(an extract from Treen’s journal)

I along with, Oliphas. Teela, Alana, Kee, Irem, Mazlor and Talos (a Druid who has joined our merry band of adventurers) went to rid the monastery of the deformed goblins and in particular kill the Shaman we had last seen on our trip to the crevice. After some discussion we decided to take a handful of henchmen with us to even up the numbers and prevent us from being mobbed.

We had a fairly uneventful trip to the crevice itself, four flying creatures decided to attack us, but they were quickly dispatched. On the way we did notice that the darkness pervading the monastery was dispelled in and around the room of the restored Fountain of the Light. Alas upon reaching the crevice we discovered the A-frame was totally destroyed and the ropes dropped to the bottom. Obviously from our last visit those chasing us had made their way up after us. Fortunately we had more than enough rope and tying some around the stone alter we could descend to the room below. With such a large group it took some time and clearly was difficult to be quiet.

Our original plan was to get to the upper room, cross the river and prepare traps at the tunnel entrances. Unfortunately the Goblins had other plans. As we entered the cavern and cautiously made our way through six goblins stood up on the other side of the river and started to fire crossbows at us. They were organized, working in pairs one as a loader the other to fire. Clearly our plan was ruined and we now had the prospect of a pitched battle. Fortunately we had more cover and managed to make it to the river and with our own bows we started to pick off the crossbowmen. Unfortunately more goblins appeared at the entrances of the tunnels and everything got a little crazy. We started to cross the river at the ford but it was slow going. Irem and Mazlor got across and had several goblins upon them, Irem took several serious hits before Alana could get across to heal him. The goblins kept coming, I put quite a few to sleep and Talos was liberal with his use of Faerie Fire. Soon three large mutated Goblins came out shortly followed by two more and the Shaman, who was carrying the wand we had seen before. As I readied Magic Missiles an arrow flew over my head, one of the Goblins had picked up a dropped crossbow! My Magic Missile was far more effective than I expected and immediately killed the Shaman. What happened next was even more astounding, all the goblins dropped their weapons in surrender and began to wail terribly. We quickly disarmed them and then tied them up, there was talk of killing them, but Mazlor and Alana had some misgivings about this, so we left them tied up, picking one to interrogate. Apart from the wand the Shaman had a pair of evil looking bracers, Talos did detect they were magical… food for thought!

From the Goblin we learned that the Shaman was communicating to the Master, the Goblins where being brought down from above ground to be made ‘perfect’. Apparently the journey to the darkness was by raft along the river flowing on the other side of the caves. We took the Goblin with us and he guided us through the caves showing us the living quarters of the Shaman. There we found his spell-book and a candlestick and added them to the haul. The walls were covered in old, filthy and ragged tapestries – they looked like they had been taken from the monastery above.

We headed to the river through the caves and came across two rafts, unfortunately they would only carry six each, so we sent three henchmen back to the cave with the goblin. We divided the party between the boats. the river was fast flowing so Teela and Kee manned the poles of the rafts. After some time and a rather turbulent ride we saw a web strung across the river. Teela and Kee did an excellent job in stopping the rafts. We tried to burn the web with torches, while it burnt the effect was minimal. Suddenly a wicked looking spider appeared by Kee, strangely it was on its back. Oliphas was about to strike when it disappeared again. Suddenly it re-appeared and lunged for Kee, fortunately missing her. As we struck at it Oliphas took off one of its legs, sending green sticky goo everywhere. Unfortunately this did not kill it and now it seemed enraged and Oliphas became the target. He would have been bitten had he not got his shield in the way at the last minute. The effect would have been fatal judging by the fate of the shield, it burnt up. We struck it some more (I tried to at least) and managed to kill it. We made a big enough hole in the web to get through and carried on. Eventually the river slowed down and we appeared to be in a vast expanse rather than tunnel. We explored the area and found it to be a large cavern, with a tunnel opposite the entrance we had come into. As we explored more we discovered a landing area and a cliff and then some of the large mushrooms. Some of the party thought they knew were this was, others were not sure. Oliphas pointed out it was getting late in the day and we should be heading back, not exploring more.

A long haul back up the river and we made it back to the landing stage. As we headed back to the cavern where we left the goblins tied up and our trusty henchmen we heard the goblins wailing again, this time it sounded happy rather than sad – the sounds of fighting could also be heard, not good signs. We rushed on to discover three mud demons, like the ones we have met before. We attacked them, normal weapons did not bother them and we soon discovered that if you sliced them up they just reformed. Teela put his hand in one to grab the jewel, unfortunately it reformed around him and he was temporarily trapped. Talos and one of the henchmen grappled this one and they eventually managed to push it into the river, where it was washed away. The other two were finally dispatched permanently by Alana’s Spiritual Hammer. Sadly the three henchmen we had left behind were dead.

I must sit down and talk to Teela about those Shaman items, perhaps we should see Parabellum?