The days between the 5th of Snake and the 10th passed by idly. The weather was warm at the tower, and they felt no reason to walk back to St. Orlan. On the morning of the 10th, two familiar faces arrived unexpectedly: Azrak and Urgesh. Neither had been seen since before the snows of winter. The pair were anxious for battle and eager to join in the pacification of the Tosasth wilderness.
The group headed back down the road where they’d found men camped at a river crossing. The camp was cleared. They concluded the men had moved on to search other areas in the intervening two months. They spent that day searching the mile around the camp (hex 0511), found nothing and returned to the tower.
Entering the Goblin Lair
On the 11th, they walked back towards St. Orlan to investigate the goblins they saw entering a cave. They easily found the cave and crossed rough terrain to the mouth. A small stream poured out of the 10′ entrance. The ground immediately inside the cave was wet mud imprinted with small footprints. Urgesh wasted no time searching. He marched in directly, then suddenly leaped back as the ground gave way to reveal a pit. Water from the stream began filling the pit in which many spikes were seen.
The narrow stream bed offered a safe way into the dark cave, and they filed in to find a cavern more expansive than the extent of darkvision. Presently, two goblins appeared behind boulders on an elevation to the left. They howled out an alarm as the adventurers scrambled up the steep incline of boulders to reach a flat area. They found the goblins nocking arrows. Azrak commanded them to be pummeled rather than slain, a task easily accomplished. Incapacitated, the goblins were tied and left on the guard platform.
They paused to hear Azrak’s reasons for taking the goblins prisoner. The natural inclination of any ordinary adventurer is to slay goblins on site, considering them no more than vermin, pests degrading the order of civilization. But Azrak’s memory was long and stubbornness was his creed. Years before, he had taken a single goblin captive as an unwilling servant and attempted to bring it into St. Orlan. The good people of St. Orlan would entertain no such behavior. After a warning, the guards struck down poor Purplesnout the goblin with a well-placed arrow. The wrath that this produced was mostly displayed by the cleric Ghevont, but Azrak held onto this injustice, vowing to capture another goblin one day. The rest of the party agreed to attempt subdue goblins as they could, though with little enthusiasm.
They walked cautiously into the black cavern. The stream hugged the eastern wall and disappeared out of view as the cavern widened to at least 80 feet. Another elevation on the western side was spotted and climbed. There they found boxes of goods that Ollie concluded were stolen by the marks of merchants stamped on crates. They also strips of meat hanging to dry. Urgesh guessed it was ordinary game meat rather than something more sinister. Jerker grabbed a barrel of flour and began teasing a feat he might accomplish with it, likely aided by his magical giant strength.
Going Deeper
After climbing down the slope and heading deeper into the cave, another jumped from the shadows to stab at Nate. As with the other two goblins, he was quickly knocked out, tied up and left where he was. The great cavern narrowed back down into a 10′ crack through which the stream passed. Azrak marched into the gap and was surprised as boulders tumbled down from a higher elevation. Two boulders struck him as a fell backwards. Now a 10′ high wall filled the gap, though the stream still passed under the huge rocks.
Jerker grasped Azrak by the belt and hurled him over the wall. He landed on the other side in a heap. He rubbed his bruised backside. Jerker then tossed Urgesh to the top of the wall where the lithe half-orc barbarian landed easily. The rest of them climbed over the wall.
Azrak followed the stream as it cut a wide cavern in two. On the other side were crude huts inside which goblin females and children cowered. Azrak charged forward to seize a goblin. Soon the goblins were screaming and fleeing towards the cave entrance. Jerker knocked one unconscious as she darted past.
Goblin warriors appeared beyond the huts at the top of a slope. A wall of boulders offered them half coverage as they aimed arrows at the invaders. Most of the group rushed forward as arrows rained down. Ollie and Ferris stayed back and fired arrows of their own. In all, three burly goblin warriors lead ten ordinary goblins. When Urgesh and Azrak faced them in melee, the warriors soon fell to sword blows, and the remaining goblins retreated to yet a higher elevation. Azrak and the others pursued.
Defeating the Goblin King
At the top they found what amounted to lavish accommodations for a goblin. A mighty goblin stood up from his crude throne and displayed a two-handed sword. He defied the invaders and battle began anew. Azrak rushed forward, swinging his hammer. Urgesh, surrounded by smaller goblins let loose his rage, crushing goblins one after the other. Meanwhile, the little monsters landed several stabs on the barbarian, though he displayed no awareness of the damage.
Next, Ollie the dwarf stepped behind the goblin king and began hacking with his axe. Jerker faced two goblin warriors, one of which he slayed with ease. He ignored the other, who swung weakly and missed as the fighter stepped up to the king. One swift bash with the pommel of his crystalline sword, Ithush, sent the king into dreamless sleep.
Seeing their king fall, the goblins threw down their weapons and raised hands in surrender. Urgesh, still under the spell of rage, continued to slaughter the cowering goblins until Jerker stepped up to him. The next moment, Urgesh paused in exhaustion.
In the aftermath, the goblins were detained. A long discussion of what to do with the many goblins concluded with Azrak assuming the title of goblin king. Defeated in fair battle, the king agreed to hand over leadership to the dwarf. The goblins dragged out a box that contained the great treasure of the tribe, most of which were shiny and worthless. There were coins, two belts and a brooch. Urgesh grabbed the golden belt. Azrak grabbed the silver belt.
End Notes
- Treasure
- 1,600 sp
- Silver belt (700 gp)
- Golden belt (1500 gp)
- Brooch (800gp)
- Combat 2,690 xp
- 22 Goblins 220 xp
- 5 Goblin Warriors 1,800 xp
- Goblin King 670 xp
- Characters 299 xp each (9 shares)
- Aderian (fight) 332 xp
- Azrak (rugged, stubborn, underground, fight, lead) 314 xp
- Ferris 329 xp
- Jerker (fight, strength, up front) 338 xp
- Nate (fight) 332 xp
- Ollie (underground, fight, up front) 308 xp
- Urgesh (aggressive, gather wealth, fight, rage) 311 xp
- Four dogs