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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 4772996" data-attributes="member: 386">First day of the new partyPlayed tonight, the first time with the new PCs.We have:Lendil the Shamed, a halfling sorcerer;Apothis, a deva invoker;Hrogar, a dwarf shaman; andHekubus, a teifling paladin/warlock multiclass.Hekubus was rescued from Thunderspire Labyrinth by Armok the Wise.We quickly decide on a reason for the group to form: the new PCs hear that strong arms are needed in Winterhaven and head out there to check it out.  Hekubus interviewed them in Winterhaven and they formed a new elite group.We pick up a day after the old PCs left for the Cairngorms.  They hear that Cadon the Gentle had his farm raided recently; they go out to see who did this.  (This is one of the quests I listed for them, a minor level 1 one.)They check out his farmhouse.  It's been burned and looted.  Apothis searches around the outside, while Hekubus and Hrogar search inside.  Apothis finds goblin and kobold tracks on the ground.  (Quest reward!)  Hekubus finds a goblin poking a spear at his ankles.  (5 damage!)The battle is joined; 3 goblin warriors, a blackblade, and a sharpshooter leap out of their hiding places.  They are pretty easily put down, and the final warrior begs for mercy.  He says he'll repent and lead a good life; of course he's lying.They get some information out of him: he's part of the Guttersnipe tribe that was once led by a big bad goblin named Irontooth; once Irontooth left to serve Kalarel, the Guttersnipe tribe fell into chaos and were easy pickings for the White Fang kobold tribe.  He was one of the few who fled, and they set up a camp nearby.  They were picking over the scraps after the kobolds sacked the farm.The PCs asked about the White Fangs: there's several hundred of them, they live in the Cairngorms, and they are led by a dragon named Tyranthraxus.  They decide to leave them for now and get the goblin to take them to his lair.  How many goblins are there?"About 20."I use the poster map that came with KotS - the Irontooth encounter - and drop down some minions.  The PCs make a stealth check and they get their goblin to try and bring some of the guards to them.  He starts creeping away, so he gets blasted.The other minions run into the cave.  Hekubus runs after them.Inside the cave, minions and a warrior swarm Hekubus.  From deep in the cave a goblin hexer blasts him hard and blinds him.  Hekubus is wavering.More goblins come out from the other side and they're blasted by Apothis and Lendil.Hekubus goes down, and Hrogar rushes in to help him out.  Apothis and Lendil enter the waterfall and get a clouding hex dropped on them.The fight is tense - Lendil falls a couple of times, Hekubus flirts with 0 hp, but the PCs are able to pull through it with a timely daily from Hrogar the dwarven shaman.  A few goblins flee, but on their own they'll die.I roll randomly for a treasure packet of the encounter's level (5) and come up with a cloaked falchion.  Hekubus takes it.So they head back in town and celebrate their victory.  While drinking, one villager gets drunk enough to spill a secret: Nolor the Cooper was seen heading into Watcher's Hill (an old ruined fort built on a hill nearby Winterhave).  Strange, because it's haunted.  But some of the bandits met with him, including Nolor's brother.In the morning the PCs question Nolor.  He spills his guts under threat of violence: his brother had his farm raised, times are tough, there's a recession on, so he joined up with the bandits.  Nolor helps them out by telling them when a caravan is leaving and what it's carrying.  (Quest reward!)The PCs ask around, and it turns out Bairwin Wildarson is leaving for Fallcrest in the next couple of days.  The PCs decide to leave with him, keeping an eye on Nolor until they do.They head down the King's Road to Fallcrest, staying just ahead of Bairwin's wagons.  They spot the bandits at a narrow pass in the road, two crossbowmen up on the bluffs and four other bandits appear in the woods.A big hairy man steps out on the road: "Give us your goods or die.""We'll take option three.  You die."The crossbowmen deal some good damage to Hrogar, dropping him, while Hekubus takes on the berserker leader and a couple of bandits.  Hekubus is hurt after the berserker gets some heavy blows in.Apothis takes cover behind their wagon and helps Hekubus out with some lighting.  Lendil blasts another bandit to ash and takes cover behind a rock.Crossbow bolts hit nothing but cover.  Hrogar is helped back up and the tide begins to turn.  The berserker dies and the bandits try to flee but have no place to go.  The crossbowmen are able to move from their positions and escape the battle.(Only one of the crossbowmen will make it back to camp; the other ended up in the Valley of Stone and got blasted by some Gorgons.  The PCs might find his statue later on.)We called it there.This session went pretty well considering it was all basically ad-libbed because I forgot to bring my notes!  I had done enough work (the quest to investigate the farm, the nearby goblin camp, Nolor giving information to his brother, a bandit) to just turn the players loose.  Next time we'll run through a few possible random encounters on the road and then we'll turn the PCs loose in Fallcrest.Some of the PCs have a history with Kelson and the River Rat gang in Fallcrest.  Kelson has a tie to the cult of Orcus in the Cairngorms - his gang is taking corpses from the Tombwood and selling them to Orest Naerumar, who in turn is selling them to the cult.  We'll see how that plays out.Consequences of this session: The one crossbowman who escaped is going to tell his leaders that the PCs were ready for them.  They are going to have some words with Nolor, and the PCs will probably next encounter him dead on a cross at the ambush point.</blockquote>

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