Wheat Hollow Adventure Log

Here's the latest from our campaign...

June 21, 2012

Bucky – Badger Fighter (Bobby Smith)
Chip – Squirrel Ranger (Nick Perk)
Fist – Mouse Wizard (Chris Brown)
Maple – Squirrel Ranger (Anna McConnell)
Munk – Chipmunk Illusionist (Bruce Heard)
Persephone (Pip) – Mouse Rogue (Rebecca Rudaski)

After finally figuring out a way to get the owls out of the way, the group climbed to the top of the tower, cleared out the owl nest that was there, and descended the ladder that they found underneath. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the group found themselves in a 30’ diameter room that was the rabbit wizard’s bedroom. It was equipped with a fireplace, a small table surrounded by four chairs, a bed, a bookcase filled with books, and a cloak hanging on a hook with a pair of boots underneath. There was also a spiral staircase leading down to the levels below.

The group promptly searched the dusty room, finding a small cooking pot that appeared to be filled with a fresh looking porridge. They quickly deduced that the pot had to be magical, based on the fact that it clearly looked like no one had been living in the tower for quite some time. After Bucky tried some to see if it was safe, Pip the mouse rogue quickly packed it away for safe keeping.  Munk checked out the old weather-stained cloak and boots, finding nothing of any significant value – even so, he decided to keep the cloak. Finding nothing else of interest, the group decided to descend the spiral staircase to the next level.

They found themselves in another 30’ diameter room that contained a large oval rug in the center of the room, a statue of a sea serpent to the west, a couch, a couple of tapestries that had strange designs on them, a door on the south end, and the spiral staircase still leading downward. The room was thoroughly searched. Upon opening the door, they found that it lead to the outside.  Other than the tapestries being of decent quality, they did not find any other items that peaked their interest; so, they decided to continue on down the spiral staircase.

After they descended another 10’, they found themselves at the bottom of the staircase in front of a door that had no handle, knob, or pull-ring – it was a completely smooth, blank door. To the side of the door was a small panel of six slats of different sizes and thicknesses with a small rounded hammer, or striker, next to it. Finding their way blocked and without any visible way of access, they quickly guessed that the small panel had something to do with it. Upon striking the panels, they each made a different note. After a period of trial and error, frustration, and brainstorming, they were able to find the correct pattern to open the door.

The door opened to a plain 20’x30’ room which had a table surrounded by four chairs and a silver candle holder on top of the table. There was also a door on the south side wall. Pip, being the first person in the room, promptly grabbed the candle holder and quickly stashed it away. A quick search revealed nothing of value or importance. Fist, the mouse wizard, decided it was a good time to cast Detect Magic. From this, he was able to sense a source magic beyond the south wall and to his left. They decided to check the door to see what was beyond.

Upon opening the door they found a 30’ hallway that ended in a door with two doors directly opposite each other about 15’ away from them. They went down the hallway to the two doors and chose the door on the right side. The door was unlocked and opened into a 30’x30’ room that was filled with tubes, vials, and other chemistry type of equipment. There was also a workbench and a bookcase in the room. The chemistry equipment was still in very good shape and they found three potion bottles which they kept. They also found a bunch of spell components in the many bottles and containers. The bookcase was filled with all kinds of books relating to chemistry. Ignoring an opening in the south part of the wall, they party decided to head back across the hall to the door opposite this room because of Fist’s reminding them that his Detect Magic spell was about to expire.

The party opened the door and entered the room (luckily for them it wasn’t trapped!). It was the same dimensions as the room directly across, 30’x30’. Inside the room they found a long couch with end tables at both ends, some pegs along the east wall that had cloaks hanging on them, and a couple of chests under the cloaks. A quick scan of the room using Fist’s Detect Magic spell revealed that the magical aura was coming from behind the east wall where the cloaks were hung. The party searched the wall and found the secret door. Opening it revealed a small 5’ wide hallway heading both north and south. Going to the north the group found a medium sized chest that was locked. The thief threw caution to the wind and opened the chest, setting off a glyph which exploded in her face. Inside the chest were a cloak, a dagger, and a wand. Inside the cloak was a magic-user’s spell book that was filled with 0 to 3^rd level spells. The cloak was given to Munk for some protection, the dagger was confiscated by Pip, and the wand was also given to Munk. Being the only magic-user in the group, the spell book went to Fist. Munk promptly went to the top of the tower to see what the wand would do – a quick flick of the wrist and a magic word caused a couple of Magic Missiles fired out of the wand. Happy with the results, he put the wand away for safe keeping and joined the rest of the group back down at the bottom of the tower.

 During this time Maple found a chest at the other end of the narrow secret hallway - to the best of her abilities she did not find any traps. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. As she opened the chest, another glyph went off causing enough damage to knock her unconscious. Luckily for her, Bucky had one remaining potion of cure light wounds and promptly poured it down her throat, being her back to the waking world. Inside the chest was a small wooden box with a clasp on it. Upon opening the wooden box, the party was surprised to find two black eggs with gold runes painted on them – the same type of exploding eggs that the owls used on the group in their initial attack. The party made sure that they were safely stored away.

Satisfied that nothing else of interest, or value, was in the room the party decided to go through an exit on the south section of the room. The opening led into a small 15’x20’ filled with boxes and other storage containers filled with moldy and spoiled food stuffs.

Finding nothing of use, the party exited through a door in the west wall out into a small 20’ hallway with another door exactly opposite them. Feeling that this area was void of traps they promptly opened the door. Inside they found a room the same size as the one they just left; only this room had a small cot with a blanket and pillow on it and a chest at the foot of it. Bucky turned over the cot to find a small compartment on the bottom side of it. It contained a small book that had runes painted on it similar to the eggs that they had found. The writing was only readable to Fist, who was able to make out enough of it to know that it had something to do with the making of the special exploding eggs that they found in the other room. The trunk had a pair of old boots in it.

Satisfied that they had found all that they could in the tower, they decided to spend the night in the tower before continuing with their quest to discover the whereabouts of the Long Fang Gang. The night quickly passed safe and sound, all getting a good night’s sleep.  

Exiting the tower the adventurers headed out on a southerly course, looking for any clues that might lead them to the secret hideout of the rats. The day’s travels were quiet and uneventful. Although they had travelled a good distance through the woods, they still hadn’t found any clues.

Spending the night out in the woods almost had dire consequences. In the wee hours of the night, shortly before dawn, the party was attacked by a black rat snake which had used its “sleep” musk to knock out the two ranger guards. Luckily for the party, Munk, who was happily sleeping in a hammock up in the tree branches, heard what was going on below and was able to shoot at the snake with his wand of magic missiles before it could start feeding on one of the rangers. This caused quite a commotion and woke up most of the group – for some reason, Pip decided to sleep through the whole thing. Between Munk’s shooting of magic missiles and Bucky whacking the snake with his spiked mace, the snake did not last very long and was quickly dispatched.

Seeing that it was early morning and the sun was starting to come up, the group decided to continue their search for the rat’s hideout. Halfway through the morning the group was greeted by a rather large Great-horned owl. He only introduced himself as the Lord of the woods, but wanted to thank them for ridding the woods of the nasty Stygian owls. He inquired as to why they were in the woods in the first place and was told that the party was looking for the hideout of the rats. The owl instantly knew who/what they were talking about and told them that he could lead them to the very spot.

After playing follow-the-leader through the woods for the next few hours, the owl was able to bring them to the front door of the Long Fang’s hideout. The owl wished them luck and went on his merry way.

The front door was on the side of a rocky hillside and was made of solid oak. The door was covered and surrounded by a clear, slippery slime. The group decided to check out the surrounding area to see if there was another of source of entry. They were unable to locate one, but found a crack in the hillside that was emitting a foul, sharp odor. The odor seemed to have a drowsing effect on Munk, so the party decided it was a good idea to plug up the crack. Hoping that whatever was creating it would be overcome by the fumes.

It was at this point that time ran out on our gaming session and we were forced to stop for the evening. The next session should bring the adventuring group face-to-face with some new creatures and experiences.

So, stay tuned!!

Lost Fang's Gold cover art sketch

The little frog in the corner isn't happy with me because I had him deleted from the first sketch that Jim did (he won't be in the final artwork). Jim's one funny guy!! :o)

This artwork is for the next adventure coming out - Lost Fang's Gold. Black Tim's Prize is going to be pushed back a little bit.

Some more illustrations by Jim Holloway

Wheat Hollow Adventure Log - May 31st, 2012

Player Characters
Chip – Squirrel - 1^st level - Ranger (Nick Perk)
Fist – Mouse – 1^st level - Wizard (Chris Brown)
Maple – Squirrel - 1^st level - Ranger (Anna McConnell)
Munk – Chipmunk – 1^st level - Illusionist (Bruce Heard)
Persephone (Pip) – Mouse - 1^st  level - Rogue (Rebecca Rudaski)
Filch – Squirrel – 2^nd level – Rogue (Steve Polasky)
Melbo – Skunk – 3^rd level – Fighter (group)

Our last session ended with the two groups, the party and the owls, at a stale-mate, staring at each other wondering what the other was going to do next. Well, the group decided it would be best that they should back off to a safe distance and find a place to rest for the night and then try to figure out what to do about the owls - possibly sneaking up the tower during day, hoping that they might be gone or at least asleep.

The night did not go peacefully. At about 3 or 4 in the morning, Filch spotted a small group (six) of some strange beings heading towards their camp. Not taking any chances, he woke up the group just as the creatures arrived at their camp and attacked. They looked like rather large thistles with sharp little teeth and thistly paws. The dice were hot for the adventurers – for although they took a couple of minor hits, the thistlers were quickly hacked down, with even Fist the wizard taking a down a couple. The rest of the night passed quietly.

The next morning Maple decided that it would be best for her to check out the tower alone using her ranger skills, hoping to find a way into the tower. When she reached the open area near the tower, she noticed that all was quiet around the tower, no owls to be seen. She silently snuck up to the tower door and pressed the door-bell. The chime sounded and the woodchuck butler again made his appearance, reciting the same lines and performing the same movements as before. Finding this odd and not finding another way to get into the tower, she returned to the group and gave her report.

This time it was decided that the whole group would go back to the tower and investigate the front door a little more. As they approached the tower, the group noticed that a smaller owl was out perched on the landing towards the top, staring out into the woods. It didn’t appear to notice them. Judging successfully their distance from the owl, Fist cast a Sleep spell which quickly put the little fella to snoozing. The group quickly moved up to the tower door and pressed the button. They were treated to a carbon-copy repeat of the woodchuck butler show. This time, Munk correctly deduced that the whole thing was an illusion. Finding that the door would not open and was not yielding to their attacks, they started to move around the base of the tower to find a possible secret entrance.

Unfortunately, the attacks on the door alerted the owls up above, with the largest owl of the group swooping down to the assault on the group. Chip took up his bow and arrows, Fist started to cast a Magic Missile spell, the rest of the group did their best to avoid any direct confrontation with the owl. The owl quickly dove down and tried to rake Chip with its sharp talons, unsuccessfully. In return, it was hit with an arrow and a Magic Missile spell, noticeably hurting the owl. Undaunted, the owl again dove down for the attack.

As the owl was busy with Chip and Fist, the rest of the group was busy scaling the side of the tower to reach the top with Fist and Munk again searching the base of the tower - only this time Fist cast a Detect Magic spell to see if they could find any magical entrance into the tower. When Pip and Maple reached the top, it was quickly decided to tie up the owl and hold it for ransom. Pip suggested that it might be a good idea to pitch the owl over the side; Maple was shocked and would do no such thing! So, the little owl was spared the 30’ drop to its death. Shortly after tying up the owl, the party on top was met by the other adult owl and two other young. The adult owl did not press the attack once it noticed that the group had the other youngster. He gave a loud screech which got the attention of the other adult owl which broke off its attack and swung around and landed next to the other owls.

With the group up above keeping the owl’s attention glued to them, Fist and Munk patrolled around the base of the tower and located something magical with their spell. However, it was not located in or on the tower, the magic emanated from one of a group of large wads of hair balls that they noticed for the first time lying at the base of the tower. They correctly identified them as owl pellets and started to dig through the one that radiated magic. Inside the found a skeleton hand that had a ring on one of the fingers, along with bits of fabric that appeared to be clothing of some sort. Putting two and two together, they came to the conclusion that the owls were not part of the wizard’s tower, but were the ones responsible for the wizard’s disappearance.

Back up above, the group did the best they could to communicate with the owls, but it didn’t appear that they were getting through to them. The owls just kept staring at the group and the young one that was tied up. The young owl was starting to come out of the Sleep spell that Fist had cast. Noticing that the owls weren’t pressing forward to the attack, the group decided that releasing the young owl to its parents might be the best idea. As soon as the young owl was released, both the adult owls let out a loud screech and the whole family flew off to other parts of the forest.

With the owls gone, Filch dropped down a rope so that Fist and Munk could climb up the tower to join the rest of the party. As soon as they were all together, they set about to find clues and a possible entrance to the tower. Walking around to the back side of the tower, they found an opening in the round structure on top. When they entered, they found a large nest filled with sticks and other forest debris. However, they also found a few bones that undoubtedly belong to the rabbit wizard who lived in the tower. They also found star charts that were posted in the inside walls, along with a tobacco jar and pipes that were sitting on a shelf. Munk found and kept what remained of a telescope that was stuck in the nest, saving it so that he could take a closer look later. Finding no other ways down, they proceeded to start taking the nest apart. When they were about halfway through, they could hear that objects were falling down and clattering on the floor below - completing the removal of the nest, they found a round hole in the floor with a ladder leading down.

Due to the DM forgetting to bring the one essential binder that was necessary to continue the adventure, the session had to stop there for the night. So, the next session will start with the group heading down the ladder to see what they can find!