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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9679010" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #160: Goblins! Goblins! 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 160 and it’s great to be back.I said last time-We’re all a little higgledy-piggledy at the moment, some folks are going on holiday, others are heading off to festivals, and so this write up is going to be even more hit and miss for a while.Prescient, although absolutely correct with the ‘miss’, but not so much of the ‘hit’, that was our longest time off, and so folk were in the mood this evening.Goblins, remember.Lots of ‘em.But just a brief (who am I kidding) recap-There was a prophecy that came to light a long time ago- “The answer you seek is at the bottom of the Goblin Stair”.The DM, an honest and dependable sort of fellow, directed the PCs to the Goblin Stair when the PCs were just level 6. Hgraam, a very friendly (and hippy-ish) stone giant told the PCs all about the place and directed them there. The Falcon, a local ranger hero, also offered the PCs money to head off the goblins from the Goblin Stair, or else take the battle to their lair… the Goblin Stair. Later still the PCs encountered random patrols of goblins and hobgoblins- all fresh out of the Goblin Stair.The PCs did something else.Later they learned that there’s a maze button to be had at the bottom of the Goblin Stair and were told by a goddess (Sehanine Moonbow) that the PCs would meet the Duergar Deepking at the bottom of the Goblin Stair- and there swear an oath to him. Most odd. And lots of other stuff that could be found, or else needed to be done- all of it, at the bottom of the Goblin Stair.I have been hammering on about the Goblin Stair for… I’d say three years.And so… eventually, the PCs are about this task.They’ve fought their way through a good hundred Forest Goblins- climbing to the summit of Blacktop (a granite tor) and finding the way into the stair in a grotto (of sorts). They have made their way down through a tower embedded in the aforementioned Blacktop, fighting weird looking Cave Goblins all the way to… Garblegut’s Palace.Garblegut being the King of the Cave Goblins.It needs to be remembered, the PCs are using their time-and-space-travelling Castle Argentriver at the moment, and every hour they spend outside the castle generates a 1% chance that something about a PC will change on their return to the castle. So, stepping back into the castle after an eight hour away-day and the chance that a PC will change in someway is 8%.Note, only one PC has failed this check, so far- Fellowyn, who is no-longer an Eladrin, he’s now a member of the Drow race. That’s quite a change.The PCs, atm, have been out of the castle for six hours so far, however- let’s remember- they opened several doors while descending the tower and the way back up has been (very likely) inundated. The way back up through the tower has further been sealed by a massively thick (and now permanent) wall of stone, so- there’s no way back out of the tower, except by the use of magic (i.e. teleport).But, we’ll get to that… maybe.We’re here-[ATTACH=full]407865[/ATTACH]The attack on Garblegut’s Palace.[ATTACH=full]407866[/ATTACH]Daktari and Ub-Pam are making short work of the cave goblins here.And then the barbarian plucks a fireball bead from his necklace of fireballs (not many left) and declares-“I am Master of Sword & Sword-Sorcery!”Cod-Russian accent if you please.[ATTACH=full]407867[/ATTACH]Fireballs work.[ATTACH=full]407868[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad decide that the time is right.It’s time to take the attack to the Cave Goblins, they have spent the first four turns- the artillery (Ram, Fellowyn & Newt) dodging in- firing- and dodging back out again.Now comes the charge.Keep in mind I populated this place when the PCs were level six, and so to make up for this I am dropping as many encounters as I can- and all at the same time.Garblegut’s Palace was actually home to eight separate encounters; I dropped all eight encounters into the Initiative Tracker in turn #1.So, it’s a bloody mess.[ATTACH=full]407869[/ATTACH]Also, the cave goblins are sneaky bastards, crawling and climbing around to get behind the PCs.They hurt.[ATTACH=full]407870[/ATTACH]Then Garblegut turns up.Garblegut has got a speaking part, and the massively obese goblin king- think Jabba the Hut size, speaks the common tongue too.“Who are you? Why are you killing us?”Note, the other cave goblins encountered so far have had very limited language skills- they’re very- for want of a better word- unevolved. They are however fearless- almost unthinkingly so- throwing themselves at the PCs in great numbers.And so…“Who are you? Why are you killing us?”Good second question.The Dark Squad answer the first question more-or-less in unison “We are the Dark Squad!”But then stumble over the answer to the second, and somewhat more important question-“Why are you killing us?”This one receives a variety of answers-Fellowyn’s suggestion that the Goblin Stair lies just beyond Garblegut’s Palace is alas incorrect.Ram and Vinnie (correctly) surmise that the cave goblins are effectively just in the way of the Dark Squad atm- basically the cave goblins would be behind the Dark Squad as they descend the Goblin Stair, and in order to prevent this from happening, well- genocide is such a dirty word, but… here we are again.Newt’s reasons for killing the goblins are well- manifest, and very shouty- helpfully his microphone continues to cut-out when he starts screaming, as it has done for the last 150+ sessions. Never change that microphone Ben, never- never.Daktari’s reason for the genocide is simply put- “I am living my best life”, he exclaims- a tear in his eye, as he decapitates yet another crawling goblin.In the end- and over the course of the next few turns it falls to Vinnie to patiently explain that the Dark Squad are- a) very sorry about all of this, but b) it has to happen; and a little while later a third reason comes to light- c) we’re enjoying this immensely. It’s uncomplicated and every attack here gives good value- lots of stuff dies.It’s not Garblegut’s day.Oh, and while the chatter was going on- we took a break from the fighting to take a while to play it all out, George AI-ed up a nice image of the Moonboar.[ATTACH=full]407871[/ATTACH]Vinnie’s present form.The Dark Squad, much to Newt’s delight, commit to genocide.It’s the happiest anyone has seen Newt for ages.[ATTACH=full]407872[/ATTACH]Then the Moonboar grows his wings (a gift from Sehanine Moonbow).And then Ram rolls a ‘20’.[ATTACH=full]407873[/ATTACH]That’s a lot of damage.Garblegut is screaming and trying to get away- but he’s very Jabba the Hut-like, remember- with withered/vestigial lower limbs.Oh god, it’s all happening so bloody fast. It’s like they just flip a switch.[ATTACH=full]407874[/ATTACH]Fellowyn has a fireball too.And then the flying Moonboar charge-lands onto/into Garblegut, and then with his follow up maul attack caves the giant cave goblin king’s head-in.Dead.Oddly, all the remaining cave goblins in the fight just… switch off, by which I mean they stay standing where they are but, their arms sag and relax, their head’s bow down and… they do nothing.It’s as if all of the remaining cave goblins have been, as I say- switched off.At which point almost all of the adventurers ignore the now unmoving cave goblins and begin making their way to the central chamber of the former King Garblegut, to see what delights he possessed- the Dark Squad gottsta get paid.[ATTACH=full]407875[/ATTACH]Newt however… is attempting to blast the defunct unmoving cave goblins off their various ledges and into the void. He’s nice like that. Although- that’s a ‘1’.[ATTACH=full]407876[/ATTACH]And another ‘1’. Newt is apoplectic for a little while.But not for long.Garblegut has a big bag of treasure, the horde discovered under the stage built for his massive throne. But the treasure is all just treasure- for the selling, no new or interesting magic to be found.Then- a short rest, yep- that’s another hour, and then- we’re on again.Oh, but first, the PCs- several of them- decide to figure what was going on with regard to the cave goblins and their king- Garblegut. Collectively they figure out that the King of the Cave Goblins has effectively got telepathic command over his much less intelligent (but not quite mindless) cave goblin subjects. Possibly the king spawned the entire tribe. Fellowyn correctly postulates that the cave goblins themselves may be possessed of a hive mind mentality, spending their lives in order preserve the king/swarm.Keep in mind that Vinnie is an anthropologist druid and somewhere in the above investigation he came up with a ‘20’.[ATTACH=full]407877[/ATTACH]Back into the tower. Remember this.But there’s something very different about the place.The DM let’s them know. The PCs were following a fast-flowing (but very shallow) river down the tower, well- the river has gone, or else the massive wall of stone used to plug the way back up here has done its job. The river flowing into the tower has been dammed.Then Ram heads down and…[ATTACH=full]407878[/ATTACH]Finds another cave goblin, only… this little fellow reacts in a very different way to those encountered previously, it chirrups, sniffs, gulps, pants- stands its ground and… does nothing. Ram, ever resourceful, slowly locates his rations and fishes out some jerky- eats a bite himself and then passes the rest to the watching cave goblin. Which, of course, delights in the taste of the dried sweet smoky meat.Soon after, Ram has a friend.[ATTACH=full]407879[/ATTACH]Newt gets bored waiting for Ram to return, the warlock zoops down the stairs astride his flying broom. There are now three cave goblins in the room- all of them quiet, calm and curious.Ram cautions Newt to play along. More remarkably he does, he’s as nice as pie.Again- the switch, Newt can go from screaming terror-cat-overlord to Mr. Tiggleswick-Pom-Pom in seconds.[ATTACH=full]407880[/ATTACH]But then this strange thing comes creeping up the stairs, at which point all three cave goblins (including Ram’s new friend) chirrup loudly and move away from the approaching goblin.The goblin climbing the stairs seems to be unnaturally old and wrinkled, and has fungi growing out its eye cavities- no eyes, just mushrooms.That doesn’t look right.But that’s the end of the session.That said, I’ve got another write up on the go, it can be found here-<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-5e-not-kots-5a-dragon-castle-enc-6.712348/" target="_blank">[D&D 5e] Not KotS 5a Dragon Castle. (Enc#6) | EN World D&D & Tabletop RPG News & Reviews</a>It’s a 5e version (sorta) of Keep on the Shadowfell, and lots of fun.Stay safe and well.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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