Lost Mines of Phandelver – Session 26

Treasure Hoard and Dagger Stares 

Debris fell from the ceiling, raining down and burying Asterin in loose dirt and rock. Aurelia screamed as her sister was suddenly buried alive. All thoughts of treasure forgotten, the party rushed over to the rockfall and immediately started to dig their cleric out. Hoping she was alive, the party waited as I rolled the damage dice.

*Falling ceilings are very lethal, we’re talking 4d10 bludgeoning damage with a dex save for half, a save the player had failed. Not to mention the potential for suffocation if they’re not dug loose quickly. *

Dice hit the table and spun up a total of 24, this left Asterin with only 2 health. The entire party took a huge sigh of relief, but the party still had to dig her out. Aurelia, Merric & Wendel with the help of Gundren rolled several successful strength checks and were successful in freeing Asterin from the rubble within 2.5 minutes. It was also fortunate that Asterin had a surprisingly high constitution and could hold her breath for almost double that.

*I say its surprisingly, but to be honest Sarah is renowned for being incredibly lucky. Well except for dex checks and falling ceilings. 😊*

Covered in dirt dust, sporting several deep scratches and bruises Asterin emerged from the rubble. Asterin used a single cure heal spell and Wendel burnt a ki point to add a little extra health. She was comfortable but will need to be a bit cautious from here on out.

The way out was now completely blocked, fortunately there were several other passageways leading north, west, south and east. Gundren turned and looked into the supports to add a little of dwarf engineering to the problem. From this side it was quite clear that the supports were rigged to release if anything larger than a kobold were to nudge them.

Merric was already up at the statue looking into the piles of coin and what treasures were awaiting them, the others shortly joined him. This was the treasure hold of the kobold den. The crude statue was a representation of their god, and the various treasures were a form of offering. Regardless this didn’t stop the party from grabbing everything they could get their hands on.

*In this case we use the standard rules for magic identification. A character can focus on a magic item to determine its effects during a short rest. However, I also add an arcana check for this as well. A very high roll will reveal back-history and whether it is cursed. *

Taking the time for a short rest to determine how to proceed the party came away with the following hoard.

  • 50 platinum
  • 800 gold pieces
  • 3500 silver pieces
  • 300 copper pieces
  • 4x Beads of Force
  • Javelin of Lightning
  • Quaal’s Feather Token, Whip
  • Sandstriker – Scimitar +1

New Arrivals

dragon icon green

*I always try to create a varied list of items with the expectation that certain items would go to certain players. Although I was quite surprised with some choices. *

Asterin went with the Beads of Force, Aurelia decided on Quaal’s Feather Token, Merric picked up the Sandstriker and Wendell hefted the Javelin. With loot in hand and a small break the party left through the now reinforced western tunnel. It emptied back out in a familiar room, the quarry with a boulder still lodged into the north wall. With only a NW and SE option available the party immediately went through the north-western tunnel, determined to leave the kobold den as quickly as possible.

*They got greedy and almost lost a party member because of it. Their original goal was to pass around the den, not clear it out. They survived and were rewarded. Unknown to the players, all the kobolds had already escaped with the young and had fled some time ago with only their traps left behind. Of course, I made them roll for perception at rest points. *

The passage down the tunnel was uneventful and forked north and west. Wendel detected a change in the air in the west tunnel and travelling down this fork the party emptied out onto a larger tunnel running north south. Gundren breathed a huge sigh of relief indicating to the group that this tunnel is almost definitely the original passageway that Lesri had put them on.

Half a day travel south and they were greeted by failing daylight as the cave tunnel emptied out into open air. With a few recognisable landmarks the party realised they were closer to Phandelin then they had expected and opted to travel through the failing light with the hopes of a warm bed at the Stonehill tavern.

The sun had long set by the time the party had arrived, Toblen was supremely happy to see them once again and more so when he discovered the scruffy dwarf was none other then Gundren Rockseeker. Trilena popped her head out of the back room, seeing Aurelia & Asterin called out to Pip to begin heating up bath water.

Toblen slammed down a tankard for each of the group asking them for their story, but before they could speak a word Sildar entered the inn with his dwarf and half-orc escort. Striding across the room he embraced Gundren in a fierce hug and greeted his old friend a smile on his tired looking face. Gundren’s face covered in dirt, cuts and still sporting bruises from his torture split into a grin.

With all obstacles now removed the party can now move forward to exploring Wave Echo Cave, finding out the fate of Gundren’s brother and the mysterious figure known only as the Black Spider.

Find out in the next session.

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