Sour Nest

Sour Nest
General Information
Type	Stronghold
Floors	4
Occupant Information
Owner(s)	Iron Shepherds
Notable occupants	Lorenzo Ruzza Protto Dwelma Wohn Phil
Location Information
Plane	Material Plane (Exandria)
Continent	Wildemount
Region	Savalirwood

The Sour Nest is a stronghold nestled into the forest, two hours northeast of Shadycreek Run in the Savalirwood. It was used as a headquarters by the Iron Shepherds.

Building Description

The Sour Nest is two-stories tall, half mansion, half small stronghold. It has a wall that is twelve to fifteen feet high and five-feet-wide with a very flimsy rail across the top, with a walkway for the watch guards with gates. It has a ten-foot distance between the wall and any of the surrounding trees, to make sure that approaching individuals would be out in the open. There are two gates. Both are double dark wooden doors that have a brace set down holding them in place from the interior. It has two chained locks, one on each side, that are closed.

In the courtyard lays a large collection of brown wooden kegs and a couple of small crates that contain materials. Inside of the courtyard is space for about six horses that can be hitched and three carts.

The stronghold is 50 feet by 80. It is a large estate that's been fitted into a small stronghold. It has a lot of beige- and grey-looking wood that seems to be old and weathered from rain and dry seasons. There are two entrances, one at the front and one at the back of the building. The building has small holes for windows, that are just big enough to look through and fire through, but small enough to not really allow a person to push through.

First Floor

First floor Sour Nest

The main door leads into a stone hallway, that has a flat stone floor and is not well decorated. Right of the doors is a curved stone staircase that leads up to the second floor. Opposite to the main door is a door that leads to the mess room. The main hallway continues around the mess room and comes to a T junction. The right hallway has two doors, one to the left opens a small closet and one at the end of the hallway that leads to the suiting room. The main hallway continues straight at the T junction and wraps around a pantry to the kitchen where a single door leads to the courtyard.

Mess Room

There are a couple of tables, benched and chairs that are pressed up against the tables. There is a smell of alcohol and stale and dried meat in this room. There are two doors one to the main hallway and a second door to a suiting room.

Suiting Room

In this is equipment storage room, are weapons that are hung up on racks. There are a couple of small wooden poles with dowels in the sides that are meant to hold armor, additional crossbows that the guards utilize at different points. There are three doors, one to the mess room, one to the hallway and one to the kitchen. The equipment that can be found inside the Sour Nest is not of the highest quality but consists out of:

• Six shorts words,
• Two longswords,
• Two crossbows,
• Three short bows,
• Eight sets of damaged leather armor

Kitchen

The kitchen has an oven and a bunch of dirty dishes that have piled up and haven't been washed in a while. The kitchen is connected to the suiting room and the main hallway.

Small closet

The closet is a very small chamber, in this room are a couple of odd pieces of dried goods in the corners, and a wooden trapdoor to the basement. The door to this room is reinforced and designed to be the strongest door on this floor. The trapdoor is trapped with a trigger cable underneath that has been set into a hook.

Second Floor

Second floor Sour Nest

The top floor has a hallway with two portholes as windows on each side. The hallway leads to three sleeping chambers behind doors with several beds. One of these chambers has four different beds and a mice infestation, another one has just two beds. The biggest room is almost like a master bedroom, with a singular large comfortable bed and makeshift table on the side of the bed. One of the smaller bunks has a chest with a syrupy quicksilver type of potion that looks like a weird, insides of a glass vial. Inside of the biggest room under the bed lays a heavy leather bottomless bag.

Basement

Basement Sour Nest

In the basement are three separate chambers, one for holding, one for torture, and one for display if needing a final approval by the Jagentoth family.

At the bottom of the staircase there is a rack that is bolted into the wall that has chains hanging from it, a few other sets of manacles, a few torture implements: long metal brands. There is a table where tools hang and a cage in the corner that can contain two creatures. In the middle of the chamber is a cable that runs through the ground connected to heavy netting that contains a bunch of broken brick and stone that will fall when the cable is tripped. There is a door that leads to a hallway.

The hallway bends right around a corner around the side. There is an archway that leads into a second room. It has a torch and pieces of the protruding stonework where a bird can perches upon. This room contains two cages and has two archways opposite from each other. Both archways can be blocked by portcullises with the use of a lever in the next hallway.

The next hallway goes around a corner and opens in a third camber. In this chamber is another cage and a wooden locked door with metal framing that leads to the fourth chamber. It has a rough-hewn stone flooring, the step right in front of the door has a grooved pattern in it that is mostly filled with dust and dirt which indicates an enchantment on the stone itself.

The chamber beyond the door has a metal barred trapdoor that guards another set of 25 feet stairs that goes deeper below into the sub-basement. There is a table on the far end and a stone bowl that is built into a pillar that contains a small ember. The ember itself is magical, and whenever anybody walks within a certain distance of it, it just sends out a flame in their direction.

Sub-basement

Sub-basement Sour Nest

The stair case comes down into a T-shaped red-lit chamber. The red glow is emanating from two furnaces on either side of the “T”. There are several torture implements hanging against the walls, that includes metal brands, small blades, hooks, and flaying knives. Further into the middle of the rounded chamber there is a stained, stretch leather-topped table, leather draping over on each side almost to the floor. The table is flanked by empty chairs. There are heavy chains dangling at the front and the back of it, so individuals can be strapped to it and tortured. Two sets of prison locked barred doors flank the opposite ends that seem to have larger containment chambers beyond there.

Notable People

Iron Shepherds

• Lorenzo
• Ruzza
• Protto
• Dwelma
• Wohn

Guards

• Phil

History

"Converging Fury" (2x27)

The Mighty Nein sought out and cased the exterior of the Sour Nest to liberate their friends (Fjord, Jester and Yasha) form the Iron Shepherds. The party decided to send their new druid friend, Nila, in the form of a small mouse, over the wall, delivery via owl. She snuck through some portions of the fortress to gather intel, and to get an idea of where they were going and what may reside within. A few close calls, and some discovery of what can be expected within the interior, Nila made her way back, safely, to join her friends. Upon accidentally spooking one of the outer guards who were walking the perimeter of the wall that surrounds the Sour Nest, the party immediately picked up what they had, fled south, back through the Savalirwood.

"Within the Nest" (2x28)

The Mighty Nein decide to assault the Sour Nest. They staked out the outskirts of this location, managed to slay some of the guardians who were keeping watch along the outer perimeter wall, not-necessarily-very-stealthily made their way into the entryway, but managed to take out several members of the Iron Shepherds, some of their paid compatriots, as well as at least one of their more elite fighters. Nila, who was searching for her also kidnapped partner and son - and using her Druidic powers, aided them in this assault. And in doing so, found and helped her family escape. As she absconded from the location with her family to keep them safe, the rest of the party remained behind, trying to find out where the remainder of the Iron Shepherds reside within the Sour Nest and how best to deal with their presence.

"The Stalking Nightmare" (2x29)

The party managed to storm the Sour Nest: attack and destroy one-by-one the slavers, leaving the Iron Shepherds down to their last few. In the subterranean basement where these cages contained prisoner including Shakäste. Continuing down in to the subterranean chambers there battled with Lorenzo (revealing his final form, after stalking them invisibly from the air for their entire journey through that fortress) revealed himself to be an oni. Lorenzo found himself unable to escape and a final blow was dealt by Caleb as his arcane cinders burned away the final remnants of Lorenzo's demonic form. They discovered that in two set of prison cells lie Jester and Fjord, and an unconscious Yasha.

"The Journey Home" (2x30)

The party liberate their friends from the subterranean chambers and loot the basement. Shakäste has taken all the rest of the captives back upstairs, Caduceus has gone up to the kitchen to try and cook food for everyone, while everyone else searches the rest of the Sour Nest. They find the following items in the Sour Nest.

• Armor
• Gold
• Torture implements
• Weapons
• Manacles that have the capability of putting someone to sleep for a day.
• Receipts from the Iron Shepherds selling to House Jagentoth
• Yasha’s Glaive
• Mysterious empty leather looking sack, in Lorenzo's room that what turns to be a Bag of Holding. Inside was:
  • 101 platinum
  • 4 sets of manacles
  • 24 teeth of various species
  • 1 rusted meat hook
  • 1 red gem
  • 1 wax sealed envelope

Jester recognizes the coin pressed into the seal of the envelope as a galley- a gold coin that is produced along the Menagerie Coast. The envelope consists out of a letter with a drawing of a yellow orb

“

Many thanks to you Ionos,

for dealing with the thieves who appropriated my possession. Reliability like this will prove profitable for you and your house should you continue to be. One half of our agreed payment is enclosed with the other being paid upon recovery of the Cloven Crystal. It is imperative that you find this bauble and return it to me. It has great sentimental value to me and my family. This rendering should suffice to guide the discerning eyes of your hunters.

Time is of the essence. Should I not have it by the end of Quen'pillar, I shall be forced to end our agreement and seek a business relationship elsewhere. I warn you: we are *fiercely* loyal to those who appease us, and *staunchly* resentful to those who do not.

When recovered, please deliver to Marius LePual at the Wayfarer's Cove. Tell him you have a gift for the Captain.

Avantika

”

– 

The letter found in the Sour Nest

[edit]

After a night sleep in Caleb’s Leomund's Tiny Hut. The party find one of the Iron Shepherds' carts and discover it has illusory magic on it and heads back to Shadycreek Run with the cart and four horses to report to Ophelia Mardun and complete their mission.