The Troll Hunt and the Road to Rockhome
Arc 8.
The mind flayer's demand
Before any of this, the party met with a mind flayer, which demanded spellcasters as tribute. They refused, but paid 200 gold as a gesture of goodwill rather than fight it there.
Rindle planted a length of rope inside the mind flayers' tribute chest and left the matching piece with the Septarch. On his signal, the Septarch could scry the rope and locate their base. Rindle has since left; Voren has since been taken. Whether the trap is still live, nobody knows.
Then Agatha and Kvothe woke locked in a room — another womp womp — while the rest of the party fought kuo-toa near the Underdark door. They joined late and the party won. The loot: four sticky shields, four spears (one broken), and a staff with a lobster claw on the end of it.
The Derro return
Heading back to Bogani, a deep gnome popped out of a wall to warn them the Derro were back. Kvothe scouted invisibly, confirmed the double doors were shut and guarded, and then stepped on a rune that lit up and went ding.
Subtlety is not Kvothe's strong suit. They killed the Derro guards anyway.
The trolls
Bogani's superiors wanted twelve trolls dead. The party delivered.
- Kvothe scouted and was attacked by a troglodyte; they killed it
- They lured a troll into a passageway and killed it, taking a toe as a trophy
- The next day they took four more in the mushroom-farm passage
- Resting in Rindle's Tiny Hut, troglodytes crossed a nearby bridge. Rindle fed them and they left, taking the hut down on their way out
- On the second attempt, the trolls began piling rocks on the hut — having, apparently, worked out gravity. Rindle turned into a rhinoceros and the party sheltered under him so the collapse would not crush them
- They fought four smaller trolls and one enormous one, and won
The big troll's hoard: brown fur-lined leather boots (abjuration), a cloak of hairless skin (transmutation), a mithril coffer with 723 gold and raw gems, a petrified hand clutching a ruby, a vial of turquoise liquid (transmutation), and a silver ring with amethyst and thorn engraving (abjuration).
Kvothe took the boots, which made him feel warm, and the cloak, which shrank to fit him.
The road to Rockhome
Days of travel with Bogani. Crossing water to a small island, kuo-toa ambushed them. They killed most; one escaped. Bogani explained that the kuo-toa are working with the mind flayers.
A day and a half further on, Bogani blindfolded them — outsiders are not permitted to know the way — and led them through concealed paths into Rockhome, a deep gnome city roughly the size of Fallcrest, carved into the stone.
Felani
High Priestess Felani cast a translation spell and spoke plainly. She believes the womp womp is a mind flayer experiment, and she does not like it.
Her council agreed to an alliance on one condition: Rockhome's location stays secret.
What the party received:
- A silver bracelet, attuned to one wearer, that teleports the whole group to Rockhome once, provided everyone is holding hands. Lost if the wearer dies or removes it.
- A map of the Underdark, to be destroyed if captured
- Sanctuary, supplies, and builders for hire
- A promise to send someone to help fortify Broken Spire Keep's tunnels
Felani's ask in return: stir things up. Disrupt the mind flayers and their allies. Bogani showed them routes toward the City of the Glass Pool on the way out.
The keep, changed
They came home to twenty-five goblins rebuilding Broken Spire Keep. Walls repaired, the burned room cleaned out. The goblins said a dragon had ordered the restoration. They were clearly terrified of it and would not say more.
Agatha then heard Voren's voice in her head:
"There have been incursions against my wards at towers. Beware of incursions against you."
The Goblin King
The Goblin King confirmed it: a dragon told his goblins to rebuild the keep, and promised help against the Spider Queen. He has no idea how to contact it.