Session 10

=Session 10 - March 1st, 2018 - Return to the Raider's Camp=

The party spent the remainder of their day resting and gearing up in Greenest. At governor Nighthill’s request, the keep’s supplies were again made available and the party obliged - new rope, extra rations, ammunition, and even a few weapons were needed. What took the keep’s castellan a little longer was gathering up enough spare horses for their trip. The plan was to return to Greenest first after scouting the camp, and if Leosin had already left they would rejoin him in Elturiel - their next destination either way. The monk said he would leave for the small city that night, but from the looks of him he needed more rest after the abuse of the previous day.

Around mid to late afternoon the party set off on horses back towards the raider’s camp. They rode to the hillside bear cave where Barlo met his spirit animal, tied off their horses, and decided the cave would be their rally point in case anything went badly. From there, they walked the rest of the way over the hill to look down on the horseshoe crag containing the camp. Even before they reached the hilltop they could tell something was wrong. The sound of hundreds of people in the distance was gone, no one was milling about the front entrance, and a cloud of gray smoke hung over the horseshoe. The putrid smell of death filled the air.

With Thia in the lead, the group went down the other side of the valley hill and scaled the southern rim of the crag. While staying low, the group peered over the edge down into the horseshoe itself. They observed the rising smoke and putrid stench both came from the smouldering kobold tents; however, the mercenary and cultist tents were still standing. Almost all of the supplies in the camp - crates, sacks, carts, animals - appeared to be gone as well. After observing for a few minutes, the only activity they spied was two humans carrying what appeared to be a dead deer through the camp and into the cave at the rear. Once they were sure it was clear, the group tried to quietly scale down the interior wall of the crag, but Cadmus made plenty of racket.

The party spent some time exploring the tents, specifically the larger leader’s tent, while Thia examined the tracks at the front of the horseshoe’s entrance. The tracks left the camp in almost all directions although a vast majority seemed to head off in a single column to the northeast. From examining the contents of the tents it was clear all the valuables and most items were hastily taken, the only things remaining were mundane and not worth hauling. The party regathered around the leader’s tent, and from peering into the entrance of the cave it appeared deserted. Although, they knew that to be false. Marcus led the way carrying a torch and approached cautiously.

As Marcus looked around the first small bend, he was surprised by six leather armored guards hugging the wall, and waiting quietly. The combat was violent, but the party quickly downed a few, and then with the numerical advantage they overwhelmed the remnants. The last guard Marcus grappled and they took prisoner, tying him up and sitting him down among the bodies of his fallen friends. After initial attempts at interrogation and threat of physical harm, this particular cultist appeared very tight-lipped. At this time, they also examined the next major section of the cave tunnel, which was a small pit that was carpeted with different colours of fungi.

Through the fungus on each side was a thin winding path, and hanging upside down above the middle of this pit was a naked and unconscious male halfling. While some of the party was distracted, the captive must have thought he saw an opportunity to get away, as he stood up, ran with his arms still tied behind his back, and leapt into the fungus pit. He landed and started bolting down the left path - which the party now assumed was the safe route - until he was yanked back hard from the trailing rope. He landed in the middle of the fungus. A cloud of spores puffed into the air and multiple party members help drag him out of the pit with the rope.

The cultist quickly fell into a state of hallucination and intoxication that made him very eager to talk. Rachen watched the front entrance of the cave while Lachlan did most of the ‘encouraging’. While the party did not learn much, they did discover that these guards were still here protecting the dragon eggs they heard of previously. Not long into the conversation, when Lachlan asked the prisoner where everyone else was at, the cultist looked over the elf’s shoulder and said, “right there.” A larger group of guards had quietly entered the chamber from a small tunnel tucked back in the shadows.

The fight was over in seconds. Marcus snapped the neck of the tied up captive immediately, Rachen dashed back at the first sound of combat, and Cadmus slammed his axe into the ground erupting a Thunderwave at the closely packed enemies. The reverberation in the small tunnel space was massive. Most of the guards fell right then, and they were lucky the cave entrance was so close. Even though some of the party was injured, and anyone left in the cave was surely notified of their presence, they did secure a second prisoner. This one they hogtied both his arms and legs.

The thunder also woke the hanging halfling. Complaining of a massive headache, the naked man introduced himself as Tom Haverford of the Black Landing Haverford’s. Cadmus informed the rest of the party the Haverford’s are known as a lesser family connected to organized crime in the Landing. Tom tried to convince the party to cut him down, and explained his presence as merely wrong place wrong time. The group speculated he was here for the eggs, or like them, to scout the camp for other ‘concerned’ parties.

Instead of cutting him down, the party told naked Tom to ‘hang around’ while they explored the cave. They would free him on their way out. The group decided not to continue down the fungus path, but to first explore the not-so-hidden tunnel the guards came from. Then tunnel branched into two rectangular hewn stone rooms. The first, was a hastily emptied treasure room with a whole sixteen golden griffons, and broken crate pieces remaining.

The second room was a barracks, filled with cots and small containers of personal items. The party looted the contents and gathered a total of 150 golden griffons worth of coin and small gems. From this room was another small tunnel that led to a new room that had a badly hanging wooden door. Instead of proceeding further, the party stacked up the cots against this door to slow any pursuers. They then doubled back and continued through the fungus chamber. Carefully following the left path.

Past the fungus chamber the cave slowly descended and opened into a larger cavern with exits to the left, right, and a large opening to another cavern straight ahead. Before deciding which way to go next the session ended there.

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