Play Report Nov 11 2025 - Crow's Keep #16
Introduction
Holiday game night is always a treat! Spent the day off preparing and even had time to get kebab on the way to the store. Lifeโs pretty good. I began rolling for weather this session, which made it funny when we spent most of the game in a hole in the ground.
Not too much to report this session. Weโre at session 16 now, so it stands to reason weโd have one without a ton of high highs or low lows. That said, while I tend to not play-act much at this table, every now and again the mood takes me. Since I rolled a fumble on the wizard-tripletโs charm person and got the funniest possible result, I couldnโt resist chattering at Best Friend Carrick and doing some fanciful and useless wizardly gestures. Gotta give the people what they want.
Next session is the clash with kobolds, who I posted about earlier today. The Ogre-whelming Force has their work cut out for them.
Report
In attendance:
- Sir Carrick, level 2 lawful warrior and humble knight of virtue
- Birdy, level 2 neutral wizard decoding Zelligarโs writings
- Zig, a level 1 neutral dwarf both doughty and cunning
- Glenn, level 1 chaotic warrior and bearshirt
- Winifred, level 1 neutral thief. A lightfooted herbalist
- Heebie G.B., a level 1 neutral halfling of consummate professionalism (the B, of course, is short for Baggins)
- Kaledar, level 1 neutral cleric and father to Gilgamesh the griffin
Accompanied by the follower Aislinn and a dozen Woodfolk men-at-arms.
After receiving the scout Aislinnโs report on the Caves of Chaos, the Ogre-whelming Force settled on a plan of action to contain the dark forces burgeoning in the canyon. As kobolds had been massing at Quasqueton in what was clearly a new staging ground for attacks, the band would launch a pre-emptive strike! Aislinn joined up as companion of the crew.
As now the Woodfolk were massing and preparing their own forces for the rising tide of Chaos, the band sought out Roisin Haregetter, their ally and lately leader of the Woodfolk. She received them in her longhouse, now abuzz with courtiers and retainers. The Ogre-whelming Force made her an offer: aid them in driving out the kobolds, and they would deliver her Quasqueton as a new holding!
After discussing strategy, plans were drawn to use the Spiderwood portal one last time to raid the fort from within and drive out the kobolds. Roisin pledged a dozen doughty Woodfolk warriors to support the attack on the kobold garrison.
In the Spiderwood, the band entreated the spider-witch Mallory Weaver for aid in their coming attack. Ever a paragon of neutrality, Mallory declined to commit direct aid, musing that the politics of Borderlands ebbed and flowed but she would outlast them all. She did, however, provide them a token of her favorโin exchange for promising to verify or ensure Zelligar's death. Her spider votive would keep all but the most mad spiders from devouring the bearer.
Passing through the portal, the band came face to face with one of the wizard-triplets that had been searching Quasqueton for traces of Zelligar. It was unclear which of the three this wasโHothgar, Mothgar, or Gothgar. They and their hired bandits now seemed desperate and emaciated from weeks in Quasqueton. As the wizard-triplet puzzled over the portal, Birdy stepped through the gate and fried the poor bastard! The Force dealt swiftly with the bandits, killing two and forcing the three survivors into service as porters. Birdy claimed an odd sparking wand from the dead mage.
The band descended to the lower levels, where unfinished construction merged with natural caverns. As they passed the unfinished museum, they noted that the friendly mimic had moved on since their last visit. The expedition took the tunnels to the west, hoping to find a path to flank the kobolds from below. Along the way, Kaledar had a close run-in with a giant spider, but Malloryโs token ensured safe passage past the arachnid.
Winifred and Heebie scouted ahead and identified a group of eight kobolds camping in a side chamber. They had dug a wolf pit filled with punji sticks to ensnare intruders, and had a sizable number of firebombs staged for quick use. Winifred hurled a firebomb of her own at the koboldsโ pallet, causing the whole thing to ignite and engulf the camp. Anything of potential use had surely burned to crisp.
Zig and Carrick led the group deeper into the fortress, the dwarf scanning passages useful to the attack. They came to a tunnel that was unusually cleanโnot a speck of dirt or fungi. The floor had been worn smooth, and an overwhelming stench of alcohol and citrus pervaded the passage. Zig stopped short just in time, but Carrick walked directly into a translucent ooze blocking the tunnel!
As Carrick began to dissolved while suspended in the gelatin, the Force set about trying to pull him out. Kaledar and the Woodfolk took hold of a rope attached to Heebie, who bravely joined Carrick in the gel to rescue his comrade. And not a moment too soon, for as soon as the pair were pulled from the gel, Birdy boiled it out of the cavern with a gout of flame!
Beyond the ooze was the passage Zig had soughtโa ladder led back up to the ground floor. Heebie ascended and found himself in a disused smith. After an all-clear from the halfling, the rest of the band followed. By Zigโs estimation, the band had emerged due north from the kobolds.
As the band cleared rooms, Winifred heard the muttering of another wizard-triplet beyond a set of double doors leading to Zelligarโs library. Kaledar attempted to lure them out by adopting the voice of another triplet, but this only served to tip them off. Carrick breached the door and was greeted with a loud crack! Smoke filled the cramped library, but as it cleared the dazed wizard-triplet was seen a full ten feet farther back than they had been moments before. Fumbling incantations led to a spell backfire, and now Hothgar believed themself Carrickโs very best friend.
Hothgar had met the party at the portal during their last foray to Quasqueton. Their group had been mostly wiped out after running afoul of the kobolds, pierced by poisoned darts in an ambush. They had survived by running faster, and had been tearing through the library in solitude ever since. It was their opinion that the library was some manner of decoy, with Zelligarโs true sanctum elsewhere. Birdy, who had already figured out the route, said nothing. A quick review of Hothgarโs โgrimoireโ revealed them to be little more than a fraud pasting together scrolls.
With Hothgar in tow, the band set off to find the kobolds. Rogahnโs blade glowed blue, revealing a secret storeroom full of building supplies and draught of architecture friendship. As they pressed on, distant banging and squeaking heralded a confrontation with the koboldsโฆ