With everyone's schedule what it is one of our players wasn't able to come to the first session, 3 of the players would be missing the next one and neither he nor I would be able to go to the game on the 25th because of respective work. So the GM floated an in between episode. I would play a side mission with the Bard to get him introduced to the story, then the next week the Cleric, Paladin and Mage would run a concurrent side mission, reconvening after Easter where we will hopefully all be together for the first time. Unfortunately the Bards player hadn't really gotten much done character wise so of the 4 hours we had available only 2 of it was actual game time. C'est la vie.
Session 1.5
A travelling Gnome begins to enter Sandpoint from the south when he hears something from under the bridge. Looking down it is a young woman who says she was fleeing with some children when they were set upon by goblins, she was knocked over and hasn't been able to climb up yet and needs his help. The gnome (who at this point I still do not know if he has a name yet, and I took to calling Tiny Nuggets) mentions that he is not the guy she wants for hauling things but will try anyway. Grunting with effort Tiny Nuggets does succeed in pulling her out. She introduces herself to Tiny (I have completely forgotten her name, but I do remember she was a red head and the picture was a little bit slutty). She has Tiny take her to the local clergyman who looks over to Kumak and requests they find the children the goblins made off with. Tiny takes one look at Kumak and makes some cutting remarks about his size. Kumak hands his backpack and bag to the priest grabs Tiny and throwing the gnome over his shoulders takes off at a run.
Following the tracks the two come upon a full Orc standing over the bodies of 3 goblins and a crying child. The Orc introduces himself as Gris and calls for a challenge. As a fellow follower of Kurgess Kumak agrees. If Kumak and Tiny win then the Orc will tell them where the rest of the goblins went with the other children and Gris will return the one child here unharmed to Sandpoint. Gris does not mention what happens should they lose. Preparing himself for a test of strength Kumak is surprised to see Gris has chosen what is essentially a puzzle box/cryptex hybrid. Tiny manages to solve it in fewer moves than Gris. Gris nodding picks up the kid and begins walking towards Sandpoint. Tiny is unsure if they can trust Gris, but Kumak assures him that Gris would abide by the deal.
Continuing in the direction Gris pointed the 2 find a large pool of blood, a discarded child's toy and what appears to be the entrance to a burrow. Tiny begins talking about how they should proceed when Kumak grabs him and shoves him in the warren first his half-orc form squeezing behind. Finding what appears to be a refuse pit Tiny refuses to enter so Kumak does, finally able to stand up again. A giant centipede drops from the ceiling and tries to take a bite but finding only the rough crocodile hide of his shirt. Kumak shakes the centipede off and with one back swing of his hammer crushes the insect. Finding only the remains of a strange book mostly buried in an alcove they descend further into the warren hearing chanting that Tiny identifies as the goblin language. Without darkvision Tiny is relying on Kumaks guidance and when they come upon 3 goblins gleefully tormenting a terrified child Tiny forgoes the element of surprise to insult the goblins. The fight is difficult, without light Tiny is relying on on his hearing and after several misses elects to illuminate the room. Kumaks first strike crushes a goblin but spends the next few swings missing while the much smaller goblins begin taking the large half orc down with many small cuts. Finally Kumak scores a hit against another goblin, and quickly finishes the last. The small girl tells the 2 that there was a fight at the entrance, one of the goblins took a bite out of the other boy and the boy ran, chased by some of the goblins. Kumak escorts Tiny and the girl outside and away from the blood, conducts a final search of the goblin warren then using his Earthbreaker collapses the tunnels from the surface.
Tiny distracts the girl, making her laugh to keep her occupied. Following the trail Kumak finds an escarpment where 60 feet below he spies the body of the boy and 3 goblins among the rocks not moving. Without his pack for a rope and as injured as he is Kumak decides to return for the body after he takes the 2 small ones back to town. Hefting one up on each shoulder he begins the long walk back to Sandpoint.
Thoughts: With another 2 hour session, not what I was hoping for, but understanding this is another outlier. The interaction with Kumak and Tiny was, almost hostile I suppose. The Bard kept throwing out insults and demeaning terms, which with an Int of 7 I imagine Kumak is still picking up on. That being said the fault I rolled for him was Loyalty (So long as I don't feel betrayed I will be loyal to a fault) so I took it to be Kumak seeing Tiny engaged in combat despite being completely outclassed, yet staying with him would be enough to earn some respect and if he feels Tiny needs some correction he can certainly make his opinion known.
Split the Party
The other side: I only have the GM's synopsis but it went something like this;
Villister, Susan and Tiberius hear about the children being abducted and a local bar owner and former adventurer Ameko mentions that she knows about some goblin caves by the sea. Leaving Sandpoint they spy a large Orc entering the village with a scared and confused looking child under his arm but shrug and continue. Finding the goblin caves Ameko stays at the entrance to keep any goblins from surrounding the party should there be a trap. Encountering a few traps on their way in they find a large room where an elderly female goblin squawks something that only Susan understands as "run children" before charging the heroes. With that a swarm of even smaller goblins begin coming out of every turn. Tiberius swings with wild abandon while Villister brings his heavy mace down on the adult goblin. Susan finds the work unpleasant so guards the entrance but an escaping goblinoid forces her to act and soon the cave is cleared. Searching further they come upon the bodies of 3 goblins on the rocks and one human boy. There is a large crab that is about to make its meal out of the bodies and with one of the heroes spying the barest breath from the boy they leap into action. Using a wand of Glue Seal she found in the caves Susan glues both the crabs claws shut. Tiberius now only in danger of aggressive poking from the crab makes short work of it. Villister tends to the boys injuries and brings him back from the brink. Searching the fallen goblin bodies they rejoin Ameko and return to Sandpoint.
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