Gnoll Rescue (Date 2/1/23)

Divinations casts the next morning brought dread news with a hopeful cast. Marty sought Mjelde’s mind and found it clouded and defiant, terrified but holding strong in her faith in both Strom and Marty. Ilyana found a still pool of lake water and in it conjured a vision of the plight of the priestess. Mjelde’s fancy gown had been torn to tatters, her body was bruised and battered and she was bound to an altar. A vile, mangy gnoll priestess forced the girl’s lips apart and poured a foul milky fluid down her throat. When Ilyana described the scene to Bar-Bark, he was surprisingly hopeful. Bellanna was subjecting Mjelde to the ritual of Lamashtu. Eventually the milk would destroy her will and she would become so suggestable that she would take her own life at Bellanna’s command. They had time, but they had to hurry!

Hurry they did! Riding hard on magic horses conjured by Euwyn, they reached the chasm in less than a day and half. The party distracted the exterior patrols with some clever use of urine, then made their way down level by level. They found some pups they could intimidate rather than fight. Next, they found a group of males being preached the word of Strom by a human slave named Steven. He told them of the nearby slave pens. There the party rescued several humans including a woman with a babe in arms who claimed to be Yuri’s wife.