The Story So Far II

The Story Continues…

II

5th day, Silvangate the 19th, 1845(Late, approximately 10:00pm)

The wizard’s familiar beckoned the party to follow her. So, the adventurers followed the cat back into the hall. The cat began to lead them towards a wood door at the far end of the hall when the sounds of snoring were heard coming from the middle small 5’ passage. Lono stealthily went to investigate where he discovered a goblin sleeping on a mat of filthy hay in a small square barracks room, he returned to tell the party. Lono, Svarnos, and Gjord decided it would be best to slay the creature but Martijn and Fionnula would have nothing to do with such a dastardly act. The cleric and the knight continued to follow the cat to the door at the end of the hall. Lono snuck back into the barracks and cut the goblins throat.

The party listened at the wooden door and they could hear goblins laughing and jeering and a human voice screaming to be left alone! The party had Lono open it while the rest of the group prepared to rush in with Svarnos ready with his crossbow. Upon opening the door they saw a narrow flight of stairs leading downwards. They rushed down the steps with Martijn leading the way. The stairs led into a sort of jail with a row of cells along one wall and at the far end of this long room they could see three goblins tormenting someone in the furthest cell. Martijn yelled out a battle cry, “Die you scurvy dogs!” and charged forward with Gjord right behind him. They dispatched the goblins after a brief battle where Gjord fought defensively because of his previous wounds.

Turning to see into the cell they saw a young man with a black beard and curly hair. The man was wearing torn and dirty clothes and looked as if a vicious blow had blacked one eye. The man was grateful to see them and the party set him free with a key they found on one of the goblin guards. The man turned out to be a man-at-arms from Wychton named Tursan. He and two of his comrades had been hired by a wizard named Vanen as protection on the road for his journey to Berengel. They traveled by a cart pulled by two horses and it should have been a short trip to Berengel Keep. However, just as they passed the western edge of the Ironstorm Mountains they were attacked. They saw a cluster of horrific goblins bearing down on them from out of the Broken Lands to the west, blocking the road ahead. As they drew their weapons and got down from the cart, Tursan for some strange reason began to feel sleepy and he thinks that he must have passed out. When he awoke rough hands were carrying him and he knew he was bound and blindfolded. He knew he was being taken somewhere and when his blindfold and bonds were finally removed he found himself in this underground jail along with his fellow travelers. They were caught by goblins with no hope of escape! One by one the guards took the prisoners and Tursan (even though he can’t speak goblin) believes that they were taken to their deaths. Before Vanen the wizard was taken his familiar (probably having followed the group after their capture) appeared outside his cell and Tursan thinks that the wizard sent the cat to get help. Tursan said that he would fight with the party if they would have him, as he wanted revenge on the goblins. Meanwhile, the familiar seemed dejected for this was the last place it has seen its master and now it didn’t know where he was. Tursan took some weapons and armor from the goblins corpses and Fionnula, having realized how badly Gjord was injured, called upon Varcan’s power to cast Cure Light Wounds on Gjord. The spell worked brilliantly and Gjord was healed to the point as if he was never injured. Gjord lent Tursan his great axe to use instead of the foul goblin sword. The party left the jail with Tursan and the cat now following.

They searched the other small passages in the outer hall and found them empty barracks rooms identical to the room where Lono killed the sleeping goblin. The party went back into the first underground room they entered with the iron double doors blocked by the heavy boulder. They decided to try the door opposite of the one they just came in from and they found it open and leading into another hall that went some 25’ and then split to go left and right. Lono (having become the group’s scout due to his stealth) went to investigate and after peeking around both corners saw two hobgoblin guards down the hall to the right standing in front of a door. The adventurers decided to try to ambush the creatures. Lono and Svarnos snuck up and then quickly came around the corner attacking with their ranged weapons. Svarnos landed a perfect shot with his crossbow right in the heart of the hobgoblin on the right, dropping him. Lono, unfortunately, got entangled in his sling and missed his chance. Gjord and Martijn stormed past their friends and took care of the remaining guard.

They found the door locked and Lono picked the lock with ease after listening at the door and not hearing anything. Inside was a storeroom with a large pile of coal and a stack of firewood against one wall. There were also 3 suits of chainmail (human size), 3 longswords, 3 backpacks each with a weeks worth of rations in them, 2 lanterns, 4 flasks of oil, 2 shortbows, 2 quivers each holding 20 arrows, 1 suit of scalemail (dwarf size), 2 large steel shields, 1 small steel shield, 4 shortswords, 3 wineskins (full of water), 20 torches, and a pair of manacles with a key. Gjord donned the scalemail as it was in fine condition and not mucked up by the goblins. Tursan noticed that one of the chainmail suits was his, along with a longsword and a shield, so he took his equipment back and returned Gjord’s great axe.

The adventurers left the storeroom and went back to the intersection of hallways behind them. Fionnula, Martijn, and Lono wanted to go back to the room with the iron doors and the boulder because they wanted to explore past the iron doors. Svarnos and Gjord grudgingly agreed, as they wanted to continue exploring the area they were in. So, our heroes made their way back to the room with the iron doors. The first obstacle was the boulder that was extremely heavy and after numerous attempts by everyone in the party Martijn and Gjord finally succeeded in tumbling it out of the way. The door was locked so Lono stepped up and tried to pick it but he only managed to get his pick stuck! Fortunately, Martijn was able to pull the pick free. Seeing no way of getting through the party decided to return to exploring the halls beyond the wood door.

They returned to the “T” section of halls. Lono scouted around the unexplored corner and found a long hallway with two openings to the left and a passage to the right where he could hear the sounds of a group of goblins talking. The hallway also continued on to a dark opening at its end. Lono went down the passage to the right and he found that there was a chamber opening to the right hand side and the passage then turned left. He peeked inside the chamber and saw four hobgoblins sitting down at a wood table to a foul meal of roasted human and horsemeat. He returned to tell the group his findings and the party decided to try another ambush. As before Svarnos and Lono would try to surprise the enemy with their ranged weapons with the rest of the group ready to sweep in after them. However, when Svarnos and Lono began to sneak down the hall Svarnos suddenly tripped on loose stone and his crossbow clattered to the floor. This alerted the hobgoblins to their presence so when the rest of the group charged in they found their enemies unsurprised. It was a fierce battle. Gjord and Martijn killed the first two hobgoblins quickly but were wounded in the process and then the other two creatures climbed over the table and attacked. Martijn was felled by a brutal slash from the hobgoblin’s broadsword and Lono (in a rare act of valor) ran up to take his place. The battle ended when after trading blows with his enemies Gjord finally felled the last two hobgoblins and even Lono got a strike in.

Fionnula checked on Martijn and he was unconscious so she used her spell Cure Minor Wounds to slightly heal his wound and to awaken him. They found nothing of value on the hobgoblins and Fionnula advised that they should leave the dungeon and rest as they had been greatly weakened in their last battle. They all agreed but before leaving they checked down the hall opposite the room they were just in. At the end of the hall was a narrow passage with a locked door at the end of it. The main passage turned to the right and at the end of that dark hallway they could see a set of large wooden double doors at the end of it.

So the adventurers, thwarted but not conquered, made their way back to the surface. As they closed the trap door in the ruined black stone building the wizard’s familiar sadly watched knowing that her master was still trapped somewhere below. They made their way through the structure with the leering faces of the bas-relief ghouls seeming to watch them. They came out into the cool summer night under the stars knowing that they would return and that this adventure was not yet over.