The Eluding Spider

Finally. The deed is done. The black spider caught, its minions slain and all of us survived. In the furthest room of the dark caverns within the wave echo cave, we won a triumphant battle and after what felt like eternity had some time to tend to our wounds. The drow was a crumpled heap after it fell from the ceiling, for the moment only clinging to live due to Kyla’s magical prowess. But he owed us answers, concerning both his intentions and Nysqwen’s brother.
On his body, we found an anvil shaped key. The only other thing of value seemed to be the black, adamantine staff topped with an equally black spider he wielded in battle. In one of the corners of the room, some parchments were piled up. Yet we could derive nothing from it but two names: U’hid Nasad and Maglust. Who or what these were, we could not determine. While we were still looking around in the chamber for anything useful, three further gricks appeared yet were fended off easily. After our endless journey through the cave and this final battle, nothing will stop us that easily! Every one of us has grown substantially in power. What is more important however, is the bond that has formed within our companionship. A bond seemingly unbreakable, forged by the unspoken promise to stand for each other, even through the darkest times.
Still searching for Gundren’s younger brother, we could unlock the door to the northeast of the chamber in which we fought the black spider with the key he possessed. And lo’ and behold! On the far side of this room indeed a maltreated dwarf cowered. Gundren rushed forward while we were still carefully examining the dark for any hidden traps and uttered a cry of relief and pain in seeing his brother alive yet in such a dire condition. After a quick magically imbued healing of his gravest wounds, he regained consciousness and the hug, with which he greeted his brother said more then a thousand words of what he felt in this very moment. Nundro told us, he had last seen Tarden as he faced a group of bugbears while commanding Nundro to run for safety. Thus we had to deliver to him the news of his fallen brother. Yet I promised to myself, I will encapture the valour of the dwarf who gave his life for his brother in a ballad that is worthy of Rattlepike’s old lyra.
 
It took some convincing to keep the two brothers from ripping the spider’s black heart from its chest right then and there, but we still were searching for our answers. Kyla slapped the man awake with Nysqwen pressing her blade against his throat. He negated the question if he knew her brother Urodaar and seemed to swerve around her questions, dodging any answers that might set us on a trail after her lost kin. Later, Kyla mentioned she could feel that the spider was not bluntly lying but withholding parts of the truth. We asked him, whether he worked alone or had accomplices. To that he replied that someone named Imraloth had introduced him to Maglust (“the one who is alone”). This figure, he had last seen in U’hrid Nasad. Yet this was all we could drag from his mind. He proclaimed he was searching for the forgotten forge to gain the necessary influence and power to rule as many as possible, using goblins to do his dirty work. Finally, much to our surprise, he offered to tell us about what he dreaded to find within the mine if we in turn would turn him in to the Lords’ Alliance rather than kill him. Within the depths some powerful undead were lurking and he might be able to tell us what we need to know to face these creatures.
This frankly took the wind out of our sails and we came to the conclusion that it might be worth delivering him to justice and listen to what he had to say even though we were aware of his possible deceits. But this cave was not the place to negotiate such things and thus Gundren was awarded with the pleasure of sending the spider back into the realm of dreams with a hearty punch.
 
‘Ere any thought could be spent towards further exploration of the wave echo cave to help providing the Stoneseeker brothers grasping a hold of their mine, all of us required some relief from the constant fighting. And Nundro was in no condition to delve deeper into the cave. Thus, we made our way back towards daylight and, ultimately, Phandalin. Kyla kindly offered to set up a proper burial for Tarden once back in safety. Burdened with the dead, the prisoner, a heavily wounded and exhausted Nundro and our resources mostly exhausted, we marched the whole day until late in the afternoon we could see the the first buildings of the village appearing between the trees. We were greeted heartily by Toblen and his wife as we entered the Stonehill Inn once more. After a short reciting of our tale and an inquiry towards Sildar’s current whereabouts, we set out to find him at Harbin’s.
When we entered the townmaster’s office, we came right in the middle of an argument between the two men about whether any of the citizens might have been capable to aid Glasstaff in his ventures. Telling what had befallen us since our departure changed their expressions from anger over to awe and in Harbin’s case into something possibly resembling fear as the conversation came upon the topic of imprisoning the black spider in his cells. However, after some initial hesitation, he agreed to keep the man so long until he was delivered to the Lords’ Alliance. This evening we had new stories to tell and songs to sing, as once more laughter filled Toblen’s inn.
 
After finishing our breakfast the next morning, we went to further question the black spider in his cell. Kyla was brimming with excitement; she had spent the night in conversation with the Raven Queen and had come up with a variety of spells of which she was convinced that they would draw all secrets from the captive. As we entered the townhall, Harbin was nowhere to be seen so we went directly for the cells where Sildar had kept watch throughout the night. Alas, as we came in sight of the holding cell, a horrible picture of a man lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor before an open cell was painted in front of us. Sildar was at least gravely wounded and the spider vanished! We rushed to Sildar, finding a puncture wound from a dirk in his torso. Yet he was still alive. Kyla, trembling in rage, tended to his wounds while I made sure that no dirt was enclosed in the open flesh.
As he regained consciousness, Sildar told us he had held a monologue to the prisoner in the last night about his flaws and already had sent word to Neverwinter, as a sharp pain in his back pushed him into darkness. Archie made sure that no trace of anything magical was in the air our around the cell. Suddenly, Grum slowly turned to us and contemplated he might make use of the superior senses of the wolf in order to catch a trace of whoever might have helped the spider escape. Veering into a by now familiar shape, he sniffed around for a few minutes, before he quickly went towards the exit. Later he explained that a peculiar perfume was hanging heavy in the air and a sharp, numbing odour was emerging from the pool of blood. By following the found trail, Grum lead us to the Miners’ Exchange.
After her revelation of belonging to the dubious Zentharim, Halia Thornton of course was not to be underestimated. Yet to possibly work together with the black spider was nothing, any one of us would have suspected. And maybe this initial assumption was to be proven wrong and it was in fact one of her acquaintances who was the culprit. Whatever might be the case, we felt it our duty to further investigate what was going on, even more so after what happened to Sildar. Thus we entered the Exchange and asked the man at the reception, a prospector named Fodl, where we might find Halia. He responded, she had not been in yet and might still be at her home. However, she would not like to be bothered there. Without seeing anything else suspicious in the room, we excused ourselves and made for the home of the head of the Exchange.
 
While we were approaching the house, Grum noticed the scent he followed so far becoming weaker. We decided to split up, to have Kyla and me checking up on the house, while the others were keeping an eye on the Miners’ Exchange to intercept if Halia should show up there.
Much to our surprise, the door was unlocked. It was dead silence in the house. We snuck inside, quickly checking for any sign of the presence of another person. When we were sure that we were alone, we made for an inspection of the house. The books we found all were of some fairy tales and other fictitious stories, some business documents from the Miners’ Exchange and letters from friends in Neverwinter and Waterdeep. Yet nothing that would give any evidence as to Halia being up to no good. In a chest at the bottom of her bed, besides a bunch of clothes we found some glass splinters at the very bottom but with no clue, where they might originate from. After checking every wall and the floor for secret compartments, we made our way up into the attic. Most of the boxes here contained supplies. However, there was a broad assortment of different wardrobes, far more than were to be expected even with a lady of such status as Halia’s. In fact, these clothes would make perfect disguises for any number of nefarious affairs. Maybe we already were viewing this through a tinted lens, but our suspicion of Halia being the accomplice in the spider’s escape thickened by the minute.
An extremely carful observation of our surroundings revealed a small hidden cavity in one of the walls. In front of it were some markings on the ground, as by a sharp metallic object being dragged over the wooden floor. Within the cavity, we found a small vial, filled with a green liquid. As we headed back to our friends with our prize, Archie quickly identified the liquid to be a very potent poison, capable of stunning a grown man for multiple hours. Grum recognised its smell as the same sharp odour he previously had smelled in the pool of blood in which we found Sildar. This finally seemed to be the incriminating link to tie Halia to the escape.
 
Our friends had seen no sign of our suspect entering or leaving the building. We decided to leave Grum and Kyla with the task of continuing the surveillance, while Nysqwen would inform Sildar of our findings and Archie and I would meet sister Garaele to inform her, and by extension the Harpers, of what we had encountered in the mine. Afterwards the three of us together wanted to seek out Harbin to inform him of our investigation.
We found Garaele deep in prayer and waited respectfully for her to finish. Once she was done, she greeted us with a warm smile and listened to our tale. She seemed to display a special interest in the small figurine with the imbued augury spell. We promised to show it to her on our next visit. I also showed her the ring I had found in the mine with the engraved initials SN. She traced the pattern on a piece of paper and promised to make some inquiries as to what its story might be. Finally, she too bade us driving out whatever evil was still lurking within the depths of the wave echo cave, in the name of our faction.
When we met Nysqwen again, she told us Sildar did not seem surprised to learn that Halia might be involved in this affair, he suspected her nefarious affairs for some time now. Together then, we approached Harbin’s home. Upon our knocking, the door was carefully opened just a slit and a well-known face peered out. We told him what we had encountered in the past few hours. His shock when hearing of the stabbing of Sildar and the spider’s escape seemed genuine, although for the briefest of moments something that might have been disappointment glittered in his eyes as we assured that Sildar was still alive. But that probably was just a product of their continuous fighting with one another. He said, he had not been to his office yet, as he was working from home on affairs of his main profession as a banker. Halia, he had mostly only met as a witness in minor disputes between prospectors. He disclosed to us that she had left town yesterday on her way to Neverwinter. With everything we had learned so far, this took us by surprise, especially as her employee did not seem to know anything in this matter. To continue with our investigation, we asked him, if it would be possible for him to issue a search warrant in our name, so that we might take a closer look at the Miner’s Exchange. Although I expected otherwise, he complied and said he wanted to join us in this matter.
 
All four of us went back to the Exchange, were Kyla and Grum were eagerly waiting. Approaching Fodl at his desk, we demanded access to the private chamber, Halia and I had our first discussion in, and to the cellar that could be entered from there. With Harbin’s authority at our side, the man could no longer deny us. He however seemed to honestly not know that his employer had gone on a trip out of town, something that apparently happens with some frequency. He knew of a delivery that embarked for Neverwinter yet did not recall that Halia wanted to join the convoy.
In the small chamber that served as a private conference room, we could find nothing noteworthy. No stashes, no irregularities, nothing. Somewhat disappointed, we went down the stairs into the basement, a single room with a low ceiling and dozens of boxes, baskets and sacks. This is the storage room for the Exchange, where everything was filled to the brim with common and rare minerals, metals and other mining products. Our manual search revealed nothing out of the ordinary, although Grum had detected the scent he was following before in greater intensity in the conference room. Once more, Archie adjusted an assortment of lenses to look out for any traces of magic. And indeed, after a few minutes of preparations he cried out in surprise and pointed towards a crate filled with chunks of coal. He started digging through the black bricks until he triumphantly pulled out the remains of a broken glass vial with small drops of a purple liquid still clinging to it. The vial resembled the one we found in Halia’s home an awful lot and Archie quickly identified it as a potion of invisibility!
What is going on here? What is Halia up to? Are these potions in some way also tied to Glasstaff? The day brought so many riddles and every answer we find opens up four new questions. We have to re-evaluate what we have learned so far. There is a missing fragment somewhere yet as of now, we cannot pinpoint what that might be…