Session #47-48: Doom of the Dire Boar & Return to Harrowmoor

TL:DR: Dire Boar defeated, Ent encountered, healed of disease, communed with a strange lake creature beneath the crumbling Harrowmoor Castle.  And Lady Chantrelle seems to have taken young Jacque to the Hall of Sleep.

The earth shaking might of the Mother of All Boar was no match for the accumulated power of the Barrowmaze veterans.  As She approached bristles scraping the high ceiling of the cavern, the cleric Clonin retrieved an illuminated scroll from his haversack and intoned the syllables of power inscribed upon it.  Instantly, the paper turned to ash, then swirled around the massive beast which seemed to shrink as it charged squealing ever more high pitched as it's stature was reduced to that of it children.  A rough battle ensued between the party and the three pony sized pigs.  Clonin knocked his head against the cavern wall and lost consciousness before the last perilous porcine protagonist was butchered.
After gathering treasure and surviving a further attack from a returning singular of boars, the group began their journey back to Harrowmoor, clutching the cure for Erik's debilitating disease, the Cave Lily.  Travel was cross country and confusing in the dark tangle of the Dolmenwood.  They got lost and spent a cold night in conversation with a friendly tree called Rootbound who told them of the Elven Princes who once ruled the wood but are now more rare, and of the sinister Cold Prince, who was banished.  The old tree was particularly unhappy with the recent ruttings of goatmen amongst his roots. 
It took three days to find once again the high cliffs of the Groaning Loch, and it cost a gold coin or so to convince the loan fisherman they spied to ferry them to the castle.
Returning to the somber confines of Harrowmoor, the company first visited Dr. Prunesqualor, who obligingly brewed a medicinal poultice while intimating dark suggestions that the Lady Harrowmoor had been corrupted by dark forces and was no longer an adequate protector of her daughter Violet.  "Perhaps she needs to be removed from office," he murmured. 
The evening meal with the family of the manor began uneventfully, notable for the absence of the young lad Jacque and the mysterious Lady Chantrelle.  Presently, Resper and the learned men began to tell their tales, which fascinated the otherwise bored and tedious Lady of the manor.  Tales and wine flowed and suddenly it was the witching hour, with Violet long since sent to bed.  The strange lady bid they follow her lead, and, escorted by her clowder of cats, descended by a stair behind a bookcase in the study down down to a lake side cove for below the ramparts.
"Here is the source of my family's wisdom," she purred.
The moonlight caressed the waters of the cove and Erik felt compelled to sing a strange song that came to his mind unbidden, with words he did not understand.  The lake water began to shine with a luminescent light and nebulous shape rose to the surface, more light and presence than true physicality, yet the minds of the visitors to Harrowmoor were overwhelmed, wallowing in total sensory overload. 
They came to as the false dawn emerged and stumbled up the stair heavy of foot but enlightened by visions of cosmic import, a feeling that the brooding, skeletal claws of evil in the Barrowmaze was gathering strength again, opposed not by the Church (insular as it is) but by the wild chaos that was the Nag Lord.  Their conflict will bring ruin to those caught in between.
A night in seance with the "Forroth" was a taxing affair.  Though they planned to hurry after Jacque and Lady Chantrelle, who they assumed had absconded to the Hall of Sleep, but found that Sleep came heavy to themselves, sleeping a straight 48 hours once their heads hit the pillow.

Uncommon Explorations of the Maze of the Blue Medusa

An exploration of the Maze of the Blue Medusa by four beginning characters played by two players using my "Uncommon" dungeon rpg hack.  

A friend was in town so three of us decided to play a quick pickup game.  I knew these guys would dig the surreal weirdness and social nature of this book.  I played an online game in the Maze once, right before it came out (game was run by Ken Baumann the publisher) and I've run one other session of the Maze using 5th edition D&D.  This time I suggested my DIY hack in order to focus attention more on the setting than the character sheet.  We used a couple of "before you were first level" rolls from the Dungeon Dozen book to jump start the scene.  It turned out the dramatis personae were a cleric recently converted from a den of iniquity, a rich wizard school graduate, a psychopathic fighter, and magpie-thief.  To which I responded thusly:

"You are all lying around on the veranda of your crumbling villa, looking out on a dead salted sea, above a decadent city, as the sun sets, still hung over from the aristo-wizard party from the night before.  It's blurry, but the thief vaguely remembers finding his way into a forgotten closet and lifting a framed painting because he liked the frame.  In any case, the day has been spent staring at the thing and making various comments.  The painting depicts a nude woman chained to a wall in a red room.  The sky darkens, the moon rises, and the woman in the painting turns beckons you hither..."

They gathered up their venturing packs and entered the painting.  The cleric was quick to from Ashen Chantrelle.  She claimed she could remember little, but had been chained a long time.  She said the "reparate" occasionally game to clean and maintain the lanterns, but otherwise she had had few visitors in the course of her uncounted days of imprisonment.  The cleric begged for the lady to be freed, and the thief obliged by picking the manacle locks.  Given a cloak and some food, Chantrelle spoke of the maze in vague platitudes and retreated through the moonlit painting.

The group broke down the door and encountered Lady Crucem Capelli, a demonic dragon lady who seemed a bit indecisive.  Learning that the thief was a bit of an art collector, she offered a deal.  They would collect histories of the creatures in the maze and she would pay them in coins.  The group accepted the deal and began exploring, peeking through all three doors before choosing to navigate the Escher Stairs.

Here I encountered a disconnect between text and map.  The map shows an archway to the Escher Stairs, but the description explains that the gravitational orientation of the stairs changes depending on which doors are open.  So I had to say, "Oh wait, there is a door there."

The group decided to secure a rope and rappelle down to the northern door.  The cleric failed and landed on the knot of stairs.  Just then a sneaking group on men in bird beak masks poked their heads trough the eastern door,  A handy Charm spell lowered the guard of the Oku, and they were soon lowered to their deaths.  

Beyond the stairs was a dark room.  A creature lurking within, some sort of upside down mollusk grabbed the fighter's bag of gold and attempted to flee.  It was angry when the commotion threatened to wake the baby.  Then the baby did wake.  The group all looked at each other, realizing they could regain their sanity if they killed each other.  Instead an arrow was sent through the screaming baby, and the mollusk hurled to its doom on the Escher Stairs.  

At that we were tired.  They sold the story of the Oku to Crucem Capelli, and I allowed the characters to leave.  In the meantime, Chantrelle had begun carousing in the decadent city.  The heroes joined in with the carousing.

Overall a fun session with a couple of very creative players.  I was really happy with the game system and with the dungeon.  I had not cracked the book in months before beginning play, and though I ad-libbed a bit, I was still able to play the characters quickly and run the dungeon easily.  

Would dungeon again.  I'd really like to get farther in to the dungeon next time.