Chapter One: A LMoP Adventure

Elsa smiles up at Gruxx, tucking hair behind her ear. "Oh," she grins. "Well, we don't close up for a few more hours, and it's already dark, but maybe in the morning? As for cleaning up, there's a wash room down the hall. It's not much, but should serve you well enough."

During breaks in entertaining the crowd, the Herr Doktor Professor will walk up to the bar and ask Toblen about a leatherworker in town named Grista and an orchard keeper named Daran Edermath (in that order; given Elsa's reaction earlier, the barkeep might be less reticent if HDP asks about the leatherworker first).

Gruxx taken aback momentarily that Rock's words seems to have been effective stutters then smiles and simply says, "Thank you, morning it is."

Gruxx will make his way to the wash room and try to clean himself up.

Rock to Grux, "Well done little one, clean up and leave the head in your room! Find out as much as you can about town, and have a good time.

Gruxx exits the common room through the door at the end of the bar and finds himself in a long hallway with several door. After a minute or so of testing doorknobs, he finds one unlocked. He opens the door and finds himself in a small washroom. He lights the lamp avails himself of the facilities.

As Herr Doktor steps up to the bar, Toblen greets him with a big smile. "Thank you so much!" he says. He holds out a hand and returns enough coin to repay the bard for one of the rooms and his dinner plate and mug of ale. "As long as you're willing to entertain my guests, your room and board are on the house." He looks around at the growing crowd. It's not so much a crowd as a big group, but the common room isn't that large. "Haven't had this much business in a while," the man comments. When Herr Doktor asks the innkeeper about Grista, Toblen scowls. "What do you want with that surly dwarfess? She runs the Sleeping Giant tap house, but you don't want to go there. It's where the Redbrands congregate. You'd be asking for trouble visiting that place. Even most locals steer clear." "Tell 'im about Thel," the blonde woman, who has stepped out of the kitchen, says. "He doesn't want to hear about that, Trilena," Toblen says. "Dendrar, a local woodcarver," Trilena says matter-of-fact, ignoring the innkeeper, "stood up to the Redbrands a tenday ago when they came by his shop and leered at his wife. The ruffians murdered him. Several townsfolk saw it happen. The Redbrands grabbed his body, and now his wife, daughter, and son have gone missing too.” She gives Herr Doktor a strong look and a slight nod to punctuate her story. "Back to the kitchen with ya, woman!" Toblen commands playfully. She gives him a kiss and then disappears into the kitchen. Toblen sighs. "It's upsetting that the Redbrands have been allowed to terrorize the town. Harbin Wester — he's the townmaster — has done nothing to stop them." The man sighs again. "As you can imagine, I'm reluctant to stir up trouble. I don't want anything to happen to Trilena ... or Pip."

When the bard asks about Daran, Toblen points. "He just walked in." Herr Doktor turns to see a fit, silver-haired half-elf making his way to a seat at the table next to the party's. He is looking at Herr Doktor — or perhaps his lute — and the two nod at each other. "You have more songs to sing, right?" Toblen asks hopefully. Elsa is busy, busy, moving from table to table, her laughter rising above the conversation like a songbird's call. The voices have gotten louder during Herr Doktor's break, and it's a pleasant roar, but the bard can see eyes continuously darting in his direction in anticipation of more entertainment. "We don't get a lot of minstrels," the innkeeper finishes.

The Herr Doktor Professor returns to the party's table, apparently tuning his instrument. In a low voice, he passes on to his comrades the information the innkeeper shared.

"There is trouble outside of Phandalin, and trouble inside as well," he reports.

"Those Redbrands mentioned by Gruxx and Glynquinal have apparently murdered a local woodcarver and kidnapped his family. The townmaster, Harbin Wester, seems powerless to stop them. Perhaps there is some good we can do in this town before leaving for Castle Cragmaw.

"Speaking of the Castle," he tells Glynquinal, "that ex-adventurer who might know the way there just walked in.

"He's the half-elf who isn't holding a lute," the Herr Doktor Professor helpfully adds as he returns to entertaining the crowd.

Glynquinal keeps an eye out as the crowd grows larger. Being in a place he is not familiar with, the rogue will remain in a state of alertness. Doing his best to catch snippets of conversation around him to gather some information what the mood of the town is, Glynquinal enjoys watching the good Herr Doktor performing to the crowd. It has been a while since he last saw the Doktor perform at the Brawling Bard

Glynquinal leans over to Ian, "The good Doktor seems to be doing well tonight. It's good to have a good place to sleep too. No wolves here to trouble us rither."

Glynquinal does happen to hear one old man say to another at his table, "You know Sister Garaele recently left town a few days ago? Well, she's back — wounded and exhausted. I haven't spoken with her; I just heard it from Lalathal, who visited the shrine this noon."

Gruxx comes back to the table much cleaner than he was previously in time to hear Herr Doktor talk about the murder.  Gruxx then says, "Well... If they are going around murdering innocent folk I think we should murder them back."

Glynquinal grabs Gruxx's attention, " I've been listening to some of the conversations tonight. If there are people around that are even willing to harm clergy, perhaps we could quietly encourage them to  end that practice. I have a great dislike for people pushing around others when it's easy. I'd like to push back," Glynquinal smiled broadly, "And relieve them of any coin they might be carrying.

Leaning in closer to his companions, Glynquinal adds," Perhaps the disappearance of our friend, and the people from the town are related. We should make inquiries, quietly."

"So Glynn yours saying that we may kill two bugbears with one keg of ale, nice!"

Glynquinal laughing, "Well, I wouldn't waste good ale."

Ian enjoys himself at the table, listening, but not speaking much. In a crowd like this he prefers to watch and listen instead of talking.

Though everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, Ian is cautious, especially after having almost died recently, and he looks around to see if he notices anything amiss, or anyone that looks like they dont belong.

Perception 5

Gruxx to Glynnquinal, "You do you're quiet thing.  Just tell me when you need me to do my loud thing." Gruxx nods to his glaive.

Ian notices nothing that would raise any suspicions. To him, it appears a healthy group of locals have come, drawn to the Inn by Herr Doktor's entertainment. Even the three somber-looking individuals who were here when they first arrived have livened up. Pip is having a good time dancing around the tables.

"Grux we should have a bet about who can do the best loud thing, what do you thin Ian, Glynn?"

Rock looks at Glynn "You and Ian can be judges"' 

Gruxx smiles at Rock and says, "I accept your bet!"

Gruxx reaches in and pulls out his starting to discolor Klarg head, "I will wager my prized head!  What do you offer?"

Glynquinal nods laughing, "I'm sure you two will come up will be interesting."

Glynquinal laughing with Gruxx, "If you keep on doing loud stuff, I'm sure the quiet things Ian and I can work will make things interesting. I'm sure you two will come up with something."