The session started with Nefresil and Gareth making sure they were properly geared up before heading into the mountains for Wave Echo Cave. Nefresil had copied Gundren’s map, so there was little chance they would get lost. The party made it to Gundren’s base camp in the early afternoon. The base camp had sharpened stakes on the outside and walls around it to ward off anything that may wander by. Nefresil suggested the go ahead and go into the cave. They filed into the opening single file, and after a short walk there was an open cavern with a pit in the northeast. Here the party came across the dead body of a Dwarf. There were no physical signs to explain the death. The body was taken back to the base camp while Nefresil made his way down into the pit to explore.
The pit contained a tunnel to the East, and another to the Northwest. After conferring with Gareth the decision was made to follow the path to the Northwest. They followed the path until it hit some hallways that were clearly carved by the Dwarves that previously lived here. These did not immediately lead anywhere, so the party decided to continue heading Northwest. They finally came to a room with a still pool of water in the Northwest part of the room. There was a stairway to the East that led to a hallway and a door. There was also a river flowing out of the pool to the Northeast, that could be followed, but would required walking/crawling in the water. The group decided to listen at the door, where gruff voices were heard, but no words could be understood. They could also tell there was a flickering light in the room.
The party continued down the hallway, and up another flight of steps. Nefresil looked around the corner and saw a tall bipedal creature that was occasionally looking down into a pit. He hurried back to the rest of the party, and relayed what he saw. He then stealthily went back up the stairs, and fired an arrow at the creature. It turned on him and as it began to walk over, yelled into the pit. in Goblin, “Get up here!” As it got closer the party recognized the creature as a doppelganger. They surrounded the creature, and slaughtered it. While this happened Nefresil went around the doppelganger, and over to the pit where a rope was tied off. He cut the rope as a bugbear was climbing up it. Once the party finished off the doppelganger, they made their way to the pit, and killed the bugbear before it was able to climb out.
They then made their way back to the door, and set a trap. Four people were on one side of the door with bows and crossbows ready. The other two party members were on the other side of the door ready with swords. The sword wielding adventurers threw rocks at the door until a pair of bugbears emerged. As the first got into the intersection. it was fired upon by 2 longbows and 2 hand crossbows. At the same time it was hit with 2 swords. This bug bear went down quickly, and the second bugbear then became the target and did not fare any better. A third bugbear was in the room, but thought better of running out. Instead it went to the other door in the room, and began to move the various wood and objects that were blocking it. However, the party got to it, and swiftly ended its life. At this point, they decided to take a short rest in this room as it was relatively defensible.
With health returned, the group continued exploring, and near where the doppelganger was killed, they found an ornate set of double doors. They heard a voice inside speaking as if to a pet. They threw open the doors and entered but quickly spread out. A single Drow was in the room, and he looked up and began to speak. Nefresil cut it off with an arrow, and the party took to its task with brutal efficiency. The Drow was mercilessly killed along with a giant spider that lurked in the room. The party found an iron key on the Drow’s body and it worked the lock to the next room over. Inside that room was a bound and unconscious Dwarf. This turned out to be Gundren’s other brother Nundro. He was helped out of the cave, and back to the base camp, where the group chose to rest for the night.
DM Recap
I felt like the session went well. Once again the players made good tactical decisions, and that proved to be a big deal. Each player controlled 1 of the level 0 Fighters, while I controlled the Classed NPCs. I felt like this went well except that the NPCs I controlled were not able to shine because I tried not to hog the spotlight. During 2 of the battles, I stopped them with a single bugbear alive, but with nowhere for it to escape. I felt like the party was going to kill it anyway, so there was no point in playing out another round or 2. I tried to only do it where it made sense. The Drow was supposed to be a harder fight, but 5 of the PCs/NPCs went first in initiative and focus fired on the Drow. If it were not for a bad damage roll on a Critical Hit, the Drow may not have even gotten a turn. The players will be going back in to the cave in the next session, but we are pretty close to wrapping up The Lost Mine of Phandelver.
Loot and XP
The group found a total of 15 pp, 130 gp, 203 ep, and 15 cp in their adventures. They also have a potion of healing (2d4+2), a potion of vitality (removes exhausted, cures poison and disease, maximizes Hit Dice for 1 day), and Nezznar’s staff. The staff is a black adamantine staff with a black spider at the top of it. A stack of papers showing where Nezznar had already explored and what he had found was also recovered by the party. The papers show that there are undead forces in the cave, and that thus far Nezznar had not been able to defeat them to find what he had been seeking. The XP will be broken down into 3 equal shares. That is 1 share for Gareth, 1 share for Nefresil, and 1 share split by Cale, Anlow, Daylen, and Feck. Each group gets 800 XP. The breakdown is:
4 Bugbears @ 200 XP - 800 XP
Doppelganger - 700 XP
Giant Spider - 200 XP
Nezznar the Black Spider (Drow) - 450 XP
Rescuing Nundro - 250 XP
Nefresil and Gareth have now attained 3rd level. They must spend 24 hours in the base camp for this to take effect, though this can be considered to have happened between sessions. Players should spend some time considering the options for this.
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