The Graverobber

Click here to review the events in The Rising.

Lord Dagult Neverember, Lord of Neverwinter, has granted the party gold, a cot to lay on, and three meals a day for the service of escorting Lady Jane to his door. He tells the group to rest for three days to get their feet under them.  They take him up on the offer.

 Pickle heads to the Hall of Justice kitchen to cook and exchange tips and recipes. He also asks around about the best eateries in town.

 Bubba makes his way to the Blue Lake district and finds an artificer's shop called Dannar's Mechanical Marvels. One of the artificers who works there, Gormesh Apthand, works with Bubba on some ideas for replacing his hand. Gormesh is excited to pitch a few of his ideas, including a circular sawblade weapon powered by fire breath potions. The cost is a wee bit prohibitive at this time. 

Caine heads to the barracks and spars with soldiers and Lord Captain Westin, who offers some one-on-one training.

 Abel also heads to the barracks to practice his shooting skills; a few targets are set aside for this purpose. 

Grallaack naps his exhaustion away.

 Glug begins to study the metal man and determines it is not a traditional golem. It is made of various materials, crystals, wood, different types of metal, and even a few substances that he is unsure what they could be. The hollow chest cavity was secured by something but was ripped off; pieces of jagged material (maybe an organic metal?) are still attached. He realizes something powered this thing but doesn't know what. He doubts the artifact that the group found was that power source.

 The group later reconvenes at the Barracks for a free meal and is met by Lord Captain Westin, who relays a summons by Lord Neverember in one hour.

 With food finished and grooming done, the party meets the Lord of Neverwinter in a room with a rather large table; the Lord is finishing his meal in the company of Lady Jane. The Lady is dressed in a manner that many would consider suggestive, but the Lord seems to enjoy the view...

Lord Dagult has the group sit and tell them that a graverobber has been taking corpses from the graveyard for the last three weeks, and the guards have been unable to catch anyone in the act. He asks the party to see if they can stop whoever is committing these crimes. He fears that there could be someone who is raising the dead or, worse.

 The Graveyard is enormous, and the area where the bodies have been taken is relatively new. A watchman with the Winterguard names himself Carl Halish and greets the party. As they questioned the watchman, he expressed his frustration at whoever was doing the robbing, as they were swift since all of the bodies stolen were already buried, and all were recently deceased.  The party sets up around the area, marking a grave from a funeral that day as the next target. The perpetrator does appear by levitating over the gate and sneaking over to the grave. He pulls out a wand and whispers, and the fresh dirt moves out of the grave. He pulls out a second wand, and before speaking another word, the party ambushes the man, knocking him unconscious. The young human man, named Farn Wibley, claims to be an apprentice wizard who is broke, as his master makes him buy all of his own spell components, so he came up with a sideline where he sells fresh bodies to a local butcher for a bit of coin.

 The party searches him and collects a wand of levitation, a wand of mold earth, and a ring of feather fall. 

They report back to the Lord Captain, who sends a squad of guards and the party to the butcher named Hors Mattox. They watch Hors get arrested, his shop closed, and they see a small symbol in the shop on a wall near the ceiling. It is an open palm and an eye in the center. It doesn't radiate magic and isn't known as an arcane symbol.

 The party is rewarded with a bit of gold for their work and told to keep anything they find on the young man. They are then offered a spot in the Winterguard, which protects the City of Neverwinter. They would be assigned to the Adventurers Company and have a cot at the barracks, one meal a day, and five gold a week pay. They agree. They are told that they will meet the Company Captain in the morning.

 Next: an adventure in The Moonstone Mask