GREYHAWK CY 576: GREAT LEGENDS RETOLD -- CAMPAIGN THREAD

[Tellerian Hawke]

First Strike Against The Goblins!

GM: Nimbar, Hide Check: 23 Nimbar, Move Sliently Check: 24 Nimbar, Survival Check (Tracking): 20 Tellerian, Hide Check: 23 Tellerian, Move Silently Check: 14 Sphynx, Hide Check: 21 Sphynx, Move Silently Check: 17

The party proceeds with caution into the ravine, following Nimbar's lead. Sphynx, you notice that both Nimbar and Tellerian are skilled at moving stealthily, although Tellerian seems less-so than Nimbar. In fact, of the three of you, Tellerian makes the most noise, but having said that, the amount of noise the big man is making is remarkably little. And as for staying hidden, it seems that all three of you are equally skilled, which is definitely a good thing in a situation like this.

Nimbar stops to look at a track; after a moment's pause, he turns back and whispers:

Holding his fist up, to indicate "stop": "Lots of small, booted tracks here, all recent. Kobolds don't wear coverings on their feet. These tracks must be Goblin tracks."

Nimbar returns to the task of advancing stealthily; the party makes its way up the switchback toward the suspected Goblin cave. No one notices any activity in the ravine. It seems that the party's approach has gone unnoticed. As the party reaches the mouth of the cave, Nimbar motions "all-stop" once again. He peers around the corner momentarily, then turns back to the party. He holds up TWO FINGERS, and points toward the west wall. He then points to himself and to Tellerian, and makes a fist, and pretends to pound the palm of his hand. You get the sense that he wants to attack. Tellerian nods, as he unhooks both of his hammers from his back rig. He nods again, to show that he is ready. Nimbar looks back at Sphynx, waiting for some sort of confirmation signal.

Sphynx: What do you do?

Spoiler: Map of the Goblin Cave entrance

 

[MacConnell]

Sphynx nods and pulls the long dagger from his left, knee-high boot and holds it, point down, in his left hand, He simultaneously draws a feathered spike from his belt holding it ready to throw in his right. The weighted dart has a smooth shaft of iron as long as his forearm. It looks like a very elongated tear drop with feathers to aid its flight tied to the narrow end.

He vibrates the dart slightly and gestures to himself and to the right.

OOC: As soon as the signal is given, Sphynx will step out and throw the dart at the goblin on the right. Throw: d20+4 = 13 + 4 = 17 Damage: d4 + d6(sneak) = 4 + 5 = 9... wow good rolls Init: d20 + 8 = 5 + 8 = 13

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Approaching the Goblin Cave

GM: Goblins turned away from Cave Entrance = -2 Spot Goblins quietly talking to each other = -2 Listen Light breeze whistling through cave = -2 Listen Goblin totals: Goblin 1: Listen 16, Spot = 8 Goblin 2: Listen 13, Spot = 1 Goblin #2 is completely surprised, because he did not see or hear the party approach. Goblin #1 is not surprised; he hears Hawke making noise outside, but he is not sure what the noise is. Goblin #1 will roll for initiative.

GM: INITIATIVE COUNT: Goblin #1: 17 Sphynx: 13 Hawke: 12 Nimbar: 11

On his turn, Goblin #1 hears something, and hesitates. He shushes Goblin #2, and says something, as he draws his weapon, a crude morningstar.

Goblin #1: "Gobbledee gook, preeka domai chuk?"

GM: No one in the party speaks Goblin. You have no clue what he said, but it sounded like a question, judging by his tone of voice, and inflection.

The Goblin walks forward, his friend momentarily confused by his action. As he reaches the mouth of the cave, he gasps in surprise as he sees the party. However, he is not fast enough to raise the alarm before the party can strike!

GM: Drawing his weapon and speaking to his friend was his first move action; walking to the mouth of the cave was his second. He is not surprised, nor is he flat-footed, but he is out of actions, and very exposed.

GM: This was the surprise round. Goblin #1 acted first, and Goblin #2 cannot act at all. It is now Sphynx's turn. Sphynx: A simple sidestep, which can be done as a free action, will put you at a good angle to throw your dart at Goblin #1, without your friends getting in the way. The Goblin raises his shield, hoping to block your dart, but he is too slow. You hit him square in the throat, and the wound is nearly fatal, but not quite. [Since he was not flat-footed, you were not able to apply sneak attack damage.] The Goblin rasps in horror, unable to scream, clinging to life by the thinnest of threads. His morale fails him, and he drops his weapon, shrinking to the ground into a fetal position. He has effectively surrendered.

Hawke moves in quickly, easily covering the 25 foot distance, to close with the surprised Goblin. The Goblin's eyes widen as he sees his friend fall, and the big man come around the corner and into the cave with him.

GM: Hawke cannot charge, because he has to turn a corner to reach the Goblin. He can only make one attack, since he had to take a move action. Hawke's attack: (+9): (22) = Hit. Damage (1d8+5) = 3+5 = 8 pts.

The surprised Goblin can only watch with horror as Hawke brings the massive warhammer down on his head. The weapon cracks the Goblin's skull with a "whum-pink" sound, which is noticable, but not what one would consider to be loud. The Goblin slumps to the ground, where he begins to bleed out, blood trickling out of both ears.

GM: Goblin 1 cannot speak, is not moving, is prone, and has 1 hit point. Goblin 2 is unconscious, and dying.

With speed and efficiency borne of highly specialized scout training, Nimbar steps forward, and stabs the prone Goblin with his rapier. Both Goblins are now dead.

Sphynx: What do you do?

 

[MacConnell]

Sphynx makes a simple trill like a bird and motions for the others to be still for a second. He looks around and listens intently to see if any further danger might have noticed the quick combat.

If nothing of note is heard, he will sheath his dagger then go to retrieve and clean his dart. He will then search the goblins, looking for anything of value or interests.

[sblock=rolls]Listen: d20 + 8 = 20
Spot: Spot: d20 + 8 = 19
Search: d20 + 9 = 22[/sblock]

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

GM: Searching the two Goblins results in: 2 small suits of Leather Armor (decent condition) 2 small Morningstars (average condition) 4 small javelins (average condition) 2 pouches of foodstuffs (mostly dried meat, and dried fruit---actually fair quality, suitable for Human consumption) A total of 13 silver pieces (6 sp from Goblin #1, 7 sp from Goblin #2)

Sphynx, you can hear faint, distant sounds, echoing through the cave. There are definitely other Goblins about, but you think that there are none nearby. Of course, this could change, if any of them decide to move about. Depending on how deep the cave goes, and how often the Goblins patrol, you might encounter more Goblins very soon. You feel that time is of the essence here.

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Supplemental Info About The Goblin Cave

GM: MAP LEGEND: Red X's = Dead Goblins Yellow O's = Party Members Green N's = Direction where you suspect noises are coming from

Spoiler: Goblin Cave Layout

Hawke whispers, "I don't like this. I hear the noises as well, and it sounds like there are many active Goblins. There's likely to be a patrol soon. We could probably mop the floor with the little buggers, as long as we can find a defensible position. But we should be extremely careful, because there's always the possibility of getting overrun."

Nimbar nods, whispering, "Agreed. I think it's time for spells."

GM: Nimbar casts Mage Armor on himself. [+4 AC, Duration: 3 hrs.] Sphynx, you can cast a defensive spell also, if you like.

After the few seconds it takes to cast spells, Sphynx detects no change in the apparent distance of the noises he heard.

Sphynx: What do you do?

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Spoiler: ONE LAST NOTE (MAP)

You can see that the forward passage is empty, and dead-ends about 40 feet from the party's current position.

 

[MacConnell]

Hawke whispers, "I don't like this. I hear the noises as well, and it sounds like there are many active Goblins. There's likely to be a patrol soon. We could probably mop the floor with the little buggers, as long as we can find a defensible position. But we should be extremely careful, because there's always the possibility of getting overrun."

Nimbar nods, whispering, "Agreed. I think it's time for spells."

Sphynx confiscates the rations, the coins, and the javelins. He deposits the food and coins in appropriate locations about his body. He carries all of the javelins in his left hand. He nods toward Nimbar and whispers. "Good idea."

OOC: He then casts Mage Armor on himself.

He looks at Hawke to continue the thought process. "We will need a light source to continue farther in. That is easy, but I do not care for the idea of being pinned in the middle of two forces. We can make a little more noise and ambush whoever comes to investigate; otherwise, I am for moving into the left. At this point, I favor the ambush."

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

The Ambush is Laid Out

The party moves back to the cave entrance, which takes one round. You also roll the bodies of the dead goblins down the slope (which also takes one round); the bodies are indicated by the red Xs. Nimbar takes the position on the left side of the cave mouth. Hawke and Sphynx are on the right side of the cave mouth, with Hawke being the furthest left. Nimbar casts a spell, and a glowing, humanoid form appears at position B.The form can travel up to 130' feet away from Nimbar, so he sends it down the left hallway, to the position marked with a green X (a distance of 60 feet, i.e., a double-move, which takes one round.) A cry of alarm is heard as Goblins begin to shriek in their language. Nimbar orders the glowing figure to move 60 ft. back to its original position (B) which is another round.

GM: During that same round in which the form is returning, the Goblins give chase, using their running speeds; this means that besides giving chase, they can take no further actions that round. The Surprise Round is the 5th round since the party moved to the mouth of the cave, and the 3rd round since Nimbar's spell was cast.

GM: The Goblins are so intent upon the glowing figure, that they fail to consider the possibility of ambush; they are, in effect, surprised.

Spoiler: Positions before ambush

From the direction indicated below by the green arrow, 12 Goblins rush into the corridor, intent upon attacking the glowing figure (indicated by the green F.) They do not notice the party members at the mouth of the cave.

Spoiler: Battle Map; Goblins = Red Circles

In the distance, in the direction from whence came the Goblins, you hear a shriek: "BREEE-YARRKK!!"

GM: Initiative Count:Sphynx 27 Hawke 8 Nimbar 7 Goblins 5 (Goblins will not act at all during surprise round.)

Sphynx: your preternatural reflexes allow you to go first, before anyone else can act. The Goblins are surprised, but they are not considered flat-footed (which means no sneak attack possible.) ...What do you do?

 

[MacConnell]

Having no ability or talent to magically effect the group of goblins, Sphynx resolves himself to engage, anyway. After the sum of his previous life experiences, he is not prone to retreat.

He fans the fingers of each hand and rolls them back to a pressed position with his thumbs in his palms and the tips pointed toward the goblins. Two white shards of light, about the size of his darts, streak into the goblins.

OOC: Cast Magic Missile: (d4 + 1) x2 = 4 each. If his number of missiles is per level and not HD, he can only fire 1.