Session 8: The Morning After
Scheduled: September 23rd (Wednesday) @ Alexis & Paul’s Following session: October 17th (Saturday) @ Berkeley (tentative)
Where We Left Off
About three in the morning, in the last unopened room beneath Tresendar Manor.
Grom has just kicked in the door of the guard barrack and thrown a net over a bugbear. Three more are getting up off their bunks. None of them drank the beer. On the floor between them, a small goblin has curled into a ball with its hands over its head — the bugbears’ footstool, by the look of it.
Behind Grom, in the common room: the rest of you, three fine weapons, a pile of Redbrand coin, and Iarno “Glasstaff” Albrek — unconscious, webbed, tied, and slung across Versace’s back. Versace is on her last wild shape. Nobody has rolled initiative yet.
What you know going in:
- The bugbears don’t take the wizard’s orders. The letters say they answer to the Spider — and that they, not Glasstaff, know the road to the places the Spider cares about
- Glasstaff is Iarno Albrek. You read it yourselves. Sildar hasn’t been told
- Mirna and Nars Dendrar are walking home. You promised Mirna you’d find Thel
- Newton is still Ssarnak’s guest. Two silver crossbows did not move it. A ruby earring is the next offer — it still thirsts for unknown knowledge and would take that as payment as well.
- Something went through Thea’s thoughts in that cavern and didn’t say what it found
- The correspondence you’re carrying is worth 100gp to Halia Thornton — and you’ve read every word of it
You have not rested. Check your sheets, not your memories.
Table Notes
- D&D Beyond is the source of truth: update inventories, spell slots, HP, and wild shape uses at the end of every session — and make sure yours reflect Session 7 before we start (nets: three left; potions: untouched; Grom’s Channel Divinity: still unspent, for the record).
- Level 3 lands this session — once everyone is back at the Stonehill Inn in one piece. Bring a sheet you can level at the table. Chris: Fleck’s Roguish Archetype is due.
- Minis: Paul is painting. Claim your character’s mini if you want to paint it yourself — otherwise it will be painted for you, with love and unpredictable results.
- VTT: still hunting for something simpler than Foundry. Updates at the table.
- Session 7 honors:
- Orla, for the single most efficient arrest in the history of Phandalin law enforcement: one web
- Grom, King of the Orcs, for talking a room into stabbing itself
- Fleck, for the bolt that took a skull off its shoulders, and for the floor he refused to trust
- Thea, for her first — and for reading the letter out loud
- Versace, for bear taxi service, wizard class
Active Quests
- End the Redbrand threat — take Tresendar Manor — 200gp (Sildar Hallwinter, Lords’ Alliance); one room left, and it’s the loud one
- Find Iarno Albrek — 50gp (Sildar Hallwinter) — found; on the bear; Sildar doesn’t know
- Deliver Glasstaff’s correspondence — 100gp advance paid; 100gp more on delivery (Halia Thornton) — in hand, read, and very interesting
- Bring Thel home — Mirna’s one request; his body was carried into the manor
- Ransom Newton — Ssarnak wants something more beautiful; the earring is next
- Find Gundren Rockseeker at Cragmaw Castle — the bugbears may know the way
- The Spider — the IOUs, the wagon note, the sealed letter: spies in Neverwinter, dwarven maps, a promise of the town and a share of what the forge yields
- Tsernoth of Iriaebor — Sister Garaele’s Harper inquiry, pending; Ssarnak has heard the name Bowgentle
- Clear Wyvern Tor — standing 100gp bounty (Harbin Wester)
DM prep / session plan for this session: see DM notes.