- Emerging from the hole, we find Karissa and Fergal - Fergal begins to tend to everyone's blocked ears - There are roughly ten survivors remaining in the town - The barmaid and the mayor are still visible. The mayor has wandered towards the town gates, and is now lingering there - The survivors appear to remember everything that happened during the false hydra's infestation of the town - Ellette approaches the mayor, but he expresses a pessimistic outlook on what remains of Greyhollow - Ellette suggests moving to Neverwinter, but the mayor scoffs at the idea - She then suggests the remaining survivors travel to the keep in Alexandria - The mayor seems nonplussed, and cannot understand why Ellette would want them there. - Qwimby travels with the remaining survivors of Greyhollow to bring them back to the keep - Karissa does not seem impressed at us harbouring the survivors - As we return to the cart, Ellette casts Mending on Lyra's Warforged body - beginning the work on rebuilding it - We set off from Greyhollow towards Neverwinter - On the journey, Lyra is restored - the Warforged body now functioning again - On the journey, Fergal tells the story of calling upon Valkur while on the Storm's Eye - a ship he served on with his brother, Ashe. - The ship passes through a storm, which ends with a bolt of lightning hitting a mast. However, the ship survived, and the captain was pleased with them both - Steve recalls a meal she shared with Big Guy after having built their home inside the keep. They made pigeon pie together. - Karissa is a pissy pants - (*Karpissa*) - Ellette mentions having missed her chance to join the army in the Feywild but feels she would not have been a good fit in hindsight as she could not accept their rigid nature - and how beholden they are to rules that may cause harm to others - Fergal makes mention of a cave he has heard of on a distant island that is known to be extremely dangerous. It is populated by skeletons and houses a powerful artefact - Karissa once ate a pig's anus - Ellette accidentally killed the first friend she made after fleeing from the hags - This mad was named Brynmar - She was unable to control her magic at the time. He was a hunter and they travelled together. She lost control of her power during training, and he lingered for a few days before death - His last words were "strength lies in understanding, not in fear and sometimes the path you walk is clearer in the wake of a stumble. Remember that" - It remains in her memory as she could do nothing to help him - Karissa speaks of a fighter she knew in the gladiatorial arena named J'ohn. - He fought with a chain and was an extremely skilled combatant. - Lyra speaks of a world they used to trade with that had a yearly festival with a massive ball that she always wished she could attend - but they had never been present while it was being celebrated. - As the cart continues, we hear what sounds like a feminine scream - There is a halfling hanging from a tree - surrounded by eight giant spiders - Steve uses Speak with Animals to talk to the spiders. They are fighting amongst themselves over eating the halfling. - They turn to face Steve, referring to the halfling as "Meat. Fresh" - The spiders refer to a queen, saying she has proclaimed that they eat - They continue to speak of the queen of spiders - saying she does not entertain an audience with anyone. She is from the material plane, and the spiders claim she was betrayed - They say one of us know the queen of spiders - This turns out to be Ellette - who identifies the queen as Lolth - Steve intimates the spiders, urging them to back down. They insist on hearing the "queen's word", refusing to leave otherwise - Ellette vaguely recollects something to do with a spinning web but cannot remember the actual phrase - Steve presses with her attempt to intimidate. The spiders speak the prayer - "I spin thy web of chaos mother, I spin it in your name. Let not the threads unravel" - They rear up, raising their front legs in unison and approaching us threateningly - Ellette obliterates seven of the spiders with a chromatic orb - Steve attempts to throw her hammer at the last remaining spider, but it falls to the ground harmlessly and does not return to her - Fergal finishes off the remaining spider with a crunch from his Stormbreaker anchor. - Steve's subsequent attempts to recall her hammer also fail - We approach the halfling - who is now crying - The halfling was robbed by goblins, who took his cart and his favourite pony - He was on his way to New Alexandria from Neverwinter - There were notes sent out by Quincy asking for farming supplies - which the halfling was bringing - The halfling's name is Ralvin. The pony's name is Julia - Karissa refers to Ralvin as a "kid", which offends him. He kicks her in the ankle - Ralvin speaks of a raw pink, tall individual who somewhat resembles Karissa without horns - this one appeared to be leading the goblins - He could not understand the words being spoken amongst his attackers - Ralvin asks if he might join us as we venture after the goblins - He offers something that could help - a ring with a single charge. The ring contains Fireball - He mentions having used two of its three charges before, both times causing chaotic effects that likely lead to his flight from Neverwinter - Ralvin begins to take notes as we speak with him, seeming intrigued by Ellette and her nature as an Eladrin. He appears to want to take further notes in future - Ralvin also takes note of the fact that Steve believes Karissa is her daughter - whom she hatched from an egg - Ralvin creates a cooked chicken from thin air - which amazes Karissa - She devours it - Approaching the edge of a nearby woods, we see a tall pink-skinned elf wearing a deer skull-mask. He holds a hand up signaling at us to stop - He claims to pass we have to pay the tax - 50 GP per goods - 30 torches surround the cart at the skull-wearer's signal - Steve identifies us as Sordia Vignti. The skull-wearer recognises the name, and holds a wanted poster from Luskan. - Ellette mentions the cart and goods stolen from Ralvin - the Skull-wearer insists that the halfling threw a fireball at them after being pressed to pay their tax - The skull-wearer claims that the cows and donkeys being transported by Ralvin were stolen from them - Ralvin does not deny this, attempting to twist the words used to levy the accusation before noticing that the torches encircling us are moving closer - He turns invisible, dashing from the cart. Graxen can still smell him, he appears to still be within the cart - having feigned the dash - Fergal casts Dispel Magic - attempting to remove Ralvin's invisibility. The halfling reappears, with Karissa attempting to grapple him. She misses, but Steve latches onto his legs - Steve knocks him out with a swift punch to the face, stiffling his screams. - The skull-wearer removes his mask, revealing long blonde hair. The women disapprove of this colouring, causing the DM to change it to auburn - The man has scales running down his face and around his nose. He appears mildly snake-like, with elvish skin and ears - Graxen recognises the man as a half elf. Karissa asks about the other half of his genes, he is aloof in answering but does seem to be on edge. - He eventually admits that his father was a lizardfolk. - His name is Vargath - With a click of his fingers, the torches extinguish - with numerous goblins emerging from the darkness. - Vargath claims to be responsible for ensuring travellers have safe passage through the forest - citing the spiders as an example of the dangers that can be encountered within the trees - At this point, Steve attempts to remove her fist from Ralvin's mouth as Ellette and Karissa begin speaking with him. He bites her as she withdraws her hand, spurning her to strike him again. - Ralvin denies stealing Vargath's cows. - Vargath speaks of goblins being unwelcome in Neverwinter. They encountered Ralvin on their travels - playing card games with him. while Ralvin lost the majority of games, he pilfered the fireball ring from Vargath - before leading the spiders towards them. Vargath believes this was done with some manner of bottle elixir that attracted the giant spiders. - He identifies his band of goblins as mercenaries who were simply trying to make a profit - He also claims he would not attempt to extort those who could not afford to pay their tax - Ralvin comes clean as attempting to profiteer from war - As Ellette and Karissa press him further, the chicken the latter ate earlier begins to repeat on her. She is paralysed, falling to the ground - Fergal lifts the paralysis with lesser restoration. Karissa responds by violently kicking Ralvin - Both Graxen and Fergal stop her, as it was extremely likely this kick would have killed Ralvin - Ralvin mentions being talented with magical poisons. - Steve uses minor illusion to create the effect of Graxen's brand of casitgation - which he then uses to threaten Ralvin, claiming he will find him if he goes back on his word to aid those in Alexandria with his poisons - Graxen notices that Ralvin has a similar smell to those infected by the plague - He claims to have infected himself with a poision to ensure no creature would wish to eat him - Fergal uses lesser restoration, which lessens the smell and also grows back Ralvin's teeth (which were punched out by Steve) - Karissa invites Vargath and his goblin mercenaries to New Alexandria as well - While Ralvin claims he will not try anything, he does not appear to be overly truthful - Ralvin offers us 10 Platinum coins for his release - We take his pouch and cut him loose, sending him on his way - He chooses to follow Vargath to Alexandria - Vargath indicates a bright star in the sky, which he believes is the direction towards Alexandria. He is correct, and leads the goblins on a singular cart. - Vargath gives Steve a shillelagh to use as a walking stick and gives Ellette a stick that casts one use of greater restoration