MC1S7

## A Man of Many Words

L'aiq the Liar, as he is known by some, an eccentric researcher and necromancer.

## Party Experience

### XP Gained

**+450** (+150 social, +200 combat, +100 exploration).

## Continuity

### Next session

MC1S8

“
*"L'aiq, I've come to bargain!"*
”
—  Sofiel to L'aiq the Liar.
**A Man of Many Words** was the 7th session of the Lost Mines of Colmanth mini-campaign.

## Summary

The party progresses to Old Owl Well, where they discover the aforesaid horde of undead. They find that the undead are led by L'aiq: an eccentric and peculiar necromancer. L'aiq wishes to bargain with the Miners: if they will acquire information from a local ghost, he will tell them the location of Cragmaw Castle and the plans of the Black Spider. Suspicious of the feline foreigner, Godric and Genevieve keep watch, while Sofiel and Herbie proceed to lift the curse afflicting the banshee, thus gaining her favor--and the information they were after. When they return, however, tensions gradually erupt into conflict. The Miners temporarily subdue L'aiq by chucking him in the well and covering it with a cauldron. Ultimately, Sofiel frees L'aiq who, confused and surprised by her gesture, chooses to end hostilities as a result. Battered and bruised, the party makes its way back to Wyvern Tor to prepare for the attack on Cragmaw Castle.

## NPCs

* **L'aiq:** A peculiar necromancer on a secretive errand to Old Owl Well, who was desperate to learn the name of its builder. Whether he became mad before or after his research is an open question, but the eccentric necromancer proved to be a significant threat.
	+ L'aiq claims to be an enemy of the Black Spider, though this claim--like all of his other claims--is dubious at best.
* **Agatha and Clara:** Two individuals afflicted by a powerful curse that turned Agatha into a banshee. The curse seems to have been triggered as a result of a raid against Agatha's house, though details remained elusive. Clara, Agatha's daughter, was caught up in the curse too, and was afraid to even look at her horrifically altered

## Inventory

### Gained

* 35 silver pieces
* 80 gold pieces
* One pearl
* Potion of Healing
* Scroll of Darkness
* Small Jeweled Box (locked)

## Quests

### Ongoing

* **The Missing Dwarf (Everyone):** Find Gundren's whereabouts. Discover the exact location of Cragmaw Castle. Question the captive Goblin for information about Cragmaw Castle's location. Find Reidroth the druid or one of the Goblin raiding parties.
* **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. I don't even know at this point. Help the orcs storm Cragmaw Castle?
* **Ascending to doGhood (Herbie):** Acquire Divinity by freeing 1000 dogs or wolves. 3 / 1,000
* **The Village Squirrel (Sofiel):** Rescue Reidroth from Thundertree.

### Completed

* **The Village Necromancer (Everyone):** Deal with the undead threat in Old Owl Well.

## Reflections

* **Herbie:** "What an... hour? It's only been that long? So many things happened, mom! Sure, the road was boring at first till we found the well behind a wall, and there's a lot of growling. I'm not talking Morel before breakfast growling, I'm talking dwarves at an empty flagon growling! So I decide to have a looksee when *splash*, everything's burning! I'm so glad I figured out how you just stop being somewhere, that hurt! That's when all the commotion really started and a horde of dead bodies started pouring out. Now, I'm pretty sure dead bodies are supposed to stay dead, so we did what we could to make them that way. We were holding them off just fine till someone told us to stop, and - you're not going to believe this - it was a cat. Yes, a cat! Like, a walking, talking cat. That was his name, Like! Didn't seem to like us much, so it wasn't a good name, but he did say he'd help us if we could do something for him and it would only take fifteen minutes. Well, Like is a liar, because it took *fifty*, just to get there! I'm glad we did though, because someone there really needed our help. There was a ghost who tried to scare us, but I saw right through it, it was the worried kind of scary, the kind I see when Dragonfly stays out late on the bloodmoon. She'd lost her daughter, but I found her, held her tight and brought them back together. Specters showed up, and now it showed just how afraid they were, I kind of was too. But I knew what you'd do, that you'd do anything to protect us, so I stood tall and put on the meanest face I could remember you making! It worked! Nobody messes with *the glare*. That left the ghosts at peace, together, as they should be. I'm glad the mom and daughter got to find each other, before the end... That left us to deal with Like, and when we tried to see what he doing with all the bodies, he got mad and tried to fight us. Now I know why dogs hate cats, cats fight *mean*. He made shadows that smacked us, even threw away your blasts! I tried to dunk him in the acid, but that just made him better! I shouldn't have forgotten cats have nine lives. Nine lives... maybe that's where they get them from, all these bodies? I'm going to be better friends with Ceros if it means stamping out these mean cats. Like was so strong, we finally had to dunk him in a well, and the moment I looked down he was flying back out! No time to lose, with Godric pushing we stuck a pot on it, and I burned the bodies. Let's get out of here!"
* **Genevieve:** "I used to consider myself a cat person, but I am formally resigning and signing up with Herbie to worship Ceros. Phandalin's going to need him, with a cat necromancer lurking around Old Owl Well. "Conducting research", he says, "means no harm" he says, well I don't know what is more ridiculous - that he actually expected us to believe he had no darker purpose for raising an army of zombies, or the fact that Sofiel actually believed him? She's a cleric, aren't they're supposed to put undead to rest? Well, when I put it that way, I remember how we enlisted the skeletal warriors under Tressynder Manor to help clear out the Redbrands, but that situation was entirely different. We didn't raise them from the dead, we convinced them to help us, and released them when the Redbrands were defeated. We certainly didn't march them outside, tell everyone that it was above their understanding, and expect them all to be okay with it! If there was an innocent explanation for having a dozen zombies on guard, I'd love to hear it, but with that smug condescending arrogance of his, I'd never trust anything he said. As if his refusal to explain his "good reasons" for necromancy wasn't enough proof of wrongdoing, he also knew far too much about Rockseeker and the Black Spider. When push came to shove, his shadow powers and healing from zombie broth prove he's been meddling with dark arts. Godric finally beat him by throwing him down the well and blocking him in - hope he drowns, the fleabag - but I know we haven't seen the last of this feline necromancer. I only hope we haven't weakened ourselves too much by fighting him, not before the attack on Cragmaw."
* **Godric:** "Today was a grim day indeed - we met a creature most foul, a murderous and predatory necromancer, much stronger than the Nothic, than Glassstaff, than all the goblinoids, bandits, and other hardships we've faced so far. I'm used to wear and tear, I've been beaten down quite a bit since the start of this journey, but this man seemed to have the power to kill outright, with a single spell... he's a greater threat to Phandalin than everything we've seen so far, that's for certain. On his motives, I'm quite conflicted - he was obviously willing to kill people to make petty servants, as was evidenced by the fresh zombies, and he was willing to kill to protect some rubble which meant nothing to me and my friends. I'd have pegged him as an ally of the Spider which we seek - he knew about Gundren's whereabouts specifically, someone who is inconsequential to our fiendish enemies when compared to the maps he was carrying - and yet, seeing his magical might, he may very well have some kind of divination to allow him to see across distances. Of course, if this man is an enemy of 'the spider', and the spider lives on to torment and frighten him... then the spider must be stronger than he is. This is worrying news indeed - while I'd been prepared to die to protect the others, if it came to it, but the arcane perversions and the possibility of eternal slavery are much more frightening than just death. On the upside... if we do beat a legendary wizard... will we be legendary heroes ourselves?"
* **Sofiel:** "What a mess this was. Herbie got pulled into that vat of Ceros knows what and had burn marks all over his body. I will need to do a more thorough check once we are away from this mess to ensure there is no lasting effect or rotten tissue. Just thinking of that makes me even more tired than I already am. I have no idea if I can muster the energy to even detect some magical remains of that liquid on him. A more standard check will have to do. Why am I even distracting myself from the mess we just made. I wont have any energy left for this upcoming fight and trying to rescue Gundren. Hopefully we don't encounter too much trouble, but at the rate we are going that's a lot to ask for. Hopefully I can scavenge something along the way to make for a healing remedy. I must admit this was a rather odd and arrogant person, but that was no cause for a fight. Even then we had other things to be concerned with without spending all of our energy on looking into an old keep when he wasn't aggressive. I think I will need to have a talk with the group on when we pick our fights because we barely got out of that one without him even pursuing us. I think emotions are just a bit high, and we need to calm down after this next adventure. Ceros give me the energy to keep them healthy throughout this next fight. I know I will need everything that I can get."

## 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