Heatmonth the 9th, 5:30 PM. It was getting later in the day and we weren’t sure if we were going to risk going down the passage and finding the goblin city or not. We were discussing what to do and where to go, noting the goblins had come down on patrol and were militant but didn’t seem to be fully expecting an issue from this side.
It was here that Nate brought up the Primordial dagger that we had found from the Creeper chamber above and that Connal had on his belt. The monastic was not prone to giving the blade up and Nate was itemizing reasons why it should be handed off – and to him. Shim and Darious took a further look at it, but outside of the fact it still had a honed edge and was very very old, there was no decay or rot on the blade.
Connal decided to try a few katas with the blade, and as he got into the strikes and slashes, the area around us, the entire Hut, began to flex and wobble, vibrating at a strange rate. Ok. He stopped and it stopped. 2 more time he tired and each time he got into actually strike actions with the blade, it made the area feel unstable.
We then tried a few cuts and stabs at one of the box lids. The blade went in deep when struck, but it didn’t cut and penetrate with only a gentle touch. We even tried tossing it a few times but Darius was big on stop throwing the millennia aged magic dagger please. Ok, so Connal gave the blade to Nate. And Shim used part of a spare backpack, some thong and cord, and a judicious use of a mending spell to make a crude yet functional sheath for the weapon.
We rested. The next day, Heatmonth the 10th, we woke up, doled out some healing (again, we were not healing while resting), and then by 8ish, were on our way. We travelled east, walking for some distance till we got to a larger cave. There were a number of banners here, most likely goblin clan markings. Stylized swords, fangs and eyes, wheel with a hammer, three suns over a pyramid, and a winged dragoon figure.
To the east we could see distant lights of the huge goblin warren/city, and a half dozen shriekers set up down that passage. To the south we could see the passage going on to some other cave. According to Shim, the south eventually led to the bathroom and the water area and a kitchen (with a killer door) in our time. We opted to go that way. About 20 feet down the passage, the sounds of the goblin city faded and then died away. Some sort of barrier was here, muting sound. It was bi-directional, so anything we might do down here was also most likely not going to attract the goblins.
The area was moist, air was damp, and there were scores of puddles all over the ground. Shim and Connal (being carried by the latter), still invisible, walked through the room while the rest of us sort of waited near the far end of the cave. They picked their way from dry spot to dry spot. It was slow going but they did eventually spot the opposite end of the chamber was some sort of reflective lights or something near the bottom of the wall. They chanced getting closer and closer. It was crystals of some sort, between 2 and 5 inches tall.
A big puddle was here and from the puddle a girly voice speaking goblin said, “Oh! You’re new! Can I have the safe word from the Eternal Queen Helen, please?” Connal didn’t speak the language and Shim did, but he was clamming up because what the hell was the password? The voice said, “Ok then,” after a count of 15 and the surface of the pool erupted and a 12’ tall, 3 and a half ton anthropomorphic water elemental strode out, looked decidedly down AT the two friends, and then CHARGED – hoping to overrun them.
Connal managed to turn aside, getting wet for the effort, as the elemental ran across the hall towards the rest of the party who were deciding to both hold the line and split up. Coming out of the pool ¾ of the way was an aquatic creature with blue/green skin, long slowing white and green kelp like hair, super sharp fingernail and teeth, and she was looking right at the two of them (ignoring their invisibility). “Go Wavey!” She called out to the water elemental who was being shot at by Eoghan, 2 of the arrows just flat out missing and the other hitting a bit. Darius and Nate were right there, with Captain Asher being inspire to step up with his enchanted blade, “I don’t think this is a good idea” and Wilhelm called to Shakak to dehydrate the hell out of the water elemental but ti shrugged off the magic attack and fought on, soaking Darius and Nate as the two of them stabbed and hacked at the elemental.
The aquatic girl, now identified as Princess Alecta, drew a short breath and spat a 20’ line of ichorous venom at Shim, striking the gnome in the face and blinding him from the caustic spittle. “Ahh!!” he yelled, his one eye now a blurry aching mess. “Fuck this,” Connal growled. As all this was going on, The Princess then pointed toward the battle and a 7’ wave rose out of the pool and RACED across the floor, 60’ to smash into Captain Asher, the blow powerful enough to seriously hurt the fighter, knock him down, and smother him, causing him to gasp, get a lungful of water, and actually start to drown!
The battle was going on and the Elemental did hit Darius once, the blow hard enough to kill 2 or 3 lesser men. Eoghan fired again, another volley of arrows not being very effective. Shim called out a summon spell, and a giant tick, the size of a beach ball, burst into the area and he had it attack the aquatic princess. It buried its head into her side and began to draw blood as Connal got a good shot on her. Not liking where this was going she encouraged “wavey!’ to fight on, and then called for “Grahad! My good companion! Help!” to arrive.
And a giant otter, the size of a fucking pony, burst out of the watery pool and attacked, biting and snarling and slamming at Connal, meanwhile Princess Alecta’s hair entangled the tick and she dove down into the water, taking the insectoid with her to drown it.
We had Shim blind, Asher down, and the battle NOT going our way, the decision came to back up and then flee. The monk outran the giant otter (barely), and Wilhelm called to Shakak to have the vemon affecting the gnome to be delayed for now (7 hours). This gave the Shim his sight back and he called out a summon spell, getting a bugbear in place which he sent at the giant otter to slow it down. At one point, seeing the horse sized Otter coming along our flank, Nate asked Rhygar if he was going to hold it off and the Half-orc warrior shook his head and said simply, “No.” “That’s fair,” was the reply.
The rest of us ran north for the exit of the cave. Darius detoured towards the fallen Captain, and using his enhanced strength from the girdle, lifted Asher by the back of the neck and one leg and HURLED him towards the exit ahead of the cavalier’s running, the body rolling by Nate who stopped along with Connal to drag him out of the room and Darius right behind.
We ran off down the hall, all the way back to the shaft, where Wilhelm spent some time forcing the water out of Captain Asher’s lungs and then using Dawn to get him awake. The Fighter/Cleric spent time puking up water as we filled him in on what had happened. Shim took us a bit away and used Prestidigitation to dry off the worst of us. It was about 9 AM – and this morning had so far sucked.
The Princess Alecta was looking for a password, but we did not have it. It was in goblin, but we didn’t know what it could be. Also, the chance of us NOT running into a patrol soon was pretty slim. We wanted to get past the Shriekers – three things – Light, heat, and movement. We figured invisibility would help. And as for noise, to quiet them, Captain Asher could cast Silence 15’ radius. But, we’d need 2 of them as the shriekers were spaced far enough away and on opposite sides of the hall. He had three spells.
The thought was to use a nap spell to help make the party invisible. We’d leave out Quiver, Lou, and Shim for now from the list – those 3 being carryable. He made 6 of us invisible for now: Darius, Rhygar, Connal, Nate, Eoghan, and the largest cat, Panthor. Connal offered to go back down the hall and wait outside the water area to see if the patrol came and if they went to talk to the Princess Alecta. If so, he might be able to hear the password.
We stayed here and when we could see lights in the distance getting closer, we opened the Hut and those NOT invisible quickly filed inside. The patrol came up to the area and looked around. One of them entered the shaft and looked up (not spotting the ropes or tackle) and then before they left, one of them took a bag of crushed chalk and sprinkled a crude line across the entirety of the hall. If anyone crossed it without looking, they will smear it.
They then went back, the Spider riding Shaman and the Lolthian Spider entering the cave. Connal stayed quiet and waited. They went up to the pool, the Prinicess’ voice came out, something was said by the Goblin shaman but being it was goblin, Connal didn’t know what was exactly said – except it was 6 words and the last one was Maglubiyet.
They only talked briefly and the Princess was talking animatedly. The Shaman waved her off, left the cave, and the entirety of the patrol went back to the city. Connal watched and the shriekers began to inflate as they approached but then deflated just as fast. He went back to the group and they cautioned him about the chalk. We were all together and shared what we learned.
We wanted to go and check out the city, but we needed the rest of us invisible to do it. Captain Asher cast Nap on the gnome and an hour later he was full of spells again. He cast 5 more invisibilities and Wilhelm, Eoghan, and Connal were each going to carry a cat, dog, and gnome. We snuck back down the hall to the shrieker area. Captain Asher took 2 stones and cautioned us, the Silence spell would be 10 minutes tops and that was it – after that if we were still by the Shriekers, it was noise time.
He cast the spell on each stone and then Shim hit him with an invisiblity and he ran forward, stone by 1 group of noisy mushrooms and 1 by the other group. We stepped past and at the top of the stairs just over there, took a look at the huge cave.
The cave itself was massive, hard to tell for sure, 180’ wide, 70’ across, 45’ tall. A river of water ran out of a chimney on the north wall to a pool in the city by at 18’ statue of Maglubiyet. 2 dozen buildings were here on both sides, some 3 and 4 stories tall. There were two war machines, each over 13’ tall, with scores of holes, on plinths to allow them to pivot. “Hwa’Cha,” Darius muttered, “Can fire a hundred bolts. Each. At once.”
And the goblins? Hundreds. Like a city worth. 300? More, less? About 1 in 4 ish were either children or parental – the rest? Combat ready if need be. At least 7 more of the Lolthian Spiders, some sitting on buildings, some crouched on walls. Goblins in leather armor and some in chain. A mix of lighting but not relying solely on infravision. More cavern at the end of this one?
And at the top of the stairs here, 2 ten foot tall columns and on each was a 10’ tall gargoyle, staring across the top of the steps to the other side, looking diagonally down so passing between them would put anyone in visual range of them. And a chain ran between the two of them from a collar on their neck, right over the top.
“Fuck,” was muttered. Shim dared a detect magic spell and the gargoyles eyes and mouths were magic. Alram of some sort. “Guys,” Captain Asher muttered, “Last 2 minutes on the silence spell – we going in or not, because we’re about to not have a choice.”
Connal shook his head, “No. Back up, Everyone, back. Not now.” We turned and invisibly went back through the silence area as the shriekers were billowing quietly until we were long gone and they deflated. We went all the way back to the shaft, watching the chalk line, and then still staying invisible, at 1:50 PM, discussed options.
We needed to get past the watchers, and the thought was to get up and over them somehow. We also needed some more information, and if we knew the password, maybe we could talk to the water person, Princess Alecta. The patrol, we guessed, was about every 8 hours – not exact but close enough. Which means the next one would be between 4:30 and 6:30 give or take. Before that time, Connal and Shim would go back to the Princess Alecta’s cave again and the gnome would hopefully get the password. The rest of us would stay down here and used the Chime of Warding – it would give us an 8 hour window where wandering monsters shouldn’t come in and see us – and if we camped in the back of the shaft, out of the way of the passage, we should be ok.
Time passed and by 4ish we all got into position. When we saw the lights again coming down the hall, we rang the Chime and the area around us grew dim and indistinct, shrouding up from wandering figures. The patrol closed and it seemed one of the striding goblins with a pike and the Shaman on the spider were the nominal heads. According to those who spoke goblin, they heard them discuss hearing a chime, nothing here now. Things have been odd. Eternal Queen Helen Back wants to make sure we aren’t being approached. One of them crossed the chalk line and looked around but the Chime had him turn and leave after only a few moments. They could not refix the chalk line as they didn’t have extra. The Shaman had apparently spoken with the Goblin Queen earlier and wanted some more information from Princess Alecta. They left and headed back west.
At the water cave Shim and Connal waited as the Lolthain spider and the Shamen entered. The spider was on alert and stopped near them, stabbing the wall and missing the monk and gnome by 9 inches (I missed by 1). Not finding them, the spider and shamen kept going until Princess Alecta’s voice came again from the Pool. “Safe word from Eternal Queen Helen, please!”
“By the Demon Lords of Maglubiyet,” came the reply. After that was a discussion about clearing up what happened and who the interlopers were. Princess Alectra explained about Grahad attacking a blessed of Maglubiyat and it popping away and that she was drowning a tick and it too popped away. And that Wavey got hurt but he’s ok now. The Shamen said that for the last 3 or 4 months, Eternal Queen Helen Back has been wondering where these interlopers have come from. There are 3 powerful entities, the spectral bison, the raven, and the powerful human. The bison was killed, and the raven escaped. The human had been hit by the Hwa’Cha, and hurt but kept running. It had been hunted and attacked and it scaled the walls of the shaft like it was walking. She had the caves above plugged up for now, but with this – The Eternal Queen needed to be told and would have to most likely escalate a response.
The Shaman and spider left and the patrol returned to the city and Connal and Shim went back to us. We broke the chime barrier so they can get in and we all shared what we had learned. Invisible still. But we had some knowledge of the area. Heatmonth the 10th, 6:35 PM.
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