Tales & MythsLost Mine Of Phandelver - Chapter 1 (Goblins Say The Darndest Things) |
First Published 9 June 2016 | Last Updated 30 January 2022
This article is relative to The Material Plane.
World Date: 15 Flamerule 1490
Session Date: 20 May 2016
The escort was made up of a human paladin (Ben Axelord), a dwarven cleric (Darius Birkli), an elven druid (Elia Dawn), and a drow sorcerer (Tharivol).
The contract with Gundren Rockseeker
[click the image to enlarge]
After leaving The High Road, and not far along The Triboar Trail, the escort found two dead horses blocking the road. They each had several black feathered arrows protruding from them - a sign of The Cragmaw Tribe, an organised group of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears that were a problem in this region. The horse's saddlebags had been looted, and they carried the same symbol as the wagon they escorted - the symbol of The Rockseeker Mining Company. Suddenly the group was attacked by four goblins that were concealed in some small ditches to the sides of the trail.
Surprised by the attack, the party took fire from arrows. As they moved in to strike the four goblins, a fifth (smaller than the other four) sprang out from the ditch and started to scream "FLOOD!" at the top of his voice. A short battle followed, but the goblins were no match for the party, and all four were slain quickly.
The smaller fifth goblin had run into the forest and could still be heard screaming "FLOOD!". He was drawing unnecessary attention to the party - who at this point could not move the wagon forward due to the horse carcasses blocking the trail. Tharivol followed the screaming goblin through the forest for some distance until he came to a clearing. A small river ran to his right from a cave mouth ahead. Just as Elia arrived to assist two more goblins jumped from behind a bush on the opposite side of the river and began firing arrows, right as the small goblin cried out 'FLOOD!' one last time - and then ran into the cave. After a quick retaliation by the party, the two goblins were slain.
The Cragmaw hideout
Tharivol and Elia crossed the river and headed into the cave mouth. The stream continued through the cave into the darkness. From an entrance not far ahead and to the right they could hear the sound of wolves barking and howling. They quietly slipped past the chamber entrance, and snuck further up the path until they could see another passage entrance on the other side of the river.
They crossed the river and slowly snuck up the side path. The pathway took a steep turn upwards through rubble, and the two had to climb to get to another ledge. Once there they found another steep incline with more rubble to climb. While climbing they heard the voices of goblins talking and laughing, and the sound of screaming. The screaming sounded a lot like a human voice.
Elia climbed into the opening at the top of the incline. A passage lead upward to the right and downward to the left. The sounds were coming from the left so she snuck down there to peek. When she looked into a cave opening she saw three goblins standing around some dirty bunks looking up to a ledge above, cheering. At that moment she was noticed. The goblins cried out, and Elia and Tharivol rushed into the room to strike.
Just as they engaged in battle a voice from the ledge above cried 'STOP!'. They looked up to see three more goblins. two had bows and arrows pointed below, whilst the third - who seemed slightly larger than the others - held a bound and bloody human in his arms. 'I am Yeemik!' he shouted. 'If you want the human alive you must do something for me! Kill Klarg, the bugbear that commands us, and the human is yours!'. The party agreed, and headed off to find Klarg.
The goblin Yeemik
The two went back out of the cave and called for help. Darius arrived quickly, ready to assist. Ben remained with the caravan, and wheeled it off the track into the trees. He then covered it with branches to camouflage it.
The party headed back into the cave, and planned to cross the stream again - but due to the depth, it was too deep for Darius to cross. Instead they decided to head into the chamber with the howling sounds. When they entered the chamber they found three wolves chained up howling and barking at the party. Elia cast a Speak With Animals spell on the biggest of the wolves, and asked it to lead them to Klarg. The wolf agreed, so they unchained it.
The wolf led them up the path alongside the stream, deeper into the cave than they had been before. In the distance they could see a wooden bridge overhead. At that moment they again heard the cry of 'FLOOD!'. The goblin was standing under the bridge shouting upwards at anyone who would listen. The cave started to rumble and a torrent of water washed down from the cavern ahead and washed them half way back out the cave. When they regained their footing the wolf attacked, but was quickly slaughtered.
After the water surge the bridge had been left in ruins, so Elia tried to climb it to the cavern above. A lone goblin began firing arrows from the opposite side of the broken bridge. Tharivol quickly took the goblin out with a single arrow shot.
The three of them climbed the broken bridge to the tunnel above. At the end of the tunnel they entered a large open chamber with two large ponds to the left. A waterfall flowed from above onto one of them. The ponds were dammed with rocks, but one side of the dam had recently been knocked down to allow the water to rush through the cave. The ponds had started to refill again. Although the cave appeared empty, three goblins lurked there - and they jumped out at Darius as he moved through the cave. After a short battle with one, which he killed with ease, another hit him critically - leaving him unconscious, and on the edge of death. Elia swept in and healed Darius, but he was still close to death. He quickly retreated and headed back to the wagon before he was further injured.
Elia and Tharivol killed the remaining two goblins and headed through an opening into a new cave. The chamber was large and open, and in the centre stood a large fire made from burning barrels. A bugbear stepped out from behind it followed by a snarling wolf. More goblins could be heard scuttling about in the shadows, whispering in goblinoid. The walls of the cavern were piled high with sacks and barrels, many displaying a logo with a lion's head on a shield.
The bugbear Klarg
The bugbear snarled "Who dares enter the chamber of Klarg?". Thinking quickly Elia explained to Klarg that they were sent by Yeemik to kill him, as he wanted to be the leader. In a fit of rage Klarg charged them, but shoved past them - heading for Yeemik's chamber. The party followed him.
In Yeemik's chamber Klarg grabbed Yeemik by the throat and began angrily shaking him and asking for answers. The other goblins in the chamber scuttled for cover in the shadows. During the commotion the party grabbed the human - who was in fact Sildar Hallwinter, still unconscious - and ran from The Cragmaw Hideout. Back at the wagon they loaded Sildar onboard and headed back on their original course toward Phandalin.
Flamerule 16 1490The following day a fair distance along the road, while camped for lunch, the party heard rustling in the trees near them. Tharivol fired an arrow into the scrub as four large stirges flew up out of the trees and flew away.
A stirge
They were still about a day from Phandalin when the party realised that Sildar had not regained consciousness. Darius cast a Cure Wounds spell on him to revive him. He immediately readied to attack, until the party explained where he is. Although very groggy, he asked the party if they found his friend Gundren with him in the cave. Gundren was with him when they were captured by the goblins, and he had a map to a place called 'Wave Echo Cave'. The map was very important and had to be found. He remembered hearing the goblins fighting about somewhere called 'Cragmaw Castle' - and that 'King Grol' lived there, but didn't remember much else. He insisted that they get to Phandalin as quickly as possible, as Gundren's brothers were already there waiting.
Flamerule 17 1490When they entered Phandalin Sildar rushed off saying he was heading to The Townmaster's Hall. He told the party to find him there later. Phandalin was a small town, with wide dirt roads and small houses in every direction. The first store they noticed when entering was Barthen's Provisions, so they stopped the wagon and headed in.
Two young clerks ran out back to grab Barthen and he strolled out into the store and introduced himself. Tharivol approached him and Barthen was less than friendly with having to speak to a drow, until he realised that the party was delivering Gundren's wagon. He said that The Rockseeker Brothers were old friends of his. He also mentioned that he was concerned that the party may have been some of those 'Redbrands' that had been causing so much trouble around town. He paid them each the 10gp owing.
As they headed down the main street, now on foot, they passed a variety of buildings including the local smithy, Mrs. Doughurtie's Pie Shop, The Stonehill Inn, the Shrine Of Luck temple, and The Townmaster's Hall. At the end of the main road into town was the Lionshield Coster, so they headed in.
A middle aged human approached them and introduced herself as Linene Greywind. She was the proprietor of the store. Tharivol asked if she stocked any weapons, to which she was very reluctant to answer. She quizzed the party on where they were from, and if they had any connection to the Redbrands that had been stealing from her store. Once she was satisfied that they were not associated she took them to a secret room out the back of the store where she had a variety of weapons for sale. She also pointed out that the store was low on stock currently as many of her supplies have not arrived. She assumed they had been stolen on route, possibly by the Redbrands. She said she would be happy to offer a reward for the return of any of her goods. All Lionshield Company goods carry the distinctive logo of a lion's head on a shield.
As the party left the Lionshield Coster they saw the sun begin to set.
To be continued...
Quests -
Kill Count To Date -
