Author: Blameless

Baergar finds no loot on the vanquished air cultists beyond some bird-shaped steel hats that he saves for Zephyros. The bodies go over the side of the flying hat castle, and the cultists’ giant vultures dive after the falling bodies.

After an eight hour nap, Mel, Adrik, Harry, Baergar, and Grund wake much stronger. Especially Grund. Zephyros descends from the upper levels and explains that he was unconscious after chatting with the planar advisory committee who advised him to mistrust the air cultists. That advice, though affirming, is eight hours and sixty seconds late.

Zephyros gives the party a tour of his flying hat castle. The highest level is where he keeps his four unnamed pet griffons. The castle’s arrival over Goldenfields interrupts Grund’s gastronomic beer-battered proposal for the crated, milk-fed griffons. As a parting gesture, Zephyros re-gifts the bag of air cult fairy dust to Harry while Mel discusses Oreos with Grund.

Zephyros deposits the party in vast fields of gold at the gates of the walled city of Goldenfields. The town has no distance markers but seems a mile or two wide. They make their way toward the prominent temple of Chauntea, goddess of agriculture, where they are greeted by abbot Ellardin Darovik.

Darovik invites them into the abbey, making excuses for the two resident black bears, Darlow and Tilbee. Grund can’t help but notice the town is lightly guarded. Darovik, gratified that Grund would happen to mention that plot point, has been similarly chided by local parishioner Zi Liang for the lack of a standing army. There has never been any need for a strong defensive force and therefore won’t be any time soon. With that foreshadowing complete, Harry inquires about any recently visiting noblemen, perhaps one with a shady steward? Darovik suggests checking the Goldengulp north of here. Grund inquires for lodgings and libations. Darovik suggests Northfurrow’s End, also north of here and fortuitously run by Miros Xelbrin.

The party makes its way north past orderly rows of elaborately decorated longhouses to the three story inn, Northfurrow’s End. A beast of a man greets them from behind the checkin counter. Grund confirms the man is proprietor Miros Xelbrin and gently but firmly conveys the good news / bad news / good news: here is Rillix, his family’s pet tressym, rescued after his parents were brutally crushed by boulders while honorably defending Nightstone from attacking giants, and are there five adjacent rooms available at the inn for paying customers? Miros accepts the tressym, the news, and the 5 gp for the rooms.

Complimentary first brews are served in the common room. Grund slides the server a gold piece to keep the suds flowing. Harry brings a drink to the ornate librarian wearing a medallion of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors and reading a book of advanced spellcasting. Naxene Drathkala does little to conceal her displeasure at being assigned to supervise the harvest at Goldenfields. If Goldenfields fails then Waterdeep fails, but nothing has ever gone wrong in Goldenfields and therefore nothing could ever go wrong. Harry inquires about any noble passers-through at the inn lately, perhaps one with a shady steward at the inn lately? Why yes, they left not long ago.

The party turns in for an uneventful evening in Goldenfields where nothing ever goes wrong.

Frantic yelling by staggering halfling Oren Yogilvy interrupts a good night’s sleep. Ogres, bugbears, and goblins are discovered moving through the town and the surrounding fields. The party leaps to arms. Grund sprints out of the inn judge-first and greases a goblin. Baergar follows along, sneaking attacks around Grund while carefully keeping Grund between him and harm. Harry and Naxene try to out out-wizard each other obliterating the greenskins with fireballs and bolts of lightning and fire. Dextrous stranger Shalvus Martholio backs up Mel’s warhammering with his quarterstaffing. Adrik flanks out with his handaxe to stop goblins from getting around behind them to the inn. Miros defends his inn and shelters lightweight halfling Oren. Miles away, on the other side of town, a huge plant named Lifferlas and local militant Zi Liang smash through nearby goblins.

None of the town’s defenders get too badly injured in the fight, although Grund gets the judge jammed into an ogre rib cage right before Harry and Naxene explode it in flaming guts. Grund takes the opportunity to taunt the ogre’s many surviving nearby friends by hoisting the flaming gut soaked mordenkrad aloft along with some choice insults. Mel breaks her warhammer and proceeds to crack open a goblin with the broken-off handle. Lifferlas breaks a limb smashing goblins. Unlike Mel’s warhammer, Lifferlas’s limbs grow on trees.

The town proper is cleared of invaders, but the fields are still crawling with the pilfering beasties threatening the Sword Coast’s food security, not to mention Naxene’s next employee evaluation.

Once the Nightstone folks get clear of their Dripping Cave prison, the party moves back in to rescue, or recover, Daphne Featherstone. They follow the left wall, the direction indicated by Morak. Thog, still cowering in the stalagmites, remains suppressed by Grund’s stern glare.

Mel quietly explores down a passage past a goblin obliviously waiting in the darkness. Mel has the drop on the goblin and signals back to the others fumbling along behind. She presses ahead toward the scritchy sounds of giant rats, warhammer at the ready. Adrik sneaks past the lurking goblin and rounds a corner where the giant rats feast on a deceased human. Grobkull Grund shields himself with faith and confronts the goblin with a whiffing hammer smash. He meant to miss. Snigbat the goblin surrenders. Snigbat the goblin will help the intruders if they remove her supervisor, Boss Hark. Snigbat will make a great leader. Noncommittal Grund has Snigbat disarm and timeout in the corner.

Mel smashes a giant rat with a single blow. The rats retaliate as do a pair of goblins, Ratcha and  Zukluk, from the back of the chamber at the encouragement of their boss, Boss Hark. The rest of the party crushes into the narrow passage. Grund attempts to leap over the front line of rats to stomp around behind them, but falls into the rat pile instead. Adrik chops a rat and scrambles up prone Grund to strategic high ground, but he trips and pins Grund to the filthy rat ground. Baergar pulls Adrik off the pile. Mel, not part of the circus act, smashes another rat in a single shot and bolsters herself against the waves of biting with a healing word. Harry splashes acid into the midst of the rats, weakening several and killing one.

Grund and Adrik regain their feet. Grund fights through the rats trying to get to the goblins in the back. Baergar looks for acid-wounded rats and finishes off a couple. As the ineffectiveness of his pet rats becomes apparent, a shadow of doubt falls across Boss Hark as does a shadow of approaching Grund. Hark offers to negotiate the release of commoners. Grund demands the dropping of weapons. Adrik, eager to not cross Grund, drops his axe. Boss Hark, Ratcha, and Zukluk drop their weapons. Hostilities end except for the rhythmic smash, smash, smash of Mel methodically hammering out Boss Hark’s prize giant rats. Boss Hark winces and recounts the names of the smushed.

Grund confidently binds the hands of the goblins. Adrik and Mel can see the ropes will fall right off, but fumble over each other trying to tighten the problematic knots. Even the goblins are confused. Harry brings Snigbat in from the other room.

Baergar identifies the rat chewed body as Darthag Ulgar, proprietor of Nightstone’s Lion Shield Coster. He spots Daphne in the chamber behind Boss Hark. Daphne recounts the goblin ambush when the town fled to the Dripping Caves. Daphne offers to take Baergar to Hark’s treasure hoard. They shove a concealing boulder out of the passage revealing Hark’s charmingly dilapidated treasure chest. Inside are some coins, valuable items, and a scroll that Harry will identify as Tenser’s Floating Disk.

Grund wraps Darthag’s remains and the party takes the goblins and Daphne back to Nightstone where some loose ends get satisfyingly tied up.

Grund encounters grudge subject Telben Osstra and soberly adjudicates the blighted wheat collection issue: time served vis-a-vis the destruction of Osstra’s farm.

Morak introduces himself to the group and laments that the Xelbrins were slain in the giant attack, unbeknownst to their son living in Goldenfields. Perhaps the same party who defended Nightstone from all comers and slew a cave of goblins to rescue the town’s population could be entrusted to deliver that bad news as well as the Xelbrins’ pet tressyn, Rillix, to their son? Goldenfields Meadery happens to also be the destination of a certain nobleman, Peter, and his dragonborn bodyguard, Srorthen, and Peter’s steward, Dillion. This factoid is of particular interest to Harry because Dillion is a suspect in his sister’s murder. Did someone say Srorthen? That vile bandit attacked a dwarven trade caravan bound for Waterdeep and got a very dark entry in grudgebearing Grund’s big book of grudges. Did someone say nobleman? Baergar always enjoys meeting generous noblemen. Did someone say cute, cute tressym? Adrik is already cuddling Rillix. Did someone say any place other than Quastarte? Mel is always ready to not return to Quastarte. Goldenfields it is.

The party spends an especially restorative night in Nightstone [ding 4] and sets out for Goldenfields in a flurry of vengeance. One day into the journey, they can’t help but stare up into the sky at a floating sky tower sporting a jaunty wizard’s hat. Cloud stairs descend toward them. Grund menaces the disinterested stairs. A verbal invitation to ascend seems reasonable to Adrik despite Grund’s warnings of smiling lions. They ascend a thousand stairs to giant doors. The giant doors open to reveal a giant who introduces himself as Zephyros the giant wizard.

Zephyros is pleased to be introduced to the party now. Suspicious Baergar introduces himself as Adrik. Mel loves a practical joke and introduces herself as Adrik. Grund loves a dwarves grudge, especially the ancient one against giants, and introduces himself as Grund Malnarson Dimdylkin Grimstoen, Grudgebearer of Drunget Mogh Buldohr. Adrik introduces himself as Adrik. Harry wavers on the metaphorical precipice of perpetuating a dumb joke and introduces himself as Harry. Zephyros, having been consulted by planar management, expected this meeting, albeit with a more plausible standard deviation of Adriks. Speaking of standard deviations, half of the giant sky castles in the area this week destroyed Nightstone, but Zephyros wouldn’t know anything about that at all. Zephyros, convinced of the party’s significance to world events whatever those may be, is eager to give the party a lift to any destination of their choosing. Baergar the Adrik shrugs and indicates Goldenfields.

Levitating Zephyros excuses himself to the higher levels of the sky tower for a few uneventful days while the tower presumably progresses toward Goldenfields. On the third day, Zephyros descends again to answer a knock at the door. It’s the local chapter of Howling Hatred motoring around on their giant vultures raising awareness and support for their elemental ambitions to return the world to primordial soup state. Amarath and N’von, adherents of Yan-C-Bin, offer a complimentary bag of pixie dust to Zephyros from their smiley faced bag so he invites them in. Zephyros, discombobulated by the religious pressure, excuses himself leaving the two groups awkwardly alone. There is a giant thud from the upper level.

Grund fills the awkwardness with pointed probing regarding this dubious plan for elementalism. Hands go to weapons as Grund meanders defiantly in the midst of the cultists. Amarath’s hand goes to his smiley face bag. Grund “compliments” Amarath’s purse. Amarath releases an invisible stalker from his purse. Grund cracks a flatulence joke and shields himself with faith.

Harry ignites open violence as he ignites a couple of cultists with Aganazzar’s scorcher. Mel crashes into N’von with her hammer and withstands several retaliatory attacks. Amarath tries to jab a dagger into Grund, but Grund has learned to shift, deflecting the blade on the reinforced sections of his armor. The invisible stalker slams into Grund. Baergar breaks the Marley’s bottle he was enjoying from Zephyros’s larder and jams the broken bottle into N’von’s neck. N’von goes down. Adrik and Harry work on the cultists. Grund wades through punishing attacks from the mob of cultists to judge Amarath with a divine smite. Amarath is pulverized. Mel heals Grund. The cultists lose nerve at the sight of their leaders’ demise and begin to flee. Mel breaks the spine of a retreating cultist and others get wounded on their way out.

The invisible stalker lingers to avenge his master, buffeting Grund with slams from all directions. Sometimes the gusts reveal the location of the stalker, but it’s only Mel’s lucky hits that make any contact, and Mel has to exert a lot of effort to protect Grund’s health from the single-minded stalker. Baergar notices a tussle of Grund’s hair and Grund tosses the smiley face bag straight above him. The bag makes contact and captures the invisible stalker. Will the invisible stalker obey any summoner? No one wants to find out tonight.

With the timely destruction of the Seven Snakes at the hands of Gurrash’s orcs, and the timely retreat of Gurrash and his orcs, it is time for a timely breather. Adrik loots the Seven Snakes for 60 gp of pocket change. Grund, awakened by the epic battle, rejoins the party and takes a gold serpent insignia ring off Xolkin [25 gp] settling the new “take over Nightstone and wake up Grund with a dying ruckus” grudge.

The party finds a 20’ board to cross the boulder-smashed keep bridge. Harry pushes the keep’s untrapped, unlocked, heavy wooden front doors open. Inside, four guards, Torem, Sydiri, Alara, and Kaelel, stand around the recently deceased Lady Velrosa Nandar. Baergar offers to use his “medical” training to see whether she might be revived and slips her wedding ring off her finger. Nope, definitely dead. Grund makes some pointed inquiries why these guards are loitering around inside Nandar Keep instead of protecting the town from giants, goblins, snakes, and orcs? Broken bridge. Where did the nightstone itself go? Four giants snatched it and absconded up four giant ropes to a giant sky castle. That explanation checks out.

The party offers to check upstairs for survivors while the guards continue protecting Lady Nandar’s remains. The second floor serves primarily as Lady Nandar’s bedroom. Baergar looks around for chest-like objects and finds a chest. When he opens it, a sword hanging above the doorway comes to life and zips at Baergar. Mel steps in the way and knocks it aside with her warhammer. The sword attacks Mel while Baergar surreptitiously relieves Lady Nandar’s chest of four gems. Adrik grapples the sword for Grund to hammer lifelessly crooked. The guards yell up the ladder stairs, concerned about the ruckus. Just a sword falling off the wall, loosened by boulders, why not.

The party moves to the roof for a bird’s-eye view of Nightstone, but it doesn’t look any better from up here. Off in the northwest distance they can see the hills that host the dripping cave, presumed destination of the surviving townsfolk. Adrik hears the name as tripping cave.

The party takes leave of the keep guards. Luckily, the seven horses for the Seven Snakes mostly survived the battle. Baergar chooses a black horse, Harry chooses a dun roan, and Grund chooses the stoutest horse of any color to carry his formidable gravitas. They ride uneventfully for the dripping cave.

…

Inside the dripping cave, the adventurers see an ogre bathing in a mud pit. Baergar sneaks in along the wall and counts four goblins hanging around the cavern of stalagmites. Grund and goblin-speaking Mel hatch a plan to tease out one goblin at a time.

Mel declares in loud goblin that they have a heavy bag of gold just outside the cave to carry in! Send one goblin, only one, to help drag the gold. Other goblins are ordered to remain behind to guard the prisoners, but Gleek is strong! Gleek shows up to help with the gold, but he finds only Grund’s mordenkrad, the judge, full of angular momentum. Gleek’s life ends abruptly.

Mel declares in loud goblin that Gleek is weak! Send one more goblin, only one more, to help with the heavy gold! Lop is stronger! But when Lop shows up to help with the gold, he finds only Adrik’s axe, Gold. Lop yells, Bree-Yark! for surrender, but Mel can’t conjugate whether Lop is surrendering or requesting surrender. Either way, Judge lops Lop’s head off.

Mel declares in loud goblin that the interlopers have surrendered! Victory! Send one more goblin, only one more, to help drag in the new prisoners! Nitch will help with that, ten times the goblin that Slidderdabber is! But when Nitch shows up to help with the prisoners, he finds only Harry’s firebolts. Nitch is scratched.

Mel declares in loud goblin that the prisoners have more loot than they can carry! Send one more goblin, only one more, to help haul the loot! Pox will help with all that loot! Adrik and Grund both miss nimble Pox. Bree-Yark! Bree-Yark!

The mudding ogre, Lob, charges Mel and clobbers her. Lob invites another ogre, Thog, to share the tasty morsels. Pox hits Mel within an inch of her dwindling life. Baergar runs by Pox with a sneaky pierce and Pox is down. Harry’s magic missiles and Adrik’s dueling hand axe begin working on Lob as Grund charges in with the judge and a hearty DAL STOK GROM DAWI! [Good meal, brave dwarf!] Lob smacks Grund in return and a javelin sails over from Thog into Adrik. Slidderdabber scoots around from behind Lob and impales himself dead on Baergar’s offhand sword. Harry winds up Melf’s acid arrow but splashes acid all over himself. Grund declares the party is krunk! [Disasterous!]. Adrik and Mel take up Harry’s slack and finish off Lob. Mel channels a Moradin’s curing on Adrik.

Grund points menacingly at Thog, marking him as the next target. Grund scoops some of Lob’s blood and slowly draws bloody warpaint across his face. Thog must yield or Grund will wear his blood next. Thog excuses himself to some remote stalagmites. Adrik is equally terrified. The party gives Grund and Judge a little extra room while he glares at cowering Thog. They take a quick rest to patch wounds and clean weapons.

The party follows the murmur of prisoners to the right. Adrik sees the townsfolk crowded into a cavern chamber around a pit. Baergar dashes past Adrik and finds his guardian, Destiny Agganor in the crowd. He shoves Grin out of the way to get to Destiny. Destiny implores Baergar to settle down lest he rouse the bats from the pit.

The party leads Morak and the other townsfolk out of the dripping cave while Grund keeps Thog pinned with ample glowering. The town’s able fighters arm themselves with dropped goblin scimitars for what should be an easy walk back to Nightstone. Baergar slips the four gems liberated from Lady Nandar’s chest to Destiny [100 gp each]. Before departing, Morak pleads for the party to rescue citizen Daphne who was separated and taken to a back part of the dripping cave.

Now that Morak is safe, Baergar inquires about the empty bag of payment issued by Fidacius Crumpot. Grund tosses the bag to Baergar who counts out 300 gp and splits it five ways to the party.

The stable loft seems like a cozy place to wake up, but not for Grund who makes a late night foray back to the drawbridge for another beechwood-aged crate of Marley’s Marvelous Mead. Grund takes on all the night watches in exchange for sleeping in.

The day shift hears a horse approach from the drawbridge. Atop the horse is a shady half-elf. Surrounding the shady half-elf’s horse are the shady half-elf’s shady henchmen. Together they are the Seven Snakes plus Xolkin Allasander’s horse. Baergar knows this lot by reputation, and their reputation is that of ruffians doing dirty work for a Zhentarim boss, The Snail.

Xolkin shouts for his “sweety” Kella and for Nightstone’s immediate surrender. Kella scowls, and the rest of the town, largely ruined by falling boulders, picked over by raiding goblins, and abandoned by its citizens, makes no response at all. Xolkin plants the Seven Snakes Black Winged Serpent banner and declares victory for Zhentarim. That’s just fine by the party who are more concerned about the missing citizenry who supposedly fled to the dripping caves. The adventurers prepare to abandon Nightstone as soon as the opportunity to evade the Seven Snakes presents itself.

Mel and Baergar slip around free and clear, but Xolkin easily spots Adrik and Harry heading for the drawbridge. Xolkin’s thugs stop them with aimed crossbows. Xolkin attempts to discover who is in charge so that someone, anyone, may be permitted to surrender to him. Adrik explains their leader, Grund, is sleeping off some Marley’s behind a barrel somewhere. Xolkin isn’t having any of this excuse and forces Harry to surrender on behalf of the town. Whatever, may we go now? Well… yes. Yes you may. Xolkin seems surprised.

Sounds of orcish screaming interrupt the win-win situation. The Seven Snakes, now responsible for town’s safety, raise the drawbridge. Orcs begin to assemble outside the town yelling, Kill them all! Get their ears! Their necklaces of elven ears attest to their proficiency at this plan. More and more orcs arrive as Mel impatiently checks her sundial; has it stopped? To fill the time, Baergar surreptitiously cuts the purse of a Snake and slips the pilfered 13 gp into Adrik’s pocket. Baergar bets Xolkin 13 gp that he has underestimated the threat from the gathering orcs.

Eventually the orc number levels off at a score. The hoard includes a warg-drawn skull cart piloted by one-armed Gurrash, orc in charge. The orc with the most elf ears is one-eyed Norga. They have come to claim Nightstone which the Seven Snakes have just rightfully stolen. Gurrash sends over some swimming orcs who are stopped by the palisades. Harry and Mel retort with a couple of spells threatening to ignite the cart. The orcs withdraw.

The Seven Snakes’ victorious self congratulation is interrupted by the sounds of the orc war party marching through town from the direction of the keep. Baergar collects the 13 gp bet from Xolkin. Xolkin offers his personal stash of gemstones and coin for the party to help protect the town. They were probably going to do the “right thing” anyway, but the treasure clinches the deal.

The approaching orcs draw first blood with a volley of javelins taking out one of the Seven Snakes. Baergar takes cover behind the remaining Six Snakes. Mel and Harry take positions at the tops of the drawbridge towers where they can safely burn down orcs with spells. Adrik bravely advances.

The battle goes poorly for the Snakes as they fall one by one. Baergar is challenged to find new Snakes to hide behind. Waves of orcs wash over Adrik. Mel does her best to keep Moradin’s healing words flowing into Adrik. Harry’s orbs chromatic and missiles magic flash overhead to clear a path of retreat for Adrik, but the orc menace is thick and persistent. Adrik begins to suffer lingering wounds and a cycle of perpetual unconsciousness. The Snakes hold off what they can with crossbows, but the orcs’ inexorable advance overwhelms Xolkin’s horse, then Kella, and finally half-vulnerable Xolkin.

Orc warchief Gurrash advances up the stairs toward Mel, trapping her. Orcs circle dying Adrik and beat her just in case she’s pretending to be dead. Norga stabs at Harry with a spectral spear. Baergar cleans out Xolkin’s deceased pockets to the tune of over 500 gp net worth and holds the treasure conspicuously aloft to lure the orcs into chasing him. The orcs show no interest in wealth.

Mel hefts her warhammer, ready to face her demise in proper dwarven fashion. Harry nervously regards the stairs up to his own tower, calculating the precious seconds he has left in multiples of six. Adrik, delusional from her brief and painful encounters with consciousness, wonders if house cats make very warm winter hats. Baergar weighs the risk of certain death at the hands of the orcs versus Grund’s inevitable ire if Baergar escapes death having abandoned the party.

Just then Gurrash has some kind of epiphanous breakdown and calls a retreat. The nearly doomed party is alive, well, and rightful owners of Nightstone.

Adrik wakes behind the crates of Marley’s and stumbles into Nightstone just in time to see Grund and Baergar emerge from the temple of Lathander and Mielikki. The party prepares to settle the grudge of one Thelbin Osstra, progressive farmer of blighted wheat. Adrik dashes into the temple as the rest of the party dashes out.

The dashing activity predictably attracts the attention of a munching warg who makes the fatal error of rushing a well-rested adventuring party. The warg’s last utterance is a goblin explicative, but only Mel knows which one.

Baergar directs Grund to Osstra’s wheat farm right across the street from the temple. Adrik finds no great treasure in the tiny farm house but compulsively pockets a fake crystal knob from a fake door and a purple handkerchief embroidered with the name of a powerful archmage. Grund considers the poor state of the abandoned farm and decides appropriate justice shall be a stern note declaring that Moradin’s judgement is already in effect here.

Behind the farm is the Lionshield Coster where Baergar finds goblin Jilk looting the store and warns him to surrender. Grund steps in and judges Jilk into a pancake. The store, though ransacked, still has a wide selection of adventuring products. The party provisions as needed. Harry assembles a supply of ink, pens, and parchment for the scribing of spells. Mel struggles with the ethics of looting. One magical dwarven helm catches Grund’s eye. He estimates how much coin to leave in exchange for it, but decides it’s safest in his custody until they meet proprietor Darthag Ulgar at the dripping caves with the other Nightstone refugees.

The next building is the home of Baergar’s guardian, Destiny Agganor, and her son, Grin, Baergar’s step brother. The runed door is locked tight and the windows are shuttered. Baergar attempts to pick the lock but breaks it instead. Mel kicks in the door. Only Baergar can read the infernal runes on the broken door that curse to the ninth heck anyone who enters without permission, and he’s careful to invite them in.

The house has been neither ransacked by goblins nor damaged by giants, a condition suspicious to Grund. The party replenishes their rations from the pantry and Adrik checks out Destiny’s mystery wooden chest. Inside he finds a healing potion, healer’s kit, and a golden holy symbol of Asmodeus. Grund tears up a letter of thanks he was about to leave for Destiny and instead hammers the symbol flat. Adrik is too freaked out by the evil symbol to loot the chest.

Mel repairs the door with one of the locks Adrik liberated from the Lionshield Coster. Baergar uninvites everyone out of the house and leaves one of Morak’s gemstones and a note for Destiny. [Mother, sorry for the mess, things got out of control, your gold thing was mashed by Grund Malnarson Dimdylkin Grimstoen, Grudgebearer of Drunget Mogh Buldohr, who got real mad about it for some reason, Sad! Your Burger, p.s. don’t try to sell this gemstone around town because the neighbors will get jealous.]

The next building is the apothecary of Taela and Larlow Summerhawk. Harry knocks on the unlocked door and opens it. A boulder has crushed much of the building and much of a halfling whose lifeless arm sticks out from beneath. Adrik remarks on the smell and pulls up a loose floorboard to pocket 15 gp, an herbalism kit, and a vial of antitoxin. Grund, unable to move the massive boulder, collects stones to bury the protruding arm.

Baergar hears rummaging in the east guard tower out behind the apothecary and alerts the group. Harry and Mel approach with readied spells while Adrik hefts a hand axe. Mel overhears the goblin Gork expositionally referring to himself in third person and cooing over a pretty locket. Grund, winding up a judgement, leaps through the open door, loses his balance, and falls over. Luckily Gork makes a mess of his scimitar attack and quickly succumbs to Adrik’s hand axe and Harry’s magic missiles. Baergar examines the pretty locket which features a painting of Larlow Summerhawk.

Next up is the Nesper gourd farm. From any distance the party can see goblins Blik and Flik wearing pumpkins on their noggins playing tag. Adrik puts a crossbow bolt into Flik’s gourd, ending the game of tag. Mel puts a critical guiding bolt into Flik ending Flik with an explosion of Moradin’s power. Flik’s violent demise sends lethal pumpkin shrapnel into Blik.

Grund, not to be outdone by Mel’s goblin explosion, swaggers to the nearby guard tower where Harry hears more goblin mischief. Grund hoists the judge, knocks on the door, and destroys Snokk, the goblin door answerer. Snokk’s goblin cohort Larv misses a retributive swing at Grund. Unnerved, Snokk tries to escape up a ladder and Grund smashes him with a bit of help from Harry’s thrown dart.

Adrik follows more goblin noises from the nearby Xelbrin residence. The Xelbrins, an elderly couple, were crushed on their couch by a boulder. Their pet tressym flies out of the back half of the destroyed house. Adrik remembers that tressym hold grudges so the giants who destroyed this town have at least one faithful nemesis.

Baergar listens for other noises in the village and hears laughing at the windmill tower up the hill. The party converges on the windmill and Harry carefully opens the door. Two goblins, Longo and Yek, have climbed the gearworks up into the inside of the tower. Wizard Harry wishes he had some kind of ranged attack like, for example, a spell for making more darts. Adrik pokes in and lethally crossbows hiding Longo who falls through the gears. He drops a flask of oil which spills upon the gears and floor. Mel guides a bolt to Yek. Yek strikes sparks into the oil to get Mel back. The oil ignites the windmill with Yek in it.

The last building that Baergar can think of to examine is the stables where the Nandar family procures horses. Within the stable building are five riding horses and five draft horses. Adrik doesn’t see any goblins. Baergar enters and looks up. A goblin, Derp, aims a shortbow at Baergar from the hayloft. Baergar concentrates on dodging the arrow while Grund dashes up the ladder at Derp. Grund lands the judge on Derp’s head and exactly one of his eyes begins rolling around. Mel finishes Derp with a sacred flame that melts his rolling eyeball. Adrik and Baergar claw in for Derp’s loot bag. Adrik comes up with a copper piece and Baergar pulls out a Lionshield Coster box of ten silvered darts which he splits with dart aficionado Harry.

Baergar hears the laden two-horse cart approach Brigand Bridge. Only there aren’t two horses, just one horse and the cart’s goliath pilot making clip-clop noises, putting on airs.

O’shute makes this run of Marley’s Marvelous Mead to Nightstone a couple times a year and personally knows Morak at Knightstone Inn. He shares a rumor of Nightstone’s little giant problem and offers a lift to the battle-weary adventurers.

Grund and Adrik help themselves to one of the crates of Marley’s and take a long rest. O’shute gets compensated regardless of the amount of mead that actually gets delivered so that’s fine by him. When the cart arrives at Nightstone’s natural moat, he simply drops the crates off on the west-facing drawbridge and skedaddles.

A wooden palisade surrounds Nightstone inside the moat. Guard towers flank the lowered drawbridge. A keep overlooks the town from its own moated islet to the south.

Orphaned Baergar grew up in Nightstone under the tiefling guardianship of village midwife Destiny Agganor. There is no need to mention her affiliation with Asmodeus in this distinguished company of Moradin, but suffice to say Baerger did not spend much time in the temple of Lathander and Mielikki, present source of an unceasingly tolling bell assailing their ears.

The mead-napping bulks of Grund and Adrik are neatly arranged behind the crates of Marley’s right along the edge of the drawbridge and abandoned for their own safety. The vertical threesome of Harry, Mel, and Baergar sets off to find Morak.

Right away the party notices boulders embedded into the streets and buildings as though lobbed from some great height. No townsfolk can be seen. The guard towers are empty. A pair of wargs worry on a bloody piece of meat up the road right where Baergar remembers the nightstone proper used to stand at a crossroads. The party uses the temple for cover to avoid the wargs and hears goblin merriment accompanying the pealing bell above.

Baergar leads the party through the adjacent graveyard in an attempt to get to Morak’s inn without attracting the wargs. The wargs notice them and charge into the graveyard right for tasty Harry. The party drops into a nearby crypt too narrow for the wargs to enter.

The crypt is the final resting place of Nightstone founder Drezlin Nandar. It disappointingly contains neither valuables nor secret passages.

Harry uses his knowledge of handling animals to convince the wargs that these dwarves won’t be easy pickings. They return to their road kill, allowing the party to escape the crypt and cross to the inn where a boulder has conveniently smashed open a corner of the building into the pantry.

A terrified goblin screeches at being discovered while plundering the inn’s larder. Fortunately, Mel studied goblin at seminary, although Gum-gum’s screechy dialect gives her some trouble. Mel determines that Gum-gum is provisioning her boss, Boss Hark, with assorted foodstuffs and valuables. Gum-gum panics and tries to flee, comically encumbered by her overstuffed bag. Mel lines up a beautiful shot with her warhammer and splits Gum-gum’s skull. She checks Gum-gum’s pockets and finds a box engraved with the symbol of Lionshield Coster containing ten silvered darts.

Another goblin, skewered by a crossbow bolt, lies dead on the floor of the dining room. Although thoroughly wrecked, there is no sign of Morak or human casualties on the inn’s first floor. Mel looks up. A woman on the second floor is looking down through the boulder hole, but hides when Mel speaks to her.

Grund awakens refreshed, but his head is ringing like a goblin at a temple bell. He stomps into Nightstone, ready to settle grudges and chew bubblegum. The wargs have no difficulty spotting him and run over to eat him where a boulder juts from the road. Grund runs up the boulder and jumps onto a warg, grabbing its rope bridle. He adds one warg to his inventory. The other warg counts itself lucky and goes back to eating.

Grund steers his warg through town yelling for Osstra to come out and settle grudge #1273, but Osstra does not present himself. In fact, no one is visible at all except for a couple of goblins chasing chickens around a farmyard. They draw shortbows but can’t hit speeding Grund. He steers the warg at them, intent on running them down. They jump out of the way.

Baergar runs upstairs to find Mel’s peeking woman. He finds Kella Darkhope, itinerant monk, cowering in her room holding, of all things, a flying snake. She explains that Morak lead the townies to the dripping caves to flee an attack of cloud giants who dropped the boulders on Nightstone. The subsequent goblin raid is just one of those unfortunate things that happens to undefended towns. Kella would just as soon stay where she is than join with the adventurers.

They can hear Grund outside yelling. Baergar uses Kella’s second floor window to attract Grund’s attention. Grund barrels through the goblins toward the inn. The goblins shoot arrows into his back, the cowards, forcing Grund to heal himself. The goblins confer with someone unseen in the farm house and pursue Grund to the inn as he reunites with the party.

The goblins switch to scimitars. Mel cures Grund’s wounds so he can charge back into battle. One of the goblins pulls a Marley’s bottle, cracks the end, and hucks it at Grund. The bottle strikes the warg who howls in pain. Some of the warg’s hair falls out. Now this is serious.

Harry drops goblin Pojo with a trio of sapphire-colored magic missiles. Pojo’s friend Tot vows revenge despite Mel’s handaxe thrown into his shin. Tot throws an acid bottle at Grund which hits this time. Three strands of Grund’s beard fall out. He collects the three strands for later burial. Tot readies another bottle but Harry’s magic missiles slay Tot, splashing the acid all over him, and Tot dies, balding.

Sticky-fingered Baergar finds a gold ring on Pojo and a spare acid bottle on Tot. Tot also has a live chicken which Baergar gives to Grund. Baergar slips upstairs to see what other treasures might be found in the rooms. He cracks into Morak’s bedroom chest and secretly pockets a pair of gemstones and some loose gold pieces. Harry claims a potion of heroism.

Downstairs, Grund puzzles over how to put down the warg in some considerate dwarvane manner to prevent it from turning on him. Ultimately he just allows it outside to eat Pojo and Tot.

Kella has had her fill of adventurers and seems reluctant to speak with Grund, but he doesn’t take no for an answer and persuades her to allow him in. Grund follows a hunch that something about Kella’s story is not legit and she cracks under questioning. She admits in fact she is not merely a monk, she is a scout for the Zhents who have been summoned to take the undefended town away from Lionshield Coster and Lady Nander for the Black Network. Grund checks her wardrobe despite Kella’s concern for her unmentionables. Her unmentionables turn out to be weapons. Grund offers to allow her to go in peace with her weapons if she promises not to mess with the party. Fine. Done.

The Zhents won’t arrive for a few days, but it seems there are goblins infesting every building. A long rest would be nice but it’s still early in the day, the breached inn is difficult to defend, especially with Kella hanging about, and the temple bell continues to toll keeping everyone awake and irritable.

Baergar drops out of a window, avoiding the wargs, and sneaks back across the street to the temple’s side window. The first floor appears empty so he opens the door and beckons everyone over.

The bell-ringing goblins are in the tower up a ladder from the cleric’s quarters. Baergar sets some ball bearings in the doorway and hides on one side of the door. Mel gets ready on the other side of the door. Harry waits in a corner where he can line up magic missiles. Grund declares very loudly that he’s just going to sit right down for some prayer after a long day of lugging around his enormous sack of gold. He certainly hopes some goblins don’t attack woeful him because he’s just too tired to put up any defense at all. Predictably, the bell ringing stops.

Two goblins hop off the ladder and approach Grund slowly at first. Then they hit the ball bearings and their pace quickens. Mel hits the first one, Beedo, and the last thing that goes through his mind is his face. Baergar stabs the grieving second goblin, Vark, reuniting him with Beedo.

The temple valuables are found in the goblin loot bags. Grund and Mel serve Moradin’s good will and re-consecrate the temple, putting it back in working order.

Grund makes luau chicken in the temple dirt floor so that no smoke escapes and everyone turns in for an uneventful evening.

Adrik Stractart returns from a long day at work to find a metal cylinder on the bed mat upon which he would be ready to collapse were it not for the metal cylinder in his way. The metal cylinder features an intricate design inscribed with “hear me” in dwarven on one end. Adrik listens to the cylinder but it remains silent. Adrik shakes the cylinder and, slight improvement, it rattles. He bites the cylinder and chips a tooth, axes the cylinder and chips the axe, throws it at the wall and chips the wall. He mutters “hear me” and the cylinder greets Adrik personally and implores him to meet at the Quastarte archives at sunset on the third day of the second week of the fifth month of this year. Adrik sighs, leaves his cozy apartment, and heads toward the archive, passing a fellow dwarf with a runed quarterstaff just entering an inn.

Harthar Moonshadow, call him Harry, returns to the inn where he stays while investigating his sister’s murder. Innkeeper Bob First received a package for Harry while he was out, a metal cylinder that features an intricate design inscribed with “hear me” in dwarven on one end. Harry ponders the inscription aloud. The cylinder greets Harthar personally and implores him to meet at the Quastarte archives at sunset on the third day of the second week of the fifth month of this year. Also, bring a dwarf named Grund whom he will find at the temple of Moradin.

At the temple of Moradin, Grund Malnarson Dimdylkin Grimstoen, Grudgebearer of Drunget Mogh Buldohr, call him Grund Malnarson Dimdylkin Grimstoen, Grudgebearer of Drunget Mogh Buldohr, studies his book of grudges. Grudge #7469 is interrupted when he notices some dishonorable sneak has abandoned a metal cylinder that features an intricate design inscribed with “hear me” in dwarven on one end. He demands for the cowardly cylinder to speak! Nothing. Ach! Hear me! The cylinder greets Grund personally and implores him to meet at the Quastarte archives at sunset on the third day of the second week of the fifth month of this year. Also, a dwarf named Harthar has be sent to meet him. Harthar enters and explains that an intricate metal cylinder directed him to accompany Grund to the Quastarte archives. Grund collects a few of his most lethal possessions, including his greathammer, The Judge, and off they go for the archives.

Melura Fancybeard, call her Mel, is knocking back a few Marley’s at a disreputable tavern when Innkeeper Bob Second informs her a package was just delivered for her. The metal cylinder features an intricate design inscribed with “hear me” in dwarven on one end. She proclaims it the world’s worst ale tankard as it has no top from which to consume the Hear Me ale. The cylinder greets Melura personally and implores her to meet at the Quastarte archives at sunset on the third day of the second week of the fifth month of this year. Also, bring a dwarf named Baergar who is in the alley.

Mel finds Baergar behind the tavern rummaging through alley treasures. She explains the cylindrical message calling Baergar by name. Absent any pressing social engagements, Baergar follows Mel to the Quastarte archives.

The gripe of dwarves meets simultaneously outside the archive door. The door opens and they are greeted by a can with an eyestalk who welcomes them into the perfectly harmless nonfiction section through an entryway lined with an excess of golden cans with eyestalks.

Archivist Fidacius Crumpot sweeps into the room on his gnome legs and greets the adventures each by name. But where is the other, he wonders? The uther, explains Grund laconically, can be found at any disreputable tavern where cats abound.

Fidacius grows concerned about an old friend, Morak Ur’gray, the innkeeper at Knightstone Inn in Nightstone. Fidacius has summoned these hearty adventurers to check on Morak.

Grund checks his grudges for Nightstone-related vengeances and lands on #1273: Thelbin Osstra didn’t deliver wheat in proper condition to a party. Grund would be pleased to travel to Nightstone.

Mel wasn’t planning on travel or field work, but has been reassigned to Nightstone. Fidacius summons an automaton dedicated to tracking the abundant complaints against Mel from the temple of Moradin where she clerics. He retrieves a roll of scrolls, much larger than the automaton that produced them, and reads a brief selection of complaints. All the complaints against Mel cite brawling, invariably initiated by some comment on her ribbon-festooned … beard? The next thing Fidacius reads is Mel’s fist crashing through the scroll and into his eye.

Baergar was heading back home to Nightstone anyway, but it never hurts to negotiate payment for what you’re already doing. Baergar negotiates payment for what he’s already doing and Fidacius hands him an empty cloth bag. There’s some vague promise of later payment, but only if he has the bag. Dubious Baergar sells the bag back to Fidacius for one gold piece and Fidacius hands the bag to Grund.

Harry hails from a brewing commune. He has been investigating the murder of his common-law sister from the commune and his investigations suggest maybe some progress could be made in Nightstone.

Adrik doesn’t particularly want to go to work tomorrow so he doesn’t particularly object to any particular part of the plan to travel to Nightstone.

Fidacius flips Harry an electrum piece to hire a ride down the highroad to a signpost where they’ll follow a trail into Nightstone, and under no circumstances should they stop in Waterdeep.

. . .

Several days later when they arrive at the junction to turn off toward Nightstone, suspicious Baergar recalls the suspiciously trenchant reference Fidacius made to the signpost. He gives the signpost extra scrutiny. Grund regards the signpost with equal suspicion, but Baergar, local to these parts, assures him it points the same directions it always has.

On foot, the party follows the trail toward Nightstone. Midway to Nightstone a river cuts through the trail. A curved stone bridge spans the thirty foot stream and Baergar warns the party that this bridge is a popular ambush point for brigands. He often did charity fundraising at this bridge.

A man approaches from the other side. Grund adopts a wide stance and hails the stranger from across the bridge. The pleasant stranger introduces himself as Barmulus Thondreld. Grund dashes any prospect for a congenial passing when he recalls that Barmulus Thondreld is sanctioned for theft by grudge #1052. That debt will get settled on this bridge right now.

Barmulus is pleased to settle the grudge, if coin is acceptable. He hoists a very heavy money bag and offers it to Grund, his other hand shoved deep into his vest. Barmulus seems way too happy for someone at his apparent disadvantage. Harry backs up to have a closer look under the bridge for what might be going wrong. Grund accepts the bag, keeping one hand on the judge, and counts out the remittance. There is just over three gold worth of coin and sixteen gold-painted rocks, not nearly enough of either to cover the grudge.

Barmulus retrieves a glass bulb of fire from his vest and tosses it into the air where it explodes into six smoke and magma mephits. He attempts to flee the scene, but Grund’s grudge judge bashes him in the dome. Judged.

Adrik fires his crossbow up into a mephit and compulsively scoops up the sixteen gold-painted stones.

Harry’s perfect magic missiles and Mel’s warhammer destroy a mephit together, but it explodes on Mel and she is forced to self-administer a precious cure wounds spell to stay in the battle.

Grund is blinded by a retreating mephit and realizes the fire damage will soon overwhelm the party. He calls for everyone to jump into the shallow stream.

Harry wades into the river and prestidigitates some gusts of wind to throw water onto the fiery mephits, but they fly too high to be rained on from below.

The adventurers largely succeed at avoiding the mephit attacks, especially easy pickings Adrik who becomes surrounded by clawing mephits when all her mates jump over the side of the bridge. She critically crossbows a second bolt into her mephit, but it is too tough to die. Her favorite terrain is not water so she does not jump off the bridge. Her favorite terrain is forest so she runs across the bridge into the forest hoping to make some advantage there.

When the party breaks contact, the mephits turn their fiery attacks on dead Barmulus, charring him while shouting in ignan. Satisfied they’ve done their unruly duty, the mephits fly over the horizon to chase their bliss.

Unsqueamish Adrik loots Barmulus’s smoldering remains, and good thing because she finds sixteen additional gold pieces. She relinquishes thirteen gold to Grund to satisfy his grudge and pockets the rest.

Baergar hears two horses drawing a cart approaching. Sounds like it carries a goliath.