Having successfully beaten the wererats, the Phandalin Five decided to check each level of the tower for any clues or treasure they may have missed. Searching the third level, it appeared that it was the nest of the dire rat swarm that they overcame. Nothing of interest was found there, so they headed to the second floor, where most of the fighting took place.
While descending to the second floor, Farooq was alerted to sounds coming from within one of the rooms on that level. Gathering everyone together, he burst into the room and found a wounded wererat searching for something buried amongst the piled trash and refuse in the room. The wererat was in no mood for any more fighting and was quickly subdued.
Farooq and Finder interrogated the creature and learned a few clues as to what was going on here. The rat's name was Squim and he was the leader of this band of ruthless thugs. According to the wererat leader, they were hired by a sorcerer called "The Blessed" to cause mayhem and havoc on fair day and to try and kill as many city guards as they could.
Squim had only met this sorcerer once or twice and it was always at the same book shop deep in the River District. Her face was always concealed beneath a heavy hood. He thought she was completely insane, always going on about this "Speaker in Dreams" being who she followed. He knew nothing else about her or her cabal.
Soon the PCs noticed that the Neverwinter Guard were kicking in the front door and ascending the rickety stairs to the second floor. The Corporal in charge interrogated them and the PCs explained to them what had transpired and that they were working for Captain Selbane. Eventually the corporal thanked them for their service, collected Squim as their prisoner, and left the scene.
Alone once again, the PCs continued searching this level for anything they could find. The wererat Squim had said that there was a valuable gem somewhere here that he had been looking for. After some searching they found 6,000 silver pieces and 2 gems, an amber worth 70 gold and a topaz worth 800 gold pieces.
On their way back to the Hall of Justice, they heard about the lockdown that General Sabine (The Lord Protector's general of the armed forces) had put in place. The fair event was cancelled throughout the city. No one was allowed to enter or leave the city and a strict curfew was being enforced. No weapons were permitted by non Neverwinter guardsmen, the military, or those working directly for either.
After reporting back to Captain Selbane at the Hall of Justice and receiving their reward for defeating the wererats at the Bell Tower, they decided that they would check out the White Dragon Market and see what they could learn about the missing guard captain.
They hadn't had anything to eat that day so they found a decent tavern called the "Flying Gem" just on the edge of the market to stop at for lunch and hopefully find some answers. The food was quite good and at a decent price. The tavern was owned and run by a tortle named Zagga Morley and he and his bouncer had information to share.
He was a slow speaking creature of many words but after a time he managed to tell them that the market had been plagued by thugs, thieves and extortionists recently. He was being forced to pay protection money to this gang after they had beat up his bouncer Fred. As for the missing captain, he had been last seen in the market investigating the criminal activity in the area the day before the Fair. It could involve the wererats that have been attacking the fair, but they didn't know for sure.
The PCs thought that they might be able to connect the wererats of the Bell Tower to the ongoing crime wave and the missing guard captain, but they would need to interrogate Squim again. They headed back to the Hall of Justice. Unfortunately for the PCs, Selbane informed them that Squim had been sent up the chain of command to be further interrogated and was not available to them.
Selbane mentioned that the city would be interested in them following up on the clue about the book shop in the River District. They should be discreet and find out about this "Blessed" character. She gave the group a writ that would allow them to be out and about after curfew and be allowed to carry their weapons. The day was wearing on and they were sorely low on spell resources, so they would just go and have a quick look around the River District.
They spent some time in the afternoon looking around for any book shops in the River District. After just a little poking around, they soon found themselves in a desperate battle that they were not looking for. A dark rift opened up in the air right before them and a creature of unspeakable horror erupted through the void into a dark pool of sludge. A huge worm protruded from the mass and it's ravenous, many toothed maw was encircled by seven long grasping tentacles with pincer-like claws on the end of each.
Before the heroes could react this aberrant creature lunged forth attacking with all of it's tentacles, scooping up Finder and Farooq, slicing them with the vicious appendages and grappling them. The creature roared and sent out a psychic shockwave of fear which assailed their minds. Finder was the only one of the group who shook off this affect immediately.
The battle went on for some time as slowly each member of the group eventually shook off the fear which fogged their minds and disadvantaged their attacks. The disgusting worm creature (called a Wyste) kept trying to shove them into it's eel like mouth, but not having much success. Nash was able to get some distance early and sent arrow after arrow at the thing. Finder was terribly wounded and healed by some of Bronn's diminished healing powers. He eventually managed to get some distance as well and began using his eldritch blasts. Farooq, indifferent to whether he was grappled or not, continued to taunt and attack the creature with his spear to good effect.
Those citizens in the area fled in terror before the horrifying beast before them and luckily none of them were attacked. Soon the creature began to show signs of damage and the heroes pressed on with all of their energy and effort and the aberrant creature was soon on the ground writhing and shriveling before their eyes. They had won, but it had almost cost them too much.
Immediately Farooq began scanning the area for a sorcerer who could be behind the summoning of such a creature. He saw a shadowed form peering over the edge of a roof at them. A hooded figure which immediately began moving quickly away from them heading south out of their view. Farooq pointed it out and soon everyone saw the fleeing figure.
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