Aneeria

We leave Phandelin in the morning to head toward Thundertree, which we know was once a prosperous community until Mt. Hooknal erupted and destroyed the area thirty years ago. Over the course of two days travel the group manages to do a bit of hunting, but not much else.

After two days we come upon a trail heading east into the ruins of Thundretree. A tower on a hill overlooks the village and the majority of the buildings are heavily dilapidated. A sign nailed to a tree reads “Danger: Plant Monsters and Zombies. Turn back now”. Liarel remembers Mirna telling her about an emerald necklace which may still be in her family’s old herb shop in Thundertree.

We cautiously approach a building toward the front of the ruins which appears to be in better shape than the rest. The door is reinforced with iron bands and the shutters are closed. Liarel opens the door and a man calls out. She responds in Druidic, asking if he is Rydoth. He confirms that he is and tells us to come in. Before giving us directions to Kragmaw Castle, Rydoth tells us that a young green dragon has taken up residence in the tower. We decide to deal with that matter another time, opting instead to head directly for Kragmaw in order to save Gundren.

We travel for a day until we come to a rocky outcrop and decide to rest for the night. Part way through her watch Never hears a voice in the distance. She wakes Mella, Liarel, and Droop just in case. Droop says the voices belong to bugbears and we come to the conclusion that they are patrolling the area as they never fully approach us.

The next morning we take a trail up to a crumbling castle consisting of seven towers arranged in a circle and joining together in the middle. We circle the castle and make note of the front entrance, a side entrance, and what appears to be a secret entrance. After much discussion the group decides to send Never to try and scare the inhabitants of the castle outside using Thaumaturgy. Unfortunately, she is quickly spotted and shot in the foot. She tries to recover the situation by making friendly conversation, but is ultimately forced to retreat. We decide to wait until dark before trying again, but hear a gruff voice coming from one of the towers a few hours into our wait and decide to send Mella (disguised as a rat) to investigate.

Mella scurries closer to the tower and overhears two voices negotiating for someone, presumably Gundren. A gruff voice says, “The agreement was for the dwarf. If you want the map you must pay.” The voices continue to argue for a short while before the gruff voice says, “Very well, question him”. Mella decides to climb up into the arrow slit to see inside the tower and finally manages it after some difficulty.

Looking inside the tower, Mella sees Gundren looking badly beaten. He is being prodded awake by a Drow woman. There is a Bugbear sitting in the corner with a wolf. When Gundren wakes the Drow asks him repeatedly who else has seen his map. He insists that no one has and she crosses the room to burn the map before turning back to approach Gundren, rapier drawn.

At this point Mella decides to intervene. He scurries into the room and quickly shifts into panther form, shocking everyone in the room. He lunges for the Drow’s throat, knocking her prone and biting her twice before shifting his stance to protect Gundren. The Bugbear (Grol) and the wolf both attack Mella, causing him to revert to elf form as the wolf drags him to the ground.

Outside, the remainder of the group realizes that it is time to act and Liarel casts Darkness into the room as we all run toward the presumed secret entrance of the castle.

In the darkness, Mella hears the Drow move and the sound of a door opening. He casts Thunderwave, hearing that he has knocked the wolf back, before grabbing Gundren and beginning the move along the wall.

The group comes through the secret entrance into a provisions room. Danak opens the door to the east, revealing the Drow bandaging herself up, Grol, and a cloud of darkness emanating from the corner. Two armored goblins come in through the door behind us. Danak rushes at Grol as one of the armored goblins turns and leaves, presumably to get reinforcements, as the other stays and attacks Danak.

In the darkness, Mella hears the commotion outside as he continues to make his way to the door. He calls out in Druidic that he has Gundren. In the next room over, Liarel cures Danak’s wounds and Never tries to cast Suggestion on Grol, telling him that he is our ally and there is no need to fight us. The armored goblin makes another attack on Danak, who defends, before Grol calls him and the wolf off.

Mella tries to have Grol attack the Drow, saying she is our enemy, but he does nothing. The Drow lunges, stabbing Gundren, who falls, before running off. Never stabilizes Gundren and Danak moves to pick him up, but Grol says to leave him, that Gundren is his. Realizing that Grol took “ally” to mean “our leader”, Elada charges at him with her sword, slashing him in the hip and breaking the Suggestion as five more armored goblins burst into the provisions room.

Mella hurls fire at one of the goblins and picks up Gundren as Elada and Grol exchange blows. In the provisions room, Liarel casts Thunderwave and knocks back three of the new goblins. Danak swings at Grol with his great axe, but misses and hits Mella instead. Danak, Never, and Elada Docus their efforts on Grol while Liarel continues to take on the five goblins in the next room over. Mella cures Danak’s wounds and Droop faints.

Mella gives the now-conscious Gundren his long sword just before the wolf lunges at the elf, knocking him to the ground. Liarel sends out another Thunderwave, knocking out three of the goblins and leaving the other two looking worn down. She notices a dwarf who looks remarkably similar to Gundren sneak out behind the goblins with a sword. He motions for her to be quiet.

In the other room the battle of three-against-Grol continues and Mella Thunderwaves the wolf back into the darkness. One of the goblins hits Liarel, who falls, and the darkness disappears. Meanwhile, another figure which looks remarkably like Liarel (henceforth “Lie-arel”) comes up behind Elada and stabs her. Never notices that something seems off with Lie-arel and attacks her with witch bolt whil Elada finally finishes Grol.

Lie-arel continues to hack at Elada, who falls unconscious, then shifts her attention to Danak. Danak and Never Fight off Lie-arel as Mella heals Elada. Danak strikes Lie-arel and she collapses, turning into an odd humanoid creature. We fight off the remaining Goblins, most of whom run away, and leave out the secret entrance. We hear voices approaching and Droop says there are “nine”. We run for the forest and see several goblins chase after us, but they do not leave the castle.

We quickly feed Gundren and make our way around Kragmaw Castle to have a better view of the exits, in hopes of catching the Drow as she runs away. After an hour we still haven’t seen anyone leave and Mella casts a location spell on the Drow’s sword, discovering that it (and hopefully, by extension, the Drow) is still in the castle. We ask Droop how many goblins are left and after thinking for a moment he says “nine”. We begin to expect that he thinks any number higher than four is “nine”.

Mella and Liarel try to sneak back into the castle through the secret entrance disguised as rats, but are chased off by two goblin guards, one of whom wears a belt made of rat tails and goes by “Rat Slayer”. After a brief scuffle they return to the forest. Danak and Never go off to join them, leaving Elada and Droop to guard Gundren.

Mella, Liarel, Danak, and Never decide to try once more, this time going through the front entrance. We loop around to the front and Liarel casts a fog cloud onto the front facing arrow slits. We rush through the front entrance until we come upon a door. Danak moves to listen at it, triggering a trap which brings stones and beams down upon us.

After a brief discussion as to whether or not this plan continues to be “worth it” we decide to press forward through the now un-trapped door. It opens into what appears to be a shrine to Lythander’s pantheon. Inside are three small goblins, one of which wears a red cloak, and a large, worm-like creature. Mella wants to clear the room and study it, as it was the subject of some of his deceased master’s studies, but he doesn’t quite know what he’s looking for. Against our better judgement we stay and fight.

There is a round of everyone missing before Danak manages to get stabbed multiple times. Mella tries to talk to the goblin priestess about the god Ohgma, but she appears to be a priestess of Magmulyet and otherwise completely uninterested in conversation. Mella lays down a small offering to Ohgma before joining the fight.

There is a brief scuffle during which one goblin is set alight, Danak Splits the Priestess’ head down the middle, and Mella turns into a panther for the second time today, then the door at the opposite end of the room swings open revealing Grol and two armored goblins. Liarel transforms into a wolf and Danak and Grol begin attacking each other, both missing several times. Never takes out the last small goblin with her mace as Grol finally lands a hit on Danak, who collapses. Never stabilizes Danak as Mella and Liarel fend off the goblins. Liarel kills one of the armored goblins and Grol and the remaining goblin retreat, calling out as they do.

More goblins appear and there is another scuffle before the group manages to get the shrine free of goblins and shut both doors. Liarel loses concentration on the fog cloud, causing it to dissipate. Elada notices this and she, Droop, and Gundren begin to run for the front of the castle. Inside, Liarel heals Danak and Mella searches the shrine. Looking behind one of the curtains, Mella finds an altar covered with a bloodstained black cloth and some ritual tools. Still a panther, Mella grabs a knife with his mouth and ransacks the altar.

We make our way out of the shrine, through the altar room, into a storeroom. We hear several goblins in the next room, which we assume to be the landing from which we entered the shrine initially and so plan to have Mella thunderwave them aside so we can make our escape. Unfortunately, when we open the crack open the door to look out Mella is struck with two arrows and falls unconscious. We close the door and stabilize him while we try to come up with a new plan.

Elada and Gundren rush up through the front entrance and kill a goblin each. Droop stabs another and hides. There is another round of attacks and Gundren falls. The group in the storeroom hear the commotion and decide that this is their chance. Never and Danak rush out to attack while Liarel carries Mella and books it. Danak picks up Gundren and Never stabilizes him. We run out of the castle, a small horde of goblins chasing us. Liarel falls and Never carries her out as Elada picks up Mella before she, too, is hit and falls. Danak gets Gundren into the forest before rushing back for Elada and Mella.

In the trees, Danak and Never take the party’s two health potions off of Mella and give them to Elada and Liarel. We make out way back to the rock formation we had camped at the previous night, Gundren and Mella waking on the way. We set up camp for the night.

Our rest is disturbed by an owlbear which appears to be following our scent. All at once Liarel and Mella hurl fire at it, Never hits it with witch bolt and Elada throws a javelin at it. Droop faints. Danak rushes forward and enters into combat with the owlbear, the two exchanging blows until Danak falls. Never continues the witch bolt and the elves keep producing flame, Liarel accidentally setting herself on fire. Gundren slashes at the owlbear wildly and Mella stabilizes Danak. Droop wakes up and leaps at the owlbear, stabbing it with his dagger, killing it. It falls over on top of him.

Mella and Liarel stabilize Elada before they and Never push the owlbear off of Droop. the small goblin looks a little worse for wear but looks up them and says, “Get ’em?” Everyone awake breathes a sigh of relief.

We finish our rest then make our way back to Phandelin, where Gundren pays everyone but Droop twenty-five gold (Liarel takes note of this injustice and gives Droop five of her gold pieces) and promises the group ten percent of the mine.

As we enter Phandelin, Gundren gives us detail directions of Wave Echo Cave. We begin to approach the town master’s hall to reunite Gundren with Sildar, who we meet exiting the building. Sildar is quite relieved to see Gundren safe and they begin to talk as we make our way to the Stone Hill Inn.

Asking around, there’s been no sign of the Redbrands and news has circulated that Mirna and her family are back home safe, which is raising the town’s spirits. Gundren buys a round of drinks and tells us he’s concerned about his brothers. Since they have yet to be seen in town, they are almost certainly at the Wave Echo Cave, where we suspect the Black Spider has a presence. We rest the night at the inn.

The next morning we decide to head off toward the Old Owlwell. On our way we quickly come upon some large rocks, spotting movement behind them. We split into two groups to try and surround whoever lies in wait. Shortly thereafter, a large humanoid figure peers out over the rocks with a javelin. Never tries talking to him, but he largely ignores her greeting and immediately demands that we give him “everything”. Never offers him her excess herbs, but he says he wants gold instead. Liarel gives him five gold pieces, pretending it’s all we have. He takes it and moves on to demanding food. Never again offers the herbs and Liarel eats a handful to prove that they are indeed edible. The giant calls Liarel stupid for eating “weeds” and says he’d rather eat elf, demanding that Liarel step forward.

At this point we realize that we cannot talk our way out of this situation and move to attack. Elada and Danak rush at the giant as Liarel casts Melf’s Acid Arrow, Mella transforms into a panther, and Droop throws his stick. After a brief fight, Droop land the killing blow and we dub him Droop the Giant Slayer. Mella and Liarel stabilize the giant and Liarel takes the time to use the giant’s javelin to write “The elf left you alive” in the ground while Elada steals the giant’s furs.

We make our way to a river to clean the furs and rest, then travel for the rest of the day and set up camp. Near morning we hear the sound of rustling leather approaching. We spot a handful of small flying creatures coming toward us. Liarel shoots one before Mella Thunderwaves them all out of the sky. Droop eats one and Mella buries the rest. Fifteen minutes later we hear a squawk followed by the sound of arrows. Liarel is hit thrice and Never once. We are surrounded by a small group of goblins. We make short work of them and raid the area for arrows before finishing our night’s rest.

The net morning we continue on our way to the Old Owlwell. We eventually come upon the crumbling ruins of an old watchtower, a colorful tent in the courtyard in front of it. A rotting smell is coming from the tower. As we approach, a horde of shambling corpses pours out of the tower. We begin to attack them but are quickly stopped by a man in a red robe with a necromatic symbol tattooed on his forehead stepping out of the tent.

We talk with the Necromancer (Kost) for a bit and learn that he only keeps the zombies about as protection against the Orcs nearby at Wyverntor. He says We are welcome to return to investigate the Owlwell if we take care of the Orcs for him. He then points us in the direction of Wyverntor and we head on our way.

Once at Wyverntor, a rocky high point in the area, we spot a cave entrance. As we approach we notice a guard hiding behind a rock. We stop to plan our approach and decide to send Elada to talk to the guard and set up a meeting. She does, telling the guard about her village of half-orcs which was destroyed by evil humans. The guard says to come back at nightfall. We quickly realize that Elada’s story complicates our association with Danak and so we decide to disguise him as Elada’s slave when we go back that night.

Around dusk Elada, Danak, Droop, and Never approach the cave entrance as Liarel and Mella hide out nearby, keeping watch. The guard calls for “Brogor” and an orc comes forward introducing himself as Brogor Axebiter of the Clan of Many Arrows. He is accompanied by another giant humanoid. We try to convince them to leave and never return by telling them of a mythologized version of Danak who recently came into Phandelin, but they are unperturbed and reveal themselves to be scouts observing the area for an army of thousands. Brogor says he will let us leave for our information and we head out.

When we regroup we acknowledge that we can’t scare them off and begin to plan for a fight.

The large creature and the last Redbrand run off in opposite directions, leaving the group alone in the barracks. Mella heals Elada and Never moves the small goblin to one of the beds, waking him in the process. Danak takes Patches’ eye patch, it is black leather set with semi-precious stones.

Liarel and Never stand watch at the stairs while Elada listens at the door at the end of the hall. She doesn’t hear anything, so she opens the door. The goblin has come to stand by Liarel and Never, holding a plank. The door opens onto a large room with a table and chairs at the center. We enter.

Never talks to the goblin who introduces himself as Droop. Never gives him a dagger to defend himself with. Mella gives Droop two gold coins, which he promptly eats. Droop is very excited to “get ’em” and seems more than willing to join our group.

The next door leads to a hallway, another door straight ahead, and stairs to the side. Mella hears stone scraping stone from the stairs. Danak hears a bubbling sound from behind the door. We carefully open the door onto what looks like an Alchemist’s workshop. We pile into the room and close the door. There is another door to the right which leads to a bed chamber with a writing desk. We thoroughly search the two rooms for Glasstaff’s correspondence and anything else that could be helpful. Never finds some gems and two magic scrolls, Liarel finds a book about invisibility potions and a journal with historical references to the lost mine of Phandelver. On the desk, Danak finds a letter from the Black Spider.

Danak finds a secret door in the wall of the bedroom which leads to stairs climbing to a small landing and another hidden door. This door leads to the supply room just before the cavern. We re-enter the cavern just to verify the layout and Mella enters the crevasse to find the chest from before missing. We make out way to the southeast corner of the cavern and follow a path which leads to yet another hidden door which opens onto the flour-covered store room.

We backtrack through the cavern to the locked door in the hallway before the supply room. We manage to get the door open to find an armory. Mella and Liarel take long swords. Having found no sign of the creature or any remaining Redbrands, Never asks Droop where they might have gone. He says he doesn’t know about the humans, but the bugbears probably went to Kragmaw Castle. We decide to finish our search of the hideout anyway and Droop indicates that there are four rooms we haven’t seen. After a bit of wandering on our own, we ask Droop to show us the four rooms. He takes us to rooms we’ve already seen, but seems very proud of himself.

We make our way back to Glasstaff’s room to finish looting and rest a bit. Once there we notice a rat scurrying about. We think it might be Glasstaff. Liarel turns into a cat and chases it. Droop follows and manages to hit the rat with a stick, at which point it falls and vanishes into nothing. Back in the lab, we read the note from the Black Spider. It is addressed to Irno Albrech (who we recognize as Sildar’s contact in Phandelin) and asks for Dwarven maps.

Mella wants to burn the building down. Danak obviously opposes this. They fight for a bit and Danak manages to swing Mella over his shoulder. Mella realizes that Danak is planning to move in and apologizes.

We head back to town and talk to Droop a bit more. He says he’s originally from Kragmaw Hideout, which we come to realize is the cave we happened upon on the Tribor trail. He says he likes us better and Liarel gives him some silver, which he pockets.

Once at the Miner’s exchange we give Hollia the letter and she pays us. She tells us Irno was a wizard who came to town and then just disappeared, it appears to become Glasstaff. We go to leave, but Hollia asks Mella to stay behind. She asks if they’ve heard of the Zhentirim, an organization similar to the Lord’s Alliance who value wealth, power, etc. They have strict rules, but they could use Mella’s help, if they would like to work with them. Mella says they’re interested and Hollia tells them to check in with her in a week or so and to not say anything about this to the others.

Once Mella rejoins the group we head to Daran’s. On the way we run into Sildar. He doesn’t seem to know that Irno was Glasstaff. He tells us to pop by his office at the townmaster’s later. Once at Daran’s we pass along our new information and get Daran’s opinion on the Lord’s Alliance. He says they’re good folk, just a bit too structured for his liking.

We head to the townmaster’s hall, passing an Orcs Wanted poster. Never tries to block Elada’s view so she won’t see it, but she notices it anyway and pockets it. We settle down with Sildar and share our new findings with him. He pays us for getting rid of the Redbrands and we talk about rescuing Gundren from Kragmaw Castle. Sildar says we also need to figure out the location of Wave Echo Cave, that Gundren had a map on him but it was taken when they were captured.

As we start to leave, Sildar pulls Danak aside and asks him to join the Lord’s Alliance. Danak promises to think about it and come back later with an answer.

Back at the inn Liarel reads the journal she found. It rehashes the history of Phandelin and the Wave Echo Cave. It seems to have been written when the mine was operational. It tells of a mace named Lightbringer, which was ordered by a priest of Lythander but never delivered as the mine was lost.

We plan to head to Thundertree in the morning.

Danak and Never still unconscious, the group delves deeper into the forest. Mirna, Nilsa, and Nars are eager to get back to town, but Liarel convinces them to be patient. Once we’ve settled into a small grove, Mella casts goodberry to wake Danak and Never and heal Liarel and themself. Mirna tells the group that she and her family were taken several days ago and she thinks they were to have been sold into slavery. Danak asks some insensitive questions about Thel. Through his hysterical sobbing Mirna confirms that he was killed in the street.

The group decides to take the family to Daran’s for safe keeping until we’ve dealt with the rest of the Redbrands. We walk around town to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. On the way, Danak talks to Nars about the “adventure” he just had. Nars says he knew several of his captives from around town, that they were ruffians before they organized. Mirna says it seems like Glasstaff stays in the hideout.

Daran comes out to meet the group and ushers everyone inside. As Daran begins to care for the family the rest of us rest and clean up. Liarel keeps watch out the window to make sure the Redbrands don’t sneak up on us. Mella opens the leather bundle to find a cloth wrapped sword. It’s hilt is in the shape of a bird with outstretched wings and it has the word “Talon” written on the sheath. We remember hearing about a knight named Aldith Tresender who died fighting orcs. He was also known as The Black Hawk and we wager that the sword could have been his. Never detects magic and the sword glows purple with transmutation magic.

Liarel notices someone coming and warns the group. Daran says he put up a post in Neverwinter and that the person approaching could be coming in response to that. Daran goes out to meet the approaching half-orc, confirming that she is from Neverwinter looking to take a job. Daran rushes her inside and the group is introduced to Alada. Daran tells her that he was looking to send someone up to the Old Owl well, that that we could use her help in town first. Alada tells us she was a sailor and that her old boss was a real asshole. She’s up to anything as long as she gets paid. Mella gives her the Talon.

After a bit we leave Daran’s. Danak and Alada head to the Lion Shield to sell the extra short swords we picked up in the hideout and Liarel, Mella, and Never head to the general store to sell Liarel’s rubies and stock up on supplies. After running errands the group reconvenes at the Sleeping Giant. Once inside, Alada immediately buys a keg and downs it. Grista tells us that no one else has been by yet and Danak pays her to clean up the blood on the floor.

We make our way back to the Stone Hill Inn where Danak buys two additional rooms so the whole group can rest. As the rest of the group retire to their rooms, Mella decides to hang around the common area to see if they can overhear anything important. Once it gets sufficiently late and everyone else has left, Mella hears a voice in their head, “Where is my sword? You gave it away? you gave away my sword! It’s here in this inn!”

Mella, wanting to avoid getting in trouble with Danak, decides to go upstairs and consult with Never before doing anything. As they make their way to the stairs the voice continues to nag them for the sword, telling them to bring it outside. Mella thinks “Ooh, is the sword your weakness? Can I kill you with it?” and they promptly see a green beam coming through the window toward them. They feel a pull at their lifeforce but resist. They eye at the window disappears as they head up the stairs. The voice gives Mella ten minutes to come out with the sword.

Mella wakes Never up and explains the situation to her. Never tells them to wake the rest of the group but Mella refuses, not wanting to deal with Danak. Mella tries to suggest an alternative, but Never ignores them and leaves the room to knock as loudly as possible on Danak’s door. Liarel overhears and comes out into the hallway as Never says that the Eye Monster is back. The whole group (including a thoroughly sloshed Alada) heads downstairs to fight the Eye.

Alada hears “You have my sword”, thinks it’s just the alcohol. A green beam then comes through the window and attaches to her. She feels freezing cold and slumps down, her skin starting to sag before the beam disappears. Liarel unbars the front door. Anther beam comes through the window, this time attaching to Danak, who weakens. The beam disappears and Danak hurls a dagger at the window the monster appeared in.

Liarel and Never run outside and around opposite corners of the building, neither sees the monster. At the open door, Alada brandishes the sword and slurs something meant to draw the monster out of hiding. Mella follows Liarel and Danak follows Never. Around the back end of the inn Never notices that the door to the stables is open and calls for everyone to come around back before peering in. The horses are noticeably agitated. She spots the monster hiding and misses it with a witch bolt, scaring the horses as a green beam comes toward her. She shakes it off and the monster runs out the stables’ side door onto the street.

Liarel seem the monster run out and misses it with an arrow before confirming its location for the rest of the group. Danak rushes up behind the monster and Alada comes up to its front, raging at it. It lashes out at her with its claws. Mella turns into a panther. Danak strikes the monster with his axe. Never hits the monster with an eldrich blast as Alada, still completely hammered, swings wildly and takes a chunk out of a nearby post. The monster runs past Danak and Mella gives chase.

Danak catches up to the monster and swings his axe down upon its shoulder as Liarel runs around and blocks its path. Alada tries to jump over the panther, but stumbles leaving both herself and Mella prone. Danak slams into it once more and it collapses. Mella makes sure it’s dead and buries it. We make our way back into the inn, re-bar the door, and sleep until noon.

The next day we can’t find Ornella anywhere. Danak offers to pay for everyone’s breakfast and Mella vehemently rejects the offer, saying they don’t want to owe anybody anything. After breakfast we head to the Sleeping Giant to find it closed. We knock, but there is no answer so we decide to make out way to the thicket. We make our way into the cavern where Danak promptly runs right into a guard. Without wasting any time the guard runs down a passage to the left calling out “They’re back!” Danak follows downstairs to a hallway and into the leftmost door. He sees a barracks with the guard, a small, abused-looking goblin, and three large, furry humanoids. The goblin sees Danak and passes out. One of the large creatures has a jeweled eye patch.

The rest of the group catches up as Danak hits Patches with his axe. Alada flies into a rage and slams into Patches as Never hits him with an eldrich blast. Patches barks something in a language we don’t understand. Mella turns into a rat and scurries into the corner of the room. One of the large humanoids bashes Danak on the head with a club. He collapses.

Liarel hears the door at the other end of the hallway open and sees three cloaked figures come out. She shoots one, causing him to stumble back into the others. Liarel casts thunderwave at the Redbrands in the hallway, knocking them back. Never hits one of them with eldrich blast, causing him to fall.

Mella returns to elf form and casts sacred flame on the Redbrand in the barracks. Alada strikes one of the humanoids with her great sword, cutting through his shield and hitting him in the chest, causing him the stumble back dead. The Redbrand grazes Mella with an attack.

In the hallway one of the Redbrands manages to hit himself before the other strikes Liarel with his short sword. Liarel rushes into the barracks to cure Danak’s wounds. Alada slashes at another of the creatures with her broad sword and the Redbrand hits Mella twice with his short sword. The creature swings at Alada, making contact. In the hallway one of the Redbrands slashes at Never.

Danak gets up and hacks at Patches with his axe. The Redbrand stabs Mella, who falls. The two creatures strike at Alada, who barely manages to stay up. Danak swings at Patches, killing him. Liarel produces flame, hitting one of the hallway Redbrands. Never trips trying to avoid Liarel as she swings her mace at the Redbrands. Alada strikes the remaining creature and it promptly slips in a puddle of blood. Danak kills the Redbrand in the barracks as Liarel heals Mella. Never finally bashed one of the hallway Redbrands with her mace, killing him.

The remaining creature runs out of the room, taking off up the stairs, and the remaining Redbrand turns and runs through the door at the end of the hall, closing it behind him.

Back at the inn, Danak rents a room and to leave his things in. Ornella stays behind as Never and Liarel head off to watch the secret passageway to the Redbrands’ hideout while Danak and Mella go to meet Hollia Thorton at the miners’ exchange.

At the miners’ exchange Danak and Mella meet Hollia, who seems largely uninterested in them until Danak boasts that we have already faced off against several Redbrands and (he says) sent them running. She tells them not to bother with the rest of the Redbrands and to instead go directly for Glasstaff, their leader. She believes that without their leader they will cease to be an issue. She also tells them that if they happen to find any correspondence of Glasstaff’s and bring it to her after he’s been dealt with, she’d be willing to pay them 100 gold. She is unable to give them any new information about the Redbrands besides mentioning that they have a goblin minion with them under Transcender Manor’s ruins.

Meanwhile, Liarel and Never make their way to the thicket hiding the secret entrance to the Redbrands’ lair. Once there they settle into hiding spots in the tree line. Never tries desperately not to chat and Liarel tries not to be distracted by bunnies.

Danak and Mella decide to go “sight-seeing” at the Transcender Manor ruins. As they approach they notice several sets of human-sized tracks coming and going from the manor, implying a front entrance to the hideout. Wandering around a bit, they happen upon a set of stairs heading downward to a door. Mella opens the door onto a cellar with a cistern, several barrels, and two doors. Mella and Danak each listen at a door, Mella noticing a slight cough sound behind theirs.

Danak decides that they’ve completed their goal in touring the manor and that it is time to return to the rest of the group so we can proceed together. Mella, however, is insistent that they check out the barrels, believing that the Redbrands are smugglers. Danak says they can check out the barrels later, once the whole group comes back. Mella grows increasingly impatient with being told what to do and pulls a spike from their bag to try prying open a barrel. Danak tries to grapple Mella but Mella (barely) breaks free and busts open the top of the closest barrel with a loud crack. Three Redbrands come out from behind the far door. Danak notices them and tries to pretend to be drunk. Mella remains focused on the apples, thinking perhaps there are gems inside. They take a big bite out of one of the apples. It was real delicious.

Realizing they’ve been seen, the Redbrands attack, first striking Mella who retaliates with their staff, then barely scratching Danak who strikes back with his axe. Mella casts thunderwave, knocking back two of the Redbrands and breaking open several barrels. Rations spill out of the barrels including, incidentally, flour which bursts out into the room, filling the air and covering everything and everyone. The third Redbrand is knocked into the cistern and does not move again.

One of the Redbrands slips on a stray apple, missing Danak, but another rushes up and strikes Danak twice. Danak wildly swings at his assailants as Mella backs up to the cellar entrance. Danak blocks an attack from one Redbrand as another strikes him in the head. Mella rushes outside, not seeing Danak fall. They wait outside for a bit before calling for Danak as loud as they can.

By the thicket, Liarel and Never hear Mella call for Danak and immediately get up and run in the direction of their voice. Mella, meanwhile, runs toward the thicket looking for help. As they all approach each other Mella begins shouting about what happened. Liarel smacks Mella in the face with a cure wounds as aggressively as possible and Mella leads the way back to the cellar.

Back in the cellar the small group notices one Redbrand floating face down in the cistern and drag marks heading through the rightmost door. We open the door onto a hallway and Liarel leads the way inside, being careful to walk as close as possible to the footprints already in the room. Never, oblivious, doesn’t follow the tracks and as she makes her way down the hallway the floor collapses out from under her, landing her in a pit. Never climbs up out of the pit and rejoins Liarel and Mella at the end of the hall.

Opening the door at the end of the hallway we see a room with sarcophagi and three humanoid skeletons clad in rusted chain-mail. Never pokes at the skeletons with mage hand as Liarel begins to walk into the room. They don’t react until Liarel make it to the center of the room, at which point the come to life and attack.

A skeleton grazes Liarel’s arm with an old sword and she strikes back with her staff, bones crumbling away from the attack. Mella smashes another skeleton in the eyesocket and it completely shatters. The remaining skeletons strike at Liarel and Never before Never destroys one with her mace and Mella takes out the other with their staff. Liarel makes a point of shattering the skulls with her staff before we proceed to the next room.

Liarel leads us through the next door, which opens onto a dungeon. To the right are a pair of women in a cell, to the left is a boy in a cell and a slumped figure on the floor. hiding against the wall are two more Redbrands. They attack and two more Redbrands covered in flour come from behind the door.

One of the Redbrands slash at Liarel and Never retaliates with Witch Bolt. Liarel casts entangle, capturing the Redbrands, and ducks at Mella hurls a handful of fire at one of the Redbrands, hitting them squarely in the face, causing them to collapse. Another Redbrand tears at the vines around their feet and stabs Liarel twice. She falls and the vines begin to recede. Never sends out a second wave of Witch Bolt, killing one Redbrand, as Mella strikes the one standing over Liarel with their staff. Liarel wakes and throws fire upward, taking out the Redbrand. Mella hit the remaining Redbrand with their staff and he falls.

Liarel searches the Redbrands’ bodies for keys to the cells but finds none. Never somehow manages to pick the lock on the cell holding the two women with a fork. They cower in fear of her, so she backs away as Liarel enters the cell to try and comfort them. They speak of a big furry monster with large ears. There are Thel’s wife (Mirna) and daughter (Nilsa). The boy is their son and brother (Nars), respectively.

Trying to pick the lock to the other cell, Never breaks her fork and Mella breaks a sword they picked up from the Redbrands. Never tries Eldrich Blast, but this also fails damage the lock enough to destroy it. Mella hears voices coming from outside. We disguise ourselves, the women, the boy, and Danak’s unconscious body in red cloaks and Liarel goes off to investigate the voices. She finds them in the cellar, at least six voices, one of which was scruffy and inhuman. They are arguing about going to investigate the commotion coming from the dungeon. Liarel sneaks back. Mella finally breaks open the lock with a spike and the boy rushes out. We grab Danak as we hear four voices begrudgingly approach and we leave the dungeon, heading further into the hideout.

We enter another hallway. There is a locked door to the right, but a well-traveled patch of ground heading into the left wall reveals a secret door. We open it and head through into a room with barrels and empty crates. Mella starts trying to collect stuff as the rest of us proceed without them, but they manage to catch up as we head through the open wall to the south.

Never leads the way into a cold natural cavern, a rough wooden bridge spanning a crevasse. The smell of decaying flesh fills the air. We begin to head south, but Never is stopped by a voice in her head. “Yes, demon one. What are you doing here? You bring me flesh? Give me the little one…you’re no demon. You’re good. I hates you!” As Never stops we notice a hunched figure with a large green eye across the crevasse. Never mentally asks “is that you?” and the eye vanishes.

Mella then hears a voice in their head, “Why are you here? You came to feed me? Give me flesh.” Mella tries to bargain with the voice, offering it freedom instead. “I’m already free. Free to feast.” Mella tries to negotiate giving up the boy for safe passage fro the cavern, but the voice doesn’t make any such promises. The eye monster appears again, this time green energy emanating from its eye. Mella feels their energy drain, but shakes it off. The green glowing energy disappears.

Mella and Never fill in the group and we all ready our weapons. Liarel looses and arrow and Never strikes the monster with witch bolt. It rushes across the bridge and slashes at Never, who falls unconscious, then it strikes Mella. Mella and Liarel hurl fire at it as it again emits green energy from its eye at the boy Nars but he also seems to resist. As Mella hits it with another burst of flame it runs back across the crevasse and disappears behind a pillar. Mella tries to follow, but the bridge gives way beneath them. They fall into the crevasse and the bridge lands on their head, knocking them out. Liarel hears voices coming from the dungeon and throws flame at the monster again. It runs off.

Mella wakes as Liarel and the women collect Danak and Never and begin to proceed across the crevasse. Mella spots a chest which contains coins, scrolls, potions, and a leather wrapped bundle. They pocket the potions and bundle before catching up with the group. We hear a general commotion coming from the dungeon as we proceed. We continue through the passageway out through the thicket. Liarel leads the group into the forest to hide.