Session 14, 2007-12-15: The Law of Inverse Ninja Power

Session 14: wherein an outpost, a spellsink manual, and a Ghern commander are captured, and Rojin is defeated

Players (Characters)
Scott (Filthy Ike)
Jeremy (Flynn Flamm)
Tony (Brother Jakob)
Rachel (Lotus)
Tom (Nathaniel Graythorne)
DM: Catherine

As the hobgoblins retreated, they lit up a set of smokesticks to obscure their exit. Nathaniel cast a ghost sound into the hallway to try to distract the spellsinks and Ike killed the unconscious troll with a well-aimed arrow. Lotus cast Wind Tunnel on Ike, which allowed him to disperse the smoke in the hallway and get a clear view of the two portcullises surrounding a puddle on the floor. Ike fired several arrows at a hobgoblin soldier in the room beyond, nearly paralyzing the enemy. Flynn began singing about the arrival of the Chord of Doom. Nathaniel's attempt to Phantasmal Killer a hobgoblin engineer was dispelled, but Lotus' flamestrike succeeded. The hobgoblins retreated into the smokier parts of their room as Jakob threw a stone door into the puddle between the portcullises. Ike's blowing smoke revealed a hobgoblin foot, which he shot precisely in the most damaging spot with a poisoned arrow. Flynn again hasted the party, and Nate fired his crossbow, thinking it had a higher chance of success than spells did.

Lotus summoned a large air elemental as the hobgoblins continued to cower. Jakob tried to tear another stone door away from its hinges, but it barely held in place. Ike stepped forward and killed a spellsink and an engineer. Nathaniel's Great Thunderclap was blocked by another unseen enemy, but Lotus' air elemental blew the last of the smoke away to reveal the remaining engineer and spellsinks. The elemental tried to toss a spellsink in front of Ike, but the spellsink's magical defenses proved too potent. A few hobgoblin soldiers made feeble attempts to hurt the elemental, but its physical defenses proved the same. Ike fired a few more shots at a hobgoblin soldier while Nate created an illusory air elemental and Lotus summoned a dire wolf.

A spellsink stepped forward and tried to dispel Nathaniel's illusion, but failed. Jakob propped one portcullis open with the stone door he'd finally managed to tear down, and noted that the puddle was highly flammable oil. Ike shot at the spellsink who'd stepped into sight, but it was Nate's crossbow bolt that dealt the killing blow. The air elemental brought the other spellsink into view, and Lotus' dire wolf tripped the largest remaining soldier. The wolf also held the spellsink down, proving far more effective than the spell Lotus tried to cast. The hobgoblin soldiers focused their attacks on the pair of summons, bringing both near their ends. As Jakob stepped forward to lift the second portcullis, a hiding hobgoblin lit the oil on fire. Ike blasted the last spellsink and then fired a pair of arrows through the small slit in the wall, killing the hidden hobgoblin. Flynn fired some arrows at the remaining enemies, and Nate confused the pack before backing around the corner.

The elemental and the wolf kept pounding away as Lotus dehydrated the leading soldier, killing him. The confused hobgoblins started running and attacking each other, though one managed to kill the wolf before it fell to its confused ally. Jakob lifted the final portcullis and propped it open, giving Ike a clear shot to kill a hobgoblin engineer. Nate held another entineer while Lotus, Jakob, Ike, and the air elemental moved forward to finish off the remaining live enemies. The enemies tried to focus their last, desperate attacks on Flynn, but couldn't get into the hallway past Jakob. The party quickly dropped the remaining enemies, keeping one soldier and one engineer alive but unconscious. Jakob picked up valuable and useful-looking gear and broke the remaining weapons in the armory, thinking it important to leave future hobgoblins less able to fight.

The party moved down a hallway and opened the nearest door. Two hobgoblins inside the room fired a catapult full of flaming metal at the door, narrowly missing Jakob and barely injuring the somewhat fire-resistant Ike. Two others operated a metal dinosaur-like machine of the right size and shape to have carved out most of the complex. Ike shot one of the engineers in the face while Nate confused the other three. Flynn began singing, and Jakob killed the unconfused enginner. One of the confused engineers drove the dinosaur into a wall while the others stood babbling. Ike took out the engineer standing outside and Jakob popped the top of the dinosaur open, punching and killing one of the engineers. The other tried to draw his bow and attack, giving Jakob an opening to strike him dead.

Nate hopped in the dinosaur and tried to get it working, but couldn't figure out the complex machinery. The party piled all sorts of treasure into the dinosaur and Jakob dragged it outside, and Ike gladly burned other items in the outpost. Lotus took a few minutes to focus on some new spells while Nate chatted with an orc who had been cooking dinner, deciding to leave the civilian alive despite its questionable allegiances. In a room near the end of the complex, the party found an elf who had been a spellcaster but had been somehow neutralized by the spellsinks. The elf was tending to a library full of hobgoblin training manuals, including one that described the spellsink training process.

The party headed for the final door within the complex, with Flynn casting haste and singing on approach. Jakob kicked the door open to reveal a room full of ashes and burning paper and a single hobgoblin. Ike shot the hobgoblin, who charged at Jakob and found himself quickly on the ground. Jakob punched the hobgoblin unconscious, and Nate set about scouring the room for unburned papers. Only one held any tidbit of useful information: some group was apparently "ready for the legion of Ghern". Disappointed in the lack of written information, the party teleported the unconscious hobgoblin leader, the previously-captured soldier and engineer, and the dinosaur full of treasure back to Kinari, where the elves took over interrogation.

Early the next morning, the Ninja Mongoose Rockstars headed back into the outpost and stepped behind the door marked with the skull and crossbones. This led to a deep and dark shaft with a staircase circling downward. Lotus cast daylight on a stone and dropped it, revealing a stone inscription at the bottom of the shaft: "Here lies Rojin. Death awaits the unworthy." The party headed downward, discovering four doors marked with different symbols and a single tomb with four slits. Rojin's ghost materialized and matter-of-factly detailed the scenario: there were four tests ahead, each of which was necessary for a true ninja to pass. These were the tests of silence, darkness, numbers, and speed, each of which would wield a dagger that could be used as a key to the test.

Ike opted to approach the test of silence. Nate cast silent portal to quiet the door. Inside was a wall of greater dispelling and a room with several spouts hanging from the ceiling. Skeletons lay scattered on the floor. Flynn sang a song to inspire Ike and then quieted down, and Ike stepped quietly across the room, triggering some minor dexterity-draining poison when he breathed a little too loudly. Eventually Ike reached the far side of the room and grabbed a dagger, sneaking carefully back.

Jakob stepped into the test of speed. The door led to a long hallway with a dagger at the end. Jakob ran to the far end of the hallway, grabbed the dagger, and ran back, easily outrunning the spikes that started emerging from the floor.

Ike attempted the test of darkness. The door led to a pitch-black room with a narrow walkway and magical eyes above arrow slits. Jakob tied a rope to Ike and to himself in case retrieval became necessary. Ike stepped carefully around the room, using darkvision to guide him, but found he couldn't reach the dagger because a piece of the walkway had collapsed. He came out and Jakob took his place, easily reaching the dagger. Curious as to what would have happened, Nate threw a flaming bit of paper into the room after everyone had left, and a series of arrows shot through the paper.

Jakob and Ike moved into the test of numbers together. The door led to a room surrounded by 19 more doors and a dagger in the middle. Nate created webs around the room's perimeter and Flynn sang an inspirational song, and then Ike grabbed the dagger. The main door snapped shut the other 19 opened, revealing 19 beginning (summoned) ninjas who immediately became stuck in the webs. The ninjas threw shurikens at Ike, though only a pair managed to hit him. Ike started shooting back, dropping one ninja per arrow. Nate cast dimension door to bring himself, Lotus, and Flynn into the center of the room, saying "a box full of ninjas isn't dangerous; the more ninjas there are, the easier the fight." Flynn hasted the party and Lotus created a dinosaur stampede along the eastern half of the room. Jakob stepped toward one corner and punched one of the weak ninjas. A new group of 19 ninjas appeared, wielding a pair of swords each and finding themselves immediately stuck in the webs. Flynn shot three on the western half of the room, Jakob punched one, and Lotus' dinosaurs and some arc lightning dropped several more. A new group arrived, armed with bows. Nate stunned several, leaving only ten to fire at Ike, and three of those drew attacks from Jakob for their efforts. Ike used some minor healing on himself as the dinosaurs, Jakob, Flynn, and Nate kept dropping individual ninjas. Lotus created a vortex of teeth to cover the parts of the room her dinosaurs weren't already occupying, and the final group of ninjas arrived to find themselves in an ugly spot. A few of them managed to toss some poison at Ike, but he easily resisted and shot the few that Lotus' spells didn't kill. With that, the main door popped open.

With the fourth dagger in place, the ghost spoke: "to win the prize, you must face Rojin himself. Whoever dares, stand here on the floor. All others, step aside." Ike, Lotus, and Jakob stood at the center of the room while Nathaniel and Flynn moved aside. The floor sank a hundred feet downward and a pair of stone slabs closed above the newly-formed pit. Rojin's ghost suddenly disappeared. Ike used his headband to grant himself True Seeing, which revealed Rojin now standing upside down on the ceiling. Jakob began climbing as the ghost cast Find the Gap. Lotus cast wind tunnel on Ike, whose four arrows found their mark and killed the ghost. With that, the floor rose up and Rojin's corpse appeared, with Fox's Bite in hand. Ike spit on the corpse and grabbed the bow, wondering why Nathaniel and Flynn had been so cowardly as to stay out. Nate replied "I didn't get to be 187 years old by climbing into a box with one ninja."