Nerd Dice: Chapter 1: Hill's Edge

The party helps repair the bridge in New Keep that was destroyed by the Ettin. (See this for a reminder of the Ettin adventure).

After helping the townspeople recover, Laucien heads off into the woods on a personal quest and Leythan stays behind to continue to heal and help the residents of New Keep.

Thorne, Milos, Mirabelle and Sergor head off for the town of Hill's Edge, where they suspect there is continuing traffic in slaves by the Thayans. They get into town after half a day's travel and arrive by evening, settling in at one of the nicer inns (which is hard to find in there, due to the questionable nature of Hill's Edge).

Upon arriving they learn there is an uneasy alliance between the Thayans and the Zhents of Darkhold. The Thayan enclave is on the other side of town from where the Zhents live, but the tension is noticeable.

Eating dinner in the inn's tavern, Sergor overhears some people talking about an odd wizard called Kell who sometimes provides valuable items in trade. The adventurers head off to find Kell in the morning to unload a few unusual items in the hopes of getting something good in return.

Kell seems interested in the Orcish mace Milos kept from the orc cleric who had poisoned the small mining village. But the only item he has of value (a Monk's Belt) is worth much more than just the mace and the other things they can offer (a ring of swimming +10 and the thunderstone from the mine). He does mention a book he's after-- currently owned by a Zhent. The group agree to go after the book and the wizard loans the Monk's Belt to Sergor until they return, either with the book or to exchange the belt back for their original items if they are unsuccessful.

The group hit some of the taverns their Zhent "friend" is known to frequent. In one, a giant muscular half-orc barbarian and his pint-sized brother are inviting the brave and the stupid for a one-minute bout of unarmed, unarmored combat. Twenty gold pieces if you can beat him. Sergor agrees to test his skill agains the half-orc and beats him soundly, to the amazement of the crowd. He uses most of his 20GP winnings to buy rounds of drinks for everybody. A man informs him that he knows of someone who could provide Sergor with good work due to his amazing skill. So the group heads over to "The Rusty Sword" to see what it's all about.

The group divides up when they reach the tavern and Sergor appears to be on his own. He mentions to the barkeep that he's looking for work and the name of the guy that has refered him. He is told to wait, and a tough-looking guy with two short swords approaches him and vaguely describes a job guarding some "goods," seeming to imply that the property in question is actually human. He also hints that he's no friend of the Thayans. Sergor duplicitously agrees to the job and is told to show up at a particular address in a day and a half.

The adventurers regroup and Sergor tells them what's happened. They continue to scout around for information and next arrive at a Thayan tavern. Milos (who is hiding his symbol of Tyr for the duration of the seedy-tavern-info-gathering run) is approached and asked if he also would like some work, guarding important merchandise. Playing dumb, and in the hopes of uncovering more slavers, Milos agrees to return the next night at dusk.

Using a mind reading spell, he also detects another unsavory character attempting to prostitute out two enslaved women. He approaches the man as a potential customer and follows him to a building nearby. Mirabelle follows as well, keeping undetected, while Sergor and Thorne stay behind at the tavern.

Mirabelle and Milos ambush the pimp and a guard who is also waiting in the building. The kill the evil pair and inform the women that they are liberated, and that they'll help them return to their homes. Mirabelle takes them to the group's room at the inn and Milos goes back to the tavern to round up Thorne and Sergor.

The next day, the group concludes that a double-cross between the Thayans and Zhents is in order. Sergor and Milos go early to the address the double- sworded assassin gave Sergor. The Zhents tell him they have decided to ambush the Thayans and tell Sergor he will be rewarded if all goes well. He is simply to report back the next day for the original job.

That evening at dusk, Milos returns to the tavern for his "job". Mirabelle, Thorne and Sergor hide outside the tavern and follow Milos and some other new employees into the woods outside of town. They can see a clearing with five carts full of slaves, a number of guards, and a Red Wizard. They can also see six shapes in the woods indicating the Zhent ambush, two of whom are the big half-orc and his puny brother.

The Zhents spring into action, killing off a large number of guards. Milos kills off some of the slavers and grabs a bunch of keys, beginning to unlock the carts and letting the slaves out. The slaves unlock each other and scatter for the woods. Most of the Thayans and Zhents have killed each other off, and the remaining consist of: the Red Wizard, the Barbarian half-orc, who has gone berserk upon seeing the death of his brother and is killing everything that moves, the double-sworded assassin, and a couple of slavers. The rest of the gang jumps into the fray and begins attacking the Red Wizard, the slavers, and the berserk half-orc. The assassin, angered at the loss of the slaves, begins chasing after them and cutting them down as they run. Mirabelle, angered at such disregard for human life, engages the assassin in combat. She deals some damage, but he manages to knock her unconscious. Thinking she's dead, he leaves her in the woods.

Meanwhile, Milos, Thorne, and Sergor have dispatched the Red Wizard, but the half-orc has nearly killed Thorne. Milos heals Thorne and they finish off the half-orc just in time to be attacked by the double-sworded assassin. Three on one, they deal him some serious damage before Mirabelle recovers and runs back into the fight. The assassin turns and runs, but is killed before he can escape. However, the group notice rustling in the bushes, and when they follow it, they find a weasel who is quite obviously a familiar, which manages to escape them and run into the city.

Mirabelle decides the circumstances are too dangerous, and feeling a responsibility toward the slaves, gathers as many as she can find and take back to New Keep. The other three head back into town to tie up loose ends. They return to the Zhent's house in town and hide nearby, just in time to see half the guards leave to search for them in the woods! Seeing this opportunity, they break into the house and kill off the guards. Upstairs, they find a Zhent sorceror, who attacks them but eventually succumbs and dies. Searching through the sorceror's library, they find the book that the Wizard Kell wants. They also find a number of other valuable books and items in the house.

They quickly and quietly return to the wizard's house in the middle of the night, completing their trade for the Monk's belt as well as some additional useful items (e.g. a spell scroll). They hurry back to the inn to pay the innkeeper and rescue the two former slave women, take their horses and loot, and ride back to New Keep before the Zhent guards can return.