7. Wave Echo Cave

Having rescued Gundren from captivity in Cragmaw Castle, Azan Antar, Iron Bars, Skinnej-Yorel, and Zanrith Lucaryn journeyed back through the forest to Phandalin to stock up on rations and gear. Upon their return, they noticed that some changes that had taken place around town: many of the buildings were adorned with red banners bearing an unfamiliar sigil. They stopped by the Lionshield Coster to purchase goods and speak with Linene Graywind. The shopkeep apprised the four adventurers of a couple of things: Sildar Hallwinter had left for Bordertown with Iarno Albrek, determined to bring the fallen wizard against a tribunal of the Lords' Alliance in pursuit of justice; not a full day after Sildar's departure, Harbin Wester had "fallen" down a flight of stairs in the Townmaster's Hall and broken his neck; an emergency election was held the following afternoon, organized and won by Halia Thornton of the Miners' Exchange.
As the adventurers turned again toward Barthen's Provisions and the town gates, they found a larger number of town guard patrolling the streets than they were used to seeing. Some of the guards looked familiar - a bit like the unkempt ruffians from the Sleeping Giant Tap House, but clean and well outfitted. The party left Phandalin with Gundren in tow, intent on finding Wave Echo Cave and the treasure within. It was nearly a three days' journey west through Phandal Forest. In the thick of the dense forest, the adventurers were attacked by gaunt and hungry ghouls, a portent of the creatures they were soon to find within the mine. Gradually, the thick deciduousness gave way to tall and sparse conifers, the packed soil and clay to loose sand and silt. Only a couple miles ahead lay the east coast of one of the region's four great lakes: Lake Phandal. With the craggy peak of Wyvern Tor towering in the distance, Gundren led them skillfully to the long lost entrance of the secret cave and the party descended into the darkness.
The first thing the party noticed beyond the thick darkness was the periodic booming echoes that thundered throughout the cavernous grotto. It grew louder as they descended further into the cave. The first natural cavern was littered with the dry skeletons of dwarves, goblins, orcs, and other creatures: a great battle had taken place here long ago. On the far end of the room lay a fresher corpse: one Tharden Rockseeker, Gundren's brother. The dwarf was visibly upset to find his brother slain. In the end, it strengthened his resolve to delve deeper into the mine. Azan Antar took a magical pair of boots off the deceased dwarf finding himself lighter and quicker on his feet once he donned them. The party continued into a tunnel that emptied out into a tall and long hallway of flagstone. Iron Bars ran ahead, as he is wont to do, and awoke a family of roosting stirges. The bat-like creatures shrieked and followed the monk back to the rest of the party who made short work of leathery-winged vermin. In the process, a couple of the odd things managed to attach themselves to Skinnej and Iron Bars, sucking the adventurers' blood through their great proboscises.
The next several hours were spent slaying ghouls and the like. As the party passed through a labyrinth of hallways, they piqued the curiosity of a gelatinous cube which managed to ensnare Zanrith and Gundren as they led up the rear. The rest of the party did not notice the absence of the previous two until after they had engaged with another eight or so ravenous ghouls. Zanrith, wiggling back and forth, managed to push his head and left arm out of the yellow jelly, quickly and frustratedly uttering a series of dissonant whispers targeted against the ocher creature. The psychic spell penetrated whatever semblance of a mind the slithering ooze possessed, knocking it violently against the far side of the hallway. The sudden acceleration left Zanrith behind and with a squelching sound, the half-elf bard fell prone on the ground. By the time Iron Bars made it back to the missing members of the party, Zanrith had mostly taken care of the dripping mess of slime. With Zanrith and Gundren safe and free, the party continued onward.
Hoping to cover more ground quickly, the party decided to split. Skinnej, Zanrith, and Gundren explored a south-north passage, following the sound of running water. Azan Antar and Iron Bars continued east, deeper into the cave. The former three found a dark and glassy pool of water. Zanrith, sensing magic, ventured into the subterranean glade and found the algae-ridden bones of long-dead wizard. It's bony fingers were adorned with platinum rings and clutched a dark wand of some sort. The bard took all of it and returned the surface. During the interim, Skinnej continued onward, following a stairwell that turned east. Coincidentally, Azan and Iron Bars followed a hallway that led west and ended at a threshold of broad wooden doors. The elf and dwarf decided to knock on the door. "Oy! Who's there?" boomed a gruff voice. Azan, with a quick wit, invented a ruse. "It's me: Glurp!" "I don't know no Glurp," the voice called back. Eventually, the attention of the bugbears in the barracks was claimed by a well-timed intrusion on the other side of room: a half-orc barbarian brandishing a shining longsword. Iron Bars and Azan Antar used the distraction to move into the room and take up flanking positions in advance of the ensuing skirmish. The adventurers were bruised and battered by the band of hulking bugbears, but they triumphed and celebrated with a respite.
After their rest, the party once again decided to split up. Zanrith and Iron Bars elected to follow the course of a stream that flowed out of the glassy dark pool, while Azan Antar, Skinnej-Yorel, and Gundren Rockseeker pressed deeper into the complex. The latter three adventurers came upon a wide room with a tall ceiling and a deep channel cut into the cavern floor. The room housed a great furnace, many centuries cold, and piles of coal and unrefined ore. Wondering if this, at long last, could be the famed Forge of Spells, Gundren placed his hands against the cold stone. In so doing, the dwarf awoke a horror within: an engorged, disembodied skull wreathed in flame. It flew out of the mouth of the furnace, cackling as it levitated high into the chamber. Skinnej and Azan wasted not a moment before engaging the animated bones. Skinnej struck first and was engulfed in immolating flames for his trouble. Aware of the heavy damage the half-orc had suddenly sustained, Azan the defender challenged the monster, drawing its attention. A fireball erupted from the skull's gaping maw and bathed the paladin in flame. The dwarf gathered his resolve and ran at the fleshless dome, striking hard and true. With one final burst of flame, the skull splintered and disintegrated to ash. The forge grew cold once again.
Meanwhile, Zanrith and Iron Bars waded through a dark tunnel following the growing sound of rushing water. Rounding a bend, their eyes were met with the curious sight of a large waterfall, three bugbears picking and digging through a pile of rock and rubble, and a drow elf barking orders from the landing above them. The two most dexterous members of the party devised a scheme wherein Zanrith would scale the wet, slippery rock, shrouded by the mist of the pounding water, while Iron Bars krept closer to the bugbears. After reaching the top, Zanrith wormed a dissonant whisper into the mind of the unsuspecting drow. The psychic assault knocked the dark elf off the escarpment and he tumbled down the cliff wall landing face to face with a waiting monk. Iron Bars let loose blow after blow against the drow and three bugbears. They didn't know what hit them. At the same time, Zanrith conjured a cloud of putrid, noxious gas, commanding it to envelop the bugbears.
Gundren walked further into the cave, something drawing him inexorably into the next cavern. Azan followed and the two dwarves found a glittering cave with great veins of electrum running along the walls, ceiling, and floor. A small stone workshop sat on the far end. Azan, never one to leave a door unopened, moved into the structure without a second thought. He found three things of note: a worktable with gleaming weapons and armor, a gilded brazier of green, soft flame, and a hideous floating spherical creature with large teeth, a long, lolling tongue, one massive eye, and four wiggling eye stalks - a spectator and the guardian of the Forge of Spells. The creature rumbled in some ancient language before one of its four eye stalks bathed Azan in a purple glow. The dwarf fell to the ground paralyzed.
Skinnej abandoned Azan and Gundren, dropping down into the channel that had been long ago cut into the cavern floor. He followed it out onto a landing overlooking a waterfall - the same waterfall beside which Iron Bars and Zanrith were fighting viciously. The half-orc drew his crossbow and let loose a couple of bolts. Unsatisfied with his accuracy, he slung his crossbow, drew Talon, and leapt from the landing. He fell twenty-five feet, landing upon, and subsequently killing, one of the bugbear adversaries. The impact should have reduced him to unconsciousness, but the orc part of his binary identity took over, sustaining him despite his massive injuries.
Azan's paralysis didn't last long. His constitution served him well and he arose, Hew in hand, to face the monstrosity. Gundren offered little help, but the paladin didn't need it. He swung several times at the floating creature, cutting deeper with each hack. The spectator attempted to fight back, but the dwarf's blows were simply too strong and too swift. Azan slew the malignant creature, driving a deep cleft into it's gaping mouth.
In turn, Zanrith, Iron Bars, and Skinnej finished off the drow and three bugbears. The drow, perhaps predictably, transformed into a blue, featureless, and androgynous humanoid upon its death. Iron Bars quickly ascended the escarpment on the far side to check back on Azan. Zanrith remained on the landing above the waterfall and began to explore the northwest corner of the mine. Skinnej noticed a glittering bit of metal in the rubble beside the fall. He dug around until he found a pair of large, metal gauntlets etched with a roaring ogre. He put them on and found new strength surge through his arms.
The dextrous monk reached Azan and Gundren swiftly. The two adventurers examined the armor and weapons in the room finding an expertly crafted rapier with a coal-black blade as well as a gilded breastplate inscribed "Dragonscale." Azan tossed a spear to his fellow dwarf and said, "maybe you can use this and help next time around." Gundren bathed the spear in the green flame of the mystical brazier. When he withdrew the weapon, its haft was cool to the touch, and it's spearhead imbued with magical power. Gundren concluded that this brazier of green flame was indeed the legendary Forge of Spells, but that its power must have waned over the many centuries of disuse. The three set back down the channel toward Zanrith and Skinnej, but not before Iron Bars compelled Gundren to pick up and wear the oozing corpse of the Spectator like a costume.
The next few moments were a comedy of errors not befitting a group of seasoned adventurers like our own. Glossing over the embarrassing details, the party eventually managed to scope out the northwesternmost room, a temple of some kind and the base of operations for the Black Spider himself, find and liberate Gundren's last surviving brother, Nundro Rockseeker, and take a brief respite to dress some of their most severe wounds. During the respite, Zanrith was apart from the group. The half-elf had decided to explore a stream that ran deeper underground. It had a strong magical signature which interested the bard and he submerged, swimming down the dark hole. Zanrith dove deeper and deeper down the waterhole before he saw a shimmering light. It was in the shape of an orb and illuminated the surrounding cavern walls which were smooth and dark. The bard approached the light and reached out to touch it. The very second his fingertips brushed the exterior of the glowing sphere, the bard's body was sucked into a dark space under extreme and painful pressure. His ears were filled with a roaring sound and he couldn't see anything but stars. Suddenly it all stopped, and as he looked around, he saw a waterhole, not smooth and dark, but bright and teeming with life. Corals, anemones, schools of fish, and crustaceans flitted about, giving off a bioluminescent glow. The half-elf, lungs burning for air, swam straight up and out of the tunnel. With a heaving gasp, he broke the surface and found a cave, in shape and size similar to the one he had left, but filled with glowing forms of life. The spellcaster could feel the magic charge, buzzing, pulsing in the air and rock and dirt around him - the Feywild. He crept through the cave, moving back to the area where had previously witness the Black Spider. This time, the shrine held not a statue, but a large tree trunk with thick branches stretching about. Inside a knob in the tree was another glowing sphere of light. The bard approached, reached out, and was swept away again into the deafening sound of rushing wind. He reappeared in the Material Plane, atop the emerald-eyed dwarven statue in the Black Spider's chamber. Once his vision cleared, he was surprised to see the corpses of several giant spiders, his fellow adventurers in pitched combat against a tall and cloaked Drow elf, and a half humanoid-half boar creature grunting and swinging his tusks.
Without their bard companion, Azan Antar, Iron Bars, and Skinnej-Yorel spent a short rest to lick their wounds while Nundro brought them up to speed. He and his brother Tharden had been captured by the Black Spider in their camp on the coast of Lake Phandal while they waited for Gundren to show with the digging equipment. They were tortured and interrogated but to no avail as they knew not the precise location of the entrance to Wave Echo Cave. Once the Black Spider secured Gundren's map, he brought the two dwarf brothers as prisoners to Wave Echo Cave. Tharden was slain in first chamber during an unexpected attack from a pack of ghouls. The next several days were spent exploring deeper into Wave Echo Cave. Eventually, the temple to Dumathoin was found, and the Black Spider made it his headquarters. Nundro was kept alive but regularly beaten by the Spider's bugbear thugs. Periodically he could overhear the Drow mage complaining about the various terrors that occupied the cave, preventing access to the Forge of Spells.
Half-rested, the party resolved to confront the Spider in Dumathoin's Temple. Nundro remained behind, too weak to be of any use, while the other four continued on. When they entered the temple, they were immediately spotted by the Drow elf's giant spiders. Negotiations were short, and the combat began. A few moments into the skirmish, the adventurers began to hear an odd sound: ripping, splintering, and then snorting. Where once Gundren had stood now towered a beast with a muscled and heaving humanoid body below the tusked snout of a boar's head. The wereboar wasted no time before plunging his tusks deep into the carapace of a charging spider. Azan maneuvered his way closer to the Black Spider as Zanrith popped out of thin air atop the statue of Dumathoin. He snatched one of the glittering emerald eyes tripping a magical trap which caused the ceiling to cave in. Skinnej was crushed underneath the rubble and, amidst the distraction, Azan swung one last time at the Drow mage, knocking him into unconsciousness.