**Real dates:** 5/25/19, 5/26/19 **In-game dates:** November 21st-22nd, EY632

**PCs:**

Ambrose (Swashbuckler – Fighter L5)
Roger (Woodsman – Warden L4)
Imric (Swordsman/Theurgist - Fighter L3/MU L4)
Zort (Curate - Cleric L5)

**Hirelings:**

Vol (porter/torchbearer)
Sundarr (porter/torchbearer)
Vog (Veteran - Fighter L0)
Halfrim (Veteran - Fighter L0) Squire to Ambrose

**Retainers**

Webris (Vicar - Cleric L4)

In town the party learned from the sage that the black dragon emblem
on the shield used to be sigil of Rue the Fierce, an evil wizard who
lived centuries ago. He is known to have made alliances with Dark
Elves and was defeated by Sir Ignatius the Valiant - former prince
of Nolenor. The sage commented that it does not bode well if Rue's
sigil is emblazoned on the shield of an evil warrior some 300 years
later.

The party set out the next morning, intent on exploring more of the
wilderness to the southeast. They gave the old Hobbit village [1] a
wide birth after spying three Manticores feasting on a bear carcass,
and continued on.

Eventually the forest turned to marsh, and the party found
themselves in a gully facing a small hill and cave entrance. An old
woman was walking along the path towards the cave when they
arrived. She turned and greeted them, inviting them into her cave
for some tea. The party was reluctant to join her, so she turned and
entered her cave. As she did so, a thick fog enveloped the gully,
obscuring sight of the entrance. Now on high alert, the party was
not surprised when a large, purple-skinned ogre emerged from the
mist and attacked! In the ensuing battle, Ambrose was wounded but
the party prevailed.

The mist soon cleared and the party entered the cave, now empty save
for a pile of bones and a fire pit. They found nothing obvious, but
Ambrose decided to check the fire pit, and saw underneath the burned
wood and ash pile was a large, flat stone. He directed Vol and
Sundarr to lift it so he could see what was underneath. This turned
out to be a bad decision - a fire trap went off as soon as the rock
was moved, engulfing and killing both Vol and Sundarr, and singeing
Ambrose and Zort, who were farther away. The magical fire also
melted a pile of gold and silver coins, although there were some
intact gems. The party decided to bury their porters, and rest for
the night in the cave.

In the morning they headed west, towards drier and higher ground. At
one point, a Green Dragon flew overhead, but the party was obscured
by the tree canopy and was not spotted.

They eventually approached a curved cliff face dotted with white
flowers. About 40 yards ahead, they could see a pair of feet
sticking out from the cliff face. A body perhaps? They could not be
sure from their vantage. Roger and Zort approached, but as they did
so, they both had an overwhelming urge to sleep. They shook it off
and continued, finding a pale, dead Dwarf laying against the
cliff. They began to loot the body, but were interrupted by shouts
form the rest of the group. They ran back to find them under attack
by a wandering band of Gnolls and a giant wolf.

The initial surprise attack from behind had been deadly for Halfrim,
who had his throat ripped out by the Worg. In the ensuing battle,
Vog was killed by a Gnoll spear, but the party eventually defeated
the Gnolls with a few more wounds. They decided not to tempt fate
with four dead already, and head back to town.

Heading back the way they came, they camped overnight in a small
forest clearing. All was quiet until the early morning hours, when
Roger, on watch, was alerted to a noise in the woods nearby. He woke
the party and crept off to investigate. From a distance he spied a
creature with the body of a serpent and a head of writhing snakes -
a Medusa, moving towards the camp! He shook off a chill and loosed a
volley of arrows, wounding it. As the others arrived, Roger warned
them not to look at the creature. Imric did so anyway, casting
_light_ at the creature's eyes, obscuring its vision. The party was
then able to surround and kill it.

The party returned to eat breakfast and break camp. The rest of the
journey back to Frostmark was uneventful.

**Referee notes:**

A very unlucky session for the hirelings, with all four of them
dead. After this session I began limiting the party to retainers -
classed and leveled help. The zero-level men with limited armor and
hit points proved too fragile for the encounters in the OD&D
wilderness. In-game, the party was contending with a reputation for
killing off the lowly hired help, and would find it impossible to
convince anyone to accompany them.

Both Roger and Imric got lucky and made their saves against
petrifaction when they first confronted the Medusa. The light spell
was clever and I ruled that if the Medusa failed her save (she did),
the light would prevent her from meeting anyone's gaze.

[1]: gopher://gopher.smolderingwizard.com/0/rpg/play_reports/nolenor/nolenor-09.txt