When the rest of the group returns, they are still looking for more help, and take me into the group.

Greg – Orrin – Eladrin – Rogue

Brook – Kernosh – Dragonborn – Warlord

Bob – Cabal – Human – Wizard/Rogue

Tony – Sereck – Dragonborn – Paladin

Jim – Duncan – Dwarf – Ranger

The job is not complete and after supplies are gathered, we leave the next day.

We stop at the village, to a report from a farmer of Goblin tracks.  We find the tracks, but choose not to investigate them immediately as it only appears to be a single goblin (but perhaps waiting for more).  As we travel further, we see more Goblin tracks, but continue to travel rather than investigate. 

As we stop and plan out the watches for the evening, we decide to take two man watches.  During two watches, we are attacked by 6 Goblins each time.  Each is wearing a necklace with a hunk of smooth onyx or obsidian which glows purplish when we kill them.  Cabal believes the necklaces are part of some ritual and that when they are killed that energy is transferred back to some kind of crucible.  These Goblins are not very skilled and we take some necklaces off before killing them, and it seems to keep the energy from transferring.

The next day, we travel farther and come upon a pyramid about 25 feet tall in a clearing about 100 yards wide that has many goblins.  We watch and soon there are signs of battle.  We approach and find a large Hobgoblin who has a similar but different necklace than we have seen on the Goblins and conclude he is receiving the energy when they are killed.  We found 66 silver dimes on him.

Battle ensues, and when I kill the Goblin mage, somehow he is transformed into a demon of some kind made of shadowstuff.  Weird.  We find a secret area and a chest inside with a bronze Thundering Hand Ax +1 and a bronze capped oak rod +1.  The Ax goes to Duncan and the Rod goes to Cabal.

This is the first permanent structure.

We find a path that is overgrown with vegetation, but is very obvious.  It even appears that there is a road to follow.

Another Hobgoblin accompanied by 26 Goblins approaches us, and we choose to watch them pass rather than confront them.

A mile ahead, we see another clearing and what appears to be another pyramid.  The clearing is about 500 yards across, but there are 50 large Hobgoblins and 200 Goblins.  This is the largest gathering that has been heard of in the last 80 years.