Quest Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Goblins pt 2: priiinncessss Hhhrlblurg
DM Name: Nerylos
Length: ~4 hours.
Participants:
Conall: 3 Bard
Rhea Steelheart: 4 Cleric
Aeron: 4 Warblade
Lucius the Fox: 3 Paladin
Gram Chandler: 4 Rogue/Paladin
Challenges:
The Ancient Door CR2
Encounter Boss:
2 Goblin Barbarians Tier I CR4 each
1 Insane Goblin "Princess" CR5
1 Zombie Tossing Wasp Nests CR2
Experience:
Level 3: 1140
Level 4: 1040
Rewards:
Gram: 2200 gp
Rhea: 2200 gp
Miyako: 1450 gp
Kalor: 550 gp
Aeron: 2000 gp
Reid: 110 gp
Lucius: 1450 gp
Conall: 750
Sapphire, Holy Relic, now marked with the symbol of Lendys, worth 2000gp >donated<
+1 to a Weapon of their choice from Artificier Farghorn
Summary: After returning to the surface for healing from the grevious wounds they suffered at the hands of the Goblin Rogues, our intrepid band once again made it's way into the "belly of the beast", as it were. Using the key they found in the ash of one of the rogue goblins, they unlocked the final door…only to find someone, or something, had carved out a narrow set of stone steps that took them deep within the split of a natural fissure. Along the way, and to his great surprise, Gram found a sapphire in a hidden recess…was it coincidence just moments later a cool wind blew through the passage and the paladin and cleric we're abruptly made aware the diety Lendys had taken a personal interest in their quest.
At the bottom of the stairs they found a set of large wooden doors, and after some deliberation, the Cleric Rhea finally cast read language, only to find the reason she could not read the Dwarven on the door was because of it's incredible age.
"441 IR
We commend, this the 3rd day of Tidesfest, this humble Chapel to our Lord and Protector Lendys.
This Chapel shall protect the weary, provide aid to the rightous, and be a source of justice for all those that travel the Royal Road of the Mr'grok'rock Empire, in their trade far, abroad, and close to home.
For the traveler, hereto or forever come: Place your hands on the doors and will them open."
Having found a way to open the doors and been befuddled by the ancient text…they opened the door. The nightmare inside had only begun to unfold. The cave itself was beautiful, a true wonder of geological creation…and it's residents were anything but. Finding themselves in a shallow pool of water, they were surrounded on three sides by some sort of undergrowth, sprouting exotic and fragrant plants of various kinds…to keep the thousands of wasps happy. Indeed, among the undergrowth dozens of wasps nest could be seen, buzzing with activity. On a central dias, looking like it was ready to fall over it was cobbled together so poorly (indeed it was…too bad nobody tried to push it over), stood one self-crowned "priiinncessss Hhhrlblurg," her dias flanked on either side by large mutant-goblin berzerkers. Also noticed on the dias was some sort of mutant-zombie goblin, infested by the wasps and given life after death.
As the zombie leapt off into the undergrowth, a moment of indecision fell on the party as exactly how to engage. After the goblins moved closer together to where they had a hidden cache of spears, and Lucius the paladin bravely made his move, placing himself between the two of them and readying himself to strike. Seeing the imminent danger, the infernally intelligent goblin began to pound away at him, expecting help from his ally and an easy kill…until Aeron and the Dorf Rhea charged in, aided by Conall's uplifting music. The goblin princess smartly cast Sanctuary and Entropic shield on herself, but it was almost as if the battle had already been decided. In the next two rounds, aided by Lucius' brilliant position to give his allys a flank the Dorf, Insane Woman and Mouseadin managed to cause so much damage to the berzerkers the princess had only one choice left.
Unable to get in and heal without provoking attacks of opportunity, she could either fight…and hope she could secure a kill, or martyr herself by using shield other on her allies. Chosing to keep her dainty (lol) hands clean of battle, she chose the Martyrdom path, hoping the combination of DR on the berzerkers with her additional life force added would be enough to turn the tide of battle. Unfortunately, even with wasps nests being rained on them by the infested zombiegoblin, the party proceeded to hit -even harder- in the next 2 rounds, Lucius Rhea and Aeron all scoring huge hits…which caused the princess to take so much damage she was unable to cast, but simply sob as she was torn to bits. In fact…she knew something the party did not. Possessed by an entity of another realm, she simply planned to flee the scene if the battle could not be won. As the first Berzerker went down Lucius' low hp and lack of heavy paladinesque armor begin to take it's toll, and the Dorf smartly moved to heal him, saving him from what would have been a near-death experience.
As the party took the second Berzerker to a similar situation, the last of the Princess' life forces bled out, her body vanishing in an explosion of dark energies as the entity within was freed. It made one critical mistake however, being so beligerent to take up inhabitation in a once-consecrated holy place of Lendys was about to rpove to be a fatal flaw. As the other berzerker argues with whatever hellish god it served before being smited down for it's failure, the evil entity found there was no escape for it, another form moving in, chasing it down, and then…well…who knows, the first blow of the epic encounter was so resounding it knocked the party unconscious.
When they woke, they found their wounds were gone, and the alien foliage, as well as the wasps were dead, dying, or a combination of the two, and had begun to smell quite profound. Perhaps most peculiar of all, Gram later noticed the sapphire he found had been suffused with the holy symbol of Lendys…how, exactly, is still a mystery, but it seems there are higher powers at work.
The adventurers made their way back out of the dungeon to find the Mercenary company considering having an early lunch, as it was only about noon. They instead opted to return to town, where their waiting pay would afford them a better meal than train rations and watery rabbit soup.
The ride back to Avalon is not unpleasant, and after a couple hour's ride the party finds themselves once again outside of the Arcadia. Upon entering, they once again encounter the Artificier, smoking on his pipe, who asks they be seated and recount their venturous tale. He Hrms a couple times, but otherwise does not seem rather surprised. As for the Goblins being extra resistant to damage…he believes he has a solution. By suffusing your weapons with magical energy, he believes it should cut though their mutations…hopefully. The seeds you present him with seem to not be out of the ordinary…though he can't account for all of them. he's not a botanist after all. As for the wasps…they appear to be akin to Hellwasps…but they too are different somehow.
(This may (will) be updated as I resolve some of the non-combat situations that have arisen.)
