Eustoma pulls out a flaming arrow, and activates it. She fires it at the wolf, and then fires another one at the hobgoblin. They fly harmlessly past the enemy.
Sia feeling very brave, moves up and attacks the wolf.
As Wulfram stabs at Fahrak's wolf the hobgoblin tugs on its reins and maneuvers his mount away from the spear's head!
Karla maneuvers around to unleash her last color spray on the hobgoblin and wolf. Both are stunned by the swirling colors!
Nik'o takes advantage of their momentary distraction and tears into the dire wolf's hind leg.
Rogar was going to ready an attack to blast Fahrak off the wolf, but seeing him stunned, he hurls the bouder immediately, battering the warrior once more.
Wulfram tries to finish off the wounded hobgoblin, but fails to pierce his breastplate. The shaman backs off, terribly injured himself.
Eustoma fires two shots, but both plink off her targets' armor. Sia tries to bite the wolf too, but fails to land a good hit.
The stunned enemies are about to regain their wits!
"Great shot Karla!", Wulfram cried. Taking advantage of the hobgoblin's momentary weakness, he tried to finish him off, then stepped back out of harms way.
Rogar moves to finish off the hobgoblin, creating a massive boulder and holding it at the ready for as soon as he begins to stir.
Eustoma fires two arrows at the hobgoblin. Just regular arrows this time. She is still unable to hit.
Sia bites at the wolf, and she misses again.
Karla's magic proves to be super effective, stunning Fahrak and his mount for a second time!
Nik'o grabs onto the wolf's leg again, tearing out a tendon that causes the mighty beast to topple and fall to the ground! The lynx follows up with a vicious claw.
Seeing the hobgoblin go down with his mount, Rogar doesn't hesitate, crushing his head with another boulder!
Wulfram impales the prone wolf with his spear as Eustoma tries to shoot it, but finds it hard to land a shot.
The wolf is still reeling from the color spray, unable to properly fight back. Nik'o tears at it with tooth and claw, finishing it off!
In the aftermath, you search through Fahrak's possessions. Among them is a note wrapped around a fat ruby. The note is written in crude but legible Common:
My troopers carry this gift to you to show our intentions. Together we can tear our enemies to pieces, their arms ripped from their living bodies, and their heads screaming as we wrest them from their necks. We’ve slaughtered or enslaved all in the human town save for a few weak stragglers now lost in the woods. We can hunt them down as one, or we will be done with your claims to this region.
There's also a map on a piece of hide that seems to show the location of a hobgoblin camp nearby.
Wulfram drank a potion to heal his wounds somewhat.
"That was a little close for comfort," he said. "I could use some healing from your wand, Eustoma." He examined the magic breastplate and cloak.
Wulfram studied the map. "After the other's have made it safely here to the caves, we need to scout out the this camp."
Rogar slumps against the wall, exhausted, "Oh. Can ye hand me one o' those potions? Ah'm exhausted."
Once they've had dinner and have divided up their prizes between them, Rogar raises a small barricade at each of the room's entrances, to hinder any that might try to attack them. He also buries the hobgoblins and troglodytes that are nearby to help avoid decay.Once all that's done, he beds down and goes to sleep.
With all of the enemies here defeated, you are able to rest in the caves safely. Though the reptilian stench of the troglodytes still linger, that's the only thing that bothers you during the night. In the morning, you awaken refreshed and energized, your recent experiences hardening you for the challenges still to come.
As his Gentle Breeze spell finally wore off, Wulfram suddenly said, ""Ugh, it stinks in here! I wonder if the smell will ever completely go away?"
In the morning, as he meditated with Pele, Wulfram communed also with the spirits of battle attracted by the previous day's fight.
1st: Entangle, Bless, Cure Light Wounds, 2 open slots
2nd: Barkskin, Bull's Strength, Fog Cloud, one open slot
After a good night's rest, Wulfram had another look at the unidentified magic items.
The next morning Eustoma taps Wulfram with the wand of Cure Light Wounds a couple of times. "We don't want to the hobgoblin camp to be near here. I agree with Wulfram that we need to clear out the camp if we can."
"Let's go out and meet our people to lead them here." Eustoma suggests.
"Yes, it might be prudent to meet up with the main group, in case they get attacked on their way here," Wulfram replied.
You head west to meet up with the rest of the survivors from Phaendar, and it is early afternoon when you come upon the band. Aubrin leads the way, holding Phaendar's Defiance high as the others lead your many animals along with them. They let out a cheer when they see you, happy to see you are safe. After catching them up on what happened with the troglodytes, you notice somebody is missing.
"Edran disappeared last night. Some of our provisions were missing this morning, too," Aubrin tells you. "I don't know where he went or why he ran off like that."
"Killing us is already on their to-do list, I think," Wulfram replied to Karla.
When they met up with the main group, Wulfram waved and hailed them. "Our new home is ready for us to move in!" he declared. "It needs a bit of cleaning, as they previous owners had different ideas of housekeeping than us. And guess what? It's got a forge in good condition! We'll have our own industry up and running in no time." He filled Kining in on all the details.
He scowled when Abrin mentioned Edran's sudden departure."All that food; it doesn't sound like he's planning on coming back. It's probably for the best — if he can't be trusted, we're better off without him. He knows where we're headed, but the Legion would figure that out pretty quickly anyways."
Eustoma hears Karla's and Wulfram's conversation, Karla you have a point about this being very close to the Hobgoblins. This is a defensible place though. One entrance and we have clean water. It might not be a permanent home, but a few days or weeks here where we can rest, craft, and train would be a nice break for everyone."
When she hears Edran is missing she looks concerned. I hope he's not going to turn us into the Hobgoblins. "We need to go look for him right away."
"Edran has about an 18 hour head start on us, at this point," Wulfram said. "That's assuming we go straight to last night's campsite from here. We wouldn't be escorting the group to the caves, and checking for any creatures that might have sneaked in while we were away. If we do go back to the caves first, we would would be behind him by 24 hours at the very least.
The question is, does it make sense to go after him? If the Ironfang Legion does learn what he knows, I'm not sure how much it hurts us. It's not like they're not going to figure out were we've gone; a group of 25 people, plus a herd of animals, isn't very hard to track. We're also not guaranteed to catch him, if we do chase him."
"Good point Wulfram. Let's get everyone to the caves, and then go from there. You never know what will happen once we arrive." Eustoma watches behind the group as they move forward.
As evening approaches, you reach the former troglodyte caves without incident. Your followers look around the place in approval, though many of them gag slightly and make comments about how bad it stinks in here! Still, with a few days' work on some modifications, it will provide an excellent home for the refugees.
The biggest issue to new residents is the fungus that emits the odoriferous gas contributing to the stench. Fortunately, the fungus is delicate and easy to tear out of the tunnels, and it is edible when cooked. The artesian well provides plenty of fresh, clean water for drinking and bathing. The numerous small caverns also offer defensible positions for the inhabitants.
It only takes a day of cleaning up the smithy to get the forge up and running. Kining nods in approval. "It ain't the greatest, but it will do." She and Wulfram start melting down excess weapons and armor to forge a suit of chain shirt barding for Sia, though it will take a couple of weeks. Wendy likewise goes to work on a composite longbow for Eustoma.
Fortifying the entrance to the caves and the tunnel to the Darklands proves a pretty speedy process. Thanks to Karla's magic and Rogar's kinetic powers, you can easily move earth and stone to create extra defenses. Wulfram uses wood shape to craft a gate for the tunnel.
A few days pass as the refugees settle into the caves. They start working on homemade furniture and resource stores to keep everybody going. Jet makes a dedicated quartermaster, and Rhyna helps gather fragrant herbs to dispel the lingering troglodyte stench. Aubrin ministers to the wounded and helps lift the spirits of the group. She puts forth the suggestion to name the caverns Misthome, both for the persistent mists on the lower level and for its homonym, "missed home," to remind the group what they are fighting for. Phaendar's Defiance stands proudly at the entrance.
One day, you are surprised by a knock on the Darklands gate. A friendly voice calls out in Undercommon, then after a few moments, it calls out in Common. "Hello? Anybody home? It's Novvi! I like your fancy new gate! Do you want to trade this month?"
Upon hearing that there was someone knocking on the Darklands gate, Wulfram went down to see who was there. He looked out through the peephole to determine if it was safer to open the gate. "Hello, sorry for the delay. I understand you're interested in trading?"
Wulfram looks out through the peephole and doesn't see anything at first. Then he looks down and sees a bald gnome woman with rocky gray skin and a wiry physique.
"Hi! You must be the new tenants here, huh? Kind of surprised to see humans in these caves. Not sure if you're an improvement over the trogs yet, though you are more fragrant, so that's a plus! I'm Novvi!"
She grins and unshoulders her pack. "I come by here every month or so to trade. If you've got gold or goods, I'd be happy to let you take a look at my wares!"
Wulfram opened up the gate. "Pleased to meet you Novvi! he said. "My name is Wulfram. Please come in! Would you like some herbal tea? We have both gold and goods to trade, and would be very interested in seeing what you have." Wulfram sent word to summon the others.
"Tea sounds good! I don't get to have that very often--most of my customers live underground, so leaves are hard to come by. Lots of mushroom-based drinks, though."
Eustoma makes her way down as Wulfram is greeting Novvi. She smiles "So nice to meet you. Come in. I hear you want to trade. I'm sure we can come to a deal."
"I'll go grab the tea, and let everyone know you are here." She moves back up to the main area quickly.
Eustoma doesn't sense any deception from Novvi. The gnome genuinely seems like a reputable merchant.
Rogar follows Eustoma as she returns to the Darklands entrance, and, while skeptical of the gnome, he happily trades a lot of their more valuable, less useful items to the merchant. However, the whole time, he keeps a wary eye on her, not saying much.
Novvi shrugs. "Eh, it's a living. I wouldn't recommend it for the faint of heart. Enough chatter, though, let's get down to business!"
She opens her magical pack and pulls out a large assortment of wares for you to peruse.
Once you have concluded your trading, Novvi packs up her stuff and heads back into the Darklands, promising to return next month.
The next three weeks seem to pass by rather quickly. Setting up the original entrance to the caves as a trap-filled dead end, Rogar is able to burrow an alternate entrance for you to use undetected. The dwarf then works to harvest the crystals from the walls of the caves, collecting a fair haul before the veins run dry.
Eustoma spends her time training the giant gecko to serve as a mount, and while not nearly as smart or clever as Sia, the lizard seems to get the gist of it. Soon, the halfling can be seen strapped into her saddle as the lizard climbs on the walls and runs around the cave complex.
Karla trains the wolves to attack hobgoblins, then helps with foraging food and herbs to trade with Novvi.
Wulfram spends most of his time at the forge, crafting armor for Sia among other useful items.
It's now been more than a month since Phaendar fell to the Ironfang Legion. Your scouts indicate that the hobgoblins are still active in the forest. As long as their camp still stands so close to Misthome, it's going to be difficult to travel anywhere. The threat must be dealt with sooner or later.
"It's been good to meet you, Novvi!", Wulfram said, as she prepared to depart. "I look forward to seeing you next month. Is there anything in particular that you want us to keep an eye out for? Perhaps some particular surface goods that are hard to come by in the Darklands?"
"Nothing specific," Novvi had said. "I'll take anything I think I can sell down below!"
Eustoma is having a blast on her new Stuck. She spends more time riding around on the ceiling than she does walking.
"Rogar what ya doing?" she's sitting on Stuck who is attached the ceiling watching him dig at the pretty stones in the walls. "I can haul that stuff for you. Stuck is really strong, and I have these neat saddlebags."
Sia is sitting on the floor looking miffed at Stuck and Eustoma. "Sia get over it. I can keep us safer from the back of Stuck."
Wulfram sat with Eustoma, Karla and Rogar at breakfast one morning. The forge was up and running, and the camp was well fortified. There was always more to be done, but in his heart he knew that the others could handle things. "It's time we did something about that hobgoblin camp," he said. "We don't want them to extend their hold over the forest. Fangwood needs to be ours alone!