Session 07: The Shrine of Savras

"“The Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine lies fifteen miles northeast of Phandalin. The new overseer, Don-Jon Raskin, just made the trip from Neverwinter to Phandalin and needs to be escorted to the mine. There’s no telling what dangers lie between here and there.”"The adventurers are joined by a boisterous fellow named Don-Jon Raskin as they escort him to oversee the miners at the Mountain's Toe Gold Mine.

Summary
In Phandalin, the adventurers snatched a posting on the job board advertising a need for escorts to guide an overseer to the nearby Mountain's Toe Gold Mine. The party wasted no time in finding the overseer at the Stonehill, he introduced himself as Don-Jon Raskin.

Mountain's Toe Gold Mine
It took less than a day to reach the Mountain's Toe. Along the way, the adventurers encountered a few orc corpses strewn across the wilderness. Moneux investigated the corpses, revealing that they had been frozen to death, very likely having been attacked by the local dragon. When the adventurers arrived at the mine, Latham and Shanjan did not see any signs of activity. The party entered the mine with Don-Jon where they encountered a gang of wererats that took claim to the caves.

The party learned that orcs had driven the wererats out of their previous home — a shrine near the abandoned town of Conyberry. The adventurers struck a deal with the leader of the wererats: if they could clear the orcs out of the shrine, the wererats would leave the mines.

The Shrine of Savras
After two days of travel the party arrived at the town of Conyberry where Moneux quickly picked up the trail, and the scent, of orcs. The tracks led south from Conyberry to an abandoned shrine surrounded by crumbling walls. The adventurers spotted a sentry atop a tower, Moneux was able to snipe them from cover with the help of Latham and Spills the Stew's magic. After getting rid of the lookout, the adventurers scoped out the temple's surroundings and positioned themselves for battle as Moneux let loose an arrow at the bell hung in the shrine's bellfry.

A small army of orcs charged the adventurers, a trifle for the experienced combatants. The orcs' forces were bolstered by festering orcs and ogres mounted by goblin archers. Moneux struck the foes from a watchtower as Quoorin and Latham faced off against the foes up-close. The battle was hard-fought but the adventurers were able to clear the shrine of its occupants.

The party made their way inside the shrine that looked no better than its surroundings, almost every room was partially destroyed. Inside the shrine's chapel the adventurers saw several images of large eyes in engravings or on the tattered vestments of the long-dead priests, Shanjan recognized the symbol to be that of Savras, the god of mages and wizards of divination.

The Bells
The adventurers continued sweeping through the shrine and found a chest of gold. Before they left, Moneux recalled seeing something odd about the iron bell in the shrine's belfry; when she struck it with her arrow a piece of the bell came off revealing a gold sheen underneath.

Quoorin climbed up the side of the shrine and hacked away at the beam that the bell hung from until it crashed down into the main hall of the shrine. The adventurers uncovered another bell, several times heavier than the one they found in the shrine, inside one of the crumbling towers around the chapel. The party traveled to Butterskull Ranch — the same place where they first encountered the festering orcs — to retrieve a cart that they could use to haul the two bells.

Back in Phandalin
The adventurers convinced the wererats to vacate the mine, much to Don-Jon's agreement and the wererats' gratitude. They returned to Phandalin where the encountered the townmaster Harbin Wester. Latham told the townmaster that he had plans to restore the towns crumbling estate, Tresendar Manor, which Wester responded to with intrigue.

The proposed restoration would be costly, but the adventurers were able to claim a large sum of gold after they arranged for a sale through Barthen's Provisions.

Player Characters

 * Latham the goliath paladin of devotion
 * Moneux the shifter beast master
 * Quoorin the wood elf battle master

Non-Player Characters

 * Big Al Kalazorn, the male human owner of Butterskull ranch.
 * Don-Jon Raskin, the male human overseer hired by the Neverwinter Consortium.
 * Harbin Wester, the male human townmaster of Phandalin.
 * Panther, the male animal companion to Moneux.
 * Shanjan, the male human spellcaster and squire to Latham.
 * Spills the Stew, a male tabaxi bard and adventurer looking to catalog the adventures of heroes.