Frog Hat Club

The ongoing adventures of a group of new D&D players in their first game

Episode 28: Ambushed!

Keen awoke from a deep sleep, totally unware of events that had transpired around him. The party decided not to remain near the Myconid Colony’s central nexus and, leaving the Djinn/Myconid hybrid behind, made their way into a maze of tunnels they knew would eventually lead to their goal, the Residium crystal deposit.

Thanks to their knowledge of the area granted by the Myconids, the party was able to avoid dangerous predators, as well as getting lost in the dark, twisting passages. They made their way to a secluded and defensible cavern, and settled in to rest.

During the watch both Levani and Yuna heard movement in the tunnels, but due to their selection of encampment they avoided a potentially deadly encounter with a cloaker.

Keen slept through his entire watch, thanks to which the party slept much longer than they anticipated.

Well rested and refreshed, the party continued the long and dangerous trip through the tunnels, progressing ever further into the depths of the Underdark. They moved quietly, avoiding the den of a massive female Bulette and its offspring, and the day, while exhausting, was uneventful.

After hours of creeping through tunnels the party emerged into a vast underground cavern, its vaulted ceiling lost in the darkness hundreds of feet above them. Before them lay the remnants of a wide cobbled street, lined on either side with mostly demolished buildings in the now-familiar architectural style of the ancient Dwarven city of Thorimfel. As they made their way up the street, the party was ambushed by a horde of goblins, who rained down crossbow bolts from balconies and windows.

Levani dispatched two goblins with a powerful bolt of lightning and injured several more while Magnus ran for the building, to enter and flank the goblins. Ara’s quick reflexes and deadly aim dispatched two goblins on the opposite site, one of which was attempting to flee. Yuna’s divine might fended off the worst of the injuries done by the goblin’s surprising volley of bolts, and together they made their way to join Magnus. Levani cast darkness around the windows of the building, making it impossible for the goblins to fire on them with any accuracy as they ran for cover.

Magnus hastily burst into the building, triggering a trap that dropped large chunks of masonry and debris from a hidden recess above the door. Bloodied but undaunted, he made his way up the stairs. Ara, Yuna and Levani joined him, and together they quickly dispatched the remaining goblins. All but one, who lept from the window and made his escape. Ara lept out and pursued the goblin, but abandoned the chase at a small opening in the rubble of a ruined building into which the goblin had crawled.

The party elected not to pursue, and instead found a place to hide to catch their breath and tend to their wounds. While hidden they heard the sounds of a goblin search party making its way up the street towards the site of the ambush. The party decided not to engage and instead made their way forward a short distance, quickly arriving at the building from their vision – the building that contained the massive Residium crystal deposit. They scouted the building, and found it mostly quiet but for a pair of arguing goblins and a large spider over the rear entrance.

Ara, hidden on a second-story observation balcony inside the building, watched as Magnus and Yuna attempted to quietly coax out the spider, without much success. Levani took up watch outside the building, using the ring of reduction and her magic to take on the appearance of a goblin. She was therefore the first to see the goblin that had escaped them at the ambush point racing back to the buidling. It entered and told the goblins inside that the intruders had eluded them, and were probably on their way here. The goblins made ready, calling out to “Skiggark,” which turned out to be the large spider at the rear of the building, who dropped their wild shape form and stood before Magnus, a goblin druid of the Black Tack Goblin Tribe, and prepared to cast a spell.

Deadly Encounters Avoided: 2

Goblin Tactics Rating: Advanced

Party Tactics Rating Advanced+

RP Rating: Awesome!