Session 4
When last we left our heroes they had gone to the dripping caverns to rescue their friends Sildar Hallwinter and Gundran Rockseeker from the goblins. There they goaded an angry ogre into killing his goblin companion and discovered almost thirty Phandalin villagers trapped in a bat filled cavern.
Among the prisoners they discovered a gravely injured former shipmate of Ronda's, Rob o'Dale, and he gave them a map with his notes looking for Gerald the poisoner's hoarde stashed somewhere in the sword mountains.
After the party vanquished the goblin chief they found Sildar Hallwinter chained to the wall of the cavern. Sildar told them Gundran rediscovered wave echo cave, but a bugbear named Klarg under orders of the black spider took him and his map to a place called Cragmaw Castle. Sildar insisted the party take him to Phandalin so he can find his contact in the Lords Alliance, Iarno Albrek, discover the location of this Cragmaw Castle, rescue his friend Gundran, and secure wave echo cave before our enemies.
And because we were in a rush to finish last session make a history roll:
You know wave echo cave is a place where dwarves and gnomes signed phandelver's pact hundreds of years ago! The cave contained a vein of magical energy and was used to create the forge of spells where magical items could be crafted. The orcs came rampaging out of the hills and destroyed it and the location was lost.
Phandalin Inn
Sildar says If you're going to stay in town I suggest you hire a room for the night. We need to find Gundran and his map before it falls into the wrong hands. Maybe you can ask around to see if anyone's heard about Cragmaw Castle.
- Narth an old farmer says Sister Garaele who oversees the shrine of luck came back wounded and exhausted
- Elsa the barmaid says Daran over there is an adventurer
- Lanar a miner says orcs have been seen on the triobar trail and the townmaster is offering an award
- Trilena the inkeepers wife said thel stood up to the redbrands and they murdered him and then his family disappeared
- Pip says carp found a secret tunnel in the woods but the redbrands almost caught him
- Freda says the redbrands hassel everyone in town except the miners exchange.
- Everyone is talking about the villagers rescued from the dripping caverns. But even more people are talking about the fugitives, a dwarf and a dark elf were seen fleeing into the forest after murdering Zon Habergrieves and Todd Spencer. There's a 100gp bounty on their heads and they were sighted in the area last night.
Phandalin Lionshield Coster
Hanging above the front door of this trading post is a sign shaped like a wooden shield with a blue lion painted on it.
Linene wants her stolen goods back.
Phandalin Miner's exchange
Halia says the redbrands have a goblin minion that might know about the castle. She says the redbrands have a base under the tresender manor and she'll give them 100gp if they kill the redbrand leader named glassstaff and bring her any correspondence he may have.
Phandalin Alderleaf Farm
Quelline says she doesn't know about the castle but she knows a local druid named Reidoth who's very familiar with the area and can probably help the adventurers.
Carp says he saw redbrand bandits in a tunnel under the manor
Phandalin shrine of luck
Garele's superiors want her to ask a banshee called Agatha about the location of a spellbook. She'll pay with healing potions
Phandalin Townmaster Hall
Sildar stays here after a rest at the inn.
- Orcs near wyvern tor
- 500gp reward for finding cragmaw castle
- Iarno disappeared around tresender manor about two months ago.
Treasure Map to Gerald's Alchemical Lab
Gerald Mystsail was an alchemist and wizard living at the foot of the sword mountains. He made a living selling poison salves to mercenaries along the sword coast, travelling down from the mountains with a magical push cart and returning when his cart was empty. He enjoyed nearly a decade of profit and setup a cozy house out in wilderness where he setup contraptions to practically automate the production until he met Sinister Slaard the mercurial pirate who took offense at one of Gerald's off hand comments and killed him in cold blood.
His house still stands waiting for a master who will never return, filled with the gold he earned in his years of trading with pirates along the sword coast.
http://www.fantasticmaps.com/2016/02/the-arcanists-mill_a-wizards-tower-map/
cart pushed by invisible servant with a seat on front.
- mentioned production is automated
- lives alone in the sword mountains
- rides down in magical cart
- house perched at the top of a waterfall and
his lab has a malformed (weaker) flesh golem a row of eight boxes stirges with a lever on the wall that will open all their cages at once a large clear glass tank containing a gelatinous cube. takes a 15 perception check to notice it. There is a bunch of gold coins in the bottom of the tank. a cabinet with a roll up door containing three gas spores (which look like beholders) a shrieker at the front door a violent fungus in a silver gilded trough twig blights an automated mortar-pestle and a dangerous array of belt driven wheels that can be reconfigured to drive other machines, tumblers, saws, conveyer belts and drills.
The alchemist's workshop is built out over the edge of a sheer cliff five hundred feet above the broken rubble of the valley below. A large waterwheel turns in the stream as it falls over the cliff and you can hear a deep grinding and rhythmic thumping coming from within. The workshop consists of a large square building with an attached tower with a conical roof.
Paddock (1)
A gray mare grazing in it's paddock watches as you come up the path to the wizards tower. The narrow entranceway is almost the only thing holding the house to the side of the cliff.
Mill Room (2)
As soon as you step inside the entranceway you hear a piercing shriek from the potted plants in the entranceway.
shrieker
The walls of this large rectangular room is filled with bundles of hay, bags of grain, boxes, and jars. About half of the floor space is taken up by a churning mortar and pestle while leather belts and gears lift huge blocks of stone and drop them into stone troughs every five seconds or so with a thud that shakes the whole structure on it's foundation. There is a door set in the semicircular wall ahead.
Bedroom (3)
Here is Gerald's bedroom a small table piled with papers containing unreadable scribbles and a dresser containing row after row of thick woolen robes. There are stairs heading up and down.
Kitchen (4)
Gerald cooked his food here and there is an observatory in the other half of the room with a large telescope poking through the roof.
Lab (5)
You smell the caustic stench of chemicals and you descend into the lab. The circular walls are covered with shelves holding hundreds if not thousands of glass bottles containing multicolored powders and liquids. A stained lab bench is piled with glassware, retorts, distillers, clamps, and burners. Another table along the wall is covered in steel surgical gear. There is a stone table in the center of the room with leather straps and chains and the corpse of a malformed man, covered in stitches.
A large cabinet with a roll up door stands against one wall.
The body is a failed golem host though he's keeping the body around to give it another shot. A hatch in the floor serves as the trash, things are just thrown into the ravine below.
the cabinet contains three gas spores
Vivisection room (6)
This large square room is mostly filled with large mechanical devices grinding and sifting powders, stirring boiling cauldrons, and distilling purple liquids. The walls on your right are lined with wooden cages with dark screened openings on the front. On a table to your left there is a large glass terrarium filled with a layer of sand and sparkling gold pieces.
A series of wooden levers is set into a panel on the wall.
The boxes contain 8 stirges and pulling one of the levers will open all the cages at once.
The terrarium contains a gelatinous cube (though it's so transparent you can't tell without a perception check).
The golem enters the room carrying a sack of wet eggs and immediately attacks. Players may find themselves dodging machinery or releasing the beasts.
Cave Entrance (7)
A set of wooden steps leads down into a natural cave set in the cliff wall. You can peer out through a gap in the stone and see the back of the waterfall and the spinning wheel.
Fungus Farm (8)
This large room is partitioned into six different raised beds filled with a variety of mushrooms. The peculiar scent is caused by rotten bodies used to feed some of the crop.
the bodies are unrecognizable but humanoid (kobold). There is a violent fungus (and a mycanoid) in the room?.
Wet Lab (9)
Long rows of tanks fill this room, overflowing with water piped in from the wall. You hear the croak of frogs, the buzz of flies, and the splash of creatures stirring within.
giant toad? pirahana?
Prison and storeroom (10)
This room has a sand floor and there are three iron cages set up against the wall. Dark figures rest within. A heavy chest sits against the wall.
The prisoners, kobolds, and goblins are weak and put up no fight. The chest contains treasure.
- 900 cp, 4230 sp, 270 gp, 22 pp,
- Painted Glass Figurine (of a raven) (25 gp),
- Small Bag of Incense (25 gp),
- Small Bag of Spices (25 gp),
- Rabbit Fur Ribbon (25 gp),
- Rabbit Fur Bracers (25 gp),
- Carved Wooden Medallion (25 gp),
- 1 Oil of Slipperiness
- 1 Philter of Love
- 1 Potion of Fire Breath
- 1 Potion of Growth
- 5 Potions of Poison
- 4 potion of disease
