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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9720041" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #162: The Goblin Stair (at last) Part 1.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 162 and we’re back again, I did say there were a lot of holidays and festivals to fit in- it’s been a long dry patch for the Dark Squad this summer. But now we’re back, and this one was a cracker, or else it felt good to be playing again, even the players took the time to say so at the end of the session.So, last time we got to here-[ATTACH=full]413119[/ATTACH]Which is the top of the Goblin Stair, at last- the adventure can begin.And I’ve cut a deal with the players- they’re going to get a few free IPs if they’ll play nicely and do the Goblin Stair one level at a time. The reason- there are going to be a lot of enemies when we get on and the thought of Fantasy Grounds trying to keep on running smoothly with a couple (or more) levels of the Stair on the go at the same time… well, it doesn’t bare thinking about. We get a lot of lag sometimes as it is.Also, if the Squad manage to clear all enemies (kill, capture, chase off- whatever) in a level quickly then they get a free surprise turn when they descend (which is immediately after- no rests available) to the next level.This then is just a bunch of pictures with a bit of text, there’s nothing plot related to be found here- yet.The Dark Squad, they have worked out, need to descend to the bottom of the Goblin Stair, as the prophecy (or else one of the Bad Dead Ancestors) said-“The answer you seek is at the bottom of the Goblin’s stair/stare.”The Dark Squad are expecting to find the Duergar at the bottom of the Goblin Stair, point of fact they’re expecting to have a meeting with the Deep King (Duergar royalty?). They must swear an oath to do something for the Deep King (a goddess told them this) and in return the king will show them to the ‘door’, which was apparently built by Tracticus Halfpipe. Beyond the ‘door’ is the ‘empty vessel room’, which the PCs have translated to- ‘spaceship’. There’s another maze button in the ‘spaceship’, and the Dark Squad do so like buttons.Just to say the Squad were urged by the DM (in various guises) to go and investigate the Goblin Stair back when they first got to Saltmarsh, but they decided (multiple times) to do their own thing, or else do something else- the DM has been silently stewing for quite a while, all the while adding to the terror to be found down here.Good luck.Here we go, level one- and the surprise turn.[ATTACH=full]413120[/ATTACH]Hill Goblins, Daktari is making friends.[ATTACH=full]413121[/ATTACH]Newt flies out from hiding, briefly, starts blasting goblins on the fort ahead. He then descends to hide behind a suitable rock.[ATTACH=full]413122[/ATTACH]The Dark Squad are on the charge, and they’ve spotted there are goblin archers, and a bunch of mangy wolves.But we’re at the end of the surprise round now and the goblins (the rest of them) are coming.[ATTACH=full]413124[/ATTACH]Just for info we have the five members of the Dark Squad in play here, also Ub-Pam (a Pentadrone) and just summoned is Sydalg, that’s Fellowyn’s aberration eye-monster best-friend. Sydalg is Gladys backwards, just for info.We go on.[ATTACH=full]413126[/ATTACH]Sydalg’s dice are on fire.Then Ram wanders a bit too far forward.[ATTACH=full]413129[/ATTACH]The rogue soaks up a crit. But these are just low-level goblins here.Daktari arrives to save the day.[ATTACH=full]413131[/ATTACH]And when the Sky Pony barbarian crits, well… he crits.[ATTACH=full]413132[/ATTACH]And I think we’re almost done here- the starving wolves have been convinced by Vinnie the druid, in Moonboar form atm, to satisfy their hunger by eating the freshly slaughtered goblins, he even rips a goblin apart to help them to get to the good stuff.Level one is done, in truth there were only thirty or so enemies here, so- easy pickings.It took us a while this evening to get going with the game, there was a fair amount of catching up with folk, but the action here on level one took less than an hour.There’s still two hours of the session left to play this evening.And so…[ATTACH=full]413133[/ATTACH]Fellowyn goes racing down the stairs and arrives first at level two of the Goblin Stair.“Guys… there are a lot of goblins down here...”Over the far side of the huge cavern, lit by a sickly green light are lots and lots of hill goblins, while closer to Fellowyn’s position there are two hefty looking shaggy-furred giant boars being corralled and moved by yet more goblins.An armoured goblin with a whip oversees the transportation of the giant boars.[ATTACH=full]413134[/ATTACH]Fellowyn therefore shoots, blasts and kills this fellow.Keep in mind the Dark Squad have got another surprise turn here- they managed to clear level one in just three turns (including the surprise turn).[ATTACH=full]413135[/ATTACH]Sydalg descends with Fellowyn and starts blasting- Daktari meantime has a plan, he slaps the flat of his blade on the backside of the nearest giant boar (with a crit) and then screams, shouts and points the now maddened beast at the goblins to the west.However, initiative is not our friend for what follows. The giant boar doesn’t get to act for quite a while.[ATTACH=full]413136[/ATTACH]Newt zooms down the stairs on his flying broom and takes a moment to have a good look around at the enemies ranged on the far side of the chasm.He doesn’t like the look of the goblin with a bomb.[ATTACH=full]413137[/ATTACH]The big picture.George, if you are reading this- love the pictures (without you I would be nothing) but if you can up the resolution, that would be great.We’re out of the surprise turn.[ATTACH=full]413138[/ATTACH]Which means that Daktari gets to act again- the Sky Pony barbarian therefore wrestles himself onto the back of the giant boar and then urges the beast (some more) to charge into the goblins ahead.[ATTACH=full]413139[/ATTACH]But that’s not a great success, the giant boar charges into the nearest goblin and doesn’t do much in the way of damage at all (if any) and Daktari is missing (a lot) too.[ATTACH=full]413140[/ATTACH]The Moonboar spider climbs across to the goblins in the fungi caverns, he’s taking the fight to them.[ATTACH=full]413141[/ATTACH]See the hut, with the giant rack of antlers over the doorway (far left), well… goblins keep on exiting here.The Dark Squad figure this out eventually (but not yet).[ATTACH=full]413142[/ATTACH]The giant boar bucks and Daktari goes flying- he lands flat on his back before the boar, and then scrambles to his feet in an attempt to get away from the best.[ATTACH=full]413143[/ATTACH]He doesn’t make it; the giant boar gores the barbarian and knocks him down again.Meantime.[ATTACH=full]413144[/ATTACH]Ub-Pam has helicoptered down from the level above, the Modron is very quickly surrounded.And the hill goblin bomber has got the strange machine (Ub-Pam) in his sights.[ATTACH=full]413145[/ATTACH]BOOOOM!Ub-Pam survives, the same can’t be said for many of the goblins that were surrounding her.Over on the fungi ledges…[ATTACH=full]413146[/ATTACH]The Moonboar is employing his favourite attack- Hood to Groin, fatal on this occasion.What a horrible way to die.[ATTACH=full]413147[/ATTACH]The hill goblin bombers don’t seem to care too much about their comrades in arms.It’s all getting a little bit messy at this point.The Moonboar, Daktari & Ub-Pam are all in the thick of melee- and the barbarian is taking a bit of a kicking. Fellowyn, Newt & Ram meantime are hanging back and blasting- but here’s the thing. The PCs know that they’ve a way to go (down) yet. The DM has confirmed to the Dark Squad that the images/maps are accurate, and so best guess is- there’s at least another two levels to go. The DM has also let the PCs know that the levels get harder as they descend, and so… The PCs have been in this adventure, actually in this fight, for seven or so hours now. They’ve had three short rests, and the spellcasters are both at least halfway through their spell allocations.My point being they are having to do this the very hard way, the brutal way.Earlier in the session, before the fight got started, Vinnie/the Moonboar gave a little speech, describing the task ahead as a- “petite genocide”, and so basically the Squad are not going to spend any more spells or powers (unless they really have to) until they get to the tough stuff that lies ahead.It’s a slog, but the players seem to be loving it.Also, in this session, the PCs did a lot of rolling and missing- Newt particularly. There was a lot swearing from the warlock, much to everyone else’s delight.[ATTACH=full]413148[/ATTACH]Daktari is having fun- every creature in the mob is trying to kill him, oh- and note the fully armoured hill goblin down left, he’s new.This fellow just exited the antlered hut pointed out earlier and is now taking command of the fight back.Maybe.[ATTACH=full]413149[/ATTACH]And so here they/we all are.It’s the end of the session.Can the hill goblins fight back? How many levels are there still to go? These and maybe one or two other questions will get answered in the following session/s.Last I heard we were all available to play next week, so- more of this.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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