Dungeon Crawl Classics: Fellowship of the Goose

Now campaign log is available under https://fellowship-of-the-goose.obsidianportal.com/

When the granary burned down, the villagers had nothing to sell and no provisions for winter. So they chose some of their daughters and sons to enter the cursed tomb that had been up in a mountain valley forever. Others had tried to brave it before but never returned, and no one had been desperate enough to try since. But winter was looming, and the unknown fate of an adventurer was preferrable to starving quite predictably. And so they set out.

WIthin the tomb they found mostly curses and traps. Some ended up disfigured by the events, and the dwarf remains buried below the stone door at the entrance to this day. But they pushed on - past magic mouths, past the corpse of one of the last daring adventurers, into the depths. They fought skeletons. And here the goose revealed itself, in the hour of need, as the farm girl named Clio distracted the undead minions to save one or two comrades from certain death. Thus the Fellowship of the Goose was born, especially since the duck proved to be too independent to be thrown into any old fountain or pool after another, and hence did not make a good mascot.

Magellan the Elf was one of the few unlucky enough to truly expire, as he explored a dark shaft to its end, only to be gruesomely eaten by whatever - we may never know - lurked at its end. Drugo the Halfling knew discretion was the better part of valor and retreated hastily, and the whole party explored other venues.

Ambrose, a cooper by trade, was the first to explore down another hallway, past the arch with the glowing runes. Several followed before the hideous nature of the arch was revealed, bending their will to fight one another. Luckily it was mostly a brawl, but when one of their lot wanted to hit the possessed Ambrose with a crowbar, he fought back in kind, ending her journey forever. In the end, the unconscious and wounded were retrieved, and the room down the stairs behind the arch turned out to be the burial chamber of the chieftain's wife or a similar female dignitary. The jewelry they found on her withered bones was more than enough to trade for a winter's worth of food.

Their purpose fulfilled they felt no further hunger for adventure and left the dark depths before any other harm could befall them. But adventuring is an acquired taste, and if you're only looking forward to being an indentured servant for the rest of your days it turns out to be quite an appealing one. So 14 of them never returned from their trip to the nearest town, because some opportunities are better than none.

The village had been saved, and some of the original tomb delvers had escorted home the caravan of provisions. But not all of them. Some had found employment with the city watch, using the cold season for some cheap but effective training in the use of weapons and team tactics. And boring night shifts. Some had found religion, but none quite the same. Clio comes to mind, drawn into the service of Justitia. Probably not a surprise when you "own" a goose named Rosenkranz. Ponn felt more drawn to the service of Elder God Cthulhu. Ricardo was even rumored to have become a cultist of the Chaos Titan, but maybe that's just small town talk. The elves and the halfling had sought out mentors in their own communities, drawing on tradition to hone their skills. Others like Henry relied on their wits and quick reflexes to make a living on the streets. And Ambrose and Gori apprenticed themselves to the old mage in the tower by the city wall.

Each dedicated to their own little world, may it be night watch duty, pickpocketing or sacrificing goats in the dead of night, they heard little of each other until spring came. And when spring comes, it's party time! And so the adventuring party reunited at the cultural event of the season, the big festivities that heralded the growing season. But Ambrose had been tasked by his master to acquire their united services to retrieve a stolen spellbook. Only some of the events that resulted can be recounted here though.

Alrik the Unwise found out that enraging an elder mage has direct consequences. Macario, always endowed with enough rope to hang himself, poked himself with a poisoned dart when unveiling a clue. Clio not only was the first to learn about the recent murder of the herbalist, she also showed the guts to become a true Justitia's Witness right in front of the Chaos Titan's cult hideout. A black eye seems to be a small price for that. Ponn and Ambrose got to meet the King of Beggars. Drugo the Halfling and Clio ended up staging an ever bigger party in "Smallville," trying to elicit information from the halfling minority. Henry found a fence who had some hints - for a small fee. Through entering the shop of the murdered herbalist they found a series of clues they presented to the wizard.

And now they are off the stone circle outside the city, in the forest, prepared to prevent a nature spirit summoning for the small sum of 15 gp per person, a rather reasonable fee - under the condition the book is retrieved. (If they happen to remember that.) Somewhere a murderous halfling is on the loose. Something is afoot with the wizard's former apprentice. Something was not quite right with the herbalist's side business in black magical spell components. But the Fellowship of the Goose is willing to unravel this mystery. Well, if the gods finally favor them. So far their religious diversity has brought them mostly quarrels...

Of course we need some of the artwork posted here - including the pictures of John and Gory, the sketch of Ambrose the somewhat-copyright-infringing wizzard, and the glorious three: Macario, Clio and Gil.

Gender issues dominated last session. Not only did Ambrose become a gender bender and turned into Ambrosia, but Rosenkranz is of course - and always was - a gander, not a goose. But it seems like nobody liked the ring of Ganderbearer, so Clio remains as the Goosebearer.

After long discussion the group moved out of town to find the stone circle. The most surprising development probably was that Blue and Orange team remained in the same composition as originally devised. After arriving at the forest's edge, the party kept taking turns towards the darkest parts, and was by mad screeching owls, traps, ambush strikes, wildly charging deer and dancing lights. John the Herder became infamous for evading the deer by climbing a tree, a move - though smart - not really appreciated by his fellows.

After the journey through the darkest forest they emerged on a clearing - they had found the magic place, originally sacred to Braenn's nature goddess, now defiled. Dark Fey beset them, but they prevailed - even though they took Macario down. Not his lucky day in general. And the wizard's fallen apprentice also made an appearance, but his lack in spellcasting skill suggested he might have been better off with rehearsing his lessons than setting out for a life of villainy. His protracted and strangely longwinded dying words cast some doubts on the wizard's motives, but the spellbook was recovered. A bit bloody overall, but still intact.

Well, I watched the video. How will you guys collect the material for the dungeon?

Not sure about the complication points - what is he referring to? The time spent discussing at the game table during the dungeon crawl?

When writing the answer I forgot to mention I like the idea! It is certainly worth a try.

It's fine.