The Lost Mines of Phandelver
Session 1
Long ago, dwarves and gnomes worked together to build the perfect forge that could produce magical arms and armor. It was a happy and prosperous time and the town closest to the mine that contained the forge boomed. However, the prosperity didn't last. Barbarian tribes consisting of thousands came charging off the local mountains to sweep across the land. The city was destroyed from the onslaught and, during the fighting, the entrance to the mines that held the forge collapsed. Father time is not the kindest of masters for the location of the mines was lost over the course of centuries.
The Rockseeker brothers, Gundren, Tharden and Nundro, have spent years scouring the realms for the long lost forge. Finally, after decades of searching, they discovered a clue deep in the archives of Waterdeep. Deep in the mountains towering over the Neverwinter Woods lies an old and crumbling temple of Moradin. It is said that within its deepest halls lies a large stone tablet with a map of the region etched into the surface. A map that should include the location of the Wave Echo Mine that contains the forge. After a year's search, the three brothers discovered the temple. In their excitement, the brothers garnered support to resettle the ruins of Phandelver as a base of operations as they find the map and begin excavating the long lost mines containing the forge. Finally, after four long months of rebuilding the now named Phandalin, the brothers found the time to hire a group of adventurers to protect them while they explore the temple. Together, the three brothers, Sildar an old nobleman from Waterdeep and the six adventurers entered the ancient temple.
The outer walls of the temple still stood strong in places where there wasn't rubble. On either side was a chasm so deep it led to darkness. As the group crossed the courtyard however, five skeletal remains enchanted with foul magic rose from the ruins and, with rusty blades, advanced towards the group. One of the adventurers, by the name of Serge, took a rusty blade straight through his body. He stumbled forward but despite the pain managed to catch himself from plummeting into the darkness of the chasm. As he teetered on the edge, the floor crumbled beneath his feet. He managed to scramble back just in time as the ground, along with the skeleton, fell into the depths of the earth. Sildar, however, was less lucky. One of the skeletons leapt the foundation of the ruins and, with a single strike, felled the nobleman. Brother Park, the ordained priest of the adventuring group, was able to call upon his faith to heal the noble and bring the old man back from the brink of death. He also used his faith to heal the normally fatal wound that Serge had taken as well.
Once the remaining skeletons were quickly swept away, Tharden and Nundro took Sildar back to the front gate, making a campsite for the old man to rest from his nearly mortal wound. After helping set up the camp, Gundren and the six adventurers stepped back into the temple. As they made their way through the rubble of broken stone, they found the room with the ancient altar. As Brother Park crossed the room however, an oozing liquid dripped and fell, splatting on the ground just before him. He stepped back as they all looked up where they saw a large black oozing mass that clung to the ceiling. It fell with a splat then began inching its way towards the group. Jelly like tendrils twirled and darted out from the wriggling mass as if it was trying to reach out and grasp anything and everything.
Serge darted forward and with a snap of his fingers, fired a bolt of lightning to strike the gelatinous mass. As he did so, the ooze vibrated and wriggled in place before splitting apart into two smaller jellies. In panic, the barbarian woman Merewyn charged forward and with a mighty roar cleaved one of the slimes right into two. Again, the slime seemed to take no damage but did, once again, split into two even smaller slimes. Draksis the ranger let loose an arrow, piercing the depths of one of the small slimes where it quivered in place before melting into the floor.
From the shadows of a side hall the group hadn't explored, the rattling of bones was heard once again as another skeleton stepped out from the shadows. With a swipe of his blade, Janni the druid was sliced across his front where he stumbled and collapsed to the floor. Brother Park and Gundren worked together to patch Janni, bringing him back from the brink of death while the other barbarian, a dwarven woman named Silver Stoneshoulder, positioned herself between the skeleton and the fallen druid. Sparks sprayed off the blades as Silver and the skeleton traded blows. The slime shot out its tendrils swiftly but the barbarian, despite her raging mind, managed to dodge its attacks. In her blind rage, Merewyn slammed her great sword down onto the biggest of the slimes but again the ooze quivered in place before splitting into two. Draksis embedded two more arrows into one of the slimes and it too melted from the onslaught. Merewyn twisted her blade and slammed her sword like a club into one of the remaining small slimes, crushing the slime while the dwarf Silver landed a few solid blows to crush the bones of the skeleton, turning it into dust
Serge, using a gauntlet covered hand, swept up the remaining tiny ooze and dropped it into his flask of ale. He panicked as the ooze reacted to the alcohol and began expanding. He quickly corked the flask to prevent the ooze from growing out of it. At first, the ooze just filled the glass, but then the flask began to shake. He let go of the flask and stepped back just in time as the flask shattered in midair. The ooze and ale mixture spilled to the floor to sink between the cracks, never to be seen again. The party caught their breath as the dust settled. They helped Janni back to his feet and though wounded, they continued on.
Both the room and passageway were seemingly empty. Just stone walls, floor and ceiling cracked from time. The northern room, from which the skeleton had stepped out of, was little more than a small alcove that may have once been a passageway but has long since caved-in. As for the altar room, a large altar to the dwarven god Moradin was resting in the alcove on the far side of the room. Within the room, three expertly crafted columns spaced perfectly apart near the corners while the remains of a fourth pillar rested in a heaping mess near the last corner. Gundren scanned the seemingly empty room with a scowl "no, no this isn't right. There's more to this temple than meets the eye. Spread out and search"
Janni inspected the south east pillar when he discovered a loose stone. As he pulled at the stone, the side of the column spun open revealing a hollow pillar. He stepped back in surprise while calling to his companions for within this pillar was a skeleton clutching a coffer in its bony fingers. Fortunately, for the group, this particular skeleton was not enchanted like the others. Janni grabbed the coffer and, after some effort, pulled the coffer, and the skeletal hands, away from the skeleton. Brushing away the hands, they opened the coffer and the party gasped in awe as their magical light reflected off ten beautiful gems. They quickly passed the gems out to the seven who were there with Gundren taking the last three to give to his brothers and Sildar once they returned. In their search, the party found four more loose stones. One for both the southern and northern walls of the altar room. One on each side of the alcove that held the altar. The final loose stone being found on the southern wall across from the alcove the skeleton had stepped out of.
The two southern switches both led to a passageway that connected together and ended in a collapsed room. A skeleton was within this room but was no match for Brother Park's holy flames. The northern switch led to a hallway that was collapsed to the left but to the right ended at a door. The two switches by the altar's alcove both connected in a hallway that ran behind the altar and deeper into the temple.
That hallway ended abruptly about ten feet past two doors in the north and south wall of the hallway. The southern door was another collapsed room with a single skeleton that Brother Park once again purified with his holy flame. Serge and Gundren worked together to carefully inspect the abrupt ending while Janni and Mereyn went through the northern door. Silver and Draksis made their way to the door that was north of the altar room. The door in the hallway led to a partially collapsed room but Janni spotted another switch on the northern wall. This switch opened the wall to a room with another enchanted skeleton. The door on the far wall opened at the same time as Silver and Draksis entered the same room. The skeleton never stood a chance as the four of them descended upon it like ravenous birds, crushing the bones to dust and never to rise again.
Just as the skeleton was defeated, Gundren and Serge found the well-hidden switch that opened the wall into the final chamber. On the far wall sat a dwarven statue with the inscription "Here lies the location of the forge, hidden away from prying eyes yet given freely to friends of dwarves." In the southern alcove, the floor had crumbled away to a deep pit. In the northern alcove sat a large tablet. Rubble had collapsed, crushing most of the table. Gundren grew excited as he looked at the tablet, it was an etched map of the area with the location of the Wave Echo Cave where the forge was located. Despite the rubble destroying most of the tablet, a small secret entrance was still visible near the ruins of Phandelver. Gundren hurriedly slapped parchment on the tablet and, with a piece of charcoal, was able to make a copy to take with them.
As the group was entering the main foyer right before the altar room, the sound of an explosion ripped through the temple, followed shortly by the whooping of goblins. The explosion rocked the entire temple causing loose rocks and dust to pepper the party. The party ran towards the opening as another explosion rocked the temple and behind them rocks could be heard collapsing. As they ran out into the courtyard, the ceiling of the temple behind them collapsed, blocking the entrance. At that moment, the goblins sprang forth from behind the rubble to surround the party. Gundren began screaming about his brothers as he ran into the closest group of goblins swinging his axe. Silver too joined him in her own barbaric blind rage. Merewyn plowed her way through the thickest group of goblins, her own rage shrugging off and ignoring the pain. The rest of the party fell back to the collapsed entrance and slung their own spells and ranged weapons.
Several goblins fell from Gundren's and Silver's attacks but then a storm of arrows rained down peppering the two with arrows. Silver's rage helped her ignore the pain as she lobbed off another goblin's head but Gundren was not so lucky. More arrows had hit him causing him to stumble and fall to the ground still shouting about his brothers as he fell unconscious. Behind the whooping goblins, marched several rows of fully armored hobgoblins with longbows in their hand. Once seeing this group, Merewyn and Silver both fell back to the rest of the group to protect them.
As they gathered together, a goblin behind the hoard shouted out to the group "I am chief Lhupo, surrender now and we may let you live" but the party said nothing as Draksis let loose an arrow at the goblin. The arrow embedded into a different goblin the chief had pulled between him as he had seen the elf knocking his arrow. He sighed as he tossed the now dead goblin to the ground "very well, I tried" and with a motion of his hand, the goblins let loose several more arrows into the group. Most of the arrows hit the two barbarians in front though some did slip past and knick some of the others.
From behind the hobgoblins, a much bigger hobgoblin stepped up. "I'm Bosman Mr. Tiggs. By order of King Grol, Gundren and his brothers are to be taken into custody. Surrender now or we will slay you all. As he was saying this, several of the goblins had grabbed and dragged Gundren into their midst and began tying him with rope. Tiggs glanced at the goblins with Gundren before he continued "It seems we have who we came for, surrender or we will kill you all"
Both Draksis and Janni shouted to never surrender and with this the party started loosing spells and arrows while the two barbarians stepped forward to charge. However, on their first step, a deeper voice rang out across the sounds of battle "Enough of this." Then, with the sound of a snap, a cloud of dark blue smoke puffed all around the group. The two barbarians and Serge collapsed in a magically induced sleep. Once the cloud dissipated, there stood the robbed figure of a dark skinned drow.
Draksis' elven ears drooped as he shrank in fear "a drow mage? Here?" With a gulp, he quickly notched an arrow and fired at the mage but the arrow deflected off an invisible barrier to shatter on the stone floor. Janni slung a spell that slammed into the arm of the mage, coating a small section of his arm with frost.
The mage glanced at the now frostbitten arm then narrowed his eyes at those who remained. "You three must either be incredibly lucky" he said with a cold calculated voice as he looked directly at Draksis "or elven blood runs through your veins. Let's see how long your luck will last." With another snap, a small twirling web shot forth from his fingers to land at the party's feet. Draksis leapt behind some rubble just as a cube of webbing sprang up, capturing Janni and Brother Park. Draksis popped over the rubble long enough to let loose another arrow before dipping back behind the rubble. The arrow rang true but just as it was going to strike the drow, it once again deflected off an invisible barrier to crash into the ground. As swift as lightning, the mage became mist and reformed behind Draksis. The ranger turned with wide eyes and tried to cry out as the drow sliced his face with a dagger. Draksis stumbled back then felt the poison coursing through his veins. He reached out towards the mage before collapsing over the stone he had been hiding behind.
A triumphant cry rang out as Janni broke free from the web then slung another frost spell at the mage. His cry was cut short as he saw the blood dripping from the dagger. All around him, his companions were down or captured and the goblins were already tying up his fallen companions. He was already breathing heavily from his struggle with the web yet the mage had not even broken a sweat. He knew this fight was over. With a sigh, he raised his hands in surrender.
To be continued.