OD&D Frontier Forts of Kelnore

[GuyBoy]

A group of gnolls ambushed and murdered a lone rogue. Unbeknownst to them, the rogue had stolen the phylactery of a lich from the powerful adventurers that had defeated the undead wizard.
The phylactery had been damaged in the battle and necrotic energy was leaking from it. Sickening to powers they could not comprehend, the gnolls took refuge in the abandoned fort.
One by one, they died, rising as gnoll-wights.
The weakened lich, its awareness returning, but its power weakened by the ebbing of the phylactery, searches desperately for the precious item, finally discovering its whereabouts.......just as a group of PCs approach the abandoned frontier fort.

 

[MattW]

Hurrah! This is one of the very few books that survived my numerous moves. Let's use some random tables for the sake of nostalgia.

Table 1 (location) roll=15 = small village
Table 2 (condition) roll=4 = Occupied (which makes sense, I suppose). This gives 1 roll on the "ruins" table and 2 rolls each on both the "alterations " and the "additions" tables
Table 3 (ruins) roll = 9 = Executive Officers Quarters floor collapsed (this is next door to the commander's quarters)
Table 4 (alterations) roll=11 = wall built down centre length of barracks
roll = 1 = Escape Tunnel dug from crypt 2
Table 5 (additions) roll = 5 = Drawbridge in front of gate
roll= 8 = Caltrops sown around walls
Table 6 (principal creature/leader) roll = 12 = Dwarf
Table 7 (random location) roll = 13 = storeroom (in other words, this dwarf has converted one of the storerooms to private quarters. Which makes some sense; the area is bigger than the specified "commander's quarters" and maybe the floor is unsafe in that part of the fort)
Table 8 (alignment) roll = 63% = Lawful Neutral
Table 9 (Leader Level) roll = 60% = level 8 with 3 henchmen and 1 hireling
Table 10 (leader vocation) roll = 7 = Thief (not what I was expecting! But let's roll with it)

Now we look at the henchmen (there are random tables for this too)
#1 roll = 13 = "tumbler" (some sort of gymnast? Maybe a specialist thief?)
#2 roll = 3 = "chamberlain" (Ah. This is obviously the chap who looks after the local taxes and admin)
#3 roll = 8 = "groom" (Presumably, they have horses or some sort of riding animal)

Hireling
roll = 11 = light cavalry bowman (there's the need for a groom?)

SO.... This gives a DM something to work with.

CONTEST: How would you explain the above? What backstory has resulted in a level 8 Dwarf thief taking over a small village's fort and collecting an odd group of associates?

 

[GuyBoy]

The nostalgia is definitely flowing with the random tables (!), so here’s my tuppence worth on our dwarf and company.....

The dwarf, Tarbold Grimsmith, was usually nicknamed Fingersmith for his dishonesty, and it was this (along with a very un-dwarfish love of frivolity) that led to his exile from the Valepeak Mines two decades ago.
Falling in with a travelling circus as a handyman, Tarbold made himself at home, becoming fast friends with Sabtai, the trick rider, and Ylsette, the acrobat.

A few years passed until the circus approached the village of Kreyheim, built around one of the ancient border forts of the Old Empire that dotted the lands of the north.
Here tragedy struck; the brutal mercenary company known as the Filth Hounds attacked both village and circus. The slaughter was terrible, but the defenders were able to retreat to the fort and make a stalwart defence, killing several of the evil mercenaries and eventually driving the rest away. The leader of the Hounds, Dagnar Sley, swore to return in stronger force.

Tarbold, his friends, and the surviving villagers resolved to stay and defend their homes and futures.

It is into this mix that the PCs arrive, not knowing that, two days away, Dagnar Sley is also on his way back, and he has new friends now.....

 

[hopeless]

The enigmatic farmer who also serves as the Lord of the nearby keep a lonely place used mostly for the locals to hide when the area is raided.

For some reason until today every time the various mercenaries, bandits and monsters attack the moment the villagers take refuge it feels like only a few hours before the next dawn rises and they return to their homes some a little damaged and robbed but the pile of corpses being burned makes them feel a little safer.

However today newcomers arrive accuse the farmer of being some nefarious Black Knight locking him within the jail within his own keep.

A large force is approaching and the newcomers are content to flee leaving the locals to their fate the only exception a group of adventurers who the newcomers have left in charge whilst they flee sorry head to request reinforcements.

With a menacing new force and only the PCs to protect them what will the PCs do?