Session 2

Members

 * Tomas the Paladin (Alexander)
 * Mel the Sorceress (Mel)
 * Naryrr the Druid (Natalie)
 * Oleander the Fighter (Matt)

The Adventure
We bagan our adventuring day in the keep surrounding Baridel Castle. While doing some shopping and talking with Castellan and the jolly preacher, a new adventurer was checking in his weapons at the gate. They would meet up in the tavern later that evening, when the party overheard him talking with the bar tender. He had ordered a roast joint and an ale, so he got the usual embellished story from Henderbeard.

As their goals were about the same, they agreed to join forces. Castellan iffered some more bounties for dead creatures. When talk of the ogre came up, he asked the party to make an offer. Naryrr offered 7 gp and Castellan accepted quickly. The fighter, being a new member to the party had his reservations. He mentioned that 7 gp was probably way below the value. He may or may not be starting to think that, for the first time in his life, he might be the smartest person in the party.

Although there was discussion of going to exterminate goblins straight away, the party decided to finish off the kobolds. On the way, they were ambushed by a group of seven goblins. The party made quick work of them and we got the first glimpse of the druid's new 'wild' shape. She wolfed out and tore a few goblin throats to pieces.

After some discussion of the difference between left and right goblin ears, the new fighter took all the ears. He strung them together like a bandoleer. Moving forth into the caves area, they were spotted outside by a lone guard, who then went running and yelling back into the cave. The party cautiously followed him in, finding another trip wire and triggering it with their amazing 11 foot pole.

The first door they encountered led to the food stores of the kobolds. The place contained various sorts of dried and salted meat, grain, and vegetables in sacks, boxes, barrels, and piles. There was also bits and pieces of past human victims. There was nothing of falue, even the wine was thin and vinegary. Naryrr burned it all.

Moving forth, Naryrr wild shaped into a dire wolf and the fight began. Four kobold Dragonshields stood their ground and fended off the party, round after round, they protected their chieftain. All the while, the chieftain and his wives opened the door, took pot shots at the party, and then kicked it closed. They might not be the smartest of enemies, but they certainly know that closing a door will save them from dog teeth, arrows, axes, and javelins.

Jurgen dragged an unconscious paladin out of the fight after he ran out of healing spells. He also stabilized the dragonborn. Naryrr seems to have learned to be kinder to her comrades, and got him up, instead of carry him to town. The paladin did wake up with a bump and blood crusted to his head. Nobody told him that it was because Jurgen dragged him by one foot.

The kobold chief was clearly an alchemist. He threw alchemical fire, a frenzy bomb, and finally a glue pot. The glue pot was centered on the next room and included the two remaining dragonshields. The fight was on, the fighter and a dragonshield, glued face to face, knew that one of them was going to be ventilated. After a valiant fight (it really was valiant, well, except for the dice rolls), the wolf brought down the door, and it was quickly over before any of the remaining kobolds even had a chance to surrender.

Beaten and bruised, the party headed back to the keep. It was well past noon, but they are getting a reputation for coming back 'early'. Healed and ready to go, with a new bounty for goblin ears, the party headed back to the caves.

The party made an attempt to sneak up on the goblins guarding the cave entrance, but were easily spotted from a distance. However, they were able to take advantage of their weapons' better range and Naryrr's quick and vicious wolf form to kill the seven guards at the door. After a quick tactical retreat to get a quick rest at the recently vacated Kobold cave, the party decided to take a longer, more covered approach to the cave. Naryrr took the lead in form of a tiger to go ahead and try and sniff out any source of trouble. Instead of picking up the scent of goblins, she came across the stench of an Ogre coming from a cave hidden among the trees. While her spirit was willing, she knew it would be best to tuck tail and head back and give the cave a wide berth until better equipped to take on an Ogre.

After taking a new route back to the goblin cave, they managed to enter and kill off another seven goblin guards. The goblins are generally known to be tougher than kobolds, but with new found confidence (and better rolls), they made quick work of them. As usual, Naryrr burned stuff they didn't loot. There used to be two barrels of javelins. Now they are ash.

Moving off to the west, the fighter managed to quietly open (and still leave functional) a door, only to discover that it led to the hobgoblin lair. A back door, as it were. The party was just as surprised as the hobgoblins though and a fight began. Mel cast her magic missiles, the druid cast spells, and the fighter fought. Even Jurgen managed to take down a hobgoblin demonstrating that he can not only mend wounds, but inflict them out as well. When the dust cleared, they were still standing. They booked it out of there and headed back to town.

Rumors (plot hooks)

 * 1) An ogre sometimes helps the cave dwellers.
 * 2) “Bree-yark” is goblin-language for “we surrender”!
 * 3) The bugbears in the caves are afraid of dwarves!
 * 4) Piles of magic armor are hoarded in the southern caves.
 * 5) There is more than one tribe of orcs within the caves.
 * 6) There are hordes of tiny dog-men in the lower caves.
 * 7) A magic wand was lost in the caves’ area.
 * 8) All of the cave entrances are trapped.

Current Contracts

 * 1 gp per goblin ear
 * 2 gp per orc ear
 * 7 gp to kill the ogre

XP
Current Individual XP: 900

(Current level: 3, 1800 XP until next level)

Loot

 * 21 gp
 * 22 ep
 * 198 sp
 * 329 cp
 * 105 sp - for hobgoblin ears (negotiated out of session)
 * Gold necklace with a nice gem (30 gp)
 * Potion of healing (The fighter and druid each paid 5 gp for this one)
 * 4 bags of beef jerky flavored sand

Tax deductible donation of 50 gp from the bag that Jurgen found in the Kobold leader's chamber.