Redbrands!

Like an old west showdown in the dusty streets of Phandalin, our heroes stand toe-to-toe (metaphorically) with the Redbrands outside of the Miners Exchangs - the ruffians seemingly have their flanks covered.

 

"Drop your weapons or we'll have to kill you"! shouts one of the Redbrands, then he spits in their direction.

As Brocc begins to engage the ruffian with a self-preservation type conversation, Bruenor takes offense and charges the brute yelling in Dwarvish "you'll taste steel for that!".........ROLL INITIATIVE!

The party actually does a good job here and works the game mechanics showing me they are improving their skill set.  They do indeed dispatch all of the Redbrands except for one who after being wounded, took off down the road toward the Sleeping Giant seeking reinforcements.  If I am not mistaken (bad notes, worse memory) Fallon threw a dagger and brought the ruffian to a crawl before he could get to the Sleeping Giant.  Through some quick interrogation, they found out about how many members the Redbrands have but not much else.  They dispatch the last one and solicit help from Halia at the Lionshield Coster and she is happy to help dispose of the trash - stating they will all receive payment for the emblems on each thug.

The party though victorious was not without injury so they decided to rest back at the Inn and worked out some good logic as to the Redbrands and where their hideout may be.  They decide to sneak out at night and try to find the tunnel in the woods south of Tresendar Manor that Carp had told them about.  On a really good roll, they find the secret tunnel.....

Heading into the tunnel, they enter a cavern that has stalagmites here and there and see a crevasse down the length of it with two wooden bridges crossing it at each end as seen in the center of the map (entrance tunnel just left of that).  I printed out the map and glued it to foam-board then cut it strategically where the yellow lines are in a "fog of war" type of map approach.  

They enter quietly and look around seeing very faint light from the far end and a glow from the bottom of the crevasse.  The Ranger Brynwyyn - being played by Fallon's mom who has never ever played before but was showing interest and we needed a sub - spots movement across the crevasse and a few of the party members hear a voice in their head shrieking "food!".  She fires her bow at the creature......ROLL INITIATIVE!

This was a fun little encounter seeing that the Nothic could play mind games from across the gap in the floor and soon had struck damage with his gaze on one of the party members.  Did I mention that the substitute player who started the combat round left the room..?

If I recall, Bruenor attempted to cross the wooden ladder which was trapped and he fell into the chasm - both good and bad!  He saw something interesting down there but couldn't engage in combat with the group.  Someone got smart and made an athletics roll to jump over the crevasse and succeeded but then someone else didn't succeed....

So they dispatched the Nothic but took more damage, they discovered the chest and the partially eaten body at the bottom of the crevasse and found some healing potions.  Go Team!

Oddly enough, the crevasse provided the most trouble for the party in this room.  It took quite a while to figure out how to cross the divide but they figured out the mechanics of it eventually and probably learned a valuable RPG lesson in overcoming obstacles.

Now lets see, what was that next obstacle?  Oh yeah, what's that light ahead..........?

Request for Feedback

Okay team, if you read this blog, I need some feedback from you:

1.  what is the name of your adventuring party?
2.  what "type" of adventure do you think you would enjoy next?

DM Dave

So, This Is Phandalin

Party on!

The group, beaten and bruised and back from the (almost) dead, gathered themselves the best they could and made their way to Phandalin.  I failed to mention that previously, they tied their oxen to a tree but l was a good DM and let the cart still be there when they came out of the cave. 

So the group gets to Phandalin with Sildar who immediately heads for the constable to see what's going on and gather as much information as he can.  The rest of the party decide to stop in at Barthen's Provisions seeing as that is where Gundren gave orders for them to delivery his stuff to.  They chat it up with Barthen who is genuinely sad to hear about their mishap and the suspicion that something bad has happened to Gundren.  He makes sure to point out the Redbrands and their harassment of the townsfolk here in Phandalin and they can usually be found at the Sleeping Giant tap house. 

From there, they make their way down the road a building or two and see the Shrine of Luck on their right hand side.  Seeing as how they are in much need of healing, they say "hey!" and stop in for a visit.  They meet Sister Gareale there who herself seems to be recovering from some mishap - almost looks like she's been in a fight with someone.  She explains that she is too weak to heal them today but does make small talk - enough to lead into a proposal for the party.  She needs to know the status of a certain magical spell book and on her travels to see Agatha in Conyberry to inquire about the book, she almost had a run in with some orcs but managed to evade them but then got lost in the woods eventually finding her way out but worse for wear.  She offers them some healing potions if they would do this favor for her.....(well, there's a hook!).

Continuing through the town to The Stonehill Inn for some much needed food and rest was the next most logical thing to do seeing as they received no healing from Sister. Farron decides to be the entertainment for the evening with a round of songs and dance which gets him a free meal and lodging for the night.  The party (sure be glad when they name themselves) order food and drink and talk with patrons eventually receiving the full gambit of rumors as detailed in the adventure book.  

• Sister Gareale recently returned from a short trip all wounded and exhausted
• Duran the orchard keeper is a former adventurer
• The east end of Triboar has seen some Orc raids
• A local gang murdered Thel Dendrar and now his wife and kids are missing
• Mr. Alderleaf's son found a tunnel in the woods and was almost caught by the local gang
• The local gang, the Redbrands, harass everyone except Halia at the Miners Exchange

The next morning (19th day of Kythorn) the party talks to the barkeep at breakfast and finds out where some local establishments are in order to pursue some of the rumors.  Fortunately, Carp Alderleaf was making a morning delivery to the Inn and engaged the party with conversation.  Here the party learns of a tunnel that Carp found while playing in the woods just south of the old Tresendar Manor.  He probably shouldn't have been there as he was almost caught by those Redbrands coming out of the tunnel!  He was really scared and could probably get the party close to the tunnel if they needed his help.

They depart the Inn and occasionally notice here and there some men with red patches on their sleeves that give the party glaring stares and and they soon come to realize these are the Redbrand gang members. Coming to the center courtyard adjacent to the Shrine of Luck, they hang a left and head to the Lionshield Coster which as they recall was the name on some of the loot they found in the caves.  They meet the owner, a lovely middle-aged woman named Linene Greywind who cordially addresses them but once she finds out their story and that she may get her merchandise back, she quickly offers them 100 gold if they can return her stuff within 2 weeks. She also proceeds to bash the Redbrands whom she thought was behind the raids on her companies caravans and offers the party (geesh! get a name already!) 10 gold for each Redbrand patch they can bring to her and she doesn't care how they get them either!  The party is in agreement, though they know very, very little about the Redbrands and strike a bargain with Linene.  She has offered to be their "book keeper" of sorts negotiating an impromptu deal to mind their gold in exchange for goods and services for the betterment of Phandalin.....(well, there's another hook!).

Seeing the  Miner's Exchange just down the road and playing on the rumors that the Redbrands never harass that business, they decide on behalf of their new business partner, to pay a visit and see what may be taking place.  They enter the Miner's Exchange and take notice of the proprietor Halia Thornton, a middle-aged human with spectacles on the tip of her nose, grey streaked hair haphazardly pulled back into a bunch allowing her full round cheeked face to show her youthfulness.  The facility seems to hold many records of small claims in the nearby mountains or stream-side panning operations - not that Phandalin has any level of gold rush going on.  They have a somewhat tense exchange as the party presses for answers regarding her perceived relationship with the Redbrands up to the point that she asks them politely to leave if they have need of her services.

Once outside, they see several Redbrands have taken positions on the porches of the fronts of buildings and businesses.  Three of the Redbrands are standing in the street and one of them shouts "throw down your weapons or you might get killed!" and spits in their direction.

This might not work out well for them......(a name would be nice!)

DM Dave