Along the High Road, the adventurers met another aspiring hero who joined their party, another vigilante named The Ratman. Unlike the Ulthar Cat, though, Ratman was also open about his true identity, simply named "Charlie". Also, despite his name, the Ratman was a human, though he was accompanied by a posse of servants and minstrels.
It wasn't long before the group ran across a Dwarf named Gundrik and his human bodyguard Syndrael. Gundrik offered the heroes a job, to escort his caravan to the city of Fandolin. The heroes agreed, so Gundrik and Syndrael rode ahead to the city.
Not long later, the party spied two dead horses on the road ahead of them, riddled with black arrows. Bentra and Ratman snuck ahead into the thicket on the left of the road, where they discovered two goblin archers. Ratman stabbed one of the goblins, wounding it badly, while Bentra grabbed the other and tried to interrogate it.
Meanwhile, two other goblins on the embankment on the other side of the road began firing on the Ulthar Cat, Invictus, and Brothar. Invictus rushed toward them and breathed fire, but the goblins dodged. As Brothar and the Cat ran ahead, the warlock fired an Eldritch Blast at one of the goblin archers, disintegrating it with crackling energy.
Ratman finished off the goblin next to him and rushed to help Invictus fight the remaining archer on the other side of the road, while Bentra began to slap the goblin she was grappling with in the hopes of getting it to talk. Unfortunately, she was still unable to persuade him.
Across the road, Invictus climbed up the steep embankment and used the Moonsword that was left at Sir Thomas's oak to slay the goblin archer. Seeing that he was now the only surviving member of his party, the goblin Bentra was grappling with desperately clawed his way away and began to flee the scene. Invictus jumped back down the embankment, but tripped and landed on his back, spread eagle.
Just as the goblin was about to get away, the Ulthar Cat used a spell to charm him.
Becoming infatuated with the Cat, the goblin began to divulge all of his secrets.
"I'd love to meet some more handsome creatures like you. Where do you come from?" asked Ulthar.
"Oh, there's maybe fifteen of us or so in a cave nearby. We ambush caravans on the road and bring them to our master," it said.
"Ah, and who would that be?" pressed the Cat.
"Klarrg, he lives in the cave with us too."
"And is Klarrg a goblin like you?" asked Brothar.
"Oh no, he's a bugbear," responded the goblin.
Aside, the Ulthar Cat asked Brothar if a bugbear was a bear-sized bug or a bug-sized bear. Brothar just gave him an exasperated look.
The creature continued to describe the location of Klarrg's cave, and the goblins within, as well confirming that the two riders had been taken to the cave- possibly Gundrik and his bodyguard. Once they had the information they needed, the Cat tried to slit the goblin's throat, but for some reason his hand slipped. As the goblin's senses began to return to it, Ratman approached from behind and sliced the creature's head off.
The party set about disguising their wagon train off the road in a thicket. The heroes picked over the loot in both the goblin's battle and the previous ambush massacre, including some horse meat. Invictus found a trail that matched the description of the one the goblin had said lead to Klarrg's cave. Ratman tasked his servants with watching over the wagon, while the rest of the party entered the forest.
With Ratman and the Ulthar cat leading the way, the party became aware of various traps in the forest, even nearly falling into a pit at one point. However, despite accidentally springing a few of the traps, the heroes were able to successfully avoid being wounded or captured by them.
At the end of the trail, some goblin archers ambushed the heroes, hitting Ratman with a few arrows. Brothar and Invictus quickly cut down one of the goblins.
"YOU'RE NEXT" the dragonborn screamed, and the goblin immediately surrendered.
"We know about Klarrg's hideout. What else is in there?" asked Brothar.
"Uhh, wolves," asked the nervous goblin. "And Klarrg's right hand man, Emic."
"And what is Emic?" pressed Invictus.
"Just a goblin like me," said the goblin. "Oh, also, there's a water trap."
"And can you disable this trap for us?" asked the Ulthar Cat.
"I can't, Klarrg would kill me!" whined the Goblin.
The Ulthar Cat used a prestidigitation spell trick to make a glowing gold spot appear on the goblin's forehead.
"You have been marked with the mark of my god," the Cat lied, "And are cursed in both this life and whatever lives come next. Whatever Klarrg could do to you is nowhere near as bad as what I can."
The goblin, completely overtaken by terror, ran off into the forest, its mark shining like a beacon.
"Whatever. It's going to be terrified every day of its life now. Death would have been a kindness at this point," sighed the Cat.
Inside the cave, the party found a chamber immediately to the right. In the chamber were two wolves, chained and snarling at the heroes. The Ratman threw some horse meat to the beasts, and they immediately calmed down. Brothar and Invictus decided to search the room, while the rest of the group scouted out the main cave passage just a little further. Inside the wolf chamber, Invictus spotted an ascending pile of rubble. He attempted to climb it, and got near the top, but slid back to the base.
Meanwhile, the Ratman, the Cat, and Bentra found another side passage in the cave just a bit ahead, this time to their left. Ahead, the stream trickled down, but otherwise there was simply darkness.
As Brothar stayed guarding the entrance to the chamber, Invictus tried climbing the rubble again. This time, he was able to get to the top, where he found a small passage. The dragonborn stuck his head through the passage, where he saw several goblins, a large wolf, and the bugbear himself, Klarrg.
"Who are you?" demanded Klarrg.
"I... uhh... what's your dog's name?" asked Invictus.
"What? It's Ripper. But why are you here?" demanded the bugbear.
Invictus ignored him and slid back down the rubble, landing on his feet this time.
Meanwhile, the group in the main passage began to hear a sound of rushing water, growing constantly more loud. Realizing that the water trap had been sprung, the Ratman tried to scamper up into the nearby side passage, but failed. Bentra and the Ulthar Cat also tried, and being smaller were able to more easily get up into the safety of the side tunnel. Realizing time was running out as the sound of rushing water became louder and louder, the Ratman fled toward the mouth of the cave. The deluge rushed past both of the side passages, but carried Ratman a bit, doing little to harm him.
Wishing to further explore the cave, the Ulthar Cat pressed forward. Though he tried to be stealthy, the gnome accidentally stumbled right into a goblin camp. Six goblins ate around a campfire, while on a platform stood Emic, next to a body of a man- a beaten and bloodied Syndrael.
Using his power to speak directly into Syndrael's mind, the Cat told the bodyguard to wait until the time was right to help. Syndrael responded that he could barely stand, much less fight.
The Cat did have Emic's attention, though.
"You!" the goblin shouted. "Come here!"
"Tell you what," the Cat responded. "I'm right here next to all of your boys- how about I drop my weapons if they drop theirs? That way, nobody gets hurt."
Emic simply laughed. "You think you can negotiate here? You've been captured."
"Alright," the Cat said with a slightly smug smile. "You got me."
The gnome walked up to the platform Emic stood on.
"What are you doing here?" asked the goblin.
"Well, I ran into some of your friends on the road. They tried to ambush me, but to be honest, we had a bit of a Stockholm Syndrome situation and I fell in love with one of them. They were pretty impressed with my abilities, too, so they sent me up here to enlist in your gang."
"Really?" Emic was skeptical, but intrigued. "And what abilities do you have?"
"Oh, I can talk to all sorts of small woodland creatures. Right now, your raiding strategy is to just wait by the road and attack caravans. With me, the forest itself is your eyes. You can be everywhere and anywhere at once!"
"I could see use in that. Such power may even help me overthrow that fool Klarrg."
"Absolutely. Screw Klarrg," said the Cat.
"Screw Klarrg," Emic agreed. "I need you to prove yourself first. Take two of my soldiers, Timothy and Jimothy. Go out and prove yourself, and I'll consider letting you join."
Bentra, hearing this entire exchange from her place in the small passage, ran back into the main tunnel of the cave and told the Ratman what was happening, who in turn ran to the wolf chamber and informed Brothar and Invictus. By the time the Cat and his two accompanying goblins reached the main tunnel, the party had already prepared an ambush and quickly killed Timothy and Jimothy.
As Brothar pushed the dead goblin bodies to the mouth of the cave, the group formed a plan and set to putting it in motion. A while later, the Ulthar Cat emerged back into Emic's chamber, accompanied by a seemingly bound Invictus. Under his breath, the Cat muttered another prestidigitation spell, creating the illusion of a royal badge in his hand.
"You won't BELIEVE how successful we were out there!" exclaimed the cat. Holding out the royal badge, he said "We ambushed a royal caravan." There is so much loot out there, it's insane. Timothy and Jimothy are down there still sorting through it all. I think we might even have captured someone of royal blood, too!"
The gnome nudged Invictus forward. "And this monstrosity! No idea what it is, but maybe it could be of some use to us?"
"We're going to be rich!" squealed Emic.
"You bet," responded the Cat. "Here, can I leave this lizard thing here for now? I'm going to go help Tim and Jim get more of that loot."
The Cat headed back into the small passage, where Brothar, Bentra, and the Ratman were all waiting. Once the gnome was out of the cramped room, Invictus unleashed his firebreath, instantly incinerating almost all of the goblins in the room. The rest of the party rushed in, weapons drawn, where they say Emic standing on Syndrael's head.
"Nobody move, or I kill him," threatened the goblin.
"Do it," said the Cat. "He's not the one paying us, anyway. But look at your dead goblins- without our help, there's no way you'll overthrow Klarrg."
As Emic pondered his situation, Brothar tackled the goblin leader, saving Syndrael from being smashed. Once done, the Ratman entered the fray, killing Emic's last remaining goblin soldier.
"I yield!" shouted Emic.
"Where is Gundrik?" asked Bentra.
"I don't know! Taken by some king or something," the goblin answered.
"Is that all you have to tell us?" asked the Ratman.
"Please, just let me go!" pleaded Emic. I'll leave this cave and you'll never see me again.
"We'll never see you again if we kill you, too," countered Bentra.
The goblin got up to flee the chamber. The Ratman bloodied him with his rapier, but didn't quite kill him. Invictus and Bentra also attempted an attack against the fleeing goblin, but both missed. As the goblin entered the small passage to flee, the Cat projected his speech directly into the goblin's mind.
"This is your last chance. Help us defeat Klarrg or die."
Emic simply screamed and continued running. A crackling beam of energy hit him, and he fell over dead, killed by an Eldritch blast.
As Brothar tended to Syndrael's wounds the group searched the room and discovered a tunnel that led further into the cave. The followed it and eventually crossed a bridge, doubling back into the main cave tunnel area, where they were again ambushed by a small group of archers. The goblins were easily dispatched, and the heroes soon found the water trap, a series of pools fed by a waterfall. If the dams on the pools were opened, the deluge was released, much like earlier. To prevent further use of this trap, the party hacked away at the dam, releasing one final deluge into the main tunnel.
Finally, the party entered Klarrg's main hall. It was suspiciously empty, save for a single large wolf. The wolf began to run toward the party.
"Here boy!" shouted the Cat. "Here ripper! Who's a good boy?"
The wolf stopped. The gnome approached it and began to pet the creature. Ripper enjoyed the pets, and rolled over for belly scratched.
Meanwhile, Klarrg and a goblin bodyguard entered the room. While the Cat continued to pet Ripper, the rest of the party engaged Klarrg in battle. The large goblin-like creature was stabbed by the Ratman's rapier, run through by Invictus's moonsword, hacked by Brothar's battleaxe and still he lashed out against the party. Finally, Bentra stabbed the beast, then with a final strong Bentra Brownbottle backhanded slap, she killed the goblin warlord.
And that's where we're at now! Next week, we'll pick up where we left off, hopefully bringing Ripper into our fold of adventurers.
Until next time...
Roles:
Brothar Leadfoot: Philly
Invictus Kreator: Sam
Charile "Ratman": Jake
Bentra Brownbottle: my wife Emily
The Ulthar Cat: me, Thomas!
Dungeon Master: Toni
May the Force be with you!
It wasn't long before the group ran across a Dwarf named Gundrik and his human bodyguard Syndrael. Gundrik offered the heroes a job, to escort his caravan to the city of Fandolin. The heroes agreed, so Gundrik and Syndrael rode ahead to the city.
Not long later, the party spied two dead horses on the road ahead of them, riddled with black arrows. Bentra and Ratman snuck ahead into the thicket on the left of the road, where they discovered two goblin archers. Ratman stabbed one of the goblins, wounding it badly, while Bentra grabbed the other and tried to interrogate it.
Meanwhile, two other goblins on the embankment on the other side of the road began firing on the Ulthar Cat, Invictus, and Brothar. Invictus rushed toward them and breathed fire, but the goblins dodged. As Brothar and the Cat ran ahead, the warlock fired an Eldritch Blast at one of the goblin archers, disintegrating it with crackling energy.
Ratman finished off the goblin next to him and rushed to help Invictus fight the remaining archer on the other side of the road, while Bentra began to slap the goblin she was grappling with in the hopes of getting it to talk. Unfortunately, she was still unable to persuade him.
Across the road, Invictus climbed up the steep embankment and used the Moonsword that was left at Sir Thomas's oak to slay the goblin archer. Seeing that he was now the only surviving member of his party, the goblin Bentra was grappling with desperately clawed his way away and began to flee the scene. Invictus jumped back down the embankment, but tripped and landed on his back, spread eagle.
Just as the goblin was about to get away, the Ulthar Cat used a spell to charm him.
Becoming infatuated with the Cat, the goblin began to divulge all of his secrets.
"I'd love to meet some more handsome creatures like you. Where do you come from?" asked Ulthar.
"Oh, there's maybe fifteen of us or so in a cave nearby. We ambush caravans on the road and bring them to our master," it said.
"Ah, and who would that be?" pressed the Cat.
"Klarrg, he lives in the cave with us too."
"And is Klarrg a goblin like you?" asked Brothar.
"Oh no, he's a bugbear," responded the goblin.
Aside, the Ulthar Cat asked Brothar if a bugbear was a bear-sized bug or a bug-sized bear. Brothar just gave him an exasperated look.
The creature continued to describe the location of Klarrg's cave, and the goblins within, as well confirming that the two riders had been taken to the cave- possibly Gundrik and his bodyguard. Once they had the information they needed, the Cat tried to slit the goblin's throat, but for some reason his hand slipped. As the goblin's senses began to return to it, Ratman approached from behind and sliced the creature's head off.
The party set about disguising their wagon train off the road in a thicket. The heroes picked over the loot in both the goblin's battle and the previous ambush massacre, including some horse meat. Invictus found a trail that matched the description of the one the goblin had said lead to Klarrg's cave. Ratman tasked his servants with watching over the wagon, while the rest of the party entered the forest.
With Ratman and the Ulthar cat leading the way, the party became aware of various traps in the forest, even nearly falling into a pit at one point. However, despite accidentally springing a few of the traps, the heroes were able to successfully avoid being wounded or captured by them.
At the end of the trail, some goblin archers ambushed the heroes, hitting Ratman with a few arrows. Brothar and Invictus quickly cut down one of the goblins.
"YOU'RE NEXT" the dragonborn screamed, and the goblin immediately surrendered.
"We know about Klarrg's hideout. What else is in there?" asked Brothar.
"Uhh, wolves," asked the nervous goblin. "And Klarrg's right hand man, Emic."
"And what is Emic?" pressed Invictus.
"Just a goblin like me," said the goblin. "Oh, also, there's a water trap."
"And can you disable this trap for us?" asked the Ulthar Cat.
"I can't, Klarrg would kill me!" whined the Goblin.
The Ulthar Cat used a prestidigitation spell trick to make a glowing gold spot appear on the goblin's forehead.
"You have been marked with the mark of my god," the Cat lied, "And are cursed in both this life and whatever lives come next. Whatever Klarrg could do to you is nowhere near as bad as what I can."
The goblin, completely overtaken by terror, ran off into the forest, its mark shining like a beacon.
"Whatever. It's going to be terrified every day of its life now. Death would have been a kindness at this point," sighed the Cat.
Inside the cave, the party found a chamber immediately to the right. In the chamber were two wolves, chained and snarling at the heroes. The Ratman threw some horse meat to the beasts, and they immediately calmed down. Brothar and Invictus decided to search the room, while the rest of the group scouted out the main cave passage just a little further. Inside the wolf chamber, Invictus spotted an ascending pile of rubble. He attempted to climb it, and got near the top, but slid back to the base.
Meanwhile, the Ratman, the Cat, and Bentra found another side passage in the cave just a bit ahead, this time to their left. Ahead, the stream trickled down, but otherwise there was simply darkness.
As Brothar stayed guarding the entrance to the chamber, Invictus tried climbing the rubble again. This time, he was able to get to the top, where he found a small passage. The dragonborn stuck his head through the passage, where he saw several goblins, a large wolf, and the bugbear himself, Klarrg.
"Who are you?" demanded Klarrg.
"I... uhh... what's your dog's name?" asked Invictus.
"What? It's Ripper. But why are you here?" demanded the bugbear.
Invictus ignored him and slid back down the rubble, landing on his feet this time.
Meanwhile, the group in the main passage began to hear a sound of rushing water, growing constantly more loud. Realizing that the water trap had been sprung, the Ratman tried to scamper up into the nearby side passage, but failed. Bentra and the Ulthar Cat also tried, and being smaller were able to more easily get up into the safety of the side tunnel. Realizing time was running out as the sound of rushing water became louder and louder, the Ratman fled toward the mouth of the cave. The deluge rushed past both of the side passages, but carried Ratman a bit, doing little to harm him.
Wishing to further explore the cave, the Ulthar Cat pressed forward. Though he tried to be stealthy, the gnome accidentally stumbled right into a goblin camp. Six goblins ate around a campfire, while on a platform stood Emic, next to a body of a man- a beaten and bloodied Syndrael.
Using his power to speak directly into Syndrael's mind, the Cat told the bodyguard to wait until the time was right to help. Syndrael responded that he could barely stand, much less fight.
The Cat did have Emic's attention, though.
"You!" the goblin shouted. "Come here!"
"Tell you what," the Cat responded. "I'm right here next to all of your boys- how about I drop my weapons if they drop theirs? That way, nobody gets hurt."
Emic simply laughed. "You think you can negotiate here? You've been captured."
"Alright," the Cat said with a slightly smug smile. "You got me."
The gnome walked up to the platform Emic stood on.
"What are you doing here?" asked the goblin.
"Well, I ran into some of your friends on the road. They tried to ambush me, but to be honest, we had a bit of a Stockholm Syndrome situation and I fell in love with one of them. They were pretty impressed with my abilities, too, so they sent me up here to enlist in your gang."
"Really?" Emic was skeptical, but intrigued. "And what abilities do you have?"
"Oh, I can talk to all sorts of small woodland creatures. Right now, your raiding strategy is to just wait by the road and attack caravans. With me, the forest itself is your eyes. You can be everywhere and anywhere at once!"
"I could see use in that. Such power may even help me overthrow that fool Klarrg."
"Absolutely. Screw Klarrg," said the Cat.
"Screw Klarrg," Emic agreed. "I need you to prove yourself first. Take two of my soldiers, Timothy and Jimothy. Go out and prove yourself, and I'll consider letting you join."
Bentra, hearing this entire exchange from her place in the small passage, ran back into the main tunnel of the cave and told the Ratman what was happening, who in turn ran to the wolf chamber and informed Brothar and Invictus. By the time the Cat and his two accompanying goblins reached the main tunnel, the party had already prepared an ambush and quickly killed Timothy and Jimothy.
As Brothar pushed the dead goblin bodies to the mouth of the cave, the group formed a plan and set to putting it in motion. A while later, the Ulthar Cat emerged back into Emic's chamber, accompanied by a seemingly bound Invictus. Under his breath, the Cat muttered another prestidigitation spell, creating the illusion of a royal badge in his hand.
"You won't BELIEVE how successful we were out there!" exclaimed the cat. Holding out the royal badge, he said "We ambushed a royal caravan." There is so much loot out there, it's insane. Timothy and Jimothy are down there still sorting through it all. I think we might even have captured someone of royal blood, too!"
The gnome nudged Invictus forward. "And this monstrosity! No idea what it is, but maybe it could be of some use to us?"
"We're going to be rich!" squealed Emic.
"You bet," responded the Cat. "Here, can I leave this lizard thing here for now? I'm going to go help Tim and Jim get more of that loot."
The Cat headed back into the small passage, where Brothar, Bentra, and the Ratman were all waiting. Once the gnome was out of the cramped room, Invictus unleashed his firebreath, instantly incinerating almost all of the goblins in the room. The rest of the party rushed in, weapons drawn, where they say Emic standing on Syndrael's head.
"Nobody move, or I kill him," threatened the goblin.
"Do it," said the Cat. "He's not the one paying us, anyway. But look at your dead goblins- without our help, there's no way you'll overthrow Klarrg."
As Emic pondered his situation, Brothar tackled the goblin leader, saving Syndrael from being smashed. Once done, the Ratman entered the fray, killing Emic's last remaining goblin soldier.
"I yield!" shouted Emic.
"Where is Gundrik?" asked Bentra.
"I don't know! Taken by some king or something," the goblin answered.
"Is that all you have to tell us?" asked the Ratman.
"Please, just let me go!" pleaded Emic. I'll leave this cave and you'll never see me again.
"We'll never see you again if we kill you, too," countered Bentra.
The goblin got up to flee the chamber. The Ratman bloodied him with his rapier, but didn't quite kill him. Invictus and Bentra also attempted an attack against the fleeing goblin, but both missed. As the goblin entered the small passage to flee, the Cat projected his speech directly into the goblin's mind.
"This is your last chance. Help us defeat Klarrg or die."
Emic simply screamed and continued running. A crackling beam of energy hit him, and he fell over dead, killed by an Eldritch blast.
As Brothar tended to Syndrael's wounds the group searched the room and discovered a tunnel that led further into the cave. The followed it and eventually crossed a bridge, doubling back into the main cave tunnel area, where they were again ambushed by a small group of archers. The goblins were easily dispatched, and the heroes soon found the water trap, a series of pools fed by a waterfall. If the dams on the pools were opened, the deluge was released, much like earlier. To prevent further use of this trap, the party hacked away at the dam, releasing one final deluge into the main tunnel.
Finally, the party entered Klarrg's main hall. It was suspiciously empty, save for a single large wolf. The wolf began to run toward the party.
"Here boy!" shouted the Cat. "Here ripper! Who's a good boy?"
The wolf stopped. The gnome approached it and began to pet the creature. Ripper enjoyed the pets, and rolled over for belly scratched.
Meanwhile, Klarrg and a goblin bodyguard entered the room. While the Cat continued to pet Ripper, the rest of the party engaged Klarrg in battle. The large goblin-like creature was stabbed by the Ratman's rapier, run through by Invictus's moonsword, hacked by Brothar's battleaxe and still he lashed out against the party. Finally, Bentra stabbed the beast, then with a final strong Bentra Brownbottle backhanded slap, she killed the goblin warlord.
And that's where we're at now! Next week, we'll pick up where we left off, hopefully bringing Ripper into our fold of adventurers.
Until next time...
Roles:
Brothar Leadfoot: Philly
Invictus Kreator: Sam
Charile "Ratman": Jake
Bentra Brownbottle: my wife Emily
The Ulthar Cat: me, Thomas!
Dungeon Master: Toni
May the Force be with you!
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