As the session began, the first thing I did was rapidly defuse the situation with the Redbrands outside their tavern. Considering that we had heard rumours of a secret tunnel that they were using, I figured we had no need to get into a scrap in the streets. Instead, we bid them adieu and made our way to the farm where Pip told us we could find the boy who saw that tunnel.
Unfortunately, the farmers were halflings, and my character has a slight issue with halflings. Airina took the lead and went inside for a cup of tea, and we ended up with the young halfling boy leading us to the tunnel before he took off. Certainly not without trepidation (especially considering how hopeless the other members of our party are at being stealthy) I led us in.
Slinking forward with the others about thirty feet behind, I entered a large room with a crevasse in the middle. At the bottom, twenty feet down, lay a pile of gnawed-upon bones and a half-eaten body (the murdered woodcarver, as it turned out). Also in the room, there was a creepy, one-eyed creature that started speaking in my mind. I, and later the others, particularly Mercenary, tried to bargain with it so that it would let us pass, but during the conversation I slipped down a corridor only to come fully into view of a bugbear. I got back into the main room as quickly as I could, but moments later we were joined by the bugbear and his three friends (one of whom quickly ran off for reinforcements and came back with a couple of Redbrands).
Luckily, our bargaining hadn’t gone terribly, so the one-eyed, telepathic creature sat out of the fight. We dispatched our enemies with aplomb and even traded their bodies with the creature for extra information. Heading to the secret door it told us of, we found our prey, the leader of the Redbrands (who just so happened to also be the wizard sent in advance by Sildar to assist operations here – traitorous nerf herder) Iano Albrecht. He was with another four Redbrands, all of whom were quite drunk, and, again, with Mercenary leading negotiations, we managed to convince them to help us capture Iano (despite his threats that his employer, the Black Spider – there’s that name again – would not appreciate such betrayal). Iano ran, and we gave chase, the Redbrands slowly following.
As we chased him in a massive loop around the complex, at one point Iano electrocuted me, and at another, he conveyed some message to the one-eyed creature and it turned on Airina (she and one of the Redbrands had fallen into the crevasse with it by this point). The chase ended with Parvus getting a critical hit on a smite-empowered bull rush and skewering Iano with his horns. Despite our desires to capture him alive.
Seeing Iano dead, the Redbrands realised that the deal was off and the fight was back on. I hit one with a dagger and then ran off, doing a loop back the way we had chased since I was alone on the side of the crevasse with three of the Redbrands. Airina climbed out of the pit and Toll the Dead’d the Redbrand still down there, making his eyeballs explode. Mercenary leapt across the crevasse, grabbing the one-eyed creature as it was climbing out and pulling it back to the bottom. Then Parvus climbed down and the two of them dealt with it (I tried to help, but accidentally threw a dagger into Parvus’ shoulder instead).
By the end of the fight, the three other Redbrands had run off through a door into a part of the complex we hadn’t been to yet. Foolishly, we assumed they were bailing. Taking stock, we decided to push a little further, since everyone but me has healing abilities, plus we had healing potions, so a short rest wouldn’t have garnered us back too much else.
When we found the first secret door, I happened to find a second leading in the other direction, so we decided to try that way. Unfortunately, Mercenary went through first only to suddenly be standing in a doorway to a room with six Redbrands in it. They took Mercenary and I down before we were able to do anything, and though Parvus and Airina killed one of them and healed me back to consciousness (although I stayed on the ground, playing possum), they threatened to kill Mercenary unless we surrendered.
Parvus and Airina managed to get them to hand over Mercenary for healing, and dragged me back as well as the five Redbrands all trailed crossbows on them. The stalemate lasted a moment as the other three acted like they were going to give up (while really planning to run) and I continued to act dead on the ground, but did not hold as the deception was seen through. Parvus was hit by two crossbow bolts, Mercenary ran down a side tunnel, and I leapt to my feet, took out one of the Redbrands with a dagger, then followed Mercenary, but then the surviving Redbrands took both Parvus and Airina down.
Mercenary and I found a room and lay an ambush (for which Mercenary took off her mask – yes, her, Mercenary, as it turns out, is a she), but there was no pursuit. After a little while, the Redbrands began threatening us again, this time with Parvus and Airina’s lives. We managed to convince them that we were just the vanguard of a much larger force, and no matter what happened to us, if they stayed they were dead, so they agreed to go peacefully if we stayed where we were for three hours. Without much choice, we agreed.
We barricaded ourselves in, but just a short rest’s worth of time later we slipped out and systematically moved room to room. We found and dealt with three skeletons in the crypt, but the only other living things besides us were Parvus and Airina, unconscious, chained up in a cell, and with all of their stuff gone.
We set them free, and when they eventually awoke, we searched the whole place. We found some loot, as well as a goblin called Droop, who seems to have become our servant, somehow. With no sign of the woodcarver’s family, we collected Iano’s body and left.
Returning to Sildar, we explained the situation before doing a touch of shopping to resupply Parvus and Airina with the equipment they had lost. Being hailed as heroes by the townsfolk, we were given not one, but two new side quests, both near each other and in the vicinity of a third that was already on our list. We also got a free night at the inn.
The next morning, we set off on our journey to complete our three side quests, while still leaving feelers our to search for more information about the goblins’ main base (one Cragmaw Castle). And that is where we finished.
It was a very interesting session, full of ups and downs, and for a minute there it looked very bad. Our plan to get out of the complex with as little combat as possible slightly backfired, but all it does is spur me on to try again and again, until we get it right. Perhaps we’ll manage it next week…