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[5 Lamashan 4707 continued]
The adventurers open the door across the hallway from Orik Vancaskerkin’s room to find a bedroom with a faint musty odor and a stack of birds’ feet heaped on the blood-stained floor. A search of the room turns up nothing further of interest, but by the time they’re done they hear Orik moving about and getting ready to start his day. A quick whispered conversation is held, and the adventurers agree on a plan: “kill him!” The moment Orik steps out of his room, the adventurers attack. Nedrin begins to shimmer for a moment and then stabs Orik through the abdomen with his longsword, and the others pile on. Orik tries to make a deal as he fights frantically for his life, but no quarter is given and the “Heroes of Sandpoint” slit his throat once he falls unconscious. Arnald takes Orik’s bastard sword and heavy steel shield that has been designed to resemble a human face. The other rooms at the end of this hallway also turn out to be bedrooms. Nedrin finds a chunk of obsidian he considers quite valuable, and underneath it are drafts of plans written by Tsuto Konjiku for the initial raid on Sandpoint.
As
the adventurers leave the area and reach the point where they slew the bugbear
Bruthazmus, a goblin strolls to the bottom of the stairs with a tray in its
hands. When it sees the puddle of blood
outside of the harem room and an elf (Shalelu) standing next to it, the goblin
shrieks, drops the tray, and bolts up the stairs! The adventurers don’t react quickly enough to
stop him, so instead of chasing him they prepare for the inevitable goblin
counter-attack and take up defensive positions.
Nedrin hears a booming voice from above shouting in the goblin tongue to
“send the fodder down with the hounds”, and, sure enough, four goblin dogs and
three goblins charge down the stairs.
But the adventurers are ready for them and let loose with a barrage of
arrows. The skilled archery of Nedrin
and Shalelu, combined with Arnald’s massive great axe and Felix’s fists of fury,
quickly create a pile of dead assailants at the bottom of the stairs. The heroes emerge from the battle unscathed!
Shalelu
shouts “let’s finish this!” and charges up the stairs with the others at her
heels. The adventurers find themselves
in a trophy room of sorts, as poorly preserved horse and dog heads are mounted
along one wall while a large pair of black-feathered wings are tacked to
another wall with several daggers. A
large pair of double-doors, barred from the inside, indicate the front exit of
the stockade. The intruders first scout
down a western corridor to find a guard tower that’s empty except for a stashed
jar of half-eaten pickles. Turning north
and moving further into the stockade, the party reaches an open-air
courtyard. Doors along the southern wall
lead to rabbit cages and a food storage room.
To the north, two dead goblins lay slumped on the ground near a door
that has been nailed shut. Hearing
thumping from within, the adventurers prepare for battle as Arnald cuts the
door down with his axe. He’s surprised
to see a black and white horse inside, starved nearly to death, frantic with
fear and hunger. It bites Arnald before
passing out from sheer exhaustion.
A
search of the seemingly empty stockade continues, as the adventurers find a
filthy latrine (“we’re not searching through that!” says Felix), a barracks, a
planning room, and more. When they reach
a locked door, Felix puts his ear to it and his keen hearing picks up
whispering on the other side, which Nedrin then translates: the goblins inside
know the adventurers are coming. Rather
than force the issue now, the group decides to continue searching the rest of
the stockade.
When
the group reach the eastern guard tower, Nedrin scales to the top and sees the
body of the sentry he so aptly targeted when the group made their seaborne
approach to Thistletop. Nedrin takes a
careful look to ensure the group’s rowboat is still tied to the cliffside, but
instead he spies something very different: Lyrie Akenja has somehow gotten free
of her bonds and is rowing the boat towards the mainland! The adventurers are not about to let a former
captive escape with their best way off the island, so they unleash a volley of
arrows at the ill-fated scholar. She’s
pierced through and through with arrows, and although she somehow survives long
enough to jump into the water to try to swim for safety, Arnald finishes her
off with an expert shot and her body floats gently on the waves.
 |
| Warchief Ripnugget |
The
determined adventurers return to the first subterranean level of Thistletop so
that Felix can scale down the side of the cliff and then swim out to recover
the boat. He also pulls Lyrie’s body on
board and (after fending off and throwing her cat familiar into the sea) strips
the body of possessions, including going so far as to remove the woman’s pearl
earrings. He dumps the corpse, along
with a thick book she was carrying, into the water and rows the boat back to
the island. There, the group work
together to secure it again.
After looting the corpses and completing a search of the stockade
(finding an armoury and a butchery in the process), the adventurers return to
the lower level. After further
exploration turns up the keys to the cages, Felix shows mercy by putting the
goblin females inside along with the infants.
The adventurers continue their exploration and open a door that turns
out to be the southwest entrance to a chapel dedicated to the Mother of
Monsters, the demonic goddess Lamashtu!
Along with stone fonts, a black marble stone altar, and a ten foot tall
statue of Lamashtu, the chapel is home to two unearthly hairless canines that
fly and exude an air of menace and cruelty.
Sensing intruders, they let loose with a terrifying, uncanny howl that
echoes through the entire complex.
Nedrin manages to stand firm, but all of his companions flee in panick! The hobgoblin wisely retreats,
shutting the doors to the chapel behind him.
The creatures, known as yeth hounds, begin slamming their bodies against
the doors to break free.
 |
| Yeth Hounds |
The
adventurers come to their senses and gather their courage to make a stand in
the prison chamber just seconds before the yeth hands break the door down. Nedrin and Arnald are knocked to the ground
repeatedly by the hounds’ unrelenting bites.
Shalelu fires a veritable quiver-full of arrows to kill one of the
creatures, while Arnald’s axe opens huge gashes in the other before Felix
manages to finish it off with a punch into the back of its throat!
The adventurers
have triumphed over every obstacle so far, but they’re beginning to get worn
down. Yet their task is unfinished, as
the true mastermind behind the assault on Sandpoint has not yet been brought to
justice . . .
-----------------------------------------------------
Director's Commentary (7/05/2017)
Felix's remark about the latrine, "We're not searching through that!" will prove amusing to GMs who have run this chapter.
This iteration of the party was quite bloody and brutal! Slitting poor Orik's throat and drowning Lyrie's cat are good examples. I was actually really surprised they managed to see Lyrie rowing away with the boat, as I had expected they would go to leave and be surprised to realize that the boat was gone.
The battle against Ripnugget was pretty easy. As this point, goblins just weren't going to be a threat against the adventurers. Yeth hounds, however, are a whole 'nother kettle of fish. Will saves were not the PCs' strong suit, and this would prove their undoing next session.
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