Our adventures through Into the Borderlands continued with our heroes venturing back out to the Caves of Chaos. This week’s party consisted of:
- Warren Maunsell – Human cleric. He has come to the Borderlands in search of religious artifacts of his sect.
- Cinnamon – Tiefling bard. A new arrival to the keep who is looking for adventure and companions to inspire to greatness.
- Semalion – Aasimar paladin. Claims to have come from the heavens and proselytizes on behalf of Sune.
- Rax – Human monk. Adventuring and earning coin to donate to the less fortunate.
- Callum Bothard – Half-elf sorcerer. A young cocksure adventurer looking to earn fame and fortune.
- Sire Loo of Sanssol – Goblin bard. An emissary from his tribe looking to secure the Caves of Chaos for his kind and establish a peaceful relationship with the keep.
Warren, Cinnamon, and Semalion had just returned to the keep with Sh’aul who needed aid from the bite he received from the wererat beneath the watchtower of Quasqueton. They met with Curate Xyneg who looked concerned with Sh’aul’s state but felt that it was within his capabilities to rehabilitate him. Warren made a strange request, asking Xyneg for a bit of Sh’aul’s blood. Xyneg recoiled at this request. A young lad from the city guard came to ask the heroes to meet with the Castellan’s advisor, an elf named Marevak.
The heroes agreed, and they were brought into the interior offices of the keep. There they met with Rax, Callum and a new member to the group – a goblin named Sire Loo. He had come to the Keep to negotiate a peace between the goblin tribes and the Castellan’s forces in return for the Keep’s assistance clearing out the Caves of Chaos. Advisor Marevak wanted to hire the adventurers to assist Sire Loo with this matter and further tasked them with the slaying of an ogre that had made its lair there and had been harassing trade caravans. Callum managed to negotiate a higher wage by informing him that they already had a job and needed more money to convince them to make this a priority.
The group set out on the road and on day two came across two injured soldiers from the keep who were the only survivors of an expedition to the Caves of Chaos. They told the party their tale of defeat in a battle that took place between their expedition and some orcs. They provided a few words of advice regarding the possibility of getting the monstrous denizens of the keep to fight each other and suggested that they be careful to ensure that they do not get pinched within the winding tunnels of the caves.
Once at the Caves of Chaos, Warren decided to talk with the kobolds that he and Sir Stagos had befriended during their first foray to the Caves to get information. The kobolds confirmed that they had received a message Warren send from the previous session to take care of a rival band of adventurers that the party had tricked into coming to the Caves of Chaos. As it turned out, the kobolds enlisted the help from up their chain of command and the hobgoblins that live in the Caves came and killed some of the adventuring party but kept the elf leader, Marin Webb, alive and took her prisoner. The kobolds also shared the location of the ogre and where the orcs live.
The party decided to first deal with the ogre. Peaking into its cave, they saw a sleeping cave bear that seemed to be a pet of sorts for the ogre. They took shots at it from its sleeping position and soon attracted the attention of the ogre. A devastating battle took place and ended with Semalion slicing open the belly of the ogre, leaving his guts lying on the floor of the cavern. The party found a sack full of coinage of various denominations and a pony keg full of a fine brandy. They decided to head back to the Keep to get the reward for the ogre and drank most of the brandy in doing so. On their return trip, they were accosted by the ogre’s mate in the middle of the night but were able to fend it off.
Back at the Keep, the crew returned to Marevak who rewarded them for slaying not one, but two ogres. As he was retrieving their payment, he cast a spell on Warren to detect his thoughts. He was able to dive deep, though he did little to acknowledge what he discovered by doing so. Now Warren is left wondering what the Castellan’s advisor knows, and what consequences may be coming as a result.
The party decided to purchase a wagon and some horses from the stablemaster. When they attempted to pay for the livestock they were accused of being counterfeiters. It turned out that some of the coins from the ogre’s lair had been lead coins that were disguised to look like gold. The constable was called, but fortunately Cinnamon was able to turn on the charm and convince him that it was all a misunderstanding. The party ditched the bunk coins and soon were back on their way toward the Caves of Chaos.
This time they decided to make a move against the orcs and vanquish their presence from the Caves. As they made their movements into the entrance, an alarm was sounded and the crew found themselves in battle with two waves of orc defenders. Just as the party seemed to be bringing the battle under their control, one of the orcs nailed a perfect swing right at Semalion’s head and lopped his head clean off with its battleaxe. The horrified party quickly finished the battle and Warren stepped forward to cast gentle repose on the corpse.
The party rushed back to the Keep and to Xyneg the curate. Exasperated with the amount of healing aid he has had to provide for the party in the past week, he agreed to help with this matter in return for a donation of 600 gp to the church. The party pitched in and funded the resurrection to bring the warrior of Sune back to life.
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