Session VIII: Assault on Cragmaw Castle Report
General Summary
Treachery! Each of you will regret living through this betrayal after what I'm going to do to you in turn for this ...
After spending the night at Reidoth's shack within Thundertree, the group sets out for Cragmaw Castle with the plan of signaling
Xorsannaxithrax by setting a bonfire somewhere relatively out of sight of any defenders and using him to clear out its insides before turning on him themselves. Norril and Westris were hesitant to let the green dragon take up permanent residence close to
Phandalin, assuming that residents of
Phandalin would be less than ecstatic at the prospect of a vicious green dragon living in such close proximity to their town. Likewise, Ahmlodi didn't think such a course of action would be helpful to their or
House Tasir's image in the realms. Meanwhile,
Mischief Yabis had her minds on the green dragon's riches, which he'd have to stash somewhere nearby if he was planning on moving on.
Lumber in tow for the construction of said fire, they snuck slowly around the circumference of the castle's outer wall to the entrance scouted by Norril earlier. Once they found a section of the castle outer wall beyond the vision arcs of the majority of the castle's arrow slits, they set up the bonfire and retreated a short distance some sixty meters away at the edge of the forest that surrounded the structure.
Ahmlodi Raziz Al-Tasir lit the fire with a perfectly-placed
Firebolt to its bottom layer, making it swiftly go up and start billowing smoke into the sky.
Goblins and hobgoblins from inside soon began to investigate, forcing the adventurers to form a defensive perimeter around the signal fire to protect it as they sought to extinguish it and repel the attackers. As they waited for the dragon to arrive and find them, more and more began pouring out, many from a destroyed wall along one side and more from the north entrance that worked their way around. Among them was King Grul, leader of the Cragmaw Tribe, who entered into a duel with
Norril Kevros at the front between the two forces. Just when they were in danger of being surrounded and overrun, Xorsannaxithrax arrived and crashed down into the horde of goblins, alternately tearing them apart with claws or picking them up and crunching them in between his massive teeth. He forced his way inside, leaving the party behind him and slaughtering more goblins as they pelted him futilely with projectiles until he encountered a grick in the castle's chapel and got engaged in a prolonged combat with the worm creature.
While the remainder of the party continued following Xorsannaxithrax deeper into the castle internals,
Norril took a side passage into what had once been King Grul's personal chambers, where he found the unconscious form of
Gundren Rockseeker. He continued through another exit from the room and dispatched two more Cragmaw goblin guards.
Mischief Yabis snuck ahead and found another door she could hear a screeching avian noise from. Cornered by goblins, she swung the door open, releasing an owlbear from its confinement in the tower beyond. Sensing an opportunity as it crushed one of the two goblins on its way out, her and
Westris Urogar worked together to corral the creature in toward the chamber containing the dragon.
This, too, arrove just in time. With Xorsannaxithrax pinned between the grick and the startled owlbear, the party turned on him, starting with Mischief and Westris. Ahmlodi followed closely behind, firing off salvo after salvo of cantrips and spellfire from their eldritch cannon. At first they enjoyed the advantage of his partial distraction in this endeavor, but then the dragon finally managed to get hold of the grick in his massive paws, stretch it out lengthwise and sever its head from the rest of its body. The owlbear finally expired shortly thereafter, a particularly devestating series of claw swipes
Mischief opened a door on her side of the room and retreated backward through it a few steps to put some space between her and the dragon (who aleady demonstrated the substantial reach of his bite attacks), but in doing so sprung a tripware trap laid across the floor that dropped a load of rocks down upon her from a chamber in the ceiling overhead. This very nearly knocked her unconscious; Ahmlodi reacted by utilizing their metamagic studies to quicken a casting of
Cure Wounds through their homunculus servant to heal the wounded Tiefling, and paired this with a conventionally-cast
Protection from Good and Evil on Westris, granting the only remaining friendly melee combatant some measure of defense against the dragon's physical might.
The dragonborn saw a split-second opening and took it, swiping his greatsword up in a great arc that scraped across Xorsannaxitrhax's chest, cleaving through his scales and spilling vile green blood as the young dragon roared. In this moment, Norril loosed an arrow from several chambers away that near-flawlessly hit home, sinking deep into Xorsannaxitrhax's eye and draining him of all remaining life. Westris finished the job with another strike, separating the dragon's head from his neck.
The deed was done; Xorsannaxitrhax dead, and Rockseeker recovered. Exhausted from their battle and heavily injured, the group set up camp, tended to the still-unconscious dwarf, and resolved to more completely search through the area after they had a chance to recover.
Rewards Granted
- Experience to 5104 XP
- Cragmaw Castle's loot and contents (unsearched)
- Xorsannaxithrax's hoard (undiscovered, but presumably nearby since he was planning on moving in)
Missions/Quests Completed
- Find Gundren Rockseeker
- Kill Xorsannaxithrax
- Capture the remains of Cragmaw Castle
Character(s) interacted with
- Xorsannaxithrax: Slain by an arrow to the eye by Norril Kevros
- Gundren Rockseeker: Rescued from King Grul's chambers where he was being kept.
- Unknown Humanoid: Initially spotted by Norril Kevros in the tower housing King Grul's quarters while scouting prior to the engagement; never encountered in the subsequent fighting.
