Dungeon Crawl Classic Resources

For all DCC RPG Fans note there is a resource thread over on the Goodman Games forums. It has a lot of useful material including consolidated reference tables.

Dungeon Crawl Classic App Kickstarter

The Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG is a fun fantasy RPG with a distinct take on fantasy. I had a lot of fun refereeing it during the playtest period. One downside of the system is the numerous charts that need to be referenced. It not a flaw, they are an esstential part of how the DCC RPG plays, but still when you have lots of charts referencing them fast is an important part of managing a session. With the PDF one could just make cheat sheet and keep them handy but what would be the ultimate way of dealing with this is some Android or iOS app to have them at your fingertips.

Well the guys at Purple Sorcerer Games are doing just that. Not only making an app but apps for iOS AND Android. They have a kickstarter project to raise some funds to get the equipment and capital make the Crawlers Companion. A nice touch is including some of the adventures they wrote for the DCC RPG at  various backer level.

Ready for the DCC RPG

I went up to Book Galore for Free RPG Day. Along the way I stopped at Gold Star Anime and picked up a set of Zocchi dice. At Books Galore I bought this month's Knights of the Dinner Table and a d30. Fortunately I avoided Tim's experience. Kelly Anne bought a bunch of new d20 and d12s for her hairstick projects. Including some interesting mini dice.

So now I am set with my Zocchi dice and don't have to complain anymore.

For Free RPG Day I picked the DCC RPG Adventure Starter which I surprisingly liked a lot. Usually intro adventures are OK but not only did Goodman Games give a intro adventures they squeezed a second on in for 5th level characters. So you get to try out the full level range. The adventure themselves are very evocative. I see the authors been reading their National Geographic as I recognized one room from a particularly memorable issue about ancient China.

The other one I picked was the Pathfinder Adventure "We be Goblins". Basically you play a bunch of goblins off on an adventures. It looks fun and may use it for a one shot.

Plus I got a rock making kit for Father's Day, when we were at A.C. Moore, a craft store. This has a mold for 8 rocks that you cast using casting plaster. I managed to make a batch tonight and it wasn't too hard. Need to thin out the mixture as I had some bubbles appear in the several pieces. Also found the perfect shade of green for orc skin so I don't have to mix it up anymore to finish the remainder of my orcs.

Delving into the Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG, Part III

Onto the Character Class in the Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG

The classes parallel the four basic classes of Dungeons & Dragons but there are important differences.

Cleric
Like the D&D version, the Cleric is the second best fighter in the game. Also greater emphasis is placed on the cleric being a follower of his deity. Several of the mechanics reflect this. We also learn a little more of the cosmology behind the DCC RPG. The influence of Michael Moorcock can be seen in the big role that Law and Chaos plays.

Cleric basically start off by knowing a limited amount of spells (four for first level). The first spell of the day is cast at no penalty but successive spell casting carries a penalty. This penalty can be reset the next day or by performing the correct sacrifice for his deity. In addition if the cleric rules a natural 1 then he ticked off his deity and must roll on the Disapproval Table. Results range from the penalty reset being delayed a day, the cleric unable to turn for a few days, or endure a test of faith.

The different alignments turn different types of creatures, Lawful Clerics can turn undead an demons, Chaotic clerics can turn angels, etc.

The healing ability of clerics is made an ability in it's own right. However the amount of hit points healed is effected by cross indexing the cleric's and recipient's alignment. Some will view this as an unessecary complication. Using successive Lay on Hand incurs a -1 penalty to the next check.

Clerics can also call on their diety for divine aid. This is basically a set of guidlines for allowing anything can go divine intervention. The major limitation of using this is that -10 is added to spell check penalty afterwards so you better make your request a good one.

Next is a listing of the dieties of the DCCRPG. For the most part they fit the Swords and Sorcery feel of the game quite well. Also in the list is Lovecraft's Cthulu. Many people will wonder why Cthulu is listed as a neutral god. The basic reason is that Cthulu is neither lawful or chaotic, he just doesn't care about such issues, in fact is indifferent to the whole situation or the dealing of the mortal races.

Next the Fighter

Delving into the Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG, Part II

One of the reasons for this series of posts is to help me learn the DCC RPG by ensuring that I read each section throughly. There are plenty of interesting mechanics and for my Lands of Adventures series of setting I always planned to do some oriented to specific sub-genres of fantasy including Swords & Sorcery. Reading about what other think of the Swords & Sorcery genre helps me hone my own ideas.

After the initial section comes one of the only big missteps of the beta. The big page of black with white letterings dividing the major sections. As pleasing it looks, it doesn't help people to use this for playtesting as anything they print will need to avoid these pages or go through a lot of ink. This one is one page 8. There is a nice bit of flavor text on the page.

Following this is another full page illustration, again it is evocative and captures the spirit of the of game. The lady in the picture has more clothes on than two of the figure which is a welcome change from the usual chainmail bikini pictures we endured over the years.

Now we come to what will be another controversial sub-system. The character creation funnel. You generate up to 4 zero level characters and run them with other characters of the party and see who survives to first level. I can see it working but... the referee is going to need some more tools than what is given here. First I hope in the full rulebook they give some space to discussion plausible scenarios for having such a gaggle of people tramping on an adventure. Second they discuss alternative starting point.

From running the Majestic Wilderlands for 30 years the problem is that ANY fixed method of starting character gets to be old in the long run. The key is to have a variety of methods to start off a campaign and varying them over time. RPGs should discuss a variety of starting points in order for it not to become a one trick pony.

With that being said I think the funnel will work as described in the hands of an experienced referee and certainly you not investing much time into making each characters so the game will get off to a quick start. The random background table even fixes the issue of having to buy equipment.

The ability Scores are unique to DCC RPG, the six chosen are Strength, Agility, Stamina, Personality, Intelligence, and Luck. Luck is an important score used to influence the dice rolls of the game in a variety of ways.

The Ability modifiers in contrast pretty much echo those of the d20 system. +1 for 13 to 15, +2 for 16, 17,and +3 for 8. Minus modifiers start at scores lower than 8. We also see the first of the humorous cartoons that are liberally sprinkled throughout the book.

The section goes on further to explain the luck score and the things you can do with it. One really cool think is that the modifier for Luck will effect different things for different characters. You roll on a table which give the exact situation your luck modifiers works for (or against for a low luck). It also uses the first of the non-standard dice the d30.

Saving throw are straight from d20. I alway found the d20 setup to be the more straightforward of all the version of D&D and glad to see it used here. You get a number of language equal to your intelligence modifier including common.

Next it explains what goes into a being a level 0 characters. 1d4 hp + Stamina mod, 5d12 copper, -100 XP, One random piece of equipment, One random occupation which determines what wepaons you can use and give you a trade good, and +0 to all attacks and saves.

We get to use a d100 on the occupation table which ranges from Alchemist to Woodcutter. Trade Good include things like a flask of oil, a Pony, Lantern, a Sow, Silk Clothes, Badger Pelts, etc. This table is a key reason why I think that the Character Funnel would be a extremely fun. Rolling on the table may look like extraneous fluff but when you look at what they actually include you start see the possibilities.

Next after a brief talk about Weapon Training and Trade Goods, we come to alignment. It is Micheal Moorcock' Law-Neutral-Chaos full bore and what defines the supernatural in the DCC RPG. I like some of the things included in Neutral like Cthulu, and the Old Olds. While it not how I would run things in my campaign I think it will work for the DCC RPG.

Next we get an Easley full page illustration with a warrior of law about to lay some smackdown on a orcish minion of chaos.

Next the games goes into Level advancement with particular attention paid to how you go from zero-level to first. Interestingly enough reading the Choosing a Class section I don't see anything about mandating race as class.

If your character survives to 1st level, you can choose a class. Your free will is constrained by the fatalism of the dice; pick a class that suits your randomly determined strengths and weaknesses. The demi-human classes of dwarf, elf, and halfling may only be selected by characters whose 0-level occupation was of that race.

Read that carefully, the demi-human class are limited to only those races but the reverse is not mentioned. No where it says you MUST pick your race's class. I am not sure if this was overlooked or is intentional. Personally I think it would be cool if was intentional.

I read up on the issue on the DCC Forums and it turns out that the intent is race as class. However the comment was made by Joseph Goodman that having other racial classes is within the spirit of the game. For example a Dwarven Runecaster. His current feeling is to leave it up to the third party publishers to flesh out. Mmmmm

Next we look at the individual classes.

Delving into the Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG, Part I

You can download the DCC RPG PDF from Goodman Games, as #61.

First the Cover is very evocative. When an adventurer facing a challenge of crossing a chasm to get to the dungeon door.

Next the is a b/w full page Mullen's interior cover. Showing orc/goblin/hobgoblins standing outside of their cave. Plus some type of one-eyed giant. It set the town as the creatures are obviously dragging in slaves into the area. Interestingly one slave chain is a group of brownies.

Also setting the tone is the sub title "Glory & Gold" won by Sorcery & Sword. The use of a full page illustrations is a theme repeated throughout the rulebook.

Next is the introduction and credit, right off we are told that the beta rules are an excerpt, however they touch every area that the DCC RPG is meant to cover. Also that it is still a work in progress. And it is good to know that there will be a third party license for those interested in publishing for the DCC RPG.

Next we get some of the enthusiasm I saw in the alpha playtest documents. Some may view it too much of a joke like how Hackmaster 4e presented. To me it shows the fun and exuberance that Joseph and his team feel for what they are trying to. Free from adhering to the D&D 3e vision, or the D&D 4e vision, they are getting to go full bore on the type of fantasy THEY like. It is a bit zany and crazy and they are going to have fun even if it means that a door explodes out it's jam, smashes into you, and kills you before you step a foot into the dungeon.

Now this is NOT my type of fantasy, I mostly try to run a game where adventure is found in the conflict of culture and religion. I was always more a fan of Tolkien than Moorcock. However I do appreciate the sentiment, understand it fairly well as I grew up with the stuff, and I love the enthusiasm. After 30 years of gaming, I find myself more attracted to games with a community of gamers that have a great sense of fun and this has it in spade.

Next we get another full page Mullen Illustration wwith a dragon having a field day with some adventurers. Interestingly the dragon is using spells and not it's breath weapons.

Now we come a section on the Core Mechanics of the DCC RPG. While there a lot of old school attitude the heart of it is the tried and true d20 system of 3.X, sort of. There are many differences in the detail but the general gist is that you are going to be rolling a d20, looking for a high roll and try to beat a target number.

Next Joseph highlights the difference from both D&D 3.x and AD&D 1.0. No feats, prestige classes, attacks of opportunity, or skill points. It has ascending AC, yay!, and uses a d20 roll high beat a target to resolve most actions.

The next section highlights the additions the DCC RPG brings.

• Cleric turns a wider range of creatures and it depends on their religion.

• All spells require a spell check, i.e. a skill roll, to succeed, spells have variable result based on a chart.

• The magic system isn't quite fire and forget, the Wizards may keep their spell after a successful roll, or lose it for the day after a failure.

• Clerics have repeated penalties for successive casting of the same spell.

• There are critical hits and some types of characters get better at them the higher level they are.

• Finally there is a burn ability mechanic that can influence a dice roll. Luck is mentioned.

Finally Joseph tells us that he going to be using the Zocchi dice as part of the mechanics, d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, and d30. That he has plan to make them readily available from Goodman Games and that for now there are other sources from which you can buy them.

This is the first "hump" that a DCC RPG has to overcome to attract gamers. The initial impression is nearly always negative. It is a gamble by Goodman Games to do this. Skipping ahead a bit the main use of the Zocchi dice is to reflect increasing ability to get better criticals and better results on various tables.

The use of the Zocchi dice is has two implications in terms of mechanics. First you won't be using a bell curve to roll. Every number has an equal chance of coming up. Also you will have a wider RANGE of results when you use the bigger dice.

That could make the difference between acceptance or rejection of the zocchi dice. We will have to wait and see.

Then we wind up with another full page illustration this time by Roslof, it is sad that he passed away recently, but it is great that he getting a showcase for his work. This show an adventuring party with all four classes represented descending the stairs into the dungeon, I guess they figured out how to cross the chasm. What nice is that they are not muscled models and that their outfits look sensible for the occasion.

Next time we dive into Character Creation.

The DCC RPG Playtest is out.

Download it from the beta playtest page.

I tested printing it using the booklet feature of Adobe Reader and it was very readable. It will take about 42 sheets of paper printed front and back.

Joesph Goodman is also continuing the lessons of the Dungeon Alphabet. The illustrations in the playtest document are kick butt.

It is however not the full game, as far as all the spell and monsters, Goodman Games is upfront about that in the introduction. You should be able to run a short campaign from Level 0 to Level 3. The good news is that all the mechanics come into play from the start. So by playing you will get to experience what makes the DCC RPG unique.

Killed by a Door and other thoughts on the DCC RPG

James at Grognardia has a good post on the lethality of the Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG. It was prompted by the blurb about the adventure "The Portal under the Stairs"

This adventure is designed for 15-20 0-level characters or 8-10 1st-level characters. Remember that players should have 2-3 characters each, so they can continue enjoying the fun of play even if some of their PCs die off. In playtest groups of 15 0-level PCs, 7 or 8 typically survive. The author has playtested this adventure with groups of up to 28 PCs and experienced one complete TPK and several sessions with only a handful of survivors.

That quite a estimated death count. Accurate give my experience with playtesting the DCC RPG.

In the comment section of James' post Chicago Wizards give this comment.

Something cibet said made me realize that the point needs to be made: DCCRPG is not D&D. It may be D&Desque in its pedigree, but it's not the same in "scale" or matched to any edition. It evokes similarities, but it's expectations and execution is/are far different.

The comment is spot on, despite similarities to the d20 rules and D&D it is own thing. I felt that Harley and Joseph succeeded in channeling 70s era fantasy. The potential weakness of the DCC RPG is in it's extensive use of charts and it will live or die based on how well they are presented.

The use of the extra zocchi dice is going to a minor issue in the long run. In the playtest I ran, Fighters and other classes improved their ability to critical by using a progression of dice that included the zocchi dice. Going off the top of my head, at 1st level you would get say a d8, then at 4th a d10, then later a d12, d14, d16, d20, etc. The bigger dice allow you to get better results on a critical.

There were a couple of negative comments on the need to have multiple PCs per player. Understand that you can still use the DCC RPG and play a campaign where the player starts out with a single character struggling to survive. If you use the adventures that Goodman Games has planned they will die as they are death traps, cool death traps but death traps none the less.

If you run your campaign in more naturalistic way, the character can avoid those type of locales and focus on the challenges they can overcome. Such has working their way up to the leadership of a bandit gang, or fighting a border war between two nobles. Slowly working up to the point where they can enter one of those death trap and survive. Nothing in the playtest ruleset precludes this style of play and there is a lot of interesting bits to the rules especially the magic system. You will soon be able to see for yourself after free RPG day when Goodman Games releases the beta.

Erie Days of Dungeon Crawling Part III (The final reckoning)

I am not going to get into a lot of detail about the rules. It is still in early playtest and while the general outline is clear the details are in flux.

First it is in the D&D family of Roleplaying and has elements of both older D&D and the D20 system. But it is not a retro-clone more like Hackmaster Basic, True20, and Castles & Crusades. It is deadlier and more bloody as represented by subsystem involving fumbles, and critical hits.

The spell system is not vancian, although some of the general ideas like spells books are still present. Spells require a roll to see if you get the spell off and what the results are. There is corruption which result from rolling a 1 on a failed spell rolls. High level mages pay a palpable price for their power. You do spellburn which exact a toil on the body but allows you give a needed boost to your spell in a critical moment.

Luck is very important to the DCC RPG and effect everybody differently. Like Spellburn your luck can be used to turn the tide in a critical moment.

Alignment is also important. In the DCC RPG alignment are not just philosophical ideas but represent fundamental factions of the DCC universe. You are not just choosing a belief but who your friends and allies are in the natural and supernatural world. Behind all that are things that man is not meant to know.

Throughout this is the simplicity of original Dungeons & Dragons. Class dominates, and your abilities are 3d6 straight down the line. Some rule subsystems are more complex than OD&D but they are clearly there because these are rules for Swords & Sorcery.

And even at this early stage the writing shines with Joseph Goodman's love of the novels and stories that make up Appendix N of AD&D's Dungeon Master Guide. The playtest adventures I received shine likewise and feel much more like a Moorcock or Howard Adventure than a D&D adventure.

The DCC RPG is going for a specific feel and tone both in it's writing and it's rules. This means that it not going to appeal to all players of the Old School Renaissance. It not D&D but instead is a Swords & Sorcery RPG. But given the what I seen so far I think it going to develop into a game to keep an eye on. That fans of the Dungeon Crawl Classic Modules are going to really like this RPG.

Erie Days of Dungeon Crawling Part II (It would like wearing somebody's else underwear)

Robert Conley Referee
Running The Citadel of the Emerald Sorcerer written by Joseph Goodman

Al Krombach
Bing the Witless, 2nd lvl Dwarf
Figin “Not a thief”, 2nd lvl Thief

Tim Shorts
Richard of Greyhorn, 2nd lvl Fighter
Dilgar, 2nd Lvl Dwarf
Chuck, 0th Lvl Peasant

Greg Hofmann
Wilfred, 2nd Lvl Fighter
Erik the Scoundrel, 2nd Lvl Thief

Jason Sholtis
Danidrun, 2nd Lvl Elf
Derillus the Enchanter, 2nd Lvl Wizard

John Larrey
Brother Bombast, 2nd Level Cleric
Bazul the Mad Cleric, 2nd Level Cleric

---

They decided to take the northeast door. There they were best by another emerald guard, one that was finely crafted. The fight was over quickly and when the guard was shattered it transformed into the broken body of a peasant from the village. Brother Bombast, and Bazul tried to save him. They failed. With his dying breath the peasant uttered “Ask Thesdipedes to save my wife”

In the aftermath of the peasant’s death the party noticed the skulls entered through a round hole high on the ceiling. They looked around and spotted similar holes next to many of the doors in the corridor. After a quick huddle they determined that the wizard is using them to watch them and decided to launch a surprise attack. In a single round they shattered both skulls.

The party then decided to check the first door. After carefully checking it over they opened it revealing a small library with eight round book stands. Only two books could be seen although there was clearly room for more. When approached the books disappeared, only to appear in a nearby stand. After a few minutes of fruitlessly chasing the books the party positioned themselves so everybody was next to a bookstand. This only caused the books to repeatedly teleport across all the stands. Teleporting so fast they were a blur and could not be grabbed.

Bazul the Mad Cleric squeezed himself into one of the stands. It took him a while and he got hit with a book twice. When he pulled his last foot in, he started teleporting across the various stands. It was all he could do not to throw up Finally several the party members stepped away from the book stands bring Bazul to a stop and he shakily crawled out of the stand.

At this point the book also came to a stop in other stands. Bing hoisted his 10’ pole and found he was able to touch one of the books. With some more effort he knocked it off the shelf. Then he did the same for the second book. Upon examination the books proved very interesting the first was Thesdipedes’ Book of Transmogrification and the second was set of blueprints and instructions for creating the emerald warriors. At this moment the floor started vibrating slightly and they heard the hum of machinery revving up.
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The party continued down the corridor and found a bedroom behind the second door. They threw a golden bust of a dragon head and a sack of silver coins into Erik’s Large Sack. At this point the corridor turned, and turned again. At another turn, Bing fell nearly into a 10’ deep pit with spikes. After debating about what to do the party went back to the bedroom and grabbed the bed to make a bridge with.

After a shaky crossing the corridor continued before ending in a short turn with a door at the end. After a careful check they opened a door to reveal a strange corridor with dark grey stone. Also the party found another secret door leading back the way they came. It was the way the Sorcerer used to avoid the pit.

After looking they could see something moving within the walls. Sending Richard of Greyhorn and Danidrun (with bow drawn) the motion became more frantic and human shapes started to emerge! The two quickly moved back into the corridor but not before Danidrun noticed a secret door next to the door they entered in.

Danidrun shoot one of the creatures while Bing threw an ax at it. They appeared to have killed it and were aiming at the others when they withdrew into the wall. The party then decided to make a mad dash to the secret door. They succeeded and found themselves in another corridor when a finely crafted emerald guard attacked them. After a quick fight they succeeded in shattering the guard which formed into the broken body of another villager. This time Brother Bombast was prepared and dashed to heal him.

While he was working on the villager’s broken body, three other doors opened up the corridor and six more emerald guards came pouring out. Two of them were crudely misshapen and the other four finely crafted. While the party engaged, Brother Bombast was able to bring the villager back from the brink of death.. But the fight grew more desperate. Dilgar went down, then Danidrun, even the last minute aid of Chuck, the revived villager, (Tim rolled him up as a zero level character), could not turn the tide as Bazul died. Bing and Figin fled. Wilfred and Erik both went down and when Chuck left with Bombast, they saw Richard of Greyhorn going down fighting midst a hail of blows from six emerald warriors.

Using the secret door as a shortcut they spiked it shut and fled the citadel. The last thing the survivors saw was new emerald warriors taking up guard positions outside the citadel’s entrance.

---

That where the game was called at the convention. If this was a campaign we would have undoubtedly recruited new characters among the villagers. Character generation for 2nd level characters was fast, zero level character is even faster as Tim was able to roll up Chuck the Peasant up in between rounds of the fight.

Note that during the fight when Danidrun when down, Jason was offered the use of one of the other characters. He waved it off. Stated he was OK with it and that how the dice rolled. Tim quipped, “No problem it would like wearing somebody else underwear anyway.” It took a while before the table stopped laughing.

Erie Days of Dungeon Crawling Part I (First time I seen somebody killed by a door)

Robert Conley Referee
Running The Citadel of the Emerald Sorcerer written by Joseph Goodman

Al Krombach
Bing the Witless, 2nd lvl Dwarf
Figin “Not a thief”, 2nd lvl Thief

Tim Shorts
Richard of Greyhorn, 2nd lvl Fighter
Dilgar, 2nd Lvl Dwarf
Chuck, 0th Lvl Peasant

Greg Hofmann
Wilfred, 2nd Lvl Fighter
Erik the Scoundrel, 2nd Lvl Thief

Jason Sholtis
Danidrun, 2nd Lvl Elf
Derillus the Enchanter, 2nd Lvl Wizard

John Larrey
Brother Bombast, 2nd Level Cleric
Bazul the Mad Cleric, 2nd Level Cleric

---

The Adventure
Everybody was scattered throughout the Kingdom of Zamora and heard their home village of Greyhorn was in trouble. They gathered at the village and found out that the Emerald Sorcerer was kidnapping villagers with his minions.

The party went up the ridge and scouted the entrance to the Sorcerer’s citadel. The spied two strange emerald statues one carved into a perfect likeness of a guard and the other a misshapen lump of a man. Danidrun the Elf fired at the door but missed badly and hit one of the statues. At which point they came to life and attacked the party. The party moved in to fight the statues and within three rounds dispatched both of them. The final blow struck by Figin “Not a Thief” with a massive backstab. When the finely crafted statue was smashed it was transformed into a body of a dying villager. While healing the party Bazul the Mad Cleric found that his patron god, the God of Riddles, had taken personal interest in the adventure and commanded Bazul to unravel the strange mystery of the statues.

The party then examined the strange pewter door that stood as the entrance to the citadel. Dilgar checked for traps and strange constructions. After some discussion it was decided to let Derillus the Enchanter burst the door out of the frame with his Enlarge. As the spell required the wizard to touch the object the party tied a rope around Derillus. At the moment of casting they would yank him back if the door burst forward. Then Derillus cast the Enlarge spell.

Unfortunately, the door burst towards the wizard. While the party succeeded in yanking the wizard back it hit him hard and killed him. After a moment of stunned silence, Dilgar quipped “Well I can say this is the first time I seen somebody killed by a door.”.

After the party collected themselves and buried Derrilus under a rocky cairn they looked inside. There they found a hall with tiled mosaics lining it’s walls depicting a green skinned sorcerer and his deeds. Carefully probing their way through the hallway they came to another pewer door like the first one. Once again Dilgar looked it over carefully not realizing that behind him tiles starting flying off the walls and forming into a humanoid monster!

The tile monster attacks the rear of the party only to stumble. The tiles making up its arms whirling away. The party won initiative and started attacking the creature smashing chunks of tiles away. The creature roared and more tiles come pouring out of the wall forming themselves into 4 dog like tile monsters. One of them leaps on Figin “Not a Thief” and smashes into his head leaving him deafened and gravely injured. However despite the reinforcement the tide turned against the monster and two rounds later the party emerge triumphant amid littered and smashed tiles. Danidrun noted some strange peepholes near the ceiling and investigated them. Behind which he could see narrow corridors.

Angered by the cowardly magics thrown against him Dilgar attacked the door with his crowbar. It took a few tries but he wrenched it open revealing a ornate lounge with a 20’ long table made of solid emerald! Danidrun was second in the room and started searching. Quickly finding secret doors they find the entrances to the corridors behind the peepholes in the entranceway.
No sooner after finishing exploring these corridors when the emerald table started glowing. Out popped two emerald skulls sporting wings! They flew crazily around the room out of reach. Then the Emerald Sorceror himself stepped out. Brother Bombast told everybody to stand their ground and turned to the sorcerer. “Please stopping stop taking villagers. What has angered you so?” . The Sorceror replied “No.” After making a gesture towards the skulls, he stepped back into the table and disappeared. At first the party was on their guard with the skulls. But the skulls just hovered there not attacking.

Bazul the Mad Cleric, carefully examined the table and found that it was a variant of portal magic. With enough effort he could wrest enough control to send the party to wherever the sorcerer went. However it was decided that they would be better off using one of the doors leaving the room.