After resting up in Eastbrook and resupplying for their journey, the group was now 11 in number ( Orien Greenflower, Myra the Wizardess, Brother Cadfael, Callum the Halfling, Golar the Dwarf and their hirelings, Thad the fighter, Mutlik the Man at Arms, Toldric and Finn the Torchbearers and the new recruits, recruits Yor and Glom).
Before departing they were approached by Snipps the halfling stableman to deliver a package to Philip the Mouse in Threshold for a handsome sum of 100 gp. Callum recognised Phillip the Mouse as rumored to be the name of the head of the Thieves Guild back in Threshold and suggested it was a good connection to make. They were warned to not open the package but Myra was curious and cast Detect Magic to determine possible magical emanations but none were revealed. Though a brisk shake of the box revealed something inside which gave off the smell of rotten meat. They all decided it best not to tamper with the package further.
A days journey into the trek back, the group came upon a caravan under attack by a minotaur and his orc band. The group believes the minotaur may be Torg Droga who had been menacing the area around Thornswood Forest, but what was he doing this far east was a mystery.
Myra immediately set in with Sleep spells to drop as many orcs as she could as the rest of group readied for battle. A Orcish lieutenant and his bowmen high atop a bluff with the minotaur proved to be a nuisance for the group. Thad, Cadfael, Mutlik and Golar move down to the rivers ford to meet the other orcs head on, while Callum snuck through the under bush to make back attacks against the unsuspecting humanoids.
Unfortunately, only a few orcs are slain before the others arrived, waking the rest of the sleeping orcs who rose to join and do battle. The minotaur, apparently injured from Orien's arrows and Myra's Magic Missile spells seemed to flee the high bluff away from the combat only to return below a few moments later healed up . "Damn, must have drunk a healing potion" Orien surmised as he notices the minotaur's lack of bleeding wounds.
The minotaur proved to be a difficult adversary to overcome for he was armored in plate male and wielding a great two handed axe. But after the bowmen on the bluff were taken out, the group quickly moved all their efforts onto the minotaur with sword, spell, arrow and firebomb. In no time they had the minotaur on the run, but a quick volley of arrows from Orien downed the creature before it could escape.
The remaining caravan members were grateful for the party's help and Vallus the head caravan guide offered the group to travel with them to Threshold to help them rest and for safety in numbers.
No one was felled from the party, but Glom and Thad took hard hits to drop them unconscious requiring days of rest to recover.
The orcs had some coinage but the minotaur's plate male and weapons were the real prize here it seemed for the plate male was lighter than chain and the battle axe and spear he wielded were of masterwork craftsmanship. They also hacked off a horn of the minotaur as proof to their success and to maybe gain a reward for felling Torg Droga.
Seven days later back in Threshold, Myra returned to the tower of the Wizard of ID to give him the potions containing the magical waters from the Pool Room. In return she received the Charm Person spell to inscribe into her spell book. Orien and Golar returned to the Broken Buckler to have Miko re size the plate armor to better fit Brother Cadfael and shared their stories of their adventure to and fro the Caves of Quasqueton. In doing so, Miko revealed to them that the minotaur they felled was not Torg Droga but one of his lieutenants for Torg Droga is was said is a huge red furred minotaur with white eyes and horns as black as pitch. If Torg Droga had minotaur lieutenants, how powerful will he be if they are ever forced to face him in person they wondered.
Callum went off to seek the person known as Phillip the Mouse along with Thad to return his package to him. It was then that he found a Wanted poster for Riva the Robber. When Callum asked a passerby why there was still a posting since she had been captured many weeks before by their party and taken into custody at Goblin Castle, the man replied "Why haven't you heard, Riva had escaped her prison cell and now roams free once more. It is said she is drawing to her a large band of brigands to serve under her and it is also said she swears revenge upon those that had captured her the first time and brought her to justice". This Callum knew would be very important news for the party to hear about.
Meanwhile around a table at the Flaming Troll Tavern the rest of the group met to tell their tales with drink in hand and wonder at the adventures in their future.
