Westmist Session #20 - We're Going to Need Another Jenny (and Roth, and Barfirth, and ...)

Continuing to scout around the perimeter of the hobgoblin lair, Kern (with mule Sweet Jenny III) , Darnorth (with henchman Roth) and the two baronial guardsmen returned to Stonehell. This time they were accompanied by a purple robed and turbaned mage from distant lands by the name Salif the Stargazer. Headed to level 2 to explore around the lizard folk lair again, they were delayed for a short time by two swirling crypt shades blocking the way in the crypts.  Brushing those aside, they first went looking for the elevator that the kobolds reported was in the area. They found two rooms full of gears, chains and other mechanical bits, obviously the mechanism for the elevator. They also found a blank wall, which both Kern and Darnorth examined in great detail. They found that there was a gap around the edges of the wall, and vertical scratches seemed to indicate it moved up and down. But they were not able to find any controls.

Somewhat stymied, they resolved the rush back if they heard the rumbling sound again, and headed back to the lizardfolk lair to finish exploring that area.   First checking a bypassed door, they found a small room with a well in the centre. The clear water showed the  well to be about 10 feet deep, but when Darnorth lowered the bucket into the water, it passed right through the floor before coming to a rest after 20 feet in total. Intrigued, Kern stripped to his skivvies, tied a rope around his waist and had Darnorth and Roth lower him into the well. Passing through the illusionary bottom, he found a chest, which was pulled to the surface with the help of Darnorth and Roth. Inside they found a fair selection of gold and silver coins, which quickly ended up on Sweet Jenny’s back.  

 Heading now into lizardfolk caves, Roth ran into a trip wire which brought a deadfall of wood and ruble down on the party’s head. Shaking off the dust and binding their wounds, they noticed the two guards did not rise, and thus ended the March Baron’s contribution to their exploration. Moving forward cautiously, they passed through the cave of their previous lizardfolk battle, now cleared of bodies. Leaving the rest behind, Darnorth scouted ahead with his infravision. Poking his head around the corner, he was met by a volley of spears from a half dozen lizard men, accompanied by a huge lizard. Battle ensued, with the lizardfolk holding back and lobbing spears at the party. Salif made his contribution with a Sleep spell, which dropped about half the lizardfolk. As the party then pushed forward to engage in melee, the remaining lizardfolk awoke several of their sleeping number before falling on the intruders. It was a hard fought melee, and the lizardmen were able to get behind the party and fell the mage Salif (who was luckily saved from death by timely help from Darnorth) before being finished by the party. With barely time to recover, their breath, another band of lizardfolk attacked from behind and was defeated with some difficulty.

After binding wounds and loading the invalid Salif onto Sweet Jenny, the party continued exploration of the caves. Of note was a new mound in the room with the large mound previously discovered, which proved to be a burial mound for the lizardfolk slaughtered by the party last time.  Further exploration uncovered a few abandoned lizardfolk guard posts, what appeared to be the former quarters of the lizardfolk shaman, and a cave that opened onto a rushing underground river. This could not be examined more closely as the cave was also occupied by a large number of giant crocodiles. Slowly backing away, the party headed north towards another exit from the caves, and noted an odd buzzing sound ahead. Kern inched forward to look and saw three large flies buzzing around in the next room. After some debate, they decided to go after the buzzing vermin, only to trip a second deadfall trap as they left the caves, this one crushing Roth, Sweet Jenny, and the unfortunate Salif. With just the two of them now left, Darnorth and Kern decided the time had come to head back to Westmist.  

 After a few days of rest and recovery, Kern (with a new mule Sweet Jenny IV) and Darnorth (with a new man-at-arms Barfirth) headed back to the dungeon, this time to explore the crypts some more. Remembering the ambush after the last lizardfolk slaughter, they elected to approach the dungeon overland from the east rather than directly over the road from the south.  Arriving safely at Stonehell, they moved directly into the crypts, only to once again encounter giant shrews grazing in the main entrance chamber. Filled with a rage he didn’t understand, Darnorth charged at the rodents, which were quickly killed with support from Kern and Barfirth. That taken care of, the party head east into another area of crypts similar to those encountered to the south. Bursting into several, they fought a mix of zombies, giant rats and ghouls, and liberated a pile of gold in one room. Alas, Barfirth’s adventuring career was cut short by a zombie club, leaving Kern and Darnorth once more short of assistance and the decision was made to head back to town once more.

Too restless to rest, the two poked around town for and sights or rumors. In addition to watching the execution of a thief in the town square, they did overhear some fisherman complaining that someone was stealing tools and knives from their fishing sheds west of town.  Offering their services, Darnoth and Kern hid on a shed roof overnight, with unfortunately nothing to show for their efforts. They then paid a visit to Slate the dwavern tinkerer and engineer who had fixed up their house. Kern wanted to know if the dwarf could figure out some way to collapse the hobgoblins secret cave entrance, and then dig the party a new entrance so they could sneak in whenever they want.  Slate agreed to take the job, quoting price of 1200gp to collapse the tunnel and have his crew of dwarven diggers make a secret secondary entrance. Before work could start, however, Slate needed more information on the layout of the cave entrance as well as assurance that he and his workers would be well protected during their work (which could take a number of days to complete depending on the layout of the cave entrance).

Westmist Session #19 - Of Hobgoblins and Lizardfolk (And Impetuous Halflings)

The next day, tales of unclaimed and unguarded wealth was enough to get everyone off to Stonehell at the crack of dawn. Erijay, Kern and Turrick headed off to hopefully haul another load out of the dungeon from the treasure trove Darnorth and Erijay had discovered and plundered the day before.  Accompanied by the mule Sweet Jenny, the re-hired men-at-arms Humore and Undic, and Elineel the hench-elf, they headed straight for the treasure on the second level.  Delayed first by a band of skeletons (who unfortunately made short work of Undic and Humore, who fell dead to the spears of the undead), the party arrived back in the fighting pit and prepared to re-enter the room with the strongbox. Cautiously, Kern checked the door for noises and traps. Nothing was noted, but just as they were about head for the treasure, a squad of disciplined hobgoblin soldiers burst into the room behind them and immediately formed up to attack.  Desperate to avoid a fight at this point, Erijay quickly offered them a share of the treasure. This was enough to make them stop and think, although they were not quite ready to trust the party. While half the squad stood guard over Kern and Turrick, the other half frog-marched Erijay into the room with the treasure and had her open the chest (which she noted contained a little less gold than it did when they left it). Seeing now that at least the story of the treasure was true, the hobgoblins began to whisper themselves, discussing what to do.  This went on for some time with Erijay alternating between trying to convince them to share the treasure and let the party go, and trying to overhear what they were saying. But suddenly, the hobgoblin corporal shouted a word of command, and the squad fell on the party in the hopes of claiming all the treasure. Erijay was lucky enough to get off a Sleep spell and neutralize the hobgoblins in the room with her, and then went back to the fighting pit to help Kern and Turrick finish off the rest.

While Turrick and Erijay watched the party’s back, Kern and Elineel first tied up the sleeping hobgoblins, and then proceeded to load Sweet Jenny down with as much coin as she could carry. They then slit the throats of all but the leader of the sleeping hobgoblins, and proceeded to dump all the bodies into the now much depleted strongbox and close the lid. The last hobgoblin they stripped, bound and gagged, then shook awake. Erijay proceeded to put him under a charm, and once they cleared up some initial misunderstanding about the binding and treasure share, proceeded to question him about the hobgoblins and their plans. In short, they learned that the hobgoblins planned to take over the first two levels of the dungeon, and then use it as a base for once wing of their attack on Westmist and the rest of the lands of men. The attack from Stonehell would be the minor wing consisting of about 1200 hobgoblin troops, while the rest of the armies would cross the Great River and attack up the old Westway road. The hobgoblins were building boats and rafts at two locations (one in the ruins of Nasper, the other on the Great River more or less directly west of Stonehell) to carry this invasion force. In terms of timing, the various forces were beginning to muster with the invasion planned for the spring, all lead by the cryptically named “He Who Walks in Metal”. The party also learned that the entrances to the hobgoblin lair in Stonehell are all well fortified and defended, but that there was a back way in. The hobgoblins accidently discovered Stonehell while investigated a serious of caves in the box canyon due east of the one in which the dungeon entrance lay. This entrance was poorly guarded and still open; a fact confirmed when the captive lead the party out of the dungeon and around the hills to the cave entrance. 

Leading their new ‘friend’ back to Westmist, the party sent Rikar to inform the Baron of their success. Much to their surprise, the March Baron arrived at the house in person to question and collect the prisoner. Now much worried, but at least glad to know he had some time to prepare, the Baron asked again for any assistance the party could provide in blunting the hobgoblins plans, while he looked to marshaling troops and supplies to meet the threat in the spring. Kern, Turrick and Erijay discussed the matter, and felt that the first order of business was to head back to Stonehell to scout some more before the whole party decided what the best course of action would be.

Taking a few days to rest and recover (and to divide up the pile of treasure they had recovered), the three headed back to Stonehell again, accompanied by Elineel and Sweet Jenny, plus the 6 guardsmen previously promised by the March Baron. First, the impetuous halfling wanted to try his hand at the Wheel of Fortune. Unfortunately, his incredible luck had deserted him, and Turrick found himself paralyzed. After waiting several hours to see if it was a temporary effect, Erijay and Kern loaded the halfling onto Sweet Jenny and headed back to town to look for help. First consulting Duran the Physician, he sent them along to the Temple of the Three Virtues for divine assistance. There, Assistant Sub-Virtue Drull was able to cure the halfling of his affliction in return for a modest donation to the temple.

That taken care of, next morning they headed out for the dungeon again. This time, however, they never made it as they were caught in a lizardfolk ambush as they were moving along the old Stonehell road. Caught by a surprise volley of spears from the flanking marshes, the fight went bad from the start. Both Turrick and Erijay took multiple hits, and Elineel, Sweet Jenny, and most of the guardsmen fell under the rain of spears. Although the party was able to take out about half of the ambushing party (including the leader), things looked grim until Erijay conjured up a phantasmal red dragon in the hopes of driving off their attackers. While not exactly frightened by the dragon, the lizard folk were distracted long enough for the party to break contact and race back to town, with the lizard folk in hot pursuit. Only once within sight of the town did their pursuers turn back, and the remains of the party made it back into the safety of the town walls.

Westmist Session #18 - We Should Have Brought the Mule

With Lord Merdwyn breathing down their backs, the party prepared to head back to the dungeon right away. Given the hasty departure, only Darnoth and Erijay were prepared go at once, leaving the others behind in Westmist.  Darnorth choose to take on the eager Roth as his personal hireling, and also engaged the services of three new men-at arms (Humore, Alson, Undic) for additional muscle. And of course, Fonzi the loyal war dog accompanied his mistress once again.

Determined to locate the hobgoblin redoubt, this time the party headed straight for the second level and started exploring the area to the south of the spiral staircase. Scouting ahead of the torchbearers and using infravision, Darnorth and Erijay examined a few rooms before coming to one with an old table and chairs in the centre. The top of the table was covered with silver coins, which immediately made them suspect a trap. After much prodding around with a 10’ pole, Darnorth simply pushed the table over, only to find the coins did not come loose. Prying one off reveled they had been glued to the table top. Not interested in wasting time prying off the low value coins one by one, Darnorth and Erijay let the men-at-arms grab  a few before heading on. Darnorth, still muttering about ‘those damn coins’, carelessly stepped on a pressure plate as they left the room. This set a huge blade in motion, swinging down from the ceiling, which barely missed the dwarf’s head.  Breathing a sigh of relief, they passed next through a room full of small beetles (and several giant toads feasting on the beetles), and then encountered an iron post driven in the centre of the corridor. On top of the spike was a human skull. Written on the skull in hobgoblin were the words “Patrolled Area Ahead – 6^th Century, 9^th Cohort, Hobgoblin Occupation Army”. It would seem at last the party had found their hobgoblins.

 With Erijay and Darnorth again scouting ahead, the party explored a series of rooms, pumped some kobolds for information and fought a handful of giant spitting beetles, before finally coming to a locked door. This door was unusual as it was quite new, the fresh cut timber still oozing sap. Listening carefully, Erijay could hear hobgoblin voices on the other side. Now putting their plan into play, Erijay drank the potion of gaseous form provided by Turrick, and in her incorporeal form slipped under the door. On the other side she found a hobgoblin guardroom with 3 hobgoblins playing dice and complaining as only bored soldiers can. Listening for awhile, she heard a lot about how much easier it was here in Stonehell than with the armies in the field, that the raptor corps wasn’t such a hot posting after all, and learned that reinforcements were expected in Stonehell in the coming weeks.  Moving deeper into the hobgoblin lair, Erijay explored a dining and kitchen area, infirmary, mountain lions and hobgoblin handler, and a curious room with a white tiled floor and two glass and crystal spheres in the corners, before ending up in another guardroom similar to the first. Fearing now that the potions’ effects may soon wear off, Erijay headed back to the door where Darnorth and the rest of the party waited. Along the way she noted a corridor heading north from the tiled room, blocked off with rubble. She also noted that the new door was firmly barred from the inside, which would have made entry by conventional means very difficult.

Loaded with information, but with just Darnorth’s single silver coin and a few coppers to show in treasure, they decided to explore a little further. Going east to fill in some blank spaces on the map, they encounter a room with three kobold corpses. Immediately suspicious, Darnorth looked up just in time to see 2 giant crab spiders descend and attack. These were dispatched with relative ease, but not before the brave Fonzi fell to their venom. Heading back to the west, they party followed a twisted corridor ending at a set of double doors. Listening, Erijay heard a hissing sound on the other side. Warned of trouble, the party bust into what looked like a gladiatorial fighting pit, now occupied by a mass of pit vipers. Whipping out blades, the group attacked and killed one snake.  This frightened the rest, who slithered away below one of the other doors in the room, but not before the man-at-arms Alson fell to their fangs.

 Although time was running late, Darnorth and Erijay decided to check one more room. Choosing the door opposite the one under which the pit vipers fled, they found a disused bedroom with walls covered crumbling broadsheets advertising pit fights from days gone by.  Before they could explore, a pair of shadowy figures descended on them, and a short but furious fight ensued. Luckily the party escaped with minor harm, except Erijay who temporarily found her strength drained by the touch of the beings. Now taking time to look around, the party noted that apart from some standard furniture, the most notable feature of the room was the massive strongbox against the far wall. This was latched and not locked, but Darnorth noted the lid was covered in a suspicious sticky substance. Assuming it was poisoned, Erijay used her 10’ pole to lift the lid, revealing literal ton of silver, gold, electrum, jewelry, potions and scrolls.  Once over the initial shock, everyone starts stuffing the most valuable pieces in sacks, backpacks, and pockets until they could hold no more. Carefully closing the lid again, they left a note on the chest saying “Danger – Deadly Poison!” and then proceeded to slowly crawl out of the dungeon, burdened by all their treasure. With uncanny luck, they made it back to the surface without incident and then headed back into Westmist with their loot. Cashing everything in, they ended up with almost 9000gp, plus a scroll of Ward vs Undead and three potions (Sweet Water, Clairvoyance, Human Control). Stunned by the amount of treasure, they almost forgot to report their findings on the hobgoblins to the Baron. Lord Merdwyn thanked them for the information and their effort, and asked that they again head into the dungeon to blunt that wing of the hobgoblin attack. And although short on men himself, he offered a squad of his own soldiers to accompany the partly next time.

Westmist Session #17 - Lizardfolk

With Turrick still in bed recovering from rat bite fever, Kern, Darnorth, Riley and Erijay headed back to Stonehell to search once more for signs of hobgoblins. They also brought along a small entourage consisting of the men-at-arms Roth, Hengest and Guy, the cleric Yar, and the war dogs Ruffee and Fonzi. And of course the faithful mule Sweet Jenny, who seemed almost eager to enter the depths once more. Before heading back to the crypts to search for stairs down, the party stopped to question Rocky the Oracular Head to gather more information.  From the stone head they learned the closest stairs down were in the far northeast corner of the crypts, that the best way to help him was to find his brother, and engaged in a rather philosophical discussion of the relative nature of large and small. None of which was particularly helpful.

Back in the crypts, they party headed south again to continue the explorations started on their last visit. Breaking open several new crypts, they encountered a handful of zombies and skeletons that were quickly eliminated.  In the next crypt, however, they encounter a greater challenge and mystery. Two roughly humanoid forms, made of swirling dust, rotted linens, bones chips and shadows, rose from the debris strewn floor to attack. Alas, poor Yar fell quickly, battered to death by grave detritus when she was engulfed by one of the creatures. The rest of the party finished off the frightful being, but did find many of their attacks were less than effective against the partly incorporeal things. Only Erijay with her magical battleaxe was able to strike telling blows.

Coming to the end of the crypts, the party discovered a spiral stairway going down. Descending, they noted a faint marshy smell, and on reaching the bottom of the stairs observed that this area of the dungeon was quite damp, with a feeling of oppressive moisture in the air. Undaunted, they first explored an octagonal room, with a pillar covered in snake carving in the middle. After Kern had prudently checked for traps, the party approached so Darnorth could use his dwarven eye to examine the stonework closer, discovering the remains of a stone snake statue on top of the pillar.  Finding nothing further of interest, they headed east. Before going too far, they were startled by a low rumbling sound that made the floors shake, and caused dust and small debris to fall from the ceiling. After a minute or so, they rumble stopped.  The party then moved on to a room whose walls were covered in crude pictographs of lizards-like humanoids, while in the room itself was a series of totem poles festooned in feathers, skulls, bits of glass and stone.

After quickly checking out an old guardroom, the party continued east, soon coming to an area of natural, unworked stone. Here, the floor was covered in a thick layer of mud, in which the clawed tracks of some unknown creatures could be seen. Boldly, they pushed on to reach a small natural cavern, where they were immediately set upon by a band of lizardfolk that stood guarding the way.  Giving the party no time to talk, the lizardfolk attacked, and were slain with relative ease. Moving across the room, the party was surprised by another band of lizardfolk. This group made short work of the men-at-arms Guy and Hengest, and left a mark on the rest of the party, before being added to the lizardfolk charnel house on the floor.  Exiting the other side of the room, the party was one more beset by lizardfolk, getting caught in a narrow tunnel by their scaly foes. These were supported by what appeared to be their tribal shaman, who quickly took out both of the party’s spell casters with well placed hold (Riley) and silence (Erijay) spells. At the same time, the lizardfolk warriors laid blow after blow on Erijay and Darnorth in the front rank, both of whom were now facing death. While Kern provided cover with his crossbow, Darnorth used his boots of levitation to rise above the fray and retreat. Erijay, barely avoiding a death blow, backed away on foot and the two war dogs Ruffee and Fonzi were sent forward to cover the retreat. Darnoth and Erijay joined Kern with their missile weapons while the dogs held the attacking lizardfolk in the narrow corridor.  There ensued a close fight, with the dogs biting into their foes, and the three crossbow wielding archers (with Erijay getting double attacks thanks to a potion of speed ) picked off the enemy ranks one by one. The party prevailed, with their only loss being the brave Ruffee.

 Sifting through the now gore covered floor, Darnorth discovered a fine longsward clutched in the hand of one of the fallen lizardfolk, while the others recovered a few bits of jewelry from the bodies. Now very cautious, the party moved forward again, sending Kern ahead to scout in silence. He found the narrow tunnels continuing in several directions, while the rest of the party discovered a larger chamber with a tall mud mound. The mound had a small door covered in a hide flap, which Darnorth pushed aside as he entered the dark interior. Inside, the iron stomached dwarf encountered a horrific smell that almost brought up his lunch, as well as finding a room with reed mats and a variety of totems and medicine bags scattered throughout.  

While Kern was eager to push on, the party elected to head back to town, given their rather battered condition. Loading their treasure and their dead on Sweet Jenny, they encountered a band of kobold workers on the way out, who provided more information in rerun for a square meal of ‘surface’ food. They learned a little more about the hobgoblins, including their general location and their mainly antagonistic relationship with the rest of the dungeon inhabitants. The kobolds also revealed that the rumbling sound head earlier was the sound of an elevator room that connects this level to the levels below, a room the party has passed close to earlier in their exploration.

Back in town, the party restocked crossbow bolts, while Darnorth found that his new sward was magical. They also had a visit from one of the Baron’s lieutenants, who was rather underwhelmed to find the party hadn’t actually seen a hobgoblin yet, let alone gather and useful intelligence. While the charismatic dwarf did his best to put a brave face on their expedition, Lord Merdwyn was not amused.