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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9640689" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #158: Goblins!Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9DEAD PCs<s>Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 </s>RIPNPCs<s>Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick)</s> RETIRED<s>Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5</s> RIP*<s>Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard</s> RETIRED<s>Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1</s> EXPLODED<s>Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2</s> EXPLODEDUb-Pam (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 3*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.Servants/FamiliarsGerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New TricksOwly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiarArchimedes (very scruffy & old, Owl) Fellowyn’s familiar.The Dark Squad’s to-do list-<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Blackedge and the Goblin Stair?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest and recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.</li> </ol>This is session 158 and it was even more of a hoot than the last one.The fighting gets going about five or so minutes into the session, there’s a brief hiatus at about the halfway point, and then… we go again- fighting all the way to the end.But they’re just goblins, and I built this scenario and stocked it back when the PCs were just level 6, to make clear- I’ve not altered a thing here. But there are a lot of goblins- and the PCs are going at this full tilt- with a modicum of grace from Ram. Newt, Daktari, Fellowyn and the Moonboar- on the other hand, are throwing themselves into the thick of it every chance they get.Lots of pictures, and not much in the way of text between- I should imagine- to follow.Oh, one last thing, but it’s important- hard to see in these images but there’s a river running into the tower from above, it heads down the stairs (obviously). The PCs did some investigating earlier in their adventures- they have to follow the river down to the fifth level of the tower structure, there they will find the lair of Garblegut, the Cave Goblin King.Garblegut, and his cave goblins, need to be taken care of first- else the PCs are likely to have enemies at their back, this info garnered from a gnome called Rasshold, who was once held prisoner by Garblegut, until his escape.The goblin stair itself starts below the tower structure.So, follow the river to level five- take care of Garblegut, then have a breather before descending the tower further and into- at last- the goblin stair proper.I’m telling you this because in the pictures here the river is hard to see, that’s mainly because all the PCs are using Darkvision, and in Fantasy Grounds Darkvision shows up black and white- and shades of grey, so- difficult to spot.Last bit, a little later the PCs figured out that the structure they are descending is a tower, a tower embedded in a tor (called Blacktop). How the tower found its home here… well, that’s another story, but not one that the PCs know anything about.I wonder how it did get here.Hmmm.And so… we begin.[ATTACH=full]402798[/ATTACH]Ram, followed by Fellowyn descend the rickety ladder into the tower- the rogue gets shot twice as he climbs down, not a good start.The cave goblins (doing the shooting), the PCs later observe, are adept at blending into their surroundings, they have a camouflage ability rather like Troglodytes. They’re also small (for goblins) extremely ugly and are incredibly stoopid (when they speak). It’s like they are unevolved, a throwback- creepier, and a lot more feral.Anyway, Ram gets shot- and the shooter goblins run away, down the stairs, which- of course- is also the way the river flows.The PCs- lead by Ram, go running after…[ATTACH=full]402799[/ATTACH]The PCs catch up with the goblins on the stairs, remember all the bad guys here are pretty much easy kills- cave goblin runts have between 5 and 10 hit points each, the slightly bigger cave goblins have about 15-20 hit points each.[ATTACH=full]402800[/ATTACH]Ram’s not stopping. He’s down to the third level of the structure.[ATTACH=full]402801[/ATTACH]Here come his colleagues. Daktari charges into a cave goblin ambush.[ATTACH=full]402802[/ATTACH]Meantime back on the stairs Newt finds out that his colleagues have bypassed the second level of the tower in their rush.Goblins intercept the cat-fiend on the stairs, and we’re only maybe two/three turns into the action and Newt is already screaming blue-murder and back to blasting goblins to pieces of course.[ATTACH=full]402803[/ATTACH]Newt zoops- he’s on his flying broom atm, into an empty chamber on the second floor of the tower- there’s a door ahead, enroute to this spot (the door- top part of the map) he gets ambushed again- he gets shot and then soon after another two goblins get blasted.[ATTACH=full]402804[/ATTACH]Newt getting ambushed- the goblins, like I said earlier, seem to be able to blend in with the ruined grey stone walls and floors of the tower.[ATTACH=full]402805[/ATTACH]New cave goblin! The brutes, with multiple attacks and about 50-or so hit points each. These guys are really unevolved, really stoopid.Daktari, with his newfound intelligence (and matching repartee) is sledging and making fun of the poor buggers, as he chops them down.[ATTACH=full]402806[/ATTACH]Three floors down and there are about a dozen or so goblins in the ruined chambers here.It’s worth noting that the goblins also employ some odd tactics, or else the DM does. So, when the PCs got to this level Daktari rushed in and got ambushed, some other goblins came up the stairs- fired their bows- and then fled back down the stairs. Then a door opens and another couple of goblins spill out and get into (a very brief) melee. While this is going on a different door opens and a goblin (or two) fire their bows and then retreat.And on it goes.There are goblins under beds, in toilets, in crates, in… they’re all over.It's a mess.Made more palatable by the fact that the goblins themselves are poor shots and have very few hit points.[ATTACH=full]402807[/ATTACH]Then this happens.It’s not much to look at I’ll admit.The door to the southwest has just been wrenched open by Newt, who was instantly caught in a landslide.The door leads to the outside of the tower structure.Outside of the tower structure is the hillside in which the tower is embedded.So, when the warlock opens the door- well, landslide is exactly the right word for it, and now the dirt is slowly leaking into the chamber- being extruded in- at no great pace.But the Moonboar frets about this turn of events (albeit briefly) and then soon after shuts the door to the chamber and continues to spiral down the stairs in pursuit of yet more goblins.Remember when the Dark Squad hit the racetrack last, well- there’s a bit of that going on here, the PCs are racing to get to the head of the pack- to get to the good stuff- the squishy goblins.[ATTACH=full]402808[/ATTACH]But I said there was a break about halfway in, well- here we are already.Daktari found this chamber earlier- a goblin shot him in the back from in here, it’s an ancient library, or else someone kept their notes in here- lots and lots of notes. There are several thousand scrolls and treatises in here- lots to read you’d think but alas no.The paper is brittle, ancient, and the writing on it has (for the very most part) faded to nothing.The DM makes it clear; this is properly ancient stuff; but there’s maybe only one readable word or phrase to be found for every 5-10 pages carefully examined.The PCs, on their break remember, spend forty minutes here- that’s enough for two turns worth of checks.A good roll to make sense of things here, or else to find a clue is an investigation check in the region of DC 25, or else an insight more than DC 20, although the latter is only available once the PCs have made a few successful investigations checks first.In forty minutes, the PCs discern the following- whoever it was that was writing this stuff seemed to be obsessed (or else they get mentioned them a lot) with the Maze Buttons/Symbols of Ub. The PCs are getting obsessed with these too.The only other thing that the PCs recognise is that Castle Argentriver gets mentioned, that’s their (at present) time and space travelling manse.The rest is mystery.Oh, and the writing on the page here is clearly a form of ancient elven, which the PCs have had to translate before.The forty minutes only come to an end when another of the cave goblin brutes scampers up the stairs and gets plugged by a now screaming Ram, who was guarding the way down.The PCs, they think, will come back to this spot for further checks- but let’s see.[ATTACH=full]402809[/ATTACH]One more level down, and more cave goblins to kill.They’re hiding under the beds, down the toilet in the garderobe.They’re everywhere.[ATTACH=full]402810[/ATTACH]It’s usually Newt that finds the little bastards the hard way.If you’ll remember Newt is still collecting souls and having a field day here.[ATTACH=full]402811[/ATTACH]The Moonboar just rushes on down, although- well, back on the level above- where all of his colleagues are, he’s just opened a door that perhaps he shouldn’t have.We’ll get to this.Anyway, this is the fifth level down- this is where the PCs need to be, this is where Garblegut is.[ATTACH=full]402812[/ATTACH]See the door to the southwest- that’s the portal that the Moonboar opened and then ran off.This portal, the same as the one Newt opened above, opens to the exterior of the tower- which right now consists of earth and stone- and so- landslide.The semi-circle lines on the map shows the creep of the debris which is being forced into the tower.Oh, and the debris is as quick as it is being extruded (well, nearly) is being washed away- the corridor and stairs are all river here, only six inches deep with water but…[ATTACH=full]402813[/ATTACH]The Moonboar is making friends, there are lots of cave goblins down here on level five.Upstairs?[ATTACH=full]402814[/ATTACH]Ram is having to wade through the now two feet deep liquid mud to get down the stairs.There’s quite a lot of debris filling the corridor already, but again- the stream is doing a great job of washing a lot of this stuff down the stairs.[ATTACH=full]402815[/ATTACH]To here. There are more goblins heading the PCs way.[ATTACH=full]402816[/ATTACH]Lots more cave goblins making their way to the fracas, and now all the PCs have made it down here.[ATTACH=full]402817[/ATTACH]Except for one.The next time you see the level five map- well, the mud will be coming down the stairs, and very obviously it’s going to get to a point where the way back up is… well, full of mud, and dirt, and debris, and… let’s say occluded.That was the best part of three-and-a-half hours of play, easily over a dozen goblin encounters- I’ll do the tally and award XP when the fighting goes on hiatus.Undoubtedly the PCs will have a smart way to stop the mud, some magic spell or other- let’s wait and see next time.Although, the DM is going to have fun with this- oh, yes, he is.Stay safe and well.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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