3️⃣🕸️ unraveling the web

sessions 23 - 34 | 04/05/2022 - 07/19/2022 | summaries in a 100 words or less!

✨synopsis

Our heroes raid Cragmaw Castle, retrieving Gundren, killing King Grol and liberating the goblins--who join the Cragmaw Hideout tribe.

Stopping by Thundertree for Lord's Alliance business, we meet a ranger named Willow Astane, who seems to distrust drow. With him, we take on a quest to kill a green dragon terrorizing the area, but are overpowered, forcing Soren to make a pact with a mysterious and powerful entity.

We prevent an attempt on Gundren's life, and leave Thundertree with a new ally -- Willow, who joins us upon learning our cause to stop the Spellforge from falling into drow hands.

🌙23. troll in the night

We discuss paper bird recipients. Lera gets wet in the rain. Soren recounts recent stories from travelers about the dangers of Triboar. Soren makes "noodles n' cheese".

During the night, a troll plagued by stirges attacks the group, resulting in a tough fight, causing Sildar to re-examine his lack of darkvision. Droop pushes Soren to speak on his past with goblins. Droop is thrown a lot and Soren snitches on Hugh.

Hugh and Droop discuss combat, raging and Droop is inducted into the Flail Bros. Soren gives Sildar a handdrawn picture of Vulmar and Aire, resulting in an emotional moment.

📜24. no! no!

Soren and Sildar make progress on magic lessons. Lera has a terrible nightmare about her past experiences with cultists, and the group works to calm her of her guilt over killing a man in self-defense. Sildar makes bunny apples.

Sildar, Hugh and Droop conflict with Lera and Soren when the former decide to kill Grol quickly, while the latter two want to make him suffer. This culminates in Soren threatening to leave.

At Cragmaw Castle, we knock out Yegg, the tyrant chef, and evacuate Droop's family, learning from them about a mysterious female drow that works for the Black Spider.

🥔25. jared, 19

Push forward into Cragmaw Castle, we use most of our resources in fighting off Grol's bugbear + hobgoblin lackeys and eventually managing to knock out Grol. We find an unconscious Gundren and a wood elf (Jharym...) in Grol's room, and a map of Wave Echo Cave.

After looting Grol's room, we speak with Gundren and Jharym, learning of Grol's actions and some relieving news: that Wave Echo Cave is collapsed and monster-ridden, and the Spider is unlikely to have made much headway even if he's found the cave.

As we prepare to leave, a group of hobgoblins arrive and notices us.

🗻26. revisiting friends

We manage to bluff our way out of the hobgoblin situation by pretending to be the Spider's minions, regrouping with the goblins we left outside.

On the way to drop them off at Cragmaw Hideout, Sildar and Soren reconcile over the torture conflict. Soren apologizes for threatening to leave and hurting Sildar. Hugh throws Droop really hard and gets free Enlarges in exchange for stopping.

The group sends Droop and his family into Cragmaw Hideout to see if Yeemik has, in fact, turned the tribe over a new leaf. While waiting, Hugh regales us with Tasha's-Hideous-Laughter-worthy jokes.

🍫27. s'mwhores

We regroup with Droop's family and tour Cragmaw to ensure Yeemik hasn't been kidnapping adventurers, catching up with the Cragmaw goblins. We offer to bring the goblins to Neverwinter in five days to integrate them into city life -- better than freezing in the winter. Yeemik hesitantly agrees.

After leaving, we travel back southward until night falls. We set up camp. Sildar and Hugh wrestle shirtless 👀 Hugh cooks a hearty soup.

Soren and Sildar discuss best ways to die. Sildar sends a paper bird to Waterdeep with a report, before the two bond over their desire to travel together.

🌱28. willow

As we wake, Sildar receives a paper bird from Waterdhavian superiors confirming receipt of Sildar's letter and requesting Sildar to investigate missing merchants at Thundertree.

Our arrival at Thundertree -- a ruined town -- is greeted with vicious attacks from awakened twig blights. We follow a signboard seeking adventurers to a cottage where we meet Reidoth, an old druid, and Willow, his young apprentice. Reidoth beseeches us to fight Venomfang, a green dragon endangering Phandalin and Neverwinter.

Will comes with us. As we walk to the dragon's lair, we are attacked by large spiders. Hearing us nearby, the dragon requests a parlay.

🚪29. knock knock

We decide to explore, arm ourselves and rest before confronting Venomfang. After fighting zombies and finding ranged weaponry in a blacksmith, Will admits his disdain for drow.

We find the Dendrar heirloom but are attacked by larger awakened plants before hurrying back to Reidoth's cottage. Venomfang flies away; Reidoth leaves to investigate. Assuming past bad experiences with drow, Soren apologizes to Will before trying to bond over their shared love for herbalism; it doesn't go well.

Will gets to know the party; Soren confesses his original motives under Nezznar's orders, but Will seems to appreciate the honesty.

👀30. reconnaissance

We're interrupted by more awakened foliage, which destroy Reidoth's cottage and almost kill Soren. Scavenging parts from the ruins, we patch it up best we can.

Shaken by the near-death, Soren proposes we scout Venomfang's lair to better prepare. We learn Venomfang's lair layout and range from our fieldtrip, which Soren uses to formulate battle-plans. Reidoth returns; Will cooks and we prepare to rest.

Soren privately purchases pipeweed from Reidoth before desperately pleading with him to share any knowledge that might extend Sildar's lifespan -- or shorten Soren's to match. Reidoth gently dissuades Soren, telling him to focus on the present.

🐲31. venomfang

The group spends a restless night before confronting Venomfang, who enlists our help in killing his sister--only to reveal it was a ploy to lure us into his lair before attacking us.

The dragon's might proves almost deadly, and the party is forced onto the defensive. Will reveals his celestial nature, but despite best efforts, the dragon overpowers the party. Soren begs the entity that possessed him and Colt at Alderleaf Farm for help, offering his freedom and servitude in exchange.

It responds, cleaving the dragon in half and leaving Soren badly burned from the inside out.

🔪32. among us

The group struggles to deal with the badly injured, and seemingly hostile, Soren. Meanwhile, Soren reaches out to his new "benefactor", who is surprisingly friendly.

The party discusses Will's celestial nature and past, and harvest the dragon before finding Soren missing. Soren eventually returns, acting odd, before another Soren appears--making it clear that there is an imposter. Despite the imposter knowing private information, the group identifies the real Soren correctly and incapacitate the imposter.

As they wait to question the imposter, Soren continues acting strangely hostile, hurting Sildar's, Hugh's and Droop's feelings.

🐝33. like the bees

We learn that Fake!ren is a doppelganger named Vyerith, which Reidoth demands that Will kill due to its monstrous nature.

During the interrogation, we learn that though she is an agent of the Black Spider, she burned our cave map to protect the world from the Forge, and Will seems to take pity on her. It's revealed that the doppelganger is Jharym, who only got close to Gundren to kill him and hide the Spellforge.

Through botanical analogies, Will shuts down Vyerith's claims that being evil is in her nature. The party splits their loot and identifies their items.

🍄34. the lady of rot

The characters spend their last night in Thundertree, after which Soren seems to return to normal.

Hugh has a nightmare about a large rot-and-fungus-covered lady who whispers about consuming, freaking him out. Reidoth explains that the lady is the Demon Queen of Rot and Decay; likely what's causing Hugh his headaches.

Soren worries about parallels between him/Sildar and Vyerith/Gundren's situation, and tries to strongarm Vyerith into repenting for her actions. Will and Reidoth have a tearful and touching farewell. As the group leaves Thundertree, they find a magic store where there previously was not one before.