EoD 013: Into the Blood Moon's Lair

Helmia returned to her friends without incident. Several of the heroes were tired after their recent travails, and so the group rested for an hour. Once the heroes had caught their breath and prepared themselves, they descended the stairs. Sadly, several of the group wore metal armour and Elmo and Lion carried tables with the legs hacked off (in case the group needed impromptu barricades). Thus, their approach was less than stealthy.

Lurking Goblins

The goblins awaited them at the bottom of the stairs. Two of the goblins were archers and took great delight in shooting Elmo. As the heroes surged into the room to do battle, they discovered two more goblins lurking behind the stairs. A lively fight broke out, and although the goblins enjoyed some initial success, they could not stand before the party’s might. Before long, three of the goblins were dead, and the rest were fleeing; none would escape. Lion cut down two goblins trying to flee further into the complex while (eventually) the sole goblin cut off from easy escape who fled up the stairs was slain by Dimble’s well-placed ray of frost.

Decisions, Decisions

The party now had several options; corridors led to the west and north while another set of stairs plunged deeper underground. Polumya and Dimble cautiously investigated the stairs; both sensed something unnatural in the cold air welling up from below and Polumya thought he sensed the corruption of undeath in the air.

Thus, the party decided to push westwards down one of the two passages leading away from the scene of their glorious victory. Herein, they discovered two store rooms—one of which was an armoury. As they were making these discoveries, Elmo—watching the rear—was struck by one of two javelins hurled from the darkness of the second passage. Thrown with great force, this javelin gravely injured the redoubtable half-orc. Two hulking, hairy humanoids emerged from the passage. Worryingly, both carried another javelin and a large morningstar. White sigils of grinning skulls adorned their crude hide armour. Quickly, the group pivoted to face this new threat while Elmo retreated for healing. However, by the time Elmo was healed and the group—led by Lion—surged to the north, the creatures (whatever they were) had gone.

What’s in the Well?

A quick search of the northern passage revealed two rooms. One of the rooms held a well, while the other had clearly—until very recently—served as the hulking creatures’ chamber. However, the creatures were nowhere to be seen. Helmia—in lizard form—scouted down the well and discovered a stream flowing from the south east. To the northwest, she thought she heard the sound of falling water, but there was no sign of the party’s shaggy adversaries, and so she returned to her companions.

By now, the party’s resources had grown thin, and several of the spellcasters were running dangerously low on spells. Thus, the heroes decided to loot the armoury and destroy what they could not take either by burning it or by hurling it into the well. With this quickly done, the heroes retreated upwards to the ruined keep’s kitchen to rest and plot their next move…

This post is a session summary from my weekly 5e D&D Edgelands of Darkness campaignset in the Duchy of Ashlar.