10/12/2022 After defeating the would-be minotaur-led ambush, the party decided to rest for the night. Overnight, several slimes approached where the party was camped. Xaris used his Talisman of Slimes to control them, and the slimes helped patrol the campsite. The next morning, the party set off towards Knight's Crossing, with the slimes out ahead scouting for possible dangers. On their way, the party came across a disfigured humanoid creature chanting in Abyssal. The creature was very thin, and had two arms on one side and one on the other. One of its legs was thick and one thin. As the party approached, the creature greeted them and explained he was a follower of the vile Bilius, and he seemed convinced the party was as well because of all the help they had rendered to Bilius. He reported that Bilius' plan was going well, and he was gaining followers and power in the land of the lizard-people. The creature continued to praise Bilius, which enraged the party who attacked and killed him. The party continued on their way, with the slimes out in front again. After a bit, the party heard screams coming from up ahead and rushed forward to find a ragtag group of people around the remains of the slimes. Apparently, they had immediately attacked and killed the slimes on sight. The party stopped and spoke with the people, avoiding mentioning that the slimes had belonged to them. As it turns out, the group of people were survivors of the minotaur attacks looking to relocate south of Quivera. The party shortly took their leave and continued on. Next the party came across a knight of Kemer Lexi who seemed to be in some physical distress, with foam coming from his mouth and unable to speak properly. Igny used Lay On Hands to cure the knight of the poison that ailed him. The knight explained that he had fought one of the minotaur leaders in one-on-one combat. Although he was very grateful for the party's help, he was not keen on facing the minotaurs again and hurried on his way shortly thereafter. As night began to fall, the party pressed on for a couple of hours in the dark to make it to Knight's Crossing that evening. When they reached the bridge at the southern end of the settlement, they were told to halt by the watchman, a young lad named Walren. After the party explained that they were there to help with the minotaur attacks, Walren told the party to wait while he told another guard to summon the commander of the keep. After a bit, two men approached. The first was the commander of the keep, a knight. The second was a very pale half-elf named Siri who served as the court mage. Curiously, Gunther noticed that Siri's robes, while finely made, did not depict real runes -- a fact that greatly vexed Gunther. The party was admitted into Knight's Crossing and, after a brief stop in the tavern, made their way to the keep to speak more with the commander and Siri over dinner. Gunther tried to share spell books with Siri, but Siri was entirely disinterested in such an exchange. Gunther seemed to take some offense at the rejection, which only reinforced his distrust of the half-elf. After their meal, the commander and Siri shared their plan: the party would serve as bait by pretending to be farmers settling one of the attacked and abandoned farms. In the ensuing battle the party would need to capture one of the minotaurs for questioning to learn where to find the minotaur leaders. The party agreed to this plan and set out the next morning to the farm with Walren who had agreed to help. The day was spent farming. In the evening, the party took up defensive positions around the farmhouse for the attack they expected: Dethjak and Xaris hid in bales of hay nearby, Chance stood on the roof, Igny stood just outside the front door, and Gunther and Walren waited inside. Sure enough, a group of four minotaurs and 14 chaos creatures attacked the party. The chaos creatures surrounded the farmhouse from all sides. Meanwhile, two of the minotaurs approached Igny at the front door, while the other two minotaurs hauled carts full of large rocks and set up positions to hurl the boulders as weapons. Dethjak and Xaris lept from their hiding places and surprised and quickly killed some of the chaos creatures. The two minotaurs with carts each threw a boulder at Igny. Both boulders hit Igny, dealing terrible blows. In return, Chance launched a fireball, hitting the two approaching minotaurs and one chaos creature. Gunther summoned a dust storm enveloping all four minotaurs, reducing their vision and slowing them. With the dust storm in effect, the two boulder-throwing minotaurs abandoned their carts and stumbled forward to engage in melee combat. One of the other minotaurs made it out of the dust storm and charged Igny attempting to gore him, but Igny deftly avoided his attacks. With Igny, Dethjak, and Xaris attacking the minotaur, it quickly fell, and they moved on to attack the next minotaur emerging from the dust storm. This minotaur also quickly fell under their combined attacks. Meanwhile, the chaos creatures surrounded the farmhouse, breaking in through windows and climbing onto the roof. Chance, seeing himself surrounded, lept off the roof, launching a fireball at the house as he fell. All of the chaos creatures were destroyed along with the house in the giant fiery explosion. Unfortunately, Gunther and Walren were both knocked unconscious by the blast. The party managed to knock unconscious one of the remaining minotaurs, while the fourth minotaur fled the battle. The day was won! And with that the session ended. TLDR - The party blew up a farmhouse and captured a minotaur.