Side Trek (I): The Grave of Blacksoul PART TWO 
It’s a standoff of awkward silence, punctuated only by the rumble of thunder.
“What are you doing here?” Douvan finally asks, reaching slowly for his longbow.
[GM Note: Douvan’s carries a magical Bow of Phlegos and wears +1 Delver’s Hide armor; Merric wears Bloodcut armor and has a few other magic items I can’t recall right now. They both have several healing potions].
“What YOU doin’ here?” the bugbear answers in Common, likewise reaching to unsling a massive maul. He pushes a goblin off his shoulder.
“Yeah! What they doing here Winkle?” says the goblin.
“We’re just excavating this old burial ground,” says Douvan, reaching for an arrow. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Me gonna worry about ex-ca-vate-in your HEAD!” bellows the bugbear. “Sham! Tram! Get em!”
The goblinoids roll high Initiative and launch toward the PCs, but they have to maneuver down into the pit, and rain and mud hamper their movement. [GM Note: This entire fight takes place in Difficult terrain, which made for some interesting strategy].
The goblins can barely reach the PCs, unable to attack, and Douvan squarely pegs one with an arrow, bloodying him. Douvan and Merric slosh away from their foes, trying to put some distance between them. Winkle’s maul is a heavy beast of a weapon, a steel-shod thing bearing an engraved human skull.
Merric weaves his dagger back and forth in a deadly dance, and a goblin blackblade is nearly killed. “AGH! Winkle! It hurts!”
The goblins try to surround the ranger and rogue, and have just as much trouble moving in the muck as they do. In fact, normal 1-square shifting is impossible. But Merric is masterful at dodging Opportunity Attacks, and he ducks under multiple swings, air whistling over his head from the maul.
“Stand still!” roars the bugbear.
“Nope! Maybe later.”
The PCs have the advantage at first, sparring back and forth, landing hits left and right, until the bugbear roars, “SKULLTHUMPER!”
And here the battle turns for the worse. He lands a solid blow against Douvan, critically smashing him Prone and Dazed. The ranger squirms helplessly in the mud while the smaller goblins converge on him, thrusting rusty swords through his hide armor. Douvan screams in agony, burning a Second Wind.
And then the bugbear roars “SKULLTHUMPER!” again, the skull’s eyes in the maul glowing blue, and Merric the Halfling gets a taste of pain. He’s likewise bashed prone and dazed, rolling in the mud beside Douvan while the goblins cackle with glee. Douvan keeps failing saving throws while the goblins poke mercilessly at him, whittling down his hit points. Winkle’s maul splashes a geyser of mud and water beside Merric’s head as he rolls away, springing to his feet. Merric switches places with the bugbear, severely wounding him at the same time and Winkle is finally Bloodied. One goblin is horribly hurt, but the second is completely healthy.
Douvan is very injured by now. Merric is hurt too, but not as bad. His effective AC against Opportunity Attacks is a 26, allowing him to move away from the enemy with relative impunity; except that the little goblins keep rolling 19’s, and they deal sneak attack damage on top of that.
Douvan manages to pop up, but he can barely take a step away before he’s downed again by the crushing maul, and this time he doesn’t get back up. He’s unconscious and dying. Merric is alone against three foes. The Halfling dives out of the way, pushing through water toward the edge of the dig site, but that damnable maul catches him! Merric is slammed hard, staggers up, and keeps going, fumbling for a healing potion.
He has 1 hit point left.
[GM Note: Okay, at this point we figured the fight was over, dead PCs. It was looking grim, but it spawned the funniest jokes about Jim the Mule saving the day. He’s tethered outside the pit the whole time, just watching the fight. Jim to the rescue, hooves a-flailing!]
One goblin starts rifling through Douvan’s clothing and gear. The bloodied goblin and the bugbear chase Merric. They corner him, but he dodges their opportunity attacks and barely manages to reach firm terrain, clambering out of the muddy pit to high ground. He doesn’t know what to do. Douvan will die one way or another if he doesn’t get help (rolling a 20 for a healing surge is unlikely, but possible), but the Halfling has to eliminate the bugbear. The threat is too great.
Winkle follows Merric out of the pit while the other goblin returns to pull off Douvan’s shoes. Their fight continues at the edge of the pit, Merric ducking and dodging attacks from the bugbear who is now Bloodied himself. Merric manages to nearly push the thing off the side but it falls prone at the edge. Still, it gives Merric time to back off, chucking another healing potion. Winkle leaps up and stomps after him, but Merric can tell it is hurt badly. Their melee reaches the treeline, and another wild swing devastates a small pine behind the Halfling.
Merric counterattacks, surging toward the bugbear’s exposed belly and gutting him. Entrails spill out in ropy hot coils. The bugbear gurgles, trying to stuff his insides back, and then keels over dead.
Thunder rumbles menacingly over them.
“You smash that Halfling yet, Winkle?” shrieks one of the goblins. They couldn’t see the fight from down in the pit.
Merric deftly leaps from the high ground to low (Acrobatic Stunt DC 15), splashing back into the muck.
“Not yet.”
Flabbergasted, both of the goblins abandon Douvan, who has been bleeding out in the mud for 6 rounds now. He’s managed to stay stabilized every round, but rolls his first failure as soon as Merric returns. Two more failures and he’s dead. The goblins have stripped off his boots, his weapons, his gear and pouches, leaving him half-naked and unarmed.
Merric meets the goblins head on, quickly killing the bloodied one, and exchanging vicious cut with the other. Merric gets close enough to Douvan’s pouch to snag a healing draught, kicks the goblin away, and pours the liquid down the ranger’s throat.
Coughing, sputtering, Douvan sits up, grabs both blades that have both been thrust point-down in the mud, and roars with indignation at the final goblin.
The creature squeals in terror and runs.
Douvan and Merric sink down, exhausted. They let the goblin go; they can catch up to him later if they need to. Right now, they want to get this damned mirror out of the ground. They burn through healing surges, leaving them with very few, and continue attaching ropes to the rig. Douvan finally touches the mirror itself to anchor the rope, and a mild electrical buzz passes through his fingers. Not unpleasant, but not fun either.
The ropes are attached to Jim the mule, and all three begin pulling with all their strength. They’ll succeed on an 8 or higher on d20.
They roll a 4.
Cursing their ill luck, they’ll need to rig the device again if they want another roll, but it will take time. They decide not to do it yet. They’re low on resources, it’s getting dark, and the kobolds or something worse might return, and they’re in no shape to handle anything more than a dire mouse.
They grab Jim by the reins, strap the enchanted Skullthumper to his back [which most likely will be melted down for residuum], and lead him into the gloom. Douvan really hates goblins now. They would make a great favored enemy.
They camp out in the woods, eating a cold breakfast the next morning, and return to the dig site once the rain has stopped. It is a sodden mess, but with the mule's help, they are are able to finally bring the entire bizarre mirror out of the mud. They stand there blinking at in the chilly, cloudy dawn, wondering what exactly they have found...
They don't know what it is, but Valthrun the Prescient of Winterhaven very well might.
And there we stopped.
[GM Note: This was a Level 5 encounter calculated for two 3rd level PCs. It was meant to be a tough fight, and if not for the maul hitting them at the exact opportune times, the battle would have been much easier. As it was, they barely escaped with their lives.
Also, I didn’t coup de grace Douvan when he was down, and I had the goblins back off from the fight, letting Winkle handle Merric alone].
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