Griffons

At the end of their last adventure, the party had killed the gryphons who were eating the horses at the logging camp. We opened this session with their semi-triumphant return to Lord Aldenmier's estate in Roslof Keep. There they reported their discovery of the griffons, their clever plan to keep the gryphons from eating the horses by keeping them under a tent at night, and their slaying of the griffons. The two guards had returned with them also, and delivered a scroll from Bobilis, the expedition leader for the logging camp.

So, Lord Aldenmier:
-is pleased that the threat has been removed.
-is puzzled and appalled that the gnome Jou was a saboteur, and that the part let him escape.
-is willing to have a carpenter re-purpose one side of the stables for the care of gryphon eggs and the raising of gryphon hatchlings.
-Wants an evening to think about how much reward the party deserves for this decidedly mixed set of results.

So he sends everyone off to have dinner and get some rest, and retreats to his rooms.

Just after midnight, Kaz (the monk) awakens because he's hearing noises outside his window. He looks out and sees a large cart with four men unloading it in the courtyard/garden area behind the main house, with Aldenmier standing nearby and supervising.

Brief OOC Digression: Kaz was originally human; he is now an elf. I have given everybody a chance to tweak their characters upon reaching level 3, and that was the big change the monk's player wanted: more dexterity, darkvision, and a cantrip. The halfling rogue took the opportunity to lower his charisma (since the sorcerer is doing the Party Face role) and bump up his wisdom, making him less persuasive but more perceptive. The other three are pretty optimized already, so no major changes there. In character, these changes will take place the next time the group enters the Dungeons of the Mad Mage.

Also, upon reaching level 3 the monk chose the Way of the Open Hand, the drow rogue chose the path of the Assassin, and the halfling rogue chose the path of the Arcane Trickster and picked out some spells.

So the Monk woke the halfling rogue, and they went to investigate the back courtyard. They tried to be sneaky, but were spotted by Lord Aldenmier, who explained that when restocking a dungeon (even a backyard training dungeon) one needs to bring in the supplies at whatever time they happen arrive. Kaz the Monk is suspicious, but there's no way to get past Aldenmier tonight so he and Barrith the rogue head back to bed.

In the morning, Lord Aldenmier awarded the group 10 GP each, for their personal funds rather than the party treasure.

Discussion then turned to how best to follow up with the two griffon eggs, especially since we have a party of five characters. The mousefolk cleric wants to grab the sorcerer and head down to do some research at the Lich's Library, while the Monk and the two rogues did some asking around and learned about a fairly famous Griffon Ranch that's reasonably nearby.

Lord Aldenmier wanted the group to get back to exploring the Mad Mage's dungeon in the next couple of days, but he was willing to send messengers to both the Griffon Ranch and the Lich Library to ask some questions and make arrangements for a future visit. (Either or both of these may be fertile ground for future adventures, to break up the group's time in the Mad Mage's dungeon. In particular, the Griffon Ranch might be willing to offer the group three more eggs in exchange for their help with an outbreak of cockatrices. But those are thoughts for another day...)

Current party treasure by my count is 246 GP and 15 SP, plus some weapons they can probably sell pretty easily.
-A quarterstaff
-4 shortswords
-4 light crossbows