Lost Mines of Phandelver - Session 3

We picked back up about half a day outside of Phandalin after clearing out the Cragmaw Cave. The party awoke in the morning and decided that they needed to discuss the plan going forward with Gundren. The 3 went off on their own to discuss. Gareth and Nefresil wanted to know what Gundren's plans were for the mine, and if he was going to need them for anything. Gundren told them that he and his brothers would need help clearing the cave out based on their last venture into the cave. Gundren's two brothers are supposed to be at the cave guarding it, lest someone else discover it and attempt to claim it. Gundren offered the Nefresil and Gareth a 10% share of the wealth produced by the cave (5% each) in perpetuity. The party decided that they would need help to go into the cave and sweep it clean, based on observations from Gundren's previous ventures into the cave. Gundren offered to fully fund a base camp outside of the cave, and to fund the provisions they needed, but insisted that the party pay anyone they were going to hire to help with the cave. Nefresil and Gareth agreed to this after some discussion.

The party made its way back to Phandalin with no troubles. Connal, Dhugal, and Nigel left the party and went their own way. Gareth and Nefresil made their way to Barthen's Provisions to collect payment for taking Gundren's goods to the town. They then moved on to the Lionshield Coster to sell a jade statue they recovered from the Cragmaw Cave. The owner, Linene Graywind, told them it was worth 40gp. Gareth was able to persuade her to pay 50gp for him, and the party left happy. Upon returning to the inn, Gundren gave each party member 25gp for rescuing him. By the evening they noticed that the people in town that know Gundren, had a lot more respect for the PCs.

The party decided to recruit some fighters, and, in addition, see if anyone approached them hoping to gain some renown by helping. During this time they were approached by Anlow, a woodsman in the area that was willing to help in order to help remove any threats from the area. The bard, Cale, that was in the Stonehill Inn performing approached the party saying he wished to join the venture as it would make a good story. Finally, a young woman approached the party, sneaking up on them, and expressed an interest in joining. Nefresil expressed his interest in not hiring her. She was unwilling to give a reason for wanting to join the party other than for gold, and that did not sit well with him. Gareth agreed and they politely declined her services. In addition to Anlow and Cale, the players were able to hire 2 fighters; Daylen and Feck.

DM Recap

This session started out with a discussion about the world change that I sprung on the players last session. I won't get into that, see the previous post entitled Change and New Worlds for more information. Once it was decided to move back to Forgotten Realms and retcon the previous session away things went smoothly. I was not really prepared to run anything, but since it was mostly planning that occurred, I decided to go ahead and wing it. Once again the players have decided to employ hirelings to help them clear out Wave Echo Cave. After some discussion, we decided to have the players each run 1 of the hirelings, specifically the 2 fighters. This was to prevent my as the DM monopolizing the combat.

Loot and XP

No loot or XP was awarded for this session. The players were awarded some loot in game for clearing out the cave. The received 600cp, 110sp, and a Jade statue.

Change and New Worlds

Well, things seem to have changed in the game yesterday. I had a discussion with my players prior to the session, and I found out that changing the world on them was not received very well. They felt that the move was jarring and severing their backgrounds and taking them away from everything they knew took them out of the game. We talked about what could be done to salvage the game so that it does not just fall apart. There were a couple of solutions.

First, we could just keep going forward and hope that things got better. While the easiest of the solutions, it had the most potential to go wrong. What happens if they players are not able to get invested again? What if they do not feel that they belong in the world? While this would be the easiest for me in that I had material ready, and had been doing some world building, it was not the best solution.

Second, we could take a step back out of game, and make slight changes to the characters so they were no longer strangers in a strange land. This was a better solution than the first option, as it would allow me to continue to use the material I had, and would allow the players to make the necessary connections for their characters.

Third, we could hand wave the previous session away, and pick back up in he Forgotten Realms with the players and their group on their way back to Phandalin. This would render all of my world preparation worthless, but would allow the players original character ideas to continue to be used.

After much discussion we decided on the third option. The players leaned towards wanting to go back to Forgotten Realms with their characters. Did this make some of my preparation material worthless? Sure. Was I upset by the decision? Not in the slightest. I want everyone to have fun, and if this is what helps the players to have fun, then I am 100% on board with it.

The Harrowing of Duranth I

The session started with the party leaving the Cragmaw Hideout after having been victorious over the goblins and rescuing Sildar Hallwinter. Sildar was in bad shape, but he would live. Since it was late at night the party decided to make camp for the night a few miles away from the cave. The party setup watches, and began resting for the night. During the second watch, Nefresil heard a voice in his head. It said, "My lords, I am glad I have finally found you. Time is running short, and I need your help. Seek Kilburn." During this, Nefresil noticed no reaction from Nigel that he heard anything. After the message Nefresil fell unconscious.

Nefresil and Gareth awoke in a field of grass about a 100 yards from a road. No one was with them and the landscape appeared completely changed. There was a road that was paved with stones that ran east to west. There was a city to their west that was barely visible. To their southwest there was a massive purple dome, that appeared to be magical in nature. If it was truly magical, then this was an arcane working larger than the party had ever even heard of, let alone witnessed.

A caravan was making its way along the road towards the city. The party decided to meet with the cart and see if they could learn any information. The merchants, while not forthcoming with much valuable information, were at least helpful. The party rode towards the city which they learned was named Duranth. They also learned that the merchant had been selling Fade Berries to a neighboring city. There was a small mercenary group guarding the caravan as it travelled. Upon entering the city, the merchant handing a pouch to the guards, and the guards removed an emblem from each of the wagons. Upon entering the city, the merchant bid farewell to the party, and suggested an inn named The Wooden Raven.

Since it was around mid-day, Nefresil suggested they walk around the city a bit to get the lay of the land. They made their way around the city and found a variety of shops and businesses in the city. The saw where the castle was located. The found that the city was divided in half by a river, but that it spanned to both sides of the river. They were a little surprised that there was no bridge, but instead ferries across the river. Even more surprising was that the ferries appeared to be free. They ventured to the other side of the city, and found much the same on the western side of the city, minus a castle. Upon finding the docks, they noticed many ships sitting just outside of the port sporting the same banner that flew at the castle and on the city walls, a rampant lion on a field of clover. Upon inspection Nefresil noted that the ships with the lion banner were warships, and strategically placed in the harbor to prevent any ship from coming or going if necessary.

The party made their way to The Wooden Raven and upon attempting to get a meal found that the coins they had were not going to be accepted. The innkeeper showed them that in Duranth the coins were triangular, and that he would not accept foreign coins. He suggested the party find a money changer. They went back into the city to a building that had a sign showing a set of scales and a pair of coins. The man inside looked closely at the gold and silver pieces that Gareth produced, and said they were worth 1 and a half of the triangular pieces, of the same kind, each. He would change over any of the coins for 10%. The party agreed and changed 220 silver into 33 gold triangles. The money changer took 3 of the triangles and left the party with 30. Satisfied the party left the establishment.

Not long after leaving Gareth noticed that they were being followed, and a little later two men came into view in from of them in an alley. The man behind told the party to give up their money and they would not be harmed. Nefresil refused, and turned himself to be back to back with Gareth. Nefresil hit the first man in the stomach with an arrow, while Gareth hit one of the others with a crossbow bolt in the thigh. The three men advanced upon the party and took swings with their short swords. Nefresil took 1 hit to the arm, and Gareth took two hits, one to each side of his torso. Nefresil dropped his bow, and unsheathed is short swords. He hit the man in front of him with a swing, pulling it at the last minute to ensure the man lived. He then swung himself around to be between Gareth and the other two men, and hit the one that had a crossbow bolt sticking out of his thigh. At this point two more men entered the alley from each side and converged upon the party. These were liveried in clover with a rampant lion on the chest. They quickly dispatched the other two men, keeping them alive, as a well-trained group of guards would.

The party explained what happened to the guards. The squad leader understood and apologized for taking so long to get to the fight. Upon having his men left the man that Nefresil laid low, and fine dagger fell from the man's body. The squad leaded inspected it and informed the party that the man was in fact a guard squad leader himself. He thanked the party for stopping the man, and had his team haul away the 3 bodies. Nefresil cast Cure Wounds on Gareth, and they made their way back to The Wooden Raven.

With some of the local coins in hand, the innkeeper brought meals and drink for the party. The meal consisted of mutton covered in an electric blue sauce. Nefresil has Fade Berry Ale and Gareth had the Fade Berry Wine. Neither had ever had anything quite so exquisite as that meal. They noticed that everyone was having the Fade Berry food and drink and were surprised. They expected this to be something that only nobles ate.

They invited the innkeeper to sit with them, and asked him about the magical dome in the southwest. They were told that it has been there for as long as the innkeeper could remember. Behind the dome is a desert known by a couple of names such as The Anvil of the Gods or The Lifeless Expanse. The innkeeper told them that while he was not certain if a person could pass through the dome, he has never heard of anything coming out of the dome. The also learned that to the east along the road lies the city of Ormskirk, which is part of the Duchy of Duranth. An unpaved merchant's trail leads south from the Duranth Road to the city of Gilamore, which is also in the Duchy of Duranth. The Duranth Road leads west to the city of Caelkirk, which is the capital of the kingdom.

The party also learned a little more about the politics of the local region. Duke William Pyder is loved by his people, and takes the time to understand the needs of the commoners. They learned that even though he is human, he is married to an Elf named Elora Qimaer. They have a son named Brenden, who is a priest of the Goddess Tekoh. The Duchy lies in the kingdom of Karthang, which is ruled by King Tholan.

The party decided to rest for the night, and were awoken by the innkeeper in the morning. He said that the Duke was downstairs asking to speak with them. The party went downstairs where the met the Duke. He apologized for the attack and offered them rooms in his castle in redress. The party quickly accepted, but while packing their bags decided they may not want to tell the Duke about how they are not from around here. They travelled, on foot, back to the castle where the Duke left them with his Seneschal, who showed them to their rooms. The Duke requested that they dine with him and his wife that evening.

After putting their belongings in their new rooms, the party decided to head down to the Ducal library to research Kilburn. They spent some time looking through scrolls and texts and found that the word Kilburn was Dwarven. Upon some further research they found a passage that mentioned Kilburn. They learned that Kilburn is an item that was created by the Dwarves long ago, and blessed by the 8 Goddesses of the world. What its intended purpose was, is unclear, but death and destruction followed this item around. The party was unable to find any information about its current whereabouts.

DM Recap

I felt like the session went well. The players had no idea where they were, and so were being careful to mask this. I feel like they made some good decisions, but by the end realized that what they are trying to do may not be as straight forward as they initially thought. I also began to use rolled damage instead of static damage this session. While there was not much combat the difference was certainly felt with Nefresil taking minimum damage on the 1 attack that hit him, and Gareth taking maximum damage both of the times he was hit. This caused him to drop to 1 HP, and caused Nefresil to turn and help.

Loot and XP

No loot was gained during this session. I will wait to award any XP for the fight with the ruffians until a better spot in the story.

Static Damage vs Rolled Damage

After session 2, I discussed with my players my use of static damage for creatures. They asked if that was how 5e did damage. I explained that I opted to use static damage for the first level or two as a way to aid survivability for the PCs. While I don't mind if PCs die to their own poor choices, I don't want a TPK due to variance.

As an example a goblin does 1d6+2 damage on a hit with a Scimitar. Using static damage that is 5 damage on a hit. If the damage were rolled it would be 3-8 damage on a hit. At first level the PCs have about 13 HP, so they are able to take 3 hits with static damage. With rolled damage they could take 2-5 hits.

I read a lot of articles and forum posts about this before making the decision to use static damage in my campaign. After the discussion with my players, I will move to rolled damage starting in session 3. They felt that it was easier to meta-game the static damage, and that the rolled damage would prevent that type of meta-gaming, in addition to bring more suspense to combat.

Lost Mines of Phandelver - Session 2

We picked back up in the town of Phandalin. Nefresil and Gareth had convinced Connal, Nigel, and Dhugal to accompany them to Cragmaw Castle to search for the Dwarf, Gundren Rockseeker. The adventures had not promised any money for the help, but had heavily implied that Gundren was rich and would be willing to pay for the help.

The group made its way to Cragmaw Castle without any problems. They scouted the castle again, and determined that it would be best to enter the castle from the North, through the canvas again. The party made it inside the castle without any problems. They scouted a few rooms, before stumbling upon a pair of Hobgoblins that appeared to be on watch. Nefresil and Gareth readied bows, and fired on one of the Hobgoblins while its back was turned. After downing the first Hobgoblin, the party made quick work of the second Hobgoblin without drawing attention to themselves. They kept the second Hobgoblin alive, and drug it back out of the castle, to the woods for questioning. They tied it up, and asked about the whereabouts of Gundren. The Hobgoblin said that the Dwarf was in the castle, and in one of the towers, all of which was not helpful. Nefresil put a sword to the Hobgoblin’s throat and threatened it if they did not get better information. The Hobgoblin being a warrior to the end, opted to push his own throat onto the sword, and thus end its life, rather than talk. The adventures determined that they would have to search the castle room by room to find out what happened to Gundren. They went back into the room that contained the Hobgoblins. That room had a door barred from the outside. They opened the door, and witnessed a very angry Owlbear rise and begin to charge right at the party. Gareth was quick enough to get the door shut and barred just before the Owlbear crashed into it. The door held and the party gladly continued their search. They came to another room and could hear two voices from inside. One was a growling voice that was demanding something. The other voice was silky smooth and seemed to belong to a female. The party decided that it would benefit them to attempt to draw the creatures out of the room, rather than entering the room. They all put their backs to the wall, and at the same time both Nigel and Dhugal threw themselves against the wall causing a loud clatter to emanate from their armor. At the same time Connal grabbed his necklace, bowed his head, and said a quick incantation, casting Bless. A golden glow surrounded him and after a few seconds of the light getting brighter, the light broke into countless motes of light that went out from him and into Nefresil, Gareth, and Dhugal. Once the clatter had sounded, the door opened and a Bugbear came out to investigate the sound. He was quickly attacked by everyone in the party, and he found himself quickly sounded. During the attacks on the Bugbear, a wolf came bounding out of the room at the party. In addition, what appeared to be a female Drow was seen in the room. Nefresil was disgusted at the sight of the Drow, and the Drow was disgusted by Nefresil. However, a moment later the Drow changed and now looked exactly like Nefresil. As the battle ensued, first the Bugbear, then the wolf were killed through a combination of melee attacks and magic. During the battle Connal went into the room, and cast Spare the Dying on Gundren since he was lying on the floor unconscious and badly beaten. During the battle, Nefresil was felled as the mirror image of him spent most of the battle focusing on attacking the elf. Seeing Nefresil down, Connal ran back into the fray in order to cast Spare the Dying on Nefresil to keep him alive. Soon after the battle ended with the party victorious. Once the mirror image of Nefresil was defeated, it changed back into a blue colored creature without clothes on. Nigel quietly pointed out that it was a doppelganger.

The group decided to take a short rest here to heal up before leaving the castle with Gundren. Gundren was adamant that his map needed to be found before he would leave the castle. The party convinced him to at least come back to the forest to rest before searching the castle. Once in the woods, Nefresil and Gareth went back into the room that the Bugbear and Doppelganger were in to search it. In the room they found some coins, a trio of potions of healing, and Gundren’s map. They came back out in the forest, and gave the map back to Gundren.

The group travelled away from the castle until night. Once came was setup, Gundren pulled Nefresil and Gareth aside and confided that the map was a map to the lost mine of Phandelver. The mine of legend that was filled with both riches and magic. He and his brothers had found it, and planned to open it back up again. He then asked what had happened to Sildar Hallwinter. Nefresil and Gareth said that they had not found him, but suspected that he was back in the cave where they were originally lead to by a Goblin. Gundren implored them to help retrieve his friend and the pair agreed. The other three were not sold on the idea of this second rescue. Nigel claimed that “A man must eat” as a way of asking for more payment. Nefresil was appalled by this, and argued with Nigel, but made no headway. Gundren finally stepped in, and told Nigel that he would get plenty of money, since his friend’s life was more important than some pieces of gold. Once that was settled, everyone slept during a quiet night.

In the morning, the group travelled to the cave that contained Goblins. They had Dhugal and Gundren start a fire slightly downriver and make noise while doing so, while the rest of the group hid further north. This noise caused a pair of Goblins to leave their lookout spot to investigate. The party was able to catch the Goblins from behind and quickly dispatch them. Then everyone but Gundren entered the cave in search of Sildar. Connal cast Light on a stone so that both he and Gareth would be able to see in the dark cave. They group came across a room with three wolves, and they decided to leave them alone. They continued on and saw a path leading off to the left, but continues moving forward through the cave. They came across a bridge next that spanned the stream and connected two openings that were about 20 feet off the ground. As they moved forward they came into a room that contained a large pool of water, and a smaller pool of water, both held in by fieldstone walls that served as dams. Nefresil and Gareth recognized that those could be undimmed to cause a flood similar to what they saw a few days prior as they left the cave. The room also contained 3 goblins that were overcome, though not without Nefresil needed to drink his healing potion.

DM Recap

This session got off quicker than the last. The players made some good strategic decisions that really benefitted the group. They were able to kill 1 of 2 Hobgoblins during the surprise round, making the fight even more in their benefit. In addition, everyone was rolling well for Initiative, causing the party to all get to act first in the fight. Nefresil had some bad luck that the doppelgagner decided to focus on him and eventually knocked him unconscious. Despite that the group was able to work well together in order to accomplish their mission. It was a lot of work to run the 3 extra NPCs, and though they really helped the main party, I felt that they were on the cusp of overshadowing the PCs which I want to avoid. I think I would go about using NPCs differently in the future, but this was a good experience.

Loot and XP

The group already took possession of 220 silver, 160 electrum, and 3 potions of healing (2d4+2). In addition as a whole the group earned 2000 XP, and it will be divided into 5 equal shares, 1 each for Nefresil, Gareth, Connal, Nigel, and Dhugal. That is 400 XP each. The breakdown is:

5 Goblins @ 50 XP - 250 XP

2 Hobgoblins @ 100 XP - 200 XP

King Grol - 200 XP

Snarl (Wolf) - 50 XP

Vyerith (Doppelganger) - 700 XP

Rescuing Gundren and finding his map - 600 XP

At this point both Nefresil and Gareth have attained 2nd level. However, until the party spends an entire day in a town reflecting on their adventures, and practicing their craft, they get no benefits from leveling up. However, both players should come to the next session ready to update their character sheets to level 2 since they will have the opportunity to do so in the middle of the session.

Lost Mines of Phandelver - Session 1

Our adventure begins with Nefresil and Gareth guarding a wagon of mining supplies and food as it ambles down The High Road. Nefresil, an Elf Ranger, is originally from the Neverwinter Wood, but had come to spend time in the city of Neverwinter. Gareth, a Human Sorcerer, was born in Neverwinter. When his wild magic started to manifest at an early age, his parents abandoned him, and he grew up as a street urchin.

Nefresil and Gareth had known each other for a time, and took the guard job together. Gundren Rockseeker, a dwarf, hired the two to guard a wagon with supplies on its way to Phandalin. He and the Human Warrior, Sildar Hallwinter, would leave 2 days earlier and ride down to town. Gundren, seemed excited about something, but would not divulge what, except to say that it was something big.

They departed from Neverwinter a few days ago, and turned onto The Triboar Trail half a day prior. As the session started, they came upon a pair of dead horses, peppered with black fletched arrows, blocking the road. They halted the wagon and moved forward to investigate. Nefresil went a little ways into the woods to check for an ambush. He heard some words in Goblin and was immediately on guard. The two adventurers snuck through the woods towards where the sounds were heard. They happened upon a pair of Goblins. A fierce battle ensued, which saw both adventurers injured, and one of the goblins beheaded, while the other Goblin quickly surrendered.

After interrogating the Goblin, and convincing him to show them to his cave hideout, Nefresil and Gareth, told the wagon driver to continue on to the town of Phandalin. The Goblin pointed out the path to the cave, and along the way helped to avoid a snare trap and a pit trap. Once at the mouth of the cave the goblin whispered to Nefresil that there was probably a guard outside the cave watching. Nefresil and Gareth discussed how to proceed, since the Goblin told them that Gundren was not in the cave. The leader of the Cragmaws in the cave, a Bugbear named Klarg, had sent him on to King Grol in Cragmaw Castle. After a bit of discussion, an arrow flew between the pair, but hit neither. The adventurers, moved out of bowshot range knowing that they have been spotted, and threatened the Goblin into taking them to Cragmaw Castle. As they departed for the castle they heard a mighty roar emanating from the cave. They turned as saw a huge wave of water come rushing out of the cave.

Upon finding the castle, Nefresil no longer saw a benefit in keeping the Goblin around, and Gareth agreed. The Goblin began to plead to be spared, but Nefresil was not swayed and quickly beheaded the Goblin. The adventurers then began to circle around the castle out of bowshot to see if there was any way in, other than the front door on the west side of the castle. They found a door on the south, but could not tell whether or not it was locked. They also came across some rubble with a piece of canvas hanging across in on the north side. After darkness began to fall they snuck to the canvas, and peeked inside. They found an empty room filled with crates and barrels signifying that at one point in time this was probably a storage room. There was a heavy curtain on the south wall blocking an opening and a closed door on the east wall. Due to the late hour Nefresil and Gareth decided to head back to Phandalin.

Once there, they noticed the wagon and oxen from there trip safe and sound, and the wagon appeared to have been unloaded. They made there way to the Stonehill Inn where the met the owner, Toblen Stonehill. He mentioned that there have not been any Goblin attacks on the city. When queried about other adventurers in the area, he pointed out a table of four people, all of which appeared slightly out of place. Nefresil and Gareth paid for a room for the night and went to meet the other adventurers. They found themselves talking to an interesting group. There was the Dwarf Dhugal, with a 2 headed battle axe and wearing chainmail. He was joined by a half elf named Nigel, also in chainmail with a long sword at his hip. Next to him was Connal, a human, dressed in priest robes and with a golden chain around his neck. On the chain was a circle of gold and inlayed in silver was a pair of hand that were bound at the wrist with a cord and the cord was painted red. He had no visible weapons. The fourth was an Elf, named Adran. He was wearing leather armor, and had a staff leaning against the table. When Nefresil told the about what had happened today, and asked for help, Adran made it clear that he would not fight Hobgoblins. He said they killed his family, and in his rage he tried to get vengeance. He was unable to do so, and now wishes for no interaction with Hobgoblins, regardless of the situation. He quickly left the table for bed. The other three though, having no knowledge of the goblin tribe, or Cragmaw Castle said they would join with Nefresil and Gareth, to rescue Gundren, for the price of 100 gold each. Nefresil mentioned that Gundren is rich and they would be handsomely rewarded. The group of five agreed to meet in the morning to set off for Cragmaw Castle. Our session ended with the group of five in the common room of the Stonehill Inn getting ready to leave.

DM Recap

This was everyone’s first session playing Fifth Edition. In addition, it was my first session DMing. Overall I think it went well. The players got into the game, and I don’t think the mechanics got in the way of the roleplaying. We had a few discussions about the rules, but a quick check of the PHB solved them for us. I learned some valuable lessons about what to have prepared as we had to stop the session when I had to create a few NPC characters from scratch.

Loot and XP

No loot was found during the session. 75 XP is awarded to both characters for the Goblin ambush.