We are a couple of sessions into Lost Mine of Phandelver and I wondered if anyone had an idea about a simple opportunity that's arisen. The players have cleared out Cragmaw Hideout but one Goblin did escape by the skin of his teeth. That Goblin fled the final fight dodging a hurled javelin and got away. This is a wee opportunity to have that goblins escape have some repercussions or consequences for the party some time down the road. So, does anyone have any good ideas of something fun that I could work on that incorporates this goblins escape?
The goblin may have a vendetta... could be a random encounter down the line where this goblin got a couple of the stronger goblin folks and followed the party for a while, waiting to ambush to avenge his downed goblin brethren. He could be working with another goblin faction/tribe, and may not be happy about it, but he could be pushed forward by the sheer hatred of what the party did to his tribe, if you wanna make it a bit more grey area and make them question their choices and give the gobbies a bit more 'humanity'.
If they're being played as just evil folk, you can just have the goblin follow them and sneak about, the goblin randomly taking objects of note each time they rest until it is eventually found out. Think Gollum trailing the fellowship from LOTR, but just this mundane goblin stealing food rations or even magical items if he is sneaky enough.
Tied in with Cragmaw Castle is a returning Hobgoblin war band/hunting party (optional encounter), you could have them encounter that Hobgoblin group elsewhere (perhaps during a sidequest they're doing in Phandalin), and have the goblin that survived guiding the hunting party to them (with crude drawings of the party members). Then, if you want him to be a recurring character, have him stay out of the fight and run away before the hobgoblins die (Note: You might have to adjust the hunting party encounter a bit if they run into it at a lower level than intended).
Optionally, if you'd prefer that goblin to have a more direct tie to the party, you could try to make the players feel bad for him (depends heavily on how your players play). There's a goblin (Droop, I think?) that the bugbears in the Redbrand Hideout are "playing with" (aka, torturing). You could replace Droop with the goblin that got away, and see how the players react to seeing him in such bad shape. Story-wise with that, you could do something like... not knowing where to go after all his goblin-mates were killed, he went to the hideout seeking somewhere "safe" to go (meeting with the bugbears, maybe trying to learn how to get to Cragmaw Castle), and the Nothic there read his mind, learned he was a coward that ran from the fight, which made the bugbears decide he was worthless as anything except a "plaything".
These are both great, thanks for the inspiration chaps. I especially like the idea that he can escape again and perhaps become a long - term reoccurring character. I think I'll have him aiding a Hobgoblin tracking party in the wilderness with sketches of the characters, perhaps enabling additional clues to the location of Cragmaw Castle if needed.
Thanks again.
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We are a couple of sessions into Lost Mine of Phandelver and I wondered if anyone had an idea about a simple opportunity that's arisen. The players have cleared out Cragmaw Hideout but one Goblin did escape by the skin of his teeth. That Goblin fled the final fight dodging a hurled javelin and got away. This is a wee opportunity to have that goblins escape have some repercussions or consequences for the party some time down the road. So, does anyone have any good ideas of something fun that I could work on that incorporates this goblins escape?
Thanks in advance.
The goblin may have a vendetta... could be a random encounter down the line where this goblin got a couple of the stronger goblin folks and followed the party for a while, waiting to ambush to avenge his downed goblin brethren. He could be working with another goblin faction/tribe, and may not be happy about it, but he could be pushed forward by the sheer hatred of what the party did to his tribe, if you wanna make it a bit more grey area and make them question their choices and give the gobbies a bit more 'humanity'.
If they're being played as just evil folk, you can just have the goblin follow them and sneak about, the goblin randomly taking objects of note each time they rest until it is eventually found out. Think Gollum trailing the fellowship from LOTR, but just this mundane goblin stealing food rations or even magical items if he is sneaky enough.
Tied in with Cragmaw Castle is a returning Hobgoblin war band/hunting party (optional encounter), you could have them encounter that Hobgoblin group elsewhere (perhaps during a sidequest they're doing in Phandalin), and have the goblin that survived guiding the hunting party to them (with crude drawings of the party members). Then, if you want him to be a recurring character, have him stay out of the fight and run away before the hobgoblins die (Note: You might have to adjust the hunting party encounter a bit if they run into it at a lower level than intended).
Optionally, if you'd prefer that goblin to have a more direct tie to the party, you could try to make the players feel bad for him (depends heavily on how your players play). There's a goblin (Droop, I think?) that the bugbears in the Redbrand Hideout are "playing with" (aka, torturing). You could replace Droop with the goblin that got away, and see how the players react to seeing him in such bad shape. Story-wise with that, you could do something like... not knowing where to go after all his goblin-mates were killed, he went to the hideout seeking somewhere "safe" to go (meeting with the bugbears, maybe trying to learn how to get to Cragmaw Castle), and the Nothic there read his mind, learned he was a coward that ran from the fight, which made the bugbears decide he was worthless as anything except a "plaything".
These are both great, thanks for the inspiration chaps. I especially like the idea that he can escape again and perhaps become a long - term reoccurring character. I think I'll have him aiding a Hobgoblin tracking party in the wilderness with sketches of the characters, perhaps enabling additional clues to the location of Cragmaw Castle if needed.
Thanks again.