Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 8 - VenomFang Rises

The next day after resting, the party partially untied Glasstaff to feed him, and then secured him again.  

They continued to explore and found a gorge area with the BugBears clearing boulders from some sort of cave-in that had occurred.  

The party rained arrows and javelins down onto the BugBears and were able to dispatch them, while Marigold did suffer a javelin wound.  

The party climbed down into the gorge and Marigold noticed there was a crushed BugBear under the rocks, so they dug the body out, and Innil gained Gauntlets of Ogre Power from the crushed BugBear.

OneShoe was sent up the opposite cliff-face to scout out a small tunnel that headed to the East.  He returned and pointed out that the wave echoes were stronger from that direction, but that the tunnel was rather small and difficult to climb towards.  

The party decided to head South and found a large central room filled with the long-dead corpses of Dwarves and Orcs that had battled to the death in ages past.  This room was the central part of the mining operation and a large water-wheel, bellow, and blast furnace was present.  

At this point a FlameSkull appeared from the blast furnace and raised eight zombie dwarfs.  Reiner immediately turned undead on five of the zombies and the fight with the FlameSkull was on.  The monster shot fire rays to start the fight, but then launched a fireball into the party, doing severe damage to Marigold and some to the other party members.  

Despite this onslaught, the FlameSkull was eventually defeated, along with all of the zombies, including the ones that had initially fled.  Reiner consecrated the blast furnace and the FlameSkull was banished for good.

The party then travelled to the NorthEast, in search of the booming wave echoes, and came across a large body of water that caused the sound every few minutes.  

A young green Dragon arose from the depths and announced that he was actually the boss, the "Black Spider," and scolded the party for entering his lair.  He also revealed that he was the cause of the fate of Innil's village and mocked her tragedy. 

He told them to gather in front of him, closer and closer, to plead for their lives, which they did in an attempt to talk their way out if the perilous situation, but VenomFang suddenly used his breath weapon and downed Innil and Reiner.  Luckily, Innil was able to use her last-ditch healing feat she had gained at fourth-level, and recovered some health instantly upon reaching zero hit points.  She was able to cure Reiner while VenomFang roared in laughter and swam away.

The battered party limped away from the devastating attack of VenomFang and decided to seek reinforcements and a better plan of attack, now that they knew their true adversary.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 7 - Wave Echo Cave

 After returning to Phandalin from the quest to kill Morag, the hirelings were paid for their service, and the family of the fallen was paid his share by Reiner.  The party restocked their supplies and headed off with the recovered Gundren to Wave Echo Cave, in which they hoped to confront the Black Spider and find the Forge of Spells at last.

After traveling the fifteen miles to the entrance, the party entered a large cavern and soon discovered the body of Thordin, Gundred's older brother.  Gundren was obviously devastated and took his brother's body back to Phandalin for burial.  The party continued to explore the cavern after wishing Gundren a safe journey and offering their condolences.

Soon the party was stalked by an Ochre Jelly that had attempted to ambush Marigold as they explored some interconnecting Dwarven mining tunnels.  They were able to elude the blob when Reiner blocked its path with an oil flask thrown in front of it.  The party continued exploring and came across a fishy smelling lake at which point they decided against not using OneShoe to look under the murky depths.  

Shortly thereafter they came upon a small barracks of BugBears and a battle ensued, with the BugBears losing the fight, but inflicting enough injuries that the party decided to long-rest in the secured barracks.  

The next day they continued northward and came across another large cavern with some BugBears working to clear rocks at the bottom of a gorge, whilst one BugBear supervised from the top of the cliff.  

The party snuck past the BugBears this time, and came across a room containing none-other than Glasstaff, the Redbrand boss that had escaped in session 3, as he had fled to this throne-room containing a giant statue of a Dwarven mining diety.

Another vicious battle broke out as Glasstaff was cornered and threatened to finally deal with the adventures for good.  The wizard summoned three giant spiders and ordered them, along with his two personal BugBear guards, to attack, as he himself turned invisible.  The party eventually defeated two of the giant spiders and the BugBear guards.  The third spider attempted to flank the party through a side-tunnel, which also brought a third BugBear into the fight.  

These were also defeated and the party turned their attention to Glasstaff, whom had fired magic missiles at Innil.  She cast silence into the room and detect magic, which both prevented further spells from Glasstaff, and showed his location due to his magic staff's aura.  

The evil wizard was captured and tied up. The party then discovered the last Rockseeker brother, Nundro, in a locked room, which they used for another long-rest to heal.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 6 - All Eight Eyes...and then some

The party returned to Phandalin, after encountering twin nobles on the road engaged in a fierce debate about which was more handsome.  They found that Sildhar was making good on his plans to serve as the new townmaster and had employed twelve men-at-arms from Neverwinter.  He was also overseeing the construction of a wooden wall around the town to further security.

The party allowed Gundren to rest for a few days while they also refreshed their supplies before heading back onto the road to Thundertree, now 500 gp richer for having saved Gundren.  They party hired three of Sildhar's men-at-arms to help them defeat Morag for 5 gp a day.  

The trip to Thundertree was uneventful and the ruined village was as they had left it, with Reidoth glad to see them return as promised.  He gave them all anti-venom potions and wished them luck.  The party approached Morag's tower on the hill and Innil was able to land a perfect shot from a flaming arrow through the top of the tower, which spurned Morag to appear.  The beast crawled out to face the party and was accompanied by ten disgusting offspring on her back, which she would fling out to attack the party, before her unleashing own attacks.

One hireling was killed, but the battle proved to be fairly one-sided.  Vendel was again crucial in this fight as he leapt upon Morag in wolf-form and attacked the offspring on her back head-on, which prevented Morag from fully utilizing her battle strategy.  Eventually, Reiner was able to do enough damage to Morag's legs, while his new plate mail armor defending well against her fangs.  Innil pierced the beast with more arrows before it finally fell dead.  The battle continued for awhile longer as the offspring spiders were all dispatched.

Vendel had to attend to some business in his village, but promised to meet back up with his new friends in Phandalin in a week.

The party leveled-up to Level 4 at this point in the story.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 5 - To Kill a King

Reidoth led the party through the deep forest in order to attempt to recruit help against Morlag from a village of Firbolg that he knew.  They were only able to recruit one Druid, a blue skinned Firbolg named Vendel Beechriver, and his pet lizard, Kronch.

New party member: Vendel Beechriver, Firbolg Druid, 3rd-Level

The expanded party. with the additional help of OneShoe, assaulted the castle by essentially going through the front gates.  Several small skirmishes ensued with the goblin guards, some of whom were not paying much attention to their duties.  

The party also had to fight through a mess hall of goblins that were led by a creature dubbed "Goblin Ramsey" for his tendencies to curse and throw items at his workers, and the party.  Ultimately these were also defeated and the party liberated a former church of Palor from its Goblin want-to-be priest and his two Goblin acolytes.  The party also faced a Grick, but happen to make quick work of this threat as well, despite not having magical melee weapons.

The party also freed a trapped OwlBear and killed some Hobgoblin guards before entering the chambers of King Groll, self-appointed ruler of the castle. 

The party fought hard against this massive old Hobgoblin King and defeated him, although Marigold was downed in this encounter.  Reiner was barely able to save the fallen rogue with a potion of healing that stopped her from bleeding out, while Innil kept the boss busy with an arrow to the throat.  

Vendel was also critical to their success in this fight, as he shape shifted into a wolf, and totally neutralized the wolf of King Groll.

After the King was defeated, OneShoe, who never managed to land an arrow in the entire battle, put his foot atop the body and lifted the painted wooden crown onto his own head before declaring he was "King OneShoe!" much to the parties amusement.

The levity was short-lived, as the slave girl captive they had freed was actually a Doppelganger, who rushed over to kill the unconscious Gundren.  Luckily Reiner and Innil managed to both pin her to the wall with a javelin and an arrow between the eyes.

The party then continued to Phandalin to recruit more help against the spider mother, and to return Gundren to Sildhar for healing.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 4 - A Banshee and a Spider Mother

The party traveled two days to Conyberry without any noteworthy incident.  

They found Agatha’s grove and were successful in their flattery and information gathering mission.  Using the jewel encrusted comb, they persuaded the banshee to cooperate.They also found out that BowGentle’s spell book was in Neverwinter and that Sister Garaele was really an agent of the Harpers.

After traveling to Thundertree, the party fought off some Twig Blights and Ash Zombies.  They met Reidoth the druid who hired them to kill Morag, a massive spider mother that had taken up residence in the ruined town’s tower.  

Some initial battles with Morag’s children proved difficult, so the party decided to get reinforcements before challenging Morag herself.  

Reidoth agreed to tell them of CragMaw Castle’s location after seeing their injuries, and due to the persuasions of Innil, as he also agreed that they needed assistance for the battle.  He led them through the forest with the promise that they would return shortly to complete their mission.

The party leveled-up to Level 3 at this point in the story.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 3 - Showdown at the Sleeping Giant

The party snuck into the Redbrand hideout via the secret tunnel that Carp showed them. The cavern entrance was inhabited by a Nothic, which made a deal to allow them passage in exchange for the bodies of the Redbrands to eat.

The party fought through some additional Redbrands while exploring the hideout.  They found Glasstaff’s laboratory and quarters, but the wizards escaped through a secret passageway, as his rat familiar alerted him to the party.  A chase ensued but Glasstaff’s spells injured and held Reiner in place, and the party decided not to split up, which allowed Glasstaff to escape.

The party then avoided three skeletal guards in a crypt by wearing Redbrand cloaks and were able to rescue a mother and two children from the nearby jail despite Reiner being ambushed by the jail guards.  The party then decided to escort the prisoners back to town and spend the night at the Alderleaf farm.

Since it was night, a lot of the Redbrands had gathered in the Sleeping Giant tavern.  The party barred the door and burned it down with oil flasks, killing all the occupants, except for a Doppelganger that broke through a window.  The fake tavern keeper fought Reiner and was killed on the spot.

The next day Sildhar showed them that another Doppelganger had been operating in town, which was deduced by the discovery of the townmaster’s body in the town jail.  The townspeople celebrated the ruin of the Redbrands and bought the heroes of the town supplies and free drinks.  Sildhar became the defacto townmaster and sent word for more of his order to come to town and establish order.

Sildhar and his new garrison of deputies finished clearing out the Redbrand hideout, and also recovered all of Glasstaff’s possessions, including a letter from “The Black Spider.”  This letter made it clear that this Black Spider is the boss of Glasstaff and he has instructed Glasstaff and the Cragmaw goblins to stop Gundren from arriving at something called the “Wave Echo Cave.”

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 2 - Phandalin or Bust

The party delivered the wagon to Barthen’s provisions as directed by Gundren and received their payment.  They then spent the night in the StoneHill tavern after meeting several NPCs in the inn, whom gave them some leads on what to do in town.  

Sildhar was able to heal and told the party the next day that Gundren was taken to Cragmaw Castle, but he doesn’t know its location.  He offers the party 500 gp to rescue Gundren, which will be paid by his organization, The Lord’s Alliance.

In the tavern, the party met Toblin and Trilena Stonehill who run the inn, and they were told of the Redbrand problems.  A few other minor NPCs also mentioned the Redbrand ruffians causing trouble.

After exploring the town and meeting several notable NPCs, the party was confronted by the Redbrands in the streets and a fight broke out, which resulted in three dead Redbrands, and one that ran away after surrendering.

The party learned of the Agatha side-quest from Sister Garaele, and they agreed to help her in exchange for some healing potions, and a tip about a druid in Thundertree that would know how to find Cragmaw Castle.  She gave them a jeweled comb to offer Agatha in order to appeal to her vanity.

They also met Daran Edermath, the orchard keeper, who told them of the Old Owl Well side-quest, but it was not of interest.  They then met Halia Thornton and were suspicious of her intentions on asking the party to kill Glasstaff, the leader of the Redbrands, but to leave the others alive.  

They then met the townmaster, the obese and lazy Harbin Wester, who blew off their concerns about the Redbrands, which made the party suspicious.  

They also encountered Quillene Alderleaf and her son Carp, who are halfling farmers, and kindly offered the party a place to stay.  Carp also told them of a secret entrance into the Redbrand's hideout.

Sildhar met back up with the party the next day and presented them with OneShoe, now outfitted with a magical “leash” of sorts, and leather armor, as OneShoe would now promise to help his new masters.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Session 1 - Goblin Arrows

The Party:

• Sir Reiner Von Emberhand, Human Paladin, 1st Level
• Innil Guerendal, Wood Elf Cleric, 1st Level
• Marigold Brandybuck, Halfling Rouge, 1st Level

The party left Neverwinter to meet their employer, Gundren Rockseeker, in the frontier mining town of Phandalin, after Gundren left excitedly the previous day due to finding "something big".  They were ambushed by goblins at the same location that Gundren and Sildhar were captured after finding their dead horses.  

Three goblins were killed and one was captured, named OneShoe, who led the party to Cragmaw Cave as a condition of his surrender.  OneShoe managed to escape when the party was distracted by two goblin guards, but would later be re-captured.

The party made a deal with a goblin chief named Yeemek to kill the tribe’s current boss, a bugbear named Klarg, in exchange for the release of Sildhar.  Gundren was not found in the cave.  The party was able to use the tribe’s water trap against Klarg after almost losing the battle against him and his pet wolf.

OneShoe was again captured by the party after he was found rummaging through the wagon that the party had secured off of the Triboar Trail.  The journey to Plandalin continued with the wounded Sildhar in the back of the wagon.

The party leveled-up to Level 2 at this point in the story.