Tuesday, March 22, 1491, continued
With the fight against the Scarlet Cloaks at the Sleeping Giant now concluded, Fugnar and Kite talked with Greska, the owner of the Sleeping Giant, and when asked where the remaining Scarlet Cloaks were, he mentioned they should check the second bathroom stall. Taking a closer look, they discovered that this bathroom stall has a toilet assembly that lifts up, revealing a hole and a ladder descending into a dark, dank, and smelly tunnel.
Carefully descending, Fugnar is followed by Kite, and the two of them reach a corner twenty feet away. Kyrdean joins them as they turned left. In another thirty feet or so they reach a wooden staircase leading to a trapdoor. Lifting the trapdoor, Fugnar finds himself in a carriage house. A few crates are against the north wall, while an old open wooden wagon with the words Sleeping Giant written on both sides. Garden implements are hooked next to a small closed door in the south wall, while the west gate is also closed. The trap door itself is covered with a pile of hay conveniently affixed to provide coverage to hide the contraption when closed.
While waiting for her partners to return, Emmy and Kaine are surprised to see the entrance to the Sleeping Giant open, and a short Kritza standing there. Finally feeling well enough to rejoin the group, Kritza tracked them to the Stonewall Inn, and after hearing they were going to take the fight to the Scarlet Cloaks, deduced they would come here next.
Meanwhile, opening the carriage house's door, Kite realizes they are inside the grounds of the Sleeping Giant, and this carriage house stands to the northwest corner of the property, with a fallowed garden between the inn and its carriage house. A wooden fence surrounds the property. Kyrdean exits the garden and walks back to the front of the tavern, while Kite and Fugnar returns to the common room through the tunnel.
Reunited with Kritza, they fill the dwarf on their adventures during the last few weeks, then start discussing what their next steps should be to track the remaining Scarlet Cloaks. After several ideas are floated on what to do with the prisoners, the group agrees to go with Kritza's idea of waking up both ruffians, and taking one in a separate room to interrogate him, before playing prisoner's dilemma with both of them. Kritza sets up the kitchen to make it look like they will summon a demon. He places several candles inside an arcane symbol he draws on the floor in chalk. Meanwhile, Fugnar will speak with the other prisoner and intimate that their companion is at that very moment revealing everything under torture. Either way, they should get plenty of information.
During the discussion, Kite heads to Townmaster's Hall and she locates Harbin Wester, the town master. She updates him on what has just happened at the Sleeping Giant, and Harbin looks both thrilled that the Scarlet Cloaks have been dealt with, and thoroughly horrified that not all of them have been captured. He follows Kite back to the tavern, where he observes the scene of destruction, with three dead bodies, two humans and one goblin, and two prisoners. Harbin asks them if they will complete their pursuit of the Scarlet Cloaks, as the death of a few of their members could bring swift retribution to Phaladin. Fugnar informs the town master that indeed they were just about to interrogate their two prisoners to discover the location of their hideout. Harbin agrees to house the two prisoners after they are interrogated, but he will only hold them for two days before he sends them away to Neverwinter under guard. He also agrees to find some strong lads to remove and bury the bodies of the dead.
Kite, Fugnar and Kaine offer Greska compensation for the destruction they wrought on his establishment during their recent fight. Greska gratefully accepts, and thanks them for removing their unwanted presence from his establishment. Kite asks him if the Scarlet Cloaks were good customers, and Greska replies that they were rude, didn't pay their bill, and scared most of his clientele away. He's glad they are gone, and he hopes Kite and his friends will see this business to the end.
Now set up in the kitchen, Kyrdean, Kaine and Kritza return to the common room, where they wake up both prisoners. Berok the Scarlet Cloak is escorted to the kitchen, where he is tied to a chair. Kritza sprinkles some salt all around, creating a very intimidating scene. Berok soils himself due to fear, and when Kaine asks him where the location of the Scarlet Cloaks' hideout is, Berok reveals that it is located underneath Tresendar Manor. Kritza asks him what password the guards use, and Berok reveals that today's password is "sunshine." When asked how many people are in the Scarlet Cloaks, Berok replies that there are at least a dozen of them in their lair at all times. Their leader, Glassstaff, is building some sort of army of ne'er-do-wells from up and down the Sword Coast, but he doesn't know their purpose. Kaine gags Berko.
At the same time, Fugnar, Emmy, Kyrdean and Kite interrogate the second prisoner. Fugnar unties his bindings, and gives him a tankard of ale. He then tells the ruffian that his friend is currently being questioned in the next room through devious arcane means, and that he most likely will reveal everything they want to know. Fugnar then points out that they will kill the last man who reveals information, so he better start talking. Kosi the Scarlet Cloak replies that he's willing to reveal everything, as he doesn't care to lose his life for a lousy reason. He essentially reveals the same information Berok told the others.
Harbin Wester returns with a few strong lads, and they escort Kosi and Berok to the Townmaster's Hall to lock them up, each in their own cell. Meanwhile, Fugnar, Emmy, Kyrdean, Kite, Kaine, and Kritza discuss their options.
Fugnar questions Greska on what he knows of Tresendar Manor. The barman tells them that Tresendar Manor used to be the largest building in Phandalin when it was first built in the 900s. Home of the Tresendar noble family, the Manor was owned by Aldith Tresendar who was known widely as the Black Hawk. A great knight who participated in many wars up and down the Sword Coast, Sir Tresendar led the forces that unsuccessfully defended Phandalin against the assault of the orc realm Uruth Ukrypt in 951 DR. Sir Tresendar perished defending the manor house, and his magical blade, with a hilt shaped like a majestic bird's outstretched wings, was never found.
Greska adds that Phandalin, which had been founded as a mining town a century earlier but which had grown by 950 DR as a prosperous farming community was devastated by the orc rampage, and the residents fled, abandoning the town. It wasn't until 1360 DR that the town was once again settled by humans. In the century since, the town has rebuilt its center, and four generations have now plowed the fields and restarted some of the mines.
Armed with this information, the group decides to wait until after nightfall to head to Tresendar Manor. The dim lights of lanterns should hide most of their features, and with everyone wearing a red cloak, they should be able to fool the guard and infiltrate the Scarlet Cloaks' complex.
Later on that evening, with most of Phandalin's inhabitants safely inside their houses, the group, cloaked in red, exits the Sleeping Giant and heads out southeast. After about ten minutes of walking, they come upon the ruins of Tresendar Manor. Creeping on the manor's grounds, they notice two figures talking by a bulkhead heading into the ruined building's basement. Though it is dark, both of them are outside smoking a pipe, and the ember gives enough light to see they are both wearing red cloaks.
After a few minutes of observing, one of the guards disappears down the bulkhead, while the other remains, leaning against the wall. Emmy takes aim and the remaining guard. Her aim is true. The bandit collapses to the ground. Fugnar takes the cloak and drags the body away, while Kite impersonates the guard. After about 2 hours, Kite hears steps coming from the bulkhead, and another guard appears. The guard seems tired, and after a password exchange, Kite heads down. The rest of the group quickly dispatches the second guard, and join the Tabaxi. After a short tunnel, they come to a corner and another tunnel that veers away from the manor itself. At the end of that tunnel a guard is sitting on a stool, evidently dozing.
Kite and Emmy fire an arrow each, only to realize that it is in fact an illusion created to pretend someone was guarding the entrance. Carefully opening the door, they enter a large room that contains a cistern. Kritza notices that the stonework is decent, but not of dwarven origin. Stacks of alcohol, foodstuffs, and exploding wine are piled around the room, evidently the results of caravan looting. Opening the western door, they come upon three sleeping guards that are quickly disabled before being hogtied and left in the room.
Kite opens the northern door and finds herself in a large corridor. Kaine, who joins her, almost falls in a trap in the floor. Seeing a lever on the other side, Kite attempts the jump, but fails and is saved by her cousin Emmy, who yanks her back. Kritza uses mage handto activate the lever that secures the trap.
Carefully opening the next door, Emmy notices that the room is a crypt. Several armed skeletons draped in red cloaks stand next to stone sarcophagi. Kritza recognizes the Tresendar coat of arms on all sarcophagi. Kaine and Kritza slowly walk by the skeletons, but none of them react. Then Kritza wonders aloud what would happen if he removed one of the red cloaks, which he promptly does. The skeletons attack, and within a few blows Kritza goes down, followed by Fugnar and Kyrdean. Emmy casts heal on Fugnar, and the barbarian rejoins the fight. Soon, all eight skeletons are dead. Fugnar searches the skeletons' bodies and he discovers one of them wore a gold bracelet ...
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| Gold bracelet |
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