Last weekend my family and I played the first session of the Elves of Tejas. One thing I was impressed about on James Wyatt’s site was his description of the play session. I wondered how he remember everything that happen. Well he probably keeps notes. I have a bunch of stuff I write down during combat, and knowing I wanted to transcribe it, I wrote down a little more. Here’s my first shot at it.

When the story started a large group of adventurers were sitting on the porch outside the county court house and church in Harrisburg. It was hot and humid, oppressively hot. They had just gotten out a of town hall meeting. It seems Harris county has been having goblin problems.

The sheriff and mayor spent what seemed like forever telling the collection of ten or twelve itinerate adventures about the problem. The small government knows there are several tribes of goblins that live around the county, but they are not sure where. The sheriff and the local militia have gone hunting for and destroy various strongholds of the goblins, but there is only so much time they can spend on it. So they have come with the idea that brought the adventurers here.

A reward program for those who kill goblins. Goblins 1 sp, Hobgoblins 5 sp, Bugbears 1 gp. In order to collect the reward you have to bring back the head of the monster.

The group knew they didn’t want more than six in their group. That was enough to do some damage, but not enough to have to split too many ways.

It became immediately obvious, Red was focused to bringing a party together. He went around talking to various adventurers looking for just the right grouping. Red is a monk who put aside all worldly considerations taking a ascetic vow, forgoing all worldly possessions. Though he can own a simple quarter staff, he forgoes even it, preferring to let his bare hands settle combat. He has taken extensive training in non-magical healing, this being his profession when not called into the field.

There was some disagreement about the combat usefulness of a bard, which resulted in Liza Wolfwalker Easten deciding to stay behind and ply her trade in the local bars, while her sister Katerina “Kat” Wolfwalker Shroeder joined the party. There was no disagreement from the monk the Kat’s rouge skills could be useful in the hunt for goblins. Along with Kat came her battle companion Joed “Big Joe” Bennett, a proven fighter.

Two others joined the group. Vack a Paladin that had fought against the goblin hoards before with Kat and Doren, a bothered fighter that was eager to join in the fight. Turns out Doren had a secret unknown even to him.

The group decided to avoid some of the other hunting groups, cross the Buffalo Bayou and go north. After a few hours travel they came to a fork in the road. Here again there was argument about which way to go. Finally Red called on the High Lord and his patron for guidance. At first there was no answer but after continued supplication he was told to go right.

And right they went.

They traveled the road God had pointed them along sweating like pigs and ready to be there already. The sun was beating down on them making them sweat like crazy, especially those in armor. They were suffering along in a fog of boredom and heat, when they snapped wide awake at the sound of a crossbow bolt twang.

One bolt buzzed toward Red, but he easily avoided it because of this combat reflexes. Vack too was able to avoid a bolt aimed at him. The Goblin crossbowmen’s poor marksmanship made the other two shots miss both Doren and Big Joe. As the group pulled weapons and dropped into fighting stances the rest of the Goblins rushed out of the bushes and attacked.

The melee lasted a long time as four goblins and four orcs attacked the group. Red’s martial training allowed him to quickly kill his opponent and move to help the others. At one point Joe killed two goblins at once. Vack dove into the fray attacking multiple opponents with his long sword, but he was overwhelmed and took multiple hits from the orcs, ultimately succumbing to his wounds and collapsing unconscious and bleeding.

Doren yelled out in orcish, trying to persuade them to stop their attack. But his calls fell on the deaf ears of the orcs in combat frenzy. In a panic Doren felt power leak out of him, and a number of the orcs were dazed. One of the other orcs, realizing magic had been used cursed Doren as a sorcerer. Then Doren knew his own secret, though he wished he was a fighter, he had the dragon blood of a sorcerer.

While Doren was discovering his true nature, the goblins and orcs were taking and inflicting damage. Kat took multiple hits from goblins and had to disengage from the fray, fleeing her friends, while Joed cut down orcs to protect her retreat. Red finished off a goblin and rushed to the fallen Vack. The group needed Vack’s divine healing ability, but right now they depended on Red’s professional skill.

At first Red wasn’t able to do anything that would stabilize Vack. Kat, now outside the remaining orcs and dead goblins, unslung her bow and used it to good report finishing the last of them.

With the battle over, Red was able to stabilize Vack. Only Doren had managed to remain unscarred in the battle. Kat was barly on her feet. Wolf suffered from a wound that cut her strength in half. Joe was injured but able, and even Red was bruised.

Vack might never have gotten up that day, despite Red’s ministrations, if they hadn’t found a healing potion among the possessions of the orcs and goblins. With that healing he was able to stand again and call on the help of his Patron and the High Lord to heal the other members. Because they were not fully healed, they decided to return to Harrisburg to regroup and recuperate.

They chopped the heads off all of their fallen enemies, though there was no stated rewards for orcs. Maybe the county government would give them something for them.