“No fight. I give you privilege; talk with me,” said Warchief Ripnugget atop his Gecko and on his throne.
At the edge of a cliff plummeting 80 feet below to rapid water, the adventurers Darius, Conall, Marco, and Leica were finally given a chance to take stock of their surroundings. The island featuring a stockade known only as Thistletop, after a second or third glance, finally was recognized as what it really was: a dirt-caked stone head of Runelord Karzoug, Runelord of Greed.
The rope bridge that Marco noticed to be rigged was righted and the four Heroes decided to cross one-by-one and slowly. Darius crossed first, stumbling here and there a few times and about ready to write himself off maybe once or twice, but finally manages to get the ground on the other side unscathed. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, relieved of still being alive, Darius notices something strange about the bottom of a bush. The bush had green, very goblin-like, feet.
The reality was that there seemed to be a failed attempt at an ambush ahead of the Heroes. Prodding the bush open with his sword, Darius was surprised to see a sword rush wildly into his armor and scrape right off. A goblin and his dog were an unfortunate sight to behold, soon after joined by three other dogs, but the adventurers made quick work of these.
They also made quick work of six goblins waiting for them inside, behind the large doors serving as an entrance to the palisade. They didn’t quite enter immediately after this battle, though. The rest of the party had to come across the bridge, slowly and surely, and they scouted the area around the palisade a fair number of times before finally deciding to enter. The only things they noticed about the island were there were a couple seagulls hooked to twine littering the ground.
When inside, the Heroes were frustrated to see six doors awaiting them. Behind two were stairs leading up to a guard tower where they saw the victims of their previous escapade outside. One of the towers was interestingly inhabited by a jar of half-eaten pickles, of which many were strewn about the room.
Behind another was a yard where they encountered four more goblin dogs chasing each other. In the corner of this yard was a shed, and inside they found something… very un-goblin-like. A horse. A bruised, abused, and starving horse that was furious and making quick work of Darius’ pride and composure. After a large amount of confusion and hesitation, the horse was calmed down with the offer of food and left to itself as the Heroes went on further.
Opening the next set of doors, but only slightly, afforded the Heroes a look onto a most interesting sight. An illusion of Darius in a slightly comedic pose. Giggles, most certainly goblin, were had here and there in this room. In a quick action of instinct, Conall burst into the room and proclaimed, “I know this person. He certainly seems familiar.”
What the party did not see through the small hold they made were three Goblin Commandos, a Goblin Bard, and atop a makeshift throne, the Goblin King himself: Warchief Ripnugget of the Thistletop clan. Getting over a major shock of seeing this inquisitor coming in unarmed into his abode during a comedic Reenactment of the Sandpoint Raid, Ripnugget made a show of peace, “Let’s talk.”
He was of course deceiving the inquisitor, and as soon as he was 5 feet away from him, he had his comrades come down upon the party. Marco, so far unseen and in stealth, dispatched, with some slight help, the bard as it started singing. Darius stormed in and looked pretty. Leica, previously hiding behind her rifle and thinking about how much of a great journal article this will all make, started to make an attempt at joining the fight, eventually making a grand spectacle of the commandos with a Burning Hands spell. Finally, poor Conall was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he was mauled from several directions. Very soon, the only one of the goblins left standing was Ripnugget himself.
The party encountered the following this session. Note that the defeated encounters from the Throne Room will not be able to have their gear salvaged quite yet; combat is still in-progress. The gear is placed here for organization purposes and for use after the combat has been resolved.
- Rigged rope bridge; affords 1200 XP.
- Thistletop Goblin outside the palisade awards 135 XP and 5 gp. Possessed a leather armor, light wooden shield, short sword, and short bow with 20 arrows.
- Goblin Dogs (4) award 400 XP each (1600 XP total) outside.
- Thistletop Goblins (6) inside the entrance award 135 XP each (810 XP total) and, collectively, 400 sp and 100 cp. Each possessed a leather armor, light wooden shield, short sword, and short bow with 20 arrows.
- Goblin Dogs (4) award 400 XP each (1600 XP total) inside the yard.
- Subduing and calming the Caged Horse awards 600 XP.
- Stickfoot, a giant gecko, awards 400 XP.
- Thistletop Commandos (3) inside the Throne Room award 200 XP each (600 XP total) and, collectively, 15 gp and 50 sp. Each possess a masterwork horsechopper, a short bow, an unidentified potion, studded leather armor, and 20 arrows.
- Thistletop Warchanter awards 200 XP. Possesses an unidentified potion, studded leather armor, a dogslice, a short bow with 20 arrows, a whip, an unidentified wand, and a dirty pouch containing 100 gp and 2 gems.
In total, the party received 6745 XP. This means each individual party member received 1686 XP. This places each character at 7953 XP. One hero point has been awarded to Graeme for the most spontaneous decision ever made this campaign.