D&D II Act One Scene II(b) - The Dread City

sKeith

Sarric ties up the talkitive goblin with his rope, leaving 10 feet of rope to leash the goblin by."
"Karinth, can you silence that other goblin? We have no more need for him and it will be a good incentive for this one not to scream out."

He kicks the goblin on the rear, pushing him southbound, 10 feet ahead of the party.

"Southbound it is. Then east........"

Fourier

Karinth crushes the other goblin's skull with his bare hands.

Heading South, the group reaches a solid wall that the goblin directs them to walk through.

Passing through they enter a corridor, to the East they can see the room with the elementals. They continue walking throught the various corridors the goblin directs them through.

(OOC: South, East, NorthWest, continue NorthWest passed the intersection, North, SouthEast done)

Just before they head East once more, Thorginz spots a passage going North and laughs.

"Here it is, what I've quested for all these years, it wasn't on the third floor at all. The temple of Hemgrid, dwarven god of mining"

sKeith

"Thorginz, would you like us to accompany you in your search?"

Fourier

"Nay, only a dwarf may receive the blessings of the temple and only a dwarf may enter. The Dreuger built the temple back when they were decent, and this whole floor was their kingdom.

Should ye come back this way, I'll join ye for the return"

He hefts his gear, salutes and walks off.

sKeith

"Until we see each other again Torginz."

Sarric and the party heads east again, with the goblin out in front.

Fourier

They group enters a long golden corridor of exquisite craftsmanship.

"Dwarven in quality" Karinth says.

Passing through the corridor they reach a point where the walls turn from gold to jade. Just before this point, a plaque on the wall contains something written in Goblin.

sKeith

"Hey goblin, whats that say?"

Fourier

The goblin cringes.

"It's trying to say 'No goblins', but the grammar is awful"

sKeith

Sarric laughs.
"Okay, lets continue then, shall we. We'll vouch for you."

Fourier

OOC: Dex save

Fourier

Steppping into the jade corridor a hot jet of water is released from the walls.

Karinth immediately back flips into the air, the lava missing him. The rest of the party is doused in the boiling substance, burning them severely. Especially Faree who collapses to the ground in pain.

Karinth shouts suddenly "Duerger about to show themselves"

Four Duerger decloak themselves from their innate invisibility and charge the party.

OOC: Init

sKeith

"Ahhh, that hurts!!! What sort of greeting is that, when we clearly have a goblin tied up, does it look like we are your enemy???"

Fourier

Karinth holds his hands to his temple while staring at one of the Duerger. Sarric moves with blinding speed, connecting with another's chin and knocking him to the floor. Grint rushes in and fires an arrow at the one Sarric knocked, while Ser Boros swings wide on another.

"Ha!" Grint exclaims "You've got to teach me that trick" he smiles at Sarric before being impaled on a Deuger's blade as another follows up and slices his head off.

Karinth grits his teeth, detonating the skull of one of the assailants, before Sarric knocks another prone with a spinning kick.

Ser Boros once again swings wide.

The three remaining Deuger step back and shout, swelling to double their previous size.

"Sarric!" Karinth shouts "This increases their strength as well...." he looks to Faree "...the girl is near dead, let me use her life force, I will kill her, but it will stop these three"

sKeith

"Sure, use away, use all the life force you need, but not mine." Sarric chuckles.

Fourier

Karinth plunges his hand into Faree's eye sockets and points the other hand at the Duerger who collapse dead on the spot.

"There. Glorious!!" he says with gusto patting Ser Boros on the back, who in turn slumps against the wall.

The goblin just looks shocked.

"We hardly need this idiot anymore Sarric" Karinth says gesturing at the Goblin.

sKeith

"nope, suck the life force outta him."

Fourier

"Not worth it" Karinth sneers at the Goblin before dragging him to the wall as the Goblin screams and crushing his head against it with his boot.

He pats Ser Boros on the back.

"I'm sure your monster will be in this fortress up ahead"

"Right you are" Ser Boros says standing "Shall we rest first Sarric, I tire?"

sKeith

Fourier wrote: »

"Not worth it" Karinth sneers at the Goblin before dragging him to the wall as the Goblin screams and crushing his head against it with his boot.

He pats Ser Boros on the back.

"I'm sure your monster will be in this fortress up ahead"

"Right you are" Ser Boros says standing "Shall we rest first Sarric, I tire?"

"I would love an ole meditation. I need to sort my thoughts out."

Fourier

Sarric finishes his meditation, while Ser Boros still slumbers.

Karinth is dissecting the corpses of the Duerger, Faree and Grint when he finishes his meditation.

sKeith

"Hi Karinth, find anything interesting?

Do you think maybe we can keep one of the next Duerger we find alive, doesnt have to be healthy alive, barely alive is fine, just alive, long enough to intergate them on the whereabouts of the sword or is that what you were looking for inside them?"

Fourier

"Fashioning a potion from their blood, unfortunately the spell I used killed them utterly"

He lifts up a vile.

"There, a potion of invisibility"

sKeith

"wow, thats a handy skill to know.

I was thinking there that the goblin had lead us into an ambush, but since when does a goblin lead us into a duerger ambush?
I dont think it did, so, I think we can rely on his directions, northeast, then southeast then east. if we find any duerger along the way, we interigate the swords location out of them.

Have you a better plan of action?"

Fourier

"No, we wait for the fighter there to rest and we go"

Ser Boros awakens a while later and the group of three eventually find themselves, after following the Goblins instructions to the end, in a large cavern. Within the open cavern about eighty Duerger live and work on the mines, hacking away at ore veins, others play some strange game involving sticks and two dice.

Ser Boros gestures to Sarric.

"Eight highly trained warriors around the throne over there, the rest are not fighters"

The throne is in fact a small ornate stone seat, with a Goblin sitting on top of it, though her face his severely damaged, no nose, broken teeth. The warriors guard her, four on each side.

Next to the throne, held in a display case is a sword.

"There it is!" Karinth says with a smile.

sKeith

"Karinth, do you want to use you spell of invisibility and requisition that sword under stealth and sneak back out and meet us back outside, and then we can run like the clappers back the way we came. or whats your plan?"

Fourier

"Just that my friend and this...."

He takes out an amulet.

"...it will return us to our plane, we only need to be within a few feet of each other. I steal the sword, though they will most likely notice instantly, and run as fast as I can. I can outpace the Dreuger, given their heavy armour and when I'm near you, zip, back we go to our plane. Ser Boros, we can take with us, though he most likely won't like it, he will die against eight such warriors.

When we planeshift...we could return to Othegregrad, or a location of your choosing. I fear the former to tell you the truth, we stand a good chance of meeting Othegre"

sKeith

"Karinth, I think we should return to othegragrad. I will remain your arbitrator in your continuing tasks. The sword is just one task we needed to complete, I believe us bringing the sword back will help restore you name in othegregrad and one day, you may lead the place. That will never happen if you run away and dont complete the tasks put before you.

Ser Borus, will you join us in our missions, there are many adventures and more treasure than you could feast your eyes on, or would you prefer to accept whatever fate has in store for you here, slay your moster and gain the respect of your uncle? If you are to stay, i will give you the freeze spell so you can climb the pipe back the way we came. How say you?"

Fourier

"I am with you Sarric, I will die otherwise....and truth told, the barony seems small now, I want to see more.

Good luck Karinth"

Karinth nods and sneaks off.

sKeith

Sarric and ser borus head back the way they came in at a slow pace.

Fourier

Karinth manages to get to the case and waits till somebody approaches the throne. With the distraction he makes the sword vanish as well, when he grabs it and returns back across the cavern.

"Right..." he says decloaking "...lets head off"

The goblin queen stands noticing the light of the amulet and orders the warriors attack the three figures on the cavern edge. They manage to get half way there before there is a flash and the three invaders are gone.

She lets out a scream of rage when she notices her sword is gone. She needed it to secure trade with the dragons several floors below. In her rage she lashes out and kills some Duerger with curse spells. The sword is a world away now though, she eventually calms herself. She has ruled here for decades, let this not affect her.

A month later she sends her men out to the dangerous dungeons of the lower levels to speak with the dragons found there. She would go herself, hoping the dragons understand she could not stop the theft.

She secretly wishes she could subject those three wretched thieves to the Dungeons and Dragons.

Fourier

OOC:
Dave Arneson's original model of Blackmoor castle used for the very first RPG campaign in 1972