The party retreats from the pool of water and makes camp a safe distance away. As they settle in for the night, members begin to notice that the garlands they wear have been giving off a subtle warmth. This comforting warmth slowly fades and eventually ceases as the night becomes day. In the morning they return to the pool and begin their investigation. The pool is fed by a tall waterfall sourced from the cliffs high above them. At only 20 feet deep and no obvious outlet, the pool is a puzzle the members try to pick apart. Using her wildshape ability, Sariel turns into a seahorse and discovers the bottom of the pool has a plethora of ‘cracks’ through which she surmises the water percolates down to some water table below.
Exploring the perimeter the party discovers a cave entrance behind the waterfall. The surface is wet from the mist and leads down beyond eyesight into the darkness below. Having struggled with difficult terrain in the past, the party decides to use a rope for safety. Belgwyn is the first to go down on the rope tied to a large boulder only to discover knots are not one of her strengths. As the rope gives way, Belgwyn tumbles into the darkness below and hits hard at the base of the slope. Seboo next volunteers to use the pitons he has for situations just like this. But, as he hammers the anchor into the rock, he hits a little too hard, loses his footing, and ends up colliding with Belgwyn at the bottom. Luckily the anchor is set and the rest of the party is able to make their way down without further concerns.
Several members of the party are blind to the darkness of the cave at the bottom of the slope as there is a lack of any nearby light sources. Not wanting to attract attention, buddies are made with those having darkvision in the front. It isn’t long before the lead members, Belgwyn, Sariel, and Groz, are able to peek around a bend and see several elven guards lazily talking. They also notice sounds of indiscernible voices from a sidecut of the main path as well as a faint light from a source just out of sight. Taking the opportunity to surprise the guards, the party approaches with purpose and quickly puts the group of elves on the back foot. With some quick, slightly dominating, words the group of elves are convinced that the party belongs here in the cave with business that is none of their concern.
By now, the whole party is within earshot of the other voices, and EKIM is able to tell that it is an argument, almost like siblings fighting, being spoken in giant. He is also able to discern that while he can hear these voices directly down the sidecut, he is also able to pick them up faintly in the open cavern at the end of the main path past the guards. Deciding to move away from the multiple voices speaking giant, the group finds themselves at the edge of an underground lake within a larger cavern. Stealthfully exploring they find a set of illuminated tunnels that have been repurposed for eating and occupied by several cultists and, on the opposite end, another light source with faint elven voices conversing. Thinking the source of giant speech to be the biggest threat they decide to explore and potentially confront it from the cavern direction.
After traveling up a set of rough cut stairs, the lead members find themselves staring at three ettins in the middle of an argument over seemingly nothing. Having spotted the front runners, EKIM hears them quickly complain about ‘more humans to do stupid human things’ before ignoring them as the argument continues. Noticing more stairs to the side, some of the party quickly bypasses the arguing ettins while the several stay down in the larger cavern to protect the rear. Sariel is the first to approach the group of elves she finds sitting around a campfire at the top of the steps and strikes up a conversation.
The group of elves is initially put off at the new arrivals. Sariel notices that they are all dressed similar to the guards in common elven clothes, though all have seen better days. Several members of the group speaking in a tent to the side wear slightly finer clothes, still worn and dirty, and Sariel makes note that one of the guards near the entrance was similarly dressed. Sariel makes short order of getting the group to speak and learns that they are here against their will and live in fear of the dragon Chuth. As she offers to deal with the dragon, she is rebuked by the occupants of the second tent that she now sees clearing for the first time. One is much more finely dressed than all she has seen yet, and two wear simple armor. The rebuke quickly ceases as the finely dressed elf eyes the garland of flowers on each of the party’s heads. It is quite obvious to these elves that the party has no affiliation to the dragon or its rider, and more importantly, they carry the blessing of a druid against the dragon. Not long after, they agree that now is the time for them to make their escape, especially with Chuth not presently within the caves.
The party follows the group back down to the ettin den where they split ways. The elves take off straight across the den to the small passageway on the opposite side without even acknowledging the ettins themselves. The party members turn and join back up with the rest of the group at the lake edge. Given the simply ignorance of the ettin, and considering the volume of their argument, the group decides to take on the cultist threat first as they see no other paths to take. Setting up just outside the passway into the cultist quarters, the group is able to ambush their enemy at first, but the cultists’ numbers are at least double what they anticipated due to the limited view the party had into this part of the cave.
While the likes of Belgwen, Seebo, Groz, and Faris rush in for close quarter combat, Dennis takes to the ceiling with a casting of spider climb and the other support from the rear. Between a fire ball, the throwing of Whelm (echoing dwarven war cries throughout the chamber), and good old melee strikes, many of the lower ranked cultists fall in the ambush, but the more hardy ones quickly muster a counter attack. As the clash continues some party members notice that the garlands begin to grow warm once again. The combat ends almost as fast as it started, but no rest is to be had as a booming roar echoes through the caves, and a voice angrily cries out about the missing guards. EKIM, at the far rear of the attack, turns to see the dragon Chuth, with its rider on its back, rushing down the main path into the large cavern as well as the three ettins rounding the corner from their den.
The party finds themselves with the worst positioning to combat a dragon. Choked in the narrow passway between the cavern and the cultist quarters, they bumble to make a hole for their front line fighters who now find themselves at the rear. The dragon’s rider hops off Chuth’s back and casts a poison gas cloud spell that encompasses the whole party, almost half subcuming to its effects. Chuth takes to the ceiling and unleashes his poison breath on the bunched intruders. The party is hurt, Dennis losing his concentration and falling to the ground, but all are still standing. Seebo slaps a device onto Belgwyn and tells her to go get the dragon. The dwarf finds herself able to fly up and meet the dragon where it thought it would be out of reach. She lands several blows with the now unsheathed dragon slayer sword. The dragon takes several other ranged hits while EKIM and Groz mount a ground attack on the rider themself. Perhaps wanting better positioning, perhaps taken aback by the size of the intruding party, the dragon and rider make a retreat. The rider takes the hits from EKIM and Groz as he rushes past them to dive into the lake. Chuth sweeps Belgwen away with a flap of its wings, knocking her to the ground, before dropping from the ceiling into the water of the lake below him. Both disappear into the darkness.
Before their escape, Groz was able to brand the dragon and knows it has moved in the direction of the lake’s far side. Seebo quickly throws a glowing stone into the water, only to watch it sink to a depth beyond its light’s ability to shine. Sariel wildshapes into a a quipper, and followed by Groz and Seebo, tries to find the dragon or rider. They discover an underwater tunnel on the far side of the lake, but before they can explore the tunnel, Groz attacks Seebo in her bloodlust before she can drop out of her lycan hybrid form. Seebo returns to the shore, just able to survive Groz’s attack. The party, confronted with yet another dragon about to escape them, is still aware of the warmth of the garland and general direction of the dragon thanks to Groz’s brand. They take a moment to breathe and decide how they are going to rid the world of this dragon before it can slip past them.
Session Date – 26 June 2026
Roster
- Belgwyn
- Dennis
- EKIM
- Faris
- Groz
- Hupp
- Divad
- Sariel
- Seebo