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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 4746318" data-attributes="member: 31465">Adventure #3: Tallow's DeepPART THREE<img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/farm.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Back at the farm, Merric and Nari-lana loiter outside the gate.  There’s nothing openly suspicious happening, but there is no way to approach the house without being seen.  There’s just too much open ground.  They wait for a while, talking quietly among themselves about their options, when they both hear flapping wings!  The wooden sign shakes, and immediately they see the red pseudodragon streaking toward the farmhouse after invisibly eavesdropping on them the whole time. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/pseudodragon.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The game is up, and the two heroes boldly enter the gate and approach, for better or worse.  Their PLAN (and they do have one) is to tell Balthazar that BurgerFest has erupted into chaos, riots, and other assorted trouble and they have been sent to retrieve more meat asap (I think that was the plan anyway, or some variation of it).The dogs are barking long before they reach the front door, and then Blackjack is in the front yard, pointing a notched broadsword at them.“Private property!  Bugger off while you still can!”Merric unveils their lie, also weaving in loose details as to how they are “Burger Police” (“I’m the Hamburglar sent from Lord McDonald, and this is my companion, Grimace”) but Blackjack isn’t buying a word of it.And, apparently, neither is Balthazar, who steps out right behind the pig farmer, the pseudodragon crouched on his shoulder. Balthazar demands (and he does this cordially, but with a definite aura of “Don’t <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> With Me”) that Merric and Nari-lana tell them why they are here.  He remembers them from the caravan and the ogre attack, and finds it extremely curious and highly unlikely that they would be here now peddling some story about a burger riot. In fact, the whole story amuses him and their attempt at subterfuge. Merric and Nari-lana don’t say anything about Merple or the burger conspiracy, but Balthazar volunteers some knowledge of his own.  Apparently, it seems, because he is in somewhat of a bind and needs help immediately.Balthazar offers to hire Merric and Nari-lana by doubling whatever they’re being paid from their current “employer.”  They’re all ears. Balthazar explains that he has discovered a powerful spell that can turn goblins into piglets.  It is still in the experimental stage and he needs more live specimens.  Blackjack had been capturing goblins in the month-long interim between Balthazar’s visits, but the pig farmer has had trouble this month and captured only three.   It is a woeful shortage.Balthazar wants them (the party) to find him as many living goblins as possible and return them to the farm.  He is also aware that Douvan Stahl is not here, as well as the bold cleric of Tempus, Jolen.  Merric and Nari-lana won’t do anything without their companions, and Balthazar agrees to cast Animal Messenger to relay the request.Minutes later, a carp is flopping down the road toward—wait, I mean a sparrow if flapping toward Everlund, zips into Burger’s Palace and magically finds its quarry.  Surprised to hear the bird speaking to them, Jolen and Douvan blink rapidly as the message is relayed:  “NOT A TRAP…COME TO FARM…MERRIC AND NARI-LANA NEED HELP…BALTHAZAR OFFERS DEAL…GOLD…COME AT ONCE…”Well, it still sounds like a trap, but lacking a better option, the ranger and cleric pack up and head out (plus, they metagame know what was happening). An hour later they arrive and everyone is invited into the farm house where Balthazar opens a bottle of fine Sembian red wine and relates the details of his problem again. But Nari-lana detects a nitpick; there are plenty of pigs in the pen. Something must be working right.  How many of those used to be goblins?  And what does that have to do with Burgerfest and the strange reactions from the public? Balthazar slyly answers that he has been hired by Horace Burger to solve a goblinoid problem in the area, and he will do so any way possible. What Blackjack does with the meat afterward is none of his concern.  But the wizard is not telling the whole truth, and Nari-lana does not press the issue. There’s definitely something strange happening here.A fee of 300 gold coins per person is agreed upon for services rendered, and Balthazar insists that Blackjack must accompany them.  After all, the farmer/hunter knows where the goblin lair is.  Daylight is wasting, so they prepare their gear and shuffle outside, ready to wrangle some goblins for the wizard and return by dinnertime. [GM Note: -2 to attack a minion with the intent to “strike unconscious”; on a successful save the goblin is knocked out; failed save, it was hit too hard and dies anyway]They haven’t gotten very far when Balthazar calls out.  “Oh, and take this!  It’s useless to me; maybe it will serve you better.”  He throws Jolen a purple cloth bag.  “What’s it do?” he asks.Balthazar smiles roguishly. “It’s full of rabbits.” ************************************************************************The hike to the goblin den is an hour long and gives the group time to pester Blackjack with questions.  First of all, why does he work for the wizard?  The hunter grudgingly admits that he has known Balthazar a long time, and the gold is good, and that’s all he cares about. But like his boss, Blackjack is not telling the whole truth, guarding his words carefully, but the heroes don’t press the issue.  Maybe in time they can uncover the real story.  Maybe the camaraderie formed in battle can draw them closer together and usurp whatever loyalty Blackjack feels for the mage.  If any.Eventually they reach a clearing that opens onto a mysterious mound ringed by great stone monoliths many thousands of years old.  This place, explains Blackjack, is known as Henge. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/henge2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The gods represented here are no longer worshipped, not to his knowledge at least.  Not many people know this place exists. Merric and Douvan creep to the top of the mound, noting the weathered statues and barely legible archaic pictograms.  Some of the people featured in the bas-reliefs look vaguely angelic and have only three fingers.   The rogue and ranger are looking for a second entrance, but after a thorough search they can find nothing.<img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/henge3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />“The gobs got smart,” the hunter growls.  “Got wise to me traps and nets.  But I followed ‘em here, I did.  Seen them coming in and out of that tree trunk.  That’s the entrance.” Indeed, there are relatively fresh tracks (within the past 24 hours) around the hole in the fallen tree.  It is narrow though, and only Merric can comfortably squeeze inside, and he’s not volunteering for that. Not yet. Actually, no one wants to shimmy down the hole into the dark, and they start thinking about ways to smoke the goblins out.   It all depends on how big the warren is and if there is another exit or not; too many variables that they don’t have answers to.  And then they consider Balthazar’s Bag of Bunnies.   They decide to throw a rabbit in and see what happens, so the swordmage reaches for the bag, feels something warm and fuzzy and pulsating, and pulls it out.The ball of fur immediately transforms into a large, roaring lion, and definitely not a rabbit.<img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/lion22.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Nari-lana stumbles back in surprise, but the lion is subservient to her. It is a magical beast, somewhat smaller than a real lion, but it also has a telepathic link and obeys her wishes with but a thought.“Get down that hole!” the swordmage orders, and growling, the lion obeys.  It squeezes into the tree trunk and is soon gone.  They can hear it growling, but they don’t hear any terrified goblin squeals or curses.  Blackjack and Jolen ready a net outside in the case the goblins come running out screaming for their lives. They wait a few minutes, hearing the growls from the lion recede.  They wait a little longer.  When it’s clear that the lion was not attacked, Merric goes down the hole first to see what is happening. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/pillar.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />There is enough ambient light from the surface to see a small room about thirty feet across and fifteen feet high.  A stone pillar rises from the center, the bas-reliefs similar to the monoliths on the mound above them.  A ledge rings the entire room and three small goblin-sized holes lead out.  There’s no sign of the lion.   Merric climbs all the way down and inspects the side tunnels.  The east and west tunnels have collapsed and are impassable, but the south tunnel features both goblin tracks and lion tracks.  Merric breaks out an everburning torch and peeks down, and then returns to his friends to give them an update.  One by one they all climb inside the tree trunk until they’re in the central room, and from here, Merric continues his search. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/tal1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Halfling follows the lion tracks down the cramped, dusty tunnel, but about thirty feet later the tracks just…stop.  He finds this strange, but considering where the lion came from originally, not overtly strange.  Maybe it had a specific duration or a limit to the distance.  He continues and soon finds another odd thing:  there are six slots in the hallway, three on the left, three on the right.  They look wide enough to jab spears through and could easily be a trap.  <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/tal2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Merric snuffs his torch out and sneaks past the slots.  Nothing happens, and eventually he reaches the bottom of this tunnel that opens up into a much larger mine shaft. Nari-lana follows Merric, and they soon creep out into the tunnel, wary of any danger, but they see and hear nothing except for a dimly flickering torch to the west. The tunnel curves up to the east.  Ancient mine tracks fill the center of the floor, rusted from hundreds of years of disuse, and several overturned ore carts are here too. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/tal3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The others come down too and they head toward the single flickering torch.  There is a gaping rectangular hole in the center of the tunnel. Two narrow ledges circumvent it, and Merric peeks over the edge.  There’s a rickety ladder here and twenty feet down sharp rusted spikes fill the entire pit.   Merric climbs down, noting goblin prints in the dirt, and after searching around is able to find a concealed goblin tunnel.  He gently presses it open and peeks in.  The tunnel curves away and is utterly dark, so he brings out the everburning torch again and continues. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/tal6.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Meanwhile, Jolen wants to get past the spike pit, but the ledge he’s on abruptly crumbles beneath his feet!  He is painfully dashed to the spikes below, noticing now that both ledges were designed to collapse.  Jolen climbs back out, dusts himself off, and continues to the tunnel junction.  The tracks descend at both splits, but rubble has closed the routes.  He notices a sign on the wall, and wiping the dust off, murmurs the words aloud in Common:TALLOW’S DEEPThat must be what this place is. [GM Note: I ran Adam through this adventure many, many years ago in 2e.  It will be interesting to see what he remembers and what changes in the 4e update. His first D&D character also died here, so it will be fitting in a way if his newest one dies here too! Full circle <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />].Meanwhile, Merric is scuttling like a roach through the goblin tunnels, hoping that he can cope with whatever he finds.  He reaches a junction and clambers to the left, finding a solid wall.  He searches and discovers yet another concealed goblin door, and pushing it open slightly, sees light beyond.  He backtracks to his friends, and together everyone enters the tunnels and returns to that spot.  Merric opens the door and finds that they have merely made a full circle back into the main tunnel.That leaves one final direction unexplored.  They all head south, finally dropping into a small, round chamber that is tall enough for them to stand.  The only way out is yet another goblin tunnel leading to the west…<img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/tal5.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />And they still haven’t seen a single living thing.And there we stopped.</blockquote>

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