Most-powerful master, I trust this report finds you in a pleasant mood. As you requested, I have followed those weaklings back to the human city. Ever was I beyond detection, unseen and unheard. As you expected, the those gold-greedy fools organized a party to find the old mine where the Black Fangs dwell. The one called Jack lead a sizable group he found half drunk in a dingy tavern. He had no trouble convincing them to go off to a lair from which none had returned for cur’s lifetime. Indeed, for the one advantage of having an idea for adventure they named him their leader.
His first two dupes were a pair of halflings. Oma was an unlikely warrior who spoke ill of the menfolk of her primitive home place. The other was a skulking thief who hid beneath his cloak. Next, he recruited two hulking humans whose worthwhile skills were only a will to enthusiastic violence. Kydor was a unevolved brute recently escaped from the slave pens to the east. Thomas was a fighting man with some training who had no desire to defend his former home of Slateholm, instead opting for random adventure.
Rounding out the unlucky seven members of this goon squad were misfits among the misfits. Noal was a scummy elf who glanced towards available exits with every spare moment. Violet was an ordinary dwarf female who spoke little, a trait of the dwarves that can be considered common and often appreciated by any who must deal with them.
I noted that on the twenty-first day of the human’s seventh month (7/21), Jack lead them out of St. Orlan to the south. They marched along an old road for half a day before arriving at an obvious and unguarded hole in the side of the mountain. They paused a hundred yards from the entrance, just then considering what they might need in a dark mine. Only one among them thought to bring a torch. Oma handed a lit torch to Noal as they went together into the gaping gash with little care.
Before they could enter, a pair of arrows whizzed by the ears of Violet and Noal. The barbaric Kydor chose this moment to indulge in a deep feeling of rage. He sprinted directly into the dark mine tunnel. Noal and Thomas followed, most fortunately for Kydor since the outdoor light faded fast and he’d need the light of the torch. Howls and screams jabbed out of the deepness of the mine, but it didn’t slow their pace. Kydor barreled down a ten-foot wide tunnel as the floor gave way under him. Fortunately his crude reflexes urged him to leap to his right, standing on a one-foot ledge and looking down at a pit ten feet deep.
These fools keep going, Noal lighting the way for Kydor. The barbarian was filled with bloodlust but spotted no enemies. He turned left and rushed into a chamber that featured another dark pit. A rope dropped down the pit, and without much consideration, he sprang out for it. His agility failed him at this time and he plunged down twenty feet, producing a loud thud on the top of an elevator that seemed stuck in the shaft. Oma and Thomas stood at the edge of the shaft and contemplated a next move.
Only second had passed, but the others had zipped down the dark passage to join them. Noal and Violet took an interest in double doors down the eastern passage. Pie readied a rope to descend to elevator shaft and rescue Kydor. Presently, a disgusting horror crawled out of the shaft and wrapped tentacles around him. His entire body stiffened.
This was the monster humans unimaginatively call a tentacle worm, those crawlers who sustain themselves on carrion in the caves of the underworld. It was above average at ten feet long, a delightful mosaic of pinks and purples seen in the flickering torchlight. Oma and Thomas produced bows and stuck it firmly with barbed missiles. It was undaunted. Like a slug, it slithered out of the shaft to tower over the tiny fighter, Oma. As Pie dashed into the shadows to hide, Oma dropped her bow and wrapped her diminutive limbs around the creature and pushed it back to the edge of the shaft.
The tentacle worm clung to the shaft with its slime-covered skin and whipped the warrior woman with its appendages. She, too, fell victim to the paralyzing effect. Thomas and Jack faced the giant worm alone as the dwarf and elf were more interested in the doors. Jack lost his nerve and made for the exit, which rendered the area completely dark. Thomas did his best to back away and narrowly avoided strikes by the worm.
Violet, now able to see by her dwarven underound sight, turned from the door to rush at the worm. She landed a terrible blow with her axe that released an explosion of goo. The worm collapsed, and a moment of triumph was shared by the group.
At this point, they had a few moments to slow down and consider next steps. Two members were paralyzed and wouldn’t be reviving any time soon. They worried about the doors, behind which they imagined goblins prepared an ambush. The screaming had stopped, but perhaps some faint sounds were heard. Pie pulled a mace from Oma’s pack and hammered spikes offered by Jack into the floor. A conversation about leaving began. They would have to get Kydor out of the shaft and carry him and Oma out.
Then a bang came from the other side of the doors. The spikes held the doors closed, but it was clear they would not hold forever. Pie made himself hidden in the shadows, ready for a fight. I expected them to run, but they did not. They merely waited patiently for the goblins on the other side to bash the doors open. And they did, except, dear master, it was not a goblin but a sturdy hobgoblin that stepped through the ruined door. He held a halberd.
Pie jumped from the shadows and stab at the hobgoblin, and he delivered an impressive gash. Two more hobgoblins joined the first. One held a mace and the other cast a spell. I slipped through the doors to survey the goblin crew, and when I turned back to the battle, I saw the big hobgoblin was dead but so was Pie, the halfling. The hobgoblin with the mace had caved in his skull.
At this moment, the survivors who could run, did run. The dashed out the entrance and ran all the way back to St. Orlan. Left behind here Kydor and Oma, both still paralyzed. I lingered in the mine for a few hours so I would know their fate. The hobgoblin leader had died, but the one with mace took his place. The goblins recognized the affliction under which the two adventurers suffered and bound them before the paralysis wore off.
Snerk, the new leader of the Black Fang goblins, confronted Kydor as he regained control over his body. The barbarian immediately offered himself as a slave to the goblin gang. An iron collar was locked around his neck. Oma was treated similarly. Snerk assured them they would be worked hard but would not be killed unless they became too troublesome. I was surprised the goblins didn’t simply butcher the invaders, but this Snerk character may be more intelligent than he appears.
I swiftly caught up with Jack and the other four. They limped back into town with no treasure to show for the extreme danger faced in the mine. At the least, they could feel comfort in having survived and perhaps learned something about dashing madly into a goblin lair.
End Notes
- Treasure: none
- Combat 200 xp
- Tentacle Worm 175 xp
- Hobgoblin 25 xp
- Characters 33 xp
- Oma (fight) 33 xp
- Pie (dead)
- Thomas (fight) 37 xp
- Jack 36 xp
- Violet (underground, fight, protect) 34 xp
- Noal (avoid combat) 33 xp
- Kydor (fight, rage) 37 xp