Back to the Abandoned Hold

PCs present this session - Dinigri Lvl 3(4?) Elf, Obong Lvl 4 Thief, Eluvius Lvl 1 Illusionist. 

Last session our party lost their Biter Shortsword after sending a halfling PC through an arrow slit to scout out an abandoned dwarfven hold. A bugbear surprised the lone halfling, clubbed him to death, and stole the magic shortsword. It also didn't help Dinigri had half his health taken away by a stonefall trap while guiding their pack animals through a nearby gatehouse. 

In this session Dinigri wanted vengeance so the party, the beefy retainer Robin, a couple freshly hired retainers, and a group of mercenaries set out once again to the abandoned dwarven hole. It was an 18 mile march. No wilderness encounters this time. 

Dinigri used his crystal ball (It was found by chance a few sessions ago when the party was looking for a ladder) to scry the location of the magic shortsword - It was on the hip of a Hobgoblin boss! He also saw a pile of dwarven gold coins, some well armed bodyguards, and some underlings milling about in a makeshift throne room. 

The abandoned dwarven hold, or what it kinda looks like

                                              

The party arrived back at the hold to find it as they had left it. They used a grappling hook to scale some outer walls. As they clambered up onto the battlements they heard a loud, deep snoring sound coming from inside the hold. Obong scouted up ahead and peaked in through some arrow slits to find a lone sleeping bugbear!

This was the same bugbear that killed the poor halfling from last session. Time for vengeance? It had a necklace of grim halfling parts around its neck as well as a gold necklace. 

Dinigri came on up (I rolled here to see if Dinigri's noisy plate armor woke the bugbear, it did not) and narrowly charmed the bugbear through the arrow slit! According to the bugbear, translated by Dinigri (he knows like 5+ languages, being an elf), the goblins and hobgoblins on the 1st level we're all distracted by a leprechaun who was holed up further inside. Getting inside was quite easy as the bugbear opened up the front gate for the party. The bugbear spilled the beans on the 2nd and 3rd level. Apparently the boss of the place was a Hobgoblin in service of some strange water spirit on the 3rd level. There was a modest amount of goblins, bugbears, and hobgoblins scattered around the place. The bugbear also drew a crude map in the dirt for the party and tagged along. 

The place apparently used to be a gem mining operation a century or two ago, before misfortune befell the place. The monster tribe has been using it as a base to ambush travelers on the nearby road. 

The party strolled on in the hold and headed to a room where the bugbear said would be some goblin treasure. Bugbears, Hobglblins, and Goblins all have a slight racial animosity towards each other so I ruled the Bugbear had no problem screwing over the goblins.  A wandering monster check and a surprise roll found a large group of goblins (10+) in combat with the party after the goblins happened upon the party and hollered for help. Fortunately, there are some meaty PCs and retainers in this party so the combat was very one-sided. A couple prisoners we're taken, interrogated, and promptly executed. Obong offered the goblins a place in the group but the other PCs wanted those little green bastards dead. 

No match for the party

                                                           

Our heroes found and entered the room. It was apparently a hangout spot for the goblins and they had a small stash of treasure stored inside an old dwarven cannon(!). There was no gunpowder or ammunition unfortunately. There was also some treasure hidden under a loose flagstone out in the hall the party never would have known about if the goblins weren't interrogated. 

With that settled our players had a choice - Go after the Hobgoblin leader and get the precious magic item back, or go and find and save the leprechaun. IRL time restrictions dictated the party go after the leprechaun. The bugbear guided the party up some stairs, told them where a trap was, and eventually led them to where the leprechaun was holed up. The bugbear was dismissed and he went back down to the entrance to go back to sleep. 

On the other side of a door, the leprechaun was currently being hounded by 2 hobgoblins and a goblin shaman who were debating on how to approach him through the door he was behind. The party kicked the door down and with a successful surprise roll Dinigri put the bad guys to sleep and killed them. 

On the other side of the door was an iron-bound safe and a leprechaun hiding under a bed. It looked like an old officer's room. The leprechaun must've used all his magic against the goblins because he wasn't invisible. The party blocked the door and hogtied the little guy to later pry out where his lucky charms are. I should add a leprechaun tried to steal from our heroes and they were also extorted by some fairies earlier in the campaign so the party knew not to screw around with the little fay humanoid.

Wheres your gold!?

Dinigri used knock on the safe and easily opened it. A stash of electrum and some finely cute gems were found.

The party then revisited the charmed bugbear, surrounded him (much to his concern!) and stabbed the shit out of him. A look of betrayal was on his face before the spell wore off and he died. RIP.

The party called it a day and stashed their loot and the leprechaun on their mules before camping out in the wilderness and making it back to town the next day. No wilderness encounters that day or night either. 

Downtime actions were made. 

I'm sure the Hobgoblin boss will be pissed when he finds out his 1st level garrison was slaughtered. What will the strange water spirit the bugbear referred to have to say about all this? Why is there a water spirit here in the first place? Strange!