Nerdy Gamers - D&D Session 2

13 December 2020

Our second session of Dungeons and Dragons over videocall. The first session was a taster session that I had invented. During this one the plan was to start the transition into the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure from the starter set - so if you plan on playing that adventure yourself then there will be spoilers from here on!

⏪ Previous - Session 1

The party

·         Kisandra Starlight – Half-Elf Sorceress (Heather)

·         Barendil Dawnwood – Elf Ranger (Robert)

·         Guillerme don d’Lyonne – Human Paladin (Martin)

·         Friar Buck Norris – Human Cleric (Silas)

·         Nobby Nobbs – Human (probably) Rogue (Tom)

 

We continue our adventure from where we last left our adventurers, having successfully cleared the new dwarf mine of the goblin and ogre interlopers who had managed to successfully enter through the entirely unguarded front door that the young dwarfs had left wide open. They were walking back towards Chestnut Hollow as twilight was descending, hoping to elicit some payment from the dwarfs for their good deed…

 

The prodigal daughter

As the party arrived outside the Golden Hind tavern, they heard hurried footsteps behind them. Though some of them reached for their weapons, expecting an ambush, a sweetly melodic voice called out through the darkness which stopped them short.

“Bran, Bran, wait for me! I got your message!” called out a blonde-haired half-elf with startlingly bright blue eyes that matched her blue dress perfectly.

“Kisandra, my dear, you got my message,” responded the old wizard as the young girl flung her arms around him. “I am glad you arrived so quickly, thank you.”

In response to their questioning eyes, Hornraven quickly explained to the rest of the party that he would be taking his leave of them for the time being, but that his apprentice (and adopted daughter) Kisandra would accompany them in his stead. For her part, she looked tremendously excited at the opportunity to travel the world with the group – she had no doubt been ensconced in libraries and study halls with Hornraven for much of her youth. He let the party know that he would be residing at the Golden Hind for some time, researching local flora and fauna, should they require his services again in the future, but for his part he knew his body’s limitations and running around underground and over dale was a young person’s game!

And so the group, with their new addition, walked into the tavern to find it almost deserted save the serving girl and Bertram the landlord, cleaning a glass behind the bar with a cloth that surely was white at one time. When questioned about the dwarfs, he simply replied that they had gone to bed, once they finally managed to navigate the stairs – they had been celebrating hard. The party secured themselves some dinner and lodgings for the night, and Guillerme slipped 3 coppers across the bar to Bertram with a wink.

“Let us know when the dwarfs are up if you don’t mind, my good man,” said the paladin.

Looking disdainfully at the coppers, Bertram raised his head and shook it slightly. “Oh, you’ll know when they’re up mate, not exactly known for their stealth are dwarfs, particularly this bunch of miners, and ESPECIALLY on raging hangovers – even if they were quiet, a small mug of ale seems a little paltry after all that ruckus you caused in my cellar. Perhaps a flagon would have been worth me getting up early…” grumbled the barman.

Somewhat offended, Guillerme reached to take his copper coins back but realised the tavern owner had discreetly pocketed them anyway.

 

Dwarven gratitude and guidance

Bertram was indeed correct and the stamping of iron-shod boots on the stairs heralded the awakening of the young dwarf miner. Any of the group of adventurers who weren’t already awake were surely dragged back to consciousness by the noise on the stairs. By the time they reached the common room, the dwarfs were already drinking ale and tucking into a breakfast of hard bread and cheese – the “perfect hangover cure,” according to them.

Nobby Nobbs approached the dwarfs, feeling that his rapport after supplying them with the rat meat the previous day would be beneficial, but he needn’t have been so cautious – as soon as the group explained that the mine entrance had indeed been left open and that they had cleared it of enemies before locking it up tight, the dwarfs whooped in joy and encouraged the whole party to join them for breakfast. The dwarfs explained that they would have been ridiculed at their hold if their first foray into their own mine had ended in disaster. Ultimately, they were attempting to follow in the footsteps of the Rockseeker brothers – three dwarfs who had been successful at venturing forth on their own to set up additional mining operations and who even now sought to find the Lost Mine of Phandelver, a dwarven mine of untold riches that had been lost centuries before. It was rumoured to be located somewhere near the town of Phandolin, though exactly where no one knew.

The dwarfs got up to leave, handing the adventurers 10 gold pieces for their assistance and pledging to help them in the future if they required it. For now, they needed to return to their mine and get to work, but their parting advice was to seek out Gundren Rockseeker, the elder of the three Rockseeker brothers, as it was always possible he might have work for reliable adventurers in his search for Phandelver Mine. The last they saw of him, he had set out towards Phandolin with a human companion, to acquire supplies from Barthen’s Provisions in the town, a well-known trading post, or possibly the Lionshield Coster, a merchant warehouse and armoury identified by a blue lion sigil.  

 

Trouble at the farm

Once the dwarfs had left the tavern, the group discussed their next move. Before heading to find Gundren Rockseeker, they remembered the ashen-faced farmhands that they had seen the previous day and decided to find out if there was anything they could do to help. Just as it had been the day before, talking to the farmhands was an uphill struggle for the group, but from what they could discern it was clear that there was something unnatural occurring at the farm, which was just on the outskirts of Chestnut Hollow. The farmhands wouldn’t return to the farm on their own, but perhaps with their tools returned to them and some brave volunteers checking the area for the strange noises they had heard, they could return to work.

Walking towards the farm in the morning sun, the group noticed that all animal sounds seemed to have ceased. There was certainly an ill feeling in the air, which was made worse by the unnerving creaking of the gate that led up to the main farmhouse itself. They could see the large farmhouse in front of them, as well as some small shacks nearby that were presumably the meagre accommodation for the farmhands. Kisandra thought back through her studies of the local area that she had begun once she received the summons from Hornraven, declaring that this was White Willow Farm (a fact reinforced by the sign hanging from the creaking gate) and that the lord of this estate had always had a close and cordial relationship with the ruling council of elders in Chestnut Hollow. There was nothing unusual about the farm as far as she was aware.

However, there was something unusual about it now, they could all feel it. Barendil Dawnwood, the elf, carefully crept up towards the front of the farmhouse, peeking through the windows and seeing no sign of movement inside. As he turned, however, he saw four figures shuffling towards his companions. Shouting a warning to them, he ensured that they were not surprised by the approaching scarecrows – shambling figures of cloth and straw that seemed to be animated by some fell magic.

The adventurers turned and prepared to defend themselves, with Guillerme standing at the back of the group being targeted by all four of the animated scarecrows initially. He defended himself as best as he could whilst Barendil rained arrows down from behind him, by the house. Friar Buck attempted to call on his god to smite one of the scarecrows with a searing flame, but somehow the shambling monster dodged the attack, probably more by luck from its flailing arms rather than skill.

Meanwhile, Nobby ran forwards saying he had a “bright idea”, dousing one of the scarecrows in oil and attempting to use his tinderbox to light it on fire – unfortunately, in his haste, the only thing he managed to burn were his own gloves that he rapidly threw onto the ground to avoid his fingers getting singed. Kisandra on the opposite flank did, however, manage to light one of the scarecrows on fire with a magical blast of energy, allowing the others time enough to deal with the remaining scarecrows. Once they were all cast down the party burned the remnants of sackcloth and straw before turning their attention on the front door of the house.

Animated scarecrows attack the party from behind

Coordinated attacks defeat the magical constructs

Guillerme knelt down, imploring his gods to give him the strength to detect any evil in the vicinity. He could detect nothing specific other than the general feeling of malaise hanging in the air which all present could feel. He certainly could not sense any specific danger within the farmhouse and so, after some lengthy discussion, Kisandra sent a magically summoned hand to open the door – finding it to be locked and so dismissing the Mage Hand. Guillerme began angrily stating that they needed to break the door down, not noticing Friar Buck striding up to the door and planting his foot squarely in the middle of the wooden planks – only for it to rebound off, having little effect on the door itself.

Finally, Nobby sheepishly approached the door, removing his picklocks from his pocket and rapidly unlocking the door, much to the disgust of the paladin standing next to him who shook his head at such flagrant ignorance of the law (the irony of his calls for the door to be smashed from its hinges was apparently lost on Guillerme).  

As they walked in through the front door, the companions could hear muffled banging and what might have been cries coming from within the house. Cautiously stepping over the threshold, it became apparent the noises were coming from inside a cupboard under the stairs. This door was also locked and so Nobby took out his picklocks once again, and as soon as he had picked the lock a large man in a flamboyant pink shirt fell out of the cupboard, landing on his knees and throwing up is hands to the rogue.

“Oh, thank you, thank you! When those no-good farmhands ran off, I locked myself in the cupboard but it was so dark in there, I lost the key!” exclaimed the man, who must have been the lord of White Willow Farm.

“You would not believe what’s been going on,” he continued. “The scarecrows wandering about in the fields – they don’t normally do that, you see? And strange noises in the dark, the well went all horrible and salty, and the other day I saw some flapping monsters in the sky, bigger than birds they were, but I don’t know what they were… I think they were heading towards the mountains, but I can’t be sure…”

While the others stayed to comfort the farmer and see if they could glean any useful information out of his rambling, Kisandra walked to the well to investigate. Holding her hands out, she could sense that some spell had indeed been placed on it, but she could detect nothing untoward remaining within the well, nor could she tell who had perpetrated the deed. She dispelled the arcane energies and walked back to the house, where the farmer was offering the group some valuable trinkets that he had secreted in the cupboard with himself as compensation for their intervention. Barendil refused the offered items, instead asking if the farmer had a horse and cart that the party could use – the farmer was slightly reluctant to part with a valuable horse, but on the promise that it was brought back to him he consented.

And so, the party departed from White Willow Farm in their new transportation, holding the farm tools that were going to get the farmhands back to work. The immediate danger at the farm was passed, though clearly there was more going on in the wilds surrounding both the farm and Chestnut Hollow, so they would have to be on their guard. Upon returning to the tavern, the farmhands were delighted to hear that the scarecrows were no more than ash now and that they could return to work, some of the colour returning to their faces as they began to trudge back towards the farm. Perhaps one day the adventurers would discover who had been behind the strange goings on at the farm, but with no better leads to follow in that regard they decided to follow the dwarf’s advice and head towards Phandalin and potential riches with the Rockseeker brothers.  

The road to Phandalin

The road to Phandalin was a fairly well-kept track, easily navigable with the horse and cart. The adventurers were stopped short, however, when they were travelling through a wooded area and encountered two dead horses in the middle of the road, black-fletched arrows protruding from their flanks.

Swiftly dismounting, the party stood on guard in case the ambushers were still lurking in the undergrowth, but when no attack was forthcoming Barendil began searching the area for any clues as to what had transpired. Being a wood elf himself and thus fully at home in the forest, he swiftly spotted a small path heading north into the foliage, which might otherwise have been mistaken for an animal track. Following this path away from the main road it became clear that two humanoid figures had been dragged this way, and as the track widened further once out of sight of the road the elf could identify a number of diminutive boot prints – he discerned that at least a dozen or so goblins had recently travelled this way.

The party agreed that it was likely these two unfortunate ambush victims were Gundren Rockseeker and his human companion, who, with any luck, were still alive. After securing the horse and cart to a tree just off the road, they followed Barendil into the undergrowth, allowing the elf to lead them through the trees. This proved to be a sensible decision as his sharp elf eyes noticed first a crude goblin snare and then a roughly covered pit trap, allowing the group to avoid both obstacles. If the goblins had taken the time to lay these traps then it was clear the did not want to be followed.

After a few miles walking generally north on the goblin trail, the party emerged from the cover of the trees and saw a range of hills looming ahead of them. Briars grew at the foot of the hills, and Barendil sang the elvish refrain,

“Where thorn-trees abound,

There goblins be found.”

A shallow stream to their right emerged from a cave at the base of the hill, with a clear path running beside it and into the cave. On the eastern bank of the stream, the briar thickets were much more dense, extending further from the foot of the hill than on the side they currently stood. Friar Buck suspected that there were ambushers in those thorns on the other side of the stream, but without her usual intelligence Kisandra loosed a crossbow bolt directly into the briars. In response, two black-fletched arrows immediately flew back at the sorceress out of the briars. She invoked her magical Shield, protecting her from one of the barbed arrows, but the other punched through the magical defence and impaled her, causing a grievous wound.

Guillerme rushed around the thicket to spot two goblins standing within a clearing in the briar thicket, knocking two more arrows to their bows. He threw a javelin straight through one goblin’s head, whilst Barendil flanked on the southern side and fired one of his arrows through the thorns, his aim proving true despite the foliage and hitting the second goblin. This second sentry was quickly dispatched and Friar Buck tended to Kisandra’s wounds as she chided herself for her rash action. 

Goblin caves

After finding the traps on the goblin trail and sentries outside the cave entrance, the adventurers were highly cautious about entering the greenskin lair. However, they knew that if they wanted any chance of finding Gundren alive then they would have to overcome their fears and search the caverns ahead of them. Barendil moved stealthily along the path by the stream, silently entering the gloom under the hill. As he moved forward, he spotted an opening ahead on this right that revealed a chamber off the main path that contained a number of stalagmites seeming to grow out of the cave floor. He spotted three monstrous wolves chained to one of the largest stalagmites, chewing on bones and lazily growling to one another. In the gloom at the far end of the wolf den, he could see what appeared to be a fissure in the rock, potentially a small opening, though he could not investigate it without disturbing the wolves.

Once he had reported back to the party, they asked the elf to continue his scouting along the path to see what lay beyond the wolf den if they continued north and deeper into the hill. He once again wrapped his cloak around himself and moved into the darkness, ghosting past the wolf den entrance and continuing on the path by the stream. A steep passage rose into the rock wall on the western bank of the stream, while the main path that he stood on continued north for a distance before curving towards the east. Barendil could see a bridge high above himself cross over both the river and the path where the stream began to curve.

The adventurers struggled to decide what to do – they didn’t want the wolves to alert all the goblins to their presence, but they weren’t sure how to proceed without raising the alarm. Eventually Nobby and Barendil began to move stealthily towards the wolf den once more with the rest of the group following close behind, intending to bypass it and continue on the main path, but this time the wolves managed to catch the scent of the elf on the air. The slavering hounds leapt towards him, straining at their chains. Barendil could see that the chains were poor goblin-made iron chains, and he doubted whether they would survive the wolves straining for long.

Appearing to be sympathetic to the beasts’ situation, Friar Buck attempted to calm one of the hounds by feeding it some of his rations and calmly extending his hand. The wolf’s snarls died down and the animal sat in front of him, apparently placated – however, the other two surged forwards, not nearly as relaxed as their packmate. Arrows, javelins and magical energies flew at the two snarling wolves from Buck’s companions, killing one and injuring the other. Shaking his head as he continued making soothing noises to the wolf sitting in front of him, the cleric brought up his warhammer and smashed it with a mighty blow onto the beast’s unprotected head, shocking his companions with the sudden brutality. As the final wolf was brought down by a deadly accurate arrow from Barendil’s bow, Buck continued his brutal assault and smashed the wolf in front of him down to the ground. As the light within the animal’s eyes died, it appeared with its dying breath to say “why…”

Friar Buck leads the companions' fight against three monstrous wolves

Stepping over the wolf corpses, they head to the back of the wolf cave and find that the apparent opening Barendil had noticed does extend upwards and can be climbed, through it is steep. Most of the party made the ascent with no problem, though Kisandra took a couple of attempts – she was used to climbing library ladders, not rocky chimneys! Friar Buck meanwhile, his hands slick with wolf blood, fell twice and twisted his ankle before Nobby lowered a rope to help him climb up.

Once at the top of the rocky chimney, they found themselves in a small niche at the back of a larger chamber. Within, they could see a hulking Bugbear, flanked by two goblins and another wolf, this one even larger than the three they had already dispatched. These creatures had not noticed the adventurers yet, and seemed preoccupied examining the crates and boxes that seemed to be everywhere within the cave – many of them marked with a blue lion logo.

The party sneak up on a Bugbear and a load of potential treasure

Friar Buck quietly Blessed Guillerme, Kisandra and Barendil to enhance their fighting prowess as all three of them launched a surprise attack at the Bugbear.  Arrows and magical energies flew at the monster’s back, while a javelin flew over its head and clattered into the wall opposite, breaking in half. The Bugbear turned, bellowing a challenge.

“Klarg will grind your bones!” he roared as he charged forwards, his wolf loping at his side and the two goblins lining up their shots at the party. This opponent was stronger than any of the individual adventurers, but their coordinated attacks began to stagger the growling monster. Friar Buck, his bloodlust apparently not sated, charged at the wolf instead of the Bugbear. After sending an arrow flying into the eye of one of the goblins, Barendil turned his attention to the Bugbear and sent an arrow flying through the side of the creature’s throat. As blood pumped from the wound, the Bugbear laughed and roared back at the elf.

“Klarg cannot be stopped by twigs, puny elf!” Despite the words coming out slightly gurgled due to his injury, Klarg swung his mighty club at the elf in retaliation. As he was distracted, Kisandra sent Magic Missiles into the beast and Guillerme chopped down with his glaive. Finally, the monster was slain and he toppled forwards like a felled tree, landing hard on the ground. Spotting that Buck was still fighting the wolf, Guillerme climbed on top of the Bugbear corpse and leapt down at the hound, slashing his glaive down with unrelenting force and cleaving the beast in two. 

Klarg the Bugbear is defeated 

The final goblin was swiftly dispatched, leaving the group of adventurers standing alone in a cave full of death and piled crates. Searching around, they found that these seemed to be mostly supplies bearing the blue lion hallmark of the Lionshield Coster in Phandalin. Towards the back of the cave, a small chest contained two healing potions, 600 CP, 110 SP and a small jade statue of a frog with golden eyes. Judging by the number of crates, boxes and sacks in the cave, the goblins must have been raiding the road for some time to have accumulated so much. The supplies don’t seem to be immediately useful to the party but returning the stock to Phandalin would be the right thing to do, and potentially worthy of a reward Nobby thought. It is clear, however, that the goods cannot be carried back down the chimney that the group climbed up – they will need to explore further and find an alternative route out of the caves.

Next - Session 3 ⏩