Game log for 26 April 2015

Dramatis personae:

Mayhem, pint-sized human barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (Chris)
Caleb, human wizard of the Order of the Sun (Chris)
Yémos, human cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic (Eric)
Anêr, human swashbuckler (Eric)

Introducenda:

Kipóssibēl, aka Kim, human thief (John)

Comitans:

Kúflaug, orc slave (NPC)

Quid occurrit:

The night of the 24th saw the death of Gáddurub, the orc slave who pulled up the rope and fled, on the pendulum. The weather was bad for two days, so the gang stayed back and helped Likháfrikh with his scaffolding. On the morning of the 27th of Blôs of 2852, while a morning rain shower was happening, Kipóssibēl, aka Kim, a skinny woman from Mīstássun, showed up. She said the company had hired her to help the gang look in the mines.

No, nobody knew how the folks at Mīstássun knew about the dungeon, four days after finding it. It took about that much time to get to the mines.

Regardless, the gang, now with Kim, went went down into the dungeon again, taking along Kúflaug. Kim checked for hidden doors in the rooms filled with bat guano. She also checked down the dead-end hallway. While she thought the wall might be thinner at the end than along the sides, she didn't find a hidden door. They also ran into the lizard men again in the same room, who hissed them away. Were they the same lizard men? Nobody knew.

When the gang came back to the main room, it found four hobgoblins with morning stars and longbows ready to fight. The two hobgoblins, one with a mole on his face and another bigger than the others, let loose arrows at Mayhem, but missed him wholly. The other two, one shorter than the others and one with dark rings under his eyes, started to move towards the heroes. He moved slowly, lest he slip on the bat shit on the floor.

Yémos cast Shield 3 on Anêr, who then slowly moved towards the oncoming hobgoblins. Mayhem also moved nearer, while both Kúflaug and Kim stood stunned. The hobgoblin archers reloaded while the other two came nearer.

Caleb stepped forward and cast a Sunbolt, while Anêr kept moving nearer. Mayhem got near the short hobgoblin, and planted his axe in the hobgoblin's side. The hobgoblin fell down, bleeding to death, and his blood mixed with the bat shit on the floor. Kim came to her wits and started to go near the hobgoblins, who turned around and moved towards the door. Caleb let loose his Sunbolt at a fleeing hobgoblin, but he missed, and the hobgoblins ran down the hall.

Anêr took the limb armor from the fallen hobgoblin while Kim took the longbow and eight arrows. Other than armor and weapons, the hobgoblin had a whopping 3 copper farthings. After getting used to the smell of bat shit on Anêr's new armor, the gang went down the hall.

Kim found that someone had reset the spear trap in the corner, then she listened at the door where the others had fought the hobgoblins with Likháfrikh. She heard nothing, so they opened the door, and found the hobgoblins who had fled a few minutes before. The gang offered to let the hobgoblins surrender; the hobgoblins, with Kúflaug as interpreter, said they didn't want to go back into slavery. As none wanted hobgoblins at their back, Caleb cast Blast Ball at the hobgoblins in the corner. They lived, but now they joined the battle.

Yémos cast Shield 3 on Anêr, and Anêr, Kúflaug, and Mayhem stepped into the room. Kipóssibēl looked down the hall, and saw four big flying birds: striges. She started knocking an arrow and aiming, while the two hobgoblin archers let arrows fly at Kúflaug, one hitting him in the shoulder. The third crept forward towards the heroes.

Yémos cast Shield 3 again, this time on Kim, while Caleb got a Sunbolt ready. Anêr stepped forward, ready for the hobgoblin, while Kúflaug, stung, stepped back. Both sides moved towards each other and got their arrows ready, while Kim watched the striges come nearer. Caleb let his Sunbolt at one of the archers, who reeled from the hit, but still stood.

Kim at last let loose her arrow, but missed the strix.

Back in the room, Mayhem made it into striking range of the hobgoblin with dark rings under his eyes, and swung, but the hobgoblin flicked away Mayhem's axe with his morningstar. Caleb conjured up a Fireball, while Anêr let loose two pokes at the hobgoblin. The hobgoblin swatted away Anêr's first thrust, but not his second, and slouched to the ground, dead.

Now the striges flew at Kim's chest, but either missed, or her armor stopped their over-big noses. Kim  dropped her bow and started to grab her shortsword, while Mayhem rushed the two hobgoblin archers. He missed, but they dropped their weapons. Going back to slavery was better than death.

The gang did nothing to bind the hobgoblins, but instead bade them to go into the hallway. There, the striges were turning around for another pass at Kim, who got her sword on the body of one of the striges. Caleb lobbed his Fireball at a strix, but he missed, and three striges tried to get through Kim's armor again, and failed.

Kim missed one of the striges right before her, while the hobgoblins made it out into the hall. There, the four striges flew towards the faces of Kim, Yémos, and the two hobgoblins. (While not intelligent, the striges found out that the fleshy faces might be nearer to the blood than the flesh of the dead cows that stopped their stingers.) Kim and one of the hobgoblins swatted away the striges, while the other two stung Yémos and big hobgoblin in the face and started sucking.

Yémos tried to knock the strix off him with his staff, but couldn't get it off, but the big hobgoblin smacked the strix in his cheek with his hand. Anêr deftly poked his rapier into the strix on the hobgoblin, killing it, while Kim slashed one of the striges flying free, killing it. (It was the one she had hit before.)

The last free strix flew away, while Yémos at last jabbed the end of his staff into the strix in his face. Anêr gave it a poke, killing it.

Now, it was Yémos's turn to take the armor of a dead hobgoblin, and this one didn't smell like bat shit. (It did smell like a hobgoblin, however.) The gang started down the hall, and before the left turn, Kim found the hidden door in the left side. They opened it, and saw the lizard men. Before the stunned lizard men could do anything, the gang jammed the door shut.

Res aliae:

I had to take off about an hour early since my wife was texting me to come meet her and our daughters at Southdale, a big mall in Minneapolis, though (obviously) not the biggest one.

John is a veteran of Pathfinder and pre-3rd D&D, but had some questions about the GURPS character sheet. So Kim isn't quite done, but we know she's a cat burglar who likes to tip the bottle. Incidentally, her introduction to the others brought out a lack of physical descriptions, other than for Mayhem.

I gave out three character points. I decided to use Basic Roleplaying-style advancement for Kúflaug, who didn't hit anything and had a rotten morale check (17) after taking an arrow. Luckily, they didn't need him much.