The Second D&D Tarak Campaign - The Goblin Chief's Potted Plant

about 1 month ago

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 learned that front line fighters tend to find traps the "traditional" way. Then they met a dragon. It may only have been a small one, but then they were only second level, and the dragon was smart and vicious. It was the hardest battle they'd had so far.

I hope you enjoy my D&D campaign write-ups, and the commentary I add to them. Questions, comments and feedback are welcome !

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After the battering they'd had from Calcryx the dragon, the party barricaded themselves in his room so they could have a desperately needed long rest.

For those who don't play D&D, in 5th Edition, there are two sorts of rest; long and short. Short rests are a bit of a breather to gain some hit points back from a limited pool, and to get back a few of the easier sorts of spell. A long rest is equivalent of a good night's sleep, where you can get back lots of lost hit points and all your used spells.

Getting a long rest relies on not being interrupted. A character doesn't have to sleep throughout it, but certainly needs to be doing nothing energetic. Being attacked would count as energetic !

Luckily, the players barricaded the room very thoroughly. It also helped that they had already slaughtered most of the goblins who hung around the area. Their long rest was completed without interruption, and they felt much better.

The now refreshed heroes pushed on through The Sunless Citadel, entering a long columned hall with very dragon-themed decor. Barging through a door at the far end, they suddenly found themselves in Goblin Central.

It was a large chamber, once a cathedral-sized temple, but now a desecrated slum used by the goblins as the main living quarters for their women, children and elderly.

This wasn't a fight; it was a stampede. Goblins scattered in all directions trying to get away from the terrifying sight of the gang of murder hobos who'd already massacred the most capable goblin warriors.

Ignoring the piles of goblin bedding and debris (which actually would have yielded up some interesting treasure if thoroughly searched), the party went in hot pursuit of goblins, cutting several down.

Smashing through a door some of the goblins had been trying to open, they found themselves in the hall of the goblin chief, Durnn.

This domed hall was circular, with a large opening in the floor, also circular. This was, in fact, the way down to the level below, and a purple light shone up through it. On the far side of the chamber was a crude throne in which sat Durnn attended by three hobgoblin bodyguards and Grenl, his goblin shaman. A large treasure chest was his footstool, and a stone pot next to the throne held a man-sized potted plant.

Our heroic adventurers, their blood fired by the running battle (or rather, slaughter) with the goblin non-combatants, charged into the room, skirting the pit and engaging the hobgoblins.

The poor goblin shaman didn't last long, being blasted by Garnet, the party's aasimar sorcerer. But not before she was able to cast an Inflict Wounds spell and land it on Reaswe, the party rogue, as he attempted to sneak around the room.

Despite being quite badly hurt by this Reaswe threw his usual caution to the winds and calculated that if he could move into position to strike the goblin chief without being noticed, the extra damage from his sneak attack ability might be enough to kill him.

Moving rapidly and very stealthily (he rolled very well !) he took cover behind the large potted plant and prepared to deliver his surprise attack.

That was when he got a surprise of his own. The potted plant was actually a twig blight, almost indistinguishable from a normal plant while sitting in it's pot. As Reaswe went to strike, the plant got in first. It stabbed him with a sharpened twig.

Under normal circumstances this would have been a minor annoyance, just doing D4+1 damage. But the rogue had already taken 3D10 of necrotic damage from the Inflict Wounds spell, and the twig blight rolled a natural 20 - a critical hit !

Reaswe fell over, unconscious, bleeding out, and behind enemy lines. His comrades tried hard to finish off the hobgoblin guards, but it took time. With every round, Reaswe had to make a death save. He failed his first, passed his second, and failed his third.

All that stood between him and his comrades by this time was Durnn himself, but the shape of the chamber meant that the goblin chief had to be slain for them to get to him. They failed to put him down in a single round, and Reaswe had to roll his next death save.

He failed.

Life or death in this mechanic is determined by whether you get to three passes or three failures first. Three failures means death, so Reaswe died.

It was a sad moment, because from my perspective as DM, he'd been the one party member exhibiting caution when it was needed, the voice of reason in a particularly impetuous group of players.

Our adventurers, ever pragmatic, had no hesitation looting his body alongside those of the dead goblins and hobgoblins....

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