Summer 14, 1441 TR
After resting the party decided they wanted to go back into the Underdark caves and explore the direction they hadn’t gone to this point. Leander and Booger said they needed to return to Fallcrest and offered to transport a good portion of the treasure back with them. Booger said he’d take the treasure to Thistle and let his cousin store it for the party. Oleane said she’d hang around the Keep for as long as she could and give warning if goblins, spiders, or whatnot overran it. Sharwyn and Braford said they could give the party a few more days before having to head back to Fallcrest and report to Banner.
That settled, the group delved back into the cave. Kvothe used Invisibility to scout ahead. They found the larger cavern with several branches off of it and took the one they hadn’t been down. It seemed to head north, according to Agatha. A couple of hours later they came to a split in the path. They chose the one that headed east and immediately ran into a patrol of 6 goblins, two of which were riding giant spiders.
The spiders immediately webbed most of the party, while the goblins used shortbows to harass the group from a distance. Zarah escaped the webbing and immediately attacked one of the spiders clinging to the wall. Sharwyn and Joscelin had not been caught in the webbing. Joscelin immediately ran into the goblin line to distract the creatures from shooting at his comrades. Sharwyn attacked one of the spiders with a Firebolt, which hurt it significantly. However, it also set the webbing on fire. That released Kvothe and Belthorn but also damaged them a bit. Meanwhile, Agatha cast Spiritual Weapon as Braford struggled to get out of the webs.
In the next round a spider and a goblin went down. This seriously swung the battle in the battle in the party’s favor. The remaining spider and goblins decided to bug out. Two of the goblins died as they tried to flee. The last spider escaped. The goblin leader was captured by Zarah but when communicating with it proved unfruitful, Kvothe killed it.
The party pushed forward for a couple more hours and came out of the caves on a small hillside in the woods. It looked like they were in the Spiderfell. They noticed spiderwebs in the branches of the large trees and found the fresh tracks of the wounded spider coming out of the cave. They also determined that the tracks in the area indicated that this cave was frequently used by goblins and spiders. Belthorn found some tracks that were too big and heavy to be goblin. They decided this could have been the Priest of Asmodeus they fought in the Keep.
There was still a passage in the caves they hadn’t investigated so they delved back in and backtracked to the intersection an took the north passage. Not too far from the intersection the air started to become more humid and the ceiling started having condensed moisture. Here they ran into another of the Gray Oozes and Joscelin had part of his armor dissolved. He wasn’t terribly pleased with this turn of events.
Past the ooze, they eventually ran into a band of 6 orcs and an ogre. The party decided to parley and Zarah and Belthorn took the lead since they knew the orcish tongue. Belthorn pretended they were in the caves looking to purchase slaves and had heard that the orcs trafficked in that sort of thing. The orc leader considered this and offered to take the group to his chieftain who might be inclined to deal with them. The party agreed to this and joined up with the orcs who lead them back the way they had just come.
Eventually the orc leader called for a halt. He said it was time for sleep. The day was done. The orcs and the ogre established watches and started cooking while Agatha began taking care of the party’s wounds by casting some healing spells. This attracted the attention of the lead orc. He didn’t approach the party to ask questions but he was obviously interested in Agatha’s spellcasting ability.
The party also established watches, not trusting their traveling companions any further than they could throw them. Zarah and Joscelin took the first watch while everyone else bedded down for the night. Towards the end of the first watch, when everyone was well asleep, the two orcs on watch conferred briefly and then barked a short command while leaping towards the sleeping party. The rest of the orcs and the ogre immediately sprang from their positions, obviously having been faking sleep.
This is where we ended the session.
