Broccli_Head
Explorer
The dividing the treasure scene reminded me how fun low-level adventuring can be....everyone scraping for every copper!
I'd rather have one long post, btw.
I'd rather have one long post, btw.
The Scourge of the Ratmen [Scarred Lands] - Updated 1/26
- Thread starter Amaroq
- Start date
Heh. I'd rather one long post myself, and a better page-break style. Any hints?
Maybe I should go with, break each issue into a half-dozen 'episodes', but post them all at once, rather than spread out over several days?
Also, do people prefer the "cliffhanger" ending for post-breaks, or breaking at natural rest points for the characters?
Maybe I should go with, break each issue into a half-dozen 'episodes', but post them all at once, rather than spread out over several days?
Also, do people prefer the "cliffhanger" ending for post-breaks, or breaking at natural rest points for the characters?
Broccli_Head
Explorer
I think three or four episodes or posts/session write-up works pretty well.
Also, a mix of cliff-hangers and slow endings is the best. Too many cliff-hangers is annoying. Too many "they return to town, rest, heal, and level-up..." is boring.
Also, a mix of cliff-hangers and slow endings is the best. Too many cliff-hangers is annoying. Too many "they return to town, rest, heal, and level-up..." is boring.
Issue #3: The Spider-Eye Goblins. Episodes 5, 6, and 7
The next morning is the first Belsaday of Charder. As we’re having breakfast in The Laughing Ogre, we hear Fox talking to his daughter. “Where are your brothers, Rian? I haven’t seen them since last night.”
Rian answers, “I haven’t seen them this morning, either. I’ve had to do most of their chores!”
“You don’t know where they are?”
When she answers, “No,” Fox looks worried.
After finishing breakfast, we go to the temple of Hedrada, moving quickly through the rituals of entry. Stone places ten gold coins into the temple donations box as we pass.
Grilliam congratulates and thanks us, paying us with twenty platinum pieces, at which Fergus looks dubious, having never seen platinum money before. Grilliam explains the currency in Vesh, but Fergus is still dubious, and the rest of us try to explain it to him in a riot of voices. It looks like we might argue about the currency, but Grilliam interrupts us.
“You guys are doing a great job,” Hedrada’s priest says. “If you’d like to be my investigators, I’ll give you ten more platinum up front.”
Saraya shakes her head. “No thank you,” she says emphatically. “One adventure was more than enough for me. I’ll take my share of the payment, and go my own way.”
Goldpetal asks, “What would the investigation entail?”
“I want you to find out who is on either side of the delivery,” Grilliam answers. “Where does the stuff come from? Who is picking it up?”
Miriel says, “I’m interested, but I need to go talk to my priestess first.”
Stone says, “And I want to talk to the high priest of Hedrada. Oh wait, that’s you.” He laughs.
Fergus looks unsure. “I’m not sure if I want to stay,” he says, “Or continue on my journey.”
Before we can discuss it further, an elderly man enters the office. Grilliam gestures towards him, “This is the apothecary, Spalier. Spalier, I presume you have your report on those vials? These are the worthies who found them.”
“Yes,” the old man says. “It’s mostly poisons, produced by a tribe of rat men who focus on the production of poisons and potions. The black vials are an inhalation poison, the amber are injury poisons, and the green are ingestion poisons. They are all deadly, extremely powerful, and extremely rare. I don’t even know who would buy this stuff, but it would be very expensive, probably a couple hundred gold each.”
Stone immediately suggests, “We could sell it for a huge profit!”
His laughing eyes suggest that he was joking, but Grilliam takes him seriously. “No,” the priest says sternly. “You, of all people, should know better. These are contraband, which you agreed to turn in before you went on my mission.”
“Actually, it’s not all poisons,” the old man continues. “The glowing emerald potions are glitter ink, for inscribing scrolls. The white potions are neutralize poison potions.”
“You can keep both of those,” Grilliam tells Stone. Then he turns towards the dour and shouts, “Taylor! Go fetch the emerald potions and white potions from Spalier’s shop.” An assistant of Grilliam’s runs out to fetch the potions.
Paks asks Grilliam, “Can we purchase potions of healing? We used those you gave us.”
It is Spalier who answers. “Certainly, come by my shop later.”
Miriel says, “We’ll come back with a decision,” and we prepare to leave.
Stone looks at his high priest, and says, “I accept.” Grilliam nods his thanks, and we all file out of his office.
We’re in the main hall of the Temple when Taylor returns with the potions. Spalier checks to make sure that they are the correct ones, and so it is that we acquire twelve vials of glitter ink and two of neutralize poison.
As we walk out of the temple, we all split up to do our errands in the town. Paks asks Fergus to walk with her, but most of us go separate directions.
Stone goes shopping. He finds a leather-worker’s shop, and orders a nice pair of boots. The leather-worker tells him that they will take a couple of days to make. He starts wandering through town, and buys another roll of cheese on his way back to the inn. He is the first to return to the Laughing Ogre, and starts drinking.
Miriel goes to the temple of Madriel. She speaks to the high priestess. Verenia has a small office in the temple. First, she outlines our adventure, and Grilliam’s job offer, most of which Verenia seems to already know about. Then, since Verenia had previously mentioned Miriel’s future, Miriel asks for more guidance about her future direction. “I had planned on returning to Lave as quickly as I might,” she explains.
Verenia pours water into a bowl for a divination spell. After some contemplation, she says, “Your fate is here, in this town, for now. You should continue as you have been,” she says, “As you are now on the right path. Madriel shines on you, my child.”
“Should I take the job Grilliam has offered?” asks Miriel.
“Yes,” Verenia answers without hesitation. “This is the work that both gods wish you to do.”
“Are there healing artifacts I might borrow?” Miriel inquires.
Verenia shakes her head. “True artifacts are far too rare and expensive. I could offer to sell you potions of Healing, at our cost to manufacture them. As you know, we specialize in healing, so you might find these more effective than those you were offered by the apothecary.”
“What are the costs?” asks Miriel.
“I have two ready,” Verenia answers. “They each cost about sixty gold to manufacture.”
“I don’t have that much,” Miriel pleads. “If I give you everything I have, it comes just over a hundred.”
“Very well,” Verenia says. “But you should donate to Madriel quite soon.”
“Is there anything I can do to help out around the temple,” Miriel asks, “And also, may I come here to study?”
“You are always welcome to come to study. There’s nothing we need help with at the moment, but there is a wedding you can help officiate at later in the week.”
Their conversation is over near mid-day, and Miriel meditates at the temple for a while. She spends the afternoon walking around the town, familiarizing herself with the area, and returns to the inn well before dinner.
Paks and Fergus walk around town together. Paks asks him about switching to the bastard sword as her main weapon, as it is a masterwork weapon. He points out that she would be unable to use the shield, and suggests that the strokes of a two-handed weapon differ substantially from those of a long sword, but that he’d be happy to show her some of the moves, in training.
Paks stops at the apothecary to pick up healing potions, but they cost sixty five gold pieces each, which is more than she has, so she says she’ll think about it, and they leave to poke through some other shops.
Meanwhile, she sounds out Fergus about an idea she’s had. “I’d like to set up the party almost like a mercenary company,” she says, “Run the same way as the company I was part of.”
“What did you have in mind?”, he asks.
“I thought that one share of our treasures could be given ‘to the party fund’ against future expenses, such as healing, or purchasing horses. Would you be interested?”
Fergus looks contemplative. “I’m amenable to the concept,” he says hesitantly, “And the structure you suggest would work for me. However, I’m not certain that I want to remain and settle into that routine. I’m still intent on finding my fellow clansmen, the MacAllisters, and I’m loathe to give up on that so quickly.”
Paks nods. “I understand. Think about it. Oh, here’s the tailor! I want to order a new outfit, something other than this caravan guard’s uniform.” They step into the tailor’s, and he takes her measure, saying that he can have a new outfit ready for her in three days. She places the order, requesting two outfits suitable for travel.
Paks and Fergus continue to walk the town, and they have an encouraging talk. Both feel the kinship of brothers in arms, and they return to the inn in the late afternoon in high spirits.
Chuck tries to connect with Jim the Vigil. He tries to find the Vigil for most of the day, looking in different stores and inns, but the search is fruitless. No one seems to know where Jim is, although many are familiar with him, either by name or by description.
In the late afternoon, Chuck gives up, and decides to go shopping before the shops close. He stops by the general store and buys more rope, and two empty potion vials. He then goes to Saylis to browse her selection of weapons and armor. He sells the four poor quality daggers, for two gold pieces. He prices and tries on some chain shirts, but they are too expensive and make so much noise when he moves, that he decides against them.
He returns to the inn just before sunset, and he and Paks spar for a while. With two swords, he is much quicker than the mercenary, and though he tries to teach her to move more, and stay on the balls of her feet, she remains fairly slow.
Goldpetal goes to the town jeweler first, where he sells the blue stone for forty gold coins. He asks about a druid priest, but the jeweler gives him a funny look, and Goldpetal doesn’t pursue it. He has noticed that he is already getting funny looks from the townspeople for being a wood elf druid. Followers of the Titan, Denev, are not very popular in the human lands, where the people worship the gods.
He goes to the weapons shop to buy a composite short bow, which he is able to find immediately, and he takes with him. By noon, he is getting frustrated with the town, so he goes for a walk in the hills nearby.
He finds his little campsite, still intact, and meditates through sunset, which makes him the last one to return to the inn.
The next morning is the first Belsaday of Charder. As we’re having breakfast in The Laughing Ogre, we hear Fox talking to his daughter. “Where are your brothers, Rian? I haven’t seen them since last night.”
Rian answers, “I haven’t seen them this morning, either. I’ve had to do most of their chores!”
“You don’t know where they are?”
When she answers, “No,” Fox looks worried.
After finishing breakfast, we go to the temple of Hedrada, moving quickly through the rituals of entry. Stone places ten gold coins into the temple donations box as we pass.
Grilliam congratulates and thanks us, paying us with twenty platinum pieces, at which Fergus looks dubious, having never seen platinum money before. Grilliam explains the currency in Vesh, but Fergus is still dubious, and the rest of us try to explain it to him in a riot of voices. It looks like we might argue about the currency, but Grilliam interrupts us.
“You guys are doing a great job,” Hedrada’s priest says. “If you’d like to be my investigators, I’ll give you ten more platinum up front.”
Saraya shakes her head. “No thank you,” she says emphatically. “One adventure was more than enough for me. I’ll take my share of the payment, and go my own way.”
Goldpetal asks, “What would the investigation entail?”
“I want you to find out who is on either side of the delivery,” Grilliam answers. “Where does the stuff come from? Who is picking it up?”
Miriel says, “I’m interested, but I need to go talk to my priestess first.”
Stone says, “And I want to talk to the high priest of Hedrada. Oh wait, that’s you.” He laughs.
Fergus looks unsure. “I’m not sure if I want to stay,” he says, “Or continue on my journey.”
Before we can discuss it further, an elderly man enters the office. Grilliam gestures towards him, “This is the apothecary, Spalier. Spalier, I presume you have your report on those vials? These are the worthies who found them.”
“Yes,” the old man says. “It’s mostly poisons, produced by a tribe of rat men who focus on the production of poisons and potions. The black vials are an inhalation poison, the amber are injury poisons, and the green are ingestion poisons. They are all deadly, extremely powerful, and extremely rare. I don’t even know who would buy this stuff, but it would be very expensive, probably a couple hundred gold each.”
Stone immediately suggests, “We could sell it for a huge profit!”
His laughing eyes suggest that he was joking, but Grilliam takes him seriously. “No,” the priest says sternly. “You, of all people, should know better. These are contraband, which you agreed to turn in before you went on my mission.”
“Actually, it’s not all poisons,” the old man continues. “The glowing emerald potions are glitter ink, for inscribing scrolls. The white potions are neutralize poison potions.”
“You can keep both of those,” Grilliam tells Stone. Then he turns towards the dour and shouts, “Taylor! Go fetch the emerald potions and white potions from Spalier’s shop.” An assistant of Grilliam’s runs out to fetch the potions.
Paks asks Grilliam, “Can we purchase potions of healing? We used those you gave us.”
It is Spalier who answers. “Certainly, come by my shop later.”
Miriel says, “We’ll come back with a decision,” and we prepare to leave.
Stone looks at his high priest, and says, “I accept.” Grilliam nods his thanks, and we all file out of his office.
We’re in the main hall of the Temple when Taylor returns with the potions. Spalier checks to make sure that they are the correct ones, and so it is that we acquire twelve vials of glitter ink and two of neutralize poison.
As we walk out of the temple, we all split up to do our errands in the town. Paks asks Fergus to walk with her, but most of us go separate directions.
Stone goes shopping. He finds a leather-worker’s shop, and orders a nice pair of boots. The leather-worker tells him that they will take a couple of days to make. He starts wandering through town, and buys another roll of cheese on his way back to the inn. He is the first to return to the Laughing Ogre, and starts drinking.
Miriel goes to the temple of Madriel. She speaks to the high priestess. Verenia has a small office in the temple. First, she outlines our adventure, and Grilliam’s job offer, most of which Verenia seems to already know about. Then, since Verenia had previously mentioned Miriel’s future, Miriel asks for more guidance about her future direction. “I had planned on returning to Lave as quickly as I might,” she explains.
Verenia pours water into a bowl for a divination spell. After some contemplation, she says, “Your fate is here, in this town, for now. You should continue as you have been,” she says, “As you are now on the right path. Madriel shines on you, my child.”
“Should I take the job Grilliam has offered?” asks Miriel.
“Yes,” Verenia answers without hesitation. “This is the work that both gods wish you to do.”
“Are there healing artifacts I might borrow?” Miriel inquires.
Verenia shakes her head. “True artifacts are far too rare and expensive. I could offer to sell you potions of Healing, at our cost to manufacture them. As you know, we specialize in healing, so you might find these more effective than those you were offered by the apothecary.”
“What are the costs?” asks Miriel.
“I have two ready,” Verenia answers. “They each cost about sixty gold to manufacture.”
“I don’t have that much,” Miriel pleads. “If I give you everything I have, it comes just over a hundred.”
“Very well,” Verenia says. “But you should donate to Madriel quite soon.”
“Is there anything I can do to help out around the temple,” Miriel asks, “And also, may I come here to study?”
“You are always welcome to come to study. There’s nothing we need help with at the moment, but there is a wedding you can help officiate at later in the week.”
Their conversation is over near mid-day, and Miriel meditates at the temple for a while. She spends the afternoon walking around the town, familiarizing herself with the area, and returns to the inn well before dinner.
Paks and Fergus walk around town together. Paks asks him about switching to the bastard sword as her main weapon, as it is a masterwork weapon. He points out that she would be unable to use the shield, and suggests that the strokes of a two-handed weapon differ substantially from those of a long sword, but that he’d be happy to show her some of the moves, in training.
Paks stops at the apothecary to pick up healing potions, but they cost sixty five gold pieces each, which is more than she has, so she says she’ll think about it, and they leave to poke through some other shops.
Meanwhile, she sounds out Fergus about an idea she’s had. “I’d like to set up the party almost like a mercenary company,” she says, “Run the same way as the company I was part of.”
“What did you have in mind?”, he asks.
“I thought that one share of our treasures could be given ‘to the party fund’ against future expenses, such as healing, or purchasing horses. Would you be interested?”
Fergus looks contemplative. “I’m amenable to the concept,” he says hesitantly, “And the structure you suggest would work for me. However, I’m not certain that I want to remain and settle into that routine. I’m still intent on finding my fellow clansmen, the MacAllisters, and I’m loathe to give up on that so quickly.”
Paks nods. “I understand. Think about it. Oh, here’s the tailor! I want to order a new outfit, something other than this caravan guard’s uniform.” They step into the tailor’s, and he takes her measure, saying that he can have a new outfit ready for her in three days. She places the order, requesting two outfits suitable for travel.
Paks and Fergus continue to walk the town, and they have an encouraging talk. Both feel the kinship of brothers in arms, and they return to the inn in the late afternoon in high spirits.
Chuck tries to connect with Jim the Vigil. He tries to find the Vigil for most of the day, looking in different stores and inns, but the search is fruitless. No one seems to know where Jim is, although many are familiar with him, either by name or by description.
In the late afternoon, Chuck gives up, and decides to go shopping before the shops close. He stops by the general store and buys more rope, and two empty potion vials. He then goes to Saylis to browse her selection of weapons and armor. He sells the four poor quality daggers, for two gold pieces. He prices and tries on some chain shirts, but they are too expensive and make so much noise when he moves, that he decides against them.
He returns to the inn just before sunset, and he and Paks spar for a while. With two swords, he is much quicker than the mercenary, and though he tries to teach her to move more, and stay on the balls of her feet, she remains fairly slow.
Goldpetal goes to the town jeweler first, where he sells the blue stone for forty gold coins. He asks about a druid priest, but the jeweler gives him a funny look, and Goldpetal doesn’t pursue it. He has noticed that he is already getting funny looks from the townspeople for being a wood elf druid. Followers of the Titan, Denev, are not very popular in the human lands, where the people worship the gods.
He goes to the weapons shop to buy a composite short bow, which he is able to find immediately, and he takes with him. By noon, he is getting frustrated with the town, so he goes for a walk in the hills nearby.
He finds his little campsite, still intact, and meditates through sunset, which makes him the last one to return to the inn.
Issue #3: The Spider-Eye Goblins. Episodes 8, 9, and 10
After a long day of shopping, we all converge back at the inn for another fabulous meal. As we eat, Fox stops by the table to ask, “Have you seen Randall or Reginald?”
Chuck answers, “Yes, we saw them last night.”
Fox just shakes his head at this news. “I’m getting worried,” he says. “No one has seen them since they went to bed last night.”
We look around the table, but everyone shakes their head. Miriel says, “Between us, we were all around the town today, and none of us saw them.”
Fox looks increasingly distraught. He sits at our table, and tells us a long involved story of how he adopted the three children after their parents were killed by rat men, and how they are dearer to him than anything. We are sympathetic, but not sure how to help, and frankly, it looks as though Fox is not sure what more he can do, either.
Near the end of his tale, Goldpetal arrives, the last member of our company to return. Fox stands up to leave the table, and Miriel asks for contributions towards the cost of the healing potions. Paks, Chuck, Stone, and Goldpetal all chip in, and Paks withdraws most of the money from the new party fund.
As they’re giving her the money, Randall staggers through the front door of the inn. The teenager looks exhausted and bruised, like he’s been beaten up. “What happened to you?” exclaims Fox, and we all gather around to hear his answer.
In a sniffling, quavering voice, Randall tells his tale. “Me and my brother, after hearing your story, decided to go check out the tower themselves. We thought it was safe, ’cause you’d killed everything. We pretended to go to bed, and then snuck out the window.” He can’t even look Fox in the eye as he says this.
“Anyway,” he continues, “We got down there but it was still dark, and cold, and we camped out near the woods to wait for morning. While we were asleep, these strange goblins jumped out of the woods. They were everywhere, and they grabbed us and tried to drag them into the woods. I fought them off and ran away, but I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything for Reginald. I think he was taken prisoner. Maybe they killed him!”
“How many goblins?” asks Goldpetal, his voice calm.
“I don’t... I don’t know,” the teenager stammers. “It was dark, and I just have the impression of lots of goblin hands and some goblin voices.”
“Were there spiders?” asks Goldpetal, with a strange look in his eye.
“No,” Randall says hesitantly, “But… they weren’t exactly normal goblins, either. What I could see of them looked strange, leathery, and distorted.”
“Where was this?” asks Paks.
“We were camped in a small clearing near the eaves of the forest, right by the tower.”
Chuck and Paks exchange glances. Chuck says, “That may have been the exact spot where we camped two nights ago.” Paks nods.
“Please,” Fox says, turning to lay his hands across Miriel’s arm. “Please, go rescue Reginald.”
Stone doesn’t even respond to him, but stands and marches straight into the kitchen. He grabs cheese and bread, causing the cook some surprise, and then heads straight out the door, walking south down the road.
The rest of us, in a babble of voices, begin debating how to go, but we are interrupted by one of the other patrons of the inn. She is a tall woman, wearing only a bikini and a gold-embroidered cloak. She has magnificent red hair, but is otherwise rather loud and unattractive. She introduces herself. “I am Brunhilde Hasenpfeffer. I’ve heard of you, and I couldn’t help but overhear. Might I be of assistance in seeking this lost youth?”
Chuck and Fergus look a little dubious, but Paks answers, “Certainly, any help would be appreciated.”
“Here, let me provide light,” the newcomer offers. She gestures, and a glowing point appears on her shoulder. We have light.
“Let’s go,” Miriel says, and we step outside the inn.
As Brunhilde steps out of the Laughing Ogre, a large black bat swoops down to land on her shoulder. When we look askance at this, she says, “Allow me to introduce Fledermaus, my bat familiar.”
We do not immediately begin down the road, as we begin a discussion of how and whether to make use of the horses. Finally, Fergus rides with Goldpetal, Miriel rides with Paks, and Brunhilde and Chuck ride alone. It takes us a half an hour of hard riding to catch Stone, but after that he keeps up with the horses easily, on foot.
Even with the horses, it takes us about five hours to reach the area where Reginald was taken, so it’s the middle of the night when we draw near to the place.
“Let’s stop here,” Paks says, when we reach the point at the road from which we have been directed to search westward. “We should assess the situation before walking into it.”
Brunhilde’s magical light has long since expired, so Chuck asks, “Let’s have some light.”
“No,” Fergus says quickly, with a shake of his head. “It would reveal us more than revealing anything to us.”
“I’ll send Fledermaus to look for any large creatures in the area,” says Brunhilde.
Goldpetal, who sees well in the dark, studies the ground for tracks leading from the road. “I don’t see anything here,” he says. “Just the foot prints of the two boys, heading towards the woods.”
When the bat returns, he and Brunhilde converse in high squeaks for a moment. She tells us, “Fledermaus says that there are no large creatures in the area.”
“Let’s go, then,” Chuck says.
We move stealthily through the woods to the campsite. The clearing is vacant, but we can see a spot where the boys lit a fire. Stone, who has excellent night vision, inspects the area of the campsite, but from his silence, we can tell that he finds nothing unusual.
Chuck and Goldpetal study the ground for tracks. “There’s goblin prints all around,” Chuck says.
“Yes,” adds Goldpetal. “In the campsite, the tracks are so jumbled, I can’t even estimate how many there might have been.”
Chuck checks around the perimeter of the campsite. “Here,” he says. “Somebody was dragged this way, I can see the marks his heels made.” He points west, directly into the heart of the wood. “The tracks go straight into the woods, and should be very easy to follow.”
“Can you tell how many there were?” asks Fergus.
“Not really,” Chuck gives a quick shake of his head. “It could be anywhere from eight to twenty.”
Paks says, “Here, let’s tie up the horses at the campsite. They would be more hindrance than help in these woods.” Chuck nods, and Paks begins tying the horses.
“Goblins can see at night,” Fergus warns
“Most of us can’t,” says Stone. “We’ll need light.”
“We could use that hooded lantern,” Paks calls, from where she is tying the horses, “To illuminate only the path, so as not to completely destroy our night vision.”
Miriel asks, “Would spiders approach the light?”
Goldpetal shakes his head. “Spiders should be repelled by fire, so I’d suggest carrying torches.”
Stone grows impatient at the constant discussion, and begins heading into the woods. Paks and Miriel follow, and the remainder of the party strings out behind them. Goldpetal, having good night vision, works his way to the front.
Miriel offers to carry the lantern, so as to free the others for carrying their weapons. Brunhilde is behind her and Chuck brings up the rear. Paks asks Brunhilde to send Fledermaus out ahead, which she agrees to, and he flies about 100 yards ahead.
Everywhere we look in the woods we see spiders. Little ones, tarantula sized ones, basketball sized ones like the ones that attacked us before. They all stay away from the light, which shines on hundreds of eyeballs. It is very spooky. Even Fledermaus feels it, and he is so unhappy being any distance from us that Brunhilde lets him come back and settle on her shoulder.
As we walk, Fergus says again, “We should discuss what we’re doing before moving on.”
“We’re attacking the goblins, and rescuing a child,” says Chuck, impatience clear in his voice.
“What they have done to us?” asks Fergus.
“Kidnapped a child,” says Paks.
“We follow the gods,” Miriel says imperiously, “And it therefore follows that we hate the twisted spawn of the Titans. We have to rescue the child, so there is really nothing to discuss.”
The argument continues in hushed tones at the back of the party as we march, but Fergus is unable to convince anyone. Those who are willing to answer him cannot understand why he is acting as though we are proposing an attack on innocent humans; he appears unable to see a moral difference between the divine races, humans, elves, dwarves, and their like, and the spawn of the Titans. Eventually the discussion trails off into silence, though Fergus appears disturbed.
Up front, Goldpetal is tracking the goblins. After about an hour and a half, the woods we are moving through have become very close and dense. Off in the distance we can see a hill, not very clearly. Goldpetal stops at a twenty foot tall wall of web, motioning with his hands for the rest of us to stop. We bump into each other, but there is no major disaster. Goldpetal passes a whisper along our line that we should back up.
Upon inspection, we see that the web is almost like a wall, a solid mass of sticky substance that extends off in both directions, and cuts off the path. Apparently, the goblins climbed the trees at this point, as there is clearly no way through the web.
“I think we could hack through the web,” suggests Fergus.
Brunhilde whispers, “I’d suggest at least drawing our weapons.”
Stone says, “I’m gonna try and see what’s on the other side.” Without waiting for debate, the half-orc quickly climbs one of the trees.
Beyond the web, and through a few more trees, there is a clearing with a small campfire. The web is clearly a wall around a goblin enclave. The enclave does not contain any structures, but there are several large trees.
Stone can see about fifteen goblins, praying to an idol of a spider, with a goblin shaman leading the prayer. The goblins are very strange-looking, even though Stone has seen many goblins before. They have four feet, four arms, and eight eyes – they almost seem to be a mix of spiders and goblins. The goblins are very intent on their worship, and they are all facing away from us, towards the idol on the west side of the clearing. They haven’t noticed us.
Stone climbs back down quietly and reports all this to us. “There’s fifteen of ’em,” he whispers, “And a shaman. They’re praying. They have a lot of arms, legs, and eyes, like a spider mixed with a goblin.”
“Yuck,” says Paks.
Miriel looks to Goldpetal. “Have you ever heard of such creatures?”
“No,” answers the elf, who has the most lore of any of us. “I’ve never heard of such goblins, or of a spider-goblin cross-breeding.”
“What do we do?” asks Stone.
Paks suggests, “Let’s climb the trees, and fire on them with our bows.”
“Okay,” Miriel says. “I can bless everyone.”
“We’d be vulnerable,” objects Fergus, “To being attacked from below while we’re in the trees. Besides, we don’t know if they have the boy. I think we should not attack them, if they don’t.”
“It seems obvious that they do,” Chuck whispers, shaking his head as though unable to see why Fergus doubts it. “We followed the tracks of his being dragged to this point.”
Fergus, growing ever more frustrated with our insistence on fighting the goblins, turns to Miriel. “Will you sell me a torch?” he hisses.
She looks confused, but says, “Okay.” She hands him a torch, and he drops a silver piece in her palm. He leaves, striding determinedly back down our trail towards the horses.
Chuck says, quietly, “Fergus, you fool!” but no one tries to stop the argumentative highlander.
When he is gone, we return to planning. “The goblins are on the far side,” Stone says.
“Let’s circle around this web,” Brunhilde suggests, “To get closer to them.”
Goldpetal nods. “I’ll cast an entanglement to slow the goblins down,” he says.
“Right,” says Chuck. “We’ll all hold our fire. Your spell will be the signal to loose arrows.”
“I’ll stay here,” Stone says, “To keep a watch, and get them from the rear.” He pulls out his crossbow and begins climbing the same tree a second time. The goblins are still chanting, apparently unaware of our presence, and he gives the rest of us a thumbs-up sign. He watches the goblins with crossbow at the ready, but they are still intent on their ritual and do not seem to hear us moving near them.
After a long day of shopping, we all converge back at the inn for another fabulous meal. As we eat, Fox stops by the table to ask, “Have you seen Randall or Reginald?”
Chuck answers, “Yes, we saw them last night.”
Fox just shakes his head at this news. “I’m getting worried,” he says. “No one has seen them since they went to bed last night.”
We look around the table, but everyone shakes their head. Miriel says, “Between us, we were all around the town today, and none of us saw them.”
Fox looks increasingly distraught. He sits at our table, and tells us a long involved story of how he adopted the three children after their parents were killed by rat men, and how they are dearer to him than anything. We are sympathetic, but not sure how to help, and frankly, it looks as though Fox is not sure what more he can do, either.
Near the end of his tale, Goldpetal arrives, the last member of our company to return. Fox stands up to leave the table, and Miriel asks for contributions towards the cost of the healing potions. Paks, Chuck, Stone, and Goldpetal all chip in, and Paks withdraws most of the money from the new party fund.
As they’re giving her the money, Randall staggers through the front door of the inn. The teenager looks exhausted and bruised, like he’s been beaten up. “What happened to you?” exclaims Fox, and we all gather around to hear his answer.
In a sniffling, quavering voice, Randall tells his tale. “Me and my brother, after hearing your story, decided to go check out the tower themselves. We thought it was safe, ’cause you’d killed everything. We pretended to go to bed, and then snuck out the window.” He can’t even look Fox in the eye as he says this.
“Anyway,” he continues, “We got down there but it was still dark, and cold, and we camped out near the woods to wait for morning. While we were asleep, these strange goblins jumped out of the woods. They were everywhere, and they grabbed us and tried to drag them into the woods. I fought them off and ran away, but I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything for Reginald. I think he was taken prisoner. Maybe they killed him!”
“How many goblins?” asks Goldpetal, his voice calm.
“I don’t... I don’t know,” the teenager stammers. “It was dark, and I just have the impression of lots of goblin hands and some goblin voices.”
“Were there spiders?” asks Goldpetal, with a strange look in his eye.
“No,” Randall says hesitantly, “But… they weren’t exactly normal goblins, either. What I could see of them looked strange, leathery, and distorted.”
“Where was this?” asks Paks.
“We were camped in a small clearing near the eaves of the forest, right by the tower.”
Chuck and Paks exchange glances. Chuck says, “That may have been the exact spot where we camped two nights ago.” Paks nods.
“Please,” Fox says, turning to lay his hands across Miriel’s arm. “Please, go rescue Reginald.”
Stone doesn’t even respond to him, but stands and marches straight into the kitchen. He grabs cheese and bread, causing the cook some surprise, and then heads straight out the door, walking south down the road.
The rest of us, in a babble of voices, begin debating how to go, but we are interrupted by one of the other patrons of the inn. She is a tall woman, wearing only a bikini and a gold-embroidered cloak. She has magnificent red hair, but is otherwise rather loud and unattractive. She introduces herself. “I am Brunhilde Hasenpfeffer. I’ve heard of you, and I couldn’t help but overhear. Might I be of assistance in seeking this lost youth?”
Chuck and Fergus look a little dubious, but Paks answers, “Certainly, any help would be appreciated.”
“Here, let me provide light,” the newcomer offers. She gestures, and a glowing point appears on her shoulder. We have light.
“Let’s go,” Miriel says, and we step outside the inn.
As Brunhilde steps out of the Laughing Ogre, a large black bat swoops down to land on her shoulder. When we look askance at this, she says, “Allow me to introduce Fledermaus, my bat familiar.”
We do not immediately begin down the road, as we begin a discussion of how and whether to make use of the horses. Finally, Fergus rides with Goldpetal, Miriel rides with Paks, and Brunhilde and Chuck ride alone. It takes us a half an hour of hard riding to catch Stone, but after that he keeps up with the horses easily, on foot.
Even with the horses, it takes us about five hours to reach the area where Reginald was taken, so it’s the middle of the night when we draw near to the place.
“Let’s stop here,” Paks says, when we reach the point at the road from which we have been directed to search westward. “We should assess the situation before walking into it.”
Brunhilde’s magical light has long since expired, so Chuck asks, “Let’s have some light.”
“No,” Fergus says quickly, with a shake of his head. “It would reveal us more than revealing anything to us.”
“I’ll send Fledermaus to look for any large creatures in the area,” says Brunhilde.
Goldpetal, who sees well in the dark, studies the ground for tracks leading from the road. “I don’t see anything here,” he says. “Just the foot prints of the two boys, heading towards the woods.”
When the bat returns, he and Brunhilde converse in high squeaks for a moment. She tells us, “Fledermaus says that there are no large creatures in the area.”
“Let’s go, then,” Chuck says.
We move stealthily through the woods to the campsite. The clearing is vacant, but we can see a spot where the boys lit a fire. Stone, who has excellent night vision, inspects the area of the campsite, but from his silence, we can tell that he finds nothing unusual.
Chuck and Goldpetal study the ground for tracks. “There’s goblin prints all around,” Chuck says.
“Yes,” adds Goldpetal. “In the campsite, the tracks are so jumbled, I can’t even estimate how many there might have been.”
Chuck checks around the perimeter of the campsite. “Here,” he says. “Somebody was dragged this way, I can see the marks his heels made.” He points west, directly into the heart of the wood. “The tracks go straight into the woods, and should be very easy to follow.”
“Can you tell how many there were?” asks Fergus.
“Not really,” Chuck gives a quick shake of his head. “It could be anywhere from eight to twenty.”
Paks says, “Here, let’s tie up the horses at the campsite. They would be more hindrance than help in these woods.” Chuck nods, and Paks begins tying the horses.
“Goblins can see at night,” Fergus warns
“Most of us can’t,” says Stone. “We’ll need light.”
“We could use that hooded lantern,” Paks calls, from where she is tying the horses, “To illuminate only the path, so as not to completely destroy our night vision.”
Miriel asks, “Would spiders approach the light?”
Goldpetal shakes his head. “Spiders should be repelled by fire, so I’d suggest carrying torches.”
Stone grows impatient at the constant discussion, and begins heading into the woods. Paks and Miriel follow, and the remainder of the party strings out behind them. Goldpetal, having good night vision, works his way to the front.
Miriel offers to carry the lantern, so as to free the others for carrying their weapons. Brunhilde is behind her and Chuck brings up the rear. Paks asks Brunhilde to send Fledermaus out ahead, which she agrees to, and he flies about 100 yards ahead.
Everywhere we look in the woods we see spiders. Little ones, tarantula sized ones, basketball sized ones like the ones that attacked us before. They all stay away from the light, which shines on hundreds of eyeballs. It is very spooky. Even Fledermaus feels it, and he is so unhappy being any distance from us that Brunhilde lets him come back and settle on her shoulder.
As we walk, Fergus says again, “We should discuss what we’re doing before moving on.”
“We’re attacking the goblins, and rescuing a child,” says Chuck, impatience clear in his voice.
“What they have done to us?” asks Fergus.
“Kidnapped a child,” says Paks.
“We follow the gods,” Miriel says imperiously, “And it therefore follows that we hate the twisted spawn of the Titans. We have to rescue the child, so there is really nothing to discuss.”
The argument continues in hushed tones at the back of the party as we march, but Fergus is unable to convince anyone. Those who are willing to answer him cannot understand why he is acting as though we are proposing an attack on innocent humans; he appears unable to see a moral difference between the divine races, humans, elves, dwarves, and their like, and the spawn of the Titans. Eventually the discussion trails off into silence, though Fergus appears disturbed.
Up front, Goldpetal is tracking the goblins. After about an hour and a half, the woods we are moving through have become very close and dense. Off in the distance we can see a hill, not very clearly. Goldpetal stops at a twenty foot tall wall of web, motioning with his hands for the rest of us to stop. We bump into each other, but there is no major disaster. Goldpetal passes a whisper along our line that we should back up.
Upon inspection, we see that the web is almost like a wall, a solid mass of sticky substance that extends off in both directions, and cuts off the path. Apparently, the goblins climbed the trees at this point, as there is clearly no way through the web.
“I think we could hack through the web,” suggests Fergus.
Brunhilde whispers, “I’d suggest at least drawing our weapons.”
Stone says, “I’m gonna try and see what’s on the other side.” Without waiting for debate, the half-orc quickly climbs one of the trees.
Beyond the web, and through a few more trees, there is a clearing with a small campfire. The web is clearly a wall around a goblin enclave. The enclave does not contain any structures, but there are several large trees.
Stone can see about fifteen goblins, praying to an idol of a spider, with a goblin shaman leading the prayer. The goblins are very strange-looking, even though Stone has seen many goblins before. They have four feet, four arms, and eight eyes – they almost seem to be a mix of spiders and goblins. The goblins are very intent on their worship, and they are all facing away from us, towards the idol on the west side of the clearing. They haven’t noticed us.
Stone climbs back down quietly and reports all this to us. “There’s fifteen of ’em,” he whispers, “And a shaman. They’re praying. They have a lot of arms, legs, and eyes, like a spider mixed with a goblin.”
“Yuck,” says Paks.
Miriel looks to Goldpetal. “Have you ever heard of such creatures?”
“No,” answers the elf, who has the most lore of any of us. “I’ve never heard of such goblins, or of a spider-goblin cross-breeding.”
“What do we do?” asks Stone.
Paks suggests, “Let’s climb the trees, and fire on them with our bows.”
“Okay,” Miriel says. “I can bless everyone.”
“We’d be vulnerable,” objects Fergus, “To being attacked from below while we’re in the trees. Besides, we don’t know if they have the boy. I think we should not attack them, if they don’t.”
“It seems obvious that they do,” Chuck whispers, shaking his head as though unable to see why Fergus doubts it. “We followed the tracks of his being dragged to this point.”
Fergus, growing ever more frustrated with our insistence on fighting the goblins, turns to Miriel. “Will you sell me a torch?” he hisses.
She looks confused, but says, “Okay.” She hands him a torch, and he drops a silver piece in her palm. He leaves, striding determinedly back down our trail towards the horses.
Chuck says, quietly, “Fergus, you fool!” but no one tries to stop the argumentative highlander.
When he is gone, we return to planning. “The goblins are on the far side,” Stone says.
“Let’s circle around this web,” Brunhilde suggests, “To get closer to them.”
Goldpetal nods. “I’ll cast an entanglement to slow the goblins down,” he says.
“Right,” says Chuck. “We’ll all hold our fire. Your spell will be the signal to loose arrows.”
“I’ll stay here,” Stone says, “To keep a watch, and get them from the rear.” He pulls out his crossbow and begins climbing the same tree a second time. The goblins are still chanting, apparently unaware of our presence, and he gives the rest of us a thumbs-up sign. He watches the goblins with crossbow at the ready, but they are still intent on their ritual and do not seem to hear us moving near them.
Issue #3: The Spider-Eye Goblins. Episodes 11 and 12
While Stone waits, the rest of us make our way through the woods around the left side of the circular web wall, stealthily working our way to a point on the west side of the clearing. We all climb trees on the far side of the circle of web. The shaman chants in an unintelligible language while the other goblins genuflect and murmur their chant. Goldpetal prepares his spell, while Miriel prepares hers. The rest of us have our weapons ready to fire when the spell takes effect.
Miriel blesses everyone in range just before Goldpetal casts the entangle. The goblins stop their ritual in confusion, yelling and screaming. Half of the goblins are entangled as the grass, bushes, and even trees seem to come alive, grabbing them in a vise-like grip. We all unleash our arrows, but none of us hit. Chuck's arrow goes straight into the fire. Miriel throws an enchanted stone at the nearest goblin, but misses. Brunhilde casts a magic missile at the shaman, and the magical bolt of energy wounds him. The shaman seems more annoyed than injured. He turns around to face away from us, towards his goblins, and shouts to them, “Bad people! Attacking us!”
He starts waving his arms, and bends over, still facing away from us. Suddenly, a huge web shoots out of his hind parts, towards Paks. She and Chuck are trapped as a great spider web spreads magically between the trees. The seven unentangled goblins throw darts at us, two each, primarily targeting Paks and Chuck, but none of the darts hit. Each of the seven is entangled by the vines, which now hold all of the goblins except the shaman.
Stone, at the opposite side of the enclave, shoots at the goblin closest to him, but misses. Miriel, unaffected by the web, slings another rock into the goblins, and misses. Goldpetal starts climbing down his tree, moving extremely slowly due to the sticky strands. Chuck breaks out of the grip of the web and tries to move beyond the area of the spell. Paks, stuck at the center of the web, tries to break free. Though she comes close, she remains firmly entangled. Brunhilde casts another magic missile at the shaman, and again he is hurt as her bright, almost white, bolt of energy strikes him.
“Why?” the shaman shouts at us, his voice full of despair. “Why are you attacking us?”
Chuck yells back, “Where's the boy?”
The shaman points to the hill behind us with all four arms. “He's present, present, present!” He turns, and runs for one of the trees behind the goblins. It seems to be hollow, as he disappears within it, only to reappear up in its branches a moment or two later.
Most of the goblins break free of the vines. Goldpetal and Chuck both get stuck in the web. Stone and Miriel each kill a goblin, Stone with his arrow and Miriel with an enchanted stone. When the shaman appears in the branches of the tree he had climbed, Brunhilde casts a third magic missile at him.
Paks, deeply buried in the magical web, can only yell out “All we want is the boy!" She continues to struggle, but remains unable to free herself.
The shaman pulls out a vial of some sort, and drinks it quickly. “Man boy up there!” he yells back. “Leave us alone!” Brunhilde is discouraged, as he has clearly healed himself of much of the damage she has done with her three spells.
One of the unentangled goblins runs for a tree and hides in it, but most of the goblins are entangled again. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion, between the vines and the web. Miriel hits a goblin with a rock, but it isn’t killed outright. Stone’s arrow misses. He’s clearly better with his fists than with the bow. Goldpetal, Chuck, and Paks are unable to break free of the webbing. Brunhilde, who has exhausted her magic, climbs down from her tree.
Paks yells to Chuck and Goldpetal, “Are goblins lawful?”
“They’re unnatural,” Goldpetal replies, with disgust and revulsion evident in his voice.
Paks shouts, “Shaman, are you a goblin of honor?”
The shaman clearly doesn't understand the question. He yells back, “Stop attacking us, bad people! Over there, leave us alone!”
He moves his hands, casting another spell. The two dead goblin corpses shrivel up, and he looks stronger. The goblin that got under cover of the trees runs for it, leaving the area as quickly as possible. Paks and Goldpetal are still stuck, but Chuck is able to move down the tree a bit. Stone and Miriel both miss. Brunhilde reaches the edge of the web and starts pulling Goldpetal out.
The shaman gestures up the hill, and yells “People, that way!” Then he casts another spell, and a dense obscuring mist begins to covers the clearing. Within seconds, most of the clearing is hidden from our sight in the magical fog. The only two goblins we can still see break free of their entanglement, and hide in the mists as well. Now, we can’t see any of them. We have no idea what they are doing.
Stone jumps down from his tree and begins running around the circle to join the rest of us. Brunhilde pulls Goldpetal out of the web. Goldpetal, who hasn’t yet seen the mist, moves out of the webbed area and climbs a tree.
Chuck is still able to make some progress, moving further down his tree. Goldpetal, seeing the mist, swears and drops back down from his tree. He starts moving through the woods, circling around the webbed area.
Miriel tries to go into the web to help Paks, but Paks is firmly stuck. Stone arrives and actually steps in to the web to try to help Paks out. Paks still can’t break free. Brunhilde and Miriel also move into the webbed area to help Paks. Finally, when Chucks gets free and helps the other four, with everyone’s help, we are able to pull her out. She was directly hit by the shaman’s spell, and is covered in sticky webbing, uninjured, but very disgusted at the wet webbing encasing her.
From in the mist, we hear the shaman’s voice. “Go away! Leave us alone. We not attack you. We stay here in mist.”
“Hey shaman,” Paks yells. “We only want the boy!”
The shaman’s voice comes back, “Truce yes, truce! Good people. Sorry about boy! Nice present, nice present.”
Eventually, the mist clears, and we can see that Goldpetal’s entangling underbrush has also subsided. We can see a few of the goblins peeking out from the hollowed out trees, watching us.
The Shaman yells out, “Go away people! Bye, bye, bye...”
Paks hollers back, “Shaman, to seal deal, present!” She pulls ten copper pieces and throws them over the web wall.
The shaman grabs the coins. “Ooh ooh! Shiny coins! Nice people, nice people, go away. Bye-bye people...”
Stone mutters, “How about if we give you a platinum piece and kill the rest of you?”
The goblin shaman, who heard him, moans “Go away...”
We start to leave, moving towards the path we can see that leads up the hill.
As we walk up the hill, in the direction the shaman had claimed that Reginald was “present,” Fledermaus flies ahead.
When the bat returns, he and Brunhilde confer in squeaks. “He checked out the top of the hill,” she says, “And warns us of a big, spooky cave that he wouldn't go into.”
“A cave that a bat wouldn't go in?” asks Chuck, his tone incredulous.
“That worries me,” Paks says, and the look on her face tells just how worried she is. Miriel and Goldpetal have grim looks affixed to their faces.
The hill is clear of trees. We walk up the trail, which is covered with footprints, and reach the big cave at the top of the path.
We gather around the cave mouth, and peer into the dark maw. We can see an enormous number of webs inside. The passage inward is about twenty feet long, and opens into a larger cave which it is tough to tell how large it is. Stone says, “I can see the boy, about forty feet inside. He’s wrapped in webs. It looks like he's been left as an offering.”
The strands of the webs that we can see are the biggest we’ve ever seen, more like thick ropes. The way in is relatively clear of webs.
“If we rest for a little while,” Brunhilde offers, “I can cast Dancing Lights inside the cave, so we can see better.”
“Let’s just sneak in and grab the child,” Stone says. He looks at Chuck and Paks, and suggests, “We can cast Light on your swords, and sheathe them, pulling them out when we need light.”
We refine that plan, and eventually, we decide to send Chuck and Stone to sneak in with magically lighted weapons, and grab the boy. The rest of us ready our weapons as well, and Brunhilde holds a torch ready to light and toss in, once Chuck and Stone are safely out with the boy.
Stone goes in the lead, with Chuck following about eight feet behind him. The cave is large, and irregularly shaped, with dark recesses in the far wall suggesting unexplored depths. Nothing moves in the crevasses, however, and the half-orc makes it to the boy, and picks him up, ready to run for the exit.
Just as Stone turns around, a gigantic black spider, several times larger than a man, drops from above the entrance, where it had lurked as he entered the cave. The gargantuan beast completely blocks the passage out. Stone drops the boy and yells, and Chuck draws his swords, but they are both cut off from the rest of us.
Paks is the first to react, charging down the hall to hack at the spider from behind. Her sword hits its torso, but bounces off of its thick hairy hide without damaging the beast. Brunhilde runs up just behind her, and hits it with her quarterstaff, leaving a big bruise. Miriel charges with her short spear, but her experience is like Paks’. A blow which she thought sure to hit simply bounces off of the thick hide of the monster. Goldpetal shoots his bow over the heads of his companion, and his arrow buries itself in the spider’s hide.
In the cave, Chuck slashes at it with both swords, but neither of them can penetrate its hide, either. The spider bites at Chuck, but misses as Chuck leaps back, out of the way. Stone steps around Chuck, and starts punching at it, but even his fists have no effect.
At its back side, Paks hits it hard with her sword, opening a deep gash which has clearly wounded it. Miriel stabs the spider with her short spear; it screams and begins dripping a black ichor.
Chuck hits with both swords, cutting it especially hard with his longsword as Brunhilde runs around the spider to get to the boy. The spider is furious now, and it bites Chuck, its great mouth nearly encircling his torso, and sharp chitinous edges slice through his leather armor. He’s badly injured, but stays on his feet as poison begins to course through his veins.
Stone punches, hitting hard, and the spider reels a bit. It no longer looks as strong, and tries to back against the wall of the cave. Goldpetal shoots and misses, grazing Miriel. His wayward arrow throws off her aim, and she misses again. Paks misses badly, hitting the ground with her sword. Chuck, looking progressively weakened, swings both swords at the spider, but now he lacks the strength to pierce its great hide.
The spider bites Chuck again, and again it wounds him severely. The Vigilant collapses, bleeding, and looks very weak. Brunhilde runs over to him, and drags him out of the fray. Paks cuts the spider again with her longsword, but Miriel misses. Goldpetal draws his scimitar and begins to work his way to the right side, looking for an opening.
Stone punches the spider, to no effect. The spider leaps on top of Stone, knocking him to the ground, and bites him as well. It’s a vicious bite, deep into the half-orc’s ribs, and he, too, collapses to the cave floor.
With the party in desperate straights, Goldpetal lets out a cry. “Denev help me!” he shouts, calling upon his Titan deity for aid, and he smites the spider with his scimitar. It is a mighty blow. The Titan smiles upon him and his scimitar penetrates deep into the spider’s head. A great spurt of ichor comes from the wound, and the spider’s collapses, its legs still twitching for a moment, as though it might try to rise, but its body remains on the cave floor.
For a brief moment there is silence as we stare at the awesome beast the tiny elf has just slain. The legs stop twitching.
“Miriel, hurry!” Brunhilde’s voice breaks the silence. “There are injured!”
Miriel runs to Chuck first, and heals him as Brunhilde tries to bind Stone’s wounds. When Miriel gets to Stone, she also calls Madriel’s healing for the half-orc, and with both of them out of immediate danger, she spends a longer time to heal them both back into reasonably good shape.
Brunhilde checks the child for poison. To no one's surprise, he is poisoned, but seems to be stable. Chuck still looks very weak from the poison as well.
Stone picks up the child and walks out. Goldpetal follows. Miriel stops at the mouth of the cave to watch the outside. Stone sees the goblins watching us from the trees outside.
Paks helps Chuck to his feet, and Chuck, Paks, and Brunhilde search the cave. A cursory search reveals only webs, junk, old bones, and the corpses of humans, and goblins. Some of the goblin corpses have been sucked dry, and are almost goblin husks over a skeleton more than anything resembling a creature.
Miriel says, “I need to rest, if we’re to make it back past those goblins.” Brunhilde agrees.
Paks and Chuck perform a more thorough search of the cave while Miriel and Brunhilde rest. Stone and Goldpetal keep a watchful eye on the goblins. Paks finds eighty pieces of gold, two violet gems, and, on one dead husk, a scroll, rolled up and tied. In a corner behind a rock, Chuck finds, under a lot of junk, a sheathed dagger. Something about it fascinates him; he pulls it out a little from its beautifully-carved sheath and it shines very brightly, illuminating most of the cave. He re-sheathes it and puts it in his pack.
We rest for the remainder of the night.
While Stone waits, the rest of us make our way through the woods around the left side of the circular web wall, stealthily working our way to a point on the west side of the clearing. We all climb trees on the far side of the circle of web. The shaman chants in an unintelligible language while the other goblins genuflect and murmur their chant. Goldpetal prepares his spell, while Miriel prepares hers. The rest of us have our weapons ready to fire when the spell takes effect.
Miriel blesses everyone in range just before Goldpetal casts the entangle. The goblins stop their ritual in confusion, yelling and screaming. Half of the goblins are entangled as the grass, bushes, and even trees seem to come alive, grabbing them in a vise-like grip. We all unleash our arrows, but none of us hit. Chuck's arrow goes straight into the fire. Miriel throws an enchanted stone at the nearest goblin, but misses. Brunhilde casts a magic missile at the shaman, and the magical bolt of energy wounds him. The shaman seems more annoyed than injured. He turns around to face away from us, towards his goblins, and shouts to them, “Bad people! Attacking us!”
He starts waving his arms, and bends over, still facing away from us. Suddenly, a huge web shoots out of his hind parts, towards Paks. She and Chuck are trapped as a great spider web spreads magically between the trees. The seven unentangled goblins throw darts at us, two each, primarily targeting Paks and Chuck, but none of the darts hit. Each of the seven is entangled by the vines, which now hold all of the goblins except the shaman.
Stone, at the opposite side of the enclave, shoots at the goblin closest to him, but misses. Miriel, unaffected by the web, slings another rock into the goblins, and misses. Goldpetal starts climbing down his tree, moving extremely slowly due to the sticky strands. Chuck breaks out of the grip of the web and tries to move beyond the area of the spell. Paks, stuck at the center of the web, tries to break free. Though she comes close, she remains firmly entangled. Brunhilde casts another magic missile at the shaman, and again he is hurt as her bright, almost white, bolt of energy strikes him.
“Why?” the shaman shouts at us, his voice full of despair. “Why are you attacking us?”
Chuck yells back, “Where's the boy?”
The shaman points to the hill behind us with all four arms. “He's present, present, present!” He turns, and runs for one of the trees behind the goblins. It seems to be hollow, as he disappears within it, only to reappear up in its branches a moment or two later.
Most of the goblins break free of the vines. Goldpetal and Chuck both get stuck in the web. Stone and Miriel each kill a goblin, Stone with his arrow and Miriel with an enchanted stone. When the shaman appears in the branches of the tree he had climbed, Brunhilde casts a third magic missile at him.
Paks, deeply buried in the magical web, can only yell out “All we want is the boy!" She continues to struggle, but remains unable to free herself.
The shaman pulls out a vial of some sort, and drinks it quickly. “Man boy up there!” he yells back. “Leave us alone!” Brunhilde is discouraged, as he has clearly healed himself of much of the damage she has done with her three spells.
One of the unentangled goblins runs for a tree and hides in it, but most of the goblins are entangled again. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion, between the vines and the web. Miriel hits a goblin with a rock, but it isn’t killed outright. Stone’s arrow misses. He’s clearly better with his fists than with the bow. Goldpetal, Chuck, and Paks are unable to break free of the webbing. Brunhilde, who has exhausted her magic, climbs down from her tree.
Paks yells to Chuck and Goldpetal, “Are goblins lawful?”
“They’re unnatural,” Goldpetal replies, with disgust and revulsion evident in his voice.
Paks shouts, “Shaman, are you a goblin of honor?”
The shaman clearly doesn't understand the question. He yells back, “Stop attacking us, bad people! Over there, leave us alone!”
He moves his hands, casting another spell. The two dead goblin corpses shrivel up, and he looks stronger. The goblin that got under cover of the trees runs for it, leaving the area as quickly as possible. Paks and Goldpetal are still stuck, but Chuck is able to move down the tree a bit. Stone and Miriel both miss. Brunhilde reaches the edge of the web and starts pulling Goldpetal out.
The shaman gestures up the hill, and yells “People, that way!” Then he casts another spell, and a dense obscuring mist begins to covers the clearing. Within seconds, most of the clearing is hidden from our sight in the magical fog. The only two goblins we can still see break free of their entanglement, and hide in the mists as well. Now, we can’t see any of them. We have no idea what they are doing.
Stone jumps down from his tree and begins running around the circle to join the rest of us. Brunhilde pulls Goldpetal out of the web. Goldpetal, who hasn’t yet seen the mist, moves out of the webbed area and climbs a tree.
Chuck is still able to make some progress, moving further down his tree. Goldpetal, seeing the mist, swears and drops back down from his tree. He starts moving through the woods, circling around the webbed area.
Miriel tries to go into the web to help Paks, but Paks is firmly stuck. Stone arrives and actually steps in to the web to try to help Paks out. Paks still can’t break free. Brunhilde and Miriel also move into the webbed area to help Paks. Finally, when Chucks gets free and helps the other four, with everyone’s help, we are able to pull her out. She was directly hit by the shaman’s spell, and is covered in sticky webbing, uninjured, but very disgusted at the wet webbing encasing her.
From in the mist, we hear the shaman’s voice. “Go away! Leave us alone. We not attack you. We stay here in mist.”
“Hey shaman,” Paks yells. “We only want the boy!”
The shaman’s voice comes back, “Truce yes, truce! Good people. Sorry about boy! Nice present, nice present.”
Eventually, the mist clears, and we can see that Goldpetal’s entangling underbrush has also subsided. We can see a few of the goblins peeking out from the hollowed out trees, watching us.
The Shaman yells out, “Go away people! Bye, bye, bye...”
Paks hollers back, “Shaman, to seal deal, present!” She pulls ten copper pieces and throws them over the web wall.
The shaman grabs the coins. “Ooh ooh! Shiny coins! Nice people, nice people, go away. Bye-bye people...”
Stone mutters, “How about if we give you a platinum piece and kill the rest of you?”
The goblin shaman, who heard him, moans “Go away...”
We start to leave, moving towards the path we can see that leads up the hill.
As we walk up the hill, in the direction the shaman had claimed that Reginald was “present,” Fledermaus flies ahead.
When the bat returns, he and Brunhilde confer in squeaks. “He checked out the top of the hill,” she says, “And warns us of a big, spooky cave that he wouldn't go into.”
“A cave that a bat wouldn't go in?” asks Chuck, his tone incredulous.
“That worries me,” Paks says, and the look on her face tells just how worried she is. Miriel and Goldpetal have grim looks affixed to their faces.
The hill is clear of trees. We walk up the trail, which is covered with footprints, and reach the big cave at the top of the path.
We gather around the cave mouth, and peer into the dark maw. We can see an enormous number of webs inside. The passage inward is about twenty feet long, and opens into a larger cave which it is tough to tell how large it is. Stone says, “I can see the boy, about forty feet inside. He’s wrapped in webs. It looks like he's been left as an offering.”
The strands of the webs that we can see are the biggest we’ve ever seen, more like thick ropes. The way in is relatively clear of webs.
“If we rest for a little while,” Brunhilde offers, “I can cast Dancing Lights inside the cave, so we can see better.”
“Let’s just sneak in and grab the child,” Stone says. He looks at Chuck and Paks, and suggests, “We can cast Light on your swords, and sheathe them, pulling them out when we need light.”
We refine that plan, and eventually, we decide to send Chuck and Stone to sneak in with magically lighted weapons, and grab the boy. The rest of us ready our weapons as well, and Brunhilde holds a torch ready to light and toss in, once Chuck and Stone are safely out with the boy.
Stone goes in the lead, with Chuck following about eight feet behind him. The cave is large, and irregularly shaped, with dark recesses in the far wall suggesting unexplored depths. Nothing moves in the crevasses, however, and the half-orc makes it to the boy, and picks him up, ready to run for the exit.
Just as Stone turns around, a gigantic black spider, several times larger than a man, drops from above the entrance, where it had lurked as he entered the cave. The gargantuan beast completely blocks the passage out. Stone drops the boy and yells, and Chuck draws his swords, but they are both cut off from the rest of us.
Paks is the first to react, charging down the hall to hack at the spider from behind. Her sword hits its torso, but bounces off of its thick hairy hide without damaging the beast. Brunhilde runs up just behind her, and hits it with her quarterstaff, leaving a big bruise. Miriel charges with her short spear, but her experience is like Paks’. A blow which she thought sure to hit simply bounces off of the thick hide of the monster. Goldpetal shoots his bow over the heads of his companion, and his arrow buries itself in the spider’s hide.
In the cave, Chuck slashes at it with both swords, but neither of them can penetrate its hide, either. The spider bites at Chuck, but misses as Chuck leaps back, out of the way. Stone steps around Chuck, and starts punching at it, but even his fists have no effect.
At its back side, Paks hits it hard with her sword, opening a deep gash which has clearly wounded it. Miriel stabs the spider with her short spear; it screams and begins dripping a black ichor.
Chuck hits with both swords, cutting it especially hard with his longsword as Brunhilde runs around the spider to get to the boy. The spider is furious now, and it bites Chuck, its great mouth nearly encircling his torso, and sharp chitinous edges slice through his leather armor. He’s badly injured, but stays on his feet as poison begins to course through his veins.
Stone punches, hitting hard, and the spider reels a bit. It no longer looks as strong, and tries to back against the wall of the cave. Goldpetal shoots and misses, grazing Miriel. His wayward arrow throws off her aim, and she misses again. Paks misses badly, hitting the ground with her sword. Chuck, looking progressively weakened, swings both swords at the spider, but now he lacks the strength to pierce its great hide.
The spider bites Chuck again, and again it wounds him severely. The Vigilant collapses, bleeding, and looks very weak. Brunhilde runs over to him, and drags him out of the fray. Paks cuts the spider again with her longsword, but Miriel misses. Goldpetal draws his scimitar and begins to work his way to the right side, looking for an opening.
Stone punches the spider, to no effect. The spider leaps on top of Stone, knocking him to the ground, and bites him as well. It’s a vicious bite, deep into the half-orc’s ribs, and he, too, collapses to the cave floor.
With the party in desperate straights, Goldpetal lets out a cry. “Denev help me!” he shouts, calling upon his Titan deity for aid, and he smites the spider with his scimitar. It is a mighty blow. The Titan smiles upon him and his scimitar penetrates deep into the spider’s head. A great spurt of ichor comes from the wound, and the spider’s collapses, its legs still twitching for a moment, as though it might try to rise, but its body remains on the cave floor.
For a brief moment there is silence as we stare at the awesome beast the tiny elf has just slain. The legs stop twitching.
“Miriel, hurry!” Brunhilde’s voice breaks the silence. “There are injured!”
Miriel runs to Chuck first, and heals him as Brunhilde tries to bind Stone’s wounds. When Miriel gets to Stone, she also calls Madriel’s healing for the half-orc, and with both of them out of immediate danger, she spends a longer time to heal them both back into reasonably good shape.
Brunhilde checks the child for poison. To no one's surprise, he is poisoned, but seems to be stable. Chuck still looks very weak from the poison as well.
Stone picks up the child and walks out. Goldpetal follows. Miriel stops at the mouth of the cave to watch the outside. Stone sees the goblins watching us from the trees outside.
Paks helps Chuck to his feet, and Chuck, Paks, and Brunhilde search the cave. A cursory search reveals only webs, junk, old bones, and the corpses of humans, and goblins. Some of the goblin corpses have been sucked dry, and are almost goblin husks over a skeleton more than anything resembling a creature.
Miriel says, “I need to rest, if we’re to make it back past those goblins.” Brunhilde agrees.
Paks and Chuck perform a more thorough search of the cave while Miriel and Brunhilde rest. Stone and Goldpetal keep a watchful eye on the goblins. Paks finds eighty pieces of gold, two violet gems, and, on one dead husk, a scroll, rolled up and tied. In a corner behind a rock, Chuck finds, under a lot of junk, a sheathed dagger. Something about it fascinates him; he pulls it out a little from its beautifully-carved sheath and it shines very brightly, illuminating most of the cave. He re-sheathes it and puts it in his pack.
We rest for the remainder of the night.
Broccli_Head
Explorer
It takes longer to catch up on the posts when you do them thrice in quick succession, but hey, I still like the story. That's the best part!
joshwitz
First Post
Thanks again for re-writing and posting our adventures, Amaroq. It's great fun to read them in your voice and remember what we did 2 years ago!
You've also reminded me how annoying Fergus was! It was like playing with Noam Chomsky: "The ratmen are obviously just oppressed peasants who live in a resource poor environment. It makes perfect rational sense that they raid the Veshian lands for resources. Desperate people do desperate things; it doesn't make them evil. The Ratmen are thinking, obviously sentient creatures, with a language and a culture of their own, yet the Veshians send out proxy 'adventurers' to ethnically cleanse the vilified 'beast-men'. Is this any different from a government organized pogrom?"
I kept wanting to shake him and say: "Dude, they are ratmen and they want to torture and eat you and resurrect their evil god of pestilence and vermin! What more do you need!"
Each session I tried to make the goblins and ratmen more and more evil so there wouldn't be this constant argument about leaving the ratmen alone. Drug and poison smuggling, slavery, kidnapping: he had a answer for everything! I couldn't believe that he walked out instead of rescuing a young boy being offered as a sacrifice to a giant spider!
Oh well. He might make a good NPC one day. Reading this again, I realize that you guys did a pretty good job in avoiding slaughtering the goblins out of hand. Morally, you guys acted better than Fergus did! I should have given you more xps for avoiding the combat.
You've also reminded me how annoying Fergus was! It was like playing with Noam Chomsky: "The ratmen are obviously just oppressed peasants who live in a resource poor environment. It makes perfect rational sense that they raid the Veshian lands for resources. Desperate people do desperate things; it doesn't make them evil. The Ratmen are thinking, obviously sentient creatures, with a language and a culture of their own, yet the Veshians send out proxy 'adventurers' to ethnically cleanse the vilified 'beast-men'. Is this any different from a government organized pogrom?"
I kept wanting to shake him and say: "Dude, they are ratmen and they want to torture and eat you and resurrect their evil god of pestilence and vermin! What more do you need!"
Each session I tried to make the goblins and ratmen more and more evil so there wouldn't be this constant argument about leaving the ratmen alone. Drug and poison smuggling, slavery, kidnapping: he had a answer for everything! I couldn't believe that he walked out instead of rescuing a young boy being offered as a sacrifice to a giant spider!
Oh well. He might make a good NPC one day. Reading this again, I realize that you guys did a pretty good job in avoiding slaughtering the goblins out of hand. Morally, you guys acted better than Fergus did! I should have given you more xps for avoiding the combat.
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