Solo LMoP - 07. Redbrand Hideout

 After a night of rest at the Stonehill Tavern (5 silver for each) the party gets up early in the morning and heads to the farm of Qeline Alderleaf, led by Egart who follows the description he got from Carp to continue into the woods to the East. There they find a hidden cave entrance. It is dark, but there is a light shining from the end of it. Sneaking as well as they can, they make their way inside. 

🎲Stealth Checks: Egart, +7 (12), Harbek, -1 disadvantage (8), Drusa, -1, disadvantage (8), Haunui, +3 (12), Quillathe, +2 (17) (Group check successful) 

The group follows the passage for about 100ft before it funnels into a wider cavern.
A cold breeze fills this large natural cavern, carrying with it the faint scent of decaying flesh. A crevasse divides the cavern and is flanked by two rough stone columns that support the twenty-foot-high ceiling. Two arched wooden bridges span the chasm.

Having - as a group - rolled just high enough to beat the inhabitants passive perception the group notices a small, strange creature sitting at the edge of the chasm, its back spiked and a single, softly glowing green eye staring into the mists that fill it. 

🎲HP for the Nothic, 6d8+18: (39)
🎲Arcana-roll Quillathe to determine what they are seeing (DC12), +5: 8 (failure) 

None of the party members knows - through their background - what this creatures is. Now one of the most interesting questions that will definitely impact the game is whether or not Egart knows about this creature and what it does here. To determine that, the most honest thing is to roll a luck check (1-10: bad luck, 11-20: good luck). 

🎲Luck Check Egart: 20 (very good luck)

Egart turns to the rest of the party: "I know creatures like this, let me try something."
Quietly Egart moves forward to the ravine, inching up to the weird creature. "Hey, buddy.", he whispers and the green eye turns to him. A silent conversation is had. The party looks on as their rogue and the bizare creature stare at each other. 

🎲Persuasion Egart, +3 (DC 10): 9 (failure) - The Nothic will not help them for food alone

After that Egart opens his pack and takes out strips of dried meat that he pushes towards the Nothic. The creature grabs it and the staring continues while it slowly chews on a bit of jerky. (-2 rations)

🎲Persuasion Egart, +3 (DC 12): 18 (success)

After about a minute Egart returns to the group and they see the small creature climb into the crevasse where it disappears in the faint mist. Egart whispers to the party: "We might need to deal with him later, but he'll let us continue for now. The bosses' quarters are at the end of this cavern."
"What went on there?", asks Harbek, concern in his voice. "And how do you know all of that?"
"Just a conversation, don't worry about it. He told me where to go.", says the halfling as he marches onward towards the far end of the cavern. 

🎲Deception Check Egart +5: 16
🎲Insight Check Harbek +3: 16 (success for Egart, who rolls the active check)

For now Egart manages to convince Harbek of his story, though the dwarf has started to doubt his companion's motives and actions. Egart dealing with such a creature is useful, but he does not like at all that he is being kept in the dark about what transpired. 

Leading the party to the end of the cave Egart heads into the hallway on the left that ends after about 30ft at a blank wall with doors on both sides. Egart listens closely at both of them. 

🎲Perception Northern door, +0 (DC 15): 12 (failure)
🎲Perception Southern door, +0 (DC 10): 10 (success)

Hearing the sound of people playing a game of dice behind the Southern door and nothing behind the other, Egart opens the Northern door quietly and looks inside. He finds himself in a wizard's laboratory. The flavor text reads as follows: 

This room appears to be a wizard’s workshop. A rat scurries across the floor and takes refuge under a large worktable set up with alembics, retorts, distillation coils, and other alchemical devices, all of it stewing and bubbling away. Bookshelves are crowded with sheaves of parchment and strange-looking tomes.

Since the room is empty, Egart waves his compatriots to follow him as the rat quickly scurries off to find a save hiding spot. As they enter one by one, the more perceptive of them hear the sound of grinding stone and quick footsteps coming from behind a door in the North-Eastern corner of the room. Rushing after the sound, the party opens the door and finds themselves in a bedroom draped with scarlet cloth. 

Now, the book states clearly that characters entering have advantage to find the hidden exit, but searching the room does take time. I'll allow each character in turn to make a perception check with advantage, but each failed check gives the fleeing leader of the Redbrands another round to make his escape. 

🎲Perception Drusa, +3, adv (DC 15): 9 (fail)
🎲Perception Harbek, +3, adv (DC 15): 23 (success)

Harbek, seeing a secret door in the Eastern wall slightly ajar points it out and shouts: "After him...her...whomever!"

The party takes up pursuit. Haunui is the first through the door and, rushing into a storeroom that opens into the main crevasse he sees no other exit and runs along the Eastern embankment. The others follow closely while Egart rushes past the bearded warrior, blade drawn. He sprints into a corridor on the far South side, opposite the entrance the group came through originally. A soft cackling echoes through the cavern as the others run after him, armor clanging, blindly following his lead for now. 

Finally Egart comes through the corridor and sees himself face to face with a man in a red coat, wielding a staff that appears to be made of glass. The room they are in has a large cistern filling a big part of it and the man just got up and holds a dripping wet satchel in his hand that he apparently just retreived from the water. 

"You!", the man says as Egart enters, rushes past him and cuts off the way, just as Haunui enters the room through the corridor. 

Download full Battle and Chase Report, including all the rolls and maps

The wizard, that Egart has immediately recognized as Glasstaff, vanishes and reappears at the top of a banister on the East side of the room before turning his back and running into a hallway there. Egart rushes after him. Running up a set of stairs he finds himself in the open air, coming out of a dilapidated shed next to an even more dilapidated manor just as the wizard flees around the corner of the ruin. 

In the damp cellar a door smashes open and three ruffians enter, stirred by the sudden noise. They are quickly dealt with, even though Drusa takes a few serious blows before the last of the Redbrands here is dispatched. Egart's companions than take up the chase. 

Up top the red-robed wizard is in full flight, turning only once to send a few arcane missiles at Egart, that make the rogue stumble back and hide for a moment, giving Glasstaff a bit of a head start. 

However, he is fleeing down a road and through open terrain, avoiding the town. This gives Egart and Haunui the chance to fire their arrows at him. But, wielding his glass staff and using it to conjure up an arcane shield the fleeing man manages to deflect most of the projectiles. Egart sheathes his bow and continues the chase on foot. The two men rush over the open terrain and disappear into the hills to the North. Haunui sends a few more arrows after them, but then joins up with the rest of the party in the pursuit of their halfling companion. 

Egart follows the wizard over hills, jumps over a patch of razor-sharp brambles and draws his sword. "You're mine now, Glasstaff!", he shouts as he gains ground. But then his quarry stops and turns, red-faced and panting. 
"You always were far to quick to act, Egart!", he says as three more arcane missiles form in his hand and shoot towards his pursuer. A terrible blow to the chest and a purple light are the last thing Egart sees, before the void takes him. 

About half a minute later Quillathe arrives, followed closely by the others. She finds Egart lying face down in the grass that is still wet from the morning dew. They feel his breath, listen for a heartbeat. But it is useless. Egart is dead. 

Egart
Lightfoot Halfling Rogue, Level 2
Cause of Death: Magic Missile, cast by Glasstaff

Solo LMoP - 06. Redbrand Ruffians (Level 2)

Now up until this point all the personal imput I had into this party was roleplay and combat decisions. For most of our party this still stays the same, since they don't get any subclasses yet. But Quillathe does get to choose her Arcane Tradition. 

Drusa (Lvl 2 Character Sheet)
🎲Hit Points, 1d10+2 (reroll 1): 4 => total of 16 HP
- new Feature: Action Surge

Haunui (Lvl 2 Character Sheet)
🎲Hit Points, 1d10+2 (reroll 1): 7 => total of 19 HP
- new Feature: Action Surge

Egart (Lvl 2 Character Sheet)
🎲Hit Points, 1d8+1 (reroll 1): 9 => total of 18 HP
- new Feature: Cunning Action

Harbek (Lvl 2 Character Sheet)
🎲Hit Points, 1d8+3 (reroll 1): 11 => total of 22 HP
- new Feature: Channel Divinity: Turn Undead
- new Feature: Channel Divinity: Preserve Life

Quillathe (Lvl 2 Character Sheet)
🎲Hit Points, 1d6+2 (reroll 1): 5 => total of 14 HP

Nou Quillathe has had a few interesting moments that might impact her choice for a specific school of magic. Her first great success was the Sleep-spell that took out two goblins and made sure the party could enter the den without a problem. She did a Burning Hands- spell that took out two wolves and killed a goblin with ray of frost. But together with Harbek she did send Klargh running, saving the party a big fight with a downed healer. 

So, given her knack for manipulation, Quillathe will choose the School of Enchantment. 
- new Feature: Enchantment Savant
- new Feature: Hypnotic Gaze
🎆new Spells: Hideous Laughter and Thunderwave

The night brings rest and healing and the following morning our adventurer take their supplies and leave the cave behind, strolling back towards Phandalin. Traveling at a normal pace they arrive at the town in the afternoon and head straight to the Inn to see if Sildar has made any advancements. The knight tells them that he has been asking around but has not managed to find any news of Iarno Albrek. He does however pay them the promise 50 goldpieces he has managed to procure from the townmaster. 

The rest of the day our group of adventurers can each follow their own goals for a while. As far as they have any. 

Egart would visit his aunt, Qelline Alderleaf, who works a farm at the edge of town. He'd give her all his silver and copper as he is used to share with her. They would chat a bit and Egart would play a game of cards with his young cousin Carp, Qelline's 10 year old son. He'd learn couple of things: Carp has seen a couple of Redbrands meet with "Big, Ugly Bandits" in the woods near a hidden tunnel he discovered. Egart would warn him about both the Redbrands and the tunnel and tell him to stay away from it - which Qelline echoes. When telling about the map to Wave Echo Cave that they found Qeline would advice Egart to seek out her old friend Reidoth, a druid that currently lives near the ruins of the town Thundertree - a name that Egart would recognize from having overheard Haunui talk about it. Reidoth knows a lot about the land and might be the right person to ask about the mines. 

Meanwhile Harbek would have asked around for Daran Edermath and be directed towards a tidy little cottage beside an apple orchard. Daran Edermath, a retired half-elf adventurer well over a hundred years of age would be rejoiced to welcome the dwarf. He'd tell him more about the Redbrands and their misdeeds in the town. This gang of thugs and their leader need to be taken down a notch. He can't pay the party to do so, but he is glad that Harbek agrees with him on the subject.

Quillathe heads to find the local priestess of Tymora. Sister Garaele however cannot offer any aid to her. By now Quillathe is the one who has knowledge about the Cragmaw clan and the castle. Garaele is very distraught with the activity of the Redbrands, who keep the town under their thumb and wishes there were someone who'd go against them. It's a short visit. Quillathe is not impressed by the other elf woman but has nothing against helping rid the town of some ruffians. 

Haunui heads to the Lionshield Coster that draws his attention due to the blue Lion above the entrance. The Lionshields are a merchant company from Yartar and this outpost is run by a woman called Linene Graywind. She is overjoyed by the news about her stolen wares and says that she will send someone to pick them up. Once she has them safely at the Coster (in a few days), she'll gladly compensate Haunui and his friends for them. 

Drusa would accompany Sildar to the townmasters hall where they would be introduced to the fat, pompous Harbin Wester, a former banker who seems to know little about anything. Instead of answering questions about Iarno Albrek he treats the three visitors as mercenaries, asking if they are willing to kill some orcs for him. Although he offers to help, there is little the group can do here at the moment that is worth their time. Sildar is angry and simply informs Wester that he will take over local government. 

Drusa, who has ambitions of her own of course wants to prove her worth gladly heads out into Phandalin to investigate about those Redbrands, meeting up with Haunui, Harbek and Quillathe in the town square that now seems strangely deserted. Four armed ruffians come strolling towards them. All of them are humans wearing grimy red cloaks, their hands on their weapons as they watch you.

One of the ruffians spits on the ground. “Time for you to move on, strangers. Give us your stuff, and be on your way.”

Harbek grins as he fastens his shield to his arm: "Nah, I don't think we'll do that."

Download Full Battle Report including all rolls and maps

The four ruffians draw their blades and rush in, cutting down Harbek within seconds, just before two of them fall themselves, injured by heavy blows from Drusa and Haunui and finished of by tiny magic missiles fired from Quillathes fingers. Rushing around the corner comes the small frame of Egart who joins the fight from a distance. Quickly only one of the Redbrands is left alive and turns to flee. Harbek, shaking out of his unconsciousness stands up, grasping the holy symbol of Marthammor Duin. He extends his hands and shouts: "Come here!" Commanded by the divine magic, the Redbrand turns and starts walking towards the dwarf, his eyes wide. But at that moment an arrow hits him in the temple, piercing deep into his brain and he drops dead. Egart lowers his bow, shaking and sweating. 

Harbek turns to him and curses. "Why did you do that?", he asks. "We could have interrogated him, find out more about them and their hideout."
"I know about their hideout already. And they would only have lied!", says Egart. 

🎲Deception Egart, +5: 24
🎲Insight Harbek, +3: 5

🎲Individual treasure Redbrand Ruffians, 4x 1d100: 98, 52, 9 and 49
    => 🎲1d6 platinum (3), 8d6 silver (27) and 5d6 copper (16)

Haunui also takes a set of Studded Leather Armor from one of the thugs. Since they all are human, none of their armor would fit Egart.

Now that the fight has ended, Harbek leans heavily against the stone wall that surrounds the small shrine of Tymora on the village square. Commoners come rushing up, checking if the adventurers are alright. Many look grateful but from the window of the townmaster's hall one can see the scared and angry face of Harbin Wester. It is clear that not everyone is glad about this fight. The corpses of the Redbrands however are quickly brought into an empty shed as the group reconvenes in the Stonehill tavern for some rest and food.

(3 silver each)

✔ 400 XP awarded

🍗 Short Rest is had, Action Surges and Second Wind regained, Quillathe uses her Arcane Recovery to regain 1 1st-lvl spellslot
    🎲Hit Dice Harbek 2 x 1d8+2: 5, 8 => 14/22 HP
    🎲Hit Dice Haunui: 1d10+2: 12 => full HP

While talking, the group informs each other about what they have learned in the course of the day. The are transparent, except for Egart, who keeps his previous involvement with the Redbrands a secret. He does however tell that he has heard that the guildmaster of the local Miner's exchange might have some intel on the Redbrands. As the day nears its end the party sticks together to make this last visit. Halia Thornton is very pleased to see them. She seemingly already knows that they have dealt with a few of the thugs and tells them plainly that the Redbrands need to be dealt with. She offers 100 gold coins if the adventurers manage to eliminate Glasstaff, the Redbrand leader. She also confirms that the base for their operation is under the ruin of the old Tresendar manor on the East side of town. 

A bit wiser for the day the party turns in for the night, deciding to try their luck against the Redbrands tomorrow. 

🛌Long Rest is had. 

Solo LMoP - 05. Return to the hideout

 Wounded as our adventurers are they still have at about 7 or 8 hours to travel, but now they at least have Sildar with them who - injured and tired but still strong-willed and very much annoyed by what overcame him - confirms the story the captive goblin has told them. He and Gundren have indeed been taken captive by the goblins and he hasn't seen the dwarf since then. He does however know that the map that Gundren had was a map that held the secret location of a place called the "Wave Echo Cave", where the mines of the Phandelver Pact must be. He hopes to find help for the group in Phandalin. A fellow agent of the Lords Alliance, a wizard named Iarno Albrek is located there and might have some information or aid for them. 

It is late in the evening when the group finally arrives at Phandalin. The flavor text in the book reads as follows: 

The rutted track emerges from a wooded hillside, and you catch your first glimpse of Phandalin. The town consists of forty or fifty simple log buildings, some built on old fieldstone foundations. More old ruins—crumbling stone walls covered in ivy and briars—surround the newer houses and shops, showing how this must have been a much larger town in centuries past. Most of the newer buildings are set on the sides of the cart track, which widens into a muddy main street of sorts as it climbs toward a ruined manor house on a hillside at the east side of town.
Sildar seems much more at ease.
“My friends,” he says, “let us secure lodgings. I’m told the local inn is very quaint.”

Without much argument, being tired and beaten the group brings the oxen up to the inn and procures food and lodging for the night. (for 8 silver each) They receive rooms and after a quick meal they all head to bed, sleeping for the night and finishing a long rest in that way. 

🌙Spells prepared Harbek: Command, Healing Word, Guiding Bolt, Sanctuary
🌙Spells prepared Quillathe: Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Shield, Sleep

The following morning the party and Silder reconvene in the common room of the Stonehill Tavern, where they have spent the night. Toblen Stonehill, the innkeep tends to their needs with a hardy breakfast and Silder repeats his request for the group to go and clear out the cave entirely. He will pay them 50 gold if they do so and will spend the day trying to find Iarno Albrek and - if possible - Gundrens brothers. 
It is not hard to convince the party to do as Sildar has requested. Especially Quillathe is very eager to diminish the Cragmaw-clan since they are responsible for desecrating the shrine of Oghma. Harbek wants revenge for the pain that has been inflicted on his cousin. Haunui and Drusa agree that to clear out the cave would be the right thing to do and Egart gladly joins, hoping for more loot to be had. 

They bring the wagon and the oxen to the local store where they are paid 10 gold each and also hear about Tharden and Nundro, Gundrens brothers who must be camping near the town according to Elmar Barthen, the proprietor of Barthen's Provisions. Since we are here anyway, let's check out Elmar's inventory and stock up for our party. 

💰Egart: 1 bag of caltrops, 1 bag of ball bearings and 8 rations
💰Quillathe: 1 healers kit and 10 rations
💰Drusa: 10 rations, 50 ft of hempen rope
💰Harbek: 6 rations
💰Haunui: Healer's kit and 4 rations

Sadly Elmar does not sell any healing potions, but with the healer's kits at least the group won't have a hard time stabilizing fallen comrades anymore. 

There are more locations they would want to visit but there is a bit of urgency for them to rush and deal with the Cragmaw-threat before the goblins receive reïnforcements so those visitis will need to be put on hold for now. 

Traveling back to the hideout, they would actually make it there quicker on foot, traveling at a fast pace they'd make it in under 5 hours. 

Now to do some math: By now the dead goblins would have been detected and there would have been some rearranging in the cave. Klarg would have dispatched a runner to King Groll but not have received any as off yet. He would however have taken care to put another sentry out, probably with the wolves as backup. So that would leave a single Goblin on the lookout near the kennel. But that resentful sentry would not do their utmost best, to keep an eye out, especially as she is being distracted by the hungry wolves. She prefers staying out of sight as much as possible, either loitering around the entrance area or sticking to the back of the kennel cave where she is out of reach from the beasts.

🎲1d2, 1=sentry in the tunnel, 2=sentry in the back: 2

So when our party of adventurers arrive at the cragmaw-hideout they don't see anyone and decide to enter stealthily, Quillathe leading the way and Harbek closing the ranks with a Light-pebble in his hand. 

🎲Stealth (DC 9), Quillathe +2: 1x

Already as the wizard is trying to enter the sound alerts the sentry in the kennels, she whistles loudly to warn the others, runs over and sets loose the wolves.  

Download full Battle Report (including all rolls and maps)

Rushing in quickly the party dispatches of the Sentry and most of the wolves, combining well-aimed arrows with a Burning Hands - spell cast by Quillathe. The last remaining wolf is seriously injured and poses no threat anymore. However, as the adventurers advance through the tunnel a tidal wave of water surprises them and washes most of them out into the clearing. Seeing a goblin spy on them from the bridge, Harbek quickly ushers his comrades up the steep slope that leads to the goblin den. 

The den is still reeking of death and no sign of life comes from there so the group carefully advances through the tunnel until they reach the bridge that spans the passage below. Crossing it they see another tidal wave wash past without doing any harm and quickly advancing they find the remainder of the goblins. Harbek, who has been taking the lead keeps himself up with his healing spells and together they manage to drive the last goblins into a final cave where they hear a booming voice usher commands. 

Here Harbek halts and, magically amplifying his voice he calls out: “Flee, Klarg! Flee now! We have come to collect your bones!”
Quillathe, taking her cue from that rushes up beside him and fills the air with the sound of soft, ominous music. 

A large wolf suddenly jumps out of the darkness ahead and grabs the dwarf by his throat. The beast quickly dies, Egarts arrow lodged in its eye and Haunui rushes forward to quickly stop the bleeding and stabilize Harbek. As Drusa en Egart step forward to face the leader of the goblins, all they hear is scrambling as a large, hairy shape followed by the last two Goblins climbs down a narrow chimney to the kennel and flees from the cave. Klarg and the Cragmaw Goblins here are defeated. 

As the book states I award each character 275XP, which means that they will level up whenever they finish another long rest. 

In Klargs cave the party finds a lot of stolen goods marked with the image of a blue lion, the symbol of the Lionshield coster, a merchant company that also has a trading post in Phandalin.

Klarg has left his treasure chest behind, in which the party find: 
600 copper, 110 silver, two potions of healing and a jade statuette of a frog with tiny golden orbs for eyes (worth 40 gold). The potions go to Quillathe and Egart, since they do not possess any way of healing themselves and Harbek, who has a love of stonework, takes the frog. 

🎲Inidividual loot on the three killed goblins, 3 x 1d100: 17, 29 and 86
🎲3d6 gold and 10d6 copper: 14 gold and 35 copper

Klargs Cave offers some shelter and since Harbek is unconscious for the next (🎲1d4) 2 hours, they get rid of the Goblin corpses, throw them in the den and make camp for the night. 

Solo LMoP - 04. Cragmaw Hideout

Last we left, our group of adventurers, led by a very grumpy Harbek were making their way through the woods along the trail the goblins left, following their tracks. It is after about half an hour, 10 minutes after the pit trap that they reach the edge of the forest and see the following, as stated by the flavor text in the adventure. 

Following the goblins’ trail, you come across a large cave in a hillside five miles from the scene of the ambush. A shallow stream flows out of the cave mouth, which is screened by dense briar thickets. A narrow dry path leads into the cave on the right-hand side of the stream.

Now at this point the characters have found Cragmaw Hideout, through they don't know the name yet. They are each awarded with 75XP.

Now, Harbek would stop his beating around the bush at this point and a silent discussion would ensue whether or not to advance. Of course they will try their luck in the end but this gives me a moment to consider my lone goblin from the first encounter. Having followed the party this far he now has to make a choice: he can either wait and attack them or try and warn his fellow goblins that lay in waiting near the cave entrance. I'll have him do a combination of both, giving off a warning when the characters are halfway through the clearing. The thicket that parts the stream from where the goblins are hidden looks (and is) impenetrable from this side so advancing directly seems the only option. A loud scream begins the fight. Only Quillathe, who speaks Goblin understands it, coming from the woods behind them: "Intruders! Intruders on their way!"

Download Full Battle Report (including rolls and maps)

From the thicket arrows fly but bounce off armor and shields as a group of goblins attacks. Rushing in with weapons drawn the party quickly cuts down two of them while the third rushes off into the cave, wheezing and drawing breath to shout for help. But Quillathe steps forward, blowing into a palm full of rose petals and muttering an arcane word and the breathing of the goblin calms suddenly and he falls onto his face, snoring softly. 

The goblin who ran away however came close enough to one of it's comrades that this second goblin would be within the radius of Quillathes sleep spell. Since she rolled for 22 HP of creatures to be affected and the fleeing goblin had only 9 left, the other one would fall asleep anyway (given that the max HP it could have would be 12). This secondary goblin however was standing atop a bridge that intersects the main tunnel of the cave. So it might be possible that he fell down. I'll roll a luck check for him, which is a straight d20. 1-10 means bad luck, 11-20 is good luck. 

🎲 Luck Check: 18 (good luck)
So the goblin would have fallen onto the bridge and not taken the tumble down into the tunnel. With 1 minute on the sleep spell Quillathe would quickly enter the tunnel, notice the sleeping goblin on the bridge with her darkvision (maybe a piece of rock he used to whet is teeth with tumbles down with a splash) and would quickly pull her own target out of the tunnel into the clearing where he would quickly be tied down by the party and taken back into the bushes to be interrogated. While doing so she would notice the sound of snarling dogs or wolves from a side-cave near the entrance. 

🎲Intimidation Harbek +3, advantage because of situation and aid (DC 10): 17 (success)

The terrified goblin tells the adventurers everything he knows. The party learn from him that Sildar and Gundren were waylaid by the Cragmaw-Goblins as ordered by their chief, a bugbear called King Groll who presides in the Cragmaw Castle. Quillathe would immediately inquire about it's location and learn that it is roughly 20 miles to the East in Neverwinter Wood. Gundren and a map that was found in his position have been delivered to Groll, while this part of the tribe is holding Sildar captive in the eating cave. Their local leader is another bugbear called Klarg. Also, the goblin mentions someone called 'The Black Spider', who seems to be involved in the proceedings around Gundren and his capture. The wolves are chained up near the entrance, they are Klargs pets. 

All of this is a lot of information, and the party will have to decide what to do with the Goblin, that is sniffeling an begging for his life. The party does know however that he might run away to warn King Groll if they let him live so they'll tie him up as good as they can and leave him at the edge of the forest to be taken to Phandalin where they hope to imprison him if possible (though Egart would prefer just to slit his throat). 

Unsure if this plan works out, we'll roll for the party's attempts to tie the goblin up and give him one attempt to wiggle out of his binds.

🎲Sleight of Hand, Egart +5, with advantage because of help: 16
🎲Dexterity Check, Goblin +2, with disadvantage because of restrained condition: 14 (fail) 

Finally I'll roll for individual loot again.

🎲3 x 1d100: 39, 44 and 26
🎲8d6 silver and 5d6 copper: 25 silver and 19 copper, divided as equally as possible.

With their quarry safely stored near the trail the adventurers move onwards to the dark entrance of the cave. Now the situation is this: They know that the eating cave, where Sildar is being kept is to the left of the entrance. But they also know that there is a sentry on the bridge (Quillate's spell would have faded by now). Also, it is dark inside and only Quillathe and Harbek have Darkvision. So either they need to take out the sentry before he can raise the alarm or they need to sneak in without any light, trying to make as little noise as possible. The other option would be using magic but Harbek does not have any spells prepared that would be useful in this particular situation. 
Quillathe might try Sleep again, which would probably work but that would render her incapable of casting any more spells until a short rest was had. However, failing in subduing the goblin would lead to more problems, so she will sacrifice her last spellslot for another sleep spell. 
To get to the goblin Quillathe will need to sneak past the side-cave containing the wolves again, and since they might come into play, let's get them some HP.

🎲HP Wolves, 2d8+2: 12, 11 and 10
🎲HP Goblin Sentry, 2d6: 7

Now, about the wolves. The flavor text reads as follows: 
Just inside the cave mouth, a few uneven stone steps lead up to a small, dank chamber on the east side
of the passage. The cave narrows to a steep fissure at the far end, and is filled with the stench of animals. Savage snarls and the sounds of rattling chains greet your ears where three wolves are chained up just inside the opening. Each wolf’s chain leads to an iron rod driven into the base of a stalagmite.

Now, the wolves only play a bigger part if a character comes into sight, which is not the plan for the moment.
The main passage from the cave mouth climbs steeply upward, the stream plunging and splashing down its west side. In the shadows, a side passage leads west across the other side of the stream. In the shadows of the ceiling to the north, you can just make out the dim shape of a rickety bridge of wood and rope crossing over the passage ahead of you. Another passage intersects this one, twenty feet above the floor.

Quillathe will sneak by and try to get to the goblin. 
🎲Stealth Quillathe, +2 (DC 9): 17 (success)
🎲Sleep, 5d8: 29
🎲Luck Check Goblin: 1
So Quillathe sneaks up quietly through the tunnel, blows a swirl of rose petals towards the bridge and the goblin softly drifts to sleep... before tumbling down and smashing into the lower tunnel 
🎲Fall Damage, 2d6: 11 

That kills the goblin outright, which is another way of solving the problem, to be honest... 

Now Harbek picks up a small pebble from the stream bed, covers it almost entirely with his fist and casts Light on it. He uses his fingers to control the amount of light the pebble sheds for the moment and guides the other three adventurers inside. Knowing the location of the eating cave to be to the west they would observe this passage and decide to climb it. With Quillathe keeping an eye out it would be up to Harbek to lead the way. 

Now the Western passage is chocked with rubble and has a ledge halfway through that will give way under a weight bigger than 100 pounds. Now, a dwarf cleric in full chain mail would definitely outweigh that so once Harbek is halfway up the slope, it comes tumbling down. 

🎲Dexterity-save Harbek, -1 (DC 10): 17 (success) 

Luckily Harbek avoids a nasty fall, grumbling something about not wanting another tumble today and climbs up to the passage above with the others following him as quickly as possible. 

Now at the top of this slope there is the entrance into the goblin den, with 6 of them being just inside. There are also fires burning here so there is a source of light which would enable Harbek to not have to keep up the light-spell. But, being this close to the goblins he will still need to try and keep quiet.

🎲Stealth check Harbek, -1 disadvantage (DC 9): 2 (fail)

So Harbek climbs up, his armor rattling and a voice in goblin shouts out something from inside the den after which a long-nosed, warty face pokes around the corner, eyes widening as it screeches a warning and the battle starts. 

Download Full Battle Report, including all rolls and maps

It is a hard fight fought. Having to scramble up the rubble-strewn slope the group finds itself welcomed by a hail of goblin arrows as the small monsters retreat to the back of their den. Drusa, pushing herself in front of her comrades is gravely injured and only saved by Harbeks healing magic the first time only for her and the dwarf both falling a moment later as the group advances on the goblins. Arrows and spells taking one goblin after the other the leader of the band suddenly grabs a bound figure by its hair and shouts: "Truce, or this human dies!". 
It is no one but Sildar Hallwinter, his face swollen by blows, wrapped up in ropes and within in inch of his life. But the old knight spits out a clot of blood and groans: "Don't trust him..."
Quickly rushing in Haunua, Egart and Quillathe manage to kill the last of the goblins, but not before Sildar has taken a sword to the throat. A few panic-filled moments pass as the still standing adventurers struggle to save the dying ones but finally it seems that Sildar, Drusa and Harbek will live, though they are unconscious for the moment. 

🎲1d4: 4 hours of unconsciousness for Harbek, Sildar and Drusa

🎲5d100 for individual loot on the goblins: 52, 30, 19, 24 and 47
            => 🎲8d6 silver and 15d6 copper: 31 silver and 49 copper, distributed as evenly as possible
On top of that Yeemik has 3 gold teeth (each worth 1 gold) and 15 silver. The silver is distributed but Egart pockets the teeth.

Now, with no means of healing the unconscious party members and knowledge of this goblin-bands chief still living and possibly nearby the party would need to resolve to quietly retreating from the cave. Now that the passage between the tunnel and the goblin dan has collapsed it is only rough terrain and with Haunui, Egart and Quillathe working together they manage to get the entirety of their party out of the cave. Since the Goblin Sentry has tumbled to his death I am not even rolling for Stealth here, they just manage to escape, carrying the unconscious members of their party one by one down the passage, then out of the cave, back to the trail and finally back to the cart. The entire process would take them about an hour and a half this time and by the time they come back the still very hurt wizard just sits down and refuses to do any more heavy lifting. 

It is up to Haunui and the halfling rogue to use the oxen to pull the horses out of the way, load the wounded onto the cart and hitch the beasts again. 

Finally, it is about three hours later that the party finally makes their way from the scene of the ambush and heads for Phandalin again. When the four hours have passed and Sildar awakes - along with Drusa and Harbek - he agrees with the choice made, a rest is needed for all of them.

One more thing to resolve: With all that has been happening Egart found a quiet moment to kill of the goblin captive they had left behind. Returning with the robes a bit more blood on his hands he just shrugs at his two companions and after the fight they had they all realize that he did what needed to be done. He does ask the party if they are willing to return tomorrow to clear out the caves and put a stop to the raids. 

Solo LMoP - 03. Goblin Ambush

After having a bit of basic character development it is now time for the actual adventure to begin. Reading the flavor text at the beginning of the next section we now know the following: 

You’ve been on the Triboar Trail for about half a day. As you come around a bend, you spot two dead horses sprawled about fifty feet ahead of you, blocking the path. Each has several black-feathered arrows sticking out of it. The woods press close to the trail here, with a steep embankment and dense thickets on either side

Now, none of our characters has a more than mediocre connection to nature or animals which leads me to believe they would probably not rush in blindly. They would also probably realize that the horses would need to be removed to pass through. 

Seeing dead horses can mean several things, an ambush not necessarily being the first thing that comes to mind. But I read a bit further on that there are actually four goblins hiding in the woods. According to the book I should roll just one stealth-check for all the Goblins, but as a DM I would rather roll individual ones. 

🎲 Stealth checks goblins: 16, 10, 10, 18

That means that with their passive perception all players except for Egart would notice at least some rustling in the leaves, guessing that someone is keeping an eye out. This in turn would mean that the adventurers are ready, their weapons at hand, a shield around Tarbeks arm, instead of them walking up to the horses and being ambushed blindly. 

Given the fact that we have a rogue in the party, that would be warned by the others of there being movement in the bushes, there is a different approach they might take. Having not fully turned the corner Egart might try to enter the underbrush and see for himself if he can sneak up on anyone. His personality traits clearly states he does like to improvise, so I'll roll a Stealth check for him against the goblins' passive perception (9): 🎲 Stealth Check Egart: 19

So, slinking off the wagon, scrambling up the embankment and entering the bushes, slowly moving towards where he finds a green-skinned figure lurking. Now he could go for a grapple, trying to disarm the goblin but he is of halfling size and also of a criminal background. In his case I'd say he'd go for the easy solution, being a quick stab with the shortsword.

🎲 Goblin's HP, 2d6: 8
🎲 Shortsword attack Egart (with advantage due to being hidden): 20 (hit)
       ->🎲Damage, 1d6+3 piercing + 1d6 sneak attack: 9 

Slitting the goblins throat from behind without anyone noticing, Egart has cleared one of the four threats already without combat ensuing. But, having not communicated much about what he was up to Egart now has no way of letting his friends know what has ensued. He would need to sneak back to their cart first. But, having killed his prey easily and not having seen the movement in the bushes himself first he'd have no idea that there are more goblins hiding. So he would probably make a rash decision here, either misinforming his friends or alerting the goblins. I'll roll for that.
🎲 1d2, Misinformation or Alert: 1 (Misinformation)

Egart comes back out out the bushes, shooting his compatriots the 'finger crossbows' (thumbs up) and, assuming that the threat has been dealt with heads onward towards the dead horses. And here is, where we roll initiative as his fellow adventurers start shouting: "Ho, there Egart, wait! There's more...", just as the remaining goblins attack. 

Download Battle Overview (Rolls and Maps)

It all happens in less than a few seconds. Arrows flying from the underbrush, Egart giving a grunt of pain before firing his shortbow into the bushes, Haunui letting loose another arrow and before the ladies can join in the fray there is silence again as the small bodies of a few goblins roll down the slopes besides the road. 

The book does not give any indication of any loot, but I'll say that Egart can retrieve his arrow (since the Goblins use Shortbows as well) and I'll roll three times on the individual treasure table: 
🎲3x1d100: 21, 34 and 46
🎲10d6 copper and 4d6 silver: 23 copper and 13 silver
I divide this as equally as possible between the adventurers. 

Now, since they did not get hurt badly they would inspect the scenery and realise that the horses belong to Sildar Hallwinter and Harbeks cousin Gundren Rockseeker. They'd find an empty leather case near the dead beasts that Harbek would pocket. While he does that Harbek and Haunui would search the area for any signs of where Gundren and Sildar have gone to.

🎲Survival Haunui, advantage because of aid from Harbek (DC10): 16 (success)

The two men manage to find a trail leading to the North. It seems that it has been heavily trafficked by goblins and apparently two larger creatures have been dragged along it. 

Note to self: One goblin has escaped from the fight, I will not forget him. The book says that any survivor heads for the trail and so will he, but he'll instead follow the party at a save distance, attacking them from behind when he gets a chance. 

Now to determine the marching order we'll need to have a look at the personal preferences. Egart would not want to go first, but Drusa would. Haunui might want to take charge, but he looks up to Drusa and will therefore let her lead on. Now Quillathe would not mind staying in the middle of the group so the only one doubting Drusa's leaderships position would be Harbek. They discuss it for a while. 

🎲Persuasion Drusa: 6
🎲Persuasion Harbek: 21 (natural 20)

So Harbek would be the one in the lead and with his passive perception score of 13 he would easily spot the hidden snare that they encounter after about 10 minutes of hiking along the trail. He'd keep his eyes open after avoiding that trap. 

🎲Perception Harbek (DC 15): 13 (fail)
However he does not notice the camouflaged pit the goblins have dug a bit further on, paying more attention to the tree-branches to see if another snare has been hung. His foot hits the cover of the pit and the branches break. 
🎲Dexterity Save Harbek (DC 10): 2 (fail)
🎲Fall Damage, 1d6: 3 

The dwarf topples over forward and with a muffled curse falls down into the 10 feet deep hole. Red-faced and grumbling under his breath he climbs out, breaks off a branch from one of the trees and continues, tapping the trail with the stick. Luckily for him he is in front and cannot see the grinning faces of his compatriots. 

Solo LMoP - 02. The first journey together

 In the city of Neverwinter, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker asked you to bring a wagonload of provisions to the rough-and-tumble settlement of Phandalin, a couple of days’ travel southeast of the city. Gundren was clearly excited and more than a little secretive about his reasons for the trip, saying only that he and his brothers had found “something big,” and that he’d pay you ten gold pieces each for escorting his supplies safely to Barthen’s Provisions, a trading post in Phandalin. He then set out ahead of you on horse, along with a warrior escort named Sildar Hallwinter, claiming he needed to arrive early to “take care of business.”

You’ve spent the last few days following the High Road south from Neverwinter, and you’ve just recently veered east along the Triboar Trail. You’ve encountered no trouble so far, but this territory can be dangerous. Bandits and outlaws have been known to lurk along the trail.

This is the flavor text that brings us into our adventure. Last time I have spend some time entering the five premade characters into the game and thinking a bit about how they met. Drusa, Haunui, Egart, Harbek and Quillathe now travel on a wagon towards the town of Phandalin. 

Harbek and Haunui are the ones with proficiency in land vehicles, but the adventures states that this skill in not necessary to steer the oxen cart. The map in the book states that one hex on the grid equals 5 miles, making the distance between Neverwinter and Phandalin while following the road a total of 14 hexes, or 70 miles. Traveling at a slow pace (heavily laden oxen cart is not going fast) that would mean that the entire journey would take 4 days. That is quite some time to get to know each other a bit when there is nothing more to do than steering an easily commandeered vehicle. 

Drusa likes to flatter people, but does not like to get dirty. So it would be important for her to boost her position in the group as at least a temporary leader-figure. 

🎲Persuasion-check Drusa: 6 
🎲Insight-checks: Egart 16 (success); Harbek 21 (success); Haunui 4 (fail); Quillathe 17 (success)

Only Haunui however easily accepts the more experienced adventurers lead, the others smirkinly see through Drusa's attempts. Especially Harbek understands the insecurity that hides behind that facade of flattery. 

Egart, who not only has a criminal past in Phandalin, but also an aunt, would keep quiet most of the time and try to listen to the conversations his compatriots were having to try and figure out their motives. Especially Harbeks intentions are interesting to him. Harbek, who is outspoken about his want to teach the Redbrands a lesson would not pose a hard nut to crack about that, so I won't roll for it.

Egart, Harbek and Drusa are all proficient in the use of playing Cards, and Harbek brought a set of them. Passing the time of the travel we would have 3 nights of camping that would allow for some gambling. First, let's see if Harbek can motivate Haunui and Quillathe to play with them: 

🎲 Persuasion-check Harbek (DC 5): 7

The first night they play. First night is a fair play session, each one betting an amount that I'll roll for on the individual treasure table (Challenge 0-4) from the DMG. Then we'll make ability checks for the five of them, seeing how well they do in the course of the night. 

🎲 Rolling for stakes, 1d100: 85 -> 🎲3d6 gold: 6 gold

Quillathe does not have that amount of money, so she does not play. We'll roll checks for the card game now: 

🎲 Harbek using his Wisdom to see how the other players are doing: 21
🎲 Drusa using her Charisma to bluff: 21
🎲 Egart using his Charisma as well: 16
🎲 Haunui using his Wisdom to try and understand the game and his fellow players (no proficiency): 8

With each one betting 6 gold, the total is 24, which is then split between Drusa and Harbek.

🎲 Rolling for stakes of the second day, 1d100 : 4 -> 🎲5d6 copper: 20 copper

The second day, given the relatively big amount of money that was lost the last day, Quillanthe offers to play, but she wants much lower stakes since she does not have that much money. The game is played again that night, with everyone participating this time. Egart wants to play the long game, hoping to take more money from his traveling companions tomorrow and intentionally plays badly. 

🎲 Harbek (Wisdom+proficiency): 18
🎲 Drusa (Charisma+proficiency): 18
🎲 Egart (Deception to loose intentionally, against the highest passive insight in the party, DC 13): 17 (success)
🎲 Haunui (Wisdom): 13
🎲 Quillathe using Intelligence to comprehend the rules and play smartly: 5

Once again Harbek and Drusa win the nights game. With 5 players, the total winnings were 100 copper, split between the two winners. 

Harbek and Drusa start bonding over their shared talent at playing cards so when the third day comes they are eager to play again.

🎲 Rolling for stakes of the third day, 1d100: 19 -> 5d6 Copper

At this point, Egart would want to motivate his fellow adventurers to raise the stakes. Drusa and Harbek would agree with him but Haunui and Quillathe would not, leaving his odds at even.

🎲 Persuasion check Egart (DC 10): 14 (success)

Agreeing to raise the stakes a bit, the party decides to play for silver instead of copper. 

🎲 Rolling for stakes, 4d6 silver: 11 silver

The game is played again, and since the stakes are still pretty low, Egart does not try to cheat yet. All players therefor utilize their best abilities for the game: 

🎲 Harbek (Wisdom+proficiency): 7
🎲 Drusa (Charisma + proficiency): 10
🎲 Egart (Charisma + proficiency): 11
🎲 Haunui (Wisdom): 13
🎲 Quillathe (Intelligence): 8

This day, after three days of traveling, possibly with less-than-favorable weather there are a lot of distractions and it is Haunui who, using his fellow players annoyance to his advantage wins the 55 silver that have been put in. Cheerfully he goes to bed, leaving especially Egart - who has not won a single game since departing from Neverwinter - eager to win back some coin. 

That leaves us on the subject of food. Most of the adventurers started out with some rations, but not all of them. Quillathe has no food with her, but the good-hearted Harbek gladly shares his rations with her. Drusa brought only enough for two days, but Haunui will feed her for the third day of travel. 

There we go, we have not even moved into the first encounter and already we know a lot more about our band of adventurers. 

Egart has some resentment towards the others for loosing a lot of coin with playing cards and is determined to win it back. 
Quillathe has shown herself to be smart enough not to play a game that she cannot affort but on the other side has proven herself to be very inexperienced as an adventurer, bringing no rations and having to rely on her companions to feed her. 
Haunui is not the best card player in the group, but he has had some luck last night and feels good about that. 

This dynamic will help us make decisions in the next chapters to come. For now we'll leave our adventurers to their well-earned rest. 

Solo LMoP - 01. The Party

Playing Dungeons and Dragons by myself... and making a good story out of it. 

For many years I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons, both as a player and lately also as a DM. But in the later years my chances to be a player have been severely limited by social distancing, time management and my personal life – about which I will not be complaining since being a human being with human connections is a precious thing that I value highly. Over the last few months I have tried to play D&D via discord, using the Play by Post system but that just resulted in me spending more and more time on my phone, playing PbP and neglecting my actual life. As a person who is very much susceptible to any kind of addiction I needed to stop myself and quit that hobby cold turkey.

But now I am back to where I was. I am missing the chance to actually play. So I will try this idea that I have been toying with for some time: writing myself through a prewritten module while determining choices based on the characters backgrounds, motivations or random rolls. I have tried this before but now I will put the story that emerges in writing, blogging about it whenever I finish a specific chapter of the game. Maybe this will increase my enjoyment of the game. I will use quite a few tools to do that. First of all I will use the digital toolkit of www.roll20.com to make my characters. To create fitting character art I will use www.heroforge.com and to create tokens to go with that I'll use Tokenstamp. 

To start out easy I will play myself through the starters adventure “Lost Mines of Phandelver”, using the premade characters, because why not? If it flops at least I won’t have invested an enormous amount of time and effort.

The starting party consists of a Dwarf Cleric, a Halfing Rogue, a High Elf Wizard and two Human Fighters.

🎲First Roll, based on the amount of possible name origins for the human name, choosing out of the 17 options from XGTE: 15 (Roman) 
🎲Rolling for name gender, 1d2 (not because of bigotry, just for the name origin): 2 (female) 
🎲Rolling for name, 1d100: 34 (Drusa) 
🎲Rolling for the second human name origin, 1d17: 14 (Polynesian) 
🎲Rolling for name gender, 1d2: 1 (male) 
🎲Rolling for name, 1d100: 29 (Haunui) 
🎲Rolling for the name gender of our Rogue, 1d2: 1 (male) 
🎲Rolling for name, 1d100: 22 (Egart) 
🎲Rolling for the name gender of our Cleric, 1d2: 1 (male) 
🎲Rolling for name, 1d100: 46 (Harbek) 
🎲Rolling for the name gender of our Wizard, 1d2: 2 (female) 
🎲Rolling for name, 1d100: 71 (Quillathe)

So here we have our five adventurers: 

Drusa, a female human fighter with the noble background (Lvl 1 Character Sheet) (Full Character Art) (Token)

Haunui, a male human fighter with the Folk Hero background (Lvl 1 Character Sheet) (Full Character Art) (Token)

Egart, a male lightfoot halfling rogue with the criminal background (Lvl 1 Character Sheet) (Full Character Art) (Token)

Harbek, a male hill dwarf life cleric with the soldier background (Lvl 1 Character Sheet) (Full Character Art) (Token)

Quillathe, a female high elf wizard with the acolyte background (Lvl 1 Character Sheet) (Full Character Art) (Token)

These characters are given to me by the game itself, they have very little background as is. There is however a bit of background written on the back of the sheets that connects the characters to the story and gives them a plot hook to start off with. Taking these hooks, I try to logic together their motives to become a traveling party of adventurers. I will italicize the parts of the story that has come from my own imagination, to clearly separate the given and the invented. 

Drusa, who is heir to a meaningless title since her ancestral home has been completely eradicated by the eruption of Mount Hotenow wants to join forces with the knight Sildar Hallwinter to take the reigns in Phandalin, a small frontier town that is currently being rebuilt after haven been sacked five centuries ago. She is the most easy of the five characters to link to the story, having a straightforward goal that drives her as well as the abilities that make her a logical choice as a leader of this group.

The eruption of the mountain also robbed Haunui's family of their home. Impoverished they found their way to Neverwinter where he has spend the last few years working as a porter in the harbor. He tasted fame when he stood up to an abusive captain and feels he is destined for greatness. Wanting to return to one day clear his hometown of evil - the ruined town of Thundertree - Haunui has joined up with Drusa who he met at an Inn and bonded with over their shared story of the volcano destroying their homes.

Harbek, who after his disappointing time as a mercenary of the Mintarn militia has devoted himself to Marthammor Duin, the dwarven god of explorers and travelers. He has heard about a man called Daran Edermath who lives in the town of Phandalin and wishes to rid it of the thugs that throw their weight around the town. Teaching these bullies, called the Redbrands, a lesson sounds like a worthy goal and since he is fed up with the life of a guard Harbek has been asking around for a caravan traveling to Phandalin. He joined up with Drusa and Haunui for that very goal.

Egart has reasons to join this group of adventurers that align with Harbek's, though because of a different origin. Egart was a member of the Redbrands once, but has been betrayed by someone within their ranks and had to flee the town because the leader of the band of thugs - a wizard named Glasstaff - wanted him dead. He now wants his revenge, and having overheard Harbeks conversation with Drusa and Haunui he quickly rushed to join up as well, since these strong folks with even stronger motives and opinions might prove to be the perfect cover he needs to exact his vengeance. 

Finally there is Quillathe, who has spend most of her life in service to the temple of Oghma, the god of knowledge, studying the lore of the multiverse. She has had visions of an ancient ruin that once held a shrine to her god. But the ruin has now been overrun by a goblin tribe who defiled the shrine. Quillathe wants to find the ruin, now called Cragmaw Castle, drive out the goblins and cleanse the shrine. A priest of Tymora living in Phandalin might know more about the ruin. Guided by her vision Quillathe has simply appeared among the other adventurers, stating her desire to join them on their journey. Intrigued by the strangely awkward priestess they have welcomed her amidst their group. 

That is all we need to start with. We have a group of cobbled together adventurers with different motives but a common goal: To get to the town of Phandalin together. It's all we need. I'll pretend not to know more about the adventure here, since it's more fun that way. 

Telling this story step by step, rolling for battle, decisions and other parts of the adventure and trying to make sense of what the dice tell us, I'll play my way through Lost Mines of Phandelver. Telling the tale of this strange group of unlikely allies will help me improve myself both as a player and a DM, I hope. At least it will challenge me to think creatively, that much is sure. 

I'm looking forward to this journey. It's going to be an interesting ride, I'm sure of it.