This session’s PCs:
- Diana – female human fighter, level 4
- Elfred – female elf cleric, level 4
- Fredo – male halfling thief, level 5
- Hermione – female human magic-user, level 4
- Mistamojo – male human cleric, level 5
- Mystic – female elf magic-user, level 3
- Oracle – male human fighter, level 4
- Rusty – male dwarf fighter, level 4
Before leaving the rope bridge, Rusty suggested that they cut the ropes enough to keep the bridge together but as soon as somebody steps on to it, it would snap and break.
Tarukbo the goblin led the heroes down a hidden narrow passageway that led to an old goblin lair deep underground.
Due to the steepness of the passageway, everybody slipped and slid down into a large mud pool. Everybody was able to jump clear of it except for Elfred, Aragorn, Hermione and Fredo.
Rusty easily pulled Elfred out of the muddy pool but Aragorn, Hermione and Fredo were stuck at the far end of it. Tarukbo told the heroes that his people will get their friends out of the pool. In the meantime, he wanted them to follow him to the boss’s home.
The goblin lair was like a village where buildings were built along the walls of a large cave. Rope bridges connected the different buildings along the wall. There was also no sunlight down there but it was illuminated by phosphorescent algae and moss that were all over the walls, ceiling and floor. Most of the goblins in the lair were women, children and old.
Boss Charuk, the late goblin king’s brother
The heroes met Charuk who was actually the Goblin King’s brother. The king was killed by the Lich when it came to their current lair near the surface. Thankfully, Charuk was able to convince the king to let him evacuate their people to the old lair in case it didn’t go the way the king planned. Charuk did not agree with freeing the Lich in the first place.
Supposedly, the shaman still has the phylactery still but he was currently unavailable. He wasn’t in the lair at that moment.
A guard interrupted their meeting to say that there were incoming skeletons. They needed to lead the skeletons inside the lair so that they could close the lair’s gate and trap the monsters inside. Then they should kill the monsters so they couldn’t report back to the Lich.
Once hidden around the entrance, they waited for the skeletons to come in. What they saw was Brioche who had come back from the dead but not quite alive. With him were two large bone golems with four arms each equipped with swords.
With the doors closed behind the undead Brioche and the bone golems, they first tried to talk sense to Brioche but he would not listen. He touched Mistamojo which weakened him. The bone golems started attacking everybody.
Mystic eventually thought that if they kill Brioche, nobody would control the bone golems anymore. So they did. With Brioche dead again, the bone golems actually just went berserk and attacked randomly.
Everybody contributed to put down the bone golems:
- Elfred with her spiritual hammer
- Mystic with her Web and Magic Missile
- Oracle with his magic sword and climbing on the back of one of the golems
- Diana with her sword (which ended up not hurting the golems)
- Mistamojo with his mace (which ended up not hurting the golems)
With the golems were out of commission, the goblins cheered the heroes. They were invited to have dinner at the mess hall and were given two houses where they can stay.
To be continued…
Lesson learned this session:
- Don’t let a retired player play an antagonist. If I had control over the antagonist, I would have consciously tried to go for a dramatic encounter.
- Remember to add an environmental element that could help the PCs in combat if the direct way wasn’t working for them.
- Design adventures dependent on player group preferences. One size does not fit all.
Chronicles of Magnatierra 