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• Arhian Vos – Human Monk
• Hartmut Helmsworth – Elf Monk
• Sindri Waggletop – (Forest) Gnome Wizard
• Rettniss Kulvith – Water Genasi Druid
• Avacyn “Jolyne” Uloth the Merciless – Half-Orc Paladin
• Twilight Skybane – Tiefling Bard

• As the party is discussing what to do with Bran, son of Niela, Hartmut and Rettniss notice a large humanoid figure barreling through the grass, running in a zig-zag pattern, either wearing a red cloak or drenched in blood; hard to tell in the night
• Sindri tries to cast a Minor Illusion so that a wall springs up before the humanoid, but he’s got his head down and barrels right through the illusion
• Twilight hides Bran behind her as the large humanoid bursts into the camp, revealing an older, healthier male human with a large white beard – and not a bloody cloak, but rather red and white clothing
• He grabs Twilight and says, “You! You! You must help me!” Then he releases her and says, “Wait. You’re not her. But,” he looks around, “all of you must help me” as he pulls his red and white hood over his head.

• He goes on to explain, “There’s some Hobgoblins back there! They ambushed me! They took my sleigh! My deer! My Gem of Light and Levitation and my Bag of Gift Holding! I need your help getting it back!”
• Sindri does a history check – and recalls – that once a year, in the winter, when the year is almost over; a male humanoid, with a white beard, wearing red and white – has supposedly been seen in houses, leaving gifts for children; no one knows why he does it; no one is even sure how he does it since there’s no sign of a break in; and he seems to travel to Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, Humans and all the other races – whether in their homes are on land, air, sea or in the trees, or below the mountains – all delivered, mysteriously – on the same day
• The party learns the strange’s man is Nikalos.
• The party sees he seems very sincere and when asked if he would escort Bran back to the Ivory Coast where his mother is, Nikalos gladly agrees
• Arhian checks to ensure that Nikalos can protect himself, and Nikalos assures him that he can by pulling out an axe from his waist belt (which he claims is normally used to make firewood – it’s really cold where he lives!)

• Sindri mentions that Bran had given them a general direction of the cave where the Hobgoblins were holed up; and asks if Nikalos would be able to provide more details
• Nikalos smiles, chuckles and says, “About that. As you may have noticed as I was approaching, I was doing quite a bit of zig-zagging back there – clearly, had I wanted to get to you sooner, I would have just run in a straight line – but since escaping the Hobgoblins, the ground has been rumbling – and I realize,” he says as he puts his hands on his jolly belly, and continues, “I am a big man – but it’s not me making the ground shake! Something’s been chasing me.”
• Sindri yells, “That’s important information to start with!”
• Just as a giant praying mantis looking creature bursts from the ground!

• Rettniss, perhaps being a Druid and hyper aware is ready even as the Ankheg emerges from the ground! (Natural 20 on Initiative – home rule – means two actions on their first turn! Just like a Natural 1 means being stunned and having no turn the first round! Can’t waste those Natural 20’s and 1’s!)
• He quickly casts Entangle, however the Ankheg is able to snap out of the entanglement
• Rettniss follows up with a Frostbite cantrip and delivers 1 point of damage
• Sindri uses one of the Hold Monster charges from his newly acquired wand, but the beast is able to shake off the effects
• Arhian swings with his Quarterstaff, but misses as the Ankheg draws back; believing it’s now got a chance to hit, it comes forward – and is hit by Arhian’s unarmed strike!
• Drawing her half-orc fury, Avacyn runs up to the Ankheg, her sword gripped with both hands and brings it cleaving across the Ankheg’s chest, causing significant damage
• Twilight draws her rapier and lunges forward, striking where Avacyn had – and lands a hit
• Nikalos grabs Bran and puts him behind him and takes the Dodge action
• The Ankheg, furious at Avacyn manages to grab her in its mandibles and squeeze for some heavy damage
• Rettniss comes up with a wild plan (we discussed it; and granted not how Thorn Whip works, but I loved the visual of all of this happening too much to pass it up!) – and manages to Thorn Whip Avacyn around her armor (doing no damage to her) and calls to his comrades to help him pull Avacyn free of the mandibles of the Ankheg
• With Arhian helping Rettniss attempts to pull Avacyn free (With Advantage!), but the Ankheg maintains it’s hold on Avacyn in its mandibles
• Avacyn however, is able to pry herself free (undoubtedly due to the help of Rettniss and Arhian – especially if you ask Rettniss)
• Hartmut delivers a gash across the Ankheg’s hard, bug, exterior
• Twilight is able to run her rapier through the exposed wound in the Ankheg’s chest and pierce the creature’s heart, bringing it’s vicious life to a violent end
• However, Rettniss is able to hear sounds that resemble hyenas – and realizes, based on the pitch that it’s not hyenas – but rather, gnolls; and knowing about gnolls, he knows that they were spawned by hyenas long ago that fed upon a mad god’s blood
  • The origin of the gnolls comes from their god; Yeegowhen, who is known as “The Mad God.” Having originally been nothing more than a hyena that supposedly fed on the fallen arm of Skortaurian after Valingard had severed it with his father’s Honor Sword; Yeegowhen rapidly evolved as the most savage of the hyena pack, changed by the dark magic that flowed through the severed arm. Yeegowhen was driven insane by the magic that changed him. The spite that flowed through him, carried over by Skortaurian’s own spite, filled Yeegowhen. Yeegowhen cut his palm and let the other hyenas of his pack drink from him, and found that their bodies began to change too, evolving into gnolls. Gnolls hate everything, and try to rule over them. A gnoll’s ravenous appetite is never satisfied; and they will kill and eat anything.
• The small pack of gnolls spot the adventures and begin rushing forward

• Twilight, still feeling the surge of energy from delivering the killing blow against the Ankheg is ready when Rettniss announces the approaching gnolls (Natural 20 on Initiative!)
• Nikalos and Bran, with Twilight’s approval each leap on a horse and begin riding hard towards the Ivory Coast
• Twilight fires one shot from her crossbow and hits, and quickly loads another shot, but she’s too hasty and it fires wide
• Hartmut pulls out his long bow and fires as shot, and also misses as the gnolls laugh gleefully as they approach what they believe is their next meal
• Sindri casts Sleep which manages to render the one that had been wounded into sleep, but it’s not strong enough to ensnare the others
• Avacyn throws his javelin at the approaching gnolls, but misses; but one of the gnolls picks up the javelin as it’s running by it and prepares to “return to sender”
• The gnolls stop just shy (30′) and kneel down to fire arrows; all of which miss
• Hartmut rushes up to the gnolls and slashes at one but misses; Arhian runs up as well, and manages to hit with the Quarterstaff and unarmed strike, blooding the vicious gnoll
• Sindri manages to finish that one off with a Firebolt spell, killing it
• Despite the Monks begin engaged with the three remaining gnolls (the 4th one sleeping peacefully next to the charred remains of his pack mate), Twilight casts Faerie Fire which the Monks are able to avoid, and two of the three gnolls begin glowing

• This allows Hartmut to land a Critical Strike (Natural 20) which allows him to bloody one of the glowing gnolls in one hit and follows up with an unarmed strike
• Avacyn runs up and cleaves the bloody gnoll across the chest, bringing her two handed sword streaking across his chest, exposing his innards as the gnoll falls down dead
• Arhian not to be outdone also lands a Critical Strike and then follows up with a flurry of blows, one of which strikes, leaving the gnoll bloody
• Rettniss jumps into the fray, bringing his Quarterstaff striking the same gnoll Arhian had attacked, delivering some near fatal damage (Another Critical Hit!)
• Avacyn swings her sword down on the gnoll attacking Hartmut, cleaving her blade through its chest, killing it
• Arhian manages to kill the gnoll next to him and looks at the gnoll affected by the Sleep spell and when Rettniss gives a nod of his head, Arhian unleashes a flurry of blows which awakens the stunned gnoll, who perishes a moment later when Sindri unleashes a Firebolt spell that causes fatal injuries, sending the gnoll back down the ground, its matted fur ignited in flame
• Sindri casts a Firebolt spell, finishing the gnoll off
• The party opts to continue their rest and other than the howls of hyenas (and potentially gnolls), the night goes undisturbed
• The party doubles up and/or the Arhian and Hartmut keep pace with the horses, while Rettniss continues tracking the tracks made by Bran and Nikalos until he spots several larger humanoid tracks (more human looking and less animal bi-pedal, that gnolls left behind) and assumes it to be Hobgoblins

• Up on a ledge, he spots a Hobgoblin standing guard outside the mouth of a cave

• The party sees it’s a very narrow, 60′ path up to the Hobgoblin and the cave entrance

• The party pulls the horses off to the side, hiding beneath some nearby trees at the base of the path. Sindri asks if there’s any way to sneak up the path and Rettniss confirms, it’s a thin, singular, rocky path up with no rocks or shrubbery to hide behind
• The party looks and the path up is about 60′ up; however, from the mouth of the cave down the sheer cliff, it’s roughly 40′
• The party forms a plan – and they send Gem up to provide a distraction; which she does, by flying up the the Hobgoblin and unleashing a series of racial slurs it’d heard during it’s time on a pirate ship, infuriating the Hobgoblin (Critical Fail on Intelligence Check!)
• Sindri then casts Jump on Arhian who is now able to cover the distance from a running start up to the cliff’s edge; meanwhile, Hartmut races up the path while the Hobgoblin is distracted
• Arhian manages to land, successfully grapple and shove the Hobgoblin who screamed to his stony death, 40′ below
• Having screamed, however, as he fell, alerted the other Hobgoblins in the cave
• Arhian quickly scales around the mountain, literally hanging on by her fingertips while Sindri creates a minor illusion of a large bird, mimicking the sound of the Hobgoblin’s death scream
• Two Hobgoblins step out and notice their lookout is gone and fail to spot Arhian who had climbed to the side, but do manage to see past Hartmut’s stealth and when Initiative starts, they go first, firing two shots at the only target they see – Hartmut.
• The first misses, but the second lands an arrow deep into Harmut’s shoulder
• Arhian leaps over from the side of the cliff and manages to hit one of the Hobgoblin archers with her Quarterstaff, followed by both hits from her Flurry of Blows, effectively grabbing the Hobgoblin and snapping its neck before throwing the surprised – and now dead – humanoid from the ledge of the thin cliff
• Sindri tries to Firebolt one; but the flaming spell hits the Hobgoblin’s armor and does no damage
• Rettniss casts Frostbite and the Hobgoblin fails and takes the damage
• Twilight begins making her way up the thin cliff path behind Hartmut and fires over Hartmut’s head, but misses the Hobgoblin
• Avacyn doubles his movement, running up the thin, narrow stone path, to get to the Hobgoblin still standing
• The Hobgoblin meanwhile drops his bow and draws his longsword and swings at Hartmut (but he’s Disadvantaged due to the Frostbite spell) and misses
• Arhian hits the Hobgoblin with her Quarterstaff – and hits with one of her Flurry of Blows
• Hartmut quaffs a potion and swings with his sword, but misses
• Twilight runs up and tries to strike with her rapier, but its difficult to get footing on the narrow ledge; but her golden eyes do spot horses, reindeer, prisoners and a large brain like creature on four feet – the size of a large dog!

• Rettniss casts Frostbite again; but the Hobgoblin seems weary of the druid’s repeated attempts and this time avoids the all too familiar spell
• Avacyn brings her sword down, and cleaves the Hobgoblin across the chest, killing him
• That’s when the Hobgoblin inside the cave comes running out

• Arhian and Hartmut immediately recognize the armor and face paint and realize this Hobgoblin holds the rank of Commander
• The Commander recognizes the symbols Hartmut and Arhian wear and snarls in the language of Eibrikku (the native tongue of the continent Utsukkuen), “I will send you to your maker.”
• Arhian snaps back in the same tongue, “Try it!” and proceeds to attack the Commander, who is able to deflect all of Arhian’s attacks with a gloating smile
• Twilight, seeing that Hartmut is bleeding profusely, casts Cure Wounds on Hartmut, restoring much of his health
• With this health restored, Hartmut lunches forward with his sword, cutting into the Commander, and following up with a hit from his Flurry of Blows
• Twilight notices the brain creature bolts towards the back of the cave, blending into the shadows
• Avacyn brings her blade down, and yet again, brings it slashing through and hits the Commander, rendering him at exactly 0 HP – in that moment, she doesn’t think about simply capturing him. She sheaths her sword and quickly snaps his neck as if she were opening a sealed bottle, and releases his lifeless corpse to fall onto the narrow path
• Hartmut notices a parchment sticking out of the Commander’s armor, near the wrist piece and he pulls it out

• Hartmut recognizes it as Eibrikku and translate it for the party:

• Arhian also picks up a longbow, and several arrows placed into a quiver
• Hartmut calls Arhian over with a look of concern, seeing the name Grath Honorbound.
• The name was known to both of them; Grath Honorbound – The first known Hobgoblin that led the goblins in the revolution against the orcs in Utsukkuen, supposedly crafted by Maglubier, the god of the goblinoids. Supposedly died in 796, but was never confirmed.
• Arhian and Hartmut share the lore about Grath Honorbound:

The Goblin Revolution, roughly the year of 770.

Though goblins did not originate Utsukkuen, a large band of orcs aboard a ship brought them to Utsukkuen when they had planned to lay siege to Heiwakun. The nations of Utsukkuen banded together and set aside their own warring differences to fight off the Orcs. The battle had lasted for nearly a year, and though the Orcs had been defeated, they had already settled on several of the islands, as did the goblins who had been servants. Many of the goblins managed to reproduce quickly, doubling their numbers exponentially.

The orcs tried to maintain their control over the goblins, but the goblins revolted against the orcs and soon created powerful tribes. Maglubier, their god was proud of their freedom against the orcs and encouraged them to assault the humans of Utsukkuen. However, the goblins were not ready to face off against the honorable likes of the Samurai that they encountered and were driven back, their numbers decimated, which allowed the orcs to once again convince the goblins to serve the orcs. Maglubier was furious that his creation had once again fallen under the heel of the orcs. Maglubier then took the greatest goblin in Utsukkuen and changed his flesh – shaping him after the Samurai warriors that had broken the goblin assault – and the first Hobgoblin was born. The Hobgoblin named Grath Honorbound led the goblins against the orcs, decimating them – and in the blood of the orcs, more hobgoblins were born. The Hobgoblins were mimics of the Samurais in their skill and became feared.

The Hobgoblins led attacks against the humans in Utsukkuen and became the second most dominate humanoid in Utsukkuen. In 774, the Hobgoblins began setting sail to find and attempt to conquer other lands.

• The party freed Niela’s husband and youngest son (Duriden Stormblade and Leran Stormblade) as well as recovered their weapons; they also discovered that Nikalos had not only reindeer but an entire sleigh – which, once Sindri sat in it – the sleight levitated as did the reindeer. The party were able to make it back to Ivory Coast and reunite the Stormblade family and meet up with Nikalos who thanked them for returning his sleigh, Bag of Holding and Gem – and after a brief conversation, placing the gem on the front reindeer’s nose, explained he had much to do and left (Note: Party Got ‘Nikalos Inspiration’ which does not wear off until used)
• Dark things were happening in the Ivory Coast, this bright and cheery night, however…