Session 6: transported! Report

General Summary

In a cavern and dungeon complex north of Steigs Stand our heroes had just slain a bandit captain, Rogmesh , a comely half-orc, and seeming leader of bandits that had been troubling travelers and residents of Steigs. They killed Rogmesh in the caverns running towards what the party would later discover is a portal. Before following in that direction, however, a search of the bandit hide-out.   What must have been Rogmesh's chamber was furnished with bed, desk, and other personal items. On the desk were the two pigeon-carried notes sent by Brimble Knackles a week earlier (Session 3: which way the wind blows? Report). There was also a letter that read: "The Old One commands us and we must obey. We must have eyes inside the keep for when the firedrakes come." In addition to this evil portent was a pigeon note penned in the same hand as the letter. The note state that "new marks were in town, including some elves and halfling caster". The remainder of the papers looked to be notes on the comings and goings of caravans and their goods. These notes were in two hands, one the same that wrote the letter and pigeon note.   A nearby ruined room contained a chest and crates full of loot, apparently acquired by the Bandits in recent months: gems including eye agate, lapis lazuli, malachite, moss agate, and turquoise, 170 gp, 54 sp, 17 ep, and 125 cp. An oil in a tin flask stoppered with cork, a red potion in a translucent bottle, and a spell scroll with Mirror Image (identified by Brimble). Our heroes took what they could reasonably carry and left other items found on bandit corpses and their barracks, personal effects, clothes, a forgotten lunch.   Reconnoitering the rest of the caverns and dungeon, two rooms stood out, both with strange arched portals and triangular key-holes that seemed to fit a key found on Rogmesh. The portal in the east, near the bandit living area changed not a jot, when the key was inserted, but the portal in a dungeon room off the western caverns reacted differently. When the triangular key was inserted a grey-blue mist formed within the portal. The party sent Gil the owl through and though Gil did not return, Brimble knew his familiar was alive (and on the same plane!). One by one the heroes decided to step through the portal.   They found themselves in a large rectangular room of dressed stone with a wide stair descending into caverns. Gil was there, and half-orc corpse, a bandit perhaps, but he was pierced with numerous round holes, each with a crusty rim of brown, dried blood. An outline of a portal was on the wall to their rear, but no way to access it, so the party took the stairs into the caverns below.   The caverns were of a stone unlike that they just left, carved smooth by rushing water and of different colour. After a short flight a narrow stream crossed the cavern tunnel that had branched left and continued straight down steps on the side of a large cavern room. As Falkas  explored the large cavern, with Gil flapping near the ceiling, a pack of Stirges was awakened and the ravenous beasts attacked. As the heroes battled the stirges, more flew in from the branched corridor. Ten stirges in all! They were swatted out of the air and ripped from the arms of at least one hero and destroyed.   Now the party must decide which passage to take out of the cavern as the way back seems shut.

Rewards Granted

Stirges x 10: 250 xp
Carrion Crawler x 2: 900
  Total per PC/NPC: 287