Sandbox Campaign Part 4: Backstories and Town Adventures

This is part 4 of my ongoing account of the sandbox campaign I am currently running.  Updates are frequent, if irregular, and at the end of each post I talk about one or more subjects pertaining to the adventure but more broadly applicable to all campaigns.  You can find the previous parts here.

In the previous session, while resting in the tower, Sigurd, Zel, Kat, Daphne, and Rikkit had a discussion of their backstories.  Sigurd, the third child of a Valsc raider who settled down with a Kaldish weaver, had run away from home seeking adventure and the chivalrous life of a knight.  Kat and Daphne, frightened of the prospect of inheriting their father's terrible and unsanitary sandwich shop, fled north to make something of themselves.  Zel, one of many illegitimate offspring of a witch and her various expendable lovers, fled her home along with her eldest brother.  They travelled in opposite directions to minimize the chance of them both getting caught.  Rikkit was cast out of his goblin clan by the terrible chieftain, Blackhide.  He fled to an isolated manor house, where the lord took pity on him and taught him to control his budding sorcerous powers.  Soon, however, Blackhide and his tribe descended on the manor and slaughtered all inside, save Rikkit who escaped with his favourite cat Bartleby.  Ever since, Rikkit has hated goblin kind and vowed to one day kill Blackhide.