The friends come out of the Sleeping Giant having beaten several of the Redbrand ruffians as the last one runs away on the road toward the east. The friends see a large golden dragonborn man with a staff and sword on his side across the street. He says that he is Brunig the Champion, a gladiator who just came to Phandalin a short while ago.

Quinn asks if Brunig would like to come along with them to explore where the Redbrand ran off to, and he agrees, seemingly eager for adventure. The friends and their new companion head up the hill to the old manor house and see lots of tracks heading toward the cellar. The house itself is a total wreck and most of it is open to the elements.

Pushing inside the cellar they see a room with supplies and a cistern here. Finding nothing of interest they check an adjacent room and there are three Redbrands resting here. A fight ensues and the Redbrands are defeated, but Rhys is knocked unconscious. The friends find some gold pieces on them but little else. They help Rhys regain consciousness and rest here to recover for a while.

Moving back into the cistern room, Rhys sees a rope going down into the water. Pulling on it, they find a stash in a waterproof bag with many more gold pieces, some jewels, healing potions and adventuring clothes. Rhys is so excited about the find that he falls backwards and pushes into a secret door that slides open. The friends decide to check it out.

This is a large, dank room with bridges across a crevasse. As they move through this room they start to hear strange whispers in their heads, but they fade quickly. As they cross the bridge they see a strange creature with a huge green eye behind a rock. It tells them that they should leave, they are not welcome here. Brunig says that he should not be trying to read their thoughts, and it replies that they are trespassing so it’s no different for him to trespass.

The friends start to attack the thing, Quinn hitting with his crossbow and Brunig lashing out with fireballs. Rhys strums a blast from his lute but does not have much effect. Quinn advances on the thing to strike it with his sword but it slashes him with its claws. Rhys runs to help his friend, hitting the thing with his rapier but only barely. Finally Quinn hits the thing solidly with his sword and it goes down.

Searching around the room, Quinn finds a chest underneath one of the bridges that holds a bunch of gold, more jewels, potions and an extremely nice longsword. It has a silver scabbard emblazoned with the image of a bird with outstretched wings, and has the word “Talon” on it.

+187xp, total 612xp

The friends finally head into Phandalin. As they arrive, they see forty or so simple log buildings, surrounded by old ruins with crumbling walls covered by ivy and briars, showing that this must have been a much larger town in centuries past. Far away on the east side of town they see a ruined manor house on a hill. Children are playing on the town green and townsfolk are tending to chores and running errands at shops. Many people look up as they approach but return to their business as they go by. 

Sildar suggests that they seek lodging at the local inn. Tomorrow he wants to search for signs of the missing wizard, Iarno Albrek, who is also a member of the Lord’s Alliance and disappeared two months after coming to Phandalin. Also, he thinks that someone in Phandalin may know the location of Cragmaw Castle, where the goblins may have taken Gundren Rockseeker and the map of the secret entrance to the long-lost Wave Echo Cave. Perhaps they could also figure out who the Black Spider is, the person that ordered the goblins to attack Gundren.

The friends visit Barthen’s Provisions first and meet Barthen. He pays them 10 gold apiece for returning his supplies. He also lets them know the following:

• He knew Gundren and feels sad that he was kidnapped. He hopes that the group finds him.
• There are two more Rockseeker brothers, Nundro and Tharden, and they are most likely camped outside of town. They have not been seen for ten days but should be back to the town soon to resupply. They may know more about the cave or where their brother is.
• The other supplies that they have belong to the Lionshead Coster. They would probably reward the friends for returning the supplies.
• There are ruffians in town called the Redbrands. They are stealing things and making life hard here. They are typically found at the Sleeping Giant.
• The Stonehill Inn is a good place to stay for the night and there are a lot of people in their taproom that you could talk to and get more info about the area.
• The Edermath Orchard is occupied by someone who used to be an adventurer.

The friends visit the Lionshead Coster and Linene Graywind is not sure about them at first but when Quinn says that he has her stolen goods and that goblins took them, she is very appreciative and gives them 50 gold. She says that she will help the group any way she can, and that she has some weapons and armor available. She says that the Redbrands are causing trouble here.

They head to the inn and get a room and dinner. They learn the following:

• The townmaster is looking for people to fend off the orks that are attacking people on the Triboar trail east of here.
• Sister Garele from the Shrine of Luck left town for a few days and returned wounded.
• The Redbrands murdered Thel Dendrar, a local woodcarver, and kidnapped his wife and children.

The friends decide to confront the Redbrands at the Sleeping Giant. They walk in and there are four ruffians sitting at the front. They call the friends “puppies” but Nylian calls them “fat poop heads” to which they are very angry about. They immediately get up and start attacking the friends but the battle is quick and three of them are knocked out. The fourth goes running for the east side of town. The friends check the other Redbrands for treasure before continuing on after him.

+100xp, total 425xp

Two months later, Quinn, Rhys, Nylian and Saffron start on the job they were hired for in Neverwinter by Gundren and Sildar. They take the dwarf’s supplies south on the main road and then travel east for half a day on the Triboar Trail.

At midday, they come across a grisly scene in the road. Two horses have been slain and have black-fletched arrows in them from the battle. The saddlebags have been looted and there is an empty map case nearby. The heroes recognize the horses — they belong to Gundren and Sildar!

Suddenly goblins attack from both sides, two of them with swords and two with short bows. During the battle both Quinn and Nylian are knocked down and almost die, but Rhys is able to heal Nylian and Nylian heals Quinn. The goblins are finally defeated and the group takes a bit of a rest.

Searching the area, the heroes aren’t able to find anything of value but do see a secret path that leads northeast from here. Rhys volunteers to stay behind with the oxcart while the others check it out.

Nylian is scouting for the group and stays several steps ahead. A few minutes along the path, he spies a foot trap and avoids it. A few minutes after this, he steps into a pit trap but manages to roll to the side before falling completely through.

Finally, the group comes upon the mouth of a large cave covered by brush with a small stream running into it.

+75 xp

It’s decided that the group will need Rhys for support if they want to delve into the cave, so Quinn runs back five miles and gets him, returning with him a while later, both of them huffing and puffing. The group splashes across the stream and moves toward the path at the cave mouth. Suddenly to their right they see a small blind where sentries can sit, and they find two lazy goblins. They are easily defeated and the group moves into the cave.

The cave goes on for a ways forward, but there is an opening to the right. Looking and listening carefully at the entrance, Nylian smells animals and hears the sounds of panting. He warns the rest of the group and they slowly move in. Three wolves are chained up at the entrance and begin lunging toward the group. Nylian tries unsuccessfully to calm them, but Quinn pulls out some of his trail rations and the wolves calm down, quickly eating the rations and letting the group pass.

There is nothing else here except a chimney that extends upward from the back of the room, with a bunch of trash underneath. The heroes decide to try and ascend the chimney which they all do without difficulty, even Rhys.

In the upper room, the heroes see a few goblins as well as a huge bugbear with what appears to be a pet wolf sitting around a fire. There are boxes of supplies here and other items strewn around the room. The heroes try to approach quietly, but the bugbear notices them and pulls out his sword and moves to attack. “Who dares to attack Klarg??” the bugbear roars.

Nylian and Quinn fire arrows at the beast which wound him, but he still rushes forward. Suddenly he stops as haunting music fills his head that only he can hear. Rhys has begun playing a song that is meant to drive him mad. All he can hear is “You are going to die!” After yelling in pain and holding his head, Klarg falls down, actually quite dead. The heroes are astonished and so are the other goblins, and the latter are quickly dispatched.

After taking stock of the supplies in the room and searching the creatures, the heroes realize that they’ll need to transport all of this stuff somehow. It will have to fit on the oxcart. They move to the next area.

In the next room there are a few goblins guarding two large pools of water. It looks like the water is retained here and can be released at any time to wash away invaders into the cave. Moving on, the heroes cross a bridge where another goblin is hiding.

Finally, the heroes reach a large room that is split into two sections, a lower and a higher area. They come into the lower area where six goblins are cooking something, and the higher area is only accessible by a ladder that reaches over ten feet above. They start fighting the goblins here, but on the high platform a goblin who appears to be a leader drags a human man who is quite badly beaten to the edge. “Stop fighting now, or I drop this human to the ground!” he yells. Quinn thinks for a moment but agrees and drops his sword. The goblins also notice that he has a crossbow and he drops this as well.

The goblin leader says that his name is Yeemik, and he would like the heroes to kill Klarg and bring his head to him. If they do this, he will set the human free. The man in Yeemik’s clutches tells the heroes not to go along with this, as the goblin will betray them. The heroes announce that Klarg is already dead to which Yeemik is very excited. Quinn and Saffron go back and retrieve Klarg and bring him into the room. Yeemik is even more excited and says that he will give the human over if they pay him 300 gold. Quinn pulls out some of the diamonds (three) he had gotten from a previous adventure and says that each one is 100 gold. This was a lie, however, as their value was less than half that. However, Yeemik and the others are ecstatic and take the gems, fleeing the room and leaving the heroes alone.

The heroes check the room, which has some food but not much else. They heal the human who identifies himself as Sildar Hallwinter, a member of the Lord’s Alliance. He explains that the Rockseeker brothers (Gundren, Tharden, and Nundro) recently located an entrance to the long-lost Wave Echo Cave, site of the mines of the Phandelver’s Pact, and tells them more about the history of the cave. Klarg, the bugbear who leads this goblin band, had orders to waylay Gundren. Sildar heard from the goblins that the Black Spider sent word that the dwarf was to be brought to him, but he doesn’t know who that is.

Gundren had a map showing the secret location of Wave Echo Cave, but the goblins took it when they captured him. Sildar believes that Klarg sent the map and the dwarf to the chief of the Cragmaws at a place called Cragmaw Castle. Sildar doesn’t know where that might be, but he suggests someone in Phandalin might know.

Sildar’s contact in Phandalin is a human wizard named Iarno Albrek. The wizard traveled to the town two months ago to establish order there. After the Lords’ Alliance received no word from Iarno, Sildar decided to investigate.

Sildar tells the characters that he intends to continue on to Phandalin, since it’s the nearest settlement. He offers to pay the party 50 gold to provide escort. Although he has no money on him, he says that he can secure a loan to pay the characters within a day after arriving in Phandalin.

The heroes rest up, and then go back to Klarg’s room where Yeemik and the others are. They beat up Yeemik and take back the diamonds. Then they pack up the supplies they found here (marked with a crest) as well as the other gear, and load the oxcart for Phandalin.

+275 xp, total 325 xp. Level 2.

The heroes wake up after a night healing while staying at the blacksmith’s shop, on the floor in the back room. Azolla comes into town looking for Nylian because he didn’t return the night before. The friends explain what happened and that they weren’t able to stop the bandits from attacking the town.

Azolla says that she will stay and help them, and they start formulating a plan. They will talk to the people in town and see if they will assist in fighting the bandits, and they can all drive them out with superior numbers the next day.

The friends talk to the blacksmith, Ben, and he agrees to lend out weapons from his shop, but he doesn’t have much left. He also tells them that the mayor is corrupt but the moral center of the town is actually the priest who is at the chapel down the street. He fought in a war and may be helpful to bring the other townspeople in.

Speaking with the priest, he agrees to make a speech to the town that afternoon and try to bring everyone together. He suggests recruiting townspeople in the meantime and telling them about the meeting. The farmer nearby has three strong sons who may help in the fighting.

The group spends the rest of the early part of the day talking with townspeople and getting them to agree to come to the town square in the afternoon. Most agree, including the farmer’s sons, after Azolla convinces them that after the bandits bleed the town dry, they will attack the nearby farms next. In the afternoon the priest gives a speech and tries to convince everyone to fight back and help the heroes drive them out. He offers his sword, which is old but still sharp, to one of the farmer’s sons. Most are excited to get them out of town, but about ten people just want to be left alone and head back to their homes. About fifty people total will help.

That evening, Rhys helps the owner of the tavern mix rum into the ale so the bandits get more intoxicated. They will then attack tomorrow morning when they are all passed out and drive them out of town.

The bandit attack happens as expected that evening and more things are stolen. A couple of people were wounded in the conflict but no one died. The town, including the heroes, rest up before the attack in the morning.

The heroes wake up early and lead the townspeople who have borrowed weapons and farm implements to the west side of town where the bandit camp is. They are all predictably passed out, even more so since their ale was mixed with rum. The heroes tie some of them up, but Nylian wakes two of them and they jump up to attack. Even unarmed they are still dangerous and take a few minutes to defeat.

Seeing the heroes’ success, the townspeople rally and move into the camp, beating up the bandits and sending them on the road away from town, telling them never to come back. After this they come back to town and pull the mayor from his home, sending him packing wearing only his underwear.

The heroes are able to recover over 200 gold pieces from the bandit’s tents, which they return to the people in the village. They are so thankful that they pay each hero 15 gold pieces, and say they will be welcomed back warmly if they ever return.

The heroes leave for other adventures, and Rhys writes a song to commemorate their heroics in the town. The others realize that every time he retells the story, more bandits are added or the situation becomes more dangerous. Eventually, Rhys boasts that they were fighting against orcs, and Quinn slew eight of them with one swipe from his sword.