Previous: Gnoll Raiders
Running around the Forest (Session #3)
After another night, the group left Elf Friend with the dwarven caravan in tow. Carokk and two of the dwarves stayed behind in Elf Friend to watch over the family for a couple of days to ensure that there were no more gnolls in the area. He and the dwarves were to follow and join the group when they can.
A day later, the caravan settled in to camp for the night and in the forest Cassandra noticed a small child. When she motioned for the child to approach, the little girl ran into the forest. Always looking to for adventure and to help, the group quickly hustled into the dark forest after the girl. Once they had lost sight of the camp, they noticed that there was apparently more than one child. They heard rustling branches in two different directions and the sound of rushing water. As they stumbled toward the sounds, a dwarf burst through the foliage and began to approach. A moment later, a second dwarf came out of hiding. Grundel hailed the first dwarf, but he didn't answer. He slowly approached and as the group prepared for a confrontation, the dwarf that Grundel was trying to communicate with changed shape. He became a tall, slender, pale-skinned humanoid with bulging white eyes, a doppleganger. The second dwarf-doppleganger got quickly got hit with a magic missile and Kerzog and Grundel quickly attacked the first one. After a short battle, the companions had defeated the dopplegangers. Wanting to wash the blood off their clothing, the group headed toward the rushing water sound. They found a creek leading away from a natural spring. The loud water sound was coming from a waterfall where the creek plunged into a deep sinkhole about 100 feet away from the spring. Near the spring, the party found a recent camp site, no doubt from the dopplegangers, although there was nothing of value.
Just wanting to see the sinkhole waterfall, the group wandered toward the falls, only to be ambushed by a group of five monstrous spiders. The group was able to defeat four of the spiders rather quickly, although both Kerzog and Grundel were poisoned by a bite. Near the end of the battle, Grundel slid down the slope of the sinkhole intending to land on the ledge below so he could aid Kerzog in fighting the final spider. Unfortunately he hit some loose stones on the ledge and plunged into the dark water below. Kerzog was able to kill the last monster and everyone hustled down the ledge to try and help Grundel out of the water. By the time the group reached the landing at water level, Grundel was nowhere to be seen. Whistler cast a light spell on a stone and they tied a rope around him so he could go in the water to try and save his friend. The water was exceptionally rough and Whistler did more sinking that swimming looking for Grundel, but between Grundel struggling towards the light and Whistler yelling using his speak without sound ability, they were able to find each other. Whistler pulled on the rope so Kerzog and Cassandra could pull the wet duo from the water. Fortunately it was a warm summer night, so the two wet adventurers weren't too uncomfortable.
While laying on the ledge on the shore, Grundel mentioned that as he was falling into the water, he saw a cave behind the falls. The group was feeling adventurous, so they lowered themselves down to the cave opening and entered the obviously worked cave. Grundel was in the front since he can see in the darkness and he stepped on a pressure plate that triggered a poisoned arrow trap. The poison weakened Grundel to the point where he was barely able to stand. The group thought about turning back, but Grundel never would have been able to climb back up the rope to the forest. They had to hope that there was another exit. The group came to a fork, went left, and found a small room with a pile of treasure. The treasure was mostly low denomination coinage, but the group took it anyways. Going back to the fork, the group went the other way and came to the entrance of a large room. Strewn about the room was mostly intact humanoid skeletons. Whistler stepped into the room figuring he was the best equipped to deal with possible undead. Sure enough, eight of the skeletons rose to their feet and began to close with the tiny halfling. Whistler stood his ground and called upon the power of Kinsu to set the unnatural creatures to rest. The channeled energy blasted four of the skeletons to dust, but the other four kept coming. The rest of the group stepped into the room to help combat the creatures, but Whistler called upon the power of his god a second time and sent the four skeletons running up a set of stairs on the opposite side of the room.
Halfway up the stairs, there was a landing and a corridor leading off to the left. The group followed the corridor into a nicely appointed room. The group searched a desk and found a small cache of treasure, including a couple of magical rings. Whistler took a ring that allows him to hide exceptionally well and Kerzog took a ring that allows him to jump great distances. After separating the treasure, the companions continued up the stairs and found a door. When they opened the door they found that the door had been hidden under some leaves and branches near the doppleganger campsite.
The party made their way back to the caravan and set out in the morning.