Setup
The party awakes after a night of drinking at The Rusty Spigot and slowly funnels downstairs for breakfast. As they descend into the tavern room, they find Ser Shadow sitting at a table awaiting their arrival. Batilda, a matronly half-orc running the breakfast shift, informs them of the latest gossip while serving them breakfast and cleaning blood stains off the floor. In addition to what appears to be an unremarkable fight that resulted in bloodshed over rat races that had occurred late last night, Batilda also tells them that news had arrived of a squad of Polonian Legionnaires being ambushed and butchered on the trade road running east from Highbridge to Darkstone. Apparently a reward is being offered for the recovery of the cargo that they were transporting.
In the meantime, the party has found the location of a man to help them identify the magic items that they recovered from the Vale of Alluria. The Polonian occupiers like to keep tabs on magic items flowing into the city so the party would like to avoid conducting their business a public location. Grenn the Bartender had previously suggested that Endrith, the owner of Good Sundries in the The Artificer's District in The Narrows of Highbridge, discretely provides the services for which the party is looking.
And finally, the party is obligated to return to The Last Chance and provide Timith with Ser Shadow's share of their magic haul. This is required in order to fulfill the deal worked out by Selma Longbottom of The Knot to provide proper recompense after a brawl at The Last Chance a few days earlier.
Men About Town
A quick jaunt to Good Sundries allowed the party to identify the magic items that they had recovered: a bowl of water making, a dagger of returning, a web wand, and a magic doorknob. The party traded a handful of the items to Timith for healing potions. They then returned to The Last Chance and settled up with Timith. Finally, in their travels about town they found handbills stating that the Polonian Governor was offering a reward of five thousand gold pieces for the return of the crated object that had been looted from the ambushed Polonian squad. A subsequent foray into the military encampment along the docks offered no additional information.
CSI: Highbridge
The party headed east for a day and a half before finding the site of the ambush. The bodies had already been looted of valuables, but the bodies and the majority of their armaments remained untouched. Corliss grabbed a the cloak and helmet of a legionnaire for future use while others discovered a few scuff marks and tracks of a crate being dragged off into the wilderness. The party following this trail for a few hours before finding a small manor home hidden in the woods. The home was build of red brick with a red tile roof and arrow slits for windows. Ser Shadow deftly climbed atop the roof (and Rhagal scrambled after him) in an attempt to find an alternate entry into the manor. While atop the roof they realized that the center of the manor home had a large open courtyard with two half-orc guards, The pair leaped down and struck from behind, dispatching the guards before they could raise the alarm. However, the two rogues found themselves stranded with no obvious next move.
Ser Shadow dreamed up a daring plan. He stripped naked and ran through a courtyard door that appeared to lead to the front of the house. As he created a distraction, Rhagal raced through behind him and threw open the front door, allowing the remainder of the party to stream in.
Immediately, the two guards in the front room began attacking, but the combined might of the party drove them back. The resulting noise, however, drew three more groups of armed guards, including one that was backed by a Red Claw Tribe Orcish priest. The guards were not as fearsome as might have been expected and the party worked in tandem to kill some guards and force others to flee from the room. The party fell into their normal roles with /wiki/spaces/CAM/pages/74285137 standing at the point of attack, dealing and absorbing significant damage. Dawngreeter Yornan Hawklight buffed and healed the party while also relying on his signature Hold Person spell. Corliss caused chaos and damage as his Cloud of Daggers dealt damage as the guards rushed into the room and then retreated from it. Rhagal followed up his initial sneak attack with rapier blows from the flanks, and Ser Shadow, naked and armed only with a dagger, managed to survive the encounter with both his life and dignity somehow intact.
The last guards fell as they retreated into the courtyard and unsuccessfully attempted to bar the door behind them.
Aftermath
The party quickly searched most of the remainder of the manor house, finding little. The only door remaining to be searched behind is one large, locked door bearing the fire elemental symbol.
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