Session 10 Report

General Summary

After their meeting with the caravan of the Followers of the Stone Godess, the wise woman from the Caravan, Agerta, came up to them to ask them one last favour; more of their people have been taken in the night, and while she is in no position to give them any reward right now, she asked the party whether they could do anything to slow down the Gnoll advance and perhaps rescue the newly captured tribesmen. She promised to reward the party at a later date, when they were settled and in a better position. During their farewells, she tells the party to beware those that bear the crest of the Bear, which she calls the Claws of Uthengar. They are a rival tribe, one far more aggressive than the Followers. They were also spotted this far down south.
The party was redirected to the Gnoll Lair to the north and set off towards it. 
Upon arrival at the limestone cave where the Gnolls were hiding, they spotted a cart filled with coal. In a moment of tactical genius, Nafikta lit an arrow on fire, TT shot it at the cart and Rho pushed the cart inside the cave. A loud explosion was heard, followed by screaming of both Gnoll and man. A small group of Gnolls along with a horribly bloated Hyena ran outside of the cave, who were then made short work of by the party.  When the hyena died, the party spotted two fully grown, though unborn Gnolls inside of the Hyena. 
They rushed inside the cavern and saw it was filled with near a hundred corpses of people. As well as three, newer burned corpses of people who were tied down. They wanted to do some rituals and look around the place before continuing further down, but before they could finish, they were beset upon by more Gnolls coming from the entrance of the cave. After these were obliterated, the party, in their bloodlust, ran down into the cavern and arrived at the final chamber. One that had a large ritualistic circle painted in blood on the stone floor. In the middle was a singular Gnoll, with a Glaive in hand, chanting in Abyssal. When the party arrived, he raised two Gnoll skeletons, which attacked the party immediately. 
After killing the Gnolls and Gnoll skeletons, the party finally had a moment to take a look around. They established that the ritual circle was a demonic ritual devoted to a certain Horned King. During this time, in a moment of tactical genius, Rho and Nafikta finished the Abyssal ritual in the cave, spawning more of the Gnoll skeletons. These were of course, no match for the weathered Gnoll slayers, especially after Nafikta placed an illusion on Rho, where he saw a 'Horned King' offering him ale.
At the far end of the cave, the party found some Saltpeter, which is what caused the explosion before, and a vein of Corundum, as well as some money from the corpses in the pile.
After the cave was cleared out, the party set off to continue their path to Hindarskjall. During their camping, they heard some ominous noises of wildlife and saw a cart passing them by on the road in the distance, but not much else.

Rewards Granted

Another temporary buff from eating Gnoll Flesh
An intact vein of Corundum
3 doses of Saltpeter
About 50 gold Pieces looted from corpses.
XP Earned per Head: Previous total 2700 XP
Discovering the limestone cave 50XP
Combat with first group of Gnolls: 200 XP 
"Combat" with captive Tribesmen: 5 XP
Fending off Gnoll ambushers: 150 XP
Stopping Gnoll Ritual and killing Gnolls: 300 XP Finishing the Ritual: 40 XP
Clearing out Gnoll Lair: 100 XP
Day of Travel: 20 XP
865 XP New total: 3565 XP 
XP to level 5: 2935

Missions/Quests Completed

Desperate Refugees

Character(s) interacted with

Agerta

Report Date

02 Mar 2020