Scourge of the Sword Coast

D&D Encounters, Pandemonium Books & Games

Week 1, February 19th

The party is part of a caravan headed to the village of Daggerford. Sir Isteval, a noted paladin of Amaunator (formerly Lathander) has put out a call to adventurers and mercenaries to aid Daggerford in dealing with goblins, gnolls, and orcs who’ve been raiding the countryside, destroying homes and causing an influx of refugees to head to Daggerford.

The adventure begins with the caravan one day out of Daggerford, when it makes camp near an abandoned farm. The party investigates the farm and finds that it’s been abandoned and ransacked. The only items of value left are some basic foodstuffs and a couple kegs of ale. The party grabs the food and ale and brings it back to the caravan to share with the refugees following the caravan. The party cleric attempts to use the food to convert some of the refugees to an obscure deity named Dagon, but the refugees are more interested in eating and sleeping than debating the merits of a tentacle-based god.

That night, the party is awakened by a group of goblins and wolves further trashing the farm and surrounding buildings. The party rogue sneaks up and learns the goblins have come to retrieve the ale from the farmhouse. When the goblins discover the ale gone, they decide to attack the caravan, but the party is ready for them and the goblins are defeated before injuring any innocents.

The next day the caravan reaches the Daggerford gate, but the Daggerford militia guards aren’t letting anyone in, including a very pregnant refugee and her husband. Apparently the Duke of Daggerford has decreed that no more refugees can enter the town. A well-dressed halfling inside the gate named Curran Corvalin tries to convince the militia guard’s leader, Sherlen Miller, to at least let the injured refugees in, but she insists that she has no leeway, she must obey the orders of the Duke. The party negotiates with her, offering to pay for the pregnant couple to come in. Sherlen accepts this offer but before anything can happen the refugees start to riot, picking up rocks and simple weapons. One of her guards freaks out and shoots the party cleric with a crossbow, then attempts to attack again with a spear. The party disarms the guard and Sherlen knocks out the crazed guard. The refugees disperse and order is established once again. Sherlen lets the party into the town, but only if they agree to come see her tomorrow to give their account of exactly what happened.

Once inside the gate, Curran congratulates the party on their restraint during that delicate situation and offers to give the party a tour of Daggerford. He shows them all the major landmarks, giving the party an excellent overview of the town.

After the tour, Curran invites them to the Lady Luck Tavern for dinner and drink and the party readily accepts. During dinner Curran tells the characters that the duke is up in arms because, a few days ago, someone stole the Delimbiyr Bloke, an ancestral relic in the ducal collections. Duke Maldwyn believes someone in town, likely a refugee, is responsible. He has all but closed Daggerford until the Bloke is found.

The object is a block of shining quartzite, the size of a brick, carved in the likeness of a bearded face. It has an inscription in Dwarvish where the mouth should be, reading, “Friendship is more than a word. Weigh it carefully.” The Bloke’s nickname comes from the belief that one of the duke’s ancestors found the brick in Delimbiyran ruins.

Curran mentions that Jekk, a dwarf adventurer and friend of Sir Isteval’s, was very interested in the Bloke. The halfling priest knows Jekk is organizing a venture and leaving the town soon.

Jekk appears at the tavern soon after, and is happy to talk with fellow adventurers. Given his background, Jekk was fascinated with the Delimbyr Bloke when he first saw it during a visit to the ducal castle with Sir Isteval. He suspects the Bloke is a dwarven religious icon.

Jekk tried to borrow the Bloke from the duke, and even offered to buy it for a considerable sum. The duke refused, but he allowed Jekk to commission a copy. Alven Gissen, a sculptor working on Morninglow Tower for Luc Sunbright, made Jekk a plaster replica. Then, a few days later, the original went missing.

Jekk plans to leave for Firehammer Hold, along with a few companions, tomorrow morning. He hopes to show the Bloke copy to dwarf priests there to learn what the stone is and why someone might steal it. He hopes the trip will take no more than two tendays.

Also during dinner, Curran met with several other townsfolk, and by listening to his conversations the party learned that:

1. A seasoned human fisher named Edic Tilveram talks about the lack of traffic on the Delimbiyr River from the east. His wife, Yalvi, says Ballick, the gnome tailor at the Decorated Man, has been looking for a shipment of cloth from Julkoun, a village on the eastern river, for a tenday or more. The party cleric knows that Julkoun is a town noted for its cloth mill and underground inn, the Jester’s Pride. The Delimbiyr River passes through the Laughing Hollow between Daggerford and Julkoun. The hollow is a wild land with many fey inhabitants. Also, Julkoun has only one temple, the villagers are devotees to Chauntea. Curran points out that their priestess of Chauntea, Hadeshah, keeps in contact with Julkoun’s priest, Estor.
2. Vossan Raker, a retired half-elf rancher, talks about gnoll attacks in the territory east of the Trade Way between Waterdeep and the Delimbiyr Route, where his ranch used to be. Kelson Darktreader, Vossan’s friend and the duke’s Master of the Hunt, has left town with Sir Isteval and Darfin Floshin, taking a couple scouts to investigate.
3. A human militia scout named Ledoris mentions orcs are raiding outlying communities and encroaching on the Delimbiyr Route in the highlands east of the Floshin Estate. Ledoris knows his mentor, Filarion Filvendorson, helped some treasure hunters plan an expedition to that region a few tendays ago. Some of the region north of the Delimbiyr Route and east of the Floshin Estate comprises what is known locally as the “Harpshield Lands.” It is thought to be the domain of a seat once ruled from Harpshield Castle, which is a famous ruin in the southeastern arm of the Ardeep Forest.

Week 2, February 26th

The party wakes up at the barracks and decides to split up to cover more ground.

Some of the party talks to Sherlen at the jail, where they find out that the renegade guard, named Grengel, has killed himself. Sherlen says that Grengel claimed that he heard a female voice in his head that told him to shoot. He tried not to, but his body ignored him. The voice was malevolent, but familiar.

Grengel was horrified at his actions and wanted to make amends, so Sherlen is shocked that he would kill himself. He had visitors and has no relatives. His only friends are among the militia.

While the party was visiting, Sherlen also mentioned the trouble at Jalkoun, and told them the duke would pay they 25 gp each if they went to Jalkoun to look-into the problems. The militia can provide a boat or horses depending on how the party would like to travel to Jalkoun. The party agrees that a boat is the better choice.

Other party members went to go see the gnome tailor, Ballick at his shop named The Decorated Man. He confirmed that the shipments from Jalkoun have stopped, and that his business is suffering because of it. He offers the party custom tailored suits if they can figure out what’s wrong and fix the problem.

He also suggested that the party go talk to Hadeshah, the priestess of Harvest House because she is usually in constant contact with her counterpart in Jalkoun.

When the party visits Hadeshah, they learn that within the last two days, almost all the homing pigeons from the temple in Julkoun arrived, with no messages attached. Hadeshah sees the flock’s staggered arrival as an alarming omen. She used a speak with animals ritual yesterday, but the birds could tell her only that their keeper let them go and they didn’t see him again. Some pigeons were shot with arrows while flying away.

The party reconvenes and heads to the docks. On the way there they hear a racket and see a crowd near the Shanties neighborhood. Under the gaze of Duke Maldwyn on horseback, ducal soldiers are searching the shanties for the Delimbiyr Bloke. The crowd is mostly tenants whom the duke has briefly forced out of their homes. Maldwyn can be heard shouting, “I don’t care if these people have to stand here all day, I want the Bloke back!”

Also present are Curran Corvalin and Lady Morwen, the duke’s sister, both of whom try to calm the duke. Maldwyn gives them only baleful glares until Lady Morwen says the Bloke is “just an old stone,” and some murmuring and soft laughter comes from the crowd.

Maldwyn becomes enraged, saying, “This theft is an affront, and none of you will make light of it! What has been stolen must be returned, and the thieves punished, or I’ll have all you vagabonds expelled from my domain by force! Perhaps you’ll learn some gratitude outside of my protection!”

When the search turns up nothing, the duke storms back to his castle with Morwen.

The party arrives at the docks and is given a sturdy sail boat to take up the river. The journey is uneventful until on the last night before they reach Jalkoun, they’re attacked by three goblins riding wolves. The goblins shoot arrows at the boat but the party is able to defeat the goblins before anyone is seriously hurt.

Not long after the attack the party is approached by a small bird, who seems to want the party to follow it into the forest. The party does, and is led to an ancient grove where they meet a dryad named Oyfanen. The fey creature watches the forest and, from a distance, Julkoun with the aid of forest animals that serve her. Oyfanen knows goblinoids attacked from the north, and later, hobgoblins marched chained villagers toward the north. She is willing to help the party defeat the goblins and save the villagers. Unfortunately she is bound the grove and can’t come with them, but she can help them with her magic and provide a safe area in which to camp.

The party reaches Jalkoun and finds that it’s been transformed by the goblins into a crude fortress. Ragged black flags are set into the parapet of each guard tower. A field of goads—sharpened stakes fixed in the ground—and lilies—5-foot-deep, staked pits—has been created around the palisade. Most of the buildings outside the wall are burned. Structures close to the river, along with the western docks, are intact. Characters also see a chain pulled tight across the river, preventing any sort of passage.

After quite a bit of deliberation, the party decides to sneak-into the burned area outside the walls, with the hope of finding some secret way into the town itself. They find an intact barn with locked doors, but an open loft on the second floor. A party member climbs into the loft and finds a small boy who’s been hiding here waiting for his parents to come get him. He’s weak, but is able to tell the party of a way-into the town from the north — a bridge that crosses the moat and connects the town’s underground tunnels. He wants the party to go to the tunnels and check to see if his parents are there. The party agrees and tells the boy to head to the dryad’s grove, which the boy is familiar with.

The party finds the bridge and manages to sneak into it through a window. They then head north into the tunnels and semi-surprise a room full of goblins who are off duty and resting in a makeshift barracks, which was probably meant to be the shelter for the townspeople. A pitched battle breaks out, but the party eventually prevails.

Week 3, March 5th

After defeating the large group of goblins, the party begins exploring the tunnels and chambers of underground Jalkoun. The highlight of this exploration is when they find the now-defiled temple of Chauntea, currently occupied by a semi-mad goblin shaman and his two giant frog pets. The shaman and frogs put up a struggle, but the party defeats them and explores the temple of Chauntea.

This room has smooth stone walls, and it ends with a square niche in which stands a human-sized statue of Chauntea, appearing as a wise-looking matronly woman dressed in robes and flowers. She holds a sheaf of wheat in one arm and a bunch of roses in the other. Under her is an altar carved to look like a rose bush. Before the altar are eight benches, and in each corner is a brazier. All these furnishing have been carved from the rock of the room.

Vile symbols have been scrawled in dark red on many of the surfaces. The altar has been chipped and cracked. On the statue of Chauntea, the infernal sigils are most numerous. The altar is spread with various implements for writing and painting, as well as vessels of various sizes, coins, gems, and jewelry. Just in front of the altar is a wool mattress draped with wolf furs.

The symbols are from language of the Infernal, but unfortunatly no one in the party can read it.

Scattered on the altar are the most valuable pieces from the looting of Julkoun, including gems, jewelry, and portable art objects worth 300 gp. Among several pint pots, which contain blood, are two vials of ink, a pot of honey, several painter’s brushes, and a bloody spindle. Gabulla wears a jeweled electrum brooch (worth 100 gp) on her wolf-fur cloak, a belt of electrum rings and plates (also worth 100 gp), and boots of striding and springing.

Boots of Striding and Springing
Uncommon wondrous item

These leather boots have springy soles and are cushioned inside to provide a comfortable fit.

On donning the boots, the wearer feels a sudden, brief urge to travel—a fleeting ambition to walk from one end of the world to the other.

Property: You never take a penalty to speed from being encumbered or from wearing armor while wearing these boots. In addition, whenever you jump, you jump three times the normal distance.

After looting the temple, the party moves on to explore more of the underground complex, finding several other goblins (killing them of course) including a goblin chef who was preparing a former townsperson for supper.

We ended with the party reaching the underground common room of the Jester’s Pride, the famous underground tavern. The interior is in total disarray, and the tiled floor is covered in a layer of splinters, shards, and bloody grime. Two corners contain fireplaces, and the rough stone walls and pillars show signs of recent violence and vandalism. Across the ceiling is a network of copper pipes. Most of the furniture is overturned and broken. On the eastern side of the room is a bar with a large set of shelves, all of which has been hacked and smashed. Doors to the west and north have been torn from their hinges, while a third door on the east wall is mostly intact.

In the northern wall, east of the door, is a curtained window, its bottom 3 feet from the floor. The lower portion of the window forms a broad stone counter.

The earthy scent of the stone walls is mixed with a strong odor of beast. Which the party learns is from worg prowling through the room. The party surprises the worg and quickly kills it. But its owner, a large hobgoblin, filled with grief and rage attacks the party before they can savor the victory. The hobgoblin is quickly reunited with the worg in the after life.

Week 4, March 12th

After defeating the hobgoblin and his pet worg, the party explores the rooms to the east and west, first discovering a meeting room to the east containing 10 hanging ceraminc and ivory tiles that the rogue estimates to be work 10 gp each on the open market. The party decides the extra 100 lbs. is worth the trouble and packs them up.

To the west, a basement room lined with open and empty wooden lockers. Under the wooden staircase that leads to the guesthouse is a copper tank connected to a copper pipe that runs in from the common room. The tank, which has a spout, sits on an iron wood-burning stove. Alongside it is a stack of firewood and several wooden buckets. Half a dozen bedrolls are spread out in the area. But luckily there’s no one sleeping there.

The party heads upstairs to the guesthouse, surprising three bugbears who are staying there. Two of them are asleep, so the party gets a good headstart on the battle, and they defeat the bugbears. But they don’t defeat them before one of the bugbears starts yelling about being attacked, attracting the attention of some goblins and hobgoblins outside.

The party manages to stall them long enough to escape back downstairs and block the entrances with a few well-placed climbing pitons. The party then decides to head back into the tunnels to check out one unexplored passageway with the hope that it will provide a safe way out.

Unfortunately they encounter another group of hobgoblins in another warehouse, and yet another battle breaks out. The party defeats them and is rewarded with a significant treasure stash: two potions of healing, and a chest that contains a pouch with 60 gp, a pouch with thirteen semiprecious stones (10 gp each), and assorted silverware (5 pounds, 100 gp). The chest also contains a potion of climbing.

The party checks the room just off the warehouse and finds a water well room. A well in the middle of this room is covered by a removable wooden lattice, which is broken into pieces scattered about. Shelves on the west wall contain buckets and waterskins of various sizes. A wooden crate near the entrance contains empty glass bottles. Unlike the rest of the cellars, the ceiling here is of wood and has a hinged hatch in the middle of it.

The dwarf decides that he needs some water to clean all the goblin, hobgoblin, worg and bugbear entrails off his armor and out of his beard. But as he’s pulling a bucket out of the well, a large beast flies out of the well and starts strafing the party. It’s a horrible thing that looks like an emaciated wyvern with black skin. The creature’s eyes glow violet, and its bones are similarly luminous enough that they show through the skin.

The startled party shoots at the creature until it dies, but the party is even more disturbed when the creature transforms into a cow as it falls from the ceiling, causing quite a mess in the relatively tight quarters of the room. The wizard examines the cow, and eventually guesses that the creature was a Darkenbeast, a monster created by dark magic by altering a normal animal. It reverts to it’s original form when killed or exposed to light.

By now the party has had enough of the underground passages of Jalkoun, and decides to head upstairs from the warehouse to see what’s going on. The party emerges in a large warehouse. From a vantage point on the second floor of the warehouse the party is able to watch most of the goblinoid force head down into the tunnels, presumably in pursuit of the party. The party now can get through the town fairly easily, only having to deal with a few guards on some guard towers.

But apparently the party hasn’t had its share of bloodshed yet today, because they decide to set a trap at the entrance to the tunnels and lure the goblins out. The plan involves burning oil and a well-placed snare spell. The combination of these tactics along with a lot of swordplay and all the rest of their healing spells and potions, allows the party to actually defeat the remaining goblins in the town, even capturing one to bring back to Daggerford. The barbarian devises a demented prison for the goblin, made from the rib cage of the one of the dead hobgoblins.

The party heads back to Daggerford by way of the dryad Oxfaynen, who provides them with rest and healing.

Week 5, March 19th

The party arrives back at Daggerford, and finally meets with the paladin Sir Isteval, who’s outside the town aiding the refugees. He is pleased to meet the adventurers, but isn’t at all pleased with the goblin encaged within the hobgoblin rib cage. He orders the party to bring the goblin to the jail immediately, and to come to his home tonight for a meal and debrief.

The party splits-up, some head to the jail, and others go to talk to Ballick, the gnome tailor at the Decorated Man.

At the jail, Sherlen Miller thanks the party for investigating Jalkoun and promises that she’ll organize folks to head over there to clean up the mess as soon as possible. She’s disturbed by the goblin and orders it taken to the jail, fed and cleaned up, so that hopefully it will wake from it’s vegetable-like state and answer questions about where the townspeople of Jalkoun were taken. She then pays the party 25 gp each as promised.

The tailor is thankful that the party cleaned up Jalkoun, but is disappointed that it will be a while before he gets more cloth for his business. He reinterates his promise to supply the party with top-of-the-line finery for their trouble.

The party reconvenes and heads to Sir Isteval’s home for dinner. First, he generously matches the 25 gp reward for their trip to Jalkoun. Second, he lectures the half-orc barbarian about basic decency, and asks him to be more mindful if he’s going to work on the paladin’s behalf. Third, Sir Isteval asks that the party help with the next crisis facing the town — the gnolls that are raiding along the Trade Way from Waterdeep. Isteval believes the raiders are organized under some greater evil.

Sir Isteval introduces Kelson Darktreader a half-elf, who has a theory about the gnolls. Darktreader explains that he, Isteval, and Darfin Floshin made the trek to Waterdeep through the wilderness along the road. Kelson and two of his scouts reconnoitered the damage; their trip to Waterdeep didn’t allow more. Since Nandar Lodge is little more than a ruined foundation, the Huntmaster believes the gnolls are operating in or near Phylund Lodge—a ruined keep in the western Ardeep Forest.

Kelson can recount that, in his youth, he took part in some of Lord Urtos Phylund’s hunts. Wealthy Waterdhavian nobles frequented the lodge then, hungry for excitement and trophies. The object of such hunts was often a fantastic creature the Phylunds had captured and then released into the woods.

He goes on to tell the story of Phylund Lodge:

For generations, members of the Phylund noble family of Waterdeep came to the Ardeep Forest to hunt and trap beasts of the woods, using a small hunting lodge as their base. They’d invite noble friends or those with whom they would make alliances, treating them to a tenday or more of leisure.

As the family’s fortunes improved and the popularity of their hunts increased, the lodge was replaced with ever more elaborate structures. It became the primary residence of the heads of the Phylund family, who used it as a center for their beast-training trade and hunt-guide businesses. Thus the lodge was equipped with stables, gardens, guest rooms, wine cellars, and even underground cells for the more dangerous creatures the Phylunds captured.

The fortunes of the family eventually fell after a series of deadly “accidents” at the lodge, culminating in the bloody revelation that Lord Urtos Phylund II was afflicted with lycanthropy. To help put that period behind the family, the Phylunds departed the lodge to live in Waterdeep.

They left servants to protect the lodge from looting, fully intending to return to their family seat when fortunes improved. They did not. When salary payments became delayed and finally ceased, the servants departed, leaving nature to take over their watch.

The party agrees to investigate and decides to head out in the morning. The journey along the trade way is uneventful, but the party does notice signs of raiding along the way — burnt homesteads, ruined caravans, etc. They reach an overgrown footpath that leads to the lodge, and it becomes ever more overgrown as they get further into the Ardeep Forest.

They’re less than a day from the lodge when night falls and they decide to make camp. That night, they’re attacked by gnoll archers who try to draw the party deeper into the woods, but the party defeats the archers before they can succeed. The party captures one of the archers and find out that more gnolls are camped not too far away. The party cuts the gnoll and lets the him go free, with the intention of following him (or his blood trail) to the camp.

Week 6, March 26th

The party watches from the trees as the injured gnoll animatedly explain what happened to the rest of the camped gnolls. One gnoll prepares to head in the direction of the lodge, while the others start arming themselves to find the party. Just then the wind shifts, and the gnolls discover that the party has found them first. Battle breaks out and the party manage to defeat all the gnolls, before any of them can depart to warn the lodge. The party searches the camp and finds a trail of gnoll footprints leading into the forest, but declines to investigate further.

The next morning the party heads out and reaches the Phylund Lodge. They can see the two-story structure from a great distance. As the characters move closer, they can see that a wooden palisade and other wooden structures must once have surrounded the keep. These buildings have collapsed.

The only building still standing is the lodge itself, which is split-into three sections. After observing the lodge for a while from a distance, the party notices some hyenas lurking around the courtyard. The party sneaks around to the other side of the lodge and sees hyenas there too. The rogue sneaks closer to the lodge, but is eventually noticed by the hyenas and he has to retreat up a tree. While the hyenas are occupied the rest of the party tries to sneak-into the lodge, but they’re not sneaky enough and the hyenas attack them. During the battle some gnolls fire arrows from what appears to be the stable building, but don’t come out to fight in the open. The party defeats the hyenas and enters what appears to be a kitchen. This old kitchen has recently been cleaned and put back to use. Near the fireplace, neatly stored in a wooden casket, are several cooking utensils. A tarnished copper pan punched with multiple holes hangs on the wall near the entrance.

The party searches the kitchen and doesn’t find anything out of the ordinary, except for heap of sacks of chestnuts partially blocking one door. The party moves the chestnuts and find a barred door, which the half-orc barbarian forces open, triggering a spiked plank trap that just misses him. The rogue takes the plank and sets it up at the exterior door, covering the party’s rear.

The stone walls of the next room are bare and aged. Part of the rune-engraved monolith on which the structure is founded is visible in the southwest corner, and a fireplace has been carved into it. The room contains disorderly piles of containers, as well as rugs, blankets, cloaks, furs, vases, and other earthenware.

In the northern portion of the room is a stairway leading up. In an alcove to the southeast is a descending stairway.

The party examines this room, and both the cleric and the barbarian investigates the standing stone monolith but neither discovers anything remarkable about it. As they’re doing this, they’re attacked by two gnolls descending from upstairs. They’re quickly dispatched by the party.

One party member investigates upstairs and finds a landing with five closed doors. The walls of this landing are decorated with hundreds of wooden crests bearing the emblems of noble families. Some crests have been removed, some have fallen to the floor, and all have faded with age and weather. A large hole in the ceiling explains the weathering of the area.

The party decides to head downstairs instead, and find themselves in a wine cellar. Bricks line the walls here. The western wall is covered in shelves on which stand a few dusty bottles. Countless other bottles have been shattered on the stone floor. A banded door on the eastern wall is slightly ajar.

After sampling the long-expired wine, the party passes through the door into a short hallway that takes a 90° turn to the south, then opens into another room. Within the brick-lined walls of this damp, square room are three empty barrels and an upturned chest. The rotting shards and rusty hoops of a few other broken barrels are scattered here and there on the floor.

To the south is a pile of furs and straw. Next to that is a small cask, a copper pot, and a metal bucket.

Short halls open to the south, east, and north.

Most importantly, the party is started by a very large gnoll in the room who exclaims, “Who disturb the rest of Flubnak?!” His two pet wolves seem equally annoyed at the interruption.