The Road to Thundertree

This time, the heroes advanced to Level 3. The session was a bit shorter than the others, with a lot less prep. I'm also going to link to certain 'game world' things in the forgotten realms Wiki.

Gary Barlow became a level 3 Fighter and chose to be a Battlemaster. He took the Trip Attack, Lunging Attack, and Precision Attack abilities.

Tommy Tippee became a level 3 Rogue with the Thief archetype. He can now use tools, open locks, and pick pockets as a 'cunning' (extra) action per turn.

Both are now 'Cloaks' of the Lord's Alliance, a title which they were awarded by Sildar, who has established himself as the effective sheriff of Phandalin. A brief guide to the most prominent factions can be viewed here.

This session, the adventurers were rudely awoken by Quelline Alderleaf. Everyone knows that the heroes slaughtered the Redbrands by now, and she wanted to know if her son Tobin was among the dead. Gary assured her that he wasn't, and she left in a huff.

The heroes spent some time selling their loot from the Redbrand hideout before visiting Daren Edermath, ex-adventurer again, to ask about Cragmaw Castle. Daren didn't know but suggested an old adventuring companion, Reidoth, a druid who now lives in Thundertree, might know. He also cautioned the adventurers about a Dragon that laired in the ruined town. Daren was pressed on his previous adventurers and revealed that Aldith Tresander was one of his former adventuring companions who retired to Tresander Manor on his earnings, and that the party's wizard, Janeth, had probably degenerated into the Nothic they encountered in the cellar. Daren gave the party more applies and they set off for Thundertree without much delay. They elected to go East then North, rather than back through Neverwinter, thinking the city might be too distracting.

Whilst on the road, Tommy picked up a trail and successfully determined it belonged to a male human possibly wearing heavy armour. They elected to catch up with the figure and found it to be;
Janek Lightbringer, priest of Lathander.

Janek explained that he had travelled from Neverwinter to pursue coin and glory for his temple, and had accepted a contract to investigate Orc sightings at Wyvern Tor from Hardin, the town spokesperson in Phandalin. He agreed to split the 100gp reward three ways and the heroes were happy for the company.

They travelled for some time, at one point finding a rock which appeared to have the face of a man. Very careful examination revealed it to be just a rock. Janek found it amusing that the heroes were so preoccupied, and this led to a brief discussion about the Gods. Janek was surprised to find that Gary declared himself to be one of the Faithless, who in Faerun are destined to become fused with a great wall which guards the City of Judgement in the afterlife. Each to their own.

The group passed through the ruined village of Conyberry, and found nothing of interest. They elected to go North to Thundertree and Janek agreed with this decision so long as they returned to Wyvern Tor later.

Beyond Thundertree, the heroes came across the lair of a Banshee, who demanded an offering of something beautiful as it was so long since she had been made a fuss of. Tommy and Gary briefly considered attacking before Janek advised caution, as the Banshee could potentially kill them with her scream. They thought better of it, and Gary offered up one of the Tresander signet rings. This was rejected as too crude given the human craftsmanship. Tommy succeeeded on his diplomacy check however and offered up the jade frog with gold eyes from the goblin caves, which the Banshee accepted and placed in her personal treasure chest. Being ancient, she offered the answer to one question. The heroes modestly asked how to defeat the dragon in Thundertree and she answered that not all dragons are so ancient, and younger ones could be driven away instead. Was this a missed opportunity to ask about Gundren, Cragmaw Castle, Wave Echo Cave, or the identity of the Black Spider? Maybe! But it was pragmatic.

An Ash Zombie

A twig blight

Tommy wisely decided not to raid the Banshee's chest and they continued North to Thundertree, where so far they have been attacked by Twig Blights who seriously injured Janek, and some Ash Zombies, who were tough but slow enough to hack to pieces methodically. Janek's spells have so far proved useful to the party. They also successfully recovered the necklace promised to them by Mirna after they rescued her.

...and we stopped there for a brief rest in the ruined Inn.



Mistakes;
-It was a massive mistake on my part to run a session with essentially no preparation. It bogged things down and I began to get some of my threads mixed up.
-Babysitting and DMing don't go hand in hand.

Future;
-I think now the party is starting to face more complex threats (multiple combatants, different size categories) it might work better if we track things using markers or tokens on a 1'x1' grid.