Wallacian Campaign Session #31
General Summary
- Phandalin had become a "boomtown", crowded with fortune-seekers and adventurers. Sildar Hallwinter invited a select few adventurers to a private dinner at the Stonehill Inn to present them with a job offer.
- At the inn, the party was introduced to Gundren Rockseeker, one of the leaders of the Phandelver dwarven settlement and mine, the rediscovery of which triggered the boomtown of people flocking to Phandalin.
- Gundren explained that his people were busy enough getting the mine, ore-processing, and residential sections of Phandelver up and running, and could not spare the time to map out the unexplored, unused portions of the underground passages.
- Gundren offered to pay the adventurers to explore these passages and report back to him with what they find. He offered 5 gold each when they set out, and another 10 gold each when they return. Gundren further offered to outfit them with the necessary supplies before they out, including parchment, scroll tubes, a journal book, and writing supplies.
- Party members included: Billy-Bob, the human wizard; his assistant Abra, some sort of winged dragonborn; Dungren Rockseeker, a distant cousin of the Rockerseeker brothers; a human swashbuckler named J'on; and Ursala, a female orc shaman who claims to be from the Cragmaw tribe. The party agreed to Gundren's offer, though Dungren appeared to leery about adventuring with an orc.
- The next morning, Gundren led the party to Phandelver and deep into the settlement. As they passed through the smelter room, the recently moved-in fire elemental became agitated, seemingly howling in rage.
- The party wound their way though ancient stone corridors, and eventually came to a newly-built stone wall blocking the passageway. A stout, barred wooden door was set in the new wall.
- The door was unbarred and Gundren led the party through it to what appeared to be a stone dock. A wooden boat loaded with supplies was tied up to the dock, rocking gently on periodic waves which rolled in from a tunnel half-filled with water. In the distance, echoes of a sound similar to waves crashing could be heard.
- Gundren explained that the dock was built over 2000 years ago, and it apparently allowed small ships to visit Phandelver from somewhere. Gundren said that the underground terrain could have changed drastically since then, especially during the Shattering, so it's possible that the watery passages no long lead anywhere. However, the people Phandelver want to know for sure, hence the party's expedition.
- There were piles of wood scraps, shavings, and sawdust on the dock, indicating that the boat had been built/assembled here. J'on noted that the amount of debris indicated that at least two such boats had been constructed.
- When J'on asked about the other boat, Gundren became flustered, and admitted that they had hired a previous expedition about a month ago, but they never returned. He then quickly paid each party member 5 gold, wished them luck, told them to knock three times on the door when they returned, and slipped back through the heavy door. The muffled sound of the bar being dropped into place could be heard through the solid door.
- The party boarded the boat, cast off, and J'on (who had maritime experience) piloted them into the unknown, watery passages. Because J'on could not see in the dark, the party fitted lanterns to the boat, allowing him to see where he was steering.
- The passageway opened into a large chamber, perhaps a mile across. The lake stretched all the way to the almost vertical walls of the cavern. Near the center of the lake was a low-lying flat rock island. Periodically a huge geyser of water erupted up from the island, splashing over the edge of the rock and producing waves across the lake. This water was slightly salty-tasting.
- The party steered the boat into a narrow inlet along a side of the large chamber to rest "overnight", with all the lanterns extinguished.
- Being unable to light a campfire on the wooden boat, Billy-Bob heated up some of their rations using his Fiery Hands spell. His assistant, Abra ate two of the gold coins that Gundren had paid her.
- In the "morning" the party continued their voyage, finding river leading away from the lake. Soon, a broad muddy shore appeared on their left. The wreckage a boat strikingly similar to their own was seen pulled up onto the bank.
- In the soft ground they found tracks of humanoids wearing boots around the boat wreckage. Tracks of bare, goblin-like feet were found coming from multiple directions towards the wreckage, then all the bare feet headed off down a side tunnel. No further tracks of booted feet were found.
- Among the wreckage they found a journal similar to the one Gundren had given them. Inside, notes confirmed that it had belonged to the previous expedition. The last page noted that they could see eyes reflecting the light of campfire, surrounding them on all sides.
- Also in the wreckage, they found two gold coins. Abra took those to replace the ones she had eaten earlier.
- The party followed the goblinoid tracks, eventually finding a small number of pale, almost white, goblins crouched around a small fire. Over the fire appeared to be a human or elven leg being rotated on a spit.
- The party attacked the goblins and quickly dispatched them. However, more goblins appeared out of the darkness and joined the battle.
- Just as the party was wrapping up their fight with the goblin reinforcements, a small ember popped out of the fire. The ember quickly brightened, and grew. It soon took the form of a flaming humanoid. It screamed noises similar to those of the fire elemental back in the smelter, then charged at Bill-Bob.
- Although the fiery foe was more formidable than the goblins, it too was quickly dispatched.
- The next session will pick up here, at the end of this battle.
Rewards Granted
Each character earned 2 Character Points.
Each character was paid 5 gold by Gundren Rockseeker.
Found 2 gold coins in boat wreckage, which Abra claimed to replace the ones she ate earlier.
Character(s) interacted with
Notes
Fantasy Hero 6e rules and source books: https://www.herogames.com/store/category/9-fantasy-hero/
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