The first chance it got, the Bugbear darted off, but it was no match for Mercarri’s speed. She first clubbed it upside the head with Shit Hammer, and while it staggered, she followed up the attack with another from Lightbringer — caving in its skull. That left just one thief — a human with scraggly hair. Eyes wide, he dropped his longsword and begged for his life. 

Team Ramrod openly discussed whether or not to kill him — listing the pluses and minuses as he looked on in fear. He groveled and apologized and told them what a big mistake it had been. He placed the blame squarely on the Flail, the leader who lay dead beside him. The thief was ordered to his stomach by Lilvari. She walked over to him and asked him openly if he’d killed anyone before in prior robberies or if this was the first. The man said that he hadn’t personally killed others but there had been other robberies. As he again tried placing the blame on his fallen leader, Lilvari pushed Curse Bringer through his back. The last sounds he made were soft whimpers swallowed by a horrible gurgling.

After that, the party slowly settled back into sleep. The rest of the night was mostly quiet, except when Ultorin found their camp. He told them of the job he had to do before leaving Phandalin. At Halia’s request, Harbin’s house was to be fitted with all new, high quality locks. Ultorin also told them of a hidden basement that contained another locked room. He said it was empty, but Lilvari had her doubts. He also had a letter from Sildar.

In it, Sildar mentions that Dare and Lilvari might have some trouble in Helmshold. Helmshold is protected by The Order of the Guilded Eye, and they don’t take kindly to neither Tieflings or Orcs of any kind. Dare’s Lords’ Alliance ring, however, should be enough to grant passage to most of the party.

“As far as Droop goes,” Sildar wrote, “I suggest that you either hide him or don’t bring him at all. They may tolerate Tieflings and Half-Orcs, but a goblin they’d hang from the nearest tree.”

Trek to Boulder Field…

The next morning, the party continued down the Triboar Trail towards the High Road. At one point they crossed paths with Thow Barns — an employee of Barthen who was returning from deliverying Mercarri’s letter.  He said he took it as far as Neverwinter and that it should arrive in Thae in the next two or three days. With that, he hurried on towards Phandalin while the party continued onward.

After a few more hours, they left the High Road and followed the map towards the coast — arriving at Boulder Field an hour or so before sundown. The message written on the map said to use “Detect Magic” and look to the boulders. “One doesn’t belong.” Droop cast the spell and spent the next twenty minutes looking around, but the field was massive, and he was unable to detect anything out of the ordinary. 

While Droop was searching, Ultorin lowered his magic ‘Eyes of the Eagle’ Goggles and did some searching of his own. After a short time, he noticed a patch of grass that was wavering as if caught in a breeze. The strange thing was, the wind wasn’t blowing. He went closer to investigate. The weeds were next to a boulder, and when he attempted to touch the boulder, his hand went right through. He called the others over. They discussed how to proceed.

Finally Dare decided to piss on it to see what happens. He lowered his pants and aimed dead center of the boulder. The stream of piss not only went right through, but they could hear it splatter a good distance down. After zipping up, Dare stuck his head in the boulder and saw a small hole going down about thirty feet. Attached to the side was a ladder.

The ladder led to a very dark, large cavern. What seemed to be several large rocks lie scattered around. Lilvari was able to spot two tunnels in the distance. Footprints led from the ladder to both tunnels. There was also a path made by someone or something being dragged. It went from one tunnel to another, just like the footprints.

As they headed towards the tunnels, Dare, who was bringing up the rear, suddenly felt a burning sensation across his lower back. He quickly turned and saw a slimy, gray, ooze-like creature had latched onto him with one of its tentacles. It had been sitting on the nearest rock and it’s color matched the rock perfectly. No one had seen it as they passed. As he tried to escape, he noticed movement from several of the other rocks. There were more of these creatures. 

The creatures slithered towards the party, but were no match for Team Ramrod. Dare was the only who had taken any damage, and part of his armor had melted. 

They followed the left-most tunnel for about two-hundred feet before it ended at a horrible scene. Across their path, hanging from the iron clad door before them was a man. A long, barbed spike — something that looked like what you’d find at the end of a harpoon — had been driven through his neck, pinning him to the door. There was also another spike embedded in each extended arm. 

Lilvari checked him over. There wasn’t much blood near the spikes, making her think that he’d been hung after death. Sure enough, the left side of his vest was soaked with blood. Peeling it from his body, she saw the mortal wound: a massive bite had been taken out of his side, one so deep that she could see what remained of his entrails. 

Everyone exchanged a troubled look. Things were about to get interesting.