Ok, the session went swimmingly.
Our cast of characters:
Rianna - the female halfling rogue
Annabell - the female gnome sorcerer with her orange tabby cat familiar, Spunky.
Jon - the human fighter
Jon was played by my D&D veteran boyfriend, while Rianna and Annabell were played by my D&D newbie roommates (Annabell's player saw what we were doing and wanted to play too,
).
The party started out outside the town of Deepwater (so named for the Deepwater River that is about a day's march to the south. The river isn't used for trade because it is swift, rocky, and in a 100 ft. deep gorge.). It's a trading town, exporting semi-precious gems, wool and linen cloth, and wood, and importing food. However, the trade recently has dried up. The last ten caravans have been attacked, at night, by swift raiders shooting poisoned arrows. Sometimes up to half the guards are slain, and the wagons (with horses attached) are driven off. The surviving guards want nothing to do with such vicious raids, and have been charging such a premium for their services that most merchants can no longer afford them. Since unguarded caravans never leave Deepwater, trade has slowed to a trickle.
A very few caravans have made it through to the neighboring town of Redhaven, but they have been so heavily guarded that the raiders didn't even bother attacking them. The trail between Deepwater and Redhaven is hemmed on both sides by thick forest, so the raiders could be hiding anywhere. Attempts to find the trail of the stolen wagons have come to naught. Also the raids have been coming closer and closer to Deepwater.
To top it off, the town had recently gotten a potential new source of income. Master Alchemist Keylaran settled here because of superior ingredients that could be found in the woods. Her alchemical products were in demand because of a war brewing to the north.
In an attempt to stop the raids, the town paid a group of adventurers to get rid of the bandits. They claimed they had, showed a few arrows of raider make for proof, and claimed the reward. The next caravan that went out, full of Keylaran's alchemical products, was raided.
The town's trade has virtually dried up, and food is starting to become scarce. Enter the PCs. The only thing they knew of Deepwater was that it did launched a lot of caravans and guards were always in demand.
As they entered Deepwater, they saw three roads, one straight ahead, and two to either side. Rianna suggested going to one of the side roads to look for an inn, as the ones on the main drag were always expensive. She paid a small urchin to lead her to the Empty Barrel. Thrak, the half-orc innkeeper greeted them.
They sought a room for the night, and Thrak asked them if they had come to claim the reward, being they looked like adventurers and all. He explained what was going on, that there had been raids and trade was bad. The caravan master, one Teggis Tosscobble, was offering a reward for anyone who could stop the raids. The party thanked him, and purchased food and rooms for the night.
The next morning they went to the main square, and sought out the caravan master. Teggis Tosscobble explained further about the raids, about how they were lightning fast and caused devistating casualties. A 500gp reward would be theirs if they could stop the raids and offer proof. Bringing back Keylaran's alchemical products or any of the other stolen goods would be proof, as would showing him the bandits lair. The party questioned him and learned that the stolen alchemical supplies (stolen almost a month past) had not been sold in Redhaven.
The party asked for further information about the raids. Tosscobble pointed them toward the Two Swords inn, where one of the surviving guards was staying. He also suggested they visit Keylaran to get some antitoxin, as the raiders used poisoned arrows.
The party visited the Two Swords, and after being shocked at the prices (it was a rather expensive inn), spoke to a half-orc guard called Regis. He mentioned the raiders were small, mounted, and came from the general direction of the river. The party thanked him, and went to visit Keylaran.
The master alchemist was in a bad mood, and nearly gave Jon a black eye when she threw open the door in his face. They explained their mission and she calmed down somewhat. She offered antitoxin to them cheaply, and told them how to use it. If they could recover her goods, she would sell them future products at a discount. With a scolding that they were burning daylight, she shooed them out the door.
After offering a prayer at the shrine to Fharlahgn, they left the city, intending on searching for clues at the closest, and most recent attack site. Almost halfway there, they passed under a next of hungry bloodhawks, that attacked them. Rianna was able to put an arrow in one, but it kept coming. Jon and Annabelle missed their shots (Annabelle had a crossbow), and another arrow from across the road also missed. The bloodhawk tore at Rianna's throat, causing a great wound. Jon's next arrow took the second bloodhawk down, and Rianna's second brought down the first.
The unexpected arrow came from a half-elven priestess of Fharlaghn, who called herself Jenna Seben. She felt she was responsible for the safety of the road, and had been looking for a trustworthy group to join to aid in this quest. She tended to Rianna's wound, and the party (after a brief discussion) agreed to let her come along. They camped for the night, and reached the attack site the next morning.
The tracks from the stolen wagon were fairly obvious to Jenna, who was experienced in woodcraft. They followed the tracks most of the morning, only having one surprise encounter with a giant tick that though Jon might make a good meal. They reached a cave, finding splinters of wood, and parts of broken boards. The party deduced that the wagons had been destroyed here. They also noticed some partially buried large bones, like horse bones, at the base of a large vine.
They decided to go in the cave, and were surprised when the assassin vine started moving. It grazed Rianna, and Jon charged it. Annabelle and Jenna peppered it with arrows, while Jon chopped at it, getting severely hurt for his troubles. Annabelle took the final shot that killed it. They found a potion (of expedious retreat) and a mighty (+1) composite longbow (remains of former adventurers and caravan guards).
They entered the cave, a very dark and wet place, and went in the leftmost passage. Rianna explored a hole in the wall (one of two on either side) and was surprised by a pair of cave morays. The slimy creatures got a few good bites in on Rianna and Jon before they were slain. A few bits of gold were recovered from their holes (remains of unlucky kobolds).
Jenna noticed a slimy trail, which the party decided to follow. Entering the next cavern, they surprised a family of centipedes, which were quickly dispatched, but not before trying to gnaw on Rianna. The party continued on following the slime trail.
In the next cavern, they found the author of the slime trail. It was a large flail snail, moseying its way toward a slime pit in the corner. As the thing was enormous, the party gave it a wide berth, and it ignored them. The found a secret door at the far end of the room.
It opened into a man-made corridor. Rianna successfully searched for traps and avoided a pit trap with a gelatinous cube at the bottom. As they entered the next room, a huge natural cavern, Annabelle heard the sound of running water and voices talking in Draconic, "Hurry up, load faster, hey, where's that light?" Then they heard a squeaking and scuffling and a spear nearly hit Jon as it was thrown out of the darkness. The loan kobold was quickly dispatched by an arrow from Jon, but they could hear that a boat was being rowed away. The entire party charged across the cavern to catch them, and Jon, Annabelle, and Jenna were all hit by piercers on the way there. Jon ripped the piercer out of his body and chucked it at the rowing kobolds, but missed terribly. Rianna fired an arrow, and dropped one kobold. Annebelle tried a
ray of frost, but missed, and Jenna killed one with an arrow. The other two kobolds, terrified, jumped out of the boat and tried to swim, but were shot by Annabelle and Jon.
The boat started drifting across the lake, and Jenna noticed there was an underground river on the other side. Jon shucked his armor and dove in to get the boat. After nearly being swept away by the current, he manage to get to the boat and row back to shore. The boxes in the boat contained cloth and gems from Deepwater. The kobolds also carried poison and poisoned arrows, so the party was sure they were the raiders.
A bit of searching around uncovered another secret door, which led to the kobold barracks. The sleeping kobolds presented no challenge, and the party mopped the floor with them. A bit further up the passage, they found the mess hall, and slew the kobold cook. In the armory, across the hall, was one old kobold polishing weapons. Jon demanded his surrender, and he complied. He told them what little he knew, that the kobolds were raiding, and that their chief, Kaazzk, was getting paid. They knocked the old kobold out, tied him and and put him in a kitchen cupboard.
The next room down proved to be a kennel full of riding dogs, along with their tack. The stablemaster was taken by surprise and quickly slain. In one of the stalls, the party found one surprised and very greatful flumph named Gorf. (So sue me, I like flumphs!) He insisted he was a "great and powerful wizard" if he could just get his wand back, and that the kobolds had imprisoned him some time ago. The party agreed he could follow them.
The final room in the hallway was a heavy stone door. Upon opening it, they found a very hot room with a very hot pool of water in it. A magmin sat on the edge of the pool. He asked if they had come to play, and held up a flaming ball. The party didn't want to play, and tried to leave, but Gorf had spotted his wand near the edge of the room. The magmin tried to play catch with the party, but his fiery projectiles missed. The party agreed to leave the door open, and the magmin wandered away to find some "fun."
Upon a quick search of the end of the hall, the party found a badly-hidden secret door. They found two doors, and opened the first. It was a lit corridor (the rest of the complex had been dark), which made them suspcious. Rianna searched and found there was a fiery trap (stepping on a pressure plate caused oil to spray through the torches, it's from Traps and Treachery). They avoided the trapped plates and pressed on.
Rianna opened the lock on the door at the end of the hallway. Inside, the room was full of boxes, most of them bearing the symbol of either Deepwater or Keylaran. However, one box was both magical and unmarked. However, it was guarded by an iron cobra. Jon and Rianna both managed to hit it, but Annabelle was the one that slew it. The chest, unfortunely was trapped, and Rianna got shocked opening it. It was full of gold and silver, as well as a few art objects, and an arcane scroll. On a shelf above the chest were a few gems, unfortunetly guarded by an executioner's hood. It had Annabelle's head all wrapped up for a time, but eventually it was slain.
In the final room, they met Kaazzk, along with his liutenents, Kish and Rot, and Kaazzk's mount Lok. A fierce battle ensued. Annabelle tried to
hypnotise Lok, but it was to no avail. Rianna, Jon, and Jenna all managed to hit Kaazzk, while Kaazzk hit Jon, poisoning him. Jon's next blow took the kobold chieften through the heart, and Jenna's arrow slew Lok. Kish and Rot surrendered in fear.
The party found a good sword, some poison, and some platinum on Kaazzk's body. In his desk the found a letter of orders. In it it mentioned someone called Kenshar coming to oversee the next shipment, and someone called J'jon initiating the next phase. It was signed Kish-mar Redclaw. Jenna recognized the name J'jon of being a wizard from Redhaven, and Gorf recognized the name of Kish-mar as being a draconic name.
The party returned to Deepwater with proof, and was able to claim their rewards.
) However, if you don't take chances in running a campaign, little will happen. Sometimes a plot or character will not work out well. So, don't be afraid to make changes.
