Session 12: Return to Falcon's Hunting Lodge

Back on the road, the adventurers survived an encounter with the dragon that had been terrorizing the roads. They pressed on to the ruined settlement of Thundertree where they met a familiar face.

Summary
On the road towards Neverwinter, the party met a grumbling dwarf that was surveying the area. The dwarf introduced himself as Baldir, a bounty hunter looking to reclaim the bounty that was eaten by the white dragon terrorizing the roads.

The White Dragon
A day after the party met Baldir, they encountered saw the white dragon flying over the roads before it roared and landed in front of them on the road.

The dragon wore a a heavy chain adorned with blue jewels and wore metal claws over its own enormous claws. The adventurers were able to fend off the dragon's ferocious attack. It's departing words to the brave adventurers were "Next time." as it flew off toward the Sword Mountains to the east of Phandalin.

Thundertree
The party decided to press forward on the High Road toward Thundertree, where they saw the dragon in the distance near the city of Neverwinter.

They eventually arrived at a ruined settlement on the western edge of Neverwinter Wood. As the adventurers made their way through the winding roads they saw creatures made of living vines and twigs that did not harm them as they searched for Reidoth.

At the center of the settlement was a tower with a ribbon of smoke flowing out from an opening in the roof. The tower was surrounded by a thick wall of thorns and vines. After some investigation, the party realized the wall was an illusion that they could pass through with ease.

At the top of the tower, the adventurers found trinkets and totems surrounding a bubbling pot of herbs. As they searched for Reidoth they heard a commotion outside. Peering through the opening in the roof of the tower, the adventurers saw a man on horseback being pursued by orcs riding wolf-like creatures. The man was able to kill the orcs with arrows, causing their wolf-like creatures to run wild into the forest. The man slumped off of his horse before droppin onto the ground.

The party immediately went out to check on the man and realized it was Falcon the Hunter covered in bloody wounds. Falcon willed his body onto its feet to grab a dying person from the back of his horse, it was his young ward Pell. The adventurers administered healing magic to Falcon and Pell but they only showed small signs of recovery. A gaunt human man appeared and instructed everyone to follow him.

The man spoke very little but revealed himself to be Reidoth. He led the party to a cottage where he began preparing several healing remedied for Falcon and Pell.

Falcon's Hunting Lodge
After a day of rest, Falcon regained consciousness and told the party that the orcs raided his lodge. He heard loud, booming noises in the night before seeing orcs jumping over the walls of his lodge and hurling javelins at Pell. Falcon rushed to save the injured Pell but could not save Corwin, the housekeeper of his lodge. He pleaded for the adventurers to save Corwin, told them how to navigate through the woods to reach his lodge as quickly as possible and gave the adventurers a detailed description of where Corwin would have taken refuge.

When the adventurers approached Falcon's hunting lodge, they were able to gather that several orcs were positioned around the ruined grounds of the lodge, particularly that two orc sentries were positioned atop the gatehouse leading into the lodge. The party was able to dispose of the sentries from afar before rushing across the bridge to the lodge. They broke down the wooden door to the gatehouse and moved into the now-empty grounds.

As the adventurers positioned themselves around the stone structure of the main building, the rushed in to attack a loan orc within. As they pinned the lone orc, the adventurers were ambushed by several others in an adjacent room as well as clawed orcs and half-orcs that emerged from the stone walls of the room. The battle was hard-fought as the clawed orcs placed curses on the adventurers and the half-orcs created lightning bolts to cause havoc in the lodge.

The adventurers were able to defeat the enemy ambush and cleared the lodge of any threats, as they swept through the area they could not find Corwin, only a blood trail that led to the northeast area of the lodge as well as a large ladder that descended to the outer grounds of the lodge, also to the northeast.

Player Characters

 * Baldir the dwarf arcane archer / wizard.
 * Latham the goliath paladin of devotion
 * Moneux the shifter beast master
 * Quoorin the wood elf battle master
 * Varien the half-elf warlock of the fiend

Non-Player Characters

 * Falcon, a male human ranger and guide for paying hunters who brave Neverwinter Wood.
 * Morgana, the panther animal companion to Moneux.
 * Pell, the young male human ward of Falcon.
 * Reidoth, the male human druid of Thundertree.
 * Spills the Stew, a male tabaxi bard and adventurer looking to catalog the adventures of heroes.