KotB - Episode 15

A somewhat less TLDR summary of the fifteenth episode of of the Keep on the Borderlands play-through.

Character Recap
Andrew’s PCs:Nymeth (Elf), Rothwynn (Cleric)

Dave’s PCs: The Shadow (Thief), Sephoth (Fighter)

Hilary’s PCs: Thistle Turnipsworth (Halfling),  Hyssop Turnipsworth  (Halfling)

John’s PCs: Chunk Flunkins (Dwarf), Serta the Somnomancer (Magic-User)  

Muffin, Gimlet, Sazerac & Martini Oliveslayer
 

After stopping briefly to turn over an abandoned guard-room for a handful of forgotten coins, our troop of tired travellers continue their search for saleable loot through the upper levels of the Hobgoblin tunnels. Progressing into the rough hewn caverns to the East, tensions run high, as the sounds of soft padded footsteps and eerie childlike giggling follow them, till their path is blocked by a sturdy padlocked door. The Shadow reaches for his locksmithing tools, but the lock speaks to him: ''“Ah! The Shadow, I’m definitely trapped, you shouldn’t pick me!”'', so he begins a philosophical conversation with the sentient mechanism. Meanwhile at the party’s rear, Nymeth defiantly ignores the distant, beautiful voice he hears singing a lament; instead keeping his bow drawn and pointed at the shifting shadows beyond the torchlight. The auditory disturbances continue to escalate, until eventually The Shadow opens the door, sips his potion of Invisibility and disappears from view. Our less clandestine questors start to follow into the room beyond, but the door suddenly slams shut, separating Nymeth, Rothwynn and the two mercenaries from the others. Just at that moment an angry, frightened Mountain Lion runs into view clawing desperately at Irma, killing her instantly in a spray of arterial blood.

Rothwynn, Nymeth and Bur’gar, take advantage of Irma’s death to run back up the hallway away from the frenzied cat, but their flight is cut short when Nymeth is attacked by a trio of invisible Pixies. Beyond the door, Thistle Turnipsworth and Sephoth are also assaulted, by four more of the shimmering, overexcited fey creatures, but The Shadow, appearing from nowhere, shoots one out of the air with his bow. Sephoth puts his back to the door, to stop the Mountain Lion clawing her way in, but in so doing loses track of a Pixie, who deals him a serious wound.

Badly bleeding, Sephoth can do little to stop the great cat bursting into the room, and the sprawling three-sided melee intensifies.

What seems like an eternity later, once the chaos of battle subsides, and the dust has settled, a gravely injured Thistle Turnipsworth surveys the carnage around her. Sephoth, Nymeth, Rothwynn, Bur’gar and the Mountain Lion all lie slain, bearing the distinctive stab marks of Pixie swords, and The Shadow is nowhere to be seen. With few other options, she surrenders to the Pixies surrounding her, who, after some debate over which particular type of hilarious misery to inflict, decide to take her to the Hobgoblin Chief.

The sprites begin leading her away, but under the guise of picking up a torch to light their passage, Thistle deftly manages to snag the faintly glowing blue potion from Rothwynn’s body. Draining the vial in a single draught, our Halfling hero soon realises her mistake: her body begins fighting the effects of potion’s Poison. With a defeatist smile, she explains her failed attempt at trickery to the Pixies, who only burst into more raucous laughter when Thistle slumps to the floor, artfully feigning death.

Once she’s certain the distractible fey creatures have lost interest and left, the luckiest Turnipsworth quickly lights a torch and collects Nymeth’s spell book from his pack, before heading back East through the irksome door. In the blood soaked chamber beyond, Thistle sees a floating ball of light and correctly guesses that it betrays the position of her injured villainous colleague, The Shadow: “I hope that’s you, you piece of steak...”.

Reunited with The Shadow, Thistle Turnipsworth takes a sip from rogue’s second potion of Invisibility, and together, our forlorn freebooters make their way out of the Caves of Chaos, and back onto the road leading towards The Keep on The Borderlands.

Rules & Rulings from this Episode
 


 * 0’48” Sipping an Invisibility potion renders the imbiber invisible for 1 hour, a single potion may be sipped six times. (Clarification of B48 & B17)


 * 1’25” Holding a door closed is a STR check, no bonus by default.

-Return to the list of Episodes in this series-