Imperial Wayhouse

This third house is in quite good condition, the roof is mostly intact, as is the furniture. There are only three chairs, but plenty of benches. Our friends put their gear away and start a fire, drying up nicely and then having something to drink as they sit down and give their legs a rest.

All of a sudden, you realize that you are feeling weak and dizzy. The room seems to shift and change around you. Too late, you try to scramble to your feet. Almost without warning, you find yourselves in a gigantic chamber, hundreds and hundreds of feet high. Your senses reel as they try to adjust to your new surroundings. The scale is vast beyond comprehension. Seconds ago you were seated at a table; now only a few of your companions are visible far in the distance. They sit or stand on massive platforms suspended high above an abyss by great supports as wide as tree trunks. Not far away is a roaring fire so big it could engulf a small town. You are transfixed with terror, but the blaze does not seem to be moving toward you. For a moment no one speaks. A few huge globes of water sail out of the rattling darkness high above to crash onto the floor below. For a long moment, you are overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of the place.

It takes a while to comprehend but the party has shrunk, a lot! They are fifty times as small as before; if you were 1.82 m (6'), you are now 3.64 cm tall. Their weight has changed even more. They now weigh 2500 times less than before; if you were a 100 kg, you are now 36.3 grams. This impacts falling damage quite a bit; you only take 1 point of damage for every 10 feet fallen. The benches and the seat of the chairs are now 80' high, the table is a 140’ high.

Ambush!

Our friends are still flummoxed, trying to piece together what just happened to them and have no idea of the danger above their heads. Only Regius' training by Zilgim Zebbleck makes him alert enough to notice a bunch of ropes descending from the ceiling, about a dozen all next to each other, and from each hangs a small figure. A quick spell takes out a few of them but then they land, and not just on his chair, our other friends are all ambushed the same way.

From the ropes drop small, long-legged humanoids with a flat head and a greenish hide covered with black hair, wearing leather armor made from something other than cow hide. They scramble forwards, brandishing nets, wooden javelins, and clubs, shouting something unintelligible until you eventually realize the word they are repeating is ‘surrender’ in very accented Common.

Regius is sitting on one of the two chairs and it was positioned in such a way that the goblinoid-like creatures land just ten feet away from him. They try to throw nets at him but they need to get close to him to do so. And fortunately he has a Spirit Guardians spell prepared. This takes out any foe that approaches him.

Unfortunately it seems the tribe leader and his bodyguards have come down onto his chair and after sending a few of his foot soldiers to their death they change tactics and start throwing javelins. Eventually one hits hard enough for the cleric to lose his concentration on the spell. He bravely fights on and his half-orc natures saves him from going down but it is at this point he surrenders.

He is still attacked again and brought down, though his foes do eventually stabilize his wounds. His armor is taken off and he is tied up and then both he and the armor are attached to a rope each, to be pulled up to the cross beam in the roof.

Reb was sitting on another chair and his enemies land forty feet away. He tries to keep his distance at first but the seat of the chair is only ninety by ninety feet so eventually he runs out of room. Apart from twelve foot soldiers, the tribe's medicine-man also came down and he uses a spiritual weapon spell to good effect.

Our friend drinks the Potion of Heroism he bought in Stjordvik and that helps him a lot in his combat. He also has some bad luck; when only one foe is near he attacks it with his Tecuani Tecpatl and it explodes into a lot of sharp slivers of flint that could have injured a number of enemies. He switches to his maul and any time he successfully hits a foe, he kills it, but eventually they manage to get him trapped in a net. He pulls it apart and kills even more of the foot soldiers.

The medicine-man uses his Hold Person and Command spells but fortunately Reb manages to resist one of them and against all odds he kills all enemies and knocks the medicine-man out. He then ties the foe up, hangs it from his back and decides to climb up one of the ropes. Giving it a few tugs the rope gets pulled up so he decides to enjoy the ride.

Butch had been sitting on one of the benches and his foes land only twenty feet away. Just as with Reb; any time the barbarian hits a foe, he kills it, but they eventually manage to get him in their nets. He breaks out of it and continues the fight until he thinks he might actually lose. He then jumps from the bench, taking eight points of falling damage but his foes don't follow, one halfheartedly throws a javelin but without any success. The half-orc moves under the bench to be out of their line of sight and decides a short rest might be in order.

Harpin was also sitting on a bench and he is lucky that his foes land two hundred feet away. Although... he doesn't do anything but wait for them to come over, he's curious and wants to learn more about them. When they get close and yell for him to surrender the gnome tries to explain that he wants to be friends and wants to go with them.

The goblins probably do understand but they still come with their nets and try and tie him up. This is not what the warlock wants and when he is swarmed he casts an Arms of Hadar spell. This kills nine of them and leaves only three, who are completely panicked by what just happened. Harpin then uses his Awakened Mind ability to try and explain again he wants to be friends and come with them.

The gnome manages to be more persuasive than he probably ever has been in his life and the cowed goblins actually believe that he was not the cause of the tendrils of dark energy that erupted from his body. They walk back to the ropes with him, the warlock taking that time to write messages to Butch and Regius in his Tome of Stoyu. Once at the ropes he makes clear he wants to ride one of the ropes by himself and is told to hold on really well.

Beam Camp

Once Harpin and the surviving goblins are up on the beam he sees a large number of non-combatant goblins who are the ones who lowered and pulled up the ropes. There are two crossbeams in the rooom and he is told that the camp is on the other crossbeam so they set out for a journey along a narrow path at the edge of the roof.

The chief, his bodyguards, the few remaining foot soldiers, and Regius and his armor are all pulled up to the other crossbeam, there's quite a few non-combatants here as well. Almost at the same time Reb reaches the top, when the pullers see his is not one of their own they are about to let go of the rope and let the fighter plummet to his death. But then they see the medicine-man on his back and decide against that plan of action, letting the fighter up on the beam.

There is something of a stand-off, with both parties having a hostage of sorts. Reb tries to negotiate a trade, also threatening to push one or more non-combats off the beam. Eventually a deal is struck; Reb manages to negotiate an exchange and a promise from the chief not to attack his other companions and release any that might have been caught, though he doesn't trust the chief will actually hold up his end of the bargain. The chief and his people then move in the direction of the camp and the fighter in the other direction, reaching Regius.

He empties a healing potion into the cleric's mouth and once the half-orc is back to his senses they whisper about the current situation. The chief and his people are doing the same, each side glancing over at the other as they talk. Reb asks if the cleric still has any spells left and if he thinks they can take the opposition; there's not many of them left here.

It's a big risk but Regius does still have something up his sleeve and he nods affirmative. They time their attack, waiting for both bodyguards to be next to the chief. Then the half-orc casts a Call Lightning spell and uses his Destructive Wrath to do as much damage as possible to his foes. Both the bodyguards die immediately and the chief is brought close to death.

All the other goblins are frozen at this utter bloodbath but the chief flees towards his camp. The few remaining foot soldiers decide to do nothing as Regius ties up the medicine-man again and Reb chases after the chief. Our friend is faster and catches up to him right at the edge of the camp, knocking him out just as Harpin and all the goblins arrive from the other crossbeam.

The camp is a simple affair with most of the goblins living right there in the open, there are only two small dwellings and a jail where someone seems to be laying on the floor.