Last we checked in upon our group of hearty adventurers, they were lost in the underdark relying upon the ancient artificer to lead the way out. They came across an area of the mine that had been severely flooded at some point and had been sealed off. It was clear from the stench and the low light emanating from the walls and floors that other beings has made a home of the sealed chambers. Phosphorescent fungi lit their way as they came to a locked door. The barbarian, anxious to approach the next room and hoping to frighten any creatures into hiding, kicked the door open, nearly severing it from its hinges. Scaring the party to the same extent as those hiding in the darkness behind the doorway.

The first look revealed a room that had been deeply flooded and where now 2 toad people and assorted creatures were living. The team worked well together and soon had claimed the room as clear. They discovered a chest and in it was 486g pieces and a beautiful, sparkly, red ruby! Led on by the expedient dispatch of their enemies (and possibly a little murky in the mind from the stench) they began to explore the dungeon in haste decimating doors and folding foes in their wake. With a small back step they found themselves in a hallway, the door to the right from whence they started, the door to the left unopened. The ranger and assassin tried to sneak into the room and investigate, but Octavio's hand slipped upon the door and sent it slamming shut behind him.

The noise awoke the savage beasts within and they descended upon the ranger, now screaming to his comrades for assistance. Toph's solution was to find another way around but the much more loyal Sarkon fought his way into the room to lift his companion to safety and healing at Dagoby's hands. The rest of the group took charge upon the room and though taking some injurious blows, they eventually conquered the room. Once again they discovered doorways (some secret..shhhh) and found themselves some loot by pure brute force and a LOT of broken stone.

This led them onto a room ablaze with various colors of phosphorescent fungi. The walls and floors were lined with colonies of various colors, hiding 3 chests. Garanth immediately thought to use a float spell and open one of the chests. With a spray of spores, he immediately began to feel quite ill. Realizing that he had been infected, he decided to sacrifice himself further for the greater good and the greater reward. He opened the chests and brought the contents back to the party who amazed at its glorious wonder!

He made one last float to the other side of the massive room and opened the next door. Taunting the creatures in that room he got them to lead chase into the room of fungi, creatively taking out all the foe in one fell swoop!

The group rejoined and found an alternative way around the room, finding the obvious living quarters of the lycans and recovering one bracer of archery and a pair of wild runners. They discovered seven small treasure chests with a total of 600g worth of Residuum, 125g, 167g, 54s, and 80 copper plus a moon stone worth 100g. They also found Dwarven Grieves, phylactery of divinity, Adamantium weapon (+2 resists), a polyglot gem and an orb of sanguinary repercussions. The travelers continued towards Forgehomme.

At the gates of Forgehomme they were met by two very large guards who questioned if any of the party were infected since the Underdark was known to be notoriously diseased. As two of the members were ill, they were escorted directly into the city's Temple ward and into a temple dedicated to Moriden. The clerics would clean the fallen party members for gold but Dagoby used his negotiation skills to allow them to stay the night and let him heal them in the morning.

The party found places to bed down for a long rest before they began their adventures anew with a mission to find information on the lost labyrinth.

(Party loot distributed as such:
600g of Residuum and 881g was kept in a party pot to be distributed as needed. The ruby and moonstone were also kept with the party loot.
Octavio received one bracer of archery
Sarkon received the wild runners
Loodra received the pair of dwarven grieves (est. sell price of $2572.50g in town)
Dagoby received the phylactery of divinity
Toph received the Adamantium weapon
Garanth received the orb of sanguinary repercussions.
Gwen received an earlier magical item (feel free to post it if you would like Aly)

(To keep continuity on this blog I'm posting Evan's recap from 5/16)

The day started out simply enough, each of the adventurers arrived in the town of Brindol.  They had each heard the large Dwarven city, Overlook, was in need of any able-bodied individuals to help the Farstriders, Freeriders and many other adventuring parties fend off frequent Orc attacks.

While in route, however, they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Brindol was under attack!  A Hobgoblin raiding party laid waste to the town!  The party managed to save countless lives as they fought off the advancing Hobgoblins and their kin.  Though the town had suffered massive property damage (both from the Hobgobins themselves and from blowing up a cart full of oil themselves), Brindol seemed safe at last.

It was only the next morning the yet-to-be-named-adventurers learned the full extent of the Hobgobin attack.  They were under the orders of a warchief named Sinruth who had stolen many of the town's treasured items as well as kidnapped a number of villages.  The group had also learned every one of the stolen items was tied to another Hobgoblin uprising lead by a group calling themselves The Red Hand of Doom.

The group received further information from a captured Hobgoblin, who told the group Sinruth was operating out of a long forgotten keep called Rivenroar.  Having no one else to turn to, Brindol's town counsel asked the adventurers to travel to Rivenroar and save their kidnapped villages.

The group set out that afternoon and found their way into the keep, even though they received poor information from the captured Hobgobin as to the whereabouts of Rivenroar.  Inside, they found it guarded by a number of Hobgoblins, Goblins and other nasty critters.

Quickly, however, they made their way downstairs and freed one of the villagers: Adronsius, the Dwarven Alchemist.  He informed the group that a number of other villages were indeed also held hostage here in Rivenroar, though he could not tell them where they were being held captive.

Moving on, they made their through the keep and found a strange one-way portal.  The portal showed a strange castle sitting in a dismal swamp within the Shadowfell.  As the group was examining the portal, a Ochre Jelly and Wights traveled through into the material world and quickly attacked them!  It was an incredibly close battle, leaving them badly bloodied and bruised.  But they were alive!

And that is where the adventurers left off their first session.  What will come next for them?  Will they make it out of Rivenroar alive?  And what of the other prisoners?  Only time will tell!