Upon arriving, after a little discussion, they decide to encamp for the night to give the magic users (Maivera, Kriv, and Berekhan) time to study and prepare some rituals. The night passes; Maivera spends most of her time in prayer to Bahamut, while Kriv studies some rituals. The next morning, Kriv brews some healing potions and gives them to Maivera and Berekhan. Then, armed and ready, the party has Dayman make the incantation that opens the cave doors, and head in.The cave is actually more a tunnel, leading down and down into the side of the mountain. For two hours the party marches forward. They find discarded treasure and such, and pocketed some valuable items, but by and large do not see anything worth noting.
After two hours, the party finally comes to a fork. They decide to go left. Almost immediately they are 'attacked' by a ghostly figure. However, it passes through them, and they realize it is just an apparition. Kriv, however, as the creature passes through her, hears a voice in her head say "Remember." She thinks back to the time when she encountered a Deathlock Wright in the caverns near her home, and how after defeating that enemy, she and Kava decided to go adventuring (which of course is what led them to meet up with Rougi and Jaden in that tavern in Zaimier).
It is an odd encounter, but nothing else seems to happen, and no other creatures or enemies present themselves, so the party keeps going down the tunnel. After about another fifty feet or so, Kava, who is in the front of the group, sees a light in front of her. They reach an opening, and Kava steps into a large cavern. It is about 50 feet wide and 100 feet to the back, and has a roughly oval shape. The room is actually mostly a pit, set about 10 feet down from where Kava currently stands. A shelf about ten feet wide rings the room.
The party all files in and they look down into the pit. It is filled with eggs, hundreds of eggs, and not small ones either; each individual egg is about the size of a human head. The room is bathed with an unearthly glow, and looking closely, they realize that sometimes the eggs move, twicthing ever so slightly.
Suddenly, a shout is heard from across the cavern, and from around the 'walkway' comes running four large bluish-green lizards wielding spears and looking as if they're out for blood. They charge towards the party, shouting curses in Draconic. The thought passes through Kriv's head that these are Troglodytes, cursed minions of the Underdark, but there is no time to ruminate on this.A savage battle follows. This time Dayman does not run, and even manages to score some good shots with his crossbow. Maivera, conversely, seems a tad intimidated, and does not manage to connect with even one attack. The rest of the party, though, wails on these attackers: Berekhan unleashes some fearsome spells, while Kava spins through the horde, her greataxe whirling with death. The battle is hardly one-sided; Troglodytes stink to high heaven, and the smell distracts them to the point that their attacks are less effective. Still, it is not long before all four Troglodytes lie dead at their feet.
They take a short rest at this point. They are not sure if the the Troglodytes were guarding the eggs, or if the eggs were just incidental. Kriv shoots one of the eggs with her crossbow, but nothing happens, besides some yolk leaking out. Rougi decides to climb down and pick some up; he loads them into the Bag of Holding he took from Jaden, then smashes a couple. When still nothing happens, the party decides to move on.
There are two exits at the back of the cavern; the party makes their way back and chooses the left again. They go another thirty or so feet through the tunnel and find themselves in an even larger cavern. There are two openings at the sides of the room, and it is once again towards the left-most one that they make their way. However, they have made it only a few feet when, from out of the rock floor, over a dozen Troglodyte warriors burst out, and attack. Strangely, they do not use their weapons, but rather grapple each one of them, shouting at them to "give up!" and "hold still!".
The party resists at first, and take out several of their enemies, but are puzzled by their actions. They rarely strike with their clubs, and usually only if provoked first. They seem more interested in tackling them and keeping them restrained. Plus, a figure at the back of the room occassionally call out at them to not resist. So after a few rounds they decide to just wait and see what their enemies have in mind.
From the back of the cavern, the figure walks towards them. Stepping into the light, he confirms their suspicions; he is in fact Cabal. He says that he needs to know who they are, where they came from, who hired them, and what they know about him - he says their quest has wasted far too much of his master's time already. The party tries to ask him questions; he dismisses their queries shortly, demanding they answer his. Berekhan is the first to volunteer information, telling Cabal that he is not really part of their quest, but explains it to him anyway. Cabal repeats his inquries, and the rest of the party answers with what they know of him. (Berekhan manages to teleport close enough to attack Cabal, but it fails, and he is quickly restrained again.)
Cabal seems not terribly satisfied with the answers the party gives: he keeps repeating his questions, and makes it known that he intends to let the Troglodytes torture them in their evil religious rites. The party eventually becomes tired of his questions, but he continually refuses to answer theirs. They do touch an nerve, though, when they accuse him of being a thief - he snaps that he is not a thief, but rather a punisher of thieves. They are able to probe a little further and find out that he isn't really concerned with general thievery, just thievery from his master. But beyond this he is very closed, roughly deflecting their questions.The party says they have nothing more to tell him. He declares that he thinks they're probably telling him the truth, but he figures he may as well torture some of them to be sure. "Start with the half-wit and the half-breed" he instructs the Troglodytes: they start pulling Maivera and Dayman away. Maivera lets herself be pulled a short distance away from the rest of them, then turns back and says to Kriv, "Remember, Bahamut has great things in store for you!"
Then she turns and spits hard into her captors face. To everyone's surprise, a rock flies out of her mouth, hits the lizard-man in the nose, and rolls onto the floor. Another Troglodyte picks it up. Cabal shouts, "Wait, don't-!" but not before the Troglodyte says, "It says, 'Boom'".
An explosion rips through the cavern. The Troglodytes restraining the party are knocked back, releasing them, while the ceiling caves in around them. For a second everything disappears in a haze of collapsing rock and swirling dust; when it clears, a thick wall of boulders has been formed, cutting the cavern in half. Dayman, Rougi, Kriv, Kava, and Berekhan (as well as six Troglodytes) are on one side, while Cabal, Maivera, and the rest of their enemies are on the other.
The party quickly eliminates the rest of the Troglodytes. They then try to listen across the wall to see if they can hear what is going on. There is a lot of shouting, and the phrase "Go around!" is heard. The party decides there is nothing they can do for Maivera at the moment, and turn to flee the cavern. Kriv is striken with grief at leaving Maivera behind, but she follows.
Rewards
XP: 750
Money: 500 gp
Treasure:
You found several pieces of valuable loot in the cavern:
- Razor Armor +2 (Lvl 7) [p. 231 Player's Handbook]
- Safewing Amulet +2 (Lvl 8) [p. 251 Player's Handbook]
- Dynamic Belt +2 (Lvl 9) [p. 253 Player's Handbook]
