Murder Hobo Squad: A Lost Mine of Phandelver/Dragon of Icespire Peak & Beyond D&D 5E record (Beware Spoilers!)

A dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker visiting Neverwinter has contacted some old friends and put out the call for swords for hire to escort some wagons of supplies to the town of Phandalin 3 days travel to the south. He promises more work once everyone gets there, but refuses to explain further. He does seem excited about whatever he is keeping secret though. While meeting the potential party he is often accompanied by an older gentleman dressed in a cloak with a Griffon symbol on the back, names Sildar Hallwinter. Sildar is just past his prime, but his attitude and bearing say he’s not letting this slow him down yet.

Gundren insists that he and Sildar need to head right away, but the supplies wont be ready for another couple of days.  The wagons will be waiting at the Southern Gatehouse on 15th Mirtul 1491 around 9am (Early spring).  They will be paid 10GP each for their time, and are promised more earnings and excitement to come.

DM Note: On our first session no one actually introduced themselves, they just got on the carts and headed out.  Between the first two sessions they went back and some of them wrote a brief intro in hopes of generating some dialogue over Discord.  Chat hasn’t happened yet, but here we find their text, slightly tweaked by me for viewpoints/tense etc.

An elf approaches the lone stable hand standing over the carts by the gatehouse. He seems uncomfortable in his surroundings, but introduces himself as Thorvir, a member of the Gundren party here for the wagons.  Thorovir Holimion, Male human fighter)

When he gets to the caravan he almost misses seeing an aging half-elf sitting on the barrels in one wagon minding his own business. His hair is dark with a few silver strands with dark brown eyes that seem to appraise your worth, two short swords sitting near him looking like they have been well used, you immediately feel like checking your purse just to be sure it’s still there. (Araloth, Male half-elf Rogue)

A young-looking man with white-grey hair quietly approaches the carts but something about him seems at odds. His clothes have definitely seen better days – under the dirt on his surcoat an emblem can be made out that, if you squint, resembles a sunrise. As he turns to return a passing greeting to a beaming man in rags, you see on his back a well-worn shield with a similar design. He walks towards the cart slightly nervously – he’s not really used to approaching groups of strangers, it seems. He glances over the carts as he introduces himself, Devere, formerly from a church of Lathander. Every now & again his eyes seem to glow which is… unsettling (Devere, Male Aasimar Cleric)

As 9 am approaches a tall elf with silver braided hair and blue eyes is sitting in green patch of land near the wagons, seemingly meditating. The elf is wearing blue and white robes with silvered trim and a simple looking bed pack with a quiver of bolts and a cross bow and a boomerang piled up near by. At 9 am the elf deftly leaps up and gathers there belongings up and leaps on to the leading cart. (Melandrach presreal, Elven Monk)

After feeling like someone was watching the group for a while you become aware that a halfling has appeared from the surroundings. She has long brown hair, brown eyes, and has a short sword and two daggers on her belt. After introducing herself as Bilba Blackcube she climbs up on the wagon, puts her pack down and begins absentmindedly shuffling a deck of cards. (Bilba Blackcube, Female Halfling Rogue)

A male human joins the caravan a few moments before it is due to depart. He is well built and sturdy looking with very ordinary brown hair and eyes. His clothes are worn but well maintained, mostly in reds and browns, while his wargear is exceptionally well cared for. He is comfortable with the business of the caravan, giving the impression he has done this many times before. In the evenings he is quick to shrug off his chain and settle round the fire, talking with an accent from the dalelands. (Ramond, Male Human Paladin)

The stable hand says that he was expecting two more, but if they want to avoid spending an extra night out in the wilderness they really need to be heading out.  He will hang around and send along anyone else who turns up.

As the carts begins to pull off, a young female half elf runs up to the cart. She has wild auburn hair which is barely contained by a simple leather strap and her eyes are of different colours. Her right eye is hazel and the other is a bright gleaming topaz. She is dressed in coarse spun tunic and trousers, and has a set of leather armour and a crossbow bundled in her arms, along with an ornate intricately carved staff. The staff looks oddly out of place to the rest of her attire. She jumps on to the back of the first cart, loudly apologising for being so late, but she needed to pick up some supplies first. Turning to Bilba, she asks her to hold Mr. Squeaks, who is a small piebald rat, whilst she puts on her armour. Once fully attired she takes the rat back, and puts him in a pocket of her backpack with some crumbled crackers. She turns to the rest of you, with a look of relief, before introducing herself as Talindra. (Talindra Tybalt, Female Half Elf Warlock)

As the wagon trundles through the gates of the city of Neverwinter, a ranger ambles up from the nearby trees, offers a grunt of greeting, and says that he’s Karson Orangorn and has been hired on by Rockseeker as part of the party guarding the wagons. He has dark hair and grey eyes. His travellers clothes look well worn, but his bow and sword look lovingly maintained. You think maybe you remember seeing him sitting in the Tavern where you initially met Rockseeker, drinking an ale and quietly studying all that was going on. He grumbles something about getting on with this and starts to walk, moving to be a distance ahead of the wagon and off of the road to one side. (Karson Orangorn, Male Human Ranger)

The two wagons and their disinterested Oxen depart the city and head south on this pleasant spring morning.

The newly assembled group of strangers follow the road south from Neverwinter for two uneventful days and nights.  On the third day they head east on to the Triboar Trail.  10-15 miles later they encounter two dead horses lying in a bottleneck in the road (*cough*obviousambush*cough*).

Being suspicious people, they stop the wagons and head out to investigate the surrounding bushes rather than the horses and encounter two goblins hiding either side of the road.  The two farthest goblins start pelting the approaching characters with arrows while the other two draw their swords.  The Hobos make quick work of the first three goblins.  The fourth and a hidden fifth try to bolt to the north west.  One doesn’t make it a few steps, the other at least requires a bow to take down.

While fulfilling their murder hobo duty of looting all the the corpses (A few arrows to replace those used) they discover a worn trail behind the northern bush leading north west.  The ranger spent a few minutes studying the trail and said it looks like goblins have been back and forth down here and lurking in the bushes on a regular basis.  There is also evidence of two human-like creatures being dragged along the trail in the last few days.

Inspection of the horses revealed them to belong to Gundren and Sildar (Those who know Gundren of old recognised his horse, and there were a few scraps of paper with names, familiar handwriting and other identifying marks.  The module wasn’t clear on how the party are supposed to identify the horses, just that the were supposed to).

They party spent a few minutes trying to decide whether they should give chase, or deliver the goods and come back later (While the monk tried to fix his internet, which his cat had just disabled) and thought it best to recover Gundren and Sildar.  They followed the footprints north west for around 10 miles, avoiding a few goblin traps along the way and found a cave entrance in the side of a hill, with a small river running out of it.

The decided to hide the wagons amongst some trees away from the trail and return to the cave.  Being a newly formed group who had just destroyed their only encounter they were overconfident and disorganised and everyone did their own thing, which drew fire from two more goblins hiding off to one side of the entrance.  Arrows came flying, taking the group by surprise and hurting them, but two goblins do not last long against eight murder hobos.

Then came the real threat.  The cave was in darkness and three of the party would need a light source.  The paladin sparked up a torch and started to walk towards the cave.  I then enabled an aura of light in Roll20 and they could see how far the light went and just how big a problem that would become.  The torch was thrown on the floor outside and the party braved the darkness while trying to figure out what to do once they left its light behind.  As the entered they found the sounds of the river increased, echoing around the cave enough to hide their novice fumblings.

As the scouts entered the cave the found a small set of stairs leading to a side chamber to the right of the main passage.  Two wolves could be seen inside.  Araloth, the thief (I think.  I should write these sooner in the future), decided to try and befriend the creatures, but they were suspicious of strangers (Failed animal handling check) and they got aggressive.  A third wolf appeared from behind a rock as the rest of the party came to his aid.  The doorway was narrow and the room was small so people remained in the passageway, moving in and out to attack as opportunity presented itself.

While fighting the wolves there was a surge in the river and the passageway filled with water, washing 2 hobos out the cave, a third being lucky enough to get out of the way in time.  The picked themselves up and went to rejoin their allies in time to end the wolves.  At this time Talindra the warlock cast light on a couple of stones and handed them out, as fighting in the darkness was showing its challenges.  This revealed a natural chimney at the back of the wolves chamber, leading upwards about 30 feet.

While Karson went on to investigate this, a few of the party went out to scout the main passageway.  As they spread out another wave made its way through, but thankfully everyone was able to move out of the way in time, or were strong enough to brace against the waters.

Melandrach and Araloth stealthed ahead and found another side passage rising up they could see light coming along.  They paused to deicde how to proceed.  As our hobos dried themselves off our players realised it was gone 11pm on Sunday night and we all had work in the morning so we saved our progress and called it a night.

We were two players down this session.  Ramond and Thorivor couldn’t make it

Melandrach and Araloth returned to the group and told them what they had found and the group decided to investigate that light.  Concerned about the entrance and the unexplored natural chimney, Ramond and Thorovir decided to stand between the cave entrance and the entrance to the wolves chamber to cover the rear.

As they went up rising side passageway the scounts went full stealth and the party got the drop on five goblins working around a cauldron over a cooking fire.  With everyone focused and the advantage of a surprise round they were able to wipe out most of the goblins before they could react.  As the felled the last goblin, another appeared on a ledge overlooking the cooking chamber.  He had a beaten and bloody man stripped down to his underwear, tied up and balanced on his knees over the ledge.  The party recognised this man as Sildar Hallwinter.  As he demanded they stop fighting or his prisoner would fall to his death, Melandrach tried to scale the ledge and tripped over Bilba, landing on his rear instead.

Devere tried to engage him in conversation as everyone held their action.  The Goblin wanted them to kill a bugbear names Klarg who had taken over the cave and was bullying everyone.  If they killed Klarg he would let his prisone rlive and everyone could leave.  While he was distracted by this, Araloth snuck up behind him (Passed a stealth check with disadvantage) and was able to one hit kill him.  He tried to grab Sildar before he could fall but fumbled, bumbing in to him.  As Sildar fell, Melandrach, now back on his feet, tried to catch him.  he didnt quite react in time (Fluffed Athletics check) and Sildar fell on to him, hurting both of them.  Despite his soft landing, the 10 foot drop was enough to reduce Sildar to 0hp.

A quick heal check later and he was stable.  With more to explore the party chose not to use their limited supplies of magical healing on him and took him outside for Ramond to tend to, after quick bit of scouting around.  With most of the cave mapped out, they formulated a good plan to attack the remaining area from 3 sides: Along the bridge, along the river, and up the natural chimney.

No one tried the goblins stew.

The plan of attack:

Karson would climb up the chimney, with a light stone in his hand.  It was only wide enough for one person at a time and would take three rounds and three athletcics checks toclimb.  Thorovir would stand guard at the entrance to that room and help coordintae his actions with the others

Bilba and Talindra would hold their actions between the wolf cave and the bridge awaiting a flash of light from the others, and would then follow the river around.

The others would cross the bridge, with Araloth and Melandrach in the lead, everyone trying to be stealthy.  They had spotted a goblin hiding on the bridge watching the area below before making the plan and were able to sneak up on him from across the bridge, kill him on one shot and throw his body over the edge.  Araloth then pulled a hand-cupped light stone out of his pocket and exposed it to the others as a sign.  Karson started climbing, the ground party started working their way around the cave with the aid of a light stone they had hidden in their pockets, and the bridge crew proceeded in to the next room where they found a waterfall, two shallow pools, and three more goblins waiting.

They got the drop on the first goblin by the entrance, but were not able to kill him in the suprise round.  Alerted, the furthest goblin ran in to the next room and the other two started to fight.  As araloth and Melandrach killed their gooblin, Bilba and Talindra followed the cave around and snuck up behind the now distracted goblin archer and with arrow and eldritch blast, dropped him.

Meanwhile, Karson had successfully made not only 3 climb checks (with a natural 20!) but also passed 3 stealth checks to climb up unnoticed and in record time.  As his head pocked out the top he was able to see a Bugbear and a wolf running towards and then past him to hide in the corner of their cavern behind a stalagmite.  Karson chose to wait for Klarg to stop running and turn his back to him before climbing out of the shute and attacking him from behind, even though he could not see his allies.  He got in one good solid hit and then was appauled at how little Klargs health bar moved.  Klarg screamed out, “Who dares defy Klarg!, swung his morningstar at karson, and downed him with a single swing (Chip damage from previous fights had occurred to most people by now).

Klarg went back in to hiding as the party started to enter the room.  As the first person entered they were suprised by a volley of arrows coming from two goblins hiding behind some crates along the southern wall, but took some shot at a third gonlin still getting in to position.  The party advanced in and engaged the archers and Klarg came out to face them, having discovered that his module prescribed ambush point just served to box in him and his wolf, Ripper.

Klarg continues to provide both smack downs and big threats as the party takes its time dispatching the goblins.  Devere takes a moment to decide if its better to heal Karson or attack the Bugbear.  Deciding its better to prevent more damage than take more and resolve whats already been done he takes a swing at Klarg, hurting him and becoming the new centre of his attention.  Bilba comes in and throws two daggers at the wolf, reducing him to deaths door.  Talindra (I think) threw a ranged heal at Karson (Warlocks are arcane casters who can have heal spells apparently?) who got up, and took two swings at the new distracted bugbear stood over his recently prone body, landing one good blow. Finding himself now in flanking position, Devere went in for it, he swung his mace at Klargs knee causing it to buckle and then brought it back up and hit him on the other side of his head, landing the killing blow and knocking him over, head first in to the chute right behind him.  With Klargs corpse stuck are upwards the part quickly finished off the wolf.

With murdering complete and the cave seemingly empty, the party moved on the take its stuff stage of the “Kill it and take its stuff” procedure.  The found several crates and bags with a blue lions head, some were able to recognise as the symbol of the Lionshield Coster, a trade consortium from the east who has been setting up chain stores spreading in to the sword coast over recent years, some silver, a statuette of a gold frog (They check for magic and found none), and two unlabelled magical potions they have yet to taste.

The party has decided to head outside for a short rest, while those who are able to carry the crates and sacks out of the cave to take to town with them.  It was getting late real world time (1-2pm game time) so we decided to call it there.  As everyone would level up next time they camp I have asked them to level up between sessions to avoid losing play time later.  They are about a days travel from town, and after the short rest Sildar should regain consciousness.

We play again in two days.

With the wagons loaded up with the recovered Lionshield Coster crates and a short rest completed, Silda Hallwinter regained consciousness.  He picked himself up and stretched, revealing himself to be stiff and sore as well as bloody, beaten and stripped to his underwear.  Ramond walked over and Laid on Hands, restoring a little vitality, but it doesn’t do much more to help.

They had a little chat and once they had assured Sildar that they had killed all the goblins, preventing future banditry from them, he offered them 50gp to escort him to Phandalin.  He revealed that the goblins had been tipped off about his and Gundren’s journey and were out in force to ambush them.  The goblins took Gundren and all their stuff including a map to a place called Cragmaw Castle.  Wherever it is, it won’t appear on any map by that name.  The Cragmaws are the local goblinoid tribes so its unlikely humans would know it by that name.  He encouraged the party to rescue Gundren and recover the map is it reveals the location to a long lost mine that not only houses great mineral wealth, but a magical forge that creates magic items.  He fears what could happens if the forge fell in to the wrong hands.

Gundren walked over to one of the two fallen goblins outside the cave and picked up a short sword and shield, a little too small for him but good enough.  He then climbed up on a wagon, showing off how sore he really is, despite trying to mask it, and the party set off towards town once more.

The next day the party arrived in Phandalin, a little after midday.  Phandalin is an odd mix of the old and the new.  There are ancient ruined houses scattered around the town, and brand new buildings of wood and stone, and some new buildings are built using the ruins as a starting point.  Up on the hill to the east a large ruined manor house can be seen.  An orchard to the west, and farms can be made out to the south.

The carts ride through to the town square, a few doors past Barthens Provisions, their destination, and pull up outside what the sign says is the Stonehill Inn.  A few door down can be seen a building bearing the symbol found on the crates from the cave, that of the Lionshield Coster.

Sildar speaks up, “Well, my friends, I don’t know about you but I could really use a hot bath, some good food and a soft be right about now.  I’ve hear the local Inn is good.  I’m going to get a room there.  If you come and see me tomorrow at the Townmasters Hall I’ll pay you what I promised.”  With this, he lowers himself off the wagon, still noticeably suffering for his experiences, and heads inside.

Devere and Talindra decide to go book some rooms for the party while everyone else heads to the Lionshield Coster.  They find out there are only 5 rooms available, but the local farms have been known to put up travellers.  They book up all 5 rooms and decide to discuss options with the party.

They deliver the goods to the Coster and introduce themselves to Linene Greywind, the shopkeeper.  She explains she’s not veen able to get a restock from the cities for a few months now as deliveries just go missing.  She thanks the party and offers them 50gp for a reward.  They help her onload around the back and discover she has a back room of weapons and armour, separate from the day to day stock out front.  She says she only sells to trusted customers.  She wouldn’t want her weapons to be used to cause trouble.  She will of course sell to the people who saved her stock (Melandrach buys a quarterstaff).  The party also enquires if she is aware of any nearby keeps or castles, but all she can think of is an old ruined tower up at Old Owl Well.

On their way out, Lenine looks up from unpacking and warns them to look out for anyone wearing a red cloak.  The redbrands are bullies and like to make life hard for everyone in town, so its best to avoid them if you can. When questioned, she says they pick on people, cause trouble, and demand protection money from the local stores, when they take more and do more damage than any local trouble previously.

On their way over to Barthens to complete their original job, they meet up with Devere and Talindra coming out of the inn.  In Barthens they have a similar experience.  They also mention, than Gundren has gone missing and Barthen expresses his concern, although he claims to not have met Sildar before.  He wonders if Gundrens brother Nundro and Tharden are OK.  They have been camping outside of town somewhere and are due to visit for supplies any day now.

Job complete, the party now splits in three.  Araloth and Karson go for a walk around town.  Araloth wants to ask about staying at a farm.  Talindra, Ramond and Devere decide to check out the shrine opposite the inn.

The shrine is a small, simple affair, built in the last few years out of stones taken from the ruins of old Phandalin, and is staffed by a female elf who introduces herself as Sister Garaele.  Talindra asks for some advice from Sister Garaele.  She has a dream she wants to understand.  First she offers up her staff, saying she was recently given it.  It is covered in symbols of luck, and has the symbol of Tymora encased inside a pentagram upon it.  Sister Garaele recognises these symbols as such, but has not seen them displayed with the pentagram before.

Talindra then goes on to talk about a dream she had.  She says she saw this shrine encased in ice and then a town swallowed by the ice from the shrine.  Then a storm came and lightning struck the shrine and everything crumbled.  Then they world rotated to show the other side of the coin.  The shrine and the town on a calm summers day, and spin and spin.  Talindra doesn’t know what it means.  Sister Garaele says that sometimes a dream is just a dream, but the gods have been known to communicate through dreams and rarely make themselves clear when they do.  She cannot bring any significance to any of it, but dreams are often deeply personal so mabye its meaning will reveal itself?

They also ask about local castless but Sister Garaele cannot shed any new light.  Having seen them pull up in the wagons, and looking at their weapons she asks them for a favour.  She needs to ask someone a question, but they won’t speak to her and hopes that if they heroes feed her vanity and offer her a gift she has prepared they may be able to get Agatha to reveal what happpened to a long lost spellbook that belonged to a mage called Bowgentle.  Agatha lives to the east, north west of Conyberry.  The dangerous part is that Agatha is a banshee.  They agree to try, and are handed a gem encrusted silver comb to offer up.

They then head in to the inn and join their friends for a few drinks and a snack.  They share a tale Elsa the barmaid imparted about the Redbrands.  They recently killed a man in the street in front of the whole town.  Thel Dendrar, the local woodcutter stood up to a group of them after they had been being inapropriate with his wife and they just cut him down in front of everyone.  A few days later his wife and kids just dissapear.  No one knows what happened to them, but Elsa blames the Redbrands.

Karson and Araloth went for a walk around town to see whats there, and to find a friendly farmer to put up Araloth.  Given the choice between the orchard and the farm, they headed to the farm and met Qelline Alderleaf, a kindly female halfling in her mid 40s.  She said she would be happy to put them both up in her hayloft.  She would be grateful to have someone around who knows how to handle themself.  Times had been hard recently.  She doesn’t like it when the Redbrands come around.  She sent her son Carp to fetch a few blankets and a jug of water out to the hayloft.

After leaving the farm they decided to check out the Sleeping Giant tap house, having heard thats where the Redbrands like to hang out.  As the aproached they saw four men in red cloaks on the porch outside.  They blocked their entry and made it clear they weren’t welcome.  When hands started to settle on hilts, Karson and Araloth decided it was time to leave and went back to the Stonehill Inn.  After a long chat, the group decided the best thing they could do would be to deal with the redbrands and came up with a plan.

The plan they decided on was simple.  Araloth would had north and sneak around to the far side of the tavern, staying out of site.  Bilba nad Karson would head south towards the Alderleaf farm and then cut north, and hide in the bushed opposite with their bows ready.  Then the others would split in to pairs, and head down the street acting loud and drunk (the characters had consumed a few drinks by this stage, so bonus points for method acting).  Ramond and Melandrach went first, followed up by Talindra and Devere.

Ramond set one foot on the short steps up to the porch and found a redbrand holding the posts either side blocking his way.  He told Ramond he shouldn’t be here.  Outsiders aren’t welcome.  They should leave.  Ramond played drunk and said he just wanted to see if the beer was better here.  The other three redbrands stood up from their resting slouches.  Steps Redbrand insisted they should get out of here they ain’t welcome here.  Ramond said he only wanted a beer.  Three sets of hands started to rest on hilts, and steps Redbrand pushed Ramond in the chest, moving him down off his step.  Everyone drew weapons at this point.

Steps Redbrand stepped down to fill the gap Ramond had just vacated and as he did Ramond drew his weapon from its scabbard and straight up across his face.  His enemy was barely able to swing his weapon before Ramond shoulted out, “Surrender!” as his greatsword came down hard on his enemies shoulder, its weight drawing it down in to his chest, requiring a solid tug to remove it from his corpse.  Araloth came from around the corner and tried to vault on to the porch, but misjudged its height, getting up there but not enough to clear the railings.  Finding himself off balance and the primary target of two armed men he dropped back down to the ground and returned to around the corner.

As he dropped, an two arrows came flying from across the street.  One hit the railing right where araloth has been, and the other hit one of the porch redbrands.  One headed down the steps and the other two tried to jump off the porch.  One of them lost his footing and slipped, knocking the wind out of his chest, remaining folded over trying to get his beath back.  Purple fire cam up the street from the west, and hit the side of a redbrand.  Close behind hit came Devere who jumped up on to the side of the porch, said a blessing to Lathander and then laid both his hands on to the back of the prone redbrand.  As Devere closed his eyes, the redbrands skin went pale, and became sunken, he started to inhale and judder, and then his breath stopped and he fell limp, a life less husk.  Everyone froze for two heartbeats and took in what had just happened.  Devere stood there, a look of shock on his face as he stared at his hands.  “I …I’ve never cast that before” was all he could mutter.

The pause ended as Karson came running across the street with his swords ready.  As he swung  at one redbrand, another went for him but was cut short as an arrow tousled Karsons hair and went straight in his attackers eye.  As his face hit the ground the arrow was forced out through the back of his skull.  As karson was running, two more Redbrands exited the tavern and went to street level, ready for a fight.  Araloth came back from around the corner and jumped up on the porch as they were coming down.  With no enemies to hand, he readied himself by the door in case anyone else came out to attack his allies.

Our party made quick work of the remaining redbrands, until they found themselves surrounding just one, who was backed against the tavern, with nowhere to go.  Devere tried to knock him out with the butt of his mace, but must have been pulling his punches, still shocked by what he had done.  The guy dropped his blade, and a little urine escaped down his trouser and he accepted whatever happened next, but death did not come.  As the party demanded answers, he dropped to his knees and was tied up.  He revealed they were based up at the manor on the hill, there were around 20 of them, and they were lead by a wizard names “Glasstaff”, but other than that all they got was pleads for their captives life.

As the questioning started, Araltoh and Devere, already on the porch, went in to the tavern.  The Sleeping Giant was empty, dirty, and in a state of disrepair.  It had clearly seen its share of bar fights.  Araloth headed over to the bar to help himself to a drink, but found a female dwarf hiding behind the bar.  As the spoke, they found out she was the barkeep, and unwilling servant / hostage of the Redbrands. Once she found out they were enemies of the redbrands she offered them free drinks.  Devere offered her 5gp to help undoing the damages caused by the redbrands.

The party gathered outside the inn in the mid afternoon sun and discussed what to do next.  Deciding that if they rested before acting, the redbrands would come for them in their sleep and be better defended by morning, they agree to head up the hill to deal with them today.  Despite being terrified of the repercussions, they manage to persuade the barkeep to escort the prisoner to one of the two jail cells the town has.  before she leads her prisoner off using his own weapon she advises the party that she has head drunken redbreds let slip that their hideout is actually beneath the manor in its cellar.  There should be an entrance in the side of the building near where the kitchen would have been hidden by some bushes.

As she turns to leave, the party heads off to the east, up the hill to Tresendar Manor.

Wary of being watched, the party go on full alert as they ascend the hill towards the ruined manor.  The split in two and encircled the manor, heading towards the back where they had been told the entrance to the cellar will be.  Talindra took a short detour in to the main building to see if another way down would be apparent, with nothing grabbing her attention.

They descended down the stairs and found an unlocked door which opened in to a dark room with more stairs down, and a large cistern and a door on the opposite wall, and another door under the stairs under them which they did not notice at first (Because it was hiding under a character on roll20).  There were some crates and barrels stacked up in the corner of the room, near the opposite door.

The group spread out around the room, with Bilba and Thorovir covering them from the internal stairs.  Araloth investigated the cistern, and noticed a cord running in to the tank on the other side.  He gestured over to Devere who pulled the rope up and found a waterproof leather satchel containing some coins, clothes and two vials of unlabelled liquids.

As Karson prepared to open the door by the Cistern, Talindra stays back and uses an illusion to turn herself in to a barrel.  They kick open the door and surprise 3 resting bandits in a cramped room with double bunkbeds and more barrels and crates.  Karson and Araloth burst in and beat up one of the bandits.  Araloth ends up climbing on some crates to make room for more people to enter the room.  While party overwhelmed the bandits, Bilba noticed the other door and opened it in to a corridor lined with decorative pillars, and rusted copper plate double doors, emblazoned with the image of a mighty oak tree.  Bilba remained in the doorway until the party rejoined her.

While Araloth remained to loot the bodies and search the room, the party moved in to the new corridor and Karson went ahead to check the door, but as he stepped forward the ground gave way beneath his feet.  With quick reflexes he as able to grab a ledge and pull himself up on to the other side.  Seems someone had dug a 20 feet deep pit trap with a narrow ledge down each side.  They spent a while working out who to safely get everyone over the trap and Devere decided to cast Guidance on everyone as they went across the narrow ledges.  One by one, they went over, and most people could not maintain their balance, but always just managed to grab the ledge in time to avoid damage.  When the armoured paladin with minimal dexterity came to cross the ledge (DM: While his player was AFK) they tied a rope around his waste as a back up, and Melandrach held the other end.  Ramond dropped straight in the pit and missed the ledge.  The rope as the only thing that saved him.

(DM Note: This pit trap proved to be a huge obstacle.  Almost everyone failed their check to walk along the narrow ledge even with Guidance but thankfully no one took falling damage.  It was really painful to watch them fail DC10 acrobatics checks)

There was only room for 4 people across the trap, so Ramond, Karson, Melandrach and Araloth opened the doors and entered the next room to allow the others to cross.  They discovered a crypt, with 3 stone sarcophagi and a skeleton slumped lifeless up against each of them.  There were 2 doors at the north end of the room.  As people stared crossing the pit, Ramond detected the room for evil and announced that the 3 bodies are undead.

Melandrach sprang to life and started beating up the nearest skeleton, who did not react, except to crumble apart after a couple of blows.  Ramond engaged the one in the north and Araloth jumped up on a sarcophagus to attack the third.  As he jumped up, the remining two came to life and started attacking the intruders, but they had already taken blows and did not last long.  Araloth and Karson listened at the doors, hearing nothing.  Karson opened the north door and found a short corridor with a locked door at its end.

Araloth stepped out of the way and let Melandrach open his door.  As he stepped in he saw a Redbrand standing to his right.  As he turned to attack him, a second Redbrand brought his sword down hard on his back (DM: Natural 20 on a surprise attack), downing him in a single blow.  As he celebrated his mighty kill, multiple arrows came through the doorway, followed by deadly swords.  Talindra healed Melandrach back up, and the party made short work of the enemy, and found themselves in a jail with 3 prisoners.

The prisoners appeared to be the dead woodworkers (Thel Dendrar) wife and teenage children, dressed in sack cloth.  Clothes from 15-20 people were piled up against a wall.  They are clearly not their first prisoners.  They picked the locks and escorted them back to the pit trap, before realising that if mighty adventurers cant cross it, three exhausted commoners will die.  They figured out how to set up a hand rail using rope and pitons (DM: Finally!), and Talindra escorted them to the exit.  On her way out, Mirna Dendrar thanked her rescuers and wished she could offer them a reward.  She paused for a moment and said that when she was a child she used to live in the town of Thundertree but her family had to flee due to the eruption of Mount Hotenow and the related zombie problem.  They had to flee in a hurry and left behind a jewelled necklace in a box under the counter in the family’s Alchemy and Herbalism shop.  If the heroes are ever in the area they are welcome to take it, if its even still there.

Talindra returned to the party as they were opening the remaining locked door, to find a small storehouse of basic weapons.  Reviewing the map, they realised there were no more doors and there had to be more.  They spread out around the dungeon and started searching for secret doors.  Melandrach found one in the entrance room, by the cistern.  The party gathered up behind the scouts, and Karson opened this new door to reveal a large room with a 20 foot deep chasm running its length.

The party spread out in to the room (DM: A chaotic mess I had difficulty keeping track of.  We are discussing better ways to handle this over Roll20 and voice chat.  I don’t want to have to roll initiative every time they open a door) and as Karson crossed the southern bridge he noticed creature trying to hide behind one of the two main pillars holding up the ceiling.  As Karson approached this creature clung to the pillar and tried to stay out of site, until it realised it had been spotted.

This weird hunched over, almost lizard-like creature had claws on its hands, irregular spikes down its back, no lips but razor sharp teeth, and one huge central eyeball.  No one had any idea what it was.  As the party filled in to the room, Karson could hear its words as a whisper in his mind.  It asked him what he was doing there.  As Karson responded, the others filed over, at first unknowingly surrounding the creature, and asking Karson who he was speaking to, until they got close enough to see the eye monster (EM).  The party (P) joined in the chat, asking questions, all the while the eye monsters was looking around the group.(DM:   I think there as more chat, but I can’t remember it all):

P: Are you with the redbrands

EM: Sometimes

P: What do you want

EM: got any food

P: You won’t like what I have.  All I have is rations.

EM: I like meat.  Got any fresh meat?  Mine’s getting a little old

(He casually gestures over to the rift, where people can make out a humanoid shape in the shadows at the bottom)

Talindra: I cast Eldritch Blast!

The eye monster was not entirely taken by surprise by this, and as it weathered the blast, it furrowed its brow and glared at Talindra, who became visibly weaker and sickened, her skin going pale and clammy (Necromantic damage).  The party then got in battle stances (rolled initiative).

The party had positioned themselves to box the eye monster in, and it was visibly looking around for an exit where it wouldn’t suffer lots of free strikes.  Seeing no other options, it made a bolt past two people, taking hits as it went, and got down in to the chasm, below reach of the party.  It glared at someone before running, hoping to remove them from the fight before they could swing.  Talindra retreated to behind the north pillar, visibly shaken by what had happened.  Melandrach chased after it into the rift, and attacked it as it ran, noticing something shiny in the rubble as he ran.

Araloth moved to cut off its exit to the east, and make an attack, while Bilba and Devere blocked its southern exit.  Bilba tried to engage it in conversation, asking it to surrender, but the monster only replied, “Surrender?  We were having a conversation and you attacked me!”.  Devere just stood there, looking deep in thought, uncertain about what was happening.  Ramond held his action, ready to act only if an ally fell.  Thorovir tried to fire an arrow down to the beast, but it sunk in to the southern bridge, and Karson went off to explore a new corridor to the west.

Finding himself boxed in again, the monster tried unsuccessfully to clear a path behind him by glaring at Melandrach, and took a new round of attacks from Mel and Araloth, while Talindra healed herself up.  Healed, she stepped out from behind the pillar on to the north bridge, ready to fire and the bridge collapsed, dropping her 20 feet on to the floor of the rift.  the creature then glared at Araloth for no effect, and stepped through the gap between him and Melandrach, making a final break for freedom, but they both landed blows, and as he ran out of their reach he slowly lost momentum, and his body fell backwards and slid back down the sloped sides of the chasm.

DM: With adrenaline high, the monsters last heartbeat ended at the feet of his killers and we had to call the end of the session.  The party clearly has mixed feelings about what just happened.  Only half of them attacked it, the others did nothing, walked away, or tried to talk to it.  I hope we can get everyone back in this mindset at the start of next week.

I know I dropped the ball on this encounter.  It’s a really interesting creature and potentially a really cool social encounter, but its a hell of a lot to drop on an inexperienced DM with a party that probably don’t have detailed back stories, and haven’t had time to have done much in game.  He shouldn’t be in a starter set adventure, at least without better guidance, and should probably be scaled for higher levels to give people a chance to have a history.  He’s really cool and a better DM than me could do so much more with him)

They have started asking about future down time, specifically item creation as per Xanathars Guide to Everything.  I think I’m OK with that, but it lacks actual recipes.  I don’t want to be overly harsh or generous, so I’d love to see any links people have to what people have used in the past.  You’d think they’d at least make a suggestion for basic +1 weapons or armour.  I think I only really have to worry about basic potions and perhaps scrolls at most for a while anyway.

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Gerry / OTT: Any chance we could get the option for spoiler text that stays hidden unless someone clicks on it?  This could be useful in all chat areas, not just projects.  I’d like to reveal what the monster is and have a better conversation about it, but I don’t want anything my players can casually see, just in case they see this.

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I’m having a hard time remembering the dialogue after the fact.  Anyone got any advice on recording the audio for personal use only?  We chat through Discord and my computer is old (8ish years?), but doing well, and running Windows 7.  Drive space might be an issue, so raw audio of 4 hour long files might be a problem.  This won’t b a podcast, I just want to refresh my memory on some points for this project.  Maybe an option to stop an start recording as we hit chat sections, that doesn’t require me to set up new files as we go.  Convenience and speed are key.

With the eye creature dead and the party scattered around the chasm chamber, they wasted little time debating the rights and wrongs of their actions.  There was some upset, but Talindra defended herself, insisting that it was eating people and it was therefore a threat.  People said they had no reason to think it was killing them, but Talindra countered by pointing out that they had no reason to think it wasn’t killing people.  She was also of the opinion that the Redbrands were feeding the townsfolk to it.  Talindra insisted they didn’t stop to argue as they are deep in enemy territoy and should keep moving, and try not to draw attention to themselves.  The group spread out to explore.

Melandrach had noticed a glint of metal in the rubble in the rift and found a small box, containing a fine short bow, 2 potions, a scroll and some coin.  Araloth investigated the corpse and the rift.  He can’t be sure, but he thinks the corpse might be the woodworker who was murdered a week a ago, although the body looks like a  much fresher kill.  He suspects the unnatural cold experienced in the chasm may be preserving the body.

Devere took 10 minutes to ritually cast Detect Magic and the rift glowed with a faint aura of Necromancy.  Melandrach waved his new bow in front of him and that also glowed.  Talindra and Thorovir covered the northern end of the camber, without exploring much futher, and Karson listened at the southern door of the two he had recently discovered.  He could hear some gruff voices speaking in Goblin, saying things like, “Bark like a dog.  Hur Hur Hur.  Now lick the floor you stupid gobo. Ha Ha”.  The party decided it best to open this door next.

They lined up down the corridor outside, and Devere quietly opened the door to see three Bugbears with their backs to the door.  They semed to be picking on a goblin, who was currently preoccupied doing something on the floor. Cathing them by surprise, they charged in and attacked the unprepared Hoibgoblins.  Karson went for the furthest, swung both his blades and missed, but caught the eyes of the goblin who was picking himself up.  Their eyes met and the goblin let out a surprised yelp, and feinted.  Everyone else focused fire on the nearest Bugbear and wore him down, but not before he landed a mighty blow on Melandrach, knocking him out and almost killing him outright (DM: 1 more damage and he’d have been rolling a new character.  Oops!).  Devere stabilised Melandrach while the others wore down the remaining Bugbears, who chipped away more at their health pool.  With the Bugbears dead, Talindra stepped in and healed Melandrach.

Standing over three dead bugbears and an unconsious goblin, the party decided now was the time to figure out what their potions did and spent the next few minute going through their stuff and tasting strange liquids they had found lying around.  They were now in possession of 4 healing potions and a potion of invisibility.  They handed round the heal pots as the goblin came to.

As the goblin opened his eyes and looked around him, and up at the Paladin stood directly over him, he screached loudly and pushed himself back away from the others and up against a corner made by the wall and the foot of a bed.  “Please don’t kill Droop.  Droop a good goblin.  Droop friendly”, he said in room barely big enough to hold 4 people and currently stuffed with 1 goblin and 7 bloody adventurers.  The party asked him some questions and Droop did his best to answer, but he repeatedly mentioned his memory isn’t too good anymore as he’s been hit in the head too many times by mean bugbears.  They found out that king Groll of Cragmaw Castle recently sent Mosk at the other two Bugbears here to help Glasstaff, and Mosk dragged Droop along for entertainment.  They’ve not been here long so Droop doesn’t know much and he cannot remember the way back to the castle.  Its somewhere north of here?  he has seen Glasstaff and thinks he’s usually found in a room north of this one.  The part offered to set him free if he promised to vanish and forget he ever saw them.  He was supremely grateful, and Ramond and Devere escorted him out through the way they had entered.

While the chat was going on, Karson looted the bodies and found one of the bugbears was wearing a jeweled eyepatch, which he took.  He also found a few silver and an Iron key. Araloth listened at the door to the immediate north and could hear the sounds of people chatting, gambling, and dice rolling, with the occasional cheer and groan.  He covered this door, listening out for signs they had been detected.  Talindra went back to exploring the north end of the chasm room with Thorovir covering him.  The far room contained some unused barrels and crates, like this was a packing and shipping warehouse, along with 30 beaver pelts, which she asked Thorovir to carry.  She also detected a secret door in the west wall.  The two also discovered a set of stairs leading down from the chasm chamber.

The party gathered and discussed where to head next.  Given the choice between a secret door, a normal door, or a flight of stairs the lure of a secret door wins 9 times out of 10.  The party argued they might be expected through any other entrance, but they should have the elemnt of surprise through a secret door.

Araloth remained listening to the gamblers and Thorovir covered the unexplored stairway while the party lined up behind Karson at the secret door.  They discussed the plan of action and agreed that if they see anyone they charge in and take them by surprise.  Karson listend and heard nothing and then popped the door open on to a stairway leading down to a dead end.  A quick check revealed another secret door, made obvious by the stairs pointing towards it.  Hearing nothing on the other side, Karson opened this door and saw two people.  A bearded human in robes sat at a desk  with a glass staff leaning against his chair, and another redbrand in finer armour stood at his side.  They looked up as the door opened and looked taken aback, but as Karson alerted the group and everyone madr to charge in, the two prepared for combat.

Melandrach downed a healing potion as he ran in and tried to grab the staff before his enemy could, but wasn’t fast enough, so he redirected his energy in to an attack.  He swung his staff and just as it made contact there was a flash of energy and a forcefield errupted deflecting the blow.  His opponent then countered by summoning three magic missles and blasting them in to him, which would have taken melandrach down for a third time, had he not drank the potion.  The wizard then backed up towards the far door.

Bilba crept in to the room and positioned herself so melandrach was between her and the wizard and tried to hide from him.  She got lucky as the sheets on the bed were a perfect match for her outfit which helped conceal her from him.  Hearing the shouts Thorovir decided to join the group and moved up, having explored down the stairs already and revealed a dead end with two doors.

Ramond made it down the secret stairs and surveyed the room.  He shouted out “Kill the mage first!”, raised his greatsword and charged at him, bringing it down in his enemy with another flash of a forcefield, catching the blow.  Ramond was too strong though and the blade went through the shield spell.  As the shield gave, Ramond put all his holy energy in to the attack and drove the blade in to his enemies shoulder, through his torso and almost out between his legs.  Had the blade supporting him not been caught in the door behind him, he would have collapsed in one strike.

As half the mage started to peel away like a banana skin, Talindra entered the room and Blasted the Rebrand.  Karson moved to the far side of him and swung his blade, drawing blood.  Devere ran in and jumped up on the desk for a flanking position and golf swung his mace, ringing the bell of the now surrounded enemy.  The redbrand swung twice at Karson, injuring him, before Melandrach jabbed him in the gut whith his staff.  As he followed this up with a kick to his knees his enemy went limp and lifeless and fell forward, landing on his feet.

The party searched the room and looted the bodies.  Talindra took the glass staff.  Karson noticed the Redbrands shortsword was particularly fancy, with its hawk styled hilt design and took it for himself.  The chest by the deck contained some coins and gems, and scrolls of fireball and charm person, and a spellbook.  In the desk they found a letter from someone called “The Black Spider”.

With the looting completed and the letter read, Ramond pulled out a hand axe and moved over to Glasstaffs corpse.  He picked it up by the hair and started hacking at the neck, but could not brace it for a good cut.  It took many wet bloody swings to sever the head, by which time a good amount of splatter had coated everyone in the room.

(DM: It was getting late and one of our players needed to go as he had an early start.  he was persuaded to stay for another half hour so we could finish off this dungeon so from here things might be a little more rushed than they otherwise would have been)

As the party debated who was going to listen at the next door, Devere stated that if anyone was in there Glasstaff would have called them for help when he got to the door, and just opened it and walked in without stopping to assess the danger.  The room appeared to be an alchemy lab, festooned with books and papers, vials, flasks and jars, and a smoking bubbling apparatus on a table in the middle of the room.  Nothing of immediate interest to anyone so they headed out of the opposite door without looking around, and Karson listened at the last remaining door, hearing nothing but the sounds of the people behind him, and the drip drip drip from the severed head Ramond was carying.

Karson pushed open the door on to a room with four Redbrands gambling at a table.  Ramond stepped straight past him and threw the head on to the pile of money in the middle of the table and bellowed, “We have killed your master.  Surrender now, or we will do the same to you.”  Hearing Ramonds voice, Araloth opened the door from the other side in time to see them look at each other in drunken panic, and rapidly sober up.  Three of them dropped their weapons and drop to their knees.  The fourth, still drunk enough to be stupid, tried to sweep up his winnings before fully absorbing the situation and following suit.  The redbrands were tied up and their money was taken.  Looking around the room they have found several barrels of beer, some of which have been tapped.  Believeing the dungen clear, the party took a minute to get their breath back and are talking about taking the beer back to town for everyone to celebrate.  Devere suggested giving it to the Sleeping Giant Tap House to help recoup her losses.

DM: We called the sesion here.  As they would level up to third when they get back to town and “hand in” this quest I asked them to take care of this between sessions.

With the last of the Redbrands now captured, the party took the time to revisit the alchemical workshop they had rushed through.  They found many books on the shelves, instructing on learning herbalism and alchemy, and on deeper principles and learning that would aid someone in researching new recipes.  They also found a handwritten journal in dwarven from an adventurer called Urmon.  Skipping to the last few pages, it appears he was in the Phandelver mine while it was active, around 500 years ago.  In the last few pages he mentions a commission from the priests of Lathander.  They had asked the wizards of the mine to craft a magical mace they were calling Lightbringer, but no further information was recorded.  Maledrach has taken this journal and is reading it in the evenings, as he was the only one to speak up and say he can read dwarven.

Searching the workbench revealed bubbling apparatus, and some hand written notes.  It appears Glasstaff was working on two creations.  He had tried and failed three times to make Invisibility potions.  He had also done some research on the chasm and found its magical cold staved off decay.  He had drawn up plans for a metal lined box that he would place a stone from the rift in, believing that it could be used to store organic alchemical components and extend their lifespan, although no such box could be seen so we do not know if it would work.

With the sun sitting low in the sky, the party took their prisoners out of the cellar the way they had entered and escorted them through town to the Townmasters hall, believing there to be a small jail there.  When they entered the building they were confronted by Sildhar, wearing ill-fitting rural attire he had gotten from somewhere, and a nervous looking portly older gentleman, presumably the Townmaster judging by his clothing and location (DM: although no one bothered to ask or even get his name).

A conversation ensued in which Sildhar asked how it had gone.  The party, still covered in blood from the messy beheading, said it had gone well and the Redbrands wouldn’t be a problem.  The Townmaster asked repeatedly if they were sure, and seemed to relax a little with their reassurance.  Talindra crafted an illusion of the body they had found in the rift and asked if they recognised it.  The Townmaster confirmed it was the body of the murdered woodworker, and needed further reassurance after being told the Redbrands were feeding people to a monster.  After agreeing the four new prisoners could be kept briefly in the two jail cells in town, the Townmaster headed out the door.  Sildhar said he would escort the prisoners to Neverwinter to receive justice in a day or two he asked the party for two favours while he is gone.  Could they continue to look for Cragmaw Castle and recover Gundren.  He also asked them to look for someone.

He explained that he is a member of the Lords Alliance and that they had sent an agent here a few months ago to set up a local constabulary, but he had not checked in.  From what Sildhar could tell, no one in town could recall anyone matching his description.  He said his name was Iarno Albrek and gave a description that matched that of Glasstaff.  Talindra called up a fresh illusion and confirmed that Iarno was Glasstaff and had gone rogue.  Sildhar did not recognise the name The Black Spider.  With a little prompting from Talindra, Sildhar offered them a 200gp reward for dealing with the Redbrands, and paid them the promised 50Gp for escorting him safely to town.  The nine of them escorted the prisoners to the now very cramped cells and locked them up for the night.

With nothing more pressing, and the sun slowly setting, the party returned to the manor and recovered all the barrels of ale and took them to the Sleeping Giant Tap Room.  Grista was very happy to see what she believed to be her stolen wares returned to her, and even happier to see that they had removed the Redbrand problem and offered drinks on the house.  She poured everyone a round, and once they sat down she set about trying to clean and tidy the place, ready for some actual paying customers at last.  In the privacy of this otherwise empty establishment, they sorted through their loot and Araloth, their only skilled jeweller appraised their gems and jewels ready for trading the next day.  After they did this and discussed plans for the next day, Ramond headed back to the Stonehill Inn while they enjoyed another drink or two.

When he entered the bar everyone turned towards him and then raised their drinks with a loud cheer.  Ramond, clearly enjoying the attention, swaggered over to the bar and announced loudly that he and his friends will need some baths drawing up as they appear to have “gotten themselves a little messy”.  As the Innkeepers wife, Trilena, sets about filling their single bath with piping hot water, Ramond turned to the room and asked who would like to hear a story?  A few shouts from the crow encouraged him to continue and he told an epic tale of their encounter under the Manor (DM: Nat 20 performance check!), leaving out the unpleasantness with the eye creature, and stressing his own personal heroism in putting down Glasstaff, showing off his still bloody blade to the room as he did so.  While the whole crowd loved this, he drew the particular attention of the Barkeepers son, Pip.  Pip spent the rest of the evening taking every opportunity to ask him questions like, “Were you scared?”, “How did you learn to fight?”, “Where did you get your sword?”.  Toblen announced that Ramond and the party’s rooms, bath and drinks were on the house.  Ramond enjoyed the attention, until his bath was ready for him.

Araloth returned to the Alderleaf farm and checked in on Qelline to ensure she was OK.  Having heard what had happened she gave him a big hug when she saw he was OK and said she’d cook him a big breakfast when he gets up in the morning. Heading out to his hayloft bed, he found a large slice of fresh fruit pie waiting for him under a cloth.  The rest of the party drifted back to the Stonehill Inn and enjoyed their baths one by one and had a good night’s rest.

The next day the party gathered for breakfast in the Inn and discussed their shopping plans.  Araloth had eaten a fresh home cooked farm breakfast before heading over, and was prepared a nice packed lunch too.  They had a nice selection of gems and jewels and tried to trade them for equipment, but the local shopkeepers said there isn’t much call for gems in such a small town, but the miners exchange should be able to sell them along as buying and selling ores and gems is what they do.  They bought what equipment they could and headed over to the Miners Exchange.

While the party traded in their Gems to the lady behind the counter Araloth’s eye was caught by a rare bottle behind the counter: A half empty bottle of Drow alcohol.  He tried to ask her how she got it, asking if she was friends with any Drow.  She casually dismissed his query, insisting a merchant threw it in as part of a trade to sweeten the deal.  Araloth doesn’t think that’s the whole truth, but has let the matter drop for now.  With the Gems cashed in, they bought the rest of their supplies and picked up a horse and cart too.  Bilba and Karson then went out to investigate the Miners Trail, looking for evidence of green skins, while Talindra has headed back to the inn to start scribing spells in to her new spellbook.  Everyone else headed over to the Edermath Orchard.

The party had heard that Daran Edermath used to be an adventurer and they wanted to ask him if he knew of anywhere that could be Cragmaw Castle.  Unfortunately his adventuring days were in the Dragon Coast and he doesn’t know this area all that well.  He did suggest the closest to a keep would be the ruined tower at Old Owl Well.  He’s heard a rumour from a miner that some undead had been seen out there and asked if the party might investigate, saying he’d be out there like a shot but his adventuring days are behind him.  The party agreed and Devere was able use their new found fame and glory to talk him out of not only a bag of apples, but a small barrel of his own personal supply of home-made scrumpy.

The party gathered back at the Inn and discussed what to do next.  Studying the map the think there might be a valley between the hills around the Old Owl Well and Wyvern Tor.  They pack up their stuff and headed out down the Triboar Trail and have taken their wagon along this valley.  A couple of days later they find themselves close to Old Owl Well.  Half the party have gone to scout ahead, while the rest hold back and keep an eye on the wagon.

DM: It was here we ended the session.  Next week we have some actual content!

DM: Not much to say this week, I’m afraid.  They had one big slow fight which wasn’t particularly interesting to watch, but was hopefully more tense for the people having their faces chewed off by zombies who didn’t always die when they hit 0hp.

They parked the Wagon at the foot of the hill and Melandrach stayed behind to guard it (DM: The player couldn’t make it).  Talindra’s new owl Familiar went ahead and did a flyby of the ruins and reported bask, seeing just a ruined tower and a red tent in a ruined courtyard, nothing else.  Karson and Bilba scouted round the southern edge of the ruins while Talindra and Araloth approached the north-east corner while the others stayed further back.  As the approached they noticed a growing smell of death coming from the area.  The Owl flew over the tower but enough of the floors remained to block any view down to ground level.  The owl then flew back and forth past the door, trying to peek in to the darkness inside.  It was too dark to see anything, but shortly afterwards zombies started to spill out of the tower!

(DM: I’ve been having issues interpreting Dark Vision.  I keep assuming that if you’re in a well-lit area looking in to a dark area then your dark vision is not active, much like my “night vision” stops working when I walk out of a dark room and look back in to it from a well lit room.  My players keep reminding me this is not the case and I’ve never been quite sure.  The wording is not clear on this.  However I saw a discussion earlier saying previous editions had dark vision and low light vision.  Low light worked like my vision and dark vision did not so absence of wording suggests absence of that rule?  Anyway, I probably pooched the rules for it during this and previous encounter, preventing them from seeing in to dark areas they probably could have)

Seeing assailants coming from two directions, the zombies spread out randomly and headed towards the two groups.  Araloth got in to position and readied for a counterattack while Talindra, Bilba and Karson attacked at range as the zombies ran towards them for a couple of rounds.  Ramond, Thorovir and Devere ran up the hill.  Ramond ran to intercept the Zombies heading towards Araloth and Talindra and Devere moved ready to assist with the other group.  Thorovir stayed back and fired an arrow in to an unlucky zombie.  Ramond pocketed his bow, drew his blades and charged forward to meet the oncoming threat, trying to keep them off the archer behind him.  The zombies met him in combat, surrounding him, while the northern group rolled mostly 17s against Ramond, making things look quite desperate.  Then, a pale looking man in red robes and a tattoo on his head emerged from the tent, looked around and demanded, “What is the meaning of this?”

Devere Moved forward and summoned a spiritual weapon to aid Karson, who was now facing 6 zombies.  For whatever reason he summoned a flair whose heads were in the shape of grumpy looking cat heads (DM: I’m gonna need artwork for this roll20!  Help?) and swung it at the nearest zombie.  Ramond then threateningly shouted out, “We have been attacked by these creatures.  If you are responsible we are ready to be tested against you!” and attacked the zombies, then cast Shield of Faith on himself, which did not last the round, but Devere replaced it for him on his next action.  Thorvir stepped up and fired his bow at the necromancer and then backed down, trying to use the hill and the well to break line of sight for any retaliation.  The shot was deflected at the last second by a shield spell, frustrating the party.  The wizard in red advanced and fired a Lightning bolt at him anyway, lightly charring him.  Ramond shouted out, “Get the necromancer first!”

The party whittled away at the Zombies slowly, while Bilba and Thorovir kept taking pot shots from cover.  With Thorovir too far down the hill for line of sight, the wizard in red lightning bolted the only target he could get that wouldn’t also fry a zombie: Araloth. Seeing that the Shield spell had a verbal component, Devere centred a Silence spell on him, which shut down all his spell casting abilities.  Bilba snuck around the back of the tent and put an arrow in to his back.  He tried to cast shield, but no words came out.  Devere then moved up to engage him in melee, preventing him from leaving the spell and casting a spell this turn.  An Eldritch blast landed on him, weakening him further.

As the zombies number slowly dwindled, the mage disengaged from Karson and moved as far away from everyone as he could (and outside of the silence spell), before casting Misty Step and appearing a further 30 feet away.  Bilba had a clear shot from her hiding place, and put an arrow straight through his eye before he could move any further, before ducking in to the tent to hide.  The inside of the tent was surprisingly lush, decorated with fine ornate heavy wooden furniture, and a nice thick rug on the floor.

The zombies attacked again and Karson went down, but the heroes soon finished of the last of them.  Devere and Talindra went over to heal Karson while Thorovir went to loot the corpse.  Araloth stuck his head in the tower to ensure there was nothing of interest there and then went to inspect the corpse too.  Talindra spent a little longer inside the tower and concluded it was much older than the other ruins in the area, and that it looked like digging had been occurring here, but without tool.  There were hand marks clawing through the ground.  Thorovir took a ring, staff and red robes off the corpse and headed back to the group.  Bilba explored the tent and found some money, clothes, a potion and scroll inside a chest, and got herself a nice cup of spiced tea from an urn she saw.

Talindra had everyone gather everything inside the tent and cast detect magic and identify, to reveal that the ring and the tent were magical.  Ramond took the Ring of Protection, and a Travelling Tent (sets up and packs itself up, furniture and all with a simple action) was added to the party supplies. (DM: I await the arguments tonight when they have to decide who sleeps in a regular tent on the floor, and who gets the comfy mattress).

After a short rest, and eating many Goodberries they had a chat about where to head next.  Araloth mentioned he’d heard about ships going missing near the lighthouse and said they should probably investigate, but the group decided Wyvern Tor should be their next destination.They returned down the hill to find Melandrach holding off a group of wolves who were surrounding the wagon.

It was here we had to call the session, unfortunately.