Thomas’ Fall Part I
Mission - Merchant’s Son-in-law tells them where the goblins struck. From there, they must untangle the web, find the lair, rescue any captives, and return to Flack.
Goblin Skill Challenge. See DMG p.79
Level 1 skill challenge – 4 successes vs. 2 failures
500 XP for completion of Skill Challenge. 100 XP/PC bonus if they purposely leave one alive for questioning.

Bluff (Moderate DC-15) per DMG
Diplomacy (Moderate DC-15) per DMG
Intimidate (Moderate DC-15) per DMG
Insight (Moderate DC-15) Successes here don’t give the party any successes towards the challenge, but they will let them know to lean on Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate & give a +2 on all rolls going forward.

Step 1: Inform PC’s that if they capture a goblin that they are in a skill challenge to find out valuable info from their captive. Success means that they will learn where the lair is and have other questions answered, relevant questions. Failure means they’ll need to determine another way of finding the goblin lair
Step 2: Tell them it’s a social challenge so look to use social skills as a guide
Step 3: Have everyone roll for initiative and have them understand that they all participate in this challenge
Step 4: Inform PC’s about the 100 XP/PC bonus if they kept a captive alive on purpose. This is a one-time bonus to reward them for learning the rules and showing they have skills & not just brawn.

What the goblin tells them: Lair location – just 2 days travel from here, approximate numbers - about 20 goblins. They are also told that these things never end well and that if they hurry they may just save the lives of those held captive. Although there is a sacrifice that is scheduled for sunrise in 3 days. They need to hurry. He begs for his life. If they kill him or let him free, there is no penalty. Just a moral debate.
1st Success – Begs for his life, he’ll talk just don’t kill him. He mentions that the lair is two days away but they have a 1-day head start on them.
2nd Success – Explains that they must hurry as the sacrifice is prepared to take place in 3 days time at sunrise.
3rd Success – They are told that there are about 20 or so goblins throughout the lair.
4th Success – They are told precisely where to go.
- Method of telling PC something after each success scrapped on the fly

What do they do if they fail the skill challenge: They return to Flack and have a new skill challenge. They need to persuade the Gayle’s to visit with Tysik. The Gayle’s will be disappointed to see them but they will understand that they aren’t seasoned adventurers. This will require Diplomacy. They then need to speak with Tysik because he has been to the lair before and he will give them directions. They will need to calm him down to get any form of info out of him. Once they do, whatever they attempt will work.

How the story opens: The merchant Danison’s future son-in-law, Tysik runs into town announcing that his caravan was attacked by goblins. He was coming back from a run in ______ and was ambushed. They took his wife & his father-in-law. He is desperate for help and demands that all the goblins involved be killed without mercy. He is quite shaken and wants badly to get help. He is panting and making little sense otherwise. He tells the Gayle’s precisely where the attack took place and that there was at least 20 of them and only 4 of him, including him. The Gayle’s report there have been a few robberies at bow-point in that area over the years but never before has blood been spilled or was there a kidnapping. They pass on all the info to the party 3rd person. This doesn’t come from Tysik himself. In fact, they don’t want anyone speaking to Tysik right now, he needs rest. They do want someone to rescue Marla. Would they do this. The Gayles cannot attend to this matter themselves or they would. When asked why, they give no reason.

How the party is informed: They are told upon the completion of the 2nd challenge to return to Flack. Before they even get there, but after hours upon hours of travel, their wagon is stopped and they hear in the distance grumbling and discussion with the Gayles & another group of voices. The Gayles open the wagon and tell them all to climb out to be unbound. When they do, they are stunned to see how close they are to the town of Flack. It is here that the story is relayed to them and here that urgency is pressed.

What exactly is going on here: Thomas has convinced Tysik, who was always only in it for the dough, to take this ambush plan to the goblins as a simple detainment. His assistant, wife & father-in-law would of course be safe. The men would come to his rescue and if not, they would be given back afterwards after a ransom was paid and he would insure the ransom be paid by the Church and if not, from Thomas himself. The goblins of course have other plans. They would simply take the goods and kill the captives, all of the captives.
Thomas is hoping they get killed before their third challenge and he can get his rightful position back. He was not counting on the goblins turning on their word but they do kill his wife, Marla. Not that he cares much about her, Danison or his assistant anyway. Thomas offered Tysik a lot of gold and when he was in the Elite Party, he would be seen frequently with Thomas and become his partner. Who wouldn’t buy all their goods from an Elite Party member.
Thomas has Tysik time his entrance so that the Elite Party is not there but has completed the second challenge. He knows they are one a day through Hardoon after Kane & company depart. Hardoon will get reprimanded for this if it comes out. His hope is that they never meet Tysik and only meet with the Gayles.
Tysik and the merchant have dealt with the goblins before. See other notes for details on this.
He has also crossed paths with Kane & Thomas, at the age of 14. He once told Thomas he could sell him an oil for 5 GP and a healing prayer to be named later that would insure that none of the ceremonial suits of armor or weapons within the church would rust, nor would any metal for that matter. And maintenance of the church’s ceremonial equipment fell to Thomas & Kane at that time. This was clearly B.S. as they discovered a year later at the age of 15 when they were harshly reprimanded by Hardoon for their stupidity. They went to get their money back from Tysik but were instructed not to and to learn a hard lesson about magic & promises & swindlers. Kane was pissed to have to take the fall for this as it was Thomas’ idea.

Torture & Sacrifice: Marla & the assistant, along with the horses, are found dead in the torture chamber. It’s too late for them. When they get to the final room, they come upon a giant circle of lit candles. Inside are the Goblin Hexer & bound & prone Danison with his chest painted with red ink & exposed. The others are forming a guard around him and throughout the room. The attack pattern is as listed on the encounter sheet. They can hear chanting from this room when they get close to it.

There is a note on the goblin leader implicating Tysik and discussing the terms of this deal. They are to simply perform their duties here and as long as they can assure no attacks for a period of 3 years, there will be no penalty from this attack. They are told the humans they capture as well as the plunder are theirs to keep. If left alive, the goblin leader will tell them that they were assured this skirmish would go uncountered by a reliable official in Flack. The note, however, is not written by Tysik when they bring it to him. He cannot say who it came from however he insists it wasn’t him. The party is told that is of the utmost importance that this get discovered eventually, but first, they need to get this Green Chalice….

Cast:
Danison – A merchant of average renown in Flack. He has lived here his entire life and has some connections in town. He does conduct a large amount of his business with the Temple of Kord.
Tysik – Known by some as a shrewd businessman. Raised in Flack. He and Marla fell in love at Harvest Dance 3 years ago and have been inseparable ever since. The town may not all know the names, but they have all seen these 2 Kanoodling. It’s quite a put off to most folks actually.
Marla – Hopelessly head over heels in love with Tysik. She stands to gain the merchant’s entire business upon his death.
Thomas – Need I say more?

Prologue: This is not the 3rd challenge. However, upon its completion, they are treated as heroes despite the unavoidable deaths anyway and are told this is better then anyone could have expected. Normally, the third challenge is some form of skill challenge. It could be based on Knowledge gathering, a social encounter, a physical challenge, or some combination of all the above. Whatever they feel is the weakest point in the Party is what they put them up against. But now this is clearly unnecessary, and unheard of. What they did is something the Elite Party generally takes care of. Or other seasoned heroes/adventurers take on as a mission for money or for other reasons.