Meet 28, Adv 2, 3/30/13

Ability Score Damage.

I am not sure when I started using this and then again when I stopped using it, it had to be many decades ago, but I have brought it back to bear recently (last 6 years?) and find it to work out really nice. Your Strength, Intelligence, yada yada represents your "at best" score and potential - the same way an IQ score represents your intelligence quotient - it is not necessarily how smart you are - but how smart you are capable of being. Many things can negatively impact this - and the same goes for ability scores.

I like the idea of the Intellect Devourer - but just don't like the way it is presented, especially in a non-psionic campaign. What I've done is I think, made it more inside the realm of possibility and made it that much more possible for a party to engage and resolve themselves with.

Of course getting brain-smacked down to an Int of 1 just takes all the "fairness" and "resolving" out of the equation. At least for the poor sod who was slapped upside the head.

Write up follows:

After healing and bandages were applied, the party discussed our next options. We were hurt and down some resources, but wanted to press on. Ben and Urthar were going to stay in the main room along with Rattirig and Bill, watching the grand foyer as well as keeping a ready eye at the stairs down and the unconscious Funtarig. From the main entrance chamber on the Lizard Man side (that had fought to from the back way), there were two doors on the north side, one of which had water at and around it staining the floor. We talked about it briefly and decided to check the other door first.

 

Once Fist’al pronounced it clear of traps, Tempi led the group in and we entered. It was a charnel house. Various goblin bodies were hanging from hooks above and their guts were stung out, stretched on complicated loom and braces to dry, and some crude unfinished bows and arrows were in here.

 

Tempi noted something on the opposite wall and it revealed itself to be a 4’ ambulatory pulsing brain on what seemed to be 4 muscular leonine legs. Arcanocere! The Half-orc stormed forward and was struck hard, the spectral whips flailing about his face and neck. He stumbled, dropped his sword, and fell barely breathing. The arcanocere then runs to the west, leaps, and hits the wall where it seems to phase right through it. A clattering of junk falls to the ground in front of the wall where it flew and then it is gone.

 

Flimflam and Fergus try to help Tempi who received a double blast from the Arcanocere. His intelligence has dropped to “1”, and he is effectively brain dead. They help him up and the group now needs to hole up somewhere and quickly, as without Tempi and Funtarig, we have no chance in a frontal assault with any future lizardmen.

 

Bill goes and checks out the things that the Arcanocere seemed to have left behind, a smattering of coins, a bowl of dog stew, a pipe, very good pipeweed, and a battered ships compass. What the hell? We gathered it up and it was decided that we should hole up somewhere now. What about Funtarig? It’s at this point that Ben (who was watching the front door) reported that he saw the arcanocere running past the Grand Foyer and seemed to phase right through the front door!

 

Fergus, Fist’al, and the lone goblin that stayed with us (not Rattireg Shoemaker) all hoisted Funtarig off the ground and proceeded to drag him towards the goblin area. Meanwhile the rest of the group led Tempi out of the lizardman area and eventually across the courtyard to the Chapel.

 

They went first to the priest’s quarters where they looked around carefully, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Listening to the concealed doorway, they did hear some commotion in the chapel itself, leading them to believe the arcanocere had run there. Was it attacking the horses? Do they confront it? They discussed the matter for a bit (while Tempi was staring straight ahead and soiling himself) and then decided to frontal assault the brain beast. Weapons at the ready they tore open the concealed door and rushed the area…finding the horses here, two chickens, and near the front door, 3 bales of hay and a large bucket of oats. The arcanocere had gone.

 

Meanwhile Fergus and Fist’al had dragged Funtarig to the goblin side of the Foyer. The cart had been ruined, the bracings broken. Lizard man and goblin bodies abounded. A number of goblins were here and they wanted someone to be in charge. Fergus wanted to give Funtarig and leave but the goblins were clamoring for guidance. He gave them some suggestions such as block the door any way possible, maybe get the other door from the lizardman side and install it here, someone take care of Funtarig. Get the lizardman bodies now while they can.

 

Picking one goblin in particular, he asked his name, learning it was Meridint. And then he intoned by the power of the Doglords and the fact that Funtarig was currently out, Meridint was the new defacto goblin leader and Duuk Garthick should obey him. His charge executed, the paladin and thief tried to leave as fast as they could, getting to the front door where they opened it…

 

Face to face with the Arcanocere.

 

It brain whipped both of them, sapping both of the intelligence in the process (Fist’al more than the Fergus). Then it tried to run up the stairs while goblins ran helter skelter and Fergus was shouting at the elf to “Shoot it!” It careened up the steps where something started it with a hissing shriek (Sisspak?!?!?!) and then it came DOWN the other set of stairs with a rolling lope. Fergus swung at it, scoring a shallow cut while arrows rained all over the place. The Arcanocere turned at the landing and leapt – sailing into and through the western wall where it phased into the goblin area.

 

It dropped a variety of goods and gear, some of them hinges and even a set of master craftsmen tools. Fergus took the tools and then gave the hinges to Meridint with instruction to fix the doors now on to their side and block the entrance any way they can. They the two of them left and returned to the party at the Chapel.

 

Together again, we talked about what happened and checked on Tempi who was smelling bad and standing around. The party stripped him of his armor and corralled him in a makeshift area surrounded by pews, treating the barely cognizant half-orc the same as their horses. They used the hay and oats to make the horses’ paddocking more healthy and Tempi grabbed one of the two random chickens and proceeded to eat it, raw and alive. Feathers, beaks, and all.

 

The group locked up behind them and went back to the keep to meet with Meridint and discuss finishing off the lizardmen and Korlok the Devil’s Fang below. In the Grand Foyer the goblins were very industrious, already dismantled both doors from the other side and had dragged them over where they were trying to get them to fit their own side. It was slow and difficult going but they were employing typical goblin ingenuity for making a problem work with whatever they happened to have on hand.

 

It was during their proud discussion about how one door fits but they were going to shove the oak tree in the other side and brace it there that Flimflam gave a surprised, “WHAT!?!??” and told them that he had given orders to Funtarig never to cut the tree down in the garden. Meridint replied that HE was the leader now and FERGUS had told him to fill the hole any way possible.

 

Flimflam was wroth and raced down the goblin hall toward the garden, learning that 3 goblins had been sent there already with axes. When he got to the garden though, he found two goblins sitting there sort of wandering about, the third one missing. He told them to go back to the door and help and then looked in the garden. The oak was still there, a single notch was at its base. Creeping up to it, Davers the Dryad stepped out, her leg bleeding and very angry. Wanted to know what happened and Flimflam told her about the change in goblin leadership.

 

He did another plant growth in the area, growing and strengthening the tree and making the cucumbers and other vegetables go wild in their fecundity. Then Davers wanted more time with the venerable gnome and he felt his will failing as his clothes slipped away. And then he was in the throes of passion and ecstasy with the Dryad and time lost all meaning. Whenever someone wanted to go check on Flimflam, as soon as they got to the garden, they had a change of mind and turned away, heading back the way they came and decided to wait.

 

The party helped the goblins drag bodies, fix the door, and eat, eat, eat. About 8 lizardmen had died in the conflict in the goblin halls and some 20 goblins met the same fate. The wait for Flimflam lasted this time 8 hours until 7 pm when the gnome druid emerged drained yet very happy. We set up with Meridint that we hoped Funtarig got better during the night and we would regroup for the final assault in the morning about 9 AM.

 

We went back to the Chapel and checked on Tempi who was still the same. He was terribly foul as he had soiled himself over and over. Strays were drawn…and Fergus drew short one. Sighing the paladin used his knife to cut the half-orc’s clothes free, and then paid Etterig (my name is Link…oh, wait, it IS Etterig!) the linkboy to help him out, one noble! The two of them used lots of water and wiped most of the half-orc clean, noting he was getting rashes and chafed from the mess he was wearing.

 

The group went to sleep and we rested without issue, waking the next day where we restudied spells, prayed, and went over our equipment for this last assault on Korlok. Tempi seemed unchanged, and Fergus was much better from the Arcanocere’s attack (although Fist’al was still reporting a sort of “fogginess” to his thoughts).

 

By 9 AM on the 24^th of Birthmonth we were at the new doorway of the goblin halls where we met with Meridint who informed us that Funtarig had a relapse during the night and died. Apparently no one had noticed the two knife wounds to the back of his head. Surprised, but not totally shocked at this change of events and leadership, we made the acceptable noises of sorrow and decided to press the advantage from yesterday and demand some goblin help.

 

Meridint informed us we would be getting 5 goblins armed with lizardmen bows and 1 giant rat. Unlike yesterday’s assault, the goblins would be primarily an archer unit, not a melee unit. This did not go well with the party and we had much back and forth until we got him to agree to each of them taking a spear and shield, with a 6^th one coming along as “front line” fighter only.

 

It was 9:40 when we returned to the lizardman hall and checked out the stairs down. Fergus felt a sensation of evil, the same spotty one he had felt here and there over the last day or two – he suspects it is Sisspak or another of the possible yuan-ti here. It is ahead and most likely in the secret hall. He speaks to it and it is started, moving away until it is gone from his sense.

 

As for the stairs down, they look dangerous and foreboding. No one wants to chance it, suspecting lizardmen not too far away. Bill solves the problem by summoning a monster – getting a 6’ tall orange-haired green skinned hobgoblin to appear. He points down the stairs and gives it orders to go ahead and engage anyone it finds down there. The hobgoblin snaps to attention and takes off. We follow a few steps until the hobgob trips over some simple alarm trip wire, dropping some metal and wooden pieces propped up there. This signals the foes down the hall and three arrows later he falls over dead.

 

Knowing that there is at least 1, maybe 2 lizardmen down here, we draw up into marching order and ready ourselves to go down and brace our foes.

Meet 27, Adv 2, 3/23/13

Changing plans in mid stream.

The party had a decent plan sorted out for this battle against the Lizardmen, however it was lynch pinned on the fact that they were able to open the back door to the Armory. If they are/were able to do that, then their estimation on spells and assaults and what not would have had the Two-Horn tribe under fire from 2 points and unable to bring their full weight to bear in either direction.

They did have a key, but the door was barred from the inside and it required more time and resources to open it - which meant they were not in place to fire off the much needed sleep spell when the lizardmen came streaming out of their stronghold. It also meant the party had tougher situations to go against as the lizardmen were able to provide a united front against them.

With the goblins at their beck and call, they were well off, but their original plan did get broomed early on.

Write up follows:

While we were going over the plan and our options, we heard a “knock” at the door. A knock, at the door, from the courtyard, where no one should know where we are. Fergus went to the door, identified NO evil outside, had his sword drawn, and opened it to see…Bill.

 

Fergus and Chase had an erstwhile companion, a hairfoot Halfling from the eastern suburbs of Gul named Bill. They were supposed to meet up with him over a month ago and he just never showed. A Halfling sorcerer with a penchant for stealing pies and in need of shedding a few pounds from his mid-section, the paladin had not thought of seeing Bill anytime soon.

 

He was here, following our trail (as it was) for a few weeks now. He stumbled upon Kahr Konig, the naked druid, who guided the Halfling in our direction and gave him what advice he could. Arriving maybe half an hour ago, he had snuck into Candlewick Keep and watched the entire debacle with the stirges and Fist’al. Moving slowly and with care, he made his way to the priest’s home and chanced knocking on it before the stirges noted his presence.

 

We were happy to have him back and we shared our story with him and he with us, during this time Marcus was continuing his writing in his book (Monster Summoning 3) and then the party grew tired and readied themselves for bed.

 

On the dawning of the 23^rd, Fergus was still ill and had to go to the temple to do his toilet while the rest of the party broke their fast, prayed, and readied themselves for the sure to be protracted fight with the Two-Horn Tribe. It was 8:30 when we left the priest’s house, collecting our caltrops and sending a few arrows at the distant stirges to remind them to leave us be.

 

We came into the main keep and went immediately towards Tindoreg, pleased to see it was closed. We opened the back door into the passage inside the bailey wall and shut it behind us. Link lit the way for us and we made our way to the secret door that lead to the goblin area of the Keep.

 

We entered, and then made our way to Funtarig, the leader of Duuk Garthic clan. The goblin was having his way with two of his concubines and offered us the chance to partake before the upcoming fight. We declined. At this point we solidified our battle plan and strategy with Funtarig and got ourselves ready.

 

In this upcoming conflict, we had Fergus, Tempi, Marcus, Flimflam, Whosea, Sanford, Fist’al, Bill, Ben, Urthar, Link (my name is Etterig!), Funtarig, and 12 of his goblin warriors and a handful of their trained giant rats. We were going to launch our main attack through the Armory door (convinced we have a key), and have a diversionary baiting by having the goblins leave their main door open a little, luring the lizard men out and shifting their attention across the keep’s compound – hopefully making our foray into their area swift and decisive.

 

The mass of us snuck out through the secret corridor into the throne room and then to the main corridor that lead to the back door of the armory. We left Bill, Ben, and Marcus at the corner, with a clear view of the grand foyer. Link was stationed between the three and the rest of the party quietly snuck down to the door in question. Once there Funtarig sent his runner back through the secret area and eventually to the entrance of the goblin section to let them know to open the door. Fist’al used his key and opened the door and the group readied themselves to storm the armory.

 

And we waited.

 

Almost 10 minutes passed until we heard the lizardmen open their door to the Foyer, Marcus told Link, Link told the group, and Funtarig roared out a challenge and his group stormed the doors.

 

And they did not open.

 

The lock was undone but it was barred from the inside! The plan was quickly unraveling; we HAD to get in through the Armory now. Funtarig was plying the door with his axe and the goblins were howling in fury. We heard combat down in the Foyer. Cursing, Marcus left his spot where he was going to cast the sleep spell and ran to the Armory door, shouting to everyone to “Move, stand clear!”. He recited the words of a scroll he was carrying and pointed at the center of the door. A corrusculating shaft of black energy struck the center of the barrier and seemed to sink in, sending spiderwork cracks throughout the structure.

 

Nodding at the goblins, Funtarig plied shoulder to the door once again with a bellowing roar and the bracing bar that had been holding it in place from the other side was sufficiently weakened from the shatter spell that the door flew open and the combat raced into the armory. There were three lizardmen in here, one closest to the door, and they were snarling at the mass of greenskins and the party swarming in.

 

Bill and Ben raced up, informing us that the window to cast the sleep spell had passed and the lizardmen had ran across the foyer and it sounded like there was a massive battle just inside the goblin entrance area! The party grimaced at this turn of events and we decided to keep up with the other part of the plan – assault the Lizardmen from the back of the Armory.

 

From the hall we had just come from, two lizardmen appeared, bearing bows and started shooting down the hall. Ben stood his ground, shield at the ready. Fist’al from further back shot at the lizardmen while Bill was working fast and furious to summon a monster. The elven scout was barely struck from the fusillade while one of the Lizardmen was missed. Bill was able to summon a giant rat which he sent to assault the lizardman on the left, not doing any real damage but making sure he could not return fire.

 

Meanwhile in the Armory, Funtarig was leading the charge against the lizardmen, the goblins chanting as they did so, and the party racing behind them. Two more lizardmen came around the corner near the others down the hall and added their arrows down at us. Urthar and Link were raced into the Armory, with Ben walking very slow backwards and Marcus and Fist’al firing back at slow retreat. Flimflam struck one of the lizardmen with a flare spell and ruined most of the firing for this round.

 

We heard sounds of battle from the Grand Foyer, and it was the roar of Lizardmen and Goblins…and we suspected it was not going well for the goblins based upon what we were hearing.

 

Inside the Armory, Tempi and Fergus were lending their efforts against the lizardmen, the half-orc hacking one of them almost completely in half. From the other side of the Armory door, leading further into the lizardman area, we heard their sibilant voices but were unable to decipher what they were saying. The 2^nd lizardman was taken down by 5 goblins swarming over her, knocking her down where she was then attacked by the giant rats.

 

We decided to abandon the hallway, Ben going last while the party filled the interior of the Armory. Marcus is hit by one of the many arrows in the hall, just getting inside before the rest of the arrows peppered the hall.

 

The last lizardman inside the Armory was destroyed just at the door, the goblins tearing it to shreds. From the hall, Bill was able to feel that his summoned giant rat was finally destroyed. Ben stood at the ruined entrance to the Armory, shield and spear ready, Fergus standing with him, listening for anyone who might be coming.

 

As for the 2^nd door out of the Armory, Fist’al came forward with the key ring and tried it out, opening it. He found the right key and shouted, “I got it!” as it turned. The door opened as soon as it was unlocked and two lizardmen with bows were there along with a 9’ tall, 750 lb giant frog. The frog shot his tongue out, hitting the elf, and it struck and stuck to him. Fist’al was able to grip the door frame tightly, preventing himself from being sucked into the gaping maw. The tongue let go but he was struck by 3 arrows! Most of them were light wounds, but it was terrifying to the elf who faded back into the melee while Funtarig and the rest of the goblins ran toward the hall and the new threats.

 

Marcus added arrows down the hall, peppering the giant frog and Funtarig hit the frog with a thrust and smash of his axe. Flimflam dropped a handful of goodberries at Fist’al who scarffed them down with relief. The giant frog tongue snatched a goblin from the melee and the greenskin flew into his mouth where he was being eaten. The lizardmen fired arrows back, ricocheting around Marcus and missing.

 

While the assault was going on the Giant frog, Funtarig managed to get past its bulk and brought the fight to the lizardmen behind it. The goblins in the hall hit the frog hard and then sent their giant rats to swarm UP on to the frog itself, biting and clawing as they did so, causing the amphibian to croak maddeningly.

 

It was at this time that inside the Armory a section of the west wall slid open and two of the lizardmen in the hall were now in the secret passage. One tried to grab Urthar and failed, the porter was able to skip back shouting. The second one grabbed Link, snagging the 14 year old torchbearer and tried to pull him into the passage! With a strength born of terror, the young man was able to keep himself from being taken, slamming his torch into his foe. Tempi and Fergus went to race over and help while Bill realized that he was pretty much the only one close enough, a lone goblin warrior standing with the Halfling.

 

Bill shot off a Ray of Frost while Marcus pulled out his Chain Rod and hurled it in the lizardman’s direction, wrapping it around the neck and pulling. This distracted him, forcing him the pull. He released the torchbearer and then he was beaten to death by the rest of the party. The lone goblin that was with Bill, identified himself as Rattireg Shoemaker and the two of them (goblin and Halfling) made a pact to stay with one another during the conflict.

 

The giant frog was finally taken down, goblins all around it. As it dies, it buries a goblin under its weight. To goblins then continued down the hall to the lizardmen still there singly facing Funtarig. From the hall, Ben glances out and catches sight of 1 lone lizardman sneaking down. The blue scaled archer was a mere 12 feet away and getting closer.

 

Down at the main battle, Funtarig was then attacked from the side hall, Arrows all over the place. One of them struck him in upper stomach/chest area, going deep. Blood was spittled around his lips and the goblin was staggered – but not fallen!! From the hall the blue lizardman was under assault by another summoned giant rat.

 

As we raced to help out the goblins Fergus was struck by a hidden lizardman, the arrow coming from the secret corridor, striking his shield where he splintered it. Snarling, the paladin grabbed the secret door and pulled it closed just before another arrow would have hit him.

 

Funtarig was having a rough time, but still standing at this time. The goblins were supporting their leader, filling the hall with spears and aid. The giant rat was ripping into the lizardman who tore the rat to shreds. The press of melee in the hall was keeping the lizardmen from using their bows, forcing them to use teeth and claws.

 

Tempi charged into the fray, adding his bulk to the combat and driving the battle line forward. At this point we were able to see around the corner and noted another giant frog and three more lizardmen there. We now had 1 in the secret corridor, three around the corner, 1 giant frog, and two very hurt and battered ones at the corner of the hall. As for our party, Funtarig was badly hurt and dying from arrows in his chest and needed healing, and at least 3 or 4 other goblins had been slain, with the others still with us only lightly wounded.

 

The battle was a crazed melee, the goblins were still chanting, and another lizardman when down in a blast of sword and spear. Tempi beat the hell out of the lizardman that stuck its neck out of the secret door, and the closest goblins finished him off. With the secret passage now clear, Tempi shouted that we needed more help at the front. Flimflam and Whosea made their way forward while Fergus and Marcus took the secret passage to come to the front.

 

Meanwhile, Fist’al waiting in the Armory with the two hirelings, arrow nocked and set, shot the blue scaled lizardman and killed him finally.

 

Tempi was wildly swinging during the battle, a danger to everyone around him as he hurled his 6’ sword in crazy arcs. Funtarig was crying a rally to his goblins and the greenskins answered it, filling the next chamber with their surging assault. The gnome on his wardog added their efforts to the battle, cudgel flailing everywhere.

 

The giant frog swallowed another goblin whole and Fergus critically struck another lizardman in the back, killing it. The tide of battle continued in our direction as Tempi critically hit another one, cleaving its leg off entirely.

 

The party was badly hurt and we tried to shuffle around, giving the less hurt of us the chance to step forward. And then the battle turned. Funtarig was then hit by spear and arrow, critically hit and he falls over at under 0 hit points. His collapse caused the goblins to fail their morale and they stopped chanting and fled. All ran away except for 1 stalwart goblin and Rattireg Shoemaker and a single giant rat.

 

We were facing 3 lizardmen and 1 giant frog and the party was badly hurt. But Marcus was finally close enough to hurl his rose petals into the fight and call out the words of a sleep spell, dropping the enemy – every single one of them. The group coup de graced the sleeping lizardmen and the giant frog. Meanwhile Flimflam and Fergus checked the unconscious Funtarig who was at -7 and fading. PLUS he had a bad wound in the chest that would kill him outright – unless he was hit with some magical healing.

 

There was a brief argument over it and Flimflam said he would not help (neither would he kill him), and Fergus just couldn’t let him die. The druid swore he was going to betray us in the future, and Fergus was arguing that he was an honorable comrade during the fight. The paladin then laid hands on the goblin leader – once to stop the death in “X” time, and again to stabilize him.

 

The battle was over for now – but the area was not secure. 12 lizardmen and 2 giant frogs were killed in the fight, as well as Funtarig and 6 goblins and 4 giant rats on our side. Hasty healing was dispensed and we were talking about what we were supposed to do next.

Meet 26, Adv 2, 3/9/13

The party's paladin was suffering from the "disease" table roll I had done on him, a chronic gastro-intestinal mess that would sap his strength and constitution over the next "x" weeks - affecting him every day. It was not terminal, but it means his usefulness was on a a limited basis and would be dropping over time.

There was also the introduction of the Dryad. A point of information for the party (there are 3 scattered in the Keep: Dryad, Tindoreg, and Sisspak - the last is very dangerous/deadly) and it could have gone poorly. She's a bit mad and not trusting, but the druid used a plant growth spell right on top of her tree and I shifted a few plusses into the reaction roll because of it. It's good because she was helpful - otherwise would have been neutral. And that might have meant the druid was not going to get out of her loving grasp for a few days/weeks instead of a few hours.

Write up follows:

The party spent the rest of the evening eating, reading, and writing, eventually falling to sleep. Fergus grew iller during the night, the paladin’s stomach roiling and cramping. He woke up terribly sick, needing a place to go to the bathroom. He cramp-walked his way across the chapel of Zeus, made his one into one of the naves, and let himself go. The rest of the party broke their fast and gave Fergus a wide berth after he returned.

We left the chapel and made out way across the courtyard to the stable, keeping a wary eye for any stirges. Once there we fed and watered them, doing what little we could to keep them clean with no fresh hay. It was decided that we had another day tops for the horses where they were before the floor of the stalls would get too foul for them to stay. We would have to move them.

As for our next plan, we wanted to walk the inside of the bailey walls and try to find either a back way to the Two-Horn lizardman area, or maybe their “secretive” way in. We entered with care, the bailey interior was disused and in poor repair. The floor of the south east tower was visible through the portcullis bars and there seemed to be an inordinate amount of bees.

We looked about and discovered a narrow 4’ wide corridor that ran northward through the wall towards the keep itself. We opted to take it, walking single file, and searching with deliberate care the entirety of the western wall in hopes of discovering a secret passage. It was slow going and eventually we were ended at a lowered portcullis.

Beyond it and to the left was a door which would lead to the Two-Horn tribe area, and past that was a bar to raise/lower the portcullis. There was no way to raise the bar and even Tempi’s prodigious strength could not lift the iron gateway. It was decided we should leave here and try something else inside the keep proper.

While turning around and trying to make their way out of the bailey wall, we were dismayed to find the number of bees and hornets had tripled for some reason and they were agitated. We had to get out and it meant skirting the bees. The group ran one at a time out the door and into the courtyard, a few of us getting stung but nothing terrible.

It was almost 10 AM when we entered Candlewick Keep again and made our way across the Grand Foyer and through the Great Hall in hopes of making it to the back of the Armory area near Tindoreg. It was here that we saw a goblin body lying outside the Spymaster’s office, dead. An examination showed he had died from poison and we suspected Sisspak was behind it.

At this point we suspected that there was a set of secret corridors on the lizardman side of the Keep to mirror the ones on the goblin side. Knowing about the third stone up from the bottom trick, we entered the Castellan’s office and Fist’al proceeded to check out the eastern wall. And when he felt the 4th stone he checked click slightly and sink in, he felt that he was successful.

Until the spring loaded door fully opened and he was shot in the chest twice by lizardman arrows. We dragged him away from the doorway and staggered out into the hall, pulling the door closed as more arrows thunked into the wooden portal with a faint vibration. Just outside Tindoreg’s area, near the back door to the Armory, we saw a few lizardmen waiting on line. They wanted the arrows in Fist’al’s chest and even though it was macabre, we traded. Feeling a bit “out there” and knowing now the Two-Horn tribe was aware of us and ready, we wanted to go and meet with Funtarig of Clan Garthic goblins and discuss what tactics we could in regards to the upcoming fight.

We were let into the goblin territory and met with the leader who was anxious to get the attack rolling and soon. More apt to do a frontal assault, we instead filled them in on sneaking in the Armory way. But we wanted a count of the lizardmen arrayed against us. That was when he let us question the tortured humanoid he had here (we found a common language of elvish to speak to it with).

Its name was Nalifess and was one of the sons of Korlok the Devil’s Fang (leader of the Two-horn lizardmen). It said its number were like the stars in the night sky. It was not very helpful but it did answer a few questions and then it was slain and it’s body cooked and eaten. A battle plan was drawn up where we guaranteed we can open the Armory door and sneak into the lizardman area from behind. Funtarig committed 12 of his clan to the attack, knowing that any more would leave the goblins in a weakened position. This was going to happen in a few hours.

Flimflam wanted to check out the garden again, relying on a tip from Tindoreg that spirit was there somehow and tied with the tree that is still there. He was given leave and Tempi and Fergus went with him. He used his contact with Demeter to make the local plants grow (including the oak) and while pouring his efforts into the spell effect, Fergus and Tempi just had a desire to walk away and think “Flimflam is going to be ok!”

When it was over, a gnomish woman with green hair and brownish skin was standing there. She was named Davers and identified herself as a dryad. She gave some more info about the Crimson Sanctuary to the druid and then invited him to spend time with her. 6 hours. Sated and empty, Flimflam went back to the goblins tired and the “battle plan” was moved off until tomorrow.

We went to the courtyard where we readied the chapel for possible horses (and the cart), using the grasses we had gotten from the garden in the goblin area for the steeds. Unsure as to whether the lizardmen could come at us from the well, we checked it out. 25’ down to the water level, we took the bucket and chain and then collapsed the cover onto of the well to keep it blocked.

It was here that we thought it would be best to take care of one last thing at the stables and Fist’al ran out to take care of it. But it was on his trip back that stirges came from the sky and hit him. He was getting stuck and drunk from and staggering closer and the group was going to run out to help him when Marcus told everyone to “look out” and he cast a sleep spell right on the elf and his stirge brigade. The elf was immune but his stirges were not and they well asleep right on and in him. He raced into the chapel and we slammed the door just as other stirges were dive-bombing from the sky.

We pulled them from his body, crushed the bat/birds, and hurled them outside (seeing 1 stirge stuck on the other side of the door!). Some healing was dispensed and then we ate, took care of the horses, and the water skins were refilled by Flimflam and his “create water” spell. Exhausted at 8:30 we were going to discuss our plan for tomorrow and how it was going to play out.

Meet 25, Adv 2, 3/2/13

I like to occasionally use the non-normal canon of monsters at least once an adventure, something off the wall or outside the norm. I've always had a fondness for Bugbears - the bristly haired damned sly and wily burly lords of the goblin race. Smarter than the average ogre and close to their strength, a deadly enemy to encounter.

And even though I had one in here, I instead speak of the Intellect Devourer. A misunderstood creature - a giant brain with clawed feet that used psionics to suck your brain dry. I run a psionic light (read - almost non-existent) campaign and instead had to take the beasty and give it a tweak - so instead - it sucks spells and intelligence. Besides clawing the shit out of you. 4' tall, weighing in at 150 lbs, and capable of blasting your spells away or devouring your intelligence - I have 2 or 3 of them running around Candlewick.

And the party only just barely encountered one.

Write up follows:

The party decided to use the key ring to mark the doors we have already been in, giving the doors and the keys similar marks with a chisel found. We realized after marking a few doors though that we were making a god-awful amount of noise and we had a wandering group of goblins come by, wondering what we were doing. It was seemingly common knowledge that we were the Doglords and friendly with the Funtarig and the Duuk Garthik clan so even though the greenskins were here and armed, they were predisposed towards being friendly and filled us in on where Tindorig the Trader was (down the hall towards the kitchen). That area was generally neutral territory and even the Two-Horn lizardmen and the Duuk Garthik goblins do not engage in meaningless combat or rivalry there.

We waited for the gobs to move on and then checked out the last two offices here, The Castellan and the Reeve. The Castellan’s office had nothing for us (although we did note that there was at one point a key box with 14 distinctive slots for Candlewick’s keys) and we then went on to the Reeve’s. The door was stuck hard and the group wanted to listen to the door before opening it. It was here that we heard faintly a “whooshing” noise and then Flimflam staggered back from the door a bit stunned. It seemed that he had “lost” two of his spells for the day. Then we heard another crash – inside the Spymaster’s office (adjoining the Reeve’s).

The door to the Spymaster’s was now locked and we talked about what to happen next. There was one of the books we had gotten from the Mage’s office (as well as the two cages that had the same name) that identified something called the Arcanocere and flipping through it quickly, we did spot a few hand drawn pictures showing a 3-4’ tall brain-like creature with 4 massive clawed legs to propel it around. As Fergus said, he would be happy never to see it.

We opted eventually to go into the Reeve’s office (since it sounded like the Arcanocere (maybe?) was no longer here but in the Spymaster’s office) where we saw it was pretty ruined. There were two points of difference: a woven basket of reeds filled with almost 2 dozen fresh eggs was on the desk, and along the north wall was a red felt gnome’s cap. We looked over the books (trading documents for roughly 25 years during Candlewick’s standing) and decided we did NOT trust the eggs. At all. Where did they come from? There were no chickens? And why here in a strange room with a stuck door and had once had a 4’ tall walking brain monster in it?

The party used a coat rack we picked up in the Castellan’s Office and brought the eggs and basket down to the Mage’s Office, opened the secret door, and placed them in here sealing it up behind us.

Flimflam took the hat.

It was 20 to 4 now and the party wanted to talk to Tindorig the Trader so we travelled down to the Kitchen’s hall. Here were 3 goblins and 2 lizardmen waiting. The gobs offered to let us cut ahead of the lizardmen (who were just staring at us, saying nothing) and we opted not to, not wanting to piss off the lizardmen. The gobs were ushered into the dining hall (according to our map) by a paid or really skuzzy Halflings and we waited.

It was while we waited that a 5’ tall, strange amphibian humanoid (Bullywug) hopped down the hall to us with a crude sack on its back. It spoke to us, identifying itself as Murgo, and was dismayed to find even more new comers stuck here in Candlewick. It seemed there were only a handful of the frog-men left and they had been reduced in territory to a smaller place on the 2nd floor. We had a good conversation with Murgo who did trade with Marcus some sort of potato-like soaked item (supposed delicacy). When the Bullywug went in to talk to Tindorig and the lizardmen came out, they were surprised to see us let the bullywug in ahead of us.

It was commented that the lizardmen and the Bullywug were on peaceful terms and our being courteous to the frogman meant something to the lizardmen. We waited until our turn and were let in next for trade. Two very skuzzy Halflings were here, Jether and Loink. Loink was…special. Slack jawed, staring into space, not right in the head. Apparently he was hit a few times in the past by the Arcanocere and it made him a bit of a vegetable – but unpredictably dangerous as well.

At this point we meet Tindorig – and he’s a bugbear. Some 7’, 350 lbs, goblinoid but huge and covered in bristly bearlike wiry hair from ears to toes. Chased goblin thieves on flying balloon here 8 years ago. Jether and Loink have been his slaves for a long time. He fills in some of the mystery to the party for a trade of some items, answering questions for a bit. The Crimson Sanctuary is some sort of ritual to Hestia, something the long ago spymaster and mage were doing when they were some of the last to stay behind. There is an altar somewhere that would need to be carefully removed in the same order it was built, and if done, the Sanctuary would be dropped.

Tindorig does not know exactly where it is except that it is NOT in a common traveled area. After a few weeks of him being here he had to take a neutral stance as Sisspak, The Two-Horn Tribe, and the Duuk Garthik factions were approaching combat (which even for his knowledge of expertise, would have meant his death). He does sell the party a key to bedchamber on the 2nd floor as well a bucket of black paint – making sure that they understand his neutrality in this and all things.

It’s about 5 now and we go to the door at the end of the hall here and try keys until we find one to open it, revealing a noisy and duty corridor that goes under the thick walls of the keep itself. Just inside and to the right is a set of dense portcullis and to the left the passage (4’ wide) travels in the gloom. We light torches and a group of 9 goblins show up to trade and meet with us, saying that Funtarig wants a conversation with us.

We take the gobs with us into the corridor (tight!) and travel along, shutting the door behind us, and one of the gob’s point out that there is a secret door here that leads back to goblin area! He takes us through and we find ourselves INSIDE a secret set of passages between the rooms on the west side of the keep.

We meet with Funtarig who suggests a siege on the Two-Horn’s in the AM and he will supply 12 of his best warriors for this attempt. We beg off and say we want to scout and will talk to him tomorrow and maybe have another plan of action. From here we take the secret passages again back to the throne room and then out there down the great hall, to the grand foyer, and then outside to the courtyard.

Wary of stirges, we hide out in the farrier while the horses are tended to and then decide to check the well in the fading light. We make a crude torch, put it in the well bucket, and lower the chain down into the shaft. The well goes down 25’ to the water line, and below that maybe 10’ or more. The water that comes up seems fine to drink and the group moves on.

From here it’s to the priest’s chambers where we clear out much of the broken furnishings, lock and brace the concealed door to the chapel, and paint the thick leaded glass windows with the black paint we traded from Tindorig to keep our own light out. Some caltrops are placed outside both sets of doors and we eat some cold rations. As the time passes 7:30 Marcus copies a spell into his book and Flimflam dispenses goodberries before casting the spell again in anticipation for tomorrow.

Meet 24, Adv 2, 2/23/13

Two pieces of thought in this pre-posting musing.

The blogosphere had a back and forth on "empty rooms" in a dungeon and whether it adds or detracts from the game. I want to rebut and say there is no such thing as an empty room. There is always something in there: old furnishings, discarded whatever, even just a difference in the air pressure or what might be on the floor or walls. Not every room is an encounter, not every room is a fight/puzzle/trip/trap/treasure.

When designing Candlewick Keep, I made sure that there were rooms that would be empty. It's not a zoo, its a place. I also hid a few caches of goodies about and gave thought as to what might be left behind by the former inhabitants (and unfound by the newer ones). In typical DM/PC relations, my group has already stumbled on 2 of them and claimed them on the 2nd day of being in the place so maybe they weren't as "hidden" as I suspected, but as for the 1st part of the statement, there are plenty of empty rooms in the Keep as broadly defined by the blogosphere, but in realty, not empty at all.

The other thought/rumination is that this was a different adventure/crawl than most of my group had been used to as of late. It's not a buzz-saw adventure (where you run forward, get chewed up, relax heal, run forward and combat the next section, ad nauseum), and if you try it, you will get steamrolled. There would have to be some sort of "siding" with one of the factions in the keep, and the group chose the goblins. It wasn't planned, could have been the lizardmen.

I look forward to seeing how this plays out as the meetings go on.

Write up follows:

There was a divided conversation on whether we should go to the Chapel next or the Ferrier. The group was discussing the matter when Sanford (the fox) began making yipping noises and getting agitated. Flimflam used his powers to talk to the fox and learned that it heard something coming, smelled like bad blood, and was closing in. It indicated up and the group looked.

 

About half a dozen flying creatures about the size of a beagle with bat like wings and long narrow beaklike faces were diving at the party from the Southwest tower. Marcus whirled and immediately hit the door to the ferriers with his should, bursting it off the hinges with a crunching thump. “Inside, now!” he ordered, the hirelings and some of the group hastening to make their way in. Ben, Fergus, Tempi and Fist’al stayed outside, weapons at the ready as the flying beasts hit the group.

 

Ben was able to impale one of the flying creatures on his spear while a second one plunged its beak through a joint in his armor. One his Fergus up in the shoulder, another was stopped by his shield. Another actually managed to strike Fist’al. And each one that hit the party wrapped their eight legs and feet around whatever part of their victims that they could and proceeded to “suck” – drinking their blood with gleeful abandon.

 

Tempi swung his greatsword at the one closest to Fergus, not actually drinking from the paladin, cleaving it in two with a clashing blow. He then dropped his sword and wrapped his arms around the one with its beak IN Fergus’ shoulder and chest. In his fervor and excitement, the burly half-orc squeezed the stirge hard, actually causing a fountain of blood and stomach contents to flow into the paladin and then rain about the battlefield. It was vomitous to say the least.

 

Marcus tore off some of the bins in the smithy and taking a large hunk of iron ore, shattered one of the few windows open and then took up position there with his bow at the ready. Meanwhile Link and Urthar were drawing pairs of torches from the supply bins at the elven fighter’s order s and lighting them in order to try and burn the stirges off.

 

Fist’al had gotten close enough to grab a torch and beat one of the flying beasts from his chest where he stomped it to death. Ben was next in line. Fergus was trying to get the stirge off of him, feeling ill from the mix of blood and guts pouring into his open wound. He grabbed a belt knife and tried to stab at the stirge but Tempi was whipping the three of them around in his efforts to dislodge the beast that the paladin inadvertently stabbed himself. Snarling in fury, the half-orc redoubled his grip on the stirge and tore it free, the monster squirming about.

 

Marcus called out that 2 more were coming, these two diving out of the sky and aiming for Tempi. He drew aim and fired, dropping one of them from the sky, but his 2^nd shot failed. The last stirge was dive bombing Tempi who at the last moment whirled around, using the stirge he was holding as a shield! Impact! The flying monster impaled the held one and the two of them hit the ground with a crunch. At this point it was just mopping up the last of the flying creatures and the battle was done. There was a mess everywhere and we no longer felt safe in the open. Keeping a ready eye on the SW tower, we did note other stirges up there but they were not inspired to attack the group at this time.

 

While bandages were being passed about, the group looked around the smith’s and decided to take the couple hundred pounds of iron ore and tin that was still here, walking it to the cart in the stables to pass the time. Eventually we closed the stables doors and crossed the courtyard to the chapel and adjoining priest’s domicile. Both appeared to have suffered some damage in the past but were in fairly decent condition. Ever mindful of the stirges on the SW tower the party decided to check out the priest’s house first.

 

20’x10’, effectively one large room with a small eating area and private shrine to Zeus, there had been conflict in here some time ago. There was a passage from the north west corner of the room to what we guessed would be the Chapel itself. While Fergus was fixing up the shrine Flimflam and Fist’al were checking out the bed and wall. While the rest of the group was watching and paying attention to the distant stirges.

 

We did find written on the wall by the bed, in blood, the words, “Sisspak is free Bewa”. Who is Sisspak? Did not know and hoped we didn’t need to find out any time soon.

 

The door did lead to the Chapel and the group entered with care. The Chapel to Zeus was sizeable, maybe 50’ deep and twenty across, pew seating for 80, a confessional, altar, even the remains of a holy water font. What was odd though was the feathers. There were a variety of plucked feathers scattered about the room, with most of them being located by the front door nave. As far as the front door was concerned, there was a bracing bar that could be slid in place, making this building a secure point should the party need it.

 

There was nothing else to be found and the party broke for lunch before making their way to the main door of the keep at sometime after 12.

 

The door was well traveled and used and we entered with exaggerated care. There was a foyer, a great hall running down the center and into the gloom of the keep. Two sets of stairs spiraled up from both ends of the foyer to the 2^nd floor. On the right side was a battered doorway and on the left was a corridor that was choked with piles and piles of furnishings filling the entire opening. Looking at the map we had, we decided that we wanted to go to the 2^nd floor to the den.

 

As we approached the left stairs though, we did hear voices on the other side of the barrier and coupled with the stink of sweat socks and ripe bananas, we suspected that goblins were nearby.

 

We got into a conversation with them behind the barrier. They were curious about us, had been here for years, and wondered if we were going to be an aid to the Two-horn tribe (lizard men we eventually deduced). When we told them about statues and Zeus and going upstairs, we were then told that Sisspak was up there and it was NOT a good idea, and maybe the Trader Tindorag could help, and finally their own leader, Funtarig of the Duuk Garthik tribe had a statue they could look at and we should talk with him. This was mostly facilitated by Flimflam telling the goblins that he was the Doglord and expected a modicum of respect when the greenskins were talking to him.

 

The barrier was moved aside (it was actually build on a cart, allowing the goblins to roll it back far enough to get it. They were VERY concerned during the moving and hastened us in without any waste of time. We were led past many apartments and former offices that the goblins had repurposed for their own uses. There were also lizard man skin shields, some scale mail, and many spears that were made with lizard man claws and teeth. We learned the goblins captured by the enemy were often gutted and their intestines made into ropes, twines, and bow strings.

 

After passing many goblins (who were not bothered by us, and we discovered very much outnumbered us) we made it to Funtarig, the leader of the goblins. He was huge and muscular (for a greenskin) and had a 6 count of half naked goblin women at his side as personal guards. There was a broken lizardman figure hanging from the ceiling in a cage, fingers snipped off and teeth broken out. We treated with Funtarig fairly and honestly, learning that he did have a statue in the garden we could look at (right size, wrong material) where were expressly told NOT to touch to oak tree (a bad 20’ specimen in very poor condition). They were growing lots of cucumbers and other vegetables here, and there was a mass of leather and rope on the left side of the open air garden that we were told was a goblin balloon, floating in here some 8 years ago.

 

Which brought us to the question of why there were so many different diverse groups here and there was something called the Crimson Sanctuary in place that made sure they could not leave. This was in line with was Kahr Konig had told us that the mage and spymaster were doing before they had left Candlewick. We left, thanking Funtarig and agreeing to be back at some point after we visited the Trader (Tindorag) and to steer clear of Sisspak. There was an ogre on the 2^nd floor as well, named Kronik, but he was no friend of the Sisspak OR of the goblins.

 

We made our way back to the Grand Foyer where the goblins let us out and sealed up their bolt hole again. We did note that the other side of the hall seemed more menacing now that we knew what was in there (Two Horn tribe, lizard men, and the leader named Korlok, the Devil’s Fang) and made our way north down the great hall. We assumed the Trader would be in the Throne Room and made our way there; passing the Reeve, Castellan, Spymaster, and Mage’s offices respectively, as well as another larger hall that went to the kitchens and dining room.

 

At the Throne room we knocked and then entered, finding only garbage (in abundance!) and many rates, some of them the size of large cats! It was when one of them dared to take a nip of Fergus that we shut the door and rethought our direction. The Trader should be down here (maybe the kitchen?) but we opted to look over the offices first.

 

The mage’s office was somewhat wrecked. There were also two goblins and one lizard man body here, dead for a while, with their heads seemingly sunken in. scattered books abounded. A top shelf had a few knickknacks on it. We were going to leave but Flimflam decided to detect magic, and we found a wizard mark on the wall. Marcus looked it over with care and opted to try and open it, suspecting that it needed to be traced perfectly. He took his time and did so, and the back wall opened up! We found the wizard’s private sanctum with 8 spell scrolls, 2 empty spell books, about a dozen magical theory tomes, a half dozen potions, a wizard’s hat, and a plethora of inks and scrolls. We took everything and felt really good about it. As for the wizard’s hat, Marcus took it and learned that it improved his reading ability as well as gave him the ability to read other languages he did not know (not magical ones).

 

From there we went to the Spymaster’s office and it was a bit different. There were 6 dead bodies in here (again gobs and lizardmen – as well as 1 rattlesnake!) and the desk was pristine and clean. Yeah, didn’t want to chance it. Fist’al said he could do it. Examined the room and suspected poison gas (eventually corroborated by vent holes in the ceiling). Would have to go to the desk, chair was permanently mounted to the floor, some sort of roller lock on the front.

 

He took the new potion we found that would raise his Fortitude save and entered. As he closed on the desk, he noted the lizardman had a note in his grasp, he took it, could not read it, tossed it to the door. Marcus was able to make out some of the words, identifying the numbers “452” on the page, but couldn’t decipher the rest of the note.

 

Fist’al looked over the rest of the bodies and one of the goblins had a note that read, “No one” and “starts with a 6”.

 

He went to the roller lock and looked – 5 digits long, numbered 1-6. In order to open the 4 drawers, he would have to operate the lock. In order to operate the lock, would have to sit in the chair to release the pressure plate holding the locks in place. He sat. The chair sunk slightly and he felt a prick at the base of his thigh but the roller locks moved. Fist’al thought and spun the dials to read “63452” and then pulled the lever…

 

And the desk unlocked. We found a Vortex Cloak (absorbs direct spells if worn), a ring of poison resistance, a ring of enhanced healing, and many vials of anti-poison (needs to be administered within 4 rounds of being poisoned). We took the items and were feeling really good. It was almost quarter to 3 and we were discussing where to head next.

Meet 23, Adv 2, 2/2/13

For this adventure, our 2nd with the newer characters, we had some bookkeepeing to do for the level increase, and then it was "let's go to that keep that we agreed to go to some months ago". This led us to a hexcrawling situation where we had some opportunity to get a down and dirty feel for the area at the fringe of the Endless Forest.

The Endless Forest is a place that in time I'd love for the party to dive into and do their damndest to plumb to the center. I've seriously enjoyed the place the last 2 or 3 times I've had parties try to plumb its depths and expect in time the group will make the same foray.

They also had the pleasure of meeting a local druid, Kahr Konig. I find druids, especially the older ones (8th circle or better) to be fucking odd. Seriously, they are outside the flow of time, more at home away from civilization, have no real need for money/riches, and and after awhile unable to relate to normal people.

Write up follows:

Over the next 2 weeks the party healed, trained, and reequipped themselves with whatever gear had worn out or gotten destroyed. The spring weather grew warmer, planting and spring harvesting were proceeding apace, and there was a good feeling amongst the townsfolk and populace around Shakun. We had even heard from travelers from Timberton and Ferron about the better road conditions since the banditry that had been rife earlier had been cleaned up.

 

Eventually as the weeks progressed we talked about our contract to go visit Candlewick Keep to the north and west of Shakun, along the former borders of the Endless Forest. We had commissioned to bring back a 4’ tall marble statue of Zeus with blue eyes for the price of 900 crowns. Our factor had assured us that the statue was still there and supposedly that the goblin assault had not overrun the keep during its active and manned time.

 

We then approached Zarik and spoke the Consul about the possibility or hiring some people to come with us. We went over our lists and needs for a bit and settled on a porter, a linkboy (or torch bearer), and a shieldbearer. As for the porter, Urthar who we had used earlier was very happy to come with us and signed on. For the linkboy, a local merchant’s 13 year old son, Etterig (that the group quickly dubbed as “Link”) was chosen. And finally Zarik was able to get us aligned with a sturdy and stalwart warrior and shieldbearer of some skill who we had shortened his mouthy name to “Ben”.

 

Equipped, ready, and anxious to get going, the group set off from Shakun on Birthmonth the 18^th and travelled west toward the Roaring Treant Inn. We spent the night in some comfort and was off again the following morning where we took our troupe as well as two horses, a pony, and a cart northward into the wilderness. The land rose and fell in slow hills, old battle signs and shattered copses of trees made travel less than optimal. The weather held fair, with only some rain to mar the trip.

 

We had some knowledge as to where Candlewick Keep actually was and decided that on the morn, we would take the time to search as diligently as possible the trees and plains for the elusive structure. The dawning of Birthmonth the 20^th was warm and rainy and we arrived at the green tree-line of the Endless Forest without any issue.

 

From here we took many hours covering the miles. One of the first things we discovered was an older goblin battle wagon rusting away in the forest. There was numerous goblin fetish markings and from what we could tell by the marks, the battle wagon was some sort of way point for the local travelling greenskin tribes in the area. As for the battle wagon itself, it was some 20’ long and maybe 12’ wide, perhaps 9’ tall at the top and there was a blunted lance that stuck out perhaps 7’ from the upper third of it. And instead of a series of 4 or 8 wheels, there was a complex set of 16 wheels, 8 on each side piled on top of each other, with a metallic belt that ran over and under all of them.

 

At one point Fist’al went to climb on top of the battle wagon and see if there was anything of interest inside but upon getting on top of the wheel array he grew tired and weary, as if he could feel the weight of his 100+ years on his shoulders. Unnerved he climbed down and a few minutes later the sensation passed. We left the battle wagon behind and pressed on.

 

We did find a hunter’s cottage at one point, unused for some 3-6 months; various stuffed and mounted trophies inside (including what seemed to be 2 of the largest damned rabbits we had ever seen). During our travel we also came upon a squirrel, but not any normal sized one – perhaps 4 lbs and it looked at us briefly from the tree above before scampering away. We wondered at the larger than normal sized animals in the area and so far we had found no sign of the keep.

 

It was here that Flimflam called out to Demeter and asked her to allow him to speak to animals. Immediately he attracted the attention of two finches who came down to him, one very wary, the other almost ridiculous in its fawning. He plied the bird with berries one after the other while he asked it about any structures or piles of stone nearby. We did get something about a pile that sticks out of the trees; 3 hours flight north of here, but it was during that time that Flimflam heard another voice talking. It was speaking of the tasty finch, and getting closer, and don’t fly away, and I’m going to eat you.

 

And then a red fox burst from the underbrush and tried to get the finch which flew easily away. Flimflam turned to the fox and hit it with a Charm Animal spell, calming it down and getting it to stay nearby. We learned its name was Sanford and the gnomish druid spoke to it of stone structures, which it answered the finch was nuts and wrong.

 

By this time it was late in the day and we headed back to the hunter’s cottage where we set up some snare traps around the area and bedded down for the night, switching off for watch every two hours, and rested the night away with no issue. The next day we awoke and wandered the snares, finding one of them had a large spider in it! (maybe 3’ tall!!). We shot it from a distance and Flimflam and Fist’al tried to get the poison from the arachnid’s glands, but succeeded in only cutting the foul arachnid up.

 

It was then that we saw the large squirrel again, and this time we followed it. It was some time later that we came upon a tree that had fallen over and someone had carved a home into the side of it. And then other animals came out of the forest, an even larger squirrel, a tremendous wolf, a jaguar, and even an eagle sized falcon. And then came a naked 70 year old looking hair gnarled man who addressed the group in a raspy voice and called himself Kahr Konig.

 

We spoke to Kahr for a while, learning he was a druid of some skill but very little renown, keeping to the forest and removing himself from the doings of cities and people for many decades. He did tell us of the Candlewick Keep and where it would be, as well as rough estimations of the other nearby keeps. He also told us that the original knights of Candlewick had dealings with him and he even supplied us with a rough map.

 

He did ask for some of our blood, which we gave, and eventually after much conversation was willing to shorten our journey there via some teleporting involving the local trees. His parting words were that the keep was under some sort of either curse or spell, something cooked up by the Keep’s Hexmaster and the Keep’s Spymaster – as they were the last two left behind and they were setting up a nasty surprise for the goblins (this story goes back some 15 years or so at the start of the goblinwar).

 

We stepped through the nearest oak and found ourselves just outside the environs of Candlewick. The keep was sound and whole from what we could see, the encroaching trees came up to a moat around the locale and in a few places hung to the wall. There was an outer wall 30’ high, 4 towers (one at each corner), a set of guard houses and a barbican guarded the front entrance where the drawbridge was in the down position. The actual keep itself behind the bailey walls was closed off and according to the map we had gotten from Kahr, there would be a sizable courtyard just inside.

 

We had Ben, Link (my name is Etterig!!), and Urthar stay behind with the horses and cart while the party crept upon Candlewick. The moat was perhaps 15’ across, sloped earthen sides, and the base of it was filled with a miasmic orange and green sludgy mix that seemed to be a breeding ground for clouds of gnats and mosquitoes. A sort of reddish dust or flakey material was loosely scattered about the ground. We peered through the entrance and saw the rusted remains of a battering ram’s carriage and some chunks of stone work like shattered statuary but nothing else. It was quiet.

 

We entered with care, taking in the raised portcullis and the fact that they were very rusted in place. If there was anyone in the barbican they would have seen us and been able to raise either an alarm or an easy assault on us. Neither issue happened.

 

The courtyard was open, easily 30 paces across and over 60 paces running wide. A chapel and priest’s house was on the right and on the left was a stables and farrier. The doors to the keep itself were closed and from where we were we could see sets of stairs going up to the walls and parapet above as well as other doors that would lead into the guardhouses and local towers.

 

We waved our hirelings in and even with the rumbling the cart made across the drawbridge, nothing came out and nothing seemed to notice our presence. The party made their way to the stables and decided it would be the best place to house the horses and cart for now. The door was hanging on its track, three of the wooden guide wheels had fallen apart due to age and neglect. And when the group made to open the door, they had to bodily lift it and shuffle it open as it did not roll properly and the track itself was in poor repair.

 

Inside the stables were six stalls with very old and dusty scraps of hay on the bottom. The thatched and shingled roof was in seemingly good repair and there seemed to be a large number of bees along the 6^th stall by the back of the stables. We moved the horses in and shuffled the cart around so it took up part of the left side of the entrance way and then took a look at Kahr’s map to best decide where we should look for the statue of Zeus next.

Meet 22, Adv 1, 1/26/13

I remember vividly many years (MANY!) while crawling through B2 with Kevin, Jerry, Jason, and Dan that at one point we had left the caves of chaos, went back to the inn and sold the unbelievable pile of swords and armor we had gathered off the dead, before returning to the caves again to continue clearing out. Imagine my horror when we went into a room that we had scoured clean and we found ourselves attacked by some kobolds that had moved into it!

Shenanigans! How could the DM change the map? I had memorized B2 and the layout and monsters before this and thought the DM was being unfair. It was then that Dan informed us that we had been out of the caves for a week and the monsters were not going to leave the uninhabited room completely empty and abandoned. It was "natural" that they would migrate into the areas we had cleared and maybe new monsters would come into the cave system from outside (or even under the ground).

To my 13 year old self this was surprisingly novel, grand, and amazing. Why would a dungeon remain static?

Here it is, almost 30 years later, and I'm still "updating" a dungeon after the party has come in and played Ginsu-warrior with the residents within.

Write up follows:

It was 2 in the afternoon on Birthmonth the 6^th and the party had gathered outside the hill on which Malven’s cavern was underneath. The outside appeared to be undisturbed, no different to the way it looked when we were here a few days earlier. With some care we approached the actual entrance and peered in. Again, no difference. We attempted to enter when 4 steps down we felt something strange underfoot. We looked and noted that 3 of the stairs had been painted with glistening layer of animal fat, making it terribly slippery.

 

No wanting to risk falling and breaking our neck, we burned it off (it took some time and smelled terrible) and continued down. Tempi was first at the step’s base when his hard soled boots and careful walking encountered our 2^nd issue, caltrops – lots of them. He cleared a path with his sword and then the party using torch light and some care gathered up almost 6 pounds of the metal spikes and put them in the half-orc fighter’s purse (yes, don’t ask.).

 

The original rolling supplies cart doors were not here anymore so we were forced to travel down the sloping corridor. As before, we had come to an area where there were a number of rocks set up to cascade down and warn those below, but this time the goblins had used animal fat just before the rocks, which would have meant anyone not paying attention would have slipped down slope and into the stones. We used some bedrolls and baladranas to make a pathway for us to cross the hazard and continued on.

 

A bit further we found three dead goblins. They had been killed maybe 2 days earlier (by us!) and left here. We noticed some chalk symbols beneath them and Fergus advised us NOT to touch them as they might animate. We tried a variety of tests but nothing had the goblins arise. Eventually it was established that we could move them, so we dragged them to the wall and using a hunk of the paladin’s rope, began binding them together. It was here that Hagan, one of our hirelings, decided that we should remove the goblins’ arms and proceeded to butcher one of them for two solid minutes until he was able to remove one at the shoulder.

 

This had the party wondering what the hell he was doing and ordered him to stop it and to put the arm back in the goblin pile. Fergus finished binding their arms and legs to one another and we continued down. Eventually we arrived at the first room and noted that most of the barricade had been taken down, leaving only a small token piece across the hallway. We pushed it aside and there was a brief flash as we broke the chalk line below the timbers and back up the sloping corridor, the three goblins became animate.

 

We trekked back up there and proceeded to beat them to hamburger meat, ensuring they were very dead (again) and no threat. From there we returned to the first room and moved on, watching every step with exaggerated concern. Malven had to know we were nearby and we didn’t want to tip him off that we were here now.

 

We gross the chamber to the other side and continued along until we came upon the room that had the undead chickens. There were now small mounds of corpse fungus covering the floor. We were going to enter but it was thought to toss some rocks in first, in case the fungus was poisonous. Instead, we set off two shriekers around the corner we did not see. The 3’ tall purple and pale yellow mushrooms were bellowing out the wailing shriek that they were named for and we raced in to silence them.

 

However it was already too late as coming around the corner were three goblin zombies. Fergus and Tempi confronted the walking dead while Thrish and Codron hacked at the shriekers (which were tougher to wipe out than we expected!). Swords hacked and arrows flew and Tempi was badly wounded by one of the zombies. Flimflam and Whoesa raced into the fight and Marcus came up as well as the number of goblin zombies increased to 5.

 

At this point one of the shriekers fell silent followed by the second. When the battle was over Fergus and Tempi were sporting aching muscles and new bruises that even a few goodberries was not going to make go away. We shouldered our gear and plodded on, further into the goblin warren.

 

We eventually came to the area where the corridor had a 4-way divide, and this time we suspected that there were not only zombie goblins nearby, but live ones as well. The corridor had a painted layer of slick fat upon it and no one wanted to risk walking on it. Were there zombies in the dining room? We wanted to flush them out. We sent Thrish back into the shrieker room where he dragged a goblin body over. We lifted it and tossed it across the hall and into the entrance of the dining room.

 

Sure enough 2 zombies emerged, beat the unmoving body a few times and then went back around the corner. Could we lure them out? We got a 2^nd body and repeated it. We noted that the zombies seemed to stop and stare, head tilted like they were listening to something, and then returned. This time we tried it with a third body and the zombies didn’t take the bait. Instead they wandered to the entrance of the room, looked at us, and went back into the dining room.

 

When they came back a few moments later, they were sporting one of the dining room tables like a tower shield as they came towards us. We held our ground as the zombies came at us but come not stop them from getting any closer. And then we heard coming down the hall more goblins, these were the “living” kind. Deciding not to get caught we turned and ran, leaving the zombies and goblins there.

 

We regrouped at the shrieker room and waited. We heard nothing. Flimflam dared to go back down the corridor, the gnome sneaking to the corner. He saw nothing, no wavering heat sources. He tossed a stone, then a second, then a third. A few moments passed and it was returned. Feeling brave he hurled a handful of them and then ducked back. Something heavy scraped upon the floor and hurled down towards him. He ran back to the group and they all waited, a new torch lit.

 

Eventually they went back and looked. The table had been tossed down the corridor at them, lying on its front. We debated on using it and had Codron and Thrish pick it up. Holding it in front of them he marched back towards the 4 way intersection when three fire arrows flew out of the other room, two of them hitting the table front. The table that had been liberally soaked in oil. It flared huge, causing the two men to drop it and cover their scalded faces. Thrish actually broke and ran while Codron held his ground.

 

A sleep spell was fired off into the next chamber and we heard a variety of figures drop. Charging in, expecting to see zombies as well, we were surprised to only find 5 goblins here (none of them undead). One was a cleric, another had a battered claymore. We killed 4 of them, leaving the cleric for last. As he woke up, Marcus hit him with a Charm spell and we had some answer sessions with him.

 

There were not many goblins left. In the temple was Malven and his 3 subordinates as well as a goblin zombie or two, as well as the Subaltern (a goblin fighter mage) and 2 or three guards. As for others, there was a sleeping chamber outside the “elf” room where 2 goblins, 4 camp dogs, and maybe half a dozen goblin zombies waited. Outside in the guard chamber where the party had their big fight 4 days ago were 2 goblins whose job it was to wait for the group to arrive where they would bang the doors and shout out how many of us they saw. And in the elf room was most likely a cleric and guard.

 

Were there any other zombies? Yes, 3 hidden in the kitchen in the stove. They will sneak out and cut us off when we get to the narrow corridor. Malven had some way of seeing and hearing through the zombies he created. And finally how to get in the elf room there was a 2^nd secret way that can be found with infravision (wall is a degree or two warmer that the surrounding area) but it was tight, 4’ tall and a foot and a half wide.

 

We gathered the information and then dispatched the goblin cleric. First we went to the kitchen where we dragged the heavy counter to the over door and blocked it, then lit the firebox underneath and waited until the wood was burning. Eventually we smelled some cooking meat and considered our job here done.

 

Then it was to the water chamber where Fergus informed us we crossed a marked line under the water and would have woken up the zombies in the oven – but they were neutralized as a threat for now. We continued on until we arrived at the narrow corridor and then our mage snuck through, followed by Flimflam on his dog. A sleep spell was fired off and it dropped one of the goblin guards. The 2^nd was unsure what was going on and stepped forward when Flimflam and Whosea took him out swiftly and silently.

 

The group filtered in and we located the secret door. Our goal was to rescue Fist’al and the other captured elves. Our secondary goal and ONLY to be done is we had a terrific chance of success was to assault Malven, but truly we felt a bit overmatched attempting to take on the goblin cleric in his place of power.

 

As for entering the room, that was going to be Marcus and Flimflam, it was too narrow, small, and risky for anyone else. Marcus put on the cleric’s Hades headdress and we got the two of them into the secret chamber while we stayed quiet and guarded the doors.

 

Marcus and Flimflam/Whosea crawled down the 20’ to the opposite end where the door was opened and our elven fighter/mage was able to look in. The room was very sizeable and for a moment, Marcus couldn’t see clearly past 10’, and then like a fog clearing, was able to see and hear the entire chamber. There were 6 elves chained to the walls by ankles and necks, one of them Fist’al. A single goblin cleric was tending to a series of tables and changing stations in the center of the room, and along the south wall near an alcove was a single guard.

 

Gripping his sword firmly Marcus took in the sight of the goblin cleric and charged across the room, allowing Flimflam and Whosea to come in next. To the gnome, the room was not visible beyond 10’, apparently the veil was lifted by the wearing of the Hades headdress.

 

Marcus hit the goblin full on and the two of them struggled, upsetting the tables and the elf hacked into the goblin with wild abandon. Eventually the goblin was able to pull out a mace to better defend himself and the two of them traded blows back and forth. Meanwhile Flimflam and Whosea crossed the room slowly, unable to see beyond 10’, until they eventually came in sight of the guard. The lunged at him as he turned to assault the gnome and guard dog and was laid low at roughly the same time Marcus buried the length of his sword in the goblin’s gut.

 

The two of them freed the elves and equipped them with what weaponry they could find. There was a rod that manipulated the chains and a few knives the elves had pointed out the goblins used for getting the heart’s blood. A couple of potion gourds and they all left the “elf” chamber and returned to the rest of the party.

 

It was almost 5 PM and we had heard from the cleric that had been charmed earlier that at that time the portal to Duuk Tsarith would open and some goblin women and supplies would come through. We had to be gone before that. We raced out of the cave, through the water, past the intersection, the shrieker chamber, guard room, up the slope and out into the evening air. From there we gathered our horses and fled the goblin’s cave making the long 5 hour trip back to Shakun where we met with Baron Taugis and told the lord of our successes.

 

The bounty was paid and we went back to the Hall of Heroes where the group as one just collapsed in exhaustion, while the 6 elves were taken to the Hospice where they would receive a few days of much needed care.