Chapter 13 - The Cursed Caverns

General Summary

As the party passed the Drow Narrows, they came across a giant web bridge over a ginormous cavern. At first, Gilliam tried to cross the web bridge with his flight. But as he got to the other side, he encountered giant spiders and a Drider, who accused them of trespassing. Slytoff sent a fireball to blast the spiders and Drider, while Gilliam flew away. The blast started to burn the bridge. Unfortunately, one of the spiders shot Gilliam mid-flight, webbing Gilliam up and causing him to plummet down the chasm. Wulfric ran across the bridge and killed the Drider and spiders. Then, he turned around to jump after Gilliam and rescue him.
Gilliam, webbed up into a larger web, found himself in the middle of a nest of chitine, led by a choldrith priest. They planned to feast on him. Wulfric would land upon a rock, slamming hard into it, but would start to slaughter the chitine in a rage. Teq and Riley followed, falling into the web and fighting the chitines. Teq's mace of light allowed him protection against the spiders. Riley tried to use a Hypnotic Pattern spell on the chitines, but they were proven to be immune, instead affecting his own friends. Through grit, the party defeated the cursed chitines and looted them.
However, their noise attracted a Fomorian, who tried to approach them. Teq used his thaumaturgy to scare off the Fomorian. Then, the party rested the night in the chasm. Slytoff managed to take two scrolls and learned the Feather Fall and Stinking Cloud spells. After their rests, the Fomorian managed to sneak up on them and tried to squash them to death. Teq took a beating, and Wulfric took a good brunt of the blows. Riley used Hunger of Hadar to blind and damage the Fomorian, and ultimately Wulfric dealt the killing blow to the monster with his greatsword.
The party then investigated the Fomorian's lair, finding a huge mound of treasure, as well as good meats and giant furniture. Gilliam would unlock a huge chest, finding a Bag of Holding within. Investigating the Bag of Holding, he'd uncover a 5-foot steak, a huge diamond, and a strange necklace with beads having zodiac symbols. They tried to mess around with the furniture, the bath tub, and a huge sword, but they proved too weak to handle any of it. They thus took a break from their journey, sleeping in the cozy giant's lair.

Rewards Granted

When raiding the Fomorian's lair, the Southern Stars came across a massive horde of gold to plunder for themselves, containing:

• 1100 cp, 10000 sp, 1500 gp, 100 pp, Bloodstone (50 gp), 3 x Chalcedony (50 gp), 4 x Chrysoprase (50 gp), Onyx (50 gp), Quartz (50 gp), Star rose quartz (50 gp), Large Diamond, Bag of Holding, Potion of Hill Giant Strength.

• A Bag of Holding

• Beads of the Zodiac

Character(s) interacted with

When exploring the Cursed Caverns of the Drow Narrows, the party interacted with abominations only found in the Underdark.

• Runtra: Runtra was a Drider, having completed the ritual to appease Lolth, and now served as the guardian of the Cursed Caverns. She viewed the party as trespassers and tried to kill them.

• Choldrith Priest: This priest, once a Drow, has lost all sense of elvenkind and has become a monster who only knows how to consume. Him and the chitines tried to eat Gilliam.

• Chitines: The chitines, according to drow myth, were once drow who were transformed to monsters for displaying weakness. They turned into animals to be closer to nature than even the drow. For this reason, the drow viewed them as cursed and vile.

• Kuu: The forbidden Fomorian, driven into the Underdark. He ate many of the chitine, and liked smashing things for food. Including adventurers.

Date (in world)

May 16th-18th, 5689.

Report Date

18 Mar 2020

Drider by BenWootten

The Heroes of Southern Star faced the drider Runtra, guardian of the Cursed Caverns.

Player Characters

Riley Woodhame: Riley Woodhame, human fighter and warlock, is a member of the Hearthstars (an organization based on gathering information under Amagus' teachings). His search for power and knowledge led him to find the Lady of the Lake, giving him an inkling of control over his own fate.

"The Amazing" Slytoff Han: Slytoff Han is a magician! A gnome wizard, he seeks to find funding to create a magic show and has traveled around County Ellis to show off his skills for potential audiences.

Wulfric Cisboren: Wulfric is a human fighter, who hails from Obesfeld, and a former housecarl. He appears to be a man of the north, covered in furs. Recently he has been talking more in a Norden accent, and has been behaving more like the Dwarves of North in his fighting style.

Gilliam Wulfstan Maydestone: Gilliam is an aakocra swashbuckler, as well as an urchin that grew up in the city of Ebenwald. With his skills with the blade, he seeks higher up contracts to fill his pockets.

Tequila "Teq" Cambow: Teq is a cleric of Amagus, devoting his life and services to the god. He was introduced to the party by the local bishop of Silver Town, searching for field experience and for building his faith.