07 February 2021
The party
· Kisandra Starlight – Half-Elf Sorceress (Heather)
· Barendil Dawnwood – Elf Ranger (Robert)
· Guillerme don d’Lyonne – Human Paladin (Martin)
· Friar Buck Norris – Human Cleric (Silas)
· Nobby Nobbs – Human (probably) Rogue (Tom)
Prisoners
 |
| Two Redbrands guard the prisoners |
The party had opened the door leading to the dungeon under
Tresander Manor, spying two Redbrand Ruffians guarding a woman and two
children. As the adventurers peered around the half-open door, one of the thugs
jumped off his stool and demanded to know what they were doing there. Thinking
on his feet, Nobby made the most of the red cloaks that the adventurers had
stolen from the armoury and draped across their shoulders by swaggering into the
room and telling the two guards that they were there to relieve them.
“But why are there so many of you?” asked the guard. “Just
two of us here, and these prisoners ain’t going nowhere from these cages.”
Guillerme interjected to tell them that they were new
recruits, learning the ropes, and some of the party were going elsewhere soon
anyway to attend to other duties. Seeming to take this explanation as
reasonable, and being hungry for their breakfast, the two guards moved towards
the door, weaving through the adventurers who were acting like they didn’t know
what they were doing. Just as they squeezed past the group and into the
corridor, the two ruffians looked up and saw the raging fire in Barendil’s eyes;
the elf had kept up this subterfuge long enough and was thirsting for violence.
The two ruffians stood no chance. The adventurers had
completely fooled them and fell on the unsuspecting men with furious abandon.
Surrounded by the party, there was nothing the thugs could do to defend
themselves and they were mercilessly cut down.
Once the guards were dispatched, Guillerme decided to
interrogate the prisoners. He strode up to the southern cell that housed a
middle-aged woman and a girl of perhaps 17 or 18 and asked them why they were
there. Both prisoners recoiled from the paladin – he was wearing a red cloak,
just like their captors, and was carrying a glaive dripping with gore from
killing the two guards. Coupled with the brash manner of his interrogation, the
women were terrified and huddled together at the back of their cell.
Kisandra firmly but gently pushed the paladin to one side,
removing her red cloak and assuring the women that the group weren’t actually
Redbrands. She told them that they were here to help and to try to forget
Guillerme’s words – he was well meaning but misguided sometimes. The sorceress
coaxed the women forwards and asked them who they were. It turned out that the
captives in the dungeon were all from the same family – Mirna Dendrar and her
two teenage children had been imprisoned here when the Redbrands had killed her
husband. Eighteen-year-old Nilsa stood by her mother while thirteen-year-old
Nars had been separated from them both and placed in a separate cell at the northern
end of the room. Apparently, Mirna’s husband had defied the Redbrands in some
way (she was hazy on the details), so the thugs had killed him then returned in
the dead of night to abduct her and her children. The plan was to sell the
family into slavery.
Saddened by their story, the party found the keys and
released the family from the cells. Mirna hugged her children tightly in the
middle of the room, tears in their eyes. Looking up, she told Kisandra that she
couldn’t thank the adventurers enough for saving her and her children.
“I’m sorry, but I have nothing left to give you as a token
of my thanks,” said Mirna. “The only thing I can think of is an old heirloom of
my family that I remember from when I was a child… we lived in the town of
Thundertree, which lies east of Neverwinter where the river emerges from the
forest. My father was an accomplished herbalist and apothecary – he had a beautiful
necklace hidden in his shop, in a box under a false shelf. We had to leave it
there when we fled Thundertree, when the undead rose and destroyed the town. I
was only a girl but I remember it like it was yesterday… I wish I had the
courage to return and recover the necklace. But you, maybe you and your friends
can get to it? You are welcome to keep it in thanks for saving my children from
these damned Redbrands.”
A fire burned in Mirna’s eyes as she mentioned the Redbrands
and she pulled her children in even closer. The party realised that they could
not leave this family alone and vulnerable in the dungeon while they finished
the morning’s grisly work. Sildar stepped forward, sheathing the blade that he
had been cleaning with a dirty red cloak.
“I shall stay with them,” he announced, “and keep them safe
till you return.”
Satisfied that the experienced warrior would be ample
protection while they dealt with any remaining enemies, the party turned
towards the door. Before leaving, Kisandra turned and asked Mirna why there
were so many items of clothing piled in the room.
“They are the discarded clothes of the previous people to be
sold by the Redbrands into slavery,” Mirna said grimly.
The sorceress gripped her staff tighter and stalked from the
room, her lips thin and taught.
Cleaning House
Barendil led the way back into the crypt. As the adventurers
crunched across the remnants of ancient bones from the skeletons they had
defeated, they looked about themselves at the gothic architecture of the burial
chamber. False columns along the length of the room were carved into the shapes
of oak trees, while at the southeast end of the crypt two large double doors
stood, sheathed in tarnished copper plate. The elf ranger strode forwards,
grabbing both handles at the same time and pulling the doors inwards with a
slight grunt of effort. On the outer side of the doors stood a relief carving
of a large, mournful angel with wings outstretched, split in half where the
doors had been opened.
As Barendil looked down the large, dust-strewn corridor up
ahead, the rest of the party gathered around and examined Albrek’s map of the
Tresander basement. The turncoat mage had drawn a large ‘X’ within this
corridor but hadn’t labelled it… curious. Both Barendil’s keen elf eyes and
Nobby’s shifty gaze peered into the gloom ahead. Eventually they saw it – a
slight unevenness in the flagstones, clearly some sort of trap. The pair moved
forwards and examined more closely, identifying that there was a large section
of floor in the middle of the corridor that was rigged to collapse should
anyone walk across it. There was, however, a safe pathway to both the north and
south of the trap, where the flagstones were set fast. Beckoning the rest of
the party forwards and indicating where to step, the elf and the thief led the
way forwards without incident.
At the far end of the corridor, a door led south into the
main cellar of the Tresander basement. Entering, the party could see that they
were in a large, vaulted room with stone stairs leading up on either side to a
raised walkway leading to the main door to the outside. There appeared to be no
one in this room, just a multitude of barrels and crates stored along the walls
and a large cistern of water to the west of the cellar, opposite the main door.
Barendil ran up the stairs to this door, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow
to act as a guard.
Nobby sauntered about the cellar, casually looking in a few
of the crates and barrels – he found nothing of value, just a selection of poor
quality foodstuffs, presumably to keep the ruffians well fed. He gradually made
his way over to the door that Albrek had marked as the entrance to the
‘Barracks’, sidling up to the heavy wooden planks and placing his ear against
them. He heard nothing through the door. Still, something in his bones made him
feel that caution was required. He indicated to the rest of the party to
prepare themselves and so they took up positions around the cellar, ready to
spring a trap on anyone that may be in the barracks.
Once they were in position, Nobby steeled himself and loudly
knocked on the door, shouting “Breakfast’s up lads!” before running back to
join Friar Buck crouched behind the raised stone wall of the cistern. Three
bleary-eyed Redbrands staggered out from the barracks, being surprised by the
sudden onslaught of arrows flying towards them from various angles around the
cellar!
 |
| Three ruffians emerge from the barracks, looking for their breakfast |
By this time, Guillerme had navigated the cistern and swung
his glaive to protect Nobby from his attacked. The weapon arced down and sliced
the man through the shoulder and into his neck, dropping him to the floor with
a surprised look on his face. With all three ruffians dead and the entire
basement fully scoured of evildoers, there was nothing left to do but for Nobby
to rifle through the pockets of the dead Redbrands and unsheathe his knife to
add to his ear emporium.
With all the Redbrands dead and their leader, Albrek, already
imprisoned, the adventurers went to collect Droop the goblin from the Bugbear
barracks and told Sildar that the manor had been cleared. They escorted the poor
prisoners safely from the Redbrand lair and made their way to the Stonehill
Tavern for some well-deserved rest and recuperation.
A Celebratory Breakfast
The party headed for the Stonehill Tavern, along with
Sildar, Mirna and her children, and even Droop who was trying to look
inconspicuous. Sildar offered to buy everyone an enormous breakfast in
celebration of a good morning’s work, which was welcomed by all. Mirna couldn’t
thank him and the adventurers enough for saving her and her children.
Once the plates were cleared and Mirna had left with the
children, Sildar talked to the party about just what they had achieved with
taking down the Redbrand gang and apprehending Albrek.
“Iarno, a traitor,” Sildar said with sadness. “It breaks my
heart that he would betray The Lord’s Alliance like that. But don’t worry, he
will be fully interrogated back in Neverwinter. We’ll root out any further
corruption, if it is there, and find out everything he knows.”
Sucking on a pipe, the veteran warrior continued. “There is
one thing on my mind, though. I have to say that I felt the deception you all
played on those two guards was a little underhand. I know, I know,” he said as
he held his hands up to stop the protestations, “it got the job done. And the
job was to execute every last one of them. I just find those sort of dirty
tricks unbecoming of an honourable warrior, that’s all. Let’s speak of it no
more.”
The party seemed quite hurt by the mild criticism from the
stalwart warrior, particularly Guillerme who prided himself on his chivalric
code. Sildar wouldn’t engage them any more on the subject, however, stating
that it was simply his method of fighting and that he would rather fight face
to face with his enemy rather than trick them like some back alley rogue. Nobby
was in no way offended by this remark.
For the rest of the day, the party relaxed and wandered
around Phandalin, noticing that many of the townsfolk seemed to have more of a
spring in their step now that the oppressive atmosphere caused by the threat of
the Redbrands had dissipated.
The Miner’s Exchange
Realising that there was one place that they hadn’t visited
in the town, and that this place was perhaps least likely to be happy about the
disbanded Redbrands based on the information the group had obtained so far, the
party headed for the Miners Exchange. They entered to be confronted by Halia Thornton,
a tough looking woman who ran the Miners Exchange and looked like perhaps she
COULD get blood from a stone.
She was well aware that the Redbrands had been taken down but
did not appear, outwardly at least, to be upset about it. The party attempted
to quiz her about any dealings she had with the Redbrands but did not get any
useful information from her. Halia, in turn, asked them if any of the Ruffians
were still alive. She also asked whether they had found any interesting correspondence
in Glasstaff’s chambers.
Deciding that they didn’t trust her, the adventurers refused
to divulge the contents of the note from the Black Spider that they had found
in Albrek’s bedchamber. They wondered whether this was indeed the sort of correspondence
she was looking for, or whether they might have missed something during their
search of the basement under Tresander Manor. Attempts to coerce the details of
exactly what correspondence Halia were met with stony silence.
Frustrated, Guillerme puffed out his chest and attempted to
intimidate Halia into talking more. She shook her head and clicked her fingers,
causing two burly miners to emerge from the back room and stand, flanking their
boss, massive arms folded across their chests. Halia was not going to be intimidated.
“If you have nothing to give me from the manor,” the Miners
Exchange representative began, “and you clearly haven’t been doing any mining
yourselves, then you have no business here. Leave. Now.”
The burly miners punctuated Halia’s speech by inching their
large frames forward slightly. It was a small movement but didn’t go unnoticed.
Frustrated with the interaction, the party began to file back out of the Miners
Exchange. Kisandra stayed to the back, waiting till the others had left before
asking Halia if she knew anything about Cragmaw Castle – where it was, for
instance. Halia replied that she didn’t know but that she had heard rumours there
was a little goblin running around the Manor and that perhaps he would know the
way. Kisandra thanked the woman and walked out the door.
Stood outside the Miners Exchange, the party discussed what
to do next. Guillerme was adamant that they must have missed something in their
search of the Manor, something that implicated the Miners Exchange and that was
why Halia was so interested. Barendil was totally unconvinced by this line of
reasoning and was much more keen to visit Daran Edermath to inquire about his
magic sword. They agreed to split up, with Nobby going with Guillerme to search
the Manor again while Kisandra and Buck went with Barendil to Edermath Orchard.
Another Search in the Manor
Nobby and Guillerme return to the manor and ran around the
basement, making a beeline for Albrek’s bedchamber through the secret door they
had previously uncovered. The pair found nothing that the party had not seen
before and so returned to the town centre to re-join the rest of the group.
Edermath Orchard
Daran Edermath was standing by the gate of his picturesque
orchard sipping scrumpy, watching Kisandra, Barendil and Buck approach. Barendil
greeted the half-elf warmly, perhaps seeing something in the elven side of the
old adventurer that reminded him of his decimated clan. Daran put down his cup
of cider and extended his hand, welcoming the three of them into the orchard.
Edermath had, of course, heard the news that the Redbrands
had been dealt with and heartily congratulated the adventurers.
“Sounds glorious!” he exclaimed. “If only I hadn’t taken
that arrow to the knee… back in my adventuring days I would have been honoured
to draw swords with you and assist in such a noble endeavour.”
With the mention of drawing swords, Barendil drew out the
blade he had found in the Manor and asked Edermath if he knew anything about the
sword – its history, its enchantments. He explained that Sildar had suggested
Daran might be the right person to talk to.
“Well, yes,” replied the old half-elf. “I grew up in this
region so that’s why I decided to retire here. I certainly recognise that blade
– it is Talon, the old Lord of Tresander’s magic longsword. It has an
enchantment to enhance the accuracy and strength of its strikes, and look at
that fine workmanship on the hilt, it’s beautiful.”
Barendil handed the sword hilt-first to Daran and he turned
it in his hands so the hilt caught the light.
“Talon,” he said,
almost in a whisper. “This blade was used by the Lord when the orcs attacked
and sacked the Manor – it’s why it is still a ruin. I hear that he slew a great
many orcs with this blade before he finally succumbed. It is said that it
tasted so much orc blood that the blade itself now glows blue whenever orcs are
near. To be honest, I am surprised you found it there, I would have thought it
lost to the wilds ages ago. A wonderful blade, I am sure it will serve you
well.”
With that, he handed the sword back to Barendil, who looked at the sword in wonder.
 |
| Barendil's magic longsword, liberated from Tresander Manor |
“I will honour the previous master of this blade,” promised
the ranger, “and use it well to slay evil.”
“Funny you should say that,” said Daran with a grin. “I
suppose you already know of the bounty on the heads of the orcs at Wyvern Tor? There
is an old watchtower, a remnant of the Netheril Empire, to the northeast of
Wyvern Tor. It’s called Old Owl Well. I’ve heard from prospectors in the region
that undead have been spotted near the well and watchtower and I would like you
to investigate what is going on there, if you are willing?”
Before waiting for anyone else, Barendil immediately responded,
“Yes, of course! We would be honoured to undertake this quest for you. We’ll
investigate Old Owl Well and rid the area of the orc filth at Wyvern Tor – this
sword will drink orc blood again!”
Pleased by Barendil’s zeal, Daran Edermath nodded his head
and handed over a rolled piece of parchment. It was a map of the region, with
some additional landmarks included that had been missing from the party’s
previous map. It clearly showed the location of Old Owl Well, near to Wyvern
Tor. Interestingly, the Thundertree Ruins that had been mentioned by Mirna were
also marked on it.
Edermath also handed over a map of Phandalin. He figured that they had been in the town for some time but might find it useful to have a handy map to remind them of where things were.
 |
| Daran Edermath's regional map |
 |
| A map of the town of Phandalin |
Back on the Road
Nobby and Guillerme caught up with the rest of the party as
they left Edermath Orchard. They relayed the disappointing news that they found
nothing new in the Manor basement, Guillerme despondently kicking a stone across
the road. At least Barendil was pleased with his new sword and the party had a
new objective to follow up on in the wilderness.
They left for Old Owl Well that day, anticipating a two-day
journey to reach it. The first day’s march was uneventful, and they camped
under the stars that night with Barendil taking the majority of the night watch
as he required less sleep than the humans. On the second day, they passed
Coneyberry (where they had encountered Agatha the Banshee) and began to turn
off the Triboar Trail to head south towards the foothills of the Sword Mountains.
As the map showed that they only had a couple of hours walk to get to Old Owl
Well and the sun was beginning to drop below the horizon, the party decided to make
camp.
Barendil was again on patrol in the trees near the camp when
he heard a soft noise in the still night air. Glancing down at his side, he
could see a blue glow emanating from his scabbard – orcs were close! He stalked
through the trees and spotted 5 of the greenskins attempting to sneak up on the
camp. Grinning viciously, the ranger drew his blade and called out to his companions.
They were all up within seconds, attacking the orcs from the front while
Barendil charged in from the rear. One orc was cleaved in two by Guillerme’s
glaive as he extolled the virtues of his god to empower his strike with divine
energy.
The small band of orcs were swiftly despatched by the party,
proving little threat. Perhaps it would have been a different story if they had
managed to attack the camp without being detected, but fortunately Barendil had
been alert and on guard. The presence of the orcs here was surely related to
the proximity of Wyvern Tor, reinforcing the importance of dealing with that
problem. But, for now, the party was committed to exploring Old Owl Well, and
after a good night’s sleep that is what they would be doing.
 |
| An orc patrol attacks the camp |
Epilogue: Campfire Stories
After despatching the orc patrol, the party sat round the
campfire to clean their weapons and wind down. They all felt somewhat stronger
and more confident from their recent exploits, almost ready to take on
anything!
For his part, Nobby sighed. He was starting to feel more
comfortable with his companions, and so he decided to open up to them about
where he had come from. He’d been fairly tight-lipped about his home until this
point, and the rest of the adventurers sat in respectful silence as he told
them his story.
“It all seemed
to go wrong in dat last day innit. We’d heard a rumour that wizards were being
killed up at the Unseen University right, but they want coppers in there even
less than the guilds. But den Mista Vimes, me boss he’s well alright, is
suddenly called up to Vetinari innit and you don’t want that he’s our tyrant
right, and I tell you it all kicks off from dere.
‘parently
Vetinari got a taste his own medicine and was surprised to find himself in a
meetin’ with a couple of broads: one was Tiffany, she’s like this head witch
see, and the other called Susan I fink, I’m not sure who she is but she just
appeared right there right didn’t go through no doors even Vetinari could see
and said her grandad was definitely not very concerned that some wizard called
Rincewind is dead by murder, and no one should be concerned that no one should
be able to kill that bugga even tho apparently he’s a right useless sod.
Tiffany is saying that someone called Es-ka-reena is in the university and she
shouldn’t be right. And she’s hurt. And she’s groaning “travelling now,
Um-nee-ans, ice, where her kid”. Anyway, Vetinari ain’t tyrant for no reason
and calls in Ridcully, head wizard from that university right, and he says its
true Rincewinds dead, killed in the library, and he’s most annoyed as they’ve
had to lock his luggage away as it’s raging right, whatever that means, oh and
yeah and also some lobsters, university security like, have been killed too.
All messy right? And back to this Es-ka-reena, well apparently she is an old
lady wizard, shouldn’t be old and shouldn’t be a wizard, and shouldn’t be there
at UU right. Den Mista Vimes is called up, immediately gets put on it by
Vetinari, and is back in the Pseudopolis station where we work, and he aint
happy like. None of it makes sense. But Buggy is sent off to see if those
bloody Nac Mac Feegle are causing trouble somewhere and den apparently Dorfl
says dat he’s heard of Um and we should speak to the Golem Trust bout Um and
its Golems cos we aint got nuthin better to do right! Golems!
Well Mista Vimes
thinks is senseless, so he sends me and me buddy Colon down there right, cos
Colon says we gots lots of sense right. Anyway, in dere this lady between
cigarettes says that Um was full of dese crazy monks who made golems with clay
and dis magic fire right but it was all destroyed by bloomin’ ice giants like
tousands years ago blimey, all their crazy monks killed off and some real fine
and valuable golems, not like dose weirdos today, buried real deep. Although
funny we ask cos that Um religion thought the multiverse would be destroyed
around now by fat men with beards and wearing the stars just so they could eat
food most fowl, and those ums would have to stop it, like. But Um stories don’t
make sense most the time and they were crazy really its nothing to worry ‘bout
less they could time travel right. She even offered us a cigarette but after
what happened with the goblins a while back Colon nearly turned green and I’m
banned cos of me missus Shine of the Rainbow right so we got out there quick
you know.
No sooner we get
back to Pseudopolis yard everyone’s called up to the Unseen University right
then and it’s going crazy. Me pal Modo’s been murdered outside dat High Energy
Magik buildin’ as well as some student inside, or a Turnip I’m not sure. And
some kind of magic golem scimitar has been pinched by some crazy demon monster
from some important cabinet and they can’t anything anywhere but no surprise
ina place lake dat innit. Mista Vimes is trying to make sense of it I
think but Ridcully is moaning the day started bad enough when that young upshot
Ponder, another wizard who don’t seem popular, wanted to advance splitting
summink called the th-au-m that eve but it’s fried chicken Friday and I heard
their fried chicken is well good just none left after 5 minutes or less I
reckon with those bellies walkin bout. Not even any chicken gravy left for
doggos out in the alley behind the kitchens. I know. Trust me.
Anyway another
student bursts in and says that he saw that soon-to-be-dead turnip told this
demon monster monk thing that Ponder was in the library and it headed off that
way. Then Ridcully looks real scared as it is powerful magic in there but the
watch know that already like as once Mista Vimes disappeared in there for a
while like and turned up again naked and bashed up. Mista Vimes and Captain
Carrot, yeah Carrot hes alright too me and Colon taught him all he knows, run
right off to the library with all dose wizards. I’m not rushing see as I
wondered if I could find any dat chicken but I was beat out the kitchen. Anyway
I sneak up to that library right, although no need to rush as it sounds like
chaos in there and, yeah, anyway you know, not good to rush in yeah.
I did sneak in
and this weird scene is playing out right. This young wizard is on the floor
seemed to be bleeding but not too bad, and Mista Vimes over the top of him
looking real real bad covered in blood and all. Carrot is covered in blood next
to them, but not moving. No idea where those wizards are, sounds like they are
screaming and running off somewhere down the back, with a big old Orangutang,
he’s alright too, scooping up wild bats that kind of looked like flying books,
which were chasing those wizards right. And in the middle of it all is this
real tall bluish grey bald figure, looking away from me right I couldn’t really
see his face. Real big ears like, I’ll never forget em. Never! And he had this
big purple and gold cloak or summat on him – yeah maybe he did look a bit like
a monk but with his hood down like. And in his hand he’s got this real pretty
scimitar thing right, but made from clay with lots of patterns and slightly on
fire. Looked very clean which I thought was weird. And he looks real interested
in that young lookin’ wizard Ponder right.
So right I
accidently end up in the room and kind of behind this demon monster monk
looking guy right. But not too close oh no. He was real scary looking and I
could feel cold coming off him and everyone else nearby looked battered. But
that Ponder looked up right at me and shouted “Get him then” and I was in
trouble now. Those big ears almost flickered round and I saw him peep his eyes
over his shoulder at me as I was waving manically at that wizard to shut up
right. Then never has a second moved so quickly. That monk was a blur coming
towards me and I could feel the cold coming off him even more. But then this
might even be the weirdest bit but this huge wooden chest hit that monk dunno
where it came from and that chest looked somehow angry although I don’t know
how it is a chest right but we all landed on top of one another, but we were
still falling through something magic (Tom: L-space portal accidently opened
up?) and it was a scene I never wanna see again right. That monk was falling
but more interested in some random wooden chest that now I think about it
smelled like feet rather than whatever we’re falling through and thankfully no
one seemed interested in me innit.
I woke up no
idea how much longer after all that drama right but my head was banging and I
was behind that tavern in chestnut hollow right no idea how I got there but
there is hundreds of little footprints around me and heading off into the
distance. Somehow I got me some gold I mean copper I don’t remember having so
thought I better stop in the tavern for a drink and a smoke to collect me self.
And the rest… well you know it all… and seems almost ordinary in comparison to
that last day back home, in Ankh Morpork. I hope to get back home, to Colon,
Vimes and them all, and of course back to Shine of the Rainbow…”
No comments:
Post a Comment