The mage turns and runs from the swarming goblins who shower him with a barrage of spears:
Two of which strike him and he falls to the ground from his wounds.
You miss again and the goblins keep up the pressure on you:
Good riddance mage, burn in whatever hell awaits you.
Your next blow lays out the grey-skinned goblin and the remaining smaller goblins break and run away.
Search the bodies and area.
-3hp
There is 600 GP worth of coin and valuables, mostly from the massive goblin and the mage.
You also find (and later identify):
a large number of valueless spears
MW Bill
MW Flail
2 MW breast plates
+1 amulet of NA
+1 ring of protection
+1 cloak of resistance
A large green gem attached to platinum necklace. The gem is entirely similar to the one you discovered in the tomb of Tabor the Magnificent.
The area seems clear for now, but you can hear the beat of goblin drums from deeper in the caverns.
Grab the loot and return to gnome city. Be careful not to directly touch the green gem.
Does Ang think he can destroy the gem by striking it with his hammer?
You make off with your hard won treasures.
Ang remembers that Korim destroyed the previous gem in the holy Forge of the temple. He thinks he might be able to do the same, but it would take him some serious meditation and prayer and that it would have to be done in a holy place.
Zarbuzel welcomes you back to town-You will soon become a ranger of some renown if you continue your forays into the forest Ang! Come I have some chickens slow roasting at home. They should be almost done and we can have some wine and eat while you tell me of your adventures.
The forest is quiet, no sign of the enemy.
"That sounds delicious Zarbuzel. Is there a Temple of Torag nearby? Have you seen anything unusual with the goblin attacks here? I battled a mage that seemed to hold several goblins under his influence."
Back at Zarbuzel's:
Zarbuzel shakes his head-Sadly no, although several of the local smiths pay tribute to him. Our only place of worship is to Shelyn. As for goblins, they have not bothered us almost at all since the end of the War. The most local tribe was completely exterminated.
As he hands you a plate of food he frowns at your mage comment-There was talk that the goblins were much too organized during the War and that someone or something must have been controlling them. I don't imagine it was the mage you killed, but maybe he was an emissary of that power?
"That sounds about right Zarbuzel."
Well if you dispatched him, that's worth a year of Sunday's for good news. Umok was almost destroyed during the War and if the power that united the goblins is stirring again I just as soon as you keep kill evil mages. Any idea how the mage was controlling the goblins? They are notoriously rock-brained and hard to organize, much less control.
"I found another gem like the one you previously gave me. We need to destroy them. I saw one once before it was destroyed in a Temple of Torag...maybe Shelyn's would work but I'm not sure it would work for me."
The gnome's inquisitive little eyes go wide-Destroy them? Why on earth would we do that? If we can understand what powers them, maybe we can find a way to block their power or find a way to locate who controls them. If there are two, there are more than two and that means that whoever is behind this won't be stopped by destroying another one.
"They are evil, somehow related to demons, if there are more of them then they should be destroyed as well, no good will come of them."
Zarbuzel looks doubtfully at you-If you say so Ang. It just flies in the face of Gnomish logic.
So Ang was supposed to venture into the woods to see what the goblins were up to, has he done that yet? How will he know when he has paid his debt?
Can Ang buy items at market whenever he is in town? Probably buy some gear and head back to the woods. Would like to look in a different area as goblins in current area are likely more alert at this point.
Ang is going to purchase Eyes of the Eagle at the market. After that he will head back to the forest, but go to an area at least a few miles where he has previously explored.
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After almost a week of waiting for your order to be crafted you prepare to once more trek into the perilous woods. The day before you depart, a courier from the Halls arrives with a note bearing the hammer seal of Korim.
Ang,
I hope the fires of the Forge are keeping you warm and the Work is keeping you busy. The Masters finally figured out how to open that infuriating scroll case you found in the tomb. The language was a bit archaic, not to mentioned the paper weathered, but after a few weeks we were able to piece together a loose translation.
It appears to be a chronicle of Tabor's exploits and specifically speaks to him discovering a trove of emerald-like stones when he defeated the final goblin warlords of the time. These stones appear to have been 'chipped' off of a much larger emerald although they appeared far too smooth and natural to have been broken off the larger stone.
The goblins had protected the area to the last and before he could gather more than a few stones, a deadly trap was triggered that filled the room with acid and eventually collapsed the area. Tabor kept one final stone as a trophy to his victory and gave the rest to his commanders to celebrate the end of the battles. From that day forward his folk never had additional troubles from goblins.
I'm not sure what any of this means for us today, but clearly that stone was more than it appeared, and I know you would want to know what the scroll said.
Keep your Hammer high. Best-Korim
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Reviewing the note.
It seems the good news never ends, Torag preserve us.
Head out to an unexplored area of the forest keeping a wary eye out for Kinslaughterer, Fleshharrower and Satansfist, as well as other threats.
This area of the forest seems filled with many more small animals which you believe means that it is not as heavily visited by goblins as they tend to be quite voracious and tend to eat up local ecosystems.
Without feeling much threat of sudden goblin attack you find your journey into this section of the forest relatively peaceful. Although you generally keep your eyes lower on the ground, you can't help but notice several sets of claw marks on some of the larger trees about 8' high.
Ang tries to figure out what could have made such claw marks. Keep exploring.
The markings look exactly like those you read about in a flora and fauna encyclopedia back at the Halls. Mixed in with the claws are what appear to be beak strikes and from the picture you remember seeing, this is the territory marking of the ferocious owlbear.
An owlbear defining this part of the forest as its territory would explain the lack of goblins as they are quite ferocious and deadly. If it is in fact an owlbear, there will not be any other predators nearby.
Ang tries to find the owlbear.
Even with Ang's relatively undeveloped tracking skills, it is not difficult to track the owlbear's myriad spoor back to it's lair-a sloping hill with a massive deadfall of trees laying against it. It appears that some of the trees were actually pulled down on purpose, probably by the owlbear, to provide better shelter.
Compared to the other areas of forest you have just traveled through, it is quiet in this area and you can see large piles of bones, mostly broken and shattered, that have been casually thrown out in front of the lair opening. It appears that a great many goblins have become meals to the beast. Maybe part of the reason goblin activity has been slow to resume near Umok?
The sky is growing dark as you spent the better part of the day finding the lair.
You aren't really sure, but you think that there might be TWO different sets of owlbear tracks in the area leading back to the hillside lair.
If they are keeping the goblin population down, perhaps I should leave them be. But unchecked they could multiply and become a threat to Umok.
Enter the lair.
Moving up to the opening, the smell of feathers and death waft out. You enter into the darkness, your otherworldly vision allowing you to see a massive pitched tent of trees with a nest where lies an enormous amalgam of fur and feathers half-bear/half-owl. The monstrosity raises its huge, ursine claws in anger and attacks.
It charges forward to defend its lair.
Damn thing hits hard.
-4hp
You hit back almost as hard and the creature lets out a loud and ferocious HOOT! HOOT! HOOT! before attacking again.
The creature tries to grab you with it's savage paw
Ang's CMD=17, so guessing he is grappled. Let me know what his options are.
-18hp
It's going to start crushing you with the grappled paw (auto-damage from 1 claw attack) unless you are able to break the grapple. It will still have to roll to hit with the other paw and beak. You are able to attack with your hammer.
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At least there's only the one.
-3hp
You struggle in the massive claw and your swing is way off.
But the beast can't seem to get at you while it's busy squeezing.
-13hp
You adjust your swing and connect but the beast continues to crush and attack.
Retcon:
This round:
-19hp
Death delayed for a round!
Your hammer strikes true this time and the owlbear begins to show signs of the struggle.
-10hp
The creature is really looking bad as it struggles to finish you off. It lets out another series of massive bellows-HOOT! HOOT! HOOT!
-10hp
With a loud warble, the beast drops you to the ground as it collapses in a bloody and bruised heap.
Use CLW wand.
Look around.
In the creature's nest you find 1,100 GP worth of coin and valuables.
There is also: potion of hide from undead; CMW; and fly. A set of goggles brilliant light, MW chain shirt, and a +1 short sword.
Finally there are 3 large eggs.
Can Ang transport the eggs? He seems to remember they have value?
Any sign of another owlbear? Are there other rooms in the nest area? He gathers the treasure quickly.
Ang thinks he could transport the eggs with some help or with the proper conveyance; even a large back pack or padded sack might do it.
No sign of the other owlbear, but you can't imagine it is too far from the nesting mother. There are no other areas, just the single large 'cave'.
must be the other one
Are there any other exits to the cave?
If Ang gets as far from entrance as possible can he get off any ranged attacks prior to the beast getting in melee range?
No other exits although you could try an Escape Artist attempt (DC25) to try and squeeze through some of the collapsed trees.
If you go to the far end of the cave you would be able to get a round of missile fire off before melee.
Move to far end and ready bow.
A monstrously sized owlbear bursts into the cave, and seeing the fallen form of its apparent mate, sniffs the air and glares in your direction before charging bellowing in fury HOOT! HOOT! HOOT!
damn