Session 5 - Recap

Player Characters

NPCs

Story Log

• The party returned to their room at the Stone Hill Inn
  • After just a few minutes, the party noticed a subtle dimming of light spread across the room
    • Based on their arcana knowledge, the group recognized this effect as possibly coming from some type of stealth-related spell
  • Several seconds later, they heard a light knocking on the door to their room
    • The party cautiously opened the door, and were greeted by Adabdra and a half-elf woman wearing a metal chestplate
    • The party was able to deduce that this half-elf was Sister Garaele, based on the harper sigil on her brooch
  • Garaele greeted the players bemusedly, showing them a letter Adabra had sent to summon Garaele home to help the party
    • Garaele asked the party how they intended to proceed after sidestepping a confrontation with Halia
    • The party decided they wanted to continue playing along with Halia in the short term to investigate her Zhentarim connections
• Suddenly, a bell started ringing from the nearby town square…
  • (See speech below)
• The party used Sister Garaele’s Zone of Truth to demand Halia answer if she had any knowledge of poisoning Harbin
  • Halia refused to answer, citing her honor
  • The players made a move to secure Harbin, but Halia told the Redbrands to stop them, prompting a fight
  • Garaele moved to arrest Halia by dueling her one-on-one, and told the players to focus on Halia’s underlings
• The fight between the party and the Redbrands was interrupted as a dragon attacked
  • Garaele and Halia agreed to pause their duel, and the players did the same with the redbrands
    • Garaele was soundly outdueling Halia at the time of their pause
  • After the dragon landed, most of the Redbrands fled, leaving Leonard as Halia’s only remaining agent
• Combining their forces, and joined by Adabra, the collective group fought off the dragon quickly
  • The dragon spoke to the party and the townsfolk as it retreated, threatening that it would return, and warning that “the star-metal belongs to me”
  • Immediately after the fight, the party looked towards Halia, who tried to take her own life with her own dagger
    • The party was able to stop her in time and take her into custody
  • Sister Garaele asked the party to help her escort Halia back to Neverwinter to face justice

Scripted Dialogue

Garaele

An unfamiliar half-elf woman wearing a bright steel chestplate enters the room. Her weathered face carries a stiff yet bemused expression. You notice the pin on her cloak matches the harper sigil you saw on the shrine of luck.

An interesting ruse you seem to have pulled on Halia. A little birdie told me you needed help, but it seems the situation is under control.

Where does your plan lead from here?

Halia

Dear friends and neighbors,

I come before you today with a heavy heart. For weeks now, our town has lived under shadow.

A dragon in the mountains. Merchants too afraid to travel our roads. Families wondering if their homes are safe.

But through it all, we’ve endured. Because that’s what Phandalin does. We dig. We build. We survive.

Three weeks ago, two of my prospectors – Brom Stoneknee and Darric Flintvein – made a discovery that could change everything for us: the largest star-iron vein found in the Sword Coast in thirty years, just east of here, high in the hills.

I immediately sent word to Lord Neverember, as is proper. This discovery belongs to Phandalin. To all of us. It could mean real wealth, security, walls, and weapons. Protection from the dragon.

But someone didn’t want that. Someone wanted to sell that information to the highest bidder and rob this town of its future. Or worse yet, they wanted the dragon to take us all.

My letter to the Duke was stolen from a chest on a cart sitting right outside Stone Hill Inn.

I hired adventurers to find the thief. Good adventurers — the same ones who rescued Brom and Darric on the road, who cleared the dwarven ruins, who saved Edric Mossfoot from the orcs.

They agreed to help, and I am grateful for their service. It did not take them long to finish the job and earn their full reward.

These same adventurers told me that they had heard Harbin Wester muttering my name behind his locked door. That he had turned them away with suspicion and hostility. I dismissed it at first. We all know Harbin to be… particular. But when the evidence mounted, I could no longer look away.

Tonight, with the aid of loyal workers from the Exchange, I entered the Townmaster’s Hall. I found my letter hidden among Harbin’s personal effects.

I take no pleasure in this. Harbin Wester was a friend. But if the people of Phandalin cannot trust their Townmaster, he must be removed from his post.

Garaele

A stirring address, Madam Thorton. Truly.

But you’ll forgive me if I find something troubling about a merchant who breaks down the Townmaster’s door with hired muscle, binds him, drags him into the square, and then asks us to call it justice.

Many of you know me. My name is Sister Garaele. I serve the goddess Tymora, and I tend the shrine at the edge of your town square — the one some of you leave coins at when the mines are closed.

I have been away. But I have been called back because of a credible allegation against our fine guildmaster. I will cast a zone of truth, here and now, and you will speak to these words against you, Halia.

Halia

Allow me to give you greater proof.

Halia cuts Harbin free and shoves him into the zone

Harbin

It’s true! It’s true, true, TRUE!

I did it, all of it! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!

Halia is the one you must trust! Halia!

Dragon Attack

Time feels frozen. Your senses process in slow motion as you slide through the chaos of battle. The sensation on your skin is instant: the air around you is colder.

A rumble hits your torso like a shield blow: it’s the roar of a dragon from the sky. You see it above the mountain skyline to the north, wings tucked in a steep tumble as it barrels through the lower clouds. It’s on a direct course towards the town, and moving fast.

Sana has a sudden realization that lizards might grow bigger than she thought.

Party Inventory