Chapter 3 - Old Owl Well and Wyvern Tor

Post date: Sep 21, 2017 10:15:15 PM

After returning to Phandalin triumphantly with Lord Merryweather, the group takes a well earned rest in Stonehill Inn. Daran Edermath, the retired marshall that the heroes have been working with, introduced them to the genasi officer Magmys, and asked them to work together to check out rumors of undead activity around the Old Owl Well and to determine what has riled up the dead.

During one of the evenings hiking along the Triboar Trail, a flight of transparent gargoyles were seen attacking a insectoid fire-breathing creature. The creature flew in the direction of Icespire Peak, while the flight flew towards Wyvern Tor.

After reaching the ruined town of Conyberry, and noticing the northern rough trail that led into Neverwinter Woods and perhaps to the banshees location, the group turned south instead and headed towards the Old Owl Well. 

As you crest a low ridge, you spy the crumbling ruins of an old watchtower standing amid the rugged hills. The place is so old that the walls are only mounds of rubble enclosing a courtyard of sorts, adjacent to the broken stump of an old tower. A colorful tent has been set up in the middle of the courtyard, but no one is in sight.

During a brief and violent battle with a pack of zombies led by a hellspawn zombie, the well armored and valiant officer Flick was crushed and dismembered by the hellspawn zombie after a red wizard necromancer Hamun Kost paralyzed Flick with a bone prison spell. The group swiftly called for parlay, and Hamun gladly accepted. In trade for information the group desired about the region, Hamun wanted a scouting party of orcs camped atop Wyvern Tor eliminated to avoid threatening his research.

After reluctantly agreeing, they set off to climb the treacherous slopes of the foothills of the Sword Mountains to reach the Tor, taking the remains of Flick along with them. Along the way, they met up with a dragonborn who claimed that he was working to rid the region of the green drake Venomfang. Joining forces, the group faced off against the orc raiders of the Broken Arrows tribe in a pitched battle within the Tor. Despite the ogre Gog, a deadly pair of orc marauders capable of exploding into toxic gas clouds, and the leadership of the orc leader Brughor Axe-biter, the orcs were soundly defeated by the party and their loot taken as a reward. Returning to Hamun, the red wizard was impressed by their work and offered to tell them where Cragmaw Castle is if the heroes could speak with the banshee and find the name of the mage who had built the Netherese watchtower, who's ruins he was exploring. He sent a undead owl along with the heroes to serve as contact with him if needed. Hamun also warned the heroes that they would not be able to find Cragmaw Castle unless the wizard Glasstaff, who controlled the Redbrand gang in Phandalin, was taken care of.