Chapter II - Under Tresendar Manor
General Summary
After defeating the goblins in the forest cave, the four adventurers made their way back to the wagon they had left on the edge of the forest. Bramblebrow fashioned a sled to drag the crates marked with the lionshield with them, and though it was a little difficult and cost them some time, they arrived at the cart and the oxen before midnight. They made camp and slept in the warm summer night.
Meanwhile, Mosi had checked in to "The Scrawny Dog" inn, and met Tobian the innkeeper. Mosi inquired about Tharden Grimnir, the dwarf prospector he had been told had work, and Tobian immediately warned him that he should not ask about the Grimnir brothers in the village. Apparently, a group of redcaped bandits had come to town about two weeks prior, and apart from intimidating the villagers and generally causing a nuisance, they had specifically asked about the Grimnirs, and anyone who might be working with them. None of the brothers had been back to the village during this time, but Tobian was sure that it would not be a good thing for the bandits to find out Mosi was asking about the Grimnirs. The Inkeeper directed Mosi to visit Elmar Barthen in the morning, as he was a friend of the Grimnir brothers, and their primary contact in the village.
On the morning of the 18th of Sharpening, Mosi went to visit Barthen, who could inform him that the Redbrands, as the bandits called themselves, were indeed looking for anyone associated with the Grimnirs, and that Barthen himself had thankfully managed to avoid their attention for now. He was, however, expecting Gundren and his friend Uthor, who had gone to Glenglass for expedition supplies and to hire more help, right before the Redbrands had arrived. He was worried what would happen when they showed up, but glad that Mosi was there to help, and sure that Gundren would be happy to inlist his help, against payment of course.
Meanwhile, the other four had packed the wagon with the lionshield crates in the morning and made for Killian's Rest. They arrived in late afternoon, pulling up in front of Barthen's Provisions, where Mosi was still talking to Barthen. They were quickly informed about the Redbrands, and told that the Lionshield crates belonged to Barclay, a merchant at the south end of town. Uthor asked them to investigate the Redbrands, promising that he and the Grimnirs would compensate them. Mosi was ready and willing to help out as well, and Ander and Thistle, two teenage boys working for Barthen, told them that they had seen three Redbrands down at the Sleeping Giant.
The adventurers, now including Mosi, decided to go and investigate, before the Redbrands become aware of them, and walked down to the Sleeping Giant for a drink. Uthor stayed behind with Barthen, as he was beginning to feel quite weak from his amputed arm, but asked that the heroes inform him of anything they found out. At the Sleeping Giant, they found three men playing dice, each with a red cloak drapped over their stools. Moira, the proprietor, was the only other person there. The heroes bought a beer (a little sweet and bland, but not too bad) and sat down at a table. After a short while, the youngest of the men got up and left, and Ranulf and Hagakure subtly followed. As soon as they were outside, they noticed the Redbrand was running east towards the old manor house, and they caught up with him before he got too far.
The man turned out to be a nothing but a boy, no older than 17 years, and it didn't take much pressure to get him to crack: the older of the men in the tavern, called Inor, had told the boy, Rhys, to go get more Redbrands at the manor, whose basement was apparently their base. They led Rhys back toward the tavern just as Inor got up to investigate. As soon as he saw what was happening, he drew his weapon, but the heroes quickly overpowered him, and the other, another teenager named Declan, quickly surrendered. While Inor didn't give up as easily, the combined efforts of the group saw him wounded and coughing up black bile in a matter of seconds.
They dragged the three Redbrands off the road, in between some houses, and got Rhys to talk. He and Declan were urchins from Glenglass, and Inor, a Kusharan, had been their leader and surugate father for a while. Through contacts of Inor, they had been hired to join the Redbrands, and travelled to Killian's Rest, where a man they called "Glasstaff" had made them take over the village, looking for three dwarves and anyone working with them. Inor managed to croak a similar story, and it seemed this was all the heroes could get out of them, so they took their weapons and capes and sent them running out of town, west toward the coast.
They returned to Barthen's and informed the merchant and Uthor what they had learned. They decided that their best course of action was to straight away infiltrate the manor basement, surprising the Redbrands. As they were discussing their options Bramblebrow revealed that she could change her appearance to look like Inor. With the three cloaks they took off the Redbrands, they considered attempting to bluff their way into the manor, but worried about how Haku and Mosi's silhuettes would be received. During this discussion, a young boy revealed himself to have been eavesdropping outside the window. Ewan admitted that he saw them outside the Sleeping Giant, and wanted to enlist them in saving his neighbour, Deirdre, a young girl and her mother Maureen, a peasant woman, whom he had seen being abducted by the Redbrands a few days before.
Ewan had been spying on the Redbrands, and knew of a secret entrance to the basement, on the southside of the hill on which Tresendar Manor stood. Barthen didn't know much about the manor: it had been the seat of the lord of the village hundreds of years ago, but the area had been abandoned and neglected for a long time, and the manor had never been rebuilt. Many in the town insisted it was haunted, though Barthen didn't put much stock in those rumours: people always said old ruins were haunted. The sun had set, and a thunderstorm broke out, as the heroes were led by Ewan to the place where he had seen Redbrands coming and going through a natural cave in the hillside.
Not knowing who they would encounter, the heroes did as planned: Bramblebrow used her magic to look like Inor, while Ranulf and Casamir wore the capes of the other two Redbrands, and they intended to claim Haku and Mosi as their prisoners if they were challenged. However, as they arrived in a natural cave underground, they realized that no Redbrands were guarding this entrance. Instead, a strange creature with telepathic powers spoke to them in their minds: "Bring you food, or are you food?"
The creature tried to hide from them but they discovered it, crawling under the roof of the natural cave, and they attacked before it could slip away. Without knowing why, or even realizing that it happened, Bramblebrow grew several feet, as she strode over the crevasse in the center of the cave. With the psychic screams of the creature ringing in their heads, the heroes quickly descended upon it, and Ranulf cut off its head before it could bring its strange powers to bear. They spread out in the cave realizing that the cellar of the manor had partially collapsed at some point, revealing this natural cave, but on either side, both east and west, were the remains of the basement of Tresendar Manor. Ranulf moved toward the western side of the the cave and closed his eyes, meditating on the presence of cursed entities, such as Demons or undead.
Immediately, he could sense a demonic presense down the stairs in front of him, to the west. It was the size and shape of a rat, but clearly was more than that. At the same time, he could sense an indistinct undead presense behind him, east of the natural cave. He informed the others, and together they moved into a corridor that was part of the old cellar, moving west. While they tried to approach quietly, Casimir noticed voices ahead of them that suddenly went quiet, when Haku made a noice. Realizing that they had been noticed, they quickly ran to the end of the corridor, which had two doors leading north and south. The voices had come from the south room, and Bramblebrow lined up to kick down the door, but just as she was about to, an orc opened the door, revealing a room where he and three human Redbrands had been playing dice.
A skirmish ensued, where the heroes pushed the bandits into the room, quickly overwhelming them. Bramblebrow again grew until she was as tall as the ceiling, and Haku's demonic heritage shone through as he ran into the room, horrifying several of the men. Ranulf entered behind him and his heritage appeared as well, his eyes begining to leak black bile. A redbrand fell, and the orc and another redbrand attempted to escape out a south door, revealing another corridor. Before they could get away though, Mosi looked at Haku and asked: "Do you trust me?". Haku nodded in response, and Mosi lent down as though to scoop a handful of dirt from the ground. He threw the "handful" towards Haku, who was engulfed in magical dirt, seemed to vanish, and then reappear in front of the orc, blocking his escape. Holding up his sword, the orc ran right unto the blade, and the Redbrand behind him was run through before he could realize what had happened.
Unfortunately, the alarm had been raised, and another two orcs and a massive black orc emerged from a room behind Haku. One orc engaged him, while the other two ran east down a corridor that seemed to lead to the cave where they had met the strange monster. With the fight in the corridor blocking their way, Ranulf, Casimir and Bramblebrow quickly ran north, trying to cut off the orcs in the cave, before they escaped. Mosi stayed in the room, telling the last Redbrand to drop his weapons, and, wounded and scared as he was, he complied. As they all converged in the cave (now fully dark, as Mosi had taken the only torch) a frantic battle felled the final enemies, but not before Haku was wounded and fell unconscious. His allies healed him before the wound became fatal, but he felt the exhaustion in his body as he woke up. With Mosi guarding the one remaining Redbrand, and the other enemies dead, the heroes had only a moment to reorient themselves...
Rewards Granted
None
Missions/Quests Completed
Report Date
18 Aug 2024
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