The Refectory (07/18/2010)

The group was intact tonight with all members in attendance. We will meet next Sunday (07/25), but the DM will be on vacation the following Sunday (08/01). Several group members will be attending Gencon the following weekend, but the consensus was that we would meet that Sunday (08/08).

Last weeks session ended with the last of the hobgoblins taking their final breath. The party quickly fanned out to ensure that this was indeed the case, and then began to further inspect the shrine and the rooms around it. Akta and Eldred inspected the huge carved statue at the top of the stairs and Eldred determined that it was a shrine to Torog, the God Who Crawls, the ruler of the Underdark. It didn’t appear as if anything particularly religious was going on in the temple, but that it was more likely that the hobgoblins had just appropriated the Chamber of Eyes for their own purposes.

Oester and Jenneth moved into the rooms up the stairs. There were two smaller rooms, the rooms the warcasters had been in, and both contained beds and tables and chairs. The room where the Hobgoblin Chief had been was a bit larger, and contained table and chairs, a fire place, a wood pile, a bed, and a locked chest. Oester was able to unlock the chest, revealing a set of magic chain mail, a potion of healing, seven 100 GP gems, two 450 GP gems, and a 500 GP gem. There was also a letter, a contract to be more exact, addressed to Krand and that agreed to the purchase of slaves for 1000 GP. The note was signed by Murkelmor Grimmerzuhl, and was dated two days previous.

Krstic stayed in the lower area of the temple, standing guard by the large double doors that lead into the area of the shrine. Miave and Bogar poked around the area of the shrine, and noticed that the chains and manacles that lay strewn across the floor, while rusty in spots, were actually in good shape, had been recently oiled, and had likely been in use recently. Miave moved upstairs, looking for secrets, when she came across a secret door, up top near the statue, the secret door facing south.

Once opened the secret door revealed a 20 foot passage, and then another door. Miave, Bogar, Jenneth and Akta inspected the passageway, with Miave able to hear muffled voices and laughter coming from the other side of the door. Once the upper rooms were finished Oester made his way down the hall to the as-of-yet unopened door south of the shrine,  hearing voices and laughter from beyond the door, along with some clicking of dice followed by happy roars and grunts of failure. The party decided both doors likely led to the same room, but before attacking they opted to take a brief respite to discuss the letter and to put together a plan of action concerning the inhabitants of the room to the south.

The contents of the letter brought on a spirited discussion. 1000 GP in return for slaves … where were the slaves? Where was the gold? The Grimmerzuhls had a trading post back in the Great Hall, but who was Murkelmor? Was this dead Hobgoblin Chief really Krand of the Bloodreavers, whose letter the party had intercepted way back while in the Keep of the Shadowfell? Further inspection revealed a key hidden on the Hobgoblin Chief's body, a key that successfully locked and unlocked the chest in the Chief's room, so the party felt it was safe to assume they really had tracked down their nemesis. Perhaps someone in the remaining room could shed further light on this?

A hastily made attack plan was then concocted – two groups would burst in simultaneously, just like had worked with the room containing the Duergar Guards shortly before. Oester, Krstic, and Eldred ended up bursting in first, gaining a surprise round on the inhabitants of the room. The inhabitants, three hobgoblins, two goblins, and two humans, had indeed been gambling (shocked!) and were caught completely off-guard.

Oester threw his dagger and drew first blood, and Krstic and Eldred were able to storm the room with the intention of gaining an advantageous position. The inhabitants of the rooms quickly recovered, didn’t panic, and actually acted like a disciplined unit. The two Goblin Sharpshooters dumped over a table to take cover behind. The three Hobgoblin Soldiers moved up to pin Oester and Eldred at the door and were able to bloody Eldred in the first round. The two Human Bandits also moved up quickly to team up on Krstic, and they got in some licks as well.

With the inhabitants now completely otherwise engaged, the other half of the party was able to open the other door, sneak through a small storage area and through a kitchen and catch them by surprise. The battle was well fought, but with the pincer movement working so well it was just a matter of time.

Once the battle was over the party looked around and saw:

3 Hobgoblin Soldiers, wearing scale armor, carrying a heavy shield, and wielding a flail

2 Goblin Sharpshooters, wearing leather armor and wielding a short sword and a hand crossbow with twenty bolts

2 Human Bandits, wearing leather armor, wielding a mace, and carrying four daggers

On the table where the gambling dice were found were five 100 GP gems, 100 GP, an old scimitar, and a Potion of Healing. Further investigation revealed that the scimitar was indeed magical. Each member of the party earned 160 XP for the encounter.

When most of the party was taking down the last Hobgoblin Soldier Krstic had decided to stabilize one of the unconscious bandits, and was able to coax him back to the land of the living. Krstic took away the bandits weapons and bound his hands and feet, and while the rest of the party started to inspect the room he and Eldred started to question the bandit. The bandit, barely conscious, agreed to answer truthfully and to tell all he knew if he could be released on his own when the party left the Chamber. Eldred eagerly agreed, and the other members of the party also agreed, albeit with a lesser degree of enthusiasm.

The bandit identified himself a Renny, from Stennett, a coastal city several weeks south of the Nentir Vale. He had gone off to make his fortune as an adventure, but after several misadventures found himself on the run and a long way from home. He heard that one could find work in the Seven Pillared Hall, so he had made his way here maybe a year or so ago. There was work to be found – there was always something one could find – but some of the work was a bit on the seamy side.

He had ended up working for Krand about six months ago. Slaves were “acquired” elsewhere and brought to the mountain where the group that included Renny would take possession of them and then bring them here. The Duergar would then come afterwords and take the prisoners from here. Indeed a group of slaves had been taken away by several Duergar Guards just a few days before. The two Duergar Guards that had been found upstairs were left behind as collateral until the final payment for the slaves arrived.

It was here that Renny's details got a little hazy. He didn’t any one named Murkelmor, nor did he know where the Duergar stronghold was or where the prisoners had been taken. He did know that he would be receiving his cut in a few days after the payment did arrive, but he could not be more specific. He also didn't know anything about the pig that Jenneth asked about.

While the questioning was going on the rest of the party checked the remainder of the room. There were a large number of barrels and crates with food stocks and there were several pots and pans near the fire in the kitchen area. When asked Renny pointed out which of the hobgoblins had brought the scimitar to the room, but he also expressed surprise that the weapon was actually more valuable that originally thought.

Renny was then asked about other secrets he might know of and he said that he only knew of the two secret passageways, which was one more than the party knew about. He was then led through the known secret passage to the temple, where he was surprised to see the dead bodies of the Bloodreaver gang, including Krand (who Renny did confirm the identity of). He pointed out the other secret door, a passageway that led from the temple to Krand's room.

The party then took another short rest to determine what to do next. If a handful of Duergar were indeed going to show up shortly with 1000 GP it might be worth their time and effort to stick around and arrange a proper greeting for them, so Renny was stashed in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and with no other entrance except the main one the party looked for tactical positioning locations to await the arrival of the gold. With the ambush in place the party waited ...

DM Notes: In dungeon time the party had left the hall earlier that morning, had an encounter along the way, entered and cleaned out the Chamber of Eyes ... it was agreed that it was right around noon.

Six hours later ... the party decided to hold their positions and to not take an extended rest. Eldred occasionally checked on Renny, who was fast asleep in his bound state in the bed where he had been placed. There was plenty of food and water for all to share, so they waited.

DM Notes: The DM started counting down the clock ... 7:00 ... 8:00 ... 9:00 ... 10:00 ... 11:00 ...

Around 11:00 Jenneth decided to use her Fey ability to rest/meditate, Akta and Miave started their sleep at around 1:00, and the rest of the party joined them between 2:00 and 3:00. Jenneth only needed four hours of rest anyway, so she agreed to keep watch while the party got in their extended rest.

A rest period that was short-lived though. Shortly thereafter a key jangled in the outside door and in walked a handful of hobgoblins, goblins, and humans. They were laughing and joking loudly as they made their way to the locked door outside the guards room. They banged on the locked door, and those who understood goblin heard them yelling for the obviously sleeping guards to come and let them in. The two humans moved over to the balcony with the intention of one giving the other a leg up to the balcony so he could climb up and enter through the unlocked door.

Jenneth woke a few of the party members, who in turn woke up the remainder of the party. Oester had moved out onto the balcony and was hiding, Jenneth waited just inside the door on the balcony, and the rest of the party stood in the hall on the other side of the locked door.

Which is where we will pick it up next week (another cliffhanger!).

Scorecard: The party picked up magic items including +2 Delver's Chainmail, a +1 Lifedrinker Scimitar, two Potions of Healing, 100 GP, and 2600 GP in gems. Eldred took the armor and the two potions, and Akta claimed the scimitar. Each member earned an additional 160 XP, 5245 total (255 additional needed to reach Level 5).