After spending the night above ground in the shelter of the haunted Keep, the party wakes to find that Nobalis the Tiefling Warlord is now a Genasi Earthsoul Warlord.
"And I might even change my name to something more rock like!" He threatens.
They all mentally fortify themselves and head back down into the Keep....again.
Taking point, J'Draven searches the room carefully for traps and hidden doors before giving the all clear. "Nobody moves till I tell them to from here on out. We are not getting caught like that again." she growls.
The room to the South of the entry hall seems to have been converted into a local barracks for the Goblin guards that were posted the day before with a store room off to the side. There is a double door in the barracks that looks like it leads somewhere important.
To the east of the entry is a short hallway that ends in a single door and to the West is a longer hallway that turns sharply to the North. The party decides to follow the hallway and leave the doors till later.
The corridor widens into a long, narrow chamber. Doors are set in the northern and western walls, and iron double doors stand to the east. Faint stains streak the floor between the western door and the northern door.
"Look at these stains," says Slavin, squinting in the torchlight. "Looks like blood..."
"Smells like blood..." observes the Half-Elf, wrinkling his nose.
"Tastes like blood..." Everyone looks at the Dragonborn quizzically...and takes a step back.
"No wait!" cries J'Draven, "Look, the trail starts in this closet and there are a bunch of supplies in here. I bet it was a jar of sauce or something. Yeah, that's gotta be it! That must be the kitchen through that door."
"Well let's see what's for dinner!" shouts the Dwarf as he kicks the door open and steps inside.
A Hobgoblin torturer clad in black armor and wearing a leather mask to hide a face disfigured by burns picks up two red-hot pokers and turns to face the intruders. Goblins armed with crossbows growl and take aim.
Alazar casts a spell from outside the door that freezes the ground under the Hobgoblin's feet causing him to fall unceremoniously on his ass right in front of everybody. The Goblin to his right starts to laugh uncontrollably at the mishap until a shiruken lodges itself in his throat, courtesy of the Rogue as she dives into the chamber and uses the torture rack in the middle of the room for cover.
Nobalis follows close behind, his large, rocky appearance making the room feel smaller. He charges by the wounded Goblin finishing it off with a slash from his longsword while preparing to face off against the prone Hobgoblin.
Ross charges in to cover the East side of the room, scattering the Goblins there with a breath of lightning and coming right up against another of the crossbow wielding creatures causing it to almost drop its weapon.
Jacobb darted in, taking cover in the Southwest corner of the room firing his crossbow off at the hip while readying his holy symbol in case anyone needed some healing.
Bolts and javelins fly towards the Dwarf but bounce off his armor or do no real damage as he marches up to the third crossbow wielding Goblin and nails him with his axe. The Goblin is forced to back away as Slavin takes another swing at him.
The torturer makes it back up on his feet and howls as he looks around for the best target to take out his anger. Nobalis moves in for the attack while J'Draven looks for a good opening and Alazar casts a magic missile.
Slavin moves up to flank the Hobgoblin, ignoring the javelin a Goblin behind him threw into his shoulder, while Ross backs the other frightened beast into a cage in the Southeast corner.
Suddenly, the black armor the Hobgoblin is wearing flares blood red! Attacks bounce off it and magic spells seem to be absorbed by it. Slavin pushes him into the fire pit but he just stands there, unaffected by the flames, laughing at them.
"Dibbs on that armor!" calls Nobalis. "Assuming we can actually take it from him."
A magic missile streaks past Nobalis and hits the torturer solidly in his chest, breaching his magical defenses and bringing him down.
"Happy Birthday." quips Alazar.
Seeing everyone focus on the Hobgoblin, one of the crossbowmen sees his opening and bolts for the open door. As he skitters down the hallway Jacobb steps out and glares at him. The Cleric's eyes briefly gleam with brilliant colors and the Goblin screams and staggers under a mental assault. The beast collapses, blood pouring out of its ears and eyes.
As Ross dispatches the Goblin in the cage, the last remaining creature notices that it is cut off from escape and alone. Defiantly he skitters to the cage and slams the door closed even as Nobalis cuts him down from behind.
"Clear!" everyone shouts from their quadrent of the room, followed by a string of congratulatory remarks.
"That was awesome!"
"Just like we practiced..."
That's how I like to see it done!"
"Uhhh...guys? I'm kinda locked in the cage....."
J'Draven skips over to the cage and deftly picks the lock letting Ross out.
"First one is free....next one might cost ya." she warns with a smile.
Down a hallway to the west were three cells, some movement caught the Rogue's eye.
"Hey, I think someone is locked up down there..."
In the center cell a smallish Goblin was huddled in the corner. As he saw J'Draven approach he jumped up and pleaded,
"Please!!! You've got to let me out! They'll kill me next time! I'll do anything, *anything* just let me out please!!"
"I'd rather kill you myself, " replied J'Draven in Goblin, "what are you locked in there for anyway?"
"I'm smaller than they are," he stammers out. "They pick on me and torture me because of it. I don't deserve this, it's not right!"
"What's he saying?" asks Ross, coming into view. "I don't understand any of that language."
"He says he's innocent and wants us to let him out, but he's totally lying. I say we kill him. He knows we are here and he'll tell anyone he sees just to save his own skin." says J'Draven.
"We can't just kill him," replied the Dragonborn, "it is not the way things should be done."
"What are ye, some sorta Paladin?!?" barked out the Dwarf. "Oh wait...ye are. I forgot."
"What are they saying?!?" begged the Goblin, eyes going wide at the sight of the large reptillian warrior outside the cage.
"Oh, he favors the taste of Goblin and is asking for a snack." the Rogue slyly claims. "I think that's a good idea unless you can convince me otherwise...."
“Treasure! I can show you hidden treasure!" he shrieks.
"Treasure?" Alazar asks with a slight smile.
"What? Since when can you speak Goblin?" asks a startled Jacobb.
"Since about 2 minutes ago." came the Wizard's cryptic reply. "What is your name, slime?" he asks in flawless Goblin.
"S-Splug..." came the meek response.
"Well Splug..." he states as he starts an involved series of gestures with mystic glowy lights flickering everywhere in an impressive display, "what I am placing on your forehead right now is a glyph. A curse. If you betray us, run away or deceive us in any matter it will cause your blood to boil killing you in the most painful way you can imagine!" He finished with a flourish and warmth spread out over Splug's head as a glowing symbol appeared.
"Now, tell us everything you know....."
Splug begins to speak rapidly, telling the team about some of the other rooms in the area. How the double doors to the East lead to the Chieftain, Balgron the Fat's lair and how there are many Goblins in there. How the Chieftain tells the rest of the Goblins who has to guard the entrance that week and who has to dig for treasure in the treasure room and who has to go.....down there.....through the double doors in the barracks to deliver messages to the 'Big Boss'.
"You....you let Splug go now?" he asks nervously after finishing.
"Of course..." J'Draven says. "As soon as you lead us to your hidden treasure stash you are free to go. You have my word....."
"Yes...yes. I lead you there. I lead you there right now!"
Splug leads the party back past the entrance to the Keep and to the single door at the end of the hallway. He quietly led them through the door and down a short set of stairs.
"Hold up!" commands J'Draven
Goblin voices down a hallway leading East were arguing about something.
"An ambush?" Alazar said disapprovingly to Splug.
"No, no!! We go that way!" Splug quietly insisted indicating a passageway leading off to the right at the bottom of the stairs. "We no go into the digging room."
"The Goblins ahead are discussing the lack of treasure found in the digging room. They are not aware of our presence." the Rogue states. "But there is something else....a breeze coming from the Dwarf..."
"A *breeze*?!?" chuckles the Cleric, "don't you mean a..."
"Heyyyyy....I didn't...." starts Slavin...
"Quiet both of you!" snaps J'Draven. "I mean coming from *near* the Dwarf."
She examines the wall next to Slavin, then reaches up and pokes at a stone. The wall swings in to reveal a stairway leading up into the dark.
"And where does this lead, Splug?" she asks with venom in her eyes.
Splug could only quiver and shake his head. The puddle growing on the floor under him made it obvious he knew nothing about it.
The party agreed they would find Splug's stash first and then come back this way to explore the mysteries of the secret door.
They head down the right hand passage and as they decsend the stairs they notice that there are no torches linig the walls like the rest of the level they were on. In fact it is very very dark.
"Careful...or we will likely be eaten by a Grue." warned Ross.
J'Draven pulled out a sunrod from her pack, activated it and tossed it about 15 feet in front of her. The light revealed that the finely worked stairs and flagstones of the dungeon give way to a wide, natural cavern. The ceiling drips with dozens of stalactites, and the floor rises unevenly with loose rocks and stalagmites. The rocks and debris become thicker to the east and west, and both directions offer only narrow paths of unobstructed terrain. Large rats chatter, darting in and out of the shadows.
"The rats don't seem that interested in us," observed Alazar, "just don't get too close to any."
An ear-splitting squeal shatters the silence as Ross accidentally steps on a rat's tail.
"Uhhh...oops?" he says as the rest of the rats start to converge on the group.
"There do seem to be an awful lot of rats..." says J'Draven, "more than a dozen easy."
The rats surround the party, darting out from the shadows of the stalagmites and dropping from above from the stalactites.
Ross lets off a burst of lightning frying a few, but more take their place hissing and biting. They seemed more an annoyance than anything else, as few were getting past anyone's defenses, but something caught Nobalis's attention. A large crimson colored mass of undulating jelly oozed forward from a cave to the Southeast with menacing intentions.
"Hey Ross, " he asked, "is uhh... that a Grue?"
"No way." called Ross. "Everyone knows that Grues can't stand light of any sort. This thing obviously isn't bothered by...Oomf!!"
The Ochre Jelly rears up and slams its bulk down on the Paladin. Ross barely gets his shield up in time but manages to absorb the hit. The splatter sizzles on his armor giving off an acrid smell.
Splug squeals and runs back up the stairs trying desperately to scrape the 'cursed' glyph off of his forehead with a sharp rock he picked up on the way.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Jacobb as he ran off after him.
"No one escapes my curses!" screams Alazar as he followed the Cleric.
"J'Draven, Nobalis! You two take care o' the rats....we'll take on this creature here!" proclaimed Slavin as the two defenders blocked the movement of the jelly.
The Warlord and Rogue stabbed as many rats as they could find in the area while Slavin and Ross hacked away at the quivering jelly. Nobalis rushed in to assist while J'Draven kicked at a more tenacious rat that just wouldn't die.
"We're gettin' somewhere!" the Dwarf elatedly shouted as a strong hit caused the ooze to shiver violently. The Ochre Jelly split down the middle forming two individual oozes that each attacked independently.
"That doesn't seem fair...." proclaimed Ross as he took another battering from not one, but both jellies now.
J'Draven turned as she finished grinding the last rat under her boot saying, "Well let's try something else then!" as she spun her magical shiruken toward the pair of creatures. The resulting fireball set both jellies on fire. They seemed to burn just fine, squirming and thrashing trying to put themselves out.
"Cool! Fire!" yelled Alazar as he came running back in the room with Jacobb. "Heeeyy...where did the other guy come from? Well, let's just make sure they don't escape..."
He cast a Flaming Sphere right behind the oozes cutting off their retreat and adding flames to the fires already burning them.
Ross and Nobalis focus their attacks on the original ooze and it melts away under the barrage. The second ooze attempts to get away by sliding away past the Flaming Sphere but quickly succumbs to the flames and ranged attacks from the rest of the team.
"So Splug tried to ambush us, huh? Where is he anyway?" Slavin asked Alazar and Jacobb.
"We caught up to him in the secret stairway. He was heading somewhere up there in a hurry." said Jacobb.
"But where is he?" asked the Paladin with a disapproving look in his eye.
"He uhhh....tripped on the stairs. And fell. And choked. And caught on fire. And parts of him mysteriously exploded. Weirdest accident I ever saw. Really." stated Alazar.
"I'm guessing he was lying about the treasure too." said J'Draven dejectedly.
"Aye," said Slavin leaning up against a nearby wall. "if there is a hidden stash here then I....."
He paused as a loud click came from behind him..."...then I'm really glad I didn't finish that sentence."
The door opened into a small chamber with a bedroll, some food, water and ale. It was obviously used as a place to hide for extended periods of time. They found some coins and gems rolled up in a large piece of cloth.
"Score!" Jacobb excitedly remarks, "I want this gem!"
They begin to divy up the loot when Alazar pipes in.
"I just want the cloth please." he says as he unrolls it, revealing its true form. He dons the cloak and it gives his outline a distorted view. It would be very hard to aim anything at him from more than 25 feet or so. "A cloak of Distortion, very stylish these days."
Bad Wolf company decided that this would be a fine place to set camp for the night and they would continue their explorations in the morning.
1 comment:
Coolness!!
-Jacobb
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