Dungeons & DiSers Part thirteen: Cave of mutilation

This week’s recap of the squad’s ongoing adventure.

As always, apologies for any errors.


The cast

Gloran Hopback (@grievoustim) Dwarf Monk
Sir Kelross (@anon42112221) Half-elf Ranger
Zana Dalanthan (@anon75298087) Wood Elf Druid
Sir Curtas Sulazar (@keith) Human Fighter
Fannloy Roade (@twentynine) Human Cleric


Previous recaps: Dungeons & DiSers Part one: Don’t know who you are, pal
Dungeons & DiSers Part two: Big Cave and The Bad Deeds
Dungeons & DiSers Part three: Let Sleeping Giants lie
Dungeons & DiSers Part three: Wyvern long face?
Dungeons & DiSers Part five: Back to The Phandalin
Dungeons & DiSers Part six: Shut up and roll the crits
Dungeons & DiSers Part seven: The Linton Gravel Cavern
Dungeons & DiSers Part eight: Staff meeting
Dungeons & DiSers Part nine: Crossbow, Skills & Crash
Dungeons & DiSers Part ten: More killing stuff in a castle
Dungeons & DiSers Part eleven: It’s murder at the Cragmaw, you’d better not kill the dwarf
Dungeons & DiSers Part twelve: I’m here, to remind you, of the cross Owlbear that you gave to me


The story so far
The dwarf Gundren Rockseeker, a close friend of the party, had recently found a map he thought would lead him and his two brothers to Wave Echo Cave; a magical cave that most people assume is a myth.

Gundren and his bodyguard, Sildar, were ambushed on the way to the town of Phandalin. The party rescued Sildar but Gundren had been taken to Cragmaw Castle at the request of The Black Spider and was sadly killed during the party’s rescue attempt.

The Black Spider is a dark elf who wants to find Wave Echo Cave for himself. He’s arranged every setback the party have faced since leaving the city of Neverwinter.

After becoming local heroes in the town of Phandalin, they now have a map that shows them where Wave Echo Cave is.


Part thirteen: Cave of mutilation

Feeling refreshed and a bit stronger after their rest, the Heroes of Phandalin discussed what to do next over a hearty breakfast at The Stonehill Inn.

It was decided that although there is much to do, the most pressing thing was getting to Wave Echo Cave. If the Black Spider was there, he needed to be taken down.

After stocking up on some supplies, they rode their cart across the rough track towards the Sword Mountains. Eventually, they had to park up the cart and make their way on foot into the crags and valleys that led to the cave’s entrance.

As the weather dropped colder and the wind howled around them, they eventually found an opening where the map indicated it would be. And they descended into Wave Echo Cave.

As they made their way cautiously down the low, narrow tunnel, they could hear the distant sound of booming waves, crashing against rocks. It seems Wave Echo Cave got its name from the sound of waves echoing through the cave. Clever.

The tunnel led to a large chamber with a stone pillar, some stalagmites and a large pit at one end. There was also the corpse of a dwarven miner who looked like he’d been there for a least a week. The party did not bother searching him and focussed on the pit instead.

There was a rope leading into the pit that was tied around one of the stalagmites. One by one, they decided to lower themselves down. Gloren and Sir Kelross made it look easy, while Zana slipped the last couple of feet. Sir Curtas and Fannloy both did less well and fell on their arses.

The pit was actually an exposed section of a deeper tunnel, which they followed to the northwest by choice of a coin toss. This roughly cut tunnel intersected with much well made and braced tunnels. As the party explored them, they ran into… a Jelly!

Acting on pure instinct, Gloren swung his axe into the wobbly attacker. He backed away quickly when he saw that all his attack had done was cause the jelly to split. Now there were two jellies!

The party began to question whether they were ready for this jelly.

While Fannloy’s flames and Zana’s poison attacks missed their oozy targets, Sir Curtas and Sir Kelross both managed to put arrows into the jellies as they made their slow advance. One of the jellies got close enough to launch an attack at Sir Curtas, but he deflected it easily.

Zana’s poison spray found it’s mark on the second go and the leading jelly curled and twisted into little more than a puddle. The remaining jelly soon met its end to Sir Kelross’s marksmanship.

The party continued their tentative exploration through the network of tunnels, eventually finding their way to a large chamber in the northern section of the cave. This chamber had a large pool in it, which they did not investigate, choosing instead to creep up the stairs that led to the east.

When they came to the first door they’d seen since entering the cave, Zana crept forward and listened at it. She heard gruff voices talking in a language that sounded like goblin.The team readied their weapons and Fannloy magically threw open the door.

A gang of bugbears turned to look through the doorway as the Heroes of Phandalin unleashed their attack. Zana dropped her spear, Sir Curtas’ crossbow bolt flew over their heads, Gloren hit the ceiling with a crossbow bolt while Fannloy’s hit the floor.

The bugbears we’re not intimidated.

Sir Kelross, marking his target and taking a little longer to aim, managed to fire off two arrows that thankfully each hit a bugbear.

As the beasts rushed forward Zana picked up her spear and threw it into the wall. In her frustration, she turned into her dire wolf form. At her side, Gloren met the advancing bugbear with a fatal axe and punch combo. The bugbears attacked with their usual ferocity and hurt both Sir Curtas and Gloren.

As arrows and flames failed to land, Zana lunged forward and bit a chunk out of one of the beasts, knocking it to the ground. Sir Curtas pushed his sword into another. The response was savage again, with Gloren taking two more bad hits that knocked him limply to the ground.

Fannloy rushed forward and cast Healing Word on Gloren, making the dwarf spring back to life in an instant, his axe never leaving his hand.

Zana and Sir Curtas managed to take down two more bugbears with bites and sword attacks, but this time it was Sir Curtas who felt the retaliation. A brutal strike from a bugbear put him down and bleeding.

Zana knocked another bugbear to the ground, allowing Gloren to cut into its leg with his axe and punch the wound until the beast died from the pain. Meanwhile, Fannloy brought SIr Curtas back from the jaws of death.

The final bugbear looked to the side at the wrong moment, giving Sir Kelross the perfect shot. The beast fell silently to the ground as the arrow sunk deep into his skull.

The party pulled the door closed behind them and decided they would rest here for a while. The only other door to the room had been barricaded. The bugbears clearly didn’t want something coming through that door.

They agreed their watch shifts and hunkered down. They were deep in a cave, under the Sword Mountains with god knows what else waiting for them. Rest would not be easy, but they needed the recovery.

Will they get an uneventful night’s rest? What else walks the tunnels of Wave Echo Cave? Is the Black Spider here? If so, what is he up to? What could scare a gang of bugbears so much they barricade a door to keep it out?

Kill count:
36 goblins
11 hobgoblins
10 bugbears
9 redbrand thugs
7 orcs
7 skeletons
5 wolves
1 jelly
1 ogre
1 doppelganger
1 grick
1 nothic

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Feel like I should have searched that Dwarf :grinning:. I might pop back next week

you missed the bit where I WASTED A SPELL SLOT detecting magic on the rocks cos I thought they ere special, but it was just Fanners making them wobble :triumph:

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Aww fuck, sorry! I’m really, really bad at taking notes :smiley:

I bought some pretty IRL dice btw. My first three d20 rolls were 1, 2, and 3. Bodes well guys!!!1

@sadpunk nah i’m not annoyed at it not being in the recap, I just wanted to share my frustration!

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The one thing I really miss about doing D&D in person is rolling the dice :game_die: :game_die: :game_die:

I hope one day we can all play one time in person

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That would be a great day out!

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