SW D&D Game

@DeadOrbit i truly AM 😂

This has been a real hoot 🤪

Goodness she's gonna have one helluva headache when she wakes up 😏

@OogieBoogie

Six hours later, OogieBoogie opened her eyes feeling absolutely wonderful.

She stretched until her armor creaked, sat up in the little hidden hollow, and smiled at Cupcake. “Good mornin’, handsome. 🥰” As far as Oogie could remember, she had found some very pretty mushrooms. Everything after that was simply... missing. This did not trouble her nearly as much as it probably should have.

She crawled back through the hanging roots and stopped.

The caves looked like they had survived a war. Walls were blackened, timber supports had collapsed, weapons and supplies were scattered across the passages, and great dark stains covered the stone. Farther down, pieces of goblin were distributed across the cavern in ways that strongly suggested putting them back together was no longer an option. The place that had once been crawling with goblins was now eerily quiet.

Oogie stared.

Then she looked at Cupcake.

“Gosh. Somebody had a BUSY night.”

Cupcake climbed onto his usual place on her shoulder. Oogie hefted her poleaxe, perfectly refreshed and entirely unconcerned with the possibility that she might have had anything to do with the devastation around her. Whatever had happened here was somebody else’s mystery. She and Cupcake still had a mission.
“C’mon, Sir Cupcake. We got people to find.”

And together they headed deeper into the mountain.

@DeadOrbit Oogie starts to hum, (very out of tune), and is a tad disappointed she cant skip through the low hanging, rather snug cave tunnel. (Bit of a tight fit).
Its a shame really, as it truly does feel like a skipping type morning.
That is, if its morning ?🤔

Oogie makes an analytical decision and decides it HAS to be morning based entirely on the fact that she just woken up and waking upusually means its morning.

So she humms herself down deeper into the dark wondering if there are others who also know its morning....in the hope of a potential breakfast, perhaps a cup of tea 🤔🤗☕

@DeadOrbit Ooo darkness

@V00dooLovesTheMoon The darkness beneath the mountain seems to deepen the farther V00doo looks. Somewhere beyond the broken cage, three goblin voices still echo through the stone, unaware that their prisoner now stands armed and free. Beyond them lies the creature they call the Master, the walking dead, and perhaps other prisoners who were not fortunate enough to escape.

For the moment, V00doo has not been discovered. The tunnels are open before her, and whatever secrets this mountain keeps are waiting in the dark.

What does V00doo do?

@DeadOrbit Fights them all

@DeadOrbit I go ahead and hang out with the goblins and let them show me what they're working on.

@Teirdalin Teirdalin decides curiosity is worth tolerating the smell a little longer.

Teirdalin: “Fine. If your master’s magic is as impressive as you claim, show me what you’re working on.”

The goblins exchange looks.

Goblin 2: “See? Elf gets it.”
Goblin 1: “Could be trick.”
Goblin 3: “Everything elf says sounds like trick.”

Teirdalin: “Then keep your weapons pointed at me if it makes you feel clever.”

That apparently does.

Charisma: 19 + 2 = 21 — Success.

Goblin 1 reluctantly unlocks the cage himself, while the others crowd around Teirdalin with spears. They do not return his belongings, but they also make no attempt to bind his hands.

Goblin 1: “No funny magic.”
Goblin 2: “Unless Master says funny magic.”
Goblin 3: “Master got very funny magic.”

They lead Teirdalin deeper through the caves. He quietly memorizes every turn he can.
Intelligence: 15 + 3 = 18 — Success

He notices the prison area connects to a broader central passage, with several smaller tunnels branching away. One slopes upward and carries faint cooler air. Another descends deeper into the mountain. The goblins take him down.

The smell changes first.

Rot.

Then Teirdalin sees several goblin corpses laid across crude stone tables. Strange markings have been drawn around them in ash, blood, and something black and waxy. Against the far wall stand three goblins that should very clearly be dead.

None speak.
None breathe.

One slowly turns its head toward Teirdalin.
Goblin 3: “That’s Gritz.”
Goblin 2: “Was Gritz.”
Goblin 3: “Still hate when he does that.”

Teirdalin does not need much magical education to recognize that whatever is happening here is tied to death magic.

And somewhere deeper in these caves, someone is doing far more than simply raising dead goblins.

For now, the goblins seem satisfied that Teirdalin is cooperating. They are not locking him back in the cage or dragging him from place to place. A couple of them keep an eye on him, but otherwise he is being allowed to move around the nearby caves and observe what they are doing.

That gives Teirdalin a rare amount of freedom for a prisoner. He can explore, talk to the goblins, look for his belongings, search for other captives, inspect the strange magic being prepared, or test just how far the goblins are willing to let him wander before they stop him.

What does Teirdalin do?

@DeadOrbit "Are you trying to make Gritz into a zombie, I feel like there's easier methods than,.. whatever this is." he says while motioning to the rituals. "Can I have my things back by the way, I feel silly without my equipment."

@DeadOrbit I'll proceed cautiously. Setting any traps that will help me to detect an ambush. I take my time tracking, looking for a place to set up a safe spot. I feel I may need help, but I will try to get an idea of what I can accomplish alone.

@WanderingHelplessly WanderingHelplessly moves deeper with patience, never allowing the darkness to convince him that he is alone. Before committing to each new stretch of tunnel, he checks behind him and leaves subtle warning traps along the route. Nothing elaborate enough to announce his presence unless someone actually follows him. He wants to know if the cave closes behind him before the goblins know he was ever there.

His dire wolf moves a few paces ahead, nose close to the stone. Before long, the goblin tracks stop being the only story on the ground.

Human boots.

Several different sizes. Some walking, others stumbling. Scuffed heels cut through the dirt where someone had been dragged or shoved forward, and a frayed length of rope lies caught against a sharp piece of stone. Farther ahead he finds a small smear of dried blood and a torn scrap of cloth that certainly did not come from a goblin.

The missing people came through here.

More importantly, some of these tracks are recent.

WanderingHelplessly finds a recessed shelf of stone overlooking one of the branching passages and quietly establishes it as a fallback point. It is hidden from the main route, difficult to notice from below, and offers more than one way out. From there he can begin learning the rhythm of the cave rather than simply walking into it.
The goblins have numbers, but the caves give him something numbers cannot easily overcome: narrow passages.

Five enemies standing shoulder to shoulder in the forest are dangerous. Five enemies trying to push through a tunnel barely wide enough for two are something else entirely. A shock trap could turn a choke point into a killing ground. Poison could fill a confined passage. One explosive arrow placed correctly could strike an entire group, while ice could seal a route or make pursuit almost impossible. Acid in a cramped corridor would give anything behind the first goblin very little room to escape.

He does not need to fight the entire cave at once.

A lone guard disappearing into the darkness might not be noticed immediately. A goblin trailing behind a patrol could be pulled away silently. Small groups could be removed before anyone realizes their numbers are shrinking. And if he can reach the prisoners without raising an alarm, he may not have to clear this place alone at all. Some may be too injured or frightened to fight, but others might be willing to pick up a stolen blade, a bow, or even a rock if it means escaping.

His wolf pauses suddenly.
Ears forward.
Voices somewhere ahead.
Goblin voices.
And beneath them, faint enough that most people would miss it, something else.
A human cough.

WanderingHelplessly has found what he was looking for. Now the question is how much of this cave he intends to dismantle before the goblins realize there is a hunter inside it.

He could continue scouting and locate the prisoners before risking a fight, begin quietly removing isolated goblins to weaken the cave, start preparing the narrow passages with traps for a larger engagement, or attempt some combination of all three.

Whatever happens next, he still has the greatest advantage a Pathfinder could ask for.

They do not know he is here.

@DeadOrbit I'll do a combo

@DeadOrbit 🫪

@V00dooLovesTheMoon You better create a character so I can have it ki... so I can give you a wonderfully crafted story 😌

🫪

@DeadOrbit

2. Examine the corrupted stone.

Greensnacks crouches in front of the stone, studying the warped patterns in its surface without touching it.

“Goblins can wait. If the magic down here is as badly disturbed as you say, I'd rather know what we're walking into than start swinging at the first thing that moves.”

She raises a hand and casts Mage Hand, carefully lifting a small loose fragment away from the corrupted stone. She turns it in the air, examining it from every angle, looking for traces of necromancy, familiar arcane markings, or anything that might explain how the faerzress has been altered. She draws on her Arcanist training to study the magic from a safe distance, watching for any reaction from the fragment.

Without looking at DeadOrbit, she adds, “And before you tell me to stand back, I'm already doing that. You're welcome.”

She finally glances at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Now, let's see if this thing has anything to teach us.”

@Jessmari Jessmari moves carefully through the enormous cave system, quietly building a rough understanding of its layout. Avoiding the goblins is almost effortless. The caves are dark, Jessmari knows how to disappear into places like this, and the goblins make enough noise for half the mountain. Their voices, footsteps, arguments, and careless movements usually announce them long before they could notice someone slipping through the shadows.

The deeper Jessmari goes, the clearer it becomes that this is far more than a simple goblin den. The tunnels seem to stretch through much of the mountain, branching into guard stations, storage areas, treasure rooms, prisoner chambers, and dangerous passages where one wrong step could mean a very long fall. There are signs that people have been captured here, but also evidence that some prisoners have escaped and fought their way deeper into the caves. A few goblins lie dead without the entire nest having been alerted. Whoever did that knew what they were doing.

More troubling are the passages leading farther below. Something about them feels wrong. Goblins are one thing, but there are signs of something else moving behind all of this, something connected to dark magic. One route in particular seems to descend far beyond the normal caves, toward the places Jessmari has only heard about in whispered stories: the Underdark. None of those stories ended pleasantly. Of course, most of them also involved enormous amounts of treasure.

For now, Jessmari remains unnoticed, watching the cave breathe around them. There are riches somewhere inside this mountain, but there are also other capable people moving through it. People clever enough to escape captivity, kill goblins, and avoid bringing the entire cave down on themselves.
That presents an interesting problem.

Jessmari came here to fill empty pockets and finally repay a debt. Whether those strangers become useful allies, convenient distractions, or simply people worth watching remains to be seen.


It doesn't look as if I will find anything of value unless I go further in, and that means dealing with something other than goblins...

@DeadOrbit I'm going to make my way south east to the the captives and see how well it's guarded.

( I wasn't sure if i was to accept that I generally I had to go further in or pick a route from the map)

@Jessmari You can do whatever you want really I am making it up as I go.

Jessmari slips southeast through the tunnels toward the area marked for captives. The goblins remain painfully easy to hear. Their voices bounce through the stone long before their torchlight appears, giving Jessmari plenty of time to flatten into cracks, duck behind formations, or simply take another passage around them.

The prison area is more organized than most of the cave.

A narrow approach opens into a wider chamber with crude wooden cages built against the stone walls. Jessmari counts several prisoners, though darkness and iron bars make it difficult to tell exactly who or how many from this distance. Some lie motionless. Others whisper quietly whenever the goblins move away.

The guards are competent by goblin standards, but hardly disciplined. Two remain near the cages while another watches the main approach. A fourth seems to wander between the prison chamber and a nearby passage, apparently more interested in whatever is being eaten out of a wooden bowl than actually guarding anything. There are enough of them that attacking openly could create noise, but plenty of shadows, blind spots, and distractions for someone with Jessmari's particular talents.

More interestingly, one of the cages stands open.

Its lock isn't broken.

It has been picked.

There are faint traces of blood nearby and several goblin footprints chasing away from the prison area, followed by something much lighter.

Someone already escaped from here.

Jessmari settles into the darkness overlooking the chamber. Whoever these prisoners are, they may be useful. More importantly, somebody else moving through this mountain knows how to handle themselves.

What does Jessmari do?

1. Watch the guards — Learn their movements, rotations, and habits before deciding whether the prisoners are worth the trouble.
2. Get closer to the cages — Slip through the blind spots and quietly find out who has been captured without alerting the guards.
3. Follow the escape trail — Forget the prisoners for the moment. Whoever picked that lock might be far more useful than whoever is still inside.

@DeadOrbit hmmm...fight broke out

Also this is the coolest thing to have happened on sw . Ever ....thanks for doing this

@SW-User You are welcome! Also you have the freedom to pick what you want to do. just write in your wishes and I will provide you with the scenario and outcome of those decisions. I will also roll dice to see how the scenario plays out.

@SW-User

What does Chern0bylplaygr0unds do next?

1) Recover your lost gear — Try to work your way back toward the steep passage where you fell and search for the equipment scattered during the slide. It may be difficult to climb, but continuing deeper without everything you brought could be even worse.

2) Follow the goblins' trail — Use the map to head toward the storage area and guard post. There could be supplies, prisoners, more information about what the goblins are doing here, or more goblins who have no idea what happened to the four in the den.

3) Investigate the Master's mark — Follow the strange pressure deeper toward the old shrine marked “Belongs to the Master.” It is clearly the most dangerous choice, but it may also be the best chance to discover what is disturbing the Nether and why the goblins are behaving so strangely.