The Return to Phandalin

The small statue we found is definitely of elven origin and features a small, stylised eye engraved on its forehead. Other than that, we could not detect any further inscriptions or hints as to what mysteries it might contain. Archie managed to get a glimpse at a small golden shine surrounding the figurine through one of his myriad lenses. He noted, it might be some kind of divination spell that was imbued in the object. Nysqwen tried to hand the statue to Kyla repeating the words I phrased when handing it to her. And behold, she too saw the wheel tumbling from one door to the next, noiseless and invisible to everybody else! When Kyla tried to do the same, nothing seemed to be visible to her. Archie proposed that, given enough time, he might be able to prepare some examination to further identify what was going on with the statue. Thus, we contented ourselves with what we had discovered so far and set off towards Phandalin.
 
It was a joy to travel together without the imminent threat of a dead friend or the prospect of a castle filled to the brim with fiends waiting to send us all to the outer planes. The old ruin quickly was swallowed by the forest in our backs as we delighted in the natural sounds of life all around us and strode forwards at a quick pace. Our intention was to reach Phandalin the same day, the chance of a quiet and most importantly safe night kept us going.
On our way, Archie used every opportunity to fiddle around with his tools. A bunch of clicking noises, silent curses and sharply drawn breaths accompanied his efforts in constructing more of his intricate mechanisms and adjust a small device to the statue we now carried with us. Nysqwen observed his efforts for a short while with some interest and this soft look she always had when she watched the boy whom she seemed to view like an adopted younger brother. Quickly however, her focus was drawn away by a few birds singing some paces away or the illustrious play of light between the dense leaf roof over our heads. Why such a kind soul had to suffer the early loss of her family and the abduction of her actual brother must be a cruel play of some foul deity. If indeed the black spider knows anything about what befell her sibling, we shall punch it from him without mercy. The huge dragonborn soon fell into a conversation with Kyla about some burial ceremonies. After our common cleansing of Cragmaw Castle, and all the support the half-elven priestess knew to offer, she had grown close to all of us and I dread the day, we might part ways. Hopefully, we can convince her, to stay with us for a while. This little group of ours, our family, was enriched by her presence tremendously. A few strides ahead, Grum walked next to Gundren, occasionally supporting the fellow dwarf, and rumbling in the deep tongue of the small folk. The sight alone of seeing Grum relaxed as he had not been since we encountered the cave of Skarg and learned about Gundren’s abduction, was enough to vindicate any troubles and hardships we had encountered in the past weeks. While nothing is over until we find Tarden and Nundro and hopefully set an end to the mischiefs the black spider evokes all around, the brief period of respite is dearly welcomed and the joy I can see in my friend’s face and stride pleases my heart.
While watching our little fellowship, I could not help but smile. A small melody entered my mind just then, I grabbed my beloved lyra and played what I felt. It was a soft tune, quietly weaving around all of us as we were marching. And it felt like the world drew a breath. The tune spoke of familiarity, trust, closeness and joy. A promise, to guide us till the end. I cannot tell how it was perceived by my friends, their voices and sounds fell away until all of us were listening to what notes sprang into existence from the instrument without me really doing anything but giving in to the music. And ‘ere we knew it, it became evening and we reached Triboar Trail. Our journey continued ever on, spurred by the song although weariness was growing especially with the still recovering Gundren. Around midnight, finally the outskirts of Phandalin loomed in the darkness ahead.
 
Most of the village was asleep at this hour, yet in the Stonehill Inn there was still some light. Toblen and his wife certainly did not expect any more guests this evening as they were already cleaning but their surprise quickly turned into utter joy as they recognised us. They were quick to seat us at a table, offer us drinks and food and even began filling a bathtub upon Nysqwen’s request. Thus, we sat together for some time, telling tales of what had befallen us and enjoying the fresh food and ale. At some point Archie directed speech once again towards the topic of the small figurine and said he might have figured out a way to determine what was going on. We gathered around him as he pulled out the statue, sat it upon the table and set up the small instrument he was attuning earlier on our march. After a few seconds of silence, a soft cry indicated he found something. He explained, an Augury spell was imbued within the object, allowing for a short glimpse of the future in showing a positive, negative, or indifferent sign to the enquirer of a dualistic question. He concluded that for some ominous reason, the wheel we had seen before was a reinforcing sign to the creator of the magical object. Why this should be none of us could say. My suspicion is that the old wizard had a queer sense of humour and literally imbued a pun in his work leading from a sign for “weal” to a materialising “wheel”. Although now that I am writing this down, this also seems farfetched… However, I am curious now, as to what his sign for a bad outcome might be! But we stopped further experimenting for now as Archie explained that such objects often are bound to so called charges, making them only usable a set amount of times, either per unit of time (like once per day) or forever. And if this might help us in perhaps surviving our future adventures, no one wanted to waste such a charge with asking if there was another beer in store and seeing how the statue might react. Well, all of us except Gundren, who did just that, looked mightily pleased after his question and was rewarded by Toblen indeed entering with a fresh serving of drinks. This was already challenging the humour I suspected with the dead wizard!
Given the exhaustions of the last few days, the long march, and the long hours, soon after all of us went to bed. Thankfully, enough rooms were free for all of us, granting us the best sleep we had in what felt like eternity.
 
During the night I was plagued by dreams of deep caves, too dark to see and echoing the roaring of dragons and the clanging of weapons and armour. The scenery shifted to Anataea in the company of a dark, hooded figure with their backs turned towards me, whispering unrecognisable words and exchanging a huge bag of coins. Then the pale faces of Grum, Archie, Nysqwen and Kyla flashed before my eyes, each with expressions of pain and terror on dead faces. I woke up sheathed in sweat almost an hour before sunrise, sneaked out of my room not to awake anyone in the neighbouring chambers and went for a stroll through the sleeping city. My steps carried me towards the old ruin of Tresendar Manor, where I sat upon a tumbled wall and watched the sun slowly fight its way to sheath the town in its light and cast away the horrors of the night. Deep in thought, it took almost two hours before I was ready to walk back to the inn and get an early breakfast.
Upon my return, the two innkeepers already were preparing our meal and I guess my expression kept them from asking about my whereabouts. Grateful for their discretion I helped them with the last preparations and sat down to calm my rumbling stomach. Soon after, Grum and Gundren joined in on the breakfast, the former casting me a worried glance upon my early arrival yet I signalled him through eye contact to perhaps talk later in private. One after the other, our remaining friends appeared and soon, all of us enjoyed the morning in a merry mood. All over a sudden, a cry was voiced from the top of the stairs, followed by tumbling footsteps and Sildar emerging into the room, running towards Gundren, and nearly crushing him in his hug. The relief on the man’s face was heart-lifting and greeted by compassionate grins on all of our faces. Its for moments like these that we chose to continue our adventure. Spreading joy and brining together people, that is all a simple bard can wish for.
 
After breakfast, my friends went to the miners’ exchange to inquire for any new signs of Gundren’s brothers. I still was not keen on a reunion with Halia, thus I remained in the inn giving me some more time to think. Later, the others reported that Halia had not even been there, but they also did not hear any new rumours. Still, they managed to find a prospector who was willing to lead Barthen’s cart back to Phandalin after his soon to be ride to Neverwinter for a small pay.
Together, we set out for a visit to the Dendras to return a certain heirloom. When we came upon their home, nobody was there. An elder woman passing by could point us towards the neighbours they had found shelter with. As we knocked on the mentioned door, the young but marked face of Nars Dendra appeared in the doorframe. His eyes opening wide, he cried for his mother and hastily bade us to enter and sit with them. Mirna and her daughter prepared a few cups of ale for us, they looked not as skinny as last we saw them, but it was easy to tell they still were struggling to get back on their feet. Their lined features still bared the sorrow upon the death of Mirna’s husband and their captivity. With the late woodcarver being the sole source of income in the family, they needed to start completely anew. All we could hope for was that our gift to them would rekindle their spirits and maybe facilitate a new life. Great was the marvelling in their eyes, as we presented to them their necklace and even greater their disbelief when we told them that we wanted them to keep the piece without any exchange whatsoever. Yet, once we convinced them of our honest intentions, a new spark invigorated them. They realised how this might change their future and heaped us in gratitude, almost too much to bear. The second moment in this day, that rewarded us for everything we had done in the past. When we departed, we left behind joy and laughter, where before had been sadness and minor despair.
 
Now it was time however, to continue our own quest. Gundren was eager to leave for the mine he discovered with his brothers, believing this might be the best chance to find a sign of them. And we were sworn to help him in his search. We refilled our supplies and around noon said goodbye to Toblen and his wife and Sildar, who decided to remain in Phandalin on behalf of the Lords’ Alliance. As we left the small village behind, Archie suddenly spoke up. He expressed his deep feeling of friendship to us all and stated how devastated he would be, should anyone of us suffer an early end. I had to avert my gaze to hide the tears welling up upon this remark, fitting so well with the notions I experienced in the past days and upon my dreams of the cursed last night. Turning back, all I could say was that for this reason, it was our duty to look out for each other no matter what might stand before us. No wedge shall pry this fellowship apart.
We are resting now under a small ledge for the night. Come the morrow, we will head into Gundren’s mine. And I pray, Oh, I pray that we shall find his brothers alive.