Session 166: Grug the destroyer

It's Day 16 of Ready'reat and I (Morwenna) find myself with the party in the moat house looking at the corpse of a defeated ogre. Opelle chipperly suggests looting the corpse while Grug uses his spear to probe around the room. This room was apparently the living quarters of the late ogre and it is disgusting and slovenly. Glancing around the room with a slight feeling disgust, I notice a member of the party I've never met before. I wasn't with the group to fight the ogre, so I don't know when this gentleman joined, but he introduces himself as Crassus. He's a halfling which doesn't inspire too much confidence, but he claims to be a thief, so his occupation may prove him to be a shrewd character. Time will tell.

The party goes about their various tasks, some searching the room, while others eat. Opelle finds a chest and bardiche (some sort of polearm) and Crassus attempts to pick a locked door. When Crassus fails at this pretty basic thief task, Azra uses her elven wits and a simple cantrip to unlock the door. Crassus 0-1. Opelle opens the chest and finds some mundane treasure including glass beads, brass candlesticks, and a mess of coins. Crassus, meanwhile, pokes his head in through the opened door and catches a big snoot full of stink. There is a rotten smell that immediately sends the halfling into waves of nausea and vomiting. Crassus 0-2. Grug, Azra, and I are near the door, but I guess we are made of tougher stuff, because we aren't affected. I take a few steps away from Crassus and his growing pile of sick and sit down to eat.

Opelle seems quite excited about the glass beads and starts counting them while Contristo zeroes in on the coins. Should we be more concerned about overseeing Contristo? Who knows, but he seems to divide the treasure up evenly and fairly. As I finish up my lunch, I see that Farro has joined us and is beaten up and unconscious (possibly from the battle with the ogre, though I don't know where he disappeared to until now). I heal his wounds enough to revive him and we observe the curious actions of Grug.

Grug has begun to act twitchy. He is positively vibrating with agitation. He makes a swift surreptitious movement toward a pile of detritus and then quickly bolts to leave the room. Farro points out this unusual behavior and Grug calls out that he is leaving to relieve himself. There is something off about his demeanor, so I attempt to cast a distract cantrip on Grug, but the oaf somehow overcomes my magic. Azra and Opelle take a beat and then chase after the barbarian, but Grug got a head start. By the time the two clever elves have caught up to him, he is smiling self-satisfactorily and standing over a pile of smoldering, ashy something. The three of them rejoin the rest of us. Azra and Opelle are clearly upset, with Opelle nearly on the verge of madness ranting about how Grug had deprived her of knowledge. We all round on Grug, trying to work out exactly what he had done, but the brutish fellow evades questioning and slips away again proclaiming his need to urinate. Even after returning to the group, Grug seems immune to our interrogations. He simply will not state what it is he found and destroyed. Contristo takes another tack, and offers Grug a potion. Grug willingly accepts and downs it in one. I don't think Contristo knew what the potion would do because it didn't seem to have any effect and Contristo appears disappointed. Note to self: stay on Contristo's good side and don't drink any mystery potions he offers.