The Forgetful Faun Inn
Rain fell from the sky. On a spring morning, on the outskirts of the town of Rivergrounds lies the small and quaint tavern called the “Forgetful Faun Inn” by the roadside. From the south, a small stocky dwarf accompanied by a human can be seen riding on horses making their way towards the front door of the establishment. The door opens, and the guests inside can feel the cold wind blowing from the entrance. Five strangers sit in various corners of the inn, waiting for the arrival of the dwarf. This is Gundren Rockseeker, and he has met all these characters in various situations over the last weeks.
“Ah, you are all here. Good! Come closer!”
Gundren and the human walks over to one of the tables, and gestures at the diverse group of people to join him. A pink tiefling named Penny, who was playing on her violin when they entered, comes down from the stage. The old tortle known as Granny, who was sleeping in the corner, follows. A half-elf rogue called Demetrius comes from the shadows without anyone noticing, and another half-elf, Theren, greets Gundren when he approaches. Finally, a large firbolg with green hair comes nervously walking towards the rest of the group, obviously not used to people yet. Her name is Willowbark.
“So good you all could make it!” he says, as he gestures for the group to sit. He begins explaining what he gathered them for. He tells the party about him and his two brothers, who have made a big discovery in the mountains outside of Phandalin. A great discovery, which could mean great treasures for the group if they help him on his quest. The party seems to be intrigued by this, and agrees to help him. He introduces the rest of the group to his traveling companion Sildar Hallwinter, a member of the Forgeblades who Gundren has known for a while, and has hired to protect him during the task. Gundren seems to be holding the cards close to his chest on this one, and doesn’t want to reveal too much about the task at hand, but he tells them that first they have to help him bring supplies with them down to Phandalin. The carriage carrying the shipment should be prepared in the morning, so Gundren and Sildar will travel ahead of the group to prepare for their arrival.
As Gundren and Sildar gather their equipment and get ready to set out, a woman suddenly emerges from the kitchen, slamming an ax down at the table. She tells them that she has been told to come along on this assignment, much to the confused looks of the rest of the group. Gundren thinks it over for a few seconds, before exclaiming that he will gladly accept the help. He asks her name, and she introduces herself as Kal. Having been accepted, she goes back to the kitchen, hands in her resignation, and joins the rest of the group so they can introduce themselves.
Gundren and Sildar say they will see the party in Phandalin in about four days, barring any hold-ups, and say their goodbyes, and head back out into the rain, mount their horses, and ride away to the south. The group sits looking at each other, and starts introducing themselves, as they will be spending the next weeks together.
Ambush
The next morning, the group wakes up in the inn, as Gundren paid for their accommodation. Gathering what little supplies they have, they set out into the cloudy streets of Rivergrounds. The musky smell of the river and waste that flows through the town is almost overwhelming if one haven’t been in town for too long, but the party endures, and heads to the local supplier to retrieve the cart they were hired to bring south. The half-elves ride in the cart, with Granny and Penny taking charge walking in front. Kal and Willowbark walk behind.
After a few days' travel, around a bend in the road, they can see something up ahead. Getting closer, they see two horses, riddled with arrows, lying dead in their way. Staying vigilant, a couple of the group approaches the corpses, but they don’t get far before they are ambushed from both sides by arrows! A group of goblins are hiding in the nearby foliage, hoping to catch the party by surprise. After killing a few goblins, some run away, but the party manage to knock one of them unconscious. The party recognizes the horses as those belonging to Gundren and Sildar, so they want to interrogate the captured goblin to find out where they took them.
When the goblin comes to again, the party starts questioning him, demanding to know where the prisoners are. As the party outnumbers the goblin six to one, he decides it is in his best interest to spill the beans. He tells the party that their leader, Klarg, ordered them to capture a dwarf and a man coming this way. The goblins got to keep the man, but the dwarf was to be taken, along with his belongings, to a fortress hidden deep in the woods. He calls it Cragmaw Castle, where King Grol resides. The goblin also mentions a spider. The black spider. It told the goblins to keep watch for a dwarf with a map.
The group decides to take the goblin with them, hoping to use it for negotiations, so they tie him up, much to his protests. The group scours the area. Theren finds drag marks in the ground leading north, and Willowbark and Granny manage to pick up a trail of goblin tracks, along with a couple of larger footprints accompanying them. It looks like Gundren and Sildar were alive when they were taken by the goblins. They take the goblin along, hide the cart by the side of the road, and head north into the forest.
Reaching the Cave
As the group make their way through the forest on the narrow path that the goblins used, Willowbark, who comes from the forest, takes charge going first, as she knows what to look for in terms of traps and dangers. They don’t have to travel far before she stops the rest of the group, seeing several traps hidden in front of them. A hole in the ground, concealed by a thin layer of foliage, as well as a few tripwires that lead to rocks and lumber potentially crashing down, have been placed in the path to delay or hinder any pursuers. With Willowbark’s help, they are easily circumvented, and the group manages to reach the base of operations of the goblin tribe.
A large cave opening with a stream flowing out of it can be seen in the hilly formation in front of them. Demetrius decides to take a closer look, and tries to sneak up silently to see if he can see any sentinels, but the rocks near the stream are smoother than he first thought, and he manages to slip and fall right into the water. This alerted a couple of goblins on the other side of the bush next to the entrance to take notice of them, so they start firing arrows at the group. They fight back with whatever they have, casting some spells, with Demetrius quickly retreating back to the others. The guards on the outside are dispatched before they manage to alert the ones inside.
Not wanting to take the goblin prisoner with them, they decide to tie him up outside. He begs them to let him go, as he doesn’t want the wrath of Klarg to come down on him when he finds out he failed. They ask his name, and he introduces himself as Fiert. They tell him to promise to stay put, and they will let him live. First however is reluctant, but promises that he will stay still. As soon as the group goes to enter the cave however, he tries to break his bonds and run away. Theren finishes him off with a well placed eldritch blast as he tries to escape, taking down the goblin before he can reach cover. Willowbark seems to be a bit saddened by this, but there is not much to do about it now. They decide to stealthily head into the cave to try to rescue Sildar, and learn more about where Gundren was taken.
Infiltration
Entering the cave, the group can hear some snarling on the side as they come in. Peering around the corner into an opening, they can see three wolves chained to a metal pole. Willowbark, feeling sympathetic towards the poor beasts decides to try to calm them down to release them. The wolves are cautious at first, but she manages to befriend them, allowing her to release the pole, and the wolves immediately take off into the woods, chains and all. In the back of the room they are in they can see a tunnel leading up, and can barely hear voices beyond. It seems to be too difficult to enter stealthily, so they instead decide to go the main route up the stream.
As the party ventures further into the cave system, they hear movement above them, but cannot see the source of the noise. Soon after, they suddenly hear a large roar, and see the waterflow picking up. Shortly after a wave of water comes rushing down towards them, almost flushing them completely out of the cave. They do manage to hold on however, using teamwork and grabbing whatever they can take a hold of. Thinking they are safe, another wave suddenly comes rushing down, sweeping out a couple of them. More determined and wet than before, they make their way quickly up the slope, and come face to face with a few goblins. Apparently they had set up a dam to collect water as a safety measure, which the group got a taste of. No matter now, the goblins attack them head on, trying to repel the invaders, but are quickly dealt with. Going further into the room they are in, they can see a large fire, and in front of it, Klarg, the chief bugbear of the goblin-group. He and his wolf enter the battle, but Penny manages to scare the wolf away using some clever vocal work, which angers Klarg, but not enough to keep him alive. He almost manages to take down Demetrius however, only being saved by Granny who was beside him, protecting him.
Looking around the room after the bugbear has fallen, Sildar is nowhere to be seen. What they do find however is a large cache of boxes, with the logo of a blue lion on them. Apparently a shipment company, probably a stolen shipment from the same road Sildar and Gundren was attacked on. They take a mental note of it, and venture further into the cave, finding a bridge that goes over the path with the stream. Crossing it, they find a large cave with a few beds and a bunch of goblins. On top of a perch, Sildar is lying badly wounded on the edge, with a mean looking goblin ready to kick him off. They demand that the group leave or they kill the prisoner. Theren tries to convince the goblins that their leader is dead, but the goblins do not believe them, so they go on the offensive. One of the goblins almost takes down Penny, but Theren jumps up and takes him down. After a long and fierce battle the goblins lie dead on the ground, with several of the party members being unconscious as well. They decide to take a rest, using the goblins’ beds to allow the downed members to recover, while they look after Sildar.
Dreams and Visions
Willowbark lies on the ground, turning in her unconscious state, obviously having a terrible nightmare. When she wakes up, she tells the other party members that she saw people, shadows, and got the feeling that someone was messing around inside her head. She describes a massive green eye staring down at her, which creeps the other members of the group out.
As Kal rests, she dreams about a snowstorm. Only Kal knows when and where it is, but she can see that she is looking down at someone trying to protect themselves. She hears two voices in her head, one telling her to kill, the other to protect. She decides to listen to the male voice, and spares the person. Waking up, she feels inspired by the experience.
The next morning, with the party having rested properly, they speak with Sildar about what happened. He tells the party about a black spider that have been heard roaming the area, and that Gundren hired him to protect him before they reach Wave Echo Cave, apparently the place they are supposed to help Gundren with. He overheard some goblins talking about sending him to Cragmaw Castle, as he had a map that led to the cave. But Sildar reveals that he came along not only for Gundren, but also in search of a wizard named Iarno Albrek, a fellow member of the Forgeblades who went missing in the area a few months back. Feeling that they are stuck in the middle of something bigger than they expected, the party gathers their supplies, and carries the crates with the blue lion logo with them back to the cart.
Next: Chapter 02: Arrival at Phandalin