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Our sophomore session resumed our first dungeon crawl in the goblin-infested caves, the Cragmaw Hideout. We spent the entire session inside the dungeon, so this recap will be far more tactical and combat-related and less plot/role-playing than others.
The players were given multiple paths and options, though scouting ahead would prove tricky as only one of them (Kethra, a half-elf) actually had darkvision. Thanks to some hilariously horrendous rolls on Initiative on my part – and a well-timed and powerful dragonbreath attack from Kalinaar, they were able to handle all the goblin foes quite handily.
The caves have a few nifty traps and elements in play – namely a stream that can turn into a raging river if one of the goblins spots the adventurers. Kethra the rogue spotted the goblin standing watch on the bridge, and with a single sneak attack was able to snipe it in one hit. She then scrambled up the walls and scouted around every angle, while the others continued on the Northern path.
Since they were already in the cavern by the time the goblins in the Twin Pools Cave area spotted them, it was pointless to spring the river trap. One of the goblins is scripted to leave and warn Klarg, their bugbear leader, but I had all of them stick around for a single round to fight off the sudden threat of the players. It was prove fatal, as a combination of Miri’s two monk attacks, Kalinaar’s sword and Kethra’s bow made short work of them (poor Talus still can’t hit anything with his cantrips – except for illusions).
Kethra stealthed her way into the Southern chamber – the boss chamber containing the hulking bugbear, his pet wolf, and a pair of goblins. Kethra’s stealth check beat out everyone except the wolf, who’s enhanced senses sniffed her out. Instead of trying to get off a surprise attack, she retreated to the previous room with the others, and Klarg sent everyone out to attack.
Unfortunately for me I rolled absolutely terribly for initiative for the goblins, wolf, and bugbear (all under 5). It was a trend that would continue throughout the night, giving my players a huge advantage in every fight even without stealth and surprise. It was probably for the best as level 1 characters are notoriously weak, and the bugbear alone can easily drop a low level player character in a single hit from his morningstar – which he did!
First, however, Kalinaar used his fire breath attack at the entrance to Klarg’s chamber, perfectly bathing all four enemies in fire. Only the bugbear made his saving throw, leaving both goblins dead and the wolf about half-injured – from a single attack! Stupid dragonborn. After that it was cleanup duty on the wolf, and soon I only had Klarg left.
Klarg is scripted in the adventure to retreat if his wolf dies, which totally happened before he even had a chance to act. I had him run toward the chimney/fissure/escape hatch on the West end (which the players were debating on trying to go up earlier in the session). Miri was in his way and she had just killed the wolf, so he lashed out with his mace, connecting with a solid 12 damage and dropping her instantly.
Kalinaar bellowed a challenge and followed Klarg down the fissure, both successfully making their Athletics checks to avoid falling – though it would take him until the following round to actually take the fleeing Klarg down. It might not seem heroic but dealing justice to every evil creature is definitely in line with Kalinaar’s philosophy. Too bad the player already had a point of inspiration from the beginning of our last session!
The players were able to stabilize Miri, and with Klarg’s stash of treasure they found some potions of healing they could use to get her on her feet. At this point they’d already had 2 Short Rests, both after the first two battles at the end of our previous session, so it was surprising that those much more difficult combat encounters didn’t require a rest at all. Stupid dragonbreath + my awful initiative rolls!
They’d defeated the boss but still hadn’t located their employer Gundren Rockseeker. A final path remained in the Western half of the caves, which Kethra explored ahead (darkvision plus a great stealth bonus is a very useful combo).
A horde of goblins surrounded a campfire in the final room, where a boss goblin stood on a ledge along with a human captive – Sildar Hallwinter, Gundren’s bodyguard. Finally we had a chance for a bit of role-playing and dialogue – though two goblins would die before I’d get a chance given my awful initiative rolls. There was also a funny moment when Talus used his Minor Illusion cantrip to conjure a “sexy goblin” among the pack, distracting half of them for the first round of combat.
The goblin leader, Yeemik, wanted to depose Klarg as leader of this band of Cragmaws. The players had already dispatched of Klarg, though Yeemik wasn’t yet aware of that, and demanded to see the head. Kalinaar had dramatically cut off the head and thrown it into the fire back in Klarg’s chamber, so Talus offered to go retrieve it.
Kalinaar kept Yeemik talking, so I had Sildar slowly worm his way closer to his goblin captor, and attempt to communicate to the others through meaningful glances at grunts. When Talus returned with the head, he used Mage Hand to float it toward him. I timed it that when Yeemik grabbed the head, Sildar tackled his legs, forcing a Dex saving throw from Yeemik. He failed, and fell into the cavern below, taking damage and re-initiating combat for everyone.
Yeemik was focused-fired and went down quick. though the remaining two goblins got in some deep wounds, including bringing down Kalinaar with a particularly deadly strike. Talus pulled off a sleep spell to give everyone some breathing room, and everyone performed some decidedly un-heroic murder of the remaining sleeping goblins.
By the end of this third combat encounter we’d gone a little over our allotted time and had to end it there. The heroes had earned enough experience to get to level 2, and a now rescued Sildar can hopefully give them some answers.
We didn’t make it quite as far as I expected, but the players’ slow and cautious approach definitely paid off as they scouted each encounter and planned accordingly (mostly). I was pleased that we completed all of Cragmaw Hideout, and the level up gives everyone a chance to look over their characters’ new abilities and be prepared to raise them to level 2 at the beginning of our next session. Yay no more super squishy level 1 characters!
Next time: Answers (and possibly more questions) from Sildar, and onward to Phandalin!
Watch our sessions live on my YouTube channel every Sunday night beginning at 9:30pm Central. Subscribe and catch up on previous episodes!
RogueWatson 