Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Money well spent

We started off with the party split into two groups[1]: Selene and Szivem in the throneroom with Yek, the rest of us hanging out outside in the market.

For the first interlude, a couple of guards brought a thrashing dwarf into the throneroom, and Yek ordered him shaved, then taken to his treasure room. Whatever, we don't care. I tried to use the interruption to contact Szivem through our Sending Stones, but apparently none of that works in this dungeon. Great.

Now on to the more interesting parts. Selene tried her best to charm Yek, which went well. Szivem tried the same, while inspecting his crown. This went... less well. Still intent on the crown, she quietly brought Selene's attention to the shiny treasure, which worked... they tied up Yek with scarves[2] and Selene took off his crown. He turned back into a goblinoid. Selene wasn't put off by his new appearance, but Yek nevertheless asked for his crown back, since it would be "easier for you humans". Selene: "no, it's valuable, I'll keep it" Yek: "Guards!"

At this point Szivem tried to defuse the situation by casting Light on the crown, making it appear magical, and deceiving the guards into taking their side. As we saw, they disliked their boss' human look. However, this was not enough to sway their allegiance, and they moved to arrest the girls. Szivem: "Fireball!" The horses represent pet owlbears these goblins keep instead of guard dogs.

A combat encounter ensued (as you would expect) with the girls fighting a loosing battle. Selene deployed her eversmoking bottle, but the guards still clobbered her to the ground. And continued to hit her until she died. Cool. Szivem cried for help, and after some debate we went in. Thanks to the cloud of smoke, Solid, Tari, Okos and Ireth did not arrive in time to save her life.[3]

The combat was stretching out, smoke was coming out of the room, and more guards came to investigate. I decided to make my move by disguising into Yek and ordering the guards back to their posts. It worked! But victory was short lived, as Yek freed himself from his bonds, recovered his crown and escaped the room. I flashed my best smile and convinced him that I, at least, mean him no harm. Again, it worked[4] and I managed to settle a deal. A good one, in fact, given his initial terms. 250gc paid for each of our dead companions to be recovered, and we would deal with the Xanatar incursion for free. 

Obviousy, I had other things in mind, but the goblins got smart and kept us apart. No room to cast Invisibility here. So we went through with the deal and escaped to the surface. 

At the end of the day, we got away with barely 1500gc spent on bail and resurrections[5]. But still, the best part was that Selene's new robe was fake and not magical.

We swore vengeance against the goblins... we'll get them next time.

[1] Always a good sign.

[2] He suspected nothing, so he went along.

[3] Quote of the day: "Is my stuff still doing anything?"

[4] I should play a charisma based character instead. This is nerve wracking.

[5] Paid for by the girls, obviously.