Dungeons and Ponies 5e #3: Into the Caves

When we last left our brave ponies, Twilight Sparkle, Apple Jack, and Spike had (temporarily) befriended a goblin who was willing to lead them to his cave, where Princess Cadence had been kept prisoner.

Upon being reminded that the friendship spell wasn't going to last long, my daughter Maja had the goblin lead them to the cave entrance and then hid from him.  The goblin called our their names, trying to find them, but they had rolled too well.  Soon, all this yelling attracted two other goblins that had been hiding out in the woods!  They were very confused by their pony-loving friend and dragged him into the caves.  The ponies soon followed. 

Twilight Sparkle cast light and they entered the caves.  They skipped the cave stairs and continued to follow the path.  They save a bridge crossing over the stream and path, but Apple Jack noticed the rocky path climbing out from the other side of the stream.  TS and Spike managed to get across unscathed, but Apple Jack managed to loosen the rocks when she landed, and ended up pretty battered by the mini-rockslide.

Princess Cadence (Candyland piece) awaits a rescue that never came...

Climbing up the path, they found the three goblins they saw enter the caves, five more goblins, an obvious leader, and Princess Cadence.   The ponies took the upper hand and tried to rescue the Princess!  Apple Jack couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.   Twilight Sparkle used her Horn of Cold, but only one goblin was affected by that.  The other goblins, deftly dodged Spike's breath weapon.  

Then it was the goblins' turn.

Lucky for the ponies, the friendly goblin hadn't changed back yet, plus he had slapped around by the goblin leader for acting as silly as he was.    He fell off the small cliff, but immediately pounced on another goblins.  The rest assaulted the ponies with fury and everyone took significant damage.  The goblin leader hammered Apple Jack so hard she fell off the cliff as well and landed in the rocky passage. 

My daughter tried one heroic charge with Twilight Sparkle, rushing the goblin leader in pony-y-goblin mortal combat.  Twilight needed two good hits to take out the leader, and hopefully scramble the rest. 

She only got one in before the goblin leader landed true.  Twilight Sparkle fell... 

The others (goblin included) decided to run away down the hallway that led to the bridge.  A quick look below saw the brisk stream had turned into a raging river.  (The goblins guarding the bridge saw Twilight Sparkle's light spell and unleashed the dam above.  Apple Jack still spied the rocky path downstream.  Maybe this time the jump could be made and she could circle around the goblins, rescue the Princess and save the day.

Again, the dice failed my girls.

Apple Jack was swept up in the river and taken outside.  Spike decided the only safe(!) thing to do was follow her. 

The ponies needed severe healing and rest, but getting new friends to avenge Twilight Sparkle and rescue the Princess was already on their agenda. 

This session I got a chance to fool around with the -10 hp rule.  Apple Jack got hammered pretty early, but so long as she didn't fail any Con rolls, I let her do non-combat actions, rather than fall unconscious.  We can assume for the storyline that Spike may have needed to drag her out of raging stream before she could regain consciousness and stagger back to Ponyville.  Teaching the girls when to run away from a battle is a vital lesson in D&D, no matter what recent editions taught.

Twilight Sparkle was near-death (2hp) when she challenged the leader and failed two Con rolls.  I didn't roll the third one for some "dramatic effect." 

Next Up:  Looks like I'm painting up some goblins this week to match the Gretchin.  Although I love the shade of green I started painting them, I'm converting all goblins to "Martian Blue."  I'll probably knock out the *spoilers*  wolves first tonight, and if I'm motivated, paint up the big baddy.   If we get rain during our Day of Sloth picnic on Saturday, we may break out ponies (and allies) to play the next session, tentatively titled, "Revenge for the Fallen."