Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Lazybones's Keep on the Shadowfell/Thunderspire Labyrinth
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4572877" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>I have five updates drafted at the moment, but my schedule's still a bit up in the air, so I can't commit to regular updates for the future. I should be able to get a few up this week and next, however. Thanks to my regular readers for their patience.</p><p></p><p>* * * * *</p><p></p><p>Chapter 53</p><p></p><p></p><p>While Khal Durga’s warriors were fighting through the ambush set by the party from Winterhaven, a smaller drama was playing out at the rear of the goblinoid war party. </p><p></p><p>At first, those in the rearguard were not fully aware of what was happening at the front of the line, as Khal Durga’s phalanx separated them and it was difficult to see ahead; furthermore, the low ceiling blocked a clear view up the staircase to the first level of the complex. However, as the leading columns of grunts began to take losses, it became obvious from their shouts that the strike team had stumbled into an ambush. Khal Durga rapidly restored order, but a majority of the vanguard failed to return from the staircase. </p><p></p><p>As soon as he realized what was happening, Balgron drew back and turned toward Splug, only to find that the goblin wasn’t there. Looking back down the passage, he caught sight of him slinking back along the wall, trying to avoid notice. The goblins’ eyes met at the same moment, and for a moment a silent dialogue passed between them. Balgron’s crossbow had come up, almost by reflex, but even as his lips tightened in anger, the former goblin leader held his shot. </p><p></p><p>Unfortunately for Splug, Balgron’s movements had drawn the attention of the hobgoblin archer, who instantly divined the situation, and put the pieces together. He did not hesitate, lifting his bow and drawing in a single motion. Splug let out a tinny cry and darted around the far corner, but the archer did not miss, his arrow taking the goblin in the back near his left shoulder even as he disappeared from sight. The archer started to go after him, but the hobgoblin warcaster stopped him with a hand on his arm. </p><p></p><p>“We are needed,” he said. The caster—a nasty bastard of a hobgoblin named Zhadroff—fixed his eyes on Balgron. “Bring him back, alive preferably, but dead if necessary. I shall plant his head upon my totem staff, or yours, goblin.” </p><p></p><p>Balgron felt a cold fist clench in his gut, but he did not have a chance to reply, as Zhadroff and the archer made their way forward in response to Khal Darga’s summons. He could only comply, his bulk shaking under him as he ran after the traitorous runaway, hoping that the archer’s arrow had done his job for him. </p><p></p><p>Splug had fled to the south, and Balgron followed, tracking the occasional splotches of blood that glistened wetly on the stone tiles of the floor. The goblin leader had never come this way before, and as soon as he’d left the main passage behind he slowed his rush to a more prudent creeping approach. The side corridor opened onto a larger chamber up ahead, and since there was no other way that the renegade goblin could have gone, Balgron followed. </p><p></p><p>What he found was disturbing.</p><p></p><p>The chamber was occupied, but its inhabitants were dead. Unlike the wreckage he had encountered in the main passage on his scouting mission, these bodies were intact, standing silent and still in an almost random array about the chamber. They had been humans in life, or at least most of them; one had an orcish look about him, although his face had been smashed in with a club or mace, making a detailed identification difficult. Most of them looked to be barely holding together, the flesh hanging from their rotten corpses like a tattered robe. </p><p></p><p>There was no sign of Splug, but Balgron noticed an archway on the far side of the room that opened onto another area beyond. He started forward, slowly. The zombies paid no heed; Balgron knew that they had been given orders not to molest goblinoids, but he trusted the sinister workings of necromancy only so far. </p><p></p><p>He was only about halfway across the room when he noticed that the bloodstains stopped well before the far archway. </p><p></p><p>Suspicious, he stopped and scanned the room. There; a zombie rotter with the remains of a cloak hanging about its legs. Intact enough to provide cover…</p><p></p><p>Sensing that he’d been detected, Splug backed into view. “Don’t shoot me,” he said, lifting a hand. “I didn’t do anything.”</p><p></p><p>“And I suppose that ambush that the hobgoblins walked into was an accident?” Balgron asked. </p><p></p><p>“Those hobgoblins hate us,” the goblin replied. “What do you care what happens to them?” </p><p></p><p>“In truth, I care nothing,” Balgron replied. “But it remains a fact that they are going to kill one of us, and I prefer it not be me.”</p><p></p><p>“Wait!” Splug hissed. “I know where they hid your treasure!” </p><p></p><p>Balgron hesitated, but only for an instant. “I never did like you, Splug.” He lifted his crossbow. Splug hurled himself aside, but Balgron was a good shot, and the steel head of the bolt tracked his movement cleanly. But as Balgron’s finger tightened on the trigger of his weapon, a bit of cobweb dangling from above brushed his left cheek, and he flinched. The goblin leader’s shot sliced by Splug’s head, close enough to sever several strands of straggly hair, and then buried itself in the belly of one of the zombies standing near the far arch. </p><p></p><p>For a long second, no one moved. Then the zombies began to shift, stirring as some deep-set instinct toward self preservation overrode the orders that they had been given. Shambling forward on uncertain legs, they started toward the goblins. </p><p></p><p>“Oh, crap,” Balgron said.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 4572877, member: 143"] I have five updates drafted at the moment, but my schedule's still a bit up in the air, so I can't commit to regular updates for the future. I should be able to get a few up this week and next, however. Thanks to my regular readers for their patience. * * * * * Chapter 53 While Khal Durga’s warriors were fighting through the ambush set by the party from Winterhaven, a smaller drama was playing out at the rear of the goblinoid war party. At first, those in the rearguard were not fully aware of what was happening at the front of the line, as Khal Durga’s phalanx separated them and it was difficult to see ahead; furthermore, the low ceiling blocked a clear view up the staircase to the first level of the complex. However, as the leading columns of grunts began to take losses, it became obvious from their shouts that the strike team had stumbled into an ambush. Khal Durga rapidly restored order, but a majority of the vanguard failed to return from the staircase. As soon as he realized what was happening, Balgron drew back and turned toward Splug, only to find that the goblin wasn’t there. Looking back down the passage, he caught sight of him slinking back along the wall, trying to avoid notice. The goblins’ eyes met at the same moment, and for a moment a silent dialogue passed between them. Balgron’s crossbow had come up, almost by reflex, but even as his lips tightened in anger, the former goblin leader held his shot. Unfortunately for Splug, Balgron’s movements had drawn the attention of the hobgoblin archer, who instantly divined the situation, and put the pieces together. He did not hesitate, lifting his bow and drawing in a single motion. Splug let out a tinny cry and darted around the far corner, but the archer did not miss, his arrow taking the goblin in the back near his left shoulder even as he disappeared from sight. The archer started to go after him, but the hobgoblin warcaster stopped him with a hand on his arm. “We are needed,” he said. The caster—a nasty bastard of a hobgoblin named Zhadroff—fixed his eyes on Balgron. “Bring him back, alive preferably, but dead if necessary. I shall plant his head upon my totem staff, or yours, goblin.” Balgron felt a cold fist clench in his gut, but he did not have a chance to reply, as Zhadroff and the archer made their way forward in response to Khal Darga’s summons. He could only comply, his bulk shaking under him as he ran after the traitorous runaway, hoping that the archer’s arrow had done his job for him. Splug had fled to the south, and Balgron followed, tracking the occasional splotches of blood that glistened wetly on the stone tiles of the floor. The goblin leader had never come this way before, and as soon as he’d left the main passage behind he slowed his rush to a more prudent creeping approach. The side corridor opened onto a larger chamber up ahead, and since there was no other way that the renegade goblin could have gone, Balgron followed. What he found was disturbing. The chamber was occupied, but its inhabitants were dead. Unlike the wreckage he had encountered in the main passage on his scouting mission, these bodies were intact, standing silent and still in an almost random array about the chamber. They had been humans in life, or at least most of them; one had an orcish look about him, although his face had been smashed in with a club or mace, making a detailed identification difficult. Most of them looked to be barely holding together, the flesh hanging from their rotten corpses like a tattered robe. There was no sign of Splug, but Balgron noticed an archway on the far side of the room that opened onto another area beyond. He started forward, slowly. The zombies paid no heed; Balgron knew that they had been given orders not to molest goblinoids, but he trusted the sinister workings of necromancy only so far. He was only about halfway across the room when he noticed that the bloodstains stopped well before the far archway. Suspicious, he stopped and scanned the room. There; a zombie rotter with the remains of a cloak hanging about its legs. Intact enough to provide cover… Sensing that he’d been detected, Splug backed into view. “Don’t shoot me,” he said, lifting a hand. “I didn’t do anything.” “And I suppose that ambush that the hobgoblins walked into was an accident?” Balgron asked. “Those hobgoblins hate us,” the goblin replied. “What do you care what happens to them?” “In truth, I care nothing,” Balgron replied. “But it remains a fact that they are going to kill one of us, and I prefer it not be me.” “Wait!” Splug hissed. “I know where they hid your treasure!” Balgron hesitated, but only for an instant. “I never did like you, Splug.” He lifted his crossbow. Splug hurled himself aside, but Balgron was a good shot, and the steel head of the bolt tracked his movement cleanly. But as Balgron’s finger tightened on the trigger of his weapon, a bit of cobweb dangling from above brushed his left cheek, and he flinched. The goblin leader’s shot sliced by Splug’s head, close enough to sever several strands of straggly hair, and then buried itself in the belly of one of the zombies standing near the far arch. For a long second, no one moved. Then the zombies began to shift, stirring as some deep-set instinct toward self preservation overrode the orders that they had been given. Shambling forward on uncertain legs, they started toward the goblins. “Oh, crap,” Balgron said. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Lazybones's Keep on the Shadowfell/Thunderspire Labyrinth
Top