My Wednesday night campaign remains on temporary hiatus. We're hoping to get an extended weekend session sometime this month. I intended to use the hiatus to catch up these reports to the current timeline (Session 43), but that plan never quite materialized. This session occurred on 06/17/20.
Previously…
The party defeated a goblin ambush and found a hidden trail to their lair, a pair of cave openings into a hillside deep in the woods.
Session Events
Carefully investigating the first cave opening, Armolas sneaks inside a bit and sees that it opens into a rough-hewn cave. Four ugly goblins wearing dirty blue caps sit around a weak fire, slowly roasting greasy rats on skewers. Dirty straw mats and filthy blankets lay strewn about the cave floor. Just inside this entrance, Armolas also spots a covered pit concealed under a wicker mat sprinkled with cave dirt, so she withdraws.
Ellie probes the second cave opening and discovers that it enters the same cave. She notices a tripwire across the entrance, connected to a crude alarm of pots and pans attached to the string. The heroes dash into the cave and take the goblins by surprise, quickly killing three of them. The fourth goblin flees deeper into the lair through another tunnel.
Chasing after the goblin, the party sees him flee through a stout wooden door and slam it shut behind him. Belba sneaks up to the door and listens carefully. She hears angry conversation but can't understand what is being said. Disguising her voice, Belba pretends to be one of the goblins and claims (in the Common tongue) that they've "driven off the intruders."
The room is also filled with supplies raided from innocent merchants and travelers along the Gold Road, including four kegs of golden ale—a plundered shipment from Dunderbrau Brewery (Dixie's employer). On the back wall of the cave sits a stout, iron-bound chest and next to it, the party can see a small iron cage. A little girl sits inside, sobbing and clutching her doll.
Enraged, the heroes rush into the cave and engage the goblins! During the fight, Ellie wild-shapes into a giant spider and rushes over to the cage, causing the little girl to scream in terror. The hobgoblin boss proves to be a formidable fighter, but before long both he and his goblin minion are dead. Dixie removes the hobgoblin's head from his neck and takes a magical belt of agility from around the villain's waist.
Armolas immediately releases the girl from the cage. The child jumps into the elf ranger's arms and holds on for dear life, burying her smudged little face in Armolas' cloak. Belba opens the chest and takes the loot inside, which includes sacks filled with merchant coins, a pouch of gemstones, and a magical potion of invisibility. They also find a message written to Gurd along with a crudely-drawn map depicting several points of interest around Brackleborn Village and within Gloomy Forest.
Gathering up as many of the supplies and ale that they can, the party hightails it for home. Racing back down the trail, following the exact route they took to get to the hobgoblin's hideout, they exit the forest just as the sun begins to sink in the west. Within an hour or so, they reach the outskirts of the village, the little girl still holding tight to her rescuers. The party reaches Brackleborn Keep with Emelia just as the sun sets. As they approach the gate, a guard on the wall shouts: “Halt and identify yourselves!”
When they do so, the guard recognizes them and orders the other guards to open the gate. The heroes are rushed to the great hall, where Lord and Lady Ferril receive them (both nobles are still dressed in their bedclothes). After a tearful reunion, Lord Ferril thanks the girls profusely. The party turns over the hobgoblin’s map and message, which he examines gravely. He informs them that the bandit they captured is being interrogated in the keep dungeon...he hopes to extract some good information soon. Thanking them again for recovering this valuable intelligence, Lord Ferril asks for some time to be with his daughter, promising to summon them in a few days and make good on his reward offer.
Before the girls depart the keep, Emelia gives each of them an inspirational kiss on the cheek. Having bonded with Armolas, Emelia offers the wood-elf her dolly. Armolas accepts the doll as a good luck charm—an item imbued with the unconditional love of an innocent soul. The party members then return to their various homes with their spoils.
Ellie Mae reaches Madame Enorca's cottage first and turns over a few samples of dried gloomstool. Despite the paltry findings, the old wise-woman seems pleased. With Enorca’s instructions, Ellie attempts to brew a potion with the samples and succeeds! Madame Enorca is impressed as Ellie shows her the potion of darkvision she has made. Enorca gives Ellie a small, hand-written journal containing details and drawings of various herbs and plants found within Gloomy Forest.
When Armolas reaches her cottage, she notices an elfish sigil discreetly painted on her front door, informing her that a fellow wood-elf passed through while she was gone. Disappointed that she missed one of her kinfolk, she enters and quickly turns in for the night.
When Dixie returns to the brewery, the dwarves are elated that she recovered their unspoiled kegs of stolen Thunder Ale. They prepare a late-night feast in her honor and present her with gifts of gratitude: A proper ale horn banded with silver and inset with four large rubies (worth 50 gp), a quality brewer’s kit, and a false beard made of real dwarf beard hair, lovingly crafted by assistant brewmeister, Stinky Pete. Dixie knows this last gift is a great honor to bestow upon a non-dwarf, and she wears it with pride. Murph also informs Dixie that her brewer’s apprenticeship is up, and he promotes her to the status of “journeyman,” the second step toward becoming a brewmeister. To become a full-fledged brewer (the third step), she must develop and brew a batch of beer that satisfies Murph and the other dwarves.
Belba returns to her home above the bakery that she shares with her two aunts, who are relieved that the girls made it home from their adventure. The following day, she returns to work. Bill Barreltender—the grateful innkeeper who’s son the party saved from giant rats—stops by the bakery. He wishes to show his gratitude to her by offering her a weekly performance gig at the inn, for which he will pay her 5 gp plus whatever tips she earns from satisfied patrons. Belba excitedly accepts his offer.
That same morning, there is a knock on Armolas' cottage door—it’s Mr. Mulberry, her halfling landlord, come round for a visit. He has heard through the grapevine that young Miss Emelia was kidnapped by forest bandits, and that Armolas and her friends rescued her. He is eager to hear details, some of which she shares with him (although she only blames "bandits," and mentions nothing of the map or message).
As the local representative of the halfling refugees to Brackleborn Keep, Mr. Mulberry lives in the nicest and highest hole on Temple Hill, a well-appointed home with various luxuries and hand-crafted furnishings. He informs Armolas that he needs a new wardrobe and fancies a particular white oak tree that grows within Gloomy Forest. If she will let him know the next time she visits the forest, he can give her the location of a nice burl of this oak. He is willing to commission a wardrobe from her if she retrieves it.
The session ends here...
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