In the morning in Blassingdell, Qeew, Argora, and Hugo stopped by Gix’s General Store. The tiefling merchant recognized the travelers as favored guests of Lord Kane, and he extended a V.I.P. discount to them for a bag of holding, which Qeew purchased for the group.
At the Stagnant Pool inn, Kerath studied the crystal dragon whistle that he pocketed in the Sunless Citadel and determined it had the power to raise undead.
The party regrouped near the inn. They found Kavagal passed out in the street following their night of drinking with the inn patrons. After deciding against “borrowing” some gold from Kavagal while he was unconscious, they moved him back into the inn to recuperate, and Zin volunteered to stay behind with him. [Aaron and Lauren missed this session, so we invented this story to explain their absence.]
In the Stagnant Pool, the party members met a dragonborn fighter named Stuv [played by Ed, who stopped by the Malted Meeple for just this night while he was in town]. He explained that he was a mercenary in need of work, so the party hired him to help plunder the orc stronghold.
Before leaving the inn, Qeew and Kerath approached Rumble, the dwarf innkeeper. When they asked him about his unintentional mention of werewolves the previous day, he vehemently denied saying anything. Keeva entered the room, and Rumble started twitching and stammering nervously. Keeva indicated to Kerath that she smelled animal, and they decided to leave before they wore out their welcome.
The party left town on a two-day journey for the stronghold Khundrukai at Stone Tooth. They halted near the entrance when they spotted a ledge manned by orc sentries overlooking the door. To draw them out, Hugo magically disguised himself as a female orc and pretended to feint on the road. When the sentries withdrew behind a wall with arrow slits, he stood up. They began shouting at him in orcish. Argora, who knew their language, whispered to Hugo from nearby bushes what grunts to make in response to their questions. The sentries saw through this ruse and fired upon Hugo, striking him in the shoulder with an arrow.
The party retreated into the woods and decided to stake out the fortification while Kerath and Keeva scouted the perimeter for alternate entrances. While waiting, a small troop of orcs escorting one living and two dead human captives passed by. Before the party could decide what to do, the orcs entered the stronghold.
Kerath returned with Keeva and reported the existence of a tunnel. The party decided to take this route, hoping it would lead inside the stronghold. The tunnel connected to a cave system beneath Khundrukai containing both natural caverns and rooms carved from the stone.
In one room where they fought off a grick attack, they found a locked iron door emblazoned with what they believed to be Durgeddin’s mark. Unable to open it, they moved on.
In another cave with a fast moving stream, Qeew slipped into the rushing water. Kerath fell in as well when he tried to help her, and the two were swept over a waterfall and plummeted 60 feet into a dark pool, mostly unharmed. The others climbed down to the lower cavern where the party spent the night recuperating.
After killing a gray ooze in an abandoned storeroom, which dissolved Stuv’s armor, the party moved into another cavern with a strange stalagmite in the center. A stranded fish flailing near the stalagmite drew Qeew’s attention, and she immediately rushed toward a perceived tasty meal. Just then the stalagmite rose, revealing itself to be a monstrous roper, and grasped Qeew with one of its tendrils. Its horrific maw bit into Qeew, knocking her unconscious, before Argora rushed in and cut her free. Keeva tried to drag Qeew’s limp body away before she too was nearly killed. Almost everyone in the party was grappled before the adventurers rallied and slew the monster. Feeling for the first time that they could be in over their heads, the group paused to catch their breaths…