Of hobs and goblins

Over the weekend we found time for two more Dungeons & Dragons sessions with the girls. They're getting the hang of it, although Fairy Girl still giggles more than is entirely necessary.

The first of the two sessions picked up following their initial encounter with the orcs in the Caves of Chaos. After some gut-checks, it was generally agreed upon by the party that they were over-extended, with all magic exhausted and everyone sporting multiple wounds. A strategic retreat was then enacted back to the Keep on the Borderlands. With a modest amount of silver in my dwarf cleric's pockets for safe keeping (the girls are multi-classed thieves, after all) the group returned to the keep, exhausted. A couple of new NPCs were recruited to the team--a young human fighter and a gnome illusionist (don't you love gnome illusionists?). The next day, with wounds healed and numbers bolstered, they returned to the Caves of Chaos.

This time, the girls gave the orc caves a wide berth, instead exploring a different set of caves that turned out to be inhabited by goblins. Goblins proved a better match for the newly expanded party, and a rousing victory was had. I have to add at this point that Fairy Girl--a Wizard 101 devotee--had been particularly crestfallen when, against the orcs, she realized as a first-level magic user she was limited to only one spell per day. Since we're playing 1st edition AD&D rules, I invoked Unearthed Arcana and allowed her the use of three additional 0-level cantrips. I have to say I'm impressed with her use of them, particularly the "summon gnats" and "summon spider" spells, which she used to the party's advantage despite their incapability of inflicting damage. Thus ended our first session of the weekend.

The second session picked up where we left off in the goblin caves. The party, pressing ever on, found some stairs and eventually ended up in a warren of hobgoblins. The larger, more powerful hobgoblins proved a significant challenge, and several characters and NPCs in the party were at or near death before all was said and done. But they discovered and rescued a merchant's party that had been captured and tortured by the hobgoblins, fighting their way back out through the goblin tunnels to save the hostages. They also came out pretty nicely in the treasure department, with a bunch of coins, some chainmail and other assorted goodies. Monkey Girl seems to be particularly enjoying the game, using her thieves' skills (unsuccessfully for the most part, but still) and role playing her character to a good degree.

I'm looking forward to them eventually facing off against the skeletons lurking in one cave. We'll have a reenactment of Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts, mark my words!

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