Cleaning up Phandalin

Military action

The party clears out the rest of the Redbrands in Phandalin and the goblins in Cragmaw Hideout, clearing the way for supplies to arrive safely.

Refreshed after a well earned rest, the party reconvenes in the morning and decides to clear out the remaining members in the Redbrand hideout. As they enter, they spot two guards at the far side of the cavern. Trinn puts one to sleep and as the other goes to check on his friend, Garret snipes him with a crossbow bolt to the throat. The party goes to investigate the bottom of the cavern where they saw the Nothic retreat during their last visit. They discover and drag up a large chest of treasure. In it, they discover a scroll of augury, some gold coins, two healing potions, and a long-lost silver sword of the Tresendar family: Talon.   The party goes to investigate the other rooms and as Garret attempts to peer through a keyhole, the door is opened by the Redbrands on the other side. The ensuing battle draws the other known Redbrands out, as well as the 3 bugbears they saw in the southern room. After the battle, they corner a goblin who thinks they rescued him. Their new friend Droop is not smart, but he grabs his spear and follows the party to battle.   After clearing out the living creatures in the hideout, Allen leads the party back to the skeletons guarding the jail cells to finish the job. One goes down easy, but the other two skeletons are surprisingly durable, and Valamin seems to be the only one who take them down.   Curious about how the Redbrands were getting in and out secretly, the party asks Droop if he knows of any secret entrances or walls within the hideout. He leads them to a door on the wall of the storeroom which conceals a stairwell leading up to the ruined manor above. Allen grabs the unconscious Redbrand from the storeroom and they make their return to Phandalin. Before leaving, the cover Droop in a redbrand cloak that is comically large on him.   As the party marches through town with an unconscious body over their shoulder for the second time in as many days, the people of Phandalin seem to be getting used to their vigilante justice and it's a welcome change of pace over the passed few months. The party heads to the townmaster's hall to meet with Linene and drop off the Redbrand soldier. Sildar thanks them and lets them know the escort for Glasstaff will be here in a few days to take him back to Neverwinter for interrogation and imprisonment.   It being still early in the day, the party decides to investigate the rumors they overheard in the tavern last night before heading out to Wyvern Tor to deal with the orcs. Being in close proximity, and having gems to sell, they decide to speak with Halia Thornton at the Phandalin Miner's Exchange. A young women with a very strong presence greets them. Allen asks why the Redbrands never bothered her and she remarks that bothering the main source of income in the town would bring them too much of the town's ire. Garret notices a small tattoo on her arm that he's seen on a number of high profile criminals in Neverwinter. The two of them have a coded conversation using thieves' cant. To them, Halia is enlisting Garret to kill Glasstaff before he's taken back to Neverwinter with promise of great reward. To the party, they are just haggling over the price of gems and jewelry they want to sell.   The party then sets out to see Sister Garaele. She mentions that she and her sisters are looking for a spell book that used to belong to an elven wizard named Bowgentle, and that the only one who may know where it is is a banshee near Conyberry named Agatha. Agatha was a powerful and vain diviner in her life and Sister Garaele believes that she can appeal to this by praising her and giving her a beautiful silver comb, but Agatha never showed when she made the journey. The party agrees to investigate for her and she gives them the comb.   The party then makes their way over to Daran Edermath's orchard. He's a friendly elf and old adventurer who loves regaling fellow adventurers with his stories. He serves them fresh apples and cider while telling them of his adventures and mentioning a possible new threat he's been hearing about from the local miners. He tells the party that there's been reports of someone investigating an ancient wizards tower near Conyberry called the Old Owl Well, and that there have been sightings of undead. There could be very dangerous magic to be found there so Daran Edermath would like it to be at least investigated. He's been out too long to see to it himself, so he asks if the party would be willing to help. The party agrees and they say their farewells to Daran Edermath.   With an full agenda ahead of them and half the day gone, the party goes to rent a wagon from Barthen and begin their journey. While doing so, Allen buys some clothes and a makeshift backpack for their new friend Droop. They make the half day journey back to Cragmaw hideout to confront Yeemik about the stone and retrieve Linene's supplies. It's night by the time they arrive, and they infiltrate the hideout with ease, only to come to the large room with Yeemik and 6 other goblins.   Yeemik growls at the party and engages them without many words. While the party deals with the goblins, Marri'Elle rushes forward and cleaves Yeemik in half. The battle is quick but bloody. They dig through Yeemik's mangled corpse and pull out the glowing rune stone from one of his pouches. The party find the crates that belong to the Lionshield Coster still unopened and containing various armor and weaponry. They take the crates back to their wagon, load them, and make camp for the night.   During the evening the party is surrounded by hungry wolves. Marri'Elle speaks with them to diffuse the situation, and with a little bribery they convince the wolves to look elsewhere for their meal. With a lot ahead of them, they get an early start back towards Phandalin.   The party arrives back at the Lionshield Coster around midday and return the supplies to Linene. She tells them that in return she'll offer them any help that she can provide, and that if they come across any other Lionshield Costers in other outposts, to tell them that Linene sent them. She says that the company often opens shops in frontier outposts or fairly remote villages.   As quickly as they arrived, the party sets back out on the road toward Cragmaw Castle to gather information about their missing friend Gundren. As they are turning off the path towards the Neverwinter Wood, Athena spots a patrol of hobgoblins coming up the road. The party lays an ambush, but the martial training of the hobgoblins makes leaves them readied for battle. Their commander is much larger than the others, and the party works hard to bring him down without killing him. After dispatching the patrol, the party interrogates the leader. They don't get much information from him other than the patrol was looking to collect a bounty on Marri'Elle. The bounty contract has the black spider's sign on it.   The party spends the rest of the day making their way to Cragmaw Castle in the Neverwinter Wood. As the sun begins to set, they arrive at the edge of a clearing in the wood and with the ruined Cragmaw Castle at its center. They spend the remaining light scouting out the castle. Marri'Elle enlists the help of a rat to scout for them, but he quickly gets sidetracked by a storeroom full of grain. Trinn sends Athena to fly overhead. Most of the ceilings still intact, Athena only catches sight of a couple rooms, both of which are full of goblins settling in for the night. She does spot a more hidden entrance on the northern side, and the party decides to move to the northern edge of the clearing and make camp for the evening.   The party makes early camp in an effort to sneak in to the castle before the sun rises the next morning. During their watches, the party sees a patrol of goblins circle the castle perimeter every 90ish minutes. After everyone has their rest, they take their opportunity and move towards covered rumble entrance on the northern side of the castle.