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• The party
  • Adrian Silverstrength (Human Paladin)
  • Morsus Firebeard (Hill Dwarf Cleric) – Absent
  • Sephrenia (High Elf Cleric) – Absent First Half
  • Ragnaroc (Aasimar Warlock)
  • Don Kannin (Half-Elf Ranger)
  • Avalyn Gravestone (Human Cleric) – Absent Second Half

• Adrian, Morsus, Sephrenia, Ragnaroc, and Kannin examined the dead brigand who took his own life during the battle against the kobolds, to search for clues and found nothing – to see if this could have been the caster that tried to put Don to sleep – but there’s no evidence that this human was any form of caster. There’s no spell components or anything of that nature that would lead them to believe this deceased brigand was any form of Mage.
• Sephrenia notices the horses that they tied to the trees are missing and opts to go find them while the others continue
• Shortly after, a young human female, bursts through the bushes and explains she’s the daughter of Barus Gravestone, the Mayor of Spire’s Edge (the very man the party is attempting to rescue)
  • She introduces herself as Avalyn Gravestone, and a follower of Tavara (Goddess of Weather; thunder and rain)
  • She explains that they had intended to torture her to force her father to tell the Half Ogre, Bahlraug Bloodlust, where a magical gauntlet (formerly worn by Bahlraug’s partner) has disappeared too; and how they’d tracked whoever took it to Spire’s Edge
• Kannin manages to track several (three) gnolls and a blue guard drake
  • The party opts to hide from them rather than attack, due to still being injured from the fight with the brigand
• The gnolls and drake begin moving north so the party decides to follow
• There is a moment where it seems the gnolls and drake catch the scent of the heroes; but Kannin spots a deer and shoots an arrow near it to frighten it, so that it appears to the gnolls that it’s the deer they caught scent of
• The gnolls and drake continue and meet with what appears to be a commanding officer (another gnoll) mounted on a vile looking beast called a Leucrotta
• The party is not able to understand the discussion but assume the mounted gnoll is telling the three gnolls and drake to return to the woods and find Avalyn
• Ragnaroc’s body tingles with magic
• The party waits for those gnolls and drake to leave before attacking the Captain Gnoll mounted on the Leucrotta
  • Kannin launches an arrow striking the gnoll captain
  • The Leucrotta then charges the party and focuses its attack on Adrian; since the beast is chaotic evil and senses the goodness in Adrian and seeks to destroy him. It manages to land a bite into Adrian’s shoulder, biting down deep enough to cause significant damage
  • Kannin launches another shot and critically hits the gnoll captain, nearly dismounting him from the sheer force of the blow
  • The party focuses on the captain who uses his spear to try and spear the party from his mounted position
  • He is eventually killed with the party then focusing on the Leucrotta to bring it down
  • It too, is eventually killed, but not after doing significant damage to Adrian’s shoulder
  • The party moves both bodies away from where they fell, in hopes of not alerting the other gnolls in the woods
  • Searching the captain they find a few pieces of gold and Avalyn finds a parchment with some kind of ancient runes on it. She’s able to determine that it’s Ancient Elven – a dialect pretty much long forgotten, whose origins remain fairly unknown (even to Elves), and only a handful of scholars even continue to try and delve into its origins
  • She determines it translates to: The Passage Is Here
• During the short rest, Avalyn hears a humming sound and alerts Kannin; together they go and see a beast known as a Spectator near the same spot that the Gnoll Captain had been
• They also see the same three gnolls and the drake speaking with the Spectator; they seem alarmed that the Captain is not present and raise the alarms; several of the gnolls howl and soon the howling carries throughout the woods and drums begin to beat, letting the party know the entire forest is infected with gnolls
• They observe the Spectator turning towards the hill and uttering the Elven Runic language The Passage Is Here and seeing a shimmering portal open inside of the mountain
• Kannin and Avalyn return to the party to report what they’ve seen
• They return to the door and speak the Elven Ruinic tongue of The Passage Is Here and open the shimmering door
• Morseus explains he will wait at the door and warn the party if anyone is coming up behind them and see if he can find Sephrenia and the horses
• The rest of the party goes inside and sees the hall splits into three ways; to the left they can hear a stream, straight ahead they hear a hum, and to the right there is a dark hallway (no torches)
• The party opts to go down the center path where they enter a room that is a circular marble floor room and in the middle is a pedestal with a shimmering sphere full of water
• They notice an inscription on the base: What runs but never walks; often murmurs, never talks; has a bed but never sleeps; has a mouth but never eats?
  • Kannin answered: River
  • The object in the sphere charges to fire
• They notice an inscription on the base: Give me food, I will grow; give me water, and I will die. What am I?
  • Kannin answered: Fire
  • The object in the sphere changes to clouds and storms
• They notice the inscription on the base: I crowd around you, but you can’t see me. I can be still and I can move quickly. I give you life and leave you when you die.
  • Kannin answered: Air
  • The object in the sphere changed to a mountain
• They notice the inscription on the base: I am the quiet heart of many; I am rough, I am soft. In snow, sun or water, I thrive; I lie down and stand tall, I am a thousand colors. What am I?
  • This time the party considered the options – and decided Stone was the better answer than rock (due to heart of stone) and a beam strikes the center of the room and a door opens
• The party proceeds down the hall and comes to an old bridge spanning over a large chasm, where 60′ below a stream’s sound can be heard from the darkness below
• Adrian decides to cross first and notices half way that the bridge is falling apart and nearly falls through the rotted wood. However, upon making it to the other side, he’s suddenly overcome by the griping fear of a blue dragon and drops his weapon and cowers behind his shield.
• Rushing to see what might be happening, Ragnaroc fails to notice the rotted wood and steps on it, and falls through – plunging 60′ down into the stream, taking damage; but thankfully the water was there to “break” his fall. Reduced down to 1 hit point he’s barely conscious enough to grab the shore before being swept down the stream
• Kannin goes next, leaping over the rotted broken wood and is also overcome with the fear of a blue dragon
• Avalyn goes next, stopping at the gap and using her healing spell to reach exactly the distance to heal Ragnaroc before continuing across the bridge; unlike the other two she’s not overcome with the fear of a blue dragon (“BlueDragon!”) – she does spot a creature hiding nearby, a Meenlock. She manages to help Kannin who then fires a shot at the Meenlock and hits it – the creature hisses and shadow steps away.
• In the meantime, Ragnaroc is climbing up the cliff-side using his pack weapon when he suddenly hears the fluttering of bats and finds himself being attacked by Stirges.
• The party proceeds further and comes across another old bridge; this time they notice that the tracks in the dirt disappear into the wall; muttering the words The Passage Is Here in ancient Elven Runic, a shimmering portal opens in the side and the party comes around and sees a band of bugbears in a small cave, acting as guards.
• The party opts to try and stealth by them; which Adrian is able to do, however, Ragnaroc’s robes get caught on the jagged stone (Critical Fail) and make a ripping sound, alerting the bugbears to their presence.
• As the bugbears begin to rush out, Avalyn is able to call on her goddess to Channel Divinity and invoke a Thunderwave – doing maximum damage and killing all five bugbears. In the process she is wounded, and offers to stay behind (Note: At this point, Jessica had to leave. She’d been asked by me to fill the role of a cleric since I knew Aaron was not going to be present and Natalie would be coming in later). The party searches and finds several gold pieces as well as two red gems (worth about 500gp each).
• Sephrenia sees Morseus who explains the party has gone inside; she makes her way through and hears a thundering sound and manages to catch up to the party.
• The party proceeds further and comes to another circular marble room where there is a large statue holding a basin. The party notices an inscription at the base: Feed the flood, with eyes of red; Give me your blood, to see the dead. The party also notices more of those Elven Runic language and are able to translate it to say: Bleed me dry, you will die; Fill my eyes, and you will see the sky.
• The party considers what to do, debating what the riddle could mean and why the one in Runic language is different than the common tongue. Inquiring with Avalyn, she suspects that the common tongue could be a trap. The party decides that perhaps the two gems they found are a part of the riddle. Ragnaroc climbs up and notices a pattern on the floor that looks like a sun; inserting the two gems into the eye sockets illuminated the eyes that sent a beam down towards the sun on the floor opening another passage.
• The party makes their way down a hallway and eventually comes up to a room that appears to be a 4×4 chessboard.
• They notice that a breeze blows in the circular, marble room and that the left wall has several holes in it – they assume stepping on the wrong tile(s) may trigger a trap.Tying a rope around Ragnaroc, he moves across the tiles; triggering one of the traps (a gas chamber that reduces his Constitution)
• Kannin and Sephrenia trigger poisonous darts that dissolve upon impact, invoking sleepiness
• The entire party eventually makes it across the chessboard room and finds a small notch in the cavern wall that appears to be a guard post; in there, they find several cloaks and tabards of the brigands, which they quickly don and take a short rest before proceeding
• They go down the flight of stairs and discover a room full of ten other brigands in what appears to be a make shift bar
• Ragnaroc, wanting to fit in, quickly buys everyone a round of drinks, and when Adrian, Sephrenia and Kannin decide not to drink, it draws the attention of the other brigands who demand that they drink (and that Ragnaroc’s coin and gesture not go to waste)
• The three drink; however, Adrian’s weakness/flaw is alcohol and begins drinking not one – but more than one – becoming intoxicated and losing focus of the goal. He ends up provoking a fight with one of the other brigands, as the rest cheer on the fight. Soon, an entire bar room fight has broken out with brigand punching one another and party even begins fighting among one another
• This eventually draws the attention of Bahlraug Bloodlust who swings up his locked door, providing Kannin a chance to see inside the room; where he spots an Orc with a staff (standing next to an eccentric coffin) and Mayor Barus Gravestone, who is in shackles stuck to the wall, looking severely beat up.
• Bahlraug Bloodlust demands that they stop drinking and fighting and to go find Avalyn, as the Mayor will not tell him where the gauntlet they seek has gone
• Most of the brigands leave; leaving three behind and the bartender, as Bahlraug Bloodlust closes his door to proceed discussions. They’re overheard discussing the gauntlet; and the orc is heard saying he needs it to complete the process. At that point, the party decides to attack the brigands in the bar, and take them out; but this alerts Bahlraug Bloodlust again, who comes out to attack the party.
• Sephrenia uses the spell Hold Person to stop Bahlraug Bloodlust
• This allows the party to land some very damaging blows on the Half-Ogre before the Orc Shaman casts a spell that dispel’s the Hold Person effect (after several of his spells fail to land on the adventurers). With the half-ogre free, the Orc then places his hand on the coffin and Dimension Doors out of the room, allowing the Half-Ogre to be the distraction to ensure he’s able to escape
• The party eventually takes down Bahlraug Bloodlust and through intimidation, is able to convince the other three brigands; the bartender however goes down fighting
• The party frees Barus Gravestone and manages to bypass the rune on the chest – recovering 6 red gems (worth about 500 gp each).
• They also recover some gold from Bahlraug and the bartender’s body
• Assisting the mayor, the meet up with his daughter, Avalyn in the hall, where she’s standing there, leaning against the wall, holding a bloody mace, with several dead brigands at her feet
• She happily reunites with her father, and the party proceeds to backtrack, successfully making it out of the mysterious cavern and meeting up with Morsus, everyone is forced to walk back to town, where Barus is taken to the temple of his daughter’s cleric to be tended to; and offers them to meet with him when he is recovered; and that he has passed on the word, that they are to have their rooms compensated for at the Stone’s Throw Inn and Tavern in Spire’s Edge