[Lost Mine of Phandelver] Third Session: Phandalin

So, while I’m laid up in bed with a bad back, I thought I’d write up the events from the last session. We picked up with our heroes entering Phandalin with both the wagon-load of cargo they were originally hired to bring to Phandalin and the wagon-load of cargo that they had liberated from the goblins in Cragmaw Hideout. Their first port of call, as is often the way with road-weary travellers, was the Stonehill Inn. Here they met with a strange gnome who took immediately offence to some minor comment about his stature but, thankfully, didn’t resort to violence to resolve it.

Over a tankard or two of ale our heroes learnt that there were orcs out to the east but, perhaps more troubling, was a band of thugs who had murdered a local woodcarver and taken his wife and children. Before deciding on their next course of action, the heroes delivered the wagon-loads of cargo to their respective destinations and received their due payments. Speaking with the proprietors of each establishment elicited similar comments regarding the thugs, given a name as the Redbrands, with more evidence of their vile ways.

With this in mind our heroes decided that the Redbrands should be dealt with, but Taurion felt that they couldn’t act without permission so a visit to the Townmaster, Harbin Wester, was decided upon. Unfortunately, the Townmaster was of the opinion that the Redbrands were just a mercenary guild and no real problem at all. Even some intimidation of Penance couldn’t dissuade him from this opinion, although it was obvious he was hiding something. Was he in cahoots with the Redbrands? That was certainly something Taurion was thinking about. A little more questioning seemed to relieve the tension slightly as our heroes determined that all wasn’t as dark as first appeared and that, instead, the poor Townmaster was just scared witless by the thugs and wasn’t going to rock the boat if he could help it.

With this new information, the party were determined to investigate the Redbrands further and, having earlier ascertained that their base of operations was a tavern called the Sleeping Giant, they proceeded to head in that direction. Outside were a group of thugs, wearing tattered red cloaks, who took an instant dislike to our heroes. Taurion tried a tactful approach but one of the thugs made an ill-conceived remark about Gnomish Bob’s height and that plan ended as Gnomish Bob’s handaxe flew across the road.

The fight didn’t last long though and the thugs were soon dealt with. However… the noise of the battle had obviously been heard within the tavern because no sooner had our heroes gotten their breath back, than the door opened and a looming shadow moved within…