Arc II: The Goblin Lord

## Arc II Characters:

* Lombarghdi [He/Him] (Played by Reagan - He/Him) - A Wood Elf Circle of the Land Druid. Lombarghdi is the descendant of the Nature god Lembo, who went rouge and ended up destroying large parts of the Nature he swore to protect. Due to being his descendant, he not only looks very similar to Lembo, he also has some of his Nature abilities, and is left to pick up where Lembo left off before his death. He met with Nalath soon after, and started traveling with him to learn more about his role in the world. He is known as the negotiator of The Mountainbreakers due to his kind nature and willingness to see things in other perspectives. Once Lord Varyc is freed from his curse, Lombarghdi leaves The Monutainbreakers to continue on his own journey.

* Nalath Mountainbreaker [He/Him] (Played by Evan - He/Him) - A Goliath Path of the Totem Warrior Barbarian. Nalath is one of the few surviving members of his race after the Lovejoy family murdered his entire clan in order to get the land of his people to build the city of Glycaria in the Upnorth. Nalath became a professional fighter in order to make money and survive, but later wanted to do more with his life. He started his own adventuring group, known simply as the Mountainbreakers. He begins the arc very headstrong and stubborn, and not much changes in that regard until he is confronted by Lombarghdi, who chides him for his impulsivity. He travels with a polar bear named Bobo, who he adopted while serving as a gladiator.

* Vikaal [He/Him] (Played by Kristian - He/Him) - A Water Genasi Twilight Domain Cleric. Vikaal was born in a small village blessed by the goddess Selune, who inspired his creation upon two parents who could not conceive a child. He was raised as the towns healer and left to spread the message of his goddess throughout the lands of Hyranor, eventually meeting The Mountainbreakers and joining in their escapades. Within the group he is the no nonsense master of common sense, trying to keep the party going towards their objectives at all times. He also meets and inspires the young Donovan Alaric into becoming an adventurer rather than doing what his father expects of him and becoming the next Monarch of Hyranor.

## Arc II Synopsis:

### Session 1: The Hunt for The Goblin Lord

The Mountainbreakers are in a small carriage on their way to the town of Far Ridge. They have received a letter from Lord Varyc explaining that there is a large beast infestation that he would like the adventurers to come take care of. Traveling with them are new adventuring twins Daniel and Dinnah, who say that they are going to Far Ridge in search of smaller jobs, since they are just starting out.

Once arriving in the city, they go to the Inn for some food where Nalath tells a story about a huge Goblin army he took down singlehandedly. He then begins to causes a scene before the others pull him out of there and they head for the Ridge Keep. When they arrive, they are greeted by Declan Helvan, The Right Hand to Lord Varyc, who explains that the Lord was killed not long ago and that he has risen to take his place. He goes on to explain over dinner that in the nearby Ridge Woods, there is a Goblin who calls himself The Goblin Lord and wishes to wipe out the town and take it over with his army of Goblins. He then welcomes them to stay the night at the Keep before heading out in the morning. As they sleep, Lombarghdi and Vikaal are awoken by a ghostly vision of a woman, who leads them to a back room, through a keep, and to a painting of Lord and Lady Varyc. Confused, they all head to bed again. In the morning, after looking around a bit longer realize that the ghost was that of Lady Varyc.

In the morning they head off into the woods, eventually stopping when they hear screaming. Lombarghdi enters into the woods with Vikaal, where they find the body of Daniel strung up to a tree with a sign written in blood saying "Goblin City ahead, beware tresspassers". After fighting two Wargs, they head back to the others as they continue through the forest until they come across a clearing with four mercenaries in the center around a fire. The group engages and makes quick work of the mercenaries, leaving only one left alive to interrogate. The one person left is a human man names Walder Fang, a former knight to the Kingdom who left to find better money in Mercenary work. With little effort needed to convince him, he explains that Declan had hired them to kill any adventurers who come into these woods and to make it look like the work of the Goblins, to keep control of the people of Far Ridge using fear. He also tells them that The Goblin Lord does exist, but he doesn't live in the forest, but in the mountains instead. The group then travels to said mountains after taking the night to rest. After waking and brief travel, they are greeted with a small rope bridge puzzle, then greeted with the almighty Goblin Lord himself.

The Goblin Lord introduces himself as Lord Jonathan Varyc, and tells them of how he was transformed into this form by Declan in order for him to take over his city. He knows it is a long shot, but asks for The Mountainbreakers help in order to get his town back. He knows of a powerful Alchemist in Tyle that can cure him, but the journey to Tyle and back would take months, so he proposes that they simply use the Lovejoy families teleportation circles that lead directly to Tyle, as Glycaria is a much closer destination. Giving them some money to fare a ship, the group then travels forward to Glycaria, with Walder staying back to protect Lord Varyc, trying to regain his honor after a talk with Lombarghdi the night before.

### Session 2: Party Foul

Arriving at the border to Glycaria, the Mountainbreakers find themselves traveling via carriages through an Anti-Magic Field that surrounds the city, one that noticeably ends once you enter into the city itself. They travel around the city, stopping at another Inn where Vikaal charms two Dwarves that Nalath had aggravated into giving the party a map of the Lovejoy mansion. The group learned that The Lovejoy's were having a party, which would keep the family distracted enough to let the adventurers steal the runes for the teleportation circle.

As they sneak into the party that night and flying to the roof of the Manor where the Teleportation Circle was, they consulted the map and knew that the runes were stored in a vault on the first floor. Managing to avoid attracting attention to themselves, they were able to sneak to the first floor while Lombarghdi stayed behind to make sure they weren't followed. Vikaal again charmed a guard into letting them past as they entered the vault itself then immediately tripping an alarm, trapping them inside with a group of Drones. Lombarghdi heard the commotion below him and entered the vault as well. The trapped adventurers finished off the drones, then grabbed all of the runes and fled after realizing they were all unable to read the Elvish writing used to label them on the wall. On their way out, Nalath saw Jack and Gem Lovejoy and managed to have Vikaal charm Gem into following him into another room where Jack entered asking what was going on here Vikaal used his Ring of Shooting Stars to blast everyone in the room as Gem restrained Nalath and Vikaal fled, to be turned around by Lombarghdi demanding that they save him.

Vikaal was able to revive Bobo, who was harmed by radiant damage done by his Ring of Shooting Stars. While Lombarghdi saved Nalath, and they were able to make it to the teleportation circle on the roof before being confronted by Gem once again who Nalath pushed into a random teleportation destination. They fiddled with the circle until they were able to find the one rune that lead directly to Tyle, though it may have been too direct for their liking, since they found themselves in the royal garden.

### Session 3: The Right Hand's Fall

The Mountainbreakers have found themselves weary and ragged in the royal garden of the Ember Keep in Tyle. Nearby, the second Prince of Hyranor Donovan Alaric sat reading a book about The Old Hunters and their adventures. He rose when they arrived and quickly tended to their wounds, and agreed to let them out of the castle while also being inspired to possibly go adventuring himself one day.

Once outside the castle, The party split up to do some shopping, reconverting at the shop of an Ancient Gnomish Alchemst named Liliora Bronzecrag. After a short but confusing conversation they were able to secure the potion to cure Lord Varyc of his condition. After a quick reentry into the castle they were able to find the teleportation rune for Far Ridge and appear at a nearby, Lovejoy-owned mine. After talking to some of the townsfolk camped out near the mine, they learned that Declan had done something to himself to gain more power and had attack the townsfolk, causing them to flee. When they went to The Goblin Den, they found it laden with the corpses of the Goblins they had met weeks ago, and a bleeding Walder, who was also close to death. After being healed, Walder told them that Declan had done all of this single handedly and had take Lord Varyc to slay him and seem like a hero again to the people.

Walder provided the group with a map of Far Ridge Keep to help them find there way. Once inside the city, they found it to be barren of all life. They trudged through the lifeless city and made their way to the keep. Inside, they solved puzzles and fought tough ferocious beasts, with one room in particular warning of excess greed, greed that caused a fight within the Mountainbreakers as Nalath gave into his impulsivity once again and almost got himself and others killed. This sparked something within him, and he would soon apologize to the group for his actions and promise to do better from that moment on. Reinvigorated with new energy, the group pressed on into Declans chambers, only to find him resting and waiting for them, knowing they'd be coming, Declan revealed himself to be a Vampire, bearing his fangs as he charged towards the group. But, finally working as a team, Lombarghdi used his magic to enhance Nalaths already immense strength in order to wipe the floor with Declan, thus freeing Lord Varyc and allowing him to be cured.

Lord Varyc made sure that everyone around Hyranor would know of what The Mountainbreakers did for their kingdom, and they would go on to become renowned heroes of the kingdom. All except for Lombarghdi, who felt that his purpose lay outside adventuring for now, but promised he would one day see his friends again.

## Arc II Trivia:

* The theme of this Arc is that appearances can be deceiving, and that who someone presents as may not be who they actually are
* In the first session of the arc, there was a 4th PC played by Gabe once again. But due to scheduling conflicts and lack of group melding and enjoyment, that PC did not return for the other 2 sessions. It was decided that it would be best to erase the character from the story to avoid any continuity issues.
* In session one, Walker used some variant rules from the DMG including the Lingering Images table. After the first session it was decided that this was not enhancing the fun of the game enough to continue to do and so they were scrapped for the rest of the Arc
* This was the first Arc to have the idea of death be real, so each of the players made a backup character to use in case of character death, none of them were used in this arc, but one of the backup characters evolved into a PC for Arc IV
* This arc introduced the Lovejoy Family, a family of high elves with a matriarch who is a 20th level Wizard