Wardens of Heroes Gate

Scene Notes – C01.S02.13

Cycle 01 Shield 02 – Scene 13 – Notes

What happens in this scene?

Party plans to split at the Triboar – Deynn, Roonoo, Khi-khi and Dayni will turn West to go have a conversation with the Cragmaw goblins about the location of Gundren (Khi-khi has a language spell for translating) while Leely, Ileel and Garaelle will turn East towards Conyberry to complete the mission of getting information on Bowgentles Spellbook from Agatha the Banshee.

As they near the Triboar Trail, however, they encounter Gundren Rockseeker walking towards Phandalin.Or maybe… maybe much closer to Phandalin… else what? They leave Gundren to walk the rest of the way? They send Khi-khi back with him? No… they would escort him to safety… it makes more sense to discover Gundren walking into town – perhaps as they climb up towards Darkwood Hill, Gundren is just exiting the wood…

Gundren tells his story.

Taken to a decaying castle just a few miles into the wood from the cave.

King Grol the bugbear was trying to read Gundrens maps to the Wave Echo Cave and forced Gundren to detail things.

A drow woman arrived, argued with King Grol about something (in Goblinspeak), and then killed him brutally. She was turning to kill Gundren as well but another drow woman (possibly half-drow?) arrived, intent on killing the first, and nearly succeeded… but she was outwitted. After several rounds of conflict, the second drow was snared somehow, by magic presumably, and the first drow woman grabbed the maps and ran out of the castle.

The half-drow woman freed Gundren and told him his friends are likely on their way to rescue him. She directed him the way towards the Triboar Trial before running off into the wilderness after the first drow woman. He spent all night walking towards Phandalin.

Plans change… Khi-khi stays in town with Sildar. Deynn and Roonoo – their mission completed – agree to help Leely and Ileel complete theirs. Dayni follows Deynn even though her friends are planning a memorial for Wahler.

The five reach the Conyberry ruins well after Last Shadow. They see a forest fire burning to the North of Conyberry, about a mile away.

They see two torch lights moving about the ruins and, as they get closer, hear the name “Grimhorn” being called for.

As refresher…

] Last Shadow is near as you help get Andlen and Nekari strapped to the back of their horses and they depart. The Dragonborn has fallen to the ground and cannot be awoken, even with swifts kicks… the blind Dwarf has agreed to sit with him until he revives.

Stitch took the two wounded to the nearby Butterskull Ranch for help and they remain there in recovery. Stitch returned to find Brin searching for Grimhorn the Dragonborn – and they have been for the past several hours.

Bringing back the Essentials Kit pre-made heroes

Brin Axetooth

Hill Dwarf Fighter (2)

Grimhorn

Dragonborn Fighter (2)

Stitch in a Sock (Stitch)

Tabaxi Bard (College of Swords) (3)

Nekari (The Gale-Hand) (At Butterskull Ranch)

Half Elf Monk (2)

Andlen Roedatch (Grandson of Ransor Roedatch) (At Butterskull Ranch)

Human Fighter (2)

Our party greets them. Brin recognizes Leely as the one who blinded her and gets riled up. Stitch then reminds Brin that they could have killed her and chose not to – even healed the wounds of Andlen and Nekari enough to save their lives.

Party was planning on staying in town ruins until First Shadow passes in the morning – a wise one does not seek out a famous banshee in the midst of dark… they join the search for Grimhorn. At some point, a dryad appears to them… Lysasra. “You are looking for someonr?”

Grimhorn had quite a trial. Brin, who was watching over him, fell asleep herself due to drunkeness. Grimhorn awoke and wandered into the forest where Agatha confronted him. He was feared and began to run wildly away from the ghost. Brin awoke to the horrifying echo of the banshees Wail somewhere in the distance. Grimhorn lays dying there. But Lysasra found him and did what she could to keep him alive.

Lysasra is a Dryad… A Watcher – but also a hunter of sorts in that she actively hunts down dryads who turn destructive … like…

Pyrisis – the Cinder Dryad

Cinder Dryads are a twisted form of nature which feeds on itself like cancer… they have developed an addiction to the cinder of burned tree bark and branch and rather than being a guardian of the forest like all healthy Dryads, the Cinder Dryad actively destroys the forest with destruction through fire. She calls to herself fire Mephits to burn the trees for her. Since her preference is for fresh cinder, she does not burn down more than an acre or two at a time

Lysasra has been hunting Pyrisis for some time now… as both are from another world (Amalao? In the  World_of_Indines – that is really all that is needed) As Lysasra is highly vulnerable to the fire mephits – she asks for help to apprenhend Pyrisis. In exchange for telling the party where they will find Grimhorn.

Notes on Dayni & Deynn

Dayni seems to follow Deynn anywhere at this point, not even realizing she looks like a lost puppy doing so. (I need to find time to bolster this relationship… to endear Dayni to Deynn… am I going to get tired of them having nearly the same name? I thought it would be a fun way to draw a thick-bold-line between them… as if to say, these two were destined to be together… and I want both characters to eventually feel that about each other… but for now, Dayni was recently traumatized and Deynn was her rescuer (at least she sees it that way – of course Roonoo was also there). I also do not want to rush the relationship… let them learn to depend on each other… show that Deynn allows Dayni to heal from her trauma before making any overtures… knowing she is vulnerable and unwilling to do anything but protect her (Protection is an unlying theme of the whole thing).

Also – her past and recent trauma’s may have caused her to have a dodgy perspective on goodness… her rage is just under the surface – Deynn has already seen it a couple of times now. Dayni will become a challenge to Deynn in this way. Deynn is seeking Good but falls in love with someone who, he fears, may not be Good. In truth, she is scarred – and such scars will hide Goodness, distort it… perhaps even, eventually… destroy it. Here is the reason I brought Dayni into the story – to create tension between Goodness and Love.

Travel Notes

I really need to create a travel distance reference somewhere… I spend too much time trying figure things out which I feel like I have already figured out…

From the Triboar Trail it is about 12 miles.

https://lazytravelcalculator.com/ is a nice tool, it is also a nice rule reference – bookmark it somewhere handy

So lets say that the party has rented or purchased mounts – Riding Horses (Except of course Leely and Ileely)

Lets say they all have a travel speed of 50 ft (Normal Pace) – that is just over 5.5 miles per hour

Which means, mounted…. It will take about two hours to reach Triboar Trail

I just realized… my maps of the area around Neverwinter have some conflicting information… One shows 10 miles per hex and another shows 5.

When Leely and Ileel went from Conyberry to Phandalin – I was working with about 100 mile distance… but looking at the map now, it is half that. Researching… it seems I am not alone in my confusion. I am going to go forward with the 5mile per hex map from here (however, this means I might want to go back and adjust the travel time from two days down to one… change the month-day… but then… who besides me is going to notice?)

Another confusion… some maps have Conyberry directly on the Triboar Trail (you have to pass through the ruins) whereas other maps show a 2-3 mile side road leading North from Triboar Trail to reach Conyberry. I have decided to go with the later.