Category: Western Borders

It is with great sadness that I must write of the death of one of our party today, a skilled archer that we hired who deserved a better fate, but died in a bloodthirsty ambush on us by a band of orcs and goblyns.

We were trying to make our way into an underground complex where we believe the mage we were seeking was taken and imprisoned, but that portal was proving difficult to open and we were too late… a flight of arrows was falling upon us before we’d even spotted our enemies. We had suspected that bestials were about, of course… the evidence of the ferociousness of their attack on the camp our guide Bove had led us to was plain to see. But the goblyns wore a rough camouflage and were obviously trained in stealth… while the orcs that were the muscle behind the attackers were hiding in the woods, waiting for their moment to appear and strike, and we were taken by surprise.

I was injured myself early in the battle, struck with an arrow while trying to chase down the nimble goblyn archers. Two other goblyn arrows flew towards me and would have struck me down, but with the help of the Brotherhood’s “Swat the Mosquito” stance, I was able to deflect them away with my bardiche. When the orcs appeared, I ran for the cover of the woods, where I could reposition and fire crossbow bolts at the enemy, rather than face down what appeared to be very capable line of 10 or more orc warriors. From what I could see from the tree line, the only members of our party that had gathered to face those warriors were Grel, Obroam on his mount… and a bear named Lady Cuddlesworth. Things looked grim indeed.

Thankfully, this is also when the tide began to turn due to two of the youngest in our party, Lindin and Phaedra. I’m told that their spells were key to this reversal of fortune, and in fact the leader of the orcs was put to sleep by magic. I was too busy to see any of this at the time, using guerrilla tactics to pick off goblyns with my crossbow as they entered into the forest hunting for me. The hunters became the hunted, and when I saw the last goblyn fleeing into the woods, I knew it was time to return to the main battle.

Taking up my bardiche, I charged into the rear of the orc line and drove the blade through an orc’s back. As the Brotherhood teaches us, sometimes survival depends on attacking from the Night, unseen. The rest of the party was fighting fiercely with the orcs as well, who showed no signs of surrender or retreat. They fought to their deaths, but we prevailed.

So now we must rest and recover from the battle. Rem, Lindin and I have scouted the entry passage, but our venture deeper into the complex and our rescue attempt must wait. I tell you Brothers, I am very much looking forward to being able to explore this area, as we’ve heard that it was once populated by dwarves, who have not been seen in the world in many years. The knowledge I might find down there may be invaluable! I will of course try and relate as much of that knowledge as I can to this journal, and if the Sisters shine on me will be able to return it to the monastery for safekeeping. But for now, I must be patient and hope that we can enter the portal first thing upon the morrow.

The 56th Day of Winter, 59 AD. (1/18/23)

This was an inauspicious day to join the experienced adventuring party as a fledgling magic-user. We found ourselves backed against an artificial mound, faced off against a line of ten uber-orcs and a handful of goblin archers that had ambushed the party out of the woods. Arrows rained down on us from above, finding their targets in hirelings spread across the mound and sending us scrambling. There was a strangled scream as someone fell behind me, punctured by an arrow. I had never experienced such a sortie before, what excitement!

Then there was a tense moment to see who would make the next move, when I, Phaedra the Prestidigitator stepped up, chanted the arcane words and made the hand passes, and caused a wave of drowsiness to hit the uber-orc leader and two of the goblins, causing them to drop to the ground in place, snoozing peacefully. Snarling in surprise, the rest of the orcs moved in to attack. The violent scrum of melee was all flashing swords, bear claws and sprays of blood, and I was terrified the bestials would overwhelm our line as they swarmed in.

Luckily, with bravery and panache, our fighters held the line, but while this was happening, I looked around in fright, after casting one spell I was utterly defenseless apart from my stave. The young warrior Gustave, seeing my distress, came running down the mound towards us, loudly proclaiming, “Don’t worry Phaedra, I’ll protect you!” before being promptly cut down by a goblin arrow buried deep into his chest. He hit the ground at my feet as I screamed “GUUSTAAVE!” in terror.

Seeing my companion fall at my feet suddenly filled me with a feeling of blinding rage as I unwisely charged into the heart of the battle, fully intent on playing golf with the orc-leader’s head. But alas, my strength failed me, and I was hardly able to dent his skull cap with my mightiest swing. It soon dawned on me how bad of a position I had put myself in, when an orc, wielding a strange weapon attacked me, disarming me of my stave and striking a violent blow across my body. Grievously injured, I reeled back and collapsed near Gustave while my companions bravely fought on and forced the orcish retinue into bloody capitulation.

The battle was over, everyone assessed the dead and the dying, laying on hands and bandaging wounds. Gustave would survive, but just barely, and was so injured as to be unable to move, making the journey back to town seem untenable, but the prospect of entering the dwarven underground with an injured party seems even more ill-advised. What are we to do? As I said, an inauspicious day indeed…

1st Entry – I will attempt here to record details of my travels, in the hopes that will be of some use to whoever may find this. If recent events are any indication, the party that I’ve aligned myself with will continue to uncover evidence of supernatural evil and Chaos, and if I and the others should meet an untimely end the knowledge may be valuable to anyone after that may also be trying to rid the world of these evils and make it a better place. My only request is that the finder of this eventually return it to the monastery of my Order, the Brotherhood of the Night.

Morning came with a bit of surprise today for Obroam and me, the sight of the rest of our travelling companions shuffling over to greet us, obviously hungover, bruised and battered, and naked as the day they were born.

After taking a moment to recover from this vision (we may never truly recover), we sprung into action, first securing whatever clothes we could get our hands on (Obroam and I chipped in some gold to help but mostly what we found was ill-fitting). Mort offered to go on au naturel, insisting that his own fur was enough of a covering, but I think it’s for the best that he wound up back in actual clothing.

It turns out our companions had left the inn the night before looking for more advanced revelry after our recent victories (I was celebrating in the manner of my Order, with a good bottle of wine). They had wound up at a rough local establishment which we returned to and learned some disturbing news from a poor fellow with very few teeth left in his head… that they had been attacked and robbed from a group that had splintered off from the Woodstalkers but had also kept that name. And through more digging we learned that they may have gone to make base in some very old, dangerous ruins in the area. If only that were the only disturbing news that we were to discover this day!

While checking in at the church on the poor prisoner we had freed from imprisonment & torture, Hazam (whom we also learned was a friend of the local loremaster, Blind Pete), Mila confided in us that she’d seen the head priest Adran acting suspiciously. Inspecting his room, we discovered a box under his bed that was emanating intense warning feelings towards Obroam’s senses as a paladin. I determined that it was trapped with a poison needle, so we wound up taking Mort’s suggestion of opening it with blunt objects rather than toying with the lock.

Inside was an unholy symbol that could only be used in the worship of an evil deity of Chaos.

And so, we now have a new priority: we must hunt down Adran and confront him over this. We were able to convince the local authorities of the need, and the plan is for Obroam and I to go and visit Blind Pete to learn what more we can of this object, while the others complete a mission of their own, and then we give chase to what appears to be a priest that has fallen to the sway of evil. May the Night look kindly upon us!

With the enemy on the back heel, we pushed on, attempting to smash through the door. Not an easy endeavor as it was quite study and things were being piled against it.. Before we could breach the door however, the two leaders appeared upon the balcony, wearing plate and bearing unnatural weapons. The robed figured used a smoking implement to summon the thing we feared most in this campaign, the wraith. Saying a prayer to Tangadorin, I left the door to my fellows and went to interpose myself between the unholy abomination and my friends.

As the party worked the door, and unwholesome aura and wailing grew closer until i saw it. Like a thing dredged up from nightmares, part skeletal and part unnatural blackish green energy, a ghostly vestige of a damned soul.  Margo and I readied flasks of holy water and tossed them upon the creature as it approached. This did little to detour it as it reached out with is hand in an attempt to violate me with its touch. But Tangadorin Protects!!! His holy all seeing light shined before me and staved off the creatures boney claws.  Quickly following this Egill was able to turn the undead monstrosity, sending it back to the building it oozed from. 

Turning my attention back to the main building, a skirmish was taking place at the entrance between the last defenders of the dark ones and my team mates. Short work was made of these two and the final push was upon us as the leaders of this group of villains came down the stairs. Unbeknownst to me, Pickles had detained them up stairs for several minutes by jamming a door, buying us the time we needed to turn the dead and defeat the defenders.

With nothing left but them, we advanced to finish this terrible mess. Blows were traded back and forth, their plate armor making it quite difficult to land a decisive blow and even allowing their head priest to push past us and out the door. The necromancer used his magics to puppeteer our priest Egill, having him move in the way of our attacks and defend him, but it was for not as my blade stuck as true as Tangadorins light pierces all darkness, laying him low.

Now we give chase to the last member of this dark coven, he shall not escape justice!

After regrouping, our company advanced upon the den of the Dark Ones with caution. Not knowing if they had more ambushers lying in wait. The abomination that was once Houden shambled to meet us, speaking in a hollow and unwholesome voice, asking us to join them and that we would only perish if we fought. I had his men give it a volley in response. The undead retreated into the building from our fire. With no other deterrent, we set up for the conflict.

We had the charmed orc commander open the doors, and then the fight was on. We gave the forces inside a volley before their clerics told them to advance, what followed was a bloody affair.  A hoard of goblins and a pair of orcs along with Houden, all undead, fell upon us. Blade cut, spears stabbed, blood and ichor ran freely, and people died. Though they knew the risks and their desire to to right by their friend, Houden’s men fell on by one. First Mitch, then Duncan, Larry, and Stew. Each brought down by the foul creatures and their relentless onslaught. Mal, though wounded is still alive and I will do my best to keep him that way, it will already be a sorrowful task to dig five graves tonight. Two of the Dark Ones were also slain in this melee, one being distracted by our Illusionist’s spell, rendering him ineffective for the fight. The Last of their ilk retreated inside and judging from the sounds has mustered a last stand of sorts.

Today shall be the last of this effort. Now is time for the final push, May Tangadorin’s all Seeing Light illuminate our path to victory. 

1st day of Winter, 59AD

Now is the time. We make for what I hope is our final push into Girffin’s Keep. After recovering from our wounds, the party has hardened their will and we are determined. I spoke with Houden’s men and the ones who helped before have agreed to help us deal with these dark ones and reclaim Houden’s body. We have planned to take out the orc bowmen atop the moathouse first. The Men at Arms will provide distractions from range with their slings, while a small team scales the walls to take the fight to them on the roof. Should all go as planned that will leave a small number of Clerics, a Necromancer, and their undead to deal with.

But….we learned they have one true horror for use to contend with, a Wraith. My will is Strong and my Faith in Tangadorin true, may his light that Shines through my blade be enough to vanquish the dread specter should it appear. I fear not for my own life, as it is Tangadorin’s should it be cut short. But Houden’s death still weighs heavily upon my mind. I fear his body has already been turned into a vile undead form. I cannot stomach the thought of more of my companions meeting similar fates. By his all seeing lighted eyes, may Tangadorin protect us.

*Tears can be seen to stain the pages of the journal slightly*

It is with a heavy heart that i find myself writing in this journal again. Much had happened to distract me from my entries. And now i must record our groups successes and failures. 

We had traveled to Tanneth and spoken with the Warden, Houden’s father, about the state of affairs at Griffin Keep. The presence of beastials, Ogres, and Dark clerics. After gaining his support his court wizard used magical means via a teleportation nexus to transport us back to the hidden chamber in the basement of the keep. Once we had gained the surface and the yard, after dealing with several orc zombies, we decided to breach the temple like structure with its large glass window. This proved to both advantageous in our efforts to cleanse the place, but also ruinous for our party as well.

Inside we came face to face with the dark worshipers for the first time. Their alter of Chaos was so foulsome that it almost took the breath from me, but by Tangadorin’s light I did not falter. Battle was engaged, my illuminated blade seeking to cut out all their darkness and our party took to slaying them and their undead. However, though we dealt with the first group quite well, even capturing one of the dark ones, reinforcements were soon at hand. A wave of goblin zombies came through a door, though they didn’t last long as Egill dispatched them with his faith in Tyr. But that was not all, three more dark ones and a wave of orc zombies followed. Though we fought well, the situation was rapidly growing out of hand and retreat was deemed necessary. We fought our way back out of the temple, with the jeers of those dark ones chasing us as their zombies relentlessly pursued. 

We made it to the yard, where Mort was able to use his magic and ensnare the hoard of undead with a fast tangle of vines and roots. Things seemed as though we would all get away, sadly this is not so. As we made our escape toward the walls, bowmen orcs rained bolts down on us from the moat house. It was one of these bolts that took Houden, my friend and companion’s life. As he fell he told me to tell his father he died in battle. With my shield arm broken from the earlier conflicts, I stowed my blade in my belt and hoisted my friends body from the dirt so as not to leave it for the foul machinations of these villains. Egill came back to assist me with the task, but that to proved folly. As we tried to make the walls, more bolts rained down upon us. Even as I write this the wounds of those bolts have only just been sealed in my back and side. But it was Egill that took a near deadly strike. The burden of two bodies was to much for me to ferry away in my condition. And faced with either bringing back Houden’s body for proper rights, or attempting to save Egill’s life, for at the moment he still drew labored breath, I made the only choice available to me. May Tangadorin forgive me, I left Houden’s body there so that I could save Egill. 

Once clear of the walls and safely in the tree line, I gave Egill a potion that thankfully saved his life. Not much was said on our way back to town, though our prisoner did rouse once before a swift elbow put him back in his place. He is currently in the custody of the constable. Now i lay here, in the Temple of the Light, receiving Treatment for my wounds. Though only those of the body, for the wounds of my pride and soul are mine and Tangadorin’s to see to. The death of my friend weighs upon my, more so leaving him to the hands of those vile dark ones whom i have no doubt will render him into one of their undead monstrosities. Should I encounter my friend in such a state, I will destroy what he has become as my god and faith demands. I think to myself, what more could I have done? Could I have been faster? Struck truer? I shall pray on this. And when time allows, I must answer to Houden’s father for the death of his son. May Tangadorin give me strength. 

21st Day of Autumn

The party will seek out the sheriff and Bellaparra (a hedge wizard).

The party is in a house with a room with a fireplace. It appears as though the exists in the room have changed or moved. There is a big green door on the wall that didn’t have a door before. The party went through the door which led to the outside porch. Outside it is a little warm and overcast. 

The party walked half a day back to town (it’s now midday) and then decided to head to Ballaparra’s. He lives on a farm outside of town. At the back of the house is a chicken coup full of dead chickens. The group went into the house through the backdoor. Inside the house, everything was broken and smashed. The party was searching the house when Rem heard a squeak from the kitchen. Banging on the floor with the butt of his spear, he discovered a trap door. Bellapara was hiding under the house accessible by the trap door. He is an older to middle-aged, balding, mousy-looking man. He’s blind and used railings to get around the house.

He was asked by the enemies to get Old Peterson to join. He was also asked to join and was told he would be quite powerful. He revealed that the enemies were mages and they called themselves brothers and sisters. The first one came close to the end of summer, and then 3 days ago. They used Chaos.

The party went back to town with Bellapara. In town, someone will be hired someone to look after him for a ½ season. This cost 30gp, 20gp for posters, and 10gp for expenses. Reeves will handle the arrangements and the process will take 3 days. During that time, the party will rest and recuperate.

25th day of Autumn

Mort acquired more animal companions, a snake and a badger.

Rem spent 3 days drinking and talking with locals at the taverns. He heard the following rumours:

Rumour #1 – There is a force heading from Shalam.

Rumour #2 – There are lots of people leaving town.

Rumour #3 – There is a lost treasure in the forest to the west of us. Some sort of weapon (sword) buried under a circle of ground that will not grow plants. This is someplace that a hero fell.

Rumour #4 – In a major city to the south, a local nobel has died without clear hiers. 

The party is planning to head to Tannia, which is a 10 day journey on foot. In preparation, the party picked up some supplies. Rem purchased 10 days standard rations for 20sp and 10 days trail rations for 10gp.

26th Day of Autumn

The party begins its journey to Tannia. It is approximately a 10 day journey through grasslands on dirt, not well-travelled roads. By evening the party makes to the village of Goldvale. Goldvale is the home of a mercenary company called the Gold Death Company. The company has been around for 15 years. A portion of their symbol resemblesTear. The company was formed by Commander Malness. He has faith in Tear and gives Egill 60gp to spread the word of Tear.

The party learned the following rumour:

Rumour #5 – There is an Ogre band terrorizing some Hamlets between the Duchy of Elfast and Tannia.

27th Day of Autumn

The journey started at midday due to conversations with the Commander Malness. It rains during the journey but the rest of the day passes without incident. The party comes to the village of Rosepass. Rosepass has an inn called the Mellow Twig. The innkeeper is Laura. The party stayed the night at the inn.

Mort was awakened by his squirrel and heard noises in the cellar of the inn. Eventually the whole party joined Mort in the cellar and it was discovered that the noise was an emaciated goblin that was stealing food. The goblin was interrogated, but nothing was really learned other than that he’s been lost for a while. Mort eventually killed the goblin.

Etinerra has no moon, but there is a nebula visible in the night sky. The nebula is referred to as the Night Clouds.

28th Day of Autumn

The day was uneventful and no village was found. The party camps for the night and the night passes without incident.

29th Day of Autumn

During the journey, the party found a stone in the ground that indicates a Druid tomb is nearby. The party pressed on and came to the town of Lightbell. Lightbell had a tavern called the Lucky Apple.

30th Day of Autumn

The party across a hunter’s camp. The camp consisted of 6 human men hunting pointers (a type of rabbit). They said “May Almon watch you over your journey”. Almon is the Wandering God.

31st Day of Autumn

While travelling, the group camp across a number of stakes in the ground with ribbons tied to it. Inspection of the area lead to the discovery of additional stakes with ribbons. These stakes lead to an area of vegetation with more stakes with ribbons encircling it. The vegetation was covering a rock with some runes. Once the runes were exposed to the light, they began to glow. When Obroam touched the runes he disappeared. This was followed by Mort. Rem held a rope while Egill touched the runes, and he disappeared. Egil then touched the runes and he disappeared. Darvan and Hudin decided to continue the journey to seek help.

The party members that disappeared were transported to a different place. This place had a similar rock but with different runes. The group touched the rock and returned to their original location. They continued their journey until they found Darvan and Hudin. Darvan got some dirty looks from a couple members of the party. Rem was happy that camp was set up and that he got out of some of the camp chores. The stones appeared to act as a 2-way teleport.

32nd Day of Autumn

As evening approaches, the party came upon a camp with lots of coloured ribbons. The people were dressed in coloured robes, had flowers in their hair, and were singing. In the centre of the camp was an analog of rock (teleportation rock?) made with sticks and logs.

33rd Day of Autumn

The party travelled to a small hamlet named Vanmeer’s Field. There was another group camped at Vanmeer’s Field. This group had 4 fancy tents and looked well armed and armoured. The standards that were flown depicted Elven symbols.
This group is called a Search and their leader is called the Seeker. They are seeking information and knowledge.The is an Elven woman in plate male called Bioanea (sp?). She tells us a tale. There are 20 elves in the group and the party will travel with them to Tannia. After speaking with the Elves, Mort has convinced one of them to join him as a follower (hireling?)..

18th day of Autumn

The party has been spying on a group of humanoids in an old castle. The castle is in disrepair and is quite overgrown with trees and vines. Inside the castle is a courtyard with some steps up to a door. The courtyard is guarded by an Ogre. The Orge is to strong for any member of the party to handle on their own.

Obroam has the idea of crafting spears for all the party members, including Hudin and his men. This will allow two ranks of people to attack the Ogre. The party does this and is able to overcome the Ogre without taking any hits. After defeating the Ogre, the body is quickly looted and the part retreats from the castle back to the wood surrounding it.

The party finds 90gp and a fancy wrought silver pendant.

The party was ambushed by a group of goblins and orcs. The goblins would fire missiles from the trees and then move to a new position. This made it difficult to determine where they were coming from.

Additional orcs attacked from the ground and a large melee ensued. Mort used entangle to immobilize a number of the orcs. The party was able to overcome the orcs and goblins without any losses.

The corpses were looted after the battle. The orcs had 126sp and 77gp. The goblins had 54sp and 18gp.

Three quarters of the day has passed.

The group returned to the castle. Past the courtyard and attached building, there are two squat towers covered in vegetation. One of the towers had orc noises coming from it.

The party attacked 4 orcs. One of the orcs mentioned Moloc while dying.

The party found treasure of 133sp, 49gp, a bluish gem, and blood red gem. The larger orc also had 2 keys on it.

The party decided to explore past the buildings of the outer keep. Pickles was ambushed by 2 orcs. The party attacked and the rest of the orcs charged and were killed. A group of orcs emerging from one of the towers was ambushed and killed.

The party found a pouch with a sealed flask (magical), organish gem, yellowish gem, green gem, and yellow gem. The orc leader had symbol (pendant from a necklace) with the shape of 3 fingers splayed out.

In the tower, the party found a room with a forge. The coals are hot and appears as though someone (or something) was interrupted. A goblin was caught and interrogated. Rem chopped off the biggest orc’s head and asked if this was the boss. The goblin confirmed it was.

The party learned that there are dark humans looking for something. They are digging below the tower. The goblin is afraid of the church-like building. The dark humans live in the larger building.

Further exploration of the tower led to a room with a chest and crate. The was labelled Shipment of Gillim Shallom from Merchant’s Guild to Paluk Tammia Merchant’s Guild. The crate had a noble’s outfit and 2 flasks of a dark liquid. The chest was trapped and Pickles suffered some damage from the trap when a stone fell on to him. The top of the chest has the initials DGI. The chest had the following contents:

• golden yellow topaz
• black pearl
• 2x red garnet
• deep green spinel
• jade
• pink pearl
• blue tourmaline
• 91gp, 2sp, 4cp
• necklace (platinum with gems)

In the basement of the tower, there was a room with two orcs. The orcs were killed and 4 goblins were found digging. One of the goblins was killed.

A secret passage was found of the main room the goblins were digging in. Obroam used a dead orc to discover traps down the hallway. After careful exploration it was believed the hallway was clear of traps. Rem attempted to move down the hallway but was hit by a spear.  It was learned that each push changes state of traps and door

Eventually the traps were bypassed and another room was found. This room had a large circular stone made up of three circles with runes. The runes were copied, but the purpose of the stone circle could not be determined.

On the way out of the tower, a number of weapons and armour were taken from the orcs.

The party decided to head back to town, which is approximately one and a half days away. A full day of walking towards town and subsequent nighttime rest were uneventful.

19th of Autumn

The party made it to the edge of the forest where it looks over the plains. From there, it is just necessary to follow the woods East to get to town. Another day passes.

20th Day of Autumn

On the way to town, the party found 4 orc arrows stuck in a tree. It is not clear what this means. Rem took the arrows with him.

Upon reaching town, some the treasure was divided amongst the group. Huden and his men are awarded 107gp, 99sp, and 5cp. Rem’s share is 51gp, 48sp, and 5 cp.

18th of Autumn Continued

Pickles drinks the healing potion. We investigate the first floor of the tower. There’s a closet full of rubble in the foyer. A hallway leads out of the foyer through the center of the tower. Entering the hallway, we find two doors. In the first one we find a scene of interrupted work and a cowering orc. The orc tells us about how many orcs are here. He says there is no temple of Morlock here. He seems frightened of the colored/stained glass windows. The orc tells us that the dark humans live in the “big building.” He says that there might be four or more of those dark humans holding the power of Molock. The orcish coward says that the dark humans are with Molock and that they know their dark angel. They speak of conquering a city to the west. 

After the questioning, we tie up the orc while briefly discussing murdering the orc. We equip ourselves with some of the weapons and shields here in this room. We exit the room and, in the hallway, we find that there’s a third room. We also see that the hallway opens up into a larger room. In the second door is what looks like a barracks. Hay and furs are on the floor and the furniture is broken.

We swiftly head towards the third door. We find that the hallway opens up into a foyer that has another door in it. The third room is also a barracks. The second foyer actually has two doors. The foyer has a large pile of fur and a crate. There are three separate sets of furs in the center of the room, and amidst the furs is a chest. The crate appears to be a shipment between merchants’ guilds, which holds a fancy outfit and two carefully wrapped vials (small wax-sealed flasks). Pickles discovers that the chest is trapped (a string suspiciously attached to the lid of the chest). Pickles triggers the trap and is injured, but Darvan heals him. In the chest are very very expensive jewelry, gems, and coins. (Gold & Yellow Topaz, Black pearl, two red garnets, deep green spinel, piece of jade, pink pearl, tourmaline; 91gp 2sp 4cp; fancy eye-watering necklace of platinum and gems). The lid of the chest has the initials of: DGI.

The western door of the foyer leads to a staircase (down) and the northern door leads to a spiral staircase (up). We decide to open up the trap door to the second floor from the spiral staircase. The second floor is completely open. Ceiling is open in some areas. There are arrow slits along the walls of the tower. Satisfied with its emptiness, we head back down towards the stairwell to the basement. Pickles listens to the door and hears orcs berating someone. Probably, they’re scolding the goblins. The party charges into the room and a battle with the two orcs ensues. We quickly kill the orcs. 

The room connects to a chamber full of fearful goblins. We question the goblins, the party agrees that they should kill the goblins but disagree on how. The paladins decide to grab some weapons and give them to the goblins, providing them with the opportunity to give up their lives. At that, the goblins sink to the ground and beg for their lives. Pickles dishonorably murders one while it says that it didn’t want to tell us something about pushing something. The goblins shriek and beg for mercy, promising they’ll show us. We finally ask them what, and they tell us that they’ll show us. There’s a button. Darvan pushes the button. It reveals a door. Obroam, Rem, and Darvan open the door. Past the doorway is a hallway and they trigger a trap. Pickles then triggers the trap on them again. They ask the goblins to walk down the hallway and find the pressure plate, but the goblins disapprove of that idea. This angers the paladins and seems death-worthy in the eyes of Obroam. Egill feels conflicted – killing slaves doesn’t seem courageous nor feel in Tyr’s light.

Mortisms

• If we go to the center of the town and start screaming his initials someone will eventually give us a free meal.
• Oh man, if we’re spearing goblins, there’s no way I’m not getting in on this.