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Note: This adventure comes from “Within the Circle”, by Sam Brown, as published in "Dungeon Magazine" #130, January, 2006, pages 16-29.

(picking up where we left off last time – Room #6)

The party continues on through the next door to find a female goblin guarding a shallow pit of infant goblins. Since she makes no immediate threatening actions, they opt to ignore her – quickly moving on to the next room.

There, they find the goblin “king” Krig and seven of his soldiers. A brief, intense fight breaks out – ending with all the goblins very dead, and the party only lightly injured.

During this fight, Ketamine attacked the goblin female guarding the pit. This spurs her to attack the nearest party member, Líkami, with her poisoned spear. This escalation ends abruptly when Ash kills her with one blow.

Next up, the party fights (and kills) the remaining female goblins – but not without suffering two significant losses: Yosi and Líkami are knocked unconscious.

They then use the Baron's signet ring to open the secret door. Ash, Heilli, and Freyrik explore the passage beyond and discover a shrine to some kind of serpent god – along with a locked book.

On the way out, they briefly enter one room that was previously bypassed, only to discover a large snake slithering through the rubble. Deciding the room isn't worth the effort, they leave it untouched.

Before they leave the complex, Heilli gathers wood and other burnable material into one room and starts a fire.

The party camps outside that night.

The next morning, Ash and Allie take the captive goblin, Belig back into the village of Thistle and turn him over to Squire Jern. Allie convinces Jern to let the party keep the small cart he was using to provide tribute to the goblins.

After a bit of magial healing, the party then sets out back to Feather, where they meet the baron and tell him of their exploits. To simplify the party's “reward” and to keep the mission secret, the baron offers to buy all of the material removed from the outpost. He offers them a generous 868 gold pieces for the various items.

The party spends a night at the baron's keep – where he tells them he will have need of their services in about one month's time.

The group treks toward Southbay, stopping partway to camp for the night.

Arriving in Southbay, the party does some shopping…

They were each called “wardens”, a not-so-subtle joke at the expense of their chosen prey – a versatile, but naive race that nominally ruled the world, but lived in ignorance of most of it. But the title had to be earned.

He had earned his after convincing a prominent (and troublesome) human to incriminate himself in a crime he had not committed. When the human went to prison, the threat he posed vanished and a power void formed in his barony. Naturally, he was ready to fill this void. It was a beautiful coup – one which earned him much respect from the others.

This respect, though, was fleeting. Among his people, a victory yesterday is no solace when compared to a lack of progress today.

He stood slowly and waited for the dinner chatter to fade. Soon, all eyes at the table were on him – eager to hear success. It was important, he thought, to start off on a positive note.

“The church is proving easier to manipulate than expected,” the warden began. “Already, we have twenty priests on our side, with more expected every month. The temples in Southbay are almost completely ours – with one notable exception that we have discussed before. And our servants in the north report that Galin's court has agreed in principle to the church's new operating document.”

“However there is a new concern.”

He paused to assess the table's mood. Polite, muttered agreements quickly changed to attentive silence.

“There is a new power on the peninsula. I believe it is Manorgrax – and he has been seen in the Atana district in Southbay.”

Attentive silence flashed into confused questions. “Is he here for us?” “How did he know?” “What about the Black?”

The warden raised his hands to calm the table. “I do not know the answers to your questions, yet. I have sent an emissary to Mosamor and more spies to Southbay. We will soon know whether this is a new threat – and how we can best deal with it. But do not forget that his race is being hunted, so he cannot afford to oppose us openly. And, with the oathstone destroyed, we are no longer limited by the pact. If Manorgrax means to oppose us, he will find a number of surprises waiting for him!”

The table cheered. The warden smiled. He had delivered perhaps the worst news since the magic change – and they were cheering him.

Soon, though, he would have to tell them about the divinations. But that could wait for another time…

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