The Phandalin Five entered the city gates under the watchful eyes of the Neverwinter Guard as their patron, Marius Farquoi (Whom they had rescued from an uncertain fate on the High Road coming north) led them through the streets of Protector's Enclave. There was a major fair occurring in the city and the roadways were packed with people of all races and social status. Fancy ribbons and flags adorned the buildings and draped across the streets and stalls and carts, with their proprietor's shouting to those passing about their wares.
When the group got to his townhouse, he went inside and brought out a pouch containing 100 golden dragons. He bade them good health and was soon back in the safety of his home. Aurelius, in chipper fashion, offered to lead them to a decent place to grab a bite to eat, the Sunken Flagon, which was located in the docks area of Protector's Enclave.
He led them through the city, trying to skirt the most busy streets to get to their destination. He was a bit confused however, for he ended up leading them directly into the thick of the fair, in the central square right in front of the Hall of Justice. Taking it in stride, the adventurers bought some much needed supplies - tobacco and dwarven ale!
Continuing through the fair, they came upon a disturbance in a side street nearby. Half a dozen wererats were attacking the fair, knocking over carts and terrorizing the citizens and even killing a few. Keeper flew off in a flash - jumping from cart to stall to roof to get to the action ahead of the rest, who had to force their way through a throng of fleeing citizens coming directly at them.
Soon combat was joined and Keeper fired arrows down upon them from above, Farooq and Bronn rushed forward to engage in melee with the strange half man-half rat creatures. Nash worked his way through the crowd to take up a firing position while Finder took to a nearby roof to attack with his eldritch blasts.
The most alarming thing about this combat was the fact that weapons were just bouncing off these creatures. Neither axe, arrow or spear could pierce the skin of the monsters. Magic seemed to be the only thing that affected them. As soon as that was apparent, Bronn switched to his mace Lightbringer and Nash switched to his trusty sword, Talon. This made a difference as Nash began to cleave through the unarmored wererats like they were nothing. Finder was having great success with his eldritch blasts and Bronn also summoned his spiritual weapon to help do magical damage to their enemies. Farooq could not hurt them very much, but he kept them occupied with his spear-work while Keeper harried them from cover on the roof above.
Once the battle started going against them, the wererats decided to flee in different directions. One was killed fleeing north by Finder, another headed south and got subdued by Nash while Farooq and Keeper chased after the last remaining. They managed to catch up with and grapple the the creature even as it tried to transform into a much smaller giant rat to escape.
The city guard soon showed up and the situation was explained to them. The senior of the Neverwinter Guard on scene, named Captain Celbane, wanted their names and information and gave them an Inn they could stay at called the Witch and Cup where she would ensure they gained lodgings by dropping her name. She wanted to know where to be able to find the group should she need to follow up with any questions. She thanked them in her gruff way and soon the group were headed off to get their now well earned breakfast.
The city was filled and most of the taverns and inns were no doubt full, but Aurelius managed to deliver, and speaking with the owner of the Sunken Flagon (Branwen Farlong), Aurelius procured a table for them all. They had a fine meal of meat, meat and more meat (Braised Dire Boar) and some nice eggs and dire boar bacon, washed down with plenty of ale. They had passed by a magic shop just down the road and they decided they should have a look at that after their meal.
Soon they were entering the quaint storefront of Sand's Magic Shoppe. The old, balding proprietor, Sand himself, was standing comfortably behind the counter of this shop absolutely filled with all manner of curiosities and potions and even a few weapons and armor.
The group were mostly interested in weapons and he had a fairly limited supply (A halberd, a greatsword, and a morning star were about it) and he went into the back and came out with the most beautiful rapier any of them had ever seen. It cost sixty thousand gold! It may have been a million gold for all the difference it made to the PCs. Sand tried to offer them other magical options, but in the end they decided that they would continue to shop elsewhere. Aurelius was aware of another area in Protector's Enclave that may have a magic weapon or armor.
They entered the store of the Shining Knight Arms and Armor. A dwarf and half-orc were the proprietors within. The store was filled to the brim with shiny, polished armor of all sorts, many filigreed and detailed quite fancily. They half orc greeted them and had very little actual magic weapons in the store, just really nice mundane weapons. He did have a spear behind the counter (That had apparently very special meaning to the half-orc) and Farooq bargained the half-orc down to an affordable price by including a trade for the enchanted scimitar he had gotten off the Red Wizard they defeated a month ago.
Everyone offered to help chip in to purchase the spear, as none of them had enough money to purchase the spear themselves. Farooq offered to get a weapon for another member of the party, but they all thought he should have the magic (+1) spear as Farooq was always on the front line fighting for them. Satisfied, the group left the shop.
One of these days I am actually going to have a flawless session where I don't forget to switch screens and maps and have the ability to DM and be a producer at the same time. So, pardon the roughness of the video session. I'll get there.