Rhenny
Adventurer
Travensburg Campaign – Part 20 – 5/10/14
“Into the Tainted Bugbear Lair”
We played for 4 hours…5 players –– 6th level PCs – Continuing our Campaign
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Bard
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Nalcon the Noble Cleric of Pelor (not present this game)
Darhgel the Tiefling Evoker
Rhaegar the Dragonborn Paladin (Bounty Hunter – Oath of Vengeance Build - Acid)
That night, the party rested in Lord Xexor’s manor house, but Triss snuck back into the room where they were keeping Iglip (the Bugbear Shaman that they had captured earlier). She was able to speak more with the creature and since it was cured of the Taint, it was becoming more and more lucid. Iglip asked Triss to make good on the promise that the party offered the night before. He asked them to spare his mate, Borella, the most beautiful Bugbear ever seen. Iglip said that Borella wore a diamond earring in her left ear…a gift from Iglip. After finding out more about the treasure that Gorkill and the Bugbears had collected and kept near an alter in the cave, Triss promised to spare Borella, if possible. (She was bluffing, but her bluff slipped toward the end of her encounter).
The group rested the night and then left in the morning to find the lair. They planned to disguise themselves as Bugbear using bits of the dead Bugbears’ armor, fur and blood so that they could get closer before attacking. They also prepared to meet 3 guard drakes that Iglip told them about, and Triss decided to tell the others about Iglip’s request to spare Borella, the one with the diamond earring in her left ear. (A rare sentimental moment for Triss) Before setting out, Rhaegar gave Fid, Triss and himself divine aid bolstering their health for 8 hours.
Within a few hours, the adventurers found the lair easy enough and Fid entered the cave disguised as a Bugbear. Fawnsworth used his skill with illusion to help with Fid’s disguise. Fid moved deeper into the cave and after about 100’ he saw, and drew the attention of, a guard drake. Fid held out rations for the beast to nibble, and the drake snapped at the food. Then a second and a third drake came forth from the darkness. Fid kept on feeding them rations, all the while moving back toward the entrance of the cave where the others were waiting. When the drakes were within 20’ of the cave opening, they smelled the scent of the others and snapped into attack positions. The group fought with the guard drakes sustaining some damage from their bites and tail slaps. Triss was hit by a vicious tail slap that knocked her prone and did substantial damage. Rhaegar was also hit, but he was able to keep his feet. Within about 15 seconds, the party dispatched the drakes and they did it quickly and quietly enough (since they had lured them away from the middle of the cave) so that no other creatures were alerted.
The group voted that Triss scout ahead. She moved to the south and found another tunnel and eventually a cave where 4 hobgoblin warriors were sleeping (without their armor). She was quiet enough to coup-de-grace all of the warriors in turn. They must have been exhausted and inebriated since none of them woke when she slit throats. In that cave, she also found some strange phosphorescent mushrooms, which she handled gingerly, cutting some storing them in a bag. She made it back to the rest, told them about the Hobgoblins, and she let Fawnsworth see the mushrooms. He handled them with care and determined that they were poisonous if not cooked, but cooked, they might become a food supply for the creatures within the cave.
Moving to the north, in disguise, Fid and Triss found a wooden suspension bridge spanning a 20’ gap and a cave beyond that housed 6 hobgoblins all sitting toward a campfire. One of the hobgoblins seemed to be a spellcaster, leader. All of them were Tainted (diseased). Fawnsworth snuck behind the others and tried to help Fid’s disguise with his illusion. When Triss and Fid walked over the bridge, the Hobgoblin’s in the cave took notice and questioned them, thinking they were the Hobgoblin warriors from the other cave. Unfortunately, neither Triss nor Fid could speak their language. Fid, without thinking about his disguise and Fawnsworth’s illusion, walked straight up to the Hobgoblin spellcaster and took out his hammer as if to present it to the leader as a gift. His surprise offering and subsequent attack would have worked, but he had forgotten that his disguise depended on Fawnsworth’s illusion, and Fid had strayed too far from Fawnsworth, so Fid walked right out of the illusion alerting all of the Hobgoblins.
In this fight, the party took some wounds as the spellcaster was able to unleash burning hands a few different times. Throughout the fight, Rhaegar bolstered the group with Bless, and Triss sung a battle song as well. When the group finally felled the last of the Hobgoblins, they found a pouch with 220 gp and a fine ring that the leader was wearing. Fawnsworth told the group that he could identify the ring if they gave him 10 minutes to conduct a ritual. The group decided to try to rest for 10 minutes…and then 1 hour, and luckily they were able to rest without incident. Fawnsworth found that the ring was called a Mage Block Ring, which allows the wearer (if he or she has either shield or counterspell on his or her spell list) to use either of those spells 1/day. With the rest of the time, Triss, Rhaegar and Fid were able to bandage their wounds and Triss played a healing song that aided their recovery.
In another area of the caves, they found an empty sleeping chamber, and in a final area, accessible by a winding tunnel to the east and then to the north, they heard the sound of Bugbear chanting. Rhaegar blessed the party, and then he and Fid led the way into another cave area. In there, 3 Bugbear Warriors were sitting on crude benches listening to a Bugbear priest pontificate. This was Gorkill. To the east of the cave, 4 other Bugbears were drinking from a fetid pool of water. Gorkill was explaining how the water would allow them to gain power and visions from their God. When the adventurers came into view, Gorkill saw them and told the others to attack the intruders.
Darhgel created a flaming sphere that burned a number of Bugbears as some of the Bugbear warriors attacked Fid and Rhaegar. Rhaegar took a number of hits and lost a lot of blood. Fid stood tall. Triss carved away at a warrior with her rapier and dagger, and the battle raged on. As the Bugbears moved forward to engage, Fid noticed one of them was Borella, the one with a diamond earring in her left ear. Darhgel was able to fire magic missiles at a few of the Bugbear’s thinking that they would both go down if he overcasted the spell. Unfortunately, both of the ones he hit remained standing. After fighting with a warrior, Fid knocked Borella unconscious and then used a surge of power (action surge) to drag Borella out of the area. Then Fawnsworth let loose a fireball to damage the rest of the Bugbears. The adventurers noticed that Gorkill had raised his greatsword above his head, and when the fireball detonated, it seemed as if the sword itself was drawing the energy and protecting Gorkill from the blast. Then Gorkill tried to cast a spell, but it had no effect on Fid. Triss was able to damage a number of Bugbears with a sound blast, and Rhaegar, swung his maul wildly hitting every so often.
The fight continued for a while, and when Gorkill took a few more hits, including a magic missile from Fawnsworth; then the Bugbear priest ran back behind a dragon bone alter festooned with treasure. When he began chanting, Fawnsworth decided to try out the new ring he had found to counter the spell that Gorkill was casting. The ring worked and Gorkill’s spell was disrupted. Soon after the party took down the remaining Bugbears, but then they had to face Gorkill. Round after round, the party attacked, but Gorkill could use divine magic to heal himself, time after time. Triss used heat metal on Gorkill’s armor, burning him and causing him to fight at disadvantage for a few rounds. Eventually, Gorkill struck Rhaegar with his greatsword, and took Rhaegar down dangerously close to unconsciousness. Then Rhaegar hit Gorkill with flaming smote, but the fire damage was absorbed by Gorkill’s sword. In one round, Fawnsworth hit Gorkill with a ray of enfeeblement, so Gorkill’s sword seemed too heavy to wield properly. As a result, Gorkill tried to hold Fid in place with another spell, but Fid was able to resist. Triss and Fid engaged Gorkill in melee, while Darhgel and Fawnsworth fired frosty rays. Gorkill attacked Rhaegar twice, hitting once, missing a second time, a blow which would have surely cut down the Paladin. Eventually, close to death, Rhaegar hit Gorkill with thunder smote knocking the Bugbear leader prone, and then Fid used a non-lethal blow to take Gorkill down.
Rhaegar used his healing hands to remove the Taint from Borella and Gorkill, and when the two Bugbears were tied up, Rhaegar used his skill to bring them both back to consciousness, and heal some of his own grievous wounds. Fid picked up Gorkill’s greatsword (a +1 Dragon crafted weapon that protects the wielder from 20 points of fire damage per day) and handed it to Rhaegar. Then Fid noticed that the pool was brackish and filled with mushroom spores and bits or other horrible molds. Perhaps this was the source of the Taint. Fid, not fearing the Taint nor drowning in water dove into the pool to search it. Just before giving up, Fid noticed a red glowing object at the bottom of the pool. It was an idol to the Bugbear God, a brawny Bugbear that emitted a red glow. Fid pulled it up and sat by the pool’s edge. The others found that the treasure on the alter was a variety of art objects plundered from homes in the area. It seemed as if the entire pile of ornaments and coins was worth over 2,400 gp.
Injured, and tired, the party stopped for a short rest and decided what to do next.
Comments
Not too many comments. I really need higher level casters to threaten Fid. Gorkill suffered from casting two “Save or Suck” spells (blindness and hold person). Bugbear Warriors had 5 levels of fighter in them and Gorkill had 3 levels of Cleric and 3 levels of Wizard. This meant that he could only cast up to 2nd level spells, but he could cast them using 3rd level spell slots. This is why his healing magic was so strong.
The magic items the party found are homebrew.
Towards the end of the session, Darhgel’s player had to sleep so I ended up NPCing him. Since the party wanted to take Gorkill alive, Darhgel and Fawnsworth held back on using all of their more deadly spells and on a few rounds, they even held on ray of frost fearing that they would kill Gorkill outright. That was before they realized that Gorkill could heal himself.
It was very satisfying for Triss to work stealthfully and coup-de-grace the sleeping Hobgoblins. Instead of using disadvantage for them to wake (due to exhaustion and inebriation), I applied a -5 penalty to their perception checks. That saved me some die rolling and it gave Triss the edge she needed to kill them all.
I stole the counterspell feature from the WotC live games.
“Into the Tainted Bugbear Lair”
We played for 4 hours…5 players –– 6th level PCs – Continuing our Campaign
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Bard
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Nalcon the Noble Cleric of Pelor (not present this game)
Darhgel the Tiefling Evoker
Rhaegar the Dragonborn Paladin (Bounty Hunter – Oath of Vengeance Build - Acid)
That night, the party rested in Lord Xexor’s manor house, but Triss snuck back into the room where they were keeping Iglip (the Bugbear Shaman that they had captured earlier). She was able to speak more with the creature and since it was cured of the Taint, it was becoming more and more lucid. Iglip asked Triss to make good on the promise that the party offered the night before. He asked them to spare his mate, Borella, the most beautiful Bugbear ever seen. Iglip said that Borella wore a diamond earring in her left ear…a gift from Iglip. After finding out more about the treasure that Gorkill and the Bugbears had collected and kept near an alter in the cave, Triss promised to spare Borella, if possible. (She was bluffing, but her bluff slipped toward the end of her encounter).
The group rested the night and then left in the morning to find the lair. They planned to disguise themselves as Bugbear using bits of the dead Bugbears’ armor, fur and blood so that they could get closer before attacking. They also prepared to meet 3 guard drakes that Iglip told them about, and Triss decided to tell the others about Iglip’s request to spare Borella, the one with the diamond earring in her left ear. (A rare sentimental moment for Triss) Before setting out, Rhaegar gave Fid, Triss and himself divine aid bolstering their health for 8 hours.
Within a few hours, the adventurers found the lair easy enough and Fid entered the cave disguised as a Bugbear. Fawnsworth used his skill with illusion to help with Fid’s disguise. Fid moved deeper into the cave and after about 100’ he saw, and drew the attention of, a guard drake. Fid held out rations for the beast to nibble, and the drake snapped at the food. Then a second and a third drake came forth from the darkness. Fid kept on feeding them rations, all the while moving back toward the entrance of the cave where the others were waiting. When the drakes were within 20’ of the cave opening, they smelled the scent of the others and snapped into attack positions. The group fought with the guard drakes sustaining some damage from their bites and tail slaps. Triss was hit by a vicious tail slap that knocked her prone and did substantial damage. Rhaegar was also hit, but he was able to keep his feet. Within about 15 seconds, the party dispatched the drakes and they did it quickly and quietly enough (since they had lured them away from the middle of the cave) so that no other creatures were alerted.
The group voted that Triss scout ahead. She moved to the south and found another tunnel and eventually a cave where 4 hobgoblin warriors were sleeping (without their armor). She was quiet enough to coup-de-grace all of the warriors in turn. They must have been exhausted and inebriated since none of them woke when she slit throats. In that cave, she also found some strange phosphorescent mushrooms, which she handled gingerly, cutting some storing them in a bag. She made it back to the rest, told them about the Hobgoblins, and she let Fawnsworth see the mushrooms. He handled them with care and determined that they were poisonous if not cooked, but cooked, they might become a food supply for the creatures within the cave.
Moving to the north, in disguise, Fid and Triss found a wooden suspension bridge spanning a 20’ gap and a cave beyond that housed 6 hobgoblins all sitting toward a campfire. One of the hobgoblins seemed to be a spellcaster, leader. All of them were Tainted (diseased). Fawnsworth snuck behind the others and tried to help Fid’s disguise with his illusion. When Triss and Fid walked over the bridge, the Hobgoblin’s in the cave took notice and questioned them, thinking they were the Hobgoblin warriors from the other cave. Unfortunately, neither Triss nor Fid could speak their language. Fid, without thinking about his disguise and Fawnsworth’s illusion, walked straight up to the Hobgoblin spellcaster and took out his hammer as if to present it to the leader as a gift. His surprise offering and subsequent attack would have worked, but he had forgotten that his disguise depended on Fawnsworth’s illusion, and Fid had strayed too far from Fawnsworth, so Fid walked right out of the illusion alerting all of the Hobgoblins.
In this fight, the party took some wounds as the spellcaster was able to unleash burning hands a few different times. Throughout the fight, Rhaegar bolstered the group with Bless, and Triss sung a battle song as well. When the group finally felled the last of the Hobgoblins, they found a pouch with 220 gp and a fine ring that the leader was wearing. Fawnsworth told the group that he could identify the ring if they gave him 10 minutes to conduct a ritual. The group decided to try to rest for 10 minutes…and then 1 hour, and luckily they were able to rest without incident. Fawnsworth found that the ring was called a Mage Block Ring, which allows the wearer (if he or she has either shield or counterspell on his or her spell list) to use either of those spells 1/day. With the rest of the time, Triss, Rhaegar and Fid were able to bandage their wounds and Triss played a healing song that aided their recovery.
In another area of the caves, they found an empty sleeping chamber, and in a final area, accessible by a winding tunnel to the east and then to the north, they heard the sound of Bugbear chanting. Rhaegar blessed the party, and then he and Fid led the way into another cave area. In there, 3 Bugbear Warriors were sitting on crude benches listening to a Bugbear priest pontificate. This was Gorkill. To the east of the cave, 4 other Bugbears were drinking from a fetid pool of water. Gorkill was explaining how the water would allow them to gain power and visions from their God. When the adventurers came into view, Gorkill saw them and told the others to attack the intruders.
Darhgel created a flaming sphere that burned a number of Bugbears as some of the Bugbear warriors attacked Fid and Rhaegar. Rhaegar took a number of hits and lost a lot of blood. Fid stood tall. Triss carved away at a warrior with her rapier and dagger, and the battle raged on. As the Bugbears moved forward to engage, Fid noticed one of them was Borella, the one with a diamond earring in her left ear. Darhgel was able to fire magic missiles at a few of the Bugbear’s thinking that they would both go down if he overcasted the spell. Unfortunately, both of the ones he hit remained standing. After fighting with a warrior, Fid knocked Borella unconscious and then used a surge of power (action surge) to drag Borella out of the area. Then Fawnsworth let loose a fireball to damage the rest of the Bugbears. The adventurers noticed that Gorkill had raised his greatsword above his head, and when the fireball detonated, it seemed as if the sword itself was drawing the energy and protecting Gorkill from the blast. Then Gorkill tried to cast a spell, but it had no effect on Fid. Triss was able to damage a number of Bugbears with a sound blast, and Rhaegar, swung his maul wildly hitting every so often.
The fight continued for a while, and when Gorkill took a few more hits, including a magic missile from Fawnsworth; then the Bugbear priest ran back behind a dragon bone alter festooned with treasure. When he began chanting, Fawnsworth decided to try out the new ring he had found to counter the spell that Gorkill was casting. The ring worked and Gorkill’s spell was disrupted. Soon after the party took down the remaining Bugbears, but then they had to face Gorkill. Round after round, the party attacked, but Gorkill could use divine magic to heal himself, time after time. Triss used heat metal on Gorkill’s armor, burning him and causing him to fight at disadvantage for a few rounds. Eventually, Gorkill struck Rhaegar with his greatsword, and took Rhaegar down dangerously close to unconsciousness. Then Rhaegar hit Gorkill with flaming smote, but the fire damage was absorbed by Gorkill’s sword. In one round, Fawnsworth hit Gorkill with a ray of enfeeblement, so Gorkill’s sword seemed too heavy to wield properly. As a result, Gorkill tried to hold Fid in place with another spell, but Fid was able to resist. Triss and Fid engaged Gorkill in melee, while Darhgel and Fawnsworth fired frosty rays. Gorkill attacked Rhaegar twice, hitting once, missing a second time, a blow which would have surely cut down the Paladin. Eventually, close to death, Rhaegar hit Gorkill with thunder smote knocking the Bugbear leader prone, and then Fid used a non-lethal blow to take Gorkill down.
Rhaegar used his healing hands to remove the Taint from Borella and Gorkill, and when the two Bugbears were tied up, Rhaegar used his skill to bring them both back to consciousness, and heal some of his own grievous wounds. Fid picked up Gorkill’s greatsword (a +1 Dragon crafted weapon that protects the wielder from 20 points of fire damage per day) and handed it to Rhaegar. Then Fid noticed that the pool was brackish and filled with mushroom spores and bits or other horrible molds. Perhaps this was the source of the Taint. Fid, not fearing the Taint nor drowning in water dove into the pool to search it. Just before giving up, Fid noticed a red glowing object at the bottom of the pool. It was an idol to the Bugbear God, a brawny Bugbear that emitted a red glow. Fid pulled it up and sat by the pool’s edge. The others found that the treasure on the alter was a variety of art objects plundered from homes in the area. It seemed as if the entire pile of ornaments and coins was worth over 2,400 gp.
Injured, and tired, the party stopped for a short rest and decided what to do next.
Comments
Not too many comments. I really need higher level casters to threaten Fid. Gorkill suffered from casting two “Save or Suck” spells (blindness and hold person). Bugbear Warriors had 5 levels of fighter in them and Gorkill had 3 levels of Cleric and 3 levels of Wizard. This meant that he could only cast up to 2nd level spells, but he could cast them using 3rd level spell slots. This is why his healing magic was so strong.
The magic items the party found are homebrew.
Towards the end of the session, Darhgel’s player had to sleep so I ended up NPCing him. Since the party wanted to take Gorkill alive, Darhgel and Fawnsworth held back on using all of their more deadly spells and on a few rounds, they even held on ray of frost fearing that they would kill Gorkill outright. That was before they realized that Gorkill could heal himself.
It was very satisfying for Triss to work stealthfully and coup-de-grace the sleeping Hobgoblins. Instead of using disadvantage for them to wake (due to exhaustion and inebriation), I applied a -5 penalty to their perception checks. That saved me some die rolling and it gave Triss the edge she needed to kill them all.
I stole the counterspell feature from the WotC live games.
