Session IV: Redbrand Hideout

General Summary

Having met the Redbrands at the Sleeping Giant, been accosted by them, killed a few and brought one to an extremely alarmed Townmaster Wester the previous night, the Cragmaw 4 set out to Tresendar Manor to deal with the bandits' grunts on their own turf and seek to capture or eliminate Glasstaff.   Entering through a hidden tunnel carved out through the hill the manor sat upon, they began proceeding through its hallways and chambers. Hearing some of the Redbrands in the midst of some kind of gambling, Mischief Yabis burst into their midst in an attempt to join, only to be immediately set upon by the group. After a pitched battle where they tried to separate Mischief from the others, they were cut down to a man by the party. Norril Kevros and Westris Urogar hid the bodies in the provision barrels stored within the room.   While Glasstaff himself escaped, alerted to the party's presence in his outer workshop, the party ultimately cleared out the manor of its hostile inhabitants (with the notable exception of the skeletons guarding Tresendar Manor's crypts), and even managed to rescue the prisoners being held in their slave pens and see their safe exit from the complex. With Westris bearing the head of a Nothic wrapped up in musty beaver pelts, they return to the town's inn. Meanwhile the tired and bedraggled Dendrar familiy returned to their farm after Mina asked the party to return there later, expressing that there may be something she can do to repay them.

Rewards Granted

• Talon, a +1 Inscribed Longsword masterfully crafted with its handguard in the style of outstretched bird of prey wings
• Various weapons from the Redbrands armory in suitable condition for resale
• Gem-encrusted eyepatch
• Various gems
• A fully-charged Staff of Defense
• Potion of Healing
• 2 Potions of Invisibility
• A whole bunch of experience

Missions/Quests Completed

• Investigate Tresendar Manor
• Capture or eliminate Glasstaff
• Get Mina Dendrar and family to safety

Character(s) interacted with

• Glasstaff: Presumably escaped, having been alerted to the party's intrusion to his outer workshop by his rat familiar.
• Mina Dendrar: Rescued from the slave pens of Tresendar Manor and escorted to the exit along with her two children after the party convinced the guards that they were there to move the prisoners.
• Droop the goblin: Murderhobo'd. If you rescued him he was gonna help you get to Glasstaff without being detected by surprising him via the secret door in the back of his office. You monsters.

Notes

When collecting Glasstaff's scrolls and the finest pickings of the Redbrands loot from within his outer workshop, the party unknowingly grabbed an extra sheaf of paper beneath a Scroll of Fireball which seems to answer some questions, but also open up new ones:  

Lord Albrek,   My spies in Neverwinter tell me that strangers are due to arrive in Phandalin. They could be working for the dwarves.Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don't allow them to upset our plans. See that any dwarven maps in their possession are delivered to me with haste.I'm counting on you, Iarno. Don't disappoint me.

  Additionally, of the tomes recovered from his workshop is an aged heavyset book with thick pages bound in boiled leather and containing page upon page of dwarven script. The journal of an adventurer named Urmon dating to -400 PR about five hundred years ago, it describes the history of the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the Forge of Spells.  

... The clans of dwarves and gnomes made an agreement known as the Phandelver's Pact, by which they would share a rich mine in a wondrous cavern known as Wave Echo Cave. In addition to its mineral wealth, the mine contained great magical power. Human spellcasters allied themselves with the dwarves and gnomes to channel and bind that energy into a great forge (called the Forge of Spells), where magic items could be crafted. Times were good, and the nearby human town of Phandalin prospered as well. But then disaster struck when orcs swept through the North and laid waste to all in their path.   A powerful force of orcs reinforced by evil mercenary wizards attacked Wave Echo Cave to seize its riches and magic treasures. Human wizards fought alongside their dwarf and gnome allies to defend the Forge of Spells, and the ensuing spell battle destroyed much of the cavern. Few survived the cave-ins and tremors, and the location of Wave Echo Cave was lost.

  Urmon also records that a magic mace named lightbringer was commissioned by priests of Lathander from the mages working with the gnomes and dwarves of the Phandelver's Pact. The mace was lost when Wave Echo Cave and its mine vanished from history.