Recap of Session 6 of Lost Mine of Phandelver for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
We have in our group four players. The cast so far:
Baelgor: 3rd Level Human Fighter
Nestor: 3rd Level Wood Elf Cleric
Neurion: 3rd Level Wood Elf Monk
Shank: 3rd Level Forest Gnome Rogue (Played by Greg this session)
Write up by Chris
Session 6 - The Trials of Cragmaw Castle
The party sat quietly in the run down building they had hunkered down in bandaging their wounds and thinking about their dilemma. Should they stay and face the deadly Venom Fang and his poison gas breath or knowing the location of Cragmaw Castle, go and help their friend Gundren Rockseeker. Baelgor spoke first, "We should leave this town and find my old friend and mentor Gundren. The dragon has not seemed to notice us and we may be able to still escape unseen." Neurion wanting to rid the town of this evil fiend shook his head in disagreement wanting to test out all of his new found powers and training. "You realize we can't attack this dragon without dealing with those cultists" Baelgor retorted to Neurion's gesture, knowing what he was thinking. "You know I can not just attack those men. They have shown us no ill will despite their ill-advised intentions" Neurion replied back. Nestor reflecting quietly spoke up softly, "From what we know of the dragon we will be facing a most formidable foe. With the force of its cult following behind it we stand no chance. However, should we rescue Gundren we might find additional allies in helping us rid this town of its scourge." "Shank, what say you," asked Baelgor. "Ah, this fog keeps swimming through me head not letting me make me decisions." Shank replied continuing to feel as if he were controlled by someone else. "Let us move along and explore the rest of town and get to Cragmaw Castle, but we will return to take care of this evil Wyrm another day" Neurion uttered in disappointment.
The four adventurers left the building, heading north to what appeared to be a town square. In the middle sat a statue of Palien, a legendary hero whom had defeated many of foul monsters and creatures Nestor recounted for the group. Wondering if there was some secret to the statue Baelgor using his formidable might tried pushing the warn figurine from its stand. Finding nothing of interest the party set forth exploring the three buildings encircling the statue. Finding nothing of importance in the two small buildings the party cautiously approached the building appearing to be an old barracks. Nestor slowly swung the door open, mace drawn and entered the building. Hearing a rustle to the north of the room Nestor watched as four cats, bits of flesh hanging from their bodies, reanimated letting out deathly screeches and quickly moving towards him. The rest of the group hearing the screech of the cats moved to assist Nestor but not before catching the glimpse of a skeletal creature with long sharp nails creeping around the north end of the building and four more creatures emerging through some foliage to the northwest.
Nestor and Neurion quickly set in to action obliterating the cats in the building while Baelgor and Shank headed to the northwest corner of the house to attack the corpse and what now appeared to be undead cats. Baelgor rushed towards the corpse slashing with his long sword and striking hard yet feeling like his blows barely made the creature shudder. Before Baelgor could adjust the corpse reaching out with its boney hands and long nails quickly grabbed Baelgor in an iron glad grip strangling him. Shank following behind Baelgor set in to action killing one of the cats and then watched in disbelief as Baelgor, struggling with the undead creatures grasp, thrust his sword up through the creatures chest in to its skull causing the creature to release Baelgor and fall lifeless to the ground. Nestor and Neurion hearing the battle outside the building ran towards the open door to aid their friends. Baelgor choking, watched as the undead creature reanimated letting out a scream that released great pain inside his head and caused him to turn and flee destroying an undead cat along his way. Nestor and Neurion turning the corner of the house watched as Baelgor bolted past them catching a glimpse of and undead creature reaching towards Shank, grasping his neck and lifting him off the ground in a death grip. They rushed quickly to his aid, Nestor calling to Salune to turn these foul beasts and make them flee. One of the cats quickly bolted for the woods to the north however the call to Salune seemed to have no effect on the undead corpse and Shank was struggling to stay alive at this point. Baelgor quickly rejoined the trio and they all set to destroying the corpse, freeing Shank from its deadly hold. Not wanting to alert the dragon but fearing the corpse would reanimate again they set fire to it and moved inside the barracks exploring it for more creatures and anything that might help them along their journey. Sifting through the refuse they found some potions but nothing further. After a short discussion they all agreed to head to Cragmaw Castle.
The party set out from Thundertree skirting the edge of Neverwinter Forest heading to the location Reidoth had shared with them. Resting and healing themselves along the way the party prepared themselves for even more fighting they knew would be ahead of them. Finding a path that Reidoth had told them to look for, the party headed in to the forest. Shank using his roguish stealth set about exploring the area ahead of them coming upon a dwarf building a large wooden staircase and seemingly oblivious to anything around him. While Shank headed North, Nestor using his ability to blend in with the forest, scouted the area to the east catching a glimpse of the staircase and the dwarf to the north. Regrouping with the rest of the party they decide to approach the dwarf and determine what he knows about Cragmaw Castle and what the purpose of the stairs could be.
Entering the clearing where the dwarf was working on the stairs Baelgor called up to the dwarf, "Rockseeker." "What" replied the dwarf in a curious voice looking down on the party through a pair of goggles. "Are you a Rockseeker" Baelgor yelled out again. "Rockseeker, bah, rubbish clan, I be of the Rumkeg clan. Who goes there? Do you come to marvel my stairway to treasure?" Baelgor slowly climbed the stairs towards the dwarf feeling them sway under his weight. "Be careful you fool, these stairs are not for the likes of you" the dwarf yelled out. "What are these stairs for exactly," Balegor questioned. "My brother told me of a rich ore in a distant land" the dwarf responded pointing towards the sun. "What do you know of Cragmaw Castle" Baelgor asked. "Cragmaw Castle eh, not intereseted, I must keep building me stairs to find the rich ore" the dwarf remarked as he went back to hammering. Baelgor knowing he would get nothing further from the dwarf headed back down to the group but not before setting off a chain reaction of the stairs splintering apart and crashing down carrying the crazy dwarf with it. The adventurers quickly set forth trying to free the dwarf from the rubble uncovering his lifeless body. Searching around his camp the party found some supplies and treasure.
With night falling quickly they set camp so that they could approach the castle in daylight if possible. In the middle of the night, Nestor heard the patter of foot steps approach the campsite. Springing up with his mace in hand he used his infravision to pick up the outline of a female figure approaching them quickly. Nestor called out to the group who quickly awoke and joined him as the girl finally reached them. Surprised by the unexpected presence of the four adventurers the sobbing girl quickly covered herself. "What brings you this way and why do you cry", Nestor asked. "My boyfriend . . . we . . . creatures grabbed him . . . lake . . ." she sobbed. "Slow yourself young lady and tell us what happened" Neurion spoke. Nestor grabbed some clothing from his pack and handed it to the girl as she covered herself, crying less and composing herself. "My boyfriend was attacked by creatures and dragged in to the lake. We came to the lake as we often do to get away from our parents. He's disappeared, you need to help him, quickly, please!" the girl began to sob again. The party not wanting to waste any time quickly headed to the Northeast following the girls directions to the location of the lake.
As they slowly approached the lake they heard and saw nothing. The water appearing to be calm under the moonlight above. As they approached the water slowly, Nestor heard a rustle off to the east in the trees unable to see anything and Shank watched the water ripple off to the north catching the outline of something coming forth. Quickly a green tentacle came through the trees grasping Nestor while he tried to call forth a spell from Salune. As the tentacle wrapped around him squeezing him tightly Nestor recognized the Decapus, a forest creature he recognized from the large bulbous head with massive fangs and multiple tentacles. Neurion quickly rushed to his aid lashing out with strikes from his quarterstaff, hands and feet. Shank and Baelgor distracted by the fighting to the east where surprised by the approach of a hideous fleshy creature with multiple mouths, beaks and eyes.
Baelgor and Shank, although surprised, took little time to bash and slice the Gibbering Mouther to shreds while Neurion, trying hard to free Nestor from the Decapus's grasp, set forth with a flurry of staff strikes and swift punches and kicks. The Decapus shrieked out in agony letting lose of Nestor as it fell from the tree it was holding to. Wasting no time Neurion finished the creature of crushing its body in to a green pool of sticky slime. After Shank and Baelgor helped Nestor up, Nestor set forth to healing the party. Shank caught a glimpse of something shiny in the water. Not wanting to leave anything of worth behind, and somehow thinking that nothing else lay below the moonlit water surface, he quickly stripped down and slipped in to the water heading toward the glimmer that caught his eye. He surfaced after a few seconds with an armful of treasure showing it to his comrades as they headed back to continue their rest for the evening.
Sleeping through the night with no other incident the party awoke rested and prepared for their investigation of the castle. After continuing north for a while they came up on the ruins of an old castle with 7 towers and its uppermost floors collapsed. Not knowing for sure if this was Cragmaw Castle the team searched all around the area investigating any entrance within that they could find. The adventurers quickly entered through a large hole in the north end of the castle. Entering a large open room they noticed some stores to the south along with a thick curtain and a door to the east. Baelgor set out to check the door to the east along with Nestor while Baelgor and Shank investigated the curtain to the south. Baelgor unable to simply open the door to the east lowered his shoulder and quickly knocked it open. Soon after the sound of feet could be heard heading south with the sound of doors opening. Having been alerted to keep a look out from the south, Neurion headed through the curtain to the south and laid in waiting for anything coming from the south.
Shank slowly following Neurion watched as two hobgoblins came in to the room, Neurion quickly lashing out with his monk fury surprising one of the armored and well armed creatures. Shank quickly moved along side Neurion while one of the creatures was distracted and landed a few blows with his scimitar. Nestor hearing the commotion returned back to the room they entered and quickly headed south to join his companions while Baelgor headed south in to what appeared to be a barracks. He noticed the door open to the west and the two hobgoblins within. He quickly ran through the door surprising the nearest hobgoblin and lopping its head off. The remaining hobgoblin upset with the fall of its brethren attacked Shank and Neurion with increased rage. Suddenly it heard a call to Salune and felt its skin explode in a radiant flame before it saw nothing but blackness. The three companions looked back at Nestor with a smile before they quickly moved to search the foul creatures and the barracks Baelgor had found. They also explored the area to the northeast finding a door but deciding that they should explore the tower just off the barracks to the south.
Preparing for whatever was beyond the door, Baelgor lifted a wooden bar off the door expecting that his friend Gundren might be beyond. Quickly opening the door he is greeted by the unexpected sight of a large bearish creature with an bird like head . . .
