Rise of the Runelords

After spending the rest of the day and the better part of the next morning and afternoon talking to town officials and leaders about what you discovered and training, Edwin was approached by Father Zantus who asked if it was safe to venture into the smugglers tunnels. Edwin informed him that the group had not fully explored the area yet so that was doubtful. Zantus expressed a desire to examine the shrine where the quasit had been. The group reformed and escorted Zantus to that area and locked him in while heading off to clear the rest of the complex.

Exploring one hall you entered a room and were not surprised, but the vargoule in the room got the jump on you and shrieked. Luckily most avoided the paralyzing effect and beast was quickly dispatched. That hall ended at a descending stair. A collapse a short distance down blocked passage. Malloric concluded nothing had come or gone from here in some time.

The other direction took you to a old prison room with an elevated walkway. Inside were four of the beasts the quasit had been 'creating'. Some of the group suffered a few wounds, but by in large they were no match for the now 2nd level group. Past that was a room that looked to have once been used for experiments/torture. A small study just off this room had three cells. In each was the skeletal remains of some creature - badly misshapen.

As you approached the next room, a few heard low moaning. Not pain, but deathly moans nonetheless. The most striking feature in the room was eleven not so carefully hidden pits. The rickety and rotting wooden covers didn't look like they would support much if any weight. At the far end of the room was a goblin, or what might once have been a goblin. It looked very much like a burly goblin (if there ever was such a thing) and wore only a dirty loincloth. What made it entirely not like a goblin was the fact that it had four arms, and wielded weapons in three of them. The group charged as best you could while negitiating the patchwork of pits. Henrik closed first. The beast was ready. It lunged and grappled Henrik to only maneuver him the next round over a pit. He fell in to find a zombie as company. Some attacked the goblin, others aided Henrik. The beast was very effective when he focused all his attacks on one target. He dropped Golian and one points and heavily wounded several others. Eventually it was killed.

Zombies were discovered in each of the other pits and destroyed.

The last couple of room were a ascending stair - also fully blocked by a dead fall. and a spherical room. You entered the spherical room at the equator. Inside were several floating objects: a bottle of wine, a wond, a book and a dead raven covered and surrounded by floating maggots. Ishan used a quick spell to 'pull' the desired items out of the room. The inside of this room was covered in a metal - probably some sort of steel due to the partial rust. But on, or maybe in, the metal of the walls were flashed of 'energy' that seemed to periodically coalesce into a shape, or image, or maybe rune. There did not seem to be any pattern. Nor could the 'images' be ciphered. So you gathered Father Zantus on your way out and reported to the Sheriff and Mayor.

The next day took you north into the Nettlewood. After having to leave your horses along the stream, it took you another couple hours to hack your way through and find what you thought was most likely the goblin camp - an overgrown mass of thickets with 'tunnels' leading here and there. They wer at most four feet high wich made for very slow going.

You stumbled into one area with about a dozen goblins huddled around a small fire. Again, with the new found skills, they were much easier than those you encountered in the Glassworks. Another 'room' was a kennel for less than a half dozen dogs. They weren't much trouble but did cause a lot of noise. This drew the attention of a nearby leopard and its druid master. The leopard got in a few attacks and then pulled back as the druid entangled the entire rear of the party. This was enough no nearly disbale a few people as not only did you have the rough terrain to deal with but also the grasping vines. The druid had few ranged spells or weapons and closed (into his own entangle) He was quickly beaten down. Instead of fleeing, he changed form into a bird and started to fly away. Malloric was able to bring him down with an arrow. The leopard fled.

A little further exploring brought you to the edge of the thicket and a cliff. A well-worn rope bridge connects the mainland and and an island. Even to untrained eyes, the sixty or so feet could be treacherous as the ropes and wooden planks on the bridge look as though they've taken a beating from the salt spray from below.

The goblins appear to have constructed a one story keep on the island out of reclaimed shipwreck wood and other scraps.

'till next time.