We have been hired by Gundren Rockseeker, and old acquaintance of Adrian, to transport a wagon loaded with goods to a village, as part of a project of his. He is obviously agitated and talking about finding a map about a lost dwarven cave, and is setting off before us together with Sildar Hallwinter. We're supplied with a wagon with two oxen to transport everything, and off we go.
Once we turn off the main road, we find a dead horse and signs of combat. Once we approach the horse a couple of goblins appear and attacks, and after we fight them off we find tracks leading into the forest. We follow the tracks after hiding the wagon and oxen in the forest. After bypassing a couple of crude traps, we find a cave opening at the bottom of a mountain with a small stream running out the opening.
We get surprised by two goblin sentries but give them a good beating. Entering the cave we find some wolves chained to the wall of a room, and after trying to smoke them out we hear a thunderous sound and a wall of water comes down the cave and washes us out. We hide in the bushes and trees waiting, and two goblins and wolves comes out and we fight them down.
We're entering the cave again walk until we find a bridge spanning over the water where we're walking, and we kill it with ranged attacks before it runs off and warns anyone. We then head further up and finds a room with some more goblins that we take out fast before they get a word off. Here we find they have two large dams with water, one empty from the rush before. Two exits from this room, one of them leads to the bridge we saw earlier, and the other have several voices so we avoid for now.
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We sneak up as we hear voices, and look into a room with goblin guards and a human prisoner. Adrian walks into the room with his cloak red side out, glowing shillelagh on his walking cane and a flame in his other hand. As he walks in he yells at the goblins that he is sick of killing goblins, and they can either leave or he will slaughter all of them. When they try to threaten with killing the prisoner he tells them that he is paid to find the prisoner, doesn't matter if he's dead or alive, and that the goblins have 10 seconds to get out or die where they stand. They run.
The prisoner is Sildar, and we find some chests from another caravan and brings everything back to our camp, where we rest to recover. Then we go back to finish off the rest of the goblins. As we walk up the cave we get to about halfway before we see a goblin lookout on the bridge, that runs back. We run back to the side opening further down, and hides there to wait the water out. Then we continue upwards, and find the goblin lookout again, and once again he runs. This time we try to sprint upwards, and all of us make it except for Adrian that gets caught in a second water rush and gets washed down out of the cave again. The others run back after him.
After Adrian has shaken off the adrenaline rush from the water slide, he realizes that his favourite fine clothings have been completely ruined, he goes from shock to anger and sets his eyes on the cave. The others find him walking swiftly back up the cave determined to exterminate the uncivilized vermin that would do such a despicable thing. But before he can march up to the monsters they hear voices from the side cave where the wolves used to stay, and they find a small opening leading up to behind the monsters, and they decide on a two side attack. Melech and Sildar stays behind to crawl up the whole while Adrian walks around pulling their attention, by verbally abusing their lack of civilized behaviour.
Adrian walks in on the room at the top of the cave, and starts throwing flames at the first goblins he can see. At the same time the others crawl up the opening, where a wolf detects them and gets a bite of Melech before Sildar can come up and attack it. Adrian walks into everything and uses his Thunderwave spell to slam back and damage some enemies and kills the wolf and a goblin. The last goblin lies unconscious, and only the Bugbear boss is left standing.
Throwing everything we got at him, walking back kiting him and pelting him with spells, he still manages to down poor Sildar, and then Adrian. And MElech does what he does best and run for his life. Meanwhile both Sildar and Adrian miraculously recovers, Sildar drinks a potion, but Adrian is too busy preparing to hurl thing at the bugbear as he tries to walk up the same whole that they climbed up earlier. Melech fires off a Witchbolt at the monster, and Adrian in his wrath picks up the dead wolf, still with his flame in hand, and throws the burning wolf down on the bugbear that takes it in his face. And just as he crawls up to start attacking them again, Melech hits him once again with a Witchbolt and fries his eyes.
Adrian sets to task to skin the bugbear to have him pay for ruining his clothes by becoming his new armor! Everyone grabs everything they can get and crawls and limps back to the wagon to rest and continue travelling.
After finally reaching the village the very first thing we do is go to the first store that sell clothes and buy some proper fine clothes again for Adrian, then head off to find an inn to arrange for lodgings, food and a hot bath. Finally dressed in some respectable clothing again, fresh and washed, and enjoying a nice beef with some red wine, Adrian is ready to go deal with other things again. Taking the rounds through the various merchants, they return the crates to the Lionshield traders for a reward, sell off various loot, upgrade some equipment, and return the wagon and oxen to their owners. All in all a nice profit. And Adrian finds a tanner willing to make him a new Hide armor out of the bugbear skin, while Melech converts a skinned wolf pelt into a pillow.
The barmaid is so busy talking about heroes and adventurers that she doesn't know anything useful. The barkeep and his wife doesn't know anything about the huge empty mansion standing right outside the town, the one and only thing nayone know is that some guy named Jaran went there and disappeared. A group of local thugs calling themselves the redcloaks is running unopposed in town doing what they want, murdering a carpenter and kidnapping his family. Talking with the village Mayor reveals that he is a complete coward and an idiot, entirely useless in his job, and does not provide a single useful thing. The Temple of Tymora doesn't help much more either, though we was requested to go talk with a banshee.
Adrian is shaking his head at this village and its complete lack of proper management and leadership. They have no sheriff or marshall, no militia or police force. There is no one to teach, explain and uphold law and order. The mayor is an incompetent pompous twat. The entire population doesn't have the sense to band together to deal with problems, or explore nearby ruins like the mansion for possible danger. The villagers general lack of knowledge is disturbing. These redcloaks needs to be put in place. The Priest hasn't even noticed that anything is wrong in the town. There are orcs rampaging around the roads, there was goblins until recently. And nobody has the slightest idea of where Craggmoore Castle or Gundren Rockseeker is, nor who this Black Spider is.
So when four redcloak ruffians tries to ambush them outside the temple, it was almost a relief to finally get a way to went out some steam. After the usual clichee ruffian speech, almost an entire sentence, and only halfway broken grammatically, with no honorific at the end. Adrian demanded that they speak to him politely and address him correctly as he is entitled as one of noble born. The ruffians disagreed and for lack of better words, attacked. Adrian's wrath and frustration connected with the ferocious spirit of nature, and he changed into a brown bear in front of the ruffians, and proceeded to knock their leader unconscious with a paw to the back of his head, and two more died from bites and necrotic hands from Melech. The last one lost his nerve and started running away, Adrian runs behind thinking that it would be nice to see where he runs, and easily keeps up as a bear, while pretend clawing at his back and snarling to keep the speed up. The thug runs up to the abandoned mansion, and tries to open a door down to a kitchen cellar. Adrian figures it is long enough, and smashes his head into the door and he falls unconscious and easily carried back.
Sildar arrived at the scene, and Adrian still not having worked off all his annoyance with this village takes charge and announces that Sildar is now made Marshal or Sheriff of this village, since he seems to be the only competent person here at the time, and Sildar's protest that that he is already the Marshal and that is why he was sent here goes completely on deaf ears, as Adrian is working on the next problem at hand. They bring the two prisoners to the mayor's house which is the only one that holds cells. They Mayor himself is getting a near heart attack, and is gibbering about the redcloaks going to take revenge on everyone, and doesn't shut up until Adrian tells him that they are using the prison cells, or he will kill both of them here in his office and let him deal with the redcloaks. The Mayor throws them the cell keys and runs away to get drunk in his room and locks it behind himself, Adrian yells at him through the door to take a double whiskey because he is going to need it.
Down in the cells, they start questioning the two thugs, and they are proving to be most uncooperative. Adrians patience already in short supply this day quickly loses patience and explains that the prisoner will talk politely and refer to him properly or he will not walk out of this place alive, and as the thugs still resists and keeps being rude, he ends up torturing them until they surrender and finally calls him “Sir”. They also share some information about their group. Redcloaks is led by a wizard named Glass-staff (soon Glassjaw), and they got some bugbears, skeletons, an eye monster, and have a couple of prisoners. To Sildar's relief we leave them in their cells and leave, he was very uncomfortable with how far the adventurers went.
Sildar references a dwarven cleric named Daine Frostbeard to us, and he has agreed to help us explore the cellars under the mansion. Sildar himself will remain to guard the prisoners and town. And after a good night rest with proper food and wine, they're all ready.
Entering the kitchen cellar, we meet some more thugs, and after trying to greet them and talk properly they still try to rush over and attacks, so adrian turns into a bear again, and they fight them off. The rooms here contains lots of food, clean drinking water and a room with beds in it, it might be useful as a backup point to rest. Exploring one of the side rooms, they find a dusty hall with a huge set of doors at the end, and Adrian is caught completely by surprise by the pit trap in the middle of the room, and falls bear-face first down, and climbs back up again, they leave the doors and goes another way.
Opening the secret door, and poor Adrian having to push his large hairy self through a very uncomfortable tight hall, until they find a large room with a ravine in the middle, and two small bridges over. The moment Adrian steps into it he hears a strange cackling voice in his head, and a strange hunches over creature with a single eye dominating its entire face skulks about on the other side of the ravine. Figuring out that it is a psychic creature Adrian starts talking with it, and finds out that it has been hired with food to stay here and guard the “stronghold” of the redcloaks. And bribes him to let them pass if they give him some meat, and brings him the three bandit bodies from the first room.
Heading north they find another room and encounter more thugs and dispatch them. Following doors to the east and some hallways they find a big room with three skeletons and as many sarcophagus, and a tripwire in the middle of the room. As Adrian enters the skeletons rushes towards, and after quickly dispatching them Adrian tries to move a skeleton over the tripwire only to find it doesn't exist. Opening the Sarcophagus they contain dead nobles, and we close them and leave them.
Taking the last door toward east, Adrian walks in and gets stabbed by two thugs hiding behind the corners, and is forced out of his bear form due to the trauma, and even takes damage when he goes back to his human form. The others start attacking from behind, and Adrian walks forward and finds that the only option left for him is to change shape again and changes into a giant dire wolf, and they dispatches the ruffians. After the combat they find a cell with prisoners, a woman and her two children, the family of the carpenter that was killed. The adventurers follow them back up to the village, and takes a good nights rest at the inn, enjoying the wine.