The World of Telvar

The man had a mission to storm a goblin naval base, which interested us despite a lack of details initially. The man had heard of the Defenders and though he was stern and serious, was nonetheless willing to entertain hiring us. After he left, Alduin asked the worker at the desk who that was.

His jaw dropped, and he was quite amused, but he eventually responded, “Dunstill Weathermay.”

The party accepted the mission.

The details: Dunstill and Illic had just completed their new ship and had been using it for about five months. The capabilities of the ship were still something of a secret, and they hoped to continue using this advantage to its fullest by performing a solo raid aimed at devastating the main headquarters of the entire goblin navy, at the Grandfather.

The party would be dropped off by some mysterious form of transport, would sneak into the command headquarters on a hill outside of the goblin city, and kill the command staff, then return to be picked up. Timing was critical, as soon after we attacked there would be swarms of goblins heading up. In the meantime, Dunstill and Illic’s ship, under command of the venerable and lovable Captain Hook (the Captain), would smash a considerable portion of the navy to shreds and eventually retreat.

Our credentials were enough to satisfy them, and we were hired.

In preparation, we made a few scrolls, though Donald was unsuccessful in two attempts at an Invisibility 10’ Radius. We launched in early September 2180.

After about 14 days of travel, we could see the Grandfather in the distance. The ship cloaked, and the cowled Illic approached us. He Shrank the party and put us in a box, then Teleported the party to an abandoned fort fairly near the command headquarters. We were all Enlarged, and told to wait until the early morning for the attack (it was dusk). Then he Teleported back to the ship.

We had originally intended to camp in the abandoned fortress itself (only one step above an “elaborate pile of rocks”) but decided against it when we nearly tripped over the owlbear inside. It’s eyes half-opened, then closed when we retreated judiciously. Instead, we camped in the jungle uneventfully, and then morning came.

Donald turned the party Invisible, and then we moved through the jungle. We arrived at the clearing outside of the headquarters and saw the goblins patrolling the familiar low, ramplike walls. The party moved toward the fortress and waited until the signal flags changed, indicating the attack had begun. We could see Dunstill and Illic’s ship blowing goblins up in the harbor, and we moved in. Passing easily over the wall, we moved through the courtyard making a beeline for the central tower (the entire structure of the fortress was only maybe 100’ in diameter, and the tower was 25’). When we got within 30 feet, suddenly a line of “mouths” began saying something in goblin, and we moved forward to the open door. We passed through the door and saw a table with six goblins around it, as well as two guards with spears. There were also ten goblins positioned near arrow slits on the floor above, attainable by the spiral staircase.

Balinor and Kodo moved to shut the doors and bar them. The doors slammed shut, and the goblins turned in horror. One of them began to cast a spell.

And the attack was on.

Part Two

Felix rushed forward to slay the goblins at the table, while Cassian began a Silence and Quentin a Faerie Fire. Alduin began sneaking around toward the casting goblin, while Balinor and Kodo barred the doors. Morgan was wielding his normal weapon, since Thunderstruck had been put on Quentin, who could resist lightning.

The goblins were not surprised for long. They all began to get up and draw weapons. They were armored and had clearly been having some kind of war conference. There were two spellcasters, a goblin with a glowing longsword, a short sword goblin, a goblin with a pair of handaxes, a short bow goblin, and a heavy crossbow goblin on the staircase. There were also ten goblins with bows in the arrowslits upstairs. Closest to the party was a pair of spearwielders.

Quentin’s spell was disrupted and lost by a shot from upstairs, while Cassian was shielded by Kain. Kain had Invisibly moved forward and bowled into the charging spearwielder. The spearman went down and Quentin stabbed him with his spear, while Kain managed to inflict a wound with his scimitar! Way to go, cleric types!

Morgan was shot for minor damage by one of the goblins from upstairs. Felix was dropped almost immediately by a Command from one of the two witchdoctors, and the other began casting a longer spell. Donald hit the group upstairs with Sleep, taking out six goblins. Morgan injured the other spearman. The short bow goblin shot Morgan for huge damage, indicating that he was a bow specialist. Due to speed, we later realized he was at least a 7th level fighter!

The other witchdoctor was about to finish his spell when Alduin came up behind him and jammed the dagger+2 into his back for huge damage and a triple wound. The goblin was badly injured but not down.

Kodo and Balinor finished barring the doors and moved up to engage and stop the killing of Felix by the other witchdoctor. Kodo confronted the longsword goblin while Balinor was faced by the shortsword and the handaxes goblins.

Morgan slammed the spearwielder again, but the bow specialist shot him for tremendous damage again, and Morgan collapsed on the ground. Cassian’s Silence went off, stifling any spells by the witchdoctors.

The heavy crossbowman had moved down the stairs to kill Alduin, when Chiaro made a pair of sailors appear from the Silence and Invisibility area, which was believable enough to keep the crossbowman occupied. He shot them and missed. Alduin scrambled toward the bow specialist in an attempt to stop him from shooting anyone else.

Cassian Cured Morgan, who angrily rose in the hopes of killing something. He pulled out his extra healing potion and down two-thirds of it.

Meanwhile, the witchdoctors had begun drawing out weird baubles. They hurled them to the ground. The badly wounded one’s bauble turned into a glowing skull, while the other became a hideous slavering beast!

Kodo was faring badly against the longsword goblin, who had injured him twice and held him at bay. Balinor was doing better since his opponents had short weapons and couldn’t seem to hit him anyway (ah, vs. armors). Four quick hits, and the handaxe goblin went down in a heap. Balinor turned to finish off the shortsword goblin.

The flaming skull went for Balinor, who swung at it, missed, and was struck by it and collapsed to the ground, held by it in some weird way. The shortsword goblin moved to kill Kain, Cassian, and Quentin, as well as the concentrating Chiaro. Quentin continued to stab at the spearwielder, but had little success.

Alduin ran forward and attacked the bow specialist, who was missed, but forced to deal with the new threat. One of the sailors disengaged, but failed to impress the bow specialist, who ignored them and tried to rip at Alduin with his claws, missing.

Kain turned and threw a Command, dropping the shortsword goblin in his tracks while Cassian began a Dispel Magic to help Balinor. Then with his dying breath the wounded witchdoctor threw another bauble, which exploded into a second skull.

The slavering beast tore into the prone Felix, who was mangled by the attack, but who rose at that instant. Kodo drew out his shield and parried successfully, then struck the longsword man for big damage using woodsman abilities. Suddenly the other glowing skull whipped at Kodo and took him out just like Balinor.

Donald’s second Sleep spell nailed three more of the goblins upstairs, and he began a Web. Cassian’s Dispel Magic was unsuccessful at freeing either Kodo or Balinor.

The longsword man disengaged and moved to kill Kain, who was finishing off the shortsword man. Morgan to tried to stop him, but missed. However, the goblin fumbled and Kain finished off the other downed goblin. Quentin continued to keep the spearman occupied and Kain threw another Command at the longsword man, who dropped.

Felix began stabbing madly at the creature and inflicting massive damage on three separate strikes, nearly felling the creature. Then Donald’s Web struck the area, catching all of the goblins, Felix, and the slavering beast. The beast whiffed at Felix, who finished it off. The creature then exploded, nearly taking Felix down, and injuring the witchdoctor who had created the creature. Felix staggered a few steps toward Morgan, then fell down from wounds.

Morgan moved to save Felix but was struck by the spearman for tremendous damage barely countered by his extra-healing potion. Morgan began dragging Felix to Cassian, who was pulling out the scroll with Cure Light x3. Alduin and Quentin continued to harass their targets but were unable to injure them. The crossbowman couldn’t hit anything and still hadn’t figured out the illusion, keeping Chiaro busy.

Kain threw a Remove Paralysis on the Kodo and Balinor, who both failed to recover. Quentin yelled for someone to cover him, and began a Dispel Magic. Kain moved to block the spearman.

The crossbowman finally managed to hit Chiaro’s sailor, who exploded in a pile of gore. Then Donald threw his final Sleep, putting the pathetic crossbowman out of his illusory misery. Cassian Held the archer, and Alduin moved to intercept the spear man, who was intending to finish off Morgan before he could save Felix.

Morgan poured the remaining third of the extra-healing potion down Felix’s throat while Cassian threw three consecutive Cure Lights off scroll. Alduin was running into trouble with both the archer and the witchdoctor attacking him, while the remaining illusionary sailor continued to harass the cleric.

Morgan turned to help Alduin against the spearman, and they both swung powerfully at each other. Both were felled in the exchange, but Morgan was saved by a Death’s Door from Kain off scroll as he hit the ground.

There were sounds of crashes against the barred doors, and we realized that our time was running out.

Quentin’s Dispel Magic freed Kodo and destroyed his skull, but Balinor’s resisted. Kodo blearily began to awaken, otherwise no worse off then he had been when he collapsed. Felix had meanwhile recovered from his wounds. Quentin cast a Flame Blade and ignited the Web, lighting the trapped witchdoctor on fire!

The witchdoctor pulled out a last resort token and hurled it to the ground, releasing a blast of lightning that might have wiped out half the party… if Quentin hadn’t been carrying Thunderstruck. Instead, it barely scratched his protection, and Felix charged after the fleeing witchdoctor. Kain began a Dispel Magic.

Donald had run up the stairs to begin killing goblins and turned to find the raging witchdoctor charging at him. Donald drew his dagger and prepared to make a melee attack!

Felix cut the witchdoctor from behind, but the durable goblin kept coming at Donald. His only hope was to overbear the Coastlander wizard, and he leaped at Donald.

Hoping for the best, Donald stabbed him with the +2 dagger and did 4 points of damage! Woo-hoo! The witchdoctor’s overbear was stopped, and Felix came up from behind, and you can probably guess what happened next.

Kain Dispelled the glowing skull above Balinor, but the fallen fighter didn’t wake up. Cassian kicked Balinor hard, and he woke up!

Joel/Balinor