Session 23: Sneaking Around South of Stonehell

This session (which took place 12/6/2010) found our intrepid party on a mountain road cut into the north wall of a deep canyon.  It was nighttime, and the party -- PCs Dak (Dwarf-4), Yor (Dwarf-4), Hazel (Ftr.-4 / M-U-3), Uncle Junkal (Bard-4), Innominus (Clr.-5), and NPCs Gorgo, Rolfe, Darvey, Garvey, and Marko -- had just slain a hobgoblin patrol and hucked the looted corpses off the side of the cliff.

Following Dak's lead from the end of last session, both Hazel and Yor tried ingesting some of the black oil: Hazel found it fairly repulsive, but Yor found that it tasted a bit like some of the stronger dwarven ales of his acquaintance, and quickly downed a whole vial of the sulfurous stuff.  His infravision instantly grew stronger and increased slightly in range (to 65'), and his hearing sharpened as well.

Next the party began searching around on the cliffside road, even retracing their steps a bit to investigate that portion of the road that lay just inside the tunnel from which they emerged last session.  Yor the Dwarf soon found a huge (8' high by 4' wide) inset slab of stone just outside the tunnel mouth that appeared to be covering an entrance into the uphill side of the cliff.  As he and the dwarven NPCs looked for ways to move or pry the stone slab loose, Hazel and Marko searched just inside the tunnel for hidden switches or buttons that might trigger the door.  It was during this turn of searching that Uncle Junkal heard the faint sound of a wagon approaching down the road from the northeast.  The PCs surmised that this might very likely be another one of the covered wagons bearing empty glass vials that they had encountered before -- twice -- outside Fortinbras and Farn Junction.  

The party quickly decided that in order to preserve the element of surprise, they had best hustle back up the northeast tunnel and remove the "Kobold Sodomizing a Hobgoblin" etching they had left in place of a Hobgoblinish warning sign along the side of that subterranean road.  So, since Hazel had already used up her invisibility spell last session, Dak borrowed Uncle Junkal's charmed rock troll's custom-made cloak of invisibility (purchased in Fortinbras in Session 21) and ran up the passage.  He made it just in time to switch the sign back and huddle invisibly against the north wall as the wagon -- drawn by two horses, driven by a burly hobgoblin, and accompanied on foot by four morlock slaves and a second hobgoblin-- pulled up abreast of his position.  The wagon and morlocks passed right on by, but the hobgoblin rear-guard smelled something in the air and paused, looking around.  But he failed to detect Dak, and, after relieving himself against the tunnel wall, hurried to catch up with the wagon.

Meanwhile, further downhill, the rock slab was pushed out of its place in the cliff face; out stepped a stone giant, who set the slab against the cliff wall as a troop of hobgoblin soldiers marched two-by-two out of the entrance thus created.  Uncle Junkal swiftly used his bardic powers to charm the stone giant, then Hazel used her wand of paralyzation to paralyze all 8 hobgoblins in the emerging patrol.  The rest of the party moved into the passageway in the northern cliff, dispatched the paralyzed hobgoblins, then successfully ambushed the wagon once it reached their position.  Stealing the wagon, they proceeded down the hill along the cliffside road, eventually reaching the entrance to a complex cave system embedded in the cliff wall.  The caves appeared to be a base of sorts for the hobgoblins, including a makeshift stable and a room with a well-like contraption that reeked of the black oil.

The party killed one hobgoblin stable-boy, kidnapped a second, and Dak threw a lit oil flask into the "oil well" chamber, to little effect besides killing two hobgoblin sentries stationed there.  [As Carl comments below, Dak also chucked a second lit oil flask down the well shaft, but did not stick around to see what the ultimate result of that deed might be.]  After that, the PCs decided to steal the hobgoblins' six horses, exit the caves, and head further down the hill to hole up somewhere for the night in order to recover lost HP and spells.  At the bottom of the hill, they found a swampy, wooded area that offered sufficient cover for them to make a suitable camp.