Session 12: Face-to-face with the Black Spider... and a fireball

The heroes, victorious after slaying the pack of foul Ghouls, were battered and weary from their many wounds. They barricaded themselves in the old Barrack's room and recuperated from their wounds.  They resumed their exploration and discovered an old Smelter room North of the Great Cavern where they battled the ghouls previously. When they entered the room they found several old corpses clad in chain-mail and a floating, flaming skull that warned the party that they "..may not pass by order of Vickana the Blue". Blumpkin urged the party to slay the undead beast, but Pog and Stevil felt discretion was in order and convinced the party to try to find an alternative way around the room.

They explored more of the caverns to the West and passed by a dark pool in the ground (who knows what mysteries lie in its waters?) and opened a door to a barracks full of six Bugbears wearing the emblem of the Black Spider. Pog became enraged at the sight of the monstrous Bugbears and charged into the room, protecting the rest of the party. Three bug-bears charged at Pog with their morning-stars, while the remaining hurled their javelins at the barbarian. Pog side-stepped most of their blows, although he nearly got brained by a morning star that injured him. In retaliation Pog killed two of the beasts in a single swing of his sword. The party swarmed over the remaining Bugbears and quickly defeated them, capturing a badly injured Bugbear, who warned them of a "scary monster" in the Northeast section of the mine. 

The party rested for an hour and headed further North. They discovered more Black Spider forces comprised of a Drow elf (Vhalak) and four Bugbears. The foes engaged the party, and killed two of the Bugbears and badly wounded Vhalak, who the party suspected was really a Doppelganger. Vhalak yelled for reinforcements, and from an adjoining room, Nezznar, the Black Spider leader, and several Giant Spiders charged at the party from their exposed flank. 

The party feared they would be overwhelmed and fled down the hall and regrouped into a better defensive position to take on the small horde of monsters. In response Nezznar cast darkness over the party and sent in his spiders, who can fight in darkness. The heroes retreated again to the Bugbear barracks and barricaded the door. They devised a plan to retreat through the room with the Flaming Skull with the hope that Nezznar's forces would follow and be attacked by the skull.

The party executed the plan – including feeding the zombies the helpless bugbear prisoner to distract them -- and they ran East into the Flame Skull room while Silde tried to open the Western door to the Black Spider. However, Nezznar's forces had barricaded the door to the room to try to force the party to fight the skull as well, so the party's plan was thwarted and Silde fled like the wind through the Eastern door. 

While the party fled East the Flaming Skull launched a fiery ball of destruction that exploded into the party's midst. The party was badly hurt with Goh being knocked unconscious by the great concussive force, while Stevil only managed to stay on his feat with his unyielding endurance. After the fireball the zombies moved to engage the party. They blocked the door to the barracks, trapping Goh and Stevil in the barracks. Stevil slammed the door shut and revived Goh with his healing magic. The party is now split in two facing off against two potential enemies with Goh and Stevil trapped and at risk of being overwhelmed by enemies.

Session 11: Wave Echo Cavern

As soon as the adventurers entered the smoking ruins of Phandalin, Stevil tracked down sister Garaele who was the village's best (and only) herbalist. With the help of Kord via Stevil's Guidance spell, sister Garaele brewed a potion that cured Stevil of his malediction.  While in town the heroes agreed that they needed to stop the Black Spider from finding the forge of spells in Wave Echo Cavern. However, before they set out to the mine, Stevil visited Nars and convinced him (barely) to stay in the village and avoid getting into more trouble.

The heroes set out for the mine and arrived later that evening at a cave that descended into the mining complex. In the cavern they found an unidentified body of a Dwarf who had died approximately 1-week ago and was equipped with boots of Striding and Springing that was taken by Pog.  The team dropped down into the mine and headed East. They soon came upon the wreckage of an old battle with dozens of Orc and Skeleton skeletons scattered across the floor. While they were investigating, the team was surprised by a flock of hungry, vicious Stirges, who descended in the party's midst intent on feasting on their blood. After a desperate struggle the party defeated them, although many of the heroes were half dead from blood loss.

Stevil and Goh revitalized the team with their healing magic, and the heroes continued to explore the mine. In a nearby guard room they ran across more skeletons -- remnants of the battle that consumed Wave Echo Cavern 500 years previously. These skeletons had slowly been absorbing the magic of the cavern and quickly reanimated themselves when they were disturbed and hurled themselves at the party. It takes more than skeletons to stop our heroes and the monsters were soon defeated, although Goh was badly hurt from a particularly vicious orc skeleton that hit him with a lucky strike, although Stevil pulverized the skeleton into dust with his maul.

In an adjoining room the party found an old lock box, but despite the team’s best effort it resisted all efforts to open it. The party was feeling worn down at this point and took a quick rest to heal their wounds before they ventured further into the mine. They soon entered a cavern full of mysterious fungi to the East, but when the team attempted to traverse the room a foul gas was released by the fungi that drove them back. The team next headed North in an old barracks where three ghouls were gnawing on old bones and attacked the party. The ghouls were no match for the heroes and were dispatched, although Goh was paralyzed by one of the fiendish creatures that he antagonized. However, the team killed the creature before it could begin snacking on Goh’s flesh. After the battle the team didn’t find anything of worth in the room, and Silde, the monk, lamented the lack of treasure they were receiving.

The team continued their exploration and headed west through a network of passageways. Goh, always eager to explore, ran ahead of the group and was nearly surprised by a large Ochre Jelly that dropped from the ceiling. The team rushed in to destroy the abomination. During the battle Stevil split the ooze in half with his sword, creating two identical (but smaller) copies of the beast, but the the party quickly defeated it after switching to piercing weapons.

After the battle the team noticed a Ghoul up north on the top of some stairs and launched a volley of arrows, badly wounding it, but it ran away. The heroes charged up the stairs realizing there were numerous Ghouls nearby that needed killing, but the Ghouls ran down a side passage and tried to surprise the party from behind. However, the heroes were too clever and discovered their trick and a great battle enveloped on the staircase.

Pog and Sildar held the front line while the party launched arrows at the Ghouls. Stevil unleashed the power of Kord and cast Shatter, which killed many of the monsters. Silde rushed into the gap and took down a Ghoul with a flurry of flows, but he became too eager and charged the last two Ghouls who were anticipating his attack and viciously mauled the monk, nearly killing him. The team rushed in after him and brought down the last two ghouls while Stevil revived Silde.

Session 10b: Enter the understudies

Meanwhile, back in a tiny village in the outskirts of Neverwinter, an unwitting group of brigands and rogues sat down to an ale and a hearty stew.   Little did they know that chaos was about to enter their lives in the form of one Leena Littlefoot.  She burst through the tavern doors screaming for help and chased down by fiendish forces from the demonic depths.

Dis, a Paladin of Kord, took up his sword in mighty battle, while Amos drew his shortsword more out of self-preservation than anything else.   Zandalf, whose bloated visage had shut down many a tavern, barely gained consciousness as the fiends attacked.  Luckily for all, Amos and Dis were adept in the arts of the blade, and much ass-kicking ensued.

Promising rich rewards, Leena convinced the newly-formed trio to help her clear out her master Tsargamel's tower of this demonic presence.  That's what happens when you get the bright idea that you want to dissect some demons.  Though their foes were many and cunning, this triumvirate of power (plus Zandalf) defeated the demon hordes and reaped the tower's rewards, including a magical wand and greatsword.

Session 10: TERPS

The heroes, bloodied from slaying waves of Cragmaw Castle defenders, began searching the castle to clear it of evil and relieve the former inhabitants of their ill-gotten booty. They encountered a group of Goblin acolytes in a chapel that had been corrupted and transformed into an unholy shrine to their dark god Lhupo. The terrified Goblins begged for their lives after witnessing the destruction of so many of their brethren earlier and were allowed to flee the castle by the merciful heroes.

The party continued their search and found Sildar's stolen equipment -- which included a sword of considerable sentimental value -- and then found a second group of goblins, who were attempting to flee the castle after the party annihilated most of their comrades. The heroes -- after some debate -- showed them mercy allowed them to flee the castle unmolested.   Soon after Pog was leading the party through a dark hall when he triggered a trap that caused the ceiling to collapse on him. He nimbly jumped aside to avoid being badly hurt and wondered if he was perhaps too merciful to the Goblins earlier.

The team nearly completed clearing out the castle when they entered the Southeast Tower. It was the home of a ferocious, hungry Owlbear the goblins had been attempting (unsuccessfully) to tame. It charged the party, intent on eating their flesh, but the heroes easily overwhelmed it, slaying it with no injuries.  While searching the tower the party found a decomposed, partially eaten corpse covered with mushrooms and a potentially magical eyeball that caught the party's attention. Pog -- no surgeon -- removed the eye with his sword and a cloud of white spores burst from the mushrooms covering most of the party. Unperturbed, the party continued their search and found a chest full of gold, scrolls, and a potion.


The team, having cleared the castle, traveled back to Phandalin. While en-route they identified their treasures -- which included a very valuable Staff of Defense. However, by the time they reached Phandalin Stevil had became extremely ill with a evil malady that left him exhausted with fungi sprouting from his body. He was able to identify the disease as Terva Elven Rot Plague Syndrome (TERPS).