When everyone has finished their morning routines, Carp the Halfling lad will lead the group out to the secret entrance that he found.

It's some sort of cave... or possibly a tunnel from long ago... that has been mostly overgrown. You have to push the bushes aside to enter.

"I was just out here playing... practicing with my sling... maybe hunting a squirrel or two if I got good enough," Carp explains.

"I was being very quiet so a squirrel would come close enough for me to hit it when a rustling noise in the bushes scared the squirrel away. I thought maybe it might be a fox or a bear so I hid behind some bushes. Next thing I know two Redbrands come thrashin' through the trees like big ole lumbering oxes."

"I recognized one o' them--his name's Mort. He's not one of the ones back at the inn, though. They walked up to that rock over there, and waited. Pretty soon, two more ruffians come out o' nowhere! They walk over to the two others, yell insults at each other for a couple o' minutes, then the two new guys walk off through the trees and Mort and his pal walk the other way... and disappeared!"

"I waited for almost 10 minutes before a snuck over to where they disappeared. That's when I found the secret place."

Serena takes the boy's hands in her own.

"Thank you for telling us, honey." she said to him.

"I think there's a big amount of courage in that small body of yours. Sometimes, when people are being oppressed, you have to realize that nothing is going to change until someone takes a risk and tries to make things better. And you reaching out to us and telling us about the cave was a brave and good thing to do, despite the danger. Never forget that big or small, small or tall, old or young, that even one person CAN make a difference." she said to him.

"But we're going to go down there, and clean house. Phandalin doesn't need vermin like the redbrands. No one does. What else can you tell us about them? About their numbers, or any special people of interest you may have noticed with them or working for them? Perhaps you know something about these tunnels, or the area the tunnels were build on?"

While Serena talks to the boy, Ero says to the others, "are there any good trackers?  Perhaps we might determine where their ambushment lay and assault them there rather than use one of us to bait the trap to lure them out."

When Serena finishes talking with Carp he will give the lad a special mission, one of stealth and quick thinking.
"Carp, I have a mission for you. Something that will require you to be on your toes. Go back to the inn and help watch over the person keeping an eye on the captured Redbrands. I do not want you engage with those men but report if they start to get loose or attack the guard watching them."
He did not want Carp aggravating the men tied up but he could report their attempt to escape. More to the point he did not want Carp here where actual combat would be taking place.

Mithra's own experiences had taught her that Carp was more foolish than brave, mostly because of his age. He said he wasn't afraid, but that probably because he hadn't encountered anything more dangerous than a squirrel before.

She was glad that the others knew how to handle him; she wasn't sure she could have done it.


"So, we got any sneaky people with us?" Mithra asked, not too loudy, though.

As Serena asks her questions, Carp looks rather attentive and eager at first, but the time she's done, he's almost in tears.

"N-n-no, ma'am!" he practically wails. "Th-that's all I know. I didn't even know there was tunnels under the old manor."

Serena talks soothingly to the boy, as she strokes his hair a bit to try and calm him down.

"And that is a-o-k." she said to him. "If it makes you feel any better, none of us knew about the tunnels either. Or the manor for that matter. you were one step ahead of the rest of us."

She gave his head a pat.

"Why don't you go back to the inn where it is safer. And of course, you can help them keep an eye on the redbrands we tied up too. That is an important mission too, after all."

Artem paces around nervously while the others are talking to the child. It seems clear that he has no children and very little experience dealing with their emotional fragility.

Maldor stood in place and swayed with an unheard melody. He stared at the opening to who-knew-what, pondering the battle to come. The fighter's eye drifted for a moment over to fellow fighter Artem. It seemed that he, too, was anxious to get started.

Mal had nothing to add to the conversation going on nearby. He just wanted to combat the evil that was threatening the innocent people of the nearby settlement.

"That was a tremendous contribution, lad", said the beautiful priestess, smiling warmly at the child. "We'll be able to take them by surprise by going through here. Thank you." She pressed a gold coin into his palm.

Kyler listens carefully to the conversation, both to the said and unsaid. Different people interact as well as respond to stress differently. He finds it all very interesting.

He absently lets his mace sway in his arm a bit too caught up in the exchange to pay all that much attention to his surroundings.

Try as he might to make going back to the inn sound like a good plan for the kid it may have fell flat. So he was glad that the ladies also added their own words of encouragement. There was nothing more empowering for a young man than bolstering words from beautiful woman.

"So, no sneaky kinds, huh?" Mithra mumbles.

"That's okay; never liked sneaking around myself. Direct and forthright, that's me!"

"Maldor, you and me go in first then. I'd have included you, Bear, but we don't know what kind of tunnels these are. Wouldn't want you to get stuck halfway in while the Redbrands beat on you, know what I mean?"

She steps forward and with a quick swing of her arm, pushes the covering bushes aside and steps into the darkness, half expecting to be attacked while her eyes adjust.

Maldor glanced at his fighter teammate.

"Go. Good."

He followed Mithra into the tunnel.

Artem rushed to be in the second rank, knowing he was best up front and not stuck in the middle. "Bad guys, here we come!" he said in an excited whisper.

Kyler joins in with the second rank barring anyone else appearing eager to go there.

Serena goes in the middle, where her mid-range and support abilities could best be brought to bear.

Ero follows along after his more well-armored companions.  He takes a nervous glance behind.  "Shouldn't we have someone guarding our flank?" he asks.

"If you insist," Bear says to Mithra. He obviously wasn't too happy not being up front, but he knew well enough to concede to someone else's wisdom.

Bear and Kyler try to go in at the same time. "Please, allow me to go first. Should something happen, I can bear the brunt of an attack. Allow me to prove my worth to your group."

Seeing that the front rank is filling up, Lureene elects to enter just after them, forming a second rank of sorts from where she can cast her spells, heal the warriors in the front rank, or swap into their place as needed.

"You are more than welcome to take my place," Kyler says extending his arm,in response to Bear. "I'm new here too and I'm hoping to make a contribution as well though principally by my knowledge and healing."

He will let Bear take his place and then follow him. "Is it Bear?" he asks. "I'm curious how you got your name - if there is some story that you are ok sharing? Where are you from anyway?"

Kyler realizes that perhaps this isn't the best time for small talk. However, he is quite interested in learning more about Bear. He looked like he was not from any civilized area he had heard of and wondered if he was a barbarian. If so, what was life like growing up in the wilderness?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:45, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

Cunaar takes a place somewhere near Ero in the middle, be in more to the front or back should not make a great difference to him. Only determining his spell selection.
Overall he was ready to battle with a reported ten men plus or minus some but "Sleep" would be his primary choice, silent and effective. Unless elves were hidden below the manor.

"I am from Neverwinter, like many of my people are," Bear welcomingly answers Kyler, though keeping his voice low. "In my tribe, it is custom for mothers to name their sons after the spirits who visit them during childbirth. During my birth, Mother was visited by Great Father Bear. He spoke to her, saying that I will be a man of great stature and glory and that I will bring honor to our tribe."

He turns to look at Kyler with a sly grin. "He certainly wasn't wrong about the stature, was he?"

"I can't imagine your God lying about something like that. Have faith in your God and don't let anyway dissuade you - including yourself! I include you because times may become very difficult and during such times such a prophecy may well nigh seem preposterous. Even so, have faith! Though perhaps the road will be short or easy it may nigh be neither."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:23, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

The tunnel turns out to be rather narrow, wide enough for one person to go through fairly easily. The walls of the tunnel are just ordinary dirt for the first 40 feet before changing into rough-cut stone which goes on for another 60 feet.

After 60 feet, though, you need a light source, but Mithra quickly realizes that there is a dim light up ahead. It's enough to follow the tunnel, but not enough to see well.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, it appears to open up into an irregular cavern that stretches away from you that's around 30 feet wide and maybe 100 feet long. A 10-foot wide, 20-foot deep crevasse runs through the length of the cavern in the middle of floor, just to the right of the tunnel's exit.

A cold breeze wafts through the cavern, carrying a faint smell of decaying flesh. You can see two stone columns holding up the 20-foot ceiling. One is nearby on this side of the crevasse, the other is farther away on the opposite side of the crevasse.

There are also two arched wooden bridges over the crevasse, and the cavern is lit by two torches. One torch is in a niche 15 feet to the left, and the other is near the other end of the cavern.

Two other openings can be seen--one out of the left side of the cavern about 5 feet along that wall, and one out of the right side of the cavern but on the other side of the crevasse.

There might also be another exit at the far end of the cavern; it's hard to tell from here, partly because the stone column on the other side of the crevasse is blocking the view.

"Well. I suppose it was too much to hope for a straight-away path right until we met the Redbrands. Yet the brigands use this path somewhat regularly -- do any of us have any skill at tracking?" says Lureene. "I'm afraid this is quite beyond my ability."

"I'm afraid my studies never provided me such an opportunity though I would definitely like to learn. Has anyone here spent time in the wilderness and learned to live off the land?" he asks looking around. Although he grew up on a farm and hunting was a good supplement to farming, especially during the winter and early spring. Some of his brothers had such skills. His time away from the farm, however, was mostly spent at a small church in his village studying.

“One thing that would help is to have a little more light,” he says muttering to himself. “Would anyone mind if I cast a light spell? I don’t see so well when it’s dim like this.” Barring any objections Kyler will cast a light spell on his shield.

As the glow of light radiates from Kyler shield he walks over to the first bridge looking closely at it without actually getting on it. He then turns towards the crevice.

“Definitely far even down that I would prefer avoiding falling down there,” he says peering down into the crevice. ”I would suggest someone crossing the bridge first to make sure it’s safe and stable.”

“We could also explore this room a little bit first though,” he says looking back from the bridge to the room. ”Might not be a bad idea to see if there is anything down on the far end." Even as he says this, though, he looks at the other party members. He knows he is new and is ready and willing to accede to other ideas or suggestions.

Maldor approached the bridge next to the cleric and studied it.

"Maldor go" the half-orc firmly stated. "If bridge hold Maldor, bridge be good."

And, without waiting for a reply from the others, Mal took his first step.

"Wait Maldor, let me at least take a look at them. Perhaps I can tell which is more used."
Before Maldor steps upon either bridge Cunaar will look closely at them to see if one has more use. In which it might show the safer route.

The second bridge is about 60 feet away. Cunaar would have to walk down there to examine it. The near bridge doesn't look particularly well-used. In fact, it looks rather new.

"A new build....."
Did it pose a threat or just how the Redbrands choose to cross? It would not make sense to build an all new bridge to just trap it....would it.
Cunaar will walk down the way to see if it is also new.

With Maldor willing to cross the bridge to the other opening, Mithra decided someone should accompany Cunaar.

"Keep the noise down," she whispers to the others. "There's no point in alerting the Redbrands."

"Bear, would you mind watching that passage over there on the left? Don't wanna get surprised."

Clearly there was someone here, since there were torches lit. They looked fairly recent. In these tight hallways and rooms, it was going to be hard making use of everyone.

"Aye," he says with a nod. With Reidrbjorn in hand, Bear cautiously steps to the edge of the passage and peers in.

"We could set the bridges ablaze, trapping the Redbrands on the far side," Ero suggests.  "After several days, I surmise they'll be amenable to surrender."

In reply to Ero Sulaanin (msg # 34):

I generally find people get very upset when you set blaze to their constructions without permission.

Serena chimed in.

"I could care a less if they get upset. They're assholes. What I do, however, care about is if we set the bridge on fire we won't necessarily be able to get to the root of this problem and stamp it out. You can't just go after symptoms like a few ruffians. In cases like this - as with pulling any weed - you've got you get to the root of the problem or the whole weed keeps coming back."

She looks at the two paths.

"The fact the bridge is in such good shape would suggest it's probably new as well. And given how this looks I'd say there is an old area - perhaps ruins of some kind or some older set up - and newer things like the bridge and torches. I say we follow the newer things, and we'll find the more recent inhabitants. Or in this case, the more recent weeds."

'"I was under the impression this was the back door to their lair, which means there must be a front door", Lureene puts in. "Burning the bridges would accomplish little, if so."

"Aye, by burning the bridges we give up our surprise and then we have to negotiate. I prefer digging the badgers out likes dogs rather than trying to smoke them out," Artem says in his country accented Common. With that, he follows Bear to support the brawny man in case there is someone or something in the passage.

In reply to Lureene Raventree (msg # 37):

"Good point Lureene. They would be alerted to our activity as well and organize in the streets. Better we strike with surprise and swiftness."
If they are lucky there will only be a handful or two inside and cleaning them up will be final. Giving the town some relief that they will not be bullied further by this group. Perhaps forming their own militia to protect themselves rather than some outside source.

"There may be more to the Redbrands than we are aware," Mithra calls back in a low voice. "Let's not underestimate them just because we don't like them."

"The tunnel may not be a backdoor. Remember, the manor above is in ruins."

"We should split up... each group taking one of the passages. If anyone runs into difficulty, retreat back to here."

Bear and Artem approach the left passage and quickly see that it is finished stonework. It goes in 10 feet before coming to stone stairs leading downward. They can definitely hear noise from down the stairs... sounds like muffled voices.


Cunaar and Mithra head down to the far end of the chasm where the second bridge is, and have to walk past the left opening and around the stone column. By the time they get to bridge, they can see that there are two openings down here. There is another one on the left and a wide one at the end of the crevasse.


Maldor crosses over the 1st wooden bridge without any problem. He has to backtrack 5 feet to reach the opening that was on the right. It has finished stone block walls and flagstone floor. It goes in 10 feet before turning right in the last 5 feet.


Ero, Kyler and the three women are still by the entrance tunnel.

Nodding Cunaar takes a position with Mithra in the lead keeping an eye out for signs of activity from the Redbrands.
"Perhaps we can meet up if we find where they are residing. Pending they do not see us first."

"Maldor need go bridge," the impatient half-orc stated as the others planned. "Be other side. If bad human have arrows, Maldor be ready hit heads bad humans. If here, arrows bad. Maldor on bridge bad. Maldor need go bridge now."

He breathed heavily as he scanned the opposite end of the way across.

Ero follows Bear and Artem.

Throwing axe in hand, Artem indicates by gestures that there is some sound coming from below and gestures that he thinks others should join him and Bear since there is bound to be excitement if they hand down that way.

"I'm not sure we should split up at all, but especially not in three groups!", Lureene protests. She moves towards Maldor, but she seems less than please at the split.

By the time Mithra and Cunaar reach the second bridge, they can hear muffled voices from the passage on the left. Cunaar is examining the bridge to see if he can tell if has seen frequent usage when a strange creature suddenly springs up from the left side of the bridge. It is man-sized, humanoid, but has rocky skin--sharp shards of stone stick out of its back. It has clawed hands, a toothy maw, and one large mesmerizing eye!

Although it probably heard Cunaar, the first one it sees is Mithra; its eye begins to glow and pale green beam is emitted at Mithra.

Mithra needs to make a Constitution saving throw.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Bear, Artem and Ero, when they reach the bottom of the stairs, there is a closed door immediately on the left. You can now hear more voices coming from here. The other voices are still coming from the passage that goes off to the right; they are louder and drown out the closer ones. The passage to the right goes 10' and ends in a closed door.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Maldor and Lureene cross the bridge. You can either go left along that side of the crevasse edge, or go right to the passage. The passage goes in 10' before turning to the right, where it goes another 10' and turns left down a hallway, which goes 20 feet and dead ends.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What are Amiri, Kyler and Serena doing?

Kyler watches as Maldor crosses the 1st bridge without incident. He then spots Methra and Cunaar head towards the 2nd bridges. He hesitatingly follows them. "Shouldn't we stick together," he says under his breath. "I don't like everyone going their own way," he says to himself. "It's really disconcerting."

Maldor frowned when he and Lureene reached the dead end. And, when someone of Mal's birth frowns, it's obvious.

"This not good" the half-orc stated with a disappointed tone. "Bad human here need be where Maldor hit on head."

He let out a grunt.

"You say where Maldor go. Maldor go, see bad human, hit bad human on head. Good human in town be safe. Maldor and friends drink ale and eat meat to celebrate."

Reacting swiftly Cunaar casts a firebolt at the creature with one eye, not wanting to utilize his Sleep spells until there was more to affect. Though with only one it was sure to affect it unless it was immune. Which was something he also did not know.


13:10, Today: Cunaar Clothar rolled 3 using 1d10.  Firebolt.
13:09, Today: Cunaar Clothar rolled 22 using 1d20+6.  Firebolt.


Not impressed with its damage but it might be enough to break its beam it was using.

"Let's rejoin the others", Lureene tells Maldor. "We should not split up and spread out so." She turns back the way they came.

Maldor nodded his head to the half-elf.

"We go. We help others."

The half-orc took large steps along the return path.

Bear puts a finger to his lips indicating Artem and Ero to be silent. He cautiously walks up to the door and tests to see if it is locked.

Seeing that several of the others had gone in the direction Bear had, Serena decides to go follow Cuunar and Mithra.

She runs to catch up, and when she sees the strange creature pop up and start attacking Mithra, and Cuunar start casting, she decides to follow suit and try and make things easier for them by using quick blast of sound laced with psychic magic to try and disorient the beast a bit!

ooc: Serena is going with the Mithra group, and using vicious mockery on whatever is attacking Mithra with its eye beam thing.

Artem nods to Bear and waits, ready to throw his axe should anything come through the door.

In reply to Serena Valais (msg # 54):

Amiri will follow Serena and Eldritch Blast whatever is attacking Mithra.

Bear, Artem, and Ero, with Maldor and Lureene coming up behind them:

Bear carefully tries to open the door. It does not seem to be locked, and as he slowly starts to open it, the voices beyond become louder and clearer. The voices are speaking Goblinygook (Goblin language), and seem to be barking orders to someone.

A smell of unwashed bodies and rotting meat gusts out from the room.

Bear is able to catch a glimpse of a somewhat large furry creature lounging on a bunk in the far corner of the room. He's barking an order at someone.


There are enough characters up with Mithra that view of the creature is obscured, and Maldor saw Ero, not yet having started down the stairs, bringing up the rear of that group, so that's where he headed.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Mithra, Cunaar, Kyler, Serena and Amiri:

Mithra has no idea what the strange eyebeam from the creature is supposed to do, but she doesn't feel any different.

Cunaar casts firebolt at the creature, and has no problem hitting it, though damage seems to be minimal.

Mithra then steps forward and swings at the creature... but misses. It's quicker than it looks!

Kyler comes up behind them at this point, followed shortly by Serena and Amiri.

Serena casts viscious mockery at it, but the spell seems to have no effect.

20:12, Today: StarMaster rolled 18 using 1d20 ((18)). Creature saving throw.

Amiri then casts eldritch blast at the creature.

20:46, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Amiri Flamestorm, rolled 17,7 using 1d20+4,1d10 ((13,7)).

She has no problem hitting the creature with her spell; it does a bit more damage than Cunaar's did.


~Ouch-ouch-ouch! Hurt! No hurt Gorth! Gorth friend! Thought you were Redbrands here to torment me!~ the creature seems to say.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:52, Sun 11 Oct 2015.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 57):

Charisma is my spellcasting attribute and I have the Agonizing Blast Invocation so 19 to hit and 11 damage, Starmaster.

Amira fires another Eldritch Blast off at the Orc.

"Take some more of Kossuth's pure flame!"

this round how ever spell attack: 17, damage: 12
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:20, Mon 12 Oct 2015.

OOC: Can Artem see anything past Bear, or just hear the barking commands?

No, Artem can't see anything past Bear, mostly because it's around the corner and he's only opened the door a little bit.

Serena takes Amiri by the hand, hopefully before she tries to firebolt it one eyed creature again.

"Wait Amiri! Stop don't shoot!" Serena shouts to her suddenly.

"And before you ask, no I'm not charmed or something. I heard that thing speaking. In my mind, but it spoke. It is trying to talk to us and I'd like to give it a chance to speak and be peaceful. Please, if you'll let me..." Serna says as she walks a bit closer to the bridge, although she doesn't go on it nor go neat Mithra and the creature.

"Gorth? Is that your name? I am Serena, and no we're not Redbrands. If you would please stop attacking, we will stop as well - I'd like to give you a chance to speak with us." she said aloud to the creature, in common, elven, dwarven, and even draconic for good measure. She tried to think a reply to him too, if that was possible.

"Can you tell me what sort of creature you are? I've never seen something like you before. What are you even doing here, if you're not a friend of the Redbrands?"

"More goblins," Ero mutters.  "Plausibly the same we pardoned."

He looks to the more martial members of the group.  "Induce them out into the hall where I can conflagrate them?" he suggests.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Tue 13 Oct 2015.

In reply to Ero Sulaanin (msg # 62):

Amiri puts her hands down.

"Yes, stop attacking and you have my word I will stop attacking."

~Sorry, sorry, sorry. Gorth not intentionally attack. Just a reaction.~ the creature says.

~I live here. Nothics live underground. Came up from deep below through the crevasse. Redbrands want me to guard. Give me food. But torment me all the time. Don't like them. Like food, though.~

Serena shakes her head at Gorth.

"The Redbrands are very, very bad people, Gorth. They may give you some food now and then, but it's obvious they don't really care about you. Or anyone else for that matter besides themselves. You shouldn't work with them. One of these days, you're going to outlive your usefulness and get yourself hurt. Or worse!" she said firmly to the creature.

"We're only here to deal with them. We never intended to hurt anyone innocent. Or you, for that matter. We understand that sometimes you just react to things when you're on guard. We do it too, and no one's perfect." she continued, with a shrug.

"How about this, Gorth. Tell me what sorts of food you like. Maybe I'll give you some food instead, if you'd like to be my friend that is. We don't have to fight each other. I think we can be friends instead, if you'd like." she adds.

Bringing up the rear, Lureene pulls a bit of meat from her pack, unwraps it and steps next to Serena and offers it to the creature with a warm smile.

Maldor had found the rest of the adventurers after his fruitless search elsewhere. He stood toward the back, craning his head to try to see up front.

"What go on?" the half-orc asked. "Tiny woman make new friend?"

Serena handled the creature better than he believed he might have had he spoken first, glad now that he had not. At least the group was now only split in half not the three groups. Perhaps this 'Gorth' could give them some intelligence on the locations of the RedBrands.
Waiting until after he had taken the food and eaten it Cunaar will ask,
"Gorth, where do the RedBrands stay? We see several ways to go and we want to stop them."

Group One


Bear immediately recognizes the creatures as bugbears, and the sounds are of them tormenting someone still out of sight. He probably would have charged in anyway, hoping the element of surprise would give him the advantage. With staunch allies at his back (at least he hoped they were), he pushed the door open and charged in.

Since he'd heard other voices down the hall, he decided to forgo his usual battle shout. He charges directly at the bugbear that he saw in the opposite corner of the room.

Also, the room wasn't very big, and he thought he might have trouble swinging his great sword, so he chose to use his hand axe for the attack.

03:09, Today: Bear rolled 19 using 1d20+6 ((13)). Charge and Attack! Good hit!
03:10, Today: Bear rolled 22 using 1d20+6 ((16)). Advantage roll. Even better!

03:10, Today: Bear rolled 7 using 1d6+4 ((3)). Damage if he hit. Can't win 'em all.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:22, Mon 02 Nov 2015.

Ero's jaw drops as the hairy man charges into the room.  Humans!  He waves for the others to go by.  "Endeavor to assemble them into one throng," he says as he waves the others to go by.  "Then I will ignite them."

I'll hold for everyone else.

Artem smiles with anticipation and follows bear, choosing to hurl his hand axe at the nearest beastie to which he has a clear line of sight.



15:57, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 12 using 1d20+3

The bugbear that Bear hit is badly injured but doesn't go down. That is, he gets up. He was laying in a bunk in the corner.

Artem rushes in and sees that there are four bunks, one in each corner, and that each bunk has a reclining bugbear in it. Near the center of the room is a goblin that the bugbears were tormenting. He's barely had time to react to Bear when Artem charges in. The goblin's eyes go wide, then roll back in his head as he passes out.

While the two bugbears in the corners of the room closest to the door are shorter range, he heeds Ero's comment somewhat and attacks the bugbear down along the near wall.

He has surprise, so Advantage.

04:06, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Artem Jorak, rolled 12 using 1d20+3 ((9)).

The bugbear is flat-footed anyway, and prone, so Artem just barely manages to hit him.

04:09, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Artem Jorak, rolled 9 using 1d6+3 ((6)). Damage from the hand ax thrown. Well, that makes up for almost lousy hit.


Ero can still act while the bugbears are surprised; he'll have Advantage.


---------------------------------------------------------------------


Gorth trains his single large eye on the piece of meat that Lureene offers, then takes it gingerly with one clawed hand, holds it up to examine it closer, sniffs at it and finally tosses it in his mouth.

~Meat. Eat meat. Fresh meat. This okay. Don't know where Redbrands stay. I stay here. They go in all directions sometimes.~ Gorth thinks to everyone.

It is unclear if he can control who he thinks to or whether it's just a general mental broadcast.

Just then, one of the Redbrands comes out of the passage behind them. He is carrying someone over his shoulder, someone who appears to be tied to a chair.

Ero brings his hands together.  With a few whispered words, he calls forth sheets of pale white fire to cover the bugbears.

11:36, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 11 using 1d20+5.  Burning Hands vs DEX.
11:37, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 15 using 3d6.  damage, half on save.

Serena has to act fast, lest they ruin their element of surprise, as well as possibly risk that hostage being hurt. Also, since she and her allies weren't fighting that redbrand that suddenly appeared, her beguiling magic would be more effective.

Serena suddenly begins to start chanting as she rushed ahead and got within 30 feet of the redband, and unleashed an spell!

ooc: Casting charm person at the redbrand. Since we're not in combat with him yet technically, he doesn't get advantage on his saving throw.

About to cast a spell of his own Cunaar hears Serena begin one of her own, not wanting to waste his or her spell he waits.

At the rear of the group that had encountered the "new friend," Maldor remained curious.

"Maldor not know what go on" he mumbled. "We no hit bad humans?"

The fighter did his best to look around the group into the next room.

Kyler hears Serena begin chanting. "I wonder what spell she is casting," he says to himself. He moves forward positioning himself a little in front of Serena but to her side so that she has a clear view of the Redbrand. In his hand he holds his mace, ready to intercept the Redbrand should he drop his captive and charge.

Next round, Artem and Bear have initiative over the bugbears, mostly because they have to get up in order to do anything.

Ero's flame damage clearly hurts the other two bugbears, but it doesn't kill them. They struggle to get up and put out the flames at the same time, while also trying to attack Ero, who has initiative over them.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Redbrand carrying the hostage falls under Serena's charm spell before he even realizes she and the others are there. He stops abruptly as he sees you, a puzzled expression crossing his face.

"Who is youse?" he says.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Maldor," the warrioress agrees with the Half-Orc, as she keeps an eye on the strange-looking creature that called itself a nothic. It was creatures like that that made Orcs and Half-Orcs seem 'normal'.

"Looks like that Redbrand has a prisoner. Serena's trying to free the prisoner without getting him hurt."

She turns back to the nothic named Gorth.

"How many Redbrands are here in the crypts?" she asks him. She's not expecting an exact answer, not because she thinks the nothic is stupid but because he's literally as well as figuratively been kept in the dark. He didn't seem inclined to explore this place either, but he could probably get an idea of how many Redbrands passed by.

Bear didn't think the bugbear was so tough, but clearly it was going to take a few bashes to knock it out.

08:20, Today: Bear rolled 8,8 using 1d20+6,1d6+4 ((2,4)). Attack and damage.

"Huh? How'd I miss him?! He's still laying down!" he complained to himself.

The explanation, of course, was that the bugbear was a bit more nimble than expected. Rather than just lay there and get hit, he'd rolled out of the bunk.

Just as Serena was charming the Redbrand with the prisoner and Mithra was explaining to Maldor what was going on, someone else entered the picture... specifically entered the crypts through the same secret passage that the Redbrands used and had provided access to the group of adventurers.

Lao Chen had been sent by the Lord's Alliance ranger Sildar Hallwinter, assuming that Lao was looking for adventure, too. Lao had been fortunate enough that the Halfling youth had been lurking around the inn and had overheard the conversation, for Carp had led the others out to the secret entrance to the crypts beneath the ruins of Tressendar Manor.

Although he experienced a bit of trepidation at entering the tunnel on his own, he got some assurance that Carp knew he was here, and that other adventurers had gone this way not too long ago.

The initial tunnel wasn't too long before it opened into a cave on the left. The long cave had a crevasse running down the middle of it; he could see from the two lit torches stuck in wall sconces. There were two bridges that crossed over the crevasse.

Lao could see the other adventurers (at least he hoped that's who they were) down by the far bridge. He also caught the faint sound of combat coming from an opening on the left wall of the cave.

Lao dropped to a low crouch, and proceeded carefully and quietly towards the figures by the far bridge. Since he couldn't tell for sure who they were, he'd opted to approach stealthily. He wanted to get a better look before making himself known.

01:41, Today: Lao Chen rolled 25 using 1d20+6.  Stealth.

Thinking Denk (the Redbrand carrying him) was talking to him, and not see the group, Tramorn repies "My names Tramorn Duskwalker, it's nice of you to carry me around but I wouldn't need the help if I wasn't tied to this chair"

Ero retreats behind his moving wall of metal and muscle.  He draws his longbow and to cast an arrow of flame at one of the bugbears, but his sleeve gets tangled in the string and the shot goes wide.

"Gentlemen, I've done my part.  I leave the rest to you."

07:43, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 4,6 using 1D20+3,1D10.  Firebolt at bugbear 1.

Not knowing completely that the man is under Serena's spell Cunaar waits to see how the guard responds to her answer. He does not want to interact with the man, not his spell.

Maldor grunted at Mithra's explanation.

"Stand here?" the fighter stated in a low tone. "Go in? Maldor no like stand. Maldor wonder others have bad humans hit."

Serena was no stranger to her charm and beguilement magic. She could see the signs it had taken root successfully.

"Now you guys - that redbrand there is my buddy and you guys are gonna be civil, you follow?" she said as she then sheathed her sword and walked toward the Redbrand.

"Hello my friend, how are you doing? I was looking for another lost friend of mine. Ah Tramorn? There you are! Silly you, always getting yourself into trouble. What would you ever do with out me? Hopefully right now you just keep quiet and reflect on your um...being lost and found and stuff." she said as she smiled and talked gregariously.

She looked at the redbrand, and made friendly gesteurs to him.

"Hey bud - do you think you could do little 'ol me a favor and put my lost friend Tramorn there down? You'll spoil him and make him feel more entitled than he already does if you keep carrying him around like that. Maybe cut him free so he can actually stand up and stretch a bit. He seriously needs to walk on his own two legs - a woman like me has no respect for a man who cannot stand on his own two legs. And in the meantime, how about you and I swap some stories and maybe I'll even show you this really neat little illusion trick I've been working on for a side-show I'm thinking about doing. So what do ya say?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:51, Sat 31 Oct 2015.

Not totally sure what was going on but Tramorn figures it may help after Serena talks to the redbrand holding him he says, "His names Denk, if that'll help".  Then Tramorn says to Denk "Hey Denk, why don't you do as my friend there says and put me down and we can all talk awhile"

OOC: Artem ready to attack again when timing is appropriate...

Kyler looks curiously at the change in the Redbrand. He nods as he hears Serena's instructions and lowers his mace.

"I can help if you like," Kyler offers to Denk. "How 'bout I watch over him while you talk with Serena and the others?"

Once he gets a chance, he will look over Tramorn to see if he is sick or wounded and would benefit from any healing.

OOC:
Medicine Check d20+6 (I think - Wis bonus plus Medicine skill)
11:40, Today: Kyler Woodster rolled 12 using 1d20+6.  Medicine Check on Tramorn.

Artem and Bear can keep attacking. Ero appears to be backing out of the room, as he's not really the melee type.

You've got one more round to attack with Advantage.

Bear's bugbear has to get up off the floor.

Artem's bugbear was trying to get up out of the bunk still, but Artem's hit keeps knocking him back down.

The other two bugbears are putting out flames (whether they are still there or not) while trying to get out of their bunks. It'll still take them a round after that to get to Artem and Bear.

==========================================================================

Based on his expressions, Serena is pretty sure that the Redbrand she's charmed only understood the 'swap some stories' of her speech. She's talking to him like a reasonable person; she's finally realizing that he's not. He's a Redbrand because he isn't very smart.

She's the only one that has charmed him, so he doesn't really pay attention to what anyone else says.

He does, however, set the chair down on the floor just by pushing it off his shoulder. It's a rough landing for Tramorn, but nothing serious is hurt.

Kyler goes over to Tramorn, unties him and examines him for injuries. Other than a lump on the back of his head, he seems fine.

=============================================================================

While Lao Chen attempts to approach the visible group stealthily, which isn't hard in the dim torchlight of the cavern, as he hugs the left wall, he passes the opening, and sees that there are stairs going down. He can hear the sounds of fighting from down the stairs, and he spots an Elf, holding a bow, backing out of a doorway down on the left.

==============================================================================

Milcom advances down the tunnel until it opens on the left into a cavern. According to the Redbrand he interrogated, the cells are across the first bridge and down the hallway on the right.

By now, Mithra is feeling the same as Maldor--she wants to bash something. Serena's charming of the Redbrand was less than satisfying. Clever and amusing, but not satisfying.

With Lureene, Cunaar, Amiri and Kyler, there didn't seem to be much point in keeping watch on the nothic... not to mention Serena and this new guy, Tramorn.

With that thought, she picks up the faint sound of fighting.

"Hey, Maldor! Hear that? They're playing our song! Let's go see what kind of trouble the others have found!"

She heads off to the other opening where Artem, Bear and Ero had gone.

After getting his hands untied Tramorn says, "Thanks for untying me friend.  I don't know who you guys are but If you help get me out of here I'll help you with what ever you came here for if you tell me what that is?  I was just captured and interrogated by some wizard that acted important"

Ero turns his attack to one of the bugbears in its bunk.  Hi aims a little better, but still not what he hoped; the firebolt hits the mattress and not the bugbear.

15:31, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 10,1 using 1D20+3,1D10 ((7,1)).

Maldor stared at the parting Mithra. He looked forward. He returned to the female fighter.

Mal groaned. He tapped on the shoulder of the teammate (whomever it is) next to him.

"Warrior woman hear fight. Warrior woman go help. Maldor go help warrior woman. If need help, yell for Maldor. Maldor come back."

And, with that, Mal chased after Mithra, headed for the other group and their melee.

Lao opts to moves passed the stairs for now and move to the group of people he'd seen before.

"Quite a bit of commotion down there," he mutters quietly to himself and he moves quickly and quietly passed the opening and onward to his current objective.

---

OOC: If I'm reading everything correctly, I'm on a collision course with Mithra and Maldor. So we'll bump into each other soon I suppose.

>>> Lao Chen >>>

About 10 feet from the wall on the left that goes left is a column of stone almost straight ahead that is just past the first bridge over the crevasse. It blocks Lao from view of the group down by the second bridge. Trying to sneak along the left side of the column would be tricky because the torch is on the left wall just the other side of the opening. Sneaking to the right of the column puts you on a narrow ledge overlooking the 40 foot crevasse.

Slipping past the opening with the stairs, Lao can get a few more shadows off the column. He's backed up against the column, peering past, trying to listen to the group, when two of the group break off and head for the opening. The first one is a tall warrioress who doesn't even notice Lao as she strides past.

The second one, however, is a Half-Orc whose senses are a bit better. He spots Lao easily.

==================================================================================

>>> Mithra and Maldor >>>

Mithra and Maldor head off towards the sounds of combat, not at a full run but a hustle. Mithra runs by the stone column, focused on the opening. Maldor, however, spots someone lurking against the column.

Milcom pokes the redbrand with his short sword to keep him moving forward, "So are there any guards you wish to tell me about. Better now then when they put arrows into you.

"I'd best go towards the fighting and see if anyone will need healing", Lureene says softly, not wanting to disrupt what Serena is doing with the charmed Redbrand. Seeing that the bard has the situation well in hand, she heads off after Maldor and Mithra.

Serena makes a motion to the party members near her to attend to the guy in the chair that just got put down. She herself walked up to the Redbrand and gave him a pat on the back.

"Hey Denk. Don't worry about my friends. Let's go swap stories. I was just at an inn this morning and swiped some beef jerkey to snack on. Wanna share it with me? It's actually pretty damned good!" she said to the Redbrand as she gently tried to maneuver him away from the man in the chair and the rest of her party. This would make the overall situation much less threatening to Denk, and allow her to interrogate him easier.

"So tell me Denk...what are the Redbrands up to these days? I hear they got a wizard working with them? Is that right?" she said, acting on the fly as she overhead chair-man mentioning something about it and figured that would be a good lead-in.

Artem finds his second hand axe on his belt and hurls it at the bugbear, about as fair a throw as the last one.




21:54, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 12 using 1d20+3.  hand axe throw again.
OOC: Forgot advantage which I think is another roll.


21:53, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 9 using 1d6+3.  damage.

21:51, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 19 using 1d20+3.  2nd roll .


This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

Although following Mithra, Maldor is looking around for the source of the fighting sounds which are becoming clearer as he moves to the other passage. As he passes between the stone column and the cavern wall, he spots someone lurking there. At first glance, it just looked like an irregular coloration of the rocks, reminding him of a cloak. Then the cloak moved. Maldor did a double take, staring more intently at the rock, finally realizing that someone was standing there.

"Good trick. Who you?" Maldor asked the stone.

The 'stone cloak' didn't look like a Redbrand--too short, and he wasn't fighting. What else was there?

>>> Milcom >>>

Hustling his prisoner down the tunnel, it opens up into a cavern. There seems to be a lot of people and activity here, but this isn't where the prisoners are kept. The prisoner indicates the passage off on the right. You have to cross over the bridge that spans a crevasse the splits the cavern floor.

Crossing the bridge while the others in here seem distracted, Milcom pushes his prisoner into the passage, which immediately doglegs to the right before straightening out again. Down the dark passage you go for around 60 feet before it dead-ends. A loose stone in the left-hand wall releases the secret door, which swings away from you to the right.

Beyond is a room, which has the looks of a cellar, including a large rectangular cistern in the floor. An assortment of barrels and crates are tucked into the corners. At the far end of the room, stairs lead up to two landings. Milcom's prisoner indicates the far door on the lower landing on the left is where you should go.

This doors leads to a wide hallway that goes left. At the far end of the hallway is a pair of copper-plated double doors. As you go down the hall, your prisoner keeps to the right hand wall, finally admitting there is a pit trap in the floor.

Bypassing the trap, you reach the double doors. They open easily enough to reveal the crypt beyond, with three stone  sarcophaguses. Your prisoner indicates the door at the far end of the room on the right, past the sarcophagus along that wall, is the cells.

Milcom can hear arguing from behind the door.


>> Artem, Bear, Ero, Mithra >>>

It takes one more hit from Bear to render that bugbear unconscious.

Artem easily hits the other bugbear in that end of the room. It still isn't enough to finish him off, but he's still struggling to get up out of the bunk, and the hand axe's impact didn't help.

Ero's first flame attack set things on fire, so even though his second attack misses, the two bugbears are wary of him. Ero hears footsteps coming down the stairs, and catches sight of Mithra.

The noise of combat has finally caught the attention of others, and a door down the hall opens. A red-cloaked Rebrand appears in the doorway.

"What's all the damn ra... Holy Shat! Inruders!" he begins, ending with a yell. He draws his sword and rushes down the hall. Behind him, others are getting up from chairs and following him.


>>> Serena and company >>>

Serena has the Redbrand completely baffled and more or less eating out her hand. He takes the offered jerky.

"Yeah, we's got a wizard. Glasstaff. We got lotsa treasure with him callin' the shots. We got the town unner our control now," he says.


>>> Lureene >>>

Lureene comes up behind Maldor and sees he's talking to the stone column for some reason.

Maldor gave a quick glance to his half-elf teammate. He pointed a finger from his free hand to the shorter man next to the stone.

"He bad human? He no fight. Maldor think he here like us."

Maldor turned back to Lao Chen.

"If you no bad human, you come fight bad humans, yes? If you are bad human, tell Maldor so Maldor can hit on head, yes?"

Milcom moves in close behind the Redbrand, "Remember, you scream out or try anything..... I will kill you. You keep being smart, you live." He moves the man forward to the door and prepares to fight for his friends families lives, "Open it!"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:11, Tue 10 Nov 2015.

[I think you got players mixed up?]

Serena literally had him eating out of her hand as she handed him the jerky.

"Glasstaff eh? I feel like I've heard of that guy before. But maybe I'm mistaken - you can never be too sure these days when you travel on the road like I do. I want to make sure he isn't a buddy of mine I've met before or something, so could you please tell me a bit more about him? You know, to see if anything helps jog my memory?" she asked him with a helpless tone of voice.

"Is he the one running the shots for the Redbrands now, or are there other people in charge still? And what sort of magic does he like to use most often from what you remember? Or does he more use certain weird items like a magic staff or wand or something, or have some sort of animal or critter that follows him around and does stuff for him?"

Tramorn is listening intently to the conversation between Serena and the Redbrand.  He's wanting some revenge now against that wizard and is hoping to find his equipment and weapons.  "Anybody got a dagger or two I can borrow until I find my stuff? ..Or better yet can you ask your new friend there to give me his weapons?" Tramorn asks Serena
This message was last edited by the player at 13:03, Tue 10 Nov 2015.

"Is there someone?" Lureene asked, squinting her eyes where Maldor pointed. She wondered if the half-orc was imagining things, but she regretfully had to admit a surfeit of imagination was not a characteristic she would have guessed of him. "I see only stone."

Maldor looked at Lureene, then back to Lao. To Lureene, Lao.

"Maybe not bad human say something. Not bad human say to holy woman. Then go fight bad human. Yes?"

It wasn't right to be proud of his ability but that he could successfully hide from two people was... satisfactory. That the Half-Orc spotted him was of little concern as it was probably by scent.

"Please, do not be alarmed," Lao said as he stepped away from the stone and out of hiding. "You do not appear to be Redbrands; that was who I was hiding from."

"Sildar sent me to... assist you... if you need it, of course."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:31, Tue 17 Nov 2015.

>>> Serena, Amiri, Cunaar, Kyler and Tramorn >>>

Once again, Serena realizes she asks too many question! The entranced Redbrand has trouble processing all of them. It usually winds up being the last question that he retains and responds to.

"Wizard look like wizard," Denk replies to Serena. "He uses glasstaff. That's why we call him Glasstaff."

Almost subconsciously, he pulls his dagger from his belt and hands it to Tramorn.

Amiri and Cunaar continue to keep an eye on the nothic... until they suddenly realize he's not there any more.

==================================================================================

>>> Lao, Maldor and Lureene >>>

Somehow, Maldor realizes that the newcomer isn't a Redbrand... perhaps just subconsciously by the man's actions. He certainly isn't behaving like one.

There is suddenly shouting from down the passage.

==================================================================================

>>> Artem, Bear, Ero and Mithra >>>

Bear takes out the bugbear he was fighting and turns to see what else is going on in the room. When he spots Artem and Ero not faring so well, and then the shouting out in the hallway, he grabs the dead bugbear and heaves it at the one Artem was attacking and then moves to deal with the one behind the door.

Ero, in the doorway, is undecided on whether to step into the room to make way for Mithra charging down the stairs or to step out into the hallway. His decision is made for him as the door at the end of the hallway opens and four Redbrands come charging down the hallway, shouting.

The bugbear in the last corner finally manages to get out of the bunk and charges at Ero!

Startled, Ero throws another firebolt.  Again, his aim is not what he hoped.  The bolt glances the bugbear's arm.  It was enough to enrage the bugbear further, but did it even hurt him?

I didn't realize I missed a round.  Sorry!

07:19, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 15,2 using 1D20+3,1D10.  firebolt, bugbear.

Taking the dagger from Denk, Tramorm feels much better having a weapon in his hand.  He never like punching, sliding a dagger into someone from behind is more to his liking.

<For some reason, the forum repeated my message. I tried to delete it, but got an error. Crazy Ropl. ;)>
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Tue 17 Nov 2015.

Maldor turns his head toward the noise.

"Maldor go help!"

And, with the speed that he could safely muster, the fighter took flight down the passage. He held his greatclub firmly, ready to do battle. A growl began to grow within his throat.

Just as Mithra reached the bottom of the stairs, a door at the end of the passage on her left opened, and 4 Redbrands came charging down the hall, somewhat yelling at the perceived intruders.

Mithra kind of understood their attitude--some had invaded their space. While technically they probably didn't own the ruins of the manor, even if they were squatters, they still thought of it as their territory.

Mithra felt it was her responsibility to disabuse them of that notion. She grinned widely as she charged down the hall to meet them. It meant they could only come at her one at a time.

She heard Maldor coming down the stairs behind her, and trusted him to guard her back... assuming the battle in the room behind her didn't turn out well.

"Have at it, you scurvy dogs!" she yelled back at the charging Redbrands. She couldn't remember where she'd heard the expression before, though she knew it was some sort of sailor or pirate term. She'd just liked it, and it seemed appropriate here.

Lao follows after Maldor, his shortswod in hand.

"I'm Lao, by the way!" Lao yells, hoping Maldor would hear him over the din of his own battle cry.

Clearing his throat Cunaar addresses Serena,
"Excuse me Serena, if you and your dear friend could move this way a bit I think our other friends could use some help. I will go see while you chat."
With that he turns on his heels and rushes towards the sounds of battle until he gets within sight and can assess what to do.


Dashes double speed

Serena sighs softly - this guy is really a blockhead, even for a bandit. The charm makes it even worse in its own way, so she reminds herself mentally that most people - especially thugs - aren't as sharp as she is and she needs to dumb it down.

"Ah yeah, the glass staff. I should have thought of that one! silly me!" she said with a chuckle. "So Denk, is that wizard leading the redbrands these days now, or is someone else in charge?"

She looks at Cunnar, and nods her head indicating he can go and mouthing "I'll be fine" to him. She wanted to keep Denk distracted a bit longer before sending him back away from the rest of the party.

Lureene turns down towards the passage, lifting her shield. Then Maldor rushes past her. The priestess scrambles to follow, chain mail clinking, trailing red hair and red cloak. "Pleased to meet you, Lao", she calls to the man now that she sees him. "I'm Lureene Raventree of Sune!"

Artem watches the flying dead bugbear with amusement, then unslings his battle axe to have a final go at the remaining live hairy bastard.  Unfortunately, with all of the commotion he gets jostled and swings poorly.




OOC: 22:25, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 9,4 using d20+5,d8+3.  battle axe, damage.

Serena, Amiri, Kyler and Tramorn continue to deal with the dazzled Redbrand, but the nothic has disappeared.

"Glasstaff leader. Him smart," Denk replies.

===============================================================================

Artem attacks one of the two remaining bugbears, but misses. Between Ero's fire, the bugbear being recumbent in the bunk, and Artem's ax attack, the bugbear is only able to make a feeble attempt to attack back... and misses.

Bear has moved to the other corner and begins bashing that bugbear.


==============================================================================

Out in the hallway, things are getting a bit crowded. Mithra went down the hall to attack more Redbrands, but there's not enough room for anyone to get past her. Only one Redbrand at a time can get at her, though.

Stacked up behind her is Maldor and Lureene, and Lao is joined by Cunaar on the stairs. Ero is still in the doorway of the room. Anyway can move past him, though.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 122):

Amiri laughs.

" So, we just have to be smarter.

Maldor's frustration at not being able to get at the fight caused his low growl to increase in volume. He stomped his feet, looking for the first opportunity to put his weapon to use.

Catching up to the others held up in the hall Cunaar is somewhat taken aback at the sight of the new face (Lao). Only that he is not attacking the party does he ask,
"Who are you? Are you a Redbrand?"

Artem and Bear both have Advantage at this point.


Mithra is finally able to drop the first Redbrand, but not before she's taken a couple of hits, though all seem to be rather minor. Before the next Redbrand can move forward, Mithra decides to step aside and let Maldor shuffle past her.

Maldor's growl becomes laughter, although still quite guttural. He rushes past Mithra and assaults his approaching foe. The greatclub carried in his large hands swings down.

[14:47, Today: Maldor rolled 4 using 1d20+3 ((1)).

Another brutally low roll! I won't bother rolling possible damage. :{]

In Maldor's rush, he didn't realize he had to step over a body, and instead stepped ON it, making his footing shaky. Plus the narrow hallway doesn't give him a lot of room to swing his club, so his swing probably hit the ceiling first then bounced off the wall.

The advancing Redbrand tries to catch Maldor off guard, but also has the problem of the dead body on the floor, and, even though he does have Advantage, manages to miss.

01:26, Today: StarMaster rolled 13,6 using 1d20+4,1d20+4 ((9,2)).

With Maldor blocking the path, Lureene can't make use of her mace -- but that hardly leaves her without recourse.

"Lady Firehair, grant me your light, that I might smite your foes and mine!

Conjured, radiant fire descended on the bandit attacking Maldor.

OOC: Sacred Flame on the bandit. It ignores cover, so Maldor being in the way shouldn't matter. It will do 5 damage if he fails a Dexterity save vs. DC 14.

Frusttrated by his lack of aim, Ero turns his attention to the bugbear Bear is attacking.  He hurls a firebolt at it and hits it square in the chest.

"Ah!  A modulation in objective amplifies verity.  Capital!"

13:45, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 19,7 using 1d20+3,1d10.  Firebolt vs bugbear.

"I am Lao Chen," the stranger replies to Cunaar. "I was sent by Sildar in case you needed help. My talents are many, including stealth, but it does seem as if the ship has sailed on that."

The musical redhead was at a loss as to what to do next. She was about to see how the others were doing with the nothic and noticed the creature was gone. She also noticed that several others had left. Oh, sure, she'd realized it at the time, but she just hadn't put it into a cohesive thought.

"I will keep Denk company," she said to the others. "Tramorn, can you lead Amiri and Kyler back to where this Glasstaff is?"

In reply to Lao Chen (msg # 131):

"Perhaps not, come with me quickly. I think we may be able to move in behind them and your stealthy skill will be of value still."
With that he grabs Lao by the shoulder to go with him, if he knew Sildar then he was to be trusted. If things went well his talents with a swift blade would assist well.

Artem curses under his breath at his so far poor showing.  With a grunt and a heave he brings his axe to bear [hehe] again, cutting across the beastie. This time he strikes true and the bugbear receives some real punishment.

OOC:

21:52, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 8 using 1d8+3.  damage 2nd roll .

21:52, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 20 using 1d20+5.  advantage 2nd roll
 

Lao nods and follows close behind Cunaar, doing his best to move quickly and quietly.

Circling around to what I believe is behind the melee

Artem finally manages to hit the bugbear. Along with the fire damage from Ero, Artem's damage finishes him off.


Bear has equal success in taking out the bugbear he was fighting.

==================================================================================

Cunaar retraces his steps, followed by Lao, back to where Serena is guarding the prisoner. Dashing down the unexplored hallway, Cunaar and Lao find another flight of stairs going down. Tramorn, Amiri and Kyler have just reached the bottom and go right. But there's a door on the left.

At the bottom of the stairs, Cunaar opens the door and finds a room beyond, but across the room is an open door that leads to the corridor where the others are fighting Redbrands.

=================================================================================

In the tight confines of the corridor, Maldor misses his attack on the Redbrand. Lureene, however, manages to blast the first Redbrand. Although it may not happen, that Redbrand is now concerned about catching fire, and doesn't attack back.

Maldor now has Advantage.

Maldor was somewhat shocked at his foe's blaze. He smiled, realizing that this was the perfect opportunity to make some room for his allies. The half-orc held his greatclub at the Redbrand's stomach level and shoved hard. He was hoping to heavily bruise the man's torso and also make him move backward.

Mal's battle growl continued.

Tramorn is going to check the door on the left for any traps, if he finds any he pulls his thieve's tools out from under his armor where he keeps them safe and attempts to disarm the trap. Tramorn then opens to door and looks into the room.

08:26, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 17 using 1d20+5.  Disarm traps if found.
08:20, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 9 using 1d20+4.  Investigate door for traps.

Whispering to Lao,
"I will take out the back man at least, do not disturb his sleep, possibly two men. I need you to take any not sleeping."
This should go quickly and quietly if all went well though if not it should open the way for the others to flood in. Being limited as they were was potentially better for the defending Red Brands.
Before he is even finished with the first spell Cunaar is thinking of his next options.

There were no traps on the door for Tramorn to find, and opening the door, he saw the room beyond with the open door on the opposite wall, and the Redbrands out in the hallway beyond fighting with others from the group that had rescued him.

Since he'd been tasked with leading some of the others to find the wizard behind this band of ruffians, and since he saw Cunaar coming down the stairs, he pushed the door closed and left the room for Cunaar and another to deal with.

The door on the right leads to the room where Tramorn was interrogated. There are no traps on that door either, and it is not locked. The room had looked like a wizard's workshop, but there was a door on the right hand wall of the room from which the wizard had come, so that was probably his quarters.

There hasn't been much commotion so far, and the wizard was probably used to it since the Redbrands could be rather rowdy at times.

===================================================================================

Cunaar's sleep spell has a 20' radius. The hallway beyond is rather short, only 15' so the Redbrands that went down the hall only went a little ways. In fact, the last one is still in the room, waiting his turn. It apparently hasn't occurred to any of them to go around. The room is 25' across, so Cunaar can reach all the Redbrands.

19:46, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Cunaar Clothar, rolled 19 using 5d8 ((4,5,5,1,4)). Sleep spell HP affected.

Yes, the Redbrand still in the room suddenly slumps to the floor.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 22:29, Sun 06 Dec 2015.

Tramorn leads Amiri and Kyler into Glasstaff's workshop and say's "This is where I last saw Glasstaff.  Who knows where he is now."  Looking around the room Tramorn is hoping to find his backpack with the rest of his gear and his weapons.  He assumes they were taken from him before he woke up and maybe they are here.

In reply to Tramorn Duskwalker (msg # 142):

Amiri looks around for anything that might be gear or might hold gear.

perception:  14   

Tramorn doesn't find his backpack, but his weapons are there, probably because they haven't been disposed of yet.

Amiri doesn't find any kind of containers that could contain gear, but there are an assortment of bottles on the shelves against the left wall. They don't appear to be alchemical in nature so much as spell components for enchanting items.

On the table in the center of the room is a wand and a belt. There is a long narrow ceramic bowl, and a flask.

Ero turns and launches another firebolt, this time at the Redbrand.  He groans as the bolt flies over the head of his target.

18:06, Today: Secret Roll: Ero Sulaanin rolled 5,10 using 1d20+3,1d10.  Firebolt  vs farthest redbrand.

Tramorn collects his daggers, short bow and arrows and while no one is looking the flask from the table.  At least he's armed again, with more than one dagger, he'll have to find his pack somewhere else hopefully. "Should we look in that room?", Tramorn says pointing to the door on the right hand wall.

In reply to Tramorn Duskwalker (msg # 146):

Amiri nods

"sure"

Tramorn walks over to the door, listens for a second then checks it for traps, disarming any he finds, Then he opens the door.


09:51, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 10 using 1d20+5.  Disarm traps if found.
09:50, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 15 using 1d20+4.  Investigate door for traps.
09:49, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 9 using 1d20+3.  Listen to door (perception).

Lureene grins wickedly, and once Maldor has made room, moves side-to-side with him, keeping him on her shield side to form a battle-line.

Artem grabs one of his spent hand axes and turns to hurl it at a Redbrand in the hallway.




22:46, Today: Artem Jorak rolled 11 using 1d20+5.  throw axe.

There are two people in the way--Maldor and Lureene--so it's hard for Artem to hit the Redbrand they are fighting.

==================================================================================

Tramorn's success at finding any traps on the left door was interrupted when Cunaar came charging down the stairs and simply flung the door open, revealing a room beyond and the battle in the hallway at the other side of the room.

Tramorn checked the door on the right for traps, but didn't find any, so he opened the door. There was another room, the one where he'd been interrogated. A quick search turned up his weapons, but not his backpack.

The right hand wall had another door. Tramorn checked that door for traps, and also didn't find any. Beyond was where Glasstaff had come from, so that was probably the wizard's quarters.

Amiri and Kyler wait for Tramorn to give them the all clear... and open the door.

=================================================================================

Serena continues to interrogate her Redbrand prisoner, but quickly discovers that Redbrands aren't very bright, which is probably why they were Redbrands in the first place. This one in particular seems rather slow and dense. He not only doesn't get told much, but what little he is told he seldom remembers. Since he likes bashing things and bullying people, he was more than willing to sign on with the Redbrands to get paid for doing the things he likes.

=================================================================================

Bear makes sure the bugbears are all dead and dispatches any that aren't. He begins searching the room, finally noticing the goblin curled up on the floor, unconscious.

With a single Redbrand in front of her, Lureene closes in alongside Maldor and swings her mace sideways, hoping to hit the man in the arm or else drive him towards Maldor to give him a better shot.


10:27, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 15 using 1d20+5.  Attack Roll (melee-mace).
10:27, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 4 using 1d6+3.

Tramorn didn't hear anything behind the door to the wizard's quarters and didn't spot any traps so he opens it.  Motioning to Amiri and Kyler to follow he steps inside the room.

In reply to Tramorn Duskwalker (msg # 153):

Amiri follows.

Though he did not want to use his last sleep spell so soon Cunaar had little choice as things were playing out. Getting a feeling for how he should place his spell, Cunaar knows he can avoid his friends but the one in battle may step back.
Decided, Cunaar casts his sleep over the man in the back. Ready to run forward to engage the last from behind.
10:20, Today: Cunaar Clothar rolled 19 using 5d8 ((4,2,7,5,1))
OOC- This may well be my last sleep I use.....ever! Dice roller only rolls 19.

Ero casts another firebolt and manages to hit his target, but barely.

19:29, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 18,2 using 1d20+3,1d10.  Firebolt  vs nearest redbrand.

Seeing little opening with his hand axes, Artem unslings the larger battle axe and waits for any opportunity.

Maldor finally manages to hit the Redbrand he was in combat with at the same time that Ero hits him with his flame. The combination is enough to take the Redbrand down.

Cunaar, behind the Redbrands in the hallway, casts a Sleep spell once more, and the last of the Redbrands in the hall falls to the floor, asleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Behind Cunaar, Tramorn leads Amiri and Kyler into the Wizard's lair.


The door is thick oak, iron bound, and the hinges and latches seem to be well-oiled, for the door swings open silently. Beyond is a 20-foot square room. There is a bed in the far left corner, and a desk in the middle of the room though offset to the right. The wizard is sitting at the desk, facing the door, but absorbed in writing on a parchment on the desk.

He's probably used to hearing battle sounds out in the rest of the crypt, from the Redbrands fighting among themselves or squabbling with the bugbears, so he doesn't immediately look up. But then, for a moment, the noise gets a bit louder as the door opened, and then everything got quiet.

As he spots Tramorn, with company, his eyes widen and he immediately grabs for his glass staff leaning against the left side of the desk, easily within reach.


Tramorn, Amiri and Kyler can roll initiative. You all have Advantage, though, as you expected him to be there but he's startled to see Tramorn.

Kyler moves into the room, leaving space for his other companions to pass, the glass staff immediately catching his attention. It must be quite useful for Wizard to be grabbing for it first. Obviously not a combat weapon, I wonder what it can do? He  momentarily considers commanding the wizard to drop it. If it had been wood, he would have done so, without a doubt. But glass? He would hate for it to shatter. Better to see about getting it later. "Grovel", he says to the Wizard in a commanding voice.

OOC:
Cast 1st level Priest Command spell on Wizard.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Thu 31 Dec 2015.

"That went better than I expected." Ero made a mental note to practice his aim once their task was complete.

He strolls over to the sleeping Redbrand, draws his sword, and plunges it into the ruffian's neck.

Coup de grace on the sleeping Redbrand.

(I got lost on what's in front of Maldor. More hallway?)

Tramorn pauses at the door at the sight of the wizard just long enough for Kyler to move in past him.  Then Tramorn moves in right beside the wizard with a dagger in each hand.  Hearing the cleric telling the wizard to grovel, Tramorn holds his attack to not interfere with what the cleric is doing.

Artem, Bear, Cunaar, Ero, Lao, Lureene, Maldor and Mithra


There were four Redbrands that came out of the room at the end of the hall and started to charge down the hall. There was only enough hall for 3 of them, though, so the 4th was still in the doorway of the room.

Maldor and Lureene are in the middle of the hall at this point, with Mithra behind them. Behind Mithra is Artem, Bear and Ero.

There were four Redbrand bodies on the floor of the hallway. The first one Mithra killed, the second one Maldor killed, and the other two had been put to sleep by Cunaar.

Cunaar and Lao had come from the other side of the room.

Maldor and Lureene at least could see others going into the room beyond this. Maldor recognized Amiri, and Lureene recognized Amiri and the prisoner they'd freed, Tramorn.

Thinking there was more combat to be had, Maldor advanced down the hallway, stepping over the bodies. As Ero followed, he dispatched the first sleeping Redbrand.

Seeing so many willing combatants between him and combat, Bear decides to just wait.

Lao, still in the 2nd room (the bugbears were in the 1st room), begins searching that room.

Amiri, Kyler and Tramorn


Amiri has always been a bit 'trigger-happy', but her aim hasn't been all that good. Expecting to be dealing with a wizard, she had every intention of getting off the first shot--spell-wise.

19:01, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Amiri Flamestorm, rolled 16,21,12 using 1d20+2 Initiative,1d20+4 Eldritch Blast,1d10+4 Damage ((14,17,8)). (Maybe I should roll for you more often!)

Not actually having to enter the room to attack her target with an Eldritch Blast, she beats Kyler's and Tramorn's initiative ever so slightly. The Eldritch blast strikes true for a change, and does significant damage... for a change!

Kyler and Tramorn both have an Initiative of 15, but Tramorn waits to see the result of Kyler's spell. Unfortunately, the wizard is able to save against Kyler's spell, but it takes him a few seconds (Initiative of 7!) to fight off the mental command, giving Tramorn an opportunity to attack.

However, there's a desk between the wizard and his attackers, so Tramorn doesn't get a stealth attack.

Not being able to get close enough to use his daggers, Tramorn will pull out his shorbow he just recovered and launch an arrow at the wizard.


08:50, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 6 using 1d6+3.  Shortbow damage.
08:50, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 16 using 1d20+5.  Short bow attack.

Maldor stepped ahead with a desire to group with the others. He kept his greatclub at alert, just in case.

"Maldor think strong in numbers" he grunted.

"I concur," says Ero.  "We should cohere.  The Redbrands know we're here now, so they will likely make a concerted effort to exulse us frm their abode."

"Let us go see the rest, then. Are there serious wounds I should see to?" Lureene asks solicitously.

Amiri, Kyler and Tramorn


Tramorn is able to hit the wizard, but it's not enough to take him out.

While you can see angry flashing in his eyes as if he wants to strike back, he slams his staff on the floor and vanishes in a puff of smoke.


All the Rest!


Mithra needs some healing if Lureene is up to it. Maldor and Cunaar head through the room to the short hallway beyond the other door, and through the next door into the room beyond. They can see Amiri standing in a doorway on the wall on the right.

"That staff must be harder than it appears," Kyler muses. "It looked like glass. I wonder if it really was magic infused glass or something else."

"He looked pretty angry when he left. I bet we will see him again soon. I would guess he would try to rally his forces and then come attack. What do you all think? I would like to take a little time to noise around his room."

Unless someone objects Kyler will take a look at the scroll the wizard was reading (if it's still there). He will proceed to look around the room, looking for anything of interest.

When Maldor spots the half-elf, he attempts a "psst." Unfortunately, when a half-orc attempts to gain someone's attention in such a way, the sound mimics gas... a low belch. Maldor grimaces at the result, but hopes that he can get Amiri's attention.

Mal studies the area between him and the fire mage. No sense running into something.

"When it comes to wizards or any magic users, I think looks can be deceiving.  I'll help look around as well, but we should be quick in case he comes back here, and it sounds like there are some others still fighting out there."  Then Tramorn will help search the room.



07:24, Today: Tramorn Duskwalker rolled 10 using 1d20+4.  Investigation of room.

"Wait a minute!" Amiri calls from the doorway as she watches Kyler and Tramorn investigate the room. "Something's not right here. Ah! Smoke and mirrors!"

"Be careful--he may not be gone. If he was powerful enough to cast some sort of teleport spell, he wouldn't be living in a dank dungeon like this. Usually, when a wizard does the smoke bit, it's a distraction for something else! He might have turned invisible! Or shrunk! Or turned gaseous himself."

She mentioned just the things that came to mind that would keep him from being clearly visible.

"The smoke was just a prestidigitation effect. Oh, wait!" she added as another thought came to her.

"Look for a secret door!"

Artem stands on guard for anything trying to take the group by surprise while others with more ability to search look for secret doors...

OOC: Sorry for lengthy time away. happy new year.

Kyler listens with interest as Amiri speaks.

"So you think the smoke was a distraction to keep up from noticing something else? How clever," he says. "I think you're right too about him not being so powerful. This room isn't all that big and this isn't all that nice of a place to study. He doesn't appear to have any apprentices either which is just as well for us."

Kyler looks at Amiri and hesitates. He is reminded of some past less pleasant memories of his companions expressing impatience with him. Though Kyler isn't sure how Amiri will react, he decides it best not to chance it.

"Ok, I check for a secret door," he adds quickly hoping head off any words of annoyance or exasperation.

"You know I might suggest too," he says as he starts looking for a secret door, "the we keep the door closed and stand guard to make sure no one is able to go through it, just in case he is in here but invisible."

Kyler will spend some time looking for a secret door, tapping against the walls, checking for hidden or camouflaged switch that might trigger a hidden panel. After a time, though, his eyes return to the wizard's desk and the mysteries it may hold.

OOC:
Is the parchment the wizard was writing on still there?
This message was last edited by the player at 04:20, Sat 09 Jan 2016.

Lureene examines Mithra's wound, and when whispers a soft prayer to the Lady Firehair. She lays her hands, aglow with golden light, on the wound, and under her delicate finger the flesh knits itself.

OOC: 23:50, Today: Lureene Raventree rolled 10 using 1d8+7.  Cure Wounds.

"Yes, if we do find a secret door I suggest we not open it or try to follow.  One or two of us can guard it while the others go help with the rest of the fighting."  Tramoron is going to look around for secret doors as well as of anything of value he could pocket while no one was looking.

"My thanks, Lureene," Mithra says to Lureene. "One of those damned Redbrands got in a lucky shot, that's all! Coulda taken 'em all, but decided to let Maldor have some of the fun, too."

She glances around at all the people that seem to have suddenly come out of the woodwork.

"Where the hell did all those people come from? Who the hell are they?"

"Harumph. Well, as long they are on our side and aren't Redbrands. More than enough to handle the clean-up here."

"Hey! Where's Serena? Better get back and see what's happened to her!"

Mithra heads back the way she'd come, keeping an eye out for Serena.

"A wizard?"  It had been a long time since Ero went wand-to-wand with another wizard.  But his excitement died as quickly as it sprung to life.  That was a lifetime ago.

But still, he could help.  "A camouflaged egress, you say?  Perhaps I can assist?  Where was this rapscallion standing?"

11:00, Today: Ero Sulaanin rolled 17 using 1d20+5.  Search for secret door.

Maldor heads for the door where he has spotted the others.

"Maybe others know what go on" the half-orc remarked.

[I'll wait to see if the door closes.]

Artem and Amiri are pretty much guarding the doorway so an invisible wizard would have a near-impossible chance of slipping past them. Behind them is Maldor for further guarding.

The doors don't close automatically. Maldor has to go through two of them to where the others are. From Ero's comment, Maldor gathers that the others are looking for a wizard that got away.


While Kyler and Tramorn look for a secret door, both are semi-distracted by other things. Kyler has an eye on the document and Tramorn is looking for loot.

Kyler sees that the scroll on the desk is a sort of accounting document or bill of sale for 6 slaves. The last name added was that of Tramorn.

There is a small but better quality bed in one corner with a trunk at the foot. Tramorn finds the trunk unlocked, and opens it to find the loot he was looking for. There are three pouches and two scrolls, and what appear to be two potion vials. There is also a pair of boots, a long sword and underneath everything else is a suit of golden chainmail.

While they are sure there is probably a secret door in the back wall, but neither Kyler nor Tramorn can be sure because they don't know the layout of these crypts that well.

Ero, on the other hand, steps into the room and immediately walks over to the corner opposite the bed, examines the wall for a moment, and then pushes a brick and the secret door releases. It swings away from the room.


Meanwhile, Bear, Lao and Mithra head back out the other way, and soon meet up with Serena, Milcom, Kayle, Wiglaf and released prisoners and the new Redbrand prisoner. They were just heading out the entrance to the crypts.


STATUS UNKNOWN: Cunaar and Lureene

Cunaar follows the others to meet back up with Serena, with the battle now concluded.

Tramorn quickly pockets one of the pouches before calling attention to the rest of the group to what he found.  "I know I can't carry all this around, I want the sword and boots but don't need the armor, does anyone else want some of this stuff?  With that he grabs the sword and boots.  Then he picks up the scrolls to see what they say.

Lureene follows Maldor and Ero quietly, in case there is more fighting. There are enough folk heading out to see to the released prisoners safely.

Maldor is uncertain of what to do to assist in the search for the wizard foe. He finally decides to search with his greatclub, swinging it in short strokes ahead of him as he slowly paces the room.

When the secret door is located, he stops.

"Huh" is the half-orc's only comment.

"I'd be interested in the scrolls," says Ero.  "At least until I can assess their utility."

"Once everyone is arranged, I suggest we advance.  Our diabolic friend is temporarily out of reach, I surmise, but our recondite couloir here may allow us to ambuscade other foes."

"Tramon, you seem to be very interesting in grabbing some loot for yourself. Have you considered what it would be like to if others weren't willing to fight with and protect you or what it would be like coming to places like this by yourself?"

"As for the sword, we don't even know if it's magical but if it is wouldn't it be best to give it to one of the front line warriors? If you keep it for yourself and it turns out to be cursed, I don't think you'll get much sympathy from others."

"I'll let you ponder that. For the time being though will you hand over the pouches,  potions and scrolls?"

Tramorn hands the scrolls to Ero and in reply to Kyler he states"Certainly here's it all you can even have to boots.  I'll trade this sword for a shortsword if anyone wants.  I only claimed it because everything was taken from me when they captured me and I need to defend myself."

In reply to Tramorn Duskwalker (msg # 188):

Coming back to the group at large Cunaar overhears what might be the beginning of an inner controversy. Though most of it can be waved off, the man was robbed and kidnapped, so he would surely need to arm himself to best help.
"Indeed, the mundane items are not argued. Not even counted as reward really, if you lack a weapon and boots then arm yourself. But all should get a fair share of the spoils and the like."
When Ero looks over the scrolls Cunaar cannot help but look over them glancingly to see if they were arcane in nature.

Tramorn found his weapons in the outer room, and Kyler finds Tramorn's backpack under the desk.

Ero and Cunaar read the scrolls. One has Charm Person on it, the other has Fireball on it.

"You were a prisoner here?" Kyler asks Tramon as he receives the pouches, potions and boots. "Are you the Tramon this slave list bill of sale is referring to?" he asks holding up the parchment from the wizard's desk.

He will hand Tramon his backpack. "Are these your boots?" he uncertainly. He looks at Cunaar, "Would you like me to give Tramon these boots?"

Once the boots questions is settled (or dropped) he will proceed to open each of the pouches showing the group their contents, and then offering them to someone the group to carry. When he gets to the potions however, a sly smile marks his face and there is a gleam in his eyes. "I wonder what these might do," he says, his voice afire with curiosity, while holding them up to the light inspecting the containers. He then gently shakes each one then holding them up to his ear to see if he can hear anything. "I'm have tempted to taste just a bit to see what each might do. Do we have 20 minutes or so for me to pray about what these might be?" he asks.

OOC:
Are the containers glass and/or transparent?

"Yes, I was a prisoner here, they just captured me out in the woods.  I guess that would be my name on that list since it's on the bottom of the list.  Thank you that's my pack they took from me.  Having that back I don't need those boots unless no one else wants them.  If someone finds a shortsword or has one they'd like to trade I'm willing to give up this sword."

"Good, it is fortunte you have found your gear. It would seem this group is invloved in slave trading. Abducting people off the roads and selling them. It would be a great service to put it to a stop."
Cunaar was glad that the debate over miscellaneous gear was at an end. When word gets out that these men were involved in illegal slave trading the authorities would also get involved. Imprisoning any that lived.

The potion bottles are transparent, but tinted. One is brown and one is green. In general, these are probably potions that a Wizard or alchemist made for resale. If they make something for themselves, it's usually just in a test-tube like vial.

One pouch has a dozen gemstones in it. Some are cut, but most aren't.

The second pouch has coins in it.

"We should go on", said Lureene. "There will be time enough to divvy the spoils later."

In reply to Lureene Raventree (msg # 195):

Amiri nods and smiles.

" Yes, sounds good.."

In reply to Lureene Raventree (msg # 195):

"I could not agree more, unless there is something of obvious use to the mission."
Cunaar was ready to move along, any debate over treasure would only slow matters down.

Maldor's swinging of the greatclub had ceased. His mind was on the Redbrand and the opportunities to use the weapon upon them.

"The more expeditiously we lace these churls, the more suitable."

Ero stuffs the scrolls into his pack.  "We'll peruse these later.  It will be more appropriate then."

"I agree, let's go." Tramorn says, shouldering his found pack and gripping the sword he'd found tightly.

This section of the crypts have been cleared of Redbrands and bugbears. The wizard has slipped away from the group through the secret passage.

There are three ways to go from here: through the secret passage, back through the side passage that leads out to the cavern with the crevasse, and back through the guard rooms which will take you back to the cavern just closer to the entrance.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:07, Fri 05 Feb 2016.

"We should venture down," Ero says, nodding toward the secret door.  "Our waning wizard may endeavor a counter-attack.  We should instruct him in what a dreadful undertaking that would be."

The look on Maldor's face was one of slight confusion. So much had happened without him being present that he was not sure of what to do. But, if a battle were to be had, he would want to be a part of it.

"Maldor go. Maldor find foes. Maldor make foes sorry."

The half-orc began to take a step forward, but he was not sure which way to go. He waited for the others.

"I say follow the scum into the secret passage. We might be able to track him from there. Of course, beware of traps..." Artem said cheerfully as he hefted his battle axe.

"The secret door would be a good method of following going in. It should not be as well guarded and avoid some of the other obstacles within."
It seemed a good plan, why would the enemy expect them to be within their secret passages. The primary routes of travel would be guarded more so.

So two wizards and two fighters are going to venture into the secret passage. Which one of you will take the lead?


That leaves Amiri, Lureene, Kyler and Tramorn. Which way will the rest of you go?


Behind the secret door, there is a narrow flight of stone stairs that go up to the right. At the top, there's another secret door, though you are on the 'un-secret' side.

Maldor looked back and forth at the possibilities. He spoke back to the others, hoping not to be so loud as to warn enemies.

"Where go? Door? Stairs? Maldor go where others go. Smash heads of bad. Bad hurt town, need smashed. Let's smash."

Mal rotated his greatclub in his left hand.

"We'd best all stay together", offers Lureene. "Let's all take the secret passage." She followed Maldor.

In reply to Lureene Raventree (msg # 208):

Amiri nods.
"That sounds good."

"I agree as well" Tramorn says and follows.

"That's the odd thing about a secret passage," Kyler says to no one in particular. "Once it's found everyone wants to go in it to see what it's hiding. Almost defeats the purpose of hiding it. Can't say I'm any different though," he says as he joins the others down the secret passage.

"Be advised there may be an angry wizard with a glass looking staff up ahead," he adds.

So Artem, Cunaar, and Maldor lead the way into the secret passageway. They are followed by Lureene, Amiri, Tramorn and Kyler.

Not sure what Ero and Mithra are going to do.


The group heads up the stairs to the upper landing, and have no trouble spotting the release for the secret door. It's not secret from this side, but is apparently so from the other side.

Pushing the door open, you find yourselves in a storeroom, so determined by the barrels and crates stored against the wall on your left. To the right, there is a large opening that looks out into the cavern with the crevasse. This room has stone block walls and dressed flagstone flooring.


At the other end of the cavern, you can see Serena with two other unfamiliar people. One has crossed over the bridge and is engaged in melee with none other than the fleeing wizard! He's in the mouth of that dead-end passage some of you went down first time.

Ero climbs down into the secret passage.  He looks back at Mithra. "Are you forthcoming?"

"I suppose..." Mithra replies to Ero. "But what if the wizard circles back around behind us somehow?"

She just had a picture in her mind of the upper ruins, which were a large rectangle. She didn't know how much these crypts matched the upper level, but they'd only actually explored the western half of that rectangle.

She followed Ero up the stairs.

Moving into a better position Cunaar tries to maintain a sense of stealth while getting sight of the wizard. This man was slippery so he wanted to put a stop on that.
Now with the wizard in view Cunaar casts his sleep spell just beyond the wizard so he was practically the only one in its area of effect.

20:01, Today: Cunaar Clothar rolled 10 using 1d20+2.  Stealth .

19:59, Today: Cunaar Clothar rolled 30 using 5d8.  Sleep .

Kyler moves forward cautiously. Thoughts run through his head, 'Is this really the other party members? Is someone really in combat with the wizard. He seemed fairly quick to disappear last time. Could he really have been caught so quickly?'

OOC:
Kyler will attempt to disbelieve the combat - that the wizard is really in combat with a party member.

Seeing Cunaar casts a spell, Lureene waits, mace ready, ready to charge one his casting is done.

Not sure what is going on, Artem grips his axe and begins charging the wizard. He is not shouting or screaming, just running earnestly with deadly intent clear upon his weathered face.

Cunaar's sleep spell just barely manages to put to sleep both the wizard's familiar and the wizard!

So as Artem charges forward, the wizard slumps to the floor of the tunnel.


Kyler's effort to penetrate what he thinks might be an illusion has no effect--the three other people are still there. Of course, Kyler then realizes that Serena and the other person are blocking the way out of the crypts. So if the wizard had been trying to escape (presuming there's no other way out), this is the way he would have had to go.

Kyler hurries forward to join the other party members around the sleeping wizard. "I'd take away that glass staff of his if he still has it?" he says looking over the wizard.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC:
What type of familiar does he have?

---

Cunaar quickly snatches up the glasstaff and follows with a bit of advice as well,
"Gag him and bind his hands. The simplest cantrip can be a problem when he wakes."
Once he is bound and gagged Cunaar takes all other magic casting necessities he knows the man may hold. Component pouches, focuses and all. Leaving the man barely clothed before he is done. As he is a mage himself he knows they can be a crafty sort.

The wizard had been in melee with someone that Cunaar didn't recognize, so by the time Cunaar gets to the wizard, the other person would have had an opportunity to grab the glass staff first.

On the other hand, the wizard also had a wand in his other hand, and had used it to attack Milcom.


It's not immediately obvious what the wizard's familiar was, but you spot the head of a rat sticking out of a pocket. The rat is alive but asleep, so that's probably the familiar.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:25, Sat 27 Feb 2016.

Maldor grunted.

"Nice rat. Good eating."

The half-orc fighter rubbed his chin.

"Hard part getting all hair off. Rat hair stuck in teeth, not good. Help if cook well done."

In reply to Maldor (msg # 223):

Amiri laughs at Maldor's suggestion that the wizard should eat his familiar.

"Not to be harsh but kill the rat, when you do it will disappear. It is something he can summon at will later if alive and it can chew through his ropes or fetch for him. Dead he will have to summon it again."
Looking around he asks,
"Shall we adjorn to the town or secure a room within here and fully clean the place out. In town we can question this slippery one and turn him over to authorities."
Not to mention sleep in a nice bed compared to camping in this place.

"Ah, so you flushed him out of his lair," Serena suggests after hearing what the others have to say.

"This is Milcom and Kayle Tharson. I haven't quite got their full story yet, but they rescued some prisoners from down the hallway here. They already sent them back to town under the protection of Bear and Lao... and Wiglaf. He was a prisoner, too, but once freed was able to protect the woman and her two children."

"Am I correct in guessing, Milcom, that you left some Redbrands back in the cells?"

She then proceeds to introduce the rest of her group: Amiri, Artem, Cunaar, Ero, Kyler, Lureene, Maldor, Mithra, and Tramorn.

Milcom returns his bow back to its place over the stump of his backpacks frame, "That we did, and they will not bother any of us again. As to my story, I am a local ranger, and these thugs had killed my friend and taken his family. Needless to say I could not let that stand."

Kyler will go over to the bound and gagged wizard looking first at him and checking to make sure he is suitably tied and gagged. He will then look over the items that have been removed from him.

Kyler joins and nods to Milcom and Kayle. "Nice to meet you. So do you know if we found all the prisoners or might there be others?"

"One reason we might want to stay a bit, Kyler says addressing the party, "is to make sure no one was left as a prisoner here before we leave. I would also like to find whatever treasure is here and make sure any Redbrands we might have missed don't escape with it. On the other hand, we might want to leave in order to deliver the wizard to the authorities and let them deal with him so we won't be burdened with guarding and watching him.Even so, it may be better to stay and deal with any remaining Redbrands now while we have the upper hand. What other factors might we consider?"

He will listen for any other points that the others might bring up.

In reply to Kyler Woodster (msg # 228):

Amiri walks over smiling at Serena.

"Well besides the wizard, do we have more prisoners? Bound and gagged the wizard should be fine with no familiar."
If there were redbrands in cells then by chance it would suffice to hold the wizard.
OOO-if no one kills the rat Cunaar will. Did the mage have a book on him? Cunaar desires his own familiar...

"Well, the wizard explains why the Redbrands were getting more aggressive," Mithra offered. "He was calling the shots."

"We never did know how many Redbrands there were, so unless you guys found some records, it seems unlikely that we caught all of them here in their lair."

"I have to say, though, that the bugbears were a surprise. That might mean there's more to this wizard than meets the eye."

"I suppose it depends on how many prisoners we have. There's enough of us that we can do both--take the prisoners back to town and finish exploring these crypts."

"And don't forget the creature in the crevasse. Hey, I wonder if it'll eat the bugbear bodies?"

"Drat. I suppose we need to take the dead Redbrands back to town, and bury them proper. It's not so much that they deserve it, but they may have family that would want to know."

Having given her thoughts and opinion, she waits to see what the others say. Exploring the rest of the dungeon would probably be boring if there were no more Redbrands or monsters to fight.

Artem was a little befuddled when suddenly presented with a sleeping wizard, so his charge turned into a wary walk. As others rushed forward to secure the mage, he stood guard and kept an eye out.

As the talk turned to next steps, he piped up, "Let's finish this lair. We have some momentum and the wizard should be pretty easy to handle, I reckon. If we leave now, any Redbrands might escape.  And any other prisoners will suffer longer."

"The Redbrands capacity for flagitious feats has been riven," Ero says in reply.  "I concur we should inquisite into the potentiality of more internees.  And perhaps if there are any ill-gotten valuables disremembered in the tumult of their waxing."

Maldor stared at the elven wizard as he spoke. The words were nonsense to the half-orc. Occasionally he would look at the others to gauge if the speech was understood by them. No one seemed to be confused. So be it. Mal stood in place, waiting to contribute.

Perhaps, in his recent past, Maldor would have understood complicated words. Had his amnesia changed his intelligence? Or was he basically the same? Mal longed to remember his former life.

Kayle sheathed his second hand short sword, retrieved the glass staff from the enemy mage and looked over the newcomers. As he did so, he noticed that one or two of them were carrying equipment taken from him by the Redbrands. The ranger introduced himself then added, "The Redbrands took me prisoner, took my weapons, armour and pack." Gesturing to his various pieces of property he asked the carriers "Might I reclaim what is mine?"

"I agree with the elf. We should make sure we've explored everything, lest we miss a prisoner or a worse thread", says the beautiful priestess.

Maldor breathed in some dungeon-fresh air as Lureene spoke. Her words were understandable.

"Yes," the half-orc grunted, "more bad human, more smash. Need see good human here. Rescue good human. Take town, town buy heroes drink and mutton. We do, yes?"

"No stone unturned then.....well let us be to it then."
If he only had Tensers Floating disc he would carry the wizard at least with them until they got out of here. He was likely the head of all this and if not the head then he should be in the know of a much of the operation.
Maldor could coax it out of him.....

In reply to Kayle Tharson (msg # 235):

"Of course, goodman. Whatever was yours should be yours again," Artem replied to Kayle's inquiry.

With the idea of clearing the complex before leave, Milcom has an idea, "We could lock the mage in his own cells till we are done. They are just back that way a bit." He points back the way he had come from earlier,  "We remove all his gear and leave him tied for good measure."

"Wizard... spells..." Mithra reminds Milcom. "Tie him up and gag him, but I wouldn't leave him alone unguarded."

"It seems as if some of us are familiar with half this place and the rest of us are familiar with the other half. Might as well split up into two teams and take the half we are familiar with."

"Quite astute, madam," Ero says to Mithra.  "Though I am of the opinion this scoundrel here is a mere hedge wizard -- and a poor one at that -- it is always wise to overestimate a wizard's ability."

"Did anyone procure some rope in the hamlet?  I am well versed in securing spellcasters so that even the merest gesture would be nigh impossible."

Splitting up into two groups, searching the crypts goes rather quickly.


It isn't a pleasant job, but the bugbear bodies get hauled outside, along with the dead Redbrands, four of which are on the side where Mithra and Ero had been, two of which are in the area where the cells are where Milcom had been. Also, there are two live Redbrands that Milcom and Kayle had left in the cells.


After all the searching is done, there are several barrels, crates and sacks of supplies found, but none of it is worth much.

You do find 30 beaver pelts, a waterproof satchel with 2 potions, a bejeweled eyepatch, a longsword named Talon with a silver-chased scabbard, 3 significant alchemical ingredients, a number of books and maps and scrolls.

Plus you find a total of 573sp and 240gp, along with 6 precious stones.

Maldor grunted at the sight of the treasure.

"Maldor sorry meat not in pelts. Beaver meat good meat. Sweet and salty."

The half-orc looked around.

"Maldor no understand why eye cover fancy. Cannot see fancy if wear. Humans can be funny."

Looking over the gathered supplies and such Cunaar has an idea.
"I do not believe we need the basic supplies, they have no real value to us and would be cumbersome to carry out. What does everyone think about lowering them into the ravive? The creature attempted to aid us I think and could likely use them more than us."
Cunaar waves a hand over the rest of the assorted gear casting Detect Magic.....
"I will see what might be magical...."

In reply to Cunaar Clothar (msg # 245):

Amiri looks at the items as well with her Eldritch Sight.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:28, Fri 18 Mar 2016.

Artem shrugs his broad shoulders at the suggestion of what to do with the mundane items. "Sounds as good as anything to me. The pelts might be worth something to someone who makes clothing or a trader of pelts..."

"Its ostentation is not for the wearer to see, my candid compatriot," Ero replies without looking up from his inspection of a scroll, "it's for others to see the wearer wearing.  Little did the owner realize it's as loutish as it is lavish."

Inspect the books and scrolls for something a mage might want.

The potions are magical, of course. They were found in the satchel, which, in turn, was found in the cistern in what had been the cellar of the old keep. It was at the end of the eastern hallway that dead-ended; you now know that there was a secret door at the end. Milcom had captured a Redbrand outside and force him to take him to the prisoners.

One of the potions is Invisibility and the other is a potion of healing.

The sword is also magical.

The Glasstaff is magical.

And the wand that the wizard had is magical.


Most of the books are about alchemy... brewing potions in particular. One book is written in Dwarven. It's a journal by someone named Urmon. It describes the history of the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the Forge of Spells.

There's a scroll of Charm Person and another scroll of Fireball.

There are several sheets of paper dealing with inventory and accounting.

There's a map with half a dozen 'X's drawn on it. One has the words, 'not here' written next to it.

And then there's the letter.

Lord Albrek
My spies in Neverwinter tell me that strangers are due to arrive in Phandalin. They could be working for the Dwarves. Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don't allow them to upset our plans. See that any Dwarven maps in their possession are delivered to me with haste. I'm counting on you, Iarno. Don't disappoint me.

It isn't signed, but there is a symbol of a spider.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 249):

Amiri smiles as she lets the others explain.
"The staff looks nice."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Mon 21 Mar 2016.

In reply to Amiri Flamestorm (msg # 250):

""Indeed it does, and I might like to study that Charm scroll as well. We will have to indentify them to see what they do, though I imagine one of our fighters will utilize the sword.
One thing still eluded him.
"Where is the wizards spellbook.....?"

In reply to Cunaar Clothar (msg # 251):
" I wouldn't mind studying the Charm scroll as well."

"We found these in the wizard's room," Kyler says pulling out the pouches. "Haven't really looked at them yet." Kyler will open the pouches and show the other party members.

OOC:
What is in the pouches?

"Let us not be harefooted allotting the arcane writings," Ero says.  "If we share these materials between us, we can all possess whatever spells our trove may have, including those fireball and charm spells."

"Indisputably, we spellweavers should all have copies of each other's spells as well.  Then if something happens to one of our tomes, we'll have other copies at the ready."

In reply to Ero Sulaanin (msg # 254):
Amiri smiles.

"I have few spells to share as of yet."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:32, Mon 21 Mar 2016.

The groan coming from inside of Maldor wasn't loud enough for people on the other side of the room to hear. All of this talk of spells and wizards and magic and such bored him.

There was a thin layer of dust on the table next to the fighter. He traced his finger on the surface, sketching the face of a big-toothed monster. Mal smiled at his creation, as poor as it was. He then brought his fist down on the table. He connected more solidly than he intended. The faux creature was gone, but he had drawn attention. The half-orc looked around the room.

"Bug. Maldor smash bug. Bug smashed."

In reply to Maldor (msg # 256):

Amiri sighs.

" Maldor, spells for mages are like weapons for Fighters. "
This message was last edited by the player at 13:31, Mon 21 Mar 2016.

Maldor was confused for a second. How could the half-elf have heard his mumbling? Oh, well.

"Maldor no mage. Maldor no care. Maldor want smash head of bad humans. Wish bad humans more here."

The half-orc smiled, revealing his jutting bottom fangs.

In reply to Ero Sulaanin (msg # 254):

"Sounds good, though it may get costly, the regents and inks to inscribe them all. But it is something I would be interested in."
Cunaar awaits the reveal of what items they had found in the wizards room. In particular he wanted to see if they had found the spellbook.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Casters Notes:
 Cantrips: Firebolt, Light, Minor Illusion
 First Level: Comprehend Lang., Detect Magic, Identify, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Sleep

---

In reply to Cunaar Clothar (msg # 259):

Amiri smirks.

" being a pact mage I get my spells different."

"I can cast an Identify spell on something the group would like identified. Perhaps the Glasstaff?" Kyler volunteers, eying Glasstaff curiously. "Probably won't be able to use it though," he says to himself in a disappointed voice.

In reply to Kyler Woodster (msg # 261):

" Please do. "

Kayle took a moment to retrieve his arms and equipment, then suggested to the group "Would it not be better if we did this somewhere a little more secure?"

"True, but there's no urgency to replicate every one.  Some may not even bespoke our expertise.  We should methodize our selections to best minister to our necessities."

"But that is something for a later time.  The human has an apt suggestion.  If we have amassed all this den of villainy has to offer, we should decamp for the village."

 

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
0:  Firebolt, Light, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation
 1:  Burning Hands, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Fog
     Cloud, Grease, Identify, Mage Armor, Shield, Sleep
 2:  Flaming Sphere, Web

---

The pouches that Kyler produces contain 12 precious stones in one, 36 gold pieces in the second and the answer to Cunaar's question in the third--runesticks. The runesticks are the wizard's spellbook... or the equivalent, since they aren't exactly a book.


All the bodies have now been hauled outside and dumped or buried.


So casting Identify on the staff, wand and sword is going to wait until everyone is in a more 'secure' location.

Lureene, for her part, examines the note while the others divvy up the spoils. "Your arrival was noted, it seems. Is this Iarno Albrek, who seems to be a lord, familiar to anyone? It would be odd that a brigand would be a lord, if this addresses a Redbrand. And this talk of Dwarven maps." She shrugs. "And who would sign with a spider? Someone with an overdeveloped sense of drama, surely, but who?"

In reply to Lureene Raventree (msg # 266):

Amiri shrugs.

"Or Drow."

"It does seem to be a mystery," Kyler says rubbing his chin. "I was wondering if this 'Iarno Albrek' was the wizard we captured though perhaps someone the wizard worked for. It would be good if we could get more information..."

"Didn't someone use a Charm Person spell a little while ago to get some really useful information from one of the Redbrands? It might be useful to Charm our wizard friend and get him to answer some questions. I think it would not be too dangerous if we kept him tied up and locked in a cell when we did that. It would be nice to get some answers."

"Or we could always try to find the dwarves mentioned? This journal by Urmon might be of interest to them as well as the letter."

In reply to Kyler Woodster (msg # 268):

" That was Serena our Bard.

Runesticks, this was quite different.
"May I see those runesticks?"
With them in hand Cunaar loses focus on what to do with prisoners and the like. Instead trying to decipher what they hold. While this was grand, any copying would involve special inks to transcribe which could be costly.

Ero tenses at the mention of Drow.  "That would be the excessive flamboyance one would envisage from our nefarious kin.  Let us importune that is not its origin."

While the others gather together the spoils, Ero walks around the room.  "What say you all to the conception of acquiring this dungeon as our sanctuary?  Much as I abhor the hypothesis of subsisting underground for any extended length of time, we could append upwards into the ruins.  Properly shaped, a forest grove rising from the bones of some bygone habitation could be quite exquisite.  The power of nature over artifice, as it were."

"It would take some effort, but it has prospect."

"I've heard of someone... or possibly something... in these parts that was going by the name Black Spider," the Ranger comments. "I'd wager that's who this missive is from. As to whether the Black Spider is a Drow or not, that I can't say."

"Tales of the mine have been told for a long time. It just seems strange to me that someone wouldn't have found it before now, if it's even real and in the area."

"With your suggested modifications, Ero, I'd not be adverse to using the crypts and ruins as a base of operations. This area is my home anyway, so I don't any immediate plans for moving on."

"Forest, wilderness, caves... it's all the same to me."

"That is interesting," the bard comments. "We encountered a Drow at the old castle ruins. I don't think she was the enemy, but Amiri had some sort of grudge against her."

"However, if I remember correctly, the bugbear that was lording it over the goblins, was trying to deal with the Drow we met, but she wasn't the Drow he thought she was. That would mean that there is at least one other operating in this area."

"Once back in town, and Sildar had recovered some... we rescued him from the goblins... he started asking around for this Iarno. I doubt if there are two such people in Phandelver. As near as I could gather, Iarno was a member of the Lord's Alliance. Apparently he went missing about 2 months ago after setting out to explore Tressendar Manor and its environs."

"I think Sildar was going to ask us to find him."

Ero replies as he paces off the perimeter of the room.  "If she wasn't immediately devising a plan to slide a blade between our scapulae, it was because she deduced we had some utility toward whatever treachery she was contemplating.  She would have betrayed us as soon as we served her purpose though.  It's simply their nature."

In reply to Ero Sulaanin (msg # 274):

Amiri laughs.

Grudge. Against a filthy rotten Dhaerow. A demon worshipping gutter trash? Has the all the worlds gone insane not to remember what the Dhaerow are?

Maldor nervously shifted his stance at the words of Amiri. He had no idea what she was talking about. Then again, he didn't remember a lot of things. Having been found near death in the Tower District of Neverwinter, Mal was glad to be alive. But it would be convenient to be aware of certain things.

The half-orc continued to listen, hoping to pick up on some information.

In reply to Amiri Flamestorm (msg # 275):

"It is true, all but a few sects of drow are of the most vile sort. Evils most could not fathom. "
Cunaar could understand her loathing of the drow, being akin to the surface elves yet twisted.

As for bases of operations,
"Milcom, why do you not like the thought of using this as a base? Aside from the Redbrands knowing of its location, the town is known to them and this place keeps the battle away from innocents."
With a 360 look around he adds with a smile,
"A few flowers and it might be quite homey."

Artem sits and munches on an apple as he listens to the discussion. Being a man of action, he soon grows visibly weary of it and simply says, "I have never thought of living in a place like this, but if it makes sense for a short while, then I'm game."

Kayle wondered what his family would make of him living in a cave. It had been several generations since any of them had lived anywhere wilder than Waterdeep's North Ward. "I'd prefer if we fully explored this place before making any decisions about settling here."

"One bad apple don't spoil the whole barrel," Mithra comments. "But just as one apple can go bad, it is also possible for a single Drow to be something else."

"We aren't all bad like these Redbrands, Amiri. These guys were bad apples. You shouldn't judge all Drow the same; there might be a decent Drow in the barrel."

"As for these ruins... well, as I understand it, the section off to the right was the crypts and basement. I have a hard time believing these Redbrands... or the bugbears... excavated all this out. Too much stonework, even if there'd been a Dwarf in the bunch."

"I suspect they'd found some of this had already been started. They made it a dungeon. If we make it our base, we can change it around to suit our needs and tastes. Doesn't seem like we can put in a window, but maybe some deck prisms in the ceiling can bring some light in."

"Some carpets and lamps will help, too."

"It only remains to decide if we want a secret entrance or a grand entrance. Remember, the secret entrance didn't work out so well for the Redbrands. I'd vote for a grand entrance... and a secondary secret way out. Just in case."

In reply to Mithra Stormraven (msg # 280):

Amiri shakes her head.

"They are Dhaerow or God Forsaken for a reason. It was not my decision.

"More perspicacious contentions have rarely been expressed," Ero says.

Maldor furrowed his brow.

"Why elf with big words talk about rain?" he pondered, barely loud enough for even him to here.

The half-orc looked around. He was getting eager to return to action.

In reply to Maldor (msg # 283):

Amiri looks confused.

"Who is discussing Precipitation? That is almost as bad as discussing the Dhaerow."

Maldor gave Amiri a confused look. Is the half-elf a mind reader?

"No no no, perspicacious,"  Ero corrects.  He reminds himself he's no longer at the academy among the best and brightest and that he's now amongst the uneducated masses.  Out on the frontier.  In a cave.  In a cave he's about to make his home.

How far more until I hit firmament?

"Perspicacious," he repeats.  "Discerning.  Astute."  He ponders a moment to find a word the orcoid -- what was his name again?  Maldor?  He really needed to remember that -- that Maldor would understand.  Perhaps something with only one syllable.  "Wise?"

And then Maldor gave a perplexed glance at Ero. He scratched his long jaw with his free hand. Do elves and their kind have the ability to read minds?

Maldor thought of mutton. He almost licked his upper lip thinking of the meat. He waited. No mention of mutton. Hmm.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 00:10, Tue 05 Apr 2016.

Lureene frowns at the thought of living in a cave. "This place is... well, it seems the Lady Firehair might have wanted to put me to a challenge. We'll need rugs, flowerpots, artwork... Furniture that is not so rickety. And it will need to be thoroughly cleaned. Really, would it not be better to live in town?"

"I don't mind making this home for a little while... well, maybe just as a base," Serena offers, "but I need an audience!"

"I'll certainly spend most of my time in town."

"Meanwhile, we should head back to town to let everyone know we are fine, deliver our prisoners to Sildar and get something to eat! We should block off this entrance, though... to let any other Redbrands that have avoided our efforts that this is no longer safe for them."

"And we need to get some incense to purge this place of the reeking smells!"

Looking up from the runesticks he was pouring his attention into Cunaar adds,
"There is also a manor above I believe, which could be renovated."
Living in a cave would not appeal to too many but it had a study and a library....what more did it need.

"We assuredly won't be relocating at present," Ero says.  "We'll need to secure the premises first.  We can't have any scalawag just saunter in here whenever we're elsewhere.  This would be a prolong proposition."

"Well, some of us should take the prisoners to town, though I'm not sure there's any place to keep them," Mithra suggests. "The rest of us can work on moving one of the doors to this front entrance. There might be some tools around here for that."

"Any volunteers? For either one? I'm good for either."

"Maldor take prisoners to town. Hit on head if trouble. Return when lock away."

The half-orc seemed impatient. He looked at the back of his left wrist.

"Four hair, one mole. Time to go soon before late."

Artem shrugs his shoulders at the half-orc's unusual statement that might have had something to do with time or might have been a skin condition.  Either way, he figures the large companion could use some help.

"I will go with Maldor to take prisoners to town. If they don't want them then we can recommend exile or some other punishment. Let us know if there are any supplies or messages you want me to deliver to town..."

It's not far back to town, and Maldor and Artem take the prisoners back to town. Once they get there, though, they discover that there are no cells... there's no jail at all. There aren't enough people in town to make that necessary.

You also find out that the mayor had been kidnapped by the Redbrands that were still hanging out in town at the Sleeping Giant tavern. Some new folks in town went and rescued him. They have another 7 Redbrands to restrain.

So now the mayor and Sildar are trying to decide what to do with the Redbrands.


Back in the crypts, everyone else is cleaning out the place, working on make a second exit (probably up in through the regular basement into the ruins above), and moving one of the doors from elsewhere to install at the 'secret' entrance.

Mithra suggest that they install two doors at the new 'front' of the base--one is just an obstacle; 2 says stay out.

The brush is cleared away from the entrance, too. If anyone wants to find them, it should be easy.

After about 4 hours, the doors are secured, the place is almost habitable (it could stand some decent furnishings), and everyone is ready to head back to town for a decent drink.

There is no sign of the nothic. When the crevasse is searched, you find a tunnel--mostly just a narrow crevasse that goes deeper underground--and a half-eaten body. Milcom sadly identifies the body as that of his friend, whose wife and son had been imprisoned with Wiglaf and Kyler.

Amiri smiles as she looks at Serena.

" You always have an audience with me. "

"Hmm" Maldor hummed to Artem. "No cell hold bad humans. Maybe bury bad humans. Bury to head..."

The half-orc slapped underneath his jaw to indicate his words.

"Bad humans no run then. If bad humans more bad, hit with club. Make head go fly like Mort Wabbler."

Mal thought some more.

"Or could lock in cellar or open room. No boots, no run. Surround room with good humans. Bad human run, hit on head."

Maldor eyed a dark-haired Redbrand with tattoos covering his arms and neck. He mentally practiced removing the thug's head with his greatclub. An odd sensation of satisfaction came over the half-orc.

"Maldor and blond fighter need find place bad human soon. Maybe cellar inn where good humans were before."