Tuesday Game: A Player’s Perspective: Forest Defenders and Lost Children

Previously, the Hopeful Dopes found themselves inciting a goblin rebellion against their hobgoblin leader, but the hobgoblin quickly dispatched the rebel scum before being knocked out himself. The group proceeded to take their captive back to Dope’s Hope, and they then questioned him for any intelligence on this mythical goblin king he served. Unfortunately, the hobgoblin proved to be too fanatical to divulge his master’s secrets, so the companions decided to leave him in their dungeon cells until he felt more inclined to share.

With a dead-end on what they could do next about the goblin king, the compatriots decided they would venture back to Waterdeep in the hopes of find work as well as generate interest in bring settlers to their keep. This found the adventures taking the dusty path known as the Hermit’s road which is surrounded by a pinewood forest where the trees stretch to jaw-dropping heights equivalent to the tallest trolls!

Their journey along Hermit’s road was interrupted by a foolish trio of sprites who tried to ambush the party while declaring they will stop the “Imix Lovers!” Luckily, the companions were able to convince the sprites they were no cultist of Imix, and the party learned that the sprites had overheard travelers that the cultist would arrive soon to burn the surrounding woods. Seeking to stop the threat of the cultist before they did any damage, the group helped lay another ambush that would hopefully capture the cultists as the sprites had intended.

Shortly after the last of the preparations had been made, the group hid in the forest as a small legion of cultist following two leaders made their way along the dusty path. The leaders blinded by their zealous, missed the traps set by the party, and the cultists were quickly dispatched in a deadly display of magic and metal. The group was even able to capture a deranged cultist alive who revealed, with some magical persuasion, that his group was from Waterdeep, and they were part of a even large network of cultist claiming to follow the will of Imix, the primeval elemental of fire! With this new information, the group moved further toward the city of intrigue in the hopes of investigating the threat these cultists posed.

Yet before the group could go much further, they happened upon an older human male who claimed he could not find his children after he had let them out to play. The party heard the father’s distress and vowed to help find them and return them safely. Using their exceptional skills of perception and attunement to the forest landscape, the adventures were able to locate tracks that likely belong to the young ones, so the party followed the footsteps all the way to the mouth of a large cave. This caved served only to bring dread to the adventures’ hearts at the implications of what might have happened to the children.

Seeking to find out more, the companions delved down into the depths of the cave, and they soon discovered the ancient remains of a Drow outpost that was located near a path likely leading to the larger Underdark network. Upon closer inspection, this outpost was also the home of one large sleeping troll, and behind it were the three children scared and huddled by a wall. Fearing what might happen to the children, the group devised a way to rescue the children without alerting the troll.

The changeling ranger, Ari, used her magical cloak of the bat to transform into said bat, and she made her way over to the children to quickly push them into the protection of the bag of holding. Once the children were safely into the bag, Ari turned to find herself face-to-face with an awaken and angry troll, and everyone quickly sprang into action to fell the towering troll. Lady luck showed her face once again, for after a short skirmish between the group and the troll, the beast finally fell from a fiery firebolt. The children’s rescuers quickly returned to the worried parents, and they continued on their way to the city of Waterdeep…