Session 3: Breaking Chains Report

General Summary

Aatavi and Shadow worked quickly to free the imprisoned tabaxi, who introduced themselves as Ju-wen and Ichii. Faelyn and Keokan recognized those names as belonging to the tabaxi that had gone missing weeks prior. Their shirtless bodies bore fresh bruises and lash marks, but they were grateful to the group and pleaded with them to show them the way to freedom.   Outfitting them with goblin crossbows and scimitars, the group brought them back up the stairs and to the watchtower’s entrance to bid them on their way. Before climbing down the rope to freedom, Ju-wen and Ichii thanked the group profusely and warned them of the few things they knew about the caves.   Most of their time had been spent in chains and blindfolded, imprisoned in a great cavernous chamber overseen by the goblin Chief, Katoos. In addition to the Chief, Ju-wen also told them of a goblin Shaman, called “Booyagh” by his tribe. Unlike other goblins, Booyagh possessed sorcerous talents, and Ju-wen showed off a large patch of burned skin as proof. Lastly, the tabaxi told them of another in the cavern, goblinoid in appearance but much bigger and stronger. Ichii told them that they witnessed this brute, whom the goblins called “Dilg”, kill two goblins at the same time with his bare hands, to the gleeful horror of the rest of the tribe.   As the party watched the two tabaxi steal away into the steadily darkening evening, they decided to camp out in the tower to recover from their recent melee with the worg and goblins. During the night, Shadow was visited with a terrifying vision and awoke with a howl. On his feet in an instant, Aatavi approached Shadow to comfort her. He was soon joined by Aaura and between these new friends; the Storm and the Sun; Shadow breathed easier.   Just as the group started their journey back through the basement of the watchtower, they came face to face with a pair of goblin guards. Acting swiftly Shadow dispatched one with a dagger, while a trio of magic missles from Faelyn sent the other to his death. Hardly missing a step, the group continued into the caves.   They moved cautiously through the tunnels, and soon found themselves at an intersection that Ju-wen had warned them led to the hall of the goblin Chief and “dozens and dozens of goblins”. With Shadow and Faelyn again taking the point, they snuck up to a corner where they could hear the sound of a goblin muttering to itself. After a brief attempt to knock out the goblin and bind him for questioning, the party soon found itself embroiled in another melee as a worg riding goblin caught their scent and sprung at our heroes.   Much like the combat on their way into the caves, the battle was short lived. Faelyn managed to avoid the gruesome snapping jaws of the worg, while Aaura singed its hind end with a firebolt. With a long stride, Keokan flashed his twin scimitars and dispatched both goblins, while a well-placed dagger thrust from Shadow pierced the heart of the worg, dropping it to the cavern floor.   The immediate danger passed, our heroes made their way through the cavern, discovering a long mine shaft that ascended to the surface and a large cavern littered with filth and debris. Looking amongst the piles of rubble for signs of the old tabaxi clan, Shadow noticed a humanoid form moving at the far end of the chamber. Inspecting further they discovered a goblin, chained to a pillar and immobilized with a large iron spike through its midsection. Raising its head to the group it pled for help.   The wretched prisoner referred to himself as “Bargess” and told the heroes that he had been imprisoned by the “lying, oathbreaking goblins.” When Faelyn asked what oath they had broken, Bargess cryptically mentioned something about a “General” and “17 broken oaths.” Moreover, he described himself as a “curse on the lying goblins” and one who stalked them in the darkness and “devoured them in their sleep”, a comment that prompted Shadow to describe him as “the goblin Boogey Man.”   Discovering that Shadow was seeking for signs of her cousins' ancestral home, Bargess told her that he knew where there were many tabaxi things; “with the cold things, with the dead things, in the place that the oathbreaking goblins don’t go, the place feared by the cowardly goblins.”   Seeing an opportunity for freedom, Bargess offered to show the heroes the entrance to this place if they removed the spike and unshackled him from the pillar. With some reluctance the heroes agreed, and Aatavi went to work to remove the spike. It was ice cold in his hand and even as he pulled to withdraw it from the goblin’s midsection it seemed to fight against him. With an intensified second effort Aatavi pulled the spike from the screaming goblin and tossed it over his shoulder.   Newly freed, Bargess toddled forward. The heroes watched as the muscles in his legs and back became thicker and bloated, horribly distending themselves before returning back to a normal shape. Casting a glance over his shoulder with blood red eyes he spoke,   “Follow me.”