The Outwilder
As you all sit around a table passing out bloodstones, the door bursts open, and a cold wind blows through. A large figure stands in the door. A bugbear with locks of orange-brown fur and bulging eyes, wrapped in furs, hides, and various other pieces of cold weather gear in order to keep the freezing winds at bay.
The large bugbear walks past your table.As he passes by a group of adventurers, he clocks an unmistakable blue face sitting amongst them. Devi, similarly, recognizes the bugbear as he walks past.
“Ah, Outwilder, you’re back. I presume you have good news for Hlin?” Scramsax calls out across the bar, “Unfortunately, she couldn’t be here to give you the reward herself, something about a wizard in Easthaven. You know how Hlin gets when she smells even the slightest hint of foul play.”
The bugbear responds with an affirmative.
“Good, good. Hlin will be pleased to hear it. She left your payment with me.” Scramsax pulls a small coin purse out from behind the bar. “25 gold, as promised, *he pulls the purse back slightly* if you got the proof.”
Dropping the bag on the counter with a thud, Scramsax grimaces, probably thinking about the stain he’ll need to get out later.
He opens the sack and peers in. “Grey streak, blue eyes, pointed nose… Yep, that’s him, or at least a good enough match. Here, take the money.”
He tosses the coin purse to the bugbear with a small jingle.
“I’ll uh, dispose of it for you. Oh, and before you go Outwilder, I’d like to introduce you to that group over there. Some up and coming adventurers I think. I know you lot like to keep to yourselves, but you might get warmer receptions if you travel with at least one human.”
The bugbear goes over to the table and introduces himself as Brarr. The party introduces themselves and asks if he might be interested in being the muscle of the group. Brarr responds positively, and to celebrate, they order drinks and dinner.
A gnome comes in looking somewhat concerned. He talks with Scramsax and is sent over to the party’s table. He says that his jewelry shop is no longer receiving shipments of tourmaline from Termalaine. The party agrees to investigate for a 5% discount at his store. If they solve the problem, he promised them a wand of web.
The party decides to depart at twilight the next day; they head to bed, with Eddie staying at Geldenstag’s Rest for a more reasonable rate.
The Morning After
A light snow falls over Bryn Shander. Eddie, Brarr, and Devi visit Blackiron Blades to discuss deals and purchase some last minute goods and weapons. Eddie then hurries over to the Hooked Knucklehead, where Leth Lackman does business. Leth is a pale man of half elven descent, standing at about 5’9″ with slicked back, dark hair. His accent suggests that he is not from around this area, and he hints that he may be from Calimshan. His nose appears slightly crooked, as if it has been previously broken, and his all too friendly grin shines with a hint of gold.
Eddie attempts to persuade him to let him pay off his loan early with a 10 gold cut. Leth refuses, citing how it would then be his fingers on the chopping block if he let the 10 gold slide.
Eddie Hurries to the North Gate where the rest of the party awaits him. Maddy seems to have gone and traded her bloodstone for a small diamond.
A guard peers down from one of the gatehouses, ducking back in to shout a few words. The gate begins to creak open, with ice and snow from last night’s heavy snow cracking and breaking apart. It falls down in great cascades, reminiscent of the Avalanches some of you have seen in the Spine of the World or on Kelvin’s Cairn.
As soon as they are through the gate, it begins to close. The party looks forward towards the barely visible road, and are glad that they have snowshoes.
The journey to Termalaine takes 6 hours. The road takes you close to Targos, but branches off about 100 feet before the gates. The party can make out a few guards atop the wall bundled up in cold weather gear, their shields bearing a black ship on a blue background. The party hears muffled words being shouted as the gate opens slightly and a group of four warmly dressed individuals step outside. One towers above the others, while another barely stands 3 feet tall, and yet another bears two curved horns jutting out from under a scarf. The fourth figure rides atop a dogsled loaded with gear and pulled by a team of 6 dogs. They move East, towards Bryn Shander and past the party, offering passing greetings and well wishes.
Termalaine
A boy wrapped in heavy winter clothes shouts the news of the day as people pass by. When the party approaches, the boy cries, “The gemstone mine is closed because of monsters! Speaker Masthew is offering fifty gold to anyone who clears it out!”
The party purchases a paper for 5 copper and goes to find Speaker Masthew.
They meet with him in the Town Hall and find out that kobolds have taken over the mine. He walks the party to the mine and then the speaker returns to town..
The entrance to the gem mine is an open tunnel in a snowy hillside. Empty wooden carts are parked near the entrance, next to which a crude wooden sign has been propped up. Written on the sign in charcoal are the words “Kobolds only!” in Common. The calligraphy is more elegant than one would expect from a kobold.
Descending down a 60 foot set of rough hewn stairs, the party finds themselves in a room where racks holding picks and hammers are nailed to rough hewn walls. The floor is covered with rock dust that appears recently disturbed. Three tunnels lead out of this area, two to the South, and one to the East.
Eddie can make out several sets of reptillian tracks and a few large rodent tracks as well.
The party moves through the passage to the East. The floor in the east end of this dusty cave is five feet higher than in the west end, with a rocky ridge separating the two areas except for slopes on either side. Picks and shovels lean against the ridge. Small gem deposits in the ridge and the walls of the cave gleam seductively. The sets of Kobold tracks meander around the room before exiting to the South. The rodent tracks also lead South.
The passage forks, and the echoing sounds of rushing water are louder to the right. Brarr peaks around the corner and sees an underground river flowing through the far side of the cavern, which is supported by a natural stone pillar near the water’s edge. Between him and the river are two halfling-sized gray rodents with long tails and beady eyes. They rush to attack as soon as he notices them.
Rats
Before they get too far, Brarr counter charges with a roar, sweeping his massive battle axe at the far rat, but is knocked off balance by a stray rock. Eddie steps out from around the corner, throwing a bolt of golden flames at the closer rat. It instantly ignites and goes down squealing and smoldering. Maddy steps out from behind cover to toss a firebolt of her own, and scorches the remaining rat, as it locks its foaming jaws onto Brarr’s ankle. Devi runs up quickly, skewering it on her rapier. With the threats dealt with, the party licks their wounds, as Brarr finds a copper piece in the rats’ nest.
Continuing down the other side of the fork, the party finds a room where benches and tables are set up as workspaces where miners clean any gemstones they find. Gravel and pebbles are strewn on the ground. Scattered across the floor are a few hammers, picks, and broken lanterns. Devi searches the chamber, finding a small figurine of a dog carved out of rock, with two pebble-sized tourmalines for eyes. It appears to have been made by a miner while on break.
The echoing sounds of a waterfall drown out all other sound as the party finds wooden planks and struts forming a walkway along the wall of a seemingly bottomless vertical shaft. A narrow waterfall cascades down the northeast wall, seemingly coming from the underground river they found earlier.
A wooden pulley system has been constructed around a large hole in the floor of the next chamber. A bucket big enough to hold a humanoid is held up by thick rope. Three alcoves next to the lift contain wooden boards and mining equipment.
The party takes turns in the bucket, using the cranks in the bucket, and attached to the mechanism itself. The mechanism creaks as the bucket lift descends to the floor of a small cave where two dusty tunnels lead in opposite directions. Eddie determines that there are several sets of reptilian tracks travelling west, while only one set of tracks leads into (but not out of) the tunnel to the East.
Brarr walks to the East. A hole in the west side of this chamber opens into the central shaft, letting in the sound of the waterfall. The floor in the north end of the cave is five feet higher than in the south end, with a rocky ridge separating them and a slope on either side leading to the top of the ridge. The walls above the ridge gleam with gem deposits. Brarr looks for any sizable loose gems, and while not finding any readily available, he notices barbed tendrils hanging down from above. He calls out to the rest of the party as a massive beaked brain descends to be 15 feet above the floor.
Grey Matter
Maddy runs through the passage, directly below the barbed tendrils. She wipes her brow, chanting a quick incantation as she flings a bead of water up towards the brain. The drop freezes and grows into a shard of ice that pierces the brain and explodes.
The brain shrieks in pain as Eddie runs past, expeditiously taking the high ground and flinging a golden firebolt at the brain. It goes wide as the extra speed he imbued himself with courses through his body, but he taps into his connection to the weave and pulls the bolt around to sear the floating grey matter.
The brain drops 10 feet down, wrapping its barbed tendrils around Maddy, piercing her with a paralyzing agent and knocking her unconscious. Her staff falls from her hands and clatters on the stone, as the brain quickly floats up back to a height of 15 feet with Maddy still in its grasp. It screeches and clamps its beak onto Maddy’s side, tearing through the minimal protection her robes and cold weather gear offer to rip off a chunk of her flesh.
Devi runs through the falling blood and viscera to fire her shortbow at the brain, but the arrow goes wide, deflecting off of the ceiling and clattering to the floor.
Ghaileigh runs up below the creature and her dying companion. With Maddy’s life blood dripping onto her, she shouts a prayer to Lathander, channeling divine energy into fully restoring Maddy to life. She chants another prayer, holding her shield high as a dolorous bell rings out and the floating brain screeches in agony.
Brarr runs towards it, axe held high. With a satisfying squishing noise, the axe lodges into the grey matter as Brarr pulls it down, slamming it to the ground. Maddy falls with it, seemingly still unable to move or act due to whatever poison flows through her veins.
Eddie runs up, clapping his hands together and drawing them apart again, electricity crackling between them as he brings his charged hands down upon the creature.
The creature, bleeding and convulsing, rights itself and lashes out at Brarr with its whiplike barbed tendrils, now obviously dripping with venom. Brarr blocks with his shield and chops at them with his axe, severing a few. Not finding success there it lunges at Devi, finding purchase with its beak on her left forearm as a deep crimson seeps through her thick winter coat.
She pries the monster off, and as it squeals in agony and rage, she thrusts her rapier into its beak and out of the top of its squishy form. It thrashes about for a few more seconds before falling silent and still. The echoing noises of combat are quickly drowned out by the rushing waterfall outside the hole to the West.
The party makes plans to return to the surface to rest as Maddy regains control of her body; however, returning to the bucket lift, they see two pairs of reptilian eyes staring at them from the West passage. Kobolds, daggers drawn and charging at the party with shrill war cries.
TL; DR
- Brarr the bugbear joins the party as “The Muscle”
- Brarr and Devi recognize each other
- Dimble Kacnkle the Jeweler hires the party to investigate the Termalaine mine
- Eddie buys daggers in bulk from Blackiron Blades
- Brarr and Devi buy supplies from Blackiron Blades
- Eddie tries to pay off his loan, but fails to persuade Leth the Loan Officer
- The party departs to Termalaine
- They hear about a reward to clear the mines of kobolds
- The party enters the mines and kills some rats
- Eddie finds kobold tracks
- The party descends to the second level of the mine via bucket lift
- Maddy is almost killed by a floating beaked brain
- The party is about to be attacked by two kobolds