Darkmantle Delve: First Contact (Ch 1 cont.)

After a two-hour trek from Orm's Crossing, a quartet of brave warriors—Caelum, Kara, Vulkar, and Tillo—arrived at the entrance of Darkmantle Mine, a once prosperous operation rumoured to conceal an ancient library from a long-lost civilization.

As they descended into the cavernous depths, they encountered a labyrinth of doors, passages, and chambers. The scattered remnants of the miners' lives hinted at the looming presence of the greenskins that took up residence many years ago. Each step brings them closer to uncovering the mine's secrets.

Now, as they stand at the threshold of an iron door, they prepare themselves for an inevitable encounter with the mine's new inhabitants.

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The Adventure Continues

This post is a continuation of the first scene of this adventure. Normally, I'd be starting a new post with a new scene, but since the first scene was so long, I split it into two. If you missed the first post, you can read it here.

Now, without further ado, on to the action: The previous post ended with Caelum pushing open an iron door and spotting a group of goblins rummaging through the ruined contents of the room beyond it. The goblins didn't seem to notice him.

As a reminder, the room is actually two separate chambers that are connected via an opening, each with its own encounter:

Goblin-infested Barracks

• Barracks for miners, contents wrecked but still present.
• Rectangle, 50ft. by 10ft., and 15ft. high.
• 1 exit aside from entrance.
  • Exit 1: Open, no door or gate, opposite wall to entrance, with chamber beyond it.
• Creature: Goblins. Condition: Dehydrated / Starving, Adult. Goal: Hide from enemies. Activity: Searching.
  • Encounter Difficulty: Easy

Since there is a chamber visible from where Caelum is standing (through Exit 1), I generated that one as well.

Charred Guard Chamber

• Guardroom, room contents mostly burned.
• Square, 20ft. by 20ft., and 25ft. high.
• 2 exit aside from entrance.
  • Exit 1: Iron door, closed, wall left of entrance.
  • Exit 2: Wooden door, closed, wall left of entrance.
• Creature: Goblins. Condition: Healthy, Adult. Goal: Seek wealth. Activity: Hiding.
  • Encounter Difficulty: Easy

It wouldn't make sense to resolve these encounters separately, so I'll combine them into one.

• Roll Initiative
  🎲Ok, you got me, not all icons have a relevant tooltip. Have an Easter Egg 🥚
  • Caelum — 19
  • Twitchy Goblin — 14
  • Tillo — 14 (swaps with Vulkar, Alert feat)
  • Fidgety Goblin — 13
  • Grumpy Goblin — 13
  • Patchy Goblin — 13
  • Kara — 12
  • Muddy Goblin — 12
  • Bald Goblin — 12
  • Vulkar — 10 (takes Tillo's initiative)
  • Lanky Goblin — 7
  • Scarred Goblin — 4

Round 1

• Caelum — BA: Summon Rapier (Weapon Bond).
  • A: Ready attack with Rapier.
  • Move.

The rest of the party watch as Caelum silently summons his rapier to his hand and stands aside the door. They know this move well; he wants Vulkar to stand in the doorway and create a chokepoint.

• Twitchy Goblin — A: Perception, 6.
• Vulkar — Move.
  • A: Dodge.
  • BA: Brace Up, 6
    💚Temporary HP gained.

Vulkar obliges and quietly steps up to the door. He takes a defensive stance, readying himself to evade any oncoming attacks and bracing for any that land. Through the door, he can see one of the goblins momentarily pause as a faint noise echoes around the cavern. Its sharp eyes dart around and land on a misshapen coin among the rubble, which it then swiftly pockets.

• Fidgety Goblin — Move.
• Grumpy Goblin — Skip turn.
• Patchy Goblin — A: Interact with object.

Another goblin fidgets with a makeshift slingshot, testing its elasticity and occasionally firing small pebbles at the far wall. It seems to enjoy the echoing 'ping' sound they produce. It steps across the entrance—not seeing Vulkar—and ends up slightly to the right of the doorway, out of the demikin's view.

Vulkar can hear one of the goblins grumbling to its companion about the sorry state of their findings as it struggles with the latch mechanism on a mostly burnt wooden chest. Its preoccupation with the chest means it's turned its back toward the doorway. Its companion is similarly engrossed in activity as it tries to mend a tear in its armour with a rough piece of twine.

• Kara — FA: Marksman's Focus.
  A: Ready attack with Longbow.
• Muddy Goblin — A: Perception, 4.
• Bald Goblin — A: Perception, 11.

Kara shifts slightly so that she can mark a gap past Vulkar. She then nocks an arrow, draws, and readies to shoot down any goblin that shows its face.

One of the greenskins, having caught a fleeting shadow or perhaps the faintest echo of movement from the direction of the doorway, tugs at another's rags to gain its attention and gestures subtly towards the door. It then moves behind a pile of debris and peeks out, trying to discern what might have caused the disturbance.

Upon receiving the silent alert, the other goblin scurries behind a wall.

• Tillo — FA: Place Torch on floor.
  • A: Draw Dart.
  • Move.
  • BA: Switch Fighting Style to Thrown Weapon Fighting (Advanced Technique).
• Lanky Goblin — A: Perception, 10.

Tillo gingerly places his torch on the floor and draws a dart. He moves up behind Vulkar's right shoulder.

Yet another goblin is engrossed with a tiny scrap of something shiny, unaware of the party's presence or the movements of its fellows. Crouching down, it turns the object over in its fingers, studying it with great interest. After a moment, it shrugs, stuffs the shiny object into a pouch and resumes its search while humming a tuneless goblin song under its breath.

• Scarred Goblin — A: Interact with object.

Round 2

• Caelum — A: Ready attack with Rapier.

The final goblin stands with its back to the entrance as it attempts to pry open a weathered wooden box it has discovered. With each tug and yank, it becomes increasingly frustrated. It mutters and curses in the goblin tongue, then gives the box a good kick and sends it across the length of the room.

Caelum—noting everyone is in position—nudges the door slightly wider and whistles to draw the goblins' attention.

• Twitchy Goblin — FA: Draw Scimitar.
  • Move.
  • A: Scimitar vs Vulkar
    ⬇️ Disadvantage, Vulkar dodging.
    ,
    ❌11, miss.
  • Caelum — R: Rapier vs Twitchy Goblin,
    ✅17, hit.
    , 6
    🗡Piercing damage.
  • BA: Disengage.
  • Move.
  • Kara — R: Longbow vs Twitchy Goblin
    🛡⬆️Half cover from Vulkar. Advantage, Marksman's Focus.
    ,
    ✅20, hit.
    , 12
    🏹Piercing damage.
  • Twitchy Goblin
    ⚰️Dead. Were you in doubt?

Chaos ensues.

The first goblin draws its scimitar and charges at Vulkar, swinging wildly. Vulkar deftly turns the goblin's blade aside with his warhammer.

Swift as lightning, Caelum pierces the goblin through the shoulder with his rapier. Reeling and desperate, the creature tries to retreat, but Kara's arrow catches the goblin in the back of the head and it falls down lifeless before it can escape.

• Vulkar — A: Ready attack with Warhammer.
• Fidgety Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 14.
  • Move.
  • FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌❌Nat 1.
  • Move.
• Grumpy Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 7.
  • Move.
  • FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌10, miss.
  • Move.
• Patchy Goblin — BA: Hide, 16.
  • Move.
  • FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ⬆️Advantage, Hidden.
    ,
    ✅21, hit.
    , 4
    🏹Piercing damage.
  • Move.

Vulkar readies for a full frontal assault by the goblins, but they have other plans. From the dim recesses of the room, three goblins prepare to unleash a volley of arrows at the demikin.

The first is wildly off the mark. The goblin responsible grumbles in frustration as it moves to a new spot.

The second goblin hastily nocks an arrow and shoots, but it is so wide that there is barely any threat to Vulkar. The goblin scurries away, searching for another vantage point.

The third goblin—healthier than its kin—masterfully fades into the shadows before its attack. With the element of surprise on its side, it releases an arrow that flies true. The goblin runs out of sight, cackling with glee after watching its arrow graze Vulkar across the upper thigh.

"Gah, they're gonna skirmish this," Vulkar complains.

• Kara — Move.
  • FA: Pick up Torch.
  • A: Throw Torch.
  • Move.

With the element of surprise lost—and frustrated at her inability to pick out any targets—Kara picks up Tillo's torch and hurls it over Vulkar's head into the room beyond.

• Muddy Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 15.
  • Move.
  • FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌12, miss.
  • Move.
• Bald Goblin — BA: Hide, 9.
  • Move.
  • FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar,
    ✅20, hit.
    , 5
    🏹Piercing damage.
  • Move.

A goblin steps into the light, catching Vulkar by surprise, but the creature's arrow slams straight into the demikin's shield. A second arrow—launched from the shadows—finds its mark, grazing across Vulkar's temple.

Vulkar seethes with rage.

• Tillo — Move.
  • A: Dart vs Muddy Goblin,
    ❌❌Nat 1.
  • Move.
• Lanky Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 17.
  • Move.
  • FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌❌Nat 1.
  • Move.
• Scarred Goblin — FA: Draw Shortbow.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar,
    ❌11, miss.
  • Move.
  • BA: Hide, 12.

Tillo tumbles past Vulkar, into the room, and lobs a dart at a goblin in space. It misses horribly. "Trial run!" he quips and slips back past the demikin.

Vulkar gives the kender an unimpressed sneer as two more arrows plink off his shield.

Round 3

• Caelum — Move.
  • A: Burning Hands, 6
    🔥Fire damage.
    , DC 13 DEX Save for Lanky Goblin
    ✅17, success, damage halved to 3.
    , Scarred Goblin
    ✅19, success, damage halved to 3.
    , and Bald Goblin
    ✅21, success, damage halved to 3.
  • Move.

"Time to smoke them out," Caelum says with a grin. He steps into the chamber and unleashes a cone of flame from his hands. The goblins scatter and escape with ease.

"Damn, that usually works better," he mutters as he steps back into safety.

• Vulkar — A: Dodge.
• Fidgety Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 12.
  • Move.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌12, miss.
  • Move
• Grumpy Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 11.
  • Move.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌13, miss.
  • Move
• Patchy Goblin — BA: Hide, 14.
  • Move.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ⬆️Advantage, Hidden.
    ,
    ❌16, miss.
  • Move.

Vulkar goes to step forward, but Caelum holds him back. "Hold brother, armour will do you no good when you have a half-dozen of the buggers crawling on you."

The volleys continue, but Caelum's advice is sound. Three arrows shatter against Vulkar's shield in quick succession.

• Kara — FA: Marksman's Focus.
  • A: Ready attack with Longbow.
• Muddy Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 13.
  • Move.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ❌❌Nat 1.
  • Kara — R: Longbow vs Muddy Goblin
    🛡⬆️Half cover from Vulkar. Advantage, Marksman's Focus.
    ,
    ✅23, hit.
    , 10
    🏹Piercing damage.
  • Muddy Goblin
    💔Creature is in Desperation.
  • Move.
• Bald Goblin — BA: Hide, 22.
  • Move.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ⬆️Advantage, Hidden.
    ,
    ❌16, miss.
  • Move.

Two more goblins pop up to pepper Vulkar with arrows.

Kara catches the first in the shoulder with an arrow of her own. The creature hastily releases its drawn arrow and the projectile splinters into the floor. Its companion has better aim, but Vulkar simply blocks with his shield.

• Tillo — Move.
  • A: Dart vs Muddy Goblin,
    ❌12, miss.
  • Move.

Tillo rolls into the room once more and tries to pick off a goblin, but misses again. "Come on!" he protests as he ducks back into cover.

• Lanky Goblin — BA: Hide
  ⬇️Disadvantage, Starvation.
  , 11.
  • Move.
  • A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
    ↕️Advantage, Hidden. Disadvantage, Starvation.
    ,
    ✅20, hit.
    , 8
    🏹Piercing damage.
  • Move.
• Scarred Goblin — A: Shortbow vs Vulkar
  ⬆️Advantage, Hidden.
  ,
  ❌14, miss.
  • Move.
  • BA: Hide, 12.

Round 4

• Caelum — FA: Close door.
  • Move.
  • A: Hide, 9.

Two more arrows sail Vulkar's way. One finds a gap in his splint armour. "Rwaaaaa!" he rages, "Enough!"

"OK, new tactic," Caelum says as he pulls the door shut, "back up and draw them out."

• Vulkar — Move.
  • BA: Brace Up, 5
    💚Temporary HP gained.
  • A: Dodge.
• Do the Goblins open the door immediately? (Very Unlikely)
  ❌61, No.
• Do the goblins open the door eventually? (50/50)
  ❌❌97, Exceptional No.
• Encounter ends.

Earning Treasure Points

Whenever the party does something worthy of reward, I'll give them Treasure Points.

Treasure points are an abstraction of the loot and XP that characters would usually receive from the GM for defeating an enemy in a TTRPG. I won't go into the motivation and detail of how the system works here, but if you're curious, you can read more here.

For this game, whenever the party kill a hostile creature or force one into Desperation, I'll award the party TP based on the creature's XP.

• 0.5 TP Earned

The party take up positions of cover, ready for the goblins to open the door. They wait... and wait... but nothing comes. After ten agonising minutes, Caelum speaks:

"They must have gone deeper. They'll be on the alert now."

"Do we go after them?" Kara asks.

"Let's at least check the room."

Ending Scenes

Scenes in Mythic normally end when the premise of the scene is complete. As I mentioned in the previous post, the premise of this scene was "The party explores Darkmantle Mine".

That premise would have logically concluded when the party explored the mine and found the goblins, and then this encounter with the goblins would have been a new scene with that encounter as the premise.

Instead of doing that, I just kept playing, but now the scene is very much over.

Whenever you end a scene in Mythic, it's time to do a little bookkeeping:

1. Add to the lists: First, you add any new Characters or Threads that were active in the scene. You would do this even if they are already on the list, up to a maximum of three entries. This creates a weighted list that means more frequently occurring characters and threads are more likely to show up in random events.
2. Clean up the lists: If any Character or Thread is no longer relevant to the adventure, you remove all instances of it from your list.
3. Adjust the Chaos Factor: In standard Mythic, you increase the CF if the scene felt like it outside of the Character's control and decrease it if the scene felt in control. I find this often pushes the adventure to either extreme: in-control adventures tend to stay in control as less random things happen, and out-of-control adventures get increasingly chaotic as random chaos ensues. So, I flipped it, decreasing CF when the scene is out of control and increasing it when the scene is in control.

The goblins of course made an appearance in this scene, so they get another entry on the list, but otherwise, my Characters and Threads lists remain unchanged.

Characters

1. Sir Draven Ironcrest
2. Orm's Crossing
3. Darkmantle Mine
4. Goblins (2)

Threads

1. Uncover the reason for the mine's closure
2. Find the ancient library

Despite the party having to retreat from the encounter, I think they had it handled (in control), and so I'll raise the Chaos Factor.

Chaos Factor: 6

Thank you once again for reading! I hope you've enjoyed it so far. As always, if you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it in the comments or on Reddit.

The next part of this adventure continues in Those Left Behind. For a full list of chapters, see Darkmantle Delve.