The story of our band of adventurers begins when they enter a tavern that's brewing with activity. They go looking for their contact, a very hairy, red-nosed individual. Looking around, only (Druid) manages to spot them and he motions the party to follow him. They see a large man, with an unkept brown beard, tossled hair and a buldgy red nose. With several empty beer tankards arranged before him, the party sees that he's clearly drunk. "So..." he starts with slurged speech: "are you the ones to help me save my master?", the party confirms. After some back and forth the party finds out that his boss, Sir Klaus, has been kidnapped by his goblin workers and that Rudolph is just a guy who travels Sir Klaus around. Sir Klaus's kidnappers are small creatures with pointy ears and are very hostile. Rudolph asks the party to not kill them, just knock em unconscious. Before accepting, the party asks for a proof of payment and Rudolph grabs a pouch of gold from within his garments. Looking inside the pouch, there's a sizeable reward inside. When they accept, Rudolp asks if the party has anything else to do before they depart. With a puzzled look on their face they confirm that they're ready. Rudolph claps his hands and the party is instantly transported underwater. Before the party starts drowning, he claps again and the party is dropped in the middle of a desert. "Sorry 'bout that, think I've got it now" and he claps again...
The party and Rudolph find themselves in the middle of a forest. "Alright" Rudolp says: "this is it. They took him somewhere around that way" as he points in a seemingly random direction. "Right, I'm off, if you need me, just shout my name three times and I'll come to you." he claps one last time and vanishes. Left to their own devices, the party starts looking for tracks, most fail, those that don't:
- (Rogue) climbs up a tree and spots smoke, presumably coming from a campfire in the direction Rudolph pointed at
- (Warlock) spots something glinting in the only dead tree around and finds a ring, he hands it to (Cleric), who puts it on and turns from a man into a woman.
Having a general direction to go, the party starts walking. It doesn't take long for some of them to figure out that they're being followed and when they're eventually attacked, they were prepared. Four goblins attack, only three survive (one with a hand less), but that wasn't due to the party, the goblin accidently cut a major artery on himself, bleeding out.
Having knocked the surviving three unconscious, the party shouts Rudolph three times to ask if these are the creatures he's talking about. Rudolph confirms this and informs the party that it's a shame one of them died and he claps his hands and disappears again. The party tie up the goblins to a tree, wake up one of them and start interrogating. Having picked a very weak goblin who's eager to stay alive, he gives the party the following information:
- His name is Xor
- They (the goblins) don't want to work anymore without better compensation
- They attacked the party, because they were interacting with Rudolph
- There are more of them, revealing ten fingers, because that's many
- They have taken Sir Klaus to a cave further in the forest
The party tie up the goblins in a row and take them with them, with (Warlock) taking the lead. Some uneventful minutes go by until (Warlock) feels the ground under him gave way and falls into a pit face first. While the party is busy with what's going on, the goblins free themselves from the poorly made knots and make a run for it, well two of them make a run for it. Xor is shot down and killed by (Fighter), while (Cleric) Commands the other one to return and succeeds in doing so. (Rogue), having enough of the party's failure to tie proper knots, makes sure that he does it this time and oh boy, is that a marvelous knot. Then they proceed to lower the goblins into the pit, so (Warlock) can climb back out, leave the goblins inside the pit (with a knot they can't get out of) and get on their merry way again.
Some time later, the party comes upon a clearing in the forest. There's a tent, a campfire, and a small stream coming out of a cave that bends away. After some quick discussion, they let (Rogue) sneak around. Moving silently along the grassy floor, he picks up a snoring sound and finds two sleeping goblins, hiding in a bush. He gags them, binds them and takes them with him. They interrogate the hapless goblins (read: waterboard the shit out of one of them) and their intel is confirmed. They come up with a plan to disguise (Cleric) as a goblin and give her the horn, which is used to warn the goblins inside. Setting up the trap, (Cleric) blows the horn. A few seconds later, a torrent of water comes surging out of the cave, taking the campfire, tent (including (Fighter) and (Druid)) away. Shortly after a group of goblins emerge and ask (Cleric) what is going on, she's not very good at lying, but at least her disguise is perfect. Thinking she's just a jumpy idiot, the goblins go back inside, making her stay outside to guard. The party then proceeds to setup a trap and (Cleric) proceeds to blow the horn. The goblins, now a little annoyed at her ill-decieved excuses take the horn away, but that's when the other party members intervene, attack and slay all the goblins, but not before a shout inside could've warned the others.
Enjoying their quick victory, it doesn't take long before that's squashed when a large hairy goblinoid appears, followed by a small gang of goblins (four, not five). They thin the herd before focussing on the big hairy guy. A lot dodges, parries and attacks later, the big guy is dead on the floor and the party is victorious. (Rogue) explores the cave, finds a starving wolf attached to a chain and a goblin, still holding watch, but he doesn't spot (Rogue). He conveys what he spotted to the rest of the party and while the rest is discussing on what to do next, (Warlock) and (Cleric) try to befriend the wolf. They eventually release the wolf who darts away into the forest. (Cleric), (Fighter) and (Cleric) go towards the stalwart goblin, while the rest of the party rests up and patches their wounds.
One final interaction with the last two goblins later and they end up with a dying Sir Klaur, two dead goblins and (Cleric) who saves Sir Klaus from a pre-mature death. The rogue calls forth Rudolph, he takes his master away and gives (Cleric) a pouch, which contains a couple gold pieces. Shortly after reuniting with the party, they call Rudolph one last time and are returned to their village, where they go to Bernadette's General Goods Store to sell the items they "recovered", giving them a nicely added bonus.
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