On to Parnast

We finished our exploration of the second floor of the lodge, along with judicious adventurous looting. We found some gems and valuables, plus a set of chain mail +1. Thok took the armor, even though it was a horizontal upgrade (same AC, but now the armor was shiny and magical) rather than a vertical one. We gave some of the treasure to Madam Duffington for the damages done to her lodge.

Having finished our task, Madam Duffington invited us to supper along with Craggnor and our two other captured cultists. We had the opportunity to wash up prior to the meal, but Craggnor declined the offer. We managed to get Craggnor to offer to take us to the town he had mentioned, Parnast, the next day, but he said we could wait until late in the morning.

Not long after dessert was offered, the servants pinned Craggnor and slit his throat, Red Wedding style. We took the other two cultists outside to finish the job. We tried to bargain with them for directions to Parnast, but the Duffington's master hunter came out to oversee us. Sandi ended up killing one of the cultists while Thok injured the other and let the perytons living on the lodge roof finish him off. The huntsman offered to take us to Parnast the next day, letting us know that the dwarf's offer to take us late meant that we should get started early.

Before heading to bed, we were offered some brandy to help us sleep. Most of us declined to the offer, seeing as how we just saw the NPCs offering it murder some people.

Before we left, Brother Caemon mentioned that he was heading back to Waterdeep. He offered to take Egan's body to arrange for another raise dead, claiming he could get us the spell for 400gp, so we each chipped in 100gp. I also gave him some cash and valuables, asking that he get me some diamonds and diamond dust for some of my spells.

The first is revivify, a third level spell that can bring someone back from the dead provided they've been dead less than a minute. It uses 300gp worth of diamonds every casting. The other was a new spell I had gained access to upon reaching 7th level. One of my domain's granted spells is stoneskin, which uses 100gp in diamong dust per casting and grants resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical sources. Remember, in this edition resistance just means that all damage is halved. I also gained freedom of movement from my domain. I also added stoneshape with the new slot for spell preparation I gained from leveling-up. My primary hope for that spell is to be able to make doors where there were no doors before.

As we journeyed through the wilderness, we rolled dice to see if Angreth the hunter new various clues to help us while in Parnast. We had a 50% per roll and we got four out of eight clues. We learned that Captain Othelstan was the cultists' main muscle in town along with some town guards. He let us know that many of the villagers had turned to the cult, either through intimidation or bribery. He also let us know that village hosted a stable of wyverns that we would probably need to ride to reach the flying castle. His final clue was that the only trustworthy villager was Gundalin the Wainwright.

We reached the village and bid farewell to Angreth. We began our search for Gunalin, claiming that our wagon had broken down outside of the village, and we needed it repaired to join a caravan travelling along the Black Road to the shades' city of Netheril in the Anauroch desert. The Innkeeper waylaid us and offered us a meal while one of his staff fetched Gundalin. We even included a tip to try and speed up the process. Unfortunately, we ended up sitting around for half and hour. Censura left the tavern and ran into Captain Othalstin and his cronies, who were looking for blood. At about this time the Innkeeper pulled out weapons of his own, and a battle started.

Sandi joined Censura outside while Thok and I fought in the tavern. Censura used his newest spell: fire shield. This classic caster buff grants resistance to either fire or cold damage and inflicts damage on enemies that hit you in melee with the opposite damage that you have resistance to. In this edition, it lasts 10 minutes, does not require concentration, and has a base damage of 2d8. Censura, being Censura, opted for resistance to cold to inflict fire damage. The enemies wisely decided to open with ranged attacks. They also moved into position to get a fireball dropped on them, killing all the guards outside and leaving Othelstan singed. So much for a quiet entrance.

Captain Othelstan had one final trick: after retribution from the fire shield and a casting of hellish rebuke brought him down, he called out to Tiamat had gained some hit points for another round of battle.

At about this time, Thok and I were finishing the Innkeeper and the guards still in the tavern, and some reinforcements, in the form of three dragonclaws, showed up. The dragonclaws stayed outside to handle Sandi and Censura. Thok and I joined the party outside while Sandi and Censura dropped two of the three dragonclaws and bloodied the third. The third tried to flee, but we got it before he could escape and raise an alarm.

As the dust settled, a villager came up and identified himself as Gundalin.