Session 6, Too many rats, not enough Goblins
Paldegora
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Session 6 – 2023-01-14
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I enjoyed the rest since the last telling. But it’s back to the story I suppose…Let’s see…Oh yes!
The rats…the giant rats, their sound was horrible but they are just the start of what the Company found in the cave. There were dangers greater than these few Giant Rats. Eryn was standing at the corner of the tunnel when the rats charged at her. She let out a cry of alert as she backed up toward Cal-El. She set herself in front of him to defend him and herself against the coming attack. The three giant rats rounded the corner and went right after her. She was struck twice but stood her ground. That’s when the rest of the party opened up on them. Xor moved up and attacked with his Bastard Sword and missed. Angelique fired her bow, two shots, missing the first shot. Symon made his way forward and fired his slingshot at them and missed. Cal-El backed up and fired two shots, first shot missed. XOR’s second slice missed. Angelique hit with her second shot, Cal-El took his second shot and hit. On the next round Symon got one, Angelique took out the next one, and took out the third one. They moved the rats back up out of site to the tunnel they emerged from.
They moved down that tunnel a little bit to see if there was a nest to raid. After a brief discussion to determine if they should continue up this way or go back and head up the northeast passage, they decided that the prison entrance may be up this way so they kept going. After a turn to the northwesterly and then a turn northeasterly, they came across a second group of gaint rats. Again Eryn was in front and took a heat as she set herself to defend against the onslaught. Quickly Xor pushed up and thrust himself into the group. There was a forth giant rat this time that was bigger, hairless, running on six feet instead of four, and it had some nasty fangs. Eryn managed to avoid the first wave of attacks. Xor charged up to Eryn’s side and attacked the bigger giant rat, hitting it. Angelique fired at one of them and missed. Eryn hit the big rat but didn’t finish it off. Cal-El draws out his bow. Symon used his slingshot to fire on the big one and missed. Xor took his second attack and hit the bog rat again, finishing it off. Angelique fired at the same rat again and hit it. Cal-El fired at one of the rats and put it down. Eryn got hit by one of them. Xor splattered one of them. Angelique fired and missed. Symon moved, fired, and missed. Eryn attacked the last one and killed it. Angelique took a moment and did some healing.
They continued on through the tunnel. It widened a little and the air grew more foul. Eryn listened for the tell tale squeaks of rats and heard nothing. Soon though, she was set upon by another group giant rats. Five to be precise. One of them managed to bite her. She performed, what is known in the biz as, a fighting retreat, backing away while doing her best to prevent herself from being hit. As she backed up, she called out, “Rats, more rats!”. One rat lunged at Cal-El. The other four charged at Xor. Popping up out of the water that was pooled to the west was another one of the hairless rats. The one attacking Cal-El bit him very hard. Angelique was in the midst of casting a produce flame which she completed and sent at one of the rats. It hit that rat and exploded to strike two other rats. Cal-El turned to attack the Hairless one, hitting it twice. Xor obliterated one of the rats. Symon fired at one of the rats and killed it. Eryn attacked the hairless rat and missed, breaking one of her short swords. Cal-El got hit by one of the rats, then was bit second time. Xor was attacked and missed. Eryn attacked the hairless rat again and hit it. Angelique threw another flame ball at the hairless one hitting it. Cal-El hit it and killed it on his first attack. He spun around and swang at another but missed. Xor hit another rat, obliterating it. The last rat bit at Cal-El and missed. Eryn struck it. Angelique threw her last Flame ball at the last rat and killed it. Angelique addressed the damaged members of the party. Also Xor used one dose of his Extra Healing potion on Cal-El. After a little healing, they took up their weapons and shields and continued on.
It wasn’t long before they reached the end of the cave. There was a nest and Eryn searched that. There was quite a bit of gold(150), silver(10), and copper(20) pieces and a couple of gems(Opals). There was a small pouch with a ring in it. It seemed to be in excellent condition. Eryn showed the ring to Symon and they decided to deal with it later so she put it away. While she searched the nest, Cal-El searched the walls of the dead end for a possible secret entrance to the prison. He didn’t find anything. They moved back down to the first intersection and started up the northeast path, trying not to step in the sewer water. The passage way continued quite a distance. They came to a slightly larger chamber with a passage way heading off to the west. That passage way was a man made construction and better taken care of. She peaked around the corner to the east and spotted an iron lever in the wall. It looked like it moved up and down. Without more light, she couldn’t discern it’s function. She motioned for Angelique to come up and bring her light source. After getting some light on the device, she was able to tell that the device was newer, not rusty and old looking as one would expect. The Lever is made of wood. The rock around it looked to be recently chipped. With that information in mind, Eryn told everyone that whoever put this here, it’s fairly new. Eryn looked up at the ceiling. It looked like it’s been chipped out and then repaired. Eryn and Cal-El decide that the party should leave this alone for now.
Eryn moved to the man made path leading west and as she did, she stepped on a shifting stone. South of us, a loud clang could be heard in the distance. Symon said, “You should check for traps Eryn!”. She replied, “Yes I should, but it’s a little late now.”. Concern grew that maybe it was something to alert others of our presence. We stayed quiet for a bit and listened. We heard nothing. Angelique asked if we thought it was the door to this cavern. We guessed it was probably not that, it was much heavier sounding. Cal-El went back down the southern passage to try and determine what happened. He moved all the way back down to the split where he found the passage out was now blocked by a large heavy-iron-portcullis. He went back up to the party and indicated that bars were down that way. Angelique’s devious mind worked out a cover story should we run into anyone down here. We would say that we found feathers outside the entrance and decided to follow them in. Eryn went back down the passage to the portcullis that blocked their way out. She was able to tell that the parts in the gate were old but their assembly into this form was new. She returned to the rest of the party and prepared to head off west. She would be checking for traps from now on. Xor stayed closer behind Eryn in case he was needed. It was quite a ways down that tunnel before she found a trap. They side stepped it and moved a little further and found another trap. She cut off a piece of string and affixed it to the wall, high up above each trap so we’d have something to indicate where they were if we have to retreat quickly. She pointed them out to Xor who passed the information back to the others. She moved around them and continued checking.
Eryn neared the end of the man made passage and could see that it returned to its rough natural cave texture. As she noticed that, she missed a trap that she felt shift beneath her foot. A couple of twang sounds were followed by 2 crossbow bolts hitting her. She took a lot of damage but the poison on the bolts actually did the trick, she dropped unconscious onto the ground. Cal-El rushed forward to see what happened. Angelique moved up and worked to stabilize her attempting to reduce the poison damage. She determined that the poison had already done it’s damage and had no more affect on her. Then she cast a cure light wounds on Eryn to recover 4 points, reviving her. Xor offered to be the front man from now on with each step. Eryn would check for traps and Xor would move into the area in case she missed one. She was too weak to take another hit like that. Eryn also drank a dose of the Extra Healing potion that Xor was carrying and recovered another 4 points. Eryn checked the crossbow bolts and determined that they were very crude. Whoever made them was not a professional fletcher. Crapy as they were though, they were effective. Xor took as look at them and couldn’t determine anything about them. Cal-El thought that he had seen this kind of bolt before, north of his home. He thought they looked to be possibly made by Goblins. Cal-El turned back to party and mouthed “Goblin!” to them.
Eryn checked the next 10 feet and found no traps. Satisfied it was safe, Xor stepped forward and nothing happened. They made it to a fork in the tunnels, northwest or southwest, which way? Symon suggested they go northwest. Eryn agreed but wanted to check the southeastern passage a little ways down to be sure there was nothing behind them before they began heading north. She checked the next 10 feet and it seemed clear. Xor moved forward, but not being patient, he just walked further down to the bend in the tunnel that headed south. Fortunately there were no traps and he made it there fine. As he got to the corner, he saw, the tunnel became as the last, man made stone work. Cal-El and Eryn listened and in each direction to see if anything caught her attention. They heard nothing outside normal sounds. There is no light coming from either direction. Cal-El checked the tracks to see if one way was better traveled than the other. Apparently the foot traffic moves north and south. There was no clear winner. Eryn suggested that they may be keeping people down here, maybe doing heavy labor. Maybe we should look south to see what is going on down there. Cal-El agreed. Cal-El mouthed that there may be another way out that direction as well. Eryn checked and Xor stepped and they made there was south. Cal-El went a little ways northwest and it stayed natural and found nothing. The water flowed from the northern and southern passages, merged here and made it’s way out the passage we came in through.
They bunny hopped there way, checking for traps, and Xor moving forward, until they reached an opening to a larger chamber. Eryn peered into the circular chamber. Looking up, she saw that it had a dome shaped ceiling. She caught the scent of fresh air. She moved into the chamber, to the far wall, so as to be able to look up the passage leading out of the chamber on the western side. She didn’t see anything in that passage but she did notice an opening, covered by a grate, at the top of the dome. It’s too small for anyone to fit through but as she looked up, she could see the night sky. Realizing that the glow from the torch may give them away to anyone outside the grate, she moved the torchlight away from the room. Cal-El checked for tracks again, the foot prints continued in and out of the next passage way. Cal-El didn’t see any evidence of chicken feathers either. They could have washed out in a good rain. Eryn moved up the western passage to a turn heading toward the northwest. The floor turned to smooth slab. The water flowed a little easier as well. Xor stayed close behind Eryn to be ready to protect her. She then swapped places with him and let him go a little ways forward and she followed him closely. A good ways up the tunnel, they heard a screech in a language they did not know. Jumping out of the shadows were several Goblins, four to be precise. One that appeared a little more substantial, probably the leader, and three more. Four arrows fly out at Xor and miss. A couple of more show up and join the battle. Xor takes a couple of hits, one pretty bad. Symon fired his slingshot and missed. Xor moved up and dropped one in one hit. Eryn fired at one of them and killed it. Angelique stepped up beside Eryn and fired a bow shot and missed. Cal-El fired and missed. Angelique fired again and missed. Eryn fired again and killed another one. They fire back and Xor takes another hit.
Angelique attempted to hold a few. She managed to hold one of them. But not before they attacked Xor and put him down. Symon fired and missed. Eryn charged forward and tried to hit one and missed. Cal-El fired and missed. One of the Goblins dropped his bow and moved forward on Eryn. The other Goblin fired at Eryn and missed. Eryn tried to hit the one on her and did, but it’s still standing. It attacked back and hit her. She’s still standing. The other Goblin ran away. Symon slingshot the one on Eryn and missed. Cal-El fired and missed as well. Cal-El(Will Wheaton) fired again and hitting the one on Eryn. Then he took off up the tunnel after the Goblin that was running away. Further ahead he saw that it seemed to opening up. He didn’t catch up to the Goblin but also didn’t hear any loud screeching of alerts. Eryn missed the Goblin and the Goblin missed back. Xor backed up and drank his last remaining Extra Healing dose. Symon fired and missed. Angelique fired and took the last one down. They tie up and gagged the held one. The Goblins are searched and the party finds 30 copper pieces total. The have bows and arrows of fare quality. They also all wear a medallion. It’s crude but the symbol was that of a dragon. It is burned in and black on a field of red. 
We received 80xps and 30 gps, 2 silver pieces, and 10 copper pieces. Black normal Opals. About 200 GPs each. Plus an additional 50xps each.
Possible next steps discussed at the end of that last recording. —We can take the Goblin to Sir Charles, win a little good will but that might remind them of the tunnels below the town and they may shut us out.
—The Goblin was found outside the cave, we don’t show them the cave, just the goblin and the feathers we found outside the tunnels.
Don’t forget to start the recording!