<WARNING FIRST PLOT POINT SPOILERS FOR SAGA OF THE GOBLIN HORDE! >
Character Bios:
Player Name: Chessie
Character Name: Twankle Fixwhizzle
Archetype: Gremlin Trapmaker
Hindrances: Delusional (M): Goblins Rule!, Quirk: Bites Everything (m), Light Sensitive (m), Goblinoid (R) -4 Charisma vs. Humans, Diminutive (R): -1 Size, Max Str d8
Edges: Thief, Trapmaker
Background: A member of the Redfang Tribe specializing in working with mechanical devices.
Player Name: Ted
Character Name: Little Talker
Archetype: Goblin Beastmaster
Hindrances: Big Mouth (m), Reckless (m), Funny Voice (M), Goblinoid (R) -4 Charisma vs. Humans, Diminutive (R): -1 Size, Max Str d8
Edges: Rat Lover (rats instead of gang members), Wolf Rider (Dirty Paws, Wolf)
Background: An orphaned member of the Nightsworn Tribe that was raised by swamp rats and a wolf in the Darkmire Swamp. Shunned by the Nightsworn Tribe, he eventually journeyed southeast to the more accepting Redfang Tribe. Little Talks is mute and communicates through Wily E. Coyote style signs that convey his Big Mouth and Funny Voice Hindrances.
Player Name: Kevin
Character Name: Glub Wormwood
Archetype: Barghest Half-Human Warrior
Hindrances: Loner (M), Reckless (m), Vengeful (m), Outsider (R) -2 Charisma vs. Humans and Goblins
Edges: Ambidextrous, Barghest, Two War Fists
Background: Claims to be the last survivor of the Wormwood Tribe and Chief due to the lack of other survivors and owning the last nine Knick-Knacks of the Tribe. Their Tribe believed in a game of take-backsies, killing humans and stealing their stuff for them to invariably come for their knick-knacks by killing goblins and taking them back in a violent game of tag. He joined the Redfang Tribe and awaits the humans who will come for their stuff even now.
Player Name: Bobbie
Character Name: Pebbles Stroker
Archetype: Goblin Psychonaut
Hindrances: Hallucinations (M), Gullible (m), Reckless (m), Goblinoid (R) -4 Charisma vs. Humans, Diminutive (R): -1 Size, Max Str d8
Edges: Danger Sense, Psychonaut
Background: A member of the Redfang Tribe who was lost in a cave for ten years looking for 'shinies' which turned out to be a dozen marbles she lost as a child. She lived on cave fungus for those ten years and started having 'visions' which told it was time to leave the cave. Her main weapon is a slingshot which she uses to shoot marbles (a re-trapped sling that uses Shooting rather than Throwing but still deals Str+d4 damage).
Day 1
Redfang Tribe Camp
Chief Bignose gathered the goblin bosses together. After clearing his throat of phlegm and spitting on a lackey, which was then consumed by one of Little Talker's swamp rats, he told the goblin bosses that they were to go to a borderland goblin's cave along Hightree Ridge. Tucker Sharpwit had tortured information out of a human scout that the warren would be attacked soon. If the goblin bosses were fast they could reach the warren first and put together some nasty ambushes and traps with the help of Twankle's trapmaking prowess. After killing all but one of the humans, they were to go to a nearby human town and destroy all their taverns with fire or brute force. When the goblins tarried, Chief Bignose aimed a spitball at Little Talker but his swamp rat saved him by leaping in front of him and eating it. The irritated chief yelled "Go!" at them and they finally left.
Day 1
Hinterlands near Hightree Ridge
The goblin bosses set about the countryside for a bite to eat. One of the swamp rats found a land shark with a half-eaten meal, but taking the food woke up the land shark. The land shark burrowed after the swamp rat but misjudged a cliff face's distance and fell into a valley. The swamp rat barely held onto a root. Then one of Pebbles's goblin gang members wandered over there. The swamp rat grabbed him and climbed out of its perilous situation. The goblin gang member was tripped by the rat and left hanging on the cliff. While Twankle's back was turned, someone beat one her gang member's to death. No one fessed up to the deed. Twankle blamed Glub, who was briefly gone but he came back with some food and claimed he wasn't anywhere near him. Little Talker's wolf Dirty Paws set upon the dead goblin for today's meal. The rest of the group looked for food but mostly came up empty. Pebbles's gang members were particularly famished and looked tired.
[Shenanigans and an Interlude.]
Day 1
Night Camp
Glub told the goblin bosses the tragic tale of the near extinction of the Wormwood Tribe which left him as the last survivor around their campfire.
Hungry, thirsty, and tired, most of the goblins went to sleep with a single goblin gang member and a swamp rat taking watch.
The lone goblin on watch screamed, "Hhhhyyyddrraaa!" before finding itself in one of the hydra's five maws. This woke up most of the goblin bosses and their gang members.
With her danger sense tingling, Pebbles woke up and saw her gang member on the precipice of being consumed. So she aimed her slingshot at the eye of the beast and lodged a marble in it. The maw dropped the goblin and the head lolled off the body before dropping to the ground.
The hydra attempted to counterattack and one of its heads managed to impale itself on a goblin's spear. The goblin exclaimed, "I'm still alive!"
[Nothing like starting a new campaign with an attack critical failure with your cool hydra!]
Glub turned into his hybrid Barghest form and rushed toward the hydra. Little Talks mounted Dirty Paws and sent his swamp rats ahead. Twankle and her goblins gang members moved towards the hydra. Her goblin gang members used the reach of their spears to stab at the hydra but couldn't pierce its thick, scaly hide.
The starving swamp rats and goblin gang members set upon the wounded hydra dealing it two wounds to the body. Pebbles defeated another hydra head by lodging a marble in its skull.
Twankle finished off the creature with a blow from her shank to the hydra's last head.
With the creature slain, the famished Little Talks, Pebbles and her goblins, and swamp rats consumed the hydra in a feeding frenzy. Pebbles collected the remaining seven hydra eyes and Little Talks cut off the branched, spiked tail as knick-knacks. Apparently Pebbles believes eyes are like marbles and thus important.
Day 2
Borderland Goblin Cave
In the afternoon, the goblin bosses arrived at the borderlands goblin cave. The borderlands goblin leader attempted to stop their entry and got backhanded by Little Talks for backtalk. Inside the warren, the goblin bosses and gang members quenched their thirst with water from an underground lake.
The goblin bosses then went to work looking for ambush locations. Twankle set up a spiked pit trap for later.
[The players took turns making Notice rolls and drawing three Ambush cards each and then traded them to give them the best advantages for their traits.]
Just as the last traps were set, ten adventurers arrived outside. A Barbarian, a Bard, a Cleric, a Druid, a Fighter, a Monk, a Paladin, a Ranger, a Rogue, and a Wizard as well as their henchmen and mules arrived at the cave entrance. Leaving a few henchmen and their mules outside, they entered the borderland goblin cave.
Twankle wrapped a wasp's nest in a cloak and threw it at the Bard, but the throw was nearer her than the Bard! The angered wasps stung her instead, causing a wound. The Bard ran off after her singing, "Don't run away, for you I must slay!" before falling into Twankle's spiked pit and barely avoiding the spiked bottom by holding onto the side of the pit for dear life. The Bard screamed out for help getting out from his henchmen.
Glub as a hybrid Barghest clawed the Wizard and ran away. The Wizard chased after him.
Little Talks then used a secret tunnel to stab the Wizard in the back as he ran after Glub. The Wizard fell over dead.
Glub then grabbed the Wizard's corpse, using it as a ragdoll chew toy before ripping it limb from limb, terrifying the Cleric and making his henchmen flee.
Twankle then activated a deadly trap that killed the fleeing Cleric.
Pebbles sniped the Ranger and then her goblin gang members skewered him to death as he tried to navigate a tunnel to get to her.
Little Talks hid himself in an underground stream and tried to drown the Barbarian who screamed in a berserk rage.
Pebbles taunted the berserk Barbarian and slayed him in an ambush in a side tunnel.
Twankle lured out a dark slime that wounded the Rogue and killed his henchmen. Then the dark slime grew in size as it continued to pursue the Rogue!
[Chessie then played Lurking Slime.]
Glub dropped a rockslide that fell on the Druid. Driven to a corner of the cave, Little Talks tried to set the Druid on fire, but the wind shifted and the conflagration ended up immolating one of his swamp rats instead.
[The group was quite enamored with the Ambush cards and "reversed Dungeons & Dragons" as they felt like they were GMs and I was running the normal PC adventurers trying to invade "their dungeon".]
Out of ambushes, the actual combat began. Pebbles was in a sniper position on the north ridge with her gang members hidden by stalagmites in the northeast. The Fighter, Monk, Paladin, and their henchmen had made it to the center chamber unimpeded.
A giant dark slime was pursuing the Rogue. The Bard's henchmen were attempting to get him out of the pit as Twankle and her goblins hid in the southwest.
The Druid found himself surrounded by Glub, Little Talks, Dirty Paws, and his swamp rats in the southeast corner.
Eastern Battle
Glub slew the Druid and roared.
Hearing a roaring sound, the Monk and Paladin went towards the southeast. Little Talks surrounded the Monk with his swamp rats and Dirty Paws killing one of the Monk's henchmen. Little Talks held up a sign that said, "Real Threat South."
[Little Talks using his Big Mouth Hindrance.]
The Monk was then slaughtered by Glub with two claws and a bite attack.
The Paladin aimed his flaming sword at Little Talks but he threw a swamp rat in the way which the Paladin slashed in half.
Glub hit the Paladin with three attacks. He blocked the claw with his shield, parried the second claw with his sword, but then got his throat ripped out by the bite.
With the adventurers defeated, the henchmen tried to fight off Little Talks, Dirty Paws, and the swamp rats to escape but were quickly surrounded and defeated with help from Glub.
The Fighter was about to proceed to the southeast and follow the Monk and Paladin but he was ambushed by Pebbles's goblin gang members. He managed to slay one of them. Pebbles killed the Fighter's two henchmen with a single marble that struck one in the chest and then ricocheted to the other one's temple. The Fighter managed to slay all of Pebbles's gang members with one frenzy after another. As he approached Pebbles, she hit him in the eye with a marble and severely wounded him. Pebbles then knocked him unconscious with a shot to the neck. Pebbles then collected four human eyes of those henchmen she had slain.
Southwest Corner Battle
The Bard's henchmen managed to get him out of the pit.
The Rogue was wounded as he was absorbed into the dark slime.
Twankle had her men move out. She threw a knife and slit the throat of one of the Bard's henchmen. One of Twankle's gang member pushed the other henchman into the dark slime; dissolving him instantly. Her other goblin ganger pushed the Bard back into the spiked pit except this time he got partially impaled by the spikes. The Bard tried to climb out again but failed and was turned into a shish kabob. The goblin gang members then ran away but the dark slime chased them after digesting the Rogue. Twankle and her goblins tried to leap over the underground river to the eastern side of the cavern to escape the dark slime. One of her gang members didn't make it. He slipped on the rock, hit his head on another rock and was taken downstream unconscious. The dark slime hit the water and chased after the dead goblin, leaving the cave. It moved faster in the water than on land, creeping out Twankle and the surviving goblin gang member.
Day 2
Borderland Goblin Cave Entrance
At the cave entrance, the four goblin bosses sprinted after four fleeing henchmen. With the power of his Barghest wolf form, Glub easily caught his henchman by the throat to end the chase. With Dirty Paw's speed, Little Talks also caught his henchman, leaping off his wolf mount and tackling him. He then beat him to death with a rock. Pebbles avoided falling off a rocky cliff using her Psychonaut ability and then hit her henchman in the back of the head with a marble and he fell down the cliff. Twankle tripped and fell down a cliff and her henchman got away, running towards the human borderland village.
Day 2
Borderland Goblin Cave
Twankle lied and said she got the human henchman outside the cave but Glub didn't believe her. Pebbles believed her because she is gullible and Little Talks failed to notice. Glub grabbed two human swords and ruthlessly slew the slumbering fighter. Glub then used water from the underground lake and human clothing to make bandages to heal two of Twankle's three wounds. Pebbles grabbed a bow and quiver, Twankle grabbed a human dagger, and Little Talks pieced together a suite of crude armor from the leather armors left by the humans.
Using five hydra eyes, Pebbles regained five goblin allies by bribing the borderland goblins into serving her. Twankle taunted two borderland goblins into following her by challenging their manhood and calling them cowards. Little Talks and Glub tried to intimidate the borderland goblins into following them. Little Talks gave them his hydra tail as an extra bribe but the borderland goblins were not willing to follow a half-human and mute goblin. The borderland goblins shrugged and then used the branched hydra tail like a wishbone, wishing the Redfang goblins would leave.
[Glub had a -2 Outsider penalty to assist but managed to chip in a +1. Little Talks though had a -4 from Funny Voice and -2 from not having Intimidation, and a +2 from the knick-knack expenditure. d4+d6 -3 skill rolls rarely succeed. Also holding up a sign that says "Follow Me!" isn't too intimidating.]
The group set out for the borderland human town as dusk fell...
[End of Session]
Pictures:
Maps
DramaScape's Forest Camp is used for the first scene. It is modified in that I cut a few pages that extended the road out into the forest (I made this for Shaintar originally, so two campaigns ago and for a smaller table).
Middle Kingdoms Adventure and Trading Company's Battle Map: The Cavern is used for the second scene. A small version of the map is included in the Saga of the Goblin Horde book.
Miniatures
Figures include those from HeroClix by WizKids and Magic the Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers by Wizards of the Coast. Deadly Missions Fantasy Dungeons by Grey Matter Games used for hydra and rat swarms and Deadly Missions Epic Heroes used for gelatinous cube. DramaScape's Top Down Armies Dwarves vs. Goblins used for Dirty Paw's wolf top down and Top Down Armies Elves vs. Undead used for skeleton top downs.
Links (May not work right away as DriveThruRPG is doing database maintenance currently.)
DramaScape's Forest Camp
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/118557/Forest-Camp?affiliate_id=12615
Middle Kingdoms Adventure and Trading Company's Battle Map: The Cavern
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/209592/Battle-Map-The-Cavern?affiliate_id=12615
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