Forgotten Realms Tales

Logan:

"Well, we have the 20 feet of knotted rope to the handholds in the shaft, then a climb up the shaft, then another 15 feet or so up the knotted rope to the upper level," says Logan, adding,  "I think there were some rings for a pully system up there too, but we would need a lot of rope and some mechanical know-how to make it work smoothly."

Logan sorts thorough the chain, pulley system, and platform debris at the bottom of the shaft to see if he can come up with anything.

Intelligence:  9

     "Does this mithril have the same effectiveness as silver versus the lycanthropes?" Gorm asks early on during the mining.  For all the hard work she wants to make sure they are collecting something worthwhile to the reason they came here, after all.

     Considering how to bring the product of their labors to the surface Gorm just offers the most obvious solutions...  "We could just haul it up in multiple trips or have a team here at the bottom filling empty knapsacks and a team up team hauling full knapsacks up by the rope..."

     (Just how much is there?  If we dragged it through the broken wall and through the tunnels without a cart or anything it shouldn't be too burdensome?)

"It will be more than useful against those creatures" assures Thandril to Gorm. "In fact, a weapon made of this material could even hurt creatures partially in the etheral plane such as ghosts... " he explains. 

With the aid of more abandoned minning material and the clever use of pulleys and a lot of strength they finally manage to climb up with their precious treasure. 
At the end, and after four days after leaving the inn, they made it to it, rejoining Talgred and Chara who both are amazed by the tale of their adventures. Fortunately the dwarves are long gone and no one is present to confront them for the possesion of such a rare ore.

"I cannot forge what we need with the means that I have in here " explain Thandril over a well cooked dinner "I need to go to one of the abandoned Myth Drannor outposts to the south and use the forge that should be there. If this is not possible " he shakes his head " I would have to come back home and do it there, but that would take a lot of time. I would buy or rent a cart here and that would make it easier to carry the ore. Word of advice though. Do not speak to anyone of what we found down there. That could bring opportunists to the mines and remember that there was drow down there. Once the lycantrope situation is dealt with I will come back home and I guess that my father would want to come back and make sure all that Mithril doesn't fall into the drow's hands..  " he shrugs and takes a sip of his wine "What are you going to do my friends?" 

Logan:

Assuming they have sufficient privacy, Logan emphasizes to Chiara how Thandril is now a trusted ally, and he shares with the elf, “We are bound for Shadowdale to consult a scholar about a growing threat in Suzail—a mysterious cult seeking ancient knowledge about dragons.”

Reminder:

Haerun Mhammaster, an scholar specialized in the history and folklore of elves. He could give us some important information about this. I've heard that he lives in the north of the Daggerdale, near the Shadowdale.

((Were we just helping get the silver or were we going to help with the lycanthropes?  I thought help defeat the lycan's but it kind of seems we are being sent on our way?))

     Gorm stays largely quiet and eats and drinks intensely instead.  She listens to the conversation but she knows she will follow the lead of Logan so the discussion is kind of a moot point to her.  

"I see... I am even more grateful for your help now, knowing that you had delayhed your own mission to help me, even in the wake of this danger. Who is this sage you are looking for? I may go there and give you your rewards if you like... "

(( You can do whatever you want... I do try, inside the limitations of PbP, to offer you a sandbox campaign. If you want to see this to the end you are more than welcome, if you want to resume your original plan it is fine, if you want to do anything else... we will see where it takes us ;) ))

Logan:

Looking at his companions, Logan says, “I would like to see this through for the sake of the locals being accosted by lycanthropes, but it seems that you will need some time to make your items from our…ah…new materials recently acquired.”

”This is what I propose—The rest of us go to Shadowdale to consult the scholar Haerun Mhammaster while you forge the items the way you find best.  We meet back up when you are done, either here or at the scholar’s place if you are quick with your smithing, then go together to clear out the monsters threatening the locals,” suggests Logan.

(If I remember, Candlekeep and Shadowdale were two different ways, so we would be retracingnour steps at some point.  Depending on smithing time, relative geography, and time with the scholar, we should be able to meet and re-equip to go after the lycanthropes.  We could also travel together for as far as our paths coincide and try to work out a plan to leave messages if needed.)

((Rewards?  I need to read more carefully, I think I missed something!  lol... But yeah, I know we can do as we choose, I just thought we had chosen to help with lycanthropes, not just mine... but all good.  All good.))

     "That," Gorm says pointing to Logan with a fork full of food before redirecting it to her mouth.  

     "Best do as much at one time," she says while chewing.  "You forge, us hunt scholar, reconnect quickly to take down monsters..."

Logan:

"It is agreed, then," says Logan.  "Before you depart, Thandril, let us eat and rest, dividing up what coinage we were able to find at the abandoned mine--I'm sure it will afford you the funds to purchase a cart."

(Were we able to find anything else in the Kruthick Queen lair?  Maybe on the bodies of those fed to the new hatchlings?  We were there for several hours doing mining.  Also, I think we would have wanted to pull up the rope behind us at the end to keep any stray insectoids from coming up the shaft after us).  

Logan is happy to divide the treasure from their adventure, eat heartily, and sleep soundly for the night before setting off the next morning.

Logan:

As the conversation reaches a lull, Logan realizes how tired he is.  Bidding the others good night, he heads to his room for a nice, long rest, fully intending to wake up early, train, and take a cleansing bath before breakfast.

…ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…

Unable to sleep because of the snoring coming from Logan’s room, Dr A makes himself a cup of tea and then starts to fill in his journal on what he observed in the mine.

At the next morning most of the inn clients gives Logan stern looks. It seems that it was one of those rare nights that he has been so exhausted that he has snored. 
Thandrkl has already departed as they planned and Gorm can’t help but but have the feeling that perhaps leaving the elf alone with the precious ore was a reckless move. But they were on a schedule after all and they needed answers. 

The party, with Chiara and Talgred again with them, hit the road and makes good time towards their destination. The woods of the vale are healthy and. with good roads, not paved ones like they walked near Suzail but clean and good enough to traverse the landscape without any major issue. 
They find a couple of farms and lumbering lodges along the way and asks for directions. 
Is in the last one of them that one of the lumberjacks advise them not to go to the Tower. 
“A cursed place I assure you” 

But they had no choice and following the man instructions, not his advice, they finally find themselves along a narrow path uphill, following the sound of a stream up ahead, they had been told that the path will turn abruptly to the left after a moss covered rock they will see the tower. 
Tbey do so but to their disappointment they see no tower no home for any sage. The path keep climbing the hill and the stream runs a few feet below them to their right, they can see it among the branches of the trees that grow alongside it, but nothing more. 

     "Have the locals misdirected us?" Gorm asks in annoyance. More rhetorically than anything else.  Surely any tower worth the name should be visible by now.

     "Could it be hidden?" she asks Dr. Arbutaveyu.  "Made invisible through spellcraft?  Though you would think the people we asked would have mentioned such..."

Dr A looks around at where the tower might be to see if it might be hidden magically (Arcana check = 21)

Logan:

Not skilled in the magical arts, Logan just wanders around and looks for anything unusual that might indicate a hidden tower.

Perception:  12

Me thinks it’s.a case of the blind leading the blind!

No sings of a tower can be found by the party, neither by magic or behind some trees.

( give me a Survival check please... one of you can roll with advantage for the others help or just separate rolls, as you wish... ) 

((Our best bet is Doc A to roll with adv...))

Logan:

Logan will help Dr. A with whatever he needs to do to figure out what is going on here…