Radegast slumped back, blood pouring from
the puncture wounds in her shoulder. She felt a tingling sensation, as if
quicksilver was now flowing through her veins. Sweat beaded on her forehead as
her face flushed. She remembered her classes on lycanthropic lore.
“No,” she whispered, horrified.
The mercurial fever receded, and Radegast
shook her head to clear the dizziness. “Whew!” she exclaimed.
To the northeast, the werewolves were
savaging Alec, who kept up a valiant effort in fending off their attacks even
as his strength ebbed anew. For every parried blow there was a new bloody gash
opened on the fighter’s frame.
The Alpha loomed over Radegast and swiped
at her with his bloody claws. The bard rolled out of the way.
To the south, the pursuing werewolves
caught up with Erwen-Wolf and clawed at his haunches, knocking the druid out of
wildshape. Erwen skidded and rolled, becoming tangled in his bearskin cape.
Varien parried two claw attacks from the
nearest werewolf.
The Alpha howled and leapt into the night
sky, alighting on the broken shaft of a stone pillar nearby.
“Yeah, you’d better run!” Bob shouted.
Radegast got to her feet and cast cure wounds on herself. As the bite
marks began to knit themselves closed, she cast help on Varien, flinging a bit of torn wolf flesh to distract his
attacker.
Varien bashed the werewolf with his magical
crossbow, delivering two divine smites
that staggered the creature.
Alec, sensing that his stand was rapidly
becoming a last stand, elected to backpedal and regroup with his friends,
standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother.
“Brother, it is a good day to di-” he
started.
“Save it!” Bob shouted, forcing a smile.
“We’re not done for yet!”
Erwen fought his way free of his cape and
surveyed the melee. He smiled and stretched out a hand. A massive wall of fire leapt into existence,
enveloping two werewolves who turned into howling torches as the 20-foot high
wall created a border between his friends and the Alpha.
Erwen then drew on the last of his druidic
reserves and wildshaped into the form of a giant elk. Ignoring a claw attack
from the nearest lycanthrope, he reared back and bolted forward towards the
flaming wall.
As the wave of heat from the magical flames
washed comfortably over him, Bob cast haste
on Varien and Alec and then shuffled out a healing word on his brother.
The Alpha jumped over the smouldering
stakes of Erwen-Elk’s wall of fire and landed amid the heroes, his claws a
frenzied blur as he raked them across Bob, Alec, and Radegast.
Radegast, reeling, called down a bolt of lightning from the clear night sky that
scorched the Alpha where he stood.
The two werewolves caught in Erwen-Elk’s
flaming wall stumbled out, their fur aflame, and howled with pained rage. One
found itself on the far side of the flames, away from the melee. The creature
paused and sniffed the air. His jaws split open in an evil grin.
Varien’s opponent found that his claws
could not find purchase on the paladin, who ducked the attacks easily, moving
with unnatural grace thanks to Bob’s haste
spell.
Alec turned to defend himself, but a
werewolf’s claw raked his back, rending skin and exposing flesh. The fighter
stumbled to his knees, and then fell forward, unconscious.
Another werewolf attacked Bob, who threw up
a magical shield to protect himself
from the creature’s claws.
“Okay! You’ve had the lightning, now get a
taste of the thunder!” Radegast lurched out from behind cover and cast thunderwave on the knot of werewolves
advancing on her friends.
One of the lycanthropes dropped as the
thunder blasted him off his feet, while the other grit its fangs and stood its
ground.
His movements hastened by Bob’s spell,
Varien swung his crossbow wildly, connecting again and again and again with the
nearest werewolf.
Another werewolf shielded his eyes from the
flames that had erupted before him, and gasped as a shadow broke through the
fire. It was Erwen-Elk, who rammed the lycanthrope with his antlers aflame,
knocking the creature back.
Bob cast cure wounds , gripped his holy symbol and, channeling the divinity
of his deity, cast preserve life on
his friends . He then cast misty step and teleported behind the
walls of the ruined house. “Inside, everyone!” he shouted. “We can fight them
one at a time as they come through the door!”
Alec’s eyes fluttered open and he dragged
himself to his feet. “I’m back!” he mumbled.
The Alpha pressed the attack, his claws
shredding Erwen-Elk’s flank. The druid fell out of wildshape and landed at the
Alpha’s feet.
One of the werewolf minions took a chunk
out of Alec’s forearm with his claws.
A second werewolf tried and failed to
strike both Alec and Varien, but their efforts drew the attention of the Alpha,
who leaned in and clawed at Varien.
Radegast danced out of reach of the werewolfs’
attacks and joined Bob inside the ruined cottage, her back against the nearest
wall. She leaned out and cast thunderwave
again, scattering the lycanthropes.
“Now it’s my turn,” Alec said through
gritted teeth. He swung wildly at a werewolf, landing a solid blow, and with
his free hand, pulled his mini-crossbow out and fired. The weapon jammed.
“Dammit,” Alec whispered.
The werewolf on the far side of the flaming
walls growled and leaped up the wall of the ruined cottage, peering through the
broken roof beams, spying Bob. His jaws began to slaver with anticipation. He
jumped into the centre of the house, roaring at the cleric.
Bob took a blow from the creature that sent
him slumping against the far wall, but he cast shield in time to ward off the follow-up strike.
Erwen looked up at the Alpha and pointed a
finger at a spot behind the creature.
The Alpha growled and moved in for the
kill.
His growl was answered by two more growls
behind him.
The Alpha turned to see two Dire Wolves
standing their ground, snarling and snapping their jaws.
“Bob, Doug, you know what to do,” Erwen
said weakly.
Bob ducked around the werewolf in the
cottage and stepped out of the door to face the Alpha.
“You there!” he shouted, raising a fist.
“The power of Sune compels me to SMITE YOUR FURRY ASS TO THE MOON!” With that,
Bob cast guiding bolt , sending a
stream of radiant light towards the Alpha, which struck the creature squarely.
There was a deafening howl as the radiant
fire enveloped the Alpha, followed by an explosion of light that tore the
creature apart, sending burning hunks of fur and flesh streaking skyward,
passing in front of Selune’s impassive face in the night sky.
“That’s right,” Bob said.
There was a growl at his ear as he was
tackled by the werewolf from behind, who clawed him in a frenzy.
Varien parried another attack from a
werewolf.
Erwen found himself on the receiving end of
a claw attack from yet another werewolf.
His conjured Dire Wolves, Bob and Doug,
leapt onto the wolf looming over Erwen in a roiling blur of teeth, claws,
growls and howls.
Radegast stabbed at the werewolf attacking
Bob to no effect. She shook her head at her ineptitude.
The werewolf raised its claws to finish Bob
off.
Radegast knew what she had to do.
“Hey, wolfie!” She shouted. “Come
and have a go if you think you're hard enough!”
The werewolf whirled around and lunged towards her.
Alec, striking with renewed vigour, slew the
nearest werewolf with a solid strke from his sword, and then charged into the
cottage to aid his brother.
Bob cast a healing
word on Radegast just as the werewolf clawed into her.
“Okay,” Radegast moaned. “I was only kidd-”
There was a sudden blur of grey fur as Bob and Doug
bounded into the cottage and descended on the werewolf, rending its flesh and
killing it.
“Awww, who’s a good boy? You are! And you are!”
Radegast nuzzled the dire wolves even as they continued to chow down on the
werewolf’s remains.
Silence descended on Conyberry, broken only by a
mournful howl from the outskirts of town that receded into the night.
Bob and Doug lifted their bloodied snouts skyward
and joined in, their howls somewhat more triumphant.
“Can we,” Bob said, slumping to the ground. “Go
to…Neverwinter now?”
“Phandalin first,” Radegast said.
“Phlipping Phandalin,” Varien muttered.
They looted the bodies of the dead and gathered
their things.
Radegast examined the barbaric totems and smooth,
flat stones carved with crude symbols. She and Varien agreed that these
werewolves were Uthgardt barbarians of the Gray Wolves tribe.
Erwen conjurned a Great Elk and wildshaped into a
similar form. The rest of the party climbed aboard, happy to put the bones of
Conyberry behind them posthaste.
It was a day and a half’s ride to
Phandalin, which was carried out mostly in silence as the battered heroes
longed for a hot bath and some respite from the wilds of the Sword Coast.
Soon, the familiar ruin of Tresendar Manor
came into view, keeping watch over the hills and fields like a tired old guard
dog.
Before them they could see a caravan of
wagons, laden with mining implements and miners, being pulled by teams of draft
horses into the foothills outside of town.
As they crested the hills just outside of
town, they saw a pair of figures holding what looked like a long length of
chain, measuring and plotting lines in the gaps between the broken walls that
once protected the village from orcish invaders.
Radegast began to feel quite pleased with
herself.
One of the men was a very sweaty Harbin
Wester. He doffed his hat and waved at the party half-heartedly as he fumbled
with his surveying tools.
“Good day to you!” he managed to squeak out
as the party approached.
“What’s all this?” Varien indicated the
surveying operation.
“Sildar suggested we begin surveying for a
defensive wall,” Harbin said. “He felt your arguments were persuasive.”
Radegast beamed.
Phandalin felt somewhat busier than the
last time they had visited nearly a tenday ago. There was the same mix of
farmers and prospectors moving about the town, including some familiar faces
they recognized from previous encounters, but there also seemed to be a new
influx of labourers and miners.
“So, where to?” Bob asked.
“Did you say that you wanted to be part of
the Lord’s Alliance?” Varien asked.
“Yes, I did,” Bob said.
Varien smiled. “I know a guy that can hook
you up, but first we’d better clean the last few weeks’ worth of dirt and gore
off ourselves before we go visiting.”
“Sounds good,” Radegast said.
“Prestidigitation can only take you so far.”
“Also, we should collect the reward from
Sildar for taking care of those orcs,” Bob said.
“Oh yes,” Varien said. “How’s the evidence
smelling?”
Bob lifted up a sack with a cloud of flies
buzzing about it. “Pretty ripe.”
“Perfect.” Varien said. “Give me the sack
and the gilded skull we took from the lair at Wyvern Tor, and I’ll take care of
it.”
Erwen left for Qelline Alderleaf’s farm,
eager to renew acquaintances.
The rest of the party traveled to the
Stonehill Inn and got rooms with no difficulty.
Alec washed up and then fell into the
nearest bed, snoring.
Once she had cleaned herself up, Radegast
considered the bulging sacks of coins that were causing her no end of back
pain, and resolved to visit the Miner’s Exchange to convert the coin into
higher-denomination currency to lighten the party’s load.
“Who needs all this copper?” she said to
herself. “Poor people, that’s who!”
She made her way to the Phandalin Miner’s
Exchange. On the way, she took note of the activity on the street and
surrounding buildings. Several renovation and construction projects looked to
be underway amid the derelict structures on Phandalin’s side streets.
She observed that the new townsfolk
appeared to be mostly young, male and muscled. Though they were hefting
pickaxes and shovels, they looked like they would be more comfortable holding
battleaxes and swords.
More than a few of them were hanging around
the Miner’s Exchange, taking a peek at a job board covered with tacked bits of
parchment or otherwise idling around.
She joined the line of mud-spackled
prospectors and soon reached the counter where the postmaster Halia Thornton
beckoned her forward.
“How may I help you?” Halia said, a
calculating look in her eye.
“Well,” Radegast said, taking a parcel from
her pouch. “I would like to have this item posted to Neverwinter, if you don’t
mind.” While she was saying so, she rapped her knuckle on the countertop in a
Thieves’ Cant tattoo that indicated she was eager to exchange some coin on the
downlow.
Halia kept her expression professional.
“Why certainly, that is one of the services we can help you out with.” She
quoted a trivial sum. “Would you like a receipt indicating the item was
received?”
“Definitely,” Radegast said.
“We can help you out with that too,” Halia
said, quoting a non-trivial sum. “Now, we also have a number of other services
available, especially if you are looking to have your linens laundered.” She
winked.
“Why yes,” Radegast said. “I am looking to
clean out my closet and stock it with some finer outfits that take up less
space.”
And so began a quick repartee that to the
outside observer could have been a discussion about the price of wool, but was
really about exchanging copper and silver into gold and platinum, for a modest
commission of course. Eventually Radegast became the new owner of five
one-pound gold trade bars and a neat sack of loose gold coins, while her
low-denomination coin purse was discreetly handed over behind the counter.
“A pleasure, as always,” Radegast said.
“Same,” Halia said. “Now be sure to leave
by the front door and not the broom closet this time.”
“Thanks,” Radegast said, taking her hand
off the closet doorknob.
Varien and Bob traveled to the Townmaster’s
Hall.
“Welcome back, friends!” Sildar said,
standing up from behind his writing desk. “What news from the Sword Mountains?”
Varien presented Sildar with the smelly
sack. “We took care of the orcs at Wyvern Tor – they won’t trouble you again.”
Sildar opened the sack and then closed it
very quickly. “Ah, well, I think I will leave this for good old Harbin to deal
with, yes?” He dropped the sack on Wester’s empty chair where it landed with a
squish. “And once again, Phandalin is in your debt. May this go towards making
things square between us.” He pulled out a sack of gold coins and gave it to
Varien.
Varien cleared his throat. “Now, in regards
to an opportunity you presented me with some time ago…”
“Yes?” Sildar said.
“I would like to formally introduce you to
my good friend Robert Trevelyan,” Varien said, ushering Bob forward.
Sildar smiled. “Of course! You don’t forget
the man who presented you with your lost greatsword, now do you?”
Bob smiled.
“Now, how may I help you?” Sildar asked.
“I heard from Varien that you were a member
of the Lord’s Alliance,” Bob said.
“That I am,” said Sildar. “The Lord’s
Alliance believes that if civilization is to survive, it must unite against the
dark forces that threaten it, wouldn't you agree?
“I absolutely agree,” Bob said.
“Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
Sildar continued. “From where do you hail?”
“I hail from the far East,” Bob said. “A
place near the Hordelands called Kirkwall, formerly known as Emerius.”
“Out along the Golden Way?” Sildar said,
raising an eyebrow. “You have traveled far, my friend.”
“Indeed I have,” Bob said. “And I have seen
many things on my journey, things that cause me to believe that we are stronger
when we are united behind a common purpose.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Sildar
said. “This Kirkwall of yours, with its storied history, what would you give to
defend it from destruction?”
“My life,” Bob said quickly. “At the first
opportunity.”
“But now you are far from home, with new
friends at your side,” Sildar said. “Would you show that same devotion to your
adopted homeland and your compatriots?”
“I would lay down my life for those who
fight evil,” Bob said. “Also at the first opportunity.”
Sildar nodded. “If you are willing to stand
with the great points of light that blaze in this darkened frontier, then it
would be my honour to induct you into the ranks of the Lord’s Alliance.”
“I am willing,” Bob said. “And it would be
my great honour to accept membership.”
Sildar pulled out his greatsword from its
scabbard, the sigil of Neverwinter flashing on its pommel. He tapped Bob’s
shoulders with the flat of his blade.
“Then I name you a Cloak in the service of
the Lord’s Alliance,” Sildar said. “Robert Trevelyan, may you burn down the
darkness that gathers at our doorsteps, and stand with the Lords of Faerun
against those who oppose peace and prosperity.”
Bob nodded, a single tear running down his
cheek.
“You have made a great decision this day,”
Sildar said. “Welcome, Cloak.” He sheathed his sword and gave Varien a pointed
look.
Bob exhaled. “Well then, is there any way I
can be of service to the Lord’s Alliance this day?”
Sildar smiled. “Well, as a matter of fact,
there is…”