Session 1: The Beer Garden Brawl

Vashaar and Mashar enter The Hanging Garden, which they have heard is a great place for new comers to ease themselves into the hustle bustle of Tamalin. At its entrance stands a hulking goliath, working as a bouncer. Inside the beer garden, they see a drunken dragonborn in fine clothes sitting grumpily at the bar, being served by a half-breed shifter, and a few drunken patrons sitting around. A bard sits under a tree strumming away on his lyre, boasting to those closest to him about his racing prowess.

The pair approaches the bar, and learn that the dragonborn is named Malkeith. He is surly and untalkative, interested more in drinking beer than anything else. The bartender, La'al, welcomes the new adventurers to Tamalin, and happily answers their questions about the city. While Vashaar and Mashar attempt to get to know Malkeith, they are joined at the bar by a female shifter, who slinks down from her perch in a tree in the corner of the garden. Lily White, the shifter, is reticent but still willing to meet new people. She informs the newcomers that she is in the city looking for information about her kidnapped daughter.

Suddenly, the goliath bouncer comes crashing through the entrance to the garden. Behind him are a motley crew of hobgoblins. Holding burning torches, they attempt to set the beer garden on fire. Though the many patrons in the garden shy away from the fight, Vashaar, Mashar, Malkeith, Lily White, and the bouncer Krakon all spring into action, fighting off the attacking hobgoblins. The fight moves out of the garden and into the street, where Mashar executes a fantastic flip through the air in order to get behind one of the attackers. Malkeith takes a moment to summon a mage hand to grab himself another tankard of beer from the bar, before throwing himself into the battle.

When the enemy hobgoblins are defeated, the five adventurers are approached by a severely wounded member of the guard. He questions them as to what has happened, mentioning that there have been outbreaks of goblin activity at the main Eastern Bridge leading into the city, and that he was injured in a battle close by. Before the adventurers can rally in order to heal the soldier, he dies at their feet.

Meanwhile, the other patrons of the bar have sprung into action, and are ineffectually attempting to put out the fires that the hobgoblins have lit at the edges of The Hanging Garden.