Keep on the Borderlands - The Path of Evil - Session 29b

SESSION 29b: DAY 13 – CAVES OF CHAOS 

SURPRISE ROUND

·        One of the hobgoblins begins to speak “Vat youz…..”

·        Malandir draws down his bow and fires at the goblinoid. The arrow flies true and strikes the monster in the right shoulder. It’s a terrible wound, made all the worse for the additional Sneak Attack and Point Blank Shot damage. The hobgoblin takes 9pts of damage and is badly wounded. Malandir 5ft steps to the east, towards the entrance corridor. 

·        Lucien yells “We need to drop these quickly as we can to prevent them retreating and sounding an alarm in their home raising more.” He quickly retrieves a scroll and Cause Fear and casts it on the north eastern most hobgoblin. It’s a DC15 Will save against the hobgoblins Will save modifier of +1. The monster rolls a 11 and fails his save and is effected for 2 rounds. The hobgoblin whimpers in fear.

·        [DM’s note: So speedy was the action of Malandir and Lucien that they grabbed the initiative and were able to act in a Surprise Round. All other participants, ie the four hobgoblins, the four men at arms, Ragnar, Kord and Talmark are left Flat Footed and cannot participate in the round.]

ROUND 1A

Monster Initiative: R14 + 2 = 16     Party Initiative: R7 + 0 = 7

·        The hobgoblins are stunned but recover quickly. The hobgoblin affected by the fear spell immediately runs for the north western corner where he continues to cower in fear.

·        The wounded hobgoblin stabs at Kord with his longsword and just misses the cleric.

·        The hobgoblin behind him 5ft steps to the south east and attacks 1-3 Kord, 4-6 Malandir = roll 2 = Kord. He swings his long sword and but misses.

·        The remaining hobgoblin has enough distance to charge either Fremont or Talmark and so he charges 1-3 Fremont, 4-6 Talmark = roll 5 = Talmark. Bursting forth he swings his long sword at the human warrior but misses.

I have to date been a bit haphazard in deciding when the monsters will go for help. To codify it I’ve drafted House Rule #13, shown below. 

HOUSE RULE #13: Going for help. Intelligent monsters will sometimes go for help. Where it is not explicitly noted in the module that the monster will go for help they still may do so. When the monsters have taken 50% casualties, they will make an intelligence test every round and, if they roll their intelligence or less, one of the monsters will go for help and to warn the main tribe of the danger.

ROUND 1B

·        The north western hobgoblins fear token is reduced from 2 to 1.

·        Lucien yells instructions to the men at arms “Clovis, spear Ragnar if he makes any move to help the enemy. Barret and Per, follow Talmarks lead. Freemont, try to corner that hobgoblin in the north western corner and if he tries to run finish him!”

·        Kord 5ft steps to the south east and casts Burning Hands. It’s a DC12 Reflex Save for ½ damage and the hobgoblins have a Reflex Save modifier of +2. He catches three of the brutes under the flames of Asmodeus and they roll 2, 5 and 17 and take 2pts or 1pt of damage respectively.

·        Malandir 5ft steps back away from the monsters to the south east and fires an arrow at the badly wounded hobgoblin in the middle which he critically hits in the right thigh. With blood spurting from a terrible wound, which has opened an artery, the hobgoblin drops to the ground and bleeds out as it takes 13pts of damage.

·        Talmark swings Felldrac at the hobgoblin to his front but he fails to hit the beast.

·        Fremont 5ft steps to the west to start to corner the feared hobgoblin and to start to flank the wounded hobgoblin that Talmark had just attacked. He stabs at it with his spear but he also misses.

·        Barret 5ft steps to the north west and stabs at the hobgoblin to his front and hits it in the right leg for 6pts of damage.

·        Lucien 5ft steps to the south and casts Murderous Command on the southern most hobgoblin. It’s a DC15 Will Save against the hobgoblins Will Save modifier of +1. The hobgoblin rolls an 8 and fails. Next round it will advance upon and attack one of its own party members.

·        Clovis grows at Ragnar who cowers in fear.

·        Per advances to the north and then the west and gets into contact with the north eastern hobgoblin. He drops his torch along the way so that he can use his shield and spear and he stabs at the wounded monster but he misses it.  

ROUND 2A

·        The hobgoblins took their first casualty last round and must take a morale test. They roll 6 and easily pass.

·        The north western most hobgoblin continues to grovel in fear.

·        The southern most hobgoblin 5ft steps to the north and he cannot stay his hand as he obeys Luciens command and stabs at his fellow with his longsword. He’s Flanked his brother hobgoblin against Per and hits him in the back for 7pts of damage, killing him.

ROUND 2B

·        The last remaining fear token is removed from the hobgoblin in the north west corner. He is no longer cowered.

·        Malandir lowers his bow and fires at the hobgoblin in the middle of the room but misses it.

·        Lucien lowers his cross bow and fires at the same hobgoblin and hits it in the left leg for 3pts of damage.

·        Talmark 5ft steps to the west and swings Felldrac at the hobgoblin who had just murdered his fellow but he misses.

·        Fremont 5ft steps to the west and corners the north western hobgoblin. He stabs at it with his spear and hits it in the chest for 7pts of damage.

·        Kord moves 15ft to his west and then the north and swings his heavy mace at the Talmarks hobgoblin but despite having the hobgoblin flanked he misses.

·        Barret 5ft steps to the west and attacks the monster and also misses.

·        Per moves 10ft to the west and south and attacks Talmarks hobgoblin and just misses the brute.

·        Clovis once again growls at Ragnar who lets out a little “Eeep” in response.

ROUND 3A

·        The hobgoblins must take a morale check for having reached 50% casualties. They roll a 4 on 2d6 and will continue to fight. They need to roll an intelligence test to see if one of them will go for help. They roll a 10 on a d20 against an intelligence of 10 and one of them will go for help. It’s not immediately obvious which is the best candidate so 1-3 the northern most one, 4-6 the southern most one = roll 1 = the northern most hobgoblin.

·        The northern most hobgoblin makes a break to get help. To do so he’ll bypass Fremont and Per, both of which will get an attack of opportunity. Freemont attacks first and stabbing with his spear he hits the monster for 8pts of damage. It slumps to the ground dead before it can reach the door.

·        The last hobgoblin attacks 1=Per, 2=Barret, 3=Talmark, 4=Kord, roll 1 = Per. He swings his long sword at the man at arms and hits him in the left leg for 4pts of damage.

ROUND 3B

The party surround the last remaining goblin and attack it viscously with bow, crossbow, spear, heavy mace and two handed sword. It doesn’t survive the round.

The party search the bodies of the hobgoblins and recover 4 long swords 10gp and four sets of ears.

They peer through the secret door and see it leads into a long corridor to the west, at least 30ft, which is the extent of their torch light (I haven’t mapped this section yet). 

DEW