📯3. mutiny at cragmaw

session 3• 01/15/2022 • 1,259 words

『 📜 』 adventure log

🌞 DAY 1 • 📅 ELEINT 22

Gobbo Negotiations

We last left off with the group approaching Crawmaw Hideout, the goblins' cave.

Joe begins begging the group to spare the goblins in the training ground. Sorennar tries to capitalize on his friendship with these goblins and attempt to hold him hostage, but when the goblins react in panic, the group talks him down.

Joe and Lera conduct negotiations with the goblins, who, despite their reservations about the group having killed three goblins, offer to escort the party into the cave as "hostages" so that they might talk to the goblin co-leader, Yeemik, about killing Klaarg and retrieving Sildar.

Into the Goblins' Den

The group crosses the bridge deeper into the cave without issue. The goblins demand that the group pretend to be hostages and tied up, which Sorennar balks at but complies after some complaining. Hugh refuses to stow his weapon, but the group manages to get past into Yeemik's room.

They find a group of emaciated goblins huddled together, with Yeemik holding a clearly-tortured Sildar over some high ground. Sildar is badly wounded with lacerations and seems barely conscious. The group is initially horrified, with Soren seeming particularly bothered.

After some negotiation, the group strikes a deal with Yeemik: they will kill Klaarg in exchange for Sildar's safe return + Yeemik's cooperation in giving them information about Gundren's whereabouts + any trinkets in Klaarg's lair. Before they leave, Sorennar threatens Yeemik heavily about not hurting Sildar any more.

The group pretends to be a "gift" from Yeemik to Klaarg, entering his room without much resistance. As Klaarg is about to gleefully torture us, Sorennar mocks his.. dick size,, hitting a Vicious Mockery and initiating combat. Though the group manages to work together well and take down Klaarg without much fuss, Colt takes a savage attack from a goblin and goes unconscious. Hugh lands the final blow on Klaarg, crushing his head with his maul.

Sorennar bluffs the rest of the goblins and wolves in the room, stating that there was no point in fighting anymore as they managed to take down their leader. He scares them with stories about what Yeemik would do to them as "traitors", causing them to flee. The group scours the room, which is full of crates labelled with the Lionshield Coster trading company, which Sorennar recognized from Phandalin.

We also find various potions and small trinkets and treasures, which we pocket and agree to split later. Sorennar nabs all the alcohol he can find in the room, and rouses Colt with one of the health potions they found -- Colt is convinced that he took hits from every creature in the room in order for him to have gone down.

Sorennar cuts off Klaarg's head with a rapier after deliberating doing it with an ornate dagger. He drags the head out, and has the rest of the group carry some of the Lionshield Coster boxes out.

Joe and Brinz, goblins who accompanied us into the Klaarg fight, were both knocked out during the fray. Sorennar attempts to prop them up against a wall in a more dignified position, and whispers a quiet congratulation to them for their hard-earned freedom. He immediately stops and starts kicking them around gently when he realizes Lera is watching him, and is aghast when she teases him for being a softie.

Concluding Cragmaw

The group returns to Yeemik's cave. Sorennar throws Klaarg's head across the room with contempt, subtly threatening Yeemik with the same fate should he not release Sildar. Yeemik makes good on his promises, allowing Sildar to join the group and be healed of his injuries. He informs the group that:

• Klaarg works for a "King Grol", who in turn works with someone named the Black Spider.

• No one has seen the Black Spider, but describes them as psychotic.

• Gundren Rockseeker was taking to Cragmaw Castle (20 miles east of the hideout, in Neverwinter woods)

Sorennar asks Sildar who tortured him -- the answer is Yeemik, who admits to having enjoyed it. Grimly, Sorennar demands to know if Yeemik has any regrets about it; he does not. Lera, though devastated at this, tries to offer some options for the goblins that keep them from harming more adventurers on the High Road: for them to move to a city, or a more distant woods. Yeemik refuses both options, leading to Lera and Sorennar deceiving him into thinking that knights and dragons roamed the High Road so that he would not send goblins there.

Sorennar requests that Yeemik "loan" them a goblin to help carry the Lionshield crates back to the cart. He gives them a terrified goblin named Is, one of Klaarg's lackeys, who in turn gives them the following information:

• King Grol is much stronger than Klaarg -- the latter tried to challenge him once and lost badly

• The Black Spider is working with an elven woman who seems kindly to the goblins

Sorennar idly questions Is' betrayal of Yeemik's goblins -- Is states that he was only doing what he had to to survive by siding with Klaarg. Lera tries to cheer up the fearful Is, but her jokes fall a little flat and scares Is more. Sorennar forages various plants on their way back to the cart.

They load the crates onto the carts, after which Is escapes in a hurry.

Continuing the Journey

As they continue their journey, Hugh takes out a rough map that the group pores over to plan their journey. Sorennar retreats back into his tent and pile of fabrics to shy away from the sun, though he starts to grind up some of the Broadleaf stalks he found in the woods. Eventually, he makes a numbing salve from it and offers it to Sildar for his lacerations.

The group divides up the loot, gaining a couple gold pieces each. They discuss the gemstones that were found in Klaarg's lair.

As the sun sets, the group pulls into a clearing in the woods to set up camp.

Group 1

Sorennar and Lera go off foraging and hunting, and manage to take down a deer together. They're cleaning it when Lera tells him to slit its throat as she holds its head back, which causes a visceral reaction in Sorennar -- he throws up and tries to blame Tina's cooking, which Lera sees as a lie but does not push further.

As they continue with the deer, Lera asks Sorennar information about life in the Underdark, and is horrified with the brutality of the Drow in Menzoberranzan. She is concerned that Sorennar seems bound to the noble family that adopted him, but Sorennar brushes it off nonchalantly. He graciously accepts her invitation to visit her hometown.

Group 2

Meanwhile, at camp, Colt confides in Hugh and tells him that his real name is Keir Coltish. Hugh tries to get Colt to go for a run, to no avail, and begins to just. run into a tree over and over again, which is how Sorennar and Lera find him as they drag the cleaned deer back.

🌙 NIGHT 1 • 📅 ELEINT 22

Campfire Dinner

Sorennar asks Hugh to cease his tree-thumping, and Hugh asks for an axe to expedite the tree-felling. Sorennar fetches one from the cart, much to Sildar's concern, and Hugh fells the tree. To keep him distracted, Sildar asks Hugh to find a small rock of specific shape and size.

Sorennar prepares a simple dish of tomatoes, herbs and venison, which the group -- Sildar and the PCs -- eats. Sorennar proposes an old Baldurian party game named "What the FUCK Is Up With That", which entails the group rolling 20-sided dice. The highest roller gets to ask the lowest roller a question.

And that's where we left off.