Session 4: Vorn

Goblin Battle: It was bad enough we had to fight over a score of goblins, but the nasty buggers had led several skeletons into the ruined camp as well.
 
I let them with fighting prowess and spells deal with the brunt of the Gobbies. Me and the tabaxi took care of the undead as they approached. I am sure Undril could have turned them away but personally, I like the satisfying sound of their animated bones splintering beneath my twin blades. Just call me Lucas Two Swords.
 
After the scape, we pinned down the leader an made him confess he stole our river craft and was the architect of the demise of Camp Righteous. They had led a horde of undead into the camp and they were overwhelmed. I wanted to drag him along until we found the missing canoes, but Kasimir wasn't having it. He had the goblin pray to his filthy deity before he bowed him over and took off his head. I watched the head roll across the ground a foot or two till it stopped with lifeless eyes staring at me and a mocking toothy grin. Before meeting his end, he had warned us of a goblin settlement called Yellyark led by a female named Grabstab.
 
We crossed the Soshenstar to the other side and made our way deeper into the jungle. Halveer stopped us when he spotted a large dino. He called is a Ankylosaurus. I did not want to test the twins against that hide. Even with the aid of some blood magic, I doubted I would cut deep enough to kill it before it pummeled us to death with it's tail. It didn't rain that night, but between Kasimir and the jug we had enough water to make due. The next day we came upon more goblin tracks, easily identifiable. And we were wary at camp that night. The next day we find a small clearing and there stands our guardian. He appeared to be surrounded by offerings. Apparently the locals venerated him as a god. Frog people, fungi creatures, and more goblins paid frequent visits. But we needed the magic amulet that would command the walking construct.
 
We could either wait to see who showed up or we could track down one of the tribes. We decided goblins, if anyone, would have the shiny medallion. We easily followed their trial back to their settlement, Yellyark. We avoided multiple trip wires and spotted a look-out hiding in the trees. After Halveer and the Echo Knight dispatched him quietly, we approached their village.
 
Kasimir was confident, if the amulet was in the leader's hut, he would detect it. Nihle, Halveer, and the paladin crept up behind the hut and indeed Kasimir confirmed something of a magical nature was inside. However, Halveer and Nihle were spotted by the guards and the alarm was raised. Goblins along with their queen, Grabstab, came pouring out of the huts. She had the amulet around her neck. We rushed in to help as the queen fired a flaming arrow into a mound of fireants. Now the ant mask of the sentry made more sense. They used the ants as a defense. The red ants swarmed out of the mound. Undril used her spirit guardians to hold them off. The paladin, ranger, and echo knight fought the queen and her guards as Taban, the guides, and myself took on another hut of goblins.
 
Kasimir warned us all that one of the huts was moving towards a thick vine at the edge of the camp. We had noticed the floor of the village was woven materials lined with poles made from trees. But we had no idea what they meant. Whatever was going to happen when they cut that vine, we did not want to be on that mat. Kasimir finished off the guards and Nihle grabbed the amulet from the queen and we all retreated just as the goblins cut the vine. With a tremendous "WHOOSH!" the poles on the ground sprung up and the mat wrapped around the village and lifted the huts and the goblins in the air as a giant tree that has been bent over launched the wrapped village deeper into the jungle.
 
"Clever little buggers" I commented as we watched them sail over the tree tops.
"Imbeciles!" Nihle said.
"Likely an escape mechanism for when a dinosaur approaches." Halveer surmised.
At any rate, we had the control amulet and returned to the clearing to make camp. After a rest, I had held the magical disc and discerned it controlled Vorn well enough, but had some properties more suited to a traditional spell caster. In fact once Kasimir attuned to the amulet, he could cast a spell into Vorn and have him cast it on command.
 
Our guides explain it's only a two day walk to Camp Vengeance, so we head that direction. But that night we are attacked by natives or some kind of cult. They have inverted blue triangles, or a ziggurat if you will, on their foreheads. Their spears are no match for our armor and blades. The do not fare well against us. A day later we arrive at Camp Vengeance, a stronghold for the Order of the Gauntlet, led by commander Breakbone.
 
We find a pile of rotting corpses outside the walls. Kasimir quietly turns them into a more natural compost such that they will not rise as the undead. Inside, we find the fort in disarray as many are ill with Mad Monkey disease and they are rather unorganized for a military outpost. The commander welcomes Undril Silvertusk and the rest of us. Undril delivers her messages from Baldur's Gate and she and Kasimir begin to cure the sick. I count about 20 to 30 soldiers an a couple of dozen camp workers. Later that night at dinner in the commanders hut, he tells us what he knows about the surrounding area. The frog like folk have a settlement called Dungrunglung and the lobster people as well are in the area. They hate intruders.
 
Commander Breakbone, asks Undril to return to Baldur's Gate and send reinforcements and healers back to the camp to fight the undead threat. I was a bit disappointed that she would be leaving us. I had hoped he would commission her to join us in our quest to find and destroy the soulmonger, believed to be the source of the death curse. Bringing reinforcements back just seems to be putting a bandage on the problem rather than solving it. Just my opinion.
 
Four days later, we make our way back down the river with Vorn in tow. We say our farewells to Undril. I hope to see her again before our quest has ended.
 
A ghostly looking dwarf approaches us in the street having heard we escorted Undril into the jungle and back. He tells us he is Musharhib, and his people worked the forge of Hrakhamar in the Kobold Mountains. There is an active volcano there and several firenewts appeared and ran them out of the forge. He asks us to help him to reclaim Hrakhamar, his clan's ancestral forge. The firenewts that have since taken over must be driven out or destroyed. Since it will allow us to explore more of the area, we have agreed to escort him there and help him defeat the newts.
 
We visit Wakanga again and stay at his villa. We present Vorn and the Amulet to him and he agrees to trade us for a magical staff that casts several healing spells. He also tells us of a friend's vision of a ancient city called Orolunga. It is a ruined city of ancient Chult hidden in the jungle. All that remains is a single ziggurat. Wankanga's friend had a vision of a giant serpent with a human head. We should pass by this on the way to the Kobold mountains.