The Black Tack tribe led a typical Goblin existence, worrying caravans of big folk on the roads, hunting game upon the back sof Wargs, and making war with the other tribes in the hills of Thorimfel. That is until a roving band of adventurers discovered their cavernous home and laid waste to it, slaying half the tribe and chasing out the rest. Some span of days later, the survivors, bereft of their king, their treasure and their home, were scavenging to survive in the dangerous wastes of the Stone Forest, a large forest of petrified stone trees that had stood in those hills for an age.

Three druids, Skaggit, Skaarsgaard, and Skaggark, and their ranger companion The Eye Of Kikka Lenna were among the survivors. Miserable already, Skaggit was overcome with the loss of his beloved trash pile and his roach companion, Scrubby, and decided to make the journey back to the abandoned caverns. Their positions in the power vacuum of the leaderless tribe tenuous, the others elected to follow; Skaggark thought he might find and claim the elders’ horde of special berries.

Together they made the dangerous trek through the Stone Forest, relying on stealth, wild shapes and the ranger’s natural survival instincts. They mostly succeeded in avoiding the attentions of the beasts that live there, but for a large Black Bear that Skaggark antagonised. Having dispatched the Bear, the goblins made their way to the edge of the treeline and discovered the mouth of the lair’s cave entrance had been collapsed, no doubt by those meddling adventurers.

Seeking another way in they tried, unsuccessfully, to bargain with a turkey vulture for assistance, before nearly being discovered by a Roc – a monstrous bird-fiend that despite its keen senses failed to detect the stealthy goblins as they scrambled for cover in the stone trees.

It was at this point Skaggark, in the form of a sinuous panther, discovered they had been followed by Skoom, a bullying brute of a goblin, formerly one of the Black tack’s cooks and minders of goblits. Staying hidden, they evaded Skoom’s notice, and he passed through them carrying the large oak branch he favoured as a cudgel. Once he scaled the cliff face and disappeared over the top, they stealthily followed him.

Skoom unknowingly led the goblins up the side of the cliff to a small passage through the rock and into a section of the caverns none of them had ever been in. Thinking this must be the elder goblins’ secret back entrance they followed, eventually finding not their erstwhile home but a passageway that ended in the ceiling of a large empty room of Deurgar construction. Bruised and battered from falls and traps, the goblins rested briefly before continuing, only to encounter Skoom held fast by a strange force, standing motionless a short distance away in a passageway. The Eye quickly realized a gelatinous cube stood before them, slowly consuming the engulfed Skoom.

The goblins did battle, wisely keeping their distance and harrying the cube with webs of a giant spider. They damaged the monstrosity enough to make their escape, and as they fled they quickly investigated the discarded corpse of Skoom, and found he clutched a strange blue crystal.

As soon as the Eye picked up the crystal a vile, black Voice thundered in their minds, demanding servitude, and promising riches in return for obedience. The Eye attempted to resist the command of the Voice and promptly exploded, his body covering the walls, ceiling and floor of the passwageway in gore. The remaining goblins quickly swore their allegiance.

The Voice directed them further down into the structure, to a large meeting hall, wherein they found a massive quantity of blue crystal jutting out of the ground, pushing aside the dwarven masonry as it grew. The Voice commanded the goblins to return to their tribe, to lead them here, to do its bidding. It would teach them to harvest the crystal, to sew it into their flesh, and be granted power and wealth beyond goblin reckoning. In return they were to seek out four individuals – the Dragon, the Flame, the Seeker, and the Man Who Did Not Die. They were to capture them and deliver them to a place of the Voice’s choosing, a task to which the remaining goblins readily agreed, the blood still trickling from their ears.

Monstrosities Avoided: 2 of 3

Trash Heaps Recovered: 0

Plot Hooks Revealed: 1

Goblin RP Rating: Awesome!