DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games LMP: Lost Mines of Phandelver N-2.0 - Phandalin

Kriv

He replied to the former captive, the edge fading from his voice,

"A missive posted outside the Townmaster's hall, seeking aid in dealing with a group of Orcs. I suggest you discern the precise details for yourself lest I miscommunicate some relevant point. Given our experiences, I suspect this to be part of a larger vermin upwelling, and tied into Cragmaw Keep. This is, however, speculation, and they may be entirely unconnected, but it struck me as a likely lead in the direction of Gundren Rockspeaker."

Kallista

She nods to the men. "I am Kallista. Well met."

"Yes, the Orc raiders, if you have details, but also anything worthy of being called news, or even gossip", she grins, "Gossip masquerading as news is sometimes quite entertaining."

She nods back over her shoulder. "We're new. Just arrived this afternoon from Neverwinter. Had a run-in with some Goblins on the road. Who should we report that to?"

Sildar

He nods in agreement with the Dragonborn. "Will you join me then? I intend to march on over there to speak with the townmaster. I might need someone rational standing next to me to keep me from expressing myself too loud.

Karok

"I'll go with you if you'd like. I'd like to meet this man." he said with a scowl on his face, one mug done.

Kriv

He replaced his signet ring, and nodded.

"I ask a few minutes to get changed into something more suited for the battlefields of noble discourse rather than the battlefields of actual battle. I suspect one so unable to handle the security of the town to which he has been entrusted sets more store by appearance than by capability. Fortunately, I can manage perfectly well in either category."

Given the opportunity, he would take the time to retire to his fresh-acquired chamber, and to freshen up, then change into his noble finery.

DM

Sildar nods in agreement to Kriv. "That will work for me. Trilena just brought out my food and will be upset with me if I leave it untouched. Even though it's late and if Harbin has retired for the eve, we'll interrupt his rest. This matter needs to be dealt with."

He turns to Jaliera who raised the matter of Grundren, "The dwarf is not a friend of mine but he did hire me and I do feel an obligation to him. I was supposed to provide him with some level of protection but the odds were not in our favor when we were ambushed. I do want to find and rescue him. But I hired on for a different purpose. I was already on my way here to look for the wizard Iarno Albrek. There are things going on that make me believe that tending to one matter might tending to other matters."

Just at that time the innkeeper enters the taproom and approaches Kallista. He hands her a key and tells her which room it is for before making his way over to the table where Karok and Kriv are sitting. "Here are your keys. Second room to your left, up the stairs. Please let me know if there's anything you need. I assumed you two were sharing, but if I am wrong, I do have other rooms. Each has two beds."

Over at the other table where Kallista is, she gets a snicker from Lanar in response to her question about to whom she should report trouble, "My dear lady, Harbin Wester is the townmaster. I suppose he's the best person to talk to, but I'm not really sure he cares."

Jaliera

She takes the opportunity to arrange two rooms for herself and Davroar. Then she turns to Sildar.

"You say these things might be connected, including this wizard of whom you speak. Could you tell us more of the background?"

Kriv

He looked at Davroar and shrugged: it wasn't as if the smell of human wasn't everywhere already.

"Fine by me."

So saying, he headed up to change into attire more suitable for confronting the townmaster.

Chandan

He has been talking quietly with the labourers at his table. Not about anything specific, more sharing in the mundanities.

Since they were supplying the drink, it seemed courteous to engage with them.

However, the ale quickly leaves him feeling bloated and he decides to seek out something stronger. After giving his fellow drinkers the blessings of the Lords of Karma, Chandan heads over to his companions.

"I will fortify myself against the chill of the northern dusk, then come with you to this master of towns." He says.

DM

Sildar disappoints Jaliera when he answers her question about the background. "I am not from here, but I feel as though I have a duty here, to protect the residents of this town. A connection between Redbrands and orcs may or may not exist, but I intend to find out."

It's not long before the entire group has received keys to rooms, refreshed themselves as they pleased and gathered again down in the taproom before heading out to the building down the street.

The Townmaster's Hall has sturdy stone walls and a wooden roof, and a bell tower at the back. The sign that Kriv had read just a short while back is still posted next to the front door. It says "REWARD - Orcs near Wyvern Tor! Those of a mind to face the orc menace should inqure within." The notice bears the town seal and an indecipherable signature.

"Let's see what this is all about," Sildar says as he boldly opens the door and strides, with authority, inside.

The inside of the townmaster's hall is dominated by a large desk, with a disorganized stack of papers and ledgers on one side and a flickering oil lamp on the other. Behind the desk a very large, old man sits penning something into a notebook. The old man looks up. "You startled me! My heart isn't what it was in my youth. What can I do for you?"

[ooc: Moving things forward with the whole party, just to move things along. Excuse liberties taken....

Edit: I'm going to allow for a splintering, just state where you're off to if you choose to pick another location.]

Jaliera

She follows Sildar out as she qualifies her question.

"No I meant the background on this wizard, who he is, why you are looking for him."

[A slight backtrack if permitted]

[ooc: The "slight" backtrack.]

Sildar
"The wizard belongs to a group that I am a part of. We call ourselves the Lord's Alliance. He came here and hasn't been heard from since. I've been asked to locate him."

Davroar

Following along behind the group of them, he takes note of the Shrine of Luck and lingers there for a moment. The towns green space draws him away as he quietly walks out across it. The bureaucratic business of going to the towns hall slips to the back of his mind as he wild shapes for his very first time into a northern wolf, a common sight from his homeland.

He promised earlier that he would be back, but for now he takes a easy running pace quickly disappearing through an orchard of trees, the scents of various creatures almost overwhelming his mind. A stream is nearby as he heads out to explore, but being mindful to not go too far away.

Chandan

He smiles earnestly, feeling much better after having fortified himself against these northern climes.

So bolstered, he answers the old man succinctly.

"Hello. Are you the master of this town?"

OOC: I am going to take back the "railroad" I kinda forced down everyone's throat (nobody acused me, I just recognized it) by placing everyone at the Townmaster's. You are hereby given free reign to go wherever you are going now. I might have set up multiple threads if we were not sharing with Zeim's game, so let's create psuedo-threads in this one thread by labeling where you are in each post. This help all of us focus our attention. I've put together a bulleted list below of some various locales that you might choose to visit. There are a could of "declared" locations. I assume that Kriv and Chandon are at the Townmaster Hall. I know that Davroar is at the Edermath Orchard. To create psuedo-threads just start your post with your character name and location.

• Pip, the son of the innkeeper, mentioned a secret tunnel in the woods that Carp, the son of Queline Alderleaf had told him about.
• Chandan was told to go to see Halia Thornton at the miner's exchange for information about Grundren's brothers. And Karok was told to talk to miners about their potential whereabouts. The innkeeper said that they haven't been around town in over a tenday.
• All the townfolk are in an uproar about the Redbrands. They are not happy with the Townmaster. You don't know where to find them yet.
• There is a reward sign outside the Townmaster Hall to take cafe of orcs.
• Karok had met Sister Garaele at the Shrine of Luck and he left there feeling that there was more to be discussed with her. It was as if the conversation ended too early.
• Davroar has changed into a wolf and is now in the Edermath Orchard

DM - Townmaster Hall
The large man, now well into the autumn of his life, manages to hoist himself out of his seat and starts to wobble towards Chandan with an outstretched hand. "Yes, yes. I am Harbin Wester and I do have that title. And as such I would like to welcome you to our fair town. What brings you here?"

Sildar stands back, deferring to Chandan and the others who accompanied him to this place. He is patient and will wait his chance to ask questions.

DM - Edermath Orchard
Davroar changes form as soon as he makes it into the darkness of dusk and makes his way through the town green and then into the orchard. He passes through the apple trees and soon finds a cottage in the middle of it. A light flickers inside. Getting closer he can see through a window. Inside the cottage he sees an aging man making his dinner on a woodburning stove.

Jaliera - Townmaster Hall

With Davroar slipping away and wanting to continue her questions about the missing wizard, Jaliera tags along with the main group. She has no intention of acting as a spokesperson but her confidence has grown enough over the last few days that she might have a question or two. Besides it is always good to hear information first hand.

As Chandan asks his question, she takes the opportunity to study the large man before them. She wonders how long he has had the position and how he earned it but this is idle curiosity, at least at the moment.

Kriv - Townmaster Hall

It might be educational to see what the perceptive mendicant could manage amongst his own soft-fleshed kind, given his abject surrender to vermin earlier. Kriv hung back a plausibly deniable distance along with Sildar in case this results in a similar capitulation.

Chandan - Townhall

He bows his head respectfully, then hugs the man and steps back.

Chandan is feeling warmed in his chest from the beer and aquavit he'd drunk at the inn.

"Welcome, yes...

"We are humble servants of goodness, pursuing monsters that have carried our friend off to Cragmaw Castle.

"A satrap might know other local lords, and so we come to ask."

Harbin Wester - Townmaster Hall

The townmaster is taken aback by the the cuddly old man that hugged him. Chandan found that it was difficult to get his arms around the large man's waist but that did not stop the monk from squeezing. After they disengaged, the townmaster tried to reply, but he seems confused.

"I don't know about this Cragmaw Castle. I thought you were here about the bounty?"

Chandan - Townhall

"Ah, perhaps we are but do not know it yet.

"Gol lives in this Cragmaw Castle, called 'King' by the evils that serve him.

"The orcs you want dead may know of him. Where can we find them?"

Harbin Wester - Townmaster Hall
"Ah. So you are here to collect the bounty for dealing with the orcs. Excellent. Thank you. The entire town will thank you!!!"

He says all this like a politician, with a big smile.

"Well here's what I know. It's been reported, by travelers, that they have had trouble with orcs near Wyvern Tor. You would need to head east down the Triboar Trail to get there. We can pay 100 gold pieces, and you can keep whatever you find on the orcs. Will you take the job? Maybe you'll get the answers that you seek too?"

Karok - Townmaster Hall

"If'n we be going that way, we could clean them up for you. Seems strange to me that any town would put up with their stinkin' kind anywhere close to town. Have you no militia to use against them?"

Harbin Wester - Townmaster Hall

"The entire town would be grateful, I am sure, if you helped out. We have no militia, which is why I put out the help wanted sign. I am but a banker, versed in the ways of numbers, not fighting. I thought we were going to get help from outside, but that has not happened."

Chandan - Townmaster Hall

"Ah, you can come with us, show us how to find Wyvern Tor! You look like you could do with the exercise." He suggests to the townmaster.

Harbin Wester - Townmaster Hall

He gives Chandan a look of utter confusion.

"You cannot be serious?" the townmaster says as he lumbers back to his chair. Simply standing has made him tired and but he wasn't about to admit that. "I am the townmaster!" he proclaims, as if the title freed him from such mundane responsibilities.

He shifts then from his overtly pompous tone to a slightly less pompous tone. "I provided you with directions earlier, which you may have missed, so I will repeat what I had said. You would need to take the Triboar Trail east. Hopefully you don't intend to go now, though. It is dark and I am told that orcs see well at night."

Sildar - Townmaster Hall
The fighter waits for the townmaster to finish talking and during a break in the conversation he interjects. "You said something about help from the outside not coming. Did you not receive Iarno Albrek? The Lord's Alliance sent him here to help stabilize this area. He is a short, dark-bearded man, who has seen about thirty years"

Harbin Wester - Townmaster Hall
"There was a person that met such a description in town about two months ago. We were never introduced."