09 // Night raid on an enemy cache

The remaining "Hot Boys," with Templeton asleep, decide to raid the nearest treasure cache marked on a map Smurk stole from Elijah Gimble’s desk. Leaving a note for Templeton, they head out into the night.

Finding the Entrance

The group struggles to locate the cache entrance supposedly located in a residential neighborhood (failing to uncover any clues due to a series of poor rolls). Frustrated, Smurk steps away to a hidden corner and begins casting Detect Magic as a 10-minute ritual. Fert, impatient with the search, stumbles over a shrub and makes enough noise to wake a resident.

An old, cantankerous man bursts from his home and confronts Fert, catching him mid-stream while urinating on the plants. "Get your penis peeing off my peonies!" the man shouts, threatening to call the guards unless Fert pays him off. Chappy ducks into an alley nook, avoiding the scene, while Scraat steps in and pretends to be a member of the Inner Guard. Scraat scolds the old man for exploiting citizens, convincing him to back down and retreat inside.

When Smurk finishes his ritual, he sees a familiar translucent purple thread, similar to the one he saw while holding an onyx shard. He leads the group to a set of outdoor basement doors hidden behind overgrown bushes. The group enters and descends a long stairwell into the underground complex.

The Guard Encounter

The group moves cautiously through the underground system until they come across a pair of guards in a small room. Acting swiftly, they take down one guard while Chappy charms the other. Under the charm, the guard reveals two paths: one leading to a Zhentarium mercenary unit and the other to an armory filled with magical items.

Fert, reluctant to kill unnecessarily, suggests tying up the charmed guard to deal with him later. Smurk, misunderstanding the plan, slits the guard’s throat without hesitation, spilling blood everywhere. Realizing the room is a common area, the group scrambles to clean up the mess and drags the bodies down the stairwell toward the armory.

The Armory

The group sneaks into the armory and finds enough gear to outfit a small army. They ambush and kill two more guards, quickly hiding all four bodies in a dark corner before pressing on toward the treasure cache.

Goliaths Collide

The party enters a large, open space in front of a locked door. An Uthgardt goliath lunges from the shadows, swinging a massive axe. The goliath taunts Fert mid-fight, drawing him into an intense one-on-one duel. Fert rises to the challenge, overpowering the goliath and pinning him to the ground. He ends the fight by pressing his staff across the goliath’s throat, suffocating him.

The Treasure Cache

The group uses one of the keys they looted to unlock the treasure room. Inside, they find a small hoard of magical items and several pieces of onyx. Victorious, they prepare to return and regroup.