The Lost Mine of Phandelver

Overview
The first story arc of the Mortal Fools campaign. Followed by Intermezzo.

A band of adventure-seekers find themselves entangled in a plot to discover the location of a forgotten treasure: the Forge of Spells. Along the way, they expand their troupe, gain experience, and learn to trust one another (more or less). However, their final encounter with the Black Spider leaves them bewildered by the apparent ties between them all, and a shared past that none of them remember.

PCs

 * Beshek
 * Tormine
 * Quill
 * Bahlron
 * Ashiok
 * Baelor

NPCs

 * Nezznar (The Black Spider)
 * Gundren Rockseeker
 * Iarno Albrek (Glasstaff)
 * Roiwehl
 * Hamun Kost
 * Agatha the Wraith
 * Townmaster Harbin Wester
 * Halia Thornton
 * Linene Graywind
 * King Grol
 * Vyerith
 * Klarg
 * Yeemik
 * Nundro Rockseeker
 * Elmar Barthen
 * Grista
 * Mirna Dendrar
 * Sildar Hallwinter
 * Tharden Rockseeker
 * Christiana

Locations

 * Phandalin
 * Wave Echo Cave
 * Cragmaw Castle
 * Cragmaw Hideout
 * Old Owl Well
 * Conyberry
 * Wyvern Tor
 * Agatha's Lair
 * Neverwinter
 * Thundertree

1: Ambush
Tormine and Besheck were hired by a dwarf, Gundren Rockseeker, to deliver a wagon of supplies to the town of Phandalin, where he promised to meet them. The two travelers set out from Neverwinter bearing the goods, but were attacked along the way by a band of goblins hiding near the path. Tormine and Beshek barely escaped, and managed to make it to Phandalin, only to learn that Gundren and his warrior escort, Sildar Hallwinter, never arrived.

Tormine and Beshek agreed to search for Gundren and Sildar in return for monetary compensation. That evening, they headed back out on the Triboar Trail, where they found the location of the goblin ambushers. After tracking the goblins back to their cave, Cragmaw Hideout, the adventurers ventured inside. Within, Tormine and Beshek found Sildar, unconscious, held captive by several goblins. Their leader, Yeemik, offered to trade Sildar for Tormine's and Beshek's help in overthrowing the commander of Cragmaw Hideout, a bugbear named Klarg. A short battle with Klarg ensued, and Tormine and Beshek were chased back to Yeemik's barrack. Teemik threw Sildar over the edge of a tall ledge, breaking Sildar's neck, killing him. Battle broke out between all of the goblins, the adventerers, and Klarg. Klarg smashed Yeemik with ease, and, sensing that Tormine and Beshek were no threat to him (both were on the verge of death by then), allowed them to leave with Sildar's body.

2: Enter the Ranger and the Dwarf
Bahlron and Quill arrived at Phandalin, also having been hired by Gundren Rockseeker to help him find "Something big." They spent the night at the Stonehill Inn, and were awoken the next morning by the sound of commotion near the town entrance. Upon investigating, they discovered the returning Tormine and Beshek, who were having difficulty entering the town thanks to the dead body they were accompanying. The town guard, a red-cloaded brute, reluctantly allowed them to pass at the behest of Elmar Barthen, who had hired the two the day earlier.

After the trouble, Bahlron was caught trying to sneak up on Tormine and Beshek, and introduced himself to the group. The three of them journeyed to the Sleeping Giant, a local watering hole. Quill followed close behind. Once inside, the four adventurers were attacked by a group of men dressed in red cloads. After defeating the men, Tormine, Beshek, Bahlron, and Quill discovered that Phandalin was under the thumb of a group of ruffians known as the Redbrands. With this knowledge, the group set out for the Redbrands' hideout in the abandoned Tressandor Manor.

3: Redbrands
The adventurers invaded Tressandor Manor, taking on disguises from the first guards they encountered. Once inside, they discovered that the Redbrands had kidnapped a family, the Dendrars, and were holding them captive until they could be sold as slaves. The group freed the Dendrars, and Mirna Dendrar promised them treasure in here hometown of Thundertree, should they choose to seek it out. Further into the hideout, they discovered that the Redbrands had been working with a strange telepathic creature, a Nothic. After a short debate, they convinced the Nothic to let them pass, and soon made their way to the chambers of the Radbrand's leader, a wizard who went by "Glasstaff."

Arriving at Glasstaff's door, they were greeted by a rat, which Tormine swiftly crushed; however, it simply vanished into mist upon death. The heroes entered Glasstaff's quarters to discover that the wizard was fleeing through a secret passage. From notes on Glasstaff's table, they discovered that Gundren had been taken by the Redbrands on orderes from the Black Spider. They also learned the story of the Forge of Spells, an acient forge in Wave Echo Cave (the location of which has been lost). The Black Spider had ordered Glasstaff to deliver any maps he found on Gundren.

The adventurers chased Glasstaff back to the chasm where the Nothic dwelt. They convinced the Nothic to turn on Glasstaff, and to let them escape. Glasstaff tried to flee, but was overtaken and eaten by the Nothic.

4: Orcs
Venturing out from the Redbrands' Hideout, the adventurers discovered a crowd gathered in the town square around the bodies of the four Redbrands who had attacked the group in the Sleeping Giant. The four alerted the townspeople to the news that Glasstaff was dead, and the remaining Redbrands fled the town. Townmaster Harbin Wester asked the new heroes to assist him by stopping a band of orcs that were attacking travelers nearby. The four agreed, and began stocking up on equipment at the local shops.

At the Lionshield Coster, Quill attempted to flirt with Linene Graywind, the owner and opperator of the shop. Linene was unimpressed by his swagger. Halia Thornton, who ran the Phandalin Miner’s Exchange, was impressed by the groups success in ousting of the Redbrands. She pulled Bahlron aside and asked him if he would be interested in joining the Zhentarim, a secret organization that sought power throughout Faerun. Bahlron, weary of secret organizations, and on the lookout for pyramid schemes, turned down Halia’s offer.

The next day, the four set out in search of the orcs. After a short travel along the Triboar Trail, the adventurers made their way to Wyvern Tor, where they located the band of orcs' encampment. The battle was over quickly, and most of the orcs were killed, but two escaped and ran northward into the wilderness.

5: Wraiths, Wizards,and Zombies
The next day, the adventurers traveled north from Wyvern Tor, and stumbled across a necromancer, Hamun Kost, who had taken up residence with his band of zombies in the Old Owl Well watchtower. Kost asked the travelers to journey to Agatha's Lair in the forest north of Conyberry, where they were to ask the wraith the identity of the builder of Old Owl Well.

The adventurers journeyed to Agatha's Lair, but were unsuccessful in communicating with, or otherwise intimidating her. After a day of wasted effort, they returned to Old Owl Well to report their findings. Kost was disappointed by the results, but told the adventurers that he had heard some nearby goblins discussing the Rockseekers. The goblins, he told them, were headquartered at Cragmaw Castle, and he pointed out the location of the castle. The adventurers set out once again in search of more information about Wave Echo Cave and the Black Spider.

6: Storming the Castle
Tormine, Beshek, Quill, and Bahlron followed the instructions Hamun Kost had given them, and traveled into Neverwinter Wood. There, they found the ruins of a castle nestled in a clearing. Quill and Bahlron decided to stay back while Tormine and Beshek rushed forward without care. At the castle entrance, Tormine and Beshek were immediately met with a volley of arrows from the archers posts. In a panic, the two rushed inside, already wounded, and were swarmed on all sides by goblins and hobgoblins. While Tormine and Beshek attempted to fend the monsters off, Quill and Bahlron raced across the clearing to help.

Eventually, the entire group was reunited within Cragmaw Castle’s entryway, and they slew the last of their attackers. With several party members near death, they took refuge in the now-deserted archer post on the northern side of the entryway. Tending to their injuries, they decided to rest.

7: New Friends and Shifty Enemies
While the band of adventurers were making their clumsy assault on the castle, they did not know that they were being watched. Outside, another wanderer had found his way to Cragmaw Castle: a Tabaxi named Ashiok and his soulbound Drake, Baelor. Ashiok and Baelor watched and waited from the forest. After the action seemed to have died down, he and Baelor made their way into the castle and greeted Tormine, Beshek, Bahlron, and Quill.

Ashiok introduced himself as a fellow traveler. He stumbled across the castle while in search of worldly stories and because of his sense of wanderlust. After determining that neither group wanted to harm the other, Ashiok and Baelor decided to help Tormine, Beshek, Bahlron, and Quill.

The newly-found allies made their way farther into the castle, where they found a run-down banquet hall filled with goblins at work preparing foul meals. A battle broke out amid the rubble, and one-by-one the goblins were slaughtered until only a small, terrified goblin remained. Ashiok spared the goblin, named Roiwehl, and bargained for information about the castle in return for Roiwehl’s life. Roiwehl agreed, and helped them navigate to King Grol’s quarters. Along the way, Roiwehl parted with the band in order to distract a couple passing guards.

The party made their way to the king‘s quarters. Inside, they could see a bugbear (King Grol), talking with a dark elf woman, Vyerith, about exchanges with the Black Spider. Also in the room, they spotted a familiar, but unconscious dwarf: Gundren Rockseeker. Quill managed to sneak into the room and carry Gundren into the hallway without being noticed by Grol, Vyerith, or Grol’s trained wolf (who was asleep on the floor).

Quill then snuck back into the room, sat down at the table, and confidently began to chat with King Grol and Vyerith. Quill agreed to an exchange of information, and learned that Vyerith worked directly for the Black Spider, and that King Grol was supposed to hand over Gundren. The conversation was cut short, however, by the sound of the rest of the group failing to break down the door for a dramatic entrance. They settled for using the handle to open the door and rushed in.

The entire room erupted into a flurry of combat. Quill ducked into the hall and began firing arrows. The wolf was quickly dispatched, but King Grol and Vyerith proved more resiliant. Vyerith seemed to regenerate all of her injuries, and initially tried to escape with a map that was hidden under a matress in the corner. King Grol overturned a brazier of coals, setting the room aflame before he was eventually slain. Vyerith was restrained with magic vines, and grasping that defeat was near at hand, broke free and fled into the attached restroom.

Bahlron followed, but found only a human girl crying for help in the remains of a bath tub. Bahlron picked up the girl, but she stabbed him with a dagger and ran back into the King’s Quarters. Instinctively, Tormine attacked the child, killing her. Once the girl was dead, her body deformed into a strange, silvery humanoid. Vyerith had been a doppelganger.

With the map in hand, and a nearly conscious dwarf in tow, the adventurers fled the burning room and made their way back to the passage they had entered through. They heard the sound of Roiwehl trying to escape the guards he had been distracting, before seeing Roiwehl emerge from the nearest door. He pointed them towards a secret exit, hopped on Baelor, and together the adventurers and their new companions left Cragmaw Castle and its inhabitants behind them.

8: The Sound of Waves
The adventurers returned to Phandalin to rest and restock. The town seemed revived since the Redbrands had left, and the people were full of mirth. At the Sleeping Giant, Quill ignited a romance with Linene Greywind, the owner of the Lionshield Coster. The rest of the group shared drinks, and Roiwehl bonded with Ashiok.

The next day, Gundren Rockseeker, grateful to the adventurers, asked them to track down Wave Echo Cave and find the Forge of Spells. He was unable to make the journey, as he was still recovering, but he offered them great rewards if they managed to find the Forge. The group set off into the mountains and found the entrance to Wave Echo Cave with the help of the map they had just recovered.

Just inside the cave, the four of them found the remains of a Dwarven camp and the body of Tharden Rockseeker. The group split up at the first fork in the cave. In the distance, they could hear the sound like waves crashing against a shore. Beshek, Tormine, and Bahlron traveled to the east, and stumbled into a room full of skeletons. They fled and barricaded the door behind them, and found themselves in a large entranceway, where they were attacked by a pack of stirges. Fleeing once again, they stumbled into a room full of strange, florescent fungi. Beshek recognized the species, noting that it was extremely toxic. However, the only way forward was through the dangerous chamber.

Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the cave, Ashiok, Quill, and Roiwehl wandered through a series of maze-like tunnels. Eventually, they came across a large pool of water, which Ashiok and Baelor explored, finding the remains of a long-dead wizard at the bottom. Traveling onward, the four found a carved passage and stairs. At the top of the stairs, they could hear voices coming from a room to their right. Quill quickly opened the door, and was met with the sight of five bugbears gambling in a makeshift barracks.

9: The Black Spider
Quill, Ashiok, and Roiwehl decided to sidestep the barracks, and continued northward through Wave Echo Cave. Eventually, they came to a large chamber where a drow and several bugbears were debating plans over a map of the cave. Ashiok entered the room alone. The Black Spider was initially angry, but his expression turned to shock and recognition. “Ashiok?” he said. The Black Spider asked where Tormine, Bahlron, and Baelor were, and finally asked, “Where is Christiana?”

Ashiok pretended to know what the Black Spider was talking about, but admitted that he didn’t know where Christiana was. Confused, the Black Spider asked if Ashiok would help him clear a roadblock that was keeping them from reaching the Forge of Spells. Ashiok agreed to help, and soon was led back into the hall where Quill and Roiwehl had been waiting. The Black Spider did not seem surprised to find Quill, but did not recognize Roiwehl.

Together, the Black Spider, his bugbear assistants, Quill, Ashiok, Baelor, and Roiwehl, made their way to the other side of the barracks. They entered a large chamber that had once been the mine‘s forge. It was crowded with zombies, and a large battle broke, but thanks to their numbers, the allied party managed to defeat the horde of zombies without taking any losses.

Meanwhile, on the eastern end of the cave system, Tormine, Bahlron, and Beshek crossed the chamber of dangerous fungi with some swift (and not-so-swift) acrobatics. On the other side, they found themselves in a large chamber with two remaining structures. Inside one of them, they found an angry wraith, who caught Tormine scavenging through a chest of treasure. The three quickly defeated the wraith and Tormine found a small parcel inside the chest. The parcel was a page from an old history text that was wrapped around a shard from a mirror. As soon as Tormine touched the glass, he heard a woman’s scream, though nobody else in the room heard it. Tormine dropped the mirror, which shattered, then magically reformed on the ground. The page it was wrapped in contained information on the “Mirror of Aescheles,” which had been found by whoever had sent the parcel originally. The mirror, apparently, was in the ruins north of Castle Romaja; however, Tormine did not know where that was.

In the next structure, the three of them found a large workshop with a brazier of green flames burning in the center. They were greeted by a spectator who, in a chipper voice, told them that they did not have permission to be there, and that they needed to contact a manager. Tormine, Beshek, and Bahlron backed out of the room, and saw the rest of the party, Black Spider and bugbears included, emerging from the tunnel fresh from battle.

The Black Spider tried to command the spectator to let him access the Forge of Spells. When it became clear that that was not going to happen, the Black Spider turned on the rest of the group, attempting to force them into battling the Spectator. A complex battle ensued, with the Black Spider and his bugbears facing off against the spectator and the adventurers. Soon, all of the bugbears were slain, and the Black Spider was nearly dead. Most of the party had taken severe damage, Ashiok even having broken a leg in the battle. As a last-ditch attempt, Tormine tried to convince the spectator that he was a manager at the mine, drawing an impromtu badge. Miraculously, the spectator accepted the authorization, and, once assured that it was no longer needed, vanished into thin air.

The Black Spider feigned surrender, but lashed out at Quill with a volley of magic missiles. However, Roiwehl jumped in the way of the attack, taking all of the damage. Roiwehl fell to the floor, dead. The Black Spider was then apprehended successfully.

10: Tangled Escape
After having defeated the Black Spider, Quill tied up the Black Spider in the inoperative forge. Quill and Beshek decided to guard the Black Spider, passing the time by playing Texas Hold 'Em (Quill won), while Bahlron, Tormine, and Ashiok returned to the Black Spider's command room to search for treasure. Once there, the three of them were beset by giant spiders. The fight did not go well for our three heroes, as they were constantly becoming ensnared in the webs spun by the spiders. Quill went to inspect what was happening and helped turn the tide of the battle against the spiders, which were soon dispatched.

In the command room, the adventureres found a drawing of themselves surrounding and embracing a slightly younger Nezznar, and, in the center of the picture, a young woman whom none of them recognized. In a neighboring room, Quill and Tormine found Nundro Rockseeker (brother of Gundren Rockseeker), who had been captured while exploring the cave. They decided to take him back to Phandelin, along with the Black Spider. The group rejoined Beshek, who had won 50 games of Texas Hold 'Em against the Black Spider (still restrained) in the meantime, and all returned to Phandelin. There, Gundren gave each of the heroes a sack containing 150gp, and the Black Spider was imprisoned in the Townmaster’s Hall.

Finally free from the Black Spider’s reach, the group celebrated, then went to sleep in the Stonehill Inn’s best suite.

Organizations

 * The Black Spider's Web
 * Redbrands
 * Zhentarim