map by Gunther
Eight adventurers, Ruu Dawnhammer, Almalexia, Sauroff, Silvermoon, Koravhik Agu-Vakanu, Squirrelly, Cressidien, and Cernan woke up in
Old Owl Tower after completing their exploration of the weapon vaults below. They decided to decapitate the day-old corpses of the two evil mages, apparently to prove they have fulfilled the terms of their quests. Stuffing the heads in two bags, they left the already rotting bodies to lie in the open.
Almalexia deduced that her unpleasant dreams may be related to Kost's
stange pendant that she was wearing. As a result, she removed the pendant and put into one of her pouches.
Confiscating the late Hamun Kost's wagon and horses, they descended to the
Tri-Boar Trail and turned east, back towards Phandalin. Silvermoon and Cressidien scouted ahead of the wagon in the forest to the left and right of the road, and soon Cressidien spotted three owlbears foraging towards the road. It looked like the owlbears were going to intersect the path of the horses and wagon, so the party attacked first. They quickly dispatched the monstrosities, and once again found tags on each of them inscribed with strange symbols:
If any members of the party understand these symbols, they have thus far remained silent. The party managed to collect one owlbear claw as a trophy for Koravhik.
That night Almalexia once again set up her fey "stick figure" charms around the campsite. While most of the party slept soundly, Almalexia once again had troubling dreams, but at least the dreams did not awaken her this time. Perhaps putting the pendant into a pouch helped a bit, assuming that the pendant is the source of the dreams. When the party awoke the next day, Almalexia found that the fey charm had once again been destroyed.
The day's travel was uneventful, and party made camp in a small clearing near the road. Towards the end of the first watch, under a dark, starry sky, with no wind, Koravhik spotted a dark shape approaching from above. At first he only noticed a swath of stars disappearing, but at the last moment the shape resolved itself and he saw two glowing green eyes glaring down at him. Before he could warn his comrades, the green dragon spat a poisonous cloud down on the campsite, catching most of the party (and their horses) unawares. The dragon then soared out of sight, and did not return. Using their medical skills, they managed to stabilize the horse, but the beasts were not able to pull the wagon in the morning.
Instead, Koravhik used his rune magic to increase his size and strength. He then loaded the two horses into the empty wagon, and pulled it himself towards Phandalin. As they pulled into town around noon, they spotted Sildar drilling some of the residents in the proper use of spears in a formation. Sildar said that the party's battles with the Cragmaw tribe has convinced several townsfolk that the threat is growing, and that they need to be prepared to defend themselves.
The party delivered to two severed heads to
Halia Thorton, who was visibly sickened by the spectacle. She had one of her assistants dispose of the heads while she paid the party 300 gold for Glasstaff's bounty and serving the eviction notice to Kost. The party also turned over Glasstaff's letters and journal, which she eagerly accepted.
The party enquired about possibly buying the old ruined manor. Halia gestured towards Glasstaff's papers and said that unless she can show that it was purchased with "ill-gotten gains", the estate will need to go through probate. She said that she has sent enquiries to Westport and Blackrock looking for possible heirs of Glasstaff, but cautioned that such bureaucratic actions are often very slow.
Someone asked about the ruined Sleeping Giant tavern. Halia replied that the Redbrands never actually claimed it, and were just "squatting" in it until they moved to the manor. She said that for a 10 gold processing fee she could start a records search to see who, if anyone, might still have claim to it. However, she opined that considering its decrepit state, it might not be worth the expense to claim and then repair, at least as a tavern competing with the Stonehill Inn.
Silvermoon asked Sildar to store her old, non-magical bow for her, and he agreed. She then went to the blacksmith
William "Bull" Davos and placed an order for two rapiers.
Gundren Rockseeker greeted the party and asked them to join him for dinner in the evening at the Stonehill Inn. He had reserved one of the side chambers, and paid for their food and drinks. He offered the party 500 gold to escort him to the mine that he and his brothers had re-discovered, rescue his brothers, and evict the drow woman called Black Spider reported to have seized it. The party agreed to his request, and they all resolved to leave early the following morning after the party did some last minute shopping.
As they left the side chamber, Sildar spotted Koravhik and motioned him over to his table. Using mugs of ale to secure his parchment, Sildar asked Koravhik to report on their recent adventures, writing down with his one hand copious notes on the ale-stained paper.
After leaving Gundren, Almalexia went to visit
Harbin Wester at his home. Harbin was thrilled to see her, apologizing that if he had known she was coming, he would have arranged a proper meal. After making some small talk, Almalexia asked if her party could get the same deal that Harbin had made with the Redbrands. Harbin said that was indeed possible, and that the Redbrands were paying him 10 gold a month to give them semi-official sanction to act as the "militia" of Phandalin. Almalexia used her "negotiation" skills to talk Harbin down to 7 gold per month, and the deal was consummated. Almalexia returned to join her comrades at the inn in the morning.
Knowing that they are going down into an underground village and mine, the party stocked up on supplies they thought would be useful. This included grappling hooks, extra rope, climbing kits, etc.
Squirrelly and Cressidien visited
Sister Gabrielle, the local cleric, and asked if she had any spare healing potions. After confirming that no one was currently in need of healing, Gabrielle replied that she really needed to keep any potions she might have in reserve in case any of the townsfolk were seriously injured. They then asked her if she had noticed anything unusual in the local area. She did note that some local farms had been infested with particularly stubborn weeds. However, she was able to beat them back, though with a bit more effort than normal.
Gundren provided two mules to carrying this and additional supplies, and the party set out to the south in mid-morning. Once the party was out of ear-shot of of the town, Gundren began to share details of his brothers' secret mine. He pointed to an old landslide high in the mountains, and explained that it covered the original entrance. Apparently you could once see the entrance to Phandelver (the name of the ancient dwarven settlement) from Phandalin itself. Gundren continued in great detail about how he and his brothers discovered the location based on ancient texts, oblivious to the party's disinterest.
The party's path up into the mountains followed a zig-zag, switchback path, and Cressidien spotted a group of orcs lying in ambush ahead. Alerted by Cressidien's warning, the party made short work of the orcs, killing, capturing, or driving off the entire band. When interrogated, the warband leader said that they were from the Rocktooth tribe. He said that they came down from the higher mountains in order to gather food before winter, since "Low landers always have food". After hearing this, the party killed their prisoner, and continued on to their destination.
Gundren led them into a small, natural cave, leaving the mules tied outside. At the back of the cave Gundren revealed the narrow, 5 foot wide and tall dwarf-made tunnel that he and his brothers had dug leading downward into the mountain. This tunnel eventually opened into an ancient storeroom. The stone door swinging into the room was still intact, though the metal latch had long rusted away. The door opened into a 10 by 10 foot corridor, running to the left downward, and to the right upward.
In the corridor they found the arrows scratched into the walls as described by the shape-changer at
Cragmaw Castle. The double-arrows indicating that the tunnel to the left led to the Black Spider, while scratched out markings indicated that the right tunnel did not lead anywhere useful.
With most of the party resting in the old storeroom, Silvermoon scouted further down the left tunnel. Meanwhile, Cressidien and Squirrelly scouted further up the passage to the right. He eventually found a few orc corpses, Though bloated, the bodies appeared to be more recent than the ruins themselves. Approaching one of the corpses, Cressidien carefully reached out and poked it with his spear.
And then...
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