OLD SKOOL CAMPAIGN DIARY - STORMING THE MOAT HOUSE, PT 1

The Heroes: 

• Anton Loyalar: Oeridian Paladin of Heironeous
• Coppyr: Halfing Monk
• Eli Pendar: Flannish Cleric of Pholtus
• Tharn: Dwarf barbarian of the Fireforge clan

Guest Star: 

• Elmo: Warrior of some kind

The heroes, along with the rest of town, are shocked at the destruction of Burne and Rufus’ tower.  Many know that the town council had been summoned there just within the hour and now many fear that they are dead, including the wife and daughter of Ostler Gundigoot, who rush out of the Welcome Wench, running towards the scene.  The heroes, too, make their way there and find that the upper two stories of the tower are gone, blasted away and crumbled down to the base of the tower. 

The people look to the heroes for direction and they begin to try and clear the rubble from the tower’s first level, but the sheer amount of stone and timber that chokes it makes the work dangerous and nearly impossible.  From the crowd, one large man emerges and starts screaming in anguish, “PA!  PA!!!”  He digs at the rubble, moving large boulders with ease, but causing the unstable mass to become even more unstable.  The heroes and others pull the man back before he makes a dangerous situation worse.  He falls to his knees sobbing, calling out to his pa, who was evidently in the tower.  The townfolk know the sobbing man to be Elmo, the son of the town’s militia leader Otis.  Elmo is also known as the town drunk, spending much of his time drinking in the Welcome Wench or passed out in the street or an alley.   Elmo pulls himself up, shrugs off the consoling townfolk and storms off into the crowd.

The heroes tell the crowd that it is too late and too dark to attempt to get into the tower remains.  They instruct the townfolk to return in the morning to start work on clearing the rubble.  As the crowd disperses, the heroes see Elmo marching down the street towards the moat house.  He is dressed in studded armor and bearing weapons.  They intercept him and convince him to wait until morning and accompany them to make Lareth and his minion pay for what they did.  Elmo reluctantly agrees.

The following morning, the heroes find Elmo waiting for them and the group heads off towards the moat house.  Tharn prods Elmo a bit on his background and learns that the big man had gotten himself mixed up with some bad people and ended up doing some things that he deeply regrets, to the point that he began to drink himself to death.  He also mentions that he and his friends used to explore the moat house when they were younger, even though it was off limits.  It was abandoned then, but Elmo knows of a secret way in that leads into the dungeons.  He takes the heroes into the swamps and to a hill that has a concealed door built into it, which he opens to reveal stairs leading down.

The group follow the big man down the stairs and into a long, stone passageway.  Eventually they see lights where torches have been lit, suggesting an occupied area.  Elmo says that there are a series of rooms up ahead and the passage also continues off diagonally to another part of the dungeon.  Coppyr sneaks ahead invisibly and hears someone moving behind the door leading to the rooms Elmo mentioned.  The rest of the group catch up to Coppyr and Tharn tries to smash through the door, but finds it sturdier than he anticipated.  He and Elmo try again and together the door breaks, but the initial attempt alerted the people on the other side, who move to attack!  Crossbows hum with bolts being fired while Elmo and the others force their way into the hall to attack the thugs.  Several more appear from the rooms beyond the hall and the fight gets difficult.  A leader shouts directions, suggesting this group has tactical training.  But the heroes, along with Elmo, manage to fight their way in and kill most of the thugs.  The last two surrender and, after some prompting, offer up that Lareth is elsewhere in the dungeon with his entourage, speaking with the gnolls and bugbears he recruited to his cause.

The heroes pause here, catch their breath, heal some wounds and figure out their next move.

End of session.