The Redbrand Hideout -- Mission: Infiltration!

 DM Summary:

After some discussion the next morning (after a well-rested Triactis, Ashildr, and Ossian come down) and a hearty breakfast, the group decides to take the tunnel entrance that Carp Alderleaf showed them into the Redbrand hideout. Before they leave, Sildar tells them about Iarno Albreck having been seen near there right before he disappeared 2 months before. He asks them to keep an eye out for information on the wizard. 

They set off and don their red capes (Jig having fished one more out of the bin outside Stonehill Inn -- it was torn and smelled awful, but it was a red cape) before going in. They find themselves in a cavern.  A crevasse divides it and is flanked by two rough stone columns that support the twenty-foot-high ceiling. Two arched wooden bridges span the chasm. It doesn't take long for them to realise that the "big eye monster" is a telepathic nothic. However, they are able to distract him with leftover bits of breakfast. 

They explore down a hallway, where they hear rough voices shouting things in goblin, but they aren't sure what. 

Ossian opens the door. The room looks to be a barracks and contains four roughly built wooden bunks, with heaped-up blankets and dirty dishes scattered about. A strong smell of unwashed bodies and rotten meat fills the air. Three tall, furry humanoids are lounging among the mess, barking orders at a sad little goblin that demeans itself for their amusement. 

The small goblin faints as soon as Ossian opens the door. Seeing them in red cloaks, the biggest bugbear asks what the group wants. They demand the goblin be handed over to them because Glasstaff wants to use it as a sacrifice. The bugbears are convinced and believe the story, handing over the goblin. The group leaves and Jig uses her tools to lock the door behind them, hopefully locking the bugbears inside. 

Droop, the goblin, wakes up and they convince/terrify him into leading them to where the prisoners are kept. He tells them at the room opposite has more Redbrands (he hasn't realised they aren't Redbrands too). They head in the northeast direction the goblin indicates, Ossian taking the southern bridge across the crevasse. Trapped, it collapses beneath him and he falls 20 feet below, but only takes a small amount of damage. 

The nothic has been watching all of this with interest, but even though they hear his whisperings in their heads, he isn't able to glean their intentions. He questions why a Redbrand would take the trick bridge, but Ashildr once again manages to distract him with food. While down below, Ossian discovers the half-decayed corpse of Thel Drendar, the woodcarver. He also notices a chest below the more northern bridge and what looks like it must be the nothic's nest. 

Ashildr is able to convince the nothic that the bug bears have food and the creature takes off and tries to get in the room, but the door is locked. The bugbears, who've gone for a nap, don't hear anything. Droop opens the chest and they find: 160 sp, 120 gp, five malachite gems (15 gp each), two potions of healing, and a scroll of augury.

The chest also holds a +1 longsword in a silver-chased scabbard. The sword is inscribed with the name "Talon," and its hilt is worked in the shape of a bird of prey with outspread wings. Ossian takes the sword. Jig, taking a closer look, realises it looks like the sword that once belonged to a great knight named Aldith Tresendar, known as the Black Hawk.

Sir Aldith died fighting off the orcs that attacked through the hidden caverns below his manor. Talon was lost here until the nothic found it.

Arianwen takes the scroll and Jig holds on to everything else until it can be divided later. 

Ashildr helps everyone climb out of the crevice with her rope. They discuss what to do with the nothic, who is still trying to open the bugbear's door. He finally gives up and comes back into the cavern and looks suspiciously at them, noticing, perhaps, the stench of the crevasse on them. Using his telepathic skills, he finally is able to read one of their minds and realises they took his treasure. He immediately attacks.

They are able to defeat him without too much trouble--the final blow, indeed, coming from the nothic's own stolen sword as wielded by Ossian, though the noise of the battle alerts 4 Redbrands in the room opposite the bug bear's room that something is going on. They come out to investigate just in time to see the very dead nothic surrounded by the group -- still wearing their red capes.  "What happened to old creepy?" one asks.

Triactis and Sherick and Jig all come up with answers and for a moment it looks like the Redbrands will doubt them, but they're all fairly sloshed from drinking and playing knucklebones and they buy the story (having rolled a critical fail!). The Redbrands shove the nothic's body into the crevasse and Sherick takes the opportunity to turn her glow on, causing severe damage to all of them. They are stunned and surprised. They make short work of the thugs, though one escapes just long enough to bang on the bugbear's door -- though he's killed before they open it.

Mosk, the leader of the bugbears, manages to shove open the door a bit (after unlocking it -- he had a key -- and after the 3 others tried unsuccessfully to open it...weakest bugbears I've ever seen, so apparently they were groggy from napping), not noticing the body. He wants to know what's going on. Sherick explains that they had to kill some intruders but everything is fine now...and, once again, the wool is pulled over their eyes. After barking out that they need to clean up, he heads back inside to finish his nap.

Droop leads them up through the cavern into a storage room full of barrels. Once inside, Arianwen immediately notices (with her passive perception of 16!) a secret door on each side. Droop indicates that one way (west) leads to Glasstaff and the other (east) towards where the prisoners are kept in the crypt.

...and that's where we leave our intrepid adventurers, poised between two secret doors...

(450 xp for taking care of the nothic, 400 xp for the Redbrand Ruffians, for a total of 850, making it 142 xp each. And congrats for amazingly being able to talk just about anyone into believing you, even creatures that can read your mind.).