Our group gathered at the Babbling Nook Inn and Restaurant, where Mayor Dougal and Head Guard Fintan let everyone know that until a fix for the Lure could be found, the group would need to go to the Plover Caves to gather 5 Cavan Spiders to use in a solution that, when placed around the town, will create a temporary safe perimeter. Each team member got a small healing potion and a handful of gold to use as resources on the quest.
The group headed out along the Lower Plover River, which they had to cross. Sir Frog and Trank coordinated to string a rope across the river. Everyone crossed successfully except for Saul (?), who took a bit of damage after going for a swim.
The group then continued to follow the river until they came to the Plover Caves in the middle of a marshy area. They went in and chose to turn left at the first junction. At the next junction, after some twists and turns and slimy slippery declines they came to another intersection. On the left it widened and there was a stone arch, on the right the tunnel continued. They went left and entered the Arching Sanctuary.
In the Sanctuary Eira approached Gimble the Halfling at his booth in the market area. He didn't have any Cavan Spider icor but will buy the spiders for gold. He let them know that there are two paths to the cave where the spiders are found - go out the other exit to the cave and turn right for the shorter route through Haunted Drop Cave, or left for the longer route that crosses the river. Saul approached Constant the Tiefling Sales girl at Bobby's Cart and dropped off a sample of coffee for Bobby to try. The group decided to take the longer route across the river.
Following the longer route the group came to the river, which Eira noticed had something glinting in it. It turned out to be cave eels, and Sir Frog was injured when he swam through. Saul pulled some meat out of his backpack and used it to tempt the eels away. The rest of the group made it across without incident.
After several hours the group came to a blocked path. The group took turns working alone and as a team to move the stones blocking the way. Once they got into the cave, they killed two swarms of spiders and then left, putting the stones back as they left. Sir Frog ate one of the spiders and only by the grace of a double 11 crit roll managed to avoid some very nasty damage.
On the way back to the Sanctuary Sir Frog tried to use an illusion to distract the eels but it didn't work. Instead, Saul used themselves as a distraction and took damage to allow the rest of the team to swim across.
Back at the Sanctuary, the market was closed, half the torches were unlit, and the guards were keeping an eye on the sleeping town. They allowed the group to camp on the empty side of the cave, on the side of the river away from the homes. Eira went fishing and caught an eel, and both Eira and Trank gathered wall slime. They added their ingredients to the Cookbook.
The plan for the next session is for Eira to stay back in the Sanctuary to sell the remaining 4 spiders (5 are needed for the barrier) and for the rest of the group to return to Elmore with the ingredients for Indy, the herbalist.
