Goblyns module: Shadows from a distant past (1/3)

By Jorge Arredondo (c) 2002

Introduction

The future holds bad omens for the walled goblyn city of Avilax. Lately, shady rumors have crossed its streets, defened by impressive stone walls. The priests of Tuilelaith, the Lady of the Protecting Darkness, the Wind of the Caverns, murmur warnings about growing bands of kobolds and knolls gathering in the vast caverns from the surroundings at few journeys of distance, rumors brought by the very wind of the caves...

The scouts who have returned, have confirmed partially the bad omens. Big tribes of savage goblynoids are gathering like in the legendary wars of long ago, before the Great Catastrophe. If they're getting organized following a powerful leader, or if they're following some unknown power arisen depths of Everdark, it's still unknown, but the guildmasters have decided to improve the apparently unbeatable defenses of the city and prepare the population for the possible and imminent battle, like no battle have seen in centuries.

The Armourer masters had checked and repaired all the weapons and armors, one by one, till leaving them ready like newly made. The Witch Engineers have checked and tested any and every one of their ingenous magic contraptions. The engineers have checked the centenary walls and rebuilt or reinforced the few weak spoys of the structure. Maintenance is gathering all the food available in the case the city suffers a long siege... and the priests of Tuilelaith, Cyra and Cathaoir pray asking for the help of the gods...

The master of the Crystal Wizards guild, the venerable Almuxx, has called you all together in the second hour in the headquarters of the guild in the north quarter of the city. from what your guild superiors have told you, there is a mission that would be very useful for the city. But they didn't know what else to tell you... so much secrecy is surprising, what may be crossing the mind of the old blue goblyn? Perhaps he has an alternative, a magic hope in which base on the defence of the old goblyn settlement which sweeps his enemies like a moss field against the breath of a deep dragon...?

You all together gathered in the guild, a few goblyns almost recently having surpassed the degree of apprentices, thoguh Almuxx wasn't there. Instead, a young apprentice led you to the wizard's house, who like the important goblyn he is, enjoys a small house near the west walls of the city...

First Part

The PCs are going to Almuxx's house when they come close to a defensive turret which still hasn't been lifted to the walls, when the turret starts behavign strangely, turning around by its own in a chaotic way, and shooting randomly fireballs.

Turret: poor attack, OF of +3 to +5

The turret is a metal contraption, like a cross between the cockpit of a fork-lift truck and a spider. In fact, it uses these legs as support.

If the PCs hide, the turret in the end burns out the crystal (overloading it), if they try to stop it when they manage to get closer a bunch of small violet dwarves (gremlins) start jumping out of the turret amongs joy shouts ("yahoooo!"). The gremlins try to flee, using their legendary dodge skill, and hide to cause more mayhem later. Nevertheless, one of the gremlins is actually a spriggan who if cornered will assume its bestial form. A way to stop the spriggam, for example, would be using the turret against it (if it still works!). A great roll of Arcane lore allows a PC to distinguish the spriggan from the gremlins. In its bestial form, there is no doubt!

Gremlins (4-5)

Spriggan (1)

Once the fight is over, the damages are checked. Looks like it hasn't been an isolated facr, it's happened almost with all the defensive turrets of the city. In this moment Almuxx and other important guild masters come at last, worried because the main defensive line is ruined. They debate for a moment and finalyl Almuxx asks the PCs to follow him. Leading them to the center of the city, just by the side of the highest vigilance tower, where a goblyn with a magical artifact (a crystal powered spyglass) watchs over the surroundings of the city. In a closed building, Almuxx leads them to a hatchway which leads to a spiral staircase which goes further and further down in the depths of the earth. After going down for a long time, they reach a huge cavern under the very city. There, in the darkness, without giving off any heat, there is a group of armoured shapes.

Once they get closer, they find row after row of ancient goblyn constructs. They're the Cathaoir's musicians, a battalion of iron soldier built centuries ago as defence of the city. Though they're around 100, some of them are so rusted and damaged that they've fallen apart. Others, as soon as they're manipulated by the PCs, fall down in pieces, and others have their power crystals worn out. Only 30 of the 100 could work again, if they knew how to activate them.

Cathaoir's musicians (30)

That's the problem, says Almuxx. After explaining to the young goblyns what the constructs are, he tells them they aren't operative nor can be fixed (they don't have enough crystals to power them up again, and even if they had enough, the Witch Engineers don't fully understand the technology of the musicians). The alternatives for the defence of the city are two; first, a small group of scouts is going to try to ask for reinforcements from the city of Torchuna, but it's at more than 10 journeys of ditance, if they manage to arrive in the first place! 10 days to arrivem 10 days to return, plus the time to organize a militia, es probably too much time. The second alternative, relies in the possibility of finding the means to activate the constructs in the secret refuge of its supposed creator: Aragaxx the wise, a witch engineer that according to the few records in possession of the engineers guild was the main designer of the musicians. Aragaxx died in the cataclysm, or not very long after it, and its refuge was in a minor city (now abandoned) at 6 journeys at the north of Avilax. The city of Graak got partially flooded under the waters of a subterranean lake but its tower is visible above the waters. Perhaps in this hideout there can be found the instructions or some object that manages to make the constructs work again.

Obviously, the PCs will have to cross the enemy lines. Up till what the scouts and the watchmen know, they aren't yet under siege, nor there are enemies in the maximum range of perception of the magical contraptions of the watchmen, but beyond a few leagues, everything is unknown. Out of the walls, groups of soldiers, watchmen and scouts are controlling the surroundings of the city, sheltered behind newly and quickly made defences.

To help the PCs in their mission, the guild masters have gathered a few magical objects powered by power crystals, amongst them the following stuff:

• Two light chainmails (DF +3, minimum strength required good), forged with light metals but hardened like steel with Matter crystal dust.
• A huge greatsword, a huge weapon but as easy tohandle like a normal greatsword (OF +5 with Matter magic).
• Lightning longsword, a sword with an Energy crystal mounted wich adds a +1 of electrical damage (OF +4).
• Frost longsword, a sword with an Energy crystal mounted wich adds a +1 of cold damage (OF +4).
• Igneous armband, which invokes small flame columns over a target (FO +2, can be fired once every 15 minutes).

The PCs must be very stealthy and be always on guard. Fortunately on the north they should hope not finding trouble (Avilax is a city strategically place in the labyrinth of caves of Everdark, closing the passage to a minor and isolated section of caves... at least, that was before the catastrophe, when new tunnels were formed and others where closed).

Actually, they'll have to cross the lines of kobolds and knolls. When they cross a forest of giant mushrooms (where they hoped to collect mushrooms, moss and water as supplies) they'll have to be very stealthy; depending on how stealthy they are, they'll have to face to less or more kobolds plus 2 knolls who were patrolling the area. If they are very cunning, they can evaluate the strength of the goblynoids camping in the forest and deduct that a great battle is going to start soon.

Horde kobolds

Horde knolls

Not too long afterwards, fleeing from the goblynoids (who are trying to catch them), they must turn aside and hide in a small goblyn town abandoned centuries ago (mainly to look for water sources) where they'll have ot fight a few lycantropes who had settled there, and who'll try to ambush them at the best of their skill.

Rat lycanthropes (minor)

They are some goblyns scouts who where infected by lycanthropes and have sought refuge in the ruins.

End of the first part

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