Partially convinced by Sildar's insistence, but mostly for the sake of convenience, the party recovered their stowed wagon and completed the journey to Phandalin.
Intending only to stop in town and gather the information they desired, the party spent the night at the local inn and woke to discover they had already run afoul of the local gang: the Redbrand Ruffians. Count Alistair narrowly escaped a deadly encounter at the Sleeping Giant Taphouse with a drunken pack of them when Seraphina sprinted to warn him of his impending demise. His compatriots came to his aid when the gang members persisted, slaying a group to extricate themselves from the situation. Most of the locals were cowed by the apparent strength and savagery of the gang, which all but ruled the town except for the influence of one Halia Thornton.
Sildar embedded himself in the town’s main hall and quickly discovered that his missing associate was last seen exploring the ruins of Tresendar Manor. Just one day was all it took for the party to gather an impressive number of requests from the residents of Phandalin, who had too long lived under the thumb of the Redbrands.
Still lacking the information needed to locate Cragmaw Castle, and ruffled by the despair of the locals, the adventurers found a welcoming face and unexpected insights upon passing through the farm of Seraphina’s aunt: Quelline Alderleaf. Her young son, Carp, had witnessed a group of Redbrands exiting from a hidden tunnel running beneath the very Manor where Sildar’s associate had disappeared. Compelled by this evidence, the party decided to delay the rescue of Gundren until they could investigate further. Carp’s keen observance allowed our party to easily infiltrate the Redbrand Hideout hidden away below the ruins of the manor.
They found themselves immediately in a large cavern split by a crevasse. Seraphina was confident much treasure lay nearby, but cryptic whispers heard only by a few motivated the party away from the creepy cavern as swiftly as possible. Shaken and anxious to prove his control over the situation, Count Alistair hurled himself against the first closed door they encountered in a vain attempt to break it free from its hinges. Alas the door stood firm where Count Alistair could not, leading the party to answer to a small group of bugbears who had been torturing a hapless goblin behind the closed door. Our heroes happily avoided a more deadly encounter with the bugbears when they found the beasts to be fooled by their Redbrand cloaks and bravado.
Further down the hallway, however, a group of Redbrand Ruffians was not so easily dissuaded. After offering up some hastily devised and unconvincing excuses, Vilkas responded cooly to the attackers, raising his hands to unleash a veritable firestorm on the villains, nearly killing the lot of them. Lo Risten gracefully cartwheeled behind some nearby barrels and watched as her companions easily finished off their charred enemies. The party pressed on into a sort of laboratory with a suspicious rat. Following it with great caution they discovered little aside from an empty bedroom and an incriminating letter which revealed the mysterious “Glasstaff” was actually a traitorous Iarno Albrek working in collaboration with the Black Spider.
Sildar embedded himself in the town’s main hall and quickly discovered that his missing associate was last seen exploring the ruins of Tresendar Manor. Just one day was all it took for the party to gather an impressive number of requests from the residents of Phandalin, who had too long lived under the thumb of the Redbrands.
Still lacking the information needed to locate Cragmaw Castle, and ruffled by the despair of the locals, the adventurers found a welcoming face and unexpected insights upon passing through the farm of Seraphina’s aunt: Quelline Alderleaf. Her young son, Carp, had witnessed a group of Redbrands exiting from a hidden tunnel running beneath the very Manor where Sildar’s associate had disappeared. Compelled by this evidence, the party decided to delay the rescue of Gundren until they could investigate further. Carp’s keen observance allowed our party to easily infiltrate the Redbrand Hideout hidden away below the ruins of the manor.
They found themselves immediately in a large cavern split by a crevasse. Seraphina was confident much treasure lay nearby, but cryptic whispers heard only by a few motivated the party away from the creepy cavern as swiftly as possible. Shaken and anxious to prove his control over the situation, Count Alistair hurled himself against the first closed door they encountered in a vain attempt to break it free from its hinges. Alas the door stood firm where Count Alistair could not, leading the party to answer to a small group of bugbears who had been torturing a hapless goblin behind the closed door. Our heroes happily avoided a more deadly encounter with the bugbears when they found the beasts to be fooled by their Redbrand cloaks and bravado.
Further down the hallway, however, a group of Redbrand Ruffians was not so easily dissuaded. After offering up some hastily devised and unconvincing excuses, Vilkas responded cooly to the attackers, raising his hands to unleash a veritable firestorm on the villains, nearly killing the lot of them. Lo Risten gracefully cartwheeled behind some nearby barrels and watched as her companions easily finished off their charred enemies. The party pressed on into a sort of laboratory with a suspicious rat. Following it with great caution they discovered little aside from an empty bedroom and an incriminating letter which revealed the mysterious “Glasstaff” was actually a traitorous Iarno Albrek working in collaboration with the Black Spider.
Having acquired the information they sought, but convinced they could still capture the elusive Iarno, the party pressed on through the Redbrand Hideout. Following a secret pathway through the back of Iarno’s bedchamber, they hastily avoided the creepy crevasse and stumbled across a great curiosity when they discovered the Tresendar family crypts and a small group of skeletons maintaining a noble bearing and lounging against what appeared to be their own coffins. Shockingly, the skeletons made no attempt to intervene as the party members carelessly looted several platinum signet rings from the very sarcophagi these typical enemies were leaning against.
Within a small room to the east of this oddity, our party discovered a widow and her two children being tormented by two Redbrands who failed to realize their safety was compromised. Little effort was given to the thought of parley and our heroes slew these two ruffians expeditiously, freeing the poor Dendrar family. These three had been dragged off when the woman's husband was slain unceremoniously in town for stepping forward to protect his children from the unseemly advances of some Redbrands. Their shell-shocked daughter, Nilsa, pleaded quietly for the adventurers to annihilate the heartless Redbrand Ruffians, a request our heroes took most seriously.
Anxious to save the family from this pit of despair, Lo Risten led them back to the creepy crevasse and rushed for the exit as quickly as she could. She took the full ire of the creature within in order to clear the path for the fleeing family and the party found themselves waylaid by a vicious nothic.
Its taunts were cruel, but desperate. The otherworldly beast was ultimately no match for the saviors of the Dendrars. With the mystery of the crevasse solved, the party returned to search the room. Within the crevasse the party discovered the legendary sword “Talon,” once used by the Tresendar family to drive Orcish invaders from the same tunnels the party now wandered.
The Dendrars were free and the fate of Iarno Albrek was known. However, the words of Nilsa Dendrar still echoed in the party's minds. They continued through the hideout relentlessly, slaughtering all who stood in their path, but failing to find the coward Iarno.
Before satisfaction could be had, the adventurers returned again to the room of bugbears and Vilkas strode to their midst, unleashing the full fury of his Burning Hands upon them - to little effect. The tormented goblin was slain and the bugbears enraged. Guulv, Targ and the mighty Mosk (a vain combatant who wore a jeweled eyepatch to bolster his vanity) turned and struck Vilkas. The wizard beat an expeditious retreat as Count Alistair engaged these foes with vigor. Mosk, never too angry to bring tactical wit to bear, immediately recognized the finely crafted morningstar once wielded by Targ's half-brother, Klarg.
"Klarg!" the bugbear roared mournfully, before charging into the party of adventurers with fresh fury. Advantage was clearly on the side of the huge goblins in the tight quarters of the hallway, where Count Alistair ducked, rolled and dodged thunderous blows from the raging beasts. Vilkas hid in a separate room casting stray spells into the hall, hoping to be useful while Avina, Lo Risten and Seraphina piled on in vicious desperation.
After too many tense moments the party stood victorious over the fallen bugbears, having taken control of the former Redbrand Hideout. They were little satisfied with this victory, though, holding the eradication of the Redbrand villains foremost in their minds.