The party started out in their sitting room after breakfast, making small talk. One of Auron’s clerks knocked, and poked his head into their sitting room to tell them that Auron has requested that they join him for the mid-day meal. They agreed to the meeting, and showed up at the appointed time. While walking through Auron’s house they overheard him yelling at Shipley, a fellow Senator and the metal smithing guild master. Auron could be heard telling Shipley that he needed to get on board with Auron, or get out of town. The party was lead to the dining room and seated. Auron joined the group and food and drink were served.
After pleasantries were exchanged, and some food was eaten, Auron broached the subject that brought them together. He told the party that he would like them to accompany a wagon train to Voonlar as guards. It was a shipment of foodstuffs and raw materials. However, the wagons had hidden compartments that were going to be used to smuggle weapons and armor into the town. This was to help rebels overthrow the ruler of the city. It was currently ruled by Bourstag Hiammythyl, known as the Bron. He was helped by his 6 deputies, all of which were hand picked by the Zhentarim. They ruled the city through fear, and the citizens just allowed it. They had banned all weapons in town, leaving them as the only ones with weapons. In addition, the Bron had been a savvy businessman allow the town to be profitable, and that was enough to keep the citizens happy. The party was to deliver the wagons to the Lady Immithra Shrae, the head of the Bounty of the Goddess, the temple to Chauntea. She was not liked by the Bron and his men, but Chauntea herself had interceded the last time the Bron moved against her. Auron explained that the Zhentarim was a military organization that was only concerned about increasing its own power and influence. Hillsfar was their biggest enemy in the area. They are a shadow of their former glory, but the still control large parts of the Northern coast of the Moonsea. They also have a presence in Yulash, and they effectively control Voonlar. Auron is worried that they will try to further their influence their to the South.
Auron wants to expel the Zhentarim from Voonlar and then annex it, thus increasing Hillsfar's power, influence, and wealth. From there, he says that Yulash would be a strategically great city to annex next to further Hillsfars goals, and keep the Zhentarim at bay. First though, he needs to help a group of rebels retake control of Voonlar, and that is why he is delivering weapons and armor to them. The party is to take the wagons to the Lady Immithra, who will then deliver them to the rebels. There will be 5 other guards in addition to the party, plus a driver for each of the 4 wagons. They will depart in the morning, and should meet Auron and the Hillsfar gate in the morning. The party agreed to go with the wagons, and left to make some preparations. He paid each character 50 gold, and provided a healing potion for them as well.
The next morning the party met Auron at the gate, and the wagon train left with its full compliment of guards and drivers. The party discovered that the lead driver was named Fenton, and the others were named Bram, Dodd, and Dyrk. The other guards were 5 mercenaries from the same mercenary company, though they did not have uniforms. They all wore leather armor, and were armed with a long sword, light crossbow, and a shield. There were 4 men named Tegan, Jeras, Talfen, and Meklan. There was also a woman named Brey. They traveled together and made small talk, but were mostly focused on the work. Kaldric and Kai decided to disguise themselves as Clerics since Wizards are not very welcome in Voonlar. Kaldric was going to pose as a Cleric of the Red Knight, since he already followed her teachings, even as a Wizard. Kai decided to play as a Cleric of Chauntea since they were ultimately heading to a temple dedicated to her. At night Kaldric would cast ALARM and have everyone sleep in the area to help protect them.
The morning of the second day out of Hillsfar the group noticed smoke ahead, just over a small rise in the road. The wagon train halted while Ariatriel and Brey went forward to investigate. What they saw was a wagon that was smoking having been burned. Ariatriel yelled to see if anyone was there, and they saw a Goblin head pop out from behind the wagon. She then yelled, “Goblins!” and she and Bree started to run to the side of the road to draw the Goblins away from the wagons. The Goblins pursued the women as the rest of the guards came forward to help. There was a pitched battle with the guards firing crossbows until they were in male range, and then changing to long swords. Kai used her sling to take out a Goblin, and Kaldric used GUST OF WIND to throw the Goblins off balance before charging in with his staff. The Goblins were dispatched, but in the process Brey took some damage. Knowing that Kai was a Cleric of the goddess of life, she requested healing. Kai took Brey out of sight of everyone, and gave her the healing potion to drink, which restored Brey. The rest of the guards burned the body of the family the Goblins had killed. They also searched for anything of value, and noticed the spears the Goblins had were very well made, and almost new. They were sized for Goblins, and seemed out of place with what everyone knew about Goblins. When they looked closely at the spears they noticed a symbol on the spearpoint of all of them. It was not a symbol in any language that anyone recognized. Kaldric cast COMPREHEND LANGUGAGE on the spear, but still was unable to determine the meaning of the rune. The group decided to continue on for the remainder of the day. They had a somber night that night. The next day, Kaldric cast DETECT MAGIC on the spear to see if the rune, or spear, was magical, but found that it was mundane. Later in the day, the wagon train ran into a contingent of Red Plumes on their way to Hillsfar. They stopped and asked about and news. The group told them about the Goblins, and the soldiers seemed a bit troubled. Kaldric gave one of the Goblin spears to the Red Plumes, and requested that they deliver it to Auron. The soldier said he would do his best in that regard. The wagon train continued on, and after another full day, they arrived at Yulash, and entered the city through Moandar’s Pass and heading for an inn and way point named The Last Place. Upon arriving at Yulash the party could see the strategic importance of the city, and why Hillsfar and the Zhentarim have been fighting for control of it for so long. The party spent the rest of the day in the taproom listening to conversations to see if they could pickup on anything happening between Yulash and Voonlar. Several of the other mercenaries headed for other inns looking for a dice game, or just a place not swarming with Red Plumes.
Everyone reconvened the next morning at the West Gate and headed out of town towards Voonlar. In the late morning, the wagon train rounded a corner and found 5 men standing in the roadway arrayed in an arc. The wagon train stopped, and Kai told the men to move so the wagons could continue. The men stated that they had no intention of leaving without the wagons. The standoff continued, and Kaldric yelled for everyone to aim their crossbows. When he looked over his shoulder to ensure everyone was ready he saw was Meklan shoot and kill Brey, Jeras shoot and kill Talfen, and Tegan shoot Kai. It was then that the party realized they had been betrayed. Kaldric turned back and cast FLAME SPHERE on one of the bandits and shouted for all of the drivers to drive. Ariatriel shot arrows at another bandit, and Kai cast ITEM on Tegan’s armor hoping to stop him from attacking her again, however, the armor did not shrink as expected. The bandits tried to kill the lead horses, but were completely unsuccessful with one of them being trampled. Meklan and Jeras then killed their drivers, and stopped the carts from moving. Ariatriel kept firing arrows at the bandits, Kaldric moved his flame sphere, and Kai decided to go invisible. During all of this the lead cart, which contained Kaldric and Ariatriel, was past the bandits, so the converged on the second wagon, which contained Kai and Tegan, and attempted to slaughter the horses to stop it, however, they were unsuccessful. At this point Meklan and Jeras took another shot at Kai, while the bandits shot at one of the horses, injuring but not killing it. While Kai was hit, it was not fatal. Kai cast a PHANTASMAL FORCE and had it run off to the side in the hopes that it would lead everyone away from her, while she huddled in the cart. Kaldric cast WALL OF FOG behind the second wagon, to cut off the sight from the enemies behind. With Tegan, thinking Kai had jumped off the wagon, attacked the driver, but it was a non fatal blow. Kaldric threw a dagger and finally downed Tegan. Kai then took the reigns of the cart and became visible again before Kaldric and Ariatriel did anything rash. They stopped the carts and Kai searched Tegan’s body grabbing the crossbow, quiver, and a pouch with 10 gold, Ariatriel cut the horses free of their harness and encouraged them to run, while Kaldric grabbed his dagger back as well as a handful of Ariatriel's arrows, though only 4 were usable again. They then got back on the lead cart, still being driven by Fenton to continue on, hoping to keep a lead on the bandits. Kaldric also gave Kai his healing potion to drink as they headed out.
DM Recap
I think the game went well overall. Going into the game I did not feel prepared, but I was more ready than I thought. The encounter and battle with the bandits at the end lasted longer than I expected and was not as well run as it could have been. Unfortunately. I did not have a number of rules at hand and had to stop to look them up, not feeling comfortable enough with the 2e rules to make a ruling on the fly. In addition, this was the first time I had to adjudicate illusions, which proved more difficult than I anticipated. I also was not prepared for a combat that involved the horses, so I did not have their stats at hand, and had to rely on what one of my players suggested, in addition to a quick google search. There was also a lot of confusion around where everyone was located when the encounter with the bandits started, as well as a lot of other confusion around cover, and line of sight. Overall I feel like it was a poorly run combat, and I take the blame myself. I could have been more prepared, in addition, to setting the stage to have the players more prepared. I learned a lot from it, and hopefully can do better going forward.
Loot and XP
Each player received 50 gold and 1 healing potion from Auron to start. In addition, 10 gold was found on Tegan’s body. They also retrieved 5 Goblin spears that are still in their wagon. Since everyone got to Yulash safely, XP for the Goblins will be rewarded, but no other XP will be rewarded. The group earned 75 XP, but I’m splitting it 4 ways since the other mercenaries were there and helped. Each character is rewarded with 18 XP, or 20 XP if they have an XP bonus. I have updated the totals on the right.
