(This session was based on the Mines of Phandelver campain. Possible spoilers ahead!)

Act 1-2

With the fragile alliance formed, they walked northward through the woods, following the drag marks of Quallion's employers. The worn and winding trail ahead was littered with traps, but Jamie’s instincts and expertise disarmed the lot of them. After an hour of hiking they reached a clearing at the foot of a large rocky cliff, and a cave with a short little river rolling out of it was set into its face. The tracks ended at the mouth of the cave, and it was guarded by three bored-looking goblins.

They needed a plan, and Quallion’s immediate suggestion was to charge in and attack the goblins directly. This proved unpopular with the group. Ash didn’t have a fully formed idea, but he had a good first step. Much to the surprise of Jamie and Sti-Zix, he took advantage of his Changeling heritage by metamorphing into a cute little red goblin girl.

The cogs began to turn in Quallion’s head. He proposed they pretend to be newly aquired prisoners being escorted to the cave by Sti-Zix and the transformed Ash. Jamie refused, asserting she would rather have all of the goblins in front of her instead of being caught in the middle of them. She suggested her own simpler plan: lure the guards into the trees where her and the cleric would surprise them. That plan was agreed upon and put into motion.

Ash and Sti-Zix aproached the goblins at the entrance of the cave and called out to them, begging to follow them into the forest and come to the aid of the deceased ambush party. The goblins followed, albeit with suspicion. They were hidden just a few feet into the trees, out of sight, but Quallion clumsily clanged his shield against his armor and gave them away.

With the element of surprise gone, Jamie swiftly moved to dispatch one of the goblins, piercing its back fatally. Quallion charged another and smashed it with his shield, stunning it with the force of a head-on collision with a stone wall. The goblin stumbled around, struggling to come to his senses and flee, but he hadn’t taken a step before the cleric’s heavy mace came down on his noggin, cracking it like an egg.

Ash turned to face the final goblin and shot an eldrich blast in his direction. The shot went wide, zipping past the bewildered creature, who had only just then realized that they had been betrayed. The goblin swung back at Ash, and they raised their arms reflexively to defend themselves, but there was no need. A sharp arrow from Sti-Zix skewered the goblin right through his sword arm and interrupted the blow. Jamie was on him before he could cry out in pain. A quick thrust of her trusty estoc added another hole to his body and he slumped to the ground, dead. The skirmish was concluded.

The group of adventurers cautiously approached the entrance of the cave. With the guards gone, the cave wouldn’t remain quiet for much longer. Someone was sure to notice they were missing. Sti-Zix and Ash entered the dimly lit cave first, followed by Jamie. Quallion brought up the rear.

Proceeding carefully, they first found a chamber on their right. A pack of chained wolves lay there. As they spotted the intruders they began to bark ferociously. Thinking quickly, Jamie pulled some dried meat from her pack and threw it at them, trading it in exchange for silence. The trick worked, and they pressed on.

They were following the trickling river further deep into the cave, then Sti-Zix was spotted by a goblin up on a wooden rickety bridge overseing the large cave's main tunnel. It ran out of sight but didn’t shout, and didn’t summon any reinforcements. Instead, the soft echoes of the trickling river quickly rose in volume until it was the unmistakable roar of a raging current.

Before the wave was upon them, Jamie shouted and urged her companions to take refuge in an alcove a few feet above the ground. All of them made it in time except Sti-Zix, who was caught and carried away by the deluge. The flow subsided briefly and Jamie dashed out of the cave to rescue her companion. She dodged a second wave of water gushing out of the cave from whatever contraption the goblins had set up to control it as she pulled him to one side and laid in wait.

Before long, a sizable group of goblins ran down the moist rocky passage of the cave to dispatch the intruders they’d assumed had been caught up in the waves. As soon as the first one poked its head outside, arrows flew in their direction from where Sti-Zix and Jamie waited. Quallion jumped them from behind and Ash opened up with an eldritch blast.

The goblins were not so easily ambushed, however, and they freed the previously placated wolves. The wolves barreled into the heroes, gnashing and tearing with their teeth, and the battle became far more ferocious. When the last of the corpses- both goblin and wolf alike- laid still on the cavern floor, the party decided they’d had enough. The decision to retreat and regroup was made.

Jamie, however, lagged behind, thinking it wise to search the bodies for any valuables before fleeing. Her greed was severely punished by a fresh, more brutish group of goblins running in on the scene. If it weren’t for Ash casting a wall of fire to stop them from charging her, Jamie would have been a very dead rogue. The sudden appearance of the wall of fire itself encouraged her to flee out of the cave as fast as she could, rejoining her group as she dodged the arrows shot in her direction.

They ran until they were out of breath. There wasn’t much time, the goblins would catch up to them soon. Jamie wasn’t so keen on fighting anymore with how bloodied she’d become, but the group knew they would have to fight. There was no reason they couldn’t do it intelligently, though.

Ash took up a position behind a tree while Jamie nestled herself in the branches above him. She swigged a healing potion and drew her hand crossbow as she got ready. Sti-Zix hid in a bush, readying his bow and arrows, and brave Quallion stood out in the open to reel in the half dozen goblins hunting them down.

Running straight into the trap, the party attacked them all at once. Even with the ambush, the odds of them defeating them unscathed were incredible, but they did it. It was agreed they would make camp a short distance away, away from the bodies, to recuperate before going back to finish the job. Ash ran off for a little bit at one point during their rest, but otherwise it was uneventful. Reinvigorated, they returned to the cave.

Expecting a welcoming party, the heroes approached the cave entrance cautiously. Their caution allowed them to surprise a trio of goblins searching through the forest for them. Being careful and stealthy, they put them down without a fuss. With the woods quiet, they began their trek through the cave once more. The cave, too, was unexpectedly still and silent.

Jamie re-examined the wolves’ den and realised that some sort of natural chimney was pushing upward towards another chamber. Peeking her head through, she saw a fire-lit room full of treasure... as well as another pair of goblins, a wolf, and some large, hulking creature.

After reporting her findings, Jamie suggested that someone should keep an eye on the room from the chimney. Quallion pointed out she would be the best one to do it, having been up there already. Before Jamie could have replied they had already left her behind.

They found the main entrance of that chamber and illuminated by the firelight they saw firsthand what Jamie had seen. Quallion and Ash knew enough to know what the creature she’d spotted was: a bugbear! He was sitting over the fire, enjoying a meal he didn’t know would be his last.

Quallion made his way into the chamber and slammed his mace onto the head of an unsuspecting goblin. Such an act drew all the attention to him, allowing Sti-Zix to charge in and deal with the second goblin. Jamie pulled herself out of the chimney and threw herself at the wolf while Ash threw eldritch blasts from the stairwell, the magic colliding uselessly with everything except his foes.

Before long, the heroes eliminated the lesser foes, encircled the bugbear, and attacked in concert. Clarg roared his name in defiance as they fought. They hacked and slashed at him, painting the chamber in his blood, but Ash brought down the monstrous creature with a final blast of eldritch energies that sent him toppling into the fire he’d been eating over not too long before.

The rogue’s attention immediately turned towards the gold piled around the room. Despite her greed, she counted the coins and shared them fairly. After all, her allies still owed her for her previous heroics and she knew they’d pay her in time.

During their final sweep of the cave, they found a lone goblin holding onto a hostage for dear life, and he was quick to demand an exit in exchange for the life of the man he held at knife point. The heroes agreed to let him go and the miscreant began packing his bags. With his boss dead, he had no desire to obstruct them.

When the hostage was recovered it turned out to be none other than the human knight who was sent to Phandalin to re-establish their connections with Neverwinter. His dwarven companion was still nowhere to be seen, and the knight couldn’t tell them where they were taken. Only a single hint was given to them by the last remaining goblin as he fled: The Black Spider.

To Be Continued...

Jamie belongs to  Hokkigai
Quallion belongs to  Zalakir
Ash belongs to  Lazynore
Sti-Zix belongs to  Carotte666
Story edited by  Twinkieguy

Thanks again for the story edit Seran, it turned out awesome =u=