The Hobgoblin Barracks (03/28/2010)

The adventurers started this week at the east end of an east-west hallway with a pair of closed doors facing north in front of them. The party had just heard these doors click shut a few seconds after they initially started down the hall, so somebody or something knows they are out here. Bogar and Krstic are at the back of the party, so it must be time to get things started.

As the doors opened the party members in front looked down a 20 foot hallway that lead to a medium sized room. There were a pair of doors on the north side of the room, and initially no monsters were to be seen. As the party prepared to move into the room a pair of Hobgoblin Grunts peered around the corner from each side of the small hallway and the encounter was off and running.

The two Hobgoblin Grunts were quickly dispatched and when Oester moved in to investigate further he found himself face-to-face with two Hobgoblin Soldiers. Eldred stepped up to help, and some ranged fire from behind helped as well, but the two big fighters unfortunately still found themselves stuck in the back of the group, unable to get in the fight.

This mattered even more when the two doors on the north side of the room flew open and several additional Hobgoblin Grunts and Hobgoblin Soldiers joined the fray. The hobgoblins had the party pinned in the hallway and looked to start mowing through the characters at the front, but the party quickly took control and started knocking back the hobgoblins, eventually downing them all after some tough fighting.

As the party moved into the room they saw a still closed door to the right (east) side of the room, several barrels and crates along the west side of the room, and several beds could be seen in the room through the doors to the north. Jenneth used his Mage Hand to open the closed door and the party immediately found themselves engaged with several more Hobgoblin Grunts, a Hobgoblin Soldier, a Hobgoblin Archer and a Hobgoblin Warcaster.

The Hobgoblin Grunts were soon eliminated, but these remaining hobgoblins proved to be tough fighters and their ranged weapons were able to do some damage to the party. Eldred slipped into the room to the north and saw there was a hallway that lead around to the room with the remaining hobgoblins and was able to do some surprise damage, but took an arrow for his trouble. The blow of the night was Miave's two consecutive crit-hit arrows on the Warcaster, not enough to kill him, but enough to put him at death's door.

The last hobgoblin was soon killed and the party took a five minute respite. As they looked around the room they saw the crates and barrels that were filled with half-rotted food (although they did come across three untapped kegs of ale!), piles of weapons and armor that had likely been collected from the hobgoblins killed previously, several beds, and several sets of tables and chairs in what appeared to be a mess hall of some type. Krstic found a battle axe in the pile of weapons, and Miave took the longbow and quiver of arrows from the Hobgoblin Archer. As the party looked around they saw:

7 Hobgoblin Grunts, wearing leather armor and carrying a light shield and a longsword.

4 Hobgoblin Soldiers, wearing scale armor and carrying a heavy shield and a flail.

1 Hobgoblin Archer, wearing leather armor and carrying a longsword, a longbow, and a quiver with 30 arrows.

1 Hobgoblin Warcaster, wearing a robe and carrying a quarterstaff.

No magic or secrets were found, a total 42 GP was collected from the purses of the hobgoblins, and each member of the party earned 170 XP.

After the brief rest the party moved out of the barracks room and back into the east-west hallway, and then down the hallway that lead south. Ahead they could see a large table and chairs that sat in the middle of another medium size room, and there were a pair of doors directly ahead on the south wall. As the party reached the room they also spied another door on the east wall and several stacks of crates and barrels in the southeast corner of the room.

The party slipped into the room and prepared to open the door on the east wall, the but hobgoblins inside didn't give them the chance. Two Hobgoblin Grunts quickly pounced on the lead party members and from behind them came three Hobgoblin Soldiers that braved a total of seven opportunity attacks - none of which hit - to infiltrate the main body of the party. With most of the party members now engaged the doors to the south then burst open and into the room poured several more Hobgobin Grunts, another Hobgoblin Soldier, and they were followed by a Hobgoblin Warchief who entered the room by yelling to the hobgoblins: "Don't kill 'em! We can sell them to the Bloodreavers as slaves!"

Eldred and Oester seem to take the worst of it again, but several key blows began to turn the tide against the hobgoblins. It looked like Eldred might be the next party member to slip into unconsciousness but an almost forgotten assist from party members gave him the boost he needed to stave off two critical attacks. Krstic and Bogar took and gave out damage, Akta jumped around and did his thing, and with Maive and Jenneth doing their ranged attacks the tide began to slowly shift.

The big blow was when Oester managed to slide away from several hobgoblins and ended up flanked behind the Hobgoblin Warchief. The ensuing damage was not enough to kill the warchief, but it was now inevitable and the party soon stood victorious. As the characters looked around they saw:

8 Hobgoblin Grunts, wearing leather armor and carrying a light shield and a longsword.

4 Hobgoblin Soldiers, wearing scale armor and carrying a heavy shield and a flail.

1 Hobgoblin Warchief, wearing scale armor and carrying a heavy shield and a spear.

As time was running late the room and the bodies have not yet been searched, but the party did earn 160 XP and picked up an Action Point.

DM Note: The party started off the evening with 2055 XP, and with the 330 XP earned tonight they are now eligible for bumping up to Level 3 characters. A discussion ensued as to what should the party do next - the hobgoblins had proved to be pretty tough and it was generally assumed things would be tougher going forward, so the decision was made to level up before moving on. The DM made the offer that if the party wanted to return to town now, get a hot meal, an ale (or three), and sleep in a real bed he would put aside the "wait 12 hours before taking another extended rest" rule for this time.

So next week we will play it this way - the party, as Level 2 characters, will inspect the room and collect any booty, exit the dungeon, and return to town (unless, of course, they change their mind). Then, as level 3 characters the party members will wake up the next morning (hopefully) in town and can decide what to do from there.