Session 16 Recap of an Ongoing AD&D 1e Campaign on Roll20
Having settled in to rest in the Redcap goblins secret treasury the party decides to bide their time and heal a bit f=before trying to form a plan to recover all of the treasure including arms and armor. A Detect Magic reveals only the Goblin King's shield and Green Devil faced Flange mace as magic however but they are determined to remove every piece of equipment. Ash and Brax decide to search a lil bit the next day after rest and discover the goblin bodies looted thoroughly and scattered in the great hall but then they raise from the dead and reveal themselves transformed into Zombies !
The decision to split the party and do a bit of exploration was something I was very surprised by actually. The guard they had set up on the stairs leading to the hidden Redcap treasury failed listen checks to hear any activity so they missed the Orcish incursion to check it out and the Priests of the Temple later. All Devils have standard abilities and the Temple has several Devil servitors whom can Animate Dead at will, often overlooked ability shared by by all of them
They are surprised and quickly surrounded with Ash falling under a wave of dead goblin hands while Brax tries to retreat. He is quickly joined by the rest of the party in a bottleneck at the secret door. Helplessly watching as Ash inches closer to a final death. They finally triumph as Brax is joined by the rest of the party and work their way towards saving the wizard and leaving a path of destroyed goblin zombies. They are forced to recover longer in the small goblin treasury.
Session quickly bogged down into a choke point hack and slash against an endless stream of GobZobs as I am now calling them. Goblin zombie was a step up from devious goblin with an occasional flaming oil tossed into combat. The small 5 foot wide halls are only 8 feet in height so suit themselves well for these choke point battles
Hatching a plan to split the party they send the Ranger Nyloch, Oderick the Crossbowman and WIlhelm of Greyhawk to fetch the wagon and return under cover of darkness while they recover in the ruined and desolate goblin lair. Exiting they encounter many more Zombie Zombies and hack their way to the front of the complex. Tossing the remains into the various oubliettes they split the party...
This lasted for a significant amount of time as they came upon the slaughter point where they charged in last session with Bugbear mercenaries. I was calling this the ZobGob Zerg and curiously the party cleric never once attempted to Turn Undead. The flametongue in the hands of the Half-Orc fighter however were more than enough to handle the hordes of undead goblins. If only those wights had made their way here....
They filled the oubliettes with all of the goblin corpses which was kind of ghoulish & unknowingly burying an unconscious wounded dwarf alive but those are the breaks. Splitting the party is becoming a habit. There are a few side passages in the goblin warrens and older ones at that but these are ignored after the last of the ZobGobs are dispatched. The secret door to the Ogre's cavern is locked form the other side and many of the goblin tribe slaughtered by the party are missing as well.
Heading through the humanoid's path in the Felgrim Nyloch and his trusty fighting men are startled by the sound of wings and a group of Ghoul Stirges immediately descends paralyzing the fighting men. Nyloch sensing another flying figure uses a smoke bomb looted from the Bugbears and flees into the forest. Running through the night he returns to Quasqueton, gathering up the vagabonds he returns to the Caves of Chaos with the wagon. Meanwhile the Wizard Ash awaits the interlopers in the goblin warrens invisibly. She discovers they are indeed orcs coming through the secret door into the warrens. returns to the treasury and waits for them to go back to their own lair. When reunited with the party they quickly move the treasure using a Floating Disc and many sacks scattered amongst the party.
I am going to have to do a encumbrance check on the group as they have a staunch compulsion to loot every copper and candle stick they come across. The utility spells are often ignored by both Priest and Mage but I think this is more a result of novice error than anything else or video game influence. The need to contribute during a combat encounter over utilitarian concerns. It's working so each player's style is something as a Dungeon Master one has to analyze for better game play.
There is allot of dialogue between the vagabonds and the Ranger Nyloch during this session with lots of questions being asked about the condition of the rest of the party. They volunteer to help with the treasure loading and appear nervous about venturing into the dungeons with the party but are offered very high wages to do so and comply. They inquire about the missing fighting men and take notice that they are no longer of this world.
They quickly return to Quasqueton and unload their loot. Hatching a plan to gather more followers they return to Castellan Keep and give the vagabonds coin to hire more bodies. They find 13 scruffy down on their luck types and prepare to return to Quasqueton. The appearance of the new hires prompt a quick Detect Good and Detect Evil revealing 5 evil aligned individuals who are dismissed. Appearing to want to assuage their feelings the elder vagabond gives them food prepared for the adventuring party and they return to Quasqueton. Desiring to see if there are more evil people in their home the party organizes a feast to determine if any others are amongst them when strategy struck. The feast was poisoned...
Curiously this took a weird turn rather quickly as the PCs have never really asked for NPCs names when they hired them. Nor done any interrogations which would be considered rudimentary but nonetheless they suddenly felt the need to cast Detect Good and Detect Evil revealing five evil aligned individuals whom they were still going to bring into their complex! The elder vagabond and his ally managed to be apart from the new men when the casting took place noticed by one or two players, hide in shadows off to the side as much as possible. The you didn't notice the vagabonds becoming a noticed event that has happened in the past several times thanks to Hide in Shadows ability.
Rushing in are the newly hired all purpose staff with intent to kill. A battle erupts in the dining room but two members of the party are immobilized by poison and dying while they fight the interlopers. The battle was short but time was tight as their allies were in agony while screams of agony can be heard from the kitchen area as well. Defeating the interlopers the party rushes the poisoned members towards the healing pool and toss them in in a last ditch effort to save them. The pool boils and hisses saving the poisoned party members ruining it forever. The party is enraged at the betrayal by the vagabonds but on the fleeing villains the colors of the Blue Moon Bandits. Olaf had infiltrated the group and was biding his time for revenge.
Table cross talk is one thing but if you have an infiltrator in your midst and you take no precautions to prevent someone from hearing your conversations, they hear your conversations as that is one of their talents. SO the feast to determine who is a bad guy seeking to steal their treasure and Olaf; the elder vagabond, and his last remaining lieutenant Ruddy; third level hench-buddy, had hired other bandits to gain control of the complex. Their original plan was to simply wait out the adventuring party until they got themselves killed in the Caves of Chaos and thus would simply inherit the treasure, the complex and exact their revenge without undue risk their own lives as the assault upon the crypts left an impression. SO when they knew the jig was up they poisoned the feast with the Trap Poison the party recovered from the Chest in their previous lair. Organized a quick assault upon the party after the poison takes effect and fled with as much treasure they could gather stealing the parties horses and fleeing to the Northeast towards the Celadaon Forest and heading towards the Eastern parts of Urnst.
The Cleric tries several methods of removing the poison and finally they in desperation toss them into the Pink Pool of Goo. This saves the poisoned members, Nyloch and Ash, and keeps the party moving forward. Past two sessions have had the closest loss of two party members. The Ranger has an idea that there is an otherworldly ally to the priests of the temple and it is this minor devil which has been animating bodies slain by the party. A concerted effort has not been forced upon the party as the Lawful Evil Priest do not have total control of the Chaotic Evil creatures of the Caves of Chaos.
An assassin has been hired to kill the party in Castellan Keep. Olaf has taken off with a bunch of loot. The Temple is worried about the party assaulting them and have bolstered their defense with zombie bodies of bandits and goblins and are working hard to summon more devils. A Spined-Devil has enthralled several Ghoul Stirges to his will and is scouting at dusk for the party near the caves and I am curious if Ghoul Stirges can create ghouls with their humanoid victims? If so how come there are not more humanoid ghouls in the caves? A minor plot hole but might just to add flavor for the return of the fighting men to a villainous minion role.
The Juggies are emboldened to reclaim the Caves as their own but are not numerous enough while the Bugbear are positioned to be a vital force as well. Leaving a large tribe of Orcs as the primary obstacle between the party and the Temple. A bit of DM planning and contemplation and this section of the campaign should wrap up in two months before the next leg to be designed.
Nyloch 981 XP Brax 1259 XP Ash 1259 XP Mark 1103 XP
12049 CP, 3109 SP, 1048 EP, 319 GP 10 Pearls (10GP each), 5 Pearls (50GP each), Garnet (100GP), Heavy Crossbow & 12 Bolts, Longbow, Shortbow (2), Long Sword (3), Short Sword (3), Two Handed Sword, Bill Hook, Shields (6), Leather Armor (3), Chain Mail Armor (8), Dwarven Chain Mail Armor (2), Halfling Leather Armor, Halfling Chain Mail Armor, Gnomish Studded Leather Armor, Gnomish Chain Mail Armor
+1 Shield & +1 Green Devil Face Flange Mace
Silver and Copper were converted to 349 GP at the Keep after Taxation and Conversion Fee
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