Session 93, February 22, 2024 Beneath the city walls (with some guards who are definitely dead)

Session begins morning 15th of Nytol. Ifrea grumbles about being stuck in the city all morning. They head off to the temple to speak with captain Belanor again. Along the way, Shar spots a woman walking towards the market with her two children. He approaches and asks why there are so many displaced persons sheltering in the city. She says they came from the common quarter of Neverwinter after a lot of political tensions and food insecurity. Her district representative, Margrave (go-between for citizens and city lord), told them to leave and they did before anything got out of control. She's fairly confident whatever issue in the city will be resolved and they'll get to go home at some point. Ifrea approaches a small group of men a ways off and strikes up conversation. He doesn't get very far with them, as they get judgy about his country-life and him about their city-life. They regroup after a few minutes and find Belanor. He ushers them inside to the second floor of the temple. They sit at a large table. Savari jumps in and starts asking about the refugees. He says the goal of evacuating the city was to stop the flow of money to the upper government. The 12 representatives are trying to gain leverage with the ruling class. He explains that the reps serve as a council to the lord (Dagult Neverember) but he ultimately makes the decisions. Neverwinter is a very prosperous city but Dagult has increased taxes without re-distributing profits to the good of the city. He also stayed in power by force after "elections" about 20 years ago. At this point he is a threat to the continued thriving of the city. There is also suspicion that he's dabbling in necromancy and other dark arts. Belanor isn't looking for assassins. Dagult has a chief aid called Lancaster (master of the arcane arts) who will have to be taken down as well. The plan is to use a series of smuggling tunnels to the south side of the city. They don't know the status of the tunnels as they haven't been in use recently, but if the party can clear them out and find a structure to house soldiers, they can begin infiltrating the city undetected. They stock up on supplies and eat before heading north to the city. They eventually reach the trenches dug around the walls. A guard points out the tunnel entrance to them, and offers the bunker for them to rest before embarking on the underground quest. Overnight Savari sneaks out to the front trench and tries to find some "food". She almost gets hit with an arrow in the process, but manages to drag a body out of the trench and a little ways off and is able to satiate herself for the time being. Early the next morning before the sun rises, guards lead the party to the tunnel entrance. They slowly trek through until Rys spots a tripwire, and in investigating it, she accidentally partially collapses the tunnel supports. They clear the cave-in, restoring some of the integrity of the supports. They continue to where they estimate is pretty near the southern wall of the city, and find an intersection with tunnels to the left, right, and continuing straight. Savari hears noise from the left tunnel after they choose to go straight that sounds like boots on stone, but possibly from above them. Rys goes back to look around the corner and sees about 30 feet down the left tunnel it changes from earthen to a broken stone top. Shar sets alarms to both of the side tunnels just to be cautious, but they choose to continue on their previously chosen path. Proceeding more stealthily with lights and flames extinguished, Ifrea (invisible) leads Shar through the darkness. It is very quiet above them, estimating it to be about 4am. Rys takes the lead until she spots what looks like 2 bodies, fully armed, sitting about 60 feet up. After determining they're definitely dead, they investigate with light and see the slate blue signature color of Captain Belanor and the resistance. There is another intersection with 2 branches to the right and 2 to the left. They choose to go vaguely straight again, but begin investigating some side passages. Ifrea finds a trap door and shoves it open, then listens. There's no reactive sounds from above, but the gray light of morning is filtering in. He signals the party, and they follow to find themselves in a well-maintained basement. Rys uses wildshape to turn into a spider and crawls under the door into a quiet home. It's slowly gathering dust, looks like some essentials were grabbed but most belongings were left behind. They determine it to be a safe enough home, and send Savari's bird back to relay the message. They're still fairly close to the wall in the SouthEast quadrant of the city. Session ends morning of 16th of Nytol.