The Journey Home, Part 2

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Grerr, Wardog totem animal
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
• James Morthor, Warlock
  • Doggan, Tiny-Sized Dragon familiar
  • Iodberta, Fighter
  • Frauuara, Fighter
  • Alice, human child
• Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
  • The metal man, level [variable] construct
• Airsen Birdmaster, Airwalker

With everyone present, it was time to engage the goblins. The party rushed in, shrugging off arrow after arrow, the front line protecting the spellcasters until they could fire off a sleep spell. Two goblin archers were quickly disposed of, and the first spell took down all but one of the remaining goblin minions, though it didn't touch the leader or the champions. The next round, the champions kicked most of the sleeping minions awake, though they didn't have time to react before a second sleep spell hit them, and down they went. This time, the fighters killed those within reach, just to make sure they didn't get up again. One of Fawfe's familiars was hit, then taken down by goblins; none of the other goblins could land a blow, however, and after a few rounds of blades sliding off plate armor, the leader was slain. The remaining champions opted for a fighting retreat, though all but one was cut down. Morthor's henchwomen gave chase, but didn't manage to capture the nasty goblin.

The goblins disposed of, the group quickly went through their belongings, finding a musical instrument that belonged to a bard (a lyre, in fact), a potion, and an assortment of silver, electrum, and gold, as well as weapons and armor from the goblins. The leader was wearing very fancy-looking armor, though goblin-sized, so too small for the fighters. Luckily, it was a decent fit for Gróin, though he opted to hold off on wearing it until it could be identified. Unfortunately, the goblin that got away had made off with Leah's +1 bow. Though Rig was able to restore Fawfe's familiar to life, the goblin sword removed one of the poor beast's legs; however, that was the only damage sustained in the battle.

There was one other item in the camp - a chest-sized box with a slot, sized for money. Llarma, having already collected a mechanical man, claimed it as her own, and dropped a silver piece in. Nothing happened, so she dropped in a gold piece. After some whirring and clanking, it spat out a javelin! Fancy! Putting in two gold pieces resulted in a case of 20 crossbow bolts; it seems the machine randomly chooses a weapon worth what is inserted, with a minimum purchase of one gold piece. It explains why the goblins had such nice stuff, too; better quality weapons means better spoils.

After another day's journey, the weather changed for the worse; first, it rained all afternoon, then the next day, a tornado ripped through the area! Though it lost everyone a day's march, they were able to hunker down in a well-built shelter and weather the storm. The heat wave broke, however, and they were able to make it back to civilization without trouble. They spent a full day drying out, while a hired specialist tested the magical items they had. Indeed, the armor and shield pried from the dead goblin leader were not cursed - in fact, it was +3 plate and a +1 shield! The dwarf was quite excited. The potion was a potion of plant control; very handy. The knife, given as payment for killing the Lamia, was in fact a +1 athame. The previously-unknown scroll, written in dwarven, was a divine Scroll of Ward against Lycanthropes. Last but not least, the party managed to sell the final hippogriff baby, padding their already bulging moneybags.

They put out an ad for adventurers, and managed to pick up a priestess and a thrassian gladiator: Encarna D'cruz (lvl 1), and Zarc (lvl 2).

Though they spent an hour at the local tavern, no one managed to hear anything interesting, and a trip to the Wall Guard headquarters had little of interest. However, the local church had two favors, for which they would gladly owe favors in return: first, a village in the wild plains had driven off their missionaries, and travelers as well; the church was worried dark things were happening there. Second, a group of druids had been making trouble, destroying roads and villages. Bravely, the group accepted both missions. Helpfully, both were on the way to the gnome city, which is where Morthor was anxious to go.

They set off along the road; one morning along the way, they discovered fresh, green grass had sprouted up in footprints, right through the center of their camp; no one knew quite what to make of it. There were no other problems, however, and soon they came across tracks for the druids. Cautiously following the tracks to their lair, the party found a dozen armed mercenaries, along with nine druids: six outside a stone circle, three inside, and the last sitting in the center. They continued their chanting as the party watched, silently; after about half an hour, they hushed, and the druid in the center stood and approached them. Morthor attempted to talk them out of attacking villages, but the druid was adamant - they were following the will of nature, and returning the Wild Plains to the control of Wild Magic. He was haughty at first, but became more agitated as they spoke - no matter what Morthor suggested, the druids were absolutely certain that they were following the will of nature. Morthor stepped back and allowed Caranthir to take over negotiations, as he and Larma stepped back to cast spells...

Treasure and Experience

• Treasure from sales
  • From the Lamia: 6000ep, 4000gp, zircon (75), wrought brass (100)
  • From the Kobolds and Thoghrin: 1 box of shells (80), 2 agate (25 ea), 1 bag saffron (15), 1 tiger eye (25), 1 statue (160), 1200 sp
  • From the Goblins: Musical instrument (lyre), 23000sp, 7000ep, 1274gp, jasper (50), wrought brass (120)
  • Sale of the last baby hippogriff: 2880
• XP From Encounters
  • 20 goblins (5 each)
  • 4 champions (1 fled, 3 killed) (10 each)
  • 1 goblin leader (15)
• Total XP: 16104
• Total gp: 18724
• XP per PC: 1895 XP
• XP for henchmen: 947 XP
• Treasure per PC: 2341 gp
• Treasure per Henchman: 1170 gp
• Note: Clench gets a henchman share of XP, but not treasure.
• Note: XP and treasure was already tallied in-game.

GM Notes: Goblins just don't hit very hard. Against peasants and low-level adventurers, they can be terrifying, especially wielding crossbows and good swords, but against well-equipped adventurers, they don't stand a chance, at least not in such low numbers.

I can't wait to find out how the (rapidly-growing) party fares against these druids, though! This is the first magic-enabled battle where they didn't have the element of surprise, and the first battle against more-than-first-level character-class NPCs that the whole group is participating in. Is there a TPK in store, or another definitive rout? Tune in next time to find out!