Redbrand in Tresendar Manor Report
General Summary
Previously: A New Sheriff in Town
After we talked to her, Squats could not decide whether there was a link between the wizard and the Sheriff. She passes on rumours of people who have had fights with Redbrand mercenaries. One of the townsfolk was injured, possibly killed and their family went missing shortly afterward.
Squats linked the disappearances to the note about the Bugbear and a slave trade.
She considered that the wizard in the notes was most likely Glass staff, and that this is all linked to the Redbrand mercenary group somehow. She doubts whether the mercenaries seen around town are numerous enough to be the whole organisation, and suggests that others may be camped out in the woods or up in the ruins of the manor. She is pretty sure the wizard is after her, specifically, and has killed the other two members of the Steelshard crew.
At the inn, we also spoke to young Pip, and heard about Pip's friend, who was chased away from some tunnels in woods by Redbrand.
At the end of this investigation, we had a number of things to look at:
1. these tunnels in the woods,
2. the sleeping giant tavern,
3. the manor on the hill,
4. a hunt for bugbear in the woods,
5. reinvestigate the caravan ambush site.
Anathema asked Squats what she stole from the wizard. To start with, she claimed that any treasure was being carried by the two burly tall-folk, and it would all have been on Elf's body. After some stern looks from Anathema, she admitted there were magic items. She excused herself as not very strong and so she was not carry anything particularly big. She did, however, make it out of there with a bowl with blue glaze on inside. It had a natural feel about it that might be described as hypernormal - more present, more intensely ordinary than normal, non-magical objects. It also seemed to be made of natural materials. It turns out to be a magical item, though. When someone looks into it, they see images.
Tharg used the bowl and found himself thinking about slaves. He saw a dark room filled with animalistic monster noises, and people shouting nasty things. Cages filled the area. All the prisoners were scared but alive. Their captors sometimes shivered when they heard something.
It seemed they were held prisoner by bugbears and occasional other voices could be heard. The prison walls were dressed stone, but in bad condition.
Squats exclaimed that she didn't know the bowl was magical. She lost everything else with the other two.
Squats wrapped the bowl in a gold cloth and placed it on top of a wardrobe. The cloth might help disguise it in case the wizard can search for it with magic. We decided to look for a lead lined box to hold it in the future. We warned Pip to run if a wizard turns up at the inn.
Anathema bought some ball bearings from Barthen's apprentice before we walked to the town hall noticeboard.
We decided to explore the manor on the hill first on our list. On entering, we found a mostly ruined building with no remaining second floor. There was lots of rubble and many holes in wall where missing beams would have once sat. The stone lintels around doors and windows look fancy. Tharg noted some traffic from the path but there were not many signs of things being disturbed up here. There was a path around the ruin, and stairway down through to under the floor. Tharg could smell ash, but could not be sure if it was drifting from somewhere in town or came from a hidden area of the manor. He could also smell chemicals and fresh-ish water, along with traces of people, wood and leather from ruins and from down the stairs, suggesting that bugbears had not come up to the ruins. The sounds of water and echoes reached us from downstairs. The cellar door was less worn, slightly, than the rest of the house. There were tracks in the dust between the cellar door inside and we quickly came across barrels containing fresh provisions. The open cistern in this room appeared to be perfectly safe drinking water. On searching more carefully, we discovered a sack, about two feet down in the water, which we fished out. It was a waterproof sack containing a red potion, a clear potion, 50 gp, and a set of clean travelling clothes. - men size, average looking. Quickly reacting to sounds from a door behind the cistern, we speedily overpowered three Redbrand employees. One was skillfully pinned to the bed by a sneaky arrow attack, while the other two were quickly knocked unconscious. We prepared ourselves for the morally ambiguous task of interrogating these captives.
Next: Biter of Demons
