Session 3: Crawl in the Cave
Played: (Session 3 — at Timber Cove) Setting: Cragmaw Hideout, a cave system in the hills off the Triboar Trail
Recap
The party pressed deeper into the goblin cave they had broken into at the end of the previous session.
The Kennel (and the Wolves)
At the cave entrance area, the party found a kennel where the goblins kept three wolves chained against the wall. Rather than fight, the party negotiated — feeding the wolves enough scraps to win their tolerance, then breaking the chains. The wolves followed the party for the rest of the session as loose allies.
Yeemik and the Hostage
A short climb led to the goblin den (H6), a large open chamber with a rocky shelf at the top. On the shelf, Yeemik — a goblin boss — held Sildar Hallwinter hostage at knifepoint. Sildar was bloody, stripped of his armor and weapons, weak to the point of collapse.
Yeemik tried to negotiate: the party would kill Klarg (the cave’s bugbear chief) deeper in the hideout in exchange for Sildar’s life. Sildar himself muttered, even half-dead, that the party should not trust the goblin.
The party didn’t. The negotiation broke down and Yeemik shoved Sildar over the edge before the fight began — Sildar dropped to 0 HP from the fall but was stabilized by the party during the combat. Yeemik and the rest of his goblins were killed. The captured goblin from the previous session, Peetrr, witnessed the killing of his friends one too many times and fled — only to be killed by the wolves at the bottom of the cliff.
After the fight, Grom noticed something on Sildar’s chest, just above his heart: the tattoo of the Griffon Cavalry of Waterdeep. A small, very particular mark. Grom recognized it.
The party recovered an ornate feather from Yeemik’s body — one for each druid in the party.
The Twin Pools and the Smoke Trap
The party reached the Twin Pools Cave (H7), a cavern half-filled with water and a small waterfall feeding it. Above, somewhere deeper in the cave system, was Klarg’s throne room.
Rather than push straight in, the party set up a trap. Orla lit a fire at the base of a natural chimney in the wolf den below, and the smoke curled up and filled the chamber above. Klarg sent his guards to investigate.
The party ambushed them on the way: 2 goblins and a wolf, dispatched cleanly.
Klarg’s Door
With Klarg’s guards dead, the party advanced on the rear chamber. Orla cast Faerie Fire through the door, lighting the cavern in pale violet — and revealing Klarg himself, his throne piled high with stolen crates and goods, still smoke-blind and groping for his weapon.
Initiative was rolled. Cliffhanger.
What the Party Walks Away With
- Sildar is alive (barely) and free
- Sildar wears the tattoo of the Griffon Cavalry of Waterdeep — Grom knows what this means
- Three wolves following the party as loose allies
- An ornate feather for each druid (Yeemik’s leavings)
- Klarg is one room away, blind in the smoke
DM prep / session plan for this session: see DM notes.