Chapter 1, Part III:
Water Weirder and Weirder
The Water Weirds began their assault against the party, primarily using massive tendrils of water from their body to grapple and attack the players on the ledge. Artem used Faerie Fire to tag the Weirds, which effectively stopped them from using one of their biggest advantages: disappearing from detection under the surface of the water.
The Water Weirds attacked Chief Paws, grappling them with their tendrils and attempting to drag them down into the water. Chief Paws freed themselves from the tendril with a successful dexterous maneuver, and party landed a few successful hits on the Weirds, despite their attempts to disappear under the water.
Stefano Romano was thrown onto a higher ledge and used the Wand of Pigeon Summoning to summon 93 pigeons in the tiny cavern, which created a cloud of pigeons that had the potential to create a hindrance to vision in the cave. The rest of the party worked to funnel the pigeons out of the cave, or killed them "accidentally" with their attacks.
Midst the mayhem, Corky was grappled by a Water Weird, and was being pulled toward the edge of the ledge to be submerged into the water when Chief Paws threw a dagger and cut the connection of the tendril to the Weird, saving Corky from being pulled into the water.
With the trick to their most worrying attack discovered, the Water Weirds were disposed of by Leozumin when Kit cast an Enlarge spell on the construct, causing him to become, not just larger in size, but larger in power. With his extra-powered attack, Leozumin dispatched the last Water Weird, and the cave fell silent for only a moment before Kit began buzzing about, shouting about how exciting the fight had been.
Finished with their battle, the party searched in the space where the rock had fallen from, finding a box with Kit's grandfather's treasure inside. Inside the chest, they find a strange pinecone, something that looked like seaweed, 300 loose Gold Coins, and a leather pouch with a single gold coin in it. Kit, excited to just have had an adventure, was happy to split the treasure into sixths, resulting in everyone receiving 50 GP. Kit received the extra coin in the pouch, and the party took the strange flora.
After leaving the cavern where they fought the Water Weirds, they left through the same room they had battled the bandits in and realized that the bandits' bodies were gone. Feeling trepidatious, the boys decided to search the rest of the cave. And followed one of the other pathways through the waterfall. They discovered the sleeping quarters of the bandits as well as traps set up to alert against trespassers. After successfully circumnavigating a few traps, Stefano stumbled into one which set off a blaring alarm throughout the cave, which persisted as they explored the rest of the cave. They looted a bit of the supplies that the bandits had amongst their belongings. After this second error, Corky removed Stefano's arms and legs so he could not cause any more trouble for the party.
They explored the last remaining pathway, finding a table with a game set up as well as an area with a campfire filled with rocks beside a pool of water. On the table, they discovered a map of the Merchant's Quarter of Gilding, with multiple shops circled in red. The boys made the connection that the boxes in the front room of the cave belonged to all of the stores listed, with one exception. Inkling's Bookstore, while circled, did not have crates present in the main room. The other stores that were circled on the map were: Lightweights Armory, Warm Wishes (a magic candle store), Brawlmart, and Monastic Traditions.
Surprisingly, they did not find any additional exits or the bandits.
As they exited, they saw that one of the campfires had been put out recently, the embers in the pit still smoking. Using their sneaky kitty paws, Chief Paws crept around the corner and spied an unfamiliar bandit lying in wait at the entrance of the cave. After informing the party, all six boys ambushed the bandit at the door, weapons drawn as they interrogated him. Being a human with brown hair and a ruddy beard and no back up, he decided to surrender rather quickly (aka immediately).
Upon interrogation, the party learned that this bandit went by "The Jackal," a very cool name that he absolutely did not give himself, but was really named Ernie. The party put Ernie under a citizen's arrest as they continued to ask him questions, learning the following information due to Gyome's incredibly effective intimidation skills:
- Ernie arrived at the cave because the alarm that was currently sounding drew him to see what was going on.
- The shops circled on the map are the shops that are getting big/valuable shipments that week.
- There are 11 bandits, including Ernie, in total.
- They left the Eastmost cave alone because the Water Weirds would attack them if they made too much noise in the chamber.