Dice and Dimwits Campaign Four friends and an NPC or two.

The Ooze Among us

Ooze Among Us #

The following people gathered in Townmaster's Hall to figure out what is going on and what to do about it with the party:

Toblen recounted the story of Sir Townriddle's arrival and the events of the next few days. He lamented that he was out 400 gold in total between Townriddle's tab and the damage caused by the fight. The party spent some of the money found in the carriage to cover this tab, saying that "the money was Townriddle's anyway, he's just covering his tab post-motem."

Edermath's primary concern was the immediate safety of the town and its folk. He wanted to see the live ooze and then organize a town-wide search for any others like it. He then wanted to destroy it and all of the remains of other, already dead ones.

Sister Garaele managed to convince him to keep this one alive in case it could be used to develop a remedy for the headaches plauging the town. She also managed to secure samples of the others before they were burned. There was a lot of tension between her and Edermath over this, he believed it was irresponsible to keep such a threat alive, she believed it was irresponsible to not study it as much as possible in order to combat it in the future.

In the course of this discovery process, it was found out that the Ooze in the pot was extremely averse to fire, recoiling from a torch held over the pot. Edermath used this information for his search. The search yielded no results. The town is either secure, or there are more and they are well hidden, or there are ooze townsfolk impersonations among us. Edermath is unsettled.

Sister Garaele informed the elders that she was out of her depth for these headaches. She knows of a skilled herbalist on the edge of the forest a day's journey from town and asked that they send for her help. Halia said she would help fund any remedies as she has workers who need it.

Gundren's Ransom #

To the attention of Harbin Wester, or the current Townmaster of Phandalin.

I, Captain Targor Bloodsword, have the dwarf Gundren Rockseer in my captivity. He will be released to you if you provide me with 200 gold or the equivalent's worth of weapons and armor within one tenday. If such ransom is not paid, he will be sacrificed to the thirst of Maglubiyet.

Ransom should be dropped in the middle structure of the ruins found in the map enclosed. I will send a party to gather the ransom at the end of the tenday and will release the dwarf after it has been received and counted by myself. This scouting party will not move to collect the ransom if they deem it unsafe to do so.

Captain Targor Bloodsword
Cragmaw Nation

Sildar told Nundro and Thorrfig that they received a ransom letter from Captain Targor Bloodsword of Cragmaw Nation demanding 200 gold or the equivalent in arms/armor delivered to a specificed location within 10 days. If the ransom is not received by then, Gundren will be sacrificed to Maglubiyet. The letter arrived 5 days ago; by best estimate, there are 4 days remaining until the deadline.

Thorrfig managed to use Sending to contact Gundren, who was very much alive. The following exchange happened:

Gundren where are you, who leader and how many enemies, weaknesses? Secret passages? by window or exterior wall? password Alderleaf respond in 25 words

Thorrfig? Praise Mya! You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice. I'm in some goblinoid infested stone structure. Its an old–

Gundren, you only have 25 words to respond. Tells us where you are, how many enemies and if you're near a window or exterior wall

Ok. Uhh. Old Castle. Lots Goblins, Hobgoblins, Ogre, Shaman. Near boarded up Arrow Slit. Stone is ancient human work. Don't know spells good, sorry.

Sildar informed the party that the Lords' Alliance is ready to pay the ransom. He guesses from the letter that Hobgoblins have taken control of the remnants of Cragmaw Clan, renamed to Cragmaw Nation. Hobgoblins are militant, they are organized, and they can be reasoned with; especially when compared to goblins and bugbears. The fact that they are offering ransom instead of straight up killing him is a very good sign.

Edermath is much less confident. He doesn't believe Goblinoids are trustworthy. Giving into their demands will only encourage them to take more hostages and make more demands. We should strike, ideally wipe out the whole group, but at least weaken them and rescue Gundren. This is dangerous though, I wish we had backup.

Nundro is unwilling to risk Gundren's life. He had already come to terms with his brothers' deaths, and now that he has hope Gundren may yet live he is unwilling to let that go. 200 gold is trivial compared to what Gundren will get out of the lost mines.

The party had a long debate about the course of action here. Thorrfig and Kronk were in favor of exterminating the Goblinoid threat. Hada took Sildar's optimism and wished to pay the ransom, securing Gundren's release. Stuu went a step further and suggested that they send a letter requesting a parlay with the ransom. If successful, it's possible that the hobgoblins could be convinced to become allies.

Cold Iron Flask #

Stuu approached Sister Garaele after all of this and asked her if she knew anything about several of the items they recovered from the caves. Garaele was able to translate the letter, written in Undercommon (the language of Drow, Duergar, and those who have dealings with the world under the world). The letter mentioned a broken Iron Flask, which Stuu produced. Sister Garaele marveled at it. If this is truly an Iron Flask, it is one of very few in the world. They were created eons ago to capture, control, and contain other-planar creatures. Elementals, Titans, Demons, Devils, Abberations, all could be captured and contained within such artifacts. This one being broken means it will act unpredictably, do not open it. It would be a great object of power if it could be repaired. I know of two leads for people who might know more about it: the gnomes of Gnomengarde and the wizards of Longsaddle. She then asked Stuu to deliver the message to the herbalist if they were headed north, elsewise she would ask Sildar who was about to embark to deliver the ransom.

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