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..........?