Phandalin Episode 1

A necromancer and genasi walk into a bar. Sounds like the start of a bad joke...

General Summary

24/5/317AG

Langley van Arc stared up at the sky as it faded into a pleasant purplish-blue colour that he didn't know the name of. His head jolted around as the wagon he was laying in went over a bump. The earth genasi driving didn't make any apology, nor did Langley ask for one - both were too intimidated by the other to attempt dominating the situation. Besides, they were only working together for a single day, delivering this wagonload of mining supplies to a town - Falcon's Hollow - for some dwarf, and then moving along their separate ways.

That dwarf had an odd gleam in his eye Langley had seen a few times before - an archetypical lust for gold, preferably already minted into coins and registered. He had hinted a few times at some "big discovery", but Langley hadn't taken the bait, so the dwarf rode off ahead of them, saying he had business to take care of. The genasi was already in the wagon when Langley was told the details of the job, waiting patiently for him. Or possibly he had gotten drunk one night and fallen asleep in the closest comfortable object - which just happened to be this wagon. The wagon ground to a halt, and Langley sat up to see why.

Two dead horses lay on the road, filled with crude black arrows. They had only recently been killed, and looked...familiar somehow. Langley squinted, thinking hard as Valanche silently dismounted from the driver's seat. The entire wagon creaked and tilted as he hopped lightly to the ground, and picked up the closest horse's head. It hung limply in his arms. Valanche paused, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye. He shrugged to himself - if anything wanted to fight him, he could oblige them. He heaved the horse to one side, and that was the moment the goblin ambushers had been waiting for.

Goblin war cries filled the air as tiny green figures scampered out from behind trees and bushes, filling the air with dark arrows only to disappear again. Valanche growled as he slid his shield down his arm, and withdrew a longsword of cold grey steel. A second later he ran off after of chuckling green shape and disappeared into the underbrush. Langley's eyes darted around and an arrow flew past his head. He leapt off the exposed wagon, but not soon enough - midair, he felt the cold agony of an arrow as it pierced his left shoulderblade.

"BALIKILIKI!"

— Actually a lizardfolk war cry, but these goblins didn't have much of an education in cultural history.

He crumpled to the ground between the wagon and two horses. The soft THUK of arrows continued as they peppered his cover. But he was not helpless. Langley peered over the edge of the dead horse at a goblin, just in time to see it loose a black arrow that drove straight into the flank of the dead horse. Before he could retreat, Langley extended his good hand and uttered an incantation. A bracer on his wrist glowed with sickly purple-and-green light, and a thin line of liquid leapt from his palm to the goblin. Where it hit the ground, it exploded into a mass of shimmering green fog. The goblin cackled again...and coughed. It coughed again, and a third time - and this time, a lump of dark red blood flew out of its mouth and onto the ground. The goblin ducked back behind the tree, sheltering it from further attack. Langley heard his ally roar, and a shrill squeal, followed by a quiet SNUCK'T sound. The squealling abruptly stopped. Langley grinned, and another arrow found its place in his other shoulderblade.
Langley dropped to his hands and knees. "Enough!" he snarled. He tapped his spellbook, a curious device that was likely made by the ancient Technicians and quickly skimmed over his notes made from the previous night. He lifted his hand and uttered another invocation, eyes fixed on the words glowing brightly before him. Four transparant darts shimmered into view behind him, twirling gently in some unknown dance. Langley's eyes darted up to where the wounded goblin hid behind the tree. He jabbed with his forefinger and a single dart sauntered forward, trailing a curious low whistling sound as it went. Behind the tree, the goblin leant out to see, fearful of more magic. The dart circled behind the tree and slid into Langley's view behind the target. Langley raised his finger sharply, and the magic missile followed likewise - puncturing through the light green chest and disappearing. The goblin dropped dead. Langley's arm continued down in a smooth arc, rolling back up behind him to point at the goblin to most recently wound him. A dart leapt forward, and the whistle it trailed screamed

as it punctured the thigh of the creature. It dropped to one knee, glaring at the wizard with glowing red eyes. Langley gestured gently, and the two remaining darts somersaulted gently through the air to take up position behind the crippled goblin. It dropped the sneer, replacing it instantly with a pitiful look of fear. Langley clenched his fist and the two darts flew into their target - one for each shoulderblade. The last goblin turned and ran, Valanche's heavy footsteps followed briefly, but then returned. Wordlessly, the stony humanoid began to bandage his wounds.

---

Lugh watched them for an hour, perched in a tree like some absurdly well-armed peacock. Finally, the pair broke camp and continued towards town. Lugh followed from the trees, flitting here and there. Occasionally the sturdier-looking one would glance curiously at a shadow but nothing he was concerned about. The wooden wheels trundled onwards as they moved from forest to clearing, and then through the palisade of Falcon's Hollow. They had arrived.

The wagon finally creaked to a stop outside the Goose & Gander general store. Langley went in, and a few minutes later Valanche helped him to unload the cart into the store.
"Tavern?" Langley directed the question at Valanche's back as they (really just Valanche) heaved the last of the delivery onto the shop's floor. The owner, a gnome, thanked them and promptly shut the door. Valanche shrugged, and walked towards a building where music and laughter poured out of its well-lit windows. Lugh stepped cautiously out of the shadows - and then back in again as the gnome peered out of the doorway. Lugh held his breath, and gently moved a hand onto the hilt of his rapier. The gnome scurried forward and pushed the huge wagon slowly into the undersized shop - Lugh could only assume it fit in the tiny shop due to some kind of magic.

Once he was gone, Lugh followed the pair into the inn - Jak-a'-Napes, the sign on the outside read. Valanche waited outside, apparantly uncomfortable with drinking at an unknown establishment. Langley entered, and Lugh slipped in through a window.
"Excuse me, gentlemen" Lugh slid over a small table on the other side of the window and tipped an imaginary hat at the two muscled men sitting on either side. He stepped forward, easily sauntering through the crowd as he made his way towards his mark.
"Morning, uhh...Bob" Lugh tilted his imaginary hat at a lumberjack sporting a rather bland moustache. 'Bob' nodded back politely. Lugh wondered if his name was actually Bob, then cast that thought from his mind - Langley was facing away from him, scanning the bar.

Lugh sidled up beside him and slowly reached for the small leather pouch that was likely filled with gold. An inch from his mark, Jak Criminy, the owner and something of an ostentatious fellow himself, skipped through the crowd with a fiddle at his neck and dashed between Langley and the rogue. Lugh's hand snapped back to preen his hair nonchalantly, and he threw a cheeky wink at Jak as he sailed past - who winked just as cheekily back at him. Once he was past, Lugh rolled his eyes and turned back to Langley who had moved closer to the bar. Lugh followed, hand outstretched only for 'Bob', stumbling backwards, to move into his path. Lugh crouched, arm outstretched and his fingertips brushed the coinpurse. Langley leant forward and Lugh turned himself sideways, straining for every inch his arm could reach. Suddenly Langley leant back, and Lugh's hand dove unprompted into his target's pocket. Bob moved away and Langley lifted up his arm to peer down at the cringing Lugh.

"Go on. Explain yourself." Langley said, never turning his eyes from the thief.
"Well, you see...it's like this!" Lugh began, then suddenly rolled backwards and disappeared behind a passing halfling. Langley's bracelet glowed with arcane power as he scanned the crowd.
"How is that even possible!" growled Langley, tapping his newly-earned coinpurse to make sure it was still there.

---

The front doors smashed inwards with a loud crash and Valanche stumbled backwards into the inn. The music trailed off, and the crowd parted as if by magic. Sauntering men with long, curved swords tucked into belts and a single red bandana wrapped around each one's right upper-arm. A wave of fear swept through the crowd, and they began quietly pressing for the exits.
"Come on, big stuff. You know how a tax works, right?" the foremost thug asked. A long, curved scar running the length of his right arm rippled under muscle as he reached up to tap Valanche grey-skinned forehead. "Or do I need to explain it to you?"
There was no answer from Valanche, he simply stood there. The scarred-arm man turned to his friends and gave an exaggerated shrug.
"Well now boys, maybe we have to educate this here fellow" he said in a mocking tone. He turned back to face Valanche.
"Now, rates have risen in recent times so let's see what you've got firs-" the thug reached for the coinpurse on Valanche belt, but the second his fingers touched the fabric Valanche drew his longsword from its holster and launched the hilt into the thug's face, stunning him. As he took a step back Valanche reversed the sword and grabbed his victim's collar. There was a crunching, squelching sound as Valanche gutted him, holding the weapon like an oversized hunting knife before finally throwing his dead body aside. Lugh gulped.

Blood pooled across the floor, dripping through the wooden floorboards and onto the ground below as Valanche easily kicked the carcass aside. He looked up, locking eyes with the foremost Redbrand. There was a brief lull, and then rain began to fall - lightly at first, then quickly rising to a downpour.
"Come on lads, there's only one of him!" yelled the first with either false bravado or else pitiful stupidity. Whatever the case, the Redbrands charged, pummeling Valanche's armour with their scimitars. He grunted in pain as one found an opening in an elbow joint, and again as a sharp blade bounced off the chainmail.

"It's not just about winning. You've got to do it stylishly!"

— Lugh, while dodging several scimitars.

Suddenly there was a burst of colour next to him and a brightly coloured man dispatched a thug not only with efficiency, but with style. He cackled with childish glee as Valanche caught a scimitar on his shield and counterstabbed, only for his foe to skip nimbly out of the way. A Redbrand saw the distracted swashbuckler and attacked - but he could not hope to outdo his opponent, and seconds later was bleeding out on the floorboards.
Fighting next to each other, Lugh and Valanche secured the doorway. Even though they were outnumbered, their swordsmanship combined with Valanche's armour and Lugh's agility allowed none of the six to step past them - although they tried, time and time again. Only a minute later, the thugs' arms began to waver - and the mistakes began. When the first of their fellows was run through by Lugh they wavered.

But when they saw their friend standing next to him receive Valanche's longsword through his collarbone, chopping down as if to sever his arm with a lopsided blow their wills broke - they were only here to bully and collect, not fight and be killed. The remaining two turned and ran, but not so quickly that Valanche's longsword heaved through the air again, just in time for the tip to cut into the top of one Redbrands' spine and open him up like an overcooked, burst sausage. Lugh swung his rapier too, but not quickly enough - all it caught was the cloth of its target.

The lone survivor ran, disappearing into the storming rain. Valanche and Lugh, breathing heavily and smeared with bright red blood but unharmed, glared after him. Langley, who had cast a few spells to weaken and simplify the foes, let the incantation he was halfway through dribble to a stop. Only the dull roar of the torrent outside could be heard.

A staccato of notes on a lute interrupted any thoughts that the trio were having. The three turned to see Jak sitting on a chair behind the bar, with his legs up on the bench as if an attempted robbery followed by several murders, both attempted and successful, had not just been performed within his establishment.

"Well now. It's been quite some time since we had a new batch of fresh-faced adventurers arrive in my humble establishment" he said idly. His fingers lightly plucked at the strings. Valanche stirred slightly, and his hands gripped sword and shield more firmly. Lugh began to sidle quietly towards the shadows, but Jak's eyes pounced on him instantly. With a quick flick of his fingers a flourish of notes soared through the air and the strings glowed with an unworldly glow. Lugh stopped midstep and a dopish smile grew on his face.
"Now, let me tell you how things are here in Jak-a'-Napes. You don't cause any trouble to the fine folk of Falcon's Hollow...and you're welcome in this place. If not, well...Daran might have something to say to you. He's not much of a talker. But, I hear he can make his preferences known."
Jak snapped his fingers and the strings of his instrument faded, as did the stupor of Lugh. He scowled.
"Not cool" Lugh called out across the room. Jak locked eyes with him.
"Do we have an agreement?" he asked. Valanche, Langley and finally Lugh nodded.
"Agreed" Lugh said.

---

The next morning, Langley and Valanche met downstairs. Lugh, it seemed, had disappeared before sunrise without any explanation. The pair of them set off without him into the town, searching for a store selling weaponry they could make some use of.
They found what they were searching for in a franchise branch named "Lionshield Coster".

"Whadd'ya want?" she demanded the second they entered. Langley hadn't even stepped into the store yet, and Valanche was still opening the door. They shared a look. "Cumon, I havvent got all day! Yer lettin' the wet in!"
They quickly stepped inside, and Valanche shut the door.

TBD

• Langley and Valanche went to the Lionshield Coster to ask about purchasing weapons. They were asked to retrieve a delivery that never arrived by the owner.
• Meanwhile, Lugh went to the Sitting Duck and ambushed two Redbrand thugs. His disguise didn't work, so he killed one and incapacitated the other. After a quick interrogation, he discovered that there were 8-ish Redbrands in the Sitting Duck, and they were based out of the decrepit manor(TBD, link) on the hill.

Rewards Granted

• Langley: +10gp
• Valanche: +10gp

Missions/Quests Completed

The Lost Phandelver

Defeated goblin ambush & paid for delivery. found a place to stay at Jak-a'-Napes.

Town of Falcon's Hollow

Fended off the Redbrand's bullies, Linene Graywind of the Lionshield Coster knows that they are a friend.

Halia Thornton

New quests: Kill leader of the Redbrands and bring his hand to Halia. She informs them that she knows their leader is a wizard.

Mayor

Hunt down the nearby orcs.

Linene Graywind of the Lionshield Coster

New quest: Retrieve the Lionshield goods that disappeared within bandit territory.

Character(s) interacted with

• Gundren Rockseeker
• Jak Criminy
• Linene Graywind
• Brickasnurd Hildrinsocks
• Halia Thornton

Created Content

• Redbrand thugs wear a bright red bandanna around their left upper arm.

Notes

Second time running Dungeons & Dragons 5e!

Campaign

Sunrise

Protagonists

Report Date

26 Aug 2019

Primary Location

Darkmoon Vale

Secondary Location

Falcon's Hollow