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.