We’ve now finished three sessions with the D&D Starter Set. We simply have not gotten that far into Lost Mines of Phandelver because: 1) we’re slow; and, 2) we started with a little intro adventure. That said, it has been working for us so far. The rules feel simple and non-intrusive. There is a nice level of abstraction which accomplishes this and allows space for interpreting and narrating the results of dice clattering about the table. I know it is only three sessions but it strikes me as a solid D&D style game.
In our last session, there was some depressing closure brought to the events that happened at Crellar’s Trading Post, the characters gelled as a party, and headed on their way towards Phandalin. They also experienced their first combat as a party (the only other fight so far was one-on-one between one PC and a monster). The combat did illustrate that the amount of damage dealt by even relatively weak monsters (i.e., goblins) can be sufficient to take down 1st level characters.
In fact, Baren, the party’s cleric, was taken down and then, in some subsequent exploration, Caelynn also suffered enough damage to fall into the cool embrace of unconsciousness (although neither were actually killed). We left the party soon after Baren regained consciousness and Caelynn was still unconscious (and the party had no magical healing available). The party was faced with a difficult decision…to push on as they had some very compelling reasons to do so (spoiler so below the break)…or to rest and recover.
There are potential spoilers below the break for the Starter Set adventure, Lost Mine of Phandelver. This write-up is from yours truly. My GM comments, as typical, are in [brackets and italics].
Having decided to rest rather than push on to find Gundren and Sildar, the party started to unload the supplies from the wagon. They elected to move the supplies about twenty feet into the woods where the were setting up camp for the night, about eighty feet away from where Gundren and Sildar’s dead horses lay. The supplies where covered by a tarp and somewhat camouflaged with brush. The wagon was taken about another eighty feet away (in the direction of Crellar’s) to help hide the location of the party’s camp. The oxen were tethered to some trees about twenty feet away from the party’s camp. The bodies of the horses were dragged to the edge of the woods.
With camp set as best as possible in the thick woods, the party set watches and settled down for a rest. No fire was lit for fear of attracting attention so the humans didn’t take a turn at watch leaving Valanthe, Beran, and Caelynn to take turns. During Beran’s watch, the oxen began to snort and so he went to investigate. They looked fine to him and so he ignored the continued snorting. On the next watch, Caelynn made a quick circuit of the camp and found that the oxen were gone! Waking everyone, it was discovered that the tethers for the oxen had been cut. Baren quickly accused Caelynn, asking how she could have lost the oxen in such a short time of being on watch.
It looked like the oxen had been taken back out to the road. While Baren and Caelynn remained behind to guard the supplies at the camp, the others went off in search of the missing animals. A pile of relatively fresh poop (though hours and not just minutes old) that Feran found (by stepping in it) suggested that the oxen had been taken down the road. Another pile, at the start of the goblin trail, confirmed it as did the hoof prints on the trail and the sound of an ox mooing in pain. The trio, however, was not keen on heading after the ox in the dark and already pretty tired out from the prior day’s activities.
As they started back towards the camp, goblin arrows sung out from the woods. A hasty retreat into the woods and towards the camp was made as a pair of goblins attack. Although Corlinn and Valanthe both were narrowly missed by the arrows [i.e., both suffered hit point damage], the goblins were dealt with in short order. A combination of concern for the missing oxen, the missing Gundren and Sildar, and the high degree of lawlessness running rampant in the area [the latter being particularly important to Lord Corlinn], convinced the party to push on in their various searches despite not being at their most rested.
One ox was discovered just a little farther down the goblin trail, mooing in pain. All four legs were tied to trees, largely immobilizing the creature. The poor thing had been crudely, but shallowly, cut in numerous spots…presumably by the goblins. After cutting the ox loose, it headed towards the road and the party headed the other way, down the goblin trail.
After traveling down the trail for a bit, Caelynn faintly heard the sound of an ox in pain…a resigned pain. The party realized that they were close to where they had encountered the pit on the trail the day before. Getting closer, they could see that the camouflage previously covering the pit was gone and looking into the pit, found the second missing ox. It had fallen in and at least one leg was badly broken.
It was obvious that the only thing that could be done for the ox was a merciful killing. Corlinn climbed down into the pit to end the poor creature’s pain. Before he could complete the grisly but compassionate deed, an arrow struck the ground between Valanthe’s feet having just narrowly missed her. A goblin was up on a tree branch overlooking the pit that the party was scattered around. Both the goblin and the ox were quickly put down before the party pressed on.
[If you haven’t guessed it yet, the goblins were trying to lure the party into the woods with the oxen and ambush them. They had actually led this ox into the pit. The other two who had been here got bored and left since it took the party too long to arrive. Good thing for the party as they would have had complete surprise while attacking from the treetops.]
A short distance before reaching the cave at the end of the trail, Caelynn went to scout ahead. She climbed a tree [possibly borrowing a page from the goblin playbook] and observed the cave for about a half an hour before signaling the rest of the party to come forward.
At the cave entrance, Corlinn peeked into the thicket and saw a number of boards that had been lay down to create a small hovel in the thicket…probably the location that Caelynn had been shot from. Since there were no guards hiding in the thicket, the party entered the cave.
The creek flowed down the main tunnel and curved away into darkness. Two side passages led off in opposite directions from the main tunnel. The first led to a chamber with a charging wolf…that was stopped short by a large chain. Two other wolves joined the first in straining at the chains, growling at the party but the creatures could not quite reach the party. Corlinn said to leave the wolves be and pressed farther into the main tunnel.
Caelynn and Feran, however, had a different view on the wolves. They both shot arrows at a wolf each. This seemed to enrage the beasts and one quickly ripped its chain free and charged at the archers. The other two broke free a few moments later. In the ensuing fight, Corlinn was injured but not badly. After the battle, Baren looked around the chamber. Other than a crevasse in the back that had a lot of debris, including bones, which sloped up against the back of the crevasse.
Pushing farther down the main tunnel, the party found that the other side passage led to a steep, gravelly incline up to a ledge. Another passage also intersected the main one but some fifteen feet above. A rickety bridge connected the two openings of this intersecting tunnel. Something shouted from the bridge and Valanthe, the only party member to speak goblin, yelled for everyone to retreat [the goblin shouted a single word, flood].
The sound of water echoed down the tunnel. Corlinn and Feran quickly scrambled up the steep side passage while the others all run out the main cave entrance. Rushing water filled the tunnel almost immediately. Unfortunately, for Corlinn and Feran, the ledge they reached was unstable and it collapsed under their weight sending the pair into the tumultuous water. Corlinn hits his head against some rocks as he is swept out of the cave by the water and is left unconscious. The rest of the party is no worse for wear.
Reconvening outside, the party say to Corlinn. He remained unconscious but wouldn’t die soon. After some discussion, the party decided to try and bluff the goblins. Since Valanthe was the only one who could speak goblin, she got to do the honors. With a little magical aid from Caelynn’s cantrip, she boomed out, “Is that all you’ve got?!? Give us the human and dwarf and we’ll let you live!”
There was no immediate response nor one for a few minutes. So the party, leaving Corlinn outside the cave, went back into the cave. Before they could get far, a goblin appeared on the bridge and asked if she really was that powerful. Valanthe said she was and the goblin tells her to climb up so she can go see the boss. The rest of the party wanted to go but the goblin insisted only her. So Baren boosted Valanthe up to where she could scramble onto the bridge [which did give the goblin pause…if she was so powerful why couldn’t she just fly?].
Valanthe is led down a tunnel to another chamber with two levels. The lower level has a small firepit and a group of goblins with bows. A crude flight of stone stairs led to the upper level. A short cliff, about ten feet high, divided the two levels. Two crude logs extended out from the upper level. Sildar was tied to these logs, hanging helpless from them. He had clearly been tortured and looked in pretty bad shape.
Another goblin stood over Sildar with a knife to the human’s throat. This goblin claimed to be the second in command of the goblins in the cave. He wanted the powerful Valanthe to go and kill the leader, Klarg, and, in exchange, he would release the human to her. Sildar hoarsely whispered not to trust the goblin and so the goblin cut off his ear and eventually kicked him in the head, leaving him unconscious. Valanthe insisted that the goblin stop hurting Sildar or she would not help.
Valanthe also took the opportunity to ask about Gundren. The goblin said that the dwarf had been sent to the castle but would say nothing more on the topic. Similarly, other than telling her that the leader he wanted killed as Klarg, the goblin wouldn’t provide any real details about Klarg or who or what might be with the leader.
The deal was eventually agreed to.
One of the goblins grabbed some rope and led Valanthe back to the bridge. Once there, it lowered to rope to allows the other party members to climb up onto the bridge. The goblin points to the other side of the bridge and says that’s where they can find Klarg. A couple of goblins hustle away from that direction. The goblin says to go kill Klarg and bring back his head.
That’s pretty much where we ended our third session.
[So, for those who are familiar with the module, things haven’t quite gone as written. Lost Mine of Phandelver pretty much starts with the party traveling to Phandalin, escorting Gundren’s supply wagon, and get ambushed by the goblins when they find the dead horses. As written, it largely assumes (but does not demand) that the heroes follow the goblin trail and find the goblin cave. It pretty much also assumes that they then deal with the goblins. That, of course, isn’t quite how it went for us. Instead, the party split up because of downed companions and alerted the goblins to their presence.
So the goblins did what I figured they would do…try and eliminate those who had found their little hiding place. They stole the oxen and then tried to use them to lure party members away from their camp. They then waited for them to come into the cave and use their “flood” defense. When that didn’t work, the second-in-command decided to ally with the party to take over command of the goblins.
And that’s all okay with me. đŸ˜‰
When I run a module, it usually provides a general framework and things don’t ever go as written. Personally, this usually makes things more interesting…especially for me. I have to improvise and adapt to how things go in the game. Plus, it means that even if I have an idea of what might happen, I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I get surprised (usually pleasantly) at what ends up happening.]
