Session 2: Into the Caves Report

General Summary

Exhausted from the battle with the ogres the party decides to camp atop the rocky hill. At the end of the final night’s watch, Keokan observes another ogre in the distance, dragging a freshly killed bear into a secluded cave. Deciding to leave this alone, he wakes the rest of the group to resume their trek through the Blushing Hills.   Using Lady Akamay’s map/fan, they travel until reaching a valley of tall grass, marked by a copse of trees. The lean, rangy trunks and the willowy green branches are clearly depicted on the fan, meaning the cliff home of the Red Shores Clan should be almost due north through the valley.   As they move through the tall grass a murder of crows takes flight and reveals the corpses of a number of giant rats. Recognizing the telltale teeth marks on the dead rats, and seeing wolf tracks leading away from the corpses, Keokan begins to run through the valley tracking the paw prints. The trail ends at the base of a tree, where a large pit trap has been dug but no sign of the wolf can be seen.   As the group gathers around the pit, Aatavi reveals that he saw a great white wolf with green eyes during his watch a few nights before. Obviously concerned, Keokan reveals that the wolf is known well to him, a companion of sorts, and is named “Thor."   With Thor nowhere in sight, Keokan resigns himself to the task at hand. The group pushes on through the grassy valley, back into the rocky red badlands. A day and a half later they crest a hill and finally look upon the Tabaxi clan’s old home.   Three dwellings, carved from the signature red orange rock of the Hills are tucked under, within, and just outside the lip of a large cavernous opening. Our group approaches the third dwelling, a freestanding tower, and using Aaura’s owl “Flit”, they identify 6 goblins in the room below the rooftop.   Shadow is the first to begin the climb, moving gracefully up a ladder and onto a platform that juts midway up the tower. The plan is to sneak attack the towered goblins and her aim is the rooftop. Aided by her feline claws, she scales the rest of the tower without detection - and with considerable acrobatic panache. Soon all but the goliath Keokan and Shadow’s yukisaru companion Omori remain below. Realizing the ladder may not hold the goliath’s weight, Aatavi ties a rope around his and Keokan’s waist in preparation for the worst. A good thing too, for when the ladder snaps, Aatavi is able to haul the dangling goliath onto the ledge.   The commotion outside wakes a goblin sentry in the entryway, who barks a warning to his kinsmen on the floor above who scramble to the ready, tipping over tables and benches, waiting for any foe to emerge from the ladder below.   Keokan moves quickly to engage the barking goblin, but the tiny creature proves too nimble for the goliath. After wounding Keokan with a crossbow bolt it rushes to the ladder and begins to flee to the room above. From the sunlit doorway, Aatavi hurls his Mysati harpoon, impaling the goblin and sending him crashing back to the floor, lifeless.   Having joined Shadow on the tower’s top, Aaura swings through a hole in roof and into the room below, surprising the goblins. Placing herself squarely in the middle of the small room, she unleashes a thunderous blast of arcane energy.   As the rest of the group hurries to join her they discover the celestial standing at ground zero, the contents of the room obliterated and all six goblins slain.   Aatavi, no stranger to the sound of thunder, looks at Aaura in wonder. “Saademarraa has blessed you.” Aaura looks almost as surprised as everyone else. . .   With the immediate danger passed, Shadow lowers a rope outside so that Omori can rejoin his companion and our group searches the tower. On the bottom floor they discover a set of stone stairs descending into pitch black darkness.   For hundreds of feet they descend until the stairs flatten out into a tunnel. With the keen eyed Faelyn and Shadow scouting ahead our group spies a pair of tabaxi in a distant cavern; chained to the wall and toiling with pickaxes under goblin guard.   With a desire to free Shadow’s imprisoned cousins, it is not long before battle breaks out once more. The sounds of combat echo down the tunnels, attracting not just more goblins but a brutish goblin worg. A canine monstrosity, fearsomely built and crudely powerful, the worg’s powerful shoulders and massive jaws are designed to tear flesh and crack bones.   Keokan is once again at the fore of the battle and the worg lunges for the goliath, clamping down hard on Keokan’s arm. As the Godspeaker tries to fend off the worg, a slice from a goblin scimitar brings his seven and a half foot frame crashing to the cavern floor, unconscious.   As the fight rages on the cave becomes awash in a multitude of arcane colors; Aatavi’s harpoon streaks down the tunnel, a tracer of blue celestial light courtesy of Aaura; a flickering red-orange ribbon of light from Shadow infuses the downed Keokan with divine energy; and the scintillating rainbow of Faelyn’s chaos bolt displays myriad bursts of color before exploding in flame and setting the dying worg ablaze in red.   Another battle won, the heroes exchange looks to take stock of each other. Keokan, aided by a healing word from Shadow, slowly gets back to his feet, nursing the ragged teeth marks left by the worg.   Down at the end of the cavern, a pair of tabaxi voices cry out.   “Free us! Quickly! Break our chains!” “Help us! You must help us!”