Session 9: Escaping Neverwinter Wood
General Summary
The party had escaped with the unconscious Gundren, but they weren't out of the woods yet. In fact, they pushed further into the woods as night fell, looking to put distance between them and Cragmaw Castle. They moved unhindered for a time--until they saw torches bobbing farther off in the forest, moving back and forth but steadily towards them. The party decided to climb into the trees to set their pursuers off their scent. Soon, they saw a small band of hobgoblins pass beneath them, two of which were riding worgs, pack beasts favored by goblins. The worgs' noses were to the ground and they seemed about to notice the party--when a distracting illusion from Malcolm caused a scuffle among the search party; one of the hobgoblins' faces now resembled a beefsteak and the worgs were trying to eat it. Once they had settled down, a hobgoblin pointed off in a different direction and the search party set off. The adventurers decided to take this opportunity to get out of the trees and lose their pursuers for good.
They made it to the Triboar Trail (the same trail they had taken on the way out from Phandalin, toward Conyberry) and settled down to camp for the night. Gundren had mostly recovered from the ordeal at Cragmaw Castle and expressed his thanks to the adventurers. He was eager to get back to Phandalin and then to head for Wave Echo Cave, but then realized that he didn't have his map--it had been taken from him when he'd been captured. The adventurers assured him they knew the way to the cave, and Gundren offered, if they would help him to clear it out and get it running again, a 10% share of the mine's future profits. With that agreement in place, they turned in, sleeping either in the trees or in homemade hammocks.
During watch that night, a strange buzzing began to fall over the camp, and suddenly the whole woods seemed to be overrun with small batlike creatures--stirges! The bloodsucking pests began to attach themselves to the adventurers, who tried to fight them off with marginal success, owing to the creatures' small size and erratic patterns of flight. Eventually, the pests were driven off, although not without casualties--Marcus was still in his hammock, unconscious and white as a sheet. Divine intervention from Adelaide seemed to help, bringing color back to his face, but he was still groggy and lightheaded when he woke.
The next day, they returned to Phandalin. After meeting up with Sildar for a pint and explaining to him and Gundren that they did, in fact, kill a dragon, Sildar asked for one of the talons they had taken as something to send with his correspondence to the Lords Alliance. Gundren told Sildar of the plan to secure Wave Echo and Sildar said he would stay by Gundren's side.
The party then took care of some closing business in the town, including visiting Sister Garaele, who was just saying farewell to one of her patients (an older man who invited the party to visit his orchard on the hill above town). The elf rewarded them with some healing potions and her thanks. The party also paid a visit to Droop, who, as Sildar explained, had spent his time in the jail talking incessantly, and how the goblin evidently had aspirations to become a cook. With some persuasion they convinced the owner of the Stonehill Inn to take Droop on as an apprentice. Finally, the party visited a blacksmith to see if anything could be done with the scales and hide of the dragon they had taken. Though he didn't have the tools to do so, he said that the adventurers might be able to find a forge capable of building dragon scales into armor in a larger city. He did, however, take an interest in the scales and offered to purchase one, but the party declined.
The party retired to the Stonehill in for one more night in town, and the next morning set off with Sildar and Gundren to find the lost mine...
Report Date
13 May 2019
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
