← Previous Session: Session 022: The Bloodshield Search Party: Flight AND Fight

6 Mirtul, (Day 42)

Pre-Dawn

• The Bloodsword search party having been defeated, The Party searches the corpses for anything useful
  • Verna, ever interested in items to put holes in living beings, loots a Shortbow from a Goblin Sniper.
• Baby Wolf Friend returns from finishing off the last Hobgoblin, heading directly to Wolf Mo. BWF rubs against Mo’s legs, sits and patiently waits, expressing its contentness
  • Vala asks Mo if he thinks BWF’s demeanor is likely to be permanent, considering its recent change in alliances
  • Mo considers his knowledge of the way of beasts, then leads BWF to the dead Goblin Sniper with whom it entered the battle.
    • Wolf Mo indicates to the body, growls, then rips its throat out.
    • BWF watches intently and indicates to WolfMo that he is the alpha now.
    • Mo returns to his normal dwarf form and informs The Party that BWF will remain with The Party at least until they rest, for their own protection and to determine if the bonding between them is complete.
    • Vala enthusiastically agrees, informing Mo that she finds the murderous animal “adorable.”
• Mo leads The Party a short walk back to the makeshift blind where they left Meilu and The Cart. 
  • Mielu sleeps on the ground, but immediately smells BWF
    • Her guard is immediately raised, but she quickly notices the demeanor between BWF and Mo and relaxes some.
    • Meilu continues to keep a wary eye on BWF but rests her head on the ground and watches The Party as they return.
  • Orthanc unceremoniously dumps Rig and Gundren in the cart.
  • Mo casts Goodberry and hands out rations to everyone.
  • The exhausted party eats and immediately pass out from exhaustion.

Dawn

• The next morning, the party wakes, eats breakfast, and tears down camp in clear, beautiful spring weather.
• Mo and Vala review Gundren’s Map in comparison to Mo’s Neverwinter Region map on which Reidoth had marked the approximate location of Wave Echo Cave
  • Gundren’s map contains far more detail concerning the exact landmarks that will lead The Party to the cave entrance. 
• Mo and Vala confer about their previous plan to use Locate Object on Vyerith ceremonial dagger to determine her location
  • Having seen the terror of Vyerith’s power in person, Vala expresses her extreme concern about the Doppelganger’s whereabouts.
  • Mo and Rae agree that it’s concerning, but more of a “let’s discuss this in town” type of concerning. 
  • Vala is worried about possible infiltration in Phandalin, but continues to stretch her worry to the possibility that the Doppelganger is following The Party disguised as some creature to keep an eye on Gundren, who it clearly wants. 
    • Vala shares that her upbringing in a royal court has left her prone to severe anxiety
    • Vala casts Prestidigitation to give Mo a perfect likeness of the dagger for future use.
• The Party begins travel back to Phandalin through open country, heading south along the edge of Neverwinter Wood

Morning

• Verna scouts along The Party’s route, finding no signs of coming encounters

Noon

• Mo and Baby Wolf Friend forage in the shallows of the woods
• Baby Wolf Friend throttles several rabbits and brings them back to Mo, who gives BWF some “very good boy” praises.
• They find 12 food and 7 water rations.

Evening

• Sildarhelps Rae guide The Party along their path.
  • The trail is clear and the weather is fine. Rae has no trouble successfully guiding The Party.
  • Sildar gives Rae a hearty “attaboy.”

Night

• As the sun sets, a heavy fog rolls in and The Party ends travel for the day.
• Vala consults her copy of The Philosopher's Guide to Survivalism and successfully identifies a defensible location at the edge of the woods .
• The Party sets camp.
  • Mo casts Mold Earth to flatten the ground for a campsite, including a small den for Baby Wolf Friend.
    • BWF is excited at the sight of magic producing something for it, bolts into its new den and circles several times before curling up into a dog croissant. 
  • Rae collects some herbs for later meal preparation.
  • Vala sets up a suitable medical bay in the cart to tend to Rig and Gundren.
  • Verna attempts to clean the stinky unconscious people, but does so with fetid water and only makes the situation worse. 
    • Sildar attempts to help, but Verna is really insistent about how she’s doing it and he relents, going back to starting a campfire.
• The Party does some camp activities.
  • Rae successfully cooks a Hot Meal: a delicious rabbit stew with the herbs and foraged vegetables.
    • All Party members gain the Well-Fed trait for the next day.
    • Sildar praises Rae’s cooking, saying that this is some of the best road food he’s had. He also notes that always eating the same emergency sausages he keeps in his pack gets kind of old.
  • Mo uses his Herbalism Kit to make 1 vial of Antitoxin, giving it to Rae.
    • Mo checks on Gundren, but finds he’s still unconscious and leaves him to rest. 
    • Mo casts Goodberry and distributes them to The Party for emergency use the next day.
• Verna lays down and tells herself a story to relax.
  • The story is about a beautiful wood elf that is discovered by a genie, and the genie thinks she's a Genius. And takes her on a fantastic adventure. And there's a sword. And the sword thinks she's the most beautiful elf that ever lived. It's a really long story, but everyone she's ever met thinks she's beautiful and amazing.
  • When she finishes, she turns to the party and asks pointedly “You agree, right?”
    • It is obvious that Verna is the beautiful wood elf from the story.
    • Vala heartily agrees, tacking on that Verna’s hair smells amazing.
      •  Verna tells her that she could smell this good all the time if she were genetically pure.
• Sildar sits down with his ancestral sword, cleaning it and reacquainting himself with it.
• The Party goes to bed, still talking about how good the stew was, thanking Rae profusely.
  • Everyone gets temp HP from the stew, a true taste of Waterdeep.
• The Party goes to sleep and Vala takes first watch, using her owl familiar to keep watch from the trees.
  • During her watch, Vala hears a rumbling sound coming from the ground near the fire Vala kind of shakes Mo awake and says “do you feel that?”
  • Mo wakes and immediately activates tremor sense.
  • Then Vala does the same to Sildar, waking him and asking if he feels the rumbling. 
  • Mo hollers, waking everyone else and telling them that something is coming up from the ground.
  • Just beyond the edge of the fires glow, the party sees the foliage move, then collapse. A lot of dirt builds up around the edge, it appears to be a sink hole.
  • Emerging from the hole are two gricks.
  • Verna and Mo, who just fought a grick, notice that this one looks wrong. 
  • They are covered in big patches that protrude slightly and move around.

BEGIN COMBAT

Round 1

• Sildar calls out for everyone to wake up and lifts Winter's Oath, moving toward the threat and readies an attack if any get close enough to him.
• One of the Grick moves forward and screeches, the movement under it’s skin becoming frantic. Then, with a wet screeching sound, a Stirge Swarm bursts free of the grick
• With its passengers freed, the grick advances on Sildar, who immediately grips Winter’s Oath with two hands and stabs it, kicking it off his sword to lay prone on the ground.
• The Grick tries to swipe at Sildar from the ground but misses.
• A swarm of sturges flies up to Verna in her bedroll, but doesn’t wake her.
• Rae casts Faerie Fire near the hole the monsters emerged from, catching one of the sturge swarms and lighting it in a soft blue light, making it easier to hit
• Mo wild shapes into a bear
• Bear Mo runs up to the prone grick at Sildar’s feet and mauls it, biting it’s th
• Baby wolf friend runs over to BearMo
• Verna disengages from the Stirge swarm in front of her, runs fifteen feet away, and casts True Strike, firing her crossbow on the glowing sturge swarm, affected by Raes Fairie Fire spell, killing a few of the sturges in the swarm.
• The sturge swarm Verna attacked furiously swarms her, stabbing into her with their proboscises, but she swats them away before they can seriously hurt her.   
• Vala yanks orthanc in front of the open cart and says “You stay right here. Protect these people.” then moves thirty feet toward the fire, casting a red Chromatic Orb at the Grick near Rae. The ball of flame hits the grick, then flares again and leaps to the glowing sturge swarm attacking Verna, burning several of them out of the sky.
• Vala gives Rae bardic inspiration, thanking him again for the stew. 
• Another sturge swarm flies up to Verna, who, due to her elven heritage, smells delicious, and attacks her but misses. 

Round 2

• Sildar flips his sword vertically and stabs straight down at the prone grick at his feet, almost killing it.
• The grick Sildar stabbed gets up and tries to grab Sildar with its tentacles, but Sildar kicks it off. Then it bites, but misses, wildly overextending and Sildar cracks it in the skull with his sword pommel. The grick is on deaths door.
• A sturge swarm attacks and Vala casts shield with Glass Staff, leaving the sturges to ping off of her forcefield.
• Rae calls “look out!” to Verna and casts Burning Hands. Verna gives him a thumbs up and doesn’t even look as fire erupts from Rae’s hands. He burns up half of the sturge swarm and grick in front of him, and the campfire leaps as his magical flame touches it.
• BearMo swipes at the Grick in front of him, then bites it, ripping a chunk out of it.
• Baby wolf friend follows suit, biting at the sturge swarm nearest it, thinning its numbers.
• The Grick nearest Rae rears back and wraps its tentacles around his legs, slashing him and grappling him before biting him again.
• Verna disengages and fires her crossbow at the Grick grappling Rae, hitting it and almost killing it.
• The glowing sturge swarm attacks Verna, nearly killing her.
• Vala casts True Strike and swings glasstaff at the sturge swarm in front of her, hitting it but not doing much damage. Then she turns to Verna, who has been pecked and stung nearly to death, and casts Healing Word, whispering alongside the incantation that nothing that has tentacles should have a beak. It should not be allowed. 
• A sturge swarm attacks Rae, but he manages to knock them away, even grappled.

Round 3

• Sildar flanks the grick in front of him, then stabs Winters Oath through its beak, straight down its gullet.
  • Vala yells kebab! (Kebab Tally: II)
• Sildar moves across the field toward her.
• The sturge swarm that had tried to attack Vala tries again, attacking all at once breaking her shield. 
• Rae, bleeding on the ground, grappled by a grick, holds up his holy symbol and calling upon Lathander and using radiance of dawn. Light bursts from him, burning up the grick grappling him and a sturge swarm, nearly killing a second sturge swarm,
• BearMo flanks the sturge swarm in front of him and bites it and slashes with his claws, thinning its numbers.
• Baby wolf friend bites at the sturge swarm, killing more of the sturges.
• Verna casts True Strike and fires on the sturge swarm, burning even more of them with radiant energy. 
• Vala casts a red Chromatic Orb on the sturge swarm nearest Rae, then strums her harp, giving Bear Mo bardic inspiration.
• Sildar stabs the nearest sturge swarm and stab one of the sturges straight out of the sky, slicing it in half.
• Rae casts Sacred Flame, but the sturge swarm resists the spell.
• Bear Mo chomps on the stirge in front of him, and slashes it with his claws, 
• Baby wolf friend tries to join in, but misses at first. Then he wriggles his little wolf butt and jumps up, managing to grab the last one out of the air, shaking it until one of its wings fly off and it dies.

END COMBAT 

• Bear Mo goes to investigate the hole the grick emerged from, using his tremor sense to probe the ground for movement. Vala goes with him and they poke around finding that the tunnel has already collapsed,
• The party tries to remember what they know about these creatures, where the burrow from, and the tunnel itself. 
• Rae walks over and says “that’s one of the monster holes. There’s a whole department in Waterdeep.”
• Sildar adds that some seedy alley in Waterdeep has a brothel named the Monster Hole. He tacks on somewhat hastily that he’s never been.
  • Rae says he knows a lot of men who got lost in the Monster Hole. They don’t allow holy men in there.
• Vala and Mo know enough about the creatures to know they come from caves or underground. They think there may be an entrance to the underdark somewhere nearby.
• Mo turns back into a dwarf and casts Mold Earth to compact the tunneled earth as much as he can. 
• Mo tells Vala “Good lookin’ out” and goes back to bed. Vala is ecstatic that the druid said she did a good job out-of-doors.
• The party goes back to sleep, Sildar passing out with the immediacy and ease of a lifelong soldier.

7 Mirtul, 1471 (Day 43) 

Morning

• The Party wakes to fog, eats breakfast, and packs up camp.
•  Mo casts Druidcraft and checks the weather for the day, saying the fog will burn up and the party could make it to Phandalin by nightfall if they forgo foraging and march. The party decides to do so.
• Verna scouts ahead with Mo in the grassland south of Neverwinter Wood. After scouting for a while, they see a road, and at its edge, the circle of golden flowers in the shape of Waukeen's holy symbol that the party found when they exited the lost hills weeks ago. 
• The party sits at the golden flower circle and eats lunch. While they do, everyone praises Rae again for the quality of the stew he had prepared last night.
• Rae tells the party of his neighborhood in Waterdeep.
  • "Shrimp Alley is one of the narrowest, windiest little alleys in Waterdeep. And you thought that stuff was good last night. Let me tell you. There's a pot that one of the cooks keeps there in the alley that they say has never been cleaned. Oh, you just can't get those spices right from foraging them.” And he trails on talking about the different delicious delectable tastes.
• Sildar shakes his head and grims and says “back in the griffon cavalry we had a cook cauldron with a running rule that you could only rinse it with water, no cleaning. It had been seasoned for nigh on 150 years.
  • Rae says reverently that he cannot imagine what a taste that cauldron may have had.
  • Sildar agrees, except for the one time someone cooked back meat in it and it held the flavor for a while. 
  • Vala asks if they still didn’t clean it
  • Sildar verifies that they did not, as it would have been spitting in the face of Tymora. That they would have been calling down Beshaba to shit in all of their eyes.
  • The Party hits the road again, Sildar and Rae effectively guiding them southward on the road to Phandalin.

Dusk

• The party reaches the edge of Phandalin by late evening as the sun sets. 
  • Mo pauses at the edge of town and evaluates the baby wolf friend situation. 
  • Sildar reassures Mo that it’s a rustic enough place, and that as long as Baby Wolf Friend doesn’t try to kill anyone.
    • Vala strums her harp, giving Mo bardic inspiration in case he has trouble handling the wolf or convincing anyone that it’s fine. 
    • Verna and Vala discuss briefly how cute the wolf would be wearing clothing. 
      • Vala discloses that she’s a very proficient seamstress and had made Sluup a Tabard before they last left Phandalin and would love to make the wolf an outfit.
      • Verna pitches a little vest with a lot of pockets and a hood. 
      • Vala says that the hood could have little ear holes.
      • Mo says he will not say no to any of this and Verna insists that the wolf must be cute.
• As they enter town Sildar says that they should really get Gundren in a bed and call either Qelline Alderleaf or Sister Garaele Xil'oama to heal him more thoroughly and assess his injuries. He suggests taking Gundren to Stonehill Inn, where Toblen Stonehill will certainly find another room for Gundren.
• The party agrees and Vala goes to get Sister Garale while they go to Stonehill Inn to get Gundren settled
  • Mo offers to go with Vala but she assures him it’s nearby and she’ll be fine if he’d like to go get drunk. 
    • He  says “yes ma’am” and immediately goes with the party instead.
• Verna opens the door for Orthanc, who still has Gundren and Rig, both unconscious, over each shoulder.
• Toblen sees Orthanc in the doorway and his eyes go wide. He asks worridly “Are those bodies? Are those people dead?”
• Verna assures him they’re not, saying that you can tell by their rank smell that they live.
• Toblen invites them all in, saying he will need rooms and dinner, but pointedly suggests that they all need baths before anything.
• Toblen starts handing out keys to the party and recognizes Gundren when he approaches Orthanc, asking if that was Master Rockhill. 
  • The Party verifies that it is. Toblen asks where they found him and Rae tells him that they found in in Cragmaw Castle in Neverwinter Wood, that he’s been like this since they found him.
  • Toblen is surprised that the party found Cragmaw Castle, saying many people said that the location was completely unknown.  
  • Toblen is very happy The Party found Gundren alive, he had been gone so many weeks that they feared him dead.
  • He adds that, while it may sound a bit crass, just as much as he was worried for Gundren, he was worried for the future of the town, which had been built upon the prospect of him finding the mine and making it active again. Otherwise, the Phandalin economy may not survive. 
    • Toblen hopes that The Party will continue to assist Gundren, helping him find his land and holdings so Phandalin can have a future.
    • Toblen admits sheepishly that he feels the people of Phandalin are always thanking The Party, Mo, Verna, and Rae more recently, and that they have done absolute wonders for the village and they can’t thank them enough. All have free room and board at the Stonehill Inn whenever they wish it.
      • Toblen, ever the businessman, begins to consider putting a plaque on the side of the inn declaring that the Heroes of Phandalin stay there to drum up more visitors and customers.
        • Verna loves this idea and asks if her face can be on the plaque, as it is so beautiful.
        • Toblen says he will have to hire a very skilled woodcutter to get her face well enough and Verna heartily agrees.
        • She suggests they find a way to make it clear she smells amazing, perhaps etching the party around her with stink lines, but with none coming off of her.
• Orthanc and Sildar drop Rig in her room to sleep off her minor injuries, then bring Gundren to an unused room and set up a convalescence bed.
• Back on the streets of Phandalin, Vala arrives at Sister Garale’s house next to the Shrine of Luck and knocks on the door. 
  • Sister Garale calls out asking for a moment and begins obviously moving and hiding things. 
  • Vala realizes that Garale is likely hiding all of her harper gear and calls out again, identifying herself. The scraping stops immediately and the door opens. 
  • Garale greets Vala warmly, saying it’s wonderful to see her, and that she’s been gone for some time.
  • Vala agrees and quickly tells the cleric that The Party found Gundren, not in great condition, but alive. 
  • Garale says she can work with alive and Vala echoes the sentiment. 
  • Garale says she will gather up her supplies and head straight to the Stonehill Inn. 
  • Vala leaves and returns to the Party.
• Vala opens the door to the Stonehill Inn and is greeted by Toblen Stonehill, who calls out “Lady Vala, we've been expecting you. We had to clean out a couple of the baths already because some of your companions were had already used and we have one ready for you and some refreshments from Edermath Orchard waiting as well. Please enjoy it as a thank you for everything that you've done and please avail yourself of its fineness."
• Vala’s overwhelmed with the normalcy of a bath after her recent mud-splattered living since she woke puts a hand on each of Toblens shoulders and thanks him, telling him he doesn’t know what this means to her and once again calling the Stonehill Inn a bastion of culture and civilization in the wilds.
  • Toblen freezes a little at the touch, says he has never been touched by someone with noble blood before.
  • Vala thanks him again and ecstatically heads to her bath.
• When the Party is done with their baths, Toblen calls them down telling them they look much better and leads them to the dining hall where he has had the kitchen put together a welcome feast for them. 
  • The party sit at a long table laden with roasted fowl, spring vegetables, and bread and feast while they get drunk on Edermath’s reserve cider.
  • Mo polietly requests something raw for baby wolf friend. 
  • Toblen says that someone recently downed an elk and he’ll cut a shank off of it and bring it in for this very well behaved seemingly feral wolf.
  • Toblen looks a little closer and says the wolf is also very clean and asks if Mo let him into the bath with him. 
  • Mo admits that he did a little, but Mo didn’t scrub him so it’s gonna smell like wet dog and he apologizes.
  • Toblen says that the Inn staff would be happy to clean up after even a junior member of the heroes of Phanadalin and assures him it’s not an issue
• While the party feasts, Sildar returns still filthy from the road and sees the feast. He turns to Toblen, saying “I know it’s not the exact rules of the house but I am too tired to bathe. I need food now and I hope you will forgive me.
• Toblen replies, “Anything for you, Master Hallwinter.” and Sildar sits down, makes himself a plate, and tells Toblen he will sleep in the stables before tucking in to his dinner
• Sildar thanks Vala for sending Sister Garale. She’s looking over Gundren now, and said all things considered, Gundren is in pretty good condition. He is severely injured and will likely need weeks of recovery, but he will survive. She thinks with a little more healing and rest he will wake, he may be able to speak to the party as early as tomorrow. 
• Sildar hopes to get more information out of Gundren when he wakes about what happened to him in the weeks he was missing. 
• He tells the party that he can scarcely believe Gundren is alive at all, and thanks Verna and Lady Vala for saving his life, saying that if the party had gotten there just moments later, Gundren would likely be dead and a doppleganger wearing Gundren's skin would have been brought back to Phandalin with them.
• Verna asks if there is any chance that Gundren is the doppleganger and Sildar says no, that Lady Vala tested him many times.
  • Vala concurs and also admits that she’s been touching them all, verifying they aren’t dopplegangers on the sly - letting the silverton signet ring (which is obviously silver) touch their skin. 
    • If they were dopplegangers, it would have burned them, but nothing happened. 
  • She happily informs the party that none of them are dopplegangers.
    • Verna says that this is actually a load off of her mind
• Sildar notes that Vala has been very thorough, pressing her silver rings into everything within hands distance since they found Gundren with Vyerith.
  • Sildar notes that Vala has pressed her rings against him a few more times than he expected but you have to be certain. Vala echoes that one must be sure.
  • Verna slyly suggests Vala touch Sildar again, just to be certain. Vala blushes and does so. 
• Sildar, says again that he hopes to get some additional information out of Gundren, especially what the doppleganger was trying to get from him, but that they at least know the location of Wave Echo Cave now. 
• Sildar raises his mug of cider, and says “to tomorrow” and downs the entire mug in one go.
• Mo follows suit, intending to drink until the Inn no longer serves him.
• After a few hours, Toblen tells The Party that his staff must go to bed, and he as well, but that the Party is welcome to drink into the morning and help themselves to the kitchen. His staff will clean up whatever remains in the morning.
• Verna, tipsy already, promises to honor Toblen. 
• No one seems to be willing to be the first to go to bed, so the party continues to drink.
• While attempting to keep up with Mo, Verna fully passes out at the table. 
  • Vala switches to sipping her cider, occasionally checking to make sure that Verna is still breathing and listening closely.
• Sildar stays drinking with the party saying that it’s a long standing tradition among those who use shields and swords as the tools of their trade to celebrate at the end of a successful excursion by eating and drinking until they can no longer stand.
• Mo asks Rae to tell him something about Waterdeep. 
  • Rae ecstatically shares much about The City of Splendors
    • Rae tells the party that one of the greatest things in Waterdeep are the very guardian statues about the city. They’re full of magic and if the city is ever in danger, they come to life and storm about putting down any threats. There are statues of a giant man and many other types of creatures. But just things that have been left by various wizards or other protectors or other people that have become kind of things. The guardians of the city.
      • Vala finds this extremely fascinating as she’s never been to Waterdeep but has read much about it, and asks what powers the statues now.
      • Rae tells her that the first of them was powered by Agaron the wizard founder of Waterdeep. His tower is sealed. And speaking of strange wizards. Nobody's gone inside since he died. Some whisper and say that he's still there.
        • Verna wakes for just a moment to ask “how big are the statues? Are they anatomically correct statues?” 
        • Sildar tells her that they’re massive and leaves it at that. 
        • Verna then passes back out.
        • Sildar chimes in and tells the party that during the ravages of the Spellplague, the statues came alive and started wandering around the city and destroying things. Hey originally were all in a square together, but these days they’re scattered, standing wherever they were standing when the spellplagues magic finally passed. 
        • Vala asks how long they wandered.
        • Sildar tells her it was years for some and they did a lot of damage. However, the people of Waterdeep are very industrious and repaired their city and built around the statues wherever they came to rest.
  • Mo says simply “wizard city” and Vala concurs, saying it sounds fascinating but she was never allowed to go, her lord father kept her from it.
  • Sildar says there are many reasons to keep many people away from Waterdeep, but it is a city of absolute grandeur. He adds that it had been Neverwinter's sister city before the ruining destroyed it. 
  • Sildar hopes that with more time, effort, and much gold from Lord Protector Neverember, Neverwinter could be a true partner to Waterdeep again.
• Vala carefully asks Sildar how he finds Lord Dagult Neverember.
  • Mo, missing the turn of phrase completely, asks if the man is hard to find.
  • Sildar chuckles and tells the table that there are many things you could say about Dagult, but he certainly makes himself easy to find. He’s loud and boisterous and likes to spend his money. Unlike the rest of the lords of Waterdeep, who are masked with their identities hidden, Dagult operates openly. 
  • Mo asks what the point of being a lord is if nobody knows who you are. Isn’t that the entire reason you become a rich person?
  • Verna tells him no, the money is the point.
  • Sildar notes that you can do a lot of things behind a mask with money. Some things you can’t do if people know who you are. There have been several points in Waterdeeps history where the masked lords have been murdered, and many of them didn’t even know they were being murdered because they were lords.
    • Mo says “that’s city life for ya.”
    • Vala echos that it truly is.
  • Sildar says that people in the country are known to murder each other every so often, but if you have more people in one area they’re easier to kill in close quarters. 
    • Vala agrees that murder is everywhere, but says it feels more honest on the road. People don’t make a game of it.
    • Verna slurs happily that the party could make a game of it.
• Returning to the subject of Dagult Neverember, Sildar tells the party that Dagult is a true lord in that he throws his money around and is a bit of a blowhard, but he’s also someone who Sildar knows to do genuinely good things with his influence and power. 
• Sildar can’t personally say what Dagult’s long-term goals are for Neverwinter, but there’s no question that having him paying for and backing the city will bring it more resources to rebuild.
  • Vala supposes that is true, but is very obviously hesitant to trust the man.
• Sildar adds that he’s only personally talked to the man once or twice in his life, but if he ever has cause to speak with him again, he would be happy to give Vala his honest opinion of the man which she says she would much appreciate. Although he had served as a cavalryman in Waterdeep, his true home would always been Neverwinter. His family had been there for generations. 
• Mo asks him “you got a horse?”
• Sildar seems confused until Mo supplies that he had said he was a cavalryman and asks if he’s got a flyin’ horse.
• Sildar says there are no Pegasi in Waterdeep, unlike Silverymoon, but he had been a griffon cavalry captain in Waterdeep.
• Mo seems impressed, saying “damn” before Sildar continues
• Sildar tells him he was a griffon cavalry captain for many years until he lost his mount, Silverwing, and his Squire Orda, whose remains Vala and Rig had found behind a hidden wall at Wyvern Tor. 
  • Sildar tells Mo that he had a bond with that creature for many years and Silverwing was an excellent mount, as Orda was an excellent squire. He’s glad that if they had to fall, at least they did so together. 
    • A tear gathers in the corner of his eye and he lets it fall.
    • Vala is visibly moved by this
    • Mo raises his pint in cheers for Silverwing and everyone still conscious raises their glasses
    • Verna, hearing the emotional tone of the conversation, mutters “soy boy beta cuck” in her sleep
      • Mo finishes chugging his cider and gestures to Verna saying “what do you think her deal is?”
      • Literally no one knows so they just keep drinking.
    • Mo, still mulling over all he had heard of Waterdeep says thoughtfully, “Griffin cavalry, walking statues and masked lords. Quite a place!”
    • Vala, realizing she has access to two people who have lived in Waterdeep, says somewhat cagily that she knows Waterdeep was known for its artisans, but wonders if there is any specific skill, art, or trade that Waterdeep is known for, or any specific families that are well known for specific trades.
      • Rae begins to tell Vala of all of the many artisans of waterdeep, it’s many noble families, and mentioned off hands that there are two hundred thousand people living in the city.
        • Vala blanches at the cities population, realizing she will not get the specific information she is seeking, but continues to soak up the information, fascinated just the same
      • Rae tells The Party of the House of Gond, where mechanized and automated things are created by tinkerers.
      • Sildar tells them that Waterdeep is a city state, not only a city, and that it stretches for 200-300 square miles. It has a major port that brings in many things from all over Faerun.
• Vala asks if Dagult Neverember brought Waterdavian nobles with him when he retook Neverwinter to establish any kind of court. 
• Sildar tells her that Dagult brought workers, artisans, and engineers, and a legion of Mintarn sellswords, but no nobles.
  • Dagult and his hired swords sailed into Neverwinter port 3-4 years ago with military ships while a caravan arrived via the road simultaneously. 
    • Sildar notes Dagult’s saviness in using hired soldiers and not Waterdeeps, as he did not want it to appear Waterdeep was annexing Neverwinter. 
  • Dagult and his Mintarn legion managed to retake the protectors' enclave and installed the mintarn legion to act as police, keeping the peace.
  • Dagult kept on Jelvis Grinch as an advisor, as well as a few other unofficial leaders who had returned to the city and begun to reorganize, effectively telling them that if they named him lord protector he would bring vast resources to help rebuild.
  • While Dagult didn’t bring nobles, he did bring a few functionaries.
    • [name?] was the head of the Mintarn Legion
    • [name?] was the treasurer / master of coin for New Neverwinter 
• Sildar tells the Party that outside of the Protector's Enclave, which is a quarter of the city, New Neverwinter is still very unsafe and unclaimed by Dagult Neverember.
  • There are portions of the city that have been so destroyed that no one lives there.
  • The chasm takes up nearly a quarter of the city and is a death trap.
    • People are paid vast sums to go thin out the numbers of the abominations there, but few return (hence the high pay).
  • Another faction of the Many-Arrows tribe holds a small neighborhood. 
  • As Vala had previously told the party, Castle Never was uninhabited and none would go near it
  • The Blacklake District, where the ruins of Vala’s ancestral manse are, have been considerably destroyed and is largely held by gangs.
    • The gang presence is so dug in that Dagult doesn’t send Mintarn soldiers there anymore, as they all got murdered. He would need an army he doesn’t have to clear the district out.
  • The current official population of New Neverwinter is 3000-4000 people.  Before The Ruining it had been around 50,000. 
• Rae tells the Party that, by comparison, Castle Waterdeep alone was manned by a guard of 1400 men. 
• Sildar adds that another fascinating thing about Waterdeep is that it was not nearly as negatively affected by the spellplague as everywhere else. The statues moved around, but nothing truly catastrophic occurred. In other parts of the Sword Coast, portions of earth drove thousands of feet into the air, cities broke apart or disappeared. 
• Rae says that some believe that it’s due to waterdeep being build on top of an elven kingdom, which had performed magic to keep the city from falling into the sea. 
• Sildar says some believe that Waterdeep caused the Spellplague somehow, trying to crush the other cities so they could rise.
• Rae gossips a bit with Vala, telling her that Neverember married Lady Brandath of the ultra-wealthy Brandath family from Waterdeep. It is common knowledge that Dagult married for wealth.
• This may explain how he can fund his endeavors in Neverwinter, the Waterdaveians would have revolted if their money had been sent north, but if he spent personal money it would be tolerated, if not liked.
• Sildar says that despite this, the masked lords are still pissed and consider Dagult an absentee lord - he’s been living in Neverwinter for years.
• Vala asks why, outside of a power grab, Dagult would have such an interest in Neverwinter,
• Sildar says Dagult is originally from the city, though he left for Waterdeep. His family was not nearly as powerful as the one he married into in Waterdeep.
  • The Brandaths are such an old and wealthy family that it’s assumed they’re among the masked lords. This is how Dagult climbed to the position of open lord of Waterdeep.
• Generally, Sildar conveys that Dagult cares about Neverwinter and wants it to be rebuilt, but he’s a shrewd man and doesn’t spend money that isn’t a worthwhile investment. It’s assumed he’s doing this partially with the goal of trying to install himself as monarch of New Neverwinter, in the style of Nasher Alagondar.  
• Rae adds that the position of open lord is not one that is held for life, it’s very subject to the anonymous politics of the city. 
• Vala supposes that it would be preferable to be king as the position was more solid than that of a masked lord. 
•  Sildar says both would be Dagult’s ideal scenario, but the masked lords do want to depose him and don’t like that they have an absentee ruler.
• Rae explains to Vala that the masked lords aren’t necessarily lords as she would think of them, the can be anyone from a noble person to the barkeep next door or the head of the carpenter guild. It makes the politics extremely complicated. The masked lords are making a lot of money off of the rebuilding of Neverwinter so they wont necessarily vote him out.
• Sildar says that this is helped by the fact that the city has such a diversified economy that it kind of runs itself as long as a catastrophe doesn’t strike.
• Mo listens to everyone talk while they drink.
• Verna has fully slipped from her chair onto the floor and used Baby Wolf Friend as a pillow
• Mo and Sildar drink until they pass out.
• Rae and Vala eventually go to their rooms? (unclear)

Next Session → Session 024: The Phandalian Interlude