1.15.22 - Zurfani's Solitaire

### Captain's Log:

After we found the horn with the golden filigree, we decided there was nowhere more fitting than in the barracks for us to take a long rest, so we did. We then decided to take our chances going through the rusted set of doors leading out of the barracks. However, we opened the door to reveal a 10-foot drop on the other side, and sounds of a cave came from beyond the drop.

Continuing forward over the drop, we found ourselves in a room bisected by a stalagmite and we could hear harsh voices conversing up ahead. Dagii tried to sneak forward to investigate, but it seems the voices heard his approach. He shouted that they were trying to sound the alarm as they charged forward to silence him because he said they thought he had “killed George”. We made quick work of most of our combatants, but one of the creatures, a dolgaunt, tried to get away so we had to chase it through several rooms in the continuing caverns until we reached a room made of carved stone. Once there, we slew the creature, and we searched the oddity of the carved room within the natural caves. There were rotting tapestries of little intrigue on the wall but behind them there was a secret passage leading to the northeast where Dagii says he can sense the orb.

The secret passage we found led us to a mostly collapsed cavern with moss and rusty spots on the scorched walls. Moving forward we found lava vents with more of the flamevent moss which was very flammable (so I took some to try to make into explosive javelins for Oz to use.) But, while I was collecting some moss I got too close to one of the vents and some fire snakes appeared. Apparently, they were displeased with my disruption of their home, as was a greater fire elemental who emerged from a nearby lava vent to help its fiery pets. We dismissed them from the material plane before too much damage could be done, but after our battle we found our way forward blocked by rubble we were unable to move.

We made our way back to the barracks where we had started because we knew of two other doors we had not searched yet that way and we wished to be as thorough as possible in our search. Both other exits from that room led to either cave-ins or uncarved passages, so we returned back down the way towards the randomly worked room near the secret passage. There we found a set of stairs that led down into a wide cavern with a rushing river running through it. Dagii crossed the river and rigged a rope for the rest of us, but he also encountered some goblins he said seemed as though they hadn’t seen the sunlight in a long time. They seem like the more primitive goblins from the time of the Daelkyr Wars. He made friends with them as we began to join him on the other side of the river.

These new friend’s of Dagii’s took us to see their encampment and meet their chief and shaman. They tell us of their clan’s duty to protect the caverns from aberrations and that they have been fighting them since the time of the war. While skeptical of our capabilities and intentions, the shaman gifted us a healing potion and access to the caves beyond their camp if we would help take care of some aberrations near the moon pool. The shaman told us of an orb that was making the aberrations more powerful who were at the moon pool, but that it matched the description of the item we were seeking.

At the pool we could see there was a large congregation of creatures all focusing on one who was wearing the orb we sought around its neck. We had the element of surprise so we made a plan to take out the guards and use the high ground to our advantage. Our first wave was successful, but we were noticed before we could start our full force attack on the primary creature at the pool; leading us to abandon our plan of stealth and fight the remaining creatures all at once. Upon slaying the creatures, we were able to claim the Solitaire and several large gems. We decided that Oz should have the object and I need to make a way for her to attach it to the hilt of her sword. Then we headed back to the goblin camp to rest before returning to the entrance. (Level up to 7!)