"Not My Forte'!" Chapter 9 of the Lost Mines of Elder Flinch

In this episode, the team learn the value of having a healer and a defender in the party as they continue to explore the Lost Mine of Elder Flinch without the aid of Ser Valerius or a cleric. This week, they meet a deranged magical guardian, run away from a frightening apparition, eradicate a flock of bloodthirsty stirges, dismantle a troop of skeletons, barely defeat a pack of ghouls, lose one of their own against a room full of bugbears, bypass a glowing skull, and lose another of their own against the remaining ghouls.

Spoiler Warning! This is a florid retelling of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure included with the Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Starter Set.

The party:


Aline, a Thaumaturge of half-Human/half-Sylvan parentage (Level 4 Half-Elf Wizard) 

Braxton Hicks, a Hillfolk Explorer and Trail Guide (Level 4 Halfling Ranger)

Syral, Sylvan Assassin (Level 4 Wood Elf Rogue)

The Starry Cavern
As they stood in the starry cavern, its high ceiling glittering like the night sky, Ser Valerius bade his temporary farewell to the party. He was taking his prisoner, the Black Spider, along with the rescued dwarven survivor, back to Wyvern Tor to leave with Balaton of Clan Brocktaw.

The remaining members of the party, Aline, Braxton, and Syral, stood before the ancient sigil-inlaid door of a small stone structure. Unlike the other architecture of the mine, this structure was built for human habitation. Recalling the story of how human wizards cohabited with dwarfs and gnomes within this mine, they suspected that this was once the domicile of a wizard long dead.

Hello!
They forced the door open and saw a large floating orb. The orb was a living creature. In the center of the orb was a giant single eye and a wide mouth filled with serrated teeth. Four tentacles sprouted from the orb. As the door was thrust wide the eye opened and the tentacles sprang to alert attention. A thought appeared in everyone's mind, "Hello!" 

"Hello!"

The party was momentarily taken aback. It was Braxton that first replied, "Hello?"

"Is the battle over? How did we fare?" inquired the orb.

The party tried to explain that the battle was over eighty years ago and that no one survived.

"Oh, that's quite impossible. My master, Noh-Nah-Meh, will be along to relieve me shortly. In the  meantime, I am tasked to guard this place until his return. Hello!"

The orb began again as if the previous ten seconds of conversation had never happened. And so it went for several minutes until Aline came upon an idea.

"Hello, I am your master."

"Oh! Have I been relieved of my duty?"

"Oh yes," replied Aline.

"Excellent! Is the battle over? How did we fare?" inquired the orb.

"Not well, I'm afraid." said Aline.

"Alas. That is not good. Well, if you need me, you know how to summon me!" and with that, the orb tore open a purple burning hole in reality and slipped back to its home dimension.

"Is the battle over? How did we fare?"

Within the room, the party found several old book filled with technical formulas and charts of the properties of various metals and materials, most of which were written in arcane code and far above the understanding of anyone in the party.

In addition, the found a mace with a head shaped like the sun and a suit of armor adorned and emblazoned with a serpentine golden dragon. Aline determined both to be magical, along with the gauntlets and wand both found earlier.

The party proceeded down some stairs cut into an escarpment that separated the large cave into an upper half and a lower half. Below, the found another square building, a domicile like the previous structure.

Mormesk the Bitter
The roof of the structure was sagging and in poor repair. As they forced open the broken doors, they found the remnants of a room that had been blasted by an explosion eighty years ago. Across the room they could see a treasure chest and a shelf of books, well preserved despite the destruction. Aline used a spell to manipulate the chest. She found it filled with coin and too heavy to lift.

As Braxton cautiously entered the room, alone, to retrieve the chest, a ghostly wraith materialized out of the floor next to him. "You dare violate the abode of Mormesk the Magician? You dare invade my domicile searching to steal my treasures? Fools!"

The party attempted to bargain with the wraith for its possessions. "You may have one treasure if you fulfill for me a single task. You must KILL that fucking spectator next door!"

"But, why?"

"Because it belonged to that asshole Noh-Nah-Meh! And I always hated Noh-Nah-Meh! I despised that asshole! What a dick!"

The party explained that the spectator has already been returned whom whence it came. Mormesk said, "Good! Well then, I guess you have nothing else to bargain with. Therefore, your life is forfeit, and your deaths belong to me!"

Not My Forte'!
Mormesk the wraith became a frightening visage of terror. The party bombarded Mormesk with attack spells and arrows. They shouted for Braxton to engage the wraith in melee. Braxton attacked with a weak, half-hearted strike. Sensing the disappointment of his companions, he defensively shouted, "Not my forte!" and turned to run.

As he turned to flee, the wraith reached into Braxton and grabbed his heart! Braxton froze as he felt his very life essence being pulled from his body. Suddenly, just as his soul was pulled nearly completely out of his body, he regained his composure and willed himself to live, pulling his soul back and throwing Mormesk away. Braxton scrambled and ran out of the room with his fellow companions not far behind.

They looked back to see Mormesk's gaunt skeletal face filling the entire doorway, his piercing scream blasting them with cold necrotic wind. The doors, once broken off their hinges, slammed back shut on their own accord, leaving the cavern in eerie silence.

Spores!
The party continued southwest and entered into a medium-sized cavern filled with giant mushrooms. The mushrooms were giving off an eerie green phosphorescence. There was little space to move through the room so they walked gingerly, careful to avoid stepping on a mushroom. It was Braxton who accidentally brushed against one of the massive fungi, causing it to release its spores. The event triggered a chain reaction. In a blink of the eye, every mushroom had discharged its spores, creating a thick choking miasma of glowing green motes.

The party ran from the cavern, covering their eyes and mouths and choking. Braxton barely made it out, but they ultimately escaped unharmed.

Stirges

They continued west, entering a four-way intersection of rough-hewn mine with a high dark ceiling. Suddenly, a flock of bat-winged creatures descended upon the party, hungry for blood. Aline, thinking quickly, waited for them to close and unleashed a clap of magical thunder. The shockwave instantly killed the entire flock! Ten rat-like bat-winged creatures with long blood-sucking proboscises fell dead to the mine floor like so many bags of wet clay.

Stirges!

Assay Office
Exploring a passage to the south, they entered a door to the right, finding a room with a long counter and a wall filled with several rows of small niches. Within each niche was an ancient piece of parchment covered in dwarfish runes. All papers that Braxton touched crumbled to aged flakes. Behind the counter Syral found a strong box. Without thief's tools, Syral was unable to open the box. They decided to take it with them, piling onto Braxton's already laden pack. 

Guard Room

Across the hall, they entered another room. A portion of the ceiling in this room had collapsed and the floor was littered with the bones of various victims, orcine and dwarven. When they entered the room, the bones began to assemble into makeshift skeletons of amalgam bones. The skeletons moved jerkily. They lurched forward towards the intruders. The party easily defeated the clattering horde with little trouble.

Lost in the Mines

The party found where they originally entered the mine. Having made a complete loop of the perimeter, they decided to head inward. Ignoring the door near the four-way intersection for now, they explored the passages to the northwest. They soon found the labyrinthine mines difficult to navigate and impossible to reconcile on their map. Ultimately, they found a set of rough hewn stairs headed north and climbed them.

Eaters of the Dead!
They found themselves in a vast cavern, over a hundred and fifty feet across and a hundred feet high in places, with a sunken rift in its center. Lurking near a large stalagmite and column were seven hunched humanoids, some dwarven and some orcine, with pale eyes that glowed in the darkness.

Wary, the party stayed near the exit. Suddenly, five of the figures burst forth, charging the party! They were ghouls, immortal Eaters of the dead! Syral fought a retreat, his elven blood immune to their potent paralyzation. Aline cast a spell that filled the entrance and the area beyond with magical spider webs, slowing the ghouls as they ran back into the complicated passages of the mine.

Defensive Position

After running blindly through the corridors, they found themselves having run a loop and in sight of the passage with the stairs. The sound of ghouls running down the passage could be heard. Aline and Braxton took position in a doorway and prepared ranged attacks in case any ghoul came their way. Syral guarded their rear. The ghouls emerged from the passage and took random paths. Two came towards them and were attacked by Aline's eldritch blasts and Braxton's deadly arrows. The rest, hearing the death screams of the others, came running. Aline, Braxton, and Syral were able to fight them two at a time and, in so doing, were able to defeat five ghouls. Two of the ghouls hung back, waiting around the corner. As the battle ended, they fled back up the stairs.

Two at a Time!

A Brief Reprieve
Wounded and frightened, the party retreated from the dungeon, climbing the rope out of the sink-hole and returning to Wyvern Tor. There they reunited with Ser Valerius and Balaton, along with the prisoner, the Black Spider, and the dwarf survivor. They studied the mace, armor, gauntlets, and wand, becoming familiar with the abilities and limitations of each. That night, they rested and recuperated.

Back Into the Mine
The next day, Ser Valerius and Balanton instead took the survivor and the prisoner back down the mountain to Flinch. Meanwhile, Syral, Aline, and Braxton donned their gear and descended the pit into the mine, hoping to complete their exploration.

They carefully retraced their steps back to the great hall, which they found empty. After thoroughly exploring it, they took a passage to the north. There they found a stout door covered in claw marks. Syral tried to open the door but met resistance. He shoved with all his weight and managed to burst the door open despite its being barricaded from within.

The Sad Demise of Syral the Assassin
Inside they found five bugbears, brutal agents of the Black Spider assigned to guard the door. They had been interrupted in the midst of an argument over what to do since they found several of their brethren killed with no sign of their leader. Faced with an immediate enemy, the bugbears rushed the intruders.

The fight in the doorway was brutal. A lucky shot took sent Syral to the floor. One of the bugbears dragged Syral's unconscious body into the room, separating him from his companions. Although many bugbears were killed, Braxton soon found himself at death's door as well. Finally, Aline was able to defeat the remaining two bugbears with a magical blast of thunder.

Acting quickly, she rushed to Syral's aid, but it was too late for the sylvan assassin. She quickly ran to Braxton and saved him with a healing potion. The pair laid their fallen companion on one of the stone slab beds, vowing to come back for him.

The party explored east and found a large chamber containing a complicated mechanical apparatus, a water-powered blast furnace used to smelt ore. The floor was littered in the long dead victims of that elder battle. Above the blast furnace hovered a floating skull, wreathed in green flame.

The pair carefully backed out of the room, unnoticed by the arcane sentry.

The party traveled back south, through the great hall, and down the southeast passage. There they found an old pantry, its goods long ago rotted into dust or evaporated into the air, leaving empty bags and casks.

The Gruesome Death of Braxton Hicks
The party came to the last unexplored room. They opened the door and spied five hunched orcine and dwarven humanoids with grey clammy skin and gaunt fanged faces. They were faced with five more ghouls!

The ghouls rushed the door. Braxton immediately ordered Aline to run, proclaiming that he had a plan!

Swarming the door. What's that fifth one doing?

The ghouls swarmed over the diminutive archer, clawing him, pulling him into the room, screaming.

Aline shouted, "Was that your plan?"

Braxton cried out, "No!"

The Gruesome Death of Braxton Hicks!

Before Aline turned the corner at the four-way intersection, she looked back. The last image she saw was Braxton being dragged into the room by three ghouls while a fourth slowly closed the door, watching her, holding his finger to his mouth as if to say "Shhhhh...". Braxton's muffled screams were all she could hear as Aline fled back to the sink-hole.

Aline Escapes

Meanwhile, the fifth ghoul had exited through a side door and was trying to sneak up on her. She ran for the rope and pulled it up behind her. The fifth ghoul ran out and jumped for it, but missed. It sat there watching her. She hurled a witchbolt at it and it ran away.

At the top of the sink hole, Aline realized. All the party treasure was now in that room.

TO BE CONTINUED!

After Thoughts

This is what happens when you try to take on an undead-themed dungeon without a fighter front line and without a cleric for healing and turning. Scott's paladin, Ser Valerius, is currently fulfilling both roles admirably. Unfortunately, Scott was in Florida this week and the rest of the party decided to carry on without him.

To their credit, they knew when they were in over their heads and fled when they could. Their goal was to scout the dungeon, eliminating the opposition when they could, noting it when they couldn't, and come back later with their paladin and cleric.

Speaking of cleric, we were really hoping Jeffy, who plays Balanton and has been absent from our group for many months, would be rejoining us tonight. He had signified his intent to join us. Every car that drove by outside got us excited, then ultimately disappointed. A large portion of the decision to continue was based on the hope that Jeffy's cleric would show up any minute now. Unfortunately, Jeffy was unable to make it.

The death of Braxton was brutal. Woobee really had a plan to save Braxton. He just wasn't counting on me to roll two critical hits in one turn. Ouch.

Aline is heading back to Flinch, hoping she'll be able to recruit more adventurers to clear the mine. The next time the party returns, Trevor is hoping to bring back Thaddeus the Urban Ranger and Woobee is still thinking about what he wants to play. He's leaning towards a dragonborn fighter.

We're not gaming next week. Our next game is scheduled for October 24th. Then a week off for Halloween. The week after that is November 7th.

Lucinda, who plays Aline, is pregnant and is due November 8th, so she may or may not be there and even if she is, it will be her last game for a few months.

However, about that same time, Dodd will return and he'll be able to play Gravy, once and for all!

"The Doppelganger" Chapter 7 of the Lost Mines of Elder Flinch

In this week's chapter, the team helps a lonely farmer deal with an ogre, gains two new adventurers, is ambushed by  hobgoblins, almost undone by a doppelganger, and take on a tribe of Red Orcs!

Spoiler Warning! This is a prosaic retelling of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure included with the Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Starter Set.

The party:


Aline, a Thaumaturge of half-Human/half-Sylvan parentage (Level 3 Half-Elf Wizard) 

Braxton Hicks, a Hillfolk Explorer and Trail Guide (Level 3 Halfling Ranger)

Ser Valerius, Errant Armiger, Executor of Justicia (Level 3 Human Paladin)

Introducing! 

Syral, Sylvan Assassin (Level 3 Wood Elf Rogue)

Balatan of Clan Brocktaw, Bronze Draconic Priest of Bahamut (Level 3 Dragonborn Cleric)

Clucks, Ser Valerius' Cart-Pulling Megallus (giant chicken)

Ogre in the Night

When we left our party, they were traveling from the tiny village of Flinch, recently the victim of a deadly massacre followed by being taken over by a gang of ruffians, to Swallow, a medium-sized town of several thousand inhabitants, to purchase needed supplies. They arrived in Swallow at dusk, just in time to make the closing of the gates.

Fitong, the half-orc barbarian, bade his farewell to the party. He had other plans elsewhere and did not plan to return to Flinch. Braxton and Aline took a room at the inn while Ser Valerius enjoyed the hospitality of a local peasant, as is his custom.

That night, a somewhat over-educated milksop of a farmer came into the inn begging for help! An ogre was plaguing his farm and he knew not what to do! He required the intervention of brave adventurers to thwart this brute and send it on its way! Braxton and Aline decided to lend the farmer a hand. The party interrupted Valerius' meal and took him away from his peasant hosts. They talked the gatekeeper into letting them out the city gate after dark and up the road they went. They traveled a few miles outside of town and turned up a path to a small farm carved out of the forest.

The forest was dark. A chill was in the air. A lamp and a torch provided the only illumination. The farm's split-rail perimeter fence had been knocked over and a wide swath cut through the crops to the main gate of the farm compound. The gate of the compound had been smashed in. Inside the compound, an ogre was holding a dismembered sheep's leg and drinking wine out of a barrel. Valerius stepped forth and challenged the giant brute as Braxton and Aline sneaked around. The ogre turned and attacked Valerius. The subsequent battle was short and resulted in the dead bulk of an ogre lying on the ground.

It was late and the party decided to stay at the farm. That night, Braxton heard bad singing coming from the compound. The farmer was in the barn, drunk and singing. Braxton offered to help him back inside. Farmer lamented that he had no friends and that no one liked him. Suddenly, he became paranoid and accused Braxton of orchestrating the ogre attack in order to take his farm!

"You can't have it!" he slurred.

Braxton extended his left arm hand out saying, "Look over here" When the farm looked, Braxton knocked the farmer out with his right hand. The diminutive ranger dragged the unconscious farmer back inside to sleep it off.

At dawn, Braxton made a hearty Bantami meal and Valerius left a gift of enough gold to purchase two new sheep. They left the farmer asleep.

That morning, the party followed the ogre's tracks back to its cave. The cave was just below the ridge at the edge of the plateau. They peered over the thousand-foot precipice and surveyed the jungle of the lower valley far below. Mountains towered to the north, west, and south. Mist constantly blew up from the valley, condensing into cool clouds that clung to the plateau. Braxton declared that he would one day build a home here. They found a bag with 20 gold in the ogre's cave.


New Companions

They returned to Swallow about mid-morning. Braxton and Aline went to gather their belongings and found two travelers in the room they paid for: a meditating sylvan and a sleeping draconian with bronze scales. The sylvan introduces himself as Syral and his sleeping companion as Balatan. Syral, Braxton, and Aline returned downstairs to talk.

Syral explained that he and his companion were headed to some small village in the north, Filch or Finch or something. Braxton corrected, "Flinch", and said that they were headed back that way if they wished to join them. About that time, Balatan groggily came down the stairs and met the rest.

After a Bantami second-breakfast, the party completed their shopping, had lunch, and rejoined with Ser Valerius . The reunited party, along with their new companions and Ser Valerius' cart pulled by a megallus (a giant chicken used as a draft animal), struck out to Flinch.

A Measly Bounty!

A few miles out of town, they came across a broken wagon blocking the road. A lone human female called for help. No one noticed the lack of cart animal. Nevertheless, they sensed treachery and stopped their caravan about forty feet away.

Braxton noticed dark figures lurking in the trees to either side of the road. Valerius called out "There seem to be some mysterious figures lurking in the trees behind you!", the woman replied "What? I'm sorry. You're going to have to come closer. I can't hear you!" To which they replied, "No!"

At that point, the woman, frustrated, shouted "It's them! Get them!" and four hobgoblin warriors ran out of the bushes and opened fire with arrows. The party responded quickly. Braxton put some arrows in the woman and she quickly fell to the ground. Valerius and Balatan closed with and fought the hobgoblins around the wagon while Braxton and Syral sneaked through the trees to flank them. One hobgoblin jumped up onto the wagon but was taken out by Aline and Braxton.

After the battle, they cautiously approached the spot where the woman fell, but she was mysteriously gone without a trace!

Searching the hobgoblins, they found papers with drawings of Aline, Braxton, Fitong, and Varis. Each was listed with a reward of 25 gold pieces and each posting bore the mark of the Black Spider! Braxton was offended by the paltry reward.

So the Black Spider put a bounty on their heads. Interesting!

Ser Valerius is a Doppelganger!

The party arrived in Flinch several hours after nightfall but encountered no further trouble. After paying the entrance fee, they retired to the Auld Dunn Inn where they caught up on the events of the past two days by talking with Exposition. As is his custom, Ser Valerius enjoyed the hospitality of a peasant family.

 That night, after going to bed, there was a loud banging on the door of Braxton and Aline's room. Braxton got out of bed and asked what was the matter. Ser Valerius exclaimed that there was trouble in town, and he needed Braxton and Aline's help in defeating Harra Thorntooth! Braxton opened the door to let Valerius in.

Ser Valerius immediately stabbed Braxton in the chest! Braxton fell to the floor, mortally injured.

Aline, who had gotten out of bed, tried to cast a Hold Person spell on Valerius but with no effect. Valerius then stabbed her. She fell to the floor.

"Valerius! What have you done?"

By this time, Balatan and Syral had come out of their rooms. Syral immediately rushed Valerius, tackling him. Both went bursting through a nearby window and fell to the ground ten feet below. Meanwhile, Balatan set about stabilizing Braxton and Aline.

Valerius was the first to his feet and he ran around the ruins of the Elder's house. Syral gave chase. When he rounded the corner, he saw the old miner Lanar, stumbling drunk, and another old miner Linar, stumbling drunk, both were exact duplicates.

Syral examined each one closely. One had bloody hands from the recent battle. Sensing its the discovery, the Lanar with bloody hands bolted for the rear gate. It arrived before Syral, climbed the steps, and stabbed the young guard standing watch over the gate, taking his keys.

Desperate Battle Atop the Gate

Syral caught up with the shape-changer and the pair battled atop the gate. Syral tried to swing around a post to double-kick the doppelganger in the head. The creature caught Syral's legs and morphed so that it was pointing the opposite direction. It then spun around, swinging Syral by the legs, in an attempt to throw Syral off the wall. Syral caught himself on the wall and pulled himself up. The doppelganger morphed one of its hands into a long blade and stabbed Syral in the chest! Syral fell and the doppelganger ran off into the night.

Back at the room, Balatan had revived Braxton and Aline and the trio ran outside. They followed the commotion to the gate and found the young guard and Syral both lying unconscious on the ground. Balatan revived them both with holy prayers of Bahamut while Braxton retrieved the "captain of the guard" and Aline went to gather the real Ser Valerius from the house in which he was staying.

All the guards were young volunteers, typically the teenage sons of recent settlers, and none had been on the job more than a week. The captain was one of the settler men, a farmer, with no experience guarding a village. He was unsure of what to do but followed the orders of Braxton, Balatan, and Ser Valerius.

The party set watches for the remaining hours of night, two at a time. The next day, they met in the common room at the Auld Dunn Inn and formulated their plan.

They would attempt to draw out the Black Spider by making it known that they were headed back to the Old Owl Well. There they hoped to lure one of his agents into the open, where they would capture and question one for information about the Black Spider.

An Afternoon by the Well

After breakfast, they packed up their gear, left the megallus at the stables, and started hiking up the trail towards the slopes of Mount Zinnober.

They bypassed the ruins of Balk, about three miles outside of Flinch, where they pointed out the tower of the green dragon to the new members of the party. Balatan was ready to fight but they explained that they were unready to deal with that threat.

They then spent the afternoon resting and waiting at the Old Owl Well. The air was cool and the sky was grey. At one point, a large dark shadow swooped overhead, flying down the valley to Balk. They watched as the green dragon disappeared from view within the walls of its ruined tower.

A few hours into their rest, they realized that their plan wasn't going to work. No agents of the Black Spider were attacking. So they decided to continue looking for the lost mine of Elder Flinch.

The Red Orcs of Wyvern Tor

The party continued their trek up the valley, following the direction of the arrow they found in the tower next to the Old Owl Well. They eventually reached the treeline at dusk and were enshrouded with fog and mist and gathering darkness. Visibility was reduced to a sixty feet at best. Based on something they heard from somebody, perhaps even a misunderstanding of something they heard, they were looking for a rock shaped like a wyvern. Partly due to the low visibility and partly due to there not being a rock shaped like a wyvern, they could find no such rock.

Braxton scouted ahead, he did find several cave entrances in the sheer face of the mountain. The scree and talus below the caves indicated trash and waste left by habitation.

Red Orcs of Zinnober camping in a cave

Braxton returned and reported what he found. He and Syral approached with stealth to within fifty feet of the cave. Braxton spotted an orc lookout sitting on a rocky promontory jutting out from the mountain near the cave. The lookout had not spotted the pair. Braxton and Syral took aim with their bows and fired two arrows. Both were sufficient to slay the lookout.

Braxton approached the cave entrance and listened. He heard many voices speaking orcine and a large voice speaking giantish, which he understood, saying "Hey! Let me eat some of that! Let me have some! I'm hungry!" Based on the echoing voices he heard, the smell, and the spoor at the cave mouth, Braxton estimated ten or so orcs and something bigger, and ogre or a giant!

The rest of the party approached noisily.

The rest of the party approached noisily. The noise of their approach caught the attention of the one speaking giantish. It bellowed out a call to battle, alerting the orcs, and the sound of its plodding footsteps echoed through the cave. From around a corner deep within the cave came loping an ogre! Before he could take another step, Braxton and Syral filled him with deadly arrows, dropping him in an instant!

The orcs began to swarm over the walls made of boulders they used to keep the ogre separate from their camp. A fierce battle ensued in the caves of the red orcs. Balatan and Valerius held the line, with Valerius fighting a mostly defensive battle. Braxton moved around the battlefield, firing arrows from various sight-lines. Syral darted back and forth, leaving dead orcs in his wake. Aline's witch-bolts failed to score any hits. At one point Syral fell under the axe of an orc and Balatan had to leave the line to save his companion.

Eventually, there was just the boss orc, a brutish individual wearing chain mail who spoke the common tongue. Aline tried to put him into a magical sleep but he brushed off the effects of her spell. The party soon defeated the leader and the battle was won.

Upon exploring the cave, the party found a treasure chest belonging to the leader, as well as a passage leading deeper in the cave. Next to the passage was an arrow drawn in chalk. This was Wyvern Tor! 

This was the way to the Lost Mine!

After dumping the bodies outside the cave, the party decided to rest for the night.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Next Week, part 1 of the final act of the Lost Mine of Phandelver as the party finds and explores the Wave Echo Cave Mine!

After Thoughts

In case you are wondering about the high character turnover lately, it's because we're using this adventure to experiment with the new system. I'm encouraging my players to play different characters to see what they like and don't like Play something different. Do something new. Once we finish with the module, they'll be fifth level and they'll have to commit.

I did a lot of ad-lib dungeon mastering this week. The farmer with the ogre trouble was a random event I rolled from the Midkemia Press Cities book. The hobgoblin road ambush was a random encounter from the module, which I spiced up with the doppelganger that escaped the goblin castle. And finally the doppelganger attack in the inn was something that was just too perfect to pass up!

The doppelganger fight, I might add, was kinetic, fast-paced, and lots of fun! I chose not to use minis for that fight and it kept the action moving throughout the scene. Trevor, who is playing Syral, is a dungeon master himself and loves descriptive cinematic fighting with lots of stunts. That fight allowed me to indulge him.

For anyone who has read the module, I have obviously taken some of the side-quests and put them in a direct line with the Wave Echo Cave mine. That was because the players skipped all that and their characters would have to tackle the mine at third level, so I added some additional encounters to beef it up.