Our party returned to the town of Brakken, with their goblin prisoner Grik-Grik, after their initial foray into the Tomb of the Iron God. As they spend the next couple of days recovering, the weather takes a nasty turn. A sharp blast of cold hovers over Brakken. Many of the townsfolk contribute the extreme cold on the fact that the Iron God has forsaken the town.
In a couple of days, with the party recovered, it is thought best to lay to rest the bodies of Capt. Conik (
slain by Sgt. Morak beneath the Tower of Zenopus), Moar, and Tero with a burial at sea.
With the townsfolk worried about the news that Goblins have moved in to the abandoned tomb, it was debated what to do about them. The town Magistrate's position was to not anger the Iron God any more and to just leave the temple be. Father Harris, on the other hand, felt that letting the Goblins of the Iron Hills gain a foothold near the town would spell trouble for Brakken. Against the Magistrates wishes, it was decided to rid the ruined temple of the Goblin presence with the aid of the captured Grik-Grik.
So the next morning, the party, along with Grik-Grik and Father Harris, made their way up the Path of the Dead once more. They were surprised, however, having met two of the Magistrate's body-guards, who were asked to accompany the party to the Tomb. Wary of their true motives, the party reluctantly allowed them to come along.
Before long, the party descended the stairs beneath the ruins of the Temple of the Iron God. Following Grik-Grik direction, they headed through the left door.
As they traveled down the passage, Father Harris triggered a trap door and fell into a pit. Wounding his leg pretty badly, the good priest of St. Mellon heals himself before climbing out of the pit.
Once the party made their way to the other side of the now open pit, they explored a side chamber and found a round room with a pool of murky water. After toying with the water for a bit and not finding anything odd, Gnarly filled a water skin thinking the murky water may come in handy.
They continued down the hall and ducked down another side chamber as the buzzing of a couple of Stirges flew by.
They found that they were in a similar chamber except that the pool was empty and there were two iron statues of priests of the Iron God. Also the walls were decorated with inlaid iron in a mesmerizing pattern.
Tibag and Gedleesmote examined the fountain while Gnarly examined the statues. The druid noticed that the statues were incredibly detailed and that their faces held an expression of great horror and pain. Upon further examination, Gnarly noticed that their facial expressions has, however slightly, changed.
Not knowing if these statues were alive, animated or dead, the party tested the iron figures with weapons. Seeing as how nothing happened, Gedleesmote preceded to knock one of them over, the sound of which reverberated throughout the silent halls.
Finding nothing of value in the empty fountain, the party decided to continue forward seeking the goblins. They didn't't have far to search as they heard a ruckus and a number of goblin voices in the distance down the hall. They decided to take cover in an alcove and let Tibag sneak forward to see whats-what. Well, the goblins spot him and fired some arrows. Tibag hi-tailed it back down the hall with the goblins in hot pursuit!
As the Rogue passes the alcove, the party lets a couple of goblins pass before they jump out and engage.
Wolfheir, Father Harris defend the hall from the oncoming creatures along with the help of Gnarly in the second rank. Tibag turned to face his pursuers as Gedleesmote and one of the Guards attack them from behind.
Alas, the battle faired poorly for our brave adventurers! (The dice were not rolling in our players favor that evening,
much like an earlier expedition). Though Wolfheir and Father Harris were barely heald their own, they were getting sliced up pretty badly. Gnarly even tossed his flask of water from the well only to apparently soak a goblin. Seeing the battle leaning in favor of the Goblins, Grik-Grik leaped on the back of one of the guards who shook him off with ease. Tibag and Gedlee finished off their goblins and the dwarf stayed the hand of the guard who is ready to slay their goblin captive.
It was decided to retreat to a more open area as the hall in front of them filled with goblins and the wounds were piling up. So the party retreated to one of the round chambers. Gnarly lit a flask of oil and as Wolf and Father Harris entered the room with the goblins in hot pursuit, Gnarly tossed the flask. The oil ignites in the center of the oncoming horde killing many of the creatures. A couple of them were close enough to miss the flames but are dispatched by Tibag's arrows and the Dwarf's axe.
How quickly the tide has turned! The rest of the goblins began to retreat as Tibag continued to fire beyond the flames killing more of the fleeing creatures. With a burst of confidence, the party chased after the remaining goblins only to come face to face with their goblin chief and his shaman who rallied the few remaining gobos.
Tibag took aim at the shaman with his bow but the shaman proved to be a challenge to kill as he healed his wounds after the arrows struck! Eventually, Tibag took him down. Gedlee and Wolf battled with the remaining goblins while Gnarly killed them with his spear and flung their dead bodies over his shoulder and into the Dwarf's cart. The last goblin ran in fear down a hallway leaving the Chief who was extremely pissed off, especially at the Dwarf Gedleesmote. The chief vowed to slay the dwarf and the two engaged but the dwarf was quick and cleaved the chief from skull to torso!
Grik-Grik ran up and removed the Chief's neckless and declared himself chief. With most of the goblins dispatched, Grik-Grik lead the party to the goblins lair. Grik-Grik and the party, thinking that the rest of the Goblins would be there cautiously opened the door only to find the chamber empty. Plenty of evidence of goblins but none present. Just a collected pile of grave trinkets recovered from the tombs.
here has been much talk over the recent years about the early evolution from war-games to that fantasy game we all love with all those funny looking dice. But one must also keep in mind the mindset and culture of the times when the game was birthed. We're talking the late 60's and very early 70's. A time when fantasy and science fiction were being "rediscovered" so to speak.
peaceful hobbits and getting back to the land concepts very much in tune with the counter-culture philosophies and fantasy-trips of the day. There was a band called Gandalf, a London club called Middle Earth, and don't forget the infamous "Frodo Lives" T-shirts too. There was even talk of a Lord of the Rings movie to be directed by Stanley Kubrik and staring The Beatles.
The mid and late 60's also saw the publishing of the Robert E. Howard Conan stories in paperback by Lancer and ACE, albeit heavily edited. That, of course, lead to the Marvel Conan comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. Other paperback companies jumped on board as well featuring Moorecock, Lovecraft and others, sporting fantastic cover art from the likes of Frank Frazetta and Jeff Jones.
Fantasy and Science Fiction were seeping deep into the pores of our culture. It was all around and still in a pure-form. It had not been commercialized or sanitized or even sharply defined or divided. It was Science Fiction and Fantasy and it encompassed many things with the two very much blurring into each other.
It is no surprise then that some creative war-gamers took those games to another level; to attempt to bring one into these realms of fantasy and to experience for one's self the excitement and freedom and in some cases grim horror of these worlds, if only for a few hours. Thus were born Greyhawk, Blackmoore, Dragons, Dungeons, Metamorphosis Alpha, Tekumel, Traveller and many other 'Fantasy Role-Playing Games', the affects of which are still being felt to this day.
