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Previously on Rime of the Frostmaiden
Starring:
Valravn, level 4 Eladrin Bard of Eloquence
Fray, level 4 Halfling Barbarian of the Beast
Celeste, level 4 Half-orc Sun Soul Monk
Edmond, Level 4 Human Alchemist Artificer
Thimbleweed, level 4 Gnome Swarmkeeper Ranger
Having defeated the mutated mead, the Marshals descend into the tunnel beneath the brewery and find the cave lair of the troublemakers behind all of the town’s problems.
After a short rest, the Marshals find themselves quite drained of resources. Valravn is still out of spell slots, and Fray uses all her hit dice and still isn’t fully recovered. But they opt to press on, down the tunnel that the enlarged man used to escape several days ago.
In the tunnel they find a dropped journal. Several entries over the past
They emerge from the tunnel after about 1000 feet, surrounded by the woods outside town. They follow a frozen stream, and some large humanoid tracks, to a cave with multiple entrances.
Thimbleweed stealthily explores the northwest entrance (V6), noting the roaring bonfire and pen full of mutated, enlarged goats (V3) feasting on smaller creatures.
Not wanting to deal with any of that, the party continues north, where the frozen stream becomes a frozen pond with a statue stuck underneath (V7). The party identifies Silvanus, god of nature. Using some axes they uncover the statue enough to be able to touch it, making Religion checks to try and receive the god’s blessing. Valravn, Celeste, and Edmond are successful enough to receive the Bless spell for the next hour.
To the east is a cramped tunnel. Naturally our shortest heroes waltz into the room beyond, which features a large stone sarcophagus and murals on the wall (V10). Fray notices some finger holes on the sarcophagus that would require multiple people, while Thimbleweed learns the mural tells the story of an ancient tribe who harvest a unique plant from this cave, made some potions, and grew big and strong.
Despite the potential dangers, the Marshals carelessly yell back and forth through the tunnel. At the same time, Thimbleweed sees a sleeping ogre in a cave beyond another natural tunnel to the east (V5), which promptly wakes up and begins searching for the intruders.
The Marshals continue into that eastern tunnel, finding several barrels and casks of mead. Celeste begins drinking, but realizes this is just regular, pre-formula mead. The ogre returns to the cave, and the fight is on!
Poor Harold. The party absolutely unleash on the transformed human. Thimbleweed uses his final Chardalyn Arrow to blind him, while Valravn blows some stunning spores in his face as Celeste and Fray beat him senseless, and Edmond uses Thorn Whip to drag his body further into the cave. However, the ogre did get one round to smash Fray and call for help, and the party hears another large humanoid approaching.
They get into position shoving the ogre in the corner and hiding around the room (V5) as the Verbeeg (a transformed Duggan) enters the room. With the Verbeeg rolling last in initiative, the PCs get two full rounds to carve into his 90+ hit point bulk, nailing multiple critical hits in the process.
The one complication is a pair of dire wolves (enlarged dogs), though only one of them can make it into the cave via the western tunnel, pouncing on Thimbleweed.
After a nasty crit from Fray, she intimidates the sagging giant into surrendering. He’s only able to call off one of the wolves (the one behind him) as he leaves the cave, but it doesn’t take long for the PCs to take out the other one.
Fun addendum: They cleared the Verbeeg Lair without killing a single creature, as the ogre and the wolf are rendered unconscious, while the others flee.
After the battle, the Marshals finally explore the big bonfire room (V3), staying clear of the mutated goats. Fray starts smashing all the crates and supplies, but Valravn quickly scoops up bottles of the latest batch – six Potions of Growth!
Valravn finds the main entrance to the east (V2), seeing Duggan and another giant, Gaige, arguing outside. Valravn yells out to them to stay clear while they clear and destroy everything inside, though they ultimately leave the mutant goats alone.
The DM reminds them about the tomb they left behind earlier. They hurry back, put their fingers into the holes, and roll STR checks to push the lid open, finding the skeletal remains of an ancient, enlarged human. They swipe a magic pearl and wand before leaving the cave back through the tunnel.
The gigantic instigators have been dealt with (more or less), but the bee-problem still remains. We’ll deal with them next week!
MVPC – Celeste
Post-session live discussion:
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