The journey back to Roderick's Cove is much easier now that the Roadkeepers have been crippled. The ferry woman can barely believe her ears that the fearsome bandits have been chased awaay although she remains quite skeptical about it. She is also less than happy about bringing corpses back across but as she recognizes them as the guard she agrees to it.

The jounrey back is uneventful and the party brings the bodies to Captain Freson who is quite distraught over their deaths.

"There's only three though. Maury is still missing. Do...do you think his body was eaten? Did you see scraps of armor or signs of another body around?"

The party recalls that there weren't signs of the bodies being disturbed at all. Whatever it was they fought wasn't a cannibal like ghouls and wights were. All three bodies were intact, minus the fatal wounds and there wasn't any discarded equipment that would suggest otherwise.

"These are who we found." Kamea said as she looked over the bodies. "How many guards were sent on this patrol. Can you describe the ones that are missing? We can set out again after some rest. We need some time to recover."

"Captain, we'll need to cleanse that area of the thing.  Who would be best to talk to about that?  I want to help, but I am not strong enough.  That may allow us to find more clues about our missing member."

Cathran looks to the others. “We still haven’t checked where our original destination was before we got sidetracked. The last guard could be there as per their mission.”

Captain Freson describes the missing guard: human, male, slightly shorter than the others, dressed in a guard uniform.

"I don't know much about cleansing tainted ground but that elf you've been seen with, Audrahni, she's a priest I think so she might know."

OOC: Where to next?

Looking at Cathran, Caydel shakes his head yes.  "Others can fall prey to that thing...that is a fear, but the guard may have limited time."

"Let's leave the bodies somewhere safe or hire a wagon to bring them back then head for the possible location of the captain. On the way back we can bring kindling and set the desecrated area a blaze, and then have a priest do their thing?"

Amara figured saving the guard would be the adventurer's priority and she was okay with that, she also figured burning out the ghoul was the easiest route she could think of since the forest hadn't seemed liable to catch.

Cathran nods in agreement. “Sounds like a good plan to me. Let’s get some rest then head out as soon as possible. The longer it takes, the more dire it will be for the guard.”

The next morning the party heads back out. After a few hours they meet up with the chatty ferrywoman who ferries them across the river. She is in a good mood as she thinks the party had broken up the Roadkeepers as she hadn't seen any of their people since yesterday.

The group travels along familiar trails and encounter nothing larger than squirrels and birds. When they reach the encircled tree where the undead was holed up they see that it had relocated itself back beneath the gnarled roots of the tree, once again lying in wait for unsuspecting travelers to cross the road barrier.

OOC:

Alright three obvious paths of exploration

1) Stay here and fight the undead thing again

2) Head towards the goblin lair

3) Head back towards the Roadkeeper HQ to see if they did pack up and leave.

"No matter how evil this thing is...and how much I want to stop it...I know the guard may still be helped...and this thing is beyond me.  For now," looking on at the tree and gnarled roots, "we should move on.  Find the guard...."  Caydel looks at the others, he gives a half-hearted smile. "I can sing us a tune."  He looks back to the tree....

"You're right." Kamea agreed with Caydel. "It's a good thing that the creature is held within that ring. I don't want to think about what would happen if it was released from its confines."

"Let's find the guard."


OOC: Just wanted to make sure that we're going after 1 guard

Cathran nodded. “Agreed. Let’s be off.”

The directions provided, and occasional goblin trail, lead to the other side of the mountain, opposite where the Roadkeeper HQ was found. Lush and prickly blackberry vines creep across every surface and obscure the dark mouth of the cave but the stale smell of goblin sweat and the sight of smoke drifting up from the cave entrance makes locating the cave entrance relatively easy.

Smoke is wafting up out of the cave entrance through the vines. As far as the party can tell the cave entrance is unguarded.

“Unless we are checking for traps as we go, I suggest my servant goes first. The smoke will not bother him, and I can see through his eyes. I do prefer to not be beyond sixty or so feet from him for security reasons.”Gavel gives a low bow and faces the cave awaiting orders.

While the entrance looks large enough to accommodate non-goblin sized creatures it does look like the cave narrows as it goes further in.

"We'll need light."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:51, Thu 19 Dec 2019.

"I can lead the way and look for traps, but perhaps having your summons behind me to retreat behind would be a good idea? I don't expect much but noise alarms are a pretty simple thing to make."

Amara eyed the cave cautiously and with consideration, knowing even goblins and kobolds could use bone traps to warn of invaders.

"I can follow the summoned creature." Kamea held her glaive with both hands. She squinted at the dark tunnel. "Caydel is right, we'll need a light."

Cathran snaps her fingers causing Gavel’s gauntleted fist to glow with light. It waited for Amara to go before going in after her. Cathran went in last.

Cast Light on Gavel’s fist

The party enters the cave, heading towards the sounds of activity deeper inside. The ceiling of this cave is awkwardly low, barely more than four feet in height. A pair of walls two feet high made from piles of rocks and broken masonry divide this larger cave into smaller areas. The air stinks of smoke, sweat, and worse.

OOC: Everyone of medium size has to squeeze to fit.

Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space, you take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to AC.

Any attempt to clamber over one of these walls requires a successful DC 10 Climb check—failing it by 5 or more indicates that the wall has toppled. In this case, that square becomes difficult terrain and the climber falls prone while taking 1d3 points of damage.



Just as Amara reaches the gap between the walls a horrible cry sounds out from behind them and two goblins armed with spears jump out from hiding spots near the main entrance. At the same time two other goblins spring up from behind the walls boxing the adventurers in.

Goblins poke at Kamea and Amara but both dodge and parry the sudden strikes but from behind both Caydel and Cathran find themselves poked with rusty jagged spears.

OOC: Cathran takes 1 pt of piercing and Caydel takes 5 points of damage from two pokes from Goblin #4


Round 1





Squeezing: -4 to attack rolls and AC (already factored into above stats)

"Oh hell no, Goblins? I'm not dying to a fucking goblin."

Perhaps it was her ancestry or the fact she was squeezing into a tight tunnel but Amara seemed visibly irritated as she did her best to twist and impale the goblin that had tried to stick her with both her swords. No way, no how.

Full Attack.
17:05, Today: Amara rolled 14 using 1d20-1 with rolls of 15.  Off Hand vs AC 16.
17:05, Today: Amara rolled 13 using 1d20-1 with rolls of 14.  Main Hand vs AC 16.

Kamea turned and saw that their retreat was blocked by two goblins. "Focus on the rear!" She turned and slashed at the goblin that was hindering Cathran's path. The glaive poked over Cathran's head, but missed the elusive goblin.



rolled 15,12 using 1d20+2,1d10+4 with rolls of 13,8.  ATK/DAM.