Orcs, Gnolls, and Bugbears, Oh My! Chapter 7 Book I

From the Chronology:

9 Coldeven (March), 590 CY The party returns in force, clearing the orc caverns then attacking the bugbears and the gnolls. The priests of the Shrine of Chaos hire bandits to attack the party with the rest of the gnolls when they leave the bugbear lair, but after another long, bloody fight the party is victorious. The party then cleans out the minotaur's mazes and slays an owlbear.

Orc Chieftain & Wives
From Into the Borderlands 
(2018), p299

The Narrative:

Evryhss (elvish adventurer) & Gozara (barbarbian warrior) returned from spending the night in the Keep with food supplies and news that the party's successes in the caves were not going unnoticed.  

With their return the party now numbered fourteen: Corvus (priest of Pholtus), Sheila (paladin of Pholtus),  Zask (mysterious spellcaster), Redd (dwarven paladin), Olga (Dwarven Scout),  Blacktoof (half-orc barbarian), Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobar (noble artificer), Ambiguity (Rakasta druid) & her companion mountain lion, Evryhss (elvish adventurer), Gozara (barbarbian warrior). Morbor (dwarven fighter), and Abel (Kettite fighter).

The group rested and recuperated, renewing magic and healing from their battle.

Returning to the valley of the Caves of Chaos, the band focused first on the north-east side of the valley and the lairs of the orcs they had defeated in battle the previous morning. Blacktoof challenged the remaining orc chieftain to a duel for control of the orc tribes and possession of the chieftains' wives. It was a brutal fight but Blacktoof won and claimed the leadership of the tribes. Putting his new wives in charge, he left them unmolested in their caverns with the other females and the young.

Then, Blacktoof and the party moved on towards the head of the valley to clear the lair of the bugbears. 

The Entrance to the Bugbear Lair
As depicted in Justin Pfeil's webcomic:
 The Keep on the Borderlands
Page 296 – The Bugbear Lair

The party slaughtered the bugbears in their entrance cavern, not falling for the bugbears' ruse of offering free skewers of meat, then fought their way deep into the cave complex. They reached the slave pens and managed to kill the bugbear guards, freeing the prisoners. Two of the prisoners, men-at-arms named Bober and Bilsack, offered their service as payment for their freedom. 


The rest of the bugbears then ambushed the party as they left the slave pens. They fought through the rest of the lair, slaying the bugbear chieftain and his shaman wife.

The Bugbear tribe was a formidable foe. 

Meanwhile, the priests of the Shrine of Evil Chaos hired the local bandits to fight alongside the survivors of the gnoll tribes and ambush the party as they leave the bugbear lair. 

A score of bandits and more than a dozen gnolls hid in the woods surrounding the bugbear entrance. As the party moved to depart, they attacked. It was a long, bloody but the characters hurled magic in copious amounts and their warriors sliced through the bandits like a hot knife through butter.

When nearly all the bandits were slain, and half of the gnolls, the Gnoll packlord and his remaining tribe mates fled. The party then discovered that the orc tribes had fled the valley despite Blacktoof's orders to stay. Undeterred, the characters sent those they rescued from the bugbears back to the Keep guarded by Morbor, Gozara, and Evryhss.  

The remaining adventurers further explored and looted the bugbear lair, where they discovered a secret door that led them into the Minotaur's labyrinth. Lost within for several hours they fought strange glowing beetles and stirges. But they also found and looted the minotaur's treasure trove, where Corvus discovered Sword of Healing dedicated to Pholtus. 


After finally escaping the labyrinth the most of the adventurers explored the gnoll lair while Ambiguity and her mountain lion explored a dense thicket concealing a shunned cavern area that was the lair of an owlbear, as well as a pool cavern infested with grey oozes. Ambiguity and the lion defeated all of their foes and survived their solo excursion.


Meanwhile, the rest of the band found that the gnolls had followed the lead of the orcish tribes and fled the area. The party returned to the bugbear lair and made camp there for the evening. 

This played out over three sessions in December 2021, and then in February and March 2022.

Disclaimer: This blog recounts the fictional events of a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Views expressed by characters within the blog are those of the characters, not the players, dungeon master, nor the blog's author. All other views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

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