PREVIOUS - 05 Reaching Phandelver

Day 27 - Phandelver

After dropping the slaves off at the shrine with Garaele, the party decides to head to Cragmaw Castle, the location of which was revealed by Agatha. They go to let Elmar know they are leaving to look for Gundren and gather their horses, and they find Elmar crying on his porch with his wife at the loss of his business. The party gathers their coins, much coming from Nowhere and hands Gundren over 800 gold pieces. It will not be enough to replace all his material, but it will be a start for rebuilding. They then head north to the woods a day from Phandelver with the information they gleaned from the banshee, and during the second day, find Cragmaw Castle.

Day 28 - Cragmaw Castle

They tie up their horses and foolishly stroll right up to the dilapidated structure, but watchers sound an alarm and they are quickly overwhelmed by goblins. They retreat to the woods, and commence a battle there, and although they take some licks, they vanquish the goblins. They go back to the woods and set up camp in a hidden glade and tend to their wounds.

Day 30 - Negotiation for Gundren

After a day of healing, they return to the castle, this time with greater caution, and find their way in through a collapsed part of the towers. At first they find nothing of interest, but soon are attacked by a strange squidlike worm that drops on Kron'k and nearly kills him. After that, they move to a shrine where goblins hiding behind the altar attack. After killing two, the group takes the priestly one - Lhupo, hostage. They ask where Gundren is, and are told he is in the Northeast tower of the castle with King Groll. When they enter the next room, they find it a barracks with hobgoblins, and quickly cast an illusion to flee. The party manages to get away without combat, and they head towards Groll. They hear Groll arguing about money with someone with a silky voice, and the party barges in. Groll is a bugbear, his companion a Drow apparently named Vyerith, with long shoulder length white hair and dark skin. She wears a dark hooded clock with a leather belt. Groll also has a pet wolf which snarls at the party.

Gundren can be seen beaten in a corner. Groll asks if they are there to buy the map, which he wants 1,000 g.p. for. The snivelling goblin Lhupo tells "King Groll" that he is their prisoner and that they killed some of the goblins, and the group smacks him into silence. The party asks for the price with the dwarf, and the drow states that The Spider wants to question the dwarf, he is not for sale. Groll argues back that The Black Spider will have to raise his price, and the they argue. The party is unsure, and when Groll asks if they have a deal, and they hesitate, he has his wolf attack, and he and the Drow attack too.

There is a fierce battle, the party knocks out the Drow first, who turns into a featureless humanoid, and they manage to knock out the wolf, but Groll is strong and calls out to other Orcs for help, so the group backs out and flees to the woods, but they manage to save Gundren! In the woods they gather their strength, but learn that Groll still has the map on him, and that he keeps it under his bed.

Day 31-32 - Return for the Map

This time the group decides on the stealthy approach - they send their roguish gnome, Orryn and their tiefling ranger, Nowhere into the castle that night, through a collapsed bathroom, right to the door of King Groll's room. His bed is supposed to be just on the other side, but he has moved his bed to block the door, and they can hear him snoring on the other side! The pair make their way through another part of the collapsed structure to the other entrance of Groll's room, and they silently kill the Hobgoblin guard. They peek in the door and see that Groll's wolf is still alive, so they use a minor illusion to look like one of the other Hobgoblins and quickly collect the map from under Groll's bed.

They are about to leave, when they hear a mournful cry from a nearby area, and the rattling of chains. Deciding to investigate as dawn light is breaking, they make their way atop a collapsed wall to find an emaciated Owlbear chained to the wall in a broken tower. Orryn communicates with the creature and learns it was captured by the hated hobgoblins and bugbear, but it is now starving. Orryn promises to defend the creature from the humanoids if it will follow them out of the castle, and it agrees. They free the owlbear and although it follows them through the rubble, some Hobgoblins overhear and attack. The hungry owlbear quickly eats the guts from one of the hobgoblins, and Orryn and Nowhere kill the other, but the noise is attracting more goblins, so the team runs and the owlbear follows. They make it out to the edge of the forest and somehow the owlbear does not kill the rest of their companions, but now Groll is up and screaming in anger. He gathers his goblins and hobgoblins and crashes into the woods shortly behind the party.

The group races to their camp, and in the face of their wounds and the greater number of their enemies, flees on their horses, leaving their tents and possessions behind. They have little left with them but their armor, weapons, and their lives, and it is two days ride back to Phandelin. They sleep that first night in the fields by the side of the road. Even though it is summer, it is the north, and the party is hungry and without water. Gundren is not himself, on the verge of collapse, and their companion owlbear seeks food in the woods during the evening, but the others are unfed.

NEXT - Campaign Journal 07 - The Caves of Chaos