Five weeks have past since a group
of adventurers had left Phandalin, several of them having delivered Gundren Rockseeker’s
mining supplies wagon off at Barthen’s Provisions shop, with no sign of Gundren
or Sildar Halwinter even all this time later. The new group of out of town folks
that have gotten together at the Stonehill’s Inn had gathered the following
information while socializing at the Inn during their stay in the Inn: 1) Redbrands are terrorizing the
town. They are shaking down local businesses and flouting the townmaster's
authority. Harassing everyone - except the Miner's Exchange. Nobody seems to
want trouble with Halia Thornton who runs the Miner’s Exchange. The Redbrands
are known to hang out at the Sleeping Giant Tavern owned by a female dwarf
named Grista, which is just eastward down the road from the Stonehill Inn. 2) The Redbrands are having the
town's Weaver, Freda, make blankets for them, even though she doesn't really
make blankets. 2) According to Lanar the
prospector, Orcs are causing a problem for the miners, along the Triboar trail
and in Conyberry. The Townmaster Harbin Wester, might even actually pay
for the deed of ridding of the orcs. 3) Sister Garaele, seems to be a
healer, for the Shrine of Luck. Her home is just to the west of the shrine. 4) Redbrands murdered Thel
Dendrar the woodworker, when he stood up to the Redbrands for making advances
on his wife Mirna, dragging his body
away, and now his wife, daughter Nilsa ,
and son Nars , have gone missing. 5) Pip Stonehill & Carp
Alderleaf (son of Qelline the Halfling farmer), know of a secret tunnel
the redbrands chased them from. It is somewhere hidden in thickets, in the
woods south of Tresendar Manor on the east side of town. 6) Gundren’s
brothers Nundro and Tharden are camped somewhere outside of town and have not
been seen in at least 10 days (50 now), but were expect to return any day now
to meet back up with Gundren and Sildar, (both also now missing), and retrieve
the supplies a hired group delivered to Phandalin. 7) Thagren
Ironforge, is the owner of the town Smithy. 8) Elmar
Barthen, is the owner of Barthen's Provisions. 9) It is
known that the group that was hired by Gundren Rockseeker, to bring his supply
wagon down from Neverwinter City, has now, not been seen for 5 weeks, since
they rushed out of town with a feisty Paladin knight known as Kaiden Fireheart,
to hunt down the orcs raiding the Triboar Trail and the village of Conyberry. The party
asked Toblen and Trilena’s son Pip, to show them where Carp Alderleaf and him,
has spotted the hidden cave in thickets, as a couple of big ugly bandits came
out of the tunnel to meet a couple of Redbrands. Pip take
them a bit south of the town to avoid seeing the Sleeping Giant tavern so that
the redbrands do not spot them going into the woods south of the Tresendar
Manor. When the
do reach the cave entrance, the group sends Pip on his way back home as they
enter the cave. As they
exit the rough hewn passage they come into a new location: A cold
breeze fills this large natural cavern, carrying with it the faint scent of
decaying flesh. A crevasse divides the cavern and is flanked by two rough stone
columns that support the twenty-foot-high ceiling. Two arched wooden bridges
span the chasm. Suddenly everyone hears a voice,
but can not tell where it is coming from! This voice tells the party that
they can go no farther, though if they have some food or interesting trinket,
maybe he will let them past. The party then sees a Nothic appear
from behind a huge stalagmite, and realize that his mouth does not move when
they are spoken to! The party gives the Nothic some
rations and a deck of card with shiny stones. The Nothic let’s them pass and
tells them about bugbears in one area with redbrands. The party avoids that area for now
and heads north into a store room! This area is the north end of a large natural
cavern, but it has been finished with dressed stone block walls and a flagstone
floor. Several barrels are stored against the walls here, along with a number
of empty crates, straw for packing, hammers, pry bars, and nails.
The cavern continues for
some distance to the south. You can make out several passages that open up off
the larger cavern, and what looks like a deep pit or crevasse in the floor. Searching for a secret door in a 5
x 5 ft alcove of the store room’s east wall, finds a secret door made of stone
that blends in with the surrounding wall. The secret door opened into a short
hallway. There is a wooden door in the north east wall and another one on the
hallway’s south end. The party heads for the south door A door made of wood with iron handle and a
built-in lock was found to be unlocked and then opened. Three large stone sarcophagi stand within this
dusty crypt, and propped up against each sarcophagus is a human skeleton clad
in bits of rusty mail. False columns along the walls are carved in the image of
spreading oak trees. The double doors in the southeast corner are sheathed in
tarnished copper plate.
As the party enters the crypt, the 3 skeletons
animate and start to attack the adventurers!