Forge of Spells is Discovered

The party wakes shortly after midnight, where they are greeted by the dwarf they rescued: Nundro Rockseeker. Nundro laments that this is all his fault because he was the one who couldn't keep his mouth shut about discovering the cave. And he ultimately gave in to torture and confessed where to get Gundren Rockseeker and the map, leading Nezznar to Wave Echo Cave. The party explains that Gundren Rockseeker is alive and they are the ones who saved him and that they have more work to do clearing out the cave. They give Nundro the key to the room and tell him to wait for them.

They set out exploring more of the cave, heading back to where they saw bugbears and ghouls battling. To their surprise, they saw many more ghouls gnawing on the fresh corpses of the bugbears. Trinn experiments with a new spell he was learning and unleashes a massive fireball into the chasm, instantly killing the ghouls and burning away almost everything that remains. Reginald and Marri'Elle notice large plate gauntlets on one of the corpses in the chasm and the party heads down to inspect it. They retrieve them and Trinn later identifies them as Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

They continue their exploration by climbing up the eastern side of the chasm and continuing down a tunnel that is deafeningly loud. They reach the source of the cave's name, and find a vast underwater reservoir with massive waves rhythmically slamming into the walls. A narrow ledge leads across, and as the party traverses it, Marri'Elle appears to slip, but shifts oddly before regaining her footing. Trinn, on the other hand, brings up the rear and slips off the edge, sliding down the walls about 20 feet before getting a foothold on the steep wall. Valamin tosses him a rope and Marri'Elle and Reginald rush to pull Trinn up as the tide surges in the underground reservoir. They successfully pull him up in time.

As they continue to loop around, they find passageways that begin to make sense of the cave's layout. They finally come across the Forge of Spells and it's sealed door, with 5 slots for the rune stones and a message in dwarvish saying "Only Clan Silverstone May Enter." Further down they come across another building that was blown out by a fireball centuries ago. Inside they find a chest which Garret eagerly begins to open. As he does, a possessive wraith emerges from the wall and warns Garret off of his treasure. Garret, frightened, shoots it with a crossbow bolt and it engages the party. The party slays it as it tries to drain the life from Garret. Inside they find some diamonds and a large amount of coin.

They continue south and find a cavern filled with poisonous, glowing fungus. They cover their mouths and quickly move through it as not to inhale the spores. Further in they are ambushed by flying stirges who try to suck the blood of Valamin and Marri'Elle, but a fireball from Trinn thins the swarm and the remaining ones are dealt with quickly. Further exploration reveals a room full of skeletons, that are easily dispatched by Reginald, and some coins and map hidden in a lock box. The map points towards a cave in the mountains north of Neverwinter Wood, but doesn't give any more clues than that.

After ending up back at the entrance, they circle around the west side of the cave to clear out the last unexplored spots. While wandering through the mining tunnels, Reginald is dropped on by a giant ooze. As Valamin punches the ooze, Reginald feels the concussive force and is injured as well. After some work, the ooze is slain and the party continues back to the room where they left Nundro. They decided to rest until morning before departing.

The party leads Nundro out of the cleared out cave and they head back to Phandalin. When they arrive, Nundro heads to the inn to find Gundren Rockseeker while the rest of the party seeks out Sildar at the Townmaster's Hall. When they arrive, they see 6 guards from Neverwinter who have come to escort Iarno Albrek. Sildar explains that last night, Iarno escaped from his cell and Harbin Wester was murdered. The party investigates the cells and determines that it's likely Iarno was taken against his will and Harbin was killed to cover.

After working with Sildar, the party heads to the Miner's Exchange to convert their large amount of copper to a more useful currency. On the way out, Trinn catches Halia winking at Garret. When questioned about it, Garret ultimately confesses that he stole Sildar's key and gave it to Halia at her request. Upset, Trinn scolds him and walks away. Reginald follows. Valamin decides to spend his day tinkering with his herbalism kit, so he visit's Barthen's and buys some supplies. He spends the rest of his day preparing a potion.

Marri'Elle and Garret head to the woodcutter's house to check on Mirna and her daughters. They seem to be adjusting and the town has been generous in helping them. Garret inexplicably drops 50 gold on Mirna's table to help her out. She reluctantly accepts, but expresses her gratitude. She tells them that a vote for the new townmaster will take place today and that they are welcome to participate.

Trinn and Reginald headed to Sister Garaele's shrine to report their findings from Agatha, the banshee. She rewarded them with 4 potions of healing. Reginald also visits her later to ask for any souvenirs of Phandalin. She says that they don't have any but she gives him a coin of Tymora for good luck.

Marri'Elle and Garret head to the inn, tell Valamin about the vote, and play a friendly game of cards together.

Trinn and Reginald head up to Daran's orchard to inform him of the Thay necromancer. He's troubled but because there are no reported casualties he lets it go. Trinn asks him for advice on what to do about Garret's decision to help Halia resulting in an "unjust" death. They debate a bit but ultimately Daran tells Trinn that he has to decide if his friendship is worth bending his morals for, and that he shouldn't be too quick to decide. Reginald introduces himself and Daran recognizes his name. Daran mentions that he helped evacuate Thundertree 20 years ago and heard about Reginald's heroism. He invites Trinn and Reginald to join him in some apple picking so that they can swap more stories.

Eventually the party meets back up at the inn and heads to the town green to participate in the vote. The final results are:

• Sildar - 32
• Linene - 30
• Thistle - 27

After the vote, the town heads to the Stonehill Inn to celebrate, and the party joins them. Trinn regales the children with the tale of Wave Echo Cave and uses magic to entertain them. The rest of the party enjoys the free food and drinks in the tavern.

As the night closes, they head up to Valamin's room to discuss their future plans. Trinn says he needs to head back to Neverwinter, and Reginald and Garret agree to join him. Valamin tells the party of his flashbacks and says he may need to visit his master, but will join them for now. Marri'Elle, having no other plans, decides to join the party. They begin thinking of what they should call themselves...