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Previously on Rime of the Frostmaiden
Starring:
Valravn, level 2 Eladrin Bard
Fray, level 2 Halfling Barbarian
Celeste, level 2 Half-orc Monk
Edmond, Level 2 Human Artificer
Thimbleweed, level 2 Gnome Ranger
A terrible curse has befallen Icewind Dale: the sun no longer rises, and the already harsh land is stuck in perpetual winter. Five unlikely heroes come together to explore this wild land, and kick some goblin butt.
Our first session began with a series of cutscenes bringing some of our player characters together (for more on our PCs, see the Session 0 Recap).
Fray and Thimbleweed were both from Icewind Dale, Fray from Lonelywood and Thimbleweed from the Elk Tribe of the Reghed nomads.
Fray rescued Thimbleweed from an altercation with a merchant, and the two found common ground as diminutive heroes who lacked people skills. They were both concerned about the everlasting winter that was affecting their home, and broadened their search over the next several days, determining just how far-reaching its effects were.
Eventually they made their way south of Bryn Shander, where they had heard of a monstrous beast that was seen far too close to town. A blizzard suddenly whipped up, but Thimbleweed found some shelter and they were able to safely wait it out before resuming the trail a few hours later, though it became much more difficult to see any tracks.
Valravn and Edmond met in Ironmanster, a dwarven mining town that lies a few days south of the Icewind Dale region. Both had their own reasons for traveling north, and Valravn convinced Edmond to join forces and travel together, as no one else was willing to head up there.
They set off on the road by foot, and on the second day were greeted by a dismal gray overcast in the sky, lit only by the occasional northern lights. A blizzard descended upon them and they were forced to hunker down to wait it out. As they made their way back to the trail they nearly bumped into a trio of dwarves.
The dwarves identified themselves as miners out of Ironmaster, delivering a shipment of iron ingots to Bryn Shander. They’d been caught by the blizzard, and that’s when a monstrous beast emerged, and attacked one of their own. The rest fled. They implored the new heroes to rescue the sled and bring it to Bryn Shander.
After some negotiation and trepidation, the pair agreed to take on the quest, with Valravn especially excited to pen their heroic deeds.
Meanwhile Fray and Thimbleweed’s trail had ended, but soon after they discovered the frozen, headless, gory remains of a dwarf. Tracks around the area suggested multiple small humanoids, and a sled leading away. Just as they were investigating the body and the tracks, an odd half-orc emerged across the ridge, disoriented and confused.
Celeste wasn’t sure how she ended up in the middle of the tundra, but when she saw the carnage she couldn’t resist, leaping down and attempting to clean it with her mop.
Moments later, an elf and a human appeared, seeing this odd scene over a dead body. After some hilarious and awkward introductions and explanations, the newly formed party followed the tracks that remained.
Half an hour later they came across the sled full of ingots being hauled by over half a dozen goblins dressed in heavy furs. The goblins were headed toward a large wagon in the distance, with a pair of polar bears lashed to the front.
The party didn’t waste any time or subtly as Fray began charging forward, laughing magically to activate her rage. No surprise round, then!
The goblins rolled remarkably well for Initiative, so all seven got to take a turn and attack Fray as half drew swords and the other half knocked shortbows. She killed one as it approached, and out of the remaining six attacks, only one connected. Stupid goblins!
Thimbleweed dropped a Fog Cloud to disorient the archers, as well as obscure the view from the few goblins near the large wagon in the distance, 120 feet away.
Valravn began reciting epic poems and words of encouragement to hand out Bardic Inspiration, then knocked out half the goblins with a Sleep spell. Those who watch Crafting Icewind Dale may recall I rolled particularly poorly for the goblins’ hit points!
Fray continued to hack and slash while Edmond used a flavored Magic Stone to hurl hardened rock-snowballs with his seemingly mechanical arm. Celeste was timid at first but seeing the dead bodies, ran up to begin “cleaning” them, and killing one of the sleeping goblins with our first crit of the campaign!
Sleeping goblins are pretty easy to kill, and the party was able to began advancing on the big goblin wagon. Valravn suggested grabbing the sled and fleeing, unsure of how fast the polar bear-powered wagon could chase, but the others waved him off and ran towards the wagon, dodging arrows from the few remaining goblins.
Edmond attempted to get the bears’ attention with his magical alchemy jar full of honey, which seemed to work, though he had to dodge an oddly magical flame-bird from a magic lantern held by the goblin boss atop the wagon.
Fray hurled javelins as she ran and Thimbleweed fired an arrow, but it was Edmond who took out the boss by using his Telekinetic feat to transform the goblin’s chair into a slide, toppling them 20 feet down to her death.
Celeste reached the wagon first, and was startled to come face to face with the remaining two goblins inside. She used a mysterious psychic power to render one of them stunned – as well as herself! Valravn killed the un-stunned goblin with a particularly nasty Vicious Mockery (actually it had only 2 hit points, but still funny!) while Fray gleefully leapt into the wagon and tore apart the stunned goblin.
The party had won the day, killed all the goblins, and managed to keep the goblin wagon intact. They helped themselves to the goblins’ meager loot, with the boss’ potion of animal friendship (the fall smashed a second bottle) and the intriguing magical lantern. Next week – hauling everything to Bryn Shander!
MVPC – Celeste
Post-session live discussion:
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