Glad you enjoy the recaps, Mat :D Good to know at least two people bother to read them! xD And finally finished 3rd session! (EDITED 03-11-2016) Chapter 3: Glasstaff and
the Redbrands
After a
short rest, the party left the Redbrand tied up in the small break room they
had rested in and continued on to the other side of the cave. Here they
stumbled upon a barrack’s type room filled with bugbears (or was it
hobgoblins?).
A tough
battle in the stone-corridor ensued, during which a bugbear ran terrified from
Naeris’ psychic attack and disappeared down the corridor. But the heroes
prevailed and the remaining bugbears were cleared.
Upon
investigating the bugbears’ barracks Zaradur finds a goblin hiding under one of
the beds and much to Naeris’ disgust, the rest of the party immediately adopts
the wretched thing as their new friend/pet.
Interested
in nothing but saving his own hide, Droop, the cowardly goblin was more than
happy to play along with the heroes. He even happily agreed to being tied up.
Exhausted
and injured from their fights, the party decided to retreat and take a long
rest, taking Droop with them.
Naturally,
Droop was the entertainment of the day. Sigrun even went so far as to hug him,
much to the poor goblin’s discomfort.
Refreshed
after their long rest, the party felt once again confident enough to venture
into the Redbrands’ hideout and headed in once again through the cave entrance.
They were
met with a gruesome display. The bugbear that ran away from their last fight
was strung up at the entrance, dead. Behind it stood three Redbrands each
behind a woman tied to a pole - An older woman and her two daughters.
“We’ve been
waiting for you.” The apparent leader, standing behind the older woman called
out smugly.
Outraged by
the cruel cowardice, Zaradur challenged the Redbrands to abandon their hostages
and fight fairly, as men. Needless to say, it had little effect.
Determined
to overpower the Redbrands before they could harm the women, Raynor followed by
Elvalur and Zaradur charged each at one Redbrand. They were lucky enough to
dodge the arrows of Redbrand archers hidden in the corridors on either side of
the cavern.
During the
fight, Zaradur leaped impressively across the pit to aid Elvalur, who was
struggling against two Redbrands and landed axe-first on top of one, cleaving
him straight through.
Meanwhile,
Raynor, left alone with two Redbrands each with a hostage managed to defeat one
Redbrand, but failed to prevent the remaining thug from stabbing his hostage
fatally in the side and the woman slumped to the ground. At the same time, the
older woman, still haphazardly tied to a pole began to slip into the pit.
Raynor heroically grabbed her before she could fall.
Across the
pit, Zaradur noticed Raynor’s predicament and leaped back straight across the
pit to prevent the Redbrand from taking advantage of Raynor’s prone position.
Raynor
however, found himself struggling with his thin elfish arms against the old
woman’s weight and pulling her back up from the edge of the pit in the middle
of the fight proved a challenge indeed; a challenge, which he would no doubt
have eventually overcome, if it was not for Glass-staff’s interference.
By the
crafty, old mage’s command, Zaradur, who had been fighting the Redbrand
suddenly stopped and turned on Raynor. Unbidden, the half-orc barbarian struck
Raynor with his axe, forcing the ranger to drop the old woman into the pit, we’re
she thankfully landed relatively softly on top of a pile of decomposing bodies.
Exasperated
by the barbarian’s sudden, completely uncharacteristic actions, Naeris first
demanded an explanation, upon receiving none, she ordered the daft oaf to
desist and sit himself down until she could sort him out. To her outrage,
Zaradur refused.
That was
when she noticed Glasstaff skulking in the dark further into the cave and she
realized what was happening. Furious at the mage for messing with her
barbarian, Naeris directed a vicious, psychic attack at him, killing him
instantly.
Freed from the
wizard’s charm, Zaradur recovered quickly and charged at the wizard who dared
mess with his head. However, he misjudged his step and tumbled into the pit,
just in time to catch the wizard’s glass staff before it would have shattered
on the stone floor at the bottom of the pit.
With the
wizard dead, the fight ended quickly. The old woman was helped up from the pit
and Raynor was even able to save the young woman, who had been stabbed, using
the healing magic Sigrun had taught him.
Raynor and
especially Naeris remained angry at Zaradur for a while yet, for his actions
during the battle when he was charmed by the wizard, much to the half-orc’s
confusion.
The old
woman and her daughters returned to town and the party left the dead bodies for
the Nothic to feast upon as they ventured forth in search for Glasstaff’s
study.
They found
the study in the deepest parts of the hideout, where the wizard had kept a
small alchemy laboratory. Naeris pilfered some rare ingredients while Raynor
found a dead rat, which he found fit to poke. A supernatural tingle went
through him at the contact and he questioned Naeris about it.
She informed
him matter of factly, that it was a dead rat. Then, she eventually explained,
it had to be the wizard’s familiar and what Raynor had felt, was a residue of
the psychic link between the familiar and its master, disturbed by the Nothic
feasting on the wizard’s brain.
Past the
laboratory, the party found the wizard’s bedroom, where they found the lion’s
share of the Redbrands’ stolen treasures and a letter from The Spider,
addressed to Iarno, Gundren Rockseeker’s missing wizard. It became apparent,
that Glasstaff, the leader of the Redbrands was in fact Iarno, who had betrayed
Gundren and instead worked with the mysterious Spider. Through Iarno's letter, the party learned about Cragmaw Castle, which Naeris recalled from one of the countless books she had read, which made locating the ancient ruin an easy feat.
On the way
out, the party stopped by the crypt, where their Redbrand prisoner had reported
undead and cleared that out.
DM’s
epilogue:
As Naeris is leaving the cavern, the nothic calls out
to her. When she responds, it offers its thanks for sparing it and for the
grand meal she has delivered. It also gives her a gift: a +1 longsword in
a silver-chased scabbard. The sword is inscribed with the name “Talon,” and its
hilt is worked in the shape of a bird of prey with outspread wings. It once
belonged to a great knight named Aldith Tresendar, known as the Black Hawk,
former lord of the manor above.
----
Back in Phandalin, Mirna rubs the rope burns on
her wrists as she thanks Raynor for rescuing her and her family. She has
nothing to give him, but repays his kindness with a story: when she was a
young girl, she and her family fled from the town of Thundertree after undead
overran the place. Her family had an herb and alchemy shop in the southeast
part of Thundertree, inside which a case containing an emerald necklace was
hidden beneath a section of storage shelves. She never dared to return and
retrieve it.
----
Naeris communes with the glass staff during a
quiet moment and learns its properties.
Naeris’ add-ons:
To the men’s disappointment, Naeris chooses to smugly
strap her shiny, new magic longsword to her backpack rather than give it to any
of them.
Upon learning the glass staff’s properties, Naeris
turns to Zaradur and mutters: “Alright, I forgive you. For now.” Sigrun also had her own, little breakdown after the hostage-drama involving the small family. Remembering her own tragic loss, she was thankful, that Mirna and her daughters escaped with their lives. When it came time to divide up the loot, Sigrun asked for three carnelians off Glasstaff's treasure for her own uses.
