Talthi's Log

Content by 'Tahlthi'

Session I

In the city of Neverwinter, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker asked you to bring a wagonload of provisions to the rough-and-tumble settlement of Phandalin, a couple of days' travel southeast of the city. Gundren was clearly excited and more than a little secretive about his reasons for the trip, saying only that he and his brothers had found "something big," and that he'd pay you fifteen gold pieces each for escorting his supplies safely to Barthen's Provisions, a trading post in Phandalin. He then set out ahead of you on horse, along with a warrior escort named Sildar Hallwinter, claiming he needed to arrive early to "take care of business."

You've spent the last few days following the High Road south from Neverwinter, and you've just recently veered east along the Triboar Trail.

You've encountered no trouble so far, but this territory can be dangerous. Bandits and outlaws have been known to lurk along the trail.

Goblin Ambush

Most run away upon discovering magic-users (shot in shoulder, one-shotted a goblin, party killed another)

Follow trail of goblins, who were (earlier) dragging at least one captive.

Find cave opening at end of trail - stream flows out of opening, taking entire entrance.

Goblin sentries (2) dispatched by a wild magic surge

Session II

Entering the cave, there's a small cavern with several chained wolves. I proceed past them unmolested, with the idea of ignoring them - they're making enough noise at the moment to have alerted anyone we might have tried sneaking past. Wick, however, has other ideas, shooting off a firebolt at one of the wolves.

As the others battle the wolves, I scout ahead, mostly out of curiosity. There are definitely goblins here, several of them. The others, or most of them, end up following me - most likely, trying to find me. They stumble upon the goblins, and we manage to defeat them.

Forgrim is knocked unconscious, though, and we're about ready to settle in for the night. Of course, we've only explored part of this cave system, so I'll need to scout some more before we can feel secure enough to take a night's rest.

Session III

Bridge is unstable - not sure it will hold my weight; want to let someone more durable try it first

Side passage goes up in steep escarpments; not super difficult to climb but not easy to do stealthily to the left, opens into a cavern. ledge in the back; didn't get close enough to see how high etc. because of …

2+ goblins at a campfire - not sure what they're doing, but they're very focused on it to the right, passage meanders around to the bridge, though i didn't check it out to be certain. may or may not also have additional side passages

Crossing the bridge would allow more people access to the goblins without too many obstacles (including each other), but the bridge may not be useable - if it collapses, they'll likely hear it and come investigate.

Coming up the side passage restricts our ability to fight them, but could also limit the number of enemies we have to fight at once. unfortunately, ranged support would be almost nonexistent, as we would be aiming both up and around a corner.

Drawing them out doesn't seem like the best idea - gives them the ability to surround us, which could finish us, especially if we're out of spells. we're not all that durable, and we've still got wounds from our last encounter.

Of course, there's always the option of trying to talk our way out of combat, but I'm certainly not going to try - I'll say the wrong thing at the wrong time, insult or offend someone, and the fighting will start. perhaps if someone better at verbal communication were to try, we might have a chance of bargaining with them...

and then, we could always hole up here for the night, with enemies so close, and hope they don't come looking around here. that would give us more flexibility in our options, since we'd be rested, more healed, and have our magics recharged. this, in my opinion, is not the best option - if we leave live enemies around, they're more than likely going to find us when we're asleep.

Session IV

Spent night in town; scouted for Gundren's brothers but lost the trail too soon

Reward from Lion's Head Coster for the return of their supplies, then went (with Sildar) to the Townmaster's Hall. Harben (townmaster) is unconcerned about the Redbrands (contrary to the opinions of the business owners and citizens we've spoken to Sildar invokes his status as a member of the Lord's Alliance to take over as townmaster.

Session V

talked to Sister Garaele at the small temple of Tymora; got quest info about banshee and spellbook

headed to the Sleeping Giant Taphouse where redbrands hang out; ended up killing 4 outside because they seemed to want to pick a fight.

Grist the taphouse owner/manager informs us that Glasstaff runs the Redbrands.

Head up to Tressendar Manor ruins. Find a stairwell leading down to a door. don't hear anything listening at the door, nor does there seem to be traps. Roric opens the door and reveals …

The door opens onto a five-foot-wide landing fifteen feet above a large cellar, with stone steps descending to the floor in two short flights. Another door stands beneath the stairs to the north. A large stone cistern occupies the western part of the room, whose walls are lined with kegs and barrels.

... which seems to be clear at the moment.

Door under the stairs: heard nothing except the clanking of Forgrim; opens into a lighted chamber

door across the room: snoring; probably barracks

Dispatched 3 redbrands sleeping in what appears to be a storage room; the last only after giving us a little information - Black Spider hired them; they report to Glasstaff, who is currently not in the hideout

Continue through the door to the north into what is clearly a long-disused hallway.

Thick dust covers the flagstones of this somber hallway. The walls are decorated with faux columns every ten feet, and the double doors at the west end of the hall are sheathed in copper plate, now green with age. A relief carving of a mournful angel graces the doors.

Carefully bypassing a pit trap, we open the double doors at the end of the hall and find...

Three large stone sarcophagi stand within this dusty crypt, and propped up against each sarcophagus is a human skeleton clad in bits of rusty mail. False columns along the walls are carved in the image of spreading oak trees. The double doors in the southeast corner are sheathed in tarnished copper plate.

Unsure about his ability to cross the pit trap, Forgim goes searching for secret doors in the other rooms, and finds one.

Session VI

Peciding to investigate what Forgrim found rather than step into the crypt, we pound some pitons into the wall to anchor a rope to help everyone avoid the pit. Wick offers to go for a swim and investigate the rope in the water. The waterproof satchel he finds attached to the rope appears to have someone's stash of coins and a couple of gems.

Investigating the secret door, Airick takes point with Wick close behind. Forgrim waits by the door while I perch on a barrel and stare down the newly-revealed hall. upon hearing that there's a natural cavern to invsetigate, I follow them down the corridor.

A cold breeze fills this large natural cavern, carrying with it the faint scent of decaying flesh. A crevasse divides the cavern and is flanked by two rough stone columns that support the twenty-foot-high ceiling. Two arched wooden bridges span the chasm.

There's a .... thing ... in the cavern speaking telepathically with Airick and Wick, hiding in the shadows behind a column. it's trying to bargain for something in order to let us pass unmolested, but it's wary about revealing itself. Eventually it disappears down a passage, and Wick takes a look around to the north.

This area is the north end of a large natural cavern, but it has been finished with dressed stone block walls and a flagstone floor. Several barrels are stored against the walls here, along with a number of empty crates, straw for packing, hammers, pry bars, and nails. The cavern continues for some distance to the south. You can make out several passages that open up off the larger cavern, and what looks like a deep pit or crevasse in the floor.

Airick discovers a chest at the north end of the crevasse, and with some help brings it up and into the finished area of the cavern. Wick and I are both unsuccessful at unlocking the chest, so Forgrim pries off the lock. Inside the chest is the sword Talon, once wielded by the Black Hawk, Aldith Tressendar.

The sword is inscribed with the name "Talon," and its hilt is worked in the shape of a bird of prey with outspread wings. It once belonged to a great knight named Aldith Tresendar, known as the Black Hawk. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (History) check recognizes the sword and recalls this lore. Sir Aldith died fighting off the orcs that attacked through the hidden caverns below his manor

Opening the secret door at the north end of the cavern, Wick unlocks the opposite door we find, revealing an armory. the gear stored here is of standard quality at best, nothing special, so we don't really need any of it.

Proceeding past the armory, Wick and the others open the door at the end of the hall to reveal a familiar room - the crypt we saw before. the skeletons next to the sarcophagi are actually undead and start attacking. With Forgrim's ability to turn undead, they're fairly easy to destroy.

Session VII

Continuing our investigation of the Redbrand's hideout, we locate what appears to be a prison, holding a few villagers and guarded by a pair of thugs. Roric is pleased with his new weapon - he's able to kill both guards in one hit each (after Airick and Forgrim soften them up a bit - but two massive blows in a row is still damn impressive).

(Woman Mirna Dendrar, her daughter Nilsa and son Nars, kidnapped when Redbrands raided their home; husband Thel didn't come home the night of the raid - turns out he's probably the body at the bottom of the crevasse; she offers information on the location of a family heirloom)

Mirna's Heirloom

Escorting Mirna and her children back to their home, we take a short rest, as some of our party need the time to recover from our recent combats under the manor. Returning to the manor hideout, Forgrim and I are able to determine without a doubt that the body in the chasm is, in fact, Thel Dendrar. We're agreed that we need to bring the body back for a proper burial, but not until after we finish clearing out the caverns and whatever else it connects to.

Continuing our explorations, we find a passageway that leads down some stairs to a pair of doors. There are people in both rooms, and Airick ties off both doors, trying to lock the people in or at least delay their emergence. To the north is a similar passage, with the door to the south leading almost certainly to the same room as the southern passage's northern door.

Several worn tables and chairs are scattered around this large room. Wooden benches are drawn up against walls decorated with draperies of brown and red, and several ale kegs are propped up and tapped. Four tough-looking human warriors wearing scarlet cloaks are gathered around one of the tables. A stack of coins and trinkets is heaped upon the tabletop between them.

By the time Rorik, Forgrim, and Wick enter the room, the gamblers are at the south door, trying to get through to investigate the commotion. Airick is making as a distraction. The combat goes fairly well, even with bugbears emerging fromthe southernmost door to harrass Airick and myself, although Wick ends up having some major trouble with his magic - somehow every spell he casts has some unintended and unpredictable effect.

Session VIII

We defeat the bandits and bugbears fairly easily (not without significant wounds to some of our front-line people), and Roric kills an unconscious goblin. We interrogate one bugbear, learning that the Black Spider, a dark elf, sent him to assist Glasstaff, controls several maurading bugbear tribes, and was last seen at the Sleeping Giant by someone named Moss.

We then investigate the room to the north, discovering a wizard's workroom complete with what we presume is a familiar, a rat. Airick kills the rat - or at least causes it to disappear, which apparently means it was likely killed.

This room appears to be a wizard's workshop. A rat scurries across the floor and takes refuge under a large worktable set up with alembics, retorts, distillation coils, and other alchemical devices, all of it stewing and bubbling away. Bookshelves are crowded with sheaves of parchment and strange-looking tomes.

Wick finds a journal written in Dwarven, detailing the history of Wave Echo Cave and a mace called Lightbringer, dedicated to the god of the dawn. No additional clues on where it might be located, but we know more about the mine than we did before. Who knows, it may become useful later.

Dwarvish Tome

After taking what we find interesting from the workshop, we investigate the bedroom, finding a letter from the Black Spider on the desk and a secret door left ajar. The letter seems to be warning someone named called Lord Iarno Albrek (Glasstaff) about our arrival. Apparently Albrek, the member of the Lord's Alliance Sildar had been sent to meet, *is* Glasstaff. Far from attempting to solve the problem, it seems he's *causing* the problem. Odd.

Lord Albrek, My spies in Neverwinter tell me that strangers are due to arrive in Phandalin. They could be working for the dwarves. Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don't allow them to upset our plans. See that any dwarven maps in their possession are delivered to me with haste. I'm counting on you, Iarno. Don't disappoint me.

Session IX

Attempting to track what we presume is Glasstaff, we discover that, though he leaves no footprints, he takes a direct if somewhat convoluted path toward an unknown destination in the general direction of the Triboar Trail. Oddly, he leaves no footprints, but neglects to hide other signs of his passage. Eventually we lose the trail when he uses what Airick reports to be some kind of teleportation magic he's unfamiliar with. Unable to reacquire the target after several hours of searching, we head back to town.

Turns out we were close to our quarry - the bastard charmed Airick to suggest it was time to head back. It's decided that we all could use some rest before attempting again in the morning.

On the way, we encounter a small party of orcs. They're relatively easy to kill, although they also hit hard, and we all end up requiring some healing. We get back to town and disperse - I'm most interested in a hot meal and a comfortable tree.

Session X

Morning arrives, and it's decided to head back to the manor to figure out who the supplies belong to. If they belong to Lady Linene Greywind, wei'll help her reclaim them. If not, then, we can do what we like with them - probably sell them, although I'd be happy to give them to the townsfolk, as partial compensation for the Redbrands' reign of terror.

The goods do belong to the Lion's Head Coster, and we help Linene load them into the wagon (which Roric and Wick retrieved from Barthen's). On the way back to town, we run into a little boy (Carp), a halfling, about 10 years old and just Wick's size, who says he'd seen "a couple bad guys in red" meet a couple "mean nasty looking guys" at the entrance we just exited. He invites us to his mom's for a drink.

• Daran Edermath, former adventurer; owns orchard to the northwest
• Qelline Alderleaf, Carp's mother, owns farm to the southeast

Session XI

Cragmaw goblins operate out of Cragmaw Castle, ruled by Grol

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Disclaimers & Gratitudes