LMP Summary

[Daos]

Chapter One:

Goblin Arrows

The party is on Triboar Trail while driving a wagon to the town of Phandalin. As they travel, they engage in light conversation. Fosco speculates on what the supplies they are transporting are for, and Orianna notes the mining equipment. Iroas asks the others what they will do when the job is done. Djan makes his distaste for Phandalin known and claims he will leave immediately to find work elsewhere. Orianna and Iroas feel Phandalin will offer more job opportunities than a city like Neverwinter, because it's on the frontier. Kalli claims she is seeking answers that are not found in Neverwinter. The others ask what she means.

Before the warlock can answer, though, the party comes across a pair of dead horses on the road, peppered with black arrows. Djan moves forward to investigate from a distance, but cannot discern anything without getting closer. He then tries taunting whoever might be out in the brush. This works a little too well, as four goblins come out of hiding (two archers, two swordsmen) and surprise the party. Djan goes down after one of the arrows hits him.

The rest of the fight proves difficult, but Fosco manages to take down the archers with a sleep spell so the rest of the party only need focus on the two swordsmen. Eventually the party manages to kill the swordsmen and Iroas just barely saves Djan's life in time. The dragonborn then immediately kills one of the sleeping archers. Iroas suggests they take the last one alive for questioning, but Djan sees no point in that.

Searching the area, Fosco finds a trail leading away and evidence that the occupants of the horses were carried off. Djan wants to just leave, but the others want to follow the trail and rescue whoever was captured. They move the wagon off the road to conceal it from any travelers who pass by.

After a brief rest, the goblin comes to and they start to question her. She mentions that they captured a dwarf, and Iroas becomes concerned and asks Djan for more details on what he saw when he investigated the horses. But Djan doesn't care, so Iroas goes to check for himself.

Orianna questions the goblin, who claims that their leader, Klarg, got a message from a King Grol that said someone named the Black Spider was willing to pay good coin if a dwarf traveling with a human was captured and brought, along with anything they were carrying, in. Iroas reveals that the emblem on the saddlebags that Djan couldn't remember belonged to the Rockseeker clan. Fosco asks the goblin to lead them back to her lair.

The goblin agrees if the party pays her five gold. She then leads the way, helping them avoid two traps on the way, before they reach a large cave entrance. The goblin is paid and sent on her way, then Orianna sneaks forward. She quickly returns, reporting a blind with two guards behind it. Orianna and Fosco agree to sneak around to come behind the goblins, while the others attack from the front.

They do so successfully, and while the guards shoot at Iroas (he takes an arrow in the process), Orianna and Fosco stab them from behind. Orianna kills one, and the other is finished off by a firebolt from Djan. Orianna is then sent into the cave to scout ahead.

When she returns, she reports a pair of wolves chained up in a chamber to the east and a tunnel heading northward with a bridge and a goblin sentry. The party first checks out the wolves, and Iroas suggests Fosco calm them with food. This doesn't work, so Iroas tries instead and has better success. The party checks the back of the room and finds a sort of chimney that leads up. At the bottom is a pile of refuse, suggesting whoever is up there is using it as a garbage chute. Not wanting to investigate further due to the smell, the party instead leaves the room and sends Orianna ahead to dispatch the goblin she saw on the bridge.

After she manages to kill the goblin with one well-placed shot from her bow, she returns to the others and leads them to the bridge. The party contemplates finding a way up there, and Orianna scouts ahead to look for a way. She finds a large chamber with several goblins. It also has the source of the stream of water, with several artifical dams in place. If the dams were removed, it would cause the river to flood the cave, washing anything in its way out. She returns to the others and reports.

The party decides rather than risk fighting the goblins, they should instead try and climb the slick rock wall and reach the bridge that way. Fosco and Djan both fail, but Orianna manages to get up there. She lowers a rope to pull up Fosco, and the two of them manage to pull up Djan. However, all that weight is causing the bridge to creak pretty loudly, so they move aside and Iroas just climbs up on his own.

They take the bridge west instead of east, away from the dams, and instead run into a chamber with even more goblins camping out in it. One of the goblins, a leader of some kind, has a human tied up with him. The party recognizes him as Sildar Hallwinter, the bodyguard of Gundren Rockseeker, their employer. The goblins instantly attack.

Djan rushes ahead, nearly getting killed in the process, but does manage to take out several goblins with a burning hands spell. Orianna goes down from an archer's arrow, but Fosco revives her to full health. Iroas takes out one goblin, knocking him unconscious. At this point, the leader puts a sword tip to Sildar's throat and demands a truce as only he and one goblin archer now remain.

The leader calls himself Yeemik and claims to be the rightful chieftain of the Cragmaw tribe. Or he was, before Klarg took over. Yeemik promises to let the party live and let them walk away with Sildar, if they go and dispose of Klarg for him. Otherwise, he threatens to kill Sildar, and then finish off the party (who aside from Orianna, are pretty badly wounded). The party agrees, save for Djan, who claims that he doesn't care about Sildar's life and attempts to get a 'better deal' despite having no leverage whatsoever to barter with. The others turn on Djan, with Iroas not only reminding him he saved the dragonborn's life, but threatening to withhold healing otherwise. Djan eventually backs down and consents to go along with the others.

On their way to Klarg's chamber, Orianna notices Iroas is badly wounded. He refuses to heal himself, because he only has one healing spell left and wants to save it for someone else, should they get injured in the upcoming fight. They decide to rest a bit, then proceed forward. Orianna sneaks into the dam room and takes out one of the goblins (the one nearest to the stairs, so it won't call for help), then the rest of the party moves in. They easily dispatch the remaining two.

Orianna scouts ahead, discovering a large room filled with stolen cargo in crates and barrels. Inside are also a large bugbear, a wolf, and two goblins around a fire. When she reports back, the party comes up with a plan. Fosco will use an illusion to distract them, then the party will rush in.

The illusion causes the bugbear, Klarg, and his pet wolf, Ripper, to move away from the fireplace. This allows Orianna to take out one of the goblins and the rest of the party to move in. It's a fierce and difficult battle. Ripper takes down Iroas, and then Orianna kills the wolf. The other goblin hops into and out of hiding to avoid getting hit, taking pot shots at the party, until she takes down Djan. Fosco, meanwhile, tries to melee Klarg and goes down in one hit. Soon, only Orianna remains.

She runs for it, hiding behind a rock and waiting for Klarg to follow. When he passes her, she shoots him in the back. He turns back toward her, and she shoots him again, killing him. She then sneaks back to the chamber and sneak attacks the last goblin, who is busy looting the others.

Discovering that Iroas is dead, Orianna finds two healing potions and force feeds them to Fosco and Djan, reviving them. The three then take Klarg's morning star as proof and return to Yeemik. However, Yeemik alters their deal, now demanding three hundred gold pieces in exchange for Sildar. Orianna intimidates him into giving up. The party then escorts Sildar to the entrance while he explains a few things.

Five hundred years ago, clans of dwarves and gnomes discovered a rich mine known as Wave Echo Cave, and made an agreement called Phandelver's Pact to share it. The mine also had a lot of magic in it, so human mages allied with the dwarves to create an artifact called the Forge of Spells, which creates magical items. But one day, orcs swept in and tried to take the mine. The battle destroyed much of the mine, and the location was lost to time.

Gundren found a map that he believes leads to Wave Echo Cave. Somehow the goblins knew this and set out to kidnap him. Sildar overheard them talking about someone called Black Spider that hired Klarg to do this. Gundren was taken somewhere called Cragmaw Castle, while Sildar was left in Cragmaw Lair. Sildar explains he has a contact in Phandalin named Iarno Albrek, a mage, who has gone missing and that is why he was sent by the Lord's Alliance to Phandalin. Sildar was accompanying Gundren to make some money on the side.

Sildar offers to pay the party if they escort him back to town.  The party then returns to the wagon, drives it to the cave entrance, and load up the treasure, stolen cargo and Iroas' body, before returning to Triboar Trail and resuming the journey to Phandalin.

[Daos]

Chapter Two:

Phandalin

The party makes a somber trek to Phandalin, and Sildar is happy to be back in a town. At the same time, another party arrives from the east, looking for work.

Fosco, Orianna and Sildar head to the inn. Once there, they order some food and drink. The innkeeper's son bombards Orianna with questions about her demonic heritage.

Gotrek, Bareris and Zoya head to the inn. Along the way, they spot some ruffians wearing red cloaks, and notice the townsfolk give them a wide berth. Once they arrive, they find a table and order some food and drink.

After eating and drinking, Bareris invites Orianna over to their table and suggests perhaps their two groups could team up and look for work. Orianna says they should ask around the inn, as inns and taverns are good sources of information. Gotrek goes around threatening everyone for intel, even children. He learns a lot of rumors, but as a result, the innkeeper bans him from the place.

The two groups decide to split up. Fosco and Orianna will go and complete their tasks in town, while Gotrek, Bareris and Zoya will investigate these rumors of work further, and the two groups will meet up at the town square when they are done.

The newcomer group heads to the Shrine of Luck first, and meets with the elven priestess there, Sister Garaele of Tymora. She tells them that she needs them to visit the lair of a banshee named Agatha, who has information about a lost spellbook her superiors are searching for. She gives them a jeweled comb to help, as Agatha is said to like pretty things.

Orianna and Fosco drop off the cargo for their job at Barthen's Provisions, but neither of them can even remember their employer's name, and seem completely disinterested in the fact that he was kidnapped by goblins and that he is being held somewhere called Cragmaw Castle. Barthen himself is far more concerned about the dwarf's welfare, and mentions that Gundren's brothers are out in the wilderness now, not too far from here. They are paid 50 GP for finishing the job, though.

Gotrek, Bareris and Zoya head for Edermath Orchard next, and meet with Daran Edermath, a half-elf adventurer, and retired member of the Order of the Gauntlet. He mentions reports of undead being seen around Old Owl Well, and wants the party to investigate.

Orianna and Fosco head next to Lionshield Coster and meet a woman there, Linene Graywind. Orianna explains how the party found a stolen shipment meant for Lionshield among the Cragmaw Goblins' things. Linene realizes that whoever was transporting the cargo must have been killed, so she offers their payment of 50 gold pieces to the party. She also offers 40 gold pieces for the jade frog statuette the party found among Klarg's things. Orianna divides up all the gold, including a share for Iroas. Kalli and Djan say their goodbyes and leave the group.

Gotrek, Bareris and Zoya then go to the Townmaster's Hall, where they meet Harbin Wester. They spot a notice mentioning orcs harassing trade caravans, and Bareris inquires about it. He explains that these orcs have a camp in Wyvern Tor (which he promises does not hold any actual wyverns) and offers 100 GP if the party can deal with them. Sildar is also there, and offers them two jobs. If they can find Cragmaw Castle and retrieve Gundren Rockseeker, he'll pay a whopping 500 gold pieces. Likewise, if they can find his missing contact, Iarno, he'll pay another 200 gold pieces.

Orianna and Fosco then take Iroas' body to the Shrine of Luck. They hand over the body and his share of the treasure to pay for his last rites. Sister Garaele asks if they have any final words they want to share. However, neither has anything to say, so they leave.

Gotrek, Bareris and Zoya then go to the Miner's Exchange, where they meet the guildmaster there, a human woman named Halia Thornton. She has a job for the party. If they can eliminate the leader of the Redbrands, a man named Glasstaff, she will offer them 100 gold pieces in return.

The two groups then reunite in the village square, and share what they learned. They decide to first do the orc quest, so stock up on supplies, get some rest and set out the next morning.

They set off on their two-day journey after deciding a marching order. The first day they do not encounter anything on the road at all. The second day also passed without incident. Along the way, they discussed their past experiences with orcs (Gotrek seemed haunted by some past event involving them) and how the two groups first met each other.

The night of second day, the party is attacked by four hobgoblins who attempt to surround them. Gotrek and Zoya, who were on watch, alert the party and a battle breaks out. The party is successful in cutting them down. Zoya tries to take one prisoner, but they are all slain, meaning they cannot be questioned. Searching them, they find a bounty for Orianna and Fosco with a spider insignia. Orianna remembers Sildar mentioning a Black Spider that resided at Cragmaw Castle, where Gundren was taken.

The party returns to sleep, and the next morning set out again. They reach the abandoned village of Conyberry and search the ruins for any supplies, but aside from a well with some water in it, have no luck. They then turn southward, toward Wyvern Tor. After another day of travel, they reach the rock formation without further incident.

Scouting around, Orianna finds the cave entrance guarded by a single orc. She and Bareris launch a sneak attack on the guard, taking it out without alerting the others. Orianna then sneaks inside the cave to get a look and reports back that there is a group of 7 orcs and an ogre together at a campsite. Fosco sneaks in and casts Sleep, knocking one orc out and beginning a battle.

Working together, the party manages to bring down the orc leader, causing half of them to flee from the fight. Once the remaining orcs are down, they turn their attention to the ogre. It takes down Bareris, who Fosco revives, and then takes down Zoya. But eventually, the party takes the ogre down, too. Bareris ties up the sleeping orc and questions her while Orianna checks out the campsite and finds a treasure chest filled with coin. The party learns that the orcs were supposed to be scouts for the Many-Arrows nation, but the group leader and the ogre got greedy and decided they should do some raiding on the side. They also learned the orc's name was Vokna and she knew nothing about Cragmaw Castle. Bareris and Orianna agreed to let her go after that, so untied her.

After a short rest, the party then divvies up the treasure and heads north, to the Old Owl Well to investigate the reports of undead there. They find what seems to be an old, crumbling tower next to a well. There is also a colorful tent pitched just outside of the tower. The party decides to approach and investigate.

As soon as they get close, zombies start pouring out of the tower and attacking. A vicious fight breaks out and Bareris goes down, but so do two zombies. It's at this point a human wearing red robes with a strange tattoo on his forehead steps out of the tent and demands silence. The zombies obey, freezing in place. He introduces himself as Hamun Kost and wants to know what the party is doing. The party tells him the truth and asks him why he's there, but he's cagey about it. He asks the party to take care of the nearby orcs, but when they reveal they have already done so, he instead asks that they ask the banshee, Agatha, a question for him. The party privately argues if they want to do this, ask the question Sister Garaele gave them, or ask their own question (like where Cragmaw Castle is). Eventually, they decide to lie to Kost and say they'll help him, out of fear he'll attack if they do otherwise (Zoya recognizes his robes as belonging to the Red Wizards of Thay, an evil organization of mages).

With that, the party returns to Conyberry, where they have a short rest. Then they take the forest trail to her lair. They arrive after nightfall, and upon entering they witness the ghostly specter of Agatha manifest before them. Orianna offers the jeweled comb and asks Garaele's question. The banshee offers an answer and then warns them to leave. The party is more than happy to do so. They return to Conyberry, camp for the night, then set out to return to Phandalin the next day.

However, while en route, they hear a scream off the side of the road. It sounds like that of a child. Orianna attempts to sneak toward the sound to investigate, but Bareris rushes in and comes across a grisly scene. A wagon has been run off the road and crashed into a tree. A pack of six wolves are feasting on the dead horse and driver. The child's screams are coming from within the wagon, which several wolves are trying to get into.

The wolves rush at the monk, and the others jump in to help him. Bareris is nearly overwhelmed, but working together, the group manages to finish them off without a single casualty. The party then investigates the wagon, learning a little girl is inside and also trapped. The party works together to get her free. The child, an elf girl named Lorarel, explains that her uncle was taking her to Waterdeep where her parents are, when the wolves ran the wagon off the road. The party decides to escort her as far as Phandalin, and then hopefully arrange transportation to Waterdeep from there.

They travel another couple of days, and then reach Phandalin without further issue. Once arriving, they decide to turn in their jobs, then hopefully find a way to get Lorarel to Waterdeep. First, they stop by the Shrine of Luck. They give Agatha's answer to Sister Garaele, who is quite pleased despite the fact it's rather vague. She awards them three healing potions, and asks to speak with Orianna and Fosco in private for a moment, before the party moves on.

The party next visits the Edermath Orchard and reports to Daran Edermath on the reports of undead at Old Owl Well. He is glad for the report, and is troubled by the news of a Red Wizard of Thay digging around there. He is understanding on why the party didn't fight him, and thanks them for their trouble.

Finally, the party returns to the Townmaster's Hall. They tell Harbin Wester that they took care of the orcs. He pays them one hundred gold coins and thanks them for their efforts. Sildar asks about Cragmaw Castle, but so far the party hasn't had any luck in finding it. He also asks about Lorarel and after learning her story, offers to help arrange to get her back to Waterdeep. Gotrek offers to go with her to watch over her, since he's banned from the inn anyway.  The party returns to the inn to rest up.

[Daos]

Chapter Three:
Spider's Web

The following morning is the Spring Equinox, Ches 19th, 1481 DR. The party wakes up, cleans up, and then heads to the common area for breakfast and to plan their next move. At the same time, Klaxon Nailo (an elven wizard) and Navarra Sevrakina (a human storm cleric) have just arrived in town after completing a simple delivery job from Neverwinter. They head into the inn. At once, they spot the party and introduce themselves, joining them at their table.

They talk briefly of Cragmaw Castle, when they hear a ruckus outside. Heading to the front door to investigate, they spot four of the red cloaked thugs that often roam the town ganging up on a halfling boy of about ten. The party threatens the ruffians, but they aren't impressed and tell the party to mind their own business.

A fight breaks out, but the ruffians rush forward to bottle-neck the party inside the inn. Eventually, however, three of them are killed. The fourth one tosses the boy aside and runs for it. Klaxon and Navarra give chase, while Bareris flirts with the barmaid and the rest check up on the boy. Klaxon and Navarra chase the ruffian to an old manor on a hill, and he disappears inside. Navarra breaks a window, then notices some of the villagers are watching. Questioning them on who is in charge of the town, one tells her the townmaster is. Meanwhile, Bareris strips down the bodies of their armor and then with the help of his mule, drags them to the shrine for last rites.

When the party reunites, they learn that the halfling boy, Carp, knows of a secret tunnel that leads into the Redbrand base. He also knows of a druid who knows the land well and might know the location of Cragmaw Castle, as a result. They decide to follow him back to his farm and meet his mother to learn more.

Carp's mother is happy to have him back, but becomes upset when she learns he's been provoking the Redbrands. She explains to the party that the Townmaster doesn't have any real power, there is no guard or constables, so the Redbrands just rolled in and sort of took over. She also explains about the old manor. This town was destroyed a long time ago, and the manor is a relic of that old version. Then, recently, the town was rebuilt and resettled.

She also tells them of the druid, Reidoth. He knows the area very well, and might know where Cragmaw Castle is. But he's not in town; he went to the ruins of Thundertree awhile ago, which is about 50 miles out of town. The party decides to worry about after dealing with the Redbrands. They decide they'll return to the inn and wait for nightfall, then check out the tunnel Carp mentioned.

Upon arriving, Bareris and Orianna decide to scout ahead. They follow the tunnel to reach a large underground cavern with several exits. Bareris sends Orianna back to report while he stays to look further. While she talks with the others, Bareris comes to a dead end and then finds himself facing a nothic that reads his mind. He is puzzled by the creature's knowledge of his dark secret. Meanwhile, the others head into the cavern and Navarra picks a random direction, which just happens to lead them straight to the nothic and Bareris.

Navarra mistakes the creature for a telthor. The nothic, reading her own mind, realizes how violent she is and attempts to negotiate a better deal than the one it has with the Redbrands. Bareris offers some of his rations, but the nothic craves manflesh. Navarra threatens the nothic at this, so it blasts her with its rotting gaze, knocking her out. A fight breaks out. Fosco uses a sleep spell and accidentally puts Bareris to sleep along with the beast. But this does allow Zoya to finish it off with a smite. Navarra is revived and thanks the party for saving her.

Bareris rechecks the dead-end he found and opens the secret door, revealing a storage room of some kind, with a cistern of fresh water and barrels full of food. There are also stairs going up to the first floor and two other doors (one on the other side of the cistern and another under the stairs). The party discusses what to do. They are under the impression that the bulk of the Redbrands are upstairs in the mansion proper, so decide to remain in the basement for now and try the door under the stairs. This leads them to a long hallway with an ornate stone door at the end. Bareris goes to investigate, triggering a pit trap. Luckily, he manages to flip back in time to avoid falling in.

The party each carefully crosses over the edges of the trap to reach the other side and go through the ornate doors to find a crypt of some kind. Orianna speculates that it belonged to the nobles that originally lived here. As they approach the next door, though, three skeletons spring to life and attack. The party quickly dispatches them and then opens the door to the east.

Inside they see a prison has been set up, with two cells. In one are two women, and in the other are a boy and a blue dragonborn. The latter signals to Orianna with hand gestures, but she doesn't really understand what he is trying to say. Klaxon sends in some dancing lights, and this exposes two Redguards who were hiding by the door, ready to attack. The party quickly cuts them down and releases the prisoners. They learn the humans are a family; the older woman, Mirna Dendrar and her daughter (Nilsa) and son (Nars). She explains that her husband, Thel, stood up to the Redbrands and was killed for it. The Redbrands then captured her and her kids to sell them into slavery. The dragonborn, meanwhile, is one Balasar Norixius. He infiltrated the manor to fight the Redbrands, but was overwhelmed and captured.

Orianna tells the Dendrars to stay put for now, but Balasar (after retrieving his gear) offers to come with the party to aid them. They find another storage room, but this one leads back to the cavern at the entrance. They also find a locked armory, but Orianna is able to pick it. The party decides that they can lead the prisoners back to the entrance through the storage room, so they don't need to cross the pit trap again. After doing so, they first decide to explore the west side, but then decide to backtrack to the cistern and check the room they skipped before. It is a small barracks, but it's empty and the door hangs open, suggesting whoever was in there has since departed.

The party returns to the west side, and start at the north end. First, they encounter a wizard's lab. From there, they encounter what appears to be Glasstaff's bedroom. But he is gone, and there's evidence he left in a hurry. Fosco finds a journal written in dwarven and shows it to Bareris, but the monk ignores it. Likewise, Orianna finds a letter from the Black Spider which she shows to Fosco, who likewise ignores it. Klaxon notices a secret door, and Balasar decides to check it out. It leads back up to the cavern. Not seeing which direction he went, Balasar gives up pursuit and returns to the others. They decide to try another room.

While checking the door for traps, Orianna overhears the rowdy sounds of gambling within. Zoya kicks in the door, surprising the four Redbrands within, who are all surprised. A fight quickly breaks out, as to be expected. Ultimately, the party is victorious. Almost immediately, Orianna moves on to the next room, which contains three bugbears taunting and teasing a goblin. The goblin immediately faints upon noticing the tiefling. The lead bugbear, a fellow named Mosk wearing a jeweled eyepatch, demands to know who she is. Orianna claims she is a new recruit, while the others back away so they aren't seen. She tells Mosk that Glasstaff wants to see him. Buying the bluff, he heads into the room where the party is waiting. Seeing all the dead bodies, he calls out for help to his two companions.

Naturally, another fight broke out. Last time the party faced a bugbear, it nearly wiped them out and now they were fighting three. This time, however, half of the party is knocked out, but the remaining ones finish the bugbears off in the end. As soon as the fight ends, Orianna returns to the bedroom to retrieve the letter she found earlier, while Klaxon goes back to search the lab again. Balasar, meanwhile, wakes up Droop to question him. The goblin slave is willing to talk, especially when Balasar admits that Droop is free now. Droop tells them that Cragmaw Castle is to the north, in a big scary forest. The party realizes he means Neverwinter Wood, but that forest is 60 miles across, so it doesn't narrow it down that well.

The party returns to the entrance and finds it is still night, so they head back to the inn to get some rest. The following morning, on Ches 20th, the party heads to the townmaster hall to meet up with Sildar. Orianna hands him the letter she found without explanation. Sildar pieces together that Iarno was Glasstaff. And while disappointed he escaped, he still pays the party two hundred gold for their efforts, but warns them the traitorous wizard may pop up again someday.

The party then went to report in to the guildmistress of the mining guild, Halia Thornton. However, she is very displeased with their news. She had specifically hired them to take out Glasstaff, which they failed to do. Orianna tells her about the letter from Black Spider, but when Zoya points out they already turned it into Hallwinter, Halia kicks them out and tells them they will not get paid at all. Fosco wonders if she was hoping to take over the Redbrands herself.

The party decides to rest up and head out the following day.

[Daos]

Chapter Four:
Thundertree Ruins

On the morning of the 21st of Ches, 1481, the party meets up at the common room of the Stonehill inn. Bareris and Navarra explain they are going their own path, and leave the party for good. There is a brief discussion on how many people join and then subsequently depart the group, but the rest of them decide to head for the ruins of Thundertree to find this druid who can possibly tell them where Cragmaw Castle might be.

At the end of the first day of travel, an owlbear leaps from the nearby Neverwinter Woods and attacks them. It immediately takes down Zoya, leaving the party very vulnerable as she is the only real tank they have. Fortunately, she recovers and is able to jump in just as Fosco goes down next. While Zoya manages to heal herself just enough to not drop again, Balasar jumps in and saves Fosco's life. Then together, the group eventually takes the owlbear down and decides to find a place to rest. After scouting around, they find a perfect campsite.

Two days later, they reach the ruins of Thundertree and find someone has posted a sign warning of zombies and plant monsters. Not having much else choice, though, the party proceeds and begins exploring the place. Balasar believes he sees a shrub move, but nobody really believes him at first.

However, when they approach the next house, a group of walking shrubs emerge and attack the party. After defeating them, Orianna suggests they cannot keep this up if they keep getting attacked. Zoya asks if she wants to turn back and she says no. They also found some coin hidden in the house and split it up among them.

They try another building, which is an old inn. It's filled with zombies, but Orianna and Balasar move so stealthily, that they are never noticed, so they discover nothing and just leave. During this time, Fosco asks Zoya a bit about her past, and she tells him why she became a paladin.

They then come to another building, and this one seems more intact, with reinforced doors and heavy shutters over the windows. Eventually, Balasar opens the door and discovers an old man inside. He claims to be Reidoth of the Emerald Enclave, and warns the party they should not be here, as it is dangerous. The party asks him about Cragmaw Castle, and he gives them the exact location in Neverwinter Wood, but warns them it is dangerous there, as well.

When the party asks about the local dangers here, he tells them of the ash zombies, twig blights, and giant spiders, but also a green dragon that has moved into the tower to the north recently, and some strange men in black masks and cloaks are skulking around. Zoya recognizes their description as being members of the Cult of the Dragon. The party discusses if they should head for Cragmaw Castle now, or continue exploring the ruins here. They opt to do the latter.

They move to the next area, but Orianna and Balasar both fail their stealth checks, and while scouting out inside, eight twig blights emerge from the nearby trees and surround the building to attack. During the battle, Orianna gets nearly surrounded, shrugs off her pack, and slips away. After the fight is over, she forgets to retrieve it and once again suggests they cannot keep this up if they keep getting attacked. Zoya asks if she wants to turn back and again, but this time she says yes, with the provision that perhaps they could return later at another date. After some more discussion, they decide to return to Phandalin to resupply, then head back to Cragmaw Castle. When they reach the sign warning of dangers in Thundertree, Klaxon stops them. He has decided to remain here with Reidoth to learn more of the druidic ways and help him with the troubles here. The party says their farewells to him.

Two days later, they arrive back in Phandalin. Orianna is quite hungry, and Fosco is starving, as neither has rations (both having dropped and forgotten their packs some time ago). They decide to head straight to the inn, get some food and rooms, and then start shopping for the next expedition. Upon arriving back at the Stonehill Inn, though, the innkeeper tells them that Sister Garaele has been looking for Fosco and Orianna for something. They decide to check it out after eating, but Zoya and Balasar stay behind.

When Fosco and Orianna return to the Shrine of Luck, they learn that Iroas has been brought back to life. The Harpers have taken an interest in the party's actions, and since neither Orianna or Fosco took Sister Garaele on their offer to join, they sent a high level priest to raise Iroas in return for him joining and going with the party. Both are happy to see their old friend again, if not a little guilty for letting him die in the first place.

After getting Iroas caught up to speed, the others take him to the inn to meet Balasar and Zoya. The group then plans their next move--to finally head to Cragmaw Castle and rescue Gundren Rockseeker.

[Daos]

Chapter Five:
Cragmaw Castle

On the morning of Ches 26th, the party sets out again toward Neverwinter Wood. Fosco forgets to bring any water. It takes them two days to reach their destination--Cragmaw Castle. They find it seemingly unguarded, with the front door busted down. Suspecting it's not that easy, Orianna decides to sneak around the perimeter to search for any other entrances. She finds one to the south, so the party decides to try it instead. As she picks the lock, she hears voices coming from arrow slits to the west.

The party enters and heads north, eventually finding a room with a concealed exit Orianna had missed on her perimeter check. The party then tried the room where they heard voices. It was a dining hall of some kind, with multiple goblins washing dishes and preparing a meal. Orianna managed to bluff them into thinking she was a new recruit come to relieve them. Happy to no longer have to work, the goblins left.

The party tries another room, but Orianna triggers a trap and a ceiling partially caves in. Luckily she escapes without harm, but the noise was quite loud and the party realizes they no longer have the element of surprise on their side.

They head a different way and come across some sort of shrine. Iroas recognizes iconography of different gods, human gods, suggesting this castle was built by humans, not goblins. As they look around, a grick drops from the ceiling and attacks. The party is able to dispatch it quickly, though. They then move on to the north, where behind the curtain is a crude shrine to the god of goblins, Maglubiyet. Orianna urges the party to attack, but take one alive for questioning. The shield-bearers provide cover for the archers while the goblins use the altar for cover while firing back at the party. This is an effective but slow and boring way to whittle them down. Orianna kills the last goblin herself, despite earlier saying they should take one alive.

They try out the room on the west and find an old storage room. Inside is Sildar's old sword and armor. Orianna insists they leave them behind. The room west of that has some sleeping hobgoblins in it, so they party avoids them. They try the southwest tower and find goblin archers in there. Avoiding that room as well, the move on to find a room with three off-duty goblins. Orianna tricks them into thinking she's a new recruit. They tell her to avoid the east wing, as that's Grol's area and he doesn't like people wandering around there without permission. With that learned, the party heads eastward.

At the first door they come across, Orianna listens in and overhears two people talking. The party kicks in the door and charges in, finding King Grol speaking with a drow, along with his pet wolf and an unconscious dwarf. After a fierce battle, the party is victorious, although the drow tries to kill the dwarf before she dies. She then changes shape, revealing she was not a drow at all, but a doppelganger. After reviving the dwarf, who turned out to be Gundren, he was concerned about his map. He said he had found a map to Wave Echo Cavern--the legendary Phandalin mine, and that was what his kidnappers had been after. He refused to leave the castle without it. Orianna eventually finds it hidden under Grol's mattress.

The party attempts to sneak out of the castle, but run afoul a hobgoblin hunting party on their way back. Their leader, Targor, is second in command and noticing the party and the prisoner, demands to know where Grol is. Balasar tries to convince him that he is the new king, but Targor decides his first act will be to avenge the former king, and a battle breaks out. Eventually the party is victorious, but only barely; they come very close to being wiped out several times.

They slip away into the forest to take a short rest, then head back toward Phandalin. The next day, they arrive and make straight for the Townmaster Hall. Gundren and Sildar are reunited, and the two pay the party for their services. However, Gundren wants them to head to Wave Echo Cave, also known as the lost mine of Phandelver. His two brothers, Nundro and Tharden, went ahead of him and he's worried about their fates. He also wants to know why this Black Spider fellow has taken such an interest in the mine. The party agrees.

[Daos]

Chapter Six: 
Wave Echo Cave

After a day of shopping and rest, the party headed out to Wave Echo Cavern, which was quite close to town. Both Fosco and Balasar light torches, and they delve in. They find inside the first cavern a makeshift campsite, and a dead dwarf. Iroas identifies him as Tharden Rockseeker, Gundren's brother. They find a rope descending a nearby pit, and assume Nundro, the remaining brother, must have went deeper into the cave.

They spend some time exploring the area, and come across a room that appears to be an old barracks. Three ghouls are inside, feasting on corpses, and they immediately attack Orianna first, as she was scouting ahead. The party is able to defeat them, and after a short rest, Orianna asks Balasar to be their scout for now. He explores the southern area, then reports back and notes he saw some corpses, so the party opts to head north instead.

The party enters a large dining hall of some kind, with dwarf and orc corpses strewn about. Seven ghouls emerge and attack. Despite there being more than double the last time, the fight went better because the party waited until they got close, then both Iroas and Zoya turned them at once. This made the fight much more manageable for them. When they had won, they decided to take another short rest again.

Balasar scouts out the north and finds what appears to be the old forge for the mine, but it is full of orc and dwarf corpses and a flameskull is in the middle of the room and looks right at him. He quickly retreats to the others to tell them about it, and they decide to try and avoid it. They take the long route around it, and find a cavern with a large pool of water. To the east of that is a locked door. Orianna picks it and opens it to find five bugbears, who seem quite surprised to see her. She lets slip they are intruders, so the bugbears attack. Using the door as a bottleneck to keep from being overwhelmed, the party eventually defeats them.

As they take another short rest, Balasar heads north to scout again. He spots a drow overlooking three bugbears who seem to be digging around for something. The drow spots him and sics the bugbears on him. The others hear shouting and rush to help. The party is able to defeat the three bugbears, but the drow escapes. They decide to withdraw and take another short rest.

After doing so, they return to where they were and Orianna scouts the area where the drow was seen disappearing toward. She finds a large chamber with a big statue of a dwarf in it, and a makeshift campsite. A lone dwarf is there, seemingly tied up and alone. Orianna reports to the others, and Iroas wonders if the dwarf could be Gundren's other brother, Nundro.

Orianna leads the group back to the dwarf, who does seem to be Nundro. However, something is off. He doesn't recognize Iroas, confuses the names of his own brothers, and seems strangely interested in the party's motivations for rescuing him. Sensing something amiss, Orianna threatens him and it turns out it is not Nundro at all, but a doppelganger. In fact, it was the drow they saw earlier. A disembodied voice speaks to them, revealing himself to be the Black Spider and making them a deal. If all they care about is Nundro, then take him--the real one--and leave this place to him.

The party discusses this, but isn't sure about it. Orianna asks the Black Spider to reveal himself by dropping his invisibility. But he refuses unless the party throws down their weapons first. They do so, and so he reveals himself to be a drow mage named Nezznar. He then makes them a new offer--come work for him. Help him in clearing out the mine of undead and other monsters. The party discusses this. Balasar is in favor, because he believes the undead do need to be cleared out. Orianna is in favor, as well, but with the caveat that they should turn on Nezznar when the job is done. Iroas points out that's probably exactly Nezznar's plan, as well. This makes Orianna rethink it, and instead she decides to take the drow's previous offer--to take Nundro and just leave. Nezznar tosses her the key to the priest's quarters, where Nundro is currently locked up.

Finding an unconscious and beaten up Nundro inside, the party revives him and quickly escorts him to the entrance of the cave. They then head for Phandalin, leaving the Wave Echo Cavern to Nezznar and his evil schemes.