(Following: Zombies, Orcs, and an Ogre )
Repeating: lots of credit to Game Night Blog for ideas and materials!
Black Spider to Glasstaff
While you were at Wyvern Tor driving out the Orcs, Sildar Hallwinter and Daran Edermath teamed up with some of the townsfolk and drove off Glasstaff and the Redbrands from the old ruined manor. Sildar shows you a letter found in Iarno Albrek’s (Glasstaff’s) room.
Sildar leaves with Gundren for the city of Waterdeep, promising to come back once the Dwarf is safely delivered to the healers in the city. He urges the party to be swift in finding Gundren’s brothers (Tharden and Nundro) and will be eager for the capture of this villain who calls itself the Black Spider, no doubt a wanted criminal of interest to the Lords Alliance.
Following the directions from the Red Wizard at Old Owl Well, Hamun Kost, you travel on foot to the base of the Sword Mountains. Kost’s directions lead to a landslide of rubble covering the original entrance, now heavily overgrown and well-hidden. Nearby, you also find where the Dwarven Rockseekers brothers began to excavate a new entrance.
Echo Wave Caves: Learned So Far
- The original entrance to the Mines of Phandelver is lost under a rock slide.
- Rockseeker Dwarves tunneled in and made camp and entry up to old caverns. Unfortunately at this camp, it appears one of the dwarves was killed, his body was found among the mining supplies.
- Lots and lots of bodies in the rooms where the Dwarves, Gnomes and humans tried to defend against the invading Orcs and their mercenary wizards 500 years ago.
- Presence of undead in the caverns - either attracted by the dead like the ghouls or somehow awakened in and inhabiting some of the dead bodies of the orcs, dwarves and gnomes, like the skeletons in the guard room past.
- This was not a fortress, it was a working mine. Yet the miners and the wizards helping them enchant things fought with great courage and strength.
- Glowing mushrooms and fungi are beautiful but easily puff out deadly spores.
- As you get further in, the booming every few minutes grows louder. This seems to be the source of the name (Echo Wave Caves). The sound is very much like ocean waves crashing on a shore, and rumbles with enough force that the stone underfoot shivers.
- The party has found two strange triangular items made of a metal that seems awake with some kind of magic. The triangles also seem to interact with each other, vibrating when close. (Aside: Thanks to Game Night Blog for this awesome puzzle/idea!)
- Before the long rest, Willow uses a Ranger ability Primeval Awareness to sense the region of these mines. She reports she believes not far from your current location are both a number of undead and likely one or more of the more powerful sort of undead (not skeleton, zombie, ghoul type). There is also an aberration (unnatural/extra-planar) thing. She senses no dragons, elementals, fey, or fiends.
Venturing Forth from the Safe Room
Yeet has set up a mirror outside the closed / blocked door. During his watch in the night, Yeet hears strange noises outside and peeks under the crack of the door, using his special goggles. It is not super-clear through the reflection in the mirror, but he reports what looked like a very large spider came by the entrance, spun a few threads across the doorway, then scuttled off.
As you break into breakfast, Tallon mentions he noticed something weird about the hallways back where the mine cart tracks run - he couldn’t put his finger on what it was until clearing his head with sleep. There was absolutely no dust - the halls were glistening clean surfaces.
You decide to investigate these passages, and indeed this seems to be mostly true. Then soon after passing a grimy section, a muddled struggle is heard from the rear of the party, where those grimy walls themselves have surprised Ujio and Mon-Kei.
The Ochre Jelly attacks - an "ooze" lifeform attacks the party in the mine cart tracks area of the caverns. After defeating it through blunt and piercing attacks, the party finds a pool of water with a long-dead body beneath the surface. Dragging it out, it is found to have another piece of the triangle puzzle and a magical circlet.The Black Spider
The party wedges closed a door where bugbear voices are heard, and then proceeds down a hall where you hear voices from the room ahead as you approach. Light flickers from the room, as would be lit from a campfire, occasional shadows dim the light. There are three voices - only one of which sounds normal-ish and speaks the Common language with a strange accent. The other two voices sound a bit like speaking through a long tunnel - one of these tunnel-voices sounds familiar to Belcoria and Yeet: the dark elf from Cragmaw they called Vyerith.
Vyerith: Well, he does not speak your tongue, Spider, so you will have to stick to Common.
Nezznar: Eef I moost zhen, vie deed you leef zee town fahn-del-lin, Glahs-ztav?
(If I must then, why did you leave the town of Phandalin, Glasstaff?)
Iarno: My enraged old friend Sildar began to pull in the Lords Alliance to drive us out. The Alliance like law and order when it suits them - but ignored the wrongs to my family, now I work with those willing to help me.
Vyerith: I barely got Glasstaff out before most of the Redbrands were either slain or taken prisoner. Fortunately I had been alerted by our spy in town. We’re here with the only 3 remaining. And now with Bloodsword and the Cragmaw force turning away, their little ruined castle was no longer an option for safety.
Iarno rolls his eyes at the 'Glasstaff' title: At this point, Vyerith, disguising my name is hardly necessary.
Vyerith: Fair enough, Magus Albrek.
Nezznar: Wot hahve yoo lee-earned oof zee pree-stiss?
(What have you learned of the priestess?)
Iarno: No sign of her anywhere here in Thundertree. Members of the Cult of the Dragon are camped outside of town (He looks to the side, scratches his beard) I thought they were just a silly story - fanatics wanting to bring an undead dragon into the world for some reason.
Vyerith: No, Albrek - not just a story and more of them have become active, though I have reason to believe their goals have changed. I’m told they have allied with the Red Wizards of Thay.
Nezznar: Yasz, zeee Red Weezards moost not get zee pow-er zat ees how-erz too claim. Zee koolteests attahk-ed zee pree-stiss?
(The Red Wizards must not get the power that is ours to claim. The cultists attacked the priestess?)
Iarno: I don’t think so, unless their name should be taken literally. Examining the corpses of the enormous dead spiders, no doubt your lady’s minions or pets around the tower and in pockets around the town, - the attacker would seem to have been an actual dragon. The tower has the look of having been a nest, but it is now abandoned, so something must have driven it off soon after it took your lady’s secret tower.
Nezznar (insulting Iarno): Purr-hahps more Lordz All-eye-anz, Magus Albrek?
(Perhaps more Lords’ Alliance, Magus Albrek?)
Vyerith (chuckles): Perhaps - but I will send word to the Darkhold.
Nezznar: Vurr-ee well, yesz - Darkhold - vee vill retorn wahn day with prohparr reecko-nishen.
Mind yourselves of zee Droo-eed.
(Very well, yes - Darkhold - we will return one day with proper recognition. Mind yourselves of the Druid).
Vyerith: And you of those fools from Phandalin - I want that elf knight’s eyes!
Nezznar: Der are noo more mahps to zee mine, vee shall now vinish zee expedition - no een-turr-up-shunz. Zee skull oov fire cannoot rebirth forever.
(There are no more maps to the mine, we shall now finish the expedition - no interruptions.
The skull of fire cannot rebirth forever.)
Iarno: The forge will lend us the power to prove ourselves - and deliver revenge!
Vyerith: My brother will yet find you a path, Spider, I have the brains, but he has the patience.
A tall drow holding a long staff closes the vision through the mirror - as it clouds it reflects to his face and you to him… he is standing there with two bugbears at his side, their back to a large table on which are laid many papers and maps and foodthings. The room is a makeshift camp within what appears to be a temple. A battle follows, where the bugbears are killed and Nezznar Baenre, presumably the Black Spider, a Drow (dark elf) wizard is defeated and taken prisoner.
Nundro, the youngest of the Rockseekers brothers is found imprisoned in the nearby room, and questioned along with Nezznar. Looking at Nezznar’s map and after some questioning, the party decides to leave Willow (and Shadow) and Belcoria watching the entrance to the mines while the rest of the group takes Nundro and Nezznar back to Phandelin. (And giving all time to rest and recuperate).
Finishing the job started by some (Bugbear?) diggers in the area marked “Treasure?” and guided by Willow’s Detect Magic, the party finds a body buried beneath the rubble with a magic belt and another piece of the puzzle (which appears to be the final piece?)
The Bugbear leader has a tattoo indicating membership in the Zhentarim (a.k.a. Black Network) - a protection-for-hire organization kind of like the "Cosa Nostra"/Mafia. But with a more legit and open side as mercenaries (soldiers, thugs, wizards, etc.) -- perhaps not so different from the wizards that were hired by the Orcs when the mines (and much of the Sword Coast) was attacked 500 years ago?
Nezznar expects to be killed, so he’s happy to answer questions and encourage the party to turn him over to the Lords Alliance. His expedition has been unable to get past the “Flying Death” room or the poison mushrooms, even though he believes the Forge of Spells likes not far beyond these.
The Flying Death room may have been a blast furnace when the mine was active, now guarded by undead and what he calls a “skull of fire”- that seems to rebirth after being defeated. The room has an empty canal running through it with a dry water wheel attached to the large bellows for the blast furnace. This would have been where ores were melted and purified.
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The puzzle seems to make two patterns, a square with the symbol of the ancient empire of The Netheril -- or a hexagon with the symbol of Talos, the Storm Lord (who was worshipped by the Netheril).
(Next: Wave Echo Caves (Part 2))