Regroup & Debrief¶

2022-Jul-09

Rowan slaps the bugbear conscious so the party can interrogate him, and when he claims not to know anything about the paladin’s failing divine connection, Rowan and Kleb step up to threaten him further
He reveals that King Grohl (whom the party spared back at Cragmaw Castle) ordered the group to cause a ruckus on behalf of an “outside client,” but they didn’t know that Rowan was here
Kleb wants to recruit the bugbear, and reads his Lozenge Gules pamphlet aloud in Goblin
After some debate about whether the bugbear could ever be trustworthy, and a jab at his lack of confidence in handling the Lozenge Azure without a larger following, Kleb feels the need to prove himself. He crosses the town square and punches a Mintarn bodyguard.
The two exchange blows before Kleb manages to grapple his foe and wrench his spear away, and pops a second one in the nose
Seeing a bunch more guards heading towards the commotion, Rulkorf asks Rowan to handle the bugbear before conjuring a cloud of fog and dashing in to extract Kleb
Kleb wants to save face and resists, but Rulkorf taps into his strength reserves to drag Kleb out of the square
The party decides to relocate somewhere quieter, and heads off towards Tresendar Manor. Kleb sends a thought out to get the Nothic up to speed, but hears no response
The group agrees to make use of their newly-discovered jail cells in the hideout, and bring the bugbear there. Jeeves registers the prisoner and assures them that he will watch over the jail, and raises Jarvis, another skeleton from the crypt to act as a second guard
Kleb makes a hurried exit as he is uncomfortable with the undead servants
Rowan weighs his options for torturing the prisoner, which leads Rulkorf to express concern that his savage streak might be connected to his divine powers failing him
They head to the barracks and nod off
Soon after, Rowan experiences a troubling dream in which he speaks to a mysterious voice that seems to be emanating from a crescent moon overhead. It claims to know the reason that his powers are inaccessible, but he can’t recognize it, and it is not the voice he associated with Tymora. It promises to speak again soon, and the paladin wakes with a start
Kleb also has a troubling dream as he is bothered by the fact that he was overpowered by Rulkorf, seemingly without too much trouble. In his dreamscape, he does panic pushups
Rulkorf is still riding a high from all the cool shit he did, and dreams that he is surfing gnarly waves with Gil
The trio sleeps in and recovers from their busy night, and upon waking, hear the Nothic in their minds, who returned early in the morning. They head to the creature’s chambers to debrief, and he shares what he learned:
The goblins who attacked Phandalin are apparently part of a much larger group than the original Cragmaws. Something is riling up the local goblinoid population, and they are probing for resistance somehow
The Lozenge Azure hated the Nothic, even more than humans usually do. Their mages hunted him throughout the night, and seem to have a specialty in tracking and “confounding” magic – abjurations, counterspells, and mage hunting
The party asks that the defensive traps in and around the manor be fortified in case the mage hunters do find the hideout, and guards be posted at the main entrance again (near the fountain). After extensive debate, they decide to have the trapped hallway become even more trapped
Rowan encourages the Nothic to extract more information from the bugbear once it gets some rest, and the party heads out to assess how much heat is on their tail, if any
No one seems to be paying special attention to the party
Approaching the town square, Rulkorf notices that the Lozenge Azure tents are being collapsed, and they seem to be packing up to leave town early
Sildar flags them down, and they discuss the kerfuffle last night
Rulkorf compliments him on the speedy removal of goblin corpses from the town square, but a confused Sildar responds that his administration didn’t take care of that…
Next, the trio head to Sister Garaele’s house, and after eating her oatmeal cookies, get her up to speed on the goblin attack as well as the other rumors the Nothic had shared
The only point that piqued her interest is the increased traffic at Candlekeep, which she explains is a fortified castle and library on the Sword Coast. Normally at least one Harper is (unofficially) stationed there, and as a bastion of knowledge it is a fairly unique location
- The Candlekeepers are independent and bow to no lord or king
She surmises that the Lozenge Azure may be heading back west, as they have been traveling for a while and a separate contingent had gone to Triboar
The party thanks her and leaves. Kleb checks the bulletin board in the center of town