Morgrim charges through the kitchen and through the doorway, already drawing his scimitar.

"Hold yer horses! I cannae run that fast!" he shouts.

He never gets a chance to swing his blade however, immediately throwing himself to the ground on four swift paws upon entering the chaotic longroom. With teeth gnashing Morgrim lunges at the leader of the pack harassing Markham, dragging him roughly towards the ground!

Bonus action: Shape change, dire wolf
Move to engage slim.
Action: Attack hits AC 18 for 12 damage. DC 13 strength save or be dragged prone!

20:29, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 12 using 2d6+3.  Damage.
20:29, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 18 using 2d20+5, dropping the lowest dice only.  Pack tactics.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:31, Tue 18 July 2017.

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 264):

Dal nodded to Grim as he said to stay behind him.  That was ok with her.

"Grim!  Another rat!  We did get rid of that last one didn't we?  How many of them are here!"

With one hand on her warhammer in the ready position and the other hand on her magic symbol, Dal was ready.  At least she wasn't tired any more.

Morgrim grapples with the wererat, sending the man-rat creature toppling from the table onto the ground as teeth sink into flesh. The wererat shrieks in agony and attempts to both bite and plunge his rapier into the side of the wolf, but is at serious disadvantage while on the ground and unable to find purchase. The wererat then vaults back to its feet in a fluid motion and bounces from side to side, measuring its foe's defenses. The wererat narrows its glowing red eyes, thinking it has found weakness.

Meanwhile, chaos continues to break out across the hall, chairs sent flying this way and that, pottery shattering here or there, and metal on metal as Markhamm and his men attempt to quell Vaelish's guards.

OOC:

Slim the Wererat Ruffian
AC 12
HP: -18/?? [Private to GM: 15/33]

Luskan Guards, 4
AC 16
HP: 5/11, 6/11, 4/11, 5/11


PC        AC    HP    Insp  Spell Save  Conditions & Notes
Dalgura   15   17/17    1      13
Morgrim   15   14/19    1      13
Markhamm  15   20/20    0      NA
Alan      16   11/11    0      NA
Eagan     16   11/11    0      NA
Randy     16   11/11    0      NA
Brent     16   11/11    0      NA



PCs are UP!!!

Morgrim snarls and lunges, one shapeshifter against another, but his teeth fail to find purchase and he barrels past his foe.

07:48, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 9 using 2d20+5, dropping the lowest dice only.  Attack.

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 267):

Dalgura knows better to get close to Morgrim when he has shifted.  Even a sister/cleric doesn't want to get between two shifters in a fight.  So instead she helps take out the guards.

Dal turned to the closest Luskan Guards and swung with her warhammer.

Once again her aim was a little off but at least she let the guard know she knew where he was at.  That was suppose to be a good thing, right?

"Hey, you...yes you.  Stand still so I can hit you."


08:25, Today: Dalgura Ironhammer rolled 10 using 1d20+3.  dal swinging on bad guards.

Sheriff Markhamm keeps busy commanding his militiamen against the Luskan goons. Aided by Dalgura, the Sheriff and his forces manage to neutralize two of their foes, though Brent suffers a mortal wound in the process.

Meanwhile, Morgrim and the wererat continue their chaotic battle throughout the common hall, ducking and diving over and under table, sending chairs scattering this way and that. Both are cagey combatants and have a difficult go getting the better of the other. The wererat tumbles backwards and lands with a rough thud against a stand-up screen that had been obscuring a far corner of the common hall.

The screen comes crashing down, revealing a a very surprised Vaelish Gant...the same man Dalgura and Morgrim saw earlier this evening outside the Speaker's house. The wizard scrambles to avoid being knocked over by the falling screen and swings his head wildly, seemingly in search of an avenue of escape.

Finding none, he narrows his vision first on Sheriff Markhamm and then on the adventurers, the interlopers that have foiled his plans.

"You may have bested my minions here in Bryn Shander, but this is just the beginning!" he rails in mustache-twirling bravado. "I've woven my plans throughout Ten Towns! Easthaven shall now feel my wrath! Farewell...until we meet again!" he coos in an exaggerated sing-song tone.

With that, Vaelish Gant gestures with his hands and is gone, the smell of ozone left in his wake!

Slim, his wererat henchman, snarls in derision and returns his attention to matters at hand. If he is to survive this encounter, he needs to keep his wits about him.

OOC:

Slim the Wererat Ruffian
AC 12
HP: -18/?? [Private to GM: 15/33]

Luskan Guards, 4
AC 16
HP: 0/11, 6/11, 4/11, 0/11


PC        AC    HP    Insp  Spell Save  Conditions & Notes
Dalgura   15   17/17    1      13
Morgrim   15   14/19    1      13
Markhamm  15   20/20    0      NA
Alan      16   11/11    0      NA
Eagan     16   11/11    0      NA
Randy     16    5/11    0      NA
Brent     16    0/11    0      NA



PCs are UP!!!

Dal wished she had time to a healing on Brent but there were too many to enemies still up.

Dal moved to hit the closest Luskan Guard next to her.  As Dal swung her warhammer she spoke a quick "please let me hit the bad guys".  Maybe if she said please her Goddess would like it better.


18:42, Today: Dalgura Ironhammer rolled 18 using 1d20+3.  Dal warhammer attack - please hit.

18:48, Today: Dalgura Ironhammer rolled 7 using 1d8+1.  warhammer damage.

Snarling and snapping, Morgrim sinks his teeth into the wererat's side and flings him bodily about with a sudden jerk of his muscular neck.

Action: Attack hits AC 24 for 11 damage. DC 13 strength save or be dragged prone!
20:11, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 11 using 2d6+3.  Damage.
20:10, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 24 using 2d20+5, dropping the lowest dice only.  Pack tactics.

Morgrim drags the wererat to the ground, though the lycanthrope has yet to be really injured during the battle. Despite his lack of injuries, the wererat begins weighing his options. The momentum of battle has shifted. This, coupled with the fact his accomplice just fled, Slim begins thinking this is not so bad an idea. It will only be a matter of time before superior numbers figured out a way to best or capture and he would just as soon not give them the chance.

Vaulting back to his feet, the wererat carefull disengages from Morgrim, leaping atop a wooden table and then through a partially shuttered window, out into the cold.

The remaining Luskan toughs note the sea change and make a show of throwing their arms up in defeat and begging to be taken alive. They have no allusions of the romance of going down with the ship as it were.

Sheriff Markhamm commands his men to take control of the prisoners before striding across the disheveled hall toward the window. Once there, he peers outside hoping to spot the fleeing wererat.

OOC: The wererat Disengaged and then jumped through the window. The PCs can give chase if they wish, as he is just outside the window.

Slim the Wererat Ruffian
AC 12
HP: -29/?? [Private to GM: 4/33]

Luskan Guards, 4
AC 16
HP: 0/11, 6/11, 4/11, 0/11


PC        AC    HP    Insp  Spell Save  Conditions & Notes
Dalgura   15   17/17    1      13
Morgrim   15   14/19    1      13
Markhamm  15   20/20    0      NA
Alan      16   11/11    0      NA
Eagan     16   11/11    0      NA
Randy     16    5/11    0      NA
Brent     16    0/11    0      NA



PCs are UP!!!

Morgrim pounced through the open window and landed upon the icy cobbles, drawing in a deep breath through his wet nares. The scents of the city came to him on the night wind, a riotous bouquet with the hard edge of frost.

20:33, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 8 using 2d20+5, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 3,1.  Perception (direwolf).

Lots of smells to sort through clearly ;)

Slim is obvious presumably. Any sign of Gant?

Slim leaped through the window, bounded onto two feet and then immediately began scaling the side of the longhouse. The wererat is now pulling himself atop the low-slung roof.

Morgrim does not see or hear Vaelish Gant and the scents are too intermingled to be able to hone in on any particular quarry.

Morgrim circled back, getting a running start before bunching his powerful legs beneath him and vaulting towards the roof...

07:34, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 20 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 15.  Athletics.

DM: If Morgrim knows he can't leap as high as the roof, he'll use the jump to try to attack the lower dangling wererat instead. Let me know and I'll roll an attack as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:38, Wed 19 July 2017.

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 275):

Dal let the Sheriff do his thing and went after her brother.  "Grim! They surrendered.  I doubt you can catch any scents to follow the rat but he did say where they plan to strike next remember?"

The wererat pulls himself onto the roof, well away from the dire wolf's eager jaws, and vaults to his feet with acrobatic flair. Slim hazards a quick glance down at Morgrim, smiles, and turns on his heels to vault quickly across the roof, outside of Morgrim's view.

Morgrim hears the wererat scrabble across the roof, silence and then a secondary thud, somewhere further away. Morgrim has a sense of the direction Slim fled toward, but he is on the ground and the wererat is running and leaping across roofs in a bid to make good on his escape.

OOC: Morgrim jumped through the window last round and then used the remainder of his action as a perception check. The wererat was not within striking distance at that point, though it did not really matter because Morgrim had no actions to use.

Morgrim will need to make a Perception (DC 15) to attempt to narrow down where the wererat fled to, as he is now jumping roof to roof, parkour-style through the urban landscape.

Morgrim takes off running in the direction of the thud but quickly losses track of the fleeing wererat amidst the sounds and smells of the city. After a minute's circling he heads back to the longhouse, tail between his legs.

"Lost the damnable rat!" he grunts upon assuming his usual guise. "And Gant to boot!"

"Sorry Sheriff. We've done let ye down."

10:35, Today: Morgrim Ironhammer rolled 11 using 2d20+5, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 1,6.  Perception.

The dice roller does not appear to want Morgrim to catch slim. That's two consecutive lousy perception rolls on a check he has advantage with.

Sheriff Markhamm finishes up detaining the Luskan toughs and seeing to his injured men, eventually joining Morgrim outside. Peering into the cold night he responds, "Hardly. At least now we have a pretty good idea who's been whipping up all the anti-Duvessa sentiment of late. Likely behind the shakedowns as well."

The Sheriff spends a few more minutes briefly casting his gaze down each of the adjacent streets before pulling his fur-lined cloak around him and commenting, "Come on in out of the cold. Looks like the wererat and wizard are good and gone now..."

Once back inside the warmth of Gant's offices, Sheriff Markhamm prepares the prisoners for transfer to jail while thanking the adventurers for their assistance against dangerous foes. Fully aware they have already had a full day, he suggests the dwarves should take their rest and return for a debrief in the morning. The Sheriff then pays out the owed moneys, 25 gold to each, and bids each good night before leading his men back to the armory and jail.

And just like that Morgrim and Dalgura were left standing alone in the wreckage of Gant's former home and offices. "Well Dal," he said after a moment. "We should probably get some sleep."

He looked around the overturned furnishings and scattered effects.

"Of course... If Gant left anything behind that could help point the way forward, now's the time to find it..."

"You don't mind staying up a wee bit longer, do ya?" Morgrim winked.

Searching the offices/private rooms

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 280):

Dal looked at Grim and shook her head.  She knew better than stop Grim because he was already starting to search.  Her real choice was to either help him or fall asleep while he looked at stuff.  After putting her 25 gold away, Dal looked over at her brother.


"No no.  That's fine.  I'll help you search, but Grim?  CAN we get some sleep after that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:04, Thu 20 July 2017.

"Aye Dal," Morgrim replied. "We'll find the nicest room in the inn."

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 282):

Dal gave a snort.  "Don't need a fancy room.  You have enough padding to keep me warm."

Sheriff Markhamm remains behind, helping the dwarves look through Gant's offices and private residences for any additional information that might pain a clearer picture of the wizard's motives in Ten Towns.

The office and living quarters are sparsely furnished, Vaelish having just arrived a month ago with little beyond the clothes on his back. The Sheriff says Vaelish rented the furnished building from a trading coster, "so none of this stuff belongs to him" he says while admiring an etched copper tea kettle with a scrimshaw handle. "Very nice," he says before moving on.

The living quarters contains exactly what one might expect a bachelor to have in his home and is well kept and tidy. The office shows signs of more frequent use, particularly the writing desk, which contains several vials of ink, quills, nibs and sheets of parchment, the latter haphazardly sprawled across its surface.

A quick perusal of the desk turns up a sheet of parchment with a list of dates denoting favorable travel days and associated goods, essentially laying out the ebb and flow of trade in Ten Towns. It's clear from looking at the list Vaelish was/is interested in commercial pursuits in Ten Towns.

There is also a rough map of Ten Towns and surrounding areas, with crude depictions of resources found in each area. Of course the predominant source of income is Knucklehead Trout, depicted as fish in the lakes, but also indicated are pelts, timber and lodes of ore in Kelvin's Cairn and The Spine of the World. Apparently, Vaelish Gant has grand plans in the dale!

Finally, the trio of investigators finds a half-completed letter to somebody named Jendrick the Blue, wherein Vaelish writes of gaining a foothold in Ten Towns and things moving along according to plan, but specifics are not included in the letter itself. The letter seems to have been abandoned midway through, a clumsy splotch of ink rendering the lower half of the parchment unuseable.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:16, Thu 20 July 2017.

Morgrim scrubs a hand across his face, his eyes struggling to maintain their focus at the late hour. "Well its not nothing, but it doesn't bring us much closer either."

The dwarven druid heaved a sigh.

"Come on, Dal. Lets get some sleep. Maybe it'll all make more sense in the morning. Goodnight, Sheriff."

In reply to Morgrim Ironhammer (msg # 285):

Dal looks over at the Sheriff one last time.  "Is the ink on that unfinished note dry?  If not or not completely, then we probably interrupted it.  If it is, then I wonder if somebody else interrupted him."

After getting that answer, Dal went over to Grim.  "Come on brother.  Lean on me.  Let's get our sleep."

After a long day, the siblings shamble in from out of the cold into the warm environs of their awaiting inn. There, the smell of fresh baked bread and roasting meat welcomes the weary adventurers. Once stripped of their adventuring gear and in fresh clothes, the dwarves return to the common hall to partake in a quick warm meal and cold drink before drifting mercifully to sleep in the comfort of their beds.

Both have little difficulty to falling to sleep that night. In fact, the only difficulty comes with pulling themselves out of bed the next morning. It is well into the morning before either rouse themselves from sleep to rejoin the world. Icewindale is as it ever is this time of year: windy and cold, though no fresh snow falls today (at least yet).

Over the next few days the dwarves take some much needed downtime. The siblings have essentially been traveling non-stop for several rides now, since even before they linked up with the caravan in Luskan. Their journey began in their ancestral homelands in that distant southern region of Faerun known as the Shining South. How strange the Sword Coast and now Icewind Dale must be to the dwarves, accustomed to a land of abundant sunshine and warmth.

The next several days the dwarves keep in regular contact with Mithann, whom still has not heard from her Harper contact, Aarun. Additionally, Sheriff Markhamm also plies them for any additional information they can share about the bandit camp outside of town, the warehouse, etc. Finally, the Town Speaker herself, Duvessa, requests Dalgura and Morgrim's services at the upcoming public audience.

The High Harvestide festival proves to be a contentious affair, with several dissatisfied residents bringing grievances to the fore. Most notable of these is the Town Speaker's seeming inability to do anything about the shake-downs they have suffered at the hands of Luskan thugs, though in truth these seem to have abated somewhat since Vaelish was run out of town. In the end, Duvessa's supporters outnumber her detractors and she is able to retain a tenuous grip on her role as Town Speaker.

All seems to be reasonably well in Bryn Shander, though Vaelish's parting words leaves some uncertainty as to what sort of nefarious plans the Waterdhavian schemer may have up his sleeves.

Then there is the issue of the fate of the dwarves' companions: Arnan, Kira, Thane and Hengar. That group departed into the tundra nearly a ride ago and have not returned and no word has been sent to tell of their fate.

Just curious about this, are Morgrim/Dalgura retained by Duvessa and paid? Or are we merely attendants? Not clear on the relationship we have with the speaker.