With rumors of a renewed goblin attack, Seoni and Seelah decided to head towards Thistletop and investigate. They’d been told by reliable sources that the goblin Gogmurt would most likely be the source of any new troubles. Unfortunately, they were only able to narrow down his possible whereabouts to the goblin fortress, the nettlemaze, the woods, or the treacherous cave. Seoni thought the goblin fortress was the best place to begin their search, but Seelah thought that would be too obvious. She wanted to explore the treacherous cave. Instead of arguing about it, they decided to split up.
The goblin fortress was suspiciously quiet as Seoni entered. She noticed a sling on the floor, but was much more interested in the battered chest. She used her masterwork tools to open the chest and found a blast stone and a potion. She wasn’t sure how useful the stone would be, so she stored that in her pack for later. She decided to hold on to the potion for the time being.
She continued on, on alert for danger which appeared in the form of a plague zombie. Thankfully she had her force missile ready, but didn’t put enough power into the spell to defeat the zombie. Her amulet of life absorbed the damage her foe would have dealt, and she was pleased to discover the potion she’d found was able to banish the plague zombie.
She was storing her amulet and spell back in her pack to recharge, when a noise caught her attention. She turned to find Amy and the toad behind her.
“I apologize for the delay,” her acolyte said. “He wouldn’t let me carry him.”
The toad croaked then hopped over to Seoni. She picked him up.
“He does seem a bit picky about people, doesn’t he?”
The toad croaked again.
“I’ve already encountered a plague zombie, so be careful in here,” Seoni warned as they moved on.
It didn’t take long for a goblin warrior to attack. Since she was already holding the toad, she drew on his energy to send an arcane blast at the enemy. It was enough to defeat him, and she carefully tucked her unconscious toad into a pouch in her pack. Then she readied her fire spell, feeling a bit foolish for not having done so already.
“Did I miss the fun?”
Amy snorted and glared at Buck, but Seoni wasn’t surprised at his late arrival. He wasn’t very useful in a fight and had probably hoped to avoid any real danger.
“It’s difficult to say,” Seoni replied. “We haven’t finished exploring yet.
Just then a crow cawed. It was up in the rafters, and Seoni hoped it was a good omen. She decided it was when she then found a token of remembrance which would come in handy for recharging spells.
They continued on, and Seoni was beginning to think the rest of the fortress was empty when they encountered a goblin raider. Seoni used her sage’s journal to focus her scorching ray and blasted the goblin.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the only goblin raider. The next one appeared stronger. Seoni reached out and grabbed Buck, using his energy and her sage’s journal to prepare an attack. Without needing to be asked, Amy threw her energy into the mix, and they were able to take the goblin down.
After recharging her spell, Seoni noticed Amy was still conscious. “Can you walk?”
Amy nodded. “I think so. Give me a little while, and I might even be able to get him out of here.”
Seoni smiled. “I would appreciate that.”
She picked up a short sword left behind. She wouldn’t need it, but thought Seelah might like it. There were other weapons within Amy’s reach, and her acolyte looked to be regaining her strength quickly, so Seoni decided to head to the nettlemaze.
Seelah passed the longbow and picked up the spyglass. As she thought, it was enchanted and she used it to see what was up ahead in the cave. She saw a greataxe, which wasn’t very exciting, and a bunyip. While she wasn’t thrilled about the bunyip, at least it was a sign the cave wouldn’t be boring. She discarded the spyglass and went to face the enemy.
The bunyip proved to be no match for her longsword, and Seelah moved on to the next enemy. The zombie also fell quickly, which only irritated her. She wanted a real challenge.
When she came upon the collapsed ceiling, it only served to try her patience. This was another obstacle easily overcome, and in moments she found a way through and the challenge she was looking for.
The fire blast caught her by surprise, but thankfully her chain mail absorbed the damage. This had to be Gogmurt. She attacked with her longsword. Just when she thought she had him defeated, he slipped away and she had to renew her attack. Once more she had him defeated, but somehow the goblin escaped.
Seelah took a moment to catch her breath, then removed her damaged chain mail, stuffing it in her pack. Gogmurt had headed towards the exit, and Seelah headed after him.
The Sage joined Seoni as she entered the nettlemaze. She’d just finished readying her freeze spell and had to admit she was glad for the company. She was a bit surprised when she immediately needed her spell, and froze the bunyip that attacked them. She barely had time to recover when a goblin warrior came at them. The Sage held out her hand, and Seoni gratefully accepted her energy, using it to defeat the goblin.
In Seelah’s experience, the woods were always a likely place for villains to hide. Before she went too far, she decided to use a healing spell. Her fight with Gogmurt had been tougher than she thought. She was also grateful when her standard bearer arrived.
They didn’t have time for pleasantries because they were then attacked by a mercenary. Seelah quickly dispatched him, but then a large and fearsome looking beast arrived.
“I think that’s Tangletooth,” Starla said. “I came to warn you, but I guess I’m a bit late.”
Seelah didn’t respond, instead choosing to focus on the enemy. Though Tangletooth was agile, the paladin had the superior reach with her longsword.
Once the enemy was defeated, Starla said, “I also came to tell you, Gogmurt was seen entering the nettlemaze. I think Seoni is in there.”
“She can handle herself, but we should be there to back her up. Here, help me with this,” Seelah said, pulling out her magic half-plate. If she was caught by another fire blast, she needed to be prepared.
The nettlemaze was proving to be more dangerous than Seoni expected. She’d had to defeat a warlord just after the goblin warrior, and she had to admit she was getting a bit tired. Even though the shortbow she came upon was tempting, but she moved on instead of picking it up.
She heard a noise behind her and turned in time to see Seelah destroy a shadow.
“You should be more careful,” the paladin said in lieu of a greeting.
Seoni drew upon the magic in her amulet of fortitude and destroyed a giant gecko sneaking up behind Seelah. “Perhaps we both should.”
They smiled, each grateful for the other’s presence.
“Gogmurt is said to be hiding somewhere in here. I fought him in the cave, but he got away.”
“Then we better be prepared,” Seoni said and took the opportunity to prepare her force missile spell, which of course was when a skeleton showed up.
“I’m a bit busy, could you?” Seoni asked.
“Always with the skeletons,” Seelah grumbled and when to work, hacking at the enemy until it stopped moving.
“To show my gratitude, I’ll take the next enemy.”
They continued on cautiously.
“I think that’s Bruthazmus,” Starla said when they found the next enemy.
“Who?” Seelah asked.
“One of Gogmurt’s henchmen.”
Seelah looked at Bruthazmus, then at Seoni, “Are you sure?”
“Of course,” Seoni replied, moving forward to face her opponent.
Knowing Gogmurt was still somewhere in the nettlemaze, Seoni didn’t want to use her force missile unless she absolutely had to, so instead she drained the power from her masterwork tools. She then used her sage’s journal to focus the power and blasted Bruthazmus. Despite the attack hitting him full on, he still came at her. She blasted him again, and this time he went down.
“Nicely done,” Seelah said.
Seoni nodded. “I need to prepare more spells.”
“All right. I’m just going to peek around that next corner while you do that.”
Just as Seoni was finishing with her spells, Seelah cried out. Seoni saw her fall back, her half-plate smoking.
“It’s Gogmurt!”
Seelah engaged the enemy, and Seoni waited for an opening. Gogmurt retreated after a near deadly blow from Seelah. Seoni channeled her scorching ray through her sage’s journal and incinerated the goblin.
Seelah laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Seoni asked.
“I bet that burned,” Seelah said, then collapsed into a fit of laughter.
Despite her best effort, Seoni couldn’t help but laugh as well.
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