Session 2 - The one where Stats dies

Session Date: September 24, 2019

Recorded Stream: Part A | Part B

The session resumes with the party leaving the keep and finding a group of dark riders in town square  calling out to Kella.   They see 7 riders on horses, still mounted, with Kella near them.  The riders look pretty rough, like they may be thugs of some sort.

Darby mentions that the one has a flying snake, which is a common familiar of the Zhentarim -- a faction/guild in the area that covets money and power above all else, often using ill means to get it.

After some discussion, the party approaches the group while Kella and one of the riders approach and greet the party

Kella introduces the party and Xolkin -- a darker skinned half elf - dismounts and looks at party and says "Any friend of Kella is a friend of mine".  He then asks the party what brings the party to the town.

Drork says they were sent to investigate a shipment, and then found the goblins ransacking the town and decided to help.

Xolkin asks about the keep and whether there are guards - seems to want to know how many guards there are

Stats lied about the number, said there are too many to count, then says there are 10 times as many guards in the keep as there are thugs. (70!!) Xolkin kind of laughs this off but doesn't argue.

Xolkin says he wants to subjugate the town, that he works for the Zhentarim would like to set up a base of operations here, close to waterdeep but not close.   He promises that the villagers will be welcome back if they want to come back, and that the Zhentarim can defend the place well. He generally seems to want to take over this town.

Kella says she was stopping by on her way to Daggerford to talk to some more investors.

Xolkin seems eager to travel with Kella, she seems to be wary of that. He asks "is it because of my horrible condition" to which she refers to him as Xolkin Crookedmember. He also asks about Prentice Longshaft - a rich investor in Daggerford.  She denies that these reasons prevent her from accompanying Xolkin. Xolkin asks if the party will allow him and his group to occupy the town and set up defenses.

Th party briefly heads back to the keep to discuss amongst themselves and speak with Sydiri and the guards. After explaining the situation to Sydiri - she explains the guards are really just hired hands and were paid by the Nandar family, but don't own any property here and are just garrisoned guards. she doesn't have a strong opinion on whether or not the Zhentarim occupation would be good.

The party discusses this issue amongst themselves at some length and ultimately decides to let them do as they want and go save the villagers first.

#### Orcs attack!

As they leave the keep, they hear the Zhentarim guards exclaiming about a bunch of orcs approaching from the west, and start raising the drawbridge.  The party decides to temporarily team up with the Zhentarim thugs and fight off the orcs.

One orc (Norgra?) has just one eye and seems to be much tougher than the rest, another (Gurrash) looks pretty beefy and seems to be the war chief of this group. On top of that there are 18 other orcs.

A heated siege ensues, the columns of orcs move up and begin to scale the walls, generally being cut down fairly handily, but some casualties are taken on the part of the Zhentarim (and their horses), as well as Xolkin's flying snake, Smitty.

At some point Stats speaks to the horses and spurs them to defend themselves instead of just standing there, frightened. He then then uses wild shape to turn into a bear, boldly climbing over to the other side of the wall, killing a number of the invading orcs and doing some damage to the war chief, Gurrash.

However, having taken some fall damage himself, he then takes a spear from Norgra and a few attacks from Gurrash and goes down in bear form, and then bodily as well.  Tragically, he fails his death saving throws before he can be healed or stabilized, even though Hammerfeet was moments away from being able to help.

The rest of the party, with the help of the remaining Zhentarim, manage to defeat the remaining orcs.

Meanwhile a Tressym comes along and somehow, and Stat's essence is brought into the body of the Tressym, at least for the time being.

Xolkin tells the party that if they agree to let the Zhentarim to occupy the village, he will send Kella to try to get help in resurrecting Stats.  Drork also makes him give his word that the villagers will be welcome back and able to live their lives.   Xolkin gives his word and that they only mean to use it as a base of operations and offers his protection to the villagers, should they return.

Hammerfeet suggests that they could find a temple in Waterdeep to help as well.

Drork uses his Two-way mirrors to contact Rem Slatewhisper and asks if the Enclave have anything they can do to help in the area. Rem, caught bathing, thinks for a moment and says "Wood Elves - Ardeep Forest, Reincarnation".  Relaying this information to the party, and discussing it with Hammerfeet, they decide that while possibly useful as a last ditch plan, they think the temples will be a better idea.

Darby approaches and offers his support, but doesn't have any particular ideas.  Raloric suggests he may be able to talk to the elves in the forest.

The party discusses their options, and settle on trying to save the villagers first, and then seeing if they hear back from Kella who will hopefully be back from visiting Daggerford when they return to Nightstone with the villagers, and if Kella doesn't find a solution they can head to Waterdeep and see if Hammerfeet's contacts can help us find a temple that can help.

They also loot the various orc corpses and collects some gold (115pg)

Darby vows to watch over Stats' body while the party heads to the Dripping Caves

#### To the caves!

The party heads towards the caves, heading due north and see that the hills in the area seem to be riddled with caves. They Come upon a prominent hill jutting out of the landscape, with smoke billowing out from the top of it. There's a large entrance at the bottom of the hill.

Stats, in Tressym form, flies up and checks out the lay of the land, circles around and sees the main entrance as well as stream on one side that seems to lead into the hill, as well as another smaller entrance.  Only the main entrance seems to have seen much entrance.

Drork uses a ritual to speak to the cat version of stats consoles him a bit, and gets this information to him, and relays it to the party. The party decides to go in through the stream entrance.

There's a very loud constant dripping sound that makes it quite hard to hear.  The party emerges in a small cave area.

Drork hears deep laughter in an adjoining cave, and recognizes the laugh of an Ogre, peeking into the large cavern, he sees a large room with 2 ogres, and a number of goblins.

Drork sets up a hunting trap, and meanwhile a few goblins approach from the north.

Before the party can get any attacks in, Hark identifies himself, and mentions looking forward to the return of his son, and Hammerfeet tells him that Chip fell out of the hayloft and died.

He thanks Hammerfeet for bringing news of his son, and suggest that the party come back to his throne room and make a deal. Asked about the ogres, Hark says they're harmless.

Back in Hark's throne room, there's a throne made of bones, and a corpse of a woman, upon whom a number of giant rats are feeding, as well as another unconscious woman in the room. Hark says that a black thing has infected their water supply, and that a corpse of the goblin pulled out had black burns on it.  If the party is able to get rid of the black slime, he offers to return the villagers, at least those that are left. Asked about the occupants of the large cavern nearby, Har, describes his relationship with the ogres, and says that they offer protection to the goblins in exchange for food. The party agrees for the moment to try to rid the caves of the black thing.

The party follows Hark through the cavern. In the large room, they see the sleeping ogre surrounded by stalagmites, and there's a table with what appear to be alchemical supplies near a mud bath where another of the ogres is bathing. Hark shows them to a cave where the a number of villagers are held, including a half-goblin/half-elf woman and a majestically bearded fellow who seems to have taken charge of the group of villagers.

Hark points out the cave where the creature is known to be. Drork requests that Hark sweetens the pot by offering some payment on top of freeing the villagers.  Hark mentions he has some kind of magical ring, and a scroll that the party can have as well.

They enter the cave to the east and finds a very large stalagmite with a honeycomb of holes in it.  The cavern hooks back to the west where there's a dead end with a waterfall and some greenish mushrooms lining the floor.

Behind them, black ooze pours out of the stalagmite and a battle ensues.  As the party fights the ooze, (which seems to have been a Black Pudding) they take some acid damage from attacking it, and it splits into smaller and smaller versions of itself.

After a few close calls and some defensive tactics, the party defeats the Black Pudding, but unfortunately Raloric breaks his longsword in the process.

-- Session Ends here --

things to think about for next session:

* short rest?
* loot the slime/investigate this area?
* return to Hark - secure the return of the villagers, get some treasure....
* Raloric needs to repair/replace his sword?
* Drork needs to retrieve his hunting trap

Previous Session: Session 1 - One too many Goblins

Next Session: Session 3 - The resurrection of Cats