Quest Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Goblins Pt 1: The Long Damaging Road
DM Name: Nerylos
Length: Session 1: 4:30, Session 2: 6:00
Participants:
Gram Chandler, 4 Rogue/Paladin
Rhea Steelheart: 4 Cleric
Miyako Shizimu: 4 Rogue
Kalor Surakam: 2 Cleric
Aeron: 4 Warblade
Reid: 2 Rogue/Fighter
Lucius the Fox, 3 Paladin
Challenges:
Meeting Artificier Farghorn, CR4
Encounter 1:
3 Goblins CR1/3
2 Cultist Goblin Barbarian CR2
2 Cultist Goblin Rogue CR2
Initiating Encounter 2:
Trying to figure wtf was going on CR4
Encounter 2:
3 Goblins CR1/3
1 Forest Troll sans poison still CR4
3 Goblin Cultists Tier I CR3
Overseer and Bonus Xp for the ridiculously hard combat CR4
Experience:
Gram: 1870; 200+450+200+1020
Rhea: 1870; 200+450+200+1020
Miyako: 1770; 200+450+100+1020
Kalor: 700; 250+450
Aeron: 1670; 200+450+1020
Reid: 1300; 250+450+200+400
Lucius: 1365; 225+1140
Rewards:
After part 2…I ask you not buy anything in the meantime, I have plans…
Summary: The party gathered in the Arcadia at the behest of one Artificier Farghorn, an old Tiefling that made a request for adventurers capable of discretion for a special mission. As the party was informed over a meal, there has been another outbreak of the strange mutant goblins. It was, should they choose to accept it, their mission to venture to an area now knows as The Wicked Night's Hills, a wooded area half way between Avalon and the Kirsing mountains. So named by travelers for the terrible raids the goblins have been making on them when the sun has set should they be fool hearty enough to attempt rest in their stomping ground, they were dispatched with all due haste in a rental Carriage, accompanied by a band of mercenaries paid to keep watch for anything trying to "sneak in the rear", as it were.
After a long journey that did nothing but raise their suspicions of their stalwart employer (and find them a 6th member of their party, hired by a Dwarf to scout the location himself), they finally were lead to their destination by a member of the Avalon Scout's guild. Inside the small cave they found a structure of non-goblin origin. Crevices in the cave floor we're bridged over by complex architecture, and man-friendly rope bridges spanned vast rifts that would be impassible otherwise. As they reached the bottom of the first passage, they found themselves the unwitting spectators to a goblin wrestling match. Seems the lower caste of society we're finding semi-creative ways of entertaining themselves in their massive amounts of free time.
The party attacked when provoked, and the goblin menace was quelled with relative ease. The Goblins however took their toll, and after being vomited on by a dying Goblin, Kelor made his way to the surface for some much needed fresh air. This loss was alleviated in some by the fact among the wreckage and shit of the Goblin Warren, they found one Lucius, Paladin by trade, bound and gagged under a foul smelling tarp. Having also been sent by Dorfs of the Kirsing mountains clans to scout the location of the goblin raid base, the clumsy paladin found himself under a net, and subsequently was made their prisoner for some time. He gladly joined the quasi-merry band in their quest to rid the hills of their problem.
Not bothering to find the key to the locked wooden door (srsly guys I was using a DC 15 search to determine who found they key for flavor…only 2 of you even rolled, and while the rogue came surprising close to popping the DC30 lock, you missed out on the bonus round =3), the stumpy and definitively un-subtle Dorf instead simply battered their way in with her Adamantine weapon. As the door gave way to her resounding blows…the damage was done. The goblins and troll up the passage set up a rather brilliant defensive position. Reaching said position, the party was stumped by magical darkness, taking nearly an hour to launch their attack when they got tired of trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
While their intentions were pure, the unprecedentedly intelligent Goblins had a couple tricks of their own up their sleeve. As the party moved in to shatter the Troll's barrier, the seeming source of the magical darkness, they we're in fact moving right into the Goblin's ploy. As the party shattered the barrier the darkness ceased…momentarily. Perhaps their saving grace in the overly-difficult combat that ensued took place at this very moment, as with the barrier down the party swiftly and derisively cut down all 3 of the Goblin snotlings without so much as a hiccup.
As the last of the snots fell…the Goblins sprung their trap. With Gram locked in combat with the Troll and Aeron just arriving on the scene after catching some fresh air herself, three massively mutated goblins with wings, slashing claws and perhaps most importantly dual wielding long and short sword revealed themselves, soaring out from behind the dung heap and circling in the small room briefly before joining the melee themselves…each a center of a Darkness spell themselves.
The battle that broke out was massive and bloody, the Goblin's ploy working to near perfection, saving their noted lack of their ability to flank (hard to believe this whole thing may have been won because they killed the CR1/3s =3). Keeping the party divided and trapped in 1v1 combat, Aeron opted to try to burn down the Troll, allowing a combination of the 1v1 and Overseer's shrewd sense of humor to cause Miyako Lucius Aeron and Gram all to deplete their HP into the teens. With Lucius nearly impotent due to Overseer refusing to hand him anything higher than an 11 on attack rolls and some luck on the Goblin's part, things were looking pretty dire for our Stalwart tribe.
The definitive turning moment in the battle occurred as the first of our adventurers, Miyako, fell to the Goblin's ruthless insult. Spotting opportunity, the Troll shrewdly called to the now victorious Goblin standing over Miyako, and the impotent itself Goblin, futilely trying to slash his way through Rhea's massive 29 AC (despite critting twice, his darkness was his own boon, and both missed). As the Goblins moved to get into Gram and Aeron's flanks for a likely fatal dose of sneak attack, the Dorf, who herself had managed to not damage the attacker hampering her actions landed a massive crit on an attack of opportunity, causing the Goblin to explode into burning chunks of ash under her massively rightous assault.
With the battle suddenly looking light it might be winable, the heroes sustained another few rounds, the troll still chipping away at Gram, Aeron and Lucius were still slowly falling to her attacker's onslaught…and then the combined fire of Gram and Aeron finally brought the massive troll down. Miyako tossed her torch to Gram, who quickly lit it and set about cauterizing the troll's wounds. The Troll, barely conscious and coming to doth protest, but in the end his wretched skin squealed like a lobster in boiling water, and he had to succumb to his grievous wounds. With only 2 Goblin's left, the party was low on stamina and low on hit points, needing both Rhea and Lucius to toss about heals. A mad woman as ever, Gram and Aeron wasted no time, and quickly turned the second goblin to burning wreckage.
Already having been wounded by Lucius when Overseer took a brief 1 round reprieve from being a dick, and seeing the demise of his cohorts, the last goblin attempted to flee down the way the adventurers came on his wings, but Rhea's thus far inaccurate Spirit Hammer finally rang true. The combination of the tight, treacherous flight route, the Goblin's limited maneuverability and the Hammer of Spirit to the ass sent it spinning out of control, crashing into the wall at break-neck speed and causing it's corpse to burst into ash and flame, spiraling out of sight.
Victorious, blooding and spent, our stalwart adventurers took one look at the Iron door leading even further into the mysterious caverns and collectively said….Nnnaah. They have thus returned to the surface to recuperate with the medicinal know-how of the Mercenary company. When rested and higher of spirits after their victory paid for in nothing but sweat, tears, and 14 gallons of DungeonFX⢠fake blood (the gold for that of course deducted from their earnings), it appears our champions will once again enter the Goblin-infested caverns in…
TMNG, Pt 2: pH
:elan: Dun dun DUN!
