The combat continues as the party attempt to retreat to the exit to the south, I open the door with Fiorana watching my back, whilst Silanne, Tharbin & Crom keep the bugbears at bay.

Silanne swiftly darts northwards and disappears from sight

It appears some of the party have continued to pursue the retreating bugbears. Tharbin is heard shouting over here, Silanne shouts out to Trem to cross the bridge and head up the tunnel to the north.

Crom storms off muttering “death, murder, mayhem”

Most of the party have moved up to the north & turned down the west tunnel.

Silanne's voice is heard shouting there's a Goblin at the south door.

Tharbin advances further down the tunnel & is heard shouting instructions for somebody to secure a prisoner at the north door and get them to open the south door.

Crom is heard muttering, agitated at not having anything to hit with his weapon, I urge him to come to our position.

[REDACTED BY GM]

Bluebell enters the revealed room.

Trem in the meantime interrogates the goblin to the south door and quizzes him about the whereabouts of any other bugbears.

Bluebell is heard searching the room before a loud bang-frizzling is heard from inside. I enter the room and exclaim what on earths going on here with a puzzled look.

[REDACTED BY GM]

The party are heard shouting “Bash the door, Bash the door” as Crom enters the room, I just point at the door. Crom swings his mighty axe and misses, and nearly knocks Bluebell out with the backswing.

[REDACTED BY GM] and insert a tool, a door opens, and I hear some muffled muttering as I enter the room, I just see a room with a desk some paper and notice an odd movement in the wall to the north corner & feel a slight breeze. Crom & Bluebell enter & Bluebell makes a bead to the corner I point out before disappearing through. She shouts back that it’s a narrow space.

[REDACTED BY GM]

In our minds the party hear “playtime again”. & we see an image in our minds:

Silanne's voice is heard off in the distance & the party pause for a brief moment.

Updated 22^th November to redact some of the text. The [REDACTED BY GM] sections will be revealed again at a later date.

We're also now playing a D&D campaign on Fantasy Grounds Unity. Some notes that have been taken are:

• D&D Session 1 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 2 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 3 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 4 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 5 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 6 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 7 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 8 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 9 by Sudhir Sood
• D&D Session 10 by Sudhir Sood

AI's best interpretation of Crom's fight (it's nothing like the fight but still....)

• The fight continues in all directions, Crom continues in a rage & moves back down the stairs backed up by Fiorana. Chanting is heard by the party but seems faint & fades into silence again.
• Silanne moves north, I head for a vantage point on the bridge we both observed something appear, possible supplies but I notice a light emanating from its location, I think I see something materialising from within.
• Tharbin continues his pursuit of one of the enemies but is hit by a trap with spikes, he flinches and takes a slicing blow.
• To the south light appears as Fiorana lights a lantern - illuminating much of the main cavern. Silanne moves to the object and observes its some sort of door but with light emitting from it. I join Silanne at what I think is some sort of portal as Fiorana moves up to our position. Tharbin appears a few secs later and heads to our position and Fiorana rushes past him advancing up the northwest tunnel towards the door to the south.
• Bluebell tries to stuff blueberries down Trem's face, not realising it's Crom that needs healing and heads down the tunnel towards him.
• Tharbin is heard shouting a warning saying creatures are appearing from the green portal, which confuses me as I am stood next to it. I realise there must be a second portal, whilst I peer at the portal next to me.
• The battle continues to the south, an ice explosion is heard & Croms battle cry echos down the tunnel, in the thick of the battle you can hear some of the party shouting warnings amongst the chaos erupting all around. I head back down towards the noise and cast my light to illuminate the area. The main party continues to retreat to the south whilst Crom keeps the Redbrands & bugbears at bay to our left. He is joined by Tharbin & Fiorana, who collectively whittle down their opponents before Fi is heard shouting out that Tharbin is injured, Trem casts his spell that energies Tharbin and allows him the strength to retreat slowly.
• Fi is heard shouting bugbear heading from the north. Silanne guards our exit route whilst I head out to check the entrance to ensure the door is accessible & our escape route is clear.

A map of Phandalin

Once the ambush has been dealt with, investigation of the goblin dead leads to the observation that the goblins had their teeth sharpened, some of the party suspect they may be cannibals.

Tremen, Basher and I tend to the dead, collecting the bodies and creamating the bodies. The smoke from the funneral fire will be seen some distance away, hopefully detering any other ambushers.

The party collect the right ear of each goblin in order to claim the bounty. The barbarian Basher, makes a move to cut off a goblin head to post on a spike as a warning, however it is strongly pointed out that the spread of decease will be a problem. In the mean time Silanne has scouted ahead and found a goblin path that is well used and plenty of signs of use by goblins.

The party reassemble with the cart and move further up the track aiming to hit the turning before night has covered us. Tharbin takes the reigns with Bluebell staying on the cart and myself walking along the side. Silanne scouts ahead with the rest of the party taking positions up in between. Silanne signals that they have discovered some discarded armour and is continuing further up the path, and instructs Thrabin to send Fiorana forward.

Fiorana arrives at the place marked by Silanne and checks items and location out, and indicates its safe to move up, which we do. Fiorana continues to move forawrd and follow up Silanne.

On inspection of the discarded equipment, a emblem is made out, and is recognised as the Lord Alliance emblem.

The night draws in and it is becoming difficult to see ahead, the main party have not heard back from Silanne & Fiorana for a while. We continue with the cart along the path and arrive at a suitable camp site.

Sometime later, they both arrive back at the cart and Silanne discloses that a goblin camp / guard post is up a head and looks like the owner of the armour was killed by the goblins.

The party settles into the evening, watch parties are set up.

Ist watch is Tarqual & Basher.

2nd watch is Silanne & Fiorana.

3rd watch Tharbin & Tremen.

The rest of the night passes uneventful, and we awake to the smell of a cooked breakfast.

Day 4. Once everybody has eaten and gear is packed we set off the following morning. We soon approach the town of Phandalin, which consists of about 40 log buildings, some on flag stones with some in ruins. we see children playing out on a green and the locals seem happy to see us as they smile as we pass.

We arrive at a building with a signpost outside - Barfin supplies, which we pull the cart upto and announce our arrivial. Tremen ventures in to talk to the owner and assures the owner that everything is secure and safe. The woman informs Tremen to pull the cart up around the back where their is a stable. We eventually get paid our 10 gold pieces.

The women owner pops her head back out of the building, with a tabard on her arm and asks Tremen where we got it, as she informs us that it belongs to Silard the proctector of the dwarf. Silanne informs her that it was a few miles back and neither of them will be returning.

While Silanne and Tremen go to the Townmaster's Hall to report, Basher heads of to Stonehill Inn to secure some rooms if available, Tharbin head to the smithy, Fiorana to the sleeping gaint, myself to the miners trail.

• The party proceed to the broken boundary wall and spot a path that heads off towards the woods.
• Silanne takes the lead and examine the paths and observe several tracks, then heads to the isolated tree and then skirts to the south of the woods, before heading north into the woods. The path is well hidden under the canopy of the trees, Silane continues quietly up the path which emerges at a rock wall. Silanne points to the wall and signals Fiorana to come up and examine it. A hidden door is discovered that Fiorana proceeds to open.

The faint path around the woods

The party order

• The door opens into a tunnel that is just about wide enough for 2 persons, Fiorana takes lead followed by Crom, Silanne & Bluebell, Tarqual, Trem & lastly Tharbin. The tunnel continues north leading to and opens up into a cavern. Fiorana whispers to the group I'm hearing an ominous voice in my head, anybody else hear it?
• The Tunnel eventually opens up into a cavern & Crom takes lead preparing for what ever lays ahead, Crom moves forward and steps up to a bridge, as he does so the bridge emits a loud cracking sound and collapses underneath him. He tumbles down.

The map as initially seen by Tarqual

The map as seen by Tarqual after the initial moves

• Fiorana heads east along a path then disappears down stairs out of sight, A expression of concern that turns into a look of worry comes over Tarqual. He whispers something to Bluebell
• I heard the words i like it when i can play with me food which I mention to Bluebell. I then hear the words you’re not like the redbrands are you? you seem too know what you are doing

The map as seen by Tarqual after moving deeper into the caves

• Fiorana disappears I hear the sound of a door being open, and all hell breaks open, Drunken voices and Crom screaming down the corridor to the east can be heard
• There are sounds of shouting and whispers all round, and the party proceeds to disperse and target at range. Silanne hasn’t been seen since disappearing down the right hand tunnel near where we entered the cavern.
• Fiorana & Crom attack the band to the east down the stairs, whilst Tharbin myself & bluebell target the creature to the North

The map as seen by Tarqual at the end of the session

Some debate about the plan¹ to burn down The Sleeping Giant inn is pursued and the party takes note of Silanne's wise guidance of being cautious, until we have more information. The talk is upsetting to hear from the party, any innocent life lost is not something that I could align myself to. I am relieved the party have seen sense.

The party assembles for breakfast next morning, Tremen receives a person who pulls up with the cart outside the inn, it appears to be loaded with some provisions. Tharbin eyes the keg of ale on the cart and ensures it is secured for the trip, some raised eyebrows from the party are ignored by Tharbin.

After a short time preparing, the party head back down to the trail before heading up the path to the north.

Some time later we spot Silanne who signals to us, Tremen directs the cart to a spot on level ground. Silanne then heads off to scout further up the path as we make camp, waiting for information before proceeding into possible danger.

Fiorana cautiously examines a body on the path

The cave entrance (or, at least, one intepretation of it)

Silanne appears a short time later and signals the party to proceed in formation, and follow him. Fiorana examines a body on the path wearing a red cloak. The wounds don't appear normal, poison is ruled out, magic is suspected by Fiorana. The party than continues down the path in formation. An hour later Silanne pauses and examines the ground, then is seen advancing more cautiously, we assume some tracks have been spotted. The party eventually arrive at a stream that is exiting a cave. Silanne lets loose with a bolt towards the right bank of the river, we hear a roar, the rest of the party move up the river to cross to the other bank, quickly some goblins are engaged & dispatched. Tharbin, Silanne & Fiorana enter the cave, some wolves snarling are heard somewhere inside. Silanne moves ahead towards the wolves, a short moment later some whimpering is heard and the snarling dissipates.

Tharbin proceeds further into the cave and takes a turn to the left - a possible fork up ahead on the path, I proceed up to the right and spot a goblin patrolling a bridge fording the stream.

A view of Alderleaf farm

• Summary of last session: A discussion takes place about dealing with the Redbrams. Tremen is reluctant to confront the Redbrams, without any further evidence of wrongdoing, and then proceeds to talk to the town clerk to see what his position is on the goings on of the Redbrams & the sleeping giant.
• Monkeys name Fortenbrass. Dwarf Grundrem who gave us the initial quest is Fortenbrass friend.
• Tremen goes to the town hall and gives a report to Town Clerk with Sildar present, whom confirms details of Tremen report.
• Sildar confirms presence of the Redrams presence in the caves, & the town clerk mentions concerns arts of extortion and strange disappearance of a family that lived opposite the sleeping giant. The discussion continues with the town clerk not committing to an exact amount of payment or precisely what he wants us to do. Eventually Tremen agrees to investigate the missing family.
• Silanne investigates the pathway that they observed last night whilst monitoring the goings on from the Sleeping Giant.
• Tremen heads off to the building that the missing family were residing in, on arrival he observes the building looks like it has been ransacked, and notice the mouldy food looks like a couple days. On exiting the building Tremen notices some scuff marks on the door and appears it tracks out towards the sleeping giant.
• Fiorana brings back some apples from the orchard.
• Bluebell & Tarqual head of to the Smithy and have a general pleasant chat and discover he is Sildar’s son. Eventually the party reassemble and Tremen briefs us on the party. We decide to collectively head off to the sleeping Giant and investigate.
• Tremen & Silanne approach the front door first, Tremen casts a check evil & good before casting detect magic. Tremen approaches the door and observe its ajar so pushes open. He did sense the presence of magic.
Cromagon casts danger sense and seems unworried
• Fiorana sneaks into the back upstairs and is surprised by another halfling jumping out of a box, who mentions he lives at Alderfarm, & often sneaks in to play with his friend Narse who lives across the road.
• Tremen enters the room and it appears empty, Bluebell heads to the bar and seeks out a drink, with their familiar in tow (an otter). After a quick survey notices the door at the ear and heads towards it, with some of the party following behind. The door leads to some stairs that lead down to a storeroom.
• Silanne notices a chute that most leads to the outside, and further exploration starts to examine a barrel
• Silanne shouts out for Fi to get downstairs sometime during the search of the building.
• Tarqual finds 2 scraps of red cloth that appear to be part of ropes tucked away behind the bar.
• Cromagon heads off to talk to the locals to inquire last time any of the Redrams were seen.
• Trem & Bluebell head off to the house, Trem is a little surprised by the transformation of bluebell into a wolf as they enter the house.
• Tharbin appears at the door at the back of the room and beckons us towards him and we head down the stairs, Silanne asks where Bluebell & Tremen are; & I mention that I overheard them saying they were heading back to the home of the missing family. He proceeds to dash upstairs out of the building, and a loud whistle is heard a short time later.
• Eventually everybody is assembled in the cellar/storeroom and caught up on the party’s exploration.
• I offer the scarps of the red cloth for examination and Tremen suggests passing them onto Bluebell who appears in wolf form. Eventually we decide on proceeding through the hidden door down into the tunnel. The tunnel just about holds 2 abreast but it would be difficult to swing a 2 handed weapon. The party descends with Bluebell in wolf form at the forefront with Silanne behind. The party eventually climbs out of the tunnel and emerge at the broken wall to the North of Alderleaf farm and to the west of the wooded area. Silanne reminds us of their observations of the movement of people from last night.

Fortenbrass

• After Klark is killed, the party investigates the various crates which contain food & weapons. Tremen begins moving the supplies to our cart outside.
• I tend to the monkey who seems excited and willingly takes food from me. I than open the cage to allow it its freedom, as soon as I open the gage it bounces onto my shoulder before heading off behind a carte on the far side. I follow and discover it digging and recovering a fez which it proceeds to put on its head.
• Silanne tends to the Wolves and starts organising the release of the pack outside in the woods. Silanne senses something that aligns to appreciation / thanks, as the wolves cautiously.
• A discussion takes place about what to do about the dam and it is decided that it should be destroyed, so a plan is agreed upon using rope tied to the key wedges which we will pull once we have safely exited the cave. Tremen checks that the cart is on high ground the likely direction of flow of the released water from the dam.
• Bluebell attempts to communicate and befriend the monkey and find out any information about previous owner or where he came from. The monkey informs Bluebell his name is Fortenbrass.
• Dwarf Grundrem who gave us the initial quest is Fortenbrass friend.
• The Party then sets off back to the village & returns the supplies to the town general store, the villagers cheer the party on our return appreciating the return of their supplies. Tremen attends to the administration tasks and chasing payment from the town clerk for completion of tasks. He also confirms free room & board plus meals at the inn, which the party are great full.
• Silanne after resting informs the party they will be discreetly watching the Sleeping Giant and heads off. Everything seems quiet, people come and go during the evening. Later, Silanne explores the trail & walls to the right taken by some of the exiting patrons from the Sleeping giant, & notices the trail appears to get busier later in the evening.
• The following morning around 6 the party starts to assemble & take breakfast as it is served, Cromagon takes a stroll in the town after breakfast.
• Sildar (rescued from the dungeon) joins the party at the tavern and coveys his thanks for his rescue. He mentions to Tremen a map of the mine that Grundem & his brother had discovered, and it was the map the goblins were after. Sildar mentions the Redbrams & perhaps they are involved in stealing the map.
• Tremen notices that Silanne isn’t around and suggest it might be an idea to gather the party, so myself & Crom take a stroll, doing a loop but nothing is observed about Silanne’s whereabouts. Bluebell joins myself & Crom as we do loop to the south, but again we see no signs of Silanne.
• Silanne eventually turns up at the inn a bit later, and a discussion takes place about dealing with the Redbrams. Silanne relays their last night observations. Tremen is reluctant to confront the Redbrams, without any further evidence, and then proceeds to talk to the town clerk to see what his position is on the goings on of the Redbrams & the sleeping giant.

The only image where the AI was persuaded to show two oxen. As for the composition of the team, the AI seemed determined to show what the goblins were hoping for (despite the goblins not being mentioned in the image prompt!)

Day 1. The party has assembled in Neverwinter, where we meet a Dwarf wishing to hire us to escort a cart of provisions to Phandain, 2 days travel to the south. there are rumours that the dwarf & his brothers have discovered something.

Day 2. The dwarf and his protector leave in advance of our party the following morning, our ranger keeps a curious eye on them, we set off the a few hours later with the party split with some riding on the cart and others walking. The party is a mix of characters. Silanne an elf ranger, Tharbin a curious dwarf, Tremen the tremulous, Bluebell Maples a druid, Basher & Fiorana Naskill. The day goes uneventfully and we arrive at the camp site chosen by Silanne.

Day 3. The evening watches were uneventful, we wake to a wonderous day, hunters of the party have returned with ample food to fill our bellies. As we begin our journey our ranger takes the lead and heads off to scout ahead. A few hours later some of the party take leave of themselves to head off towards the position of Silanne, we bring the cart to a stop. Up head the advance party have spotted a Goblin ambush and proceed to disperse into the surrounds to seek out the raiding party & dispatch them as fast as they can.

The party proceeds further into the cave I take the left turning as it is dimly lit, the cave system seems to have numerous twists, turns & back tracks as we continue to explore deeper.

Silanne with the wolves

I see Tharbin & Bluebell up ahead. Silanne continues to look after the wolves we found and helps to calm and feed them whilst slackening off their chains to make it easier for them to move around and reach the food and to lie down, meanwhile Bluebell joins us and casts Longstrider on Tremen, As Tharbin approaches a largish cavern he crouches to have a peek around the corner, and finds he is close to a Goblin to the west but the east appears to be clear, Cromagon shoots at the goblin standing on the bridge spotted by Tarqual earlier, dropping it. Tremen then moves into the western passage that Tharbin took but is immediately shooed away as he is carrying a lantern fouling up Tharbin's Dark Vision. We all hear the wolves that Silanne is with, calling out and get several responses from deeper into the cave, but she is making friends with them and keeping them relatively calm. I for the time being hold position just in case something attempts to sneak up on us. Bluebell moves into the cave system to back us up and heads into the western passage to help Tharbin, but before she does this she casts Goodberries and hands them out with instructions on how to use them. Silanne them signals Fiorana to pass on a message to whole team to Please not kill any wolves you encounter. Fiorana reminds me that the Wolves we encountered at the entrance are part of a bigger pack and are friendly to our needs.

Tremen moves further into the caves to the east passed the prone goblin on the bridge which has been bitten by another wolf that has appeared ahead of us and I move up to the rest of the group heading east. Silanne leaves more food for the wolves and rejoins the team in searching the caves. As we proceed further we encounter more goblins and begin to attack successfully taking most of them down in various ways and we also find that wolves are helping us. Bluebell moves in near Tharbin and casts Ice Knife and kills one Goblin and damages another. Tharbin also kills a Goblin and relays to those that can hear him that he has found a possible human prisoner and seven potential enemies, two of whom are now down, there is also a passageway possibly leading east to the bridge.

The begining of the negotiation

Fiorana manages to find a Goblin to target but struggles to take it down. As the fights continue, a wolf charges past Tharbin and almost bites the head of the next Goblin killing it. Crom is heard off in the distance, as Fiorana is heard shouting for assistance. As the clash and clangs of combat are heard, Tharbin narrowly misses getting hit. A large Goblin finally takes a hold of the human and demands that Tharbin stops fighting or he will kill the human, Tharbin is reluctant but the Goblin say Kill Klarg, let us go, we let him go pointing to the human. We stay here till job done, Tharbin agrees so they let the human go but Tharbin demands that he be fed, cleaned up and healed before we return, the Goblin agrees. So the four of them (Tharbin, Bluebell, Silanne and Tarqual) all back out of the room. I move up to the northeast tunnel and come up against a makeshift dam with water trickling out. I notice some wooden wedges placed in the dam, clearly key to holding the dam in place. Crom is head shouting some profanities at Klark. The rest of the party cross the bridge to join the up with those who encountered Klarg and his crew of Goblins, Cromagon took a bad hit from Klarg almost killing him but he made a last ditch effort and succeds with a killing blow, the rest of the Goblins drop their weapons and run away. Crom is heard shouting a warning Is there anybody who wants to be introduced to Skull Splitter, as he dispatches another goblin with his great axe. After the this the party reassembles & Trem tends to Crom's wounds.

Silanne tends to the wolf who came to our aid & takes the rest of the wolves back to the main area with the restrained wolves, and we find a lot of equipment everywhere and a small cage with a monkey in it.