The Triboar Trail, Chapter 2. Ambushes

2.1 Hiking

The adventurers wake the next morning and are surprised to find the barbarian conscious. She’s tall, muscular, and bleary-eyed.

They explain their plan to her and are surprised when she leaps from the cart, suddenly awake and ready for adventure. She introduces herself as Meza, but offers no other details.

Ivandale directs the group to the trail and Meza takes the lead.

A short way up the trail, it begins to taper and brush push in on the group. Ivandale stops Meza before she steps on a snare. Grateful, she begins to strike up conversation, but connects poorly with the party.

Shaken, Tinkerella asks the local birds if they should be worried about traps and predators. They happily tweet, implying a safe environment. As they continue to ascend, Meza slips into a well-camoflaged pit trap.

Tinkerella curses the birds, realizing their assistance was poorly suited for those who walk on those confined to the ground. Meza shakes it off with a laugh and they continue on. The trail opens up at the bend of a small creek which pours from a cave entrance ahead.

2.2 Reversals of Fortune

Ever alert, Ivandale notices a defensive outcropping across the stream near the entrance to the cave. He proposes a counter to a suspected ambush. Meza will continue to the cave entrance. Meanwhile, Tinkerella and the Elves will cross the stream and edge close to the blind. Meza will attempt to distract attackers while the other three eliminate them by surprise.

Places taken, Meza makes her move towards the cave entrance. Two goblins announce their position, but Ivandale and Nalfos spring at them before they can surprise Meza. The Elves engaging on slippery stones are unable to land their surprise attack. Tinkerella, hands soaked, is unable to conjure her signature flames.

Meza, excited by the opportunity to do battle, leaps across the banks of the stream. She cleaves one of the small goblins with her massive axe. Ivandale fatally skewers the second. Despite a weak start, the plan succeeds.

The group reviews their surroundings and head into the undefended cave entrance. They pass a makeshift room. A poor excuse of a gate rests against the entryway. Three wolves begin to stir behind it. They are filthy and chained to the wall.

Ivandale is an experienced delver of dungeons, but he’s always relied on his resourcefulness to avoid conflict. He proposes reinforcing the gate to eliminate the threat from the wolves who begin snarling at the party as they pass. He requests Meza’s assistance in lodging large rocks against the makeshift bars.

Nalfos watches the elf and human work but suspects that the wolves may be guarding treasure. He suggests eliminating the threat of the wolves completely. Spotting a thin entryway in the opposite wall, the group agrees.

They eliminates the surprisingly nimble wolves and search the Room. Nalfos puts his ear to the entryway. He overhears a gruff voice as it attempts to settle an agitated wolf. Tip-toeing back down to the group, he shares what he has heard. They decide to continue into the cave instead.

The light dims as they climb further into the cave. Meza reminds the rest of the group that her human vision is poorly suited for spelunking. Tinkerella takes her hand and leads her forward.

Noticing a high rope bridge ahead, Nalfos brings the group to a halt. He and Ivandale each fire upon an ignorant goblin, felling him with a single attack. They continue on and up a twisting incline as the path opens into a large room. Inside they discover two large pools guarded by three relaxing goblins.

Ivandale leaps into action and attempts to ambush the closest goblin, but misses terribly. Tinkerella conjures a flame, but her attack misses the furthest goblin. The flame fizzles out against the far wall. The brief light allows Meza an opportunity to grasp her surroundings. She throws herself at Tinkerella’s target, crushing the surprised goblin with a violent crunch of bone.

Nalfos leaps on one, killing it quickly. Ivandale strikes at the remaining goblin, but it ducks. The goblin begins to flee, giving Ivandale the opportunity to bury his sword in it’s turned back. It slumps to the floor.

2.3 Bad Luck

The group takes a moment to review their surroundings. The two pools on their left have been created using rough, makeshift dams. Just to the right of the top of the stairs, the cave takes a right-hand turn over what appears to be the goblin-bearing bridge they passed under earlier.

At the end of this room, a dim shaft of light filters across Meza. It filters through an opening in a pile of rubble in the back of the room. Meza announces, “Hey, I can see a bit back here! The goblin I crunched was trying to climb in here.” She begins shifting rubble, letting in more light. She opens a space large enough for her to squeeze through.

Nalfos and Ivandale sneak through the gap first and find a large store room. A large natural chimney the edge of the room lets light in and the smoke of a low campfire out. As they enter, goblins dive behind crates in the back of the room. The elves beckon the rest of the group and then edge around the walls of the room.

Heart racing, Ivandale slips on the cave floor and the goblins spring from their hiding place. Nalfos quickly decapitates one. Tinkerella conjures a blast of flame, hitting the second one and Meza leaps in to finish it off.

A large wolf leaps from the crates trying to catch hold of Meza. She barely avoids the wolf’s teeth. A massive bugbear takes advantage of her attention on the frothing grip of the canine. The bugbear’s morningstar smashes across Meza’s back. She’s sent flying into a wall and slumps to the floor, critically injured.

Nalfos attempts to strike the bugbear but it dodges his attack. Surprised by the giant brutes dexterity, he shifts his body to mist and retreats to Ivandale’s side. Ivandale launches an arrow into the bugbear. It laughs off the attack, “Arrows no hurt Klarg!”

The wolf leaps on Ivandale’s outstretched bow-arm and bites into his wrist with a massive crunch of bone. Ivandale’s head swims as he’s nearly thrown to the floor. He swings his sword into the wolf’s back. He connects, but the wolf doesn’t release him.

Tinkerella conjures another blast of flame which connects with Klarg’s chest, sending the bugbear into another bought of laughter. “Fire no hurt Klarg!”

Ivandale is overpowered as the wolf continues it’s attack. His unconscious body is flung to the ground.

Nalfos fires an arrow at Klarg, who catches it. He cackles and throws it to the ground before swinging his morningstar in retaliation. Nalfos crumples under it’s weight.

Tinkerella attacks the injured wolf with her next blast of flame. It perishes.

Klarg stumbles, realizing he’s alone in the fight. He turns to run. His only unprotected exit is the chimney leading out along the side wall. The loose stone of the chimney is unable to support the bugbear’s weight. He slips and falls to the rough stone below. Loose rocks caving in on him, landing the final blow.

Breathing hard, Tinkerella runs to the rest of the group. Meza is already stirring back to consciousness. Tinkerella uses her druidic magic to heal Ivandale and Nalfos’s most severe injuries, reviving them.

The group rests by the fire, eating some of their rations and doctoring wounds before they can investigate further.