The party gathers in the North look. Drift and Eramus are lurking in the corner. Ra'eb is looking for people to travel with and work on "the plan". Lilla and Ra'eb decide to travel together. Lilla wants to see Penguins and that seems to align with Ra'eb. Falorin and Thalia bond over a drink and discuss Tyr. The North Look is busy - People have come together for drinks and good company.
Suddenly, the door swings open and three short hooded figures enter. Two of them are carrying the third. They look tired and bloody. Ra'eb and Lilla get closer to see what has happened and immediately start helping. They talk about a monster attacking them while they dragged a cart of ´dwarven steel.
The three dwarves tell the adventures about their journey from the mines in Dwarven valley. One of them was killed by a big and furry monster. The cart has since gone missing as they had to escape with their lives. The monster seemed bear-like, with light blue eyes. It just roared and screamed. They ask for help in returning the cart and promise the adventurers a reward. Ra'eb thinks this is all part of the "grand plan".
The party leaves to the east, tracking the dwarven footprints in the snow. Lilla gets lost in the snow but finds a way back to everyone else. Ra'eb ties a rope around himself and keeps the party together that way.
The party ends up at the scene of the crime. There is blood everywhere. Some body parts lie in the snow. There are multiple bigger and smaller footprints around. The cart is not to be seen.
The party looks around and spots the cart in the distance. Six goblins are around the cart, trying to dig it out. Ra'eb, Lilla, and Drift come up with a plan to fool the goblins. Lilla enchants a stone to make it smell like gold/money. Drift and Ra'eb take lead and move on to meet the goblins. The goblins are not easily fooled but agree to take the party members to their boss. Ra'eb manages to convince the goblin boss that we have found the stone from a nearby dwarven ruin. The boss agrees to trade the "money seed" for the cart. The goblins leave.
After digging out the cart the party starts hauling it back into the city. The cart is heavy, containing about 300 ingots of dwarven metal. Lilla pockets one of the ingots. Once back in the tavern the party is rewarded with 60 gold.
Another figure comes to speak with the party as they seem capable enough to solve his problem. His name is Hlin. He says that murders are happening in some of the cities (particularly in the ones that sacrifice people). It seems to happen when Torga (a dwarven traveling merchant) is in town. Torga is currently dog-sledding to Targos. He usually stays for 1-2 days and moves on to another town. He usually travels with a bodyguard and a couple of helpers. The bodyguard is weird, dresses light, and does not seem to mind the cold at all!
The party is told that the human sacrifices are performed in three towns: Targos, East-Haven, and Bryn Shander. The sacrifice is based on a lottery, everyone has a fair chance to be sacrificed. Hlin thinks that the people being killed are probably avoiding the lottery somehow. The last murder was in East-Haven. The guy murdered - Branak (?) - was a local glassblower.
Lilla wants to know why we should involve ourselves in such morbid troubles. Hlin says that we would do the people a favor and he would also be able to scrape together a small reward. The party decides to have a good night's rest and start looking into this problem in the morning.
In the morning the party decides to take some dog sleds to Targos. Targos is a smaller town with water access which has now frozen, hindering the fishing business. Torga has already left so the party decides to follow him to Termalane.
Once in Termalane, the party decides to look around. A boy is standing on top of a box announcing fresh news. The party hears about the gem mine closing due to being overrun by some monsters. After speaking to Speaker Matthews /Basthews(?) in front of The Blue Clam tavern the party decides to help the town out by clearing the mine. They just want to know if the mine is safe to resume work at. The party eats, sleeps, and wakes early to go check out the mine. During the night, Lilla builds herself a fancy jug.
We are directed to a closeby mine. There is a sign up saying "Kobolds only". Drift thinks it is too beautiful to be written by normal kobolds. We move into the mine.
The mine consists of series of low dwarven caves. It is full of footprints and stone dust. Ra'eb and Drift sneak ahead. After searching through a couple of chambers we find an endless-looking pit. Drift and Ra'eb move onto the platform that goes over the pit. Suddenly the floor starts moving as some sneaky kobolds are trying to destroy the platform from underneath Drift & Ra'eb.
The party manages to defeat the six kobolds. We find a lift, taking us even deeper into the mines. Drift decides to sneak ahead and finds a couple of floating brains. He freaks out and tries to escape, loudly. The party manages to defeat the two monsters. Falorin (poisoned, paralyzed, and crippled) narrowly escapes being dragged into the pit. We decide to take a short rest.
We move one into another chamber to find a couple of kobolds arguing over food. Lilla manages to buy their interest with 7 liters of mayonnaise. Grek and Smol tell us that their boss is the one who put up the sign and they live here now. They were driven out of their old home by yetis. We ask to be taken to the boss and they lead the way. More kobolds join us on our way to the boss.
The boss seems to be too well articulated. He has fake wings and his eyes are different compared to other kobolds. After a very (VERY) successful intimidation check from Eramus, a ghost flies out of the kobold boss. Other kobolds start screaming and escape.
The ghost possesses Falorin. The party has a very hard time hitting him but finally, Lilla manages to hit Falorin hard enough that the ghost escapes his body. Ra'eb (in the form of a giant spider) and Drift manage to finish the ghost off.
After the fight, we look around. Ra'eb (as a spider) walks over the pit and finds a small room. There is a skull of a mind flayer inside, holding a gem. Ra'eb touches the gem and it shatters.
As a final encounter, the party clears out a room of giant rats. Satisfied with clearing the mine, half of the party goes back to the tavern to rest. Lilla and Thalia stay behind to mine some gems. Once together in the tavern, we decide to give the news to Speaker M/B (?) and go to bed.
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