This is a solo dungeon delve, using Scarlet Heroes by Kevin Crawford, published by Sine Nomine Publishing, and The Location Crafter by Tana Pigeon of Wordmill Games (who also do Mythic: Game Master Emulator).
My character is Durik Borgrimson, a dwarven scout, who apprenticed as a toymaker. This adventure takes
place while Durik is scouting around the rough edges between
civilized country and wilderlands. His first scouting assignment.
Part 1.
Durik came across the trail of a number
of goblins. The trail was very easy to follow as the goblins had made
no attempt to hide their passage. Much trampling of grasses, brush
and other vegetation, the occasional bit of rubbish, wanton damage, and other signs marked the goblins' trail.
The trail led Durik to a cave entrance
in a hidden ravine. By that time the night was turning into the wee
hours of the morning.
He cautiously approaches the cave
entrance, trying to remain undercover as much as possible. As he gets
near enough he finds the entrance guarded by 3 goblins in assorted
ragged clothing and bits of armor, armed with various hand weapons.
The goblins are fairly alert and perk up as they notice something approaching the cave. They ready their weapons as Durik gets off a shot
with his bow. One goblin is taken down with an arrow. The other two
goblins dart back inside the cave.
Durik cautiously enters the cave and
finds himself in a chamber occupied by three additional goblins who
are arguing with the two goblins who had run back inside. Durik
decides to rush in and try to ambush the goblins, but does no damage
in his haste. The goblins try to fight back, but get in each others'
way and also fail to inflict any damage.
The fight becomes more deadly as Durik
kills one goblin with his ax, and then dispatches 2 more goblins on
the return stroke. The remaining 2 goblins stand and fight back, but
their attacks don't get through Durik's defenses. With some deft ax
work he kills the last 2 goblins. His search finds 6 gold pieces and
a belly chain worth 90 gold pieces.
Moving on, Durik comes to a second
chamber, with another passage the heads back to the first chamber.
The second chamber is empty.
He exits into a long passage. The
sounds of quarreling come from the far end of the passage, around a
bend. One of the voices has a creepy quality.
Durik makes his way down the passage.
Peering around the bend he can see a large alert hobgoblin on guard
duty at a second exit from the cave complex. The hobgoblin's
attention is focused towards the outside.
Durik pulls back and finds a side
tunnel off of the long passageway. He explores the side passage, but
finds it ends shortly in a dead end. It looks like it's used as a
sort of rubbish tip, among other things.
So he returns to the second chamber,
and with a quick search he finds another passage behind a rock.
Following the passage he comes to an open area occupied by a goblin
shaman and 7 goblin minions. There is an argument going on as some of
the minions are wounded and arguing with the shaman to heal their
wounds.
Durik charges in to attack the shaman,
but the minions are in the way. He kills 2 of the minions in his
initial attack. Meanwhile, the goblin shaman casts a spell that heals
any wounds on the remaining minions. This improves their morale.
Three of the 5 remaining minions land hits on Durik. In return he
kills 2 more of them.
Next, the shaman casts another spell,
this time aimed at Durik. Durik feels something like an attack inside
his head. He resists this attack. The minions, down to only three
now, attack Durik, with one landing just a glancing blow. Durik kills
one more minion. At this point the shaman escapes by means of a magic
portal. The last 2 minions fight it out with Durik. He manages to
kill them without taking any further damage in return. He finds 20
gold pieces, a bracelet worth about 90 gold pieces, a toe ring worth
100 gold pieces, and an amulet worth about 400 gold pieces.
He binds his wounds and moves on to the
far end of the open area.