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The King called upon the party once more, claiming that his crew that is attempting to clean out the caves at the base of his castle have run into a problem
- He also explains that Teendargo has left, to return back home, and tell his people about the ancient artifacts that they had recovered
- The King, however, introduces Omen to the party; a Drow Elf Sorcerer. He warns that the people will not take kindly to him, because of the history that Drow Elves have.
- Omen has the Staff that Teendargo had recovered from the temple.
- The party travels to the base of King Saric’s castle and meet with the mining crew, a Dwarven miner by the name of Fren Gemcutter, who explains they’re having frequent run ins with goblins in the caves
- The party ventures into the caves, and quickly discovers signs of goblins (with dung, and other items strewn about)
- The party finds a secret passage, but opts not to take it due to the powerful odors coming from the passage
- They venture down the other passage and encounter four goblins, which they quickly work through, however, the Ari is rendered unconscious by a Hobgoblin who has managed to sneak up behind them while the party was fighting the goblins
- Turns out to be three Hobgoblins, and after some fighting, the party manages to defeat them and help Ari regain consciousness
- One of the Hobgoblins has an unusual, two-handed sword with ancient runes (which Omen recognizes as the same runes that he and his people were enslaved to dig up by the Mind Rippers; same runes that are on his own staff)
- They make camp in the cavern hall, and on the third watch, Bodrag hears a sound down the hall and awakens Argo and Ari
- Ari is able to see with her infravision, four human sized figures stepping out of what seems to be a secret passage
- Bodrag and Argo make their way down the cave to see who or what it is, and find themselves under attack
- Engaging in combat, they see that it’s four orcs; after some time, with the rest of the party awakened, they kill two of the orcs, and had rendered the other two unconscious.
- They kill one of the unconscious ones, and question the remaining one, allowing Omen to use magic to communicate with the orc.
- They discover that they’re all wearing a tabard of the Broken Hand
- The orc agrees to take them to where “the treasure” is and leads them back down the original passage that they had found
- The passage is full of unusual plant life (large, glowing mushrooms, algae that glows, and birds with no eyes, etc.)
- In the room the orc kicks one of the mushrooms, that emits a cloud and attempts to run; the cloud manages to poison Bodrag and Ari.
- Argo chases the orc down and kills it, while Bodrag uses his potion he acquired to cure the poison from his system; and Ari cleanses her body through prayer to her deity to cleanse her body.
- The party continues onward and sees a waterfall, with a passage beyond it.
- Tenjii enters the water and is suddenly attacked and ensnared by a Water Weird, who guards the passage, and pulled under.
- After some considerable effort, the party manages to free Tenjii and temporarily defeat the Water Weird
- Into the cavern beyond the waterfall, they over look about 30 orcs, all chanting and worshiping the banner of the Broken Hand
- Realizing this is more than they can handle, they return back to the miners outside and explain what they have found. The miners ride back with the party to the king, to report what they have found.
- The unusual sword that the Hobgoblin had is identified as an ancient magical sword, which Bodrag keeps
- Omen is given a magical robe to help him in the world outside.
- Luna sends her songbird, River, out to scan around after they enter the city; River reports unusual people in the town, packaging something, seemingly hiding their efforts.
- Luna reports this to the king, who sends men to arrest them. It is discovered that some of his own men had been shipping things out to the Broken Hand, in exchange for their lives being spared “When the cleansing comes.”
- They also learn that there is a leader of the orcs in this area, by the name of Gra’mar. He is easily identifiable because he has only one eye, in the center of his head; a symbol that the other orcs take as a great sign, because their own deity has but one eye as well.
- This also explains how the Hobgoblin had come across the ancient sword that Bodrag now owns.