MiPS Lost Mine Part II

[mips42]

[sblock=Castagyr]
Outside, the older man waits, pacing. He introduces himself Sildar and mentions he came in with the group taht you sat with at breakfast. As you begin to talk to him about Harbins actions, 'I don't know what it is but there's something wrong. Maybe it's just fear that's got him so placid or maybe it's more. I don't know, but it's high time these criminals are shown that they can't just do whatever they want around here. I'm determined to get law and justice back into Phandalin and, if you and the others will help me I'll make sure you get well rewarded'
[/sblock]
[sblock=Leonan]
The proprietor of the Lionshield is a middle-aged woman who introduces herself as Linene Graywind. Looking over the dagger, she states that it is of fair quality and will hold an edge well. She mentions that a recent shipment of goods is missing and presumes it was waylaid en route from Yartar and offers a small reward if it could be recovered.
As for ore, she has no real need nor information on it's pricing but knows that there is precious little coming out of the hills and states that the Miners Exchange would be a better place for such questions.
At the mention of Arms and Armor she states that she keeps a small cache in her back room in case it is needed but steadfastly refuses to sell to anyone she doesn't know and trust.
At the mention of everyday troubles, her face turns dark. She, too, talks of troubles with the Redbrands, calling them 'a bunch of no-account thieves, no better than goblins' and adamantly advises staying away from Stone Giant Inn, which is where the Redbrands tend to congregate.
As for Orcs or other local issues, she knows very little.
[/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

Leonan heads back to the tavern, forming half-baked plans and rejecting them in the same breath. He sings something to himself, not paying attention to his surroundings. He sits down when he arrives and waits for the rest of the group.

 

[perrinmiller]

Castagyr, Dragonborn Paladin

~ Inside Townmaster's Hall -> Street ~

[section]

[sblock=Mini-stats]Castagyr
Init +1, Speed 20
AC 18; HP 18; Current: 18
Conditions in effect: Fire resistance
Dragon Breath: 1/1 avail
Divine Sense: 3/3 avail
Healing Hands: 10/10 points avail
Spells: 2/2 points avail (Bless, Command, Wrathful Smite)
Weapon in Hand: Lance
[/sblock]​

[/section]Castagyr nodded in agreement about helping, yet did not comment about a reward. That would take care of itself if Torm willed it.

"Alright, I am inclined to help. The more I have heard, the more I am convinced I should intervene."

"So do tell me more about them; where they can be found, who they are, how many, and anything else that can help."

"If you know not this information, I urge you to take me to those who can provide the answers. There are people being held hostage as I understand it, so now is not the time to delay. My companions are scattered about the town for the next hour or two, so I wish have all that we need to pursue this matter when next we meet at the inn."

 

[mips42]

[sblock=Castagyr]
'I've only been in town for a day, so I don't know a lot. I heard that they hang around the Stone Giant Inn and may have another hangout but I've not heard any more about that. Maybe ask Halia at The Miners Exchange, they seem to avoid her so she might know something.'
[/sblock]

 

[perrinmiller]

Castagyr, Dragonborn Paladin

~ Eventually back to the inn ~

[section]

[sblock=Mini-stats]Castagyr
Init +1, Speed 20
AC 18; HP 18; Current: 18
Conditions in effect: Fire resistance
Dragon Breath: 1/1 avail
Divine Sense: 3/3 avail
Healing Hands: 10/10 points avail
Spells: 2/2 points avail (Bless, Command, Wrathful Smite)
Weapon in Hand: Lance
[/sblock]​

[/section]Castagyr nodded as he replied, “Ahh, I see. Well thank you for the advice. I shall go see her shortly. Mayhap we shall meet again at the Stonehill Inn.”

The dragonborn paladin stopped back at the Stonehill Inn to let any of the others present know he was going to see Halia at the Miner’s Exchange. At that point, he encountered Eddicus and accompanied him to visit Sister Garaele, and then to the Orchard a short distance away (probably meeting up with Brlo). From there they went to the Miner’s Exchange, finally returning to the Stonehill Inn to await the Vottr and Leonan’s return.

Once the others had arrived, Castagyr shared what he had learned about the Redbrands and the orcs. Once he was finished and heard what the others had learned, he said, “I think we need to do something right now about these local thugs. There are potentially some innocent lives at stake. As a group, I want to go to the Sleeping Giant Tavern and see what’s going on.”

“Since we know of their potential hideout under the manor, I think it best to not start trouble immediately, and just gather information instead. We can decide after if we want to confront them on the spot or make an attempt through the tunnel instead.”

“What say you all?”

[sblock=OOC Note]I typically prefer role-playing out learning some of the information gathering, but with nearly everyone taking the summary route to go visit all the places to gather it all up, I think continuing to do so would only hold the game up.

I finally reached a place with Castagyr that he would have justifiable reasons to visit a few more of the places to learn more about the Redbrands.

At this point, maybe the best thing to do now would be to assume we all met up at the tavern with our information gathering and shopping complete so we can determine what to do next IC, yes?

Mips42, can you clarify: We stayed at the Stonehill Inn and the Redbrands hang out at the Sleeping Giant Tavern. There is no Stone Giant Inn listed in Phandalin.[/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

Taken aback by new information about kindappings and killings, Leonan agrees immediately to action...but opposes the manner of said action.

"If you barge in and start asking questions, you'll get no further then the door before you're attacked or marked for attack and you'll find out no new information. Let me go, maybe with Garret or Brlo. I'll entertain in that tavern as I did last night in our own. I'm new in town, not associated with you except by last night...and traveling minstrel is usually not target of attacks and I can listen in.

Silently organizing towns people to come one day around the tavern with whatever weapliments they can gather might be our better bet. Sure, some may get hurt, but we will be there to help, we will not be badly outnumbered and, most importantly, people will realize they have the power to fend for themselves as a community. Right now, Redbrands managed to frighten everyone because they target those families that stand up to them. But if EVERYONE stands up, there is nothing they can do.

If I go tonight, announce that I'll be back tomorrow, they might gather in larger number and we could ambush them without having to fight them all and in their lair. And townspeople may help by retraining or trashing those who come out without ready weapons. I can provide the distraction for such hasty exit, especially if something helpful like smoke and calls of Fire! Fire! erupt nearby. Or I can take part of them out b putting them magically to sleep and then call you in. Maybe we can disable parts of the group and storm their hideout before they know they're missing some people.

I would suggest we start with Lionshield coaster and other people already showing resistance, others will fall in line when they see they are not alone. The biggest problem would be to organize such a thing without rogues knowing about it. That's where respected citizens and local leaders come in.

And if I'm attacked and taken somewhere, well, not the first time that I'll be held and rescued." he smiles at the group

"They might be vulnerable to the inside trickery since they associate with goblins. And I can be persuasive when needed."

OOC: seems it was a mistake to take sleep instead of charm person - I was expecting us to go after hostile goblinoids not human scum

 

[tuxgeo]

Eddicus listens to the group discussion before adding an alternate opinion:

"Castagyr, you mentioned a distrust of the town master, one H. Wester, who is offering a reward of 100 gold for anyone to take care of some orcs around--what was it?--Wyvern Tor, whatever that is. . . . If your mistrust is well-placed, and the town master is involved with the Redbrands, we won't get that reward legally if we eliminate him and his arm-banded crew first."

"May I suggest another sequence of action? How about we question this town master about the location of this Wyvern Tor, go see what the situation is there; and if it looks as though we can eliminate that problem early, we scatter or slay the orcs there, earn and receive the reward--of which, earning and receiving are two different things--and then address the matter of the Redbrand crew? If the town master is impressed by our actions, he might slip up and let us have more information about the Redbrands in an ill-advised effort to recruit us."

"Or perhaps that's my greed talking, there. It might, alternatively, be that the town master knows the orcs are too strong for us, and he wants us slain before we can take on the Redbrands."

"That's all if your mistrust is well-placed, of course. And none of that directly addresses the problem of finding Vottr's uncle Gundren--though who knows what else we might find out about that matter by looking around to the east, along Triboar Trail, in search of orcs--or in search of banshees?"

 

[mips42]

[sblock=Castagyr]

OOC: Stonehill+sleeping giant=stone giant. Right? Fair note, I typically prefer role-playing as well but decided to try something different. Mostly I wanted to see how well it worked. As implemented, not that well. Ah well, At least we tried.

[/sblock]

OOC: Weapliments? I like this word. As a recap, in no particular order: The Redbrand problem: The Redbrands have been making life difficult for the businesses of Phandalin including extortion of nearly every one. There are reports of a murder and kidnapping. Harbin Wester, the townmaster, says that the redbrands are not as bad as everyone else claims. They are known to frequent the Sleeping Giant Inn and have been seen hanging around a dark tunnel that leads underneath the remains of Tresendar Manor. Old Owl Well: someone is digging around in the ruins known as Old Owl Wel!. More disturbingly, several prospectors have reported being chased from the area by undead. The ruins are a couple days march northeast of Phandalin. Linae Graywind of Lionshield Coster keeps a small cache of weapons and ormor in her back room but refuses to sell them to anyone she doesn't trust. Also, she has stated that a shipment of goods never arrived and has offered a reward if the goods are recovered. Halia of the Miners Exchange offers the characters 100 gp to eliminate the Redbrand leader, whom the outlaws call Glasstaff, and bring her any correspondence found in the leader's quarters. Reidoth the Druid. Qelline Alderleaf is a longtime friend of a druid named Reidoth. If she figures out that the characters are looking for specific sites in the area, she suggests that they visit Reidoth and ask for his help, "since there's not an inch of the land he doesn't know." She says that Reidoth recently set out for the ruins of a town called Thundertree, just west of the Neverwinter Wood. Sister Garalea has asked that you take a jeweled comb to Agatha the Banshee near the ruins of the town of Conyberry and ask her the whereabouts of a spellbook that belonged to a mage by the name of Bowgentle. She also informed you that the Banshee will only answer one question. The Orc Problem: Harbin Wester is looking for someone to head east on the Triboar Trail, where travelers have reported trouble with a band of orcs near Wyvern Tor and has offered a reward for accomplishing this task. No one seems to know where a group of Goblins might hide and keep prisoners in the nearby area.

 

[perrinmiller]

Castagyr, Dragonborn Paladin

~ At the Stonehill Inn ~

[section]

[sblock=Mini-stats]Castagyr
Init +1, Speed 20
AC 18; HP 18; Current: 18
Conditions in effect: Fire resistance
Dragon Breath: 1/1 avail
Divine Sense: 3/3 avail
Healing Hands: 10/10 points avail
Spells: 2/2 points avail (Bless, Command, Wrathful Smite)
Weapon in Hand: Lance
[/sblock]​

[/section]Castagyr shook his head as Leonan started outlining an unacceptable course of action and misunderstood what the paladin was intending. But the dragonborn warrior answered Eddicus first.

"I do share concern over Vottr's uncle, but so far we have not uncovered a lead... unless the orc raiders might be related. But we should not delay our business here in town much longer. And we already accomplished very little last night and had to spend the morning wandering around town to gather up information."

He turned to Leonan, "Sorry, your plan would take too much time. There is an innocent child being held captive and we have other things to worry about that to wait until tonight."

"The Townmaster could be corrupt, scared, or just blind to the plight of others. It matters not as long as he doesn't get in the way."

"What I am planning to do, is simply head over to this tavern where the Redbrands loiter and see how many of them there are. There is no need to be covert about it. My own eyes will see what I need to know."

"If the five of us can take those that are there, we can go ahead and confront them. If there are too many, then we leave them be and go to the tunnel and deal with their hideout instead since there will likely be few of them there. How many of them can there really be in a small village like this? It is simple, we just divide and conquer."

Castagyr got to his feet. "In fact, I think I am done discussing this and I am going right now. I will feel better about some stalwart companions to accompany me."

 

[tuxgeo]

"I think that's our decision made for us, right there, then--isn't it?" Eddicus comments to Vottr and Leonan and Brlo and Castagyr. Eddicus stands to go with Castagyr to take a look at the Sleeping Giant. Slinging his shortbow over his shoulder, he rechecks the fit of his new dagger in its scabbard, then adjusts the binding of his shield on his arm.

Properly prepared, he adds, "No time like the present, eh?"