The group met at The Widow's End tavern and inn, where they observed a tiefling succumb to the blue crystal and be bashed by the city militia
Magistrate Callavia posted a notice to hire a special unit of adventurers to discover the source of the blue crystal in an attempt to keep the southwest quadrant from descending into the despair and degradation of the southeast side
The group quickly accepted the challenge and discovered that Grimly and a powerful henchman were selling the blue crystal on the streets just outside the Armory
Guy followed Grimly and his companion and discovered the cave southwest of the city
The group met the following morning and decided to investigate the cave
A couple of half orcs, pulling along 20 Halfling slaves, were killed by the group and the slaves freed
They explored down the cave's passage and met a Ventra' Azi that was chained to the wall at a cross roads
Ladiana explained that the Ventra' Azi were somewhat like vampires but were primarily used as slaves by the drow and others
She tried to charm or control the beast but it was too feral and savage
They discovered four half orcs guarding about 20 Halflings who were digging for blue crystals along the cave's wall
Also chained to the opposite wall were about 10 Ventra' Azi, each just outside of reach of the Halflings and were used as motivation for them to keep digging
Mugul tried to trick the half orc guards and lead them out of the cave for an ambush; Rook, Clarys, and Ladiana waited outside the cave to ambush them, while Guy and Ephraim lay in wait at the crossroads
The deception failed and Mugul was injured by the half orc guards and from friendly fire! Ephraim shot an arrow in Mugul's right thigh, dropping him
Clarys saved Mugul and carried him out of the cave as the group fled
The Ventra' Azi were released and they quickly slaughtered all the halflings and some of the orcs chasing the group
As they waited outside to defend against the Ventra' Azi and orcs, Ladiana informed the group that the Ventra' Azi would not come out. They were blind in daylight.
As the group found a clearing to recover, Clarys healed Mugul
Ephraim remained over the cave opening to watch for enemy activity. He observed the Ventra' Azi slaughtered and saw a lone hooded figure standing at the opening, holding a double bladed naginata
Rook discovered two more paths leading south and west of the cave opening
The group decided to follow the south path and they found another cave opening
They found another excavation site deep in the caverns and killed one of the half orc guards
One orc escaped and freed a horde of Ventra' Azi
Ephraim and Guy saved 16 halflings by helping them cross a pool of standing water that was chest deep to normal humanoids
On his last toss of a Halfling, Ephraim was set upon by the savage beasts
Clarys and Rook saved Ephraim by vanquishing his attackers
Again the party ran outside of the cave, knowing they would not be followed by the Ventra' Azi
As before, the Ventra' Azi were slaughtered by some killing machine that attacked them from behind
The party watched in awe as three hooded figures, now obviously Drow warriors, appear at the cave's opening
The first one took a knee and bowed his head, while the other two followed his lead
He looked up at Ladiana and said, “My Lady…”