Session 7 – Double Dip
Campaign II, session 7. Previous: Session 6. Next: Session 8.
Mexiffeles kicks in one of the side doors where some goblins had hidden last time. This time, there are a pair of hobgoblins instead! The hobgoblins fight with discipline and diligently start raising the alarm. The party slowly chips them away, but one of them drops Mexiffeles. The large doors to the main goblin hall open a few rounds later and goblin archers begin firing at the party. ‘Rath and Jannis are also dropped. The PCs finish off the hobgobs and retreat (leaving Jannis behind), with the sound of cheering goblins taunting them.
The group retreats back to the top of the ravine, where ‘Rath and Mex get some magical healing to enable them to keep going. The party makes a plan to head immediately back in, hoping to surprise the goblins in the middle of their celebrations.
On the way back in, ‘Rath scouts ahead with his shadowy senses, and notices some torchlight in one of the areas where they’d previously encountered some rats. ‘Rath hears voices talking in Caernathi, which he can recognize but not understand. The party scrawls a note with “Parley?” written in both common and Caernathi, and ‘Rath slips it under the door. The door opens cautiously and there are three rugged individuals with notched armor and weapons, down on their luck. At first the group thinks that this might be their lost twins and the orcblooded paladin they’ve heard about, but their hopes are dashed – the group appears to be somewhere in the space between raider, bandit, or mercenary. The PCs offers to hire them for help fighting the goblins but aren’t willing to shell out their asking price of a full share each, so they politely decline.
With no further interruptions, the group manages to avoid any further confrontations before reaching the goblin den once more; they hear the sounds of loud celebrations beyond the doors. They light up military oil and open the door…
…with total surprise achieved, the goblin warriors and archers are dealt with in short order. There are also dozens of drudges and whelps whose cries of celebration turn to fear and terror as the adults are burned in front of them.
Jannis is alive, tied up, having been revived by the goblins. He is worse for wear (the goblins would probably have eaten him in a few days time). As the group unties him, the door to the goblin chief’s throne room opens revealing more warriors and champions, ‘Rath is ready – he grabs one of the whelps and shouts (in Goblin) “Drop your weapons and we’ll spare your young!”
The chief responds with a “Halt!” to his own honor guard, ‘Rath calls out to his own side to halt. Now we are ready to parley…