Murder Hobo Squad: A Lost Mine of Phandelver/Dragon of Icespire Peak & Beyond D&D 5E record (Beware Spoilers!)

The party cleared out the last two buildings, which contained Zombies coated in ash.  When struck they unleashed a small cloud of ash, causing those nearby to cough and choke for a short while.  They posed little challenge though and it was short work.  They pile dup the zombie bodies after and burnt them to ensure they couldn’t come back.  While that was going on they butchered the dragon and took any parts they thought might have value or be of use.  They skinned the scales, took the wing membranes, recovered the poison gland (and filled two vials with poison for use later), extracted the liver, but made a mess of the heart.  They pulled out all the teeth and claws, and then decided to just take the whole head anyway as it had been decapitated.  Melandrach decided he might try to make some weapons from the leg bones (Chat on paired batons, or making a nun chuck) so they extracted two good sized bones from each leg.  When they were done Reidoth used Move Earth to bury the remains, and then do the same with the zombies once the fire was done.

When they were done the brought the wagon in to town and loaded it up and then set off for a few hours before camping for the night.  While sat around the campfire Talindra spoke to Reidoth and asked him if he knew anything about the Cult of Talos.  He told them about their experiences and revealed that she’d been given a vision of lighting destroying the Shrine of Tymora in Phandalin.  Reidoth revealed he was familiar with the cult in general, but not locally.  His community had previously been attacked by cultists a long time ago and barely survived.  This vision could be a warning.  Reidoth and Talindra are concerned.  Reidoth also thanked Talindra for finding a non-violent way of dealing with the cultists at Thundertree.  As dinner was being eaten after, Talindra was going through her backpack and her face dropped and she ran off, upset, in to the woods.  Reidoth followed, trying to stay out of site.  When she stopped, he watched her cry a little while burying a small rat.  Reidoth decided to give her some privacy and returned to camp and Talindra followed shortly after.

The next morning they set out for Neverwinter, and arrived late in the afternoon.  They booked rooms at an inn and set out to do a little trading.  Araloth went out alone with a handful of damaged claws, teeth and loose scales to have a chat with a private contact.  Talindra led the rest of the party to a shop she’d previously sold some old spellbooks to.  The Component Companion is a magical supplies shop in the nicer part of town selling spell components, arcane, alchemical and herbalist supplies, and a selection a mage friendly weapons and garments (often more decorative than practical).  Behind the counter is a male gnome dressed in blue and purple robes that Talindra recognises and greets as Sliknap Bimbleskoot.  They ask about buying some powdered rubies for components and get what they need.  They pick up a couple of flasks of Holy Water, and Talindra asks about scrolls of Tensors Floating Disk, Water breathing and Leomunds Tiny Hut.  Reidoth points out that he can cast Water Breathing so Talindra only buys the other two scrolls.

They then ask about how much he’d pay for various dragon parts.  They offer up most of everything, except the scales, wings, and 3 leg bones.  He appraises everything individually (DM: and I pull values out of thin air.  Who knows what any of that stuff is worth or if it even has use?) and they decide to think on it overnight.  When they pull money out of their smelly bag of holding and he recoils at the stench they suggest he’d have less smell to contend with if he offered them a better price on the parts and took that instead.  He says if they want to exchange then he’ll up his offer a bit (DM: about 20% extra), but they aren’t interested.  They buy their wares and head back to the inn.  Talindra says she has something to take care of and goes elsewhere.  Being much more familiar with the back alleys and the city in general she arrives back at the inn only a little after the others, and shortly after Araloth returned.

DM: Its then we ended things.  It was getting late, and I needed to handle Araloth’s side trek in private.  The group is planning to spend a little time doing their own thing before getting back to tracking down Cryovain around Phandalin.  I’ve asked them to send me a list of their immediate plans and I’ve already spent 2-3 hours today responding and planning stuff.  I expect to be doing this on and off across the week and then we can process the results next session.  Hopefully I’ll have enough time to figure out what they want, what I think is reasonable, and how to deal with that in that time.  This will be interesting.  I’ll be DMing without any kind of module as backup.  Not sure I’ve ever really done this for more than a scene or two before.  Watch me crash and burn and take the campaign with me!