EXPEDITION: 29th January 2026

Expedition notes

A make-shift militia has been established in town, building walls and barricades around the perimeter. Apparently in the last week there have been two hobgoblin raids. It's been a long time since hobgoblins have been seen around here, and no one knows where they are coming from. Before setting out to the dungeon Shanks hired Norman, a normal man, and Fiona hired Dorothy, a magic-user, to accompany them into the dungeon. Arriving at the crumbling curtain wall that closes off the canyon leading to the dungeon entrance the party met a large force of goblins, accomopanied by their king. The king was upset about orc activity in the dungeon - the orcs, apparently buoyed by a new alliance (i.e. the party), had, ust yesterday, mounted a push into the mushroom gardens and a small scale slaughter of goblins (and a couple of orcs) ensued. He was suspicious of the parties ability to follow through on their deal to rid the dungeon of the orcs, and has stepped up the demands - bones and teeth will no longer suffice as payment for safe passage, and now the payment must be fresh orc flesh. Party, with little choice other than violence, agrees.

Upon entering the dungeon the party headed to the unexplored north-west corner of the entry quadrant, finding signs to a "dragons" lair, and they are warned by a kobold work crew to stay away from the dragon. They do, and discover a well. Listening at the well they hear movement and voices - scurrying and screaming. Fiona decides she wants to explore. By connecting a ladder to a length of rope a passage down the well is secured, and Fiona gets lowered down. She enters a darkened room on the second floor of the dungeon and, using infravision alone, is confronted with a jabbering crazed old man charging at her. She tries to brace herself against the mans charging impact but slips on the damp stones of the floor and falls, and the berserk human is on top of her. Lacrymosa deftly jumps down the well shaft and lands safely at the bottom, followed by a torch (to light the room). She helps restrain this berserk man, and is then joined on the second floor by Shanks Armitage and Norman. Exploring a little they discover a room covered in child-like drawings and grafiti, populated by a docile group of pale-skinned humans - men, women and children. After providing directions to the lizardman territory on the second floor it becomes clear that these people have been living down here for a long time - generations probably. This is reflected in their mental state and their diet - they politely request custody of the berserk old man so that they can feed their children. The party refuses. For Norman, the normal man, this is too much - he flees in terror into the dark. The party prepares to head back up the rope, and starts wondering what to do with the berseker. Unable to reach a decision Shanks cuts his throat when no one is looking, and blames it on Norman.

Returning to level one the party decides to explore the area a little to find an easy route to the mushroom caverns to inspect the aftermath of the goblin massacre and, ideally, scavenge some fresh orc flesh for the goblin king on the surface. On the way there they find a corridor lined with doors. Opening one of these reveals a small crypt room. Inside is a skeleton which, almost immediately, kills brave Dorothy who had been told to open the door. The skeleton is slayed, and Lacrymosa discovers a broom of flying within the crypt. Thinking better of opening more crypt doors the party moves on toward the mushroom caverns. On the way they encounter a kobold work crew who are themselves heading to the mushroom caverns to clean it up. Very kindly, the party offers to clean it up for them so that they might take a break, or move onto some other tasks. They also encounter a terrifyingly large lizard - thanks to some quick thinking from Lacrymosa she is able to get a deadly strike into the belly of the beast when it is unaware of her, and it is finished off by Charles.

In the mushroom cavern fresh orc flesh is, indeed, found. The party engages with some mushroom picking* and then decides it's time to start back to town, just in case anything goes wrong on the way.

On the way back Fiona decides to investigate a glowing rune in a niche in the wall that they have found before, but ignored. Touching it she and Shanks are teleported into a doorless room, and find themselves looking at an untidy desk with an ornate star chart hanging above it. On the desk is a spellbook** - an incredible find. They take the spellbook and the star chart (which, to the right buyer, will be worth a lot of money) and leave via a return rune. Hopefully the owner of the book is long dead...

On the way back the giant lizard is skinned so that they might sell its hide, and the party has a run-in with more crab spiders. They are safely and carefully dispatched, and their venom glands harvested.

On the surface the party pays the goblin king with their fresh orc flesh and, before heading back to town, Lacrymosa takes the broom for a spin. Flying up over the canyon she spots, in the side of the mountain, a bloody trail leading down a track to a crevass in the side of the mountain and scattered animal bones around the crevass. She spots discarded weaponry that looks very similar in design and metalworking to the armour and metal items worn by the hobgoblins spotted in the kobold market. Upon returning to town Norman's brother is informed of what happened to him, and a song is comissioned in memory of Dorothy. There are murmurs in the inn about how no one the party hires every comes back from their first day out adventuring...

*1x lusty stump knight, 1x Millard's rollrim, 1x necromancers bane, 1x queen of the night.

** Contains the following first level spells: sleep, ventriloquism, floating disc, hold portal, and the following second level spells: locate object, web, ESP.