Sour Nest

The Sour Nest is a stronghold nestled into the Savalirwood, two hours northeast of Shadycreek Run. In 835 PD, it was used as a headquarters by the Iron Shepherds.

Building description
The Sour Nest is a two-story tall fortified mansion. It is surrounded by a twelve to fifteen foot high wall that is about five feet wide, with a "flimsy" rail, on which the guards patrol. There are no trees nearer than ten feet away from the wall. The gates are typically kept closed, and are made of dark wood and are braced from the inside and chained with two locks, one on each side.

The estate is large and made of pale, dull-colored weathered wood. There are two entrances, one at the front and one at the back of the building. The windows are small and can serve as arrow slits, but are far too tiny for a person to climb through.

The courtyard has space for about six horses and three carts. When the Mighty Nein first saw the stronghold, the courtyard was full of brown wooden kegs and some small crates, which were full but the contents of which they could not see.

Hallway
The main door into the Sour Nest leads into the main hallway, which is carved from stone, with bare walls. A curved stone staircase leads to the second floor. On the opposite side of the entry way, there is a door to the mess room.

The hallway continues around the mess room and comes to a T junction. The right hallway has two doors: one to a small closet on the left and one and one at the end of the hallway that leads to a room with stored weapons and armor. 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
The mess room has a few tables along with some benches and chairs. There are two doors out: one to the main hallway and the second door to the suiting room. When Nila scouted the Sour Nest as a mouse, she smelled alcohol and stale, dried meat in this room.

Suiting room
The suiting room is used for equipment and armor storage. There are three doors, one to the mess room, one to the hallway and one to the kitchen. The equipment that was found by the Mighty Nein inside the Sour Nest was was mediocre and included six shortswords, two longswords, two crossbows, three short bows, and eight sets of damaged leather armor.

Kitchen
The kitchen is connected to the suiting room and the main hallway. It has an oven and, when inhabited by the Iron Shepherds, was poorly maintained.

Small closet
The closet is a very small storage of dried goods and a passage to a wooden trapdoor to the basement. It is trapped with a trigger cable attached to a hook, which Nott was able to disable. The door to the closet is heavily reinforced.

Second floor
The top floor has a hallway with two porthole-like 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, while another one has just two beds. The largest room is presumed to be Lorenzo's and has a single nicer bed, as well as a "makeshift" table, on which Nila saw a small humanoid skull, apparently part of a meal. One of the smaller bunks has a chest, in which there was a vial of a viscous liquid comparable to quicksilver. Inside of the biggest room, under the bed, lays a heavy leather bottomless bag.

Basement
There are three separate areas of the basement: one for holding, one for torture, and one for displaying the prisoners for the Jagentoth family's approval.

At the bottom of the staircase, in the first chamber, there is a rack bolted to the wall and hung with manacles, chains, and torture implements. More tools hang from the table, and in the corner of the room there is a small cage. The room is trapped with a cable that is attached to a net full of stones and bricks, such that if the cable is tripped, the contents of the net will fall on to the intruder. A door leads to a hallway, which bends to the right.

At the end of the hallway there is an archway that leads into a second room. On the wall is a torch as well as some stonework protrusions. The room also contains two cages, and a second archway leading further into the dungeon. Both archways can be blocked by portcullises with the use of a lever in the next hallway.

The next hallway goes around another corner and opens into the third chamber, which houses another cage. It has a rough-hewn stone flooring, and a locked wooden door reinforced with metal that leads to a fourth chamber. There is an enchanted stone step in front of the door, as indicated by an engraved pattern within the stone.

The chamber beyond the door contains a metal barred trapdoor leading to the sub-basement. There is a table on the far end of the room, as well as a brazier built into a pillar. When the brazier is lit, it shoots flames in the direction of anyone who comes too close.

Sub-basement
At the bottom of the stairs is T-shaped chamber. It is lit with a red glow, which comes from two furnaces, one on each side of the "T". There are many torture implements hanging on the walls. There is a rounded chamber at the end of the "T", with a table covered in leather and surrounded by chairs. The table has chains on the front and back so that prisoners can be handcuffed to it for torture. The opposite end of the chamber has heavy locked doors, behind which there are more holding cells.

Iron Shepherds

 * Lorenzo
 * Ruzza
 * Protto
 * Dwelma
 * Wohn

Guards

 * Phil

The Mighty Nein and Keg sought out and cased the exterior of the Sour Nest in preparation for rescuing Fjord, Jester and Yasha) from the Iron Shepherds. The party decided to send their new druid friend, Nila, in the form of a small mouse, over the wall, and had Frumpkin carry her while he was in owl form. She was able to get an understanding of the ground and upper floor of the fortress. Nila then 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 and went south, back into the Savalirwood.

The Mighty Nein assaulted the Sour Nest. They took out several guards on the outside, and then made their way into the entryway, managing to take out several members of the Iron Shepherds and some mercenaries. Nila, who was searching for her kidnapped partner and son aided in the fight, and was able to rescue her family. She left with them, and 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 party continued their assault, freeing prisoners as they worked their way through the basement. One of the first prisoners they found was Shakäste, who joined the fight. Continuing down in to the subterranean chambers, they killed the remaining Iron Shepherds and battled with Lorenzo, who had been invisibly following them throughout the fortress but then revealed himself to be an oni. Lorenzo found himself unable to escape, and was burnt to death by Caleb. The party found Jester, Fjord, and an unconscious Yasha.

The party freed their friends from the dungeon and looted the basement. Shakäste left with the remaining captives, and Caduceus introduced himself to Fjord and Jester, after which Beau, Caleb, and Nott broke the news of Molly's death. They then searched the rest of the Sour Nest, and found the following items:
 * Armor
 * Gold
 * Torture implements
 * Weapons
 * Manacles of Stasis
 * Receipts from the Iron Shepherds selling to House Jagentoth
 * Yasha's glaive
 * A mysterious empty leather looking sack in Lorenzo's room that was determined 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 recognized the coin pressed into the seal of the envelope as a galley, the money of the Clovis Concord along the Menagerie Coast. The envelope contained a letter with a drawing of the yellow orb:

After a night sleep in Caleb's Leomund's Tiny Hut, the party tooked one of the Iron Shepherds' carts, and discovered it had illusory magic on it that made it always appear empty. They then went back to Shadycreek Run with the cart and four horses to report to Ophelia Mardoon and complete their mission for the Gentleman.