Dungeons & How Did No One Die?

We left off last week with our party split into two groups after being overrun by goblins (note to the reader: NEVER SPLIT UP THE PARTY!). I was left with an unconscious Gregor the Barbarian after saving him from being carried off by goblins. While Shylok the Bard, Namfoodle the Warrior and Lyle the Druid were headed off towards the goblin stronghold.

After a brief rest to tend to a few of their wounds, Shylok, Namfoodle and Lyle start heading down the tunnel they were in off towards where Shylok was told a Goblin stronghold existed. Soon after they begin travelling, a group of Goblins rounds a corner heading towards the group. Thinking on his feet, Shylok decides to cast disguise self and turn into a Goblin. Since he also speaks Goblinese, Shylok was able to convince the Goblins that Lyle and Namfoodle are his prisoners. The group is then escorted to the Goblin stronghold where they meet the Goblin leader and a lot of very hungry Goblins. Lyle and Namfoodle are then restrained and placed in cages over a crevasse. Things are not looking good for Lyle and Namfoodle. In a last ditch attempt to save themselves, they break free from their cages and begin trying to climb to safety. Unfortunately a giant room full of Goblins is the opposite of safety. Javelins begin flying at Lyle and Namfoodle, leading to Namfoodle being knocked unconscious and Lyle transforming himself into a spider and jumping down the crevasse after Namfoodles limp body. In all the confusion, Shylok and a handful of other goblins get pushed down the crevasse as well.

SPLOOSH! Luckily the group lands in water and Lyle is able to quickly stabilizes Namfoodle before the goblins begin landing in the water all around them. A brief fight breaks out that is ended quite quickly when Shylok unleashes a massive thunderwave while underwater. This easily dispatches the Goblins and also almost kills poor Lyle.

Lost in an underground cave the trio wasn't sure exactly what to do. As long as they all stayed together they would be able to find a way out from this unexplored cavern. But of course Shylok decides to head off exploring and the other two decide it's best to rest up and tend to their wounds. Somehow Shylok manages to successfully navigate the caves to safety. Lyle and Namfoodle were not so lucky. As the rested a mindflayer came across their camp, it turns out it really sucks when you get charmed by a mindflayer. Lyle and Namfoodle were no match for the mindflayer and soon became minions to the powerful creature.

At this point it didn't seem like there was much hope for Lyle and Namfoodle.

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Meanwhile, back with the hero of the story Kuth! Kuth and Gregor had pretty boring time after being left for dead by the rest of the group. Soon after leaving the tower, we encountered a group of dwarven troops heading towards the tower we had just come from. After telling them about the Goblin infestation and showing them where we thought the Goblins had infiltrated the tower from, we were given some information about a quick route to reach our destination. The Dwarves then demolished the Goblin hole, which also happened to be the route the rest of the party had gone down. Kuth and Gregor then headed off towards the nearest city following the cave system the Dwarves had come from.

After reaching their destination, Kuth and Gregor decide it's best to get a bit of rest at an Inn. Shortly after arriving at the Inn and sitting down at a table, two guard walk in carrying a stretcher with a familiar person in it, Shylok! At first Shylok tells us that Lyle and Namfoodle had died in the caverns but after a bit more questioning we learned that Shylok had just left them behind. A bit angry we head off back into the caverns to search for our lost party members.

Shylok leads us back through the caves until we come across a large empty area (oh shit clearly the boss room!). Inside the room are two familiar individuals staring blankly at a wall, Lyle and Namfoodle. We soon discover that they are unresponsive and clearly under some sort of mind control. Enter the mindflayer. Now just to put our position into perspective, 2 of our party members were obliterated by the mindflayer and now we had to fight a mindflayer and 2 of our party members (lucky for us Lyle and Namfoodle are terrible).

The battle starts off well as Gregor enters a rage and starts putting major damage into the mindflayer. The fight seems to be going well despite our disadvantage. But the tide soon shifts when the Mindflayer manages to stun Gregor, just Shyloka and Kuth are now left to finish off the flayer. And then Shylok mamanges to also get stunned. Our hero Kuth once again manages to save the day lobbing a barrage attacks against the mindflayer out of pure desperation. Thankfully the mindflayer drops to the ground and we live to fight another day.

While all the others were trying to loot the mindflayer, I started to search the room and happened to come across a bag of holding filled with treasure! A magical shortbow, a strange horn, a small figurine of a elephant and a intricate mandolin. Being the nice guy I am I give these items out to my partymembers.

Unbeknownst to anyone else I kept a few things for myself a set of nearly inescapable shackles and a small vial filled with black liquid that looks eerily similar to the disease spreading across Shylok's body. I've decided to keep these secret from the rest of my party. I feel like I might be able to save Shylok with the vial but I'd like to get some more information on the liquid first.

As requested by @Coriolanus, a bunch of dice and a ruler?