Session Report - Chapter 2: A Letter Arrives
General Summary
The heroes began their day separated. Whilst Thyra Ironsmith stayed at her father's estate, Mathias Anderson and Nia Flint, who were afeared of showing their faces to the ruler of Oakholm, choose instead to stay at the rundown establishment called the Rusty Spur Board House, situated in a seedier part of town.
The previous day, Nia had delivered Grommash Battleaxe's head to her father. Whilst Titus Ironsmith was pleased with his daughter's accomplishments and relieved to know that she was fine, he had refused to allow her to continue her investigation, instead entrusting the task to his spymaster. Undeterred, Thrya had sent the letter Grommash wrote before her death to the mysterious Baron. Thrya had hoped to draw the Baron out of hiding and by the following day she had already received a response, in which the Baron instructed Grommash to meet one of his agents at The Timber Soakhouse at noon the following day.
Upon reading the baron's letter, Thrya rushed to meet with Nia and Mathias at the Rusty Spur. After a ruckus at the boarding house had derailed their first attempts at forming a plan to capture the Baron's agent, they headed for somewhere quieter, namely the library at Ironsmith Manor. Mathias, who was reluctant to keep on helping Thrya now that he had held up his end of the deal, demanded that Thrya give him the deed to some land around Oakholm which he could gift to his people, giving them at long last a place to call home, and allowing him to unite his people once more. In return, he promised to continue aiding Thrya and recruit as many of his people to her cause as possible.
Knowing that any deed could only ever come from her father, Lord Titus Ironsmith, Thrya met with him. With some quick wit and a silver tongue, Thrya managed to convince her father to grant an audience to Mathias and Nia. Together, the trio used the audience to convince Lord Ironsmith to gift Mathias the land, citing that the overgrown ruins on the border of the lands surrounding Oakholm were of very little value to the people of Oakholm, but would be of extraordinary value to Mathias' people. For her part, Nia, who had previously learned that Grommash's head was now mounted on a pike above the main gatehouse, made the unusual request that the head be returned to her to remove the possibility that the Baron's agent would spot the head and flee before their meeting.
Whilst they were at the manor the party also paid a visit to her father's Word Master, who also so happened to watch over the town's archives. With the Word Master's help, the party searched through stacks of parchment finding the land deed that would need to be signed to grant Mathias ownership of Ravenwood Fort as well as blueprints for the timber soakhouse which could aid them in setting a trap for the Baron's agent. Mathias also found another Avaloren artefact, which he concealed in his cloak whilst the Word Master was not looking. However, whilst they were sifting through parchments they also happened upon a Mimic, who attacked them. In the ensuing fight, the Word Master's 'filing system' was disrupted and the trio had to make a hasty getaway before he could complain to Lord Ironsmith.
With the blueprints now secured, the party returned to the town square and spied several interesting adverts on the town's notice board. One, signed by the owner of an apothecary called Serene Sundries, asked for help moving goods and offered a discount to those who helped. Hoping to stock up on supplies, the party decided to visit the shop to see if they could help. When they arrived, the owner, Elara Sandlewood, turned out to have a different job in mind for the party and asked them to return a rare perfume called Vadabond's Smile which she claimed she had created and had been stolen from her by the owner of a rival shop, Elysian Scents. The party retrieved the perfume after a confrontation with the store owner, Lirelle Tong, who they knocked unconscious and locked in a storeroom, before returning to Elara with the bottle. Whilst at Elysian Scents, the trio also lifted an imitation of the perfume which they decided to keep and sell on at a later date.
Next, the party headed to the sewers to investigate a secret entrance to the Timber Soakhouse which had been indicated on the blueprint they had found in the town archives. At the entrance to the sewers they met Gundrik Stonehammer, a local dwarf, business owner and expert in subterranean matters. Gundrik had sent his apprentice, Nathaniel, into the sewers to investigate the source of a local infestation of rats. The boy had not returned, and Gundrik asked the adventurers to look for him. The party agreed that they would return with news if they found him.
Whilst exploring the sewers they found the secret entrance to the bathhouse, which had been bricked up but could be excavated fairly easily due to the crumbling mortar. Whilst they were investigating the party also found writing on the walls which resembled the script of the Avolren. However, the script appeared corrupted and Mathias could not make sense of the scribblings. The party also found Nathanial who had been attacked by something in the sewers, but by what the party could not say. The party returned the injured Nathaniel to Gundrik at his shop, Oakholm Outfitters and were instructed to visit the Oakholm Trackers Guild where a reward would be waiting for them.
Remembering that there had been an advertisement for strong bodies to guard the Timber Soakhouse, the party went to the tracker's guild to claim their reward and enquire about the job. They received their reward, which included associate membership with the tracker's guild (represented by a small tracker's coin), however, the guild master, Roderick Tuppance, informed them that their jobs had already been taken, but that they would be considered if any of the current hirelings didn't turn up.
Wishing to remove their competition and gain another means of entry to the soakhouse, the party headed to The Red Stallion where they knew some guards were currently drinking. Goding three would-be guardsmen into a fight, the party managed to knock out three of the guards and come off as the victims, and returned to Guildmaster Tuppence to claim the guard's contracts. However, in the process, Nia's abilities as a changeling were revealed to her companions, after her sudden transformation into the chaotic gnome, Fitz.
With this, the party were ready to infiltrate the Timber Soakhouse, all they had to do now was come up with a plan...
The previous day, Nia had delivered Grommash Battleaxe's head to her father. Whilst Titus Ironsmith was pleased with his daughter's accomplishments and relieved to know that she was fine, he had refused to allow her to continue her investigation, instead entrusting the task to his spymaster. Undeterred, Thrya had sent the letter Grommash wrote before her death to the mysterious Baron. Thrya had hoped to draw the Baron out of hiding and by the following day she had already received a response, in which the Baron instructed Grommash to meet one of his agents at The Timber Soakhouse at noon the following day.
Upon reading the baron's letter, Thrya rushed to meet with Nia and Mathias at the Rusty Spur. After a ruckus at the boarding house had derailed their first attempts at forming a plan to capture the Baron's agent, they headed for somewhere quieter, namely the library at Ironsmith Manor. Mathias, who was reluctant to keep on helping Thrya now that he had held up his end of the deal, demanded that Thrya give him the deed to some land around Oakholm which he could gift to his people, giving them at long last a place to call home, and allowing him to unite his people once more. In return, he promised to continue aiding Thrya and recruit as many of his people to her cause as possible.
Knowing that any deed could only ever come from her father, Lord Titus Ironsmith, Thrya met with him. With some quick wit and a silver tongue, Thrya managed to convince her father to grant an audience to Mathias and Nia. Together, the trio used the audience to convince Lord Ironsmith to gift Mathias the land, citing that the overgrown ruins on the border of the lands surrounding Oakholm were of very little value to the people of Oakholm, but would be of extraordinary value to Mathias' people. For her part, Nia, who had previously learned that Grommash's head was now mounted on a pike above the main gatehouse, made the unusual request that the head be returned to her to remove the possibility that the Baron's agent would spot the head and flee before their meeting.
Whilst they were at the manor the party also paid a visit to her father's Word Master, who also so happened to watch over the town's archives. With the Word Master's help, the party searched through stacks of parchment finding the land deed that would need to be signed to grant Mathias ownership of Ravenwood Fort as well as blueprints for the timber soakhouse which could aid them in setting a trap for the Baron's agent. Mathias also found another Avaloren artefact, which he concealed in his cloak whilst the Word Master was not looking. However, whilst they were sifting through parchments they also happened upon a Mimic, who attacked them. In the ensuing fight, the Word Master's 'filing system' was disrupted and the trio had to make a hasty getaway before he could complain to Lord Ironsmith.
With the blueprints now secured, the party returned to the town square and spied several interesting adverts on the town's notice board. One, signed by the owner of an apothecary called Serene Sundries, asked for help moving goods and offered a discount to those who helped. Hoping to stock up on supplies, the party decided to visit the shop to see if they could help. When they arrived, the owner, Elara Sandlewood, turned out to have a different job in mind for the party and asked them to return a rare perfume called Vadabond's Smile which she claimed she had created and had been stolen from her by the owner of a rival shop, Elysian Scents. The party retrieved the perfume after a confrontation with the store owner, Lirelle Tong, who they knocked unconscious and locked in a storeroom, before returning to Elara with the bottle. Whilst at Elysian Scents, the trio also lifted an imitation of the perfume which they decided to keep and sell on at a later date.
Next, the party headed to the sewers to investigate a secret entrance to the Timber Soakhouse which had been indicated on the blueprint they had found in the town archives. At the entrance to the sewers they met Gundrik Stonehammer, a local dwarf, business owner and expert in subterranean matters. Gundrik had sent his apprentice, Nathaniel, into the sewers to investigate the source of a local infestation of rats. The boy had not returned, and Gundrik asked the adventurers to look for him. The party agreed that they would return with news if they found him.
Whilst exploring the sewers they found the secret entrance to the bathhouse, which had been bricked up but could be excavated fairly easily due to the crumbling mortar. Whilst they were investigating the party also found writing on the walls which resembled the script of the Avolren. However, the script appeared corrupted and Mathias could not make sense of the scribblings. The party also found Nathanial who had been attacked by something in the sewers, but by what the party could not say. The party returned the injured Nathaniel to Gundrik at his shop, Oakholm Outfitters and were instructed to visit the Oakholm Trackers Guild where a reward would be waiting for them.
Remembering that there had been an advertisement for strong bodies to guard the Timber Soakhouse, the party went to the tracker's guild to claim their reward and enquire about the job. They received their reward, which included associate membership with the tracker's guild (represented by a small tracker's coin), however, the guild master, Roderick Tuppance, informed them that their jobs had already been taken, but that they would be considered if any of the current hirelings didn't turn up.
Wishing to remove their competition and gain another means of entry to the soakhouse, the party headed to The Red Stallion where they knew some guards were currently drinking. Goding three would-be guardsmen into a fight, the party managed to knock out three of the guards and come off as the victims, and returned to Guildmaster Tuppence to claim the guard's contracts. However, in the process, Nia's abilities as a changeling were revealed to her companions, after her sudden transformation into the chaotic gnome, Fitz.
With this, the party were ready to infiltrate the Timber Soakhouse, all they had to do now was come up with a plan...
Report Date
19 Aug 2023
Primary Location
Related Characters
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