Dare, Lilvari, Mercarri and Mystic return to Phandalin with Gundrin around dinner time. They first stop at the Townmaster’s Hall and fill Sildar in on their adventure at Cragmaw Castle. Sildar is grateful for Gundren’s rescue and for the recovery of his armor and longsword. He gives the adventurers their reward of 500 gold pieces. Gundren parts ways with the party after catching up with Sildar, telling them he needs to find his brothers, Nundro and Tharden. Sildar bids him goodbye. Before the party leaves, Sildar tells Dare to stop by tomorrow morning. There’s Lord’s Alliance business that needs to be discussed, and it has to do with Freda Drawning. 

Next, they head to Sister Garaele’s cottage to deliver the vials of Ogre blood. When she opens the door, they see that her eyebrows have been singed off. By now they know better than to say anything. She accepts the Ogre blood graciously and promises that by tomorrow she should have more information about the mysterious red drug. She tells Lilvari that she’s done a wonderful service for the Harpers and that she sees great things for her in the future. Before they leave, Dare tells the story of their journey and of the abandoned shack they found. She listens in horror as Dare explains the fate of his sister.

“Hags,” she says. “What do you know of hags?”

The party confides that they don’t know much about hags at all. She tells them that hags are powerful beings similar to witches. They used to settle around these parts and that they are known for snatching up children in the night… and eating them. It’s a horrible story and a horrible fate and she tells Dare she’s sorry that it seems to have befallen his sister. 

After wishing them well, Sister Garaele goes back inside. The party stops at Stonehill Inn for dinner. They notice the lack of patrons. Elsa the barmaid takes their order. Lilvari asks her why the inn is so empty. Elsa explains that ever since the thing happened with the rats, people have stopped coming. 

As they wait for their order, Traubon stops by, but he’s not there for food. He pulls up a chair at the party’s table. He welcomes them back and asks about their adventures. Then he mentions that Freda is asking to see them.

“Speaking of Freda,” Dare says, “How are things going with you two? You hitting that yet?”

Traubon laughs and shakes his head. “Not yet,” he says. “All joking aside, she gives me the creeps, actually.” He explains that several times he’s caught her staring at him. She’s also been asking him strange questions like how much he thinks he’s worth or if he thinks his skills will make him rich some day. “Anyway, she told me to keep my eye out for you and to let you know that she wishes to speak to you. She wouldn’t say why.”

They agree to meet with her after dinner. With that, he leaves.

When they go to Freda’s, she’s high strung and hurries them into the house. She tells them that now that they’re back, they have to move the body. “Tonight,” she says.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dare says. “What body?”

She crosses her arms, gives him a strange look before turning to Lilvari. “Is he serious?”

“I’m just messing with you,” Dare says. He’s laughing, and he’s the only one.

“Anyway,” Freda continues, “the guards keep stopping by. They checked my house twice and won’t stop asking me all kinds of questions. They want to know about where I lived before here and why I left and all kinds of things like that.”

“Why did you leave?” Lilvari asks.

Freda gives some semblance of a rambling answer. Lilvari senses that she’s not being completely honest, but she lets it go. Freda tells them to come back late, maybe two in the morning or so to help dispose of the body. They agree. Before leaving, they work out a plan.

The adventurers finally head back to Tresendar Manor. On the way they pass The Sleeping Giant Tavern and notice the new sign out front. “Rat free service!” But it’s late, and with the long night ahead of them, they continue on home without stopping.

Droop eagerly meets them by the door. He has news about Ajax. He says Ajax stopped by while they were away, and he had a message. “He found word on his family,” Droop says. He explains that Ajax talked about growing up on the streets of Waterdeep, never knowing where he’d really come from or who his family was, but he got information that might lead him to who they were. And there’s something else Droop wants to tell them.

He leads them to the basement of Tresendar Manor. They can see he set up some sort of workshop down there with benches full of tools and scraps of metal and wood all over the stone floor. It’s on the floor that they see a metal construct in the shape of a black cat. It’s got wings. Droop explains. He says that after Ajax left, he did some soul searching. Ajax never knew his parents, but Droop knew his. He loved his parents. They taught him how to do great things. To keep those things hidden, well.. It was almost like doing a disservice to their memory. When Lilvari asks what great things he’s referring to, Droop shows her.

He pulls out a pair of goggles and hands them to Mercarri. “Put these on,” he says. Once she does, he snaps his fingers, and the torch light snuffs out, plunging the room in darkness. “You can still see, right?” he asks Mercarri. 

“Yes,” she says, excited. “I can. Wow, this is so neat.”

“You just have to be careful,” he warns. “If you hear a buzzing sound, you might want to–”

There’s a loud bang and a flash of light from around the glasses. Mercarri yelps in pain.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Droop says. He snaps his fingers. The torches regain their light. He hurriedly takes the goggles back. “I promise I’ll fix it.”

He tells them about his past, that he lived with his ma and pa in a goblin village East of Mount Hotenow. His pa spent all his time creating these wondrous inventions used to protect his village. For years his inventions kept them safe from random threats against the village — small bands of Orcs, other Goblin tribes, packs of Owlbears. But then King Grol came with his army of Hobgoblins, BugBears and more Goblins than Droop had ever seen. 

“There were too many for my pa’s inventions to stop. They slaughtered the entire village. Pa told me to run — run and don’t look back. So that’s what I did.” Tears roll down Droop’s face as he recounts his story, but he has a look of resolve as well. “I need to stop running,” he says.

He tells them that he’d like to join them on their adventures. He says the inventions he makes can help keep them safe. 

“Sure,” Dare says. “You can start tonight by helping us dig up a body.”

Droop goes pale. “A… a.. Body?”

They explain. Droop reluctantly agrees to help. He goes on to tell them that his inventions would be more potent if he only had his pa’s wrench — a magical item that helped him create the greatest things. The last time he saw it was about the same time he last saw his pa. 

Dare gets a strange look on his face, like he’s concentrating very, very hard. Everyone slowly turns to him, curious as to what he’s doing. After nearly a minute, he says, “I think… I think I just thought of something.” He goes through his backpack and pulls out the strange wrench he found at Cragmaw. “Is this your pa’s wrench?”

From the way Droop’s face lights up, they all can tell it is.

The Body

The party meets at Freda’s house under the cover of darkness where they discuss their plan a final time. Mercarri and Mystic head South to the Town Green. Droop gets a boost on top of the Smithy from Dare. “Remember,” Lilvari tells him, “if you see anything, moo.” 

Lilvari and Dare head back to Freda’s, grab shovels and wait. It’s not long before they hear it in the distance — the loud banging of metal on metal and, under it, the soft sound of Mystic’s flute. Lilvari and Dare start digging.

Back in the Town Green, people start to emerge from their houses, half asleep and in their bed clothes. Mystic and Mercarri stand in the center town, seemingly drunk and making as much noise as possible. It’s not long before several Neverwinter Guards come their way. Mystic and Mercarri play louder. The guards, led by Townmaster Harbin Wester, tell them to ‘stop making such a racket’ to ‘go home’. They don’t go home. They continue to play, which draws more guards. Finally at Harbin’s command, the guards slowly escort the ladies home. It’s the diversion the party hoped for.

Dare and Lilvari are frantically digging. Several feet down, Dare strikes a foot with his shovel. “Found ‘em,” Dare says. They dig out a few more shovel-fulls of dirt when they hear what sounds like a sick cow mooing. They freeze. And listen.

It’s not long before they catch sight of someone walking in their direction. Lilvari mutters a spell under her breath and a sphere of magical darkness swells around whoever it is. The person screams out in surprise. “Help! I’m blind. I’m blind!”

Dare and Lilvari recognize the voice. It belongs to Daran Edermath. Before he can make too much of a fuss, Lilvari rushes out to meet him. She tells him to calm down, that everything is okay. She finds him in the darkness and leads him towards his house. As soon as the dig site is out of view, she removes the spell. He looks thoroughly stunned. As he mutters about what just happened, Lilvari acts like she experienced none of it. “Maybe I just had a bit too much to drink,” he says. She helps him to his house then returns to Freda’s. By this time, Dare has the body mostly uncovered.

Meanwhile, Mystic and Mercarri are leading a procession of guards and an angry Townmaster towards Tresendar Manor. They’re going as slow as possible. When they finally reach their home, Mystic invites the guards inside to continue the party. The guards decline, though some look like they’d rather not.

Dare and Lilvari carry the body of Freda’s husband North through the fields lining Phandalin to a small but deep river and watch as he sinks to the bottom. Mission accomplished, they head back to Freda’s. As they reach town, they see Halia Thorton in the distance. She’s heading North. Lilvari hangs back, but Dare goes after her, trying to get information as to where she’s going. By this time its nearly four in the morning. All she tells him is that it’s a personal matter that’s none of his business. It’s clear to him, though, that she’s angry to have been seen.

Together, Dare and Lilvari fetch Droop from atop the Smithy and return to Freda’s to fill in the hole. The sun is barely touching the horizon as they make their way back to Tresendar Manor. A guard awaits them on the stoop. He stands as they approach, and Dare and Lilvari are certain he’s there to arrest them. Instead he tells them about Mystic and Mercarri’s romp through town.

“Yeah, they were pretty drunk last night,” Dare says. “I’ve never seen them that bad before.”

The guard leaves, muttering under his breath. Dare, Lilvari and Droop head inside.