Visit to Castle Zagyg

On 6/8 Joe theLawyer ran a session of Castle Zagyg. In attendance were Eric Boyd, Gabriel Perez Gallardi, David Williams, Chris Hales, Darcy Wyatt, and myself.

Cast of Characters:
Nick the Pike
Hustleburr Gnimbleknucks IV (Gnome)
Korath
Gimli of Geoff (Dwarf)
Kellan the Illusionist
- Kip the Fighter
Sir. Digby Chicken Caesar (bear riding Goblin wizard)

Nick the Pike arrived by small fishing boat to the ruins of Castle Zagyg. Rumor was that a massive dungeon existed beneath it (much like Stonehell) and that a group of adventurers had taken over the ruins and was exploring the dungeon. What the rumors didn’t mention was the fact that the castle was guarded by a whole tribe of goblins, under the command of the adventurers!

After introductions were made, the group decided to allow Nick to join them on their next run to pacify the local area. The whole place was honeycombed with caves, in addition to the dungeon proper.

Before heading out, the gnome decided to test some wall of death invention that he intended to bring into the dungeons with him. It exploded, taking out a couple of his goblin assistants. About the same time a group of soldiers and adventurers demanded that the adventurers turn over control of the castle to them. This request was denied - with catapult fire and a summoned wingless wyrm that had a strange spined fin on its back. The soldiers turned tail and ran, but the adventuring party split and headed around toward the back of the castle. The adventurers then suited up, picked about two dozen goblins, and gave chase to the adventurers that headed north around the castle, hiding in the woods off to that side.

The enemy adventurers took refuge in one of the already cleared out caves. Knowing of a secret back entrance, the adventurers sneaked through to the secret door, sending Nick back out with the goblins to create a pincer action. It worked exactly as planned. There was a suit of plate mail that Nick wanted to lay claim to, but the spoils went to Korath.

Departing the caves, the party then took off after the other half of the enemy party. According to the goblin lookouts, they also took refuge in one of the caves. This time however, it wasn’t one that was previously explored. The party sent in the goblins first, charging and screaming... followed immediately by the sound of about two dozen bodies hitting the floor, followed by a voice calling out in welcome.

After some negotiation the party discovered that the elves and their bodyguards are dimension hopping observers of this dungeon. Weird, but ok. They apparently trade in some of the magical items from the dungeon, which Nick’s companions took advantage of. The enemy adventurers that the party was chasing had used one of the gates into the dungeon that was within the lair of the elves. The party opted to finish clearing out the caves around the castle, rather than chase the adventurers around the dungeon.

The first cave contained a kobold lair, which the goblins sacked with relish, especially when the armory was discovered with the far superior equipment to what the goblins carried. Eventually the kobold King Wigglerock was found and his iron crown taken forcibly. There was a discussion about setting up a puppet king, but given the goblins were already under the parties command and the enmity between the goblins and kobolds it was decided that the kobold lair would be cleared. With the judicious use of flaming oil, they were quickly wiped out. In the throne room a secret door was discovered, leading to a large dirty cave, which quickly turned out to be owned by an ogre who swatted goblins like they were bugs. The ogre, in spite of his size and strength, fell to the parties combined power very quickly.

Among the other finds was a goblin prisoner from a splinter tribe. Seeing this as an opportunity to reunite the goblin tribes (and thus increase their own power) the party decided to return to the castle and show the rescued goblin how good his cousins had it. The next morning the party headed out to the caves of the splinter tribe.

Sir. Digby Chicken Caesar and the rescued goblin headed into the cave to begin negotiations. After the wild night the rescued goblin had, it didn’t take long. Clearing all the goblins out of the caves and into the castle took most of the day, but once done the party wasted no time doing a very thorough search. While the goblins had cleared out just about everything (not including their place of worship and shaman’s cave which were left alone) they apparently never discovered 2 secret doors. One opened to reveal a set of stairs guarded by a lumpy slime that seemed to ignore both fire and ice. The party resealed that door. The other door revealed a secret treasury which included much gold and several wondrous items, including an ion stone, a javelin of lightning, and a magical short sword!

Calling it a day, the party returned to the castle to divide the spoils.

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This was a very different session for me to play in. Bringing along a party with 6 PCs, 3 NPC retainers, and over 20 goblins there was little that even slowed the party down, In addition the wanton slaughter removed any idea that these guys were in any way heroic!

On the other hand, who needs heroic when you come out alive, richer, and more experienced! I hope that next time I get to venture to Castle Zagyg Nick will get a chance to see the dungeon itself.