Unfortunately, Alec and the kids couldn't make it. A new player did join: Calvin. He chose pre-gen Goliath fighter that he named Maveith "Steadyhand" Elanithino.
Will retconned one of the last moments of the previous session: us finding Steadyhands at the waterfall and spring room, stopping for a drink. We had the usual meeting a new party member moment, and moved on.
Temerity also loaned me her rapier until Ghesh got a chance to replace my damaged sword. Remember, if I'm using it one-handed with the Strength stat, it's still basically a longsword, but doing piercing instead of slashing. Ah, how 5e made using your weapons easy.
So we backtracked to the ogre room, where they were still enjoying their mudhole, and took the next path to our right. It followed a stream further into the cave where we found a circular opening like an antlion nest or Sarlacc pit with tiers of ledges around the edge. Here, I noticed a noise like moving air in addition to the sound of dripping water. I also spotted a group of humans waving to us from an alcove off of one of the ledges. We climbed up, and found the people of Nightstone.
They quickly shushed us, explaining that if we made too much noise, it rouse the bats roosting in the cave. They confirmed the story we had already been told so far: that giants attacked Nightstone and they fled, only to be ambushed by goblins. Apparently the goblins would periodically take villagers and eat them.
We got the villagers down from the caves and led them past the ogres, who were still busy in their mud bath. On the journey back, we got to know some of the more interesting NPCs: the leader was a dwarf, Morak Ur'gray, the owner of the Nightstone in. Temerity got to talking to a tiefling woman and her son: the Agamor family who also happened to be the town's stablemasters. We also learned that Hiram Mystram, the local priest of Lathander, apparently behaved in a cowardly fashion during the attack. I chastised him thoroughly for failing in the service to his god and his community. We also met the Defrindels, owners and operators of the windmill. Morak reminded us that even though we had checked the "saving the people of Nightstone" box on our quest list, we still had to "chase away the goblins" before we could complete it.
Zulkan decided to negotiate with Morak before opening the gates and letting the people of Nightstone back in. While I'm hardly a goody-good crusader, I'm still getting the sense that this Zhentarim involvement can't be good. Still, everyone was let in, and I was able to get a new sword at the Lionshield Coster with a share of Ghesh's money. Then we took another long rest and returned to goblin caves.
This time we followed the goblin trail all the way to the top of the mountain, finding that it ended at a natural chimney. We tied a rope off on a tree and lowered it down. As the trust tank, I led the way, while, as a trusty frenemy, Temerity followed. When I reached the bottom, I found a goblin guard. I readied my weapon and proclaimed: "Your doom approaches, goblin!" And, like trusty frenemy for a sense of the dramatic, Temerity used thaumaturgy to conjure a bit of dramatic thunder.
The goblin, Snigblatt, however, wasn't having any of it. He told us that he needed some help. He wanted us help him kill the boss goblin: Hark. He even said that if we killed and Hark and found another safe location for the tribe, he would move them. He pointed out that they couldn't just go into the forest: it was filled with elves. There was a fissure at the back of their cave system, and he wanted us to explore past it to make sure it was safe.
First things first, we got our murder on and followed Snigblatt to Hark's lair. With us at his back, Snigblatt strode right into Hark's lair, challenging him. Then he hid while we did the hard work.
Hark kept a pack of giant rats and a pair of goblin body guards in his lair. Temerity took care of most of those rats and one of the body guards with thunderwave, proving that sometimes even bards aren't spoony. While I went in and put a hunter's mark on hark, Grim went in and criticalled a sneak attack roll on Hark, doing 20 points of damage. Steadyhand then moved in to try and put the finishing touch on the goblin boss, but the sneaky bastard had a reaction to switch places with his remaining bodyguard before the blow could land.
I thought it was going to be my time to shine! I used Vow of Enmity, a channel divinity Oath of Vengeance Paladin feature that grants you advantage on attack rolls against the target. I moved in and hit him...for the last point of damage needed to drop him.
At this point, Snigblatt showed up and bloodied up his knife to make it look like he had helped kill Hark before disappearing. While he was off, we mopped up the rest of the giant rats. Snigblatt was still out, so we found the villagers' equipment in a side cave and loaded that onto Steadyhands.
Then we explored beyond the chasm. We found that the tunnels were perfectly safe for the goblin tribe.
When we returned, we found Snigblatt and the remainder of the goblin tribe, noncombatants, standing around Hark's corpse. We spotted a boulder covering the door to another room. Temerity squeezed through and found herself in Hark's bedroom. There, she found some treasure, including a set of thieves' tools, which she decided to take. Snigblatt was a little disappointed that we found the treasure, but, seeing as how we brutally murdered his boss while he watched, he didn't fight us for it.
With the goblin tribe safely beyond the fissure, we explored the remainder of the caves and found the place where the goblin noncombatants lived, but nothing else of value. Avoiding the, now non-suggestioned, ogres, we climbed up through the chimney and returned to Nightstone to let them know we had taken care of the goblins and returned their stuff.
Later, Morak approached us about Darthag Ulgar, who lately ran the Lionshield Coster. Apparently, his ex-wife runs a trading post in the town of Triboar, and he wanted us to journey there and deliver the bad news. Since we didn't have anything else to do, and since it might convince her to come and help rebuild Nightstone with her own store, we agreed to help.
We set out the next day. Just as we were out of sight of the town, a tower floating on a cloud appeared in the sky. As it got closer, we realized it was topped by a conical wizard's hat. It approached and the clouds formed a set of stairs leading up, almost inviting us in...
And we reached a milestone and broke for the night. What's inside the tower? Looks like we'll find out next time!
The best part? Temerity got use her grappling hook!
