And the adventure continues....underground!
The party has been to Phandelver and decided that their first steps should lead them under Tresendar Manor, where the Redbrands have their hideout - but what else is waiting for them?
Starring:
Gronn, a dwarven druid, played by Brett
Wolf, a young human fighter, played by Lorne
Ellenross, a human rogue, played by Hilton (currently on a flight, so missed this week)
Gryff, a halfling fighter, played by Jason
and introducing:
Ashnurak, a human wizard, played by Iain
GM comments - Ashnurak joins our game tonight - and we have a slight retconn from last week, so we'll be moving the main party back to moments after the combat with the bugbears ends - and since El was on a flight at the time we played, he couldn't even remote link in - but he'll be back next week!
The party stood over the bodies of the three bugbears....well, stood is not quite right, as Gryff peeled himself away from the base of the wall, almost miraculously, and defying the others' belief that he was dead, enquired after elevenses. But as they started to gather in their surroundings, a shadow fell over them from the doorway...
....however, that shadow started somewhere far away....well, in Phandalin:
Ashnurak awoke with a start. He'd fallen asleep on the back of the merchant's wagon. This adventuring lark wasn't as exciting as he might have hoped. He'd hitched a lift with a merchant heading along the Triboar Trail and now he was here....somewhere.
"Welcome to Phandalin" said the merchant, as he walked into a nearby shop, leaving Ash alone in what felt like an abandoned town, It was old, yet new, but the streets were deserted, apart from several large pools of blood further down the street. As he looked around, preparing his next steps, he heard cries for help and turned to see a toddler running towards him at alarming pace...no, not a toddler, a halfling child!
Carp, for that was his name, entreated this strange young man's help - his mum was being manhandled by some Redbrands, angry at Gryff's slaughter of their pals - and they'd laughed at his little knife and cuffed him across the head. Ash set off after the boy, eager to see if he could help a woman in distress! He arrived at the household, passing a nosey old man watching from his porch, and arrived at the house in time to confront two Redbrands! After a few moments of witty repartee, he launched a firebolt at one and looked on in surprise as the second lurched forward, before collapsing - and Ash saw the old man behind him, blade in hand. The other ruffian scarpered!
Ash took quick stock of the situation and took the old man's advice, following the child to a cave hidden in the woods, where he might find Carp's cousin, Gryff, to let him know what happened and warn him of the dangers he faced.
Ash passed the crevasse beast after a short discussion which left the young lad both puzzled and annoyed. He followed the sounds of combat and quickly located our party of bloodthirsty adventurers.
After a few moments of confusion, the group realised they were all there for a same thing. To rid the town of evil - and that meant starting with the Redbrands. Of course, the others had witness more than Ash, but he'd seen enough. This band needed disbanding!
The party continued their explorations..... it's always nice when the intros go smoothly!
The party burst into the next room, barely (actually not at all) surprising the group of Redbrands playing dice. After a short and intense battle, the party took stock of the situation.
"I have just killed both the first and second man ever, in my life", announced Ash, having given the killing blow to two of the thugs.
"What a riddle!", declared Gryff, "We shall need an explanation for your tricky words, Ash".
"I just mean I've never killed anyone before and those two were the first.....", responded Ash. The table descends into chaotic laughter - there's a reason Gryff's a fighter (and a second level fighter at that - DING!)!
The party moved forward in their search for Glasstaff, finding an alchemy chamber and a friendly rat, who took a liking to Gronn, the druid. He fed it, petted it and left it to run free (and report everything it saw to it's master, Glasstaff) - never suspecting its ill intent.
They moved into the next room, where Gryff was struck by multiple magical golden missiles - he pulled back from the doorway, and when he looked back in, he found an empty bedroom! A quick search showed it had been cleared in a hurry, leaving only a note to Lord Albrek from the Black Spider.....but Iarno Albrek was the Lords Alliance representative in Phandalin....and the Black Spider is a bad guy! What madness is this? The party found a secret door and continued their search.
The discovered and unlocked an armory using a key Gronn had kept from the bugbears they killed previously. Find nothing of use, apart from a couple of cloaks, the party decided to disguise two of the group in cloaks (the humans) while the short-arses pretended to be slaves. They walked into the next room, some kind of crypt, with several skeleton defenders. While the skeletons looked at them briefly, then continued their silent watch, when Gronn walked into the room by himself, they lurched to the attack! Blow followed blow before the skeletons lay in pieces, while Gronn stood in all his beary glory, basking in the glow of not having to taste goblin brains.
When they opened the next door, they found themselves in the dungeons - and there was Glasstaff, together with two of his minions! Gronn leapt at them with a roar, beating everyone to the punch, he slashed one ruffian to the bone, but their return blows, like lightning, stabbed into his bear form repeatedly. Glasstaff leered at Gryff and let loose a magic, leaving Gryff paralysed - and with his revenge so close! He hurled abuse using the power of his mind, but it had no visible effect on the mage.
The battle raged. Ash's attempt to blast the mage to smithereens failed when his chromatic orb bounced from a bear's paw and rolled into the corner, while the bear and the thugs traded blows. Wolf joined the fray, when Glasstaff sent a veritable herd of golden arrows flying into Gronn, With a surprised groan, his druidic magics failed, leaving him stood in front of the ruffians, bear-less. When the Redbrands fell to he floor and the party jumped forward to crush the wizard, he waved his hand and disappeared from in front of their eyes!
"Cover the door!" cried Ash, while Wolf and Gronn made sweeping gestures about them with their weapons. Gryff recovered his composure but when wolf and Ash made for the door, they saw Glasstaff in the last room, making his way to the exit! At the same time, Wolf flung a dagger and Ash a firebolt - and just as it seemed the evil caster might escape, his evil reign of terror was brought to an abrupt, sharp, and flamey end. He was indeed Iarno Albrek. He'd turned (not into undead).
Ash quickly took his staff, and papers, while the others rushed to free the prisoners. They escorted the terrified family back to Phandalin, in return for promises of treasure, should they ever visit Thundertree. A promise which fell on deaf ears - any treasure would be returned to the family to help them recover from the loss of their father and husband (not both at the same time).
On the way back to town, Wolf fed the beast in the crevasse one of the corpses from the prison. The beast was thankful, yet made some comment about finding his own fresh meat when Ash asked if he was truly happy here in the caves, or might want an escort out. The group carried on their mission. Although Wofl faniced he saw a strange beast down in the pit....but not trusting his eyes, never mentioned what he saw to the others, but that image would haunt him for days.
The party returned to Phandalin and collected their rewards - for the papers, from the Miner's Exchange, for the clearing of the Redbrand hideout from Sildar, and news of Iarno's whereabouts (dead, in a cave) from Sildar.
They considered their options, many that they were, and decided to head for Thundertree - for that way lay Reidoth, Gryff's old friend, who might know the whereabouts of Cragmaw Castle - and therefore where to find Gundren!
Time to enter the wilderness!
and introducing:
Ashnurak, a human wizard, played by Iain
GM comments - Ashnurak joins our game tonight - and we have a slight retconn from last week, so we'll be moving the main party back to moments after the combat with the bugbears ends - and since El was on a flight at the time we played, he couldn't even remote link in - but he'll be back next week!
The party stood over the bodies of the three bugbears....well, stood is not quite right, as Gryff peeled himself away from the base of the wall, almost miraculously, and defying the others' belief that he was dead, enquired after elevenses. But as they started to gather in their surroundings, a shadow fell over them from the doorway...
....however, that shadow started somewhere far away....well, in Phandalin:
Ashnurak awoke with a start. He'd fallen asleep on the back of the merchant's wagon. This adventuring lark wasn't as exciting as he might have hoped. He'd hitched a lift with a merchant heading along the Triboar Trail and now he was here....somewhere.
"Welcome to Phandalin" said the merchant, as he walked into a nearby shop, leaving Ash alone in what felt like an abandoned town, It was old, yet new, but the streets were deserted, apart from several large pools of blood further down the street. As he looked around, preparing his next steps, he heard cries for help and turned to see a toddler running towards him at alarming pace...no, not a toddler, a halfling child!
Carp, for that was his name, entreated this strange young man's help - his mum was being manhandled by some Redbrands, angry at Gryff's slaughter of their pals - and they'd laughed at his little knife and cuffed him across the head. Ash set off after the boy, eager to see if he could help a woman in distress! He arrived at the household, passing a nosey old man watching from his porch, and arrived at the house in time to confront two Redbrands! After a few moments of witty repartee, he launched a firebolt at one and looked on in surprise as the second lurched forward, before collapsing - and Ash saw the old man behind him, blade in hand. The other ruffian scarpered!
Ash took quick stock of the situation and took the old man's advice, following the child to a cave hidden in the woods, where he might find Carp's cousin, Gryff, to let him know what happened and warn him of the dangers he faced.
Ash passed the crevasse beast after a short discussion which left the young lad both puzzled and annoyed. He followed the sounds of combat and quickly located our party of bloodthirsty adventurers.
After a few moments of confusion, the group realised they were all there for a same thing. To rid the town of evil - and that meant starting with the Redbrands. Of course, the others had witness more than Ash, but he'd seen enough. This band needed disbanding!
The party continued their explorations..... it's always nice when the intros go smoothly!
The party burst into the next room, barely (actually not at all) surprising the group of Redbrands playing dice. After a short and intense battle, the party took stock of the situation.
"I have just killed both the first and second man ever, in my life", announced Ash, having given the killing blow to two of the thugs.
"What a riddle!", declared Gryff, "We shall need an explanation for your tricky words, Ash".
"I just mean I've never killed anyone before and those two were the first.....", responded Ash. The table descends into chaotic laughter - there's a reason Gryff's a fighter (and a second level fighter at that - DING!)!
The party moved forward in their search for Glasstaff, finding an alchemy chamber and a friendly rat, who took a liking to Gronn, the druid. He fed it, petted it and left it to run free (and report everything it saw to it's master, Glasstaff) - never suspecting its ill intent.
They moved into the next room, where Gryff was struck by multiple magical golden missiles - he pulled back from the doorway, and when he looked back in, he found an empty bedroom! A quick search showed it had been cleared in a hurry, leaving only a note to Lord Albrek from the Black Spider.....but Iarno Albrek was the Lords Alliance representative in Phandalin....and the Black Spider is a bad guy! What madness is this? The party found a secret door and continued their search.
The discovered and unlocked an armory using a key Gronn had kept from the bugbears they killed previously. Find nothing of use, apart from a couple of cloaks, the party decided to disguise two of the group in cloaks (the humans) while the short-arses pretended to be slaves. They walked into the next room, some kind of crypt, with several skeleton defenders. While the skeletons looked at them briefly, then continued their silent watch, when Gronn walked into the room by himself, they lurched to the attack! Blow followed blow before the skeletons lay in pieces, while Gronn stood in all his beary glory, basking in the glow of not having to taste goblin brains.
When they opened the next door, they found themselves in the dungeons - and there was Glasstaff, together with two of his minions! Gronn leapt at them with a roar, beating everyone to the punch, he slashed one ruffian to the bone, but their return blows, like lightning, stabbed into his bear form repeatedly. Glasstaff leered at Gryff and let loose a magic, leaving Gryff paralysed - and with his revenge so close! He hurled abuse using the power of his mind, but it had no visible effect on the mage.
The battle raged. Ash's attempt to blast the mage to smithereens failed when his chromatic orb bounced from a bear's paw and rolled into the corner, while the bear and the thugs traded blows. Wolf joined the fray, when Glasstaff sent a veritable herd of golden arrows flying into Gronn, With a surprised groan, his druidic magics failed, leaving him stood in front of the ruffians, bear-less. When the Redbrands fell to he floor and the party jumped forward to crush the wizard, he waved his hand and disappeared from in front of their eyes!
"Cover the door!" cried Ash, while Wolf and Gronn made sweeping gestures about them with their weapons. Gryff recovered his composure but when wolf and Ash made for the door, they saw Glasstaff in the last room, making his way to the exit! At the same time, Wolf flung a dagger and Ash a firebolt - and just as it seemed the evil caster might escape, his evil reign of terror was brought to an abrupt, sharp, and flamey end. He was indeed Iarno Albrek. He'd turned (not into undead).
Ash quickly took his staff, and papers, while the others rushed to free the prisoners. They escorted the terrified family back to Phandalin, in return for promises of treasure, should they ever visit Thundertree. A promise which fell on deaf ears - any treasure would be returned to the family to help them recover from the loss of their father and husband (not both at the same time).
On the way back to town, Wolf fed the beast in the crevasse one of the corpses from the prison. The beast was thankful, yet made some comment about finding his own fresh meat when Ash asked if he was truly happy here in the caves, or might want an escort out. The group carried on their mission. Although Wofl faniced he saw a strange beast down in the pit....but not trusting his eyes, never mentioned what he saw to the others, but that image would haunt him for days.
The party returned to Phandalin and collected their rewards - for the papers, from the Miner's Exchange, for the clearing of the Redbrand hideout from Sildar, and news of Iarno's whereabouts (dead, in a cave) from Sildar.
They considered their options, many that they were, and decided to head for Thundertree - for that way lay Reidoth, Gryff's old friend, who might know the whereabouts of Cragmaw Castle - and therefore where to find Gundren!
Time to enter the wilderness!
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