Session 02 Summary

General Summary

After the events at the Yawning Portal and sharing a drink with Volo, he departed the inn and Durnan approached, offering the party a room upstairs. Lunchmoney declined and headed home for the night, but not before agreeing to meet back at the Yawning Portal the next morning to begin their quest.
The party reconvened at the Inn the next morning. Durnan offered them breakfast that was served to them by a somewhat hungover/tipsy Bonnie. Lunchmoney also ordered a stiff drink as a ‘hair of the dog’. None of the party members seemed inclined to tip Bonnie, but Horus chose to compensate her with a song. His witty and ribald performance was exceptional and very well received by the ill-feeling waitress, even making her flush.
Having eaten, the party made their way through the clean, spacious flagstone streets of the Castle Ward into the darker and more narrow streets of the Dock Ward. Hawthorne proved to be familiar with the Skewered Dragon and was leading the way when they turned a corner to see that a key navigational intersection had been cordoned off by the City Watch. A half-dozen corpses lay on the cobblestones and an officer asked them to move along. Lunchmoney managed to engage her in conversation, learned her name - Mitzy - and that there’d been a skirmish between the Xanathar Guild (or “Zants”) and their rivals, the Zhentarim (or “Zents” yet another incident in the city’s escalating violence.
Lunch was unsuccessful in convincing Mitzy to let them pass through the crime scene and thus their path to the Skewered Dragon was effectively blocked. Mitzy did suggest an alternative path involving an alleyway they could find if they retraced their steps.
The alleway proved to be dirty and long, and ultimately led to a huge pile of debris that blocked their path once again. Spying a partially open iron lid, the party decided to circumvent the obstruction by way of the sewers below.
The sewers proved, unsurprisingly, to be an even more disgusting environment and along their path they began to perceive a chittering noise ahead. They were eventually confronted by a hideous and filthy hunchback dwarf in rags, who demanded of them a toll to pass through his sewer. After the party attempted to intimidate him, he summoned two giant rat companions and battle ensued.
The party managed to slay the rats and seriously injure Gruush, forcing him to flee. Moving down the corridor, the party finally found another iron lid and were able to escape the sewers, although not without some difficulties. They found themselves in the same alley on the other side of the obstruction, and were able to navigate successfully to the Skewered Dragon after a short break to tidy themselves up. Across the street from the tavern, one shop stood out from the other buildings. It’s got a deep purple facade, and in its window hangs a stuffed beholder. Above the door hangs a sign whose elaborate letters spell out “Old Xoblob Shop.” And that’s where our story continues.

Report Date

23 Nov 2023