Old Castle: Brandonsford Play Report, Session 2 (Part 2)

This is a recap of the second session of a play-through of The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford, using the system I am developing, called Old Castle. The system is based primarily on B/X D&D, with a significant amount of changes that lean into a lower-magic level feel, such as new classes/class abilities, and a completely rebuilt magic system.

This session was broken into two posts due to the simple fact that quite a lot happened. This is part 2.

Spoilers ahead for those who haven't played The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford, obviously.

The Stolen booze

With Marsden refreshed, the group heads to the Golden Egg Tavern and sets up a plan to catch this beer thief. Quinn is sent upstairs and is told to pretend to sleep.

They set Nahual across the street, watching the front (and only) door, Marsden hides in the cellar behind a couple barrels, and Artorias hides behind the bar. They also put some caltrops by the front door.

The tavern door gently swings open, but Nahual sees nothing (the invisible offender also avoids stepping on the caltrops). The hatch in the floor that leads to the cellar swings open, but Artorias sees nothing. A small cask of beer begins to levitate a foot or so off the ground, but Marsden cannot tell how. Artorias decides to pounce down the stairs to the cellar, and tackle the floating cask.

The clurichaun holding the cask of beer becomes visible, and Marsden immediately casts Influence on it. Marsden, pretending to know the Clurichaun personally, puts on a show they are old friends, and asks him who hired him to steal this beer. The clurichaun replies that he works for nobody, and that he just loves the free booze he gets here.

After a minute, the cantrip wears off and he begins to freak out. He offers them a reward of 500 gold, and tells them he can give them directions, if they just let him go. He tells them that it is buried inside of the ruins of a temple in the woods. At this, the party lets him go. As he begins to run away, he yells “good luck with the goblins who live there!! HAHA!!” before booking it to the front door. He trips on the caltrops, and Nahual, who had moved in closer from his hiding area, grabs him and picks him up, asking what he means.

Right around now, footsteps can be heard from the floor above. Quinn hears the commotion and is coming down. He is half way down the stairs when Marsden cleverly casts Influence on him. “Look, he’s dead. It was a fairy, and we killed him.” Due to the effects of the cantrip, Quinn believes he is looking at a dead body. Immediately, Nahual says “I’ll go dispose of the corpse” and runs off with the still-very-much-alive clurichaun, and hides around the corner.

Quinn is extremely grateful, and pays the group for their efforts.

After

Once outside, the group begins debating about what they should do with the clurichaun. Artorias wants to kill it, the others want to show mercy. Marsden comes up with the idea of bringing the clurichaun to the location of the stash, in exchange for letting it keep some of it’s money.

The group agrees, and begins making plans to head to the stash in the abandoned temple… For now, their new friend will remain in his restraints.

Note: Marsden expressed interest in attempting to earn the trust of the clurichaun, and maybe even turn him into an ally eventually. I am very interested to see where this goes.