A Dank Portal

The party awoke at the Velvet Hat, enjoying a fine breakfast. Phaelnah brewed a tea she received from her patron, which seemed to revert some of the corruption on her arm. The party was addressed by Tolgunn Goldtack, a somewhat taller male dwarf that told the party to accompany him to the Thurimbane headquarters.  Arriving outside of Bauldren's office, the group met Captain Harten, the tall standing, seemingly militaristic female commander of the Thurimbane guard. After exchanging information with her, you entered Bauldren's office, where he was meeting with a gnome who was reporting a theft, which Bauldren attributed to the suspects Balnar and Mardyth. After convincing him to let the lead go, the party decided to split up to interrogate the two witnesses in town. Seamus, Leadbelly, Krill, Goldtack and Kradva went to talk to the a tight-lipped dwarf named Yelder Portstone, with Goldtack and Seamus striking up a fast friendship over day-drinking. Journey, Wander, Grognock, Phaelnah, and Captain Harten went to interrogate Creelaw, a kenku thief that was currently in the Thurimbane holding cells. Creelaw was unwilling to divulge information unless his sentence was removed. Tricking him into thinking he would be freed, Wander managed to extort that Mardyth and Balnar were mugging people, looking for a small orange stone. Looking to meet up with the rest of the party, they made their way to Yelder's house, only to find they had left a mess of the old dwarf's house, running off to the east on a supposed lead. After learning where Yelder was mugged, under Harten's approval, the group decided not to report back to Harten, and instead make their way up to the Bandry Keep. Along the way, Phaelnah and Grognock spotted a corpse laid on top of a shrub by the side of a forest path. Reading a somewhat ominous note and figuring that this corpse was an unintended casualty from Mardyth and Balnar, Wander took the man's pack, and the group tracked a set of badly hidden footprints off into the forest. After losing the trail, the group was set upon by a pack of kobolds, who chased them through the forest to a clearing. The party easily dispatched the kobolds, but a stray fire arrow set Wander's pack alight, triggering something inside the sack he picked up prior. A portal to a dark, damp cave appeared, and the party eventually decided to enter it after seeing a kobold corpse perk up and enter deeper into the cavern. After hitting multiple dead ends and spending hours in the cave, the group made it to a large opening, where they were beset upon by a particularly vile type of ooze. The ooze attempted to make unwilling hosts of the party, but they managed to fight it off, Phaelnah landing a visceral blow with her dark magic, which triggered her corruption to spread again. Looting a seeming bedroom in the back, they learned that the man from before was an adventurer that had trapped this slime in his pocket dimension. Additionally, they received 200 gold, a strange red gem, and a set of odd iron pauldrons. Afterwards, they made their way back to Vardev, depositing the corpse at the Thurimbane, filling some forms out, and visiting some shops before making it back to the Velvet Hat. The party managed to meet up with Leadbelly and Kradva, who were filling out forms, attempting to be responsible for the other half of the group, who were still off going crazy somewhere in the woods.