Session 2 The Goblin and Hobgoblin Caves.

Session 2 July 31, 2007
The Goblin and Hobgoblin Caves.
DM (Ben)

Players
Tayschrenn (Jeff) Male Elf War Blade-1
Brizza (Brandon) Female Elf Scout-1
Estonia (Brendan) Female Dwarf Rogue-1
Lucky (Mark) Male Human Rogue-1
Vesaes (Mike) Male Gnome Artificer-1
Prechrysler (Steve) Male Human Wizard-1

Try as we might the creatures on the other side of the door will not open the door. We turned around and went back to the room with the two doors that looked like mouths of demons. We chose the left-hand door as you enter the room. The passageway beyond the door lead to a set of ten stairs heading upward. Beyond the stairs and down a short hallway was another set of demon teeth facing the other way and a small room. Vesaes acted first and fired a crossbow into the room killing a goblin. Brizza shot a different goblin as Vesaes shot another crossbow bolt into a third goblin hiding behind a table. Tayschrenn and me charged into the room as Lucky fired a shot wildly at the now aware goblins. Both Tayschrenn and me missed our attacks unfortunately the goblin didn’t miss his attack towards me. Brizza shot and killed the exposed goblin as Tayschrenn charged the goblins behind the table killing it with one hit. In the room we found six more barrels of spices. Not know how we were going to get all the goods back to town we devised a plan. We took all the dead bodies outside and hide them next we took all the weapons and armor and hide them up on the cliff were the hobgoblin was firing arrows from. We then had Vesaes use his prestidigitation spell to clean up all the blood on the floors. The last step was for the six of us to carry the nine barrels of spices back to town where we would buy a wagon and come back to the caves and gather up the rest of the weapons, armor and supplies that were left behind.
We arrived back into town several hours after dark. We made our way to Chicane Guild were we ran into some of the guards we knew. They let us in to see Venta. She was pleased with the return of the spices, but she thought there should still be more barrels of spices to be found. Venta agreed to pay us the 200 gold each as long as we bring all barrels of spices we find in the future to her as well. With money in hand I repaid Vesaes the 2 gold I promised and we all went back to the Sly Wink and got some sleep.

The next day I met a gnome on Pios way named Wells the Kindly Orally. He was willing to heal me for free. It accepted and donated 5 gold to his cause. When I found the rest of the guys they had all purchased potion of healing from a merchant. I had them show me his shop and I purchased one for myself. With a good word from Venta we were able to buy a wagon for half price although the two mules cost us full price. Lucky bought himself a new horse, saddle and saddlebags with his reward money. We turned in early that night so we could get up at 5:00 and head back to the caves.

We loaded up the wagon with the five of us as Lucky lead the way on his new horse. The trip was much quicker this time with the horse and wagon. We arrived at the cave opening and left Lucky’s horse and the wagon out front. We figured they were safe since we didn’t planning on letting anything living leave the caves. We did notice that the bodies we hid in the woods had been found. That can’t be good. Down the steep slope and into the first room we were greeted by three goblins. Brizza fired the first shot wildly towards the goblins as Prechrysler knocked one of them out with a sleep spell. Tayschrenn changed and hit one of the goblins as I moved into the room. Vesaes started a spell and Lucky struck a goblin with a shot from his crossbow. I believe that was the first time he ever hit a creature with his crossbow. The goblins threw javelins and I saw one strike Brizza. Tayschrenn finished off his goblin as Vesaes with his spell enhanced crossbow plugged a goblin killing it instantly. I step over and finished off the unconscious goblin. Searching the room we found the hidden armor and weapons were gone and it looked like the goblins were wearing some of the stolen armor. The next room with the three exits looked the same and the loot they took from all the caravans were still sitting around. I estimated there to be about 500 pounds of goods in that room. The next room through the demon mouth was filled with about another 800 pounds of goods and the missing weapon and armor we had hidden. From this room we headed out the only exit across a bridge over a deep chasm. We looked around and didn’t find any inhabitants. The path across the bridge headed left and right. As usual we went left. Heading left we came across a ledge and a ladder. At the bottom of the ledge was a large insect with huge pincers. We all lined up over looking the cliff and prepared to fire our missile weapons. Just before we attacked the elves thought they heard some kind of scurrying coming our way. Tayschrenn, who won’t use missile weapons, and Prechrysler prepared for what sounded like rats. The rest of us fired shots at the insect. I was the only one who hit with the first volley. Tayschrenn yelled out that the rats weren’t coming down the hall, but climbing out of the deep chasm behind most of us. By the time Tayschrenn let us know the rats were pouring over the edge and attacking the group. I believe both Tayschrenn and Vesaes both bitten in the initial barrage. Prechrysler fired a perfectly aimed Color Spray knocking out two rats. The insectoid took advantage of the rat distraction and fired an acid blast hitting Brizza. The insect then burrowed into the side of cliff right beneath us. In the confusion that followed we all missed our attacks except Lucky who grazed a rat with his dagger. One of the rats bit Prechrysler, but the rest of the rats couldn’t bite any of the rest of us. Brizza fearing for her life pulled out a potion and drank the healing elixir. The next flurry of attacks favored us. Vesaes and Lucky attacked and killed rats although at least one rat bit Lucky. That’s when all hell broke loose. The insect burst from the ground and grabbed Lucky with it pincers. Lucky immediately lost consciousness and went limp. Sensing the insect wasn’t paying me any attention a hit the creature with my long sword sinking the weapon deep into its underbelly. The creature dropped Lucky and slumped over. The rats didn’t fair much better Brizza, Tayschrenn and Prechrysler each killed another rat and Vesaes damaged a fourth. I moved over to Lucky and poured my potion of healing down hit throat. Although he was still unconscious he appeared to have stabilized. Behind me I heard Brizza get bitten by another rat. Vesaes appeared next to me and tried casting a scroll of healing, but it didn’t look like it worked. Prechrysler, Brizza and Tayschrenn finished off the final two rats as we cared for Lucky. Some one produced another potion of healing and we fed it to Lucky. He regained consciousness and stood up. We decided this might be a good time gather the goods, fill the wagons, and head back to the city.

The wagon was fully loaded and Lucky’s horse was packed as well. We began the long trek back to the city. Upon reaching the city Lucky and myself headed out to sell our treasure we had claimed. First stop was our guild who paid us 130 gold for the caravan goods we recovered. Second stop was Durrik’s Blades. Durrik’s Blades was run by a dwarf. I turned on my charm and flirted with him and found his interests are with masterwork and magical items, preferably weapons. I bid him farewell and a left him with a smile. Third stop was an armory, of sorts, run by a human named John Bowes. He was interested in any metal armor we carried and paid us very well for the half-plate, breastplates and heavy steel shields. The final stop was Sumberton Surplus run by a prejudicial human named Edgar Ives. He purchased the good “for our types” from Lucky. He didn’t give me a second thought. He did pay a descent price of our remaining items. We returned to the Sly Wink and split the wealth up among the group. Vesaes said he would need a couple of days and he could make us some healing potions. Sounded good to me we aren’t on any kind of time table so might as well spend some of our new money and enjoy ourselves.

Quotes:
[Lucky explaining his intentions]
{Lucky} I’m going up in there.

[When we realized that the wagon might not hold all the treasure]
{Lucky} My horse is not a pack mule
{Brizza and Estonia at the same time} It is now.

[During the course of fighting the rats]
{Tayschrenn} Attack the sleeping rat.
{Prechrysler} Where?
{Tayschrenn} There’s a rat between her (Estonia) legs.
{Estonia} That’s not a rat it’s a beaver.

Session 1 First Assignment for the Chicane Guild

Session 1 July 24, 2007
First Assignment for the Chicane Guild.
DM (Ben)

Players
Tayschren (Jeff) Male Elf War Blade-1
Brizza (Brandon) Female Elf Scout-1
Estonia (Brendan) Female Dwarf Rogue-1
Lucky (Mark) Male Human Rogue-1
Vesaes (Mike) Male Gnome Artificer-1
Prechrysler (Steve) Male Human Wizard-1

I met with my boss this morning. Venta Arctinsel informed me that my debt has been worked off. This was welcome news. She asked if I would be willing do another job for her before I leave. I told her I might be interested. Her reply was “Good, meet me tonight in the Sly Wink”. It’s not that I’m interested, but I don’t have any money whatsoever. Venta has treated me well, but I don’t entirely trust her. I arrived at The Sly Wink and was surprised to see Tayschrenn, Brizza, Lucky, Prechrysler and Vesaes. We had had a few drinks together at the Sky Wink before, but we always planed it out ahead of time. Talking to the others I found out that they were invited by Venta to be here tonight as well. I also discovered all of us had worked off their debt to the Chicane Guild just recently. Something doesn’t make feel right about that, but I can’t put my finger on it yet. Venta arrived and invited us all into one of the nice private booths in the back of the bar. Venta ordered Sumberton Spice Ale for all of us. She then went on to explain, “The Chicane Guild has a large order for spices needed for Spice Ale we need to ship out right away. Unfortunately our latest shipment was attacked and taken by a group of hobgoblin and goblin bandits south of Sumberton. The shipment consisted of spices for the spiced ale and fruit. She offered us 200gp each for the return of the spices and fruit. We asked how she knew that it was hobgoblins and goblins that attacked the caravan. She said, “One of the teamsters, Wallace, escaped and told of the attack.” We asked if we could take to him and we were told he was sent down river. She then asked us if we would take the job. We all agreed. Two things bothered me. One, if Wallace was a witness wouldn’t it be good for us to be able to talk to him for information like how many hobgoblins and goblins there were what was their tactics etc. Secondly, she was willing to pay 200 gold pieces each for some spices and fruit. That’s 1200 gold total! I can’t imagine the spices are worth that much and the fruit will probably have gone bad or been eaten before we can return.

I convince the group to meet up at 4:00 in the morning so we could get to the scene of the attack sometime in the morning. The road, which is usually well traveled, was completely empty. We didn’t pass a single caravan coming from the south. We found the sight of the attack there was a broken wagon and some blood just off to the side of the road. We looked around and found some tracks heading west further into the hills. The tracks were easy to follow and we traveled a couple of miles until we found a cave heading down into the darkness. The cave was more of a tunnel angling downward at almost a 45-degree angle. Down the middle of the tunnel was a rope to prevent slipping and falling to the bottom of the tunnel. The room at the bottom of the tunnel contained a bail of hay with arrows sticking out of it, four pillars and three hobgoblins. Tayschrenn and me ran into the room toward the two hobgoblins in heavy armor. Tayschrenn ran lots fast with those long legs of his and caught the hobgoblin unaware with his “thin” blade. I heard Brizza fire an arrow at the third hobgoblin up on the ledge. Prechrysler launched a magic missile at the hobgoblin on the ledge. Vesaes cast some kind of spell on my long sword he said it would help against the hobgoblins. I caught up to Tayschrenn and helped attack the hobgoblin he had already hit. They were wearing so much armor they were extremely hard to hit. Neither of us could hit the damn hobgoblin, but the hobgoblin on the ledge didn’t have any problems. His first arrow struck Tayschrenn and his second arrow hit me. Tayschrenn and me couldn’t worry about the hobgoblin on the ledge we had to kill the two we were engaged in combat with. I heard Brizza give an excited cry as his arrows struck the hobgoblin on the ledge. Even thought Brizza hit the hobgoblin it was stick firing towards Tayschrenn and myself. Tayschrenn was hit a second time by the bow-using hobgoblin. Prechrysler targeted the hobgoblins we were fighting with a color spray spell and the unwound hobgoblin collapsed. That was the advantage we needed, Tayschrenn and me surrounded the wounded hobgoblin and when he wasn’t paying attention I stabbed him with my long sword dropping him in a bloody heap. I had just enough time to glance over and see Brizza hit the bow-using hobgoblin with an arrow dropping him. Tayschrenn and me ran over to the sleeping hobgoblin and I delivered the killing shot. Looting the bodies we found, in addition to the armor and weapons, three potions with labels written in hobgoblin. Brizza translated them as “For emergency use only”. Guessing they were potions of healing Tayschrenn drank the first one. When I saw that he looked healed after drinking the potion I drank the second one and felt fully healed. The third potion we gave to Tayschrenn to use at a later time. The only way to go was through the double doors across from where we entered the room. We checked and opened the door and found a room filled with stolen merchandise and three goblins. Brizza whizzed a shot at one goblin as Vesaes fired at another. Vesaes dropped his and Brizza missed hers. Tayschrenn and I each went for the last two goblins. I hit and killed mine as Tayschrenn hit and killed his. Among the loot the goblins had collected we found three barrels of spices and 150 silver pieces. The room had three exits two of which went through demonic looking mouths and the third was a set of double doors. We checked and opened the double doors the room was empty except for another pair of double doors across the room. Checking the room we found a swinging blade trap. I disarmed the trap, but found the double doors were locked from the other side. We could hear voices in goblin, but they wouldn’t open the door no matter what we tried.

Quotes:
[When asked if we could talk to Wallace the lone survivor of the attack]
{DM} Wallace was sent down river.
{Estonia} That’s what happens when you fail they “send you down river”, floating face down.

My new beginnings

I think I’m free. It’s almost a month and I haven’t seen any sign that my father or his hired thugs. I’m sure they are looking for me. I doubt he would recognize me now anyways. I have been working for the Chicane Guild. It’s a transportation merchant’s guild that will hire just about anyone. The Chicane Guild is who I hired on with for passage to the new world. I’m sure they over charged me, but I didn’t care. I signed the contract and became an indenture servant. Once we reached shore of the new world I volunteered for the first job that took me out of the port city. They pay fairly well and the foods not too terrible. I arrived in Sumberton and was assigned to guard duty with a bunch of other indentured workers. It seems they are all from the old country as well. Lucky and Prechrysler are both humans. Tayschrenn is elven, but you wouldn’t know it since he wears a mask all the time. Brizza is also elven and the only other female in the group. The last member of our troupe is Vesaes an older gnome. I was the last to join the group, although they haven’t been together for all that long. I have been volunteering to take extra duty to work off my debt as fast as possible. Don’t want to be associated with a merchant guild for too long lest my father find me again. All I want is to be a free woman.

Estonia's Background

To say I’m angry at the world might be taking it a little too far. To say I hate father would be an understatement. As a child growing up I believed the love from my father was unconditional, without limits. My father took me everywhere with him. I was shown the world and I could do what ever I wanted. My father was a successful dwarven merchant and he provided me with anything I wanted, or thought I wanted. Together we traveled the lands always on the move. It would be years before we returned to a city. We were always on the road. I thought this was normal. The only people I ever met were the merchants and their families with which my father traded. I would occasional get to play with other children, but being a female dwarf some of the children were scared of me and others would just ignored me. As such I never had any friends, but I always had my father.

My father Ragnar Kralik was a well-known and shrewd trader. I would sometimes sneak up and listen to my father negotiate the better deal. Ragnar was a smooth talker and could convince just about anyone that they were getting the better end of the deal. Ragnar traded just about anything he thought he might be able to trade for a profit somewhere down the road. He never let me see the merchant wagon or the goods since we usually traveled a day or two ahead of the caravan. The only time I ever heard what he was selling were the times I snuck in and listened to my father and the other merchant discuss the products. When I was young I didn’t understand what they were real talking about they seemed to have their own language for some of the items they were selling.

As they years went by my father never talked about our dwarven homeland or my mother. I would ask and he would tell me “I’m all the family you will ever need.” or “That all in the past, we only look to the future.” After a while I just quit asking him, but I never stopped wondering. When I was thirty-eight years old I was listening in on one of my fathers trade discussions I heard the merchant mention that he was interested in acquiring some slaves. I was shocked and appalled that my father would deal in such a terrible commodity. For several months I would listen to the trade talks and learned that my father traded slaves with some regularity. My world began crashing around me. I didn’t know what to do, but somehow I knew slavery was bad. It all came down to the fateful day when I finally confronted my father. He didn’t deny it, but claimed that it was only a small part of his business. He told me if I would like he would stop selling slaves. I was happy I did something good and maybe some people would be free because of my actions.
The months seemed to flow by and all seemed well. I had listened to my father trade talks and it seemed he had stopped in the slave trade. I thought all was going good until one day when we were trading with another dwarven merchant. I just happened to listen in on the trade that day. What I heard shocked me even more than slave trade. My father was trading me. He was negotiating with this dwarf for my marriage to him for a large sum of money. This couldn’t be happening to me. I panic and grabbed some cloths I had and ran away. I didn’t know what I was going to do. My escape last three weeks. My father had hired several bounty hunters to find me. They found me because I used my real name and stayed in several inns we had stayed at in the past. When I was taken back to my father he was furious with me. I knew our relationship would never or could never be the same again. After that day my father had someone watch me at all times sometimes in secret and sometimes they would follow me. I decided that the next time I run away I would never be caught again. I planned for several months and decided the life of an adventure might be my best way to disappear. I knew I had to get out of my fathers reach or he would eventually find me. I waited until we weren’t to far from one of the port town that had ships traveling to the new world. I snuck away one night all I had was a set of studded leather armor, a short sword, a long sword, a set of masterwork thieves tools and no money. I dropped my name of Belen Kralik and adopted the name of Estonia and I have never looked back.