Session 5: The Orc City Report

General Summary

Last we left off, the group had mostly gotten out of Gror's clutches unscathed...mostly. Melvin the wizard and Gror's assistant, led them down into the dungeons where he handed off paperwork for them to be able to enter the Orc city as merchants while Gror and the Hat finished their business in his office. During their time down there, Dot ran across a prisoner who had been tortured severely and recognized him as "the commander". After some banter and a life debt request to be paid, Dot handed over a vial of poison to him and wished him well. Moving further into the dungeon, Melvin released the "country bumpkin" bounty hunter who had decided that it was time for him to retire back to the other continent to take care of his daughter. After supplies were gathered, the group began to make their way towards the outskirts of town where they picked up Smithy who had visited his mother, gotten an earful along with some motherly advice, and had learned that the guards of this town were not very proficient in the art of stealth. He advised his mother to take a vacation and she'd take it under consideration.    While traveling, the bounty hunter decided it was time to part ways and exited the group as they approached the town of Tottenham. The town appeared desolate and in despair and after some conversations with the locals there, they came to realize that the source of the corruption was more than likely the mines. They were also able to pick up some very nice +3 weapons; however, due to the corruption of the raw materials, these weapons would break easily after a few uses. Dot decided to visit the commander's family to deliver the news to them and offer them refuge; however, with new information brought into the fold the commander's family (who thought he was dead) realized that he's not dead and Dot did not save him and instead served a big helping of trauma pie to the family. Slightly defeated, they decided to visit the "pointy eared witch that eats babies" on the outskirts of town where they met Nessa Emberheart who shared similar appearances and mannerisms to Dot. The group exited and gave the two space where they conversated; however, it seemed that age had slightly taken away some of Nessa's memories as she explained mostly everything to her was a blur and a fog and she just wanders about watching mortal life disappear like candles in the wind. Defeated twice now, Dot returned to the group where they decided to go into the caves and rested.    The following morning the group entered the mines and traverse through the caverns, tunnels, and traps fighting irradiated kobolds, diseased trogladytes, and poisoned water. After some pitfalls against the water and kobolds, the group entered the end of a cavern with a broken portal where they found 4 tombstones, a journal, a dead tree, a treasure chest, and a large war pick sticking out of the wall oozing the same poisoned water that had felled the sea elf earlier. Arty reading the journal explained that someone named Bravory Strong and his group had fought the Hat along with a creature that held "beauty and hatred for life" and lost. The portal that had been destroyed was a pathway back to the world tree on the winter continent that had been destroyed intentionally. The group attempted to pull out the pick from the wall where a corrupted earth elemental attacked them, utlizing the dark powers of the pick against them. The group managed to defeat the creature and now lay battered and beaten within the cave as the poisoned water and radiation seems to be receeding and now the group contemplates resting here within the depths of the mine. Oh, by the way, Lucid, you take 2 points of lightning damage.