Trouble Brewing
General Summary
Joining the 'Ardboys on a chill second day morning. Our adventures set out with Sildar Hallwinter to find the Phandalin town master. Upon entering the town common they saw a portly gentleman ducking and weaving between the eves of the buildings along the road, looking to the sky as if scared something was going to swoop down a gobble him up. He had a parchment notice in hand which he began pinning to the message board in front of the town hall. The party approached to discovered this was, in fact, the Town Master, Harbin Wester. When told that one of the Redbrand Ruffians had been found dead behind the Stonehill Inn he respectfully asked that the ‘Ardboys make themselves scarce and he would sort out this mess. The task he had planned was to bring people back into the town given that a Dragon had been sighted. The first person being Adabra Gwynn a midwife who lived in a windmill on Umbridge Hill, a 1-hour walk south of town. Sildar Hallwinter introduced himself as a member of The Lords' Alliance and noted that Harbin Wester was also a member. He suggested the party do as the Town Master indicated whilst he discussed the happenings in the town with Harbin Wester. Enquiring after Larno Albrek led to the suggestion that he had been seen two weeks ago and gone to investigate Tresendar Manor. Satisfied with their investigations, not wanting to disturb the peace and hoping to see how the town handled this death in their absence. The group heading off to Umbridge Hill.
On their walk, with Raster in tow, they saw a winged monster in the sky again this time heading to the south. The remainder of the journey was uneventful and the party arrived at Umbridge Hill. The calm morning was disrupted by a Manticore bursting out of the tree line and banging on the front door of the windmill. Adabra Gwynn yelled from the second floor for assistance. Approaching with caution the party realised the Manticore had a frost injury on its right hind leg and spoke common. Lo’kag could sympathise with the injury. The beast told them it had been attacked by a dragon and needed a new cave and food for it and its mate. The party was able to convince the Manticore that there was a cave to the North which they had recently cleared of Goblins and would be perfect for the Manticore. The Manticore believed our adventures but vowed it would return in they were lying.
Inside the windmill, Adabra Gwynn was very grateful for the assistance and thanked her Goddess Chauntea for her timely rescue. Her devotion to Chauntea and the requirements of the windmill to make her potions and tinctures meant that Adabra Gwynn took a lot of convincing to finally come with the group back to Phandalin. Lo’Kag’s poor attempt at Devine possession was not convincing. Keith McCraggins, uninterested in checking out the windmill and sorry to have missed a fight, explored the nearby dwarven burial mounds with Lo’Kag. It seems the Longhorn clan lived here. Presumably back during the times of the Phandelver Pact many centuries ago.
Upon returning to town the party checked in with Harbin Wester and Sildar Hallwinter. Harbin Wester was more than a little excited to see Adabra Gwynn and jokingly talked about locking her in the dungeon if she didn’t behave herself. The party were uncertain how much of his banter was said in jest and suspect he may run a sex trafficking operation. Harbin Wester assured the group that the body from earlier had been taken care of and that it shouldn’t cause any more troubles.
Checking in with Sildar Hallwinter the group discovered Harbin Wester has been doing a fairly poor job of keeping law and order in Phandalin. With only the bare minimum of records and administrative tasks being completed. Sildar Hallwinter assured the 'Ardboys that not all members of The Lords' Alliance were this... incompetent. Sildar Hallwinter had also been absent when the body was dealt with... he had been resupplying from the Lionsheild Coster. The group decided to go an look for the third The Lords' Alliance member Larno Albrek near Tresendar Manor.
Exiting the Town Hall into the common area the group stopped by the only overtly religious structure in the town. A small unmanned shrine to Tymora the Goddess of Luck and Good fortune. Walking the streets of Phandalin towards Tresendar Manor the group stumbled upon The Sleeping Giant ... the other less reputable Inn in town which is frequented by Redbrand Ruffians. They saw a scuffle in the street outside with Jack Redbrand accosting one of the other members that he was responsible for Luke’s disappearance. Upon seeing the 'Ardboys and with numbers on his side Jack Redbrand threw insults out at the party. Quinn Bloodscale did not take kindly to be called a puppy. What began as a simple street brawl quickly escalated as Quinn Bloodscale shot an eldritch blast into Jack Redbrand’s shoulder. Blades were drawn. Alistair DütcHoven overwhelmed by the situation and triggered unleashed Lathander’s light instantly killing three Redbrands and badly injuring the remaining members and Jack Redbrand. This took the steam out of Jack Redbrand’s verbal assault and he told the party what he could about the Redbrand Hideout under Tresendar Manor and Glasstaff their mysterious leader. The 'Ardboys took Jack Redbrand’s garnet hilted swords as payment for this life. Then took a short break before moving towards the manor.
Tresendar manor, whilst still an impressive structure, had fallen into disrepair. walls damaged and partially collapsed segments of roof. A well-trodden path, leads to a staircase in the old kitchen. The party yelled down the stairs for Larno Albrek with no response. Leaving Raster upstairs the party descended.
At the bottom of the stairs, they entered a wine cellar with a small cistern of bubbling water. Everything was quiet. One of the adjoining rooms contained three Redbrand’s resting which Lo’kag and Quinn Bloodscale confronted. Quinn Bloodscale’s crossbow bolt ripped the first attacker’s leg off and killed him instantly. the remaining ruffians fled for their lives. Meanwhile, Keith McCraggins and Alistair DütcHoven proceeded down an unsuspecting corridor when Keith McCraggins fell straight into a 20ft hole. Regrouping, the adventures went into the mausoleum of the Tresendar’s and found a suspicious ratio of skeletons to sarcophagus’. Alistair DütcHoven took the initiative and rather than wait for them to reanimate he began bludgeoning the skeletons with his mace. The group quickly dispatched the skeletons and then heard a woman’s scream from the next room.
The room contained two jail cells. One of which held a Halfling and her son. The two Redbrands guarding the cells were not about to throw away their lives and accepted being locked up in the other cell. They warned the adventures that a group of Bugbears had been smuggled into town and were currently in the cellar in the south-west corner. The Halfling’s name was Qelline Alderleaf and she decided to await the 'Ardboys return before leaving her cell.
What appeared to be a dead-end with a locked door revealed a hidden passage which leads to the storage area of the Redbrand Ruffians’ “confiscated” goods. The locked door, which Lo’Kag smashed contained an armoury and some Redbrand cloaks. Trying to replicate Starwars a New Hope Quinn Bloodscale and Alistair DütcHoven disguised themselves as Redbrands with Lo’Kag and Keith McCraggins as their prisoners.
The Cellar opened up into a large natural cavern and eerie darkness hung in the air. From the roof, a single yellow-green eye looked down at them and appeared to move from point to point with grace. It’s cackling laughter and crazed speech seeming to come from throughout the room. It appeared this creature, Nothic, was interested in magical items for its collection. It had lived down in these caves for as long as the manor stood. With some clever Prestidigitation, Quinn Bloodscale was able to convince Nothic that one of her daggers was, in fact, magical and glowing. Nothic was pleased with this and invited the group to see his cleft. The floor of which felt eerily cold with humanoid remains littered across the floor - suspiciously without decay. It was here they found the body of Luke, the murdered Redbrand Ruffian ... So much for Harbin Wester “taking care of the body”. Nothic was willing to exchange his new shiny dagger for an old family heirloom known as ‘Talon’. Lo’kag uninterested in the providence of the sword accepted it as a gift from Quinn Bloodscale. Nothic also told the group that he did not like Glasstaff.
We leave our heroes about the ascend a dim stairwell with the hopes of confronting Glasstaff... or is it Larno Albrek? Who can say? To find out what happens tune in next session for The Lost Dragons of Phandelver: The Spider’s Web.
Missions/Quests Completed
"Umbrage Hill" - Harbin Wester asked the 'Ardboys to fetch the local midwife Adabra Gwynn and bring her back to town. After making a deal with a Manticore the 'Ardboys were able to convince Adabra Gwynn to temporarily return to town with them. Much to Harbin Wester's excitement.
"Body in the hay" - The 'Ardboys found the body of one of the Redbrand Ruffians murdered behind the Stonehill Inn. Toblin Stonehill wants nothing to do with it and has asked the party to report the killing to the town master. Harbin Wester "dealt with the body". The 'Ardboys found it in Nothic's cleft in the Redbrand Hideout.
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
"Quelline Alderleaf" The 'Ardboys found Qelline Alderleaf in the Redbrand Hideout with her son Cob. Not wanting to risk escaping herself she awaits the groups return.
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