Adventure 1: As Hired Help
The four friends, fresh out of various colleges assembled in The Palace Inn in Antoma and discussed their first freelance job. Bill Sykes and Vinnie Zabaglioni had been tipped off by their business associate, Aaron Rose, about a wood merchant who was recently the victim of a burgulary at his yard just outside the city, and was offering a reward for its return. This, they thought, would be the perfect way to earn themselves some money.
They paid the man a visit. On the face of it, it looked worse than they'd thought. The robbery happened overnight at the yard of Druzer and Lamb wood merchants, over a thousand gold pieces worth of quality seasoned timber had been stolen from the yard, along with six of his horses and three heavy duty carts. Vincent Druzer was keen to see this matter resolved, he offered 300gp reward for the return of his stock, his carts and his horses. And he even had a good idea where the wood had been taken. His carts had been spotted rolling through Ferrenus just before dawn the morning before and into the woodlands there. Ferrenus is a logging and charcoaling station just outside of Covley, midway between Antoma and Gollotta. Some haggling by Brazingamen ensured a heightened reward was offered; 450 gp now, but in return Druzer wanted proof that the perpetrators were killed - he asked for the head of the gang of thieves to be brought to him. Brazingamen evebn convinced Vincent that an advance of 50gp would secure their services and a quick result.
They also paid a visit to the surviving security guard and the family of the deceased guard. They couldn't provide any help, but the children of the dead guard offered a reward for finding and bringing to justice those who had killed their father.
They quickly purchased some trail rations (pies) and headed out in the direction of Covely. They hurried as much as they could, but took the time to share information with the traders that headed along the road. There was little to report, however. These traders would have been in Gollotta or beyond the night before last.
As it drew on towards evening, the party arrived in Covely. They did not stay for long. As dusk fell they moved out to Ferrenus, arriving as night did. There was a small community here, with woodsmen and smelling of sweat and mud, and charcoalers with their sooty faces smelling of smoke. Just outside of the settlement there was also a grove of Druids. These kept their revelry going until long after midnight. The local workmen must be used to this, if the party hadn't been so tired from their brisk march, they may have been kept awake by the noise. They'd hired one of the simple log shacks for the evening, and planned to keep a watch until daybreak. The sound of working men moving around outside roused them from sleep, including Brazingamen who had snored through his stint on last watch.
The next morning, they needed little in the way of searching to find the paddocks in the woods where the stolen wood was supposed to have been taken. There were three large paddocks nestled together; two were open for business with woodsmen coming and going all the time. The other was locked shut. The soon deduced that the one they were most interested in was the locked one.
Some sneaking around by Bill soon established that there were several carts matching the size of those stolen in the yard of the paddock. Also inside was a guard dog. Some misdirection, and some spells from Brazingamen's repertoire allowed Bill to sneak inside and establish beyond doubt that these were the carts they wanted. While sneaking around the yard he attracted the attention of the guards. Brazingamen had managed to hold off the dog momentarily, but the guards turned out to be Goblins. This was highly unusual - why on earth were goblins this deep in the lands of the humans?
Despite coming under attack from thrown javelins, Bill got out of the yard safely. The fence posed little challenge. The four friends backed off into the woodland and discussed a plan of attack.
They sneaked back to the paddock, it looked like the guards were now on alert, waiting for further attacks. Vinnie Zabaglioni and Markus Scathios were first over the wall, the cleric taking significantly longer than than the rogue. Then came Bill and Brazingamen. The goblins were waiting. Four of them were holding the centre of the yard, on lookout, and when the party came over the wall, they and the dog went in to attack. The fight was scrappy. Bill with his bow caused plenty of damage, while Brazingamen hurled in all the spells he could muster. The dog fell first as Vinnie and Marcus held the front line. Eventually all four guards fell too, but there were injuries among the party.
Even as the last of the four guards fell, more appeared in the doorway of the building in the yard. The goblins advanced; there were five this time, one of whom seemed bigger and tougher than the others. Vinnie and Marcus advanced again, while Brazingamen sneaked round the woodpile in the yard. They split to attack - Bill on top of the wood pile picking them off with his bow while Vinnie fell in the fighting, he was badly hurt. The fight continued, but the goblins fell. The last trying to flee, racing to the gate and trying to open it, but he didn't get any further.