Willow shakes her head in disgust. "Greedy bastard," she mutters.

Steamknuckle rubs the sleep from his eyes. "But what about Gundren?" he asks. "Shouldn't we head straight to the town hall to start organizing his rescue?"

"We have a little time to attend to our own needs first. The townmaster here, Harbin Wester, is probably just now waking up. We should give him a moment to compose himself before knocking down his door with our demands.

"Besides, it's been a long and tiresome journey. We're no good to Gundren in our current condition. The wisest course of action would be to first settle in at the inn and take a moment to refresh and re-equip ourselves.

"As you can see," Sildar says, sweeping a hand across his unarmored body, "at present my own gear is barely sufficient to handle a single goblin, let alone an entire castle full of them."

Zhaquadan follows Sildar to the local inn to secure lodging and ask around for the Gundren brothers and to see if any wizard types have been spotted in the area.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Tue 05 Apr 2016.

The wagon rolls past a couple of outlying farm cottages before reaching the crumbling curtain wall of Phandalin proper. The wall is ancient and overgrown with vegetation, an apparent relic of the original settlement having fallen into disrepair centuries ago. The road passes through it and onto a wide dirt lane flanked by the larger and more well-kept buildings of the town.

As the party enters the village, the first building they see on their left is a large, red-roofed log structure. The crude painted sign hanging outside reads "Barthen's Provisions."

Stumpy pulls up on the reins and the wagon rolls to a stop. He looks back at the party with a cold, grizzled stare.

"And this here is our stop. Goods delivered to one Barthen of Phandalin, intact and on time. My apologies if you were hoping for a ride to the inn, but this wagon goes no further until these goods are unloaded and the job is done."

"Of course. We're here on a job, let's get it done and collect our pay."

"Yes," Sildar says. "I suppose we ought to take care of business first. Besides, Gundren worked closely with Barthen to outfit his mining operation here in town. He deserves to know what's happened, and might be able to help us find the other Rockseekers as well."

Willow dismounts from Burgess as the rest of the group climbs down off the wagon, dusting themselves off before entering the building. As they approach the entrance, a lean, balding man of about fifty emerges to greet them, flanked by two young assistants.

"Greetings, friends." The shopkeeper smiles warmly. "I am Elmar Barthen, and this is my humble trading post. You must be the agents of Gundren Rockseeker. And that," he glances past them at the parked wagon, "must be the load of goods he ordered to supply his new mining claim."

After a moment, though, his smile fades a bit. "But...Gundren himself, he was supposed to arrive in town two or three days ago. How is it that his supplies have made it here before him?"

Before the party can respond, his gaze flickers back to the wagon and his smile disappears entirely. "Are those Lionshield crates I see there?" He gives the group a confused expression. "What's going on? Perhaps this isn't my shipment after all." He points to the south. "The Lionshield Coster is down the road a bit, on the far side of the town square."

He looks down at the ground, trailing off a bit and muttering to himself. "But...if you aren't Gundren's men, then where are they? And where is he? Must be delayed, somehow..."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:56, Thu 07 Apr 2016.

"No, you were correct, this is Gundren's shipment," Willow says quickly. "The Lionshield crates were recovered from bandits who waylaid them on the Triboar Trail. We'll have to separate them from your parcels, but that shouldn't be hard since they're all clearly marked."

"There's just one chest in there that's ours, though. Be sure to set that one aside for us."

Willow throws a brief glare at Rudo before turning back to Barthen. "We apologize for the delay in delivery. The bandit issue took the better part of a day out of our schedule. But since we allowed more time than necessary and made good time elsewhere, I believe we're still on time. And the goods are all intact, as you'll see."

Barthen's smile returns. "I see. Very good! Bandits, you say. Well done indeed!" He gestures to his two young employees, and they move forward to begin separating the cargo and unloading the proper parcels.

A shrewd look appears on Barthen's face. "These bandits...they wouldn't happen to have been wearing red cloaks, were they?"

Sildar replies, "No, they were goblins, affiliated with the Cragmaw clan of Neverwinter Wood. We dealt with them in the proper manner."

He steps forward to shake Barthen's hand. "Please forgive me. I haven't properly introduced myself. I am Sildar Hallwinter, of Neverwinter, formerly of Waterdeep. And these are my companions, the associates of Gundren Rockseeker hired to protect your shipment. They are:" Sildar points to each party member in turn as he names them. "Willow, Rudo, Steamknuckle, Zhaquadan, and Stumpy, the wagon driver."

He looks Barthen squarely in the eye. "Speaking of goblins, we've also got some bad news about Gundren Rockseeker."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:31, Thu 07 Apr 2016.

"No...killed by goblins?"

"Hopefully not yet. But he was captured, and taken to their castle somewhere north of here in the forest. I know because I was ambushed with him. I was his traveling companion, headed here to Phandalin on my own business. We were overrun by the goblins and taken prisoner. Gundren was sent on to the castle, but they kept me in their cave, tormenting me for a full day before these brave folk you see here arrived to rescue me. And thank Torm they chose to depart from their duty to do so, elsewise I would be dead now."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Thu 07 Apr 2016.

Barthen simply stares at Sildar for a moment, absorbing everything. "Sad news indeed," he manages at last. He looks down, shaking his head. "He's a good dwarf, Gundren, and this new claim he's made...it's gotten a lot of people around here very excited. Blasted goblins. To lose it all now, because of some filthy monsters preying on travelers for scraps."

He looks back up at Sildar. "But he may still be alive, right? This castle...goblins, living in a castle? Never heard of such a thing. Do you know where it is?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:38, Thu 07 Apr 2016.

Sildar sighs. "Not exactly. We were told by a goblin, right before we killed it, that the castle lies about twenty miles northeast of their cave where I was held. I figure that should be roughly north of where we are now, somewhere around the edge of Neverwinter Wood.

"Of course, that's a large area, and not easy to search due to the thick forest. So we don't really know exactly where it is. Just a rough area. We were hoping to tap Harbin Wester for aid in organizing a force to find the castle and rescue Gundren."

Barthen lets out a small, nervous laugh. "Wester? That fat fool? Good luck. He has no real power here. He's too busy ignoring the Redbrands while they push us decent folk around and rob us blind. He won't help. Couldn't anyway, even if he wanted to. It's not like we've got any kind of town guard, or warriors of any kind here. You'd be better off paying the Redbrands themselves to help you, and they'd just turn around and cut your throat as soon as you paid them."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:04, Thu 04 Aug 2016.

Sildar's expression grows very stern. "Who are these Redbrands?"

"Come inside," Barthen says. "Let's talk more privately." He quickly scans the street before turning and entering the trading post, with the party following behind him. They enter a large storeroom lit by early morning sunlight filtering down from high windows, illuminating rows of wooden shelves containing a variety of general goods.

Barthen stops near the front counter and turns back to Sildar. "Thieves and murderers, is who they are. They showed up about two months ago and took over the Sleeping Giant tavern, at the end of the east road just before the path up to the old manor house. No idea where they came from, or why. A bunch of drunken hooligans wearing red cloaks. All they do is cause trouble, harassing people, stealing, bullying, and who's to stop them? We have no guard, no militia, we're just a quiet mining town looking for a little peace. The townmaster is supposed to handle these kinds of problems, but he's just one man, and a coward at that."

He shakes his head sadly. "And now you say there are goblins, living in a castle, attacking travelers on the road? It's only a matter of time before they find us here and raid the town. What will we do?"

"Do not fear," Sildar replies. "I am here on behalf of Neverwinter and the Lords' Alliance. I cannot singlehandedly protect your town, but I will establish order here, and raise a militia from the local populace if need be.

"However, it seems that my first order of business is to have a word with Wester about these Redbrands. If he will not stand up to them, then I will relieve him of his duties and assume his position myself. Thank you for telling me about this, Elmar. Your town will suffer no longer.

"I do have one more favor to ask of you, though. As I was relieved of all my possessions by the goblins, I have no money with which to establish myself here in town. So I have no choice but to request a small loan from you. My companions here can vouch for my good nature, and attest to the fact that I was indeed traveling with Gundren when he was captured. If you will give me your trust as to my affiliation with the Lords' Alliance, then you will be assured that my masters in Neverwinter have more than enough resources to cover your loan at a generous rate of interest."

"I believe you," Barthen says without hesitation. "How much do you need?"

"I'd say three hundred gold pieces, to get started. I owe my friends here some money, and may need a good amount more to spread around to establish security here in town."