Once more into the Void Session 20

I try to move cautiously and quietly at the same time. So far I seem to be managing without breaking my neck. I keep one hand gripped on the back of Thyrell's wolf to steady me.

We are right under the walls of the old keep now. I glance up nervously but I cannot see anything except the outline of the walls far above us against the sky.

I follow the wolf as we round a corner of the path toward the old gatehouse. There is a dim flickering light ahead. I can just make out... Movement! On the path head it looks like two goblins. Thyrell and Talrek exchange hand signals and I can see Thyrell notching an arrow.

Wait.  I have just the spell for this!

I wave my hands above my head, concentrate and speak the weave of magic.

"Dormis" I whisper. First one goblin and then the second slump to the ground.

Once more into the Void Session 20

It was a short session this week. We are back from the holidays but people are still busy or fighting colds.

When last we left off the heroes had traveled under the mountains fighting spiders every step of the way before emerging on a ledge on the mountainside. There is a ruined keep about a half mile away slightly further up the mountainside.

The heroes decide to observe the Keep for a few hours but at the distance of half a mile all they can discern is that there is some movement. Given the blanket of snow on the ground the opinion is that we cannot approach without being spotted. Then Thyrell offers to use his Ring of Minor Invisibility.

Thyrell puts the ring on, disappears, much to the worry of his companion wolf Tinda, and he travels up the path to the keep. Getting closer he can see that the workmanship is similar to the old ruined tower in Winterton. The keep is old, basically a ruin but there are signs of recent crude repairs. As Thyrell gets up close to the keep on the path he knocks a rock lose that goes clattering down the mountainside. Some goblins peer down in his direction. But seeing nothing, they lose interest and pop back out of sight. Thyrell decides that caution is more important and he turns back before approaching the entrance to the keep and returns.

Thyrell returns and tells his friends what he was able to see. There are several suggestions on how to proceed. Oto suggests casting jump on everyone and leaping over the walls of the keep. Talrek suggests sneaking up during the night when possibly the guards will be less active. The suggestion carries the day once Alcor augments the plan with his Shadow Arts ability. Once Alcor focuses and brings about the ability the group heads for the keep. Now there noise is muffled and they are harder to see.

Talrek had been worried that Oto, the lone human in the group, would fall down the side of the mountain in the dark but everyone, Oto included make it to the keep undetected (as far as they can tell). Approaching the entrance to the keep they make out that it is guarded by two goblins but it is just an open archway with no door or barrier. Oto casts sleep and both goblins fall unconscious. Talrek and Mukah dispatch the two sleeping goblins. Quietly the group enters the keep.

Otrivush Oto casts Sleep on the Goblin guards

Just inside the keep are two more goblins standing near a pair of fires. One of the guards spots Talrek but mistakes him for a guard. He angrily tells Talrek to get back to his post in goblin. Talrek pretends to be a goblin guard looking for a meal. The goblin is fooled by Talrek's mastery of goblin but still tells him to get back to his post. Talrek sneaks back into the dark. Oto casts sleep again and both of the goblin guards fall to the ground. Yelling in goblin erupts from one of the towers. Talrek hears, "Get up you lazy dogs!" Alcor and Talrek run up and kill the two sleeping goblins. Almost immediately the alarm is raised. A gong rings throughout the keep and a lot of yelling is heard.

Three more goblins and a pair of worgs enter the keep courtyard from the north rushing toward Alcor and Talrek. Alcor spears one of the worgs then spins and snaps its neck with his fist. Talrek attacks the other worg but misses. Oto decides to cast jump on himself and he leaps up onto the battlements in a single bound. Unfortunately, this appears to be unwise as he is immediately confronted by a host of goblins archers on the battlements. One archer hits Oto with an arrow wounding him gravely. Seeing the danger to Oto, Thyrell leaps up and grabs the battlement ledge and pulls himself up to face down the goblins. In the final action of the opening melee of the battle, Tinda lunges at the worg and bites it in the flank.

We had to stop mid-battle because of the late time. Oto is badly injured and surrounded by archers but Thyrell is now nearby to help. Talrek, Alcor and Mukah appear poised to clear out the goblins in the courtyard but they face the danger of archers on the battlements behind cover.