Wod Adlog 02

Adventure Log 02

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Wave Echo Cave

Waterday, 24th of Tamara'lor

• Left Phandalin with both Gundren (feeling better after magical healing) and Sildar, venturing to the southeast to look for the Wave Echo Caves. (This was the same day the party rescued Gundren from Cragmaw Castle.)
• Camped in the hills among all mine shafts, south of Phandalin.

Thunderday, 25th of Tamara'lor

• Found the entrance cave caves in foothills of the Bronze Heights, after being led there by Gundren, as he and his brothers had found it previously.
• Inside cave, found the dead body of Thardrin, Gundren's brother, impaled on a stalagmite.
• Gundren and Sildar returned with body to Phandalin, whilst the party explored the cave further.

• A tunnel led from the back of the cave. After following that for a while, the party came to a cavern with a lake and a set of stairs leading from it. A winged draconian came down looking for mussels to eat. When it saw the PCs, the draconian called for help and headed up the stairs. The PCs followed and a combat started with more draconians whose barracks were at the top of the stairs.
• One door leading from draconian barracks was blocked by a table on its side and large stone blocks. What is behind this door?
• After dispatching the draconians and some brownspawn marauders, the party explored the tunnels from where the brownspawn came.
• They followed a dried underground stream bed/tunnel and came to the surging underground water swell that gave the caves their name.

• Past the water caves, in a larger cavern was an old square construction, set with double doors. Lugh looked through them and found a large brazier with a green flame in the centre of a room. Behind the brazier was a 4-foot floating sphere, with a large mouth and central eye, and four eyestalks.
• Lugh put his hand up in a stop motion and whispered to the rest of the party to remain silent.
• Todd went through another doorway into another room built on the side of the main chamber. He found what looked like a storage room. Among the junk, he found a tankard with a dwarven face. As he went through another door he found himself at the back of the chamber Lugh had looked into and he was looking at the back of the floating aberration.
• Lugh had a protracted silent conversation with the floating beholder-like creature, convincing it that Darus was one of the old dragonborn masters. (The spectator having been here for many many years had lost track of time and gone insane).
• Darus came into view and told the spectator that its service was over and it could go. Spiralling in on itself it disappeared leaving behind the mace.
• The green flame atop the pedestal continued to glow. On a bench at the back of the chamber was, Life Bringer (a brass mace in the shape of a sunburst) and a breast plate emblazoned with a gold dragon.
• Surmised that the green flame could be similar to the blue flame or Io. Or that it could be the green flame of Arranaxus the now dead sister of Bahumut & Tiamat, the dragon goddess of magic.
• Katar cast detect magic and was intoxicated by the intense amount of magic from the dwarven tankard, the mace, and breastplate, but mostly from the green flame.
• Todd placed his shortsword blade into the green flame for a few minutes and the flame diminished, but did not vanish. Did it effect his blade?
• Went back to barracks room and removed the barricade to find a blast furnace and dried up water wheel. Many skeletons were operating the forge in this room and floating above them was a green, flaming skull.
• A long, protracted fight ensued, during which several ghouls also joined from a corridor out of the forge. The flame skull eventually fell to a lightning bolt from Katar, which also resulted in a large part of the roof collapsing. Dust from the roof collapse blinded obscured the chamber for several minutes until it settled.

• The party all fled from the dust back along the corridor they entered from. Stumbling around in literal darkness and unable to break that due to the dust, they found themselves going down a stairway they had passed earlier. Darus ran into more enemies at the base of the stairs, causing problems as the heroes were unable to progress due to the logjam. Finally, they fought their way forward into another room, where they found and fought even more ghouls.
• Finally, they continued into a large cavern, once a mess hall it appeared. As they explored its reaches, they were constantly interrupted by packs of roving skeletons. In order to give them some solace from the continual onslaught, Lugh gathered the battle scarred group together and used a Leomund's tiny hut so they could rest and recover.

Fireday, 26th of Tamara'lor

• Emerged from the magical hut and continued to search the tunnels of Wave Echo Cave for Nundro, the last brother of Grundren.
• Attacked by stirges in what looked to be an ancient entry hall with the entry collapsed.
• Entered a fungi filled room and split up to navigate the room more easily. Katar and Todd going one way and Darus, Kavae'lee and Lugh going another.
• Katar and Todd opened a door and encountered an old wizard wraith that was defending its treasure.
• Darus, Kavae'lee and Lugh saw a large dark shape moving at the edge of their vision in the darkness, near the room with the green flame, as they circumnavigated the fungi room to meet up with Katar and Todd. They stopped briefly to inspect the shape, but it retreated down into the pool room to the north.
• Todd hit the wraith with the sword he had placed into the green flame, and the wraith disappeared in a green ball of flame.
• Kavae'lee and Lugh were attacked by a giant spider with a hard, chitinous covering. It sprayed webbing from the cavern's ceiling, but it retreated into the darkness after suffering a few powerful blows.
• The wraith was defeated and the room searched. It was defending some locker with a few personal possessions. The only item of note that the party kept was a map, found on the inside cover of a decaying leather book.
• The PCs left to continued to search the previously unexplored caverns.
• Found what appeared to be a temple, with a large statue of Moradin. The room was infested with webbing, spiders and a large half-dragon spider that could speak in draconic and called itself The Black Spider.

• While talking to it, discovered that it was being commanded by someone called Krystryd at Zaksaroth, and that this was the location that new draconians were being created. Something that Darus was especially interested in finding out.
• The Black Spider appeared to have its claws on the form of a dwarf, threatening to kill it if the party set a foot wrong.
• Lugh used his magic to impersonate the dead dragon, Venomfang, hoping to make the Black Spider nervous.
• Following some conversation about the party leaving the caves for the Black Spider, one of the spider sacks in the room fell to the floor and a dwarf figure peeled itself free in a drunken-like stupor. The figure in the Black Spider's grasp then rose and changed shape into a tall, gaunt, grey humanoid and fled the room via a entrance to the right.
• Combat ensued and The Black Spider was defeated. The room was searched and Nundro, brother of Gundren was rescued. Found a black key, a letter from The Black Spider to Krystryd requesting back-up and indicating that people were being sent to meet with him, a black bag of coins (which Darus gave to Gundren later on to buy workers to guard and work in the caverns), and a vial of reddish liquid. On the Black Spider itself, was a magical ring which Todd removed and as he held it, it shrank to a size that would fit his fingers and dwarf runes appeared on it.
• Todd gave his mug with the dwarven face to Nundro.
• Took a short rest at the cave's entrance and then began trip back to Phandalin.
• On trip back to Phandalin, ran into Gundren giving a rousing speech to miners in camp to get them to work in the Wave Echo Caves. Darus gave the satin bag of coins to him here to help with this endeavour, as he thought it was in the general interest of the community if the caves were protected from any other evil beings trying to gain its powers and resources.
• Gundren gave directions to The Rift from Phandalin and also told the story of when he and his brothers slew a vampire in the Sunken Citadel located within it.
• Spent the night in Phandalin.