Date:
Tothsday 30th Jelenios, 2994 AE
Weather:
Cool, cloudy
Player Characters:
Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Significant NPCs:
Basil, Right for Riches employee
Akla-Chah, Rudishva AI psychologist
Mistral, intelligent sword
Cers, intelligent sword
Many goblins
Killik, goblin chief
Temrin, goblin royal artist
Narbo, elf mage, prisoner of the goblins
Elena, warrior, prisoner of the goblins
Carloman, halfling, prisoner of the goblins
Jobim, goblin brewer
Palestrim, goblin majordomo
Rast, goblin kid
Gog, varumani outcast
Gribble, goblin prince
Many giant lizards
4 heqeti
Boalisk
Escaped former slaves of the Cult of Set:
- Hexameros, Archontean fighter
- Theophrastus, Archontean cleric of Demma
- Jostri, Wiskin skald
- Isthak, lizardman
- 3 goblins
- pig-headed beastman
- 20 Thorcin farmers and villagers
The Plan:
- Visit the Goblin Market
- Hire Temrin to make a map to the Ring of Jagri-Naz
- Use Seeker to find the floating bronze head previously found near the Glory of Weskenim
- Explore the natural caverns north of the Goblin Forum
What Happened:
After leaving Mistral, Cers, and the sword with eyes on its blade in a room together all week, Vallium asked Mistral about the other swords. Mistral said that Cers still needed melting down and the other sword didn't say anything all week. Vael talked to Cers, who suggested melting down Mistral, had no opinion about the other sword, and said that it could help them find great treasures if they would just follow instructions. The sword with eyes continued to say nothing.
Vallium led the group through a series of Rudishva teleporters until they reached the floating garden island in the middle of the Great Chasm. Vael cast Levitation and Walk on Air, and everyone headed up to the Wet Caves. There was a net there to keep things from the chasm out, but a goblin guard spotted them and alerted his sergeant, who let them in. They briefly spoke to Killik, chief of the Wet Caves, then went down to Goblintown.
In the Goblin Market, they spoke to Temrin, who indicated that Major-domo Palestrim had authorized him to paint something for them, as soon as he finished some changes to a group portrait of King Weskenim's harem. Vael provided him with a copy of a picture of the Ring of Jagri-Naz and asked Temrin to make a map to it.
The group went upstairs to their private room in Goblintown. Once they had privacy, Vael cast a Seeker spell for the floating bronze head, and saw it floating next to a second bronze head. He cast Trace and found that the head was down a bit and northeast. They headed back down to the goblin market and started wandering around as if sightseeing, trying to find the head without being obvious about it.
They wandered west and found a room with several prisoners in cages, along with some huge black doors. One of the prisoners was an elf named Narbo, who said he had been imprisoned due to false accusations of shoplifting from Jobim the brewer, and would reward them with his spells if they got him out. After some questioning they decided he was actually guilty of shoplifting and had been sentenced to a year in the cage. Vael and Vallium discussed paying Jobim to drop the charges and let him go, but Ioannes and Uvash didn't see the point.
They went north to another room and saw some more prisoners tied to the walls. One was a woman named Elena who was the sole survivor of a group of adventurers who had attacked Upper Goblintown. Another was a halfling named Carloman who used to be Plumthorn's second in command, and was now missing an eye and an ear. They tried to go through a door, but the goblin jailer said that way was restricted. Vael Glass Walled that door, and beyond it saw some prisoners digging a tunnel.
Returning to the big black doors, the group recalled that the area around the doors was a no mana zone, and stepping too close disenchanted their spells and magic items. Vallium took off everything magical and closely investigated the door, finding no keyholes but a wide slot with some prongs inside it. He went through his key rings and did not find any key of the correct shape. Vael also stripped off all his magic and investigated, and discovered his magic was of no use against the door. Uvash took off his magic then grabbed a pickaxe out of Larel's Sack and took a swing at the door, leaving no mark. Weskenim's majordomo Palestrim came over while they were looking at the doors, and said that if someone figured out how to open them, the king would reward them.
Eventually, they gave up on the doors, went to talk to Jobim in the goblin market, and bought some drinks including Jobim's Lichen Ale (good) and Demon Purple Wax Ale (an acquired taste). They resumed wandering around, looking for the floating bronze head. A goblin kid named Rast approached them and said that he was an expert tour guide and would give them all a tour of Goblintown for a coin. Vael gave him 5 silver pieces, so Rast showed them the statue they called The Pointer, the Big Fire Pit, many goats, and the bronze floating heads King Wesky the First and King Wesky the Second. He also led them through a couple of caves full of goblins, including the one where he lived. Finally he showed them a portcullis, behind which were some ogre guards (who were very serious and who he tried to make laugh) and the stairs to the Arena.
Having found the floating bronze head, the group decided to leave Goblintown. They went back up to the Wet Caves, then over to Gog's Cave. Vael went through a Teleport Rug back to the Beacon and grabbed some food for Gog. They spoke briefly to Gog, gave him the food, then used his Thothian teleportation circle, as Gog appeared to closely study the permutation of colored squares they used to teleport.
Appearing near the Bridge of Set, they saw some new paint blazes on the walls, marking a north-south path. They went south and east, then changed their mind and went north to the Goblin Forum. Gribble greeted them and told them that business had picked up a bit since King Weskenim lent him a couple of ogre guards to operate the basket on the cliff face, and they'd marked a safe trail from the basket to the Forum.
They went north to the locked portcullis leading to some natural caverns. Vallium found the key to the portcullis on one of his keyrings. They went down a cliff, up a different cliff, and followed a fast underground stream. At that point they got ambushed by a couple of giant lizards. Vallium and Uvash killed them, then Vallium cut them open hoping for swallowed treasure, but mostly finding half-digested vermin.
Continuing north and west they found some human corpses that had been mostly eaten by lizards, and a bit of loot. Vael and Ioannes, both with See Secrets spells running, spotted a secret door at the same time. Vael tried to open it, but it was stuck. Vallium opened it, and on the other side was a room with slimy pebbled walls, a mysterious well on the floor, and four amphibian bipeds with primitive bone spears. The heqeti immediately attacked. They were pretty tough, but Vallium and Uvash killed three of them. The fourth jumped into the well and disappeared. Ioannes said the well looked magic to him. Vael wasn't sure, but cast Scry Gate on it, and saw that it was indeed a teleporter leading to some underground swamp. They decided not to go in.
Some investigation to the south showed some shadows across a river, so they doubled back northeast, finding several more giant lizards. Another fight started. This time Vael cast Lightning Wall behind the lizards to prevent their escape, and one of the lizards tested the wall and suffered a serious shock. Vallium and Uvash eventually killed all the lizards, then Vallium and Ioannes cut them up and failed to find any treasure inside. They did find some nests with some huge eggs, which they took.
Heading northwest, they entered a small cave and Vallium and Uvash were hit by a stone deadfall trap, but both had hard enough helmets that their heads were not damaged by the falling rocks. Continuing northwest, they saw light in the distance, and a couple of human faces, way up on a cliff face on the other side of a pool of water. As they approached someone yelled "Look out for a giant snake in the pool! Don't come close or it will use its gaze attack!" Not needing a second hint, everyone flew as high as possible over the pool, over to the lit cave.
Within were a couple of dozen people, mostly humans, but with a few goblins, a beastman, and a lizardman. They were all former slaves of the Settites, who had escaped to this cave complex, but were hunted by a giant snake in the pool. Apparently the snake had killed at least six of their companions, so now they only left their elevated cave to find food when they knew the snake was away. Vael told them that he had good news, that the Cult of Set was gone, and that he had teleportation magic that could get them out. He flew back out of sight and used a Teleport Rug to go back to the Beacon and grab the Mirror of Life Trapping.
As they flew over the pool, the giant snake (actually a boalisk) appeared and tried using its gaze attack on them, but they were too high to reach. Vael tried using the mirror to reflect the gaze, which failed. Vallium flew high out of range and started using the Returning Javelin to take potshots at the snake. He hit it three times, knocking it unconscious. Meanwhile, Uvash, with no effective ranged weapons and not wanting to approach the boalisk, instead urinated on it from high above, while Ioannes reconsidered his decision to associate with dwarves. Vallium flew down and cut the unconscious boalisk to death, then gutted it and failed to find any treasure.
Vael flew back to the cave and demonstrated the Mirror of Life Trapping on Hexameros, one of the escaped slaves' leaders. Hexameros went into the mirror, then was released, and declared it didn't hurt. Vael then had eighteen (the mirror's capacity) prisoners look into the mirror and get pulled in, then Rug Teleported to the Beacon then to Gosterwick, then let all the prisoners out into the hallway in the Arcane Practitioners' Club. He told Tresti that he'd be right back, then teleported back to the Beacon and the cave, and brought the last five human prisoners back to Gosterwick. He led them out of the Club, pointed at the Rarities Factor, and wrote them a writ for $100 each to help with resettlement.
Teleporting back to the Beacon then to the cave, Vael rejoined the others. They led everyone to the Goblin Forum and dropped off the goblins, then took the Beastman up the Sighing Stair, over to Upper Goblintown, and down to Deino's territory. Finally they led the lizardman south until he recognized the way back to his own territory and left them. Finished, they went back to the Forum, where everyone but Vael Rug-teleported back to the Beacon, then Vael grabbed the Teleport Rug and cast Pol's Recall to join them.
GM's Comments:
Giant lizards with ST 19 and HT 14 take forever to kill.
Note to monsters without flight or long-range attacks: don't live in caves with really high ceilings. Flying PCs will kill you from above with ranged weapons. While also peeing on you for some reason.
Achievements:
The Rescuers: 1 XP for getting all those escaped slaves out past the boalisk
XP:
- Exploration: 19 rooms, 1 XP
- Loot: Not much, probably 0 XP
- Achievements: 1 XP
- Total: 2 XP
Next Week:
I haven't heard any plans yet, stay tuned.
