Play Report Dec 16 2025 - Crow's Keep #20
Introduction
The last session of 2025! I felt this session was a fitting end to the year. A bunch of old hooks from prior sessions came back around, and we had some good old fashioned dungeoning to round things out.
We were rejoined by a player who had not been with us for awhile, which is always a treat.
Overall I really dig the OAR #1 stock of Quasqueton plus extras. Very easy to run straight out of the book with just a titch of prep, and has that classic feel I love so much. I have done a little extra massaging of it to make it all work, but it was a good choice.
Looking back at the last year I'm really happy with how my investment in the hobby has paid off. I got to play Wolves Upon the Coast, finished running Giants-Drow-Queen, and started this DCC campaign. I started this very blog! Joining the gay Brazilian communist OSR server has helped me level up at running and playing games, and has put me in touch with so many like-minded people who challenge and inspire me to think more deeply about the games I've spent so much of my life playing. I'm excited to keep at it in 2026!
Report
- Kaledar, cleric 2
- Carrick, warrior 2
- Winifred, thief 2
- Heebie Jeebie, halfling 1
- Mylan, thief 1
Plus retainers Aislinn and Daniel the Blade
Another delve into the depths of Quasqueton! While traversing familiar halls, the Blade of Rogahn began to glow blue, indicating the presence of a hitherto-unknown secret door! A false rock jutting from the wall was found to be a lever, causing a section of the tunnel to reveal a well-worked staircase downward.
The Ogre-whelming Force carefully descended deep below the mountain, finding an unusual room: an empty throne carved in the shape of a dragon with eyes of fire opal, surrounded by fine weapons on all sides. A booming voice echoed throughout the chamber, announcing that the band had found the Tomb of Rogahn! As the dead hero noted, he had robbed many a tomb in his life, so his own was built to challenge the mettle of any would-be robbersβonly fair, after all! The voice described this first room as THE TEST OF BALANCE!
Kaledar was first into the room, carefully making his way across the panelled floor. Over his shoulder, he noticed a doorway on the same wall as the entrance about 12 feet high. As the cleric crossed the halfway mark, the roomβs floor pitched forward, threatening to send him tumbling into the sharp weapons at the far side of the room! Kaledar was lucky, though. At the last moment, he was able to cling to the throne until the room reset. The grateful band gave Kaledar their attaboys while Winifred and Mylan worked to jam the mechanism. With floor engaged, the band was able to pass through the high doorway and move deeper into the tomb.
In the next room, torches burned with white heatless light. Stone statues loomed with real weapons in hand, and Rogahnβs voice implored the band to come in and behold the mural at the far side of the room. As the party strode forward to behold the gem-dotted mural of Rogahnβs early victories, the door behind them slammed shut! The voice then welcomed them to the TEST OF BATTLE!
Axes, swords, spears, and tetsubo flew from the statuesβ hands and began a deadly dance around the band. Winifred tried to pull an axe from the air, but was carried off like a novice rider on a flighty horse! Although that same axe bit deeply into Heebie Jeebie, the band was able to discover an escape door hidden between two unarmed statues and fend off the animated arms.
The next room, THE TEST OF STRENGTH! was described as the final challenge by the voice. A mighty Wheel of Pain dominated the room. None could budge the contraption. Even the whole band straining together could only produce an awful metallic screeching. However, Heebie scrawled in an unobtrusive place βwork smarter, not harderβ which led to Mylan oiling the mechanism in the floor. Once greased, the Wheel turned easily; opening a northern door when turned clockwise and the southern when turned the opposite direction. To the south, the thieves spotted a rune of summoning painted on the steps, which had hidden it from casual inspection. Remembering their last encounter with such a trap, the band opted to head north until a wizard could join them.
As the Force passed through the northern door, Rogahnβs voice boomed out once again. βI was pulling your leg,β it said mirthfully. βTHIS is the final test: THE TEST OF BATTLE AND BALANCE!!!β
A narrow catwalk spanned a chasm, leading to stone double doors that undoubtedly led to Rogahnβs final resting place. Blocking the door was a mighty figure of bone-white armor and vermicular flesh, wielding a double-ended halberd. In the chasm below, the grinding and clatter of bone could be heard.
As Carrick strode across the catwalk, skeletal hands reached for his heels! Kaledar spoke a word of rebuke, turning the skeletons away from the catwalk. Carrick fought bravely against the guardian for a time, but could only survive a few slashes of the enormous whirling polearm. Before he retreated, Carrick severed a number of the braided strand of musculature in the guardianβs right arm, showering the room with black oil. Daniel the Blade stepped into the fray, crouched low to attack its legs; followed by Kaledar, who was swept into the pit by the guardian! A final volley from the thieves and halfling felled the guardian. The band hauled Kaledar from the pit and smashed the skeletons, moving on to the tomb itself.
Within the tomb, the Force found two sarcophagi, one empty. Kaledar opened the second, finding a womanβs skeleton within, still draped in the remnants of her finery. A cold perfumed wind blew from nowhere, and a ghostly presence spoke through Kaledar.
Melissa, once an elf and the lady of Quasqueton, had died of grief some decades earlier when Rogahn failed to return from the wilderness. She missed him and her sister Marevine terribly. The party informed Melissa of Rogahnβs fate and offered to take her to see her sister before she went to the other side. With this promise, Melissaβs ghost allowed them to pass Zelligar's summoning rune and claim the tombβs treasure.