Session 20 - Nogok….Friend

 The party ask the inn keep for more details of the Mead theft, and determine that a Verbeeg came upon the team loading the cart and scared them away, they then took three casks, as the Town speaker arrived to try and thwart the theft he was struck down and killed. 

Within a few hours a team of 5 militia members set out to track the Verbeeg they had not been heard of (about 2 days since they left).

The innkeep offers to show the party the scene of the crime, and takes them close to where Mochi found the chwinga. As they stand looking at the large tracks leading off into the forest, a slight hooded man emerges from the woods with a couple of traps on his back, and a scared looking fox in a cage. He skips the introductions and ignores the whole party speaking with the innkeep, he tells her that the militia are dead, heads and chests caved in by something very large. The party discover he is Fef Moryn a local trapper who is a honest townsfolk. Nox asks about the fox and Fef offers to sell it to him for 1Gp which is accepts. And as he hands the fox over it snuggles into Nox’s scaly arms. 

Nox names him Mozi and the pary ask where to find the militia, Fef points them to the tracks and tells them its about a mile along that path. They head out and indeed Fef was telling the truth. Throt reads the scene like a book and can see the tracks that lead them to the site continue on, and another slightly different set come back from the same direction. 

They continue to follow the tracks and come across a series of caves in a rock wall deep in the forest. The three caves all seem to head into the same series of chambers, and Nox, Etch and Nogok head down one direction, while Throt checks out another one.

Not far into the caves they come into a chamber, where a fence restraints 7 goats and 6 sheep. As they look around they see a fire with meat roasting on it, and a pile of limbs on the ground next to it, and then they spot the Verbeeg, at the same time he spots them. Immediately he whistles and yells at them to leave now or die. As he comes at them spear in hand Nogok holds up his hands  and says Friend, we mean you no harm, we only wish to share your fire and hear your tales. The Verbeeg Dhug yells another warning, and Nogok tries again, he says friend your sheep and goats are amazing, I also used to raise goats tell me of these fine creatures. 

This is enough for Dhug to lower his spear and start a dialogue with Nogok. They quickly bond over the sheep as a bear and an ogre come into the cave blocking two of the exits but not the one that the party came in through. Dhug signals for the bear to stand down and it sits in the door way, and calls to the Ogre who he refers to as Friend to hold. 

The party manage to ask about the mead to which they determine one cask has been drunk, one is about 1/2 gone and one is for Ghag (Dhugs lady friend) Dhug asks friend to retrieve the open cask and they all share a drink. Dhug offers them some of the meat on the spit and explains that its Dwarf, and quite tasty. He also opens up about why the townsfolk owe him penance which he takes in the form of the mead, as they killed his and Ghags child. 

Dhug looks long and hard at Nogok and says “Friend Nogok please come with me, there is something I wish to show you” He leads Nogok away through to the bears den, where he smashes the ice to reveal a statue of a man, hands to the sky, naked except for an oak leaf. He looks to Nogok and says “do you know who he is?” Nogok says he doesnt, and Dhug says “ I see sickness in you, drink water sickness go” Nogok asks Dhug to drink first which he does, and then he takes a drink. Immediately its like a fog cleared and Nogok’s curse is lifted. 

Nogok thanks Dhug and they head back to the cave. Nogok asks Dhug for the empty cask and the party decide that the human scum that killed Dhugs child can be without their mead, they will return the cask as proof its gone. 

Nogok says to Dhug “ I have a friend who was too scared to come into the cave with us, he is waiting outside, he is a large man but quite the coward, would you mind if I bring him in” Dhug agrees and turns to take some more meat from the spit. 

Nogok finds Throt in the caves and says “Throt, come and meet our friend, I have introduced you and spoke of your strength and Bravery” They both head back into the cave, and Dhug says “Nogoks friend is Dhug friend, no need to be scared cowardly barbarian you are safe here, Nogok tells me you have fear.” To which Throt punches Nogok in the face causing Dhug to roar with laughter. 

Shortly after Gahg arrives and readies her spear as she sees everyone in the cave, Dhug tells here no these friends, and she settles in to eating some meat and drinking some mead. Dhug calls for Friend to get the full cask to which he presents to her as a gift. She produces a bag of metal fragments which look odd. They party ask to touch one, and it has a strange vibration to it. They ask if they could take a small sliver of one piece to see if they can find out what it is, and Dhug and Gahg agree. 

They take a piece and determine its not the black crystal the Dhuargar where seeking, this is different. They offer Dhug a fuzzy ball from the bag of tricks in exchange and explain that he needs to throw it on the ground to make it work, he does this and a giant rat appears, he picks it up and strokes it looking very happy. 

They ask Gahg and she says she saw a light in the sky that crashed and she went to the spot, and this is what she found. She draws them a crude map of the location and Nogok realizes its in the direction of the pull he had been feeling. The thank her for the map and Dhug says its time for him and Gahg to spend some time alone. He tells the party to check out the tombs in the cave before they leave.

Dhug and Gahg head out of the cavern and he looks back and smiles and says “Nogok…Friend”

They head into the tomb where they find a set of pictographs showing a group of people walking through mountains and across plains. There is a large stone crypt in the center of the room, and off to each side there is a small natural exit, one leads to the bears den and one to the mead storage/Ogres room. 

Layton, Throt, Nogok and Etch push the lid off the crypt revealing a very old skeleton holding a perl in one hand and a wand in the other. 

Nogok tells the party of the healing properties of the water in the bears den to which Throt heads in and drinks, healing the limp in his leg instantly, Etch drinks and vomits up a bright red worm that had been living inside him, and burps. They all take a flask of the healing water, while Nox decides to check out the wand and perl. Nogok casts detect good and evil and can see the good items under a veil of evil, Nox decides to take the items then drink from the pool and  they all head out…..all feeling better.