Choices

October 6, 2011

The group spent a tenday looking into the Ducast’s and seeing what they can find.  They go and look at the other manor, the country one, and don’t find anything.  The daughters have been found and have some money left to them but the party doesn’t care about them.  Elthieren is gone for most of this time, without any word to the others. 

The day Elthieren gets back, Qynn and the others find secret safe in the manor in Neverwinter.  Elthieren is able to open it up!  He gets a few stares from that but then the go through the papers they find.  Most of the papers are in some kind of a code but they keep referring to a manor house in the country.  However, the descriptions of some of the things don’t match what they saw in the manor house where they went.  Eventually, they figure out some other entries and realize this is another house, held in the wife’s maiden name, and is east of the city, not north.  They make plans to go out and visit this place. 

The first day of travel, everything goes well.  It’s slower than they wanted, as they keep finding small trails but they go in all directions, connecting various farmsteads to each other and none go directly toward the manor house.  They had to camp a second night, after pushing in the dark for several hours.  It was late fall now, just into Uktar, and not a lot of daylight hours.  Fortunately, there hadn’t been any snow, either.  Auril’s icy grasp had yet to be felt in the town or area around it. 

Elthieren didn’t even hear the bugbears approach and it wasn’t until the sword came swinging at him, that he leapt into action, avoiding the blow and calling for his companions to wake up and join the fight.  And what a fight it turned out to be.  The bugbears were tough and the ride had been a long one, so many of the group were still sluggish.  Pelenois’ spells went wide and missed, hitting only a few of their intended targets.  Thorgal’s hammer fell onto shields or were blocked by swords more often than not.  Qynn was kept busy healing his companions and attacking as he could.  And there was one bugbear that kept harassing them whatever they did.  He tried to get away once all of his companions had been cut down but was chased down and killed. 

During the fight, several of the group noticed the torches coming closer and it finally revealed themselves to be Zhentarim from Helm’s Hold.  Apparently, without knowing it, the group was within bow range of the hold and the fire spells Pelenois had cast were noticed.  The patrol greeting them and asked if they needed help.  Someone said that Thorgal could use help and the Zhents asked if they would accept help from Bane.  The group stared at each other and finally declined.  Nonplussed, the Zhents went on to offer them warm food and beds at Bane’s Hold, a name which did not sit well with the group, but again the group declined.  The Zhents told them they were welcome and then rode off back to the Hold. 

The group did not like that development but didn’t know what they could do about it.  They went back to camp and eventually sleep came to them.  The fight had been quick but very intense and many were ready for sleep!  An hour later, Elthieren, who was meditating and on watch, saw an explosion of magical fire from the Hold and heard the sounds of fights and screaming men.  It kept going for fifteen minutes, but Elthieren ignored it and let everyone sleep.  When they group was finally up and ready to go, Elthieren explained what he had heard.  The group looked in the direction of the Hold but shrugged it off and headed to the manor. 

From the outside, the two story manor looked deserted.  The front door was boarded up as were many of the windows and the stables and outbuildings looked like they were in need of repair.  The house looked worn and old but in good shape, better than what it should be.  After scouting it, the group found the servants entrance, which showed signs of use, and headed inside.  As they were seeing the evidence that the kitchen they were in had been used earlier this day, Qynn heard someone approaching.  Two servant girls entered and the group quickly tied them up.  The servants asked questions of them and offered some information until it was obvious the group was here to take their mistress.  They were obviously loyal, denying their mistress was a monster, and refused to help them anymore. 

The group made their way upstairs, searching the rooms until they found the master bedroom.  Elthieren stepped into fey and back into the room, to bypass the door, surprising Lady Crystil.  She quickly recovered and talked.  Elthieren challenged her to a dual but as she started going into rules and what could or could not be used, he tired of it and let the others inside.  Qynn wanted to take her head and she cast a wall of fire, which curiously didn’t start any of the bed or cabinets on fire, and then surrendered to the group.  However, it was not a ‘go quietly’ surrender. 

Lady Crystil wanted to see their proof that she was no longer a noble, which they didn’t have.  Then she wanted to see their authority, which she claimed was only good in the walls of Neverwinter.  She goaded all of them and said she would go along but wanted to get dressed, as was proper for someone of her station.  The group said she had no station but Lady Crystil did not listen to them.  After much argument, with Qynn and Thorgal holding themselves back, Pelenois steps up as the voice of reason and compromise and manages to get Lady Crystil to relinquish her magic items, get dressed and ready herself for transport back to the city.  Her servants aren’t helpful at all, trying to delay but not trying to help her escape, and so after several hours, they finally have her in her carriage, the stable was covered in an illusion to look old and empty, and headed back to Neverwinter. 

All of the group were ready to kill the Lady and her servants.  They lady herself was very silent, answering questions asked directly of her and asking for food, water or rest as she needed it, accepting any answer given to her.  However, her servants didn’t.  They insisted they would have to stop if the group didn’t stop when Lady Crystil asked.  They wanted to stretch their legs or have a break.  They insisted on having proper clothes and packed several chests of clothes and other things.  There was some latent magic in a few things, but it seemed to preserve the items and none of it was evocation, so the group allowed it.  As the city’s walls came into view, the group urged all of the horses faster, ready to hand Lady Crystil and her staff over the guard. 

The guard accepted them and took them to a jail.  However, it was a jail for nobles, and her servants had a place so they could still wait upon their Lady, which they did.  The Lady herself was limited in movement but the servants were not.  The group thought about taking them to Lady Ralee but the guard captain hesitated at that, not wanting to put Lady Ralee in danger.  The group saw the wisdom in this and so left the Lady Crystil and her retinue to the guards and went to report to Lady Ralee. 

Lady Ralee was impressed and happy that the group managed to find Lady Crystil and bring her back alive.  As they explained what happened at the manor and what they saw at the Hold, and Lady Ralee was not happy about the name Bane’s Hold any more than the group had been, she wondered if they thought it would be useful to do a more thorough search of the new manor house.  The group agreed and said they would head back out there and search it.  They weren’t sure if they would stop by the Hold or not. 

650 xp

GM Notes

• Started very slow as there was some telling to do for the setup, so it took a while to get into the game this time.
• Bugbears are tough!  They have fought these enemies before and it was still a tough fight.  They have good damage and the two attacks of the assassin bugbear are not to be ignored.  It didn’t help that I had two critical hits as well. 
• The talk with the Lady Crystil did not go well.  DND doesn’t have a good “social combat” setup and we may need to fake one.  There were also some misunderstandings that led to some confusion but I think we talked it out afterward and it worked out well. 

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