Like Father, Like Son: Kid Charlemagne's Story Hour , PT III
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Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Grifter86 said:
As Gavin and Jovah have mentioned, this was from a "get-to-know-3e" short adventure that I ran for them this past GenCon. We had adapted the PC's and wanted to see how they ran, so I ran them through scouting and retaking Shadow Springs (which Gavin had just been given to rule, conditioned on his actually taking it back).
The hobgoblins turned out to be the remnants of those that had threatened Sylvan Fields way back when - the ones that they defeated on the bridge. The leaders were in fact Barghests, and pretty tough. They had a Hill Giant with them.
There was a thick layer of cloud over the city all the time that this was going on, and eventually, Aris flew into a metal ladder that stretched up into the clouds (he didn't see it because of the limited visibility from the cloud cover - he literally ran into it).
Some conjectures were made, but they didn't brave the stair to see what lay at the end of it, and the following day, the clouds blew away - in the opposite direction of the wind.
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Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Cape Varna, Princedom of Krone, June 7th, AE 420
Safely ensconced in Tolaro’s estate in the elvish city of Cape Varna, the party regroups after several days of preparations. Jovah, Brennen, Gavin, Reana, and Aris are joined by Anthius and Soldago.
Jovah has cast several divinations, the first of which prompts a number of questions:
“Why are the Sahuagin helping Kentfield?”
The answer that Jovah receives is:
Powers too weak to undo Mordax’ fate
Must combine to reclaim power great.
The name Mordax is unknown to most of the party, but Jovah has come across it in his readings of religious history. Mordax was the name of an ancient evil diety (“Of course,” says Anthius) dating back to over three millenia ago. He was closely allied with Xante at one point, and opposed by Leonus and Meilikki. Jovah knows nothing of his fate, just that he’s not a household name any more.
Xante is the goddess of portals, gates, and secret knowledge. Less charitably, she is also the goddess of spies and blackmailers. The party has run afoul of them before – the interdimensional castle was captured from a group of Xante priestesses who were using dopplegangers to infiltrate the Ghithorian nobility. Leonus is the lion-god, a diety dedicated to the fey creatures and other magical aspects of nature. Meilikki is one of two gods strongly allied with the Rangers. Both Leonus and Meilikki are strongly allied with the Druids as well.
Armed with this and the results of a couple more general divinations, the party prepares to dimensional fold to Kentfield’s old country estate. They’ve been there before; the Loraxites tried to take the Egg from the Sahuagin here earlier this very year. The place was deserted except for undead, but they fold to a spot on the cliffs out of view of the estate just to be safe, just before dawn. The estate consists of a small valley with a river running through it, and a lake by the edge of the sea. A waterfall spills over the edge into the Retic Sea, and a small manor house overlooks the lake and waterfall.
They immediately see that there is a ship docked at the bottom of the cliff wall. Apparently Kentfield arrived here by sea. Aris casts locate object to find any statues of elves. He receives a directional tug – downward and northwest. Aris looks around and gets his bearings.
“He must be down in the temple area where we fought the Sahuagin before,” the Bladesinger says.
“Should we climb down the cliff and go in through the cavern entrance?” Jovah asks.
“Uh, excuse me?” Gavin interjects, pointing at his armor and shield. “Water, heavy armor…. don’t mix well.”
“I think it would be safer going in through the manor house,” Aris replies.
“Everybody remember, we’re here to get Jalea,” Jovah says. “Anything else is a bonus.”
They begin to make their way around the edge of the hill, trying to sneak up on the manor house. They are jumped almost immediately by three wights, but Brennen lays waste to one of them with three blows, Soldago drops another with a flurry of arrows, and Gavin winds up for a big swing and clobbers the third with a single blow.
“Whew!” Brennen says. “They barely saw what hit them. Heck of a lot better than the last time we were here…”
The party is hopped up on boosting spells; cat’s graces, bull’s strengths, and endurances, so they’re feeling pretty good. Soldago hushes them from his position ahead of the party, acting as lookout.
“Shhh! I hear movement in the manor house! There are torches lighting the building… Why would undead need torches?”
“There must be someone else in the manor house,” Brennen proposes.
Just then, two blasts on a horn sound from the manor house, and Soldago sees archers arraying themselves on the roof.
“They must of heard us disposing the wights,” he says.
The alarm has been raised.
Safely ensconced in Tolaro’s estate in the elvish city of Cape Varna, the party regroups after several days of preparations. Jovah, Brennen, Gavin, Reana, and Aris are joined by Anthius and Soldago.
Jovah has cast several divinations, the first of which prompts a number of questions:
“Why are the Sahuagin helping Kentfield?”
The answer that Jovah receives is:
Powers too weak to undo Mordax’ fate
Must combine to reclaim power great.
The name Mordax is unknown to most of the party, but Jovah has come across it in his readings of religious history. Mordax was the name of an ancient evil diety (“Of course,” says Anthius) dating back to over three millenia ago. He was closely allied with Xante at one point, and opposed by Leonus and Meilikki. Jovah knows nothing of his fate, just that he’s not a household name any more.
Xante is the goddess of portals, gates, and secret knowledge. Less charitably, she is also the goddess of spies and blackmailers. The party has run afoul of them before – the interdimensional castle was captured from a group of Xante priestesses who were using dopplegangers to infiltrate the Ghithorian nobility. Leonus is the lion-god, a diety dedicated to the fey creatures and other magical aspects of nature. Meilikki is one of two gods strongly allied with the Rangers. Both Leonus and Meilikki are strongly allied with the Druids as well.
Armed with this and the results of a couple more general divinations, the party prepares to dimensional fold to Kentfield’s old country estate. They’ve been there before; the Loraxites tried to take the Egg from the Sahuagin here earlier this very year. The place was deserted except for undead, but they fold to a spot on the cliffs out of view of the estate just to be safe, just before dawn. The estate consists of a small valley with a river running through it, and a lake by the edge of the sea. A waterfall spills over the edge into the Retic Sea, and a small manor house overlooks the lake and waterfall.
They immediately see that there is a ship docked at the bottom of the cliff wall. Apparently Kentfield arrived here by sea. Aris casts locate object to find any statues of elves. He receives a directional tug – downward and northwest. Aris looks around and gets his bearings.
“He must be down in the temple area where we fought the Sahuagin before,” the Bladesinger says.
“Should we climb down the cliff and go in through the cavern entrance?” Jovah asks.
“Uh, excuse me?” Gavin interjects, pointing at his armor and shield. “Water, heavy armor…. don’t mix well.”
“I think it would be safer going in through the manor house,” Aris replies.
“Everybody remember, we’re here to get Jalea,” Jovah says. “Anything else is a bonus.”
They begin to make their way around the edge of the hill, trying to sneak up on the manor house. They are jumped almost immediately by three wights, but Brennen lays waste to one of them with three blows, Soldago drops another with a flurry of arrows, and Gavin winds up for a big swing and clobbers the third with a single blow.
“Whew!” Brennen says. “They barely saw what hit them. Heck of a lot better than the last time we were here…”
The party is hopped up on boosting spells; cat’s graces, bull’s strengths, and endurances, so they’re feeling pretty good. Soldago hushes them from his position ahead of the party, acting as lookout.
“Shhh! I hear movement in the manor house! There are torches lighting the building… Why would undead need torches?”
“There must be someone else in the manor house,” Brennen proposes.
Just then, two blasts on a horn sound from the manor house, and Soldago sees archers arraying themselves on the roof.
“They must of heard us disposing the wights,” he says.
The alarm has been raised.
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE 420
The party is about 70 yards from the manor house when the alarm is raised. The house consists of two four story wings connected by a three story structure. Between the two wings are a ten foot stone wall with a oaken gate. Soldago sees movement on the roof of the third story; he can’t make out precise details, as the sun has not yet come up, but he can tell that there are about a dozen individuals up there, most armed with bows.
Aris and Jovah cast expeditious retreat on themselves. Jovah also casts invisibility to undead on everyone and curses under his breath that he didn’t do it earlier. Brennen casts protection from evil. Suitably charged up, they dash for the cover of the stone wall, across two hundred feet of open ground.
“Head to the right!” Brennen yells. “There’s a door on the side of the house; we’ll go in that way instead of the main gate!”
Arrows begin raining down on them quickly, but they are heavily armored, and only a few draw blood. Then from somewhere, a stinking cloud spell gets dropped in their midst. Reana is just ahead of the noxious vapors, but Soldago, Brennen, Aris, and Gavin all succumb to the debilitating mists. They are slowed substantially, no longer able to run or fight. They stumble out of the mist as more arrows find purchase on them.
All the guys with good fortitude saves blew their saves; all the guys with bad fortitude saves made theirs. Some kind of luck.
Corwin stumbles out from the cloud, unaffected. He targets the rooftop of the house and lets fly a fireball. He hears screams from the archers, and the volume of arrows lessens considerably. Corwin is charged to the gills; he has cast rary’s mnemonic enhancer and has a total of 11 magic missiles memorized. He starts moving to the wall, as soon as he realizes that the archers have made him their new target of choice.
Reana reaches the safety of the wall first, and looks back to see Aris stumbling towards her (although he is affected by the cloud he still has expeditious retreat going), only to be blocked by the appearance of a summoned tiger. The beast lays into the Bladesinger, who can do nothing but defend. She moves back out into the field of fire to help the elf. Anthius changes his direction to go help out the Bladesinger as well.
Jovah reaches the wall next, his little gnomish legs churning from the effects of his expeditious retreat. He looks around, and casts fly, intending to pick someone up and take them to the roof. However, it’s taking a long time for anyone to get to him. He looks towards Aris, and casts dispel magic on the tiger, who promptly winks out of existence. Aris finishes stumbling to the wall, and leans up against it, still coughing from the stinking cloud.
“This won’t do,” Jovah thinks to himself, and flies up to the roof, charging one of the four remaining archers, seeing that he is a hobgoblin. He lays a heavy blow on one, and staggers him.
Soldago shakes off the stinking cloud’s effects next, and raises his bow. He is a master bowman, and lets fly two arrows, one to the hobgoblin on Jovah’s left, one to the one on his right. Both drop, followed moments later by the third. The plainsman runs to the wall and is the first to reach the side of the manor house. He finds that there is in fact a door there, but it is situated on a porch about ten feet above the ground. Soldago may be amster archer, but he is not a strong man, and there isn’t much to climb in the plains. He tries to pull himself up, but fails.
Reana reaches the porch next. She gets ready to help Soldago up. Aris arrives first however, having finally shaken off the stinking cloud. As he turns the corner, he sees a group of hobgoblins just turning the rear corner of the house, on the porch. The Bladesinger launches a fireball their way, taking out all but one.
Aris is in a mood to show off further, and does so, running up to the porch, lightly playing leap frog over Reana, using Soldago for a boost, and tumbling over the porch’s stone rail to land on the roof, right in front of the lone standing hobgoblin, who apparently has heard the maxim “discretion is the better part of valor” and turns and runs.
Aris follows him, but as he rounds the corner, he is pounced upon by a weird-looking leopard. The beast is purple, and has no eyes whatsoever. This doesn’t seem to present it with a problem, though, as it rakes the Bladesinger, though not as severely as the tiger did.
“What is with the big cat theme?” Aris ponders, not happily.
Brennen and Gavin have by now reached the porch, and have helped everyone up onto the raised area. Reana sizes up the door, and gets ready to knock it down. The manor house isn’t really built to be a serious castle, it’s more of a somewhat fortified home, and the doors are not as sturdy as they could be.
Anthius moves up to help out Aris, and the Bladesinger decides that this will provide a good opportunity to chase down the fleeing hobgoblin, who he can see has just run inside a set of patio doors leading into the house from the back porch. He tumbles past the leopard, leaving Anthius there alone with the big cat.
“Hey!” Anthius yells. “I said I’d help, not get eviscerated!”
In any case it takes Anthius only a few well-placed strokes of his cutlass to dispose of the weird cat.
Aris runs to the patio doors, which are still ajar. Just as he reaches them, he hits a patch of very slippery ground.
“Grease!” he yells back to the others, as he falls and lands on his back.
Right after that, The patio doors are blown off their hinges by a powerful blast. Aris feels the brunt of the energy just missing his body, and knows that he would have been blown back dozens of feet if he couldn’t still dodge somewhat, even prone in the grease.
Meanwhile, Reana puts her shoulder to the side door, and smashes it open.
It helps that each of the fighters has a bull’s strength; Brennen, Reana, and Gavin each had a strength of 22 or 23 for the duration of this fight.
She steps past the ruined door, and is greeted with a hail of arrows; the twenty foot hall is blocked at the other end by a half-dozen hobgoblins with longbows.
Aris flops over in the greased area, and looks into the room beyond where the patio doors used to be. He is greeted by a hail of bowfire from another half-dozen or so hobgoblins, backed up by the wizard Quinn, and Arlen Kentfield.
The party is about 70 yards from the manor house when the alarm is raised. The house consists of two four story wings connected by a three story structure. Between the two wings are a ten foot stone wall with a oaken gate. Soldago sees movement on the roof of the third story; he can’t make out precise details, as the sun has not yet come up, but he can tell that there are about a dozen individuals up there, most armed with bows.
Aris and Jovah cast expeditious retreat on themselves. Jovah also casts invisibility to undead on everyone and curses under his breath that he didn’t do it earlier. Brennen casts protection from evil. Suitably charged up, they dash for the cover of the stone wall, across two hundred feet of open ground.
“Head to the right!” Brennen yells. “There’s a door on the side of the house; we’ll go in that way instead of the main gate!”
Arrows begin raining down on them quickly, but they are heavily armored, and only a few draw blood. Then from somewhere, a stinking cloud spell gets dropped in their midst. Reana is just ahead of the noxious vapors, but Soldago, Brennen, Aris, and Gavin all succumb to the debilitating mists. They are slowed substantially, no longer able to run or fight. They stumble out of the mist as more arrows find purchase on them.
All the guys with good fortitude saves blew their saves; all the guys with bad fortitude saves made theirs. Some kind of luck.
Corwin stumbles out from the cloud, unaffected. He targets the rooftop of the house and lets fly a fireball. He hears screams from the archers, and the volume of arrows lessens considerably. Corwin is charged to the gills; he has cast rary’s mnemonic enhancer and has a total of 11 magic missiles memorized. He starts moving to the wall, as soon as he realizes that the archers have made him their new target of choice.
Reana reaches the safety of the wall first, and looks back to see Aris stumbling towards her (although he is affected by the cloud he still has expeditious retreat going), only to be blocked by the appearance of a summoned tiger. The beast lays into the Bladesinger, who can do nothing but defend. She moves back out into the field of fire to help the elf. Anthius changes his direction to go help out the Bladesinger as well.
Jovah reaches the wall next, his little gnomish legs churning from the effects of his expeditious retreat. He looks around, and casts fly, intending to pick someone up and take them to the roof. However, it’s taking a long time for anyone to get to him. He looks towards Aris, and casts dispel magic on the tiger, who promptly winks out of existence. Aris finishes stumbling to the wall, and leans up against it, still coughing from the stinking cloud.
“This won’t do,” Jovah thinks to himself, and flies up to the roof, charging one of the four remaining archers, seeing that he is a hobgoblin. He lays a heavy blow on one, and staggers him.
Soldago shakes off the stinking cloud’s effects next, and raises his bow. He is a master bowman, and lets fly two arrows, one to the hobgoblin on Jovah’s left, one to the one on his right. Both drop, followed moments later by the third. The plainsman runs to the wall and is the first to reach the side of the manor house. He finds that there is in fact a door there, but it is situated on a porch about ten feet above the ground. Soldago may be amster archer, but he is not a strong man, and there isn’t much to climb in the plains. He tries to pull himself up, but fails.
Reana reaches the porch next. She gets ready to help Soldago up. Aris arrives first however, having finally shaken off the stinking cloud. As he turns the corner, he sees a group of hobgoblins just turning the rear corner of the house, on the porch. The Bladesinger launches a fireball their way, taking out all but one.
Aris is in a mood to show off further, and does so, running up to the porch, lightly playing leap frog over Reana, using Soldago for a boost, and tumbling over the porch’s stone rail to land on the roof, right in front of the lone standing hobgoblin, who apparently has heard the maxim “discretion is the better part of valor” and turns and runs.
Aris follows him, but as he rounds the corner, he is pounced upon by a weird-looking leopard. The beast is purple, and has no eyes whatsoever. This doesn’t seem to present it with a problem, though, as it rakes the Bladesinger, though not as severely as the tiger did.
“What is with the big cat theme?” Aris ponders, not happily.
Brennen and Gavin have by now reached the porch, and have helped everyone up onto the raised area. Reana sizes up the door, and gets ready to knock it down. The manor house isn’t really built to be a serious castle, it’s more of a somewhat fortified home, and the doors are not as sturdy as they could be.
Anthius moves up to help out Aris, and the Bladesinger decides that this will provide a good opportunity to chase down the fleeing hobgoblin, who he can see has just run inside a set of patio doors leading into the house from the back porch. He tumbles past the leopard, leaving Anthius there alone with the big cat.
“Hey!” Anthius yells. “I said I’d help, not get eviscerated!”
In any case it takes Anthius only a few well-placed strokes of his cutlass to dispose of the weird cat.
Aris runs to the patio doors, which are still ajar. Just as he reaches them, he hits a patch of very slippery ground.
“Grease!” he yells back to the others, as he falls and lands on his back.
Right after that, The patio doors are blown off their hinges by a powerful blast. Aris feels the brunt of the energy just missing his body, and knows that he would have been blown back dozens of feet if he couldn’t still dodge somewhat, even prone in the grease.
Meanwhile, Reana puts her shoulder to the side door, and smashes it open.
It helps that each of the fighters has a bull’s strength; Brennen, Reana, and Gavin each had a strength of 22 or 23 for the duration of this fight.
She steps past the ruined door, and is greeted with a hail of arrows; the twenty foot hall is blocked at the other end by a half-dozen hobgoblins with longbows.
Aris flops over in the greased area, and looks into the room beyond where the patio doors used to be. He is greeted by a hail of bowfire from another half-dozen or so hobgoblins, backed up by the wizard Quinn, and Arlen Kentfield.
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) Looking forward to the ultimate confrontation and bad-guy smackdown (right before he makes a last-minute escape, of course!)
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Reana said:
Alright! Now we just need to get Corwin posting here, and we'll have heard from everyone in the group!
BTW, hint for the next update or two: Gavin seems to have developed an affinity for the number 48. 'Nuff said.
Gavin
First Post
Hmmm. I don't know if 'affinity' is the word Gavin would use. A few other things come to mind tho':
'taste o' medicine'
'that's funny, didn't I use to be 6'1"?'
'physical therapy'
'How much?!!!??'
'they just don't build 'em the way they used to'
oh yeah, I almost forgot:
'Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggghhhhh!!!!!!'
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Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE 420
Reana steps up to the first hobgoblin in the hallway, and drops him with one swing. Gavin’s goblinbane sword is glowing a fierce blue, and he manouevers into position to back her up. A Hobgoblin tumbles into flanking position behind Reana, and draws blood before Gavin dispatches him. The Ranger and the ex-mercenary start hacking their way down the corridor, taking a few blows but giving far more than they receive.
Sir Brennen moves up almost to the patio doors, heeding Aris’ warning of the grease spell that covers the area right in front of the doors. Aris reaches for dry, ungreased ground, and pulls himself out of the area, still prone. Just in time; he pulls his feet up just as a hobgoblin tries to grab his legs and pull him into the room full of foes. Brennen looks around, and sees Corwin just behind him.
“Corwin!” he yells. “Got a haste available?”
Corwin casts haste on Brennen, and the Sword of Kelanen’s eyes glint with anticipation of the carnage he’s about to create.
Meanwhile, Jovah is flying at high speeds through the upper floors of the manor house, finding that everyone is pretty much on the ground floor. He zooms to a position overlooking the entry hallway, and sees a group of a half-dozen hobgoblins, but can’t quite see Quinn, Kentfield, or the other half-dozen hobgoblins just a few feet into the next room. Two of the hobgoblins look up and see the flying gnome, and let loose arrows. Jovah dodges arrows for a few moments, then swoops down right next to one of the hobgoblin leaders.
Now, he can see the massed hobgoblins and their leaders, ready to send dozens of arrowss into the next person to step around the patio doors.
He casts darkness, and starts swinging blindly at the hobgoblin leader.
On the back porch, Anthius sees the greased area, but wants to get to the other side to flank the patio doors. He nimbly runs forward, jumps up onto the stone rail that keeps people from falling off the porch, and expertly runs along the narrow stones, which are perfectly dry. Soldago thinks that’s a great idea, and tries to jump across the grease. He misjudges his leap, and lands in the affected area! However, he keeps his balance, and does a slip-n-slide across the area.
Brennen steps around the greased area into the room, and realizes that Jovah’s darkness covers most of the room. He skewers a hobgoblin, one of the few he can see, and then draws a sharp breath as he sees Arlen Kentfield, dressed in full plate armor, bearing a shield and wielding a morning star, step forward and land a heavy blow that misses him by a good distance. The blow knocks a piece of stone off the wall from its force.
Anthius slips into the room on the other side, and engages the hobgoblin that Aris had been chasing. This particular specimen has seen his share of battle; he wears a patch over one eye and has a hook attached to his left forearm, replacing a hand he must have lost in some long-gone scrap. He wields a mean cutlass, as does Anthius, and the two begin duelling.
Not that anyone can really call Anthius’ cutlass “mean.” After all, it sings songs from Pirates of Penzance…
Aris and Corwin are standing outside, flinging spells into the room on targets as they can see them. Soldago starts flinging arrows at targets in the room.
Brennen manouevers to get a blow in on Kentfield, but the nobleman strikes first, landing a shot with his morning star that send the swordsman reeling. He then steps back into the darkness. Brennen gets a parting swing in on him, but his quarry continues retreating.
Brennen took 35 points of damage from that blow from Kentfield. It was not a critical. He was not using power attack.
Gavin and Reana finally finish cutting down the roguish hobgoblins in the side hallway, and advance on their leader, who bolts through the door at the end of the hall. They pursue, and come out right next to Brennen in the next room.
“Where is everybody?” Reana says. “I can’t see a thing!”
“Someone cast darkness,” Brennen yells. “Has anyone seen Jovah?”
Jovah is too busy to answer; he’s been trading blows with a hobgoblin leader all by himself. Now, however, he realizes that the noise has abated, and he suspects his foe has retreated. He tries to remember the position of one of the doorways out of the room he’s in, and runs in that direction.
“Oww!” he yells, as he runs headfirst (or is that nose-first for a gnome?) into the door jam. He stumbles further into the room, and finds that it, also, is filled with hobgoblins. Four, to be exact. They were just about to sneak out the windows onto the back porch and try to pounce on Soldago and Aris, but they find a gnome to be much more inviting target. They move quickly to flank the Luckbringer, and start chopping away.
Aris and Corwin have now moved into the darkened room off of the patio, and join Anthius, Brennen, Reana, and Gavin. They cautiously move into the darkened area, and can feel hobgoblins rushing past them in an attempt to escape. Reana hears one running past her, and skewers him. She continues on, looking for the kitchen, where she knows the secret door to the temple below is hidden.
Soldago has heard the commotion in the room where Jovah is being assaulted, and he steps up to the window. Jovah has dropped one of the hobgoblins, but the other two are giving him trouble. Soldago sets himself, and then lets three arrows fly. Each finds and kills its target.
“Saving you is becoming a habit, little one,” the plainsman says, as he climbs into the room through the window.
“Luck favors the bold,” Jovah replies unconvincingly, casting multiple cure spells upon himself.
Reana finally slips around the corner of the room, and into the kitchen, where the darkeness can’t reach. She hears footsteps coming up behind her, and turns just in time to see the cutlass wielding hobgoblin, who has just broken away from his duel with Anthius.
“Hello,” she says charmingly, and then skewers him, too.
“I found the kitchen!” she yells out.
“Now’s not the time for that!” Corwin yells. “You should have had something to eat before we started!”
The party reassembles in the kitchen. Anthius chops the hook off of the dead hobgoblin’s arm, and takes his cutlass for good measure.
The party has been here before, so they know where the secret door is; it is in the basement, reached only through the pantry under the kitchen, past a couple of storerooms. They head down the stairs, and Anthius tries the handle of the door to the next room. As soon as he jiggles the handle, the door flies open, and Anthius is attacked by a Gorrilon, the same monstrosity that Brennen avoided in the fight under the Norden River in Ulfang.
The thing grabs at the bard with his four apish arms, landing two blows, and pulls him in for a rending attack. It then throws the hapless minstrel backwards over his head, where he lands like a crumpled rag-doll.
Anthius went to 5 hit points with that series of blows. Ouch.
Anthius is down, but not out. He sees four hobgoblins in the room with him, and decides to play dead. The hobgoblins are not impressed though.
The closest one snickers softly, and drawing his longsword, advances on the badly injured bard…
Reana steps up to the first hobgoblin in the hallway, and drops him with one swing. Gavin’s goblinbane sword is glowing a fierce blue, and he manouevers into position to back her up. A Hobgoblin tumbles into flanking position behind Reana, and draws blood before Gavin dispatches him. The Ranger and the ex-mercenary start hacking their way down the corridor, taking a few blows but giving far more than they receive.
Sir Brennen moves up almost to the patio doors, heeding Aris’ warning of the grease spell that covers the area right in front of the doors. Aris reaches for dry, ungreased ground, and pulls himself out of the area, still prone. Just in time; he pulls his feet up just as a hobgoblin tries to grab his legs and pull him into the room full of foes. Brennen looks around, and sees Corwin just behind him.
“Corwin!” he yells. “Got a haste available?”
Corwin casts haste on Brennen, and the Sword of Kelanen’s eyes glint with anticipation of the carnage he’s about to create.
Meanwhile, Jovah is flying at high speeds through the upper floors of the manor house, finding that everyone is pretty much on the ground floor. He zooms to a position overlooking the entry hallway, and sees a group of a half-dozen hobgoblins, but can’t quite see Quinn, Kentfield, or the other half-dozen hobgoblins just a few feet into the next room. Two of the hobgoblins look up and see the flying gnome, and let loose arrows. Jovah dodges arrows for a few moments, then swoops down right next to one of the hobgoblin leaders.
Now, he can see the massed hobgoblins and their leaders, ready to send dozens of arrowss into the next person to step around the patio doors.
He casts darkness, and starts swinging blindly at the hobgoblin leader.
On the back porch, Anthius sees the greased area, but wants to get to the other side to flank the patio doors. He nimbly runs forward, jumps up onto the stone rail that keeps people from falling off the porch, and expertly runs along the narrow stones, which are perfectly dry. Soldago thinks that’s a great idea, and tries to jump across the grease. He misjudges his leap, and lands in the affected area! However, he keeps his balance, and does a slip-n-slide across the area.
Brennen steps around the greased area into the room, and realizes that Jovah’s darkness covers most of the room. He skewers a hobgoblin, one of the few he can see, and then draws a sharp breath as he sees Arlen Kentfield, dressed in full plate armor, bearing a shield and wielding a morning star, step forward and land a heavy blow that misses him by a good distance. The blow knocks a piece of stone off the wall from its force.
Anthius slips into the room on the other side, and engages the hobgoblin that Aris had been chasing. This particular specimen has seen his share of battle; he wears a patch over one eye and has a hook attached to his left forearm, replacing a hand he must have lost in some long-gone scrap. He wields a mean cutlass, as does Anthius, and the two begin duelling.
Not that anyone can really call Anthius’ cutlass “mean.” After all, it sings songs from Pirates of Penzance…
Aris and Corwin are standing outside, flinging spells into the room on targets as they can see them. Soldago starts flinging arrows at targets in the room.
Brennen manouevers to get a blow in on Kentfield, but the nobleman strikes first, landing a shot with his morning star that send the swordsman reeling. He then steps back into the darkness. Brennen gets a parting swing in on him, but his quarry continues retreating.
Brennen took 35 points of damage from that blow from Kentfield. It was not a critical. He was not using power attack.
Gavin and Reana finally finish cutting down the roguish hobgoblins in the side hallway, and advance on their leader, who bolts through the door at the end of the hall. They pursue, and come out right next to Brennen in the next room.
“Where is everybody?” Reana says. “I can’t see a thing!”
“Someone cast darkness,” Brennen yells. “Has anyone seen Jovah?”
Jovah is too busy to answer; he’s been trading blows with a hobgoblin leader all by himself. Now, however, he realizes that the noise has abated, and he suspects his foe has retreated. He tries to remember the position of one of the doorways out of the room he’s in, and runs in that direction.
“Oww!” he yells, as he runs headfirst (or is that nose-first for a gnome?) into the door jam. He stumbles further into the room, and finds that it, also, is filled with hobgoblins. Four, to be exact. They were just about to sneak out the windows onto the back porch and try to pounce on Soldago and Aris, but they find a gnome to be much more inviting target. They move quickly to flank the Luckbringer, and start chopping away.
Aris and Corwin have now moved into the darkened room off of the patio, and join Anthius, Brennen, Reana, and Gavin. They cautiously move into the darkened area, and can feel hobgoblins rushing past them in an attempt to escape. Reana hears one running past her, and skewers him. She continues on, looking for the kitchen, where she knows the secret door to the temple below is hidden.
Soldago has heard the commotion in the room where Jovah is being assaulted, and he steps up to the window. Jovah has dropped one of the hobgoblins, but the other two are giving him trouble. Soldago sets himself, and then lets three arrows fly. Each finds and kills its target.
“Saving you is becoming a habit, little one,” the plainsman says, as he climbs into the room through the window.
“Luck favors the bold,” Jovah replies unconvincingly, casting multiple cure spells upon himself.
Reana finally slips around the corner of the room, and into the kitchen, where the darkeness can’t reach. She hears footsteps coming up behind her, and turns just in time to see the cutlass wielding hobgoblin, who has just broken away from his duel with Anthius.
“Hello,” she says charmingly, and then skewers him, too.
“I found the kitchen!” she yells out.
“Now’s not the time for that!” Corwin yells. “You should have had something to eat before we started!”
The party reassembles in the kitchen. Anthius chops the hook off of the dead hobgoblin’s arm, and takes his cutlass for good measure.
The party has been here before, so they know where the secret door is; it is in the basement, reached only through the pantry under the kitchen, past a couple of storerooms. They head down the stairs, and Anthius tries the handle of the door to the next room. As soon as he jiggles the handle, the door flies open, and Anthius is attacked by a Gorrilon, the same monstrosity that Brennen avoided in the fight under the Norden River in Ulfang.
The thing grabs at the bard with his four apish arms, landing two blows, and pulls him in for a rending attack. It then throws the hapless minstrel backwards over his head, where he lands like a crumpled rag-doll.
Anthius went to 5 hit points with that series of blows. Ouch.
Anthius is down, but not out. He sees four hobgoblins in the room with him, and decides to play dead. The hobgoblins are not impressed though.
The closest one snickers softly, and drawing his longsword, advances on the badly injured bard…
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