Borderland of Adventure #15: Into the Blood Moon’s Lair

At the end of last session, the party lurked outside a door deep in the cellars below the Shadowed Keep. Beyond they could hear muffled voices speaking in Goblin. Preparing themselves, Kemmo kicked the door in and surprised a pair of bugbears lounging around a table.

Immediately, Adoven cast silence on the area outside the door and the rest of the party surged into the room. The bugbears quickly fell and a subsequent search revealed some treasure in a chest hidden under one of the beds.

Continuing onwards, the party rounded a corner (still without detection) and listened at the first door they came to. Sadly, as they approached the door, Adoven stumbled and dragged his armour along the wall. Beyond the door was silence and so Kemmo again kicked the door in. Within, three goblins sat about a table; all looking expectantly at the door and sadly the party did not surprise them. However, the fight was nevertheless short-lived, the goblins being quickly outflanked. Two of them made a break for another door in the room shouting “kill the prisoners” but were cut down before they could reach it.

The goblins slain, the party investigated the other door and discovered a prison within holding a half-dozen goblins and three humans. The goblins were slain immediately and after interrogating the humans two  – self-professed bandits – were also killed. The final man identified himself as Kerkko, a caravan guard captured by the bandits several months ago. The party freed Kerkko and although he identified himself as s skilled warrior they declined his aid in fighting the goblins. Borrowing a torch from the party, he quickly gathered equipment from the fallen bugbears and left.

Still undetected the party continued on to the next door.  The corridor continued on, but they decided to investigate this door. A brief argument ensued. Kemmo wanted to ignore the door and move on, but some of the others wanted to investigate what lay behind. Attempts to knock the door down failed, although they did alert the goblins within to the PCs’ presence. A short conversation ensued as the party tried to masquerade as goblins to gain access, but this ended with Krorz hacking down the door.

Sadly, this alerted other nearby goblins to the PCs’ presence and soon  the party was fighting on two fronts. Beyond the door, the PCs discovered a small temple area and three goblins – one a spellcaster – defending it. These goblins were quickly cut down, but more goblins emerged from deeper into the complex.

Undeterred the party hacked their way onwards. Resistance stiffened and shortly thereafter the party again encountered the strange humanoid that had been leading the complex’s defence during their last foray. The goblins and their leader fell back into another room and the party followed. Sadly, an even larger humanoid – shortly thereafter identified as a fiendish ogre and probably the tribe’s chieftain – emerged from the room and cut Kemmo down despite Adoven’s best efforts to keep him bolstered with Moradin’s healing might.

As the party struggled to reach their fallen friend more goblins emerged from a hitherto unexplored passageway and both Klara and Krorz had their work cut out for them. For a few minutes, the party was surrounded and things looked grim. Eventually, Klara and Krorz managed to clear a path through the goblins, opening an escape route for the beleaguered party. By that time the fiendish ogre had been badly injured and several of his cohorts slain. Kemmo had also been healed somewhat and the party started a slow retreat, although for a while they tried to goad the goblins into giving chase.

The goblins declined to take the bait and the party – now dangerously low on healing and spells – wisely decided to retreat.

Back at the tower, they discussed their next plans. Sadly, Kemmo predicted that snow would again fall on the area in two days time. This left the group little time to reach the nearby town. After a brief chat, they decided to risk returning to Perrin’s Bluff, there to rest and reequip…