Date:
Lunday, 1st of Besemios, 2993 AE
Weather:
Cool, dry
Player Characters:
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)Lacrymosa, Elf Grudge Brigade mercenary archer (Archon Shiva)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)
Significant NPCs:
Craastonistorex, green dragon
Briar, Wyvern
Giant Tick
Phlebotomas Plumthorn, Halfling mob boss
Roskelly Winterleaf, Halfling toll collector and mob lieutenant
Blandveg, Archontean mage, alchemist, and poisoner
Many halfling fighters
Many halfling thieves
Many goblin fighters
Bottleneck, goblin sergeant
Killick, goblin Big Boss of the Wet Caves
Weskenim, Grand King of the United Goblins
Gribble, goblin prince
Palestrim, goblin major-domo
Skimmel, goblin advisor
Reeflik, goblin advisor
Sir Sorrow, Sun-Scarred Knight
Huguette, varlet to Sir Sorrow
Rizzit, demon
Claudine of Narsileon, Archontean arms merchant
Thorgrim the Easy, Wiskin food and drinks merchant
Leifcrim, halfling curios and magic items merchant
The Right for Riches company decided it was finally time to take down Plumthorn's extortionist halfling gang. But they waited until the Lunday after the Voluptarian Days intercalary period to go back to Arden Vul. Uvash was unexpectedly ill (some suspected a hangover after the harvest festivals, but that was also unusual for a dwarf), so they hired Lacrymosa the mercenary archer from the Grudge Brigade.
They woke up very early, with the goal of arriving at the base of the Cliff Face beneath the ruins of Arden Vul around dawn. Vael Levitated himself and a Living Wheelbarrow containing a Bag of Holding up the cliff, while the others roped themselves together for safety and climbed the Long Stair. As they walked north through the ruins of Arden Vul, a huge green shape flanked by a merely large green shape appeared overhead, then dropped down in front of them into the Forum of Arden Vul. It was Craastonistorex the green dragon, and he was angry. He informed them that Someone Had Messed With the Water Level Again, and that as Wardens of the Dam, it was their job to keep that from happening. He also informed them that they were late with their tribute. Vael apologized, said they'd fix the dam right away, and that they'd bring tribute next week. Craastonistorex said that next week wasn't soon enough, and he needed a magic item now or he would eat one of them. Lacrymosa set down a potion. Craastonistorex appeared to consider eating her for such a paltry gift, but magnanimously let it slide, as Briar the wyvern picked up the potion in his claws. The dragon repeated his instruction to fix the water level immediately, and flew away, flanked by his pet.
The group immediately headed for the dam. They saw their lock was gone from the door. Inside the dam, all the tools they had been storing were gone. Vallium immediately used the dam controls to reset the water level to the dragon's preferred setting. Meanwhile, Vael cast Seeker looking for the wheelbarrow they had kept in the dam, and saw that it was in Newmarket, about 30 miles to the South. He then cast Trace to prepare to hunt down the thieves, but they realized 30 miles was a long walk and keeping the spell up that long was impractial, and let it lapse. He finally used Shape Earth to close some of the dam's stonework over the door, so that nobody else could easily go in and manipulate the water level again.
Vallium led the group to the basement entrance southwest of the Pyramid of Thoth. As they walked through the ruined basement, a giant tick (roughly the size of a large dog) attempted to surprise and eat Lacrymosa. She saw it coming, didn't deign to waste any arrows on it, and called from help while running away. Michael, nearby, pulled out his sword and chopped the vermin in half. The group then continued north through the basement and down the spiral stairs. Halfway down the spiral stairs to the Halls of Thoth, Vallium tripped over a tripwire, connected to some bells. He did not fall, but the bells made a lot of noise. The others stepped over the tripwire, but they were worried that whoever placed the tripwire was now alerted to their presence.
At the bottom of the stairs, Vael cast Keen Vision to reduce the chance of further surprise, and cast Bracteros Effect on his Continual Light rock so that nobody could see it from a distance. He asked the others to put their lights away, and then moved up to the front next to Vallium to look for trouble. The group continued south and east until they were near the cavern, then halted to discuss tactics. After some discussion Vael borrowed Lacrymosa's Lion's Cloak to gain Infravision, cast Wizard Eye, cast Invisibility on it, and sent the invisible Wizard Eye down the chasm to investigate. The Eye peeked into the first room full of halflings and saw three guards by the chasm and several other halflings within the room. It continued south and peeked in the second room, spying Plumthorn, Blandveg, and three more guards. It continued south further and found another chasm exit on the east side of the chasm, then a couple of rooms they had previously found even further south, then winked out of existence as Vael decided not to maintain the spell.
With the Wizard Eye confirming that Plumthorn and Blandveg were there, they finalized the plan. Vallium would drink a Flight Potion, Vael would cast Flight on Michael and maintain Levitation on himself, Vael would cast Invisibility on all the others and use Larel's Cloak to make himself invisible, and Vallium and Michael would carry Ioannes and Lacrymosa across the chasm. They would attempt to bypass the first room full of halflings and enter the room with Plumthorn and Blandveg, kill those leaders, and then induce the other halflings to surrender. While the others discussed the plan, Lacrymosa drank a Strength Potion and an Agility Potion and cast a Concussion spell, holding the small magical stone.
 |
| Flying from the Chasm into Plumthorn's room |
The group flew invisibly and silently past the first group of halfings, and into the room with the leaders. Lacrymosa threw the Concussion at the three halfling chasm guards, stunning two of them and knocking the third unconscious. She then put an arrow into Blandveg's heart, killing him quickly. Michael dropped her and flew toward Plumthorn, while Vallium dropped Ioannes and flew toward Plumthorn, leading with his shield. Plumthorn was a bit slow to react, and took a shield to the face from Vallium, knocking him prone, then a hard sword blow, wounding him and causing him to move slowly.
As Michael flew in to help finish off Plumthorn, the halfling leader asked for a parley. While the negotiations commenced, Lacrymosa brutally put arrows into the eyes of both stunned halflings, killing them. She they saw two halfling guards behind the portcullis 40 yards to the west charging toward the battle, and shot both of them too, this time going for vitals instead of eyes. Plumthorn asked a lot of questions, while Vallium asked for unconditional surrender in return for the lives of Plumthorn and his surviving followers. Roskelly led his followers from the Glory of Thoth through the portcullis.
 |
| Shooting West toward the Portcullis |
Vael, still invisible, attempted to intimidate Plumthorn by explaining that everyone else in the room was dead and the reinforcements to the west were also dead and any other reinforcements who appeared in the hall would also be dead and he had better surrender soon. Possibly because of the effects of Larel's Cloak, this was very effective, and Plumthorn gave up and yelled to the others to surrender. Roskelly decided to run rather than surrendering, and Lacrymosa didn't like that, and shot him many, many times, not stopping even after Roskelly was clearly very dead. Nobody else ran after that.
Ioannes cast Stop Bleeding on Plumthorn to keep him from bleeding out, and then the group stripped all the halflings of all their armor, metal weapons, and valuables, allowing them to keep their clothes and very cheap weapons like clubs and slings. Vael instructed Plumthorn to lead his survivors out of Arden Vul, all the way back to Newmarket, and never come back or they would be killed. The halflings filed up the stairs, leaving behind a giant pile of smelly extra small leather armor, spears, shortswords, and knives.
Vael and Vallium went south to parley with the goblins on the other side of the barricade separating halfling and goblin territory. They informed the goblins that all the halfling territory would become goblin territory, and to send a messenger to King Weskenim. The goblin sergeant, Bottleneck, was very excited by this news, and sent one of his warriors running down the tunnel to the Wet Caves.
Vael re-cast Keen Vision and went through all the halfling rooms. In one sarcophagus, he found a secret compartment that the halflings seemed to have missed, with some treasure inside. He used one of Plumthorn's keys to open Plumthorn's chest and found some more loot. He found one wall that looked like new construction, but didn't find any secret doors in it. Finally, Vael went to the approximate center of the halfling territory and cast Seek Earth for both platinum and gold, and Seek Magic. All three spells pointed the same way, around 30 yards southeast, which did not correspond to a known room, so they noted that as a place to search for later.
The group then went west into the Glory of Thoth and searched the unexplored rooms that directly connected to it. One led to a false door that opened a pit trap, but Vael had Levitation on and Vallium was quick enough to grab the edge of the pit as he fell, so nobody was hurt. Another room was full of trash, and they decided not to spend much time searching it, since the Seek Earth and Seek Magic hadn't found anything there. A third room contined both a Thothian teleportation circle and a magical bust floating in the air. The bust could not be moved or taken, and did not respond to conversation, so they left it for now.
As the party finished their searches, the goblin sergeant Bottleneck came back up to the barricade. He said his messenger had informed Killik, the Big Boss of the Wet Caves, who had gone to see King Weskenim, but they had not heard back from the King yet. Vael advised that the goblins could take their new territory but should not go west of the Glory of Thoth because there were Settites there. The group then followed a goblin guide down to the Wet Caves, then down to Goblintown. The goblin led them over a frail bridge (none of the big people broke through), and over to the Goblin Court. Killik was there, waiting for King Weskenim to come out of his harem.
A few minutes later, the King emerged from the harem room, spoke to Killik, went into his audience room, spoke to his advisors, then invited the Right for Riches company in. He informed them that he was very happy that the rightful goblin territory had been restored, and rewarded them with a large perfect diamond. He also said that he still owed them a reward for freeing his brother Gribble from Set prison, and pointed at a human-sized set of magical scale armor on display. It was the armor of a huge ancient goblin king, but it was too big for Weskenim, so he was awarding it to them.
At that point Vael started negotiating with the king. He would happily present the former halfling territory to the goblins, but wanted free passage through goblin territory. The king agreed, but said that some goblin territory was dangerous so they should get an escort. Vallium asked about Gislu and the Scepter of the Goblins. The king said that Gislu was some kind of fake mystic and the Scepter seemed like a ploy to steal power, and it might not exist, but if it did exist, it was the rightful property of the king and he would reward them for finding it. They also asked about the Regalia that the Green Lady was looking for, but the goblin king didn't know anything about that. Weskenim also noted that he had a guest room that was currently occupied by a Sun-Scarred Knight, but that if the occupants moved on, the Right for Riches company would be welcome to use it. In the meantime they would be welcome to visit the Goblin Great Hall for shopping and dining. Vael also asked about the Troll Lifts, and the king said they were east of the goblin territory in the Wet Caves and Killick could point out the way. And also that the trolls preferred to be called varumani.
The group asked if they could meet the Knight, so an escort took them to the guest room nearby. The door was opened by a large angry woman with magical armor and an axe, who didn't appear to want visitors. She was overruled by her superior, Sir Sorrow, an equally large but less angry woman who invited the company into the guest room. She was wearing amazingly heavy armor of a type the group had never seen, plates like a giant lobster which looked like they were probably impervious to harm. A long discussion ensued, about who the Sun-Scarred Knights were, their role in preserving the peace within the Halls, what the elimination of the halflings meant, what the attacks on the Setties could do, the leader of the Knights, where they could get some armor like that, etc.
At the conclusion of the conversation, the company said farewell to Sir Sorrow, and were led by a random goblin guide east then north past Rizzit the imprisoned creepy purple wax demon (who asked to be freed) then down a spiral staircase then into the Goblin Great Hall. This was a huge cave filled with many goblins, quite a few goats, and probably some other creatures. There was also a huge bonfire in the middle, which some goblins were using for cooking. There were several merchants set up behind tables in the southeast corner, so the group went that way for some shopping.
The first merchant was an Archontean woman selling weapons and armor, but nobody saw anything magical, so they kept walking. The second merchant was an angry Wiskin guy selling food and drink, but nobody was hungry. The third merchant was a halfling named Master Leifcrim selling curios, and a couple of them looked magical, so they stopped to shop. He ended up selling them another Returning Pebble (and explained that if a proper sales contract was written out, the magic of the pebble somehow knew that it had a new owner and would return to them), another magic fish-shaped rod of unknown use (but probably something to do with boats), and a small non-magical orange oval object made of a strange substance (it felt kind of like insect chitin) with strange glyphs and no known use. They weren't sure they wanted the orange thing, but Leifcrim hinted that he had some really good magical items for really rich good customers, so they paid full price for the orange thing hoping that would lead to good deals in the future.
At that point, it was time to go back to Gosterwick, so the Right for Riches Company took their wheelbarrow and magical bags full of halfling loot and headed back up the stairs, then up the slope to the Glory of Thoth, then up the stairs to the surface and down the cliff. They did not see Plumthorn or his followers on the way.
GM's Comments:
They finally got around to taking out the halflings. It would have been a hard battle if it had happened months ago. At this point, with the combination of a good ambush plan, flight and invisibility magic, and Lacrymosa (enhanced to superhuman strength and dexterity with potions and also using a Bless spell) shooting everything that moved, it wasn't very hard at all. Plumthorn tried to negotiate, from a position of weakness, until Vael's critical success on an Intimidation roll showed him that he would be very dead very soon if he didn't give up immediately.
King Weskenim was happy to be gifted the halfling territory and rewarded them with free passage, loot, information, and an introduction to Sir Sorrow. Sir Sorrow told them a bit about her order, the Sun-Scarred Knights, and the balance between factions in the Halls.
Achievements:
- Quest bonus: 1 XP for eliminating Plumthorn's Halflings
- Iconic location bonus: 1 XP for reaching the Court of the Goblin King and the Great Hall of the Goblins
XP:
- Exploration: 6 new locations, good for 1 XP
- Loot: probably 1 XP (diamond, bunch of halfling stuff)
- Achivements: 2 XP
- Total: probably 4 XP
Next Week:
With the halflings eliminated, the Right for Riches company needs to pick a new goal. Do they explore more of the former halfling territory, explore more of Goblintown proper, go looking for the Troll Lifts, or resume their war against the Cult of Set? I have no idea.
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