Session 24: Goblins, Spiders and Drow, Oh My!

General Summary

Session 10JUL2019: We head back to the Goblin Market to show the King the half-Drow’s severed head. As we approach the King’s chambers, a platoon of fighters enters the chamber, and the leader speaks with the King in Goblin speech. He appears to be asking for something.   We show the King the severed Drow head while Det gets caught trying to decurse/lift the King’s crown. The Guard Captain, the Chief Captain for the Hobgoblin Warlord Azrok, tells us that he is looking for help dispatching the enemies of his master. Their enemies are Drow conducting a siege against his allies. The Drow are trying to take Skullport, and want to break out to the surface and Waterdeep.   We agree to align with their cause, and the Captain gives us a stone with an image of a bloody handprint. This object is a key to their stronghold. He also warns us not to trust any Drow, and that those we meet are capable of much worse things than death. As he leaves, he shoots a disdainful look to the Goblin King, who has refused to help the Hobgoblins with their plight. We set off to turn in the heads to the Drow, who we will not tell of our newfound alleigance.   We present the heads to the rat Drow. In exchange, he brandishes a large stone key with a Dwarven inscription, “Meet me on the Lost Level. Find my twin in Slitherswamp.” Detalosi asks more about the Goblin King and his curse on the children. The Drow tells us that the King possesses a magic item that can change his appearance. He also hands Lorin a sealed letter with a crest emblazoned on it that will grant safe passage through the regions controlled by the House Auvryndar. The House Auvryndar is familiar to Feng, who knows that it is a Drow family, one of the larger Houses in the area. He also understands that males in the Drow society are very subservient to the females, and that Drow hate surface dwellers. Lily remembers that Drow specifically try to hunt/enslave surface-dwelling Elves, so she is especially vulnerable.   Level Three!   We make our way to the stairway down to Level Three. We check out a door just before the stairs, which seems to hold a Temple to a minor deity. Decorations of Dwarves pushing minecarts dominate, and some have been cracked. At the west end, we see large double doors, ornately decorated. We put a pin in this one. Back to the stairs!   At the door that blocks the entrance to Lvl3, we try the giant stone key. Det turns the key, which throws open the door, knocking him over. When the door opens, the key disappears and a small Goblin appears. We say hi, and it responds with “Follow you.” The Goblin will only respond to Det, and follows the Furbolg quite closely. Lorin dubs him George.   On checking, we think we saw an arcane rune like the one on the key, so the act of using the key probably summoned George.   The new Lvl3 areas look like a Catacomb structure, and we see icons of Dwarven deities. This area seems to be a burial area. There are three exits: west, SE, and N. We choose north.   We find a cavern with a human corpse, who appears to have died badly and in a lot of fear/pain. Naturally, we check his pockets. The corpse is dessicated, almost mummified, and there is a gaping wound that looks like something burst outward from his body while he was still alive. We find small treasures, including a golden locket with a portrait of an Elven man. The man in the picture is of a man in the Yawning Portal. Det performs LAst Rites, and we save the locket to return to the depicted individual, just in case we ever get out of here.   We continue, and the north exit is a cavern that loops counterclockwise and terminates in a small cavern with junk and possible treasure. We think we hear some shifting in the room. Det Lights a rock and tosses it near the stuff, with no immediate disturbance. Above, in very dim light, we see snakelike creatures. Since we’re all itching to fight something, we charge in and fight!   We kill the monsters, and search the detritus pile. It is mostly bone, but we recover 80g, 210s. Det spots a holy symbol in the pile, that belongs to his mother. I search the bones, and none of them are large enough to be Furbolg, so this means that we are still looking for Det’s folks (good news).   We go to the SE tunnel from before. There is a plethora of spiderwebs. We see a tunnel south, and a rougher one continuing SE. A bunch of creatures that work for Drow attack. We fight!   We win! Burning spider webs as we go, we continue SE and find a cavern with a spider victim cocoon in the south corner. We free the victim, who is a Goblin missing his tongue and is mildly poisoned. We let him go when he indicated “thanks” and wants to leave.   We find 4 Phantasmal spiders, which prove to be tough customers. But, we prevail! We find some money and healing potions.