Module 1: Round River Ranch

Synopsis

The characters are preparing to take their first steps as wandering adventurers and have heard of a pastoral ranch in the foothills of the Caraecol Mountains that is having trouble with goblins. It seems like a straightforward mission and something easy enough to cut their teeth on but there’s more to this job than meets the eye.

Adventure Hook

Wandering the roads in search of adventure, the characters have heard tale of a goblin bounty at Round River Ranch. The rumor claims a reward of 15 gold per adventurer to purge the goblins from the property but to learn more they will have to travel to the ranch to speak with the family that owns it. The ranch itself is only a half day’s walk out of their way and the sun has just begun its descent towards the horizon as the characters approach the house to find a comely human woman hitching a horse outside.

Adventure Background

The party has been hired by Charlotte, a young human rancher and eldest daughter of her family, to deal with the goblins who torment her cattle and murdered her father.

A little over a decade ago, Charlotte’s family set up their operation in the Round River Valley. It’s a perfect spot for pastoral grazing, nestled in the green foothills of the Caraecol Mountains and completely surrounded by a river that forks in the north and comes back together in the south. The ranch has been unambiguously prosperous since Charlotte’s father first settled the location, despite regular raids by goblins.

For the past ten years the goblins were merely a nuisance, raiding supplies and running off with tools every now and again or spooking the cattle. Recently, however, Charlotte’s father sold logging rights to the forest on his land in an effort to create more grazing space for the family’s growing herd.

Around that time was when the goblins changed tactics. Cattle began disappearing, at first only one or two a month which was bad enough but now they’ve escalated to nearly one a week.

Charlotte’s father decided to do something about it and set up an ambush to deal with the thieving creatures once and for all. His horse was back in the stable the next morning, still saddled and ready to ride, but Charlotte’s father was nowhere to be seen.

They found him in the eastern pasture, three days later.

With her father dead and her mother long gone from a winter cough, that left Charlotte in charge of the ranch. The very first thing she did was dip into the family’s savings and send spread word that she needed adventurers to come avenge her father and save the ranch from the growing goblin threat.

Dramatis Personae

b]Charlotte: A human woman and proprietor of Round River Ranch.
Clip-Clop: A goblin hunter.
Giggles: The goblin nursery mother.

Chapter 1 - The Ranch

It’s a pleasantly warm afternoon hike to Round River Ranch. The sun has just begun to set as the party approaches the ranch house. Prompt the players to introduce their characters.

As you approach the ranch house, a young, human woman on horseback rounds the corner. Her clothes are caked with dust and mud and the light of the setting sun makes her deeply tanned skin look at least a shade darker as she swings a leg off her horse and slips to the ground. “Y’all must be here about the job.” She remarks, wiping back a sweaty lock of brunette hair that’s escaped her braid before hitching the horse to a post. “Glad to see somebody wants the bounty.” Hooking both thumbs into the edge of her belt, she adds, “My name’s Charlotte. Y’all have any questions before the sun’s down and things get real wild around here?”

The characters may ask questions about Charlotte or the job, which is detailed in the Adventure Background. Any Wisdom (Insight) check about Charlotte (NG human commoner) passes as she’s an honest, genuine sort. If asked how she put together the bounty money, she says it’s coming out of the family savings. A successful DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check reveals that Charlotte is extremely nervous about tapping the funds but is willing to do what has to be done.

After the party has had a chance to ask their questions and received their answers, read or paraphrase the following:

“It’ll be dark soon.” Charlotte announces as she unhitches her horse, “The goblins won’t be long after that. I’ll take the west pasture and y’all can take the east.” Swinging up into the saddle, she begins maneuvering the horse towards the setting sun, adding, “Remember, you get your gold when you’ve tracked down the burrow and put the last greenskin in the dirt.”

The Stakeout

The party doesn’t have to wait long. About an hour after nightfall, the unmistakable sound of a cow screaming in the distance commands the characters’ attentions. Following the sound they come across the struggling cow attempting to fight off four goblins with spears after they’ve already brought the animal down to the ground.

If the party opts to chase the goblins off, they make a run for it. The players may either follow using the “Chases” mechanic from chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide or may attempt a DC 12 Wisdom (Survival) check to track the goblins back to their burrow. If either the chase or the tracking is successful, proceed to Chapter 2 - The Burrow.

If the party decides to fight the goblins, then they hold their ground. After the first round of combat, have more goblins join the fray from hiding. The exact number of these goblin reinforcements is up to the DM - add more or fewer based on the number and level of players.

When only one goblin remains, that goblin is Clip-Clop who immediately surrenders.

The Captive Goblin

Clip-Clop is frightened and hesitant to give out any information other than his name but a DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Intimidation) roll can convince him to part with the burrow’s location.

“Clip-Clop tell you. Clip-Clop tell.” The little goblin relents, his tiny shoulders drooping as he turns his face towards the ground in shame. He’s trembling so hard that you can see the motion in the tips of his ears as he gestures meekly towards the east. “Look for stump with no grass around.” Clip-Clop instructs with a sniffle, “Stump moves. Round River Clan lives under stump.” Turning his face up to you, the goblin’s chin quivers as he asks, “You let Clip-Clop go now, yes?”

It is entirely up to the party whether they will kill Clip-Clop, release him, or keep him captive.

A Cold Trail

If the party loses track of all the goblins, fails to convince Clip-Clop to part with the burrow’s location, or otherwise comes up empty handed they can return to the ranch house. They arrive just in time to find Charlotte returning from the western pasture with news that she’s tracked the goblins back to their burrow.

Development

Now that the party knows where the entrance to the burrow is, they can plan their attack.

Chapter 2 - The Burrow

Finding the hidden entrance to the goblin burrow is not as simple as expected. It matches most of the identical stumps left over from the logging enterprise but the party does eventually manage to find it.

The stump is massive, easily as wide as three men standing abreast, and it’s no small wonder why the ranchers have opted to leave it in place rather than try to pull it for a few extra feet of grazing space. Grasses grow tall all around it, save for an arch of bare dirt where the earth has been scraped clean by repeated rubbing and it is this relatively minor detail that gives it’s true nature away. The goblins must be just beneath your feet now.

A Passive Perception of 10 (or a DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check) reveals that the entrance is trapped but can be disarmed with a DC 10 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools. If the disarm attempt fails, or the players fail to notice the trap before opening the entrance, a pouch of poison spores explodes dealing 3 (1d6) Poison damage to all characters within 15 feet of the entrance.

The stump’s mechanism is a clever design, pivoting neatly and easily aside to reveal a gently sloping tunnel down into the earth. The tunnels are wide enough to drag a cow through, and more than big enough for a goblin to walk but any medium sized creature will have to hunch to fit making all movement within the tunnels difficult terrain.

The Descent

The players descend through the dark tunnel (1) until they reach a blind corner around which a pale yellow-green light creeps. A Passive Perception of 10 (or a DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check) reveals the sounds of two goblin voices talking down the hallway (2).

The main room of the burrow has a small table and four stools, illuminated by a half dozen tiny balls of yellow-green light that dance and twine about one another. A DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) check reveals these creatures to be Droxies (CN Pixies) - a kind of goblinoid pixie that cannot speak but can mimic any sound it’s heard. They are not likely to attack but may alert the rest of the burrow to intruders. The two goblins seated at the table playing dice are another matter entirely and will attack as soon as they realize there are intruders here.

If the players do not find a way to neutralize the droxies (with the Sleep spell, for example) or they will alert the burrow as soon as the fight begins and two more goblins will join the fight from the bedrooms (3) while two others can be seen running deeper into the burrow. If the party does not quietly eliminate the two goblin guards, there will be a similar response to the attack whether or not the droxies are neutralized.

Scaling the Battle
Add or remove goblins from this encounter depending on the number and level of the players.

The Bauble Witch

The party may explore the goblin bedrooms (3) at their leisure. They are modest, tidy dwelling spaces, each with a bed and small crate of clothing with a few handmade decorations made from river rocks and antler.
When the party rounds the corner to the back room (4), they are ambushed by two more goblins and a Goblin Bauble Witch (see the end of this module for the stat block). A DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check will reveal the goblins’ presence and prevent a surprise round.

You round the corner to find three more goblins, two males armed with swords and a female draped head to toe in trinkets and baubles fashioned from polished river glass and brass wire, shiny rocks and copper disks. Holding out a hand she levels an accusatory finger at you, the bracelet of blue stones at her wrist glowing brightly as she screams, “You never touch babies!” A bolt of magic lances forward from her outstretched hand as the pair of goblins at her side ululate their war cries and charge.

If the party did not detect the goblins, the surprise round against the characters is a single Magic Missile for 3 (1d4+1) force damage from the Bauble Witch and one normal attack each from her goblin assistants.

Once the battle is won, read or paraphrase the following:

The female goblin coughs blood, weakly trying to claw her way across the ground and towards the solid stone wall, without any real progress. “N-no fair.” She wheezes, spitting blood onto the hard packed dirt, “Round River Clan h-here… here… first…” And then, with a soft, whimpering gasp, she falls still.

The character with the highest Passive Perception hears something rustling on the other side of the stone wall (5). A DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) roll determines that the wall can be pulled open via a similar mechanism to the stump at the entrance.

The Revelation

When the characters open the hidden door, read or paraphrase the following:

The door swings open to reveal an unarmed, female goblin standing defiantly between you and four small, green shapes huddled in fear behind her. “Y-you leave now.” She demands, boldly raising her chin despite the fear in her eyes. “Giggles not tell anyone you find us. Giggles take babies and run. You tell mean farmers that clan is dead.” One of the goblin children simpers, wrapping both arms around the female goblin’s leg. Without taking her eyes off of you, Giggles places a hand on the child’s head and nods. “You get blood money and babies still live. Is good deal for you, yes?”

The players may ask whatever questions they wish of Giggles (NG goblin). If any of the party speaks Goblin, they quickly learn that Giggles is intelligent and caring, capable of speaking plainly and without the stunted cadence she uses when speaking a language she’s barely familiar with. If they do not, she speaks passable Durasian (the closest thing Emeriss has to Common) and will still tell the party anything they want to know as long as she thinks it has any chance of getting the children out of the burrow alive.

The Round River Clan has been in the valley for generations, foraging and hunting deer and small game for their survival. That changed when the ranchers arrived and began taming the land, forcing the goblins to either abandon their home or steal to supplement their reduced capacity to feed themselves and their children.

When Charlotte’s father brought in the loggers to create more grazing land, that further reduced the clan’s access to wild game and foraging. The goblins began hunting the ranchers’ cattle simply to survive and had begun stockpiling supplies so that the whole clan could pick up and move elsewhere to dig a new burrow but before they could scout a suitable location for their new home Charlotte’s father died.

Giggles was not there on the actual night it happened but she’s heard the story. The human was attempting to chase down the goblin hunting party on horseback when the goblins managed to frighten the animal, tossing Charlotte’s father from the saddle. He landed on his own weapon and died of his injuries.

If the characters had been just a few weeks later in arriving, the Round River Clan would have completely moved on and never troubled the ranchers again.

Conclusion

It is entirely up to the party whether or not they let Giggles and the children go. Either way, the goblin threat to the ranch has been dealt with and the players may return to Charlotte for their reward.

If the players reveal the truth of the situation to Charlotte, she is horrified to learn that not only were the little creatures just trying to survive, it was her family’s fault they’d been forced to such extremes to accomplish the fact. If they tell her the truth and they still killed the children, she is disgusted by their actions but will still pay them the contracted wage.

If the players do not tell Charlotte about the goblin’s side of the story, she feels suitably vindicated and pays them their gold with a promise to spread word of just how deftly they handled the situation. If they do not tell her the goblins’ story but still mention having to kill the children she shakes her head and remarks that she’s not sure she could have done the same.

Regardless of whether or not Charlotte learns the whole story, if the party lets the children go, and tell her about it, she agrees that this was the noble thing to do and will make sure everyone knows that the characters are real heroes, willing to do the right thing.

Rewards

Each character receives 15 gp for completing the story.

XP Rewards Add the total XP of creatures defeated by the party, then divide by the number of characters to determine individual rewards.

Obstacle/Foe	XP
Goblin	50
Bauble Witch	300

Non-Combat Rewards

Task/Accomplishment	XP per Character
Did not kill Clip-Clop	10
Let Giggles and children go	100

About the Author

Joan Besch is a dancer, writer, and gamer from Dallas, Texas with a soft spot for all the little monsters. She was a professional GM for over a decade and has recently returned to the fold for 5e Dungeons and Dragons, where she can be found spinning worlds out of the aether, inventing whole new games, and generally being a just colossal dork.