Events+of+Zarantyr+13,+998+YK

=Events of 13 Zarantyr, 998 YK=

Back at the Murnie Homestead, the party rested in one of the cottages, as the rest of the Brelish Army detachment returned from their investigations of other homesteads in the area. All were vacant, their occupants spending the winter months in New Cyre or elsewhere. //Sidenote//: The Murnies stayed through the winter because they had arrived at their site late, and needed the extra time to finish the cottages and get ready for the spring planting. In retrospect, probably not the smartest idea.

With the morning, concerns were raised about the force that had gone down the well, as they had neither returned nor sent word of their status. The party -- minus Stend -- volunteered to investigate. Deciding to go down the well rather than through the trapdoor at the Goblinoid lair, Draco, Colden, Corwin, Noname and Chok'ma the Kobold soon found themselves in the dark, earth-clay tunnels (shored up with dried timbers) of what had once been a Dragonshard mine. Getting past the door they had stopped at several days before in their first battle with the Goblinoids, they saw mostly-empty chambers and few dead Goblins. Chok'ma pointed to some fresh pickaxe marks and small piles of dirt along the wall, which showed where exploratory mining had been attempted.

Working their way generally east towards Monument Hill, they came upon another chamber, empty but for its newest occupants -- four giant Spiders (three Medium and one Large). Where did they come from? Why were they there? Who cares, they were aggressive and the party fought and killed them dead (the party took minor damage, except for Colden, who was poisoned, and NoName, who suffered a critical from the fancy new Critical Hit Deck). A freshly-cocooned Human corpse -- a Brelish soldier -- was found.

Pushing on bravely, the foursome with their Kobold guide/lackey came around another corridor with a door leading north and an open corridor beyond, also leading north. Draco moves on ahead and, seeing nothing, breaks silence and calls the others forward. This proves to be a near-fatal error, as it alerted a small detachment of Goblinoids nearby. The now-trademarked **CAW! CAW!** was followed by arrows from three archers, and the door opens to allow two of the redskinned Goblins to charge through, raging and goring with their horns. Noname drops smoke and climbs to the ceiling to avoid the archers. Draco and Colden dispatch the two Dekanter Goblins, and Corwin shoots a couple of arrows. A Goblin Adept comes through, tossing electricity orbs at Draco. The Archers -- two Goblins and a Hobgoblin -- follow. And something else climbs the wall, seemingly ignoring the smoke as it engages Noname, dropping her quickly (but not before hissing "you'd make a good zombie"). Hearing her strangled cry, Colden goes to the Swordsage's rescue as Draco and Corwin face off against the four Goblinoids. Only, not alone...the Kobold Chok'ma charged in, distracting the Goblins for a key couple of seconds before falling.

The thing on the wall that dropped Noname turns out to be a horror from Khyber itself, looking like an emaciated Hobgoblin with empty eye sockets and long tentacles sprouting from its shoulders. It grapples Colden, and begins to syphon his vitality, but the stalwart Warblade perseveres and eventually prevails. Meanwhile, Draco and Corwin manage to defeat the three Archers, and corner the Adept, who had exhausted his spells and was eager to surrender. The fight took a toll, however, and the party decided to retreat to the surface, bringing the two Brelish bodies, Noname, Chok'ma and the captive Goblin (named Maglu) with them.

Intermission
Stend uses all his daily spells and a half-dozen charges from his Wand of Lesser Vigor to bring everyone back to full health (even the Kobold), and detects magic on the loot the party has receovered the last couple of days. Several potions, a scroll, a robe, two rings, a brooch, a composite shortbow, 40 arrows and the leaf-bladed shortswords Colden took from the Hobgoblin Bladebearer all glowed (possibly not an all-inclusive list). The potions were orange rather than blue, and lacked the House Jorasco seal, but the Goblin captive Maglu swore they were for healing.

In fact, Maglu was quite chatty, since he knew his life was now forfeit even if he escaped, as his masters -- the Hogboblin //duur'kala//, **Diizina** the Barghest, and a third figure known only as "Her Ladyship" -- would simply assume he talked and kill him. The Goblinoids, under Diizina (with the duur'kala, the Bugbear **Aunk** and at least three Hobgoblin officers as lieutenants) had come into Breland through cave complexes under the Seawall Mountains about six months ago. Their stated purpose was to claim the old Dragonshard mine and possibly raid the vulnerable Cyrans as they established their new settlements. Their numbers were small, less than a hundred -- necessary to avoid detection -- and they used about 20 or so Kobolds as laborers, replacing them as they died. Chok'ma and his fellows were among the replacements, lured by the promise of payment and imprisoned when Diizina reneged on the promise.

Things changed in Vult 997. Diizina and the duur'kala withdrew from day-to-day activities (coinciding with the discovery of the stone from the fallen monument, perhap?). A dozen new arrivals -- bestial oversized Goblins with red skin and horns on elongated snouts -- were assigned to the Goblin adepts in their ranks, including Maglu. Completely undisciplined, capable of fits of rage, these "Dekanter Goblins" had to be taught everything, Maglu said. He was told they were less than a year old, and if these proved their worth in battle many more would be bred. The other new arrivals -- Dolgaunts like the one Noname and Colden fought -- scared Maglu, but other than their name and the fact that the one with his detachment fed on two Goblins in two days, he knew nothing.

One other thing Maglu had in his possession was a short note. Next to an odd-looking rune (four right triangles arranged in a square pattern) were the carefully-handwritten words "Kostas Knyarri. Wait." Seems Maglu was stationed there, near the mouth of the mine, two days ago, with a detachment of soldiers and the Dolgaunt, to escort some important person who would come up from the lower depths of the mine. Gray skin, white hair. Maglu was to see this Knyarri fellow safely to the Seawall Mountains, using riding Worgs waiting in the nearby woods.

Conferring quickly, the four party members changed their plans. Rather than return to New Cyre to sell loot, rest and reequip, they'd instead set an ambush for this Knyarri, hoping to win an important victory and ruin whatever plans were afoot. The officer in charge of the Brelish detachment agreed, in hopes the party would also locate the Captain and rest of the force that had gone down yesterday. Two soldiers were sent to New Cyre to report to Prince Oargev and request reinforcements.

Pyrrhic Victory
Things didn't quite go as planned. Pushing on past the spot where Maglu had been waiting, the four party members entered a larger chamber that looked sort of like a makeshift, not-very-opulent throne room, containing still more Goblinoid bodies. The remnants of Captain Narcy ir'Kemble's force had apparently come through here, but no further sign of them could be found.

The party, with Maglu and Chok'ma, checked the room and set up the ambush. A short time after they went still and silent, a trio of Chokers -- Halfling-sized aberrations with long tentacles for limbs -- slithered in through some impossibly small holes and started searching for dead humanoids to eat. Instead, they found adventurers. The fight was short, and the waiting resumed.

This time, bursting through the illusory set of double doors leading east came a pack of dogs. Artificial dogs...Iron Defenders actually. A common Homunculus design created by Artificers, these creatures had tough bodies and sharp metal teeth. They proved surprisingly tough: Corwin was left unconscious, and the others were all hurt to some degree. Just when the fight ended, a gray-skinned, bald, white-bearded Dwarf stuck his head through the illusory doors, cried out at the loss of his "pets," and unleashed a fireball from a wand in his hand. Aimed to catch the largest number of enemies possible, the blast killed Corwin outright and hurt the others. This, presumably, was Kostas Knyarri.

Draco, Colden and Noname plunged through the illusory doors in hot pursuit of the fleeing Duergar...and ran into Plow, who seemed somehow under Knyarri's control. Knyarri waited further down the wide, angular corridor. "You tell those fixers in Sharn that I didn't sign up for this!" Knyarri said. Now that they had a good look at him, it was clear that losing the Homonculi had badly injured the Artificer (who infuses part of his life force into each creation). Maglu tried to intercede with a lie that the deal was still on, for whatever the Duergar was supposed to do. "No! You best get another //byeshk// forger!" Knyarri replied, increasingly angry. "You killed my pets! I'm leaving -- don't follow me!!" To emphasize this, he launched a second fireball down the corridor, nearly killing NoName and Draco. Yet the Duergar was apparently still standing there when Colden charged up to him...an illusion. The Duergar had scurried off, deeper into the mine/dungeon. At the feet of the illusion were empty potion vials, showing he'd been busy healing himself while he talked.

Victorious...more or less, the party collected their dead and returned to the surface. Away from the Duergar's influence, Plow apparently was back to his normal self, and helped with the carrying. A quick conference with the Army detachment led to the entire party borrowing most of the detachment's horses. All together, Colden, Draco, Stend, NoName, Meedill, Plow, Chok'ma, Maglu (in manacles), the other five Kobold Miners (in a wagon), two Brelish soldiers, two horses to carry supplies/treasure,and four to carry the bodies of the three Brelish soldiers and Corwin, made their way back to New Cyre.

Once there, the party collected their treasure and checked into The Gem. Stend accompanied the four bodies to the Sovereign Host temple for dispensation, Maglu the Goblin Adept was taken to the jail, the miners were handed over to House Jorasco for recuperation, Meedill went to find Professor Wunsin, and a long, long day finally came to an end.