Kythorn 1: Capture Ranin

General Summary

Wynholora sits at an empty table in The Faint Branch. She is furiously scratching notes in her journal using a few books as cross reference gathering what she hopes will be useful notes on Goblin culture. She has mentally prepared herself for the mission ahead to retrieve Ranin the Bandit King. Hopefully little to no blood will be shed. Roderick, a human with chaotically styled blonde hair enters the room and joins Willow at the table. The human makes a valiant effort at conversation. Unfortunately Willow is too busy Note taking she ends up responding with observational notes.
Taniel, an Elf, enters next. He is so preoccupied with a gadget he has been tinkering with he doesn't notice Gilna, a human, walking up to the group. Actually no one notices her until she is already seated and well into her drawing of a highly detailed map. She is quite sneaky.
As everyone competes to see who can make the most awkward small talk, Ranger appears and gives the group directions to Ranin's camp in the North. Some adventurers might play things by the book and take those directions with a laser focus, but not our heroes. Our heroes decide they are going to go off book and take a looser approach to hopefully gain further knowledge of the terrain.
The sun is shining as they leave the settlement of New Gambit. They make their way North through the grassy terrain and attempt to stay as close to the shoreline as possible. If they are vigilant and skilled in their directional capabilities they should not be delayed too much, however this is not the case. They take far longer than expected, but remain in high spirits. Here begins Wynholora's account:
After quite a while we came to a river. The river was about 10 feet across, and had a bridge with a human sitting next to it reading a book. After some discussion I volunteered to speak with the human, and Gilna kept close for safety.
The human, Joseph, seemed to be decently mannered. He was reading a fantasy book about Vampires, and Gilna seemed to quite enjoy that subject. Joe was very forthcoming with information about the Goblin Camp. He said that the camp was not far, and was on the other side of his bridge. He even gave us directions. While Gilna stayed and conversed with our new acquaintance, I ran over to Roderick and Taniel to inform them of Joe's directions. They followed me back to Joe and Gilna and as a group we discussed passage. Joe’s price was 1Gp per person. I had 10 on me but hoped to negotiate a barter instead. I offered a trade in services or perhaps aid to him at a future date in exchange but Joe seemed to find the concept of us helping him amusing. I paid the toll and told him that perhaps in the future he could see more value in us than the gold we carry.
Before crossing Gilna asked Joe if he had met Waterdeep Ranger. Joe claimed not only to have met him but also to have charged Ranger the same toll. According to Joe, Ranger paid. We followed Joe’s directions closely (except not well). It took us much longer than Joe said it would to find the camp, but we eventually found it. In the distance we could see the run-down village guarded by two goblins with spears.
We discussed what the best course of action would be. We agreed to try for a peaceful approach, but we also agreed safety was most important. Roderick suggested scouting the area in hopes of giving us an advantage and we also discussed the possibility of this Ranin being falsely accused. We decided to follow Rodericks lead and scout the layout, then approach quietly to see if any evidence presented itself. Roderick’s was able to find a way to approach stealthily from the side and so we approached all sneaky like.
Unfortunately, today your heroes are super not stealthy. At all.
Barely halfway down the hill a goblin spotted us and announced our presence. In the heat of the moment Taniel shot the goblin in the head and struck him dead. I was in shock. What happened to a peaceful approach?! I walked forward and tried to de-escalate. I apologized for my team member’s impulsivity and explained we did not wish to cause any more unnecessary harm. I promised them if they would bring us Ranin we could avoid any more bloodshed. Gilna pointed out to the goblins that there were supplies everywhere with the logo of the Lord’s alliance and that those were the stolen supplies taken from our camp. She told them if Ranin had not stolen them, we would not have been sent.
The goblins did not attack. They did close in on us and demanded we disarm, and said they would take us to Ranin. We were able to negotiate more favorable terms though. We would sheath our weapons and Ranin would be brought to us.
Ranin came out of his tent with his companion and challenged us to a duel.
Except it is four against one so does that even count as a duel at all?
Ranin was quite proud. He felt his own power and skill so great that he sent his underlings to the sidelines of the fight under orders not to interfere. We even clarified he wished to fight the four of us alone. He insisted and the fight commenced. I clasped my Amulet of Eldath and prayed she bless my companions, while Roderick, Taniel, and Gilda fought bravely. After a fury of fists and kicks Gilda collapsed and I cast spare the dying to stabilize her. Ronin’s animal companion fell as Taniel and Roderick continued to fight.
I saw a look of desperation in Ranin’s eye as he tossed a wad of paper towards a nearby bonfire. As Taniel dealt the final blow to Ranin, I stomped out the flames attempting to consume the paper Ranin wished to destroy. As I carefully unfolded the charred paper and mended what I could, Roderick managed to catch one of the goblin underlings before they could flee with the rest.
Lucky for us, Taniel spoke goblin and was able to translate the writing on the paper, and speak with Lugdug, the goblin Roderick captured. The note read “Lagdog, you have no chance! We _____ better weapons. ____ down or you_ tribe shall perish.”. According to Lugdug, Lagdog is a rival tribe that Ranin wanted to take over and unite against the invasion of foreigners. We thanked the Lugdug for his cooperation and gave him some supplies for his journey.
We had the bounty, and the stolen supplies, now we just needed to transport it all back. We decided the bridge would be much easier to carry everything back over than to try and swim, but we realized we never checked how deep it ran in case it was walkable. We walked to a location upstream of the bridge to check its depth and speed. While we did this Taniel walked over to Joe to try and negotiate a deal and pay our way across. We found the river was about 10 feet deep and moving at a slow pace. After reuniting we walked back to New Gambit with no trouble, and Taniel told us more about Joe.
According to Taniel Joe could be something other than he seems. Joe claimed to have built the bridge we crossed over 200 years ago, yet he looks like a not especially elderly human. Joe also mentioned he loves gold and considers himself a collector. Could Joe be a dragon?
On the walk back Taniel and Gilda discussed starting a business venture with Joe. Joe had told Taniel that if Taniel found a way to bring more people across the bridge perhaps a deal could be struck. Gilda saw great potential for an outpost.
Our heroes are now returning from a tiring, yet successful quest. They deliver their bounty to Waterdeep Ranger and find themselves not only with more gold, but also more questions. Ranger confirms he has met Joe at the bridge, but he did not pay the toll, instead he swam across. Was Joe lying about anything else? Is Joe a dragon? Will our heroes develop better interpersonal skills?! Only time shall tell.

Rewards Granted

43g each + 43g Town

Missions/Quests Completed

Capture Ranin

Character(s) interacted with

Ranin

Report Date

11 Oct 2020

Primary Location

Ranin Goblin Camp