Straight into the Adventure!

Well dear auditorium, be careful what you wish for. I asked for an adventure - and immediately got my fair share of it.
 
After some time of travel - this boy Archie sure plays a lot with his little apparatuses - we came upon a site that reeked suspiciously like a raid in the very near past. Dead horses, blood on the ground... And worst of all, it seemed to have been master Gundren and his fellow companion Sildar Hallwinter, who were the unfortunate victims to the crime. Although maybe not as unfortunate as it might have seemed at first glance... but more of that later.
 
While we were still inspecting the scenery, out of the forest all around us, a hand full of goblins approached. And before any of us could even try to reason with these creatures, we saw ourselves under attack! All creatures in these lands may deserve to live and dwell however they see fit, yet if one is to harm my friends, there are no two ways about it. And as it turned out, our ragbag coalition was quite able to defend itself. I have known my friend Grum to be sturdy but besides his caring and prudent attitude, he well knows how to wield his staff. And beware of his bound with nature, else you find yourself in a world of hurt from her embrace.
Nysqwen on the other hand was identifiable at first glance as a warrior. I can only guess that many arguments were won by her sheer frightening mass of muscles, even before actual blows would be exchanged. And she is quite proficient with this axe of hers! She near split a goblin in two with a single blow!
And even Archie did his part. I must admit, when it came to combat my faith in him was likely the least in our group. Yet it turned out, that his finicking around with strange devices and substances could prove itself quite potent in producing flames and electricity from some hidden energy source. Granted, he wailed around quite a bit while he brandished his staff around blind-eyed in the vague direction of the enemies. But I guess with a few more days or weeks of adventuring he will grow into a full fletched man, able to take on near any threat! I would also enjoy learning a little more about this strange kind of magic he uses...
As for my own humble contribution to our fight, the years in the alleys of Neverwinter have proven to be a good teacher with the rapier. And Anataea's help in finding in me the source to the arcane secrets of music is probably her greatest gift to me. After all, it fills one just with immense pleasure if a few well picked words let a goblin wet his breeches!
 
To make it brief - we annihilated this raiding party, only one of the shrieking green creatures escaped. After we cleared our heads from the shock and noted that no severe wounds had occurred, we found a track the raiders must have used to travel between their hideout and the road. As Gundren and his friend seemed to have been abducted by the goblins, it was reasonable to assume, they were not dead - yet. So, we ventured forth into the forest, as silent as our gear allowed it. After a short while, we found the entrance to a cave. And again, were attacked by goblin guards. They also proved no match to our combined will and forces and so we continued into the cave. Though at this point, I felt exhausted already and could see a similar expression on every face in our fellowship. But there was, quite frankly, no time to think about a rest.
 
In the entrance of the cave we stumbled upon a few wolves, who we could satisfy with some of our rations into letting us pass. Grum even took the time to free the beasts from their shackles, which held them captured in this place, likely another crime of these goblins. As we sneaked deeper into the cave, light dwindled and echoes grew louder. The path we walked was sloped slightly upwards and when we reached the top, we stumbled onto yet another group of goblins, fumbling with what seemed to be barriers to some water resort. And soon enough we found out that this water could quite effectively be used as a defence mechanism, as one of the goblins managed to breach the barrier. With Nysqwen being flushed down the way we came by a barrage of water, we saw ourselves at a severe disadvantage in numbers and knowledge of the terrain. But I was yet to unleash one of the most powerful spells I knew at this point, although I always had thought of it as more of a peaceful way to escape a sticky situation or just calm down a crying child.
 
And so I sent our enemies to sleep. And as any child will be able to tell you, a sleeping goblin can be easily dealt with. We could regroup and tried to plan our next few steps. Archie was quick to come up with the idea of setting a trap in one of the branching tunnels. But around the next corner waited our greatest test yet. An ugly, hairy and disturbingly reeking creature, both taller and much wider than any of the goblins we encountered so far. I only had heard of bugbears, but I was not prepared to face one. Here we were, worn down by fighting, struggling to cling to the belief that master Gundren was still alive and faced with a grotesque result of nature’s creativity. I was in some dire situation in my days on the streets, but in this moment my blood grew ice cold. Measured with the nature of my race, that is quite a feat for such a creature to achieve. There was no going back, this fiend would have to be dealt with. And thus, we went to battle.
 
We threw everything at it, everything we could muster. Seeing Grum fall damn near broke my heart. Had I just lost one of the only friends I knew in this world? But we managed to fight him off. He called himself Skarg, referring to himself oddly in the third person. Why he fled, none of us could really comprehend, but we were too exhausted to give it a good second thought. And we had to attend to Grum! He is a robust dwarf after all, a blow that would have me singing in the abyss by now only managed to knock him out for a short while. A healing potion, we found among the rubble lying around, did the rest. We had to rest. We did not forget about the threat Gundren was in, but in our state, we would not prove a sufficient help.
 
And during that rest it seemed, we all matured a little. It is hard to describe, but when we broke camp, only an hour or so later, every single one of us was invigorated, felt almost empowered. There are secrets in this world, probably no one will ever know the answer to. But to any deity listening - as long as good and kind people walk the earth and may be protected by what may come from our adventures, I will be grateful for such a gift.
 
As we ventured forth through the tunnels, we came upon another, lager cave. This appeared to be the end of the hideout and as we heard some shouting earlier, we were afraid what we might find here. The greatest surprise for sure was a dead Skarg. Less surprising were the goblins present, one of them, burlier than the rest, was harassing a human in a terrible condition. When we entered the room, the goblin shouted for us to leave, else he would kill the human. After a short skirmish, in which the talking goblin pushed the human over the edge - right on Archie - we could deal with these last surviving raiders. The human turned out to be none other than Sildar, Gundrens friend and apparently member of the Lord's alliance, one could here often about in Neverwinter. He told about some internal struggle for power among the goblinoids, which ultimately resulted in Skargs death. And he told us that Gundren was taken away, something to do with someone named only "black spider". A name that provoked a surprised cough from Nysqwen who has some business of her own with this ominous figure. She told us about the death of her family and an anonymous source that told her, this black spider would be wound up in the whole thing. So many mysteries... We must find this black spider and help Gundren!
 
Among the stolen goods in the cave were many belonging to the Lionshields, traders in our destination of Phandalin. So, we loaded them on our cart and made our way to the small town.
 
Now we have arrived and there seem to be no end to the troubles. A band of bandits is terrorising the town, called "red bands", aptly named for their red face scarves. It looks like we have a lot on our plate come the morning. But for now, after a good beer and with a full belly, it is finally time to rest in peace. For a while.