This is a walkthru or a rather surprising set of bad rolls by the goblin bandits, and how a tiny flying faerie is now a bandit leader…..for session 1 and an overview of he characters (and links to all of the content for this campaign) see the Main Walkthru post.
First, a note….we ran this fully in 3d, using 3d Canvas on Foundry. Well, mostly fully. I put in giant rocks and bushes and trees for terrain on top of the 2d map. I did NOT try to make the different levels higher, or the water lower. The tool and I don’t fully agree on the best way to do that :). You’ll see in the pictures how this looked a couple times. It was our first time using 3d this fully, and everyone but me struggled with camera control. Also, I ran out of time to use the same kind or rocks, and to make it so that when your mini was close to a rock, that you could see thru it with your camera (like in a video game). So that didn’t help.
A Surprise for the Goblins
The module says the guards aren’t very attentive, and they were not warned of anyone’s approach. Blanth, he monk, snuck around the bushes and saw the goblin boss and two goblins sitting around back there. Kisme the faerie went into the bushes and made noise, and the boss lazily told the other two to get check it out. That was the signal for Blanth and Poncherulo the paladin/barbarian to rush in and kill the boss (which might have worked with decent rolls, alas, those were not forthcoming). Kisme and Twitch (whose player couldn’t see his own rolls on Foundry for some reason we need to figure out) cast spells and smashed the two lesser goblins quickly.
This picture shows the characters before they saw the goblins behind those bushes to the right. You’ll note that the you can’t see the goblins behind the bushes, because they PCs haven’t gone around the bushes yet. The line of sight is blocked by the bushes. You can also see that they can see into the cavern entrance some from where they are, which would come into play later.
The goblin boss hit the monk hard 2-3 times, and he dropped. (this would have been a good place to take a screenshot, as I put 3d models go prone when at zero hit points, which is cool). Poncerulo kept missing somehow, but Kisme killed the boss (which would be a theme). Kisme snuck near the entrance and saw the goblin on the bridge in the distance. They also saw the wolves in the next room. While the druid talked to the wolves, convincing them they should run free (with a great little speech and high rolling, Kisme proceeded to just miss the goblin with a fire spell, then miss with a 1 on the next try. That alerted the goblin, who began yelling something in goblin. That convinced the party to go thru the chimney, since they were sure a bunch of goblins would be coming down the creek soon. In the distance, the party heard very loud pounding like huge hammers were hitting something.
Into Klarg’s Lair
The druid used Thorn Whip on Klarg, and pulled him into the fire. Klarg managed to dance in the space and avoid injury, but I ruled he was still in the fire. When he started his turn, he did not fair so well at avoiding fire. He also took magic missile damage but managed to stay up and hit the druid (who had leapt into the room to attack Klarg, only to stand on Ripper’s body, enraging Klarg in the process). Klarg hit the druid hard, but didn’t quite drop him. But, the faerie critted Klarg and the other two goblins dropped their weapons in fear. Kisme cast comprehend languages and intimidated the two guards and the others that ran into the room (they rolled a 1 on their attempt not to be intimidated, so what’s a DM to do other than laugh and smile and let the players have some fun?).
Kisme asked how many more bandits he now had under his command, and they told him there were more goblins and a prisoner in another cave. Kisme ordered them to take the party there so he could command the others, even though the barbarian thought the idea was iffy…..
It worked, until Yeemek hesitated to talk about King Grol (who he feared more than he did Kisme). Kisme stabbed Yeemik to try to scare him, but all that did was make Yeemik and some of the others attack the party. A fight ensued, and Kisme again critted the leader (Yeemik this time) and again the goblins rolled VERY POORLY on their attempt not to be intimidated. They all gave up…..and Kisme told them that guards from Neverwinter were in the area, and that they should lay low until Kisme and the others returned. They could have all the food and some of the wealth in the caves. And yes, they could go into town if they dared and shop. Just no banditry until the area was clear of Neverwinter guards.
Thoughts from the DM
I didn’t change much here, other than the goblins mentioning that one of the weird blue skinned / blue gemmed goblins took the dwarf to the King. I’m setting up the other goblins earlier than the rather awful job that the adventure as written does.
The monk and the druid were in danger, but at no point were the other two. Lots of bad rolls by the goblins, and me deciding that a 1 on their attempt not to be intimidated led to them following Kisme ensured that. Also, them convincing the wolves to leave the first cave definitely helped (as did the one player standing near the creek when it flooded making his save easily). Everyone in the group contributed in their way, though Kisme definitely took the show tonight.
The 3d elements were great, and I hope to learn more about using the tool as we go forward. I thought I had another shot during play, but I must not have saved that picture. Like I said, I need to learn more about using the 3d and my players need to play with it more to better learn to control the camera.
Of course, the players think they should go for the King and to save the dwarf, but I meta game discouraged that, and we’ll prep both Redbrand Hideout and Gnomengard (which I’m adding in because I know how to run it in a good way and I want the gnomes to play a role later).