| Session Date | March 23, 2019 |
| Start Date | 20 Sunsback, 1272 |
| End Date | 23 Sunsback, 1272 |
| Starting Location | Party's quarters, Kazakh |
| Ending Location | Party's quarters, Kazakh |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 2000 |
The party rested two full days and three nights to fully recover form their wounds from the previous foray. During this time, Cadwallider took the opportunity to pen a scroll of knock and to order 8 more vials of special ink. When they were at last ready, they met their new thief, Dimbul the Dextrous, at the gate of the city and headed out. Cadwallider asked him if he knew anything about the whereabouts of Parker Darkai; the thief mentioned that there was a shadowy new thief in the lowest parts of the city that might be her. Cadwallider now became invisible and the party headed out of the city.
Back to the Dwarven outworks blocking the dungeon, the Dwarf guards reported that all had been quiet, though at one point a figure had approached and studied the defenses for a time, but that there had been no attacks and they remained vigilant. The party, for their part, had no encounters down the long tunnel into the archway room. They decided to explore towards the south and east again, though this time passing through the formerly moldy room first. As before numerous footprints traversed it, but to no particular pattern of note.
South of the room, the thief was scouting ahead a short distance and walked into a four-way intersection, and a hail of crossbow fire from a small unit of Hobgoblins. He fell back to the party and Iban cast protection from normal missiles then stepped out himself to draw fire. About this time, the entire area around the party fell deadly silent. The invisible Cadwallider slipped out and away form the firing Hobgoblins. Beyond them, he could see a lone human figure (hard to see). He began to pepper her (a female priestess as they later determined) with magic missiles. Iban, meanwhile, came into melee with the Hobgoblins, followed a little bit later by Aldeberon and Rowan. The entire force was quickly wiped out, and the party plundered a gold holy symbol of the goddess Lolitar form the priestess. head of them was a large statue of the goddess, made of steel, standing in a wide north-south passageway.
The party turned back to the east and burst open a door to reveal a large chamber filled with two dozen or so Ogres. There was no immediate fight as the party and Ogres parleyed. Each tried to intimidate the other into paying a ransom to pass unharmed, but Cadwallider used the time and talk to cast ice storm into the room; it did not kill any of them but it injured most of them. A large melee ensued as the party's fighters pushed into the room, cutting down wounded Ogres rather easily (relatively speaking). But sheer numbers weighed on the party, and their long-reach weapons (halberds, mainly) allowed many Ogres to join the melee. Sensing trouble, Cadwallider (their rear guard) cast haste on the party, which certainly helped turn the tide of the fight. But, as this was occurring, another force of Hobgoblins led by a priestess attacked from behind. Dimbul was hit by a hold person spell, and now Cadwallider fired a lightning bolt at the new enemy, killing several of them. Though losing numbers, the Ogres had done fearsome injuries to the fighters. Their apparent Chieftain had entered the fray, wielding what was later determined to be a magic halberd to great effect, especially against Aldeberon. The party fighters all went for the chieftain, who deftly dodged their blows for a time. But, he was finally cut down by Iban and, when he died, the surviving Ogres broke morale and surrendered. To the rear, the Hobgoblins were wiped out and a wounded priestess fled into the darkness beyond.
The Ogres mentioned they'd been driven up from below by thugs from the Troll Kings, and hardly batted an eye as the party took their small hoard of treasure. They would be no more trouble for the party, it seemed. Moving back out, the party went only a short distance and ran into a single priestess who signed for a parley (this was a new one they'd not yet seen). She wished to know why the party had slain so many Hobgoblins, and it soon became apparent that the Hobgoblins had got word back to the cultists that they thought the party had killed the first batch of dead Hobgoblins the party found previously (they had not, of course). It was clear the priestess was convinced of the party's guilt, though she was hardly concerned about the actual Hobgoblins. The talk then turned to territory, and the priestess insisted that the party remain clear of the cult, or risk full open warfare with them; they were already planing on using their spells to learn more of the party and their intentions. The party demanded the cultists remain to the south, leaving the rest of the dungeon to the party. This was disputed back and forth for a time, in somewhat vague and arbitrary terms, with the result that there was a very (VERY) loose agreement that each side would mind its own business. The slaughtered spider nest came up briefly, but more as an aside than a condemnation (the spiders had been friendly with the cultists, it seemed). When asked, the priestess named herself Aronwe. She gave Aldeberon and Sir Rowan a look before they parted, one of almost recognition.
In truth, the party was in very bad shape and had no wish to tangle with the cult at this time. Instead, they made their way back to the room of archways and thence to the surface, ending what was perhaps their shortest expedition yet.