Play Report Jan 20 2026 - Crow's Keep #22
Introduction
It's wild what a couple of random encounters and a weeks-old plot hook will get you when the table is right! Our third player death, and at the hands of another player. PvP really does rock when everyone is down with it, and I think it was a satisfying conclusion to Glennβs character.
Nulb happened very quickly in a way I'm a little dissatisfied with. I can't quite put my finger on it, but in the moment I was happy with how I ruled on itβof course the butcher has flammables, it's very dark in the woods and hard to see, the use of an evil elemental power no doubt points to the Caves of Chaos, etc. Overall, the players were holding their breath and cheering when it went well. Maybe sometimes a plan just comes together, you know? I think the big trick will be what happens after the false flag. How will Nulb rebuild and respond? What sort of reprisal will come from the Caves?
I'm excited for Aislinn, one of my solo game PCs, to be promoted from retainer to fully-fledged PC. Since they took control of her, the players have regarded her as their pinch-hitter and shit-doer, so I feel proud seeing one of the little people from my brain be so well-regarded.
A few players have asked about ways to spend their gold besides carousing; I'm planning on allowing them to obtain some more companions using wealth, and maybe giving them the opportunity to refurbish a ruin in Emridy. Maybe even the Mad Hermit's shack in the woods.
At the moment, I'm working on a conversion of Mike's World to 1mi hexes for this campaign, and am currently keying locations in my B2 hexmap. And maybe something about that reprisalβ¦
Report
- Carrick, level 2 warrior
- Winifred, level 2 thief
- Kaledar, level 2 cleric
- Glenn, level 2 warrior (RIP)
- Heebie Jeebie, level 1 halfling
Retainers Aislinn and Daniel the Blade
The Ogre-whelming Force set out for the village of Nulb. Previously, they had blackmailed a local poacher and butcher by the name of Barth to spy on the bandit crews supplying the Caves of Chaos. The band was eager to obtain more intelligence and perhaps sever a key supply line for the Caves.
The band traveled through the ruined vicinity of Emridy Meadows, an abandoned cluster of farms and towns where the last great conflict between the Keep and Caves had occurred decades earlier. They came upon a ruined church ringed by homesteads and heard voices in the still winter air.
Bandits were tearing up graves in the churchyard, shivering and cursing. The band crept up upon them, recalling rumors of bandits excavating certain locations in Emridy Meadows for some unknown purpose.
While Carrick, Kaledar, and Daniel tried to distract the bandits by posing as a group of troubadours, Aislinn was dispatched to set up a climbing rope in the church's second story, but the grappling hook tore out a portion of the dry-rotted sill and alerted the bandits! The banditsβ leader, Mad Dog Matilda, would have slain Kaledar but for some quick and lethal sword work from Carrick!
The bandits were flankedβwith Heebie Jeebie, Winifred, Glenn, and Aislinn attacking from the south while Carrick, Kaledar, and Daniel fought the bandits at the church's front door. A second bandit leader, Cutter Rog, burst from inside church wielding a partisan. Rog swept Carrick's legs out from under him while another bandit fell upon the young knight with a bodkin knife.
Filled with rage from his bear-hood, Glenn leapt over the iron fence of the churchyard and exhaled the Toothed Wind into the church, slaying several bandits. Carrick struck a bandit vexing him with a mailed fist, stunning her long enough to get up. Before long, the surviving bandits surrendered to the Force.
A letter in Matilda's coat revealed the bandits were pursuing a bounty from the Caves of Chaos: a hefty sum of coin for locating the final resting place of one General Richter. Both Glenn and Kaledar knew the name: a famous knight of Law who defected to Chaos and participated in the sack of Emridy.
Cutter Rog was taken hostage. He assured the party that no friendship could exist between thm, for Mad Dog Matilda was his aunt. Still, he agreed to cooperate with the party in exchange for fighting one of them to the death back at the Keep, rather than submit to a hanging. The remaining bandits were permitted to flee. As they continued toward Nulb, Kaledar swore to Glenn that if the Toothed Wind was abused or invoked frivolously, the cleric would slay the warrior himself.
Along the way, the band spotted a snowy hill that seemed to be moving of its own volition! As the band squinted and crept closer, they realized the hill was teeming with regiments of the walking dead. Their hostage laughed grimly and told them that the skeletal soldiers continued to relitigate the Battle of Emridy Meadows. Wishing to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, the Ogre-whelming Force gave the dead a wide berth.
The band arrived in Nulb after dark. The shapes of bandits moved furtively in the greasy light from the torches and tavern windows. The band moved carefully along the darkened edge of town to Barth's. While there, they learned further details about the balance of power in town and the cultistsβ search for General Richter. Next they began to scheme how to address the bandit conspiracy.
It was Kaledar's idea: pose as a cultist from the Caves and torch the tavern, where Nulb's spokesman and aspiring lord Richard held court, thereby driving a wedge between the cult and their suppliers. As Barth fretted and planned to flee Nulb, the band raided his shop for flammable oils, torches, and other useful gear for their attack. Cutter Rog, no friend of Richardβs crew, agreed to assist.
Carrick led Barth away from town to a crossroads outside of town. Kaledar, Glenn, Daniel and Rog took the square with Aislinn on overwatch from a nearby roof; while Heebie Jeebie and Winifred moved to the rear of the tavern to set the fire. As Kaledar began bellowing grim portents of Chaos, the tavern went up in flames.
Winifred and Heebie Jeebie fled to meet Carrick and Barth, while the rest of the group was forced to fight their way through bandits to escape. Glenn, mad with blood, invoked the Toothed Wind again. The screaming gale fed the flames engulfing the tavern, turning it into a great conflagration. Believing his friend was sliding deeper into the gnoll-madness, Kaledar struck suddenly at Glenn and left him for dead.
While distracted, Kaledar himself was stabbed in the back by Cutter Rog, eager to avenge his aunt. Kaledar stumbled and fell, bleeding profusely, but was rescued in time by Daniel, who slew Rog with a single blow.
Aislinn, who had seen everything from her overwatch, grabbed Glenn's pack and hood before tearing off into the night. At the rendezvous, she confronted Kaledar before the rest of the Ogre-whelming Force! Surely, Kaledar's reputation would suffer now that he was a known murderer, a friend-slayer no less.
Despite it all, Glenn's bloodthirsty invocation of the gnollsβ wind-patron may have been the decisive factor: there was no doubt that the Caves of Chaos had turned on Nulb, and word had it that the bandits had severed their ties with the Caves! Aislinn staked her claim as a full-fledged member of the Ogre-whelming Force and hung Glenn's bear-cape in their clubhouse as a memento.