The aftermath

This session started with a bit of a quandary - Ciarda and Dion realised they were badly beat up and out of spells and needed to rest, but they were (correctly) nervous about camping in a massive hall with several entrances. They eventually decided to try to camp in Bargulg's private quarters.

This was a good choice, especially with the door locked behind them - as they'd find out in the morning. One long rest later, they were good to go. Walking out of the locked door, they realised the remains of the goblin band had staked out the hall. An angry hobgoblin and 4 scared goblins rushed them while they were startled!

Ciarda's magic mace and Azrael's Burning Hands felled the goblins, and Dion's new arnour saved him from a blow or two, meaning excitement levels were high again right away. Finding a their first secret door hidden in the fireplace after the fight helped stoke it further.

Two guardian skeletons later, they were stuffing their backpacks with silver, trinkets to sell, and a couple of potions. Two treasure chests clearly marked as the Greenslades' offered my children a moral dilemma:

"can we not just take some of the gold, daddy?"
"How will anyone know if we take some?"

They made the right choice (for the story!) & returned the chests. This triggered more rewards from the Greenslades, and enough experience to hit level 3. Gaining more hit points and some new abilities on top of the magical toys has made them keen for more!

They've had a think about the various little adventure hooks I left lying around, and have decided on the path that'll take them to The Lost Mines of Phandelver (via some one shot adventures to make the journey interesting, and to link the two areas).

Bargulg's Lair has been declared a success. I'm really happy with it, and had a lot of fun designing it and writing it up. I'll not pretend that it's anything other than hackneyed and amateurish, but for a target audience of 7 & 8 it seemed to work. If the adventure invokes fear, excitement, real tears and a sense of achievement, it has done its job, hasn't it?