← Previous Session: Session 005: The Battle of Tresendar Manor

1 Tarsakh 1471,  (Day 6)

Evening

Redbrand Hideout

• Vala finishes the invisibility potion Iarno was brewing before The Party killed him
  • 2x Invisibility potions
• ’Rig’ sleeps in the cleanest rooms available (Iarno ’s quarters). Eventually everyone else long rests as well.

2 Tarsakh 1471,  (Day 7)

Dawn

Redbrand Hideout

• Vala tries to give ’Rig’ one of the invisibility potions she brewed, reassuring her that this is not magic, but science
  • ’Rig’ is initially interested, stating that she “fucks with alchemy” but then finds out it’s an invisibility potion and says she doesn’t need it and tosses it back.
  • Vala in turn gives the potion to Orthanc, who is captivated by the way the seemingly invisible liquid shimmers when the vial is disturbed.
• The Party heads back to Phandalin and the Stonehill Inn to find Sildar.
  • Orthanc places a still sleeping Persi in a sleeping bag and straps him around his chest.

Phandalin

• As The Party heads back to town, the townspeople come out of their homes to cheer The Party on, grateful to have the Redbrands gone.
  • The Party appear to be folk heroes to the townspeople

Early Morning

Stonehill Inn Lobby

• The Party enters The Stonehill Inn and is immediately approached by Toblen Stonehill, the innkeeper
  • Toblen cannot believe they rid the town of the Redbrands and that it must have been terrifying to take on so many enemies.
    • Orthanc says “they were tiny” and Toblen responds that anything would be tiny to Orthanc.
  • He says that the entire town is overjoyed that all of the captive citizens were safely returned.
    • Safe lodging has been found for everyone while the town pitches in to rebuild the Sleeping Giant.
  • Toblen offers The Party free room and board anytime they are in town, saying it will be like hosting town heroes and that he’s sure demand for his room and dining will go up with us there.
    • Toblen politely asks for us to tell the story of the Battle of Tresendar Manor
      • ’Rig’ states “they died pretty easy actually”
      • Vala tells her “that’s not a good story!” And promises Toblen she’ll write a song to perform
  • Toblen notices that Persi is strapped to Orthanc and asks what’s happening and offers to help
    • Orthanc explains that Persi is asleep and we cannot wake him
    • ’Rig’ tells Toblen to give Persi a kiss to see if it will wake him as Toblen may be his one true love
      • Toblen says he’ll be saving his kisses for his wife and ’Rig’ supposes that Toblen’s wife could be Persi’s one true love too and should kiss him as well.
      • Toblen says no thank you to all of that and says he will send for Quielline Alderleaf to try her herbalism on Persi.
        • ’Rig’ and Orthanc ask Toblen to have her kiss him just in case.
      • After a moment Orthanc lifts Persi and gives him a little kiss to see if he’s his true love. Persi does not wake.
    • ’Rig’ asks if Persi will just die without food and Toblen says if we’re giving him water he’ll probably last a couple weeks.
    • ’Rig’ writes a note that says “tickling my toe pads does not wake me” and pins it to Persi.
    • Orthanc takes Persi to his room
  • Toblen tells us that Sildar is in the dining hall smoking his pipe and that breakfast is still being served.
• The Party heads to the Stonehill Inn dining hall to talk with Sildar.

Stonehill Inn Dining Hall

• Sildar is puffing on his pipe and seems agitated.
  • Vala asks why, and he says that it’s not sitting right with him to have not captured Iarno alive - as terrible as Iarno was, killing him the way we did goes against many of Sildar’s beliefs..
    • He also says he will have to write a report to the Lords' Alliance and they will not be pleased that Iarno was killed before they could question him.
• ’Rig’ suggests he lie to them and he tells her that their spies are everywhere, even following him, and they’d likely know. ’Rig’ basically says that’s really an inefficient and weird way to run things and Sildar says “that’s a government.”
• ’Rig’ notes that she thinks the supposed spies that may have seen us kill Iarno are just more people who won’t step up and do anything  help.
• As an aside to all of this, Sildar compliments Orthanc's final blow on Iarno - a single swipe that took off his entire arm
• ’Rig’ asks if he’s taking Iarno ’s body back to the Lords' Alliance and Sildar replies that he left it by the woods as he doubts Iarno ’s father or anyone else will care that he’s dead.
• Sildar provides payment to The Party on behalf of the Lords' Alliance for ridding Phandalin of the Redbrands.

Quest Complete: The Fate of Iarno Albrek 

• Sildar reminds The Party to speak with Sister Garaele Xil'oama at the Shrine of Luck
• Sildar also says that while none of us, himself included, have heard any information about Gundren or the location of Cragmaw Castle there are likely people who do know where it is.
  • Halia Thornton, the guildmaster at the Phandalin Miner's Exchange, likely knows more but refused to speak with Sildar once she found out he was with the Lords' Alliance.
    • ’Rig’ asked why and Sildar said he didn’t know, she just got very tight-lipped and ushered him out of the exchange.
• Sildar says he’s going to stay in town while we investigate some things on the road.
  • Vala asks if he can start forcing the Townmaster, Harbin Wester, out of office while he’s in Phandalin
  • Sildar calls Harbin Wester a “shitstain of a man” but notes that he’s an elected official and it would look really bad if the Lords' Alliance forced him out
  • ’Rig’ says we’ll just let the people of Phandalin know that their folk heroes (aka The Party) think he’s a useless shit and suggests we start a smear campaign
  • Sildar notes that the election is in 3 months - on Midsummer.
    • The only other candidate we knew of was the farmer Iarno wanted to use as a mouthpiece, Gonth.
    • Orthanc mentions Persi was going to run but Sildar says he would have to establish himself as a permanent resident of Phandalin first.
      • ’Rig’ asks if there are any properties for sale & if Persi’s room at the Inn counts as an address
        • Sildar doesn’t know and recommends we discuss with the Townmasters office.
  • Vala offers Sildar Unknown to look over in case it’s helpful, but he said it isn't
  • Vala tells the rest of The Party what was in Urmon’s Journal, which was largely Urmon’s notes on the historical tome The Wonders of Phandalin
    • Phandalin was a small farming community of mages and enchanters
    • In the10th century a new mining operation opened in Wave Echo Cave and the Forge of Spells was founded there.
    • Over the next 50 years Phandalin became wealthier from the mining
    • There’s a specific property of the ore there that makes it better for enchanting than most ore - creating potent magical weapons
    • They prospered for a quite a time, becoming a rival to even Neverwinter, but in the early 11th century a massive orc hoard came out of Uruth Ukrypt and completely destroyed Phandalin, wiping it off the map.
    • One of the reasons Phandalin became so powerful so quickly was due to an Alliance called Phandelver’s Pact.
      • Originally, an agreement between the gnomes and dwarves that mined the area, but later the human spellcasters of Phandalin joined. They agreed to divide the labor and profits from making magical weapons, with the dwarves and gnomes mining / forging the weapons and the human mages enchanting them.
        • The most famous of the weapons is an enchanted mace called Lightbringer, which was crafted for a chosen of Lathander. It could emit light from inside the mace.
    • The current version of Phandalin has only been around for 50 years
    • There’s no further information about the location of Wave Echo Cave
      • We do assume that it is close to Phandalin
  • Vala also shares the correspondence to Iarno from The Black Spider that she recovered from Iarno ’s desk.
    • Iarno was warned that “strangers” (The Party) were due to arrive in Phandalin soon and were likely working with the dwarves.
    • Iarno was told to capture the strangers if he could, and kills them if he must, but to not let them upset the Black Spiders plans.
    • Iarno was to deliver any dwarven maps in The Party’s possession to The Black Spiderimmediately and is  warned to not disappoint him.
  • The Party bids Sildar good day and leaves
  • Vala pitches that The Party divide and conquer and suggests that since Halia Thorton wasn’t keen on Sildar once his ties to the Lords' Alliance were made clear, that maybe she would like ’Rig’ enough to be more open, but not so much Vala.
    • ’Rig’ suggests that Vala just not be a snob.
    • Vala sighs and just walk away while ’Rig’ calls after her to “just slum it down where the rest of us are”.
    • Vala grumbles that her shoes are already dirtier than they’ve ever been.

The Shrine of Luck

• The Party goes to the Shrine of Luck to see what Sister Garaele Xil'oama needs
  • She greets The Party and asks if Sildar sent them for work.
  • She says that she knows that The Party knows she is “one who harps”, aka a member of The Harpers
  • The Harpers have a job that Sister Garaele has been unable to complete
    • Along the Triboar Trail, northwest of a town called Conyberry there’s a Banshee named Agatha.
    • Unlike most banshees, she seems to have retained some of her personality and is sentient.
      • She was an elf that lived hundreds of years ago, so she likely knows things outside of standard living memory
        • Vala notes that may know the location of Cragmaw Castle or Wave Echo Cave
      • Agatha is notoriously hard to get information out of
      • She was known to be a great beauty in her time, possibly a queen or princess of one of the ancient elven empires.
    • Agatha is the last known owner of a legendary tome: Bowgentle's Spellbook The Harpers want
      • Bowgentle was a legendary wizard who invented cantrips
      • He was believed to be a Harper
      • The Harpers have been looking for his spellbook for 200 years since it disappeared
    • Sister Garaele tried to speak with Agatha but she never appeared and is curious if The Party would try. She offers The Party an ornate, solid silver comb and suggests they flatter her and offer to trade the comb for the spellbook (or it’s location).
      • ’Rig’ asks if it’s poor taste to gift someone something they owned while alive
      • Sister Garaele says that other travelers have had good luck doing the same while also complimenting her
    • She warns The Party that the Triboar Trail forks north to Agatha’s lair or south to lead to Conyberry - stay away from Conyberry.
      • Mostly destroyed in the Spellplague when parts of Conyberry were exchanged with parts of the equivalent region on Abeir
      • Survivors from Conyberry allowed the few Abeirans who survived to live with them, and for a time the town was prosperous.
      • A number of years ago, travellers told Garaele they had found the town butchered and no one knows who did it or why.
      • She warns us to skirt the town to the north and avoid entering it entirely.
    • If The Party completes this mission, she will provide maps of the location of several Harper caches containing Healing potions, travel supplies, and weapons.
      • Vala says that sounds very helpful and Sister Garaele responds that the Harpers would also be in The Party’s debt which Vala notes would be invaluable.
    • Sister Garaele asks if The Party has any further questions about Agatha
      • ’Rig’ asks if she is “like, not hot as a banshee”
      • Garaele responds that she has not seen Agatha but others who have seen her have described her as both beautiful and terrifying.
    • Sister Garaele gives The Party Agatha's Silver Comb

Quest Received: Negotiations with a Banshee

• Before The Party departs, Sister Garelle thanks them for ridding Phandalin of the Redbrands and says that the town will be much better off with them in the past
  • Vala quips that Harbin Wester the Townmaster can be next
    • Then quickly clarifies NOT TO KILL, but just in the towns past, with someone more capable and caring in charge.
    • Sister Garaele says that she has a feeling Lady Luck will not smile upon Harbin in the coming election.
    • Sister Garaele leans in to whisper that Harbin Wester has drawn the gaze of Beshaba which means his downfall is coming.
      • ’Rig’ makes a superstitious sign to ward off Beshaba
      • Sister Garaele kisses her golden luck token
  • Sister Garaele asks where Persi is and The Party explains they cannot wake him from his mysterious slumber.
    • Vala asks if she knows anything about magical comas or anything similar
    • Garaele says she will go try her Cleric skills on him and give him the blessing of Tymora
    • Orthanc says she should also try kissing him and ’Rig’ and Vala agree “in case she’s his one true love”
• The Party leaves the Shrine of Luck.

Miner’s Exchange

• The Party goes to the Phandalin Miner's Exchange to speak to Halia Thornton
  • Halia seems distracted - counting gold and writing in a ledger when The Party enters. She looks down seemingly ignoring them, and then looks back up, smiling widely, and greets them as “The Heroes of Phandalin” and thanks them for ridding the town of the Redbrand Menace. 
  • Vala states that they are certainly dead and Halia disbelievingly asks “All of then, even Glassstaff?” and Vala replies by smiling and pulling her cloak to the side to show Halia the Glass Staff she looted.
    • Halia likes that Vala has provided proof to her claims
  • Halia formally introduces herself as Halia Thornton, the Guildmaster of the Phandalin Miner's Exchange. 
  • She asks if The Party found any notes or the like in Iarno "Glasstaff" Albrek" data-mention="Iarno "Glasstaff" Albrek">Glasstaff’s quarters
    • Orthanc says that he just cut his arm off
      • Halia says if that arm was not holding papers, she’s not interested
    • Vala mentions the papers she took from Iarno ’s desk, and careful to not include Urmons journal, produces a stack of paperwork. 
    • Halia requests to see one of the papers. Vala hands her a random sheet. 
    • Halia pulls out a magnifying glass and smiles wider and wider as she reads. She offers The Party 100 GP for the rest of the papers, which she feels is more than fair.
    • ’Rig’ and Vala are unsure. 
      • ’Rig’ tries to verify it’s too little gold and fails.
      • Vala tries to verify that she isn’t giving away information that could benefit The Party.
        • Vala reviews what she’s read:
        • Redbrand activity in the area
        • Reports of travellers moving on the Triboar Trail
        • A lot of it was unintelligible and seemingly written in some kind of cipher
          • ’Rig’ tries to decode it and cannot
      • ’Rig’ asks if we can come back tomorrow with it since she’s out of books to read and she wants to look it over tonight
        • Halia says it might not be 100 GP tomorrow and that if ’Rig’ just wants something to read, Halia has something for her and offers her a medieval romance novel along with the 100 GP for the Redbrand Correspondence.
          • ’Rig’ accepts that offer but requests “the filthiest one you’ve got. I’m not an amateur.”
            • ’Rig’ receives The Heat of the Tieflings
      • Halia thanks The Party saying that it is rare for her to close a deal so easily and with such even footing on both sides. 
        • ’Rig’ says she “has no horse in that race”
        • Halia repeats back “You have no WHORES in that race?”
        • ’Rig’ says “Or horses!”
          • Halia says “back in Calimshan, we breed some of the best racing horses in Faerun”
        • Halia goes back to looking through the documents and smiling. Whatever was written in these documents is something she was very interested in.
        • ’Rig’ butters Halia up a bit saying “Glad you got what you like. Always happy to make a beautiful woman smile.”
        • Halia calls her a flatterer
  • Halia asks if The Party needs anything else. 
    • ’Rig’ asks if she has any work and says we’re going to hit the road to kill some Orcs, noting “we’re on a bit of a killing spree”
      • Halia says the Miner’s Exchange has no work
    • In lieu of work, Vala says The Party is looking for information about Gundren Rockseeker, who we believe is being held somewhere called Cragmaw Castle
      • Halia says she has heard that name spoken as a stronghold of a goblin tribe in the area. She checks her records to see if she has any information about where it is, but does not.
      • She does note that the Redbrands had been keeping a goblin that may know the location of Cragmaw Castle, saying additionally“we suspected he may know the location as he was brought there with a party of Bugbears that work with Glasstaff.”
        • The Party realize she is obviously refering to Slûûp, who they keep forgetting to ask
    • Halia says she can’t help The Party anymore currently, but she’ll find the if she finds work.
• The Party leaves

Afternoon

Lionshield Coster

• The Party is greeted by Linene Graywind as “the Heroes of Phandalin”.
  • Vala quips “do heroes get discounts?”
    • Linene  replies “Depending on what you buy”
  • ’Rig’ gets 2 healer's kits
  • Linene  offers us some items we wouldn’t find elsewhere like more exotic weapons, ammunition, and survival gear
    • The Party declines
• The Party leaves 

Phandalin 

• While standing outside, The Party sees an older, stocky, tall silver-haired half-elf waving his arms and jogging towards them. 
• Immediately extends a hand to shake and thanks The Party for ridding Phandalin of the Redbrands.
  • He had been trying to gather enough support to do something about it, but had been unable.
• Introduces himself as Daran Edermath, owner of Edermath Orchard,  and said he met Persi previously and gave him a job. He is looking for Persi to check on it.
• Vala tells Daran that Persi was captured by Iarno of the Redbrands and we’ve been unable to wake him
  • ’Rig’ cracks a joke about Persi having “nine very short lifespans”
  • Daran admonishes Rig, explaining the racism in that
  • ’Rig’ says “he’s our friend. Fuck outta here.”
• Daran asks The Party about the job he gave Persi. The Party are unaware of a job as Persi had not told them.
  • Daran is surprised that Persi didn’t communicate with The Party
  • The Party is not. 
• Daran shares that he’s a retired adventurer and former member of The Order of the Gauntlet. He has spent most of his life protecting the region of the Dragon Coast, mostly from Thay sorcerers & The Zhentarim. He retired to Phandalin many years ago to get back to his roots - growing things instead of killing them.
• He still keeps in contact with active members of The Order of the Gauntlet, who reached out with troubling news.
  • Local prospectors were chased out of The Lost Hills near The Old Owl Well, which is the ruins of an old Netherese tower, by a hoard of undead. The undead only chased them a certain distance before turning back, which leads Daren to suspect Necromancy.
  • Daren also suspects that the tower itself still contains ancient traces of Netherese magic.
  • If a necromancer is able to tap into ancient Netherese magic, it is not only a concern for The  Order of the Gauntlet, but for the entirety of Faerûn.
  • The  Order of the Gauntlet is looking for someone to go look into this. 
    • Daren cannot offer The Party direct payment, but notes that whatever is being dug up / searched for at The Old Owl Well is likely extremely valuable and we would obviously be free to take whatever we found.
    • Daren warns The Party of the dangers of The Lost Hills
      • There used to be a well-used trail, but sometime during the reign of King Nasher Alagondar of Neverwinter, something happened that made the trail hard to follow and people started to get lost very easily - with many never being seen again.
      •  Today the trail is abandoned, but Daren marks where it used to be on The Party's map if they choose to try to follow it.

Quest Received: Mysterious Events at The Old Owl Well

• Daren says goodbye to The Party and wishes Persi well, saying he much enjoyed reminiscing with him about his adventuring days with The  Order of the Gauntlet. 

• • He also offers The Party free cider anytime they visit Edermath Orchard in Phandalin.

Late Afternoon

• The Party huddles up to plan their next steps. Vala lays out her map and their 4 open jobs are discussed.
•  As 1 of the jobs (The Investigate the Ruins of Thundertree) is isolated to the north and 3 of the jobs (Mysterious Events at The Old Owl Well, Negotiations with a Banshee, and Orc Raiders Near Wyvern Tor) are clustered east along The Triboar Trail, The Party decides to go east and hit the cluster of 3. 
• The Party decides to train to level up before hitting the road. 
• The Party sells loot from Tresendar Manor

Evening

• Vala Prays (special attention to Mystra, Savras, Siamorphe, Mielikki, & Milil)
• Slûûp makes a nest/bed in Vala’s closet at the Stonehill Inn
• Vala writes “The Ballad of Tresendar Manor” and plays it on her harp at the Stonehill Inn dinner service
  • The ballad is solid (Meg rolled well) and Vala will continue playing this to boost the parties reputation

3 Tarsakh 1471, (Day 8)

Day

• The Party rests and trains in Phandalin
  • 10 gp for training (out of 20gp total) per party member
• Qelline Alderleaf got Rigs' note about Persi
•  being in a magical sleep and comes to check on him
  • She admits, blushing, that she did try to kiss him as requested, but nothing happened. 
  • He’s been poisoned with some kind of Drow poison but all of the herbs she’s tried haven’t done anything so far. She plans to gather and try rarer herbs.
    • ’Rig’ asks Orthanc and Vala if The Party killed any Drow at Tresendar Manor.
    • Vala says no, but says she found correspondence indicating that The Black Spider is a Unknown.
    • The Party assumes that Iarno "Glasstaff" Albrek] is the one that poisoned Persi.

Evening

• Vala Attunes to Glass Staff (wand of defense)
• Vala Prays (special attention to Mystra, Savras, Siamorphe, Mielikki, & Milil)
• Vala plays “The Ballad of Tresendar Manor” at Stonehill Inn dinner service

4 Tarsakh 1471, (Day 9)

Day

• The Party rests and trains in Phandalin 
• Another 10 gp for training (out of 20gp total)
  • The Party level up

Evening

• Vala Prays (special attention to Mystra, Savras, Siamorphe, Mielikki, & Milil)
• Vala plays “The Ballad of Tressendar Manor” at Stonehill Inn dinner service

5 Tarsakh 1471, (Day 10)

Dawn

• The Party eats breakfast and prepare to leave Phandalin
  • ’Rig’ checks in on Meilu and asks Orthanc and Vala if we should bring Meilu, purchase a cart, and then take Persi with us on the road (along with Slûûp to act as Persi’s caretaker).
    •  ’Rig’ additionally points out The Party will be able to transport more loot this way.
    • Orthanc and Vala agree. The Party purchases a cart for 25 gp. 
  • The Party attach the Cart to Meilu, load up Slûûp, Persi, and The Party's gear/inventory, and leave Phandalin

Early morning

Road out of Phandalin

• The Party decides to find the banshee Agatha near Conyberry first.
• Orthanc casts druidcraft and says it’s going to be a lightly cloudy spring day.
• Vala sits on the cart with her clean shoes and ritual casts Find Familiar, summoning her childhood pet, a pure white long-haired Tressym named Miss Tra.
• The Party selects their travel roles for the day. 
  • ’Rig’ - Forager
  • Orthanc - Guide
  • Vala - Lookout
  • Miss Tra (Vala’s Tressym) - Scout

Morning

Crossroads

• The Party reaches The Crossroads north of Phandalin and heads east towards Conyberry on the Triboar Trail

Midday

Triboar Trail

• The Party takes a short rest and eats lunch

Afternoon

• Orthanc successfully guides The Party through the days travels. 
• Miss Tra, Vala’s Tressym, notices movement in the forest and flies back to The Party to warn them of an incoming attack.

Combat

• An owlbear rushes at The Party out of the woods to the north of the Triboar Trail.
• Vala is petrified and fully freezes, clutching Miss Tra.
• ’Rig’ shines her bullseye lantern in its eyes, blows her signal whistle, and bangs on the cart wheel making as much noise as possible to try to scare it away. 
  • The Owlbear slows, and sizes up Rig. Realizing that she is smaller than the noise she’s making, it decides it could take us all and keeps charging.
• Orthanc tries and fails to cast a spell (frostbite) at the owlbear
• Meilu attempts to break free of the cart and run at the owlbear but fails
• The owlbear bites and claws Orthanc 
• Meilu breaks free of the cart hitching and runs around behind the owlbear, biting down on it’s tail to draw it’s attention
• Vala snaps out of her fear and, noticing that ’Rig’ is trying to run it off casts Dissonant Whispers, turning her own terror back on the owlbear and causing it to flee. 
• As the owlbear runs away, Orthanc hits it with an axe and Meilu bites its tail again. Hurt, the owlbear reenters the woods.
• ’Rig’ continues to make as much noise as possible while also walking toward it, hoping to make it continue fleeing.
• Orthanc throws an axe at the owlbear, which lodges in its ass while it runs away wimpering.

[Combat End] 

• Vala magically heals Orthanc
• ’Rig’ tries to soothe Meilu and thanks her for her help
• Meilu runs closer to the woods and starts braying at the trail the owlbear left
• ’Rig’ does a war cry with her
• Meilu really likes that and bows her head in response
• The Party rehitches Meilu to the cart
• Vala reassures Slûûp that the Owlbear has retreated

Dusk

• ’Rig’ forages for The Party 
  • finds 6 fresh rations
• Vala sends Miss Tra up and looks through her eyes to find a camping spot
  • Vala finds a perfect campsite behind a natural duck blind

Night

• The Party sets up camp
  • Orthanc chops wood for a campfire and starts the fire with his tinderbox
  • ’Rig’ does not locate a good source of fresh water
  • Vala ritual casts alarm at a few chokepoints
    • Vala pitches to Orthanc and ’Rig’ that her tressym Miss Tra can keep watch and that between that and the alarms Vala set, The Party would likely be alright to all sleep for the night. 
      • Slûûp offers to stay up and keep watch with Miss Tra 
        • ’Rig’ says, “It’s in gods hands”, takes her bedroll, and sets it up under the cart
  • ’Rig’ offers The Party the rations she found foraging. Orthanc, Vala, Rig, Slûûp, and Meilu all eat one and there’s one fruit left over. 
    • Vala asks ’Rig’ if she’d like to make fruit leather
    • ’Rig’ says “I don’t care” and throws the fruit at Vala and goes to sleep.
    • Vala gives it to Orthanc, who seems to need more food than most people.
  • ’Rig’ puts up her feet to relax and ease the swelling from walking all day. She gains inspo.
  • Orthanc tries to make some rations and fails, destroying a ration
  • Vala attempts to make Alchemist Acid and succeeds, creating 2 flasks