Sisters of the Broken Path

Over the course of a few minutes, the party had teleported into the second floor of the crooked pagoda they’d discovered deep beneath the House of Withered Blossoms. They’d ambushed the guards (who’d been expecting an assault from outside, not from the room behind them), defeated an armored golem and a clan of ogrekin hobgoblins who’d come to the guards’ aid, and held off an assault of hobgoblin lepers. All this before breakfast. It was shaping up to be a rather taxing day.

The Mockery Pagoda

The party awoke to the smell of boiled pork and fungus stew. They’d spent the night in the hobgoblins’ kitchen, the cleanest place they could find in the vast cave that served as home, fortress, and breeding ground for the Five Storms’ army of lackeys. Anxious to leave the cave’s stench behind them, they hurried to the Swine Shogun’s keep and made their way across the narrow bridge that led from its roof to a small opening near the cave’s roof. This opened into a broad stairway that wound down and down, deeper into the cavern complex far beneath the House of Withered Blossoms.

The Swine Shogun

The party was embroiled in a battle royale with a horde of hobgoblins and hill giants, deep beneath the House of Withered Blossoms. They were nearing the limits of their endurance, and were almost out of spells, but a fresh wave of Withered Blossom Warriors came charging out to challenge them. They were Hasted, and slammed into Sandoval and Zhustin’s summoned air elementals with ferocious battle cries.

The Battle of Hobgoblin Cavern

The party had discovered a great cavern deep beneath the House of Withered Blossoms that served as home to a small army of hobgoblins serving the oni of the Five Storms. After exchanging ranged fire for a while from the ledge high above the cavern floor (and getting fried by some very potent Fireballs), Marie had teleported down with Sawyer and Sandoval to take the fight to the enemy. Bella followed, courtesy of her Ring of Feather Falling, and Zhustin started scrambling down the ladder.