Session date: October 2, 2017
Game date: Saturday, January 3, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 6, hp 37, xp 35164/70000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 16929/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 5756/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 5011/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5612/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2572/3000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 218/2000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 675/2500
Another half-hearted attempt this session at harassing the Goblin King's palace. But first, it having been about a month between sessions, Caryatid finally took the time and money to do something she'd been threatening me with for quite some time: research a spell to give wings to Marcel, her pet capuchin monkey. We discussed it at length, and given that Polymorph Other, as a 4th level spell, allows the permanent transformation of a creature into anything, I decided it was appropriate to make this very limitd and specific spell 2nd level. And so, Caryatid spent 2,000 gold darics and took four weeks to research this new spell. A new spell needs a fancy name, and she dubbed it "Caryatid's Transferency Wings". I don't really know what "transferency" means, but I guess that just adds to the esoteric mystique. And thus, the ritual was performed, and Marcel, screeching in shock and discomfort, sprouted a large pair of feathery wings from his back. So now we're got a flying monkey and a demon ferret in this game. Great!
Speaking of the demon ferret, Adrien promptly informed me that she was feeding Norman the demon ferret, and also having a tailor make a sinister little Dracula cape for him. Fine, whatever the players want if it gets rid of their gold!
Adrien also spent 1,000 gold darics to fund her 1st level retainer's own spell research, and Debbi was successful in learning the Sleep spell. What a great boss!
Down into the dungeon they went. In the street of temples, they encountered some giant gecko lizards, but Gulleck and Simon made quick work of them using their animal control rings. It's pretty hard to challenge them with animals these days, especially since the animals are usually too dumb to realize why their own kind are attacking them and end up fighting each other. Inside the temple of hedonism, a dozen giant rats assaulted the adventurers. Gulleck and Simon whipped out the animal control rings again. Norman the "fetcher" strained against his leash, and Adrien let him run loose. He hurled himself into the crowd of rats, his frothing jaws snapping shut on a rat's neck, savagely worrying it back and forth and tearing open its lifeless body. The rest of the rats scurried away in terror at this abomination.
Downstairs, after the group passed through the basement of the temple of hedonism, they saw a poster newly pasted to the wall of the corridor. It depicted the adventurers themselves, albeit drawn fairly crudely. Bold text read in Common: "WANTED dead or alive for unlawful and humorless acts against the Goblin King. Reward offered for their capture or execution." Gulleck carefully scraped the poster off the wall, rolled it up, and tucked it in her backpack for a souvenir.
Then they made their way to the western entrance to the Goblin King's palace. Last time there had been bugbears guarding outside of the door, so they wanted to investigate cautiously this time. Gulleck and Caryatid slipped on their invisibility rings, and everything grew murky and muffled to them, except that they could see each other quite clearly. They quietly crept around the bend in the cavern passage that led to the palace gates to see a brazier burning near the palace doors, providing light to the area. They cautiously entered and looked back around them, only to find two bugbears lurking in the shadows at the entrance of the passage, probably waiting to ambush the rest of the party.
Caryatid began casting the Sleep spell, which turned her visible again, but luckily she won initiative and the bugbears succumbed to sleep before they could react to her sudden appearance.
The rest of the party showed up, and as usually happens in situations like this, they dithered and debated over what to do. Were they really going to go into the palace and try to fight and kill the Goblin King? How would they find their way through the confusing Escheresque maze of hallways?
Well, it was not to be. The guards inside the palace must have heard them arguing, because the palace doors were slammed open and three bugbears and three hobgoblins came storming out with swords drawn. Debbi, eager to try out her new Sleep spell, used the Big Green d30 to determine how many hit dice were affected, and of course they all went down in a heap. At this point, the adventurers decided against invading the goblin palace, and Caryatid pulled the double doors shut and cast Wizard Lock on them. And then they left the way they came.
On their way back to the temple of hedonism, they had to pass through the hall that leads to the Goblin Prince's lair, and well illuminated as they were by Simon's glowing sword, it was perhaps no surprise that a volley of arrows came flying down the hallway towards them. One of them tore through Simon's tunic and grazed a part of his arm that wasn't covered in armor. Enraged, the small hobbit decided to charge down the hallway towards the source of the arrows. Three consecutive volleys of arrows flew past him and ricocheted off his armor, and then his sword light fell upon a half dozen grinning goblins with short bows. He wiped the grins off their faces as his sword plunged viciously into the chest of the lead archer. The rest of the party was following close behind, and Caryatid killed another goblin archer with a Magic Missile spell. Brother Chase crushed the skull of yet another with his mace, and the remaining archers fled down the stairs into their lair in terror.
There was no time left to take the fight to the Goblin Prince, but it was getting pretty clear that the goblins were going to be a source of mutual annoyance. Something would have to be done!
But for now it was back to the Rusty Lantern with no treasure, and just a handful of experience points (60 per PC) for the various monsters they fought. Some delves are more successful than others!
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