August 11
Feeling frustrated by the meagre pickings they’ve had from the Haunted Halls of late, the party decides to do a bit of potholing in the Caves of Chaos. Specifically, they decide to try the hobgoblin lair that Ivy and Nogi attacked last week. While Nogi’s drunken ramblings weren’t very clear, it seems that the pair of them killed several hobgoblins before retreating. In Gimwort’s grim assessment, the goblin forces were weakened without losing any of their treasure.
Our Heroes
Trigg Sunbold, Fighter 3
Tansybell of Merry Meadow, Halfling 3
Gimwort of Greydelve, Dwarf 3
Old Dolf, Thief 4
Eldred the Enchanter, Illusionist 2
Mell of the Moonwood, Fighter 1
 |
| The party's route |
TURN 1 – Cave Entrance to D17
The Caves at first are eerily quiet. Old blood splatters on the walls show where Ivy did her grim work.
TURN 2 – D23: Common Room
Empty except for the signs of the terrible battle fought here the previous week.
TURN 3 – Hallway
No sign of live hobgoblins.
TURN 4 – D24: Torture Chamber
Empty and silent. Horrible devices loom in the lantern’s light. Fortunately Ivy’s old party rescued the prisoners kept in this horrible place back in June.
TURN 5 – Hallway
Still no sign of hobgoblins.
TURN 6 – D26: Guard Room
The door is barred. Dolf fails to hear the hobgoblins on the other side, and one rushes off to alert the others at D27. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the entire warren begins to stir. Over the next several rounds runners from various guard chambers will raise the alarm, preparing to mass and repel the intruders.
Round 1 – Trigg smashes the door open, but the hobgoblins are ready. Three crossbow bolts fly, and Gimwort is struck (11/16 HP).
Round 2 – The battle lines crash together, shield shoving against shield. Tansy kills one hobgoblin with her enchanted axe, and Gimwort fells another with his pole-axe from the second rank.
Round 3 – The three remaining hobgoblins break and run! Trigg and Tansy cut down two of them as they turn to flee. Mell reloads her trusty crossbow.
Round 4 – The party advances to D27: Armory. The three hobgoblins stationed here have taken positions to either side of the door (having allowed the fleeing fugitive from D26 to pass through as bait), strike as they enter. Trigg is wounded (14/19 HP).
Round 5 – Tansy kills one of the goblins, and Dolf jabs another with his spear, but the hobgoblins hold the line here. Tansy is wounded twice (7/13 HP).
Round 6 – Tansy kills her third hobgoblin, but two more remain and the rest of the party is rolling poorly. Suddenly the enormous hobgoblin chief and six of his guards burst into the room, roaring. The massive chief is a full head taller than Trigg and swings an enormous spiked club as he directs his troops. Eldred draws his Wand of Fire as Gimwort’s pole-axe crashes home on another hobgoblin head.
Round 7 – Invigorated by their chief, the goblins surge forward. Four can attack at one time, but Trigg and Tansy manage to ward them off. Trigg even manages to slay his first hobgoblin, Scalebane darting past a raised shield and into the eyeslit of a goblin helmet. Eldred aims the wand carefully: at such close quarters, he can only safely catch the chief and two other hobgoblins in the blast. The effect is certainly dramatic, however. The chief and his two closest bodyguards are incinerated in a burst of flame.
Round 8 – Robbed of their lord, the remaining hobgoblins decide to sell their lives dearly. Trigg and Tansybell oblige them, killing a goblin each, although Tansy is wounded again (3/13 HP).
Round 9 – Tansy and Gimwort put an end to the bloody battle with a critical hit each.
TURN 7 – D27: Armory
The party loots the bodies and the considerable collection of looted wargear that the hobgoblins have amassed here. Mell picks out a helm to fit her, and Gimwort crows at finally finding a shirt of mail sized to fit a dwarf. Dolf gingerly strips a silver and gem-studded belt from the hobgoblin chief’s charred corpse, and the others gather a sweeping of loose coins.
TURN 8 – D31: Guard Room
They search the room but find nothing of interest. However, Old Dolf’s keen ears detect the sound of marching feet in the corridor behind them. The party forms up, with Tansy to the rear. Gimwort takes her place at the front of the line, having set his pole-axe aside in favor of a captured sword and shield. Eldred and Mell prepare to loose quarrel and spell at the would-be ambushers.
TURN 9 – Combat
The hobgoblins charge faster than expected. Two crossbow bolts thunk into Trigg’s shield, and then the goblins are upon them. Trigg takes a sword-cut (4/19 HP). Then Eldred’s Color Spray knocks the band unconscious, and the party sets about the grim work of dispatching them.
TURN 10 – D30: Chief’s Quarters
Dolf finds a secret compartment in the chief’s treasure chest, and the party collects a small hoard of gold and silver coins, an oily green potion, and a magic wand made of some twisted root.
TURN 11 – D29: Guard Room
They find nothing. The defenders here formed the ambush party that the party fought earlier.
TURN 12 – D28: Store Room
The guards stationed here also joined the ambush party, and the PCs find the secret door to the goblin caves still ajar.
TURN 13–15 – Escape
The party leaves through the goblin caves, finding unpleasant evidence of the one-woman slaughter that Ivy wrought here some weeks ago.
THE TALLY
20 Hobgoblins – 300 xp
Hobgoblin Chief – 175 xp
Gem – 100 xp
Chief’s Belt – 600 xp
623 gold coins
477 silver coins
52 copper coins
Potion of Poison
Wand of Paralyzation (7 charges)
The party gains 308 experience each. That’s more like it!
Downtime in Eveningstar – August 12
Eldred sells the belt and the gem for 560 gp. The total take from the expedition is 197 gp and 79 sp. The party will likely be out of commission for another week, but at least Trigg can almost pay his taxes this month.
Two newcomers have joined the Silver Daggers: a fresh-faced young paladin named Dunsell the Daring, and a weathered old woman from the Border Hills named Deyla. Stonescale, a young crystal lizard, rides on Deyla’s shoulders.
Ivy has also found a new companion: a black-robed mystic who calls himself Ambrosius. Patrons at the bar whisper that the man came out of the Stonelands in company with an orc and looking for her by name, though he called her “Ivy Blackstar”. His verdigris bronze wargear looks like it came out of an old barrow, and serpent forms decorate his mace and helm.
No comments:
Post a Comment