Session One: Humble Beginnings Report

General Summary

Our story begins with the party having met Gundren Rockseeker in the city of Neverwinter, where he asked them to escort a wagon of supplies to the rough-and-tumble town of Phandalin to the southeast. They agreed and watched Gundren set out ahead of them with a warrior escort named Sildar Hallwinter. While on the road for about a day and a half, the party find two dead horses in the middle of the road — matching the two they had seen Gundren and Sildar set out on. Fearing ambush, Orilo and Boddynock carefully investigate, only to be proven right as two goblins run at them while a third shoots Orilo in the shoulder with an arrow. Orilo manages to scare off one of the goblins, which runs into the woods to the south. Zilyana and Vedania pull out bows and help dispense with the other two goblins, though Zilyana temporarily falls unconscious in the process.   Torn between finishing their delivery mission and rescuing their patrons, they choose the later, and after parking the wagon near the road, they head into the woods along the trail the goblin fled. Leading the way, Orilo manages to spot and disarm two traps laid by the goblins to deter visitors. After a couple hours of travel the party find themselves at the mouth of a cave with a stream coming out of it. Orilo notices a small clearing to the east and, upon investigating, sees two goblins. With a fearsome battlecry she runs toward them. After dispatching them, the party stealthily begins to explore the cave.   Once entering, they hear growling from a room to the east. Boddynock uses minor illusion to create the sound of a lion’s roar, which seems to intimidate the wolves into submission. He then illusions a lion to distract them and stealths to the east of the room to look through a hole near the top of an steep incline. He sees two goblins, a wolf, and a bugbear there, as well as many (probably) stolen goods and supplies.   They then head up the passage to the northwest, part of which crumbles under the combined weight of Zilyana and Vedania. Once back up, they all notice a bunch of goblins in the next room. They quietly craft a plan to hide behind Orilo and shoot arrows and javalins into the room. Plan successful, they then deal with all the goblins in the room, only to have an unseen one appear on top of an escarpment holding up an unconscious Sildar. He threatens to drop him over the edge if they don’t back down. However, being over seven feet tall, Orilo simply reaches up and grabs Sildar, leaving the goblin confused and subdued.   Seeing the tide turning, the goblin drops to his knees and begs for a deal to be made. Introducing himself as Yeemik, he asks for his freedom if he helps them through the rest of the caves. He offers up information on the local leader of the tribe, a bugbear named Klarg, the number of remaining goblins (five), that Gundren was taken to some nearby castle along with a map, and promises to take the remaining goblins and live a less criminal life together.   The party agrees, on the condition that Yeemik goes and returns with the remaining goblins, leaving Klarg unprotected. He does so, and they are left with a revived Sildar while the party goes to deal with Klarg. When the party reaches Klarg’s chamber it appears to be deserted, though upon further investigation they find him and his pet wolf, Ripper, hiding behind a stalagmite. Combat ensures and party are fairly easily victorious.   They then return to get Sildar then head out, back towards the wagon to take a long rest. We ended with them making camp and talking to Sildar about