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Campaign Notes: Lost Mines of Phandelver

Page history last edited by Gillian 9 years, 2 months ago

Campaign Notes: Phandelver Page 2, page 3

Characters:

Doodle: Elf Rogue  - when she was young, her family died in some way for which she blames herself. She was then taken in by a whole group of thieves; she was trained to be a burglar. She's hunting an old enemy whom she seeks revenge upon.

 

Alzardel: Dwarf Wizard - cousin to Gundren Rockseeker, became a folk hero in the Dragonwars. Now he's determined to gain power and rule properly. He's heard his cousins have made an interesting discovery in the region of Phandalin, and wants to know what it is.

 

Gia Westmarch: human fighter - she's a duelist, a baron's daughter whose family lost their lands in the Dragonwars. She desires to regain rank and position, as well as protect the realm from evil. Sildar is an old friend of her father's, who offers her a chance to rebuild her life.

 

Theren: elf fighter - his honor is his life - he's never wrong! His ancestress may have become a ghost in this area; he seeks to find her and question her about a lost family relic.

 

Cora Tealeaf: hobbyt thief - raised by a monk as his acolyte, she turned to a life of "crime" when she had to leave the monastery. She's devoted to improving herself, but tends to become focused on one goal to the detriment of all else. She has heard that there are bandits in Phandelin, and has come to decide if she'd rather join them or defeat them.

 

Marian - human cleric - scholarly human - she's devoted to her temple, the library, and expanding her knowledge-base. She finds it impossible to keep secrets. Marian is a cleric of "all gods" and has the Life domain. Her home temple is in Woodsvale.

 

Sindre - a hobbyt druid from Tallowsland, he has come to Greenvale in the wake of the Dragonwars to hunt his eternal foe - the goblinkind. He finds rich hunting around Phandalin, and is eagerly searching for Cragmaw Castle, where he believes an entire Goblin Kingdom can be defeated.

 

Session 1:

Hired by Gundren to transport his wagon of goods to Barthen's Provisions in Phandelin, the PCs were traveling from Woodsvale as a caravan with Doodle driving and Alzardel riding shotgun, Gia and Cora ahead, Marian on the wagon's tailgate, and Thoren walking behind. Soon after leaving the main road to Westvale the party spotted vultures in the air, and then, rounding a bend in the road, spotted downed horses. Before they could investigate (the whole group was surprised), a pair of screaming goblins charged from the woods; a second pair fired arrows at the two on the wagons. The first blow to Cora was vicious, nearly taking the little hobbyt down, and then an arrow badly injured Doodle. However, Gia took out the goblin before her with one solid blow, and Theren, spotting one of the archers, managed to shoot it. Alzar and Doodle then slew the second goblin in the road. Doodle also shot and wounded the remaining goblin archer from her high perch on the wagon; Theren stalked it into the woods and finished it off, even as Cora tried to sneak up on it.

 

An hour's rest and a short search later, the party realized the horses belonged to Sildar and Gundren; since both of them have ties to various party members, they decided to search for them. The goblin trail was quickly discovered, and it was decided that they should start down it to find their lost friends.

 

Session 2: (Marion and Cora were not present, so they stayed behind to guard the wagon, but the party was joined by a druid named Sindre - a 4th level hobbyt from Tallowsland who has sworn to work with Count Michael cleaning up the dangers left over from the Dragon Wars).

 

Sindre had seen the results of the goblin ambushing a previous caravan of merchant goods to Phandelin, and was eager to find their home and stop the raids. He had been tracking one group, but lost them; when he returned to the ambush site, he met the PCs and invited himself to join them. He seemed competent and friendly, so they happily accepted his aid. However, as they followed the trail the goblins had left, they discovered he was not perfect, as he walked right into a snare trap, even after seeing evidence that it existed. Theron cut him down, and advised him that next time he saw something odd on the trail, he might want to have Doodle examine it. This saved them from falling into the pit trap a few minutes later. After avoiding that, they soon reached the cave mouth.

 

Doodle sneaked up on the far side of the cave to the mouth, and spotted two goblins hiding in the bushes on the near side. Taking a chance, she decided to shoot them both. She was able to kill one with surprise, and then won initiative and killed the other, as well!

 

The PCs were then able to sneak into the cave - Sindre made friends with one of the wolves, and was able to sneak past it and investigate the cave and found the back door. He saw the bugbear and the big wolf, Ripper. He decided that it was very unlikely he could handle the bugbear on his own and retreated. None of the rest of the party was able to pass by the wolf, so they decided not to take that route.

 

Continuing up the main passage, Doodle examined the side route, and decide it was too risky to climb. She spotted the goblin on the bridge, but it did not see her. Daringly, Alzardel and Theron both firebolted the goblin, and killed it without any alert being given. At this point they realized that they needed light for their fighter (Gia) to be able to see in the caves. Sindre cast Darkvision on her and was able to allow her to see in the dark. For himself, he wildshaped into an owl. He was able to fly into the main caves and see all the goblins, and locate Sildar where he was imprisoned.

 

With this scouting info, the whole group decided it was too risky to take on either group with the other free to react. Theron threw a rope up to the bridge, and Sindre crept up the passage to the west; he threw thornspike and locked the goblins down. Then the whole group went up the trail into the eastern cave - the three goblins there were not quite surprised, as they'd heard the goblins yelling about the thornspike, but were not expecting an assault. Combat was joined; Gia got hit by one goblin, but two of the three fell swiftly, and the party was able to position themselves for the arrival of the bugbear Klarg and Ripper the Wolf. Alzardel slept the goblins, Theron finished off the last of the first three goblins, and Doodle threw handfuls of ball-bearings in Klarg's path, causing him to fall prone and not be able to rush into combat. Ripper lept over his fallen master and attacked, however. Gia, Theron and Doodle engaged him; he bit Gia savagely, but fell to Gia's blade. Klarg rose and advanced. He nearly struck Doodle with his first blow, and the terrified thief retreated. Sindre had two cure potions; he passed them off to Theron, who drank one and then passed the second on to Gia. She drank the second, and they both advanced after the halfling to engage the bugbear. Alzardel finally hit with his firebolt, putting the first damage on the bugbear. Klarg hit Sindre, and badly wounded the hobbyt. Gia and Theron both landed blows, and were finally able to slay the brute. They then kicked one of the sleeping goblins awake, and quickly questioned it about where Sildar and Gundren were. It told them that Gundren had been sent to Cragmaw Castle, at the behest of King Grol. They managed to get rough directions from him to Cragmaw Castle before slaying him.

 

Knowing that the druid's thornspike spell would soon be wearing off, the PCs hurried back across the bridge and into the other half of the lair. They found that two of the goblins had tried to move through the thorns, and died of the injuries they sustained. The other three and Yeemik, their leader, were pinned into the cave, unable to advance. Theron and Doodle shot Yeemik when they entered, even as he screeched at them, trying to bargain with Sildar's life. He dropped, an arrow in the throat, and another in his eye. The other goblins were unable to respond to the assault, and soon died as well. Sildar was found to be alive, though injured, and he filled them in on several pieces of information - namely that Gundren had a map that showed where Wave Echo Cave was, and that someone called the Black Spider was behind the kidnapping of Gundren and himself - it was a deliberate plot, not a random ambush. He also told the PCs that he was traveling to Phandelin for a reason - he was Count Michael's representative to find out what was going on with a possible bandit problem in Phandelin. Count Michael, he said, had already sent one man - named Earnwald Albrecht - to Phandelin to investigate, and he had vanished. So Sildar is to find out both what happened to Albrecht, and what is going on in Phandelin.

 

Session 3: the PCs return to the wagon, and Sindre bids them farewell - he intends to find the route to Cragmaw Castle, and promises to at least send word to Phandalin when he does. The rest of the group, including both Cora and Marion, travel on to Phandalin, where they deliver their wagonload of goods to Barthen Traders Post. Elmar Barthen is very grateful for their arrival, and pays each of them 10 silver pennies. He also warns them to be careful of the Redbrand mercenaries in town. Marion escorts Sildar to the temple of Elanora for healing, while Alzardel and the others go to the Inn.

 

Considerable poking around town ensued - Alzardel collected a lot of rumors at the inn, including some about the Redbrand mercenaries, one abut Earnwald Albrecht having gone to Tresendar Manor before vanishing, and a rumor that not all the dragons were slain in the Dragonwars- shadows of a dragon have been seen over the forest! Marion learned that Gayna, the priestess of the Temple of Elanora, has been asked by her family to carry out a request for them, but when she tried, she was utterly terrified and could not do it. She asks Marion to help her, and Marion agrees. Theron hears that the Mayor is trying to recruit someone to drive orcs away from Wyvern Tor and Old Owl Well. Lastly, Doodle ventures out to the Sleeping Giant Tavern in quest of gossip or rumors about "The Black Spider" who might be behind the kidnapping of Gundren. She meets and interacts with several of the Redbrand mercenaries, who are thoroughly unlikeable and bullying.

 

Marion spends the night at the Temple, leaky roof and all, and the rest of the party put up at the Inn with Sildar. He offers Gia a position as his assistant in establishing a constabulary in Phandalin, but she is not ready to accept yet; she's eager to make more money than she can earn that way, to send home to her family. Next morning, after a good breakfast at the Inn, Sildar, Gia, and Alzardel went to talk to the Mayor about a variety of things. Doodle and Cora decided that at the same time they'd best search the Mayor's private living quarters to see if they could find out what he's up to. Sildar asked why no constabulary had yet been established, and the Mayor simply gave them a runaround. When they demanded to know what he'd done with the funds, the Mayor said they were "put away safely". Commanded to prove this, he went upstairs, reluctantly, to fetch his strongbox. Just previously, Doodle had sneaked into the room and was literally hands-on the box at that moment. She dove under the bed, with the box, as they Mayor and Gia came into the room. The mayor immediately announced that thieves had burgled his home. Gia realized it was Doodle's action, and hustled the Mayor back downstairs "to get help". Doodle ran out the back, with Cora, and the strongbox. Eventually, it was delivered, still unopened, to Sildar. He strongly suggested that the Pcs might be best off not being in town for the day, or three. So they decided to go out hunting for Earnwald Albrecht at Tresendar Manor - and also, later, they think, probably Gundren's brothers and then finally to help Marion carry out Sister Gayna's mission in Conyberry.

 

On the way to Tresendar Manor, they ran into Carp, who offered to show Doodle his tunnel. Doodle inspected it, and hiked down the tunnel to the cave, saw the lamplight, and decided it was too dangerous to explore on her own. She doubled back and found the other PCs, who were just discovering the cellar door. Cora opened the lock, and Theron led the way down to the cistern room. There, they found the secret door, but Cora heard voices at the supply room door, so they opened it first. A nice little battle happened, with Doodle climbing onto barrels to aid Theron and Gia in melee, while Marion and Alzardel cast spells (Command and Firebolt); Cora kept an eye behind the party for potential additional arrivals. Gia took a small amount of damage, but otherwise the bandits were defeated handily. Belt pouches looted, the bodies were hidden in the bunks, and their gear thrown out into the cellar pit, covered with some brush, so it can later be taken back to sell.

 

Session 4: After looting the first bandits, the party decides to proceed through the secret door beside the cistern - down a short hallway and into a large cavern with two bridges across a chasm. There are several oil lamps, half-filled with oil, and passages out of the cavern on the other side of the chasm. And then three bandits emerge from one hall - everyone hides except Alzardel - who tries to bluff being a new recruit, but they don't believe him and order him to come over the chasm to them. He refused, and combat erupted. Gia got hit, quite severely. Marion held one bandit, who tried to flee. Then the Nothic that lives in the chasm emerged, and began to try to corrupt first Doodle and then Gia. Alzardel and Theron firebolted one bandit, and then Doodle engaged the second. Theron slew the held bandit, after almost falling into the chasm when one of the bridges collapsed. When Doodle killed the bandit, the Nothic decided that it was more interested in the bandit's flesh than fighting Gia, and dove back into the cleft.

 

After slaying these bandits, Gia was in need of healing, and Marion was out of spells, so it was decided to retreat to the first bandit bunkroom and hide for an hour. During that hour, two more bandits came down the stairs into the lair, and Theron and Alzardel slew them to avoid being discovered. After Gia used her HD healing, the party continued on across the cave and down the first hall. They heard harsh goblinoid voices behind one door, and nothing behind a second door around a corner. So Doodle knocked on the door, and waited. A goblin opened the door, and behind him were three bugbears. One bugbear immediately charged - and a second emerged from the room. Fearing the devastating attacks of the bugbears, the Pcs began a fighting retreat. They were able to slay the first bugbear as they retreated, but a second was close. Doodle was separated from the rest of the group, and after fleeing through the second door, killed a lone bandit. She was able to circle around and came out into the cave behind the bugbear. She shot it, and it turned on her, and the rest of the party was able to flee. Doodle retreated down the stairs back toward the bandit chamber, but ducked through another door to avoid the third bugbear. There she found a wizard's laboratory and bedchamber. The wizard was at his desk and roared at the intruding rogue, thinking she was a bandit. She yelled that the bugbears were rampaging, and please come help. The wizard went out, commanding her to follow, and declared that he would deal with the bugbears. While he shouted at them, Doodle was able to sneak away, and escape.

 

Somehow, everyone made it back to town safely, and reported to Sildar that the bandits had bugbears and a wizard ally. It was then that Doodle revealed that the wizard was Earnwald Albrecht, her old enemy, and the supposed assistant of Count Michael. He has betrayed the Count and joined the bandits!

 

Session 5:

Sildar was quite incensed at the idea that his old companion Albrecht had joined the bandits, and quickly decided to join the party in returning to the old Manor. He tried to recruit Daran Edermath to assist, but received word that several of Edermath's children were ill and he could not leave home. So only Sildar accompanied them. They first tried to enter via the old tunnel in the woods, but halfway down it, the passage was trapped. Doodle tried to disarm the trap, and was unable to do so, triggering a collapse. She avoided serious injury, but the tunnel was partly blocked. Rather than dig it out, they decided to collapse it further, sealing the passage. It took several tries, but Alzardel used his masonry knowledge to do so. He, too, avoided serious injury in a mishap. Then the group left the passage; Doodle, Alzardel and Marion attempted to track anyone who had left this way, while Sildar, Theron and Gia entered by the cellar door.

 

The trackers followed the trail of what they believed were two bugbears and two humans, all but one heavily laden, into the forest. The tracks were about 8-12 hours old. They finally lost the trail after it went north-west around Phandelin and then veered west, into the forest. By the time they started back to Phandelin it was early evening.

 

The rest of the group explored the dungeon quickly; at the first chamber, they discovered an undead bugbear waiting on them, weilding his mace; because he had to climb the stairs to reach them, at his lumbering pace, it was easy for Theron and Gia to take him down with ranged attacks without damage or even real risk. They decided to explore northwards, through the door they had not previously entered. They found a hall trapped with a pit, which Gia almost fell into. Passing through the copper-clad doors at the end, they found the old crypt of the Tresendar family. There, they crushed three skeletons; Sildar took a hit but the others were untouched. Hidden in one of the old sarcophogi, they did find a bit of treasure - the Tresendar family crest on a signet ring. Beyond that they found, and rescued the three prisoners in the bandit's holding cells. Ead told them that she had heard that Glasstaff intended to sell them into slavery! (which of course, is illegal in Greenvale)...

 

After getting the prisoners to relative safety, they continued to explore, finding the armory, which had been looted, and then doubling back to the Bugbears' lair. There they found the goblin Droop, who was hiding, unsure if it was safe to flee. He told them that the bugbears and the human wizard were heading back to Cragmaw Castle, where the "King Goblin" lived. After he told them all he knew about the bandit lair, they killed him.

 

Going into the wizards' chambers, they found only a few bits and pieces of smashed glassware, empty bookshelves, and, in the wizard's bedchamber, where it had rolled out of sight, a single pearl. This came in useful later when Alzardel needed it to cast Identify.

 

Once the manor hideout had been looted, they decided it was time to find the rest of their group; once outside, they found the blazes the trackers had left behind, and began following. (They also sent the rescued prisoners back to Phandelin with enough money to spend a few nights at the Inn, in safety). It took a few hours, but eventually the two groups reunited outside Phandelin, and shared info.

 

After consulting Sildar, they came to the conclusion that their best course of action would be to find Cragmaw Castle. The only way to pinpoint the location, they discovered, after asking around town, would be to locate the druid Reidoth, who knows the region's forests intimately. And Sister Gayna was able to tell them that he was most likely to be found in the ruined village of Thundertree, on the south bank of Lake Phandelin.

 

So they set out for the old village; they had no trouble getting there, but once there, they were attacked by Twigblights as they neared the village center. Two of them managed to close with Marion, but were unable to hurt her, and the archers/casters blasted them pretty rapidly. Unfortunately, the sound of the combat alerted the one creature they probably could have done without meeting - Venomfang himself!

 

The dragon, who had been asleep in his tower, came out and perched on the tower rim; Doodle decided that it would be a good time to call for Riedoth's aid; instead the dragon heard her and dropped down to speak with them. He first demanded a payment to allow them to live and depart, but after Marion spoke with him, and offered "a favor later", he changed his demand, and told them that yes, they could do him a favor, right now! In fact, he demanded that they do it! They were to search through his village ruins, and find the treasure that his mother hid there for him. When asked WHY his mother hid it, and whether she'd want him using humans to do his hunting for him, he changed his tune, and said that thieves had stolen the treasure, hiding it here from him, and that his new slaves were to recover it for him, or else! When asked "what else" he told them he'd accept a sacrifice of two of their number. Theron suggested he'd be happy to sacrifice one party member, glaring at Doodle, but eventually they agreed to "serve" the dragon. They started poking around in the ruins, and eventually, buried under the hearth in the smithy, they found four leather sacks about the size of a fist, with spouts on them. They were filled with liquid. Uncertain what the liquid was, beyond being magical, they debated whether to turn them over to the dragon. They also found 40 ancient silver solidii (worth a total of 120 silver pennies). They decided giving the dragon magic was too dangerous, so they spent the rest of the afternoon poking around other ruined buildings, and camped overnight in the smithy. While they waited, the dragon flew off to go hunting, and shortly thereafter, the druid Reidoth showed up. He was quite irritated at Doodle, for yelling his name when the dragon could hear it, and indicated he thought Doodle would make an excellent dragon dinner. Eventually, though, he calmed down and they had a rational conversation about Cragmaw Castle, which he referred to as Caer Mawr. He told them how to locate it, and how long it would take to get there (4-5 days, 5 or 6 if they chose to swing by Conyberry on their way, to help out Sister Gayna). Eventually even Theron agreed that it was worth it to do this. 

 

In the morning, Alzardel used Identify to determine that the potions were a sort of fire-breath resembling burning hands; if the compound was sucked up and then spit out it would do 2d8 fire damage to one target within 15'. They decided not to turn them over to the dragon. Instead, they simply waited until he went hunting again, and then fled as quickly as possible. Reidoth the druid used some of his magic to help hide their trail from the dragon.

 

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