Stop the Poaching - Group 3, Session 5
General Summary
We join our adventuring party of Dhraanngh the Half-Orc Liberator Champion, Gambit the Goblin Mutagenist Alchemist, Kleone the Halfling Leaf Druid, and Tom the Halfling Bard as they return from their meeting with Two-Twist the Satyr. They are to meet with the Satyr who will guide them across the Dryad River to meet with another satyr friend of his that has information about the poaching that's going on. There were also suggestions of a satyr party - a frolic in the forest - that sounded like it would be a rather fun diversion for the group!
The party had a little time in town before they had to depart for their sundown meeting, so they decided to go shopping. Kleone, Ginger, and Tom all visited the fine clothier in the village, a shop called Taste of the North, to pick up an appropriate party outfit. Kleone and Ginger also managed to score a bottle each of "Ol' Dwarfstopper" - a highly recommended and particularly potent strong spirit produced by none other than Maydillbass Ginball, the gnome who supplied libations for the Bugbear's Head Inn.
Soon, the four were getting into a rowboat - made available as part of their accomodation package at the Crying Spirit Resort. Three of them were dressed in their new party clothes; Dhraanngh decided his armor was festive enough. Two bottles of Dwarfstopper and the small cask of fine ale that Dhraanngh had been carrying around were also loaded into the boat.
After a bit more than an hour, the group reached their rendezvous point and summoned Two-Twist. Crossing the river and stowing their boat, Two-Twist then summoned his friend Hollowhorn with a tune on his pipes. Hollowhorn, after offering to carry the cask of ale, began leading the group along the shore, chatting idly with Two-Twist about absolutely nothing that was of interest to the adventurers. But they soon reached a point where Hollowhorn pointed back toward the river and said, "That's where they've hidden their boat." He then turned away from the river and led the group deeper into the forest along what may have been a game trail.
Along the trail, Gambit happened to spy something strange off to one side, and after investigating, she discovered several very fine silk nets stretched across some laurel shrubs - and as she watched, one of these nets ensnared a pixie. Gambit quickly freede the grateful fey and then destroyed the nets before rejoining the party.
A little further on, Hollowhorn stopped and informed the party that the humans they were seeking were just ahead. As the party considered their next move, Hollowhorn and Two-twist very quickly took their leave of the group and disappeared into the forest (taking Dhraanngh's ale cask with them). The adventurers realized that the only party they were attending tonight was the one that involved dealing with these poachers.
The adventurers listened in as they heard the presumed leader of the group admonishing another about his poor handling of their catch, and teaching the proper way to de-wing a sprite. As their anger rose, the leader then directed another poacher to "go check the nets". That human left their camp and started walking straight toward the party. Tom acted quickly, and managed a lullaby that put the unsuspecting human to sleep without him having the chance to raise any alarm. While Tom bound their first captive, Gambit and Kleone snuck nearer to the camp, using shrubs and their small size to stay hidden. Finally Dhraanngh, who is never one for subtlety, decided on a course of action.
Grabbing the bottle of Ol' Dwarfstopper that Gambit had been sampling along the trail, he lumbered into the poacher's camp, acting as staggeringly drunk as he could manage. It was one of his best performances. The two remaining poachers sat by their fire, dumbfounded at the sight of an armored half-orc staggering into their camp in the middle of the forest with an open bottle in his hand, asking where the party was supposed to be.
The shock and surprise was all the group needed to get the jump on the poachers. One was quickly splattered by an Acid Flask from Gambit; he spent the rest of the short fight trying to get the burning acid away from his skin. The other - the leader - after taking a few dagger swipes at Dhraanngh, decided that fleeing was his best recourse. Kleone's Tanglefoot spell ensured that approach was futile as well. After Dhraanngh knocked the poacher out with a few strong punches, he was dragged back into the camp for questioning. As the three poachers, now all securely bound, realized that they were in trouble no matter what they said or did, they began to tell the adventurers all they knew -- or at least almost all.
The party was informed about how the poachers delivered their goods. They did not get much information about who was in charge of the entire operation, though a name: Georgi Amaricson was mentioned. Georgi was the chief bartender at the Gimna's Palace casino, where the keg cellar served as the poaching dropoff point. He was also the son of Amaric Duncanson, the owner of the general store across the road from the casino, and member of the Village Elder Council. With this information, the party decided their next move would be to check out this dropoff point and see what they could discover there.
The party of Dhraanngh the Half-Orc Liberator Champion, Gambit the Goblin Mutagenist Alchemist, Kleone the Halfling Leaf Druid, and Tom the Halfling Bard have caught human poachers red-handed in the forest south of the Dryad River and about two miles from the village of Spirit Lake. Three captives are brought back to the village as the party must now deal with the organizers of the poaching activity. They must also capture the leader - a figure whose name they still do not know even as they prepare to close the net around the poaching operations.
The group returned with their captives to the village as darkness fell, and they quietly made their way to the back basement entrance to Gimna's Palace. Descending into what they discovered to be a keg cellar, they looked around. Finally, after some gentle persuasion of their captives, they were pointed to a secret door hidden behind some kegs. This opened into a tiny room where, the party was informed, the poachers were supposed to leave their "catch". The captured poacher group leader also revealed that there was a second secret door, this one leading out of the back of the tiny room and into an unlit tunnel.
The party carefully crept down the tunnel - but not carefully enough. When Dhraanngh finally snuck into a lit room off a side branch of the tunnel, he was surprised by two assailants. One was exceptionally accurate, and the half-orc went down. Hearing the commotion, the others of the party rushed to offer what assistance they could. The narrow tunnels made combat quite difficult, but in the end, the three diminutive adventurers managed to defeat one assasilant and capture the other. THey then revived Dhraanggh.
The room in which the half-orc fell contained records showing that the group had apparently just missed the departure of a shipment of "goods" via the merchant they had been eyeing. Questioning their newest captive, they were able to determine all of the workings of the poaching ring:
The party was exhausted after their long day and evening of combat, and realized that Amaric and the merchant really had no place to run. Once they got confirmation that both left the village via the road toward Dryad Falls - a four to five day journey with no side cutoffs - they decided to turn over the prisoners they had and get a bit of rest before pursuing the merchant and the mastermind. Waking up Elder GRisela Bladewell in the bakery, they turned over their prisoners and then headed to the resort to get some rest.
The Session ends here.
Missions/Quests Completed
The party captured or killed all of the lieutenants of the poaching ring, and learned the identity of the mastermind. They also know that Amaric is on his way to Dryad Falls along with the merchant carrying the latest batch of captured fey.
