A week late with this write-up (life gets busy!), but here’s the recap of our fourth Tales of the Valiant session. This one was packed: treacherous hills, goblin grudges, a botched ransom exchange, and the arrival of a brand-new ally.
Stirges in the Hills
Climbing the wet, slippery hills toward the ransom site, the party detoured into a cave that reeked of old blood. Stirges swarmed them immediately. After cutting the creatures down, the group found signs that something larger had been feeding here. In the muck lay a broken elvish sword and a handful of ancient elvish coins — another little breadcrumb in the Margreve’s tangled history.
Goblins and Grudges
The next day, travel grew harsher. A messy leap across a ravine nearly ended in disaster, and then came another goblin skirmish. This fight carried weight: Nettle took “eight fingers for eight fingers” from a goblin who wore a grisly necklace of digits. The goblin croaked out that Aunty Arshala wanted the Piney Bluebell of Duskvale dead — another step in untangling the hag’s schemes.
The Giants’ Stones
At last, the party reached the Giants’ Stones, where the ransom exchange was to take place. Korra, a Silent Caste jailer, appeared with the captive Dunstane. In a twist, she asked to leave her clan and join the party instead. The group was just processing this when horns blared and Silent Caste dwarves surged into battle.
The fight was brutal. Noroud and Melian were both hammered down hard, but with Korra fighting at their side, the Bell Ringers pulled through. One dwarf was taken alive — their next lead into the dark politics of the Silent Caste.
Session Reflections
This was a rough, bruising session — lots of blood, grit, and tension. But the standout for me was Korra’s defection. I enjoy making the game feel character-driven, and it’s fun to throw in NPCs who complicate the party’s choices. Do they trust her? What does she want? How far does her loyalty go?
The goblin thread with Auntie Arshala also continues to tie neatly back to earlier hints, and I love how this storyline is unfurling across sessions.
What’s Next?
Tomorrow night I’m shifting gears and running Session 0 of a Daggerheart Witherwild campaign — my first time taking Daggerheart into longer-form play after the one-shots. I’m really excited to explore the Hope/Fear mechanic across multiple sessions and see how the collaborative worldbuilding lands at the table.
And if that wasn’t enough, by the end of October I’ll also be a player again in a 5e-adjacent game. Busy, busy — but in the best way possible.
Jambo's GM Journal 
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