Lost Mine of Phandelver

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Managing to trip over her own feet on the way across the stream, Merimar couldn't help but let off a loud curse of "For the love of The Shining One you'd think these stones would be less slippery!" Seeing her friends charge out of the bush, Merimar followed and saw a few goblins near the mouth of a cave. Shooting one of them, Merimar watched as she reloaded while her friends took out all but a determined goblin who looked visibly hurt but very spritely. Eventually even that goblin fell to a blast of magic from Calal. Managing to find one of her bolts sticking out of a goblin's armor and reclaiming it, Merimar followed the group up to the cave mouth.

"So, what does everyone think we should do about those wolves?" Merimar asked, "They're probably in there because of these goblins, and I don't fancy being bitten from behind by one later."
 
The main passage from the cave mouth climbs steeply upward and around the bend to the right, the stream plunging and splashing down its west side. Somewhere ahead you can now make out the sound of what seems to be a waterfall. To your left there's another passage branching off the main one. It also leads up an incline, but it is littered with fallen rock and rubble.

Ahead of you, Bryn spots a rickety wooden bridge that appears to connect two passages on either side above you, and a goblin sitting inattentively at the right end of the bridge.
 
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The party sneaks up a side passage, strewn with rubble, managing to stay silent and come upon some goblins, milling around a larger chamber. To one side, stairs lead up to a 10-foot-high ledge. They manage to catch the goblins unaware with a surprise attack, felling one of them quickly. As he falls, a larger goblin appears at the edge of the higher part of the cave, dragging a bruised and bloody human.

"Truce, or this human dies!" he shouts.
 
Even with apparently catching the goblins off guard, Vutha was blind in the tunnels, relying only on her sense of smell to guide her. As the others started their fight and sounds echoed off the walls, Vutha snarled and brought out a torch, irritated she was so blind in the caves. Even with the light she could barely land a blow, and when an apparent leader of the goblins appeared with a captive, she quickly moved to attack him, but only landed one bite on him before he was brought down by another. A goblin behind her struck at her with a weapon, cutting through her scales, only for her to turn with a snarl and bite down on the tiny creature, barely breathing from her attack.

As the fight finished she handed the goblin off for Merimar to tie up as she sat on the ground, wincing from her wound.
 
They'd gotten the jump on the goblins, but Bryn wasn't in much of a hurry. He'd been sloppy all day; poorly crafted insults that even the goblins had shrugged at, a lazy sprinkling of faerie dust that only let the ground with a slight glow, and angry, unfocused swings of his blade which even a child could avoid, even his dissonant whispers had failed to fell the green menace watching the cavern entrance. He paused and focused, drawing his blade, and waiting for the light to fill the cavern.

He moved toward the goblins, his blade quaking with thunderous energy. Bryn drove it through the goblin with intention, dropping it immediately. He adjusted his footing and readied for a second swing, but a goblin stood on the ledge shouting down drew his attention for a moment before Vutha's jaws snapped shut on it. Bryn shook himself from the distraction in time to catch a goblin going after one of his cohorts. The smith placed a blade in its spin, as it fell to the ground, but was unable to defend himself from the goblin who came after him. He reeled in pain, weakly swinging his rapier to keep the goblin away, but made no contact.

The goblin fled, but Bryn would not be deterred, no escape. He gave chase, but missed the small green beast as his momentum threw off his swing. As the goblin threw his hands in the air, a pang of pain ran through the scar in Bryn's chest. Not this time, his mind resolved, no quarter. He drove his blade to the hilt through the goblin's neck, a ghastly sputter escaping as Bryn withdrew the blade and the goblin breathed his last.

Wiping down his blade with a cloth, the half-elf smiled. "So, Vutha, that a sharp enough blade for you?" He looked around at his injured allies, "Perhaps we should rest. Tend to our wounds and collect ourselves. We need a plan and that man may know something."
 
After the debacle of the goblin that managed to dodge a few of her crossbow shots, Merimar felt like switching things up a bit. Holding her crossbow in one hand, she extended her other towards one of the goblins.
"Burn in the light of the Shining One!" Merimar shouted as a faint golden beam shot out of her hand towards the goblin. Who just stepped to the side letting the light shoot past him and strike the wall.
'Well, that didn't seem to work,' thought Merimar as her friends entered the fray. Raising her crossbow, Merimar shot the goblin as a few of the goblins found their deaths. Reloading, Merimar saw one of the goblins fleeing being chased by Bryn while Fuska and Vutha seemed to have the other contained.
"Stop, or I shoot!" Merimar shouted, raising her crossbow and preparing to shoot for the first sign that the goblin was going to ignore her. Though it appeared the goblin was listening. As it stopped, Bryn quickly dispatched the goblin.

Looking towards the human who had been the goblin's prisoner, Merimar could see they were in a bad shape. 'If I had the energy to spare, I'd cast one of my healing spells,' she thought to herself. Walking over, Merimar kept her crossbow at her side and fixed him with a smile, her holy symbol of Pelor swinging idly around her neck. "Hey, you should sit down. How badly are you injured?"
 
The human laughs, but it quickly turns into a rasping cough. He doubles over and spits blood onto the cave floor.

"Well I've been hurt worse, believe it or not." He leans back against a stalagmite and sits down, a little dazed.

"You must be the folks Gundren hired to escort his supplies. They took him, along with the map and the rest of my things."
 
At Bryn's comment, Vutha merely replied with a pained hiss, the flame of her torch reflecting across her dark scales. At hearing the human speak she turned her reptilian gaze on them, "Know where in these caves? Goblins say anything, or mere chaos as usual."
 
Calal is sitting quietly against the hard stone, keeping an eye on the very injured looking human. "When did they take you? How long ago?"
 
Bryn shook his head, "Give him a minute to rest. We could all use it." He found a relatively suitable rock and took a seat resting his rapier on his lap as he began to run a finger around the hole in his shirt while humming to himself. The shirt carefully stitched itself back together before the lifted it to tend to his wounds.
 
Fuska had been following the form in front of him through these dark tunnels, somehow managing to keep fairly quiet as he ran his hand along the tunnel wall to direct himself. Feeling the others stop, he assumed that they had found some more goblins, and Fuska drew his warhammer in the darkness. He saw a few sparks, then Vutha's torch ignited and lit up the dark interior of the room as they all rushed in. He struck the nearest goblin, not even watching as it fell to the floor lifeless. Seeing his companions had these enemies under control, the goliath bounded towards the stairs to aid his lizardfolk ally. His only strike was deflected before the rest of his allies finished them off.

Fuska joined his allies as they spoke to the injured human and tended to their own wounds. It was an odd sight to see the half-giant cross his legs and sit on the floor, but he was surprisingly flexible. He nodded at Bryn's suggestion to rest, simply saying "Agreed."
 
"There's a half-mad bugbear deeper in the cavern called Klarg," he says, slowly, taking careful breaths, as if speaking with broken ribs. "Sent Gundren somewhere else. A castle. Cragmaw clan has one as a hideout somewhere around here, it's said." He looks at Calal and tries to smile. "Haven't been here long, but can't tell how long. Only thing I've seen besides this cave is the underside of that one's boot." He spits at Yeemik's corpse. "I'm Sildar, by the way. Not used to being the one who gets rescued. Thanks for that."
 
Calal tilts his head slightly at the man. "So Gundren is not here?" He checks. "Only some kind of insane bugbear?"
 
Sildar nods. "Although I can't say I've met many that weren't at least a little insane. Apparently this one had orders to stop us. From someone, or something, called the Black Spider."
 
Merimar listened carefully to Sildar as she sat down on one of the rocks, her crossbow resting across her legs. "Did the goblins, or Klarg, take anyone else prisoner?"
 
"It was just Gundren and myself on the trail, although the bastards killed our horses." Sildar goes silent for a moment. "If you're going after the bugbear, he has a pet wolf with him. And likely a few more goblins. He and Yeemik didn't seem to get along. They stayed apart mostly."
 
Bryn finished tending to his injuries and stretched. It hurt, but he'd make it back to town... if they could deal with the rest of these fiends. He unhooked his lantern from his belt, filled it with a flask of oil, and offered it to Sildar, "If we're going to continue, we'll need light, and it's probably best if you hold onto it." He then addressed the rest of them, "I'm going to try to scout ahead without the light. Hopefully I can get an idea of what we're about to encounter. Wish me luck." He let out an uneasy laugh, nerves getting to him as he drew his rapier and crept down the hall toward the bridge.

Peeking around the corner, the goblin had returned. Bryn knew it needed to be dealt with, he had barely started his scouting, this was too soon to turn back. He shook his head, and gripped his rapier tightly, his knuckles turning white. He darted across the bridge and plunged the vibrating blade into the goblin, driving him to the ground. He placed a hand over the goblin's mouth and nose and he removed the blade, worried it might make a sound. He looked up, ready to continue his search.
 
Sildar takes the lantern gratefully. "Thank you. I can't see much in this darkness." Then he leans forward and scoops up Yeemik's shortsword. "Might be worth holding onto this too. I'm feeling better already," he says, with a determined glare in his eyes.

After dispatching the goblin, Bryn sees the tunnel widening into an open chamber. This cavern is half filled with two large pools of water. A
narrow waterfall high in the eastern wall feeds the pool, which drains out the western end of the chamber to form the stream that flows out of the cave mouth below. Low fieldstone walls serve as dams holding the water in. A wide exit stands to the south and three goblins mill about here, checking the dammed up water. The sound of the waterfall echoes through the cavern, making it difficult to hear.
 
Calal turns his attention to the Goblin, pulling his daggers from their sheaths as he approaches. "Here's how this can go, goblin. You either answer what I say or we make you. I assure you you will find it significantly less painful if I do not have to make you." He gives a slightly feral-looking sneer down at the creature. "how many of you are there? Is there any sort of shortcut to reach your leader and does he keep any treasures or important property? where did your people take the dwarf?"
 
The goblin looks nervously from Calal to the daggers and back again. "Please don't kill me. I can tell you! There's a lookout on the bridge, uh, three more just on the other side of it, and two more with Klarg." His eyes shift from one person to the next. "Klarg has a wolf, too, Ripper. He loves that wolf. Like really loves it. He's got supplies that we stole from the road. Oh oh and a treasure chest. I don't know what's in it though. Last one that touched it got fed to Ripper! Can I go now please?"
 
Having taken the time to lick her wounds, somewhat literally given her nature, Vutha had watched Calal's interrogation of the small goblin. Giving a hiss of a laugh, "Only brave in numbers. Even the leader needs numbers to aid him, keep control."

Her tail swished behind her as she knelt down to be eye level with the goblin, "Your clan is finished, your end will be swift. Better than deserve," she hissed slightly. "Make peace with whatever you worship, we are done with you." Standing, Vutha pulled out her small handaxe, looking to the others if they had anything else to add.
 
Bryn carefully made his way back to the party, "So, learn anything useful?" He inquires, noting Vutha's ax in hand. "If you're done with him, best do it quick before he squeals. I dealt with that one who was watching the bridge. There's three more in he next chamber. If we're quick, and quiet, we might be able to get a jump on them. Seems like they're using a waterfall to trap water. They've got a enough they could flood the cavern."
 
Calal abruptly stands and walks a little way down the hallway in the general direction that Bryn had gone before, something flickering in his eyes as he tries to avoid thinking about the Goblin, carefully tucking both knives back into their spots on his belt.
 
"W-what? I told you everything. See? One on bridge, three on other side! Let me go and you'll never see this one again! I'll run into forest and never come back." The goblin starts whimpering, making an awful moaning sound and trying to squirm out of Fuska's grasp.
 
Vutha gave a toothy grin, "Yes -- told truth, so your death is quick. Will never see you again for sure this way. Return in another life as something better." Raising her hand axe, she quickly swiped across the throat of the goblin, striking deeply and precisely for as painless of a passing as she could manage in the dark cave. Wiping the blade on her rags she turned her head towards Bryn, "Said there is more: the lookout you killed, the three you saw, and two more with leader 'Klarg' and pet wolf. Klarg took supplies, and has treasure, but unknown what is inside."

"Should continue, before they gather too much. Quick kills are clean kills, we are the end of this small clan." The lizardfolk nodded to the others, including Sildar with the lantern, "We keep quiet, bring down before they realize, then return to task."
 
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