Ignara, Grobbo, Kogath

After a week of rest in Siothruna, the adventuring party found themselves approached by Thrain, a respected dwarf leader of the Gilded Compass guild. During their downtime, Grobbo had spent his time drawing up plans for a custom wagon to be pulled by his companion Trinket, while Ignara re-equipped herself with leather armor, shield, sickle, and staff. Kogath had trained at the town guard's training center with Sir Hector, though he boasted of victories that may not have been entirely truthful.

Thrain presented the party with two urgent missions requiring their immediate attention. The first involved rescuing two missing guild members, siblings named Talgan and Sharwin, who had disappeared a month prior while on a mission from the Gilded Compass. Their mother, Kerwin Hercule, a person of high status in Siothruna, had offered substantial rewards for their return. The second mission concerned Queen Bargnot, a goblin queen and trading partner who had been captured by gnolls while traveling to Siothruna with her royal entourage.

After much deliberation, the party chose to pursue Queen Bargnot's rescue, driven partly by Ignara's desire for combat after her traumatic experiences and the promise of guild reputation. Thrain consulted with Eetu, a goblin ally, about the best approach to reach the captured queen. They decided to use an existing magical beacon from their previous adventure near the Gnoll Pits as their starting point.

The party gathered at Pinna's summoning circle, where the guild's teleportation specialist transported them back to the barren wilderness they had previously explored. They arrived in the arid landscape at mid-morning, recognizing the area with its scattered grave thorn trees and ash blooms. The broken remains of carts from their previous encounter lay dust-covered in the sandy terrain.

As they began their search, Ignara attempted to communicate with a territorial crow nesting in a grave thorn tree, but the bird proved hostile and repeatedly warned them to leave its territory. The party decided to head southwest toward the Goblin Gate direction while searching for valuable materials. They discovered a grove of blooming Gravethorn trees with large red-orange flowers dripping with sweet-smelling nectar, which Grobbo carefully collected using magical means over the course of two hours.

Continuing their journey, Kogath spotted a glinting object in the distance that proved to be a thumb-sized piece of amethyst, likely dropped by their quarry. More importantly, Grobbo's investigation revealed tracks from gnolls, hyenas, and goblins all heading in the same direction toward a distant plateau. Using his divination magic, Grobbo received a positive omen that following these tracks would lead to success.

The party spent the remainder of the day following the trail across the wilderness, with Ignara's rat familiar Rapunzel and Grobbo's owl familiar JJ providing aerial reconnaissance. As evening approached, they reached the base of an ancient plateau topped with ruins equivalent in age to temples they had previously discovered. The structures were mostly broken down and covered by sand, including a completely rusted cannon.

Grobbo's owl familiar scouted the area and discovered three large hyenas sleeping at the main entrance to the plateau, while also identifying a potential climbing route on the side. The party attempted a stealthy approach, but found the narrow cave entrance too small for the larger party members. Ignara's rat familiar Rapunzel successfully infiltrated through the cave and discovered gnolls inside eating, but accidentally knocked over a spear, alerting them to potential intruders.

When the party attempted to climb the plateau, only Grobbo succeeded in reaching the top while Ignara and Kogath failed to scale the rocky face. As they regrouped, JJ performed a series of distracting flyby maneuvers against five gnolls who had emerged from the ruins in formation. The owl's brave sacrifice ended when the gnolls shot it down with arrows, causing it to disappear back to its pocket dimension.

Combat erupted as Ignara transformed into a panther and charged toward the hyenas while Grobbo cast a web spell for battlefield control. The battle intensified when Kogath cast a darkness spell on his belt buckle, creating magical darkness that gave him advantages in combat but hindered his allies' visibility. Grobbo positioned himself behind cover and launched firebolts at the gnoll warriors while the party engaged multiple enemies.

The fight proved challenging as the party faced gnoll warriors, giant hyenas, and a gnoll pack leader who blew a warhorn to call for reinforcements. Ignara was knocked unconscious during the battle but managed to transform into a brown bear form to continue fighting. Kogath dominated the combat with devastating punches, including a spectacular uppercut that killed the pack leader by punching through his skull.

As the battle concluded with the party victorious, they discovered a bloodied goblin escaping from the rocks. Ignara, still in bear form, grappled the fleeing goblin while Grobbo quickly searched the fallen enemies for valuables. The goblin, named Vekk, revealed himself to be part of Queen Bargnot's royal entourage and provided crucial information about the queen's fate.

Vekk warned that stronger gnolls remained in the cave and urged immediate retreat, explaining that Queen Bargnot was still alive but imprisoned separately from the other captives. He described how three goblins had been taken during the ambush, with one dying in captivity while he managed to escape. The pack leader's warhorn call meant reinforcements would likely arrive soon.

The party quickly gathered their findings, including gold pieces, a bone whip, and a scroll written in Gnollish from the pack leader's body, before mounting Trinket for their escape. During their flight from the plateau, Grobbo befriended Vekk and gave him a healing potion to treat his injuries. The goblin provided additional details about the royal entourage's capture and the separation of Queen Bargnot from her companions.

Upon returning to Siothruna, the party reported their findings to Thrain through Vekk's translated testimony. The goblin confirmed that Queen Bargnot remained alive but captive, providing hope for a future rescue mission. However, the encounter ended on a sour note when Grobbo became frustrated with Thrain's indication that their guild reputation reward would only come after successfully returning the queen, not merely locating her. In a display of sarcasm and disgust, Grobbo flicked a gold piece at Thrain and walked away, leaving the guild leader to contemplate the party's partial success and the challenges that lay ahead in rescuing the goblin queen from her heavily fortified gnoll captors.