Chapter 2: Phandalin

[RorytheRomulan]

(If I read right, the town hall has just two jail cells? Oh well, let's see what Sildar and Harbin decide to do in light of that.)

Arveene gives Sildar a glance, and focuses on Harbin. The townmaster purports himself to be good at his job - time to back it up.

"Hail, townmaster, and Ser Sildar. Delightful to meet you both again," she opens. "Pardon our interruption, but we've invited a few members of the Redbrands from the Sleeping Giant to a solitary evening in the cells. Can you 'accommodate' them?" she asks with a crooked grin.

[Grimbold]

Lorenzo joins the others, mumbling about some painful things he will do to the one who murdered his assistant.

[Shurijo]

OOC

It's just a barred door leading to cellars, you can't really see what's down there. There's at least 2 offices in the building that's visible - that's where Sildar and Harbin are sitting.

As Arveene introduces herself, Sildar puts away his papers and the mayor just stares at her for a moment. The elder warrior stands up from his desk and walks over. "Good work. I had a feeling you'd be here soon enough."

Before anyone can say anything else, Townmaster Harbin Wester interjects himself into the conversation. "These are mercenaries. You can't arrest someone for being at a taproom. It looks like you gave them a rough beating as well." Two keys to the jail cells are visibly hanging on his belt.

Silhar Hallwinter shakes his head at the townmaster and then continues on, "I see you've met Sasha. While you're here on your personal vendetta, I have a new lead on your former mentor, Iarno." Turning to the others, he continues "And a possible location of the Cragmaw Castle. We should all talk--"

The townmaster interrupts Sildar before he can finish his invitation, "If you want a fight, go chase the orcs. There's a hundred gold there for you."

OOC

Three "quests" mentioned here for follow up
1) Lead on Iarno (the Lords' Alliance agent who went missing), also Sasha's former mentor...
2) Cragmaw Castle - the goblins, finding Gundren Rockseeker, etc.
3) Bounty on orcs

Passive Perception checks:
* Sunny - You can tell that Harbin is more scared/frighten by your capture of the thugs than upset at your actions (don't mean he's scared of you, but he doesn't really seem like he wants to lock them up)

[Vardaen]

The little gnome walks around the room, he slips behind Harbin and around him until he comes back into view. "I guess you are right, we can't arrest anyone for having a drink." He lets out a long low sigh, "I guess it wouldn't matter if they were fighting or busting up the place or trying to take advantage of any innocents. No, no, I guess since we can't arrest mercenaries, good thing we are mercenaries ourselves."

He looks up at Harbin and narrows his eyes at the man before returning to the others.

[Othniel]

"As a matter of fact, we fought them off in self-defense," Sasha interjects, trying to smooth things over. "I was having a drink by myself and asked the bartender for some information when I was accosted by these men. These other folks stepped in just at the right time so that I was not overwhelmed. We'll help you clean up this town right quick, Townmaster. I dare say I should like to press charges against these thugs, but that can wait for the moment if you'll agree to secure them, at least for the time being."

Sasha turns to Sildar and briefly salutes. "Pleasure to see you, sir. I would be happy to hear what you have to say."

OOC

Let's try a Persuasion roll with the Townmaster to get him to lock these jerks up.

[Shurijo]

OOC

Persuasion d20 + 5 = 14+5 = 19 success

The townmaster nods his head and then lowers it. He takes a moment to reflect on Sasha's words, and then says "I'll lock them up, but you need to run the rest out of town soon. If the Redbrands realize these are in jail, then they'll likely come after my family like they did with the woodcutter's family. You have until tomorrow's dusk, otherwise, I'll need to release them to protect the town."

Harbin then turns and lowers his head muttering to himself, "I hope I've done the right thing." As he walks towards the door, he says "I'll be at my home with my family." He tosses the keys to the cells to Sasha saying, "Down that door, you'll find cells enough for these, but it will be crowded and there's not enough room there for any more."

[Shurijo]

After Harbin exits, Sildar sighs and says, "These thugs have the whole town scared."

"Well, it looks like you've already introduced yourself." He mentions to Sasha as he gives her a nod to escort the thugs into the cells in the cellar.

As Sasha gently pushes the thugs down the stairs, he turns to address the group from Neverwinter. "Sasha is an agent of the Lords' Alliance with the rank of Cloak. She just happened to be here in town on a personal, and unsanctioned, mission of her own. I have a feeling she believes her target is connected to the Redbrands, possibly going by an alias. She might get distracted from her assigned mission."

The door to the cellar locks and Sasha turns the key to secure it. Tossing the key back over to the townmaster's desk. She stands along with the others with Sildar Hallwinter.

"Sasha's primary task is to find and retrieve Iarno. At a minimum, figure out what happened to him. I believe the Redbrands has something to do with his disappearance." Turning to look specifically at the Neverwinter group, "If you'll help her, then I can offer you my personal thanks and 200 gold."

Reaching for a paper on his desk, he presents a rough sketch of a dark-bearded, middle-aged human. Showing it to all, he says, "Iarno is a short, dark-bearded human wizard in his thirties. His papers indicated that he was investigating Tresendar Manor around the time he went missing. He has the title of Redknife and was promoted after bringing Sasha into the alliance."

"Then there's also the matter of Gundren. I can pay another bounty of 500 gold for clearing out the Cragmaw Castle. I think that's where they took Gundren. He's a stubborn dwarf, I mean more stubborn than the usual dwarf, so I have a feeling he's still alive. He had a map of Echo Wave cave on him. That cave could turn this small village into a booming and prosperous mining town, if you believe the stories."

Finally, he says, "If you're looking for more work, Harbin has 100 gold bounty on taking care of the orc problem that's been killing and raiding travelers and caravans on the Triboar Trail."

OOC

Not critical, but just in case for RP sakes
Sasha is rank 1 (Cloak) of Lords' Alliance
Iarno is rank 2 (Redknife) of Lords' Alliance
Sildar is rank is 4 (Warduke)

Sildar's "thanks" could lead to a faction invite into Lords' Alliance (note - there's other missions that has other faction agents (a mission for each faction listed), so everybody doesn't need to necessary go for Lords' Alliance) To learn more about the other factions https://dnd.wizards.com/dungeons-and-dr ... y/factions.

As a reminder the Lords' Alliance is a "good" alliance created to ensure peace and stability across the region. They have lots of "constables" (sheriff-like) that keep order in small towns who are unable to protect themselves. Iarno was the assigned Phandalin constable sent to deal with Redbrands problem.

[Vardaen]

*Knuckles Cracking*

"Let's not waste any more time, ho hum, time to crack some skulls I guess, if we have to."

The backstabbing gnome looks at the others, his face passive if not a bit sad, but he's ready to crack some skulls and make some money. If asked he prefers the rescue missions first, before the kidnapped or missing might be killed.

[RorytheRomulan]

Arveene's smile fades when Harbin moves to rebuff their request to lock up the Redbrands. She gives Sasha a grateful look when her words go over well with him, and she looks like she's about to huff and rant, but that's when Sildar introduces them properly, and she gives the Cloak a knowing grin and a friendly nod. "That's a nice badge by-the-way. I'm thinking of earning one like it."

"We'll absolutely help. We'll help with all of it if we can." She starts getting huffy over Harbin again. "Did he really just try to convince us to go chasing orcs after trouncing a few of the thugs that have a stranglehold on his town? Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth."

"I like your spirit, but not yet," she says to Sunny, talking through her upset (and ignoring his reluctance by proxy). "I'd like to enlist some help, if we can. We'll need it."

She turns to Sildar. "We're going to do just what Harbin suggested. As soon as we've rounded up more help. I heard Daran's retired from adventuring. Any chance we can convince him to come out? You're welcome as well, if you can handle yourself. We've heard disturbing information about the manse's defenses, and they have the woodcutter's family."

ooc

Persuasion vs Sildar to join us.

[Shurijo]

Sildar says, "I've only spoken to Daran Edermath a few times. You'll find him at his orchard. I believe he gave up adventuring for a reason. He might be able to give you some help, but I'm not sure he would pick up the sword again."

Looking over the group, the man leans back on the desk. "As far as myself, someone needs to keep an eye on the Redbrands you brought in. And I'm not sure I could keep up with you, I'm getting too old for those activities."

OOC

Persuasion roll: hidden