The band of adventurers consisting of Naeric, Glognar, Anersccaf, Ludek, Galdar, and Russ awaken in a cave on the tallest hill of the Stoneheart Forest. Upon examination of the cavern and the narrow passage heading deeper inside, the band decides to pursue this route into the dark unknown. With a steady pace, the group finally reaches a cliff with a sharp drop and they slowly descend, leaving the faithful steeds Mark and Melko behind.
At the bottom, they find a vast chamber and a shallow lake. To the right of this lake, water flowing down from the ceiling pools into a stream rushing downwards into the tunnel and over the edge of another cliff, forming a waterfall. To the side of this precipitous drop, the band finds a round wooden door. And like most doors that prohibit passage or escape from the other side, they find that this door has a keyhole. With no other recourse for getting through the tunnel and down the steep and slippery climb, the band’s resident nimble-fingered gentleman rogue attempts to open this door with lock picks. In the meantime, Russ explores the lake to see if there is anything of interest. Finding none, he returns to the group in time for Ludek to achieve success in his endeavor. With a click of the lock, the formerly immobile door swings open and diverts the rushing water into a side tunnel.
Without the water, the climb is much less perilous and the band heads down with significantly less dexterity required. At the bottom of the tunnel, they find that the passage splits three ways. The party decides to head left and soon finds themselves in a chamber with a pool in the middle emitting an eerie, bluish light. Finding that the luminous liquid sticks to surfaces, the group decides to use it to mark their passage through the caves.
Farther along the tunnel, they find a chamber with nine trees growing from large earthenware pots, with channels of water flowing underneath each tree pot. An angry muttering fills the room, but the band is unable to tell if it is the trees, the moss, or an echo of some other sound originating in the corridors beyond. Suddenly, a branch grabs Naeric by the neck. Finally finding the source of the grumbling, the party readies themselves to attack the trees that are slowly climbing out of the pots. After much bashing of branches and trunks, two sleep spells, and a torch lost, the group is victorious.
With persistent footsteps, the band reaches another passage with no way around it other than through a murky stream. Passing through this, Russ and Galdar find huge black masses attached to their legs. Russ burns off these leeches, and they both find curiously painless wounds where the masses were. Anersccaf eventually runs out of the effulgent goo marking their way, but they reach a section where they could pass without being submerged in the water. They light another torch, walk on, and find a steep upward slope where the interior of the higher level cannot be seen from the cave bottom. Ludek climbs this slope and finds four stirges buzzing over a pile of bones and scraps. With a bellow from Glognar that’s exactly as resonant as what the party expects from the boisterous dwarf, the insects are lured away from the slope and down to an ambush and subsequently – their end. However, these raucous activities seem to have attracted more beasts from the southwest tunnel, this time in the form of giant rats. With a series of attacks from the undaunted adventurers, the last of the rats explode in a red mist, and once again there is silence in the cavern.
Free from disruption, the party inspects the treasure found: gold, 20 arrows, 3 longswords, a set of lockpicks, and clothing: three pairs of boots and a cloak. Glognar tries them on and swings the sword to see if they are mundane – but alas, they are. At the far corner of the top of the slope, the elven members of the party and their keen senses spy more treasure: 2 glass bulbs with spores, and a sling made of supple, onyx black leather. Eager to keep moving, the party stores the newfound hoard in their packs, and moves on.
Lighting another torch, they see a woody growth dividing a stream, similar to the cavern where the murderous trees were. Thankfully, there are no trees, and they head on into the darkness and finally into a large cavern. Looking up, they see dozens of pods like hornet’s nests hanging from the ceiling. To make matters worse, deep into the darkness the band hears grumbling and shuffling from a tall form. Moving closer, they see that the form seems to be a gigantic fly-man hybrid and it is smearing fluorescent goo on the pods. The fly-man turns to the group and without hesitation, they attack. Anersccaf fires the sling found earlier and realizes it has an enchantment that helps with aim and damage. With subsequent blows from the rest of the band, the giant fly-man collapses. Fearful of what may be in the pods, the group smashes open one, and find a half-formed stirge that had been the bane of their existence since that fateful night at the village of Crimmor. At the rate that the band had been finding beasts in this cavern, they decide to destroy all the remaining pods to not take any chances of these awakening.
Off the side of the large end of the cavern, they find a room with stone walls that bulge and warp into melted wax-like shapes and patterns. Against the wall, they find a scroll cabinet and a bookcase with smoked-glass doors. The stream that had been cutting its way all the way through the cavern floor leads into a grate in the floor, with the water crashing noisily against rocks below. Beside the grate stands a round desk carved in the same bizarre patterns as the walls, papers and scrolls strewn about. The desk chair is a massive piece of carved wood, obviously not intended for a human. On the desk are documents filled with scientific and mathematical formulae expositing the process of giant insect cultivation, as well as a piece of paper containing the word “Fahoorth”. Deciding that carrying scrolls would be easier than carrying dead bugs, the group decide to take the scrolls as proof they have slain the enigma responsible for the stirge scourge of Crimmor.
Moments later, they realize the prematurity of their discussion at the arrival of two more giant fly-men and a wizard. They seem to have found the true source of the giant insects, and to the band’s dismay, these sources were angry. With a magic sling, longsword, crossbow, and mace, the band charges at the room’s presumed residents with relative success. After a battle involving sticky webs, a charm on Glognar, an illusory wizard, and Galdar’s near brush with death, the band vanquishes the evil posse and survive another day in the cavern.
The mages of the group then searched the wizard’s scroll cabinet and bookcase in the hopes of finding spells to learn. They are elated with success at finding powerful incantations, but regrettably find something more – a curse to fear trees that will affect Anersccaf for 6 days, but will lamentably distress Naeric permanently. Exhausted from the long day, the bold band prepares to rest despite the uneasiness brought about by the ominous cavern room.
