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Session 8, Skull Cracker, Levers, and a fiery end

Paldegora 

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Session 8 – 2023-01-28

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Good evening! It’s been a long last few days and I’ve been unable to spend the time writing as I should. Life gets in the way sometimes. I’m back now. I spent the day cleaning up my writing and I think the editable version I am giving to you now, conveys the next part of the story. Settle in! I have my wine, and I’ll read it to you know.

The party had just finished killing 6 elite goblins, in two rooms on either side of a passageway leading north. The passageway was blocked by a portcullis. After the battle, the party searched both rooms on either side of the passageway. They found some goblin weapons and armor along with a little coin. In the room on the left, Eryn found a small bag with gems in it. She took those to Symon and Angelique as she knew gems are used in some spells a components necessary to cast them. They inventory the gems as three small ruby’s(35gps each), two sapphires(50gps each), three pearls(one 200gps pearl and two pearls worth 100gps each), and two Chrysoberyl(not sure of their value). Satisfied that they had searched the bodies and rooms, and found everything of any use or value, they turned their attention to the portcullis. 

They searched both rooms and the walls inside and out around the portcullis and found no levers. Xor asked Eryn to check the portcullis for traps. She did and found none. He then grabbed the portcullis and lifted it. It was surprisingly easy to lift. Cal-El ran back to one of the rooms and brought back two stools which they placed under the portcullis. Xor lowered it onto the stools slowly to see if the stools would accept the wait and hold it up. They did! The party made their way north again, Eryn taking the lead. She moved slowly trying to avoid any traps. They eventually came to another domed circular room with a grate in the top and above that, the night sky. It appeared that it might be getting lighter, so the morning sun would be up soon. 

Eryn turned east here and made her way down this man-made tunnel, again slowly so as to avoid traps. She came to a tunnel that went north while the current tunnel continued east. As she observed this, Angelique made her way to the domed area. She was carrying a lit lantern and saw what the others had missed. There was some blood in the water. Symon looked as well. Xor called, quietly to Eryn who returned to see what was up. They pointed out the blood and that it came from ahead, where Eryn had been moving to. She headed back that way again.  At the northern tunnels edge, she peaked around the corner, and saw that it opened into a bigger room. About 60 or so feet away, standing next to a brasier, was a goblin. Also in the room was a large blood soaked spot on the floor, with foot prints moving into and out of it in both directions, north and south. Eryn went back to tell the others what she saw. Cal-El suggested that Eryn try to get a better look inside to see if she could tell If anyone else was in the room. 

The whole party moved back toward the intersection and Eryn snuck further up the northern hallway and tried to get a better look into the room. Cal-El snuck further down the eastern tunnel until he came to a point where it turned northerly. Peering up that way it seemed to just go on for a while and turn east. Meanwhile, as she peaked around the corner, Eryn was fired on from someone around the corner. She announced that there were creatures there as she backed away from the doorway preparing to fire. Xor moved up to fire and as they came into view, turned and fired on the one on the right side, hitting it. Both goblins near the door fired on Eryn one missing and one hitting her for a little damage. Eryn fired on the one on the left and missed. Her second shot hit and the left one dropped. Xor fired a second shot missing his target. Upon hearing the commotion, the rest of the party moved forward. The hobgoblin by the brasier ran west, around a corner and out of site, into a well lit area. Xor dropped his bow and attacked the goblin on the right. Cal-El moved up and fired on the goblin on Xor. Symon fired and missed. Xor on his second attack missed. Angelique fired and hit but the goblin was still standing. Cal-El fired a second shot on him and killed him. 

Eryn turned and faced the corner ahead, bow notched and ready to fire should anything come into view. She western wall began making her way to the corner. Cal-El moved up on the eastern wall. Xor moved forward in the center of the room. As she neared the corner, three goblins, and a hobgoblin, and another bigger and meaner looking hobgoblin burst around the corner, in formation. As the first one came into view, Eryn let her arrow fly into him and dropped him. Cal-El got a shot off but missed. Angelique fired and hit one. Xor gulped down the potion of Aid. Eryn became the target of Skull Cracker, who was the big hobgoblin in the back. He rushed up and swung at her with his morning star and she just managed to dodge it. Angelique fired and missed. Another of the goblins rushed up and attacked Eryn and hit her. The other charged at Symon and hit him. Another charged at Xor and missed him. Eryn dropped her bow and pulled out her sword and attacked Skull Cracker. She missed. Symon casts a light spell on the eyes of Skull Cracker, Eryn was hit by the goblin and collapsed. Symon was attacked and missed. Angelique hit her target. Xor hit and finished Skull Cracker. Angelique hit her’s again and dropped it. After that she moved to stabilize Eryn but was unable to. Cal-El killed off the hobgoblin. Symon’s slingshot unraveled and broke. The remaining goblin attacked Xor and hit him. Xor finished him off. Angelique used a potion to heal Eryn.

The rest of the room, around the corner, had shelves with books on them, a table with papers and writing implements and a rolled up piece of paper on it, old work tools laying about in a couple of piles, a chest, extra torches, and an old bed. The party searched the bodies. The elites and hobgoblins and Skull Cracker had quite a bit of gold among them and Skull Cracker had a potion of healing, not extra healing. In trying to determine where all of the blood in the pool on the floor came from, it was decided that it was the blood of those that displeased Skull Cracker. Eryn searched the room very well. The tools were very old and likely would fall apart if someone attempted to use them. The books on the bookshelf were also very old and would likely not stand up to being looked through. They appeared to be books referencing engineering, probably left over by the people that constructed this place. The papers on the side of the table were also very old and very delicate while some of the paper looked old but not quite as old. The rolled up paper looked new. She unrolled the scroll and read it out loud. It said, “Skull Cracker, Grish-ta-nak says stay, hide, watch, and count. Will send others. Make base. When the order comes, kill the man leader first and then all others. Take stone house first. Make them dig tunnels faster.”. The letter was signed by someone named Bloodfist. 

Eryn looked behind the bookshelf and found that it was so dilapidated that it would probably fall apart if they tried to move it. She continued on around and found torches and a bag with, a hobgoblin’s version of rations. Eryn stirred the mattress with her sword and found nothing. She got to the chest and checked it for traps and determines that there couldn’t be a trap on this thing, it was too frail. She used her sword to hook the latch but it broke off before she could open it. She used the sword to hook the lid and finally got it to flip open. It was full of rusty pitons, chisels, and a rotting stick with markings on it for measuring things. The barrel was full of a nasty drink that maybe goblins liked. There was some coal for keeping the brazier going. There is a pile of wood, a bucket, and rags. There is a toolbox made to be loaded onto a wagon to haul tools around. It is very old and in terrible shape. What we didn’t find was any mechanism for opening the portcullis that closed back at the entrance. We also found nothing on the bodies to help us open it either. Angelique reminded Eryn to pick up her bow that she dropped. Symon looked over the equipment Skull Cracker carried and found the symbol they found on the amulets the other goblins wore, the black dragon on a red field. It was on his shield and on his uniform like little badges. He is scarred from battles. Symon studied him closely so he might be able to mimic his appearance later if he needed to. They also didn’t find a way up to the house of Sir Charles. Symon thought it might be back where the kobolds were. We decided to hold up in this room and rest, recovering some of our health and spells. Cal-El and Xor went back to the portcullis they had propped up on stools and put it back down. 

Symon went to work on his spellbook and his new spell while most of the others laid down to rest. While he was working on it, he noted a piece of paper that was a little out of place. The top paper on the pile looked a little newer than the rest under it. He slid it over gently to look at it. There appeared to be notes written on it. One of them said, “Secret entrance” and the other one said, “Secret room”. The whole thing looked to maybe be an old layout of the sewers. There were two circles marked in two separate areas. It’s so badly damaged that he couldn’t seem to place where the spots were. Someone took time to make these notes so it must mean the spots exists but he wasn’t sure where. He looked at some of the other papers but they just fell apart. The circles on the paper were far to general in location and the picture didn’t seem to line up with anything they had seen so far. The party ultimately completed an 8 hour rest. They all gained one hit point back. Angelique did some healing, Eryn was healed back quite a bit. Cal-El received some healing as well. 

They decided to head east from the room and north up the next tunnel and east down another tunnel. At the end of that tunnel, the come to another domed room. Cal-El checks for tracks and didn’t see any signs of traffic up this way. There was some light coming from above, through the grate at the top. There were also some levers in the wall to the east. Two of the levers were vertical and they were larger. The two smaller levers above them were horizontal. Cal-El looked south and saw the passage way continued south with a tunnel going east breaking off about 50 or 60 feet away. Cal-El checked for tracks and there were some footprints around the levers, larger foot prints. They speculated what they might operate. The levers have been here a long time. Angelique brought the light forward so they thoroughly examine the levers. They were iron and they were old and rusty. Someone had put some sort of grease in the joint to lubricate them. The vertical levers were two handed and the horizontal levers were one handed. Eryn finally checked the first lever for traps. Not finding one, she checked the second lever and found no traps there as well. 

They asked Xor to pull the levers while they stepped out of the room. He pulled the first lever, in the distance, they could hear something clanking as if being pulled up. It seemed to be coming from back where they came. Cal-El went back down there and found that the last portcullis we passed through was now up. When he let go of the lever, it didn’t go back up and the gate stayed up. Still not sure what the horizontal lever does. They asked Xor to pull the southern lever. He did and they heard another series of clanks that sounded like something was being pulled up. The horizontal switches were in the left position and they had Xor flip the first one to the right position. Cal-El heard a single clank come from down by the grate that went up behind us. He went back down to check it but the grate was still up and he could see nothing different about it. He was pretty sure the sound came from that area. He checked the room where they fought Skull Cracker and found nothing changed there. It may have set a trap again but they can’t be sure. They had Xor throw the southern horizontal switch and they heard a clank come from the southern tunnel. They decided to return to the room with the kobolds and clear them out.

They made there way back to the room where the kobolds were killed and peaked into that room. There didn’t appear to have been any activity in that room since they left it. Symon reminded Eryn to check for traps. She pulled out her bow and made her way toward the north end of the room where the tunnel turned to the west. She checked the area for traps before poking her head around the corner. Inside the room were 5 kobolds standing in formation ready to attack, which they did. Two arrows fired at her and one hit. One ran up with a sword while the other two hurled flasks up there. Both flasks went north a little and miss her. Symon followed Xor and Angelique toward the action. Eryn dropped her bow and attacked the one in front of her killing it. Angelique moved within range and cast produce flame and hurled it at the two in the back hoping to ignite their oil and cause them great damage. She missed! Cal-El ran up between the front two kobolds and killed one and damaged the other. The two kobolds in the back threw oil at Cal-El. One hit and the other kobold dropped his. Xor ran up and swung at one but missed. Angelique let fly with a second flame but missed, landing too close to Cal-el and accidentally igniting him for quite a bit of damage. He struggled to scream but no sound came. The other two kobolds pulled out their swords and rushed up to Cal-El, one of them hitting him. The other one attacked Xor and missed. Eryn moved up with sword and shield in hand and hit it. Cal-El, swung wildly, and managed to hit one. Xor killed one. Cal-El took a little more damage from the fire burning him. Angelique threw her last flame and missed, hitting Xor instead. He was not covered in oil so he wasn’t as badly damaged as Cal-El. Eryn killed another one. The last one stabbed at Cal-El and missed. Xor took a hit at him and rolled a natural 20, followed by not a 1. The last remaining kobold explodes from the hit leaving nothing but a greasy spot behind to mark his passing.

The singed and smoldering Cal-El turned to face Angelique with a menacing look on his face and walked toward her, stopping to sheath his sword, before hugging her, indicating that he was okay, they are okay. The party searched the bodies finding only a little coin. Eryn did find a bag of 6 oil bottles and 6 flint arrows. Angelique healed Cal-El some. Eryn searched the bedding and the tools laying about and found crossbow bolts, some needles, and a couple of vial’s of something black, probably poison. Eryn picked up her bow.

Well, that was exciting. Poor Cal-El. I sure hope the eyebrows grow back soon. Let’s take a break and get back to this later. I don’t know if you’ve ever had it, but I’m about to enjoy a bowl of delicious ice cream. If you ever get the chance to try some, please do. It might require you to find a mage to properly chill it. I‘m able to chill my own.

Start the recorder!