Continuing to scout around the perimeter of the hobgoblin
lair, Kern (with mule Sweet Jenny III) , Darnorth (with henchman Roth) and the
two baronial guardsmen returned to Stonehell. This time they were accompanied
by a purple robed and turbaned mage from distant lands by the name Salif the
Stargazer. Headed to level 2 to explore around the lizard folk lair again, they
were delayed for a short time by two swirling crypt shades blocking the way in
the crypts. Brushing those aside, they
first went looking for the elevator that the kobolds reported was in the area.
They found two rooms full of gears, chains and other mechanical bits, obviously
the mechanism for the elevator. They also found a blank wall, which both Kern
and Darnorth examined in great detail. They found that there was a gap around
the edges of the wall, and vertical scratches seemed to indicate it moved up
and down. But they were not able to find any controls.
Somewhat stymied, they resolved the rush back if they heard the
rumbling sound again, and headed back to the lizardfolk lair to finish exploring
that area. First checking a bypassed door, they found a
small room with a well in the centre. The clear water showed the well to be about 10 feet deep, but when
Darnorth lowered the bucket into the water, it passed right through the floor
before coming to a rest after 20 feet in total. Intrigued, Kern stripped to his
skivvies, tied a rope around his waist and had Darnorth and Roth lower him into
the well. Passing through the illusionary bottom, he found a chest, which was
pulled to the surface with the help of Darnorth and Roth. Inside they found a
fair selection of gold and silver coins, which quickly ended up on Sweet Jenny’s
back.
Heading now into lizardfolk caves, Roth ran into a trip wire
which brought a deadfall of wood and ruble down on the party’s head. Shaking
off the dust and binding their wounds, they noticed the two guards did not
rise, and thus ended the March Baron’s contribution to their exploration.
Moving forward cautiously, they passed through the cave of their previous
lizardfolk battle, now cleared of bodies. Leaving the rest behind, Darnorth
scouted ahead with his infravision. Poking his head around the corner, he was
met by a volley of spears from a half dozen lizard men, accompanied by a huge
lizard. Battle ensued, with the lizardfolk holding back and lobbing spears at
the party. Salif made his contribution with a Sleep spell, which dropped about half the lizardfolk. As the party
then pushed forward to engage in melee, the remaining lizardfolk awoke several
of their sleeping number before falling on the intruders. It was a hard fought melee,
and the lizardmen were able to get behind the party and fell the mage Salif (who
was luckily saved from death by timely help from Darnorth) before being finished
by the party. With barely time to recover, their breath, another band of
lizardfolk attacked from behind and was defeated with some difficulty.
After binding wounds and loading the invalid Salif onto
Sweet Jenny, the party continued exploration of the caves. Of note was a new
mound in the room with the large mound previously discovered, which proved to be
a burial mound for the lizardfolk slaughtered by the party last time. Further exploration uncovered a few abandoned
lizardfolk guard posts, what appeared to be the former quarters of the
lizardfolk shaman, and a cave that opened onto a rushing underground river.
This could not be examined more closely as the cave was also occupied by a
large number of giant crocodiles. Slowly backing away, the party headed north towards
another exit from the caves, and noted an odd buzzing sound ahead. Kern inched
forward to look and saw three large flies buzzing around in the next room.
After some debate, they decided to go after the buzzing vermin, only to trip a
second deadfall trap as they left the caves, this one crushing Roth, Sweet
Jenny, and the unfortunate Salif. With just the two of them now left, Darnorth
and Kern decided the time had come to head back to Westmist.
After a few days of rest and recovery, Kern (with a new mule
Sweet Jenny IV) and Darnorth (with a new man-at-arms Barfirth) headed back to the
dungeon, this time to explore the crypts some more. Remembering the ambush
after the last lizardfolk slaughter, they elected to approach the dungeon overland
from the east rather than directly over the road from the south. Arriving safely at Stonehell, they moved
directly into the crypts, only to once again encounter giant shrews grazing in
the main entrance chamber. Filled with a rage he didn’t understand, Darnorth
charged at the rodents, which were quickly killed with support from Kern and
Barfirth. That taken care of, the party head east into another area of crypts similar
to those encountered to the south. Bursting into several, they fought a mix of
zombies, giant rats and ghouls, and liberated a pile of gold in one room. Alas,
Barfirth’s adventuring career was cut short by a zombie club, leaving Kern and
Darnorth once more short of assistance and the decision was made to head back
to town once more.
Too restless to rest, the two poked around town for and
sights or rumors. In addition to watching the execution of a thief in the town
square, they did overhear some fisherman complaining that someone was stealing
tools and knives from their fishing sheds west of town. Offering their services, Darnoth and Kern hid
on a shed roof overnight, with unfortunately nothing to show for their efforts.
They then paid a visit to Slate the dwavern tinkerer and engineer who had fixed
up their house. Kern wanted to know if the dwarf could figure out some way to collapse
the hobgoblins secret cave entrance, and then dig the party a new entrance so
they could sneak in whenever they want. Slate agreed to take the job, quoting price of
1200gp to collapse the tunnel and have his crew of dwarven diggers make a secret
secondary entrance. Before work could start, however, Slate needed more
information on the layout of the cave entrance as well as assurance that he and
his workers would be well protected during their work (which could take a
number of days to complete depending on the layout of the cave entrance).
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