Stuff what the PCs have found out which may be of use-

Encounter #2 Ambush!

- Goblins are members of the Black Tongue Clan, a number of nomadic clans that inhabit the Nentir Vale, they tend to be attracted to powerful leaders, whom they serve as cannon fodder et al. The PCs note that there are probably some Goblin leader types around to keep them in check.

- Dwarves are part of a mercenary organisation from Hammerfast, Dwarves will fight for anyone with gold, sometimes. The PCs again note that their leader is not around.

- Arthur Ramm, the Gnome, is a local- a second storey guy; he seems out of his depth here.

- Half-Orcs are very Orcish, in fact, very very Orcish- the have all had their tribal tattoos and scars removed- by fire. Furthermore they only speak Orcish (Giant), a language none of the PCs speak alas. Arthur Ramm does however- which explains his presence, something he later confirms, he was hirted on less than twelve hours ago as translator.

Encounter #3 Finding the Enemy

- Arthur Ramm, the Gnome, was hired by an Eladrin yesterday evening, his role was translator. He thinks the Half-Orcs are working for someone else as they’re not very bright- he heard one of them mention ‘the Lady’.

- The Half-Orcs were heading for Tomb Wood, they were going to meet someone there, or else someone was going to meet them, they think that their contact is a lady.

- The Half-Orc’s leader calls himself ‘The Butcher’, he’s a very large slice of Half-Orc, but not bright.

- The prisoner is being held in an underground lair on the south side of the island on which the Tower of Waiting stands- it’s easy to find, covered with a set of tarpaulins- a set of spiral stairs lead down…

- There are more mercenaries in the lair, mostly bad types hired whilst the group have been in Fallcrest.

- The Half-Orcs refuse to tell the PCs anything about the burns on their bodies- the removal of their tribal tattoos and markings. Arthur Ramm thinks these guys are not from around these parts- their accent is pretty strange, nothing like he has heard before.

Encounter #4 The Bloody Secret

A thorough search of the chamber unearths the following information-

- The well in the centre of the chamber seems to be bottomless, certainly it’s deeper than the PCs can fathom with fifty feet of rope and an everburning torch.

- Both cells have been used recently, one of them has only just been vacated- a half eaten meal and the blanket is still warm.

- The bell is ancient- made of tarnished bronze, it has no clapper so cannot be sounded. Furthermore there are carvings on the side showing a boat in the water, a tentacled creature also in the water, and some sort of port- there’s no sun or moon shown. The PCs believe that the entire scene depicts the underdark.

- The gold coins taken from the dead, and Dirk, are not from anywhere in the Nentir Vale.

- The bloody mess on the floor of the chamber are the remains of a sacrifice that took place yesterday evening- Dirk tells the PCs all about it.

The PCs quickly discover the following from Dirk Tragga, who is locked into one of the cages-

- The prisoner is a young boy, no more than eight years old.

- The Butcher came to the lair less than twenty minutes ago, with a Half-Orc, a Goblin and an Eladrin, they took the prisoner with them. Dirk doesn’t know where they went, but he’s heard that The Butcher is leaving the city after the ransom is paid- what ransom the PCs worry, clearly The Butcher is not beyond lying to his hirelings.

- The Butcher can’t be the brains of the organisation, Dirk has heard him mention someone he calls ‘the Lady’.

- Yesterday night Dirk and his comrades cleared out of the chamber, down below The Butcher and some of his cronies sacrificed, well… Dirk is vague, certainly a prisoner and possibly a Goblin or two. They threw the bodies down the well.

Encounter #5 Information Sources

The PCs discover yet more clues about the loaction of The Butcher-

- The Half-Orcs were seen conversing with a merchant on the lower quays.

- The Half-Orcs were seen in the same place trying to locate a boat that was leaving today.

- An Eladrin swordsman visited the whorehouse last night, he had plenty of money to spend.

- Recently a number of Shadowmen, mostly of the Thug and/or muscle variety, have gained employment elsewhere.

Encounter #6 The Butcher

The Eladrin Bodyguard confesses-

- The creature is a renegade of his kind, an Eladrin Mercenary.

- He was hired three days ago, as a warrior, fixer and translator- he speaks Goblin.

- He helped to hire a bunch of other mercenaries, he reels off their names- the PCs have accounted for all of them.

- He has no idea who the boy is, some well-off merchant’s son, or so he was told.

- The Butcher spoke of the Lady, she seemed to be running the show.

Encounter #7 The Market Place

The Little Lady, with her strange gang, reveals that-

- The Black Tongue Goblins are laired in the Old Markelhay Fort just outside of Fallcrest.

This information comes direct from Unky Derek, her strange, telepathic, teddy bear.

Encounter #9 The Black Tongue Second Defence

Garvash, the Black Tongue Goblin’s hired help reveals-

- The Dragonborn got hired on with the Black Tongue Goblins after there was no work with the Shadowmen in Fallcrest- this after the authorities raided the Thieves.

- The Black Tongue leader is called Mort, he’s further on in to the fort with a bunch more Goblins- except these guys are deformed.

- Mort pays him, and talks to him sometimes, Mort’s terrifying. Reason- Mort too is deformed, he has a massive toothed maw where his mouth should be. Garvash saw him bite a Goblin’s face off- not nice.

Encounter #10 The Corrupt Goblins

The PCs observe the Goblins in the catacombs before attacking, they learn-

- Mort is indeed leading the other Goblins in some sort of ritual, the statue at the far end of the chamber is talking to Mort, or so it seems.

- Better eyes note that it’s not the statue talking but some sort of projection, a woman’s face- detail unclear, she’s too far away. The woman seems to be giving orders to Mort.

- The last words the PCs hear, before the image fades and the Goblins get in to action is, “he must be stopped, he cannot get to the tower… The metal man must be destroyed, at all costs- do you understand Mort?”

They further learn the following from Mort’s translated notes-

- The Black Tongue Goblins, lead by Mort (deceased), although ruled by Chief Raldat; headed out of the Harken Forest to Fallcrest. There they destroyed a caravan, and then hid out in the Old Markelhay Fort- awaiting contact.

- Mort talks about finding the catacombs below the Markelhay Fort, the scene of the final confrontation- and finding treasure there, he speculates that he could become Chief. Then goes on to talk about visiting the ‘human stink’ that is Fallcrest, and mentions his contact- ‘The Butcher’, the Half-Orc/Orc the PCs killed to recover the kidnapped member of the royal household.

- Mort speculates that the Orcs do not have the brains to organise things- their must be some other intelligence behind the scheme. After much preparation the Goblins are ready, he also talks about a place called the ‘Sky Home’, in the Mire. The Knight Watch have never heard of the ‘Sky Home’ but presume the ‘Mire’ to be the Witchlight Fens, a huge swamp down river; where the Nentir meets the White River. Mort sent a unit of Goblins in to the Fens to check the place out it seems.

- In the final section Mort brings us up to date, many things have happened- the Goblin unit he sent in to the Witchlight Fens has not returned. The Orcs have hired Mercenaries to help with the kidnapping, shrewdly he hired one too- the Dragonborn, Garvash, captured by the PCs. Mort however hired the Mercenary to find out who The Butcher is actually working for; which turns out to be someone called ‘The Lady’. Mort will find out more…

- Meanwhile the member of the royal household has been kidnapped, and the The Butcher plans to meet someone, probably ‘The Lady’ in the Tombwood- an ancient graveyard within Fallcrest.

- Mort wants to know more- he dispatches another unit of Goblins to the Tombwood- to find ‘the tomb’, he’s plotting to take over from the Orcs it seems.

- The Goblins find the tomb, however something must have gone wrong- it seems he lost a lot of his Goblins, and had to enter the tomb himself. Those that came out were ‘bent and broken’, while he is ‘disfigured’.

- This would of course account for the fact that the Black Tongue Goblins the Knight Watch fought in the catacombs were indeed corrupted- twisted creatures, the implication being that something in the tomb did this. Mort speculates that they are ‘cursed’, by the, ‘human Markelhay’, he further mentions that the, ‘dead stir’.

- In the last notes Mort states that The Lady ‘talks’ to him, and that ‘something has gone wrong’- that something was of course the Knight Watch…

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