Borko and Hak-Hak had been walking for some time, following the thin beam of pale green light that came from the Orzhov priest's pendant. It was pointing them deeper into a high-class district, the streets packed with rich-looking humans and vedalken, with plenty to steal. Maybe later.
The two paused momentarily, seeing a blockade of Azorius arresters directly in front of them. Both had been in trouble with the law before, and did not care for the stuffy lawmages at all.
Both goblins looked at the group of arresters, then to the pendant. The beam was pointing through the middle of the group.
"Go around?" asked Hak-Hak.
"The thing says to go that way." Borko grunted.
Hak-Hak shrugged and un-slung his bagpipes, playing riotously as they marched toward the Azorius.
Encounter 1
Azorius Arresters
Borko and Hak-Hak are not known for their subtlety. Instead of opting for stealth they brazenly walk toward the blockade, with an attitude of "we haven't done anything wrong... yet". Thanks to good persuasion rolls, the arresters wave Borko and Hak-Hak through the blockade, simply telling them to lower the volume on the pipes a little. But then they notice Lizard, which is a screeching, snapping, foaming-at-the-mouth dinosaur. When one of the mages asks if Borko has a license for such a dangerous animal, he immediately grabs his bow and gets ready to fight.
Enemies: Two level 1 Azorius fighters and one level 2 Azorius wizard.
Borko sics Lizard on one of the soldiers. With some good rolls, Lizard pounces on the unfortunate man's chest and mauls him within an inch of his life. After one round of attacks, that soldier only has 2 hit points remaining.
Hak-Hak casts Crown of Madness on the guildmage. A blazing Rakdos mask erupts from her face and a cruel grin twists her lips. She savagely attacks her companion with her staff. Stunned by this turn of events, the soldier pauses momentarily, unsure what to do.
A small mob of citizens watches from the sidewalk, horrified yet fascinated by this turn of events. In the distance, the goblins see an approaching patrol of Boros soldiers trying to push their way through the crowd. Deciding to book it, they finish off the two soldiers, but send the still-charmed guildmage to attack the civilians. As they run, Hak-Hak yells over his shoulder, "Somebody stop that crazy lady, she killed these two guys!", and it seems like the crowd might believe his version of events.
In the ensuing chaos, the goblins reach their destination: a very old stone archway with spiraling stairs leading down into the darkness.
Encounters 2, 3 and 4
The Sewers
The stairs went on and on, spiraling endlessly down into the darkness. Eventually the pair emerged into a wide sewer tunnel, filled with stagnant green water and a toxic stench. Despite seeing several side tunnels extending into the darkness, the pendant's beam was pointing toward the far end of the tunnel, which was blocked by heavy iron bars.
"Now what?" said Hak-Hak.
"The thing says to go this way." replied Borko.
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So, the intention of the iron bars was to allow the goblins to see their destination, but not reach it directly. They were supposed to take one of the side tunnels, wind around the obstacle and run into one or more encounters: giant rats, kraul insect-men or a tunnel lined with exploding fungal spores.
Instead, they opt for the direct approach once again, attempting to squeeze between the bars. Borko and Lizard roll high and slip through with no problem. After failing on his first attempt, Hak-Hak decides to grease himself up and get a running start. He only manages to get himself stuck halfway. Borko assists, attempting to pull him through, and with a burst of natural 20 strength, he bends the iron bars slightly, freeing Hak-Hak.
At the end of the tunnel is a heavy hatch in the floor, carved with the same runes as the pendant that has been guiding them. After briefly considering smashing the hatch with their hammers and a crowbar, Hak-Hak taps the pendant onto the hatch, and it swings upward.
Beneath the hatch is a tunnel, completely flooded, but well lit by some sort of organic light sources built into the walls. At first, Borko and Lizard refuse to enter the tunnel, but comply after Hak-Hak scouts ahead and shows them it's safe. The tunnel is fairly uneventful, other than Hak-Hak almost drowning when he narrowly fails the Constitution save to hold his breath.
Encounter 5
Stampeding Krasis
The cavern on the other side of the flooded tunnel was like nothing the goblins had ever seen. The stone of the walls was smooth and polished, and lined with more of those weird, squishy lights. There were machines scattered throughout, metal and glass constructs that made Borko's Gruul blood boil.
They could hear a faint rumbling from deeper in the cave. Lizard didn't like the sound at all. He thrashed his head side to side, screeching.
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Turns out Lizard was the only one with enough sense to be scared of this massive shark-rhino thing. Hak-Hak stealthily sticks his head into the room and snipes it with an Eldritch Blast, scoring a Critical Hit and doing a nice amount of damage.
Unfortunately, the abomination is tough enough to take the hit, and fast enough to close the distance. Being based on the stat block for a rhino, it basically deals double damage when it is able to charge farther than 20 feet. A big hit brings Hak-Hak all the way to single digit hit points, but he somehow manages to keep his footing, and avoids being knocked prone.
Hak-Hak, backs off, shattering his guild insignia to cast Hellish Rebuke as revenge for the attack. The krasis somehow passes a Dexterity save, leaping nimbly away from most of the hellfire. Lizard steps in to attract the things attention, but gets immediately stomped to 0 hit points.
A few more rounds of arrows and Eldritch Blasts slay the shark-beast, and Lizard rolls a 20 on his first death save, regaining 1 hit point.
Hak-Hak chops off the krasis's oversized dorsal fin, presumably as a present for Rakdos.
Encounter 6
Gibbering Krasis
Wiping the blood and filth from themselves, Borko and Hak-Hak were feeling lucky to be alive. But still, there was a job to be done. They resolved to set this place on fire as soon as they found what they were looking for.
Plunging deeper into the cavern, they entered another large chamber, and this time a dozen eyes instantly swung towards them. The thing was big, maybe even bigger than the fish-goat they had just killed. Springing from its back were many long tentacles, each tipped with another mouth. Each of the mouths was speaking in a hissing voice, whispering garbled nonsense.
The goblins glanced at each other as if to say "Here we go again," then advanced on the creature.
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This thing turned out to be very tough. It was a little difficult to balance the encounters for a group of only two people. I thought "If this monster is suitable for a group of four 2nd level adventurers, then two 3rd levels will have no problem, right?"
Well, it started out that way. Like the shark-rhino, it had a ton of hit points, but this time the monster was slow, letting the goblins pepper it with ranged attacks as it advanced. It had one ranged attack of its own, blinding Hak-Hak and Lizard for a round by showering them with a ball of mucus.
When it finally closed the distance, it missed its first attack against Hak-Hak, and it looked like the party would escape this fight unharmed. Then this happened.
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The thing shrieked and gibbered in pain, its face filled with arrows and scorched by magical flames. Its strange voices were starting to affect the goblins, making them feel dizzy and nauseous. They knew they had to finish the fight as soon as possible.
Lizard rushed in close, biting a huge chunk of flesh from the krasis, and its attention was instantly focused on him. All of the tentacle heads whipped downward, seizing him. Borko and Hak-Hak had no time to respond before Lizard was torn to pieces.
The krasis gulped down the bloody chunks as the goblins advanced on it, screaming and blasting.
Final Encounter
Head Researcher Ophidon
This place was definitely going to burn, Borko thought. He was tempted to light the fire now, before they had even found their target. Lost in deep thought (for a goblin), he didn't realize that he was still walking, entering another chamber. He was face to face with an oddly dressed human woman, one of those fish-mages.
The light beam from the pendant in Hak-Hak's hands was pointing directly toward her, and it was vibrating frantically. If the pendant could speak, it would have been shouting "get her!"
She was taken by surprise for a moment, before blurting out "How did you get in here?"
Without waiting for an answer, she raised a hand, and a barbed tentacle whipped toward the goblins.
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The boss of this adventure isn't as tough as the previous encounters, but she has magic. She misses her first Thorn whip attack, and the goblins commence their assault.
In desperation, Ophidon charges at the goblins and casts a Thunder Wave, blasting them backward. Hak-Hak ricochets off the cavern wall, his hit points at 0. Borko is at 4. He has to land his next attack, and deal decent damage, or they are both going to meet Lizard in Valhalla.
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Borko lined up his shot, sweat streaming from his forehead. The barbed arrow caught the mage in the shoulder and she staggered, before slumping to the ground and collapsing.
Borko grabbed Hak-Hak by the shoulder and hauled him to his feet.
"Walk it off, runt, you ain't hurt that bad."
The goblins carefully prodded at the fallen Simic mage. She was unconscious but still breathing. The pendant's beam was still frantically pointing at her.
"Take her back to the boring guy?" asked Hak-Hak.
"He never said to bring anything back," mused Borko, "He just said to get whatever was in here. Besides, I ain't carrying her, she looks heavy."
"Well, we should at least take the top part, in case anyone asks"
Borko thought that sounded reasonable. Hak-Hak was pretty smart sometimes.
After a few minutes of sawing, Borko plopped the mage's head into his backpack, and the two began to ransack the room. They barely notice that the pendant's light had gone out.
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And that was the end of the first Ravnica Adventure. The goblins smashed the machinery, and out poured dozens of baby lizrogs, frog-lizard hybrids. Hak-Hak liked the look of them and stuffed several into his backpack, planning to figure out what to do with them later.
They then lit the facility ablaze and exited, vowing that the Simic guild now owed them a dinosaur.
