Additonal Races of the Realm: Izzet Goblins

 "He-Who-Enslaves took us from our homes to serve Him unto eternity in His desert lair. Generation after squabbling generation, the people of our line lived and died in His service, or at the hands of adventurers come to slay Him, throwing themselves into harm's way to give He-Who-Enslaves even more time to prepare. But then the Firemind came. His might surpassed He-Who-Enslaves and His intellect was incomparable. And when the vile blue dragon lay broken at His feet, our race bowed before Him, prepared to trade one evil master for another. But He bade us rise, for He had other plans..." - Crix, Goblin Cleric, on the history of her people. 

(This is the first in what may be a series of supplemental posts for our current campaign, integrating carried over ideas from the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica with the Forgotten Realms setting, adding to and enhancing the default "canon" premises.)

Niv-Mizzet; the Firemind, the Dracogenius. Red dragons are fiercely territorial, highly intelligent, physically dominating enemies. Born the runt of his clutch, the Firemind wasn't expected to live long. He was quickly chased out of his mother's territory and left to fend for himself as a small wyrmling. But his intelligence far surpassed that of his clutchmates, and even, at that stage, of his mother. Capricious and cruel as all red dragons, Niv-Mizzet sought ways to turn any situation to his advantage, claiming and holding territory by ruling over bands of kobolds as lesser beings. Years went by as they do, with his hoard becoming larger, and threats neutralized. However, he grew more slowly than his kin and as a young red, he was still undersized when a rival came to invade his cavern. Confident his intellect would see him through, he was horrified to discover that his kobold underlings fled in their fear and he was forced to fight alone. Compounding the inevitable defeat, the elder red dragon that had arrived let him live, contrary to the normal "to the death" fighting red dragons engage in. 

Humbled and humiliated, Niv-Mizzet's rage and self loathing threatened to tear him apart as he looked for ways to grow stronger and reclaim what was lost. He spent decades polymorphed into the form of an Elven scholar, searching for esoteric magics that would elevate him far above his peers, or for artifacts to do the same. Then he heard tales of a chalcedony-encrusted thurible created by the Eladrin which might aid him in the ways he sought. Unfortunately, those same tales laid rumors that this item was in the possession of a powerful blue dragon. 

Putting his intellect to the problem at hand, the Firemind tracked signs of this new enemy, duping adventurers and would-be villains alike into doing the hard work for him. At last, information reached him which could not have pleased him more. Though the rumors had called the blue "powerful," he was but a young adult barely more than a century old. Compared to other red dragons of his vintage, he may have been undersized, but against a young blue dragon? Observing as his adventurers assaulted the blue dragon's lair, Niv-Mizzet watched as a tribe of goblins quickly came to the defense. Though not a match for the warriors he had sent in, the tribe nevertheless launched themselves with abandon at his team, headless of the danger they were in. Fascinated, the Firemind watched as the blue dragon, weakened by spells and arrows and blades, finished the adventurers off, thanks to the bravery of his slaves. A new idea blossomed then. There was a nobility to these creatures that he'd never before considered. Lesser than he though they were, their valor far surpassed their small stature. 

Using stealth honed over years of necessity, Niv-Mizzet stole into the cave, dropping his spell and revealing his full glory to the blue dragon only to slay the weakened foe before he could react. The goblins, stunned beyond reason, dropped to their knees in supplication. The Firemind had the artifact he wanted, the blue dragon's entire hoard in fact, but he knew at that moment that he'd taken a far greater prize. 

"Rise, my children," he commanded them in their own language, given freely as his first gift to his new people. Born as black-hearted as any red dragon could be, he saw in these goblins a different path to power. "This is a new beginning, for you and for I."

The tribe of goblinoids that would eventually become the Izzet once roamed over a wide range of territory as hunters, gatherers, and above all else, raiders. Like most goblins, they were a fractious lot, prone to fighting one another for scraps just as much as other races. Niv-Mizzet brought a hint of order from the chaos. Under his tutelage, the Izzet grew to value intelligence as a trait as much as any predilection towards violence. Over the centuries, and with a shift in desirable breeding traits, this particular subspecies of goblin obtained their tell-tale bulbous heads and bright yellow eyes. Exposure to magical experimentation, first of the Firemind and later of their fellow goblins, lent towards blue skin tones being as common as the more green or yellow-green of other goblin tribes. Whilst never able to truly shift the goblins fully from chaotic to lawful orientation, Niv-Mizzet was able to bend the chaos to more productive goals - alchemy, artifice, spellcrafting, etc. 

Wizards casting bolts of lightning and balls of fire became commonplace in the warrens of the Izzet. So much so that eventually, for the protection of the tribe itself, bands of goblin adventurers set out to see the world, to find new knowledges to add to the Firemind's stores, and eventually, to form villages and enclaves in some of the major cities of the Sword Coast. Revitalized Neverwinter became home to one of the largest Izzet laboratories in the Realms. Even smaller town likes Phandalin saw themselves receive these goblins, their alchemical skills put to good use creating healing elixirs for the common folk. Keeping to themselves earned begrudging acceptance, and a willingness to protect their new homes garnered admiration from the other races who came to accept that not all goblins were cowardly or evil. 

And Niv-Mizzet? His time with the goblins wrought unexpected changes in him as well, more than he could have foreseen. Where most red dragons become exceptionally evil masterminds as they age toward great wyrm status, the Firemind found his nature tempered by his followers. His family. Time spent growing the Izzet with the care a master gardener would show a prized rosebush harnessed his ambitions into more than simple petty treasure hoarding. Where others of his kind would reward failure with a blast of fiery death, he would focus his anger and disappointment into a learning experience. He never wasted an opportunity to encourage more growth and more experimentation in the Izzet, as every new discovery by them was a new discovery by him, and as they matured as a species, so did he. Even his physiology mutated as the centuries wore on, a portion of his crimson scales gaining an azure hue. Over a thousand years after laying the foundations that would turn a tribe of chaotic murder machines into a race of exceptional masters of magic and machine, Niv-Mizzet announced to the Izzet elders that he would be leaving them, to contemplate all he had learned in solace that would very well last past the end of their lives, and possibly his own. 

In the two hundred years since, his followers have done their best to make him proud of all that they've accomplished.

Goblin Traits:
Ability Score Increase - Dexterity increases by 2 and your Constitution or Intelligence increase by 1.
Age - Goblins reach adulthood around age 8, and rarely live longer than 60 years.
Alignment - Chaotic or neutral generally, with no real inclination towards good or evil. Even the most studious of Izzet goblins prefer chaos to lawfulness, seeing the latter as stagnation.
Size - Goblins are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh between 40 and 80 pounds. Your size is small.
Speed - Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision - You can see in dim light within 60 feet as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You only see shades of gray in darkness, not color.
Fury of the Small - When you damage a creature with an attack or spell and the creature's is larger than yours, you can do extra damage equal to your level. This can be used once before a short or long rest.
Nimble Escape - You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
Languages - You can speak, read, and write Common, Goblin, and Draconic. 

Class Preferences:
Izzet goblins prefer arcane mysteries to direct combat, but aren't afraid to get their hands dirty as well. Main preferences include;
Artificer
Fighter/Arcane Knight
Rogue/Arcane Trickster, Mastermind
Sorcerer/Draconic Bloodline, Storm Sorcery, Wild Magic
Wizard/School of Conjuration, School of Evocation, School of Transmutation

Izzet Leadership;
With the departure of Niv-Mizzet, the Izmagnus, a group of five to seven elders, organizes discoveries between various laboratories of the Izzet goblins.

Mizzix of the Izmagnus - Mizzix is a goblin galvanic blastseeker who began her rise in the ranks of the Izzet as a lowly attendant. But she quickly earned her a place at her own magical forge with a squadron of her own attendants. Through a combination of natural talent, calculated political moves, and fortunate accidents, Mizzix has now risen to the highest position in the tribe's court, occupying the first seat of the Izmagnus.

Niv-Mizzet
Ideal: "Innovation! Don't just have an idea - have all of them."
Bond: "I have spent more than a thousand years researching the mysteries of the world around me, but there is much more to discover."
Flaw: "I find it tedious to converse with simpletons who lack vision."
Stats - Don't ask. But his CR is 26, so... Him big boy, big spells, big brain.

Session Two: What Happens In Phandalin, Stays in Phandalin

Aka Session Two: Phandalin Boogaloo.  

Session two picked up where session one left off, with our mighty heroes waking up in the cave in which they slay Grusa, the white dragon wyrmling. Battered but not broken, they prepare for what's to come next, after a quick recap of session one and what the party should have learned from Sildar Hallwinter.

We opened with the usual "you wake up..." but alas, something has happened in the night! Rafael, the half-elf rogue has died in his sleep! MYSTERIOUS!

So really, the rogue's player just wasn't feeling the character and decided to roll up a new one the week prior to the session. He had to transfer things from his phone to his paper sheet so I did the recap real quick until it was time to get into it. We'll work his death mystery in somewhere, since even the DM doesn't know the hows and whys. Which makes no sense but whatevs.

The party wasted no time in divvying up his loot (and debating just eating him), and Gabriel said a few words in memorial (he actually just said "Yeet!") before Rafael was given a proper burial (they chucked him down the chimney to feed the wolves). Gabriel did find a note from his old friend, but only he knows what it says (pretty sure it was admission of undying love). 

With that unpleasantness behind us, the three remaining party members were able to utilize their gained XP to hit level two. It took a bit to get through all three players since, again, still a new DM, but fortunately Brian bringing his copy of the PHB always helps tremendously. Besiljka really hit the jackpot on her HP advancement roll, nearly maxing out her gain. Lenneth and Gabriel both had a respectable bump in their survivability. No one is in as much danger of getting one-shotted anymore. Level 2 saw Besiljka gain danger sense, so traps will be easier for the party to spot and both Lenneth & Gabriel gained healing abilities (song based for the former, and the ability to cast Bless and Cure Wounds for the latter) so a bigger dungeon crawl is possible before their resources are spent. The party also held onto their three healing potions earned in the cavern, so those will come in handy, I'm sure.

I hand waved the return to the hamlet and the letting the villagers know about the provisions being safe to retrieve. Also, with Grusa dead, the snow itself lessened so that the villagers were able to clear the road more readily and the party + Sildar were on their way to town. Sildar was still pretty banged up at this point, and we had a LOT of "gaping" jokes for the first half of the session. 

Really, session one was just a lot of railroading to help the party hit level 2, and to get some hands-on game playing experience, before the sandboxyness of future sessions. 

Arriving in Phandalin, the (DM's plan was entirely ignored) party decided what to do and where to go based upon their immediate and initial needs. Sildar let them know about the Stonehill Inn, where he was going to get a room and rest after his recent misadventure. This is also where they were directed to meet the wedding party before heading south to Valeth Tower. Which, of course, means the party ignored the inn and went straight to the other main area they could see from the road - the town square/merchanty type area. Gabriel needed to find a blacksmith to fix his axe, and whilst there, he talked them into using the dragon's blood he drained from Grusa in the repairing process. This interaction took like 15 minutes just because I was having a hard time understanding what he was requesting, since he also had a rapier, and the blacksmith (Radha, not her husband Adun) quoted a half day to repair the axe, so I thought Gabriel also wanted the rapier reforged. We straightened it out and he left the payment as he went on his way. 

Lenneth, true to nature, decided to immediately run a grift on the good people of Phandalin. Most of the farmers and merchants steered clear, because even though it's not entirely a backwater burg, not a lot of individuals are going to trust a rando blind Tiefling. However, a pair of halfling farmers decided to give it a shot. First, she gave them a reading that said their crops would be good, and did not do well (rolled a 2 on the Charisma check), so that they flat out disbelieved her, and she made things worse (rolled a 1 on her second Charisma check) to reassure them to the point that they believed their crops would actually be terrible and she was attempting to deceive them for nefarious purposes. That worked well for me because it allowed me to pull in Lezard's sheriff, Lady Elspeth. Besiljka, not standing idle, used her size and intimidation to scare the halflings into apologizing to both Lenneth and the sheriff for overreacting. Elspeth, like Sildar, was to serve as a deus ex plot device to give the players kind of a rundown on where things in town are, and what's been going on. She ended with asking the party to come talk to her after the wedding festivities as she needed help with some things. Besiljka took this to mean she needed, you know, "help" that involved thick half-orc fingers, if you catch my drift. 

Our party stays on task so well. 

Following that, the three members regrouped and, rather than go to Stonehill Inn, they found themselves in Karniv's Curios, a local shop of some repute, to sell off Grusa's teeth that Lenneth had yanked from the dragon's skull. I had so much fun typing up interactions between Karniv and the individual party members, up to and including him hardcore hitting on Besiljka, who is more interested in things that don't have wangs. But, as the purveyor of the odd, he also had some interesting things to sell each player based upon their background, including an Infernal romance chapbook for Lenneth, a velociraptor feather cloak for Besiljka, and an inspirational mug for Gabriel. There was also a truth coin for Rafael (to aid in cons and blackmail schemes) but, alas... None of the items have really game breaking effects -  the book gives an advantage on a Charisma roll in certain circumstances, the cloak increases movement speed, and the mug will give an Inspiration die once a day - but each add a little character flavor and maybe the party will use them in innovative ways. 

Finishing at the Curios, with a request to bring back weird shit if found, the party moved onto Lionshield Coster, to return the invoices they found in the Cragmaw's cave. And here I adapted, having them walk into Laucian, the new Elf Fighter companion (replacement for the rogue) arguing with Linene Graywind about the bandit situation in the town, and how the elf should feel obligated to deal with it since he's "on the payroll" of Lezard, so to speak. I had planned on the party going straight to Stonehill and checking in, thus introducing the new character, but this worked alright as well, since it gave him a reason to immediately be a dick, which is how the character is written (elf supremacist, low Charisma score, etc). Some good roleplaying interaction went on for a bit, before the party started to see the beginnings of some of the bigger issues in town. 

Finally making it to Stonehill Inn to check in with Toblen Stonehill, keeper of the wedding registry, the party decided to interact with some of the locals whilst Laucian had some words with Sildar in his room. Sildar's room, not Laucian's. Toblen delivered a missive to Lenneth from Lezard, and Besiljka took up position in the common room to keep an eye on the festivities. Gabriel, the life of the party this evening, mingled around, getting an idea for what's going on around town. Some people seemed excited for the wedding and for the travelers passing through. The party learned that the bulk of the wedding guests had already departed for Valeth Tower, but the wedding itself was still a couple of days away. One very drunken miner let it all hang out and complained, at length, about the Redbrand bandits that had gone to ground whilst the wedding guests were in town but that were now back in force, and how the High Elves gave no crap about Phandalin or the humans and halflings there, and how unjust it was that he had to be in the ground digging all day with no one doing anything about the plight of the common man. Laucian, returning, told the miner that Sildar had some inquiries about lost mines, specifically referring to the Wave Echo Cave that his homie Gundren Rockseeker was attempting to locate and reopen. The miner talked about how Phandalin used to be more prosperous and that the mine in question was responsible for magic weapons being produced by dwarves and gnomes, before the mine was lost. But his anti-elf tirades made the night. I really laid on how absolutely aloof Lezard is towards the town, despite both the sheriff and the town headman being his appointees. He also alluded to the Miner's Exchange possibly being on the take from the bandits since they aren't ever bothered. That may or may not be an important plot point for later. NOTE FOR MY PLAYERS - This is ONE drunken miner. His viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the reality of ALL elves in the Forgotten Realms. Some may be aloof. Some may be all up in your shit. But any time a drunken villager is ranting about anything, keep in mind their narrow worldview. 

At this point, the players had roleplayed heavily and had a lot on their plate as to what to do next. Since there's still a couple days before the wedding, they decided Gabriel needed to retrieve his axe and the party wanted to follow up with the sheriff to see what they could do about the bandits. The logic was that they can't be traipsing around if Phandalin is going to be their home base for the time being and leave a bandit menace to rob their shit. Totally logical. So a little more back and forth and the sheriff let them know about the Sleeping Giant taphouse. 

Where they'll head to next session and start crackin' some skulls since we did zero combat this session, I'll imagine. 

So it was requested that there be more roleplaying between the party, and NPCs make a great way to drop exposition without narrating a bunch of background info, and that's why we ended up with tons of one-liners but no sword swingy swingy.Also, we've reached a very sandbox portion where player decisions from session to session is going to necessitate overall plot shifts and encounter changes based upon what happened the previous week, and I have got some... Really, really fun things for them to look forward to over the next six months. 

Since I know they love spoilers and all;

Just kidding. 

Session One: Boobs and Booze

 ---Originally titled "I'm Tired of These Mother Fucking Goblins in this Mother Fucking Cavern," changed by player demand.---

 

Our first official gaming session kicked off more or less successfully. I was still hoping up until the Saturday night before that our fifth player would jump in and decide to join (regardless of which player it was) but other than that one hiccup (especially hoping they'd have been a caster type), my band of goodhearted-ish murderhobos got the job done. 

 Spoiler alert - I almost killed them all. Rookie DM mistake. BUT I DIDN'T. But I could have. But also, we made a few other mistakes (and I made some... fudging) so it was really just a learning experience for us all. 

We opened in an inn in a small hamlet. The group had been hired by an Elven noble named Lezard Eroth for his upcoming wedding - our Bard was to play/perform whilst the rest of the group was to do escort and security detail for the various nobles congregating in Phandalin before traveling down to Valeth Tower, the site of the wedding. The rogue, of course, was most likely just tagging along to rob the nobles as much as possible. He's also already kind of stabby with the NPCs so I'm fairly certain the entire party is going to end up in some Lord's dungeon at some point, or Ned Stark-ed in a public square from his actions. But we'll see. 

An unexpected snowstorm blocked up much of the road, hence why the party was sheltering for the time in the hamlet. I reused my Ruptured Nut Inn floorplan since I didn't have another inn drawn out, mostly so each player would have the opportunity to see their characters (though we're using proxies for the moment) laid out, and to kind of clue each other in on the backstories they've written to this point. I knew most of the information already, and we use a group messenger chat to bounce ideas back & forth, but this was the first time everyone got to listen to everyone else. 

And, of course, we had to throw miniature terrain pieces onto the inn map because it just looked flat and bare without it. Which turned into our first 45 minutes of gaming or so. Because, again, if you give players an inn to hang out in, and you deep dive to learn all of the most popular alcohols of a region just in case someone wants to order something up for their characters. 

After everyone had a chance to speak, and we all joked with one another about dead parents and abortions (don't ask), the village headman came in with a task; a group of raiders had been hitting the hamlet, and others, along with caravans traveling through the area. In exchange for the villagers help in clearing the snow so the party couple proceed, the party would track the raiders down, wipe them out, and return as much of their provisions as possible.

Yes, I was railroading by not really giving the party much choice here, though I did have a backup plan if they flat out refused. However, I knew if presented with a situation where the less fortunate needed aid, Gabriel the Paladin would be honor-bound to get out there and do it. 

Wanting to tie a few other threads into session one, to give the players a LOT to do once reaching Phandalin, I adapted the Cragmaw Hideout for this dungeon crawl. Also, I laid the map out entirely with no "fog of war." I know it's better if players don't know what's coming or where to go, but given all of our lack of experience playing together, I thought it would be better this way. 

Reaching the entrance to the cavern, with a frozen stream coming from the cave mouth, the party debated how to handle entering. The players had a nice discussion about how to read the map key and what briars are as well. Passive Perception check had Lenneth *the Blind Bard* hearing movement in the briars to the east of the stream, whilst Besiljka *the Raging Half-Orc Barbarian Raptor-Farmer* caught glimpses of movement. Rafeal *the Stab-Happy Rogue* decided to move through the briars and ambush whatever he could shank, as Gabriel *the Let-Me-Fly-On-Over Paladin* went up and came down into the clearing where the movement and sound was, catching two goblins before they had a chance to attack. The rest of the party moved in. Besiljka managed to throw a javelin through the briars, catching one goblin in the eye and pinning it to the ground by its skull. Gabriel crit failed his attack and damaged his axe. I let it go at that because I'm a nice DM and didn't rule that he chopped off Lenneth's arm, which led to an entire discussion about her needing to play the lute with her nipples if she only had one arm. I... Don't actually remember how the other goblin died, but I feel like Rafeal may have killed it. He was quick on the looting the bodies, at least. Which was a recurring theme that we'll probably have to discuss since, you know, the person that actually murders the monster should probably have first pull of their bodies... Lenneth did retrieve Besiljka's javelin for her though, and we had a LOT of smart ass remarks about how she had to move her hands up and down it, and twist a little, to get it free. If you know what I mean. Sexual innuendos are pretty much what we spent five hours making.

Moving into the cave, the party encountered a pack of wolves chained in a chamber. They could move enough to protect the room they were in, but not so much to be a threat if no one came in. Lenneth *the Wolf-Whispering Bard* and Besiljka *I Worked with Raptors, This is Fine* cooperated on Animal Handling rolls to try and calm the wolves, also throwing them meat hacked off the two dead goblins. It worked enough to keep the wolves settled and quiet, but the party made the wise decision not to continue into that room. They honestly didn't miss anything in there. 

Unfortunately, that was the last really good success the party had for a bit. They decided to go the Scooby Doo route and split up. Gabriel and Rafeal decided to take a shaft (YEAH THEY DID) to the west whereas Besiljka led Lenneth to follow the frozen stream path to the east. The western shaft was covered in shale and ice and the low height made it impossible for Gabriel to "bone wing" his way off the ground as both he and Rafeal took a buttload of damage from a slide. A tripwire to the east let loose a small rockslide, but neither of the ladies were hit terribly hard by it. 

Making it to the end of the shaft (one could say from the base to the tip of the shaft), Gabriel and Rafeal found a chamber filled with a half dozen goblins and a tied up human. Face down, ass up, apple in the mouth, beat to shit Appalachia-style. We had a lot of banter back and forth about what to do here. For all the party knew, this guy was trying to bang underaged goblins and got caught ala Chris Hanson. But Gabriel, given his background and back story, couldn't leave a helpless person to be murdered or worse by the goblins. So Rafeal went stealth, got under the goblins' notice and dragged the human out of the goblin warren, where then Gabriel was able to pick him up and carry him out of the area. 

Besiljka and Lenneth made it to the source of the frozen stream, a mostly frozen waterfall and frozen pools, along with a pair of goblins. The gobbos won on the initiative and one immediately fled into the next chamber, whilst the other one missed a shortbow shot on Besiljka. Lenneth removed her top and rolled Charisma to distract the goblin with the power of the mesmerizing tits, giving Besiljka Advantage on her attack against the goblin. She rolled well both on the hit and the damage, splitting the goblin's head directly down the center so that its ears came to rest on its shoulders, its eyes never leaving the nipples. 

At this point, the party has taken some damage, saved a guy who may or may not be shady, and have accomplished neither goal that the villagers in the hamlet need done, so they decided to reconvene, after the fellas untied their new friend and asked him some basic questions that amounted to; Sildar Hallwinter, formerly of the griffon cavalry of Waterdeep, abducted by asshole goblins, and ready to GTFO of there. 

It's kind of funny how we addressed meta knowledge at this point, too. Like obviously everyone knows there's one cavern full of goblins, one cavern unexplored where a goblin ran into, and no sign of the provisions or supplies yet, so there's a safe bet where that's at. But, the party still regrouped to "discuss" the bigger threat for the moment. They decided the goblin warren needed to be cleared first and launched an... Interesting... Plan of attack. 

Gabriel *the Effervescent Shit-Talker* flew up in the room, rolling Intimidate to cow the goblins into submission. He did poorly and they were all busy laughing at him when Lenneth used the Disguise spell to look like a goblin and Besiljka *Slinger of Tieflings* threw her up onto the ledge behind the rest of the group. So, laughing at the Aasimar, confusion at the thrown goblin, and Rafeal sneaking up the wall to surprise attack, made for a fun first round. Rafeal missed though, and Sildar, borrowing Rafeal's bow, crit failed his attack, which then I rolled to hit Gabriel accidentally, which also crit failed, so then I rolled to hit Rafeal as well, which thankfully just missed. So now the goblins are spoiling for a fight, Rafeal *Missing Those High AC Attacks* has moved behind Lenneth *Who Hath Goblin Tits Hanging Out*, basically using her as a shield. I expected some really tough combat here, but the party went Goblin Slayer mode and wiped the floor with this group. Gabriel *Gotta Bisect Them All* crit hit the goblin boss, who had already taken damage from a crit failed goblin arrow, dealing massive damage and cutting him in half. Besiljka *Dosvedanya Tovaritch* accounted well for herself also, following up after Lenneth *Pikachuuuuu's* Thunderwave attack. Now, this is also where my first screw up was - the spell's description actually says "each creature" not "each enemy" in the 15 foot cube, so given the confines of the area, it's a good chance that at least one party member would have also had to make the saving roll. Also, I didn't realize that they'd still take half damage even if they did succeed (two did not) so that is absolutely an awesome spell for such a low level character. 

After clearing out the goblins in the warren, searching the room itself proved fruitless, though Gabriel *Tha Gangsta* did loot some gold teeth off the goblin boss. None of Sildar *Boy You Sure Do Got a Purdy Mouth's* gear was here, so he hung onto Rafeal *Sharing is Caring's* bow for the time being. Knowing that they only had one area left to explore, and knowing at least one goblin was in there, Gabriel *Lay Your Hands On Me* used lay hands to heal up the party a bit and they walked right up in there to loot some shit and kill that last goblin...

BUT THEN PLOT TWIST

That one goblin had warned his oppressor boss, an orphaned white dragon wyrmling! Surprise butt sechs breath attack almost TPKed. For a "challenge rating 2" creature, dragon breath attacks are OP as fuck, with rolling 5d8s and even a successful save only halving that. So, yeah, I might have downplayed the total damage a little (40HP on a max roll/20HP on a save? Even level 3 characters would be hard pressed to not die), and I might have let Rafeal *Didn't Make His Save* do a death save roll to be left with one HP (gotta remind Besiljka *the Barbarian* how Rage works, too) to avoid seeing the party crumble. But they were all in dire straights here. Fortunately, initiative, whole party gets to go before the dragon or goblins and Lenneth *Hellfire Smells Like Rotten Eggs* cast Hellish Rebuke on the dragon. This is where I messed up numero B - when I handed out the spell cards people had access to based on class and race, I neglected to remember Hellish Rebuke can't be used until level 3, and the party is level 1. So... Because Lenneth still had an unused spell slot, I just went with it, not double checking otherwise, and she hit that dragon super fucking hard. Like, 60% of its life gone in a blazing instance. Also, I have whites as having cold resistance, but wasn't sure on fire weakness (still a dragon) but the attack might have been even more devastating. Rafeal *Standing On His Last Leg* attacked one of the goblins, but missed. Besiljka *Teamwork Makes* and Gabriel *the Dream Work* went to finish the dragon off, but no dice, it was still hanging by a battered and torn loose thread, when Sildar *Glad We Armed This Guy* fired a Hail Mary of an arrow shot, with just a bit more damage than actually needed to kill the wyrmling. 

YES THERE WAS A DRAGON IN MY DUNGEON

The goblins surrendered at that, and Rafeal *Surrender is Meaningless* decided to chuck them down the fissure at the back of the cave to feed the wolves ("Feeding the wolves, don't you know better?"). Without talking to them. Then he tried to Intimidate Sildar, who wasn't having it, but he did lay down some info about the Lord's Alliance, looking for a wizard heading to the wedding, and the mine that his dwarven homey had recently found before the two of them were abducted by the goblins under their old boss, a Bugbear, under directions from someone known as The Black Spider. This may all go no where, depending on session two, but plot threads are there. And there's still a wedding to get to. 

Since we were running out of our five hour block o'time, I suggested the party make camp there and rest up before returning with some of the goods to the hamlet. Made the most sense to have them let the villagers know it was safe to retrieve the rest after get the road passable again. And everyone got to divvy up the material goods of the cavern, which netted them all a tidy sum of spending money to blow in Phandalin, including a jade frog statuette that Lenneth *Plays Well With Others* demanded be given to Besiljka *Really Likes Presents.*

They also earned enough XP to level up, so that's how we'll start the next session. 

Session Two: Phandalin Boogaloo, in two weeks.