portraying them as dispossessed inhabitants of the region, caught between the conflicts of Law and Chaos, never having been repaid for their aid to the Keep.

The open table continues to grow! Overall I'm thrilled with the enthusiasm and response. After this session, I think eight is my hard cap, but mostly because the physical table gets large enough it's hard to hear everyone over the store ambience. Great problem to have.

Report

In attendance, the regulars:

Two new adventurers seeking their fortune:

Plus two hirelings, the herbalist monk Brother Bludgeon and Woodfolk tracker Róisín Haregetter.

Having rescued Ilmara from the moathouse, the Ogre-whelming Force sought her out in the House of Healing to learn more of her failed foray. She warned of the bellicose arachnids inhabiting the Spiderwood, who had attacked her expedition. The key was lost somewhere near the portal as the group scattered. A dazed Ilmara in the swamp was an easy mark for Lareth’s forces. Before the band took their leave, Ilmara also warned them of a mysterious woman with dark hair who had followed her group.

The Ogre-whelming Force stopped at a small settlement in the shadow of the Keep, known to be comprised of Woodfolk, the local hunters, loggers, and charcoal burners of the region. Though the Woodfolk were initially suspicious, Calumdar performed rites of Cernunnos, endearing the band to the repressed pagan Woodfolk. There they hired Róisín, a skilled guide, who had some secondhand knowledge of the Spiderwood. The Woodfolk had abandoned that area some decades before ahead of the Battle of Emridy Meadows, and the loss of land was still a sore spot.

The band sallied from the Keep, taking canoes from Hommlet down the Goblindrink River Their journey led them to the maze-like waterways of the Fell Fens. Most of the day was spent trying to find the outlet to the Spiderwood. Their meanderings resulted in a standoff with the lizardmen, but the band retreated without violence.

Their guide Róisín vetoed the first landing spot, seeing an unnatural darkness billowing from the trees. By sunset, the band had found another spot to disembark, making camp among the thick roots of marshside trees.

In the night, a great clamor of activity and the howling of wolves was heard to the north. Of camp. A thief and halfling stole away from camp to investigate.

Missy and Anders had discovered a goblin logging camp! A field of stumps surrounded a massive lonely tree not yet conquered by the axe. They happened upon a lone goblin in his cups from after-shift drinking, the rest having already departed for their bunks elsewhere in the woods. A little coaxing and a free hat from Anders set the goblin babbling. Missy and Anders gleaned that a group of wolf riding hobgoblins had put their smaller fellows to work, felling trees to build siege weapons for use against the Keep.

The next morning, the band resolved to destroy the goblin lumber operation. On the way, they passed through a dim grove of trees bearing fuligin-black berries, no doubt the source of the strange darkness at the rejected landing site. In this part of the wood, spiders played music upon their webs like harps in this darkling scene. Brother Bludgeon identified them as a deadly fruit not fit for consumption and used by sorcerers as reagents. The group took a moment to harvest some of the berries for later experimentation, and to discuss further their plans.

As they deliberated, the Ogre-whelming Force encountered the raven-haired woman Ilmara had noted. The woman was attired as a Woodfolk and identified herself as Mallory Weaver. Róisín noted it was odd a Woodfolk was still here, as nearly all had abandoned the Spiderwood decades ago, and Mallory’s clothing was out of date. When the party shared their intent to smash the goblin camp, Mallory elected to accompany and assist.

Back at the logging site, a wolf rider hobgoblin was trying to rouse the hung-over goblin from the night before. The band crept up upon them and quickly dispatched them, then traced the trail of wolf prints and log impressions back to a crumbling Woodfolk mill.

Cursory reconnaissance of the area revealed most of the goblins to be asleep and the logging to occur at night. A butchered cockatrice rotted behind the mill. Missy proposed using the harvested berries to poison the goblins’ food. Quiet as a mouse, the thief plopped the shadowy berries into the stew pot. By dusk, nearly two dozen goblins lay dead, dark ichor pouring from their mouths and eyes.

A delighted Mallory Weaver then revealed her true form to them—a great spider with the eight-eyed face of a woman. She had planned on devouring the band at first, but instead decided to play them against the goblins. The Spider-Witch thanked the band for being good sports, and offered them scrolls from her grimoire and permission to retrieve the key and use the portal. A few man-shaped silk mummies hanging from her great web in the woods hinted at the fate of Ilmara’s companions.

The party bequeathed the lumber share as a bonus to Róisín and the Woodfolk out of respect for their ancestral claim to the Spiderwood. With the stone portal key now in hand, the Ogre-whelming Force returned to the Keep to supply for a trip into the depths of Quasqueton…

#b2 #dcc #play reports