MC1S4

## A Tale of Two Rats

The ruins of Tresendar Manor, where the party takes the fight to the Redbrands.

“
*—What is your name?
—My name is not Rat.
—Hi, Not Rat!*
”
—  Herbie and Not Rat, *Rattus perfidus*.
**A Tale of Two Rats** was the 4th session of the Lost Mines of Colmanth mini-campaign.

## Summary

*Vae victis!* The Party imprisons the defeated Redbrands. The party interrogates the bandits, but their methods cause some friction with the Townmaster, Daran Edermath. Herbie explores the Redbrand hideout under the Tresendar estate, but is ambushed by a Nothic. The party cuts off a secret entrance to the Redbrand hideout with the use of dynamite; they proceed to storm the enemy lair. Armed with both the element of surprise and knowledge of the lair's layout, the party easily overpowers the first Redbrands they encounter. Genevieve, with the use of magic, is able to acquire the assistance of three skeletons, who believe her the heir of the extinct Tresendar family. Herbie procures the dubious aid of two peculiar rats.

## NPCs

* **The Redbrands:** Hired by the "Black Spider" to terrorize Phandalin and scare off adventurers, the party discovers that this rabble did not arbitrarily choose to attack Phandalin: they were contracted to do so.
* **Townmaster Daran Edermath:** A stoic and resolute man, he commands the respect of the townsfolk. A former adventurer, this old half-elf received an arrow to the knee, an unfortunate event that ended his adventuring career. However, he remains a force to be reckoned with, despite being well past his prime. He was elected the leader of the town, but he formerly worked at the Edermath Orchard, which is now managed by Eran, his son. Utterly lawful good, he disapproves of the more chaotic tendencies of the party, and shoves Genevieve away from the interrogation after she does not follow his instructions to sheathe her blade.
* **Sildar Hallwinter:** A staunch ally of the party. He has a tense discussion with Godric. Sildar is conflicted: while a staunch ally of the party who owes them his life, he firmly believes in the due process of law. Does not succeed in getting Linene Graywind to help the party out. That said, he volunteers to help himself. The Townmaster remains at the Town Hall, ensuring that the prisoners remain captive.
* **Rat and Not-Rat:** A pair of fascinating rodents. One of them speaks nothing but truth, while the other speaks nothing but lies.
* **Halia Thornton:** The brash and forthright owner of the Phandalin Miner's Exchange. She sells dynamite over-the-counter in a less than legal operation. She threatens the party with siccing the Illuminati on them if they disclose this to the Townmaster.
* **The Bony Bois:** A trio of skellies to which Genevieve gave an ancient password of unknown meaning. They immediately proclaimed her the inheritor of the Tresendar family, and began following her every command. She sicced them onto some Redbrands, and they proceeded to utterly dismantle two of them.
* **Iarno Albrek:** Nothing is known of him. Seems to have vanished mysteriously.

## Inventory

### Gained

* 1 more healing potion
* 2 daggers
* 30 gold
* 4 sticks of dynamite (5 including the one from the goblins)

### Lost

* 5 sticks of dynamite (used to block escape from the secret tunnel)

## Quests

### Ongoing

* **The Missing Dwarf (Everyone):** Find Gundren's whereabouts. Discover the exact location of Cragmaw Castle.
* **Never Should have Come Here (Everyone):** Locate the Redbrands' hideout and defeat their mysterious leader.
* **For the Glory of doG (Herbie and Sofiel):** Return to Sister Garaele once she has fully healed from her recent misadventure.
* **Orc Trouble (Everyone):** Learn more of the bounty on the Orc Raiders. Defeat the Orcs at Wyvern Tor to receive 100 GP.
* **Ascending to doGhood (Herbie):** Acquire Divinity by freeing 1000 dogs or wolves. 3 / 1,000

### Completed

* **You've got Mail (Genevieve):** Collect the correspondence for you at Halia's.

## Reflections

* **Herbie**: "I think I'm starting to like this place. People cheered for us! Not as much as Genevieve though. Why, she took me out to a farm, got us dynamite to blow up a tunnel (really need to figure how to split fifteen silvers, for *personal* use), got us a bunch of undead warriors (undead, how do you undie?), she's even learning how to channel her inner scary like me! Maybe I should give her a few pointers for next time though, work on the eyes and voice, get them to glow and boom so she won't need the sword. Not so thrilled with the manor though, the floors are falling under us, why can't they fall on the beast? (Shivers) Saw right through my disguise, saw right through me! Burned right through me too! Why couldn't it have been a pirate cat? Claw my face, but that would be okay... Those poor, poor rats. I'll have to help them out, hope they can have a family again. Not Rat won't say it, but I bet he's as scared as his brother. He's been really helpful too, I just wonder who taught him about yes and no."
* Genevieve: "I...am going to have to apologize to the townmaster after we get out of this cellar. When we were interrogating the last Redbrand he clammed up and wouldn't answer about the family they took captive, and I pulled my sword on him. The townmaster stepped in but I had some very harsh words for him too. I won't repeat them and it'd be easy to blame the stress of the last fight, but I do acknowledge I went to far with my insult. Luckily a talk with Godric and receiving a letter from Mama helped me calm down and sort myself out, but in the meantime we've got work to do. Herbie tried sneaking into the Redbrand hideout and got attacked by a one-eyed beast, so we blew up that entrance (guess I've found out where those goblins have been getting their dynamite - Halia's store) and went in through the ruined manor. No sign of the monster yet, but we did find the kidnapped family - and a trio of skeletons! I'm not sure how it happened, but Sofiel guessed the password and I used it, and now we have three skeletons who think I'm the lost heir of the Tresender family and heed my every command. I think they were knights or men-at-arms in life, something like Godric is supposed to be today (though he'd never obey as quickly as these three). Whoever they were, they are fierce and honorable warriors, and I feel guilty about deceiving them even if we do need their help. Perhaps there's a way to lay them to rest after we clear out the Redbrands?"

## Appendix

Lost Mines of Colmanth Sessions
**Chapter 1: The Frontier**. Session 1 · Session 2 · Session 3 · **Session 4** · Session 5 · Session 6 · Session 7
 Session 8 · Session 9 · Session 10 · Session 11 · Session 12