Session 27 Report

General Summary

The party ultimately decided on staying the night in the orc cave. It was getting late outside and they did not want to risk getting caught out in the darkness of night. After defeating all the orcs, it did not seem likely that their ploy of framing the bugbears would work. Instead, they set out to hide all the orc bodies inside the secret treasure room that connected the two orc caves. They spent a few hours cleaning up the sites of battle, removing traces of blood and ichor. Then, at Auren Sylynn’s suggestion, they piled up the majority of the corpses against the western secret door to prevent it from opening. For the rest of the night, they took watches and rested within the eastern cave. Around midmorning on the 28th of April, 498 AV, Haymin’s Heroes snuck out of the ravine and headed back towards Rowadin. On April 29, 498 AV, they ran into a pair of orcs heading southwest, possibly to the ravine. Haymin’s Heroes dealt with them quickly and continued on their way. Just before sundown, they arrived at Rowadin. They checked in with Belpher Burrows at Heroes for Hire and unloaded what loot they could carry back with them. Sinjin Fairchild’s body was held in the Bag of Holding so their carrying capacity had been significantly diminished. After a brief explanation as to what had transpired at the ravine, they left Belpher while he began preparing them dinner. The party went straight to Lady Dyora Albyn’s residence and asked her for the money to have Sinjin raised. After an awkward, but brief conversation, she agreed to loan them 5,000 crowns and gave them a note to present to the clergy at the Magic Temple. The loan came with the stipulation that with interest, their debt to her would increase by 6,000 crowns. She drew up a quick contract to that effect and had the party sign it, informing them she would take it to the Guild of Legal Services. At the Magic Temple, the temple of Magus, God of Magic, they were directed to an old wizened man named Amanaxis, whom they recognized from Haymin Stone’s funeral. Amanaxis took them into a side room with a long table in the center and wash basins and cloths on smaller tables around it. He instructed them to place the deceased on the table and they did so. Titta Morco handed him the letter from Lady Dyora and the payment and he began prepping the spell by placing diamonds around Sinjin’s body, mostly around his wounds. Amanaxis then chanted the spell and the restorative powers of the Raise Dead took effect. After a minute of a pleasant blue glow slowly bringing life and color back to the corpse, Sinjin was alive and awake, though he still looked worse for wear. Amanaxis then healed him with another spell, reinvigorating Sinjin and completely removing any traces of his fatal wounds. Haymin’s Heroes returned to Heroes for Hire and had dinner. Belpher was glad to see Sinjin alive and listened to them speak of their adventure in the orc caves and their plans for returning. After dinner, the party settled to their individual affairs before going to bed. They planned on leaving first thing in the morning. On April 30, 498 AV, they left Rowadin and traveled towards the ravine once more. They were somewhat rested and felt even more battle hardened. The warriors of the party felt stronger and the spellcasters had learned more spells to increase their repertoire. Travel was uneventful, and the closer they got to the ravine, the quieter the forest became. The night before returning to the caves, they discussed which one to tackle next. They settled on the owlbear cave. Midmorning on May 2, 498 AV, they reentered the ravine, brandishing the symbols of the Eye. Thankfully, they still kept the undead at bay. Nothing seemed amiss in the valley. In fact, it all appeared much as they had left it about five days prior. The owlbear cave was full of bones, and various debris. The stench inside was that of death and decay. The ruined remains of gear mixed with bones littered the floor. Moving quietly through the cave was near impossible. They explored it until they came to a larger cavern where they found the owlbear stirring from its nest to investigate what had awoken it. It was a fearsome creature, but thankfully smaller and less impressive than Bloodbeak, the only owlbear they had thus far encountered. Ladigo Farthon cast an Entangle and then Selia Roselyn Maxwell blinded the owlbear with a casting of Glitterdust. With the creature blinded, Ladigo dismissed the Entangle and the party swarmed the beast. It flailed as they wounded it from all sides. The owlbear was defeated quickly, and only Pyzar Zim was bruised when a wild claw attack struck his armor. Mogi Delvin cast Detect Magic when the battle was over and beneath the creature’s nest they found a scroll and a ring. Mogi continued to examine the rest of the cave system while Selia used the Artificer’s Monocle on the ring and scroll. In a couple of minutes, she had the items identified, a Ring of the Four Winds and a scroll of Command Undead. Right about the time she finished this, Mogi, accompanied by Pyzar and Sinjin, reached an area with a pool of water which was the source for the stream cutting through the ravine. As Mogi scanned the room for magic items, three gray oozes came out of the water and attacked. The first ooze grabbed on to him with acidic tendrils that ate through his chain shirt. Pyzar called out for help to alert the others then ran in to help Mogi. The rest of the party hurried over to them from the other side of the cave system. Thankfully, they defeated the oozes relatively quickly, and before any other items were eaten through by the acid. After they regrouped, the party quickly discussed their next action. Instead of continuing to the gnoll cave as they originally intended, they set their sights on the minotaur cave. With Mogi’s armor ruined, they reasoned that the minotaur cave was a more likely place to receive higher quality treasure. And, it should be considerably smaller, assuming there is only one minotaur within, and not an entire tribe. With that they hurried up the ravine to the entrance. As they did they saw the twisted and bloated trees that lined a path to the entrance to the Temple of the Eye. They did their best to ignore this and proceeded directly inside the minotaur cave to avoid being seen out in the open.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists