Bloin had posted a reward for his signet ring (the one the party was supposed to deliver), which the bandit leader knew of, and took advantage by delivering it himself.
The adventurers were dumped at the edge of the forest, some alive, some dead. The bandits did not finish the job after realizing who they were dealing with.* Someone noticed them thanks to Zyn's last ditch effort of creating dancing lights, and gathered them up. Bloin had paid for their resurrections**, but now expected something in return. He was a fairly prosperous businessman (businessgnome?), but the bandits exacted a harsh toll on trade around the village. They had to be brought down. The adventurers, thirsty for revenge, gladly accepted. However, they were in no shape to fight then and there.
First of all, Bloin brought them all the stuff that the bandits did not steal. They took all weapons, armor and valuables, but left their clothes, including Zyn's magic cloak, for which he was immensely grateful. What he sorely missed however, was his spellbook.
The adventurers then recuperated by resting at Bloin's mansion. The gnome was happy to feed them, especially when they entertained him in return with tall tales around rounds of drinks. However, he did not let them outside. In case they failed, he wanted nothing to do with them.
As a final gift, Bloin gave them 100 gold pieces, allowing them to buy anything they needed around the village. Luckily, there was a leatherworker, bowyer, blacksmith and healer around, but the money needed to be allotted wisely.
Selene ventured forth first, only buying an arcane focus at an inflated price.
Zyn then tried his luck, and managed to sweeten the village witch enough to buy arcane foci for everyone at a reduced price. Naturally, he then fumbled sweet talking the blacksmith (any dwarf would bluster at being told he smells nice), and bought the wrong kind of armor for Solid. Excellent idea, sending a wizard to buy heavy armor... Finally, he sneaked around town towards the smuggler's shop, where he noticed his spellbook lying around. Going full Taken on the fellow, Zyn tried to murder him, unsuccessfully. Even though he got away, the wizard could then return to Bloin invisibly and with spellbook in hand.
Such a fumble would not go unnoticed, however, and Bloin immediately kicked us out. At this point however, we were fully rested and suited up, so we ventured into the forest. Thanks to the scouting owlbat, we quickly located a bandit outpost. Throwing caution to the wind, we attacked.
Combat went fairly quickly, but one of them managed to get away. At least Zyn got to raise his first zombie.
Following the bandit, we approached their main camp, and found almost all 40 of them. However, they stood no chance against fully rested level 5 adventurers. FIREBALL!!!!!!
The paladin, unaccustomed to AC below 18, did not do his job, so Tari soon found herself outgunned and unconscious.
Zyn started a trend by jumping to the ground after firing his spells to take advantage of cover. Soon, everybody was jumping up, firing, then jumping back down.
The zombie did his job admirably, taking several rounds of arrows to the face before finally dying.
We found all missing armor and weapons in the camp, then took a trip around the smuggler to collect the rest of our items, except money and jewelry. The camp was empty of those, as the bandits seemed to have loaded up most of their loot unto carts and left. Still, it was a small price to pay, considering how many resurrections did Bloin pay for.
Thus, at the end of the adventure, we were financially poorer, but richer in experience and supplies. We gained level 5, and were looking forward to blast enemies away with powerful spells and abilities.
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* Ren is a member of the Zhentarim.
** But the local priest botched the job, as some of the adventurers discovered soon.
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