Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Session 2: Lost Mine of Phandelver

Recap of Session 2 of Lost Mine of Phandelver for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

We have in our group four players. The cast so far:

Baelgor: Human Fighter
Nestor: Wood Elf Cleric
Neurion: Wood Elf Monk
Shank: Forest Gnome Rogue
Write Up written by Chris

Session 2 - If at First You Don't Succeed, Try to Die Again

The venturers four settled down for their much earned rest, stationing guard at the entrance to the store room. No sooner than the group got comfortable, two goblins, trying to be stealthy, quickly attacked. With swift reaction the party dispatched of the foul creatures and decided it would be smart to explore the cave further and clear it of any danger, while hoping to find signs of Gundren and Sildar. With the treasure and supplies from the store room quickly divided up; the four set off to explore the cave further.

The group slowly climbed a worn rock pathway to the suspension bridge where the body of the previously felled goblin lay. After crossing the bridge the group entered a small stone corridor where they noticed flickers of light bouncing of the wet, moss blotched cave walls. Readying their weapons, and with Neurion leading the way, they slowly maneuvered further down the tunnel. Hearing a twang of a bow and thud of an arrow, Nestor watched as Neurion fell backward with an arrow protruding from his chest. Quickly Nestor ran to his fallen comrade removing the arrow and poured a potion of healing down Neurions gullet. The rest of the party ran in to the open room with a camp fire blazing in the back of the cave and refuge scattered about.

The four quickly scouted five goblins scattered throughout the cave with a few of them high above on a ledge with bows drawn. One of the creatures appeared to be barking orders in their guttural tongue. Between Baelgor's skilled use of his blade learned from his time with the Neverwinter Guard, Shanks precision bowmanship, Nestor channeling the might of Apollo in his spell casting and the fury unleashed by Neurion using his staff and martial arts training; four of the five goblins were sent to their graves. With only the leader left, the group watch in amazement as Neurion, with deadly precision and power, pummeled the goblin leader to a bloody pulp.

The adventurers quickly noticed a man bound and stripped of his armor. After recognizing the man as Sildar, Gundren's escort, they unbind him listening to his story of how he and Gundren were attacked on the road by the Cragmaw goblins. The learn that the goblins were sent after Gundren by the black spider from Cragmaw castle where Sildar believes Gundren was taken. Sildar believes that they came for Gundren after learning that he had found the lost magical wave echo cave. The party also learns that Sildar is a member of the powerful Lords Alliance of Waterdeep. Sildar was heading to Phandalin to investigate strange happenings and the disappearance of a fellow member of the Lords Alliance, Iarno who was investigating the recent troubles Phandalin had been having.

Having helped Sildar gather his gear and collecting any treasure from the dead goblins they could, the group headed back to where they left the oxen and supplies for a long rest. After an uneventful night the adventurers set forth with Sildar for a day and a half of uneventful travel to Phandalin. Reaching the small mining town after the sun dipped below the horizon the group headed straight to Barthen's provisions only to find it closed. They head to the Stonehill Inn to eat, gather information and rest for the evening before heading to Barthen's again in the morning. While eating and enjoying some festive betting, the group learns that there has been a group of bandits calling themselves the Red Brands that have been terrorizing the town and apparently strong-arming the Townmaster by the name of Harbin. They learn that the Red Brand's killed a local man by the name of Dale Dengar who had a wife and two children who have not been seen in some time. They settle down for the evening planning to deliver the goods from Gundren to Elmar Barthen in the morning.

In the morning the team takes the supplies to Barthen's Provisions where they are met by the odd trader Elmar Barthen. They learn that no one has heard from Gundren and that his two brothers, whom have been working on the outskirts of town, have not returned to restock their provisions. They also learn that the Red Brand's like to frequent the Sleep Giant, a local watering hole. They head off to find the townmaster, Harbin, at the townmaster's hall. Noticing a reward flier (100gp to kill orcs) outside the hall they remove it and head inside to meet Harbin. They quickly discern that Harbin is either working with the Red Brand's or is too scared to do anything about them and that he is not very forthcoming with information regarding Gundren, his brothers, or anything else besides the reward information for killing orcs somewhere along the Triboar Trail.

After leaving the townmaster hall the group finds Sildar who suggests they check out he Sleeping Giant to see what they can find out about the Red Brands. The group headed east to the Giant where Neurion, feeling indestructible after dispatching the goblins in the cave, insulted a group of four red clothed men who quickly attacked the group. Despite disposing of two of the Red Brands the group was defeated, awakening in front of the Stonehill Inn, stripped of their clothing, weapons and dignity. After being helped by the innkeeper, Toblen, his wife and Sildar the group rests and also finds out that the Red Brand's are using Tresendar Manor on the outskirts of town as their base of operations. Sildar offers them an advance on the fees he owes them for investigating Gundren's disappearance and the other strange happenings around Phandalin and the group is able to resupply.

Using his cunning rogue skills, Shank snuck away from the team to head back to the Sleeping Giant thinking he would be able to find Neurion's treasured staff and cause some trouble while doing it. The other three adventures quickly set off after him only to find themselves rushing in to the Giant to find their rogue standing over what appeared to be the owner and engaged in combat with a Red Brand while two others were preparing to surround him. After a long fight, and almost ill-fated struggle, the group dispatched the Red Brands, interrogated one of the patrons and headed back to Stonehill Inn to rest knowing they would have a long fight ahead of them when they went to explore Tresendar Manor in the morning.

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