The Shackled City, Day 6 (2006-10-13, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The next morning, the party headed back into the Malachite Stronghold. Using Maple's map and the information she gave, they decided to clear out the eastern areas first. To the southeast was the kitchen, where a pair of goblins watched over a chained human man. One goblin was killed instantly, while the other surrendered. Rain tried to intimidate it into submission, but it laughed in his face. A few moments later the goblin lay dead on the floor.

Rain very quietly opened the door leading to the next room. Inside the grand chamber, three children stood chained to a pillar, while a fourth was being held by a halfbreed dwarf-troll in black armor. A short humanoid (a durgazon named Pyllrak) negotiated with Kazmojen, the dwarf-troll slaver, trying to bring down the price for the children. A small dog-like beast called a howler stood to one side, and a pair of hobgoblins guarded the main door.

Rain and Garlen stepped quietly into the room and jabbed Pyllrak with several well-placed blows from their swords. The rest of the group burst into the room and surrounded Pyllrak, who turned invisible and attempted to flee. The rest of the party alertly struck as he turned invisible, and several blows landed that left him unconscious.

The howler Prickles began wailing loudly, and Amber clubbed it with her mace. Roland cast a fire spell at Kazmojen while the others surrounded him and attempted to bring him down. A bright spray of colors from one of Roland's spells stunned Rain and Kazmojen, and a pair of blows from Grokk and Horkina sent the half-troll to the ground, but his wounds continued to regenerate. Hobgoblins began pouring in through the north door, but Roland put most of them to sleep and Amber fought with those that stayed standing. More hobgoblins appeared at the west door, so Garlen and Horkina moved to stop them while Grokk kept Kazmojen unconscious. Roland turned his attention to the slaver, burning him with potions and even a coil of rope. Grokk moved to help Amber cover the north door, and the pair slew many hobgoblins.

Rain grabbed a set of keys off of Kazmojen's corpse and released the children from their chains. A few moments later, a strange flying creature with over a dozen eyes appeared, demanding to take the child Terrem back to the orphanage. Roland knew this creature was a beholder, and should not be trifled with. A woman's voice chanted out a spell, and the beholder and Terrem disappeared. The party returned the other three children to the orphanage, where Terrem was already waiting.

The party moved through the rest of the fortress, most of which had emptied of occupants during the prior battle. When the group located a major treasure hoard, they recalled the warning from the mimic upstairs: there was another mimic guarding treasure somewhere on this level. Rain called out "shoot the loot" and fired an arrow at a treasure chest. The others followed suit. When Amber slung at a large gong at the side of the room, her bullet made only a faint sound and stuck to a layer of goo. Many arrows and spells later, the mimic succumbed to the might of the Rubble Rousers, who packed up the gold, gems, and other treasure for easy transport back to town.

The party found another five prisoners in jail cells and torture chambers. These five were escorted back to town, to bring the total number rescued to 12.

The party reached level 4.