The Ghost Tower

Since Ravenloft came out all those years ago, I've tried to do a special Halloween adventure in my campaigns.

In my current S&W OSR game, I took a 4e module from Dungeon called "The Ghost Tower" and retro-fied the adventure.

I posted the recaps at Carjacked Seraphim, my other blog.

Here are the links if you are interested:

Part 1

Part 2

A recap from the latest foray into CotMA will be up this week!

Matt's Characters

Here are the two characters my grandson Matt rolled up to play in "Episode 7".

We used a 4d6 (drop low) x 7 (drop low) to generate attributes.  We started him at 2nd level because the other adventurers were already 2nd and 3rd.

Therin the dwarf was definitely his favorite.  I like how he kept track of the monsters defeated at the top of the page.  He was also good about "eating rations" and "using torches" -- he erased and changed the numbers on his sheet.  He also found some spikes and a chain with a lock and key in the dungeon.  Thought those were valuable to keep, so he added them to his sheet.

:)  Good stuff.

CotMA - Episode 7

A few exciting things happened during this foray into the dungeon.  This trip, the party was Oryx, Owyn, Hanuman, Xavier, Kalen, Rolf and two newcomers the dwarf, Therin and the human fighter, Trey.  (These last two adventurers were played by my grandson, Matt!)

• The basilisk has apparently gone back into hiding; no new evidence of it was found on this trip
• The party re-entered the room of the three doors.  The discussed their options and based upon Kalen's detect magic spell, they decided to open the "Heaven can Wait" door.  Upon opening, the golden keys in the other doors disappeared.  A bluish gas erupted from the doorway and Oryx, Therin and Trey all got a lung full.  Owyn managed to dodge out of the way.  The gas didn't harm anyone, in fact, they felt somewhat bolstered by its effects.
• In the hall, the party attacked and defeated two giant scorpions.  They cut off and saved the two stingers in the hopes of using the venom against their enemies.  The paladin has mixed feelings about this...
• The heroes encountered an evil altar.  Two magical and fully articulated dragon heads - one blue and one red - made up both sides of the pedestal.  Owyn approached the altar and the hair on his arms began to stand up (static electricity?).  It radiated two flavors of evil... Lawful and Chaotic...  Owyn and Oryx decided that they would plug the mouths of the two heads with torches simultaneously... BUT WHY?  The blue head had two large sapphire eyes and the red head has two large ruby eyes...  The succeeded in plugging the mouths, but the two heads erupted with lightning and fire.  Oryx and Owyn took some damage but were able to escape the room before the full fury erupted.  Once it ended, the party was able to steal the two sapphires and one ruby before the altar began to recharge...
• The party encountered a group of four zombies all dressed like shabby, tatty manservants with backpacks.  They were easily turned by Xavier.
• The party discovered and attacked three giant toads, each of a different color.  At one point, Owyn's shield was pulled off his arm by the sticky tongue of a toad and swallowed immediately.  Upon defeating the toads, Owyn was able to extricate his shield from the beasts gut.
• The party discovered a strange "City in a Bottle".  The city was complete with a miniature sun and clouds, a miniature ocean and apparently thousands of inhabitants if Owyn's "detect evil" can be trusted.  The party couldn't find a way to unstopper the bottle (or remove the bottle from it's pedestal) so they left it behind... for now.
• Near the end of their excursion, the party came upon the "Grinning Skull" orcs.  They were quickly defeated with the use of a well-timed sleep spell.  The remaining orcs ran from the party.  After looting their lair, the party discovered a new stair well that led further down in to the depths.
• The party also discovered a new way back to the "Xanathar" pedestal room since the original path was collapsed from the earthquake.

CotMA - Episode 6

The adventurers returned to CotMA on this expedition as a small group of six.


Hanuman, Owyn, Oryx, Xavier, Kalen and Rolf were the sum total of the intrepid band.  They made two forays into the dungeon.  Here are some highlights:

• Upon descending into the dungeon, they discovered that the door to the earthquake collapsed section was closed and buckling under the strain.  The previous lair of the Black Spear Bandits now seems impassible.  
• They discovered that the troglodyte leader and his tribe were decimated by a basilisk.  They encountered statues of the leader in an heroic position trying to protect a female.  Later on they discovered another petrified female, some stone babies and a the grisly remnants of a basilisk feeding on other baby trogs.  Ick.
• Exploring further, they came upon the lair of giant rats.  Defeating them, they rescued a captive, "Harcourt" who they brought back to The City for rest and recuperation.  During the battle with the rats, Oryx's arm was broken by a vicious bite!
• Hanuman was grievously injured by slime monsters and the party had to retreat from the dungeon
• Later on, they avoided the basilisk using cunning.  Sir Owyn snuck up to an open door after having just seen the basilisk enter.  He slammed it and Kalen cast "hold portal" to keep the beast inside.
• Kalen went carousing in the tavern (ala Jeff Reint's carousing table) and rolled a 19.  His atheist character now is under a quest from Bachontoi (the God of Red Wisdom) to recover the "Rod of the Sky Gem".  Good news!  It's in the dungeon... you can just feel it... 
• Kalen dropped a copper into the cup of a Giant Ape statue (it was wearing a fez) and how he has an overall "weird/itchy/twitchy feeling".  Doesn't seem to want to go away...
• Upon their return to the dungeon, the adventurers discovered the lair of a group of hobgoblins.  The hobgobs protected their lair with the clever placement of a shrieker, but Hanuman used his magical tuning fork to render their shrieks "un-hearable".  The party was able to sneak up on the hobgoblins and they went down quickly.
• Hanuman collected a "sample" of what the party thinks is basilisk poop...
• At the end of their second foray of this session, the party came upon a room of three doors.  Door A says “Don't be boaring” (sic). Door B says “Why waste your time?” Door C says “Heaven can wait”.  Each door had a single golden key in the lock.  The adventurers retreated from this room and decided to try it next time.

The Defeat of the Hydra

It was a fierce battle and Oryx was attacked repeatedly...

CotMA - Episodes 4 and 5 - Catch Up Posting

Many interesting things happened in the Castle during Episodes 4 and 5.  This post is my attempt to "catch up" on both these episodes.  I'm afraid they won't be too narrative; just a set of bulleted highlights...

Episode 6 is this upcoming Thursday.  I want to post recaps with more regularity starting after that.  :)

• Xavier the Spiritual lost his leg to a giant beetle.  He had it replaced with an ornate silver "pegleg" below the knee of his own design.
• The characters discovered a magical tuning fork that has a silencing effect upon the wail of shriekers.
• At one point, the heroes encountered some blood sucking slime monsters...

• The adventurers encountered the "Room of the Clowns" and interacted with these magical mosaics.  Some gained; some lost.  HPs, Attribute points and minor magic items were on the table.  RF's cleric was the big winner.  Xavier lost his silver leg in the deal.  Is now considering himself "Xavier the Marked".  The "Room of Clowns" disappeared when they left it.
• The dungeon has suffered an earthquake.  The area once inhabited by the bandits is largely collapsed.
• The adventurers discovered and (largely) defeated a tribe of troglodytes.  The leader retreated and barricade himself in a small room with the women and children of his tribe.  He offered them their treasure with a crudely written plea of "TAK" on the floor.  The adventurers did indeed "take" the treasure and left the chieftain and non-combatants alone.  
• Following a corridor marked with snake-like bas reliefs, the adventurers went toe-to-toe with a 5-headed hydra that dwelled in an obscuring mist.  They defeated it, but Cack Trueshield lost an arm in the process.  The party collected parts of the hydra for future trade with a wizard or alchemist.
• The adventurers discovered an pedestal of sorts that emitted a mystical radiance.  A single crystalline tile was found upon its top surface.  It is obviously a puzzle, requiring more pieces to assemble.  The colored light, when cast upon the wall, revealed the name "Xanathar" written upon the wall.
• The party sold the hydra parts to Uuthak the Obscure, an alchemist in The City.  Uuthak was willing to subject Cack and Xavier to his "Regen-o-pod" to regrow their lost limbs.  It was dicey, but both heroes survived the process.  Xavier now sports a feline purple and bronze furred leg.  Cack has been graced with a steel colored tentacle in place of her lost arm.

If I've forgotten anything important, I invite the players to post in the comments.  See you on Thursday!

CotMA - Episode 3c

(It's been so long since we did this session; I'm not sure I can remember too much...)

The adventurers returned to the dungeon and returned to the pit.  They descended into the pit to discover the remains of poor Bob infested with large worm-like creatures.  One big douse of oil and then the liberal application of a torch took care of that.

Oryx searched the room for secret doors but found none.  How'd those worms get in there then???

They returned to the top of the pit and found a secret door.  A little fiddling with the "click/clunk" key allowed it to be opened with a push and turn.

Behind they found a damp chamber with a thin film of water on the floor.

At the end of an approx 40' corridor, they found another secret door (less secret from this side) and they opened it up.

Beyond they found a bedroom filled with a mouldering bed and other bedroom furniture.  Cautiously they searched the mound of refuse and found a small box and a set of pristine chainmail pants.  Inside the box they found a tuning fork of impressive quality.

They returned to the surface with their finds to have them appraised...