Session 58 - Session Notes

This session was spectacularly fun, and a lot of things had to come together to get that to happen.

First off, the Larrak player was able to return after nearly a year and a half because his work schedule finally changed enough that he could make it (at least, for this session; going forward is a gray area).

Once I heard he could make it, I shot off an email to the Tiberius player to get him to try and come back again (having been gone many months himself).  To my happy surprise, he agreed (he previously left partially to spend more time on an emerging relationship, and partially because he got really, really tired of the conflict-free party style that the Krolec player pushes for so much).  Like the Larrak player, he isn't necessarily a regular again.

Then I started thinking about how the bad guys would try and stop the good guys.  I had previously though up the earthquake avalanche (a skill challenge, that they failed with Sa'lid taking damage as a result) as part of the consequences of going back down the mountain instead of dealing with the dragon bones the first time.

Then it came to me - they've been getting helpful divine visions, so how about a series of evil divine visions designed to sow dissension amongst the group.  In a serendipitous series of events, the Talaste player had independently decided to yell at everyone at the start of the session, fitting in perfectly with the events I had planned.

I wrote up all four visions seperately and tried to make them as personalized as possible to trigger emotions in the players involved.

The first two parts of everyone's visions actually happened - it was the times Talaste and Sa'lid were exchanging looks about how dumb they thought Krolec and/or Leigh were being about something.  For Sa'lid and Talaste, the third visions show Krolec and Leigh to be intolerant crusaders (as treachery arrising from evil plotting wouldn't make sense from them).

The third visions were all fake, but based on the perceptions of the people having them about the others.  Krolec sees Sa'lid and Talaste together because he is suspicious of the two of them plotting.  Having his sister becoming a slave bride was just to rub salt in the wound.  Similarly, Leigh sees Sa'lid intimidated by her power, with the salt here being threatening to give Snarg her precious books and other magic items and Sa'lid's vision about Challa's plans for Lady Abigail (who, remember, is named after the player's wife).

The fourth visions for Krolec and Leigh were broken parts of real email exchanges between the players; creatively edited to give the wrong impression (the document I gave the players just had sections of words from the emails with ellipses for missing parts).  The actual conversations were about Sa'lid staying out of any conflict if Krolec and Leigh decided to attack the drow out of racial hatred.  I didn't have an email to draw on for Talaste's fourth vision, so she got something similar to the write-up here; that was based on the time Krolec and Leigh went to Challa and she told them to return for their own trials.

Sa'lid didn't get a fourth vision because I couldn't think of another scene that could be taken out of context.  And Tarlyn and Xunrar didn't get any visions at all because it would have been a bit much.

The way it worked was that I had told the Talaste and Tarlyn players ahead of time where I would put the papers for Talaste and Sa'lid.  Then, when the time came, I took the Krolec and Leigh players to a different room to give them their visions.  They had no idea the others had visions as well.

I was glad they figured out the visions were false, mind you.  The group would be pretty stupid to kill each other over something like that.  Krolec just yelling out the contents of the vision was great; I tend to hate that popular fiction trope where giant misunderstandings occur solely because people don't state the obvious for whatever reason.


As for the rest of the sesison:
* The group with their usual tunnel-vision assumed the earthquake and other phenomenon had to do with a seperate ritual with the dragon bones.  Its times like that I'm glad they aren't police detectives for a living.

* Larrak and Tiberius returns were awesome.  Tiberius is a bit mentally unstable now (which the player did well).  Larrak was also supposed to be, but I'm not sure the player quite understood that or maybe he just forgot.

* I was disappointed there were no role-playing activities when they reappeared though.  I would have at least expected a question or two about where they'd been.  Granted, they wouldn't have actually been able to tell them anything (I haven't told the Tiberius and Larrak players themselves yet; just to act mysterious and like they don't want to talk about it).

* If they wouldn't have stopped the dragon bones from going back to Drylak, it would have had reprecussions later.  Helpful hint - Drylak is not at the keep.

* The Leigh player temporarily forgot the whole "we can't rest so save your dailies" thing, humorously using up two of them in a single turn.

* Douven Stahl comes from the H1 adventure, but that's about as far as it goes.  The rotting hand necklace is an homage to Jaime Lannister from the Song of Ice and Fire books.

* Yes, I am using the secret back entrance thing again.  I hate only giving the group one way to do things.  The next keep, however, will have to be a seige, lol.

* Talaste came very close to dying forever by falling off the mountain.

* The fight between Larrak and Xunrar against the hobgoblins took forever because everyone kept rolling bad.  Larrak even used all of his dailies.


It will be interesting to see how things progress now, with two people cut off from the group.

We are getting down to the big climax now - probably one or two more sessions.  I'm going to simplify the interior of the keep to avoid spending the entire summer doing an anti-climactic dungeon crawl.

Not sure where things go from here.  Still can't decide if we should bother with an interlude or jump straight into the Paragon campaign.

Session 59 - Cast of Characters

Sir Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Dame Leigh - Eladrin Battle Mage
Sa'lid Dra'lah - Human Sorcerer
Talaste zyne'Phyrva Noquval - Drow Cleric
Xunrar Torar - Drow Paladin
Tarlyn Delal - Drow Barbarian
Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord
Larrak - Dwarven Fighter

Session 59 - Scene 1 (of 6)

Tarlyn is the first inside the keep.  They enter a small fissure in the wall that leads to a completely dark chamber beyond.  With his darksight, he can see that the walls are almost cave-like inside, with several half-collapsed.  

Looking around carefully, the drow barbarian can see nothing else, but he can smell the faint odor of rotten grain and hears some squeaking noises off in the distance; they appear to have entered into the keep's granary.

Wanting to check the area out before activating a light source, Tarlyn moves further into the chambers beyond quietly.  Spotting a side passage, the drow moves in.

Back in the small path of the fissure, Krolec begins feeling his way along the wall, stopping when he reaches the end of it.  Concerned about Tarlyn getting too far ahead of them, he whispers back to Leigh to light her staff.

Before the wizard can act, Tarlyn has spotted three dire rats nearby.  He moves in and slashes away, cutting them all down before they can react.

As the room lights up from Leigh's magic, Tarlyn spots a large mass of ochre jelly oozing over the rubble in front of him.  As it slams into him, he can feel the acid burning into his skin.  He slices the ooze back with his sword.

Being careful, Krolec turns to examine the other passageway to his rear before focusing on the jelly.  Down in that chamber, he spots another collection of five dire rats.  He steps up to use some nearby rubble as cover and fires two shots into the lead rat, killing it.

Leigh then moves in behind Krolec.  Casting a scorching burst spell, she destroys all of the remaining rats in a blaze of flames.

Talaste decides to focus on assisting Tarlyn.  She steps up and blasts the monster with her sacred flame.

Just then, four more dire rats emerge from the rubble near Krolec.  Tiberius starts to charge towards them.  But before he can get to them, Sa'lid blasts the creatures with a swirling stars spell, killing them all.

Meanwhile, in the other chamber, the jelly attacks Tarlyn again, hitting him twice.  The barbarian responds by slashing back with a whirling rend maneuver then steps back away from the creature.

With the immediate rat threat gone, Krolec turns to focus on the jelly, firing two arrows into it.  Leigh follows up the attack with a scorching burst, taking care to avoid hitting Tarlyn.

Talaste calls out a healing word to Tarlyn then strikes it with her own flame spell.

Tiberius prefers a more direct approach, charging straight at the monster, declaring his intention to kill it immediately.  His axe strikes into the monster, but does not kill it.

Sa'lid, unable to see the fight, walks up to where the others are.  Spotting the ochre jelly, he casts an explosive pyre.  The resulting explosion blasts the creature in two; the feeling of victory is short-lived as everyone sees the two halves are capable of surviving on their own...

Session 59 - Scene 2 (of 6)

The two smaller ochre jellies attack Tarlyn and Tiberius, striking them both with their acidic ooze.

Tarlyn strikes back again with a whirling step.  Krolec assists with another couple of arrows that strike into the creature, pushing it back away from the barbarian.

Leigh attacks the jelly as well, blasting it with her magic missile while Talaste misses with a vengeful flare.  She is, however, able to say another healing word for Tarlyn.

Tiberius assists Tarlyn as well, calling out with an inspiring word.  He then strikes hard into the jelly in front of him with a force of fellowship maneuver.  Sa'lid follows up with an energy strobe blast.

Rocked by the assaults on them both, the two oozes are unable to hit either Tarlyn or Tiberius.  Tarlyn then yells to Tiberius to step back, and performs a pressing strike that maneuvers himself behind the creatures.

More ranged attacks then slam into the oozes.  Krolec hits with an arrow while Leigh strikes with her magic missile.  Talaste is able to strike both jellies with her light of arvander spell.

Tiberius decides not to heed Tarlyn's instructions and instead says an inspiring word to himself while striking down the jelly in front of him with a stand the fallen tactic.  He then attacks at the other with a bastion of defense maneuver.

Sa'lid is the one to strike the killing blow on the other jelly, blasting it into tiny pieces with an energy strobe of coldness.

The battle over, everyone stops to make sure the area is secure and then spends a few minutes resting.  Tarlyn is starting to get fatigued from all of the fighting and Leigh wonders if they have enough time for a long rest.  Krolec disagrees, warning they have no idea exactly how long it will take to reach the Usher or when his ritual might complete.

Session 59 - Scene 3 (of 6)

Outside, Larrak and Xunrar have been trying to figure out how to get in to the others.  Larrak's original plan was to put on the hobgoblin clothes and try to sneak their way in.  However, he quickly found that the goblin archers on the wall were still focused in their direction.

Larrak was hoping they could draw out the goblins outside, but apparently the archers decided it made more sense to stay in their far tactically superior position.  It also appears whatever the others are doing inside, it has not drawn the attention of the goblins.

After a few minutes passed, Larrak decided the best thing would be to try and sneak out of their sight and then try to sneak back in.  Not wanting to try to rush up stairs and break down the main doors that could be barred, he decides it would be best to go in the way the others did.

Unfortunately, neither he nor Xunrar are particularly stealthy and end up with a couple of crossbow bolts in their direction for their troubles.  Luckily for Xunrar, his armor was heavy enough to absorb the blows.

They are no more successful on their second attempt, this time Xunrar feeling the effects of two bolts penetrating his armor while Larrak is only hit once.

The dwarf begins to get angry at the situation, commenting that stealth has never worked for him and vowing never to use it again.  Instead, he suggests the two of them make a run for it.

On their way in, Larrak takes another bad injury from a crossbow bolt.  Worse, two of the goblins dump a pot of burning oil on both of them as they enter into the keep.

The two of them do, however, make it inside.  They almost immediately run into the rest of the group, covered in their burning hobgoblin outfits.  Luckily, Leigh still recognizes them before blasting them with one of her spells.  Seeing the remains of the rats, the goo from the jelly, and Tarlyn's injuries, Larrak asks the wizard what happened.

Session 59 - Scene 4 (of 6)

Before moving on, Krolec carefully examines the areas where the rats were located.  Near where he was standing, he spots some rat tracks leading under a small gap in the wall; he can tell there is a secret door located there.

Before examining the door further, he looks around the other chamber.  The ranger spots a shiny object hidden under some of the debris in the area.  He alerts the others.

Larrak and Leigh come over to help investigate while the others are talking amongst themselves and not really paying attention.  Leigh determines the object is not magical and Krolec cannot find any traps in the area.

The elf then carefully uses his sword to extract the object.  It appears to be an old silver charm of some kind; he notices an engraving stamp on it.  Leigh recognizes the mark as identifying the charm as coming from the silversmiths of Saralel, a city far to the south of the Vale, making the charm old and valuable.  She puts it in the bag of holding with the other treasure.

They then turn their attention back to the secret door.  Again, Krolec finds no traps nor does Leigh detect any enchantments.  The ranger then yells at the others to quiet down (as they are still incessantly chatting amongst themselves) so he can try and hear behind the door.  They do, but he hears nothing.

Krolec has everyone get readied for anything behind the door and opens it slowly.  Inside, it appears to be the old food larder; large hunks of long rotted away and mummified meat hang from hooks in the ceiling and along the walls.  There is also the desiccated corpse of a goblin in a corner of the room.

Looking around, the ranger can tell this area was the rat's nest.  After carefully looking around and examining the body, Krolec spots a belt pouch on the goblin.  Inside, he discovers a pair of precious gems.  Once again, Leigh puts them in the bag.

While Krolec and Leigh examine the larder, Larrak continues across some of the rubble to explore a little more.  With only the faint light of Leigh's staff behind him, he can just make out a pair of double doors in the chamber beyond.

Larrak calls over his fey companions.  Krolec and Leigh perform their usual examinations on the door, declaring it safe.  The dwarf then cracks it open, only to discover a set of stairs leading down.

Krolec isn't sure where the ritual might be performed, but figures they should head up first so Larrak closes the door and they continue along.  The chamber curves around to the point where the jelly came from.  The elf spots a set of stairs leading up.

After first making sure the chamber is clear, Krolec goes to round everyone else up and get them to the foot of the stairs.  He then has them all stay quiet while he listens carefully; he can hear some kind of voices coming from up above.

Krolec has everyone get their weapons to the ready and they begin to slowly ascend the stairs.

Session 59 - Scene 5 (of 6)

Making his way to the top of the stairs, Krolec sees there is a torch lit hallway above.  It comes to an end just to his left and there is a single door standing opposite of the stairway.  

The hall then continues on to the right, which is where the voices appear to be coming from.  Krolec can tell the voices are about fifty feet away and likely speaking goblin.  He steps out a little to look down the hall; he can see a large room with some pillars beyond.

Larrak, avowed to never use stealth again, begins charging past Krolec to go take on the goblins directly.  The elf tries to put a hand out to stop him, but the dwarf brushes him off.  Luckily for Krolec, he does not notice how hard the ranger intended to shove him; else Krolec could have ended up with a severe smack to the head.

Leaving the dwarf on his own for a minute, Krolec wants to make sure the door across the hall is safe first.  He listens carefully at it.  The ranger can tell that it leads back down, and there appears to be some kind of work going on; he can hear tools being used and digging.

While Leigh uses her magic to spike the door shut, Larrak approaches the main chamber at the end of the hall.  It is square with four columns built around the room.  He can see there is a single door opposite the hall, a set of double doors on the wall to the south, and a hallway off to the right.  

In the hallway are several goblins and a swarm of trained rats.  They spot him and he calls out to the others to warn them.

Tarlyn rushes up to assist along with Tiberius.  Tiberius even makes it to one of the goblins, but the creature blocks his attack with its shield.

Leigh heads over to where Larrak is standing at the edge of the room.  She uses a magic missile spell to blast the only goblin she can see, the others obscured by one of the pillars.

Larrak then charges himself, moving ahead of Tarlyn and up next to Tiberius.  He slams onto one of the goblins with a crushing blow of his axe.

Back in the lower part of the room, Krolec steps in and fires off a pair of arrows, putting one into the shoulder of one of the goblin warriors.

Behind the two goblin warriors are a pair of archers.  They use their crossbows to fire at Larrak and Tiberius.  One shot hits Tiberius but fails to penetrate his armor.  Krolec is able to shoot the other down with a defensive volley just before it hits Larrak.

From way back on the stairs, Talaste and Xunrar move up to get into position with the others, standing between Krolec and Leigh.

The swarm of rats then surges past the goblins and Larrak and Tiberius, putting the creatures into a position to attack both of them as well as Krolec.  Krolec uses his quick reflexes to get away before they can attack, while the two warriors rely on their armor to block the teeth of the rats.

Staying far in the rear, Sa'lid carefully positions himself to be able to cast his explosive pyre spell, causing a small rat explosion.

The goblin warriors prod at Larrak and Tiberius with their spears, but the two are able to knock the thrusts aside.  They then strike back with attacks of their own, Tiberius hitting with a guarding attack while Larrak uses a bloody the field maneuver.

Everyone else is focused on the rats.  Tarlyn steps up and begins cutting into the beasts in a whirling frenzy while Leigh fries them with her burning hands spell, being extra careful to avoid hitting Krolec or Tarlyn.

Talaste moves up behind Leigh and blasts the rats with her zealous sanction and well.  Xunrar decides to help against the goblins instead.  From behind Tiberius, he uses his astral thunder to blast one of the warriors as the goblin archers again fail to penetrate the armor of the dwarf and the warlord.

The remaining rats in the swarm continue to bite out at those around them, drawing blood from Tiberius and Larrak.  Sa'lid then finishes the beasts off with an arcing fire, barbequing them.

The goblins continue to fight on, calling out to the hallway behind them as they do so.  Tiberius is able to parry another of their blows, but Larrak takes a wound to his side.  He strikes back with a covering attack, having better luck than Tiberius' attempt to use a war cry.  The warlord does, however, allow Larrak to recover some with his inspiring word.

Tarlyn decides to try and take the attack to the archers.  He uses a pressing strike to get past the goblin warriors and engage the archers directly.  As he does so, Leigh finishes off the goblin in front of Larrak with her magic missile.

Talaste uses the opening to blast one of the archers with her vengeful flare while Krolec fires two arrows into the goblin attacking Tiberius.  Xunrar also cuts into the warrior with his strength from valor.

Tarlyn continues slashing away at the archers, taking a cut from one of their short swords in the process.

As Sa'lid starts heading to the room, Tiberius strikes a hard blow into the remaining warrior with a surround the foe maneuver.  Leigh moves into position to assist, and takes out the warrior with another of her magic missiles.

Talaste moves up beside the wizard.  She blasts one of the archers with a sacred flame.  Larrak then finishes the creature off with a cleaving strike as Krolec takes down the other archer with a pair of arrows.

Before they have a chance to stop and rest, Krolec can hear more goblins coming from down the other hall.  He has just enough time to warn the others before they arrive...

Session 59 - Scene 6 (of 6)

In the hallway, a single small rat looks at Krolec and the others from down the hall.  

Inside a poorly lit chamber, the necromancer Bragosani sees the same vision in his mind's eye.  He turns to his doppelganger accomplice, "They've breached the keep."

Arlo is surprised.  "Who?" he asks.

Bragosani responds very matter-of-factly, "The elves, of course.  Who else?"

"I still can't believe they survived the cursed temple.  They would have died if the drow hadn't interfered again." Arlo mutters.  

Bragosani looks perplexed as well.  "It gets stranger.  The dwarf and the warlord are with them."

For once, even Arlo is surprised.  "But the dwarf's been missing and presumed dead for weeks...  And as for the human, Paldemar assured us he took care of him."

The necromancer shrugs.  "Apparently he was mistaken.  Still, perhaps it is for the best that I confront my old servant directly."

Arlo scoffs, "Your goblins certainly won't be able to stop them."

Bragosani grins in assuredness.  "No, perhaps not.  But Balgron and his men will certainly slow them down.  And that's all we need.  The time grows near."

They look over at the Usher.  His eyes have gone completely black and his face looking less human with every passing minute.  He crushes the statue of Lloth into a fine powder, spreading it into a circle with the shard of the necromancer's stone.  He chants quietly to himself, "Dust of the enemy, forcefully taken..."

Off in another chamber, the death cultists kneel before Karalel.  Several of them already lie dead on the ground in pools of blood.  The priest of Orcus walks to the next one in line, quickly slitting his throat with the drow blade as he chants, "Blood of the servant, willfully given..."

Session 59 - Session Notes

This session actually started with Larrak and Xunrar, except they didn't want to do anything but wait until the guards left their posts.  They were under the mistaken impression that (for some reason) the guards would eventually leave the safety of the keep walls to go looking for them, or that the rest of the group would distract them.  I then skipped them to go have the other group explore the granary area and it wasn't until the fight was over that they finally took the hint they had to actually do something.

A quick note about the keep - I completely redesigned the layout.  For one thing, I didn't think the layout presented in the original adventure made much sense.  For another, I didn't want anyone getting an advantage by reading ahead.

The first battle went pretty quickly, all things considered.  The certainly didn't enjoy the "splitting in half" thing, lol.

After that fight Tarlyn was pretty low on healing surges.  I keep hinting that the world could end if they try and rest, so for once they are forced to push on.

The sad thing here is that other than Tarlyn, they are barely scratched and in no way should need to rest yet.  The fights up to this point have been extremely easy, points-wise.  The only reason they aren't closer to full strength is that their tactics suck.  They waste dailies unnecessarily, and always use the incredibly poor tactic of "one guy takes all of the hits while everyone else attacks from a distance" which always means they end up using up all of their healing right away.

It kind of amazes me that in two and a half years of playing this, they have yet to use a "stick and move" style of tactics even once.  It's like they are trying to learn to box by watching Rocky movies.  Standing in front of a guy and letting him pound on you over and over again just isn't good strategy.

Larrak and Xunrar's misadventures were a bit of a letdown.  Xunrar is played by a very passive player who rarely has ideas so he followed the Larrak player's lead.  And the Larrak player, though a fun guy, always seems to be under the misapprehension that all non-PCs have the IQ of a guppy and gets a little frustrated when his plans (that rely on NPCs/Monsters being brain dead) don't work.  He particularly gets mad whenever a stealth attempt doesn't work, despite the fact he knows his character sucks at stealth.

The boiling oil, by the way, was set up last session.  It's what the goblins were talking about when Sa'lid heard them talking (along with sending out the hobgoblin patrol).

Once everyone got back together, there was time for more dungeoneering.  I try to make the place interesting and provide background and atmosphere to avoid it feeling like nothing but a series of fights.

Unfortunately, over half the group is content to let others do all the exploring so they sit around and chit chat instead of paying attention (leading to Krolec yelling at them in game).  And the ones that do pay attention have such tunnel vision that they rarely pay attention to anything that is tangetal to their immediate goal.

The last scene is another of my "epilogues" I email out after the fact.  As usual, it gives me a way to give some characterization to the bad guys and set some plot background that I can never do in game because of the "bad guy - kill him!!!" style of play.

This time, I wanted to show that the bad guys are, indeed, aware of the PCs.  There's also a hint about something strange with Larrak and Tiberius appearing (which may be revealed in the future), something I still can't believe no one in the main group thought was interesting enough to even ask them about.

It also once again mentions Paldemar, a member of the conspiracy that the group has not had any interactions with (but the alternate group has).  There was a lot more about Paldemar in a scroll the group did not find yet down the stairs Larrak found but they decided not to go down.

Finally, it gives the sense that time is running out.

The Usher's black eyes is another thing taken from his Carnivale inspiration.

And clearly the wording used for the ritual by both he and Karalel is an homage to Voldemort's ritual performed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.


There's still quite a lot of keep to explore.  I had simplified it down from the original version, but there's still a ton of areas they haven't explored yet (about 16 rooms to explore and up to 12 more encounters depending on how they go).

I'll have to see how much further they get.  Perhaps I will need to let them take a rest at some point after all.  

Session 60 - Cast of Characters

Sir Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Battlefield Archer
Dame Leigh - Eladrin Battle Mage
Sa'lid Dra'lah - Human Sorcerer
Talaste zyne'Phyrva Noquval - Drow Cleric
Xunrar Torar - Drow Paladin
Tarlyn Delal - Drow Barbarian

Session 60 - Scene 1 (of 5)

Tiberius and Larrak head back down the other hall to guard against a rear attack while the others get into position for the incoming goblins.  Tarlyn and Xunrar move to either side of the doorway as two hobgoblins emerge from a side corridor down the long hall.

Krolec immediately fires two arrows at the hobgoblins, but can't penetrate their heavy armor.  Talaste manages to blast one with her sacred flame while Sa'lid misses with a blazing starfall spell.

From his position, Xunrar attacks with an astral thunder spell, hitting one of the creatures.  Leigh follows up the assault with a scorching burst spell that hits both.

Tarlyn holds back until they get closer.  Behind the hobgoblin soldiers, a large mass of goblins emerge, filling the hall. A larger, fatter goblin is in the rear, and appears to be the leader.

The hobgoblins step up and strike at Tarlyn and Xunrar with their spears, but are fended off.  Neither Xunrar nor Tarlyn can muster a counterattack in return.

Krolec misses with another pair of shots, as does Talaste with her flame.   Leigh once again hits both monsters with her scorching burst and Sa'lid follows it up with a blast from his energy strobe.

Behind the melee, more goblins enter the hall from a different side passage, these ones carrying crossbows.  They fire a bolt into Tarlyn, who reacts by putting out his cloud of darkness and moving to a more strategic location.

With the darkness cutting off the group's sight, Krolec holds back with his arrow.  Talaste fires into the dark with her sacred flame for no effect.

Meanwhile, Sa'lid decides to open a nearby door from the double doors in the room.  He discovers it leads out to the main stairs – he's found the main entrance.

Leigh decides to check the other door.  It opens to a stairway leading down.  She can hear the screams of a woman in pain.  Tarlyn decides to head down the stairs.  Krolec follows.

Session 60 - Scene 2 (of 5)

With Tarlyn not there to stop them, the horde of goblins begins pouring into the room.  Xunrar manages to fend them off, but Talaste is stabbed hard by two of them as well as a hobgoblin.  The other hobgoblin moves to Xunrar's side, slipping his blade through the paladin's armor.

Bleeding heavily, Talaste takes a moment to catch her breath then activates her own cloud of darkness.  She slips away over towards the doorway, ready to assist the others to make it through the dark to the door with the stairs.

Sa'lid decides to try and see if he can persuade the goblins he is not an enemy.  He fails, and makes a quick run for it, Snarg following on his heels.

Xunrar activates another cloud of darkness on the other side of the room, allowing him to slowly start moving away from the goblins.

By now, Tarlyn has made it down the stairs and finds a small hallway there with a single door.  He steps over to the door and ensures it is not trapped.

Krolec stops on the stairs to make sure everyone wants to head down.  Leigh tells him to go.  He makes it down the stairs and over to the door.  Listening, he heads the sounds of the woman screaming, a hobgoblin laughing, and the sounds of burning flesh.  He tells Tarlyn they have found the torture chamber.

Talaste steps past Sa'lid and stops in the middle of the stairs, turning to blast a goblin with her sacred flame.  As the charred corpse falls to the floor, Sa'lid hits one of the hobgoblins with an energy strobe, but fails to kill it.

As Xunrar runs towards the door, Leigh takes the opportunity of a cleared room to cast her fireburst spell.  The ensuing blast kills five of the goblins and injures another 6 of them (including the hobgoblins).

Session 60 - Scene 3 (of 5)

Down below, Tarlyn pushes his way past Krolec and opens the door.  Inside, he finds a torture room with an unclothed woman tied to a rack and a hobgoblin doing things to her with a hot poker that should never be done.  The rest of the room contains several more goblins and a side passage that appears to contain cells.

The hobgoblin and other goblins rush towards Tarlyn.  Krolec immediately fires a hawk's talon shot into the hobgoblin carrying the poker as the goblins cut into Tarlyn with their short swords.

On the stairs, Sa'lid fights back the goblins as one of them stabs Snarg.  Talaste blasts that goblin away with her sacred flame then says a healing word for Tarlyn.

Sa'lid uses a swirling stars spell to take out another goblin and one of the hobgoblins at the top of the stairs.  Xunrar steps up in front of him to help protect him, but misses one of the goblins with his holy strike.  Leigh has better luck with a magic missile.

Tarlyn uses a whirling attack to fight back the goblins at the door while Krolec assists with his bow.  Tarlyn is hit back with another couple of cuts from their swords.

Up above, Xunrar is cut three times by goblin swords and has another three injuries from crossbow bolts.  Overwhelmed, his bloody body crashes to the ground.  Talaste immediately heals him but misses a nearby goblin with her sacred flame.  Xunrar then stands up and kills one of the goblins then stops to catch his breath.

Sa'lid is unable to fend off the goblin advancing him, so he and the wounded Snarg step further down the stairs, behind Leigh.  The wizard, in turn, fey steps over near the front door to the keep.  Using another powerful spell, she blasts another large group of goblins, killing several more, including the hobgoblin.  She then finishes off the goblin archers with a forceful retort spell.

Down below, Tarlyn cuts down one of the goblins in a whirling frenzy while Krolec kills another with a shot through the eye.

Session 60 - Scene 4 (of 5)

The battle rages on both above and below.  In the dungeon area, Tarlyn is burned with a hot poker to the face while two of the goblins cut him with swords.

Up above, Xunrar is hit by another goblin while the head goblin comes straight at Leigh and crushes her leg with his club.  A second swing would have caved in her skull, but she ducks out of the way just in time.

On the stairs, Talaste uses a solinar's hammer spell to attack the goblin in front of her while Sa'lid finishes off the one on Xunrar with his energy strobe.

Meanwhile, Leigh fights for her life against the fat goblin.  She puts a light spell on the nosegaurd of his helmet to distract him then blasts him with two magic missiles.  Unsure whether or not it did anything but annoy him, Leigh is delighted when he misses with a wild swing.

Down below, Tarlyn takes a moment to recover.  He is becoming exhausted, and knows he can't take many more attacks.  Krolec tries to assist by firing a shadow wasp strike into the hobgoblin.  The goblins and hobgoblin renew their attacks on Tarlyn, but he fights them off.

Back on the stairs, Talaste crushes the skull of a goblin with her hammer spell while Sa'lid and Xunrar strike into a different pair of the green warriors.

Up top, Leigh continues to blast the goblin leader while slowly sliding her way around the room.  Her luck holds out as the brute continues to miss, causing dents in the wall next to her.

Inside the torture room, Tarlyn goes into a rage, striking the goblins and maneuvering his way behind them.  Krolec then downs the hobgoblin with an evasive strike.  The remaining goblins press the attack against Tarlyn and Krolec, missing the archer but catching Tarlyn with another cut.

With Tarlyn nearly collapsed from blood loss, Talaste rushes down the stairs and heals him with her cure light wounds spell.

Sa'lid steps up the stairs to assist Leigh, blasting the lead goblin with an energy strobe as Leigh continues to blast him with her magic missile while slipping away from his attack.

Nearby, Xunrar attempts to attack the two other remaining goblins with a holy strike, but misses.  One of the goblins hits him with a counter attack.  Sa'lid responds by killing the creature with an energy strobe while Talaste hits hits the other with a zealous sanction.

Down below, Tarlyn misses with his pressing strike while Krolec hits one goblin with an arrow.   The goblins miss Krolec, but wound Tarlyn again.

Back up top, Leigh dodges another of the fat goblin's strikes as Sa'lid takes out the remaining other goblin in the room.  Xunrar immediately moves over to lay hands on the wizard while getting ready to take on the goblin leader.  It gets one last shot at Leigh, connecting this time.

Meanwhile, Tarlyn continues to strike at the goblins on him while shifting around the room.   He isn't fast enough, and catches another sword in his side.

Over by the stairs, Krolec hits with another twin shot as he is forced to retreat up the stairs.  The goblins advance, striking him and Talaste.  From behind his companions, Sa'lid hits one with an energy strobe.

Xunrar brings down the wrath of the gods on the goblin leader while Leigh blasts it with another magic missile.  In response, the goblin leader smacks her across the head with his club, knocking her unconscious.

Talaste puts an assassin's shroud on the fat goblin then blasts him with a sacred flame.  Sa'lid steps into the room and tries to assist with an energy strobe.  His first attempt fails, but the second hits.

As Leigh hangs on to life, Xunrar puts a shroud over the head goblin, but then misses with his holy strike again.

Back at the stairs, Krolec downs the goblin in front of him with an arrow as the others surround Tarlyn down below, hitting him again with their swords.  Tarlyn strikes back then runs out of the room towards Krolec.  The goblins follow, and Krolec downs one with a pair of shots from his bow.

As Krolec calls on a healing word from Corellon for Leigh, one of the remaining goblins strikes Talaste, knocking her to the floor.  Nearby, the fat goblin strikes hard into Xunrar.  Xunrar is forced to take a breather before attacking back.

Sa'lid continues firing on the large goblin with his energy strobes, hitting him once.  Leigh then picks herself up and blasts the leader once again with a magic missile.  This time, he goes down, just as a flurry of shots from Krolec hits him.

Krolec is still having issues with one of the two remaining goblins.  He misses with his shots, but the goblins fare no better.  Talaste recovers from her injuries and stands up, slamming one of the beasts with her solinar's hammer.  Sa'lid assists with an energy strobe.

Xunrar steps over to the melee.  He blesses his weapon then strikes into one of the goblins while Leigh blasts the other with a magic missile.  Meanwhile, Tarlyn stays back out of the fight, knowing he is very fatigued and near death.

One of the goblins manages to stab Talaste before Sa'lid kills it with an energy strobe.  The other is then finished off by Xunrar and Leigh, with Tarlyn stepping over to deliver the killing blow.

The battle over, everyone nearly collapses from exhaustion.  They sit and rest in the middle of the room filled with goblin corpses, unsure where to risk going next but knowing their time is running out...

Session 60 - Scene 5 (of 5)

Back in the poorly lit chamber, Bragosani ends his connection with his rat familiar.  He turns to Arlo with his expressionless face, "It's over.  Balgron and his men are all dead."

Arlo dourly remarks, "Did that fat idiot manage to kill any of them at least?"

"No.  But several are badly wounded.  And my old apprentice and his dwarf friend seem to have run off somewhere else." Bragosani responds.

Arlo thinks for a moment.  "Must be the dig room.  They'll be back."

"We have another problem as well; I believe they located the shifters." Bragosani says as he begins to pace.

Arlo responds, "They'll be here soon then.  It will be up to that fool Karalel to stop them now."

"Or us." Bragosani says, looking over.

Arlo smiles.  "Naturally."

Behind them, The Usher finishes his incantation.  The wall in front of him begins to shimmer.

He then turns to the men, his face demonic with its dark, dead eyes like a shark.  "The actions of the others no longer matter.  All that you know is at an end..."