Previously: Chapter 01: Meagre Beginnings
Entering Phandalin
Getting back to the cart, the party loads up the supplies they found in the goblin cave and head east towards Phandalin. Sildar is looking frustrated with the situation, failing to protect Gundren, so he is not very talkative. The party understands, and lets him be for the most part. As the group sees the sun descend on the western horizon, they decide to make camp for the night, and hopefully reach Phandalin in the morning. Luckily, no goblins or wolves come lumbering out in the night, so they get a good night's sleep.
The next day, making their last push towards their destination, they can see a settlement in the distance. Passing over a hill they overlook the quaint little village of Phandalin. The settlement seems to be built on top of an older settlement that was here long ago, as they can see remnants of stone foundations where the buildings used to be. Most of the buildings now are made of wood, and they can see a large collapsed mansion to the east of the village. As they descend down the hill and get a clearer look, they see a building with a logo of a blue lion above the door, seemingly the same as the one they found on the crates. The party quickly head towards the shop Barthen’s Provisions and drop off the goods they were hired to deliver. After this, they take the boxes they found and deliver them to the blue lion, which apparently goes by the name Lionshield Coster, a merchant company based in Elvenbridge. The woman behind the counter, Linene Graywind, seems to be happy to see her shipment finally arriving safely, and gives the party a fitting reward of a few gold coins for delivering it to her. The party picks up a few supplies at the same time, and heads back into town to explore.
Finding Lodgings
Demetrius in the meantime has been looking for lodgings, and finds the only place to sleep in town, Stonehill Inn. He approaches the innkeeper Toblen and his wife Trilena, and requests lodgings for him and his 5 companions. Much to the surprise and dismay of both the innkeeper and the party, both Granny and Willowbark say they prefer to sleep outside in the open air. Regardless, the Stonehills have available rooms so those who prefer to sleep indoors have a place to stay.
As the sun is setting, the party decides to just take a rest in the inn whilst they think of their next move, but Sildar is determined to look around the town for answers. The party orders a few drinks for themselves, while Kal asks if she can cook in the kitchen for the evening. As she is new in town, Toblen is hesitant to allow it, but when Kal offers to pay to do it, he cannot say no, so she starts making food. Willowbark and Granny try their hand at playing a little music, but the performance is lackluster. Penny sees this as an opportunity to offer to play for the inn in order to get free lodgings for herself.
In the kitchen, while Kal is making some food for guests, she talks a bit with Trilena, who asks if the party has encountered the “Redbrands”. Having just arrived, she says they have not, and asks who they are. Trilena explains that a group of soldiers arrived about a month ago, and basically took over the village. They take what they want, and several people have gone missing or been murdered when they tried to speak up, and the mayor won’t do anything. It’s especially clear that they don’t take kindly to newcomers. Kal asks where they are holed up, and Trilena says she doesn’t know exactly, but she has seen them around the Sleepy Giant Tap House.
Meanwhile, the half-elves have decided to go talk to some dwarven prospectors in the back of the inn, to see what they know of Cragmaw Castle, but the only “castle” they know about is the run down manor to the east of the village, which is from long ago from before the village was rebuilt. They’ve heard of Cragmaw Castle of course, but have no idea where it is. They have however heard about Wave Echo Cave, but are adamant that it is only a myth. Not getting more information from them, they move on to an old man sitting in the corner, asking the same. He tells them there’s no castles in the area, but asks if they want to hear a rumor; the cleric who tends to the Shrine of Luck recently left for a few days, and came back exhausted and wounded. Maybe something to check into.
As the party is minding their business, a trio of people enter the tavern. All of them are wearing red cloaks. The whole inn goes quiet, as the locals seem on edge by the sudden appearance of these ruffians entering, but they quietly go over to a table and sit down, with Trilena bringing over a few drinks for them.
Kal eventually comes out with her food, and tells the party what Trilena told her about the Redbrands that have invaded the town. As the party has huddled together as to not speak too loud, one of the redbrands takes notice, and comes walking over. Theren tries to throw him off by pretending they were talking about something else, but the redbrand is not having it and tells the group that they have to leave town the next morning. Willowbark tries to reason with him, but he just tells her to be quiet, making derogatory remarks about her kind. Theren tries to ask what the redbrands are doing in town, but this just agitates the redbrand, telling them they better keep quiet or they will regret it. He reminds them to leave town tomorrow, or face punishment, and returns to his group.
Trilena walks over with some more drinks, and tells the party she’s not sure where they sleep, but she is frustrated with them not paying for anything, and hopes someone can do something about them soon.
Getting Caught Up
The next morning, Toblen tells the party that Sildar went to talk to the mayor as soon as he woke up, so the party decides to go explore the town, not taking the redbrand threat too seriously. Granny sees a few kids running around in the street, so she decides to give theme some cookies as a treat, which they gladly accept. Heading over to the town hall, the party notice a bounty board on the outside, with the promise of a reward of 100 gp to anyone who can take care of the orcs that have been roaming the countryside, and seems to be holed up somewhere near Wyvern Tor.
Eventually, Sildar comes walking out of the town hall, after having spoken to the mayor. He greets the party, and shares what he has learned of the area. Concerning goblins, they seem to be a major problem, as they keep disrupting shipments and so the mayor has issued a 500 gp reward for dealing with them. Sildar has confirmed that Cragmaw Castle is their base of operations, but they do not know where it is, only that it is hidden to the forest in the north.
Willowbark, Penny and Granny go looking for sheep, as they want to say hi. On the outskirts of town they find a pen with some sheeps in them, so they spend some time there. Next to the sheep lives an old half-elf called Daran Edermath, well over a hundred years old. He used to be an adventurer, and spent a lot of time on the Western Coast. At first he seems to only be a kooky old man, but he has some surprising insight. For instance, he mentions that the Redbrands are probably holed up under the ruins of Tresendar Manor, the collapsed one to the east, and that their leader is called “Glasstaff”. He also mentions to the group that there are rumors of undead roaming around Old Owl Well, an old watchtower to the north-east. He suspects dangerous magic is the cause, and hopes the party can check it out if they are in the area. Penny thanks him for the information by playing him a song on her flute, which he greatly appreciates.
Back in the village, Kal has gone off alone to try to learn about the abandoned manor to the east. During her walk, she encounters the innkeeper’s son, Pip. He wants to play with Kal, which she does for a bit, and this leads to him revealing to her that his friend Carp told him that he found a secret tunnel in the woods south of the manor, and that he was almost captured by the redbrands when he did. He also overheard the redbrands talking about a guy called Glasstaff. Kal takes a mental note of this, and heads to the Shrine of Luck, where they agreed to meet up.
The Shrine of Luck
As Kal waits at the shrine, the rest of the group meet her there. The shrine is being looked after by a female elf in white robes, who approaches the party and asks if they’re willing to give a contribution. She asks if they are going to be in the area for a while, and if they are going to the north east. Apparently there resides a Banshee called Agatha just outside the ruins of Covenlet who could be willing to answer any question posed by someone who manages to flatter her. The elf is trying to find the location of a certain spellbook belonging to a legendary mage named Bowgentle. The party thinks they might find their way into that area, so they agree to help. The elf introduces herself as Sister Garaele, and gives them a jeweled silver comb, in the hopes that it might help in swaying the banshee. She warns the party that they should not be rude to the banshee, as she is quite powerful. Willowbark asks if Garaele has a map of the area, which she does, but it’s just a crudely drawn map that she herself has made, but as she is just staying in town she has no use for it, so she sells it to the party for 1 gp.
Just as the map is handed over, four men in dirty red robes come up behind them, and demand that the party gives up their equipment and leave town immediately, as they didn’t heed their warnings from before. The party is unwilling to hand over anything, as they are outnumbering the redbrands, but they seem to not be intimidated by this. Penny throws a few insults at them, which causes them to go on the offense, and attacks the party. Luckily, the party dispatches three of them without much issue, while the last one tries to run away, but the party knocks him out before he manages to escape. Willowbark quickly uses her druidic powers to have vines come from the ground to restrain him, so that the party can interrogate him about the redbrand dealings in town.