Game log for 15 February 2015

Dramatis personae:

Anêr, a human swashbuckler
Caleb, a human wizard of the Order of the Sun
Mayhem, a short human barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan
Yémos, a cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic

With them is Kúflaug, an orc slave to whom they have given a halberd

Quid occurrit:

24th Blôs, Mid-afternoon

Down in the dungeon, the gang told Kúflaug to chop open the stuck door, which he did As he did so, they could hear drums pounding from afar, away and maybe down. Once the door was chopped, they stepped into the room, and no sooner did they do so then saw a mass of writhing red centipedes. Anêr told Caleb to burn them, but everyone got his whacks on the centipedes before Caleb could get his spell off, with Yémos ending the last one with a stomp. Then they looked around the room, and saw the blood splotches and the dead centipedes that had already been there.

After checking the rubble in the room, which also looked like it had been a statue, they walked over to the door on the other side. This door opened easily, and behind it were four lizard men were there. Two were standing guard and watching the heroes open the door, and one was healing the wounds of a fourth. Taken aback, Yémos said, “Hail and well met.” The lizard men hissed and made some odd noises at the heroes. Taking a hint, Yémos shut the door. As they walked away, Mayhem listened, and could still hear some faint drumming from afar, down a bit.

They went down a hallway, and turned a few corners before seeing a hobgoblin sleeping in yet another corner. Yémos cast Silence on the guard, then they turned the corner and found a door. They easily opened the door, and Yémos, Mayhem, and Kuflaug were surprised at the six surprised hobgoblins.

Anêr, however, was not surprised, and he stepped into the room and poked a hobgoblin, giving him pain. Caleb lobbed Blast Ball into a corner, and burnt all the hobgoblins, dropping one to the floor in pain, as well as singing himself. Anêr got out of the way, and stabbed the hobgoblin in front of him twice.

No, not THAT Hobgoblin.

Kúflaug stood agape, while Mayhem rushed into the room and took a mad swing at one of the hobgoblins. It was a good blow, as it killed the hobgoblin. One of the hobgoblins snapped aware. He moved and held his ground near Mayhem. Yémos then woke up, and moved in to try to cast Shield on Mayhem, but his spell fizzled. Caleb, still smarting from his own spell, stood his ground. 

Anêr took another two quick stabs at the hobgoblin nearest him, killing him, while Kúflaug snapped aware and rushed into the room. Mayhem swung at the hobgoblin standing tough near him, but the hobgoblin’s axe caught Mayhem’s. The hobgoblin then put his axe in Mayhem’s body. Ouch! Another hobgoblin sprang to battle, and stepped and missed Mayhem, while the hobgoblin down in the corner started to stand.

The spellcasters did their work this time, as Yémos cast Shield on Mayhem, while Caleb shot a Sunbolt at a stunned hobgoblin, killing him. Anêr and Kúflaug missed their blows, while Mayhem swung and dropped his axe. 

Dropping one’s axe was catchy. The hobgoblins threw down their axes and said, “No kill!"

Yémos asked for whom they worked. One said, “Minotaur King.” Yémos asked if the Minotaur King was leading the slave rebellion. The hobgoblin said, “The Minotaur King is our leader!” The gang looted 50 copper farthings off the hobgoblins, both dead and alive, but could not find any rope. Yémos asked the hobgoblin if there were another way out, and he said no. The gang woke the sleeping guard and bade him to drop his morningstar and go with them. He did so.

They went back to the well. After Anêr had a short fall, he made it to the top, found the old rope, tied it to the stake, and threw it down. Everyone made it up after two hours down. The gang tried to learn whether the hobgoblins were slaves, and Kúflaug pointed to the slave brands on the backs of their hands.

They brought the hobgoblins to Péllē and asked for a bounty. First, Péllē said they had to disarm Kúflaug. Now that he was free of arms, she tried to give them 25 silver pennies for the four, and asked the heroes to keep things quiet. Yémos asked for more. Péllē then said 500 silver pennies, but would have to clear it with her higher-ups in Mīstássun, and it would take two moon phases (16 days) to hear from there. Yémos agreed. Péllē agreed to ladder by the pit, but it had to be a rope ladder, and said she would have the whole area cordoned off and have one guard by the pit.

They took the halberd to Likháfrikh, the dwarf engineer, who was in the mess shack. He said it looked from an older time before bragging about making the scaffolding in the fore-room of the mine four years ago, and said it had made it through two slave rebellions. He also said that the overseers were going to execute Gáddurub, the orc who had fled. Then the camp baker set out some food. Yémos thought she was eavesdropping. Likháfrikh said he wanted to go into the mines and see the architecture for himself to see how old it was.

That night, there was a big storm at midnight. The weather the next day was otherwise pleasant. Likháfrikh and Kúflaug were going with them. Both had axes, and the baker gave everyone a meal’s rations. Likháfrikh showed off the scaffolding, and jumped on it. He installed the rope ladder by the hole, which had no guard, and showed them how to use it and how to get it down with a grappling hook. They went down.

These weren't quite so blocky.

They walked through the big hall and past the columns. Likháfrikh said the architecture was older than he was. When they got to end of the main hall with the wrecked statue, they saw the lizard men afore that statue. Kúflaug said these were the same lizard men as the day before. Yémos gestured that the heroes wanted to go into room where the lizard men had been the day before, but the lizard men hissed at him and waved their clubs.

The gang went down the dead end hallway and Likháfrikh found no secret doors. So they went down the other hallway, but as they turned the corner on the other side from where they saw the sleeping guard, two spears shot out of the wall. Anêr dodged, but Likháfrikh took a spear to his back. Yémos cast Minor Healing on Likháfrikh, who then disabled the trap tied to a tile next to some old lizard man scales in the dust.

The gang went down the hallway which, after a turn, Likháfrikh said it was getting lower. After a long stretch of about 150 to 200 ft., the hallway turned, then went downstairs. Going down the stairs, they found themselves in a big cavern with a big pile of rubble in the middle of the floor. In the ceiling was there was a big chasm. They looked in the rubble, and found rats who screeched.

They went down hallway in the wall opposite the stairs, and found themselves in a room with a lot of rubble. At the other end of the room, there were double doors, which a hobgoblin guarded. The guard yelled at the gang to go back, then barked something in Goblin and opened the door.

End of session.

Res aliae:

Time kept us from a big fight with many hobgoblins.

I'm updating my documents to handle an urban crawl as well. Since they won't be back at civilization for months of real time, I'm in no rush, Justin Alexander's series inspired me.