Welcome to the ongoing saga of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran a little while back, using The Sunken Citadel module from the Tales From The Yawning Portal source book.
In the last post, the party had their first encounter with the goblins and discovered how tactically savvy (and downright sneaky) they were.
I hope you enjoy my D&D campaign write-ups, and the commentary I add to them. Questions, comments and feedback are welcome !
Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio
After rushing two goblin archers waiting in ambush for them at the far side of a corridor full of calthrops, our headstrong adventurers didn't waste any time. They left the party's rogue to go through the goblins' possessions, which turned out to be no more than smelly bedding, un-laundered clothes, grotty food and a couple of copper pieces.
While he was doing that, the rest went in hot pursuit of the one surviving goblin. They ran smack bang into another ambush.
Similar to the first, it was a room with a low wall at the far end providing cover to goblin archers. But this room was a firing range used by the goblins to practice their archery, and our heroes had entered at the target end of the room !
Not just that, but the noise of the previous fight had alerted the goblins and given them time to whistle up reinforcements. This was a DM decision I made; the players would have steamrolled the encounter as it was written in the book, but the module allowed for the possibility that reinforcements could arrive. I used (and possibly abused) that "get out clause" to the full....
Realising it was another ambush, the party's warriors did what they did best. Charged !
The goblin archers had time for a couple of relatively ineffective shots before the characters were among them. But the difference this time was that there was a bunch of other goblins waiting there ready for a punch-up.
The room was long and narrow, so there wasn't much room for the goblins to get around to the back of the characters. But every time a goblin fell, another stepped up to take his place.
Reaswe, the party rogue, arrived just in time to plug a gap in the front line, standing off a little way and using his short bow to great effect to knock over any goblin trying to get through the gap. Meanwhile the party's sorcerer Garnet stayed well back and sniped at the goblins with her Eldritch Blasts.
The battle was a slugging match that took a considerable time and when it was over, the party were knee-deep in dismembered goblin corpses. Griff and Erioch, the front-line fighters, both needed a good amount of healing. Meanwhile Garnet and Reaswe had got away with no damage whatsoever.
There were three doorways out of the goblins' firing range. The first was just their pantry. The goblin food it contained looked distinctly unappetising, but the party were able to pick up some oil which might come in useful for cooking, lanterns, or throwing at foes.
The second door led to a room used as a prison by the goblins. There were four wooden cages; three contained kobolds who fled as soon as they were released. The fourth held a gnome acolyte by the name of Erky Timbers. After some discussion, he agreed to stick with the party as his best chance of survival until they emerged from the dungeon.
Erky didn't have any equipment, but the party were able to give him basic weapons from their own spare items and salvaged goblin gear.
In the source book, Erky was clearly intended as a source of information on what the party might find further on in the dungeon, and had plenty of information he could have given them. But our headstrong heroes decided that they didn't have time to sit down for a chat, they just wanted to press on. Are you starting to see a trend here ?
Next time..... Pits and Wyrms !
Previous posts in this series;
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-introduction
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-lets-meet-our-characters-
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-arrival-at-oakhurst
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-to-the-sunless-citadel
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-into-the-citadel
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-kobolds-are-people-too-
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-a-deal-with-kobolds
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-no-creatures-land
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-a-beast-a-fountain-and-more-rats
https://peakd.com/hive-189497/@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-first-encounter-with-the-cunning-goblins
