18 April 2021
⏪ Previous - Session 11
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)
 |
| Thundertree map at the start of Session 12 |
Cleaning Up the Cult of Personality
The adventurers stood amongst the dragon cultist corpses as
Barendil walked outside to send Perry flying back to Phandalin with their
correspondence. As he walked back in, he saw Nobby was rooting around the
corpses, as usual, while Buck and Guillerme were having a casual glance through
some of the sheafs of parchment that were scattered about – they didn’t find
anything of particular interest.
Kisandra was feeding the little bronze pseudodragon and
stroking its chin. They seemed to be forming a bond already. The lizard-like
creature made a sound akin to a cat purring, then suddenly leapt down from the
table it was sitting on and started looking from Kisandra to the wall and back
again. As it did this, the sorceress felt some images appearing in her mind,
fuzzy and faint at first but getting stronger. She could see a vase of pink
flowers, and as she looked properly to where the pseudodragon was excitedly
nodding its head, she saw an old painting on the wall. Though the paint was
faded and peeling, it was unmistakably the same vase of pink flowers. She
reasoned that the images she had seen in her head must have been a result of
the little creature communicating with her telepathically, so she walked to the
wall to investigate further.
There was something strange about this painting. While most
of the walls were either broken or simply devoid of ornamentation, this
painting appeared to have been hung with care. And, though it was old and
faded, the frame was relatively clean – particularly around the bottom right
corner, almost as if it had been regularly polished in just that spot. The
pseudodragon was jumping with excitement now, flapping its little wings as it
ran in circles around Kisandra’s legs. She reached out and found that the painting
was hinged on its left side, and by pulling on the clean righthand corner she
exposed a hidden alcove in the wall. This was what the little creature was
trying to tell her! She reached inside and pulled out an old, worn axe, but her
magical senses told her that this was deceptive – the axe was enchanted and
much more potent than it first appeared. It had the word ‘Hew’ written upon the
shaft, presumably the name given to the magical weapon.
By now, the rest of the party had gathered round to see what
Kisandra had discovered. She closed her eyes and focused her inner eye on the
axe. It was clearly of dwarven manufacture, she had already noticed that, but
as she focused on it, she began to get a sense of the history of the weapon and
the enchantments the dwarfs had bestowed it with. She could feel the axe
thirsting for tree sap, eager to chop wood and fell forests. The anger that resided
within the axe spoke of some tragic past related to woodland conflict.
Opening her eyes, Kisandra looked round at her companions
and told them what she knew of this axe. It was an excellent find, well hidden in
this building – had it been hidden by the cultists or perhaps it had been here
long before they took up residence? It was too late to ask them. She wasn’t
sure whether the pseudodragon had observed the men placing the axe in its
alcove or whether it had used some other sense to divine the location, perhaps
drawn to its magic. Either way, the pseudodragon had already proved a useful
companion, and the party now had a new weapon to help them smite their enemies.
The only question remaining was, who would wield the potent chopper?
 |
| The magical battleaxe revealed by Kisandra's new pseudodragon companion |
Guillerme said that he was happy with his glaive and the
additional reach it afforded him to keep out of range of most enemies, so he
wasn’t eager to take up the magical axe. Buck, however, looked at Hew with wide
eyes, gladly accepting the axe when Kisandra passed it to him. He stowed his
warhammer in his pack and held the axe reverently. It felt good in his hands. He
appreciated the dwarven craftsmanship, the simple utilitarian design and the
exceptionally sharp edge. He looked forward to using it to bring Kord’s justice
to his enemies.
Before they left the house, Barendil walked up to Nobby and
patted the small man on the shoulder. He congratulated Nobby on the execution
of his plan in defeating the cultists and said that maybe he was wrong about him.
The elf went on to say that he knew about Nobby’s penchant for ear collection
and told him that he would pledge his own ears to Nobby upon his death. The
rest of the party looked on in abject horror and disgust as the exchange took this
unexpected turn, and immediately tried to scrub it from their memories. But
Nobby’s filthy little face as Mr. Barendil talked to him was a sight they
wouldn’t soon forget.
Bring Out Your Dead
The adventurers left the stench of dead cultists behind and
ventured into the ruins of the town once more. They walked through a ruined
building that contained the remains of a forge and a number of old, rusted tools.
Though this building was almost completely destroyed, it was clear that it used
to be a blacksmith’s workshop, though the forge had not been lit in many years.
Ahead, the path forked. Taking the right-hand branch would
lead them north, past Mirna’s old herbalist shop and back into the centre of
the town. The left fork soon terminated at a dishevelled building that
Guillerme had already noted as containing some sort of undead presence. All
agreed that this undead menace should be dealt with, but a cautious approach
should be taken as they did not know precisely what manner of abomination lay
within, or indeed how many there might be – just that there was something there.
So it was that Barendil and Nobby drew their cloaks about
themselves and crept forwards in an attempt to peer into the ruined building without
being seen. The normally agile elf ranger lost his footing on some loose rubble,
however, and fell over in spectacular fashion, knocking his head into the
remnants of the building’s front door with a loud thud. The scene may have been
more comical if the noise hadn’t disturbed the zombies within the building, who
started crawling from every opening and stumbling towards the adventurers,
swiftly surrounding both Barendil and Nobby and moving to attack their
companions.
 |
| Zombies, drawn by the commotion caused by Barendil's clumsy advance, spill from the ruined building to attack the adventurers |
The party scrambled to defend themselves as best as they
could. These zombies, as with the ones previously encountered at the barracks,
puffed out clouds of cloying ash when they were hit with any attacks. The ash
got into eyes, noses and throats, choking anyone nearby and making the zombies
particularly difficult to deal with at close quarters. Unfortunately for the
adventurers, this fight had rapidly become a close quarters affair when Barendil
had alerted the undead to the party’s presence.
Droop, normally protected in the centre of the party, found
himself attacked by one of the zombies. The little goblin desperately tried to
fend off the grasping hands of the walking corpse. Though he was deeply afraid,
he felt sure that one of his new protectors would save him. As it was,
Guillerme leapt forwards, brandishing his glaive. However, showing a complete
disregard for the wellbeing of the little goblin who had helped them since their
foray into Tresander Manor, Guillerme swung his weapon only just above Droop’s
head and buried it deep into the zombie’s chest. The length of the polearm
allowed Guillerme to stand away from his target but, as he withdrew the blade,
a cloud spilled out and coated Droop in a thick layer of acrid ash. The goblin
coughed feebly and looked around with tears in his eyes, but Guillerme had
already moved on to find more zombies to destroy. The forlorn goblin stood motionless
as the combat continued around him.
Kisandra managed to burn one of the walking corpses with a Fire
Bolt that immolated it completely, leaving charred bones and roasted flesh on
the ground. Both Nobby and Barendil did their best to get some distance between
themselves and the ash zombies, while Buck hefted his newly found axe. He found
the weight distribution quite different to his warhammer so the weapon would
take more getting used to. Instead, the cleric drew on the godly power of the
tempest to summon a powerful Gust of Wind, which pushed some of the zombies back
and away from his companions, keeping their hazardous clouds of ash at a safe
distance. Uncaring, the zombies still attempted to walk through the howling
gale, their only thought being to get to the fresh meat that they could smell
in front of them.
One of the zombies lurched towards Guillerme, arms
outstretched and fingers flexing towards the paladin. The corpse fell to the
ground at his feet, face down in the dirt. Guillerme laughed – he knew that his
battle prowess was considerable, but now the fiends were just dropping like
flies at his very intimidating aura? This was an incredible new development! He
was too busy congratulating himself and lopping off the fallen zombie’s head,
so he didn’t notice that the direction of Buck’s magical gale lined up with the
direction the zombie had fallen in. If he had voiced the discovery of his new
powers to his companions, they may have pointed out the more likely (and windy)
explanation for the phenomenon, but he kept his thoughts to himself so remained
oblivious.
Friar Buck’s Gust of Wind was not able to prevent all the
zombies from moving, and one of them eventually reached the cleric and barged
into him, clacking his teeth together near his neck and breaking his
concentration. As he fended the creature off, the gale died down to a soft
breeze and eventually stopped entirely. Still, it had done its job to give the
party some breathing room, and there were only a couple of zombies who still
stood in front of the building.
Barendil took aim at one of the remaining zombies. He, for
one, was glad that the magical gale had dissipated, as it would have played
havoc with the flight of his arrow. However, his earlier clumsiness continued
to manifest itself and he fumbled his bow as the arrow came loose from the
string and jumped up into the air. The arrow passed remarkably close to the
ranger’s face, nicking his right ear, much to Nobby’s alarm. The rogue breathed
a sigh of relief as he saw there was just a small trickle of blood running down
the earlobe – no permanent damage done, just a scratch, thank the gods!
The final zombies fell to the combined attacks of the party,
but the entire encounter reminded them that they needed to keep their guard up
and their wits about them, even when facing the sorts of enemies they had
previously defeated.
What Spiders Leave Behind
After dealing with the undead, the party walked back up the
path towards the centre of town. As normal, Nobby was bringing up the rear as
he was too busy rolling a fag, but in this case Guillerme was also lingering,
which was less usual. Once the others had rounded a bend, Guillerme’s purpose
became clear as he grabbed the smaller man by the scruff of the neck and thrust
him up against a tree trunk. Bringing his face within a dangerous proximity of
Nobby’s perplexed mug, Guillerme growled out a warning.
"Listen
here you toe rag,” began the paladin, “you are a conundrum… I can't help but be
impressed by your misdirection of those cultists. However, you little scrotum,
if I catch you rifling through my accoutrements once more, I shall make you
wish you had more essential extremities in your collection as spares.”
With
that, Guillerme flicked the fag out of Nobby’s mouth and walked off with an air
of superiority and satisfaction.
Nonplussed,
Nobby reached behind his ear and pulled out another pre-rolled cigarette. As he
began to puff on the dog end, he looked down at the items he pilfered from
Guillerme’s pockets whilst the paladin had him up against the tree and laughed
to himself. He couldn’t wait to see Guillerme’s face when he noticed they were
missing!
Guillerme
and Nobby caught up to the rest of the party as they approached the location of
their battle with the giant spiders the previous day. They decided to
investigate what may lie within the lair of the beasts. Barendil was still
feeling uncertain on his feet after his failed attempts to sneak up on the
zombies, so remained on the road to look out for danger. Nobby took the lead,
stooping under thick strands of spider web to creep into the ruined building
that the spiders had ambushed the party from. Stepping quietly forward, he
scanned the interior and could see no signs of further danger. Nobby called the
others forward when he spotted a body, tightly bound in a spider silk cocoon.
The
rest of the party approached as Nobby used a knife to cut the silk away from
the corpse’s face. It appeared to be an elf, clearly very dead and presumably
stored for the spiders to consume later. The elf was dressed as an adventurer,
perhaps a member of a previous party that had explored the ruins of Thundertree
in search of treasure. He had clearly been less successful than the group who
now stood looking down at his corpse.
Nobby
finished rummaging through the elf’s pockets, finding a potion of healing and
some cash, and he looked up at the emaciated head, his knife hand straying
towards the ears. Barendil, noticing the look of anticipation on the rogue’s
face, put a warning hand on his shoulder.
“Do
not desecrate the body of this fallen elf further Nobby,” commanded the ranger
in a tone that cautioned it should not be ignored.
Nobby
sheathed his knife. “Of course, Mr. Barendil sir,” he said with a solemn bow of
his head.
Leaving
the spider lair behind, the adventurers continued to the southwest part of
Thundertree. Ahead of them stood a building that was still quite intact,
clearly fortified and looking like it was most likely occupied. To their left,
a larger but more dilapidated ruin sat amongst a large grove of trees and
overgrown plot of land. Guillerme walked towards this second structure,
kneeling and directing his senses towards it in an attempt to detect evil but
could sense nothing nearby. He turned to the others and nodded towards the
other building that appeared to be occupied, and they walked towards the front
door.
Druidic Assistance
As they approached the building, the adventurers heard a
cawing sound – similar to Barendil’s bird, Perry, but more high-pitched.
Looking to the sky, they saw a hawk fly down and into the chimney. Shrugging to each other in confusion, they decided to knock on the
heavy wooden door. Presently, it opened a crack, and a female voice spoke to
them from inside.
“Who are you to come knocking at my door?” asked the unseen
occupant.
Holding Nobby back as he began to open his mouth, Barendil
replied in a confident voice that they were adventurers, come to Thundertree to
fulfil a promise and find out what had happened to the town. He asked who the
occupant of the house was.
“I am the one who left those signs on the way into
Thundertree,” came the reply, “the signs you appear to have ignored… though,
you are still alive, so perhaps you could be of some use…”
“Well, we have defeated some dragon cultists as well as chopped
down our fair share of walking trees and zombies,” said Barendil, trying not to
sound too smug. “But tell me lady, who are you to have chosen this place to
live? It’s hardly… hospitable.”
As she pulled the door open completely, the party had a full
view of the woman. Long, tousled red locks fell down past her waist while a
long blue robe provided some element of modesty. “I am Brida Elmgrove,” she
declared, “druid, protector of nature and agent of balance. I have been doing
what I can to protect the unwary from the dangers in this town, but perhaps
with your help we can turn the tide and restore it to something resembling the
place it once was. Come in, come in, let us talk.”
With that, the adventurers followed Brida into the dim
interior of her home and she barred the heavy door behind them.
 |
| Brida Elmgrove, defender of the natural order, opens the door to her cottage |
Sitting around the fire in Brida’s home, the adventurers
recounted the events over the past two days in Thundertree. She was pleased to
hear of the destruction of the dragon cultists and intrigued that they had
encountered the blue dragon and lived to tell the tale.
“His name is Stormfang,” she said, “and he only arrived in
Thundertree quite recently. From what I can gather, he was ousted from his
previous lair and has made do with the tower here – it’s not a normal site for
a blue dragon to make their home. I would see that dragon driven away from here
– it is disruptive to the natural order for such a beast to be here, and any
attempt to restore Thundertree is doomed while he remains. Though, this is not
something I can do on my own.”
The party indicated that they would be willing to assist
Brida in her quest to drive the dragon away from Thundertree. Barendil was
particularly keen to demonstrate his clan’s history of dragon hunting to this
intriguing druid. She told them that she thought it was unlikely that they
would be able to slay the beast but, given its recent history it may well
prefer the flee, particularly if they proved a sufficient enough threat to it. She
assured them that she would seek some additional assistance should they decide
to hunt the dragon but would not be drawn on exactly what help she might be
able to provide.
As the conversation turned towards the party’s goals, they
explained their overall quest to Brida – that they were searching for the
Rockseeker brothers, to help them restore the Lost Mine of Phandelver. The
party had information that Gundren Rockseeker, the eldest brother, may be
imprisoned in Cragmaw Castle. Though they didn’t have a precise location for the
castle, they knew it was somewhere in the south of Neverwinter Wood. They had
yet to locate the other two dwarf brothers, but the plan was to use Gundren’s
map to then find Wave Echo Cave, the main entrance to the lost mine, and hopefully
restore it to its former glory. A drow named the Black Spider was working
against them, attempting to acquire the riches of Wave Echo Cave for himself. He
seemed to be controlling the Cragmaw goblins from the shadows and they had yet
to encounter him in the flesh.
Brida listened to this tale with great interest. She
responded that she would also like to see the lost mine restored – just like
Sildar, she could see the benefit to the region of increasing local prosperity
and allowing people to repopulate towns like Phandalin and Thundertree. Nature
and civilisation were out of balance lately, and perhaps this quest could help
redress that. She spat on the ground at the mention of the Cragmaw goblin
tribe, indicating her distaste for the filthy creatures – Droop hid close to
Buck as she did so. Brida took their map and showed them exactly where Cragmaw Castle
was, giving the party the option to continue on there as soon as they had
rested. She also indicated that she knew where Wave Echo Cave was, though she
would only guide them there should they assist in driving away Stormfang. She
wouldn’t countenance sending the party directly there when there was still a
dragon and a tribe of evil goblins that were destroying the harmonious balance
of Neverwinter Wood.
Kisandra took this moment to ask Brida more about herself and
her adherence to ‘balance’ that she talked about. The sorceress had had very
little dealings with druids in the past, so was curious to learn more about
their ways. Brida was more than happy to discuss the delicate balance between
civilised peoples and nature, explaining that her and her kin did not want to
stop civilisation but rather sought to encourage civilised people to live in
balance with nature so that both could flourish.
In terms of druids specifically, Brida explained that they
had similarities to clerics in that they could fight and cast spells, though
their spells tended towards the use of nature more than most clerics. Druids
also had the ability to shapeshift into various animal forms at will, a
particularly useful skill for her as she could take flight as a hawk and survey
the land around her home from the relative safety of the clouds.
Nodding with interest, Kisandra made a mental note to
research the subject more when she next visited a library, wondering if there were
any druidic traits that she could learn that might be beneficial in the future.
The party shared an evening meal with Brida and accepted her
gracious offer to rest in the security of her house. They told her they
certainly intended to attack Stormfang the following day, hoping that they
might come up with a reliable plan of attack overnight.
“’ere, so where’s that pretty bird I saw come down your
chimney then Miss Brida?” asked Nobby just before getting his head down to
sleep, a bewildered expression on his face as he looked about the room in
confusion. His companions shook their heads in exasperation.
Epilogue
Upon waking the next morning, the party set about making
preparations for the day ahead. Barendil was outside, stretching in the morning
sun that dappled through the leaves in the overgrown ruins, when Perry swooped
down from high in the sky and dropped a tightly bound scroll into his waiting
hands. It turned out to be a response from Sister Garaele to Kisandra, which
the sorceress read aloud to the group.
 |
| Sister Garaele's response to Kisandra's latest report |
The party had managed to
get the lie of the land in Thundertree, exploring the full extent of the
deserted streets. They had defeated a large number of enemies and now had an
ally who was going to help them tackle the largest and most formidable foe they
had yet encountered. Whether Brida’s assistance would be enough to enable them
to overcome Stormfang was a question they would soon be answering. Either way,
they now knew the precise location of Cragmaw Castle, the next stop in their
quest to rescue the Rockseeker brothers and restore the Lost Mine of Phandelver
to working order. Assuming the Black Spider had no more tricks with which to
surprise them…
 |
| Thundertree map at the end of session 12 |
 |
| The party's regional map of the Sword Coast around Phandalin, updated after discussion with Brida Elmgrove |
No comments:
Post a Comment