Play Report Dec 09 2025 - Crow's Keep #19
Introduction
Catching up on the old backlog of reports following the maelstrom of the winter holidays. I am very pleased with my notetaking of lateβI was able to reconstruct this session although it was nearly a month ago now.
Not much to report on this one, to be honest! Some chill, cautious dungeon crawling. Not too much treasure as a result, though the topazes helped them turn a profit, while Heebie-Jeebie took a big swing jumping into the freezing water.
At the moment, I'm working on playing out the griffin-rearing rules from Reavers, as the band retrieved an egg many sessions ago.
I'm currently plugging away with a copy of Worldographer I got for the holidays. I'm kind of addicted. Iβll be keying the Borderlands and making Mike's World into a hexcrawl soon.
Report
- Carrick, level 2 warrior
- Winifred, level 1 thief
- Tan, level 1 elf
- Heebie-Jeebie, level 1 halfling
- Kaledar, level 2 warrior
- Glenn, level 2 warrior
Having liberated Quasqueton from the kobolds, the Ogre-whelming Force returned to the fortress to check in on their allies, the Woodfolk. RΓ³isΓn Haregetter had taken custody of the old redoubt, and crowned herself Queen of the Woodfolk. The upper level was secure and garrisoned with the Woodfolk gallowglasses, but the sublevels remained dangerous.
Never ones to back down from a challenge, the Force descended into the depths to finish mapping Quasqueton. Almost immediately, they were beset by gargoyles, who seemed to have grown from the very walls of the complex since the last foray below. Though the gargoylesβ stony flesh repelled the Forceβs arrows, it was no match for their enchanted blades.
The Ogre-whelming Force continued to map the complex, finding a carved amphitheatre and identifying a circuit of tunnels. Tan wondered at what the place might have been like had it been finished, and the band mourned the fallen Zig.
In a side cavern, the band dispatched a bizarre giant insect and extracted topazes from its gullet. They let the thing lie, which later attracted a pair of odd and twisted figures from deeper in the caves. Carrick stayed the hand of the hotter heads in the band, allowing the figures to slip away.
Further into the complex, the Ogre-whelming Force discovered a pocket of frigid cold, which they linked to Zelligar's weather experiments Birdy had found some months ago. They marked a completely frozen waterfall and a cold spring of drinking water, from which Heebie-Jeebie retrieved an ivory scroll tube.
The Force came across a massive cavern housing an enormous bat colony. Though they did not tarry long for fear of agitating the colony, they found a tunnel leading off into the darkβthe mouth lined painted symbols of Chaos. No doubt this was a route linking Quasqueton to the Caves of Chaos.
Speaking the password gleaned from Zelligar's bedside reading, the band passed through the portal they had discovered some months ago. They lurched through spacetime and emerged in what was surely Zelligarβs true sanctumβnot one of the many decoys they had found in the upper level.
The foyer was filled with statues of the wizard, each in distinct moods or engaged in particular activities. While trying to gain access to another room, Winifred set off a trap that transformed her into a toad for several days.
Although the wonders of Zelligarβs laboratory lay beyond the offending door, the band retreated. They would be ready for the wizardβs cabinet of curiosities another dayβ¦