The Well of the Worm: My C&C Game at Work

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JediOre
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The Well of the Worm: My C&C Game at Work

Post by JediOre »

Hi All, it has been quite some time since I’ve been visiting the forum boards and I have been missing it terribly.

What is going to follow is a write up of our (mostly) weekly game of one-hour length that is going on at my work. I’m trying to play catch up over on the Troll Lord forum boards since this game has been on-going for a while now. When I’ve caught up their previous exploits I’ll link the thread to this post.

Now of course there are going to be spoilers. For folks hankering to go through Harley’s wonderful little adventure in DCC #29, The Adventure Begins, should not peruse this thread. I use Castles & Crusades as the rule set. It is close enough to AD&D for my tastes and really allows me to fairly easily integrate modules from D&D, AD&D, 3.X, and I do believe DCC-RPG into my game without too many problems. I still have hopes of getting to game in Goodman Games cool DCC-RPG, but the guys at work wanted the simplify of C&C for our little outings. (For the old-timers on the board, I still get to game at home on occasion with JediWife, Ragnar1965, and Nightwing but it is hard to schedule it. We still use C&C there to, but Nightwing wants to do some solo games with DCC-RPG.)
So, the gamers:

Me, JediOre, as normal the DM, CK, GM, whatever (AD&D 20+ in my blood makes me a DM).
My Assistant manager, Paul, aka, Little Brother Moose, (LBM) whose character is Mouse. Mouse is a human class and a half Rogue/Wizard, level 5/2 with 16 hit points. He has a few daggers, two of which are magical and one a cold iron blade. He has a few magical rings as well but since his PC does not have Identify as a spell, he doesn’t know what his, or the other PCs, magical items really do. He did find out he has a ring that protects him from fire due to a Burning Hands spell blowing back on him and he took no damage. Paul had Mouse light a candle and do some experimentation until he figured out which ring.

A friend in the Student Services office, Chris. Chris’ character is Sayid the Exile, an elven class and a half Ranger/Cleric, level 4/2 with 24 hit points. Sayid has a low charisma score. I think six or eight, which is odd for me with an elf. He is playing his elf more like Tolkien’s noble breed, tall and noble. He has Regas, a +1 long blade, +4 vs. reptiles that glows a deep red when near pure evil. He also has a magic shield that gives him a soft blue light when held and mentally commanded to.

The third individual is Brittany, Chris’ niece who also works as a student worker at the campus. Her character is Lady Emerald, a human class and a half (notice a trend?). She is a Knight/Rune Mark, level 3/1 with 19 hit points. As a knight she also has a light war horse named Titanium. We all know that Titanium is Brittany’s favorite thing about the game and I’ve been encouraged to find more outdoor-type adventures to allow the horse “screen time.” Lady Emerald has a magical short blade that glows whenever held, regardless of the owner’s wishes.

The Prelude to the Well of the Worm (“The Well of Lord Barcus” from Dungeon Magazine #41):

Following up on the previous adventure, Chris’ PC is comatose [Chris was unable to game for several sessions and this worked out well] and is being carried in a wagon, driven by Mouse while Lady Emerald rides Titanium. They are heading for a town or village named Barrowdown. In Barrowdown is the closest person to a cleric in the region. He is a quack (think medieval doctor) and is known as a competent apothecary. The brewmaster of the Eel’s Head Brewery hoped that this quack could aid in solving why Sayid collapsed so suddenly.

I explained they needed to bed down as the sun was dropping over the horizon.

They see ahead a clearing with a small white shrine just off the road. The shrine has really nice grass, almost as if sodded, for many yards all about it. They can see a recent camp located on the nice grass, but Paul is very dubious about having the PCs ride the horses and the wagon onto the grass so they pull up just outside the nice grass. Both players have their PCs move about, Mouse examining the campfire while the lady knight walks up to the shrine to see what is being honored. I tell Paul that the most recent campfire seems to have been let to go out and his PC can make out what seems to be a hasty retreat. Crockery and such were tossed aside and a pot that must have been filled with water is empty on the remains of the campfire. Mouse isn’t a ranger, but the fire could not have been out for more than a day at most. “It appears as though whoever was here last night left in a hurry.” No answer as to why.

Meanwhile, Lady Emerald is looking in the shrine. It contains a well with a bucket and winch. I read the carved inscription that is on the well’s rim to the PCs:

Built by Talus of Orange, Conjurer
Captain of the Orange Legion
In memory of his friend Lord Barcus
Who fell defending this land from the barbarian tribes.
The day was won, but the cost was great.
Drink and be refreshed. Give and be rewarded.

Mouse comes up and finds on the other side of the well a few verses written in charcoal. It hints that luck will be with those who give a gift to the well, but that woe will come upon any who dares to steal from the well. Brittany and Paul have Mouse run to the wagon and fetch Mouse’s lamp. They want to look down the well. The well is deep and Mouse can see the walls are covered in thick moss. He could tell, with a high wisdom roll, that sometime over the past months, someone has either tried to or did steal from the well for some of the moss seems to be regrowing from being mashed or torn up. Anyway, both toss in coins. Mouse, on his way to set up their camp, finds he has a rock in his boot. The rock turns out to be an expensive ruby (200gp)! Paul beams. Brittany asks does her PC have any rock problems. Nope, not a one. Puzzled they have Lady Emerald set first watch.

I tell Brittany that Lady Emerald sees as the twilight fades a shadowy figure approaches from beyond the grassy area, not from the road way, but south of the shrine towards the wilderness. The lady knight rises and pulls her magic blade and, if I recall, a burning log from the fire in her off hand. (Brittany is a “kill it with fire” kind of player!) I ask her if her PC wakes Mouse. She does. Both watch a humanoid form approach slowly and quietly to the edge of the camp fire’s illumination. I have both of them roll Wisdom checks.

The being is a man. He seems very sad and Mouse can see through the man. He does nothing threatening, just looking at them with forlorn eyes. They call to him asking if they can be of aid. I do believe both figured the man to be a ghost or spirit of some sort. He looks at each of them and I tell the players that the figure seems to become interested in the wagon and its sleeping elf. The figure moves around the edge of the light and approaches the wagon. Both noble Titanium and the unnamed draft horse become very scared as the figure nears. I’m very interested in seeing what Paul and Brittany would do. To my amazement, they each go to a horse and calm it. I tell them the figure looks over the wagon and into the closed eyes of Sayid. It then looks to each of them. Both tell me they continue to hold the horses steady. I’m amazed! The figure takes his hand and places it into the elf’s chest and the figure begins to merge into the elf. I look to each of them. They are quiet with anticipation. I’m thinking to myself that Chris would be freaking out about his elf being possessed. I tell them that the being is disappearing into the still form of Sayid. Again, they remain passive.

The being fully merges into the comatose elf. Sayid’s eyes pop open; he has a quick inhale, and rises quickly up. Sayid looks about and climbs down from the wagon, heading back the way the shadowy being came from. The PCs follow, Mouse lighting his lamp on the way. Sayid strides along with purpose. He comes to a skeleton mostly covered in grass, obviously someone who has been dead for a month or more. The elf begins groping about on the ground picking things up. He also takes his cloak and makes a sort of sack to aid in the gathering. Mouse holds up the lamp to aid everyone in seeing what Sayid is doing. The elf is picking up coins and other items. After a few minutes, the elf stops and looks at both PCs. I tell them that Sayid says, “Never steal from the well.” He then walks towards the shrine with a bundle of coins, a few gems, and several assorted items they don’t get a good look at. Sayid dumps the contents of the cloak into the well, lets out a sign of relief and collapses.

At this point our hour was up and they had to wait to see what would happen next time.
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