Nebulous's Keep on the Shadowfell (FR)

[Nebulous]

Hoping that the beast won't be able to pursue, eh? And how often does that work out

I predict a show-down with the beast sooner or later.

Heh, well, i never intended for them to fight the hook horror, it was just a set piece to look at and be afraid of. But then Brandis went and fell off the bridge, so i took a closer look at the horror's stats...and oh boy, it would be a TPK. So i was nice and didn't have the HH follow them up. But they'll meet it again one day, definitely.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #8: Caves of Peril

PART FOUR

They continue into a new tunnel, this one sloping upward at a thirty degree angle. They soon enter a new area. Brandis holds up a hand to indicate silence. He hears something chittering behind the rock walls. There are several small holes at ground level, and a larger tunnel leading out of this room. The blood streaks continue around the corner. Erevan looks closely at the holes, wondering if they were chewed away by acid, but it appears they were manually dug.

They haven’t progressed very far when one of those small insects from earlier scuttles out of a hole and launches at Brandis. The warlord chops the thing in half in midair, its greenish blood splashing across him. But the attack is just a precursor for what is to come, for suddenly half a dozen clamber out of their holes! Even worse, they have larger friends with them now who also wield deadly sharp claws. Within moments the heroes have been flanked by a chittering horde of voracious monsters intent on eating them alive.

Vicious teeth and claws sink into Brandis and he finds three of the things dangling off his body, gnawing through steel and flesh. He flings one away, stomps on another, and impales the third. But the beasts are a whirlwind of fury, and even staying close to one is dangerous. They are constantly lashing out, spinning, biting and stabbing, creating an inescapable aura of pain. Brandis bravely tries to protect his friends and suffers the brunt of the attacks. He’s soon bloodied, and falls to his knees, the insects swarming over him. A larger one digs a serrated claw into his gut and Brandis staggers down to 3 hit points…

…but Erevan and Irann are hardly complacent. Plumes of magical flame explode across the battlefield, burning smaller critters to a crisp. Irann curses and Eyebites the big insects (they’re called kruthiks) and teleports out of trouble in a purple puff before she’s swarmed.

But poor, poor Splug (widdle Spud) gets stuck in a bad situation, whimpering and crying and hacking his weapon back and forth in wild desperation. He manages to kill several of the small kruthiks, but the bigger ones are tough, slashing mercilessly at the goblin, and you can’t stop near them without suffering damage.

“Help me!” he squeals. Brandis activates Splug’s healing surge to keep the little fella on his feet, but it’s still a hairy situation. The bigger kruthiks have him cornered, and it’s not until Brandis crushes one dead that the goblin can safely maneuver away, just barely alive.

For a while the situation looks grim, but twenty minions later, the horde of gibbering insects has ceased to crawl forth from the walls. The last big kruthik is slain, and the group takes a well earned rest. Brandis is pretty beat up, as is Splug, and he lacks the ability to heal himself. But there are still rooms to explore, and the group has not yet found their friends. In fact, after seeing how dangerous the kruthiks are, they can’t imagine that Helga and Kerric are still alive.

Yet, miraculously…they are.

Entombed in a hard cocoon of green excreta (like the stuff from Aliens), the dwarf and paladin are unconscious in a chamber around the corner. They’re being tenderized for a later meal, and although scratched, bruised, torn and half-drowned, it’s nothing that a little rest won’t fix (thank you Fourth Edition!). They’re broken free of their bonds, gently roused, and are quite relieved to see that their companions found them against all odds.

Even better, the kruthiks seem to have accumulated a stash of pretty shiny things from past victims: the corner of their nesting chamber is FILLED with gold, silver and other valuable items.

They find a magical suit of armor, an enchanted red elven bow named “Firefang,” a potion of healing and an unidentifiable potion with a bizarre picture drawn on it, a scrollcase with a map of some place called “The Minotaur Maze,” a Rod of Atrocity for the warlock that Irann gratefully accepts…and a curious non-magical journal written in elvish.

The cover is hand painted and depicts many of the major gods of the Realms, some of whom are no longer even alive. The journal must be old indeed. Erevan keeps it.

Lastly, they notice that one wall looks deliberately collapsed. There are holes in it, so perhaps the heroes can dig their way free. Regardless, they are completely lost somewhere underground with no idea how to reach the surface. This area seems like a reasonably defensive position, so they vote to rest here for six hours and start fresh later. It’s not a bad plan.

And somewhere out there is a fat, conniving goblin named Boss Fatty, and the group has a score to settle with him. Permanently.

And there we stopped.

[GM Note: If it wasn’t obvious, we were down two players this session, so I cobbled together a new scenario for the rest of the group. The whole kruthik fight was actually an encounter I was going to leave out of the campaign completely, but I found a way to use it after all].

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #9: Slime Central

[GM Note: After some bookkeeping, magic item updates [using the Adventurer’s Vault] and Realms-related discussion, the session opens with the 2nd cut scene. The 1st cut scene depicted Kalarel with his servant Lord Maw at the end of adventure # 6, right before Kerric kicked his undead ass. This continues Kalarel’s backstory, with a subtle clue that the players did not notice. It has to do with FAMILY…more will follow later (wink wink Brandis).

CUT SCENE #2​

Kalarel opened the letter the bat had brought him. It was only a few lines of text, his eyes flitting over them with growing discomfort:

Kalarel-

Ninaran is captured. Your other servant, the dead one, is…deader. Five heroes are alive. Probably returning very soon to the Keep. Three warriors, two spellcasters. What should we do? Awaiting your answer.

-Shuck

Kalarel’s features darkened. He crumpled the letter in a fist. “BY THE HORNS OF ORCUS!” he screamed at the room. A violent rage possessed him. He swept an arm across a table of torture implements, scattering razors, hooks and knives to the sticky floor. He kicked a chess table over, smashing the grotesquely modeled pieces under the heel of his boot. Lord Maw would not be playing with him again, win or lose.

His rage carried him into an open cell where a whimpering, skinny farmer was strung to the wall by his wrists. Kalarel struck him across the face with a gauntlet, cracking his jaw, and then gripped the man’s broken chin, leaning in close to harshly growl: “They’ll not make it this far, not in your lifetime my friend!” He tossed the man away and surged from the cell with a swish of his robes. Outside, dark humanoid things scuttled out of his way like frightened rats, as they might be the next target of his fury.

“FOOLS!” shouted Kalarel to no one in particular. “Idiotic, unreliable fools!” He swirled into a wooden chair that threatened to break under his weight, and brooded upon the ill news. Ninaran was captured, and probably divulging all she knew about Kalarel, which was blessedly little. She had been no more than a marionette, her strings easily pulled, as all these mortal fleshbags could be manipulated.

Kalarel stroked his stubbly jaw, staring into the recesses of the huge chamber. The pool of blood was close to full, but not full enough, and the time of the Opening drew ever closer. The timeline must be abided by, or he would have to answer to Orcus’s liaison personally. And the implications of failure would be…unpleasant. The priest glanced toward the arching portal situated on the north wall…

He rapped his fingers on the armrest, tapped his chin and rolled thoughts around his head. Failure was not an option, oh no, not an option at all. He would not fail, it was inconceivable, and his years of loyal service to Orcus would not be wasted.

“I’ll have my gift, Lord,” Kalarel muttered darkly. “I’ll have my gift. I shall open the Rift as promised, and your promise shall be mine…immortal. Deathless. Superior to these weaklings around me. Especially…family.”

FAMILY.

The memory of his whore mother, dead a whole week, flooded his mind’s eye. Kalarel was with her the entire time—and just nine years old.

He sprang up from the chair, shouting again: “I WILL NOT FAIL!”

The darkness did not answer him, and seemed to absorb his words like a sponge. In fact, all he heard was the quiet PLOP of cold blood into the pool. He watched concentric ripples spread out, and soon his anger began to abate. He returned to the chair and rummaged through a pocket for a small paper sack. He reached in and removed a lavender jelly baby, popped it in his mouth and solemnly chewed, reached in for a speckled cream, and then a maroon-orange swirl. Flavors burst within his mouth, and new ideas feverishly sparkled in his mind.

“Brave warriors and wizards,” he murmured. “Come to my home to stop me. Thinking they can halt the inevitable.” Kalarel stopped chewing the jelly babies. “Brave souls that they are, they will be a worthy sacrifice to our lord. In fact…” and he stood up again, his eyes flashing, “…their blood will be more potent than those pathetic farmers and children in Winterhaven.”

He began pacing, boots clicking on black stone. He stopped before the statue of Orcus, its bestial visage bearing down on him with palpable malevolence.

“They’ll be perfect, my lord! Especially the chosen of Kelemvor! We know what to expect, we know their strengths and weaknesses, and their bravado will only be a precursor to their screaming demise. Their hot blood shall stain these walls, and the Rift will open faster than ever!”

The horrible statue stared at him, and Kalarel could nearly feel the intelligence behind those cold stony eyes. An intelligence, he prayed, that had faith in him.

From the recesses of the huge chamber a few dark things shambled toward him, perhaps drawn to his fervor. One creature, with a gaunt emaciated face and pinprick eyes of cold light, bowed once it was closer. Kalarel sneered at it.

“I don’t suppose you play chess, do you wight?” The thing did not answer. “I didn’t think so.”

But Kalarel knew one fact above all else…

The suffering of these so-called “heroes” would soon be legendary—even in the Hells…

[/cut scene]

(Many thanks to Socorro for reading this out loud with appropriate hamminess)

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #9: Slime Central

PART ONE

The heroes have holed up in the kruthik lair after exterminating the horde of insects. They feel relatively safe here (aside from the fact that death can come at any time from any direction), and after six hours of rest Splug has recuperated enough to continue. The spunky little goblin nearly died last time from the ravenous bugs. They like Splug, probably as much as they could enjoy a bumbling little yellow, scarred, half-blind goblin warrior.

After resting, but not really sleeping, they discuss their options. There were several unexplored caves behind them, but it will mean crossing the bridge again guarded by the hook horror. Brandis shivers, remembering his last encounter. It did not go well. The horrible monster nearly gutted him.

Erevan recalls what the goblin sign over the cave entrance read:

TALLOW’S DEEP – SEVEN DAYS;
THUNDERSPIRE LABYRINTH – THREE DAYS;
MAGLUBIYET’S EMBRACE – ANY DAY!

There was another cave they did not explore, but they decide to investigate the rock wall in the kruthik chamber first. It looks deliberately collapsed, and may offer egress. They have no idea where they are though, other than trapped somewhere below ground in a very hostile environment.

The group has found some fascinating magical relics in the kruthik nest: armor and a longbow, and a non-magical elvish journal that Erevan plans on reading later. The cover is hand painted and depicts the major Realmsian gods from at least 100 years ago. It appeals to his sense of academia. Plus, it is written in elvish. He’ll read it more closely later.

Piece by piece they start tearing down the rubble wall. Half an hour later a space large enough to accommodate Splug has been cleared.

“I don’ wanna go!” the goblin squeals. “Don’ make me, mmm-hmmm…”

Fine then, they don’t make the little guy forage ahead, and Kerric the Paladin of Kelemvor squeezes into the dark tunnel instead.

Gray stone walls surround him.

The wizard illuminates the paladin’s sword, unveiling a tunnel crowded by sharp stalagmites and stalactites. The group forms a line, and against all odds, Brandis Padraig at the very back is the only one to hear the chatter of rats in the distance.

“Um…rats ahead,” he says. “Um…right in front of you.”

Kerric hardly minds rats, they fall easily beneath his blade. He’s more concerned about undead abominations in this cursed place, opponents of his god of the afterlife, Kelemvor (Kerric’s Paragon Path is undoubtedly a Doomguide at 11th level).

But the two rats he sees on the ceiling scurry away from them. The group is nervous in these dark corridors. They feel more lost than ever and have no idea which way to go. The tunnel branches and they take the left turn, picking their way through tightly packed sharp rocks. And then they see a door.

It is an old, old wooden door banded by metal, but scrawled on the wood in Common are a few unsettling words:

DO NOT ENTER – REALLY.

Well, well, that sounds interesting, enticing, and frightening all at once. Ears pressed to the door, they don’t hear anything, but decide not to enter; maybe they’ll come back here later. This spawns a lot of conversation about goblin minions, and how they really, really need to get more fodder besides Splug to send into dangerous rooms. That is, if there are any goblin minions left alive. But their first priority right now is to get out of these caves.

They continue, hearing the squeak of more rats in distance dark corners, and then Kerric spots a square pit in the floor. It looks familiar, and sure enough, there is a ragged hole in the center of the pit, the same hole that he and Helga plunged through. The group has come full circle.

Feeling somewhat relieved that they’re not completely lost, Kerric steps cautiously around the pit as the others navigate through the stalagmites. Then he sees the arm. It’s small and rat-gnawed, a goblin arm torn off at the shoulder. He walks toward it, Erevan following on his heels, but that’s when the chattering rats suddenly become much, much louder. Red eyes flash in the dark, and suddenly several lunge out from cover! Another drops from the ceiling, sinking diseased fangs into his shoulder. Kerric throws the beast down and skewers it.

Meanwhile, Erevan has retreated back toward his companions, but he’s not safe yet. Two rats leap out from nearby stalagmites, rending his robes with vicious little teeth. He blasts one apart with a silvery magic missile. Brandis Padraig leaps to the assistance of the paladin, hacking at the rats with his enchanted longsword Wolftooth. The wizard and warlock retreat up the stairs, checking up and down the tunnel to make sure no enemies are waiting.

Within seconds nearly a dozen more rats have clambered across the ceiling and dropped around the paladin and warlord, a dirty chattering horde of hungry creatures. The warriors keep hacking at them, backing off toward the stairs the whole time. It’s not that the rats are terribly dangerous, but there are so many of them…and both Kerric and Brandis can’t shake the feeling that something else is wrong.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #9: Slime Central

PART TWO

The fighter and paladin take up guard positions on the stairwell, protecting the spellcasters behind them, and Splug who is hesitant to get anywhere near the rats. Brandis raises his weapon, prepared to slaughter more vermin, when he hears the death squeal of a rat. Something is moving out there, something amorphous and orange, flowing around the stalagmites like thick sludge. It quickly reforms into a large undulating mass and rolls toward the warlord.

“Amorphous slime thing!” Brandis screams to his friends, who haven’t seen it yet.

[GM Note: The mini is a mixture of candle wax, tacky glue and colored ink mounted on a Dreamblade base]

The slime thing, an ochre jelly, rolls through the nearest clump of stalagmites and devours the rats hiding there, and then makes a beeline for Brandis. The warlord isn’t even sure if he can hurt this ooze. He’s never seen one before, although he’s heard of such things living in the dark hollows of the world. Does it even feel pain? Wolftooth takes a bite out the ochre jelly anyway, and a chunk of the thing is ripped off. But then a mushy pseudopod forms and slams into the warlord, and he suffers extremely painful acid burns.

Splug is squealing, “That it! That what attack me! THAT IT!”

Kerric leaps into the fray, hacking mercilessly. Acidic pseudopods lash out at both men, leaving steaming marks on flesh and armor. Erevan and Irann throw magic from the top of the stairs, blasting chunks of the thing across the chamber. Helga lands a few blows herself, but if her position were better, she might be able to Bull Rush the jelly into the pit, plunging it into the river. It is quivering and moving in such an unpredictable fashion that it much harder to strike than they would think. But hit it they do, over and over and over…

…until the monster shudders violently and splits in TWO.

Two equally aggressive halves are now alive, and the second jelly skirts around the pit, flanking Helga the Dwarf and rising up to nearly engulf her.

Her axe slashes across the thing, splattering sticky goo on nearby rocks. She’s burned as well by the thing’s touch, but the original monster is soon cut down by the others. It seems to deflate, and then does on its own what the adventurers failed to do: it topples into the pit, destroyed.

The death of the second ochre jelly is not far behind. Helga’s axe splits the thing into two quivering halves that bubble, spurt, and then lie still.

Taking a breather, the group patches themselves up and poke around the cavern some more. There is still the goblin arm lying on the ground. Is this the last of Boss Fatty? They don’t know. They see a bloody handprint on the stone wall, and find that there is actually a secret door here. Inside is a bedroll, a skin of water and wine (the latter of which Helga guzzles), some rations and two sunrods. Taking a few items, they decide to head back to the door marked DO NOT ENTER – REALLY. Why? Because, frankly, it is an irresistible lure for folks who call themselves heroes.

But who is to open it? Discussion turns again to Splug who is volunteered, but his cry of resistance deters them [“I thought you was friend!” he whines]. They still don’t hear anything behind the door. So fine, Kerric opens it, and they all peek over his shoulder, looking down wet, slimy stairs into a dark and chilly room. All they hear is the plop of water.

“Lumos,” whispers Erevan, and his light spell shows them the rest of the chamber.

Stagnant water fills most of the room. There is a small island in the middle, and no other exit. On the island is a shiny metal shield, a few heavy rocks piled atop it. Golden coins are scattered on the island too. As well as some bones.

It looks like a trap if there ever was one.

Kerric sighs. “I’ll go in,” he says.

His footing is unsure on the slick steps, but he reaches the bottom safely. He pauses, listening. Water plops into the black pool. He sees nothing moving. Erevan the Eladrin wizard decides to follow, ready to blast away with magic in case something unwholesome appears. They stand together at the edge of the water, watching curiously as bubbles begin popping on the surface…

…and they’re suddenly overwhelmed by a horrendous stench.

No normal stench, but an ungodly stink the likes of which they’ve never experienced. It invades their nostrils, cramps their intestines, and Kerric vomits from the awfulness of it. Strength flees their muscles, and both men stagger at the edge of the black water…just as it begins to roil and froth.

Something HUGE, blue and slimy erupts out, extending flailing pseudopods that lash at the heroes.

But the luck of Tymora is with Erevan and Kerric. The blue slime misses FIVE times in a row! Someone could have been killed. Ducking and dodging, the paladin and wizard barely manage to scramble back up the slimy stairs, even as the behemoth slime heaves its bulk onto the stonework floor and pursues them.

“Run for it!” screams Brandis Padraig, and just as the paladin and wizard surge through the door, still dazed and weakened from the Stench Pulse, Brandis slams the door shut. The door shudders when the thing slams into it, and everyone takes a few tentative steps away, afraid that the monstrosity will either batter the door down or burn through with acid. But the racket does not continue, and eventually they assume that the slime has returned to its pool of filth.

Kerric wipes puke from his mouth. “Uh…let’s not go in there yet.”

Everyone agrees. They’ll return to the blue slime room when they feel more confident about handling the thing. Maybe, oh, 10th level or so.

With that problem out of the way, they gladly leave the natural caves and ascend back to the keep proper. But now where do they go? Referring to their map being drawn for Merple the Moneylender of Silverymoon, they determine that there are only a few places unexplored: 1) The double doors at the end of the Skeleton Trap Room, where the Shrine to Bahamut lies, and 2) The corridors outside the Skeleton Trap Room.

The group mentions Boss Fatty again. Is the fat bastard alive out here? Did he hole up in the goblin lair? Did he head up to the surface or down to the lower levels? They don’t know, and they don’t waste any time looking for him right now. If Fate wants to put Fatty back into their hands, it will happen.

So, it’s down the steps to the chilly, silent lair where the group was ambushed by zombies several days earlier when they first arrived at Shadowfell Keep.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #9: Slime Central

PART THREE

They see a strange symbol on the floor in the distance, but even as they turn that way, Erevan spots a glowing light from the sarcophagus room. He freezes, and hisses to the others: “It’s them again. The girls.”

Sure, enough, Keegan’s murdered twins are standing nearby. Their ghostly voices speak in unison.

“There is a hungry presence in the darkness. It will not let us leave! It…hungers. The doorway is open, and there is only darkness….BEYOND!”

Their message complete, the dead twins fade and vanish. Yeah, now the group is REALLY not going down that hallway. The little girls creeped them out. So, it’s through the cold, silent, murky corridor, until they find themselves standing near a large symbol engraved on the floor.

Erevan suspects that it is some kind of a Fear symbol. He has seen similar dire shapes in the journals of evil wizards. Perhaps before the Spellplague ravaged the Realms, Erevan himself might have employed powerful magicks such as this. They’re not quite sure what to do when Splug says, “There a secret place down ‘ere, mmm-hmm. Lookee lookee!” And he blithely walks across the symbol and strolls down the hall. Huh.

So Brandis follows him…and several unpleasant things happen.

First, unnatural terror fills the warlord’s heart. He turns and runs full speed, panic overpowering him. Secondly, an incredibly loud shriek emanates from the rune, easily heard by anyone in the vicinity. Clenching his fists, Kerric, Paladin of Kelemvor, boldly steps across the rune, resisting the fear effect, and follows Splug. The goblin is pointing to a small discolored block on the ceiling. Hefting Splug to his shoulders, Kerric has him push the block. There are several clicks, and then a secret stone door opens in the wall.

Beyond it is just a small, bare room no larger than a closet.

Kerric steps cautiously inside, his blade out, and listens for a moment while the others wait (and Helga tries to drape a blanket over the terror rune; it doesn’t work; she runs until the others grab her). At first the paladin notices nothing, but then he hears a low moan. About the same time, the far wall seems to shimmer ever so slightly. Curious, he extends the tip of his sword and touches the wall…but the blade passes right through.

“Illusion wall,” he tells the others, and then sticks his head through for a peek. And nearly gets his face ripped off by four ZOMBIES. They don’t actually make contact, the paladin jerks back just in time, his heart hammering in his chest. But this is going to be fun. Fish in a barrel.

Kerric and Brandis line up side by side and start blindly stabbing through the illusory wall. Steel hacks into dead meat, and soon noxious smells arise from disemboweled zombies. The fight is quick but brutal, with Erevan stepping in to toss a few magical bolts. Soon the zombies are destroyed, and the group steps into the room, which appears to be an armory.

Dilapidated weapons hang from hooks and racks, most in a state of disrepair and uselessness. But it is the suit of ragged armor draped over a mannequin that attracts their attention. A silver plaque is mounted above the armor, but when they approach, a clear voice suddenly rings out!

“A wondrous treasure, valued by all, sought by many.
Found in both victory and defeat.
Yet never at the bottom of a treasure chest.
It marches before you like a herald, and lives long after you are gone.

Of what do I speak?”​

The answer is “Reputation,” and someone spits that out pretty fast. The disembodied voice in the silver plaque must be pleased because the armor magically transforms from useless rusted metal to a glorious suit of Screaming Scalemail +1. Kerric takes the armor in his hands. He thinks it will fit just fine.

Now there’s the problem of the Terror Runes out in the corridor. Altogether, the heroes triggered the Fear Alarms three times. Three times the horrendous wailing echoed up and down the stone halls. The group carefully questions Splug as to what is nearby, and the loyal goblin admits that the entrance to the 2nd level of the Keep is not far…where Kalarel employs a contingent of hobbers.

Hobgoblins.

Splug doesn’t like the hobbers, they’re big and mean and pick on the smaller goblins, but who doesn’t pick on goblins? The group decides to stay in the secret armory for a while. Hopefully the hobbers don’t know about it, but the group will find out one way or another soon enough.

And there we stopped.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #10: The Hobber Barracks

PART ONE

Holed up in the armory, the heroes rest while discussing their options: 1) There is an unexplored door in the Skeleton Trap Room, where the shrine to Bahamut lies, and 2) The entrance to the second level of the keep is somewhere in the Fear Symbol maze, according to Splug. They’re not sure what to do next (although I get the feeling that whatever waits at the end of the skeleton trap frightens them, probably due to the creepy dead twins now lurking in the vicinity).

Kerric and Brandis listen at the door, and soon hear heavy footsteps marching in formation, steel-shod boots on stone. Two individuals stop outside the secret door and converse in a deep, guttural goblin tongue which only Brandis understands. These aren’t small goblins either.

Hobber #1 - Remember what Chief Krusk said; keep prisoners alive to sell to
the Bloodreavers.

Hobber #2 – Damn Bloodreavers, I don’t like ‘em. Don’t trust ‘em.

Hobber #1 – Yeah, I know. Say, how’s Achilles doing?

Hobber #2 –Vicious as ever. At least he hasn’t killed anyone in a few days. He’s
getting used to us.

Hobber #1 – I hope those Bloodreavers didn’t sell us a broken one!

Hobber #2 – Whatever happened to that fat goblin Balgron anyway? I hope someone
slit his flabby throat… (They laugh, marching off)

Brandis relates this conversation to his companions. They question Splug about the Bloodreavers, and the goblin tells them that they are a band of violent slavers, mostly hobgoblins, but some other species as well, like bugbears (and a certain dead bugbear with a magic maul named Skullthumper in SideTrek I).

Kerric eventually peeks out the secret door but sees no one, although he does hear retreating footsteps from the squad of hobbers. It is very dark and cold in the hall, so Erevan lights the way with magic. The group slips out one at a time and proceeds down the passage. They want to map this area first before proceeding to the Skeleton Trap Room and Shrine of Bahamut. And they don’t want to get squashed between a roaming patrol and whoever might be around the corner.

Kerric leaps over a Fear Symbol, afraid that triggering it now could bring the patrol down on their heads, and they aren’t sure how many enemies that entails. At least half a dozen. Everyone leaps over the fear symbols with ease…except for Brandis. The final person to try, the warlord slips at the last moment, teetering at the edge before his companions haul him to safety (he burned a Fortune Point acquired in Adventure #2, adding 1d6 to a die roll).

The group finds themselves in a small alcove. Debris litters the corners, intermingled with dry bones and skulls. There is a stairway leading down to a closed wooden door. They see faint light emanating from underneath.

Regretting that they don’t have a stealthy rogue in the party (who would be useful right now), Kerric attempts to slip down the stairs as carefully as possible. He’s…not very good. Listening at the door, he thinks he hears a goblin voice. A deep goblin voice. Everyone positions themselves at the top of the stairs, with Splug safely nestled in the rear. Actions are readied to launch attacks at the first targets available, and then Kerric flings the door open!

Two hobgoblin soldiers are loitering at the edge of a well, and very shocked to see the paladin of Kelemvor.

“INTRUDERS!” one of them bellows in goblin.

Kerric rushes him, Erevan launches a silvery magic missile from the steps, Erevan curses a foe, and the dwarf Helga trundles down into a better position. And clear across the chamber about a hundred feet away, Kerric sees something locked in a cage that worries him, something that (now dead) Ash, Helga, Brandis and Delphina Moongem first met in the woods near Jade Hill—

A vicious boar.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #10: The Hobber Barracks

PART TWO

Kerric sweeps into the soldiers, hacking through his scale mail. The soldier staggers under the attack, but retaliates with several of his own swipes from a flail, shouting: “STAY IN FORMATION!” to his ally. The soldiers miss Kerric who deftly blocks their blows, although they do manage to flank him.

“RELEASE ACHILLES!” the second soldier yells over his shoulder.

A third hobgoblin appears from around the corner and runs full tilt toward the boar pen, trying to release Achilles, and would have been successful if not for Erevan. The wizard descends the steps, and at the very limit of his 20 square range, unleashes a shimmering bolt of silvery magic. It streaks unerringly toward the back of the hobber’s head and explodes. The hob is slammed into the bars and crumples dead. The boar seems even more enraged by this and thrashes madly, but cannot escape. Meanwhile, the fight is continuing. The soldiers are missing nearly every attack, and taking a brutal beating in return, marked and cursed by respective PCs.

[GM Note: One reason these potentially very difficult encounters went so well is that the hobgoblins really, really missed most of their attacks; the second reason they went well has to do with doors, coming up soon].

But the soldiers are soon joined by reinforcements from an adjacent room. Five hobgoblins surge out, four quickly surrounding the warlock Irann, while the fifth races toward the locked boar cage and attempts to finish the job. But the warlock is not without her surprises. Eldritch magic touches nearly everyone around her, purple flames bursting from their eyes and mouth. One warrior even topples into the well as Irann teleports to safety.

A soldier is finally slain, blood spurting over Helga in a warm bath, and this frees Kerric to charge the hobber trying to open the cage. Kerric reaches him and thrusts his blade through his foe’s ribs…but the hobber staggers, alive, and unlocks the cage anyway! The door bursts open and the boar lunges at the paladin.

He brutally stabs the thing, and the boar rushes past Kerric and streaks down the hall, trying to gather speed to skewer someone. Erevan casts a spell that shrouds the boar in tendrils of darkness, hampering its movement.

Angry and in great pain, the boar backtracks toward its pen, where Kerric and the soldier are locked in combat. Helga is moving in fast, and within moments she hacks through the leg of the injured boar, killing it. The soldier is alone and cornered now and tries to escape the paladin, but he will have to fight his way past a furious dwarf. He doesn’t make it.

In the main chamber, all foes are dead except for a single soldier trying to escape. “We’re under ATTACK!” he’s shouting, and he would have made it out if not for a spell that abruptly immobilizes him (who cast that anyway?). The soldier spins on Brandis Padraig, lashing his flail back and forth, but the hobgoblin is in a bad position, weak and bleeding and unable to escape. Alive anyway. He’s ushered to the eternal afterlife.

Soon the battle is over, and the heroes have suffered minimal damage. The hobgoblins didn’t fare so well, and the PCs are left with the somewhat misleading impression that hobs are pushovers! (I really just rolled pathetically the whole encounter). They search the rest of the room, including the bedchamber and take a few small items of treasure and gold. After a short rest, they bar the door they initially entered into the barracks. Somewhere up above on the main level is another wandering patrol. Moving on, they find a second well, and a second bedchamber, this one containing a valuable jade hookah and a bag of accompanying herbs (I like to keep 101 Mundane Treasures handy at the game table for weird stuff).

They also find a small statue of a demonic god that Kerric identifies as Baphomet, an extraplanar being that is not part of the normal Realmsian pantheon.

Leaving that chamber, the heroes soon reach a junction: a long dark tunnel stretches to the south, and a lit passage to the west. They head west; this is the same direction the hobgoblin ran when trying to warn his allies.

There is a door and a passageway. They peek down the passage, noting portcullis spikes jutting from the ceiling. There is no sound at all behind the door. They determine that the door is unlocked, so Kerric slowly peeks in…

…and is dismayed to see a hobgoblin peeking around the corner.

“We’re under attack!” it shouts, and ducks out of sight.

Kerric closes the door.

“I think they know we’re here,” he says.

Just to make sure they don’t pinched from the south, Brandis heads down the corridor toward the cluttered table, but fails to see the discolored pressure plate on the floor. There is a loud CLICK and the portcullis drops. Fortunately, Brandis is on the safe side of it. Well, as safe as one can be in a dungeon full of bloodthirsty goblinoids.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Out of curiousity, what do you use for those tiles? They don't look like dungeon tiles. If I were guessing, I'd say you scanned or color photocopied the maps in the mod at high resolution and blew them up to 1x1 grid size.

Or is it something else?

 

[Nebulous]

Out of curiousity, what do you use for those tiles? They don't look like dungeon tiles. If I were guessing, I'd say you scanned or color photocopied the maps in the mod at high resolution and blew them up to 1x1 grid size.

Or is it something else?

Yeah, that's what i did. I scanned them at high res out of the book and printed them on card stock. Time consuming, but they're pretty durable and one day i'll reuse them for a different adventure. Don't think i would do it again though, it took quite a long time. Well, i can't say that for sure, i had fun doing it, and the end result was great.