Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for October 11, 2011, In Search of Adventure campaign, Keep on the Borderlands adventure; present characters included Nicholae Dragos (cleric acolyte) and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf veteran).

In the castellan’s keep, the team reunited with Germanus, and Illithor departed for other opportunities.  They returned to the Hearth and Road tavern to recruit new retainers and re-hired Wuldric Mineshield and Arathorn.  Additionally, they hired archer Quintinus Metelko.

Re-equipped, the team returned to the lair of the Bloody Fist orc tribe and began working on preparations for the upcoming battle with the Finger Gnawers goblins and Blades of Doom hobgoblins.  They provided the orcs with the maps they had made of the goblin and hobgoblin lairs.  Nicholae gave a stirring speech to rally the orcs, and Arathorn encouraged their bravery.  Theobald led the orcs through a number of exercises to limber up for the fight and taught them several ways to improve their preparations.  Quintinus and Theobald conferred on military strategy for a while and determined that was better left to the rapier minds of the violent orcish brutes.  Nicholae visited the Get the Gruumsh orc tribe in a nearby cave and tried to talk them into joining the fight.  After failing to appeal to their altruistic nature, he paid them gold.  With a several dozen orcs now ready for war, Nicholae conducted a religious ceremony to bless the battle.

The orcs and hobgoblins met blade-to-blade in the valley of the caves of chaos, and blood ran deep.  The preparations by the party paid off, and the orcs proved extremely deadly.  The battle raged for half an hour as the orcs drove the goblinoids into the caves.  Using the knowledge scouted by the party, the orcs were able to negotiate the terrain readily and slaughter even more goblin scum.  Meanwhile, Nicholae and Theobald worked to treat the wounded orcs and keep them in the battle.  After an hour of battle, most of the goblinoids had fled into the night or lay dead or dying.  The marauding orcs stripped the bodies of valuables while Nicholae collected left ears to prove to the keep the number of goblinoids eliminated.  The orcs then claimed the bodies as dinner and returned to their caves.  As agreed, they left the inner goblin caves to the party.

The team worked through the caves scaring off the occasional goblinoid straggler and stripped the caves of any valuables.  They recovered a small fortune in silver, pewter, and gemstones along with assorted coins and a well-stocked armory.  All told, they recovered several thousand gold coins in value.

After a several trips to the keep to unload spoils, make bank deposits, and restock, the team set out to explore the furthest cave on the lowest level of the ravine.  They discovered an entryway filled with leaves, branches, bones, and decaying corpses.  Sifting through the reeking mess, they discovered a number of loose coins.  However, the rattling of the leaves attracted a swarm of giant rats!  The vermin swept into the party like a tide of chittering teeth.  Several of the retainers were injured, but the party made short work of the rodents.  Afterward, they resumed their search through the garbage and had to fight off another trio of rats.

With the second set of rats defeated, the party stood ready to proceed deeper into the caves in search of glory, riches, and enemies of humanity.