Othniel's Ironfang Invasion II

[CockroachTeaParty]

Torg returned to his dwarf form (after carefully making sure the other dwarves were safely on the ground) before making his way towards the entrance of the mine.

The collapse was clear; there were a few bodies scattered about, apparently belonging to the Ironfang. Torg took some time to examine the corpses, before going up to the nearest deep-rooted plant growing near the mine shaft.

"Plant, hear me. Can you sense the empty space beneath the earth? Where the meat-things move to and fro? Does anything move within? Can you sense any stirring with your roots?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Heal check: (1d20+15)[22]

Torg also casts Speak With Plants, asking if the nearest bush or tree can sense anything going on inside the mine with their root system.

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

After a short walk, the Fangbreakers reached the entrance to the mine and looked about. The rough-hewn tunnel sloped northeast into the hillside. A slide of rock debris had crushed a bulky, pale-skinned humanoid, who lay alongside three dead hobgoblins. Some sleuth-work revealed the identify of the humanoid as a morlock, a species of subterranean, barely-intelligent creatures living in scattered tribes and worshiping the statues left behind in the ruins they occupy. Their presence here was an oddity: Morlocks were creatures of the Darklands, and rarely ventured into the Hollow Hills. A brief examination of the hobgoblin corpses showed that one had been killed with some sort of wooden weapon. A trail of its blood led back into the mine.

Fortunately for Torg, a small tree stood not far from the entrance to the mine. Unfortunately for Torg, it did not have much useful information to share. <"What, man you think you can just walk up and start askin' questions like that? Thuh nerve. I'll have you know that I have stood here for years undisturbed and then suddenly all these fleshy morsels come totterin' up and goin' down like, ya know, this hole and gettin' all up in my roots. My roots! Gag me with a STIIIIICK! What's a tree to do as can't keep its roots private. These weeks I've watched these...these flesh bags come and go about their business with nothin' even approachin' a 'How do you do, like, wow tree? Do you mind if I pass by? Pleasant weather we're havin', like, wow isn't it?' And then up comes you and asks if I feel any stirrings in my roots. That's a bit personal! Oh, wow! Man, for your information, like no. I do not. Like, there was some a while back, mostly, but I think they've stopped squirmin'. Like, there were an awesum many flesh bags that entered a while back, mostly and only a few made it out before BOOM! Gag me with a BRANCH! WHOOSH! Oh, wow! And my roots were private again. What goes on past my reach inside is ya know, like, beyond my knowledge.">

Spoiler: OOC

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Treasure: Each of the hobgoblins carries a masterwork longsword, a set of masterwork manacles, and 25 gp. One also carries a satchel containing four large gold nuggets (worth 75 gp each). The morlock wears what appears to be a holy symbol—a silver snake encircling a rough emerald (worth 100 gp) that nobody can identify.

[Tychris1]

"Well. That's disturbing!" Ulva noted as she poked the Morlock's corpse with her glaive. "Torg, you get anything useful out of that tree? Or am I free to start spelunking?" She cried back as she danced one foot in and out of the mine's precipice.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Torg staggered away from the tree, his face ashen and drawn.
"Oh... oh, I'd kill for a beer right about now..."

He glanced over at Ulva, his gaze distant and glazed.
"No! No... nothing from that tree. Never from that tree. Yes, let's get underground. Away from that tree. Yes."

[Nefarion Xid]

Septimus looked from the dwarf to the offending tree and made what he understood to be the universal sign for "would you like me to incinerate that for you?" by lazily imitating the evocation gesture for fire.

[Tychris1]

"Awesome. Spelunking! Going back underground. Just like old times at misthome! Fuhuhuhuhu." Ulva cries back as she descends into the mine.

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

Rubble littered the southern entrance of the large chamber Ulva entered, where the ceiling stretched to nearly thirty feet overhead. Wooden pilings, discarded tools, and neglected carts rested alongside several relatively new picks and shovels. A wooden door stood to the northeast, while rockfall partially obscured the tunnels leading north and east. A tapping sound echoed from the east, and the northern tunnel appeared clear enough to pass through.

Spoiler: OOC

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Map! Arrows point ways you can go.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Following Ulva inside, Torg seemed to regain a bit of his senses; indeed, being underground seemed to invigorate him, almost as if he had a defining trait that made this happen to him, with numbers attached to it and everything.

"There's no sense poking around blind in here," he said, "Allow me to scout out the tunnels. I'll determine if there's any survivors, or anything worth salvaging."

And with that he transformed into a being of living earth, and slid effortlessly into the floor like a turtle ducking beneath the surface of a pond.

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

Torg dove into the floor and came up again on the other side of the collapsed tunnel. Long-dead lanterns hung on the walls of this rectangular room, and a large wooden table occupied a corner. A thick layer of dust covered the floor and table, except in several places where objects seemingly once rested but were now absent. A bloodied hobgoblin corpse sat slumped against the wall in the southeast corner of the room, its face a rictus of horror. A natural stone fissure exited the room to the north, while the tunnels leading northeast and southwest have collapsed. Sitting next to an overturned mine cart was a man, holding the hand of a dwarf in both of his. The dwarf was caught under the mine cart, trapped when it was somehow overturned.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Torg swam through the loving earth, solid and trustworthy in the lightless deep. He witnessed the devastation of the mine collapse, but was able to trace a path of sorts that could lead to the survivors without necessarily having to dig. He glided through the rock until he was near the survivors once more, carefully emerging next to them, though he remained invisible. His disembodied voice whispered to them, sounding like gravel and scree.

"Hold fast, help is on the way. We'll get you out of there."

Torg transfered his polymorphic pouch from a cavity inside his malleable earthen body, and retrieved a pair of goodberries. He left them on the floor near the human, such that they appeared. He gently nudged the man's hand so that he felt them.

"Eat these. They'll give you a bit of strength. We'll try to get to you as soon as we can, but if that proves problematic, I'll come back for you anyway. I can get you some healing and more food. Just hang on."

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

"LEAPING LIZARDS!" shouted the man, who jumped to his feet at the sound of Torg's voice. He quickly grabbed a knife he'd scrounged and held it out to defend himself. When no enemy was visible, he gasped and stammered, "I-I-ah...thanks? Who or what are you?"

[CockroachTeaParty]

"I'm a druid," Torg replied, "I can move through solid rock like a fish. I'm also a friend of the Chernasardo Rangers, and an enemy of the hobgoblins that enslaved you. As far as I can tell, if you stay here you won't be in too much danger. I've got some more magic to help keep you safe, but I need to tell my companions you're here first. Just stay here, eat those berries, and keep nice and quiet. I'll be back."

With that, Torg returned to the rest of the party.
"You can dismiss that invisibility, Septimus. I've scouted out the mine, as best I can tell. There's a couple of survivors, trapped just beyond that big collapse over there. I gave them some goodberries to give them some energy, but they're in a bad way. Just about everyone else in here is dead, miners and hobgoblins both. Now, there's a way to reach the trapped miners, but we'd have to go around a lot of difficult terrain, and I'm not sure how stable some of these passages are. There's also a big chasm where a bridge has collapsed. We could climb down into a defile of sorts then up the other side, but it's crawling with huge spider-bug-things. Cave solifuges. Think spider-scorpions without stingers. We'd probably have to fight our way through them.

Then it's a straight shot to the miners. But listen, we've had a long day. If we rest, I can pray for some new spells that would get both of them out of there perfectly safe and sound. I can stay the night with them to make sure nothing tries to attack them; I've got some more tricks up my sleeve that ought to keep us all nice and safe.

So what do you think? I'd hate to risk more collapses. Trying to dig them out would be risky as well. Give me until tomorrow morning, and I'll have them both out before breakfast is cold."

[Nefarion Xid]

"Wait wait wait. I've got just the thing. I'm hemorrhaging spells today, but this is worth it."

After searching through his spellbook, Septimus passed his signet ring over the desired page. A ghostly facsimile of the words lifted up from the paper and spiraled into the glowing 'S' rune. Now equipped with the knowledge of Gaseous Form, the sorcerer sublimated himself into a silver mist and crept through the tunnel gap towards the stranded miners.

Once on the other side, he spared a moment to cast Light and introduced himself. "Hi. I'm friends with the rock monster. Don't be alarmed! I'm just going to discorporate you. It won't hurt, but it will tingle! Just will yourself out that hole. Everyone gets it on their first try. Promise!"

As he said, he turned both miners into dwarf smelling clouds and ushered them towards the exit, then repeated the trick on himself once more.

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

Though their means of extrication was unconventional in the extreme, both miners were sincerely thankful to be finally free of their predicament. They warned the Fangbreakers that the mine was by no means abandoned by foes, mentioning specifically the presence of the weird spiders and also the presence of some sort of strange entity that had blocked further attempts at retreat. Voldan was especially happy to see that his sister, Solka, was alive, and the two embraced warmly.

"I don't know how I can ever repay you kind folks," she said, "But our buried stash is yours. I insist! We'll follow you to Longshadow and find refuge and work there."

Spoiler: XP!

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640 XP each for rescuing the miners.

[CockroachTeaParty]

"What do you mean by 'strange entity?' Can you describe anything? What it looked like? What it did?"

Torg hadn't detected the presence of anything else dangerous aside from the albino wind-spiders. If something else was lurking in there, it had eluded his senses entirely.

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

"It was like...the junk in the mine had come alive, or was given life by some ghostly force," Meslin explained. "Some foul spirit inhabiting stone and steel and wood! When I attempted to leave Voldan to get help, it blocked my way, and then lay still. If I hadn't seen it rise up before me, I would have sworn I was hallucinating. When I backed away, it lay still like so much refuse."

[Nefarion Xid]

"I'm going back. That dead hob back there might have marching orders on him."

Septimus again turned into mist and went back to the room where the miners were trapped. He scanned the room for magic and valuables, then picked through the hobgoblin's possessions before returning the way he came.

[Othniel]

Radya's Hollow Mine

As it turned out, the dead soldier did have something useful on her body. Among the soldier's normal equipment, Septimus found a banner depicting both the red shield of the Ironfang Legion and a labyrinthine axe symbol. More importantly, he also found a detailed map of the Hollow Hills with the locations of Radya's Hollow, Redburrow, and a camp (labeled "Baseline Camp") marked on it. He also found a magical candle on the table, overlooked by the miners in their panic. Nothing emerged to molest Septimus as he went about his business.

Spoiler: OOC

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Basic hob loot (longbow, longsword, leather armor, etc) plus the map and a Candle of Clean Air.

In the dwarves' stash, you find:

Inside an oiled leather sack, they find 33 gold nuggets (worth 75 gp each), an unusually clear fist-sized quartz (worth 50 gp), a sustaining spoon, and a rope of climbing.

In the mine supervisor's office:
5 x Potions of cure moderate wounds
5 x Bandages of rapid recovery
1 x Chime of opening (8 charges remaining).

One Belt of Mighty Constitution +2 from the body in the goo.

---

DAWN.

[CockroachTeaParty]

After resting, Torg prayed for a new allotment of spells, this time at the mouth of the mine, close to the rock and earth he held so dear.

"Alright lads and lasses," he said to his companions as they prepared for a new day, "If our sorcerer can spare me another invisibility spell, there's a few things I'd like to check in the mine before we settle on leaving or clearing it out. Shouldn't take me very long."

With that, he turned into an earth elemental once more, and went tunneling through the bones of the earth. He went straight to the ceiling of the foul river, where the corpse with the fancy belt was preserved. Half-emerged from the ceiling, he cast a spell, willing the water level to sink such that he could safely reach the corpse. Once he was near it, he scanned it for any magical auras.

Spoiler: OOC

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Torg earth glides to the ceiling of the gross stream, and casts Control Water to lower the water up to 16 ft.; he'll hit the body up with Detect Magic, Spellcraft +12

[Othniel]

Hollow Hills

Their work in Radya's Hollow complete for the time being, the Fangbreakers took their leave of the miners for their lightning-fast strike on the hobgoblin's Ridgeline Camp some 10 miles to the southeast. The distance was a mere hour's travel, but the landscape changed drastically in that time. Where before the Hollow Hills were gently rolling green spaces dotted with vegetation, they had now come to a far more barren landscape. Trees there were still - flaming yellow, red, or orange in their autumn adornments - but they were fewer by far, and there was little greenery, the soft grass having given way to rough scrub and sage. Torg halted some distance from the base of the ridge that they could see further on. Upon the crest were two tiers of a camp. A lower, smaller place from which a set of ten objects hung - the cages in which the Ironfang held their prisoners. Above this portion of the camp was the main level, guarded by two tall watchtowers - one to the north, and another to the south. They could see that the road swung north for a distance, and slowly curved and twisted its way upward to the ridge, itself far to steep to climb without gear: they would have to follow the road or fly. The weather favored them, however, as a cold fog managed to hide them somewhat, but even at the distance of a mile out, it seemed likely that any soldiers on watch could soon take notice.

[Jade_Tarem]

Nora wasn't entirely certain she could take the camp, but if a few hit-and-fade attacks would do it over time, that would work just fine as well. Of course, first she had to get there. With the camp three hundred feet of guarded switchback trails high, that was going to be a trick.

Fortunately, the inquisitor of the Drunken Hero was never truly alone. His power shielded her, masked her approach, and best of all... just as the Accidental God got around, so too could his followers. When she finally arrived, invisible and protected, at the base of the south tower, she took a deep breath and simply stepped up into it. Quietly drawing her axe, she grinned, took aim at the back of the watch hobgoblin's head, and shoved with all her might.

Spoiler: OOC

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Surprise round action: Bull Rush unsuspecting hobgoblin, hopefully right out of the tower.

CM: (1d20+11)[14]

[Nefarion Xid]

Summarized approach:

Rollo stays behind. Septimus casts Invisibility on everyone. Fly on Ulva and Aidan. Septimus and Veric ride on vulture Torg. See Invisibility on Septimus. Protection from Evil on Aidan. He is protected from stabbing himself.

[Othniel]

Hollow Hills, Ridgeline Camp

With an amusingly high-pitched scream, Nora's target was shoved out of the tower and plummeted twenty feet to the ground, landing with a loud thud. The rest of the camp had little time to react, however, and for a brief moment, the tower was Nora's. Above and/or somewhere to the east, the Fangbreakers prepared their attack.

Spoiler: OOC

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Initiative: Aidan, Nora, and Veric win initiative. Take your surprise round actions. Please start somewhere reasonable on the map. ;)
H1 takes [2d6[/roll] falling damage.

Assuming the rest of the PCs start on the map in the doc, you should be close enough to hear the scream.

[Jade_Tarem]

Nora let her axe fall to the ground with a heavy thud, letting the blade sink into the wood. She hauled out her bow instead, and placed one hand on the decorative mug at her hip. The golden filigree on it glowed for a moment as she muttered an old prayer to the Lucky Drunk in Celestial. Her bow also flared to light for a moment, now attuned with the wrath of Cayden Cailean, the better to strike down goblins and their brethren.

Spoiler: OOC

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Free action to drop the axe, move to draw the bow, standard to cast Divine Favor, and a swift to invoke Goblin Bane.

[Nefarion Xid]

A fireball ignited in the middle of the camp. In the hazy distance, the offending sorcerer could be seen readying another spell.

[Tychris1]

Ulva floated in the air, twirling invisibly as she bobbed in zero gravity, and upon realizing combat was begun she pointed her glaive like a rifle at the nearest hobgoblin. Gritting her teeth she felt her spirit roar and rush through her body before slamming against her weapon.

Spoiler: Surprise Round!

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Warrior Spirit out +2 Bane (Hobgobbos)

[PepperP.]

Veric

Veric surveyed the battlefield from atop Vultorg, ready to rain death down upon his hobgoblin enemies.

Spoiler: ooc attack action

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Attack on H4
Haste, Aspect of the Falcon, Gravity Bow, Rapid Shot, Clustered Shots, Favorite Enemy (+4), Manyshot, Deadly Aim.
Full Attack
Attack 1
(1d20+16)[17]
Damage
Arrow 1
(2d6+12)[20]
Arrow 2
(2d6+12)[20]
Haste Attack
(1d20+16)[29]
Damage
(2d6+12)[17]
Rapid Shot Attack
(1d20+16)[32]
Damage
(2d6+12)[16]
Iterative Attack
(1d20+11)[14]
Damage
(2d6+12)[20]

[Othniel]

Hollow Hills, Ridgeline Camp

As soon as the WHOOSH and flash of flame from the fireball lit up the sky, pandemonium broke out. The hobgoblin sentry Nora had kicked from his tower stood up and drank a potion, while the other consumed a potion of his own and shouted out a warning to those in the camp below. The soldier that appeared to be the leader dashed past an invisible Aidan and leapt upon his lupine steed, directing it and the contingent of soldiers toward the southern watchtower while they scanned the sky for additional threats. A final hobgoblin, dressed in hides and bearing an inordinate number of weapons moved south as well, lifted a hand and called out a spell in gutteral goblin, gesturing at Nora in the tower.

Finally, the cluster of five harpies that had been circling overhead flew down to perch on top of a number of prisoner cages and shake their weapons menacingly at Veric. "These are ours! What business do you have here!" one demanded.

At once, a chorus of voices broke out from the prisoners (including the lone hobgoblin in the far cage), pleading for release.

Spoiler: OOC

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H1 stands up and drinks a potion.
H2 also drinks a potion!
Both H1 and H2 send their owls to harass Nora.

O1 full attacks!
Bite: (1d20+6)[12]
Damage: (1d4+2)[6]
Confirm? (1d20+6)[13]
Damage: (1d4+2)[5]

Talon 1: (1d20+7)[25]
Damage: (1d4+2)[4]
Confirm? (1d20+7)[13]
Damage: (1d4+2)[4]

Talon 2: (1d20+7)[27]
Damage: (1d4+2)[5]
Confirm? (1d20+7)[25]
Damage: (1d4+2)[6]

H3 (Troop) does a swift action thingy and heals for (5d6)[21] HP.
H3 then moves toward the southern watchtower.

H4 dashes over to the wolf (G) and mounts up swiftly. He then wheels around and follows after the troop. He also triggers an Attack of Opportunity from Aidan.

H5 moves and attempts to cast a spell on Nora. Will save, please. Saved: You suffer agonizing pain that imposes a –4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks for 1 round.

C1-C5 come down from the air and land on several of the wooden posts holding the cages.

[Nefarion Xid]

Septimus giggled a little, then immolated the center of the camp once more.

Spoiler: Fireball!

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(8d6)[30] G, H4, H3, H5, O2

[CockroachTeaParty]

Flying over the center of the camp, Torg suddenly became visible in the form of a giant vulture. He invoked the wrath of nature down upon the large troop of hobgoblins as a column of golden fire streaked down from the heavens.

Spoiler: OOC

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Torg is now visible! Wee!

He casts flame strike on H5 and H3
Ref. DC 18 for half, half damage is fire the other half is divine energy.
(8d6)[30]