My overall goal with converting the combats over to 4e is to 1) minimize the time required by me and 2) match the existing monster ‘theme’s where possible. The former rule means that I’m not going to spend much time making up new monsters, but will just use existing monsters and change their descriptions or slightly alter their abilities.
I decided to make the goblin attack a ‘marathon’ combat, with little time to rest between encounters, in order to simulate the quick pace of it. Also, I let the players decide if they had their weapons & armor with them (if it fit their character) for the festival. Several chose to be unarmed/unarmored, which increased the relative challenge level.
Encounter 1 became 8x goblin cutters (lvl 1 minions), 3x goblin blackblades (lvl 1 lurkers), and 3 goblin warriors (lvl 1 skirmishers). I had townspeople on the map as targets for the goblins to help motivate PCs to move quickly to help them. 1 blackblade managed to flee.
I moved directly into encounter 2, with no time to rest or regain encounter abilities. I had the goblin pyros target a barrel full of oil that was to be used for the bonfire, but they were taken out of action so quickly by the ranged strikers that it didn’t really matter at all. This encounter became:
4x goblin cutters (lvl 1 minions)
2x goblin warriors (lvl 1 skirmishers)
1x goblin hexer (lvl 3 controller/leader)
1x goblin sharpshooter (lvl 2 artillery)
The sharpshooter was the only one who managed to get away (I award full xp for enemies that flee, unless I know the PCs will encounter them again later).
The PCs were pretty hard pressed at this point, so I allowed them a short rest after this fight. They decided to head back to the dwarves forge (his backstory is that he is a blacksmith in town) to get their gear. On the way, they met up with encounter 3, where aldern foxglove was being attacked by:
8x goblin cutters (lvl 1 minions)
3x goblin blackblades (lvl 1 lurkers)
1x goblin skullcleaver (lvl 3 brute) mounted on a ‘goblin dog’ (used stats for hyena (lvl 2 skirmisher)
The PCs just barely saved Aldern from an untimely death (ranged strikers shine again) and dealt with the remaining goblins despite the fighter getting dropped in round 1 (mostly because he was unarmored).
For treasure, I had them discover that the rangers bow glowed blue around the goblins, and that and the dwarf’s axe were both now +1 weapons. Mayor Deverin rewarded them with 110g and 2 potions of healing.
I turned the encounters with the shopkeepers daughter and the monster in the closet into roleplaying only encounters, both of which were very enjoyable (I handwaived the combat with the lone goblin).
I also made the boar hunt with Aldern to be roleplaying only, and gave the PCs each a horse as their reward for saving Aldern (worth 75g ea, IIRC).
For the glassworks, I combined both the goblins upstairs and Tsuto downstairs into one level 4 encounter. The goblins retreated downstairs after losing three of their number, and had a few rounds headstart on the PCs, due to their balking at running into the dark storage areas. I also increased the size of the storage area downstairs, to give more options during combat, to keep it from being just a slugfest. This turned out to be a good move, as the PCs are really good at slugfests. The encounter involved:
6x goblin cutters (lvl 1 minions)
2x goblin blackblades (lvl 1 lurkers)
1x goblin skullcleaver (lvl 3 brute)
1x goblin hexer (lvl 3 controller/leader)
1x goblin sharpshooter (lvl 2 artillery)
1x half-elf rogue 3 – Tsuto (lvl 3 elite skirmisher)
The hexer and sharpshooter managed to escape down the tunnel, and the party captured Tsuto alive (I must admit that I dislike the way 4e handles “knocking people unconscious”) and delivered him to the garrison for interrogation. The fighter basically had him locked down and prevented him from moving, though he did inflict some pretty decent damage. Most of the goblins were dead at this point, so Tsuto had little assistance.
I awarded the party additional xp for rescuing Ameiko. I had Tsuto wearing magic armor for the rogue type, and increased the warlock’s rod to be a rod of dark reward +1, plus they found 20g on Tsuto.