Oghma & The Wounded Gold Star

**Story Arcs**

###### **ROWING ACROSS THE BLOODIED RESERVOIR**

The party wake up and have a small breakfast, Smitty Jaskir tells the group that they could take a shortcut that would not involve them needing to walk across the Bloodied Coast again. They could instead opt to go with him to the dock he build nearby and row across the Bloodied Reservoir, the body of water which the Bloodied Coast connects to.

The group agree to take this method of transport, and before they head off are given a special piece of paper by Smitty Jaskir which he says is connected to a piece of paper that he owns, which both people can use to communicate from great distances apart. He wants the group to send him a message of their success to know if and when he should start packing up to head back into Jaskir.

The party move down towards the small dock and boat which Smitty build by his own hands.

###### **REELING IN TROUBLE**

Before they depart, Smitty hands the group some bait and fishing rods to use while he rows them across the Bloodied Reservoir. The group participate in some fishing and have various mixed results and end up in some shenanagins.

Leopold takes his rowdiness too far and agitates Ashes to the point of him getting up and rocking the boat by accident, making a frustrated Smitty tell the paladin to steel himself and sit down.

Leopold makes more of a fool of himself when he attempts to issue a fishing contest with Bogladin, which ends up with Leopold (either intentionally or by animal instinct) slashes the fish that Bogladin reels in as it flies in the air, spraying blood all over the two.

Bogladin shrugs it off and mediates, and Leopold smokes the rest of the way until they dock on the other side of the Bloodied Reservoir. Once they land, Leopold and Smitty get out to have a talk in private on the beach.

Ashes gets up and begins to wrestle with Leopold who defends himself for a moment, but unable to best the strength of a paladin is lifted up, spun around and thrown into the water, drenching the catfolk and snuffing out the lit sunclusters inside his pipe. Satisfied, Ashes debarks and meets up with Bogladin and Smitty. Leopold follows, drenched to the bone but not taking it too personally; he shakes himself off besides the goliath like a dog, spraying water on the group.

###### **SMITTY'S WARNING**

Smitty tells the group what he told Bogladin in private, they should just follow the beach straight ahead until they reach the gates and to not even bother going anywhere near the ruins that can be found littered in the battle scarred regions of Jaskir.

He warns them of a strange phenomenon involving a alluring voice calling adventurers and even himself at one point into that area, which is not only dangerous because of the instability of the structures in that area but also the monstrous presence there, not to mention the pretty sketchy voice that rings inside your head.

Smitty prepares to head back to his home, waving goodbye and reminding the group to message him if they are successful.

##### 🏛️**THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA - CHAPTER 1**

###### **TOWARDS THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA**

The party follow the route but a few minutes into the trek are met with the scream of a man, which leads them to a old path marked off with a severed hand and rusted sword with a trail of blood leading them further off route.

Ashes couldn't resist the call of adventure as well as the potential to save someone's life so he quickly followed the trail of blood which led the group towards a area littered with the remnants of civilization.

The group spotted a large building which looked relatively intact and a man sitting by some rubble, the man was surprised to see some adventurers and told them of what happened here.

##### 👨‍🦲**THE MYSTERIOUS HOLY MAN - CHAPTER 1**

###### **DRAVEN BARLOW'S DEPICTION**

He welcomes the group and introduces himself as Draven Barlow, an adventurer who was hired by the mayor of Jaskir Lawretta Stowen to come to this ruin to purge it of the monstrous threat which resided within, as well as uncover the source of the strange voices that seem to be originating from this source. Draven also states that this job was supposed to be very hush-hush and that he wasn't supposed to tell a soul about this job but that since the task failed he might as well spill the beans.

He explains that when he and his party came in here they were quickly ambushed by kobolds who rigged the place with traps, but something went awry and the place started collapsing when someone flung fireballs within the ruins. It instantly killed both groups and trapped many others sealing their fates.

Being one of the few survivors he took a moment to crawl out and ponder on his actions, deciding to heal up and to run home back to his wife and children. No amount of coaxing could convince the man to come with the party into the ruins.

##### 👹**MASKED SWORDSMAN - CHAPTER 1**

###### **RESCUING SILENT PEEPO**

The party make their way into the Ruined Church of Oghma, excluding Leopold who finds the whole idea of "plunging into a creepy dark ruin" not to be very pleasant and opts to stay outside to have a smoke or two or three.

The duo consisting of Bogladin and Ashes find a flight of stairs leading down. As they venture into the darkness a pair of eyes spots them coming and starts to shout for help. A man trapped under rubble begs the adventurers to free him from the rocks, which Ashes and Bogladin do without question.

With relative ease the two clear the rubble and free the mysterious robed man wearing a mask, who calls himself Silent Peepo. He tells the two that he was part of the group sent here by Lawretta Stowen, and despite the pay for the job he only really took it in search of Shards which he uses on his special healing flask. He retells a similar story to Draven and says that he was part of a group that split off to search this hallway.

Once the place started to collapse, he saw a few people get crushed instantly; and he's fairly certain that there isn't many survivors left; if at all.

##### 🏛️**THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA - CHAPTER 2**

###### **VENTURING THROUGH THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA**

The duo, now a trio including Silent Peepo says he'll join them to venture further inside the ruins. Going deeper the party see lots of rubble and blood, as well as the crushed body of a kobold.

The party press on and find a bedroom area, and a hallway which leads them through trap after trap. Arrows are fired and pits are opened as monks plummet into spikes. Utilizing some rope, Ashes and Silent pull Bogladin out of the spike pit and find themselves in a room full of chests and crates, with a dead adventurer laying on a pressure plate keeping the arrow trap from rearming.

Nothing much of note is in the room besides a emptied chest that looked like it was recently rummaged through and a crate full of dried rations. Moving into the next room the floor is littered with more blood and books which have been completely ruined. On the ground there is also a kobold who struggles and begs the humanoids in broken Common to help the kobold so that it can flee.

Ashes helps the poor creature and heals its broken leg, it thanks Ashes and quickly stumbles out of the room; unlocking a door as it hastily starts to run away. Before the dragonoid leaves he warns the party of an ambush set up by his people on the floor downstairs. Inside the room there are no books of worth except for one titled "The Gold Star". Ashes pockets it and the party moves forward.

Bogladin accidentally triggers a pressure plate trap and gets shot with an arrow, knocking him unconscious but is quickly brought back up by Ashes. The party move ahead and find a ritualistic looking altar area connected to a very tight hallway leading to a pit.

The pit sounded like it had creatures, the sound of hissing and slithering as well as what could only be described as bone crunching and flesh tearing. Dropping a torch into the pit, Silent Peepo observes some large snake like creatures ripping apart an unidentifiable corpse.

Silent Peepo heads back to explain what he saw, the group take note and prepare themselves to head downstairs.

###### **THE MYSTERIOUS RELIEF AND DISARMAMENT**

Before moving on, Bogladin spots something strange about the altar he was trying to avoid having anything to do with. He notices a spot that looks like it held some sort of object, in the shape of some very intricate looking star. Silent Peepo, who now notices this relief thanks to Bogladin deduces that this was probably some sort of slot designed to fit with a magical vessel that was used at this ritualistic altar.

Moving ahead, the group led by Ashes who wields a torch in hand go down further into another tight dark hallway. Ashes sets off another pressure plate trap, activating a swinging axe pendulum trap which painlessly clanks off the tough armor currently worn by the towering goliath. The goliath notices some gears and using his golden light hammer smashes the cogs, disabling the remainder of the traps throughout the dungeon. Ashes sets off another plate in the control room which Silent Peepo notices smells like flammable liquid, a flame trap which had been disabled by the brute force of Ashes.

##### 🏛️**THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA - CHAPTER 3**

###### **HEADING DOWNSTAIRS**

Bogladin prepares himself for combat by focusing on the Dagger of Zen, his power manifesting into a cloned inverted dagger (d4). The group go downstairs, led by Ashes who charges up his gold light hammer with some divine energy; quickly making his way down the steps; walking past a decapitated head of some poor adventurer and reaching the bottom of the stairs. He calls out to his friends (completely ruining any semblance of surprise) and kicks down the door which busts off the hinges and lands on a pressure plate, which fails to trigger.

Ashes spots a black **Kobold Dragonshield**who immediately barks an order in Draconic to his allies who ready their arms for battle. The Dragonshield throws a spear towards Ashes but it misses and hits the wall behind him. Ashes rushes straight ahead to the Dragonshield, getting stabbed by a dagger wielding kobold during the sprint but painlessly clanking off the plate.

Ashes bashes the Dragonshield, it takes a heavy blow against the head with the divine strike and it parries with a spear attack of its own, stabbing the goliath in the chest with a spear he pulled out from the quiver on its back; clutched with both clawed hands. The dagger kobold followed behind and attempted to stab at the back of Ashes, finding a sweet point to deal a painful stab between the layers of armor of the paladin.

Rushing in to assist, Silent Peepo comes behind the dagger wielding kobold and slashes at it with his delayed fire burst blood hunter strike, cleaving its spine and then moments later detonating it with his blood technique killing it. Bogladin follows in after and attempts to throw his shadow dagger at one of the kobolds, missing and clanking off one of the stone walls.

###### **A MERE MOMENT OF PEACE**

Seeing a comrade die, the Kobold Dragonshield whimpers in Draconic and lays down its arms; its comrades doing the same. Everyone sheathes their weapon and Ashes questions why they are here and to explain themselves immediately. The kobold speaks for the group in basic Common, saying that the old leader died, he fell into the refuse pit (referring to the nearby pit full of creatures that Silent Peepo threw a torch down into), and that the artifact that lured not only the kobolds, but the adventurers and perhaps even this group here (referring to Ashes, Bogladin and Silent Peepo) were drawn by the call of the artifact, known as the Gold Star.

Wherever it is now, its not here since the call isn't present, no strange voice can be heard ringing in anyone's ears. Asking what happened to the humans that came here, the kobold leader shows the nearby corpses and explains that they were killed by them. It explains in that he and his group were being led by a evil and powerful magic kobold; but before being able to explain further, Ashes wields his golden light hammer and shouts angrily at the scaly monsters, promising them that he will personally destroy them for their sins; swinging and hitting the Dragonshield in the head again.

Reacting to the pain the kobold shouts in Draconic some order and everyone gets ready and starts to arm themselves once more, the fighting persists and more kobolds die. Bogladin and Ashes take serious wounds during combat, and as reinforcements come in the form of **Kobold Inventors**; Bogladin takes a lethal blow to the head from a rock flung with a sling knocking him unconscious and bleeding out on the floor.

Silent Peepo and Ashes are pushed to their limits and are able to fend off the reinforcements to a point but Ashes gets stabbed and knocked unconscious by the Dragonshield, leaving Silent Peepo to stand his ground and take down the remaining two targets in his path. Peepo focuses, and with one final quick blow slashes quickly against the surprisingly durable and deadly Dragonshield, slashing off its head with one clean motion.

##### 🏛️**THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA - CHAPTER 4**

###### **THE KOBOLD THREAT EXPUNGED**

Seeing the leader die the remaining inventor drops his bag of tricks and rushes into the tent, pulling out some kobold children from inside as well as a few bags of supplies before rushing off with another pair out of the dungeon, leaving the camp here devoid of anyone except the bleeding out heroes and the heavily wounded Silent Peepo.

Peepo rifles through Ashes backpack and finds a potion which he uses to heal the goliath back up to his feet, Bogladin comes to naturally by himself; feeling very dizzy after his head got bashed with a small rock. The group decide to take a rest utilizing the remnants of the kobold camp.

Ashes sets up his bedroll and takes 30 minutes to have a short rest while Bogladin and Peepo pilfer through some of the kobolds things, rummaging what they have off their corpses and tents.

The two find various interesting objects, most notably being two Belt of Many Pockets containing 2 platinum pieces, 2 gold pieces, 350 silver pieces, and 800 copper pieces, a replacement robe for Silent Peepo known as the Blood Thirsty Yukata, a barrel full of potions, a perfectly intact set of thieves tools, and a Bear Tooth Amulet.

Ashes finishes his rest and tells the two to prepare themselves to fight the "disposal pit". They agree and set up to short rest, and Ashes begins to explore the remainder of this bottom level on his own.

###### **ASHES CLEARS THE WAY**

Ashes begins to head down the hallway towards the source of animalistic sound of hissing and flesh tearing; unknowingly stepping on some carefully hidden spikes planted in the floor. His foot gets impaled by one, and using the sudden shock of pain is able to leap across the other set of spikes.

Taking note of the trap, Ashes proceeds down the hallway and inspects a humanoid corpse laying at the end of the trap, who was apparently killed by the kobolds who were hiding down here.

Ashes moves towards the door that leads into the room that is the source of all the noise left in this ruined place, he attempts to listen closely but cant make out the exact amount or level of threat inside this chamber. Putting on the mask, he resists the urge to salivate like a hungry animal at the bloody stench which flooded the entire ruined church.

Listening closely now with his wolf mask, the animalistic hearing made his hearing more focused; he heard the sound of three distinct thrashing and hissing noises eating something as it tore from its body and bones and meat were devoured. Ashes took the mask off, and decided to head back to report to his group.

Making a running long jump across 10 feet of spiked flooring, Ashes vaults over the hazard and lands safely across. He looks around, and sees the door to the side which he bashed off the hinged when he stormed through earlier, laying on the floor. Ashes picks the door up and plants it down on the spiked floor, covering 5 of the 10 feet of dangerous footing with a single piece of solid wood.

###### **THE TRAP HOLE**

Ashes rummages around for a few minutes to pass time for Bogladin and Peepo to finish their long rest. After the two sleepy adventurers come to, Ashes fills them in on the situation and what to expect. Bogladin sees the wounded Ashes and uses some of his ki to heal the goliath paladin.

The group advance to the spike hallway, and using the door are easily able to hop across without any harm done. They prepare themselves to fight, all of them placing themselves in position for combat.

Ashes tries the door, and its locked. Silent Peepo looks through the keyhole but cant see anything moving around; only hearing the sound of hissing and eating. Ashes pulls the blood hunter back and charges to the door; which stays on its hinges but busts a hole through its dry and brittle wooden panel.

The hole is big enough to look through and see the flooring of the chamber, which is littered with bones and blood. It's a undescribable smell and sight. Ashes begins to make his charge to bust through fully but Peepo holds him back.

Silent Peepo casts a Minor Illusion of a complete moron of a man, who stupidly sticks his head into the hole and makes annoying noises to draw its attention. The ruse works, and one snake is drawn towards it; attacking the image and phasing through it, getting stuck in the middle of the door through the hole in the process.

##### 🏛️**THE RUINED CHURCH OF OGHMA - CHAPTER 5**

###### **SMASHING AND SLASHING SNAKES**

The party proceed to fight their way through the three big constrictor snakes that were inside this "disposal" chamber which was repurposed by the now dead kobolds. They are able to kill the beasts and investigate the scene.

They spot a kobold sorcerer who has its back completely devoured, clutching a broken wand with a deadly strong grip that must have snapped it. Nearby is a wizards hat, and on its body is wearing a damaged and bloodied Belt of Many Pockets, containing around 200 gold pieces which Bogladin takes.

In the corner of the room Silent Peepo spots amongst the blown up corner of the chamber wall in the rubble a silver ring that bears a shield crest, he pockets it.

###### **KOBOLD MIND GAME**

Seeing not much else of note in the room the party decide to start heading up and out of the dungeon, giving the area a once over before they leave for good. They head up the stairs and go through the unlocked door which was opened by the kobold who was saved and healed by Ashes.

Inside the room there isn't much of note except for a big desk, which has two drawer units installed on both left and right sides. One opens freely but is completely empty. while the other is completely stuck with no give whatsoever.

After a few minutes of trial and error, Silent Peepo places the ring he found in the crater of the chamber into the empty unit and closes it, creating a loud mechanical clicking sound as the drawer to the other side visibly shifts down in release.

The party open it and find a haul of coins and valuables, as well as a ritual dagger and a small key. They grab it all and decide that there isn't anything else to pilfer through and go up the stairs outside the ruins.

**Story Arcs**