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Day 19 - Phandelver

Finally in Phandelver, the party delivers its wagons to Barthen's Provisions and meets Elmar. After giving him the news that Gundren is missing and Sildar is dead, he pays the party and offers to put them up in his cramped but dry attic for the night, with their horses and wolves secured in his stable.

Day 20

The next day, the group discusses events with Elmar, and he says that they must go after the missing Dwarf. He tells the adventurers that Gundren's brothers, Nundro and Tharden are camped somewhere outside of town. Since they have been gone about ten days, he expects them to return any day now for the supplies.

He also says he will make arrangements with the otherwise useless townmaster Harbin Wester, for Sildar to be buried in the local cemetery. He complains that Wester is a useless man, only capable of burying the dead, and has done nothing about the town's problems including the Redbrand Ruffians - a bunch of bullies and thieves who run roughshod over the good townsfolk.

The party strolls into the town to get their bearings, and finds a shrine not far from Barthen's. The people of the town seem frightened, except for Sister Garaele and elf cleric. She is open to conversation, but upset. It seems the superiors of her order wanted her to find the location of a spellbook of the wizard Bowgentle, supposedly known by a local banshee named Agatha, but the spirit would not appear for her. She now has a gift for the spirit, a silver comb, but the latest problems with the Redbrands have her worried about leaving her shrine. She asks the party if they would be willing to take this quest for her, and she offers them three potions of healing. Desperately needing the healing potions, they agree, and set forth.

Day 21 - 26

Agatha's lair is a few days up the Triboar trail, at an abandoned town named Conyberry. They find the lair and engage with Agatha, complementing her and offering her the gift from Garaele, but instead of asking about the magical book, they ask the location of Cragmaw Castle, and she grants them this information. When they return to the town they run into the thugs they were warned of, the Redbrand Ruffians, who are loitering at the Sleeping Giant tavern. They have a serious fight in the street, killing several of the gang, and following one to their hideout in the ruins of an old manor. After the fight, the townmaster Harbin, berates the group in front of the townsfolk for getting the Redbrands all riled up, and the group offers to help protect the town, but he dismisses them as being adventurers who will be off in the night. A stranger passes a note to the group to go see Daran at the orchard.

They go see Daran Edermath and he informs them that the Redbrands are a menace that must be stopped, and his order will pay 100gp if they can find Glasstaff, their apparent leader and dispatch him. Daran is a member of the Order of the Gauntlet, a society of vigilantes that right the wrongs done by evildoers. He is also concerned about some trouble he has heard of at the Old Owl Well, southwest of Conyberry. He would offer the group 20gp if they would investigate what is going on there. The group takes him up on the offer, and they prepare to storm their hideout in the basement of Tresendar Manor, including getting a night of rest in the loft of Barthen's Provisions.

Day 27

That night just before dawn, someone - likely Redbrands, sets fire to the store. The adventurers make it out with their lives, but the shop is a total loss, and the wolves have been stolen from the stables. The infuriated party heads to Tresendar manor and finds the basement entrance the Redbrands have been using. The group sneaks in and catches some of the Redbrands in a store room, dispatching them easily, and they make way through the complex. They avoid a pit trap in a hallway and come across the crypt of the Tresendar family members.

Three large stone sarcophagi stand within this dusty crypt, and propped up next to each sarcophagus is a human skeleton clad in bits of rusty mail. False columns along the walls are carved in the image of spreading oak trees. The double doors in the southeast corner are sheathed in tarnished copper plate. The stone lid of each sarcophagus is carved to depict the person entombed within — two human males and one human female, all of noble bearing — presumably the late Tresendar family, after whom the manor is named. As the party moves to the north side of the room, the skeleton animates and they defeat it handily. Having created a lot of noise, they proceed cautiously, and as they listen at the next door they hear sobbing, and quickly open the door.

Locked up in cages are a woman and two children. Mirna Dendrar and her children Nilsa and Nars are released by the group and escorted out of the hideout to run back to down. The party turns back to continue into the hideout when they discover a secret passage. They follow it into a large cavern with a deep crevasse when one of the party begins hearing voices. They quickly discover a strange one-eyed creature and engage it in battle, but it is very powerful and almost defeats the party, but Seraphina saves the day, defeating the creature and healing the wounded, but there are more injuries than she can tend to, so the team gathers themselves and abandons their quest to find the Redbrand leader Glasstaff and defeat him as well as find their missing wolves.

They head into town to ensure that the Dendrar family is safe with sister Garaele, and lick their wounds.

NEXT - Campaign Journal 06 - Cragmaw Castle