Wild:49 Beat Down(s)

Starring: Bo, Fuelwen, Brilla, and TskTsk
Guest Starring: Marenien, Gitteh, Malathion, Aciphex, Keoghton Hobgoblin Tribe, Gyrix, Charles
Challenge: The Hobgoblins, Malabranche
Location: Celestian dungeon
Date Played: 04 Nov 2010

Hobgoblin Message

Brilla: We were interrupted yet again after talking to Gitteh, except this time it was by a skip-rock with a note attached. It wanted one of us to approach to blood room, alone, to negotiate. I was ready to rise and take my usual job when TskTsk stopped me, asking to have a hand at negotiations. Seeing as it was a skip rock and coming to the conclusion it was most likely halfling paladins, I let him go. What harm could he really do?

TskTsk: While traveling with this clutch I have begun to understand the importance of tactics. I've begun to try and emulate others in the clutch. A big opportunity arrived when I went to negotiate with what turned out to be a group of hobgoblin warriors.

Fuelwen: "This is a horrible idea," I said. But I allowed it to go on anyway. After all, the worst that could happen would be that Tsk'Tsk is killed by infuriated hobgoblins who then come after us.

Beatdown

Brilla: So TskTsk killed a few hobgoblins that he was to negotiate with. They, in turn, knocked him out. I feel like he will be off this duty for the foreseeable future. Yet again a single one of us was called out to negotiate with the hobgoblins. Fuelwen volunteered this time. Thing may have been rough, and I know the feud between TskTsk and Fuelwen has to have some form of one-upmanship. It is better it happens now than in a situation where they create artificial danger. Bo decided to tag along in snake form as well. I sensed more disaster, but sometimes people need to learn through example. If things go I'll I'm sure I can buy their lives with their share of the treasure that will be found here.

TskTsk: The negotiations were terse. When I wouldn't yield to their desires they magically held me in place and began beating me. By Kord's power I broke the magical bonds and felt his power surge through me! Their leader in fear declared a nonlethal contest, so I obliged, beating several of his crew to sweet oblivion. I dodged, with ease, their waves of cold and fire, putting a smile on my face. When it was obvious that I was going to beat them all they cheated and began striking lethally, sending a surge of electrical energy through their weapons and taking me into the hands of death.

Today was a good day to die.

Fuelwen: As expected, it went badly. Surprisingly, Tsk'Tsk survived, and was held hostage. I volunteered to go and bargain for his life- although my intentions were anything but negotiation. Negotiating with hostage takers is a bad long term strategy. Instead, I decided to try and intimidate them into surrendering him. This was mostly empty- I was ill, weakened, and low on spells.

Even so, my mind remained sharp. When they mentioned they just wanted the money and would be leaving this dungeon, I saw my opportunity to profit greatly. I purchased the dungeon from them; they gave me maps of the dungeon and its environs, marked out what areas were now "mine", and returned Tsk'Tsk to me.

I now have an outpost, and one that is connected to the outer planes. This is greatly to my benefit- once I figure out how to best use it.

Trading with the Hobgoblins

Brilla: Much to my surprise, Fuelwen pulled through. Fuelwen bought the dungeon and TskTsk for 1000GP. I was able to negotiate getting a key to a random plane here for but a small sliver of the slush fund. As we later found out, it leads us to the Outlands. Gitteh found this to be a good avenue to get back home and we used the key to take him on his path.

Fuelwen took his time working with the hobgoblins to negotiate how the dungeon will be cared for in his leave. I swear, sometimes he does the most random things...

TskTsk: I awoke among my clutch, surprised to still be alive. Apparently I owe Fuelwen my life, as he purchased the land and myself from the Hobgoblins. I am not surprised to learn that the hobgoblins slandered me, painting a picture for my allies of me attacking first.

Exploring the Temple

Brilla: Over the next two days we explored the dungeon and found various items of power and goods to sell. The art will fetch a good price to the right collector or historian.

TskTsk: Many goods are found and cataloged.

Fuelwen: The party cataloged many valuable items in my dungeon. While, by right, these items were mine, I am not so avaricious as to risk needless conflict. We are a school; we fight together and owe each other our loyalty. We share in the bounty of this dungeon- at least, the bounty that was there when we secured it. I intend to make this a base of operations in the Milding, and I shall leave my mark here. This weak land is ripe for conquest and rich in territory. It is from here that I will strike out against the Wilding and forge my empire.

After I kill that thrice-damned whale.

Bringing down the Law

Brilla: The inevitables returned with a cleric named Aciphex to remove the curse from Fuelwen and myself. After being cured of my curse I was taken to another room to discuses matters.

It appears that my personal alignment has become more lawful, disjointing the powers granted to me through my father's pact. I was offered to be aligned with Pholtus to regain my power. It was an interesting offer, though I was cautious. Making deals with powerful beings often leads to trouble. I agreed, though, as I feel that perhaps this will lead to some form of redemption for me and my family in the long run. Also, it does make quite the leap for my personal path in case I pass on into the ancestral stream.

This gift was sullied, though, as I found that Charles was the one giving them the information they had in knowing exactly what we needed and have done. That silver lining can be a real bitch sometimes... and tarnished...

TskTsk: The clockwork beings returned and granted us a boon. They did not look kindly on my desire to best the blue dragon, a creature they considered one of their own.

Fuelwen: I turned the Inevitables on my quest- killing the star whale and raising an object in its place. They said that any information they were able to gather would be some time in coming, but that they would find me.

In addition, we reached a second agreement: I would grant them use and passage through my dungeon. In exchange, they would fortify and secure it. A fair trade, and since we are all creatures dedicated to laws, they also said that they would mention me kindly to Sekolah.

Of course: they also plan to destroy all of these planar gates, reducing the value of my dungeon, but only after they've killed the last of the Celestians in this plane. I imagine that this will take some time- at least, I hope so- but we will salt that field when we pillage it.

Departure

Brilla: When leaving the dungeon we were ambushed by a hulking devil that smelt of Bo after leaving a whore house. We corralled inside the mouth of the dungeon to gain protection. I luckily tagged the creature with my shield ability and beckoned it to try to take a swing at me. TskTsk, in the confusion, swung at me. That tactic proved super effective, if not painful, in passing the creatures powerful defenses. I have to say, though, that this hurt GREATLY and I will not be doing this again unless the situation becomes dire.

It was all for not, though, as TskTsk was snatched up by the devil and flown away. We have to chase after him, in the least to recover his body.

TskTsk: Beating down the clutch matron was some of the most fun I've had in a long time! As we were retreating in to the tunnel I was last and was grabbed by the winged devil. As we flew off I heard a voice in my head that was not my own saying "Don't fight and I won't squeeze". With all the recent talk of Charles, I elected to go with the flow.

I was rewarded with a safe landing in a cluster of devils. I sure hope that I don't have to negotiate with any of them.

Fuelwen: Sometimes, I doubt my own skills. I was certain that the attacking devil was well within our abilities, but I was wrong. We could barely strike it, and it could do fantastic quantities of damage to us. Fortunately, Brilla was well equipped- she shared damage with the creature, allowing us to assault her and deal half of that damage to the devil.

It fled, but with Tsk'Tsk grasped in its hands. We must rush to his rescue. Again.

Out-of-game Decisions

Bo Dream-talk to Lori, priestess of Mershaulk, to develop a transmogrification elixir to associate his yuan-ti powers with the dream serpent [SoX76].

Fuelwen's requests of the hobgoblins

Fuelwen: The hobgoblins are to stay and meet the trade arranger. They will do whatever trading they wish, and they will pay in advance for one year of trade arranging service on my behalf. I have provided the funds. The trade arranger is to leave a token of his receipt of payment.

As they depart, the hobgoblins should also tell the truth to others they meet- hideous monsters have taken over the dungeon and its surrounding lands, aided by extraplanar entities from Mechanus. They are powerful and dangerous, but are willing to deal and trade and are bound by their words.

With any luck, the notoriety will aid us more than it harms us. With Mechanus tied to the defense of the dungeon, I fear little from the weak adventurers this Milding produces.

When we reach town, I will also hire some laborers and craftsmen to outfit the dungeon with further defenses.

Rewards from the Inevitables

🎲 DM Remember, they're very lawful.

Brilla: I am assuming mine is the realignment of warlock powers. I would also like to have my homebrew vestige available now if possible. It is lawful-ish in nature!

🎲 DMI already have plans for your homebrew. And, the realignment was Aciphex acting on his own.

Brilla: The I would like some information about the 9th circle and how to recover it. Also, perhaps finding how to break the circle like Amon and the like have. Perhaps when I pass I could learn to break it / repair it as well. If none of this, then I could use some way to easily get back to the ship (teleportation item that only takes us to it with charges or whatnot).

TskTsk: "I wish to be more cunning and fearless when I face my foes." Looking for a bonus to Int to qualify for Combat Expertise and Improved Feint or a bonus to saves against fear, especially a dragon's fear aura.

Fuelwen: Quest-hook.

Bo Originally he set out to achieve enlightenment but since the devastation of solipsism he also wants to take up dreaming to rebalance that island. In either case he needs to gain perpetual reincarnation and the longevity to toss off aging penalties.

Ask that the inevitable carry Bo’s notice of cancellation to the lords of the dead.

Where from here?

Brilla: Now that the elf is taken care of and we have our loot we should be off to the main city. There are some answers that we need to the nature of this island and we need a larger economy to get full value for our loot. Also, this would be a grand time to put Bo's crafting to the test and see how good of a ship we can make.

TskTsk: Taking the elf home, then off to the big city. Though I would love to visit the cycloptic dragon.

Fuelwen: We go to the city- if nothing else, we can get a tuning fork that allows us to enter the Dream plane (and hence, travel anywhere we like quickly). But we may also join the expedition to the source of the river, which may be useful to us.

Rewards

Found in Celestine Dungeon:

• Full matching set of Figurines of Wondrous Power
• Portable Hole (50 charges) -- each application uses one charge. Once the last charge is used, it cannot be picked up again.
• Rod of Channeling -- +1 Light Mace; 30' range to drain your own HP to heal a willing ally. Supernatural. Roll a 1d4 after deciding how much HP you want to lose: 1 = heal 50% (truncate); 2,3: heal 100%; 4: heal 150%.
• 14,000 GP in various artwork. (Much of it is heavy and fragile.)
• Keys for gates in the Celestine dungeon: Acheron, Abyss, The Outlands, Limbo
  • The Inevitables kept the key for Mechanus.
  • The portal to Ooze did not seem to need a key.

Wiki edit reward:

• Control combat. 1 reroll of an attack, damage, spell effect, SR check, etc. (Not skill checks or defensive rolls.) Uses no action and can stack with action point. Brilla. TskTsk. Fuwelwen.