Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: The Slave Masters of Punjar

The party only had enough time for a short rest after the battle with the giant ape guarding the slave pens before they proceeded with caution further into the underground network of caverns. During the short rest Mina and Jym leveled up. Jym picked up the "Shake it off" power and trained in the usage of the bastard sword so he could wield the magic bastard sword he looted off Irocar the Warcaptain. Mina chose the "Fleeting Ghost" power and "Backstabber" feat.

They picked up and moved on beyond the underground lake and slave pens area. The next area was a small empty stone chamber presenting them with a choice of two exits. A short and wide flight of stairs with an obvious set of well worn tracks led to the north. To the east was an irregular opening in the stone wall revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading into darkness. Rubble lay on the ground in front of the opening, giving the impression that the stairs had been concealed and then the wall had been torn down sometime in the past. Many of the rubble stones had been piled into a make-shift altar complete with numerous humanoid skulls and melted candles.

Aletha and Vismund discussed their knowledge of the area and decided that these caves were once part an ancient coven of warlocks who performed dark rituals and who then mysteriously disappeared. In recent history, slavers and smugglers moved into the subterranean passages in order to move their illegal cargo more easily and they most likely made changes and additions to the network of tunnels and caves. Aletha and Vismund reasoned that the dark narrow stairway must lead to a much older part of the caves and that the current batch of slavers must be to camped the north.

The party decided to come back here after dealing with the slavers first. To the north the short flight of stairs terminated in a small antechamber. Across from them was a rough brick and mortar wall including numerous humanoid skulls mortared into the wall in place of bricks at regular intervals. A large pair of bronze bound wooden doors were set in the center of the wall and apparently locked with a fancy mechanism cast in the shape of a demons snarling head reminiscent of the one Mina was poisoned by at the entrance to the alley above them. Muffled voices could be heard coming from beyond the doorway.

The party's perceptive eyes found a portcullis set in the ceiling that when lowered would cut off the stairs from the antechamber. Since Aletha knew she could easily fey step back to the other side of the barrier if it came down to separate the party, she volunteered to enter the chamber and have a look around. As predicted, not long after Aletha entered the antechamber the trap was sprung and the portcullis came crashing down cutting her off from the rest of the party. She also hear the sounds of the door unlocking and angry voices rising beyond the threshold. She quickly fey stepped back behind the rest of her party and waited. Everyone prepared for battle. The doors came open and the first wave of slavers came pouring into the antechamber. Hobgoblin slavers with swords and shields were supported by goblin archers with short bows. They came to a confused halt when they found that no one was in the antechamber with and then the party let fly with a volley of arrows, bolts, daggers, hammers, and eldritch blasts. Several slavers fell to the first exchange of missiles and the remaining goblins returned fire on the party. The angry voice of Orlis the Goat, the slavers' battle commander, was heard shouting "Raise the gate, you fools, and then rally to me!".

As the gate began ponderously to rise, Regnor rolled under it to engage the slavers toe-to-toe. Orlis the Goat, a dragonborn with distinctive ram-like curling horns wielding a magical greatsword, strode into the chamber surrounded by more hobgoblin soldiers and goblin reinforcements. The slavers outnumbered the party 2-to-1 at this point. The slavers formed up in a rough line extending to either side of their leader and attempted to block the party's progress.

The rest of the battle was short and bloody. Mina was able to sneak in behind many of her opponents gaining combat advantage and dealing extra damage with her new backstabbing ability. Regnor, Vismund, Aletha, and Mina took advantage of their opponents' tightly packed ranks and used their area of effect powers, blasting them with acid breath, scorching blasts, spike wires, and blinding barrages. Orlis retaliated with his own fire breath but was soon overwhelmed by the groups concentrated attacks. The few remaining goblins in the back of the room fled as soon as their leader was killed. Regnor took the magical greatsword from Orlis' corpse before following the rest of the group in pursuit of the goblins.