Blackhawk Down

Feeling a good bit better after a night’s sleep at the Rusty Dragon, the party set out to find the Old Fish Trail that they’d been told would lead them to the Licktoad’s camp. After following the Lost Coast Road for about a mile past the New Fish Trail, they spotted another track leading off towards the Brinestump. Unlike the trail they’d followed yesterday, which, while overgrown, had shown signs of frequent use, this trail didn’t look like anyone had been down it in some time. In particular, the party saw no signs that the goblins had been using it to stage their recent raids. Had they been steered in the wrong direction?

They followed the path down into the marsh. As before, where the trail crossed a waterway there was a crude log bridge, and Zhustin in particular hurried across it with a knot in his stomach, but nothing emerged from the water to attack. After travelling for some time, the trail forked. One branch led westward, farther into the swamp while the other lead southeast. Both of these branches showed signs of heavy use, and Zhustin’s keen eye determined that the footprints were goblin-sized. But which way to go? Shinjiro scurried up a tree to see if he could see anything. No structures were visible beneath the jungle canopy, but he thought he could discern a thin wisp of smoke rising from the southwest, so the party took the fork to the right, moving cautiously now.

Soon the trail led into a clearing, revealing a filthy village-fort surrounded by a crude wooden palisade, sitting atop a low hummock of solid ground. A large algae-filled pool on the northeast side broke the line of the palisade and allowed a clearer view into the village’s interior, which consisted of a collection of ramshackle huts connected by wooden walkways, all built on thick wooden stilts. A wooden gate in the northern wall had apparently once provided protection, but now lay in shambles on the ground; to the east, they could see the remains of what might have once been another hut, now just a jumble of burned timbers. A thin column of smoke rose from a pit in an open area just beyond the gate, filling the air with the odor of burned flesh.

Everything was eerily quiet. The village seemed devoid of life, and even the normal sounds of the marsh seemed muted. The party crouched in the underbrush for five, then ten minutes, but nothing stirred. Finally, Bella began creeping stealthily towards the gate. As she drew closer, she could see that the gate appeared to have been broken down from the inside. Arrows could be seen sticking from the inside of the palisade walls, while others jutted from the ground outside, their angle indicating that they had been fired from inside the compound. Something heavy had been dragged through the gate, but whether it was dragged in or out was hard to tell. Sneaking quietly inside, she surveyed the interior. A handful of skeletons lay on the ground, while the bodies of perhaps a dozen dead goblins still smoldered in the pit. The skeletons seemed much older than the burned bodies, but she didn't pause to investigate.

As Bella made a cautious circuit of the front portion of the village, the rest of the party crept up to the walls and peeked through the open gate. As they watched, a curtain flicked briefly away from one of the windows, but Bella was by now too far away to call out a warning without drawing attention to their presence. Shinjiro entered the village and climbed up onto the walkway between two of the buildings. There were doors to his north and south; he opened the one to the south, revealing an empty room with another door to the south. Going to a window, he waved to the party to indicate he was OK, and Sawyer and Marie began heading in Bella’s direction, while Zhustin set off to follow Shinjiro while Nicky waited at the gate.

Bella continued around the front of the compound, making for the ruined building. Upon closer examination, it looked like this building had burned down some time ago; plants were already sprouting between its ruined timbers. Three of the huts in the village stood a bit taller than the others, as if they might be watchtowers, and one of these was right beside Bella’s position. She climbed up onto the walkway and pulled open the door to the hut. Inside, a surprised goblin shrieked in terror as the door opened behind it, but recovered quickly and swung its dogslicer at Bella’s head. Bella returned the favor, then tried to slam the door shut. The goblin resisted momentarily, then let the door slam as it dashed in terror out another door onto the walkway.

From this point on, it was like kicking an anthill. There was no methodical, door-to-door search for this party. Instead they found themselves divided into three groups: Shinjiro and Zhustin to the west, Sawyer and Marie to the east, and Bella, Nicky, and Sandoval in the center. And goblins seemed to be coming from every direction. Bella chased her goblin down the walkway, where it turned to fight, but Sandoval and Nicky couldn’t get in position to help on the narrow walkways. Shinjiro opened a door and found himself face to face with four goblins; he held it shut against them for a bit, then retreated into a small room with Zhustin. Two of the goblins followed him, while the other two took off in other directions, and Bella found them both heading for her.

Meanwhile Sawyer, figuring Bella should have no problem with one little goblin, had headed south to yet another hut, where he found himself facing three more of the buggers. Two attacked with swords, while the third began firing some sort of firework at him. One of the sparks hit home, doing little damage but blinding him with its flash. Marie flung her starknife at it but had no more ranged attacks.

Back on the walkway, Bella took out the original goblin, and was able to step forward to allow Sandoval to engage one of those that Shinjiro had flushed out while she turned her bow on the other. Behind them, Nicky could hear activity behind the door beside him, and knew there would soon be more coming. He had purchased a couple of bottles of oil in town, and fitted them with simple cloth fuses. Lighting one, he pushed the door open and found himself facing an enraged goblin. “Catch!” he shouted, throwing the flask at the goblin’s feet and yanking the door closed again. He was rewarded with a muffled whump from behind the door, followed by screams of pain. Immediately, another door to this hut opened and panicked goblins began spilling out. These dashed through Sawyer and Marie’s room, pushing their way past the goblins still fighting them. They continued down the walkway to a larger hut, and began pounding on its double doors. “Let us in!” they shrieked. “They’re burning us to death!”

Gradually, the tide began to turn. Zhustin’s acid bolts and Shinjiro’s flying fists took down the two facing them, and they continued south through the village’s warren of huts and passages. Bella and Sandoval finished off the two on the walkways, and they likewise began working through the remainder of the village. Sawyer and Marie finally killed the goblins facing them, but as they turned their attention to the panicked goblins begging for help, four more came pouring out of another hut to their south. Two came after them, while two more jumped down to engage Sandoval. But the party kept slicing through the attackers, and finally the last goblin pounding on the doors realized no help was going to come, and he leaped off the walkway and began dashing away.

Two goblins were left confronting Sandoval, along with who or whatever was behind the double doors.

We’ll be a Rich & Joette’s again next week. I’ll tally up XP after the encounter is complete.