[Session Report 7 - 9/1/24] The Cave of the Owlbear

The party surrounds an owlbear.

    This was another shorter session with my cousin.  His party had heard some rumors from the local town guards about a tribe of goblins who were spotted nearby the northwestern portion of the Dragon Peaks.  The adventurers gathered themselves and set off on foot into the wilderness, hoping to slay some goblins and get some treasure in the process.

    It was the 11th of Second Seed when the party left town and almost immediately, they stumbled onto some ruins.  The party made a note of it in their map but pressed on towards the mountains.  After a few more days of travel, they finally found a cave entrance in the Dragon Peaks.  They searched around the entrance before descending and saw several tracks.  "This must be where the goblins live!" thought the party members.    They lit their torches and made their way down the natural steps of the cave.

    In the first room they entered, they saw some bloody remains and a blood trail that led to an eastward passage.  They followed the trail and tried to listen for anything or anyone that could still be inside the cave.  One of the adventurers thought that some kind of ogre or troll must lurk in these tunnels because of how gruesome the remains were.  The party heard heavy foot steps further down the passage but they kept going.

    They entered a room and were overwhelmed by the disgusting smell coming from a mound of dung.  The dwarf of the party decided to search it and one of the fighters in the group vomited from the sight and smells.  After about 30 minutes, the dwarf was actually able to find some treasure hidden in the dung.  "Whatever made this mess must've eaten some adventurers." said one of the party members.  The party kept going and entered another room that was a ways off.  Inside was an owlbear and it stood on its hind legs and yelled out a frightening roar.

    The party, getting the drop on it, quickly surrounded the beast and started attacking it.  The owlbear clawed and bit at their cleric, Fredrick, killing him.  The rest of the fighters continued to attack and finally slayed the monster.  The dwarf, Ermerer, took the valuables from Fredrick's bags before departing.  Now, the party was starting to worry.  They still haven't encountered any goblins yet and started to wonder if the owlbear had beaten them to the punch.  They double backed, wanting to explore other areas of the cave.  Unfortunately, they were not as cautious as before and fell into some pit traps.  One of the fighters, Kratos, died in one of the pits but fortunately they weren't spiked or else more could've died.  The other party members pulled Peter the Veteran up out of the pit and retrieved Kratos' body, only to immediately loot him for valuables too.

    Deciding that they had taken enough punishment, the party elected to leave the dungeon and return to Dragonwrath with the treasure they found.  It didn't take too long before they were back within the safe walls of the settlement where they could sell some of their loot and rest before their next adventure.