Phandelver Campaign 2022 | Session Notes

by HerbAxe and the DM

20220731

• Gundren left a note, ‘meet me in Phandalen’ (couple of days East).
• Gundern has gone ahead to a town and we will follow with supplies. We need to deliver the wagon to a post.
• Gundren and his brothers had found something ‘good’.
• We are escorted by ‘Sildar’.
• We are entering dangerous territory.
• Ebira and HerbAxe are driving the wagon.s
• The wagon has (about 100gp of value):
  • Mining supplies
  • Food:
    • Flour
    • Salted pork
    • Ale
  • Shovels and stuff
  • 5 Lanterns with oil
• We find 2 dead horses, with black feathered arrows poking out.
• HerbAxe find Gundren and brother’s stamps. The saddles were empty and there is an empty map case.
• I hear a whistling sound (not a bird call).
• None of us notice but arrows start flying at us.
• There are small goblins staring at us from the thickets.
• Battle and inititaive:
  • Goblin 1
  • Goblin 2
  • Erxhalim
  • HerbAxe
  • Ebira
  • Goblin 3
  • Goblin 4
• We capture goblin 4, I feed him a herb, he is out cold.
• Erxhalim finds the goblin’s trail. About a dozen goblins were here, 2 bodies were taken from here.
• The goblin’s boss is called ‘Clarg’. Very annoying.
• We hide the wagon, also take some oil. HerbAxe takes a shot of ale.
• Boblin is on a leash, we go on the trail.
• There is a snare.
• Erxhalim hides in the thickets and follows us.
• We find a large cave (5 miles from the ambush).
• There is a shallow stream comes out of the cave, there is a narrow path going into the cave (opposite side of the river).
• Erxhalim tries to sneak in and assassin’s creeds 2 goblins.
• The path splits, Erxhalim goes straight ahead, HerbAxe and Ebira go on the fork, where there is a barking dog.
• Erxhalim:
  • There is a bridge and shit.
  • He stealth kills a goblin (morbius) and he falls in the stream and there is a splash but no one finds out.
  • He goes ahead, through some passages.
  • He finds Sildar, bound. The goblins appear to wanting to be eating him. The goblin boss is also there.
  • He one-shots the goblin boss. The others know he’s there.
• The others:
  • Find a small chamber, smelling of dirty fir. There are three chained wolves. I calm all of them, unchain one and he goes away.
  • We follow a draft of wind, towards where boblin says his boss is but can’t climb.
  • We trace our steps, find Erxhalim’s tracks. We hear a cry of surprise.
  • We see Erxhalim who just shot an arrow.

20220803

• The goblins think that Erxhalim is the wind warrior prophecy.
• We make boblin the king.
• We decide to free Sildar and fight clarg (the real boss)
• Sildar is wearing an armor with the symbol of the “Lord’s alliegance”
• Sildar takes Claw’s (the guy who died) shortsword and uses some of his ointment.
• We go towards the bridge.
• We’re planning but clarg arrives and herbaxe asks him about his dictionary.
• Herbaxe tries to use ice knife on him.
  • Battle happens:
  • HerbAxe gets badly wounded.
  • Boblin saves him
  • HerbAxe ice knifed Clarg.
  • Erxhalim is down.
  • HerbAxe kills Clarg with a Shillelagh’d club.
• HerbAxe takes his dictionary (book of words)
• Sildar says they took Rockseeker to the actual goblin king.
• We get a lot of loot.
• HerbAxe takes Clarg’s skull.
• ‘The black spider was paying the dwarfs to send Gundren to the king grol’
• We head to Phandalen
• We talk to Sildar:
  • Sildar was heading to inquire about Iarno Alvrek.
• We all level up.

20220809

• On the way to Phandalen
  • We see the town
  • There are ruins around the new buildings (the town used to be bigger)
  • Sildar is much more relaxed
• We go to ‘StoneHill Inn’:
  • There is a human innkeeper, Trilena (Erxhalim has slept with her before).
  • She has a husband named Toblin.
  • Erxhalim gets a drink
  • We all go to our rooms
• The next day, we overhear:
  • An old dwarf farmer called Narth, a gossipy half-elf barmaid called Elsa.
  • Erxhalim tries to flirt with her
  • There is tiefling bard, Chorus, playing music
  • Narth is talking about:
    • Sister gara-el (oversees the shrine of luck) recently left town for a few days, when she returned, she had a scar and was exhausted
  • Elsa tells us about the town:
    • Daran Edermath, an orchard keeper is a former adventurer
    • Try to stay clear of the red brands (a gang which controls Phandalen and extorts people, led by a mysterious figure known as Glass Taff)
  • A miner, Lanar says:
    • Did you hear that at the east end of the Tribor trail, there were some orc raiders
  • James Silgod, a gnomish prospector says:
    • There were goblins on tribor trail attacking trading parties
    • He’d pay 10 gold pieces whoever will kill them
  • He was supposed to find him
• Talking to Trilena:
  • Thel dendrar, the local woodcarver stood up to the red brands, they beat him up and he is bed ridden.
  • The others took his stuff and kidnapped his family
• The redbrands frequent the ‘sleeping giant’ taphouse
• A kid says another kid found a secret tunnel but the red brands caught him.
• The red brands do every bussines except mining cause they don’t want trouble with Halia Faunten. She is the leader of the miner’s exchange.
• Sildar says he will help with the red brands if we help him with Iarno
• We head to the Edermath orchard:
  • We see a fit (;)), silver-haired half-elf with an ornamental sword tending to the orchards
  • HerbAxe takes 4 peaches and 4 apples, goes to the top of the tree and surveys the area
• We go to his cottage:
  • He was in ‘the order of the gauntlet’
  • The order fights against the assassin’s guild (Erxhalim’s group)
  • We tell him why we need our help
  • He already knows sildar
  • He sent them some fruit and knows that their secret base is in Tresendar Manor
  • He tells us that many prospectors were chased by undead near old owl’s well and someone is digging around there (dangerous magic could be around)
  • The ruins are of an ancient magical empire
  • Halia runs the miner’s guild, isn’t someone you want to watch your back (you need to promise her that there’s a reward and she won’t let you go)
• We go to give the cart’s goods to the destination (barthen’s):
  • Barthen and Gundren were trying to find the ‘Lost Mines of Phandelver’
  • More than 500 years ago, dwarves and gnomes made an agreement (Phandelver’s pact)
  • They would gain access to a mine (wave echo cave), with great wealth and magical power
  • Human spellcaster used that energy to create the ‘Forge of Spells’, where magic items can be created
  • This made Phandalen rich, but then Orc attacked and the cave was lost
  • We then Barthen about what happened to Gundren
• We go to ‘Lionshield Coster’:
  • It is a logistics company
  • We return the stuff we stole
  • We enquire about Halia
  • Erxhalim successfully asks the girl at the shop out!
  • The party buys some adventuring gear.
  • HerbAxe gets a Staff of the Python (Nagina!).
• We head to The Miner’s Exchange:
  • There are two people dressed in red, outside the building
  • He says the boss says no one can meet Halia
  • These are red bandits
• We turn around and head to Tresendar manner
  • We see the sleeping giant taphouse
  • I try to go in, Ebira stops me, the commotion causes some red brands to come out
• We fight
• We kill 3, one surrenders
• We wrap him in Nagina and take him aside to interrogate him.

20220907 | Session 8

• Talking to the Red Brand guy:
  • HerbAxe finds out that the sleeping giant is not an actual giant.
  • The guys in front of Halia’s home were just blocking the house cause they were scared of her.
  • The Red Brands didn’t want anyone to meet Halia.
  • There are cursed magic items at the well
• We let him go but then we kill him
• We take some Red Brand gear
• We head back to Halia’s home
• The townmaster is somewhat disappointed.
• We try to fool the guards in front of Halia’s house but they recognise the gear and we start fighting:
  • Ebira hits one
  • HerbAxe becomes a bear and kills them both (a crit)
• We enter the Miner’s Exchange
• We meet Halia
  • She wants Glasstaff’s (the leader of the Red Brands) head and will give us money and access to the mines
  • She gives us info about the Red Brands
  • Glasstaff is probably at Tressendar Manor
• We take a long rest, Erxhalim has a good time (;)) with Linea
• Next morning, we meet the Townmaster for a bit.
• We head to the Sleeping Giant Taphouse
  • Erxhalim and HerbAxe sneak in
  • We come in from the 1st floor window
  • We see 5 guys below, HerbAxe restrains 2 of them with entangle
  • Erxhalim signals Ebira and Sildar to enter, battle:
    • Ebira enters and sees 2 others, he attacks one
    • Sildar takes a shot with his crossbow on the same guy
    • HerbAxe misses a fireball
    • Erxhalim shoots a restrained guy with his longbow
    • Ebira goes down
    • HerbAxe activates Nagina, she misses biting a guy
    • HerbAxe heals Ebira

20220913

• The battle is going on:
  • Erxhalim kills a restrained guy
  • The Red Brands do a little damage to Nagina
  • HerbAxe goes down and becomes a bear, bites a guy and misses his claw attack on one.
  • Nagina kills the guy he bit
  • Erxhalim shoots a guy with his longbow, and throws his dagger of venom and kills the restrained guy
  • A Red Brand bloodies Sildar
  • Ebira kills a Red Brand and injures another
  • Nagina finishes the last guy
• A guy on a carriage approaches the taphouse with a gagged Linene (Erxhalim’s date)
• He is Bearded Mamba, no. 5 on the Assassin’s Guild Scoreboard (Erxhalim is no. 10)
• Le leta hai vo hamari baaton baaton me
• We go back to the Inn, Erxhalim is sneaking around
• Erxhalim sneaks into Lionshield’s Coster (through the chimney)
• He looks around, there is no proof that connects her to the Red Brands.
• We all level up!
• Erxhalim tells us to go to Daran’s House

20220916

• Daran’s house:
  • We meet ‘Yuga Yandex Yenki’ the Barbarian.
  • We decide to head to the ‘undead well’
• We overhear some people in the Smithy talking about how Erxhalim has been promoted to number 9.
• We climb a hill and see ruins in the valley.
• There are about 20 zombies
• We battle:
  • We are in a formation, with Nagina, Ebira and Yuga at the front, HerbAxe behind them and Erxhalim on top of the hill.
  • We kill some zombies
  • HerbAxe is shooting his shortbow, the big guys are using their meele weapons, Erxhalim is sniping them from the hill and Nagina is being Nagina and we defeat that group.
  • HerbAxe snipes two with an ice knife.
  • We battle some more zombies.
  • Nagina gets bloodied :(
  • We clear the zone
  • Ebira kills a single hiding zombie.
  • We find another group
  • Nagina squeezes a zombie to death
• We kill the zombies and approach the well and look in

20220921

• There is a staircase inside, spiralling downwards.
• We hear strange sounds from inside it
• We can see a pile of bones in there.
• We decide to go in.
• We kill 4 more zombies and find Kilarash and his robo dog, Vangaurd.
• We talk a bit and introduce ourselves.
• The well is connected to the Phandelver mines.
• We know that the magic may be connected to the zombies and the magic is in the well/mines.
• We light the cavern a bit, and we see its a wide room and there is also a tunnel.
• The tunnel curves and there is a large cavern on the other side.
• There are 15 zombies, stalactites, stalagmites, a pool of water and a green glowing rock.
• There is a fallen skeleton in heavy armour at the base of the rock.
• The cavern ceiling is being held up by some support beams.
• Kilarash thinks this was the entry point to the mines.
• Our plan: Kilarash will freeze the pool, then we all make ranged attacks on them.
• Battle:
  • We hit some zombies
  • 7 of them break out of the ice
  • Erxhalim kills 2
  • Ebira crits and smites and does 59 total damage and kills the remaining 5
  • There are 7 remaining zombies in the cavern.

20220928

• Battle continues:

  • We see wings made of fire on Ebira’s back which quickly disappear.
  • A portal opens and a dragon-looking guy (Klaus) drops in the middle.
  • He kills a zombie with his javelin.
  • Vanguard uses his flamethrower to damage 2 other zombies.
  • 2 zombies break out.
  • Erxhalim crits and kills the ones damaged by Vanguard.
  • Yuga uses his Trident to kill a zombie and damage another
  • Ebira kills a zombie
  • HerbAxe ice knifes another

• We approach the dead body, Shatterspike tells us that he was also Shar’s Paladin.

• Ebira and Klaus smite the obelisk and it breaks. A green orb inside breaks in a small explosion.

• A coughing figure (woodelf, blue robes, an otter, a scroll, an amulet and a crow skull amulet) pops out of the explosion.

• He is Erevan Meliamne.

• We ask him about:

  • The Black Spider: used to bid on evil magic item auctions.
  • Gundren: he is maybe dead (Erevan can’t read his life force)
  • GlassStaff: he is a wizard gone rogue known as ‘Iarno’ (he was employed by The Black Spider)
  • Bearded Mamba: Erevan tells us to check out the tavern
  • Halia: Rose very quickly without any credentials, doesn’t trust her
  • Linene: In tressendar manor, unharmed, still a hostage
  • HerbAxe: Erevan goes through his mind, and shows him a glimpse of the past. He is leading an army battalion in an ancient war, the size of Phandalen, he has wooden armour and wields a staff with a python’s head (Naginaaa!).
  • HerbAxe’s tribe: doing well
  • Klaus’s family: His brother is ruling ‘Drakonys’ and is brutally killing people.

• Erevan gives us a portal to the inn.

• Erevan leaves.

• At the inn:

  • Bearded Mamba is there, sitting with Trilena
  • Trilena thinks he’s Erxalim’s colleague at the “Logistics Company” he works at
  • We talk, he invites us to Tressendar manor to meet Glasstaff, we refuse and want to attack him.
  • He tells us that if he reaches the door, he’ll signal Glasstaff to execute Linene with his flare gun; if he gets hit then he won’t.

• Him running out:

  • Erxhalim misses (9)
  • HerbAxe misses (19)
  • Ebira misses (15)
  • Yuga misses
  • Kilarash misses
  • Vangaurd misses
  • Klaus misses

• He puts the flare gun aside but requests the party to come to Tressendar Manor to meet Glasstaff.

• We all level up.

20221016

• Mamba is wearing a ring, with a pearl and an empty pearl holder. Kilarash knows that it is a ring of spell storing. He can also tell that he used the shield spell to dodge the attacks. The other pearl has the ‘fog cloud’ spell.
• We discuss

Session 13

• Everyone wakes up to see a commotion outside the Townmaster’s Hall, mob accusing Townmaster Harbin Wester of being the Redbrands’ accomplice

• The party convinces the townfolk that they’ll take care of it and head inside

• The party tricks Harbin into admitting that he was working for them. Daran and Sildar arrive and they all decide to lock him in.

• Daran and Sildar suggest holding elections.

• Meanwhile, the party takes on an old contract to deal with a warband of Orcs on the Triboar Trail.

• As they depart, they encounter Sister Garaele who is tasked with finding a spirit at the ruins of Old Owl Well.

• The party, having already been there, tell her that they saw nothing, just zombies.

• Garaele thanks them and gifts them 3 potions of healing.

• HerbAxe offends Garaele by calling Celestia “The Goddess of Bad Luck and Farts”

• Right before they leave town, Ebira goes to The Smithy, where they meet Thagren the human blacksmith

• Elris and Erxhalim try to fuck around, and quickly find out that they should not (excellent demo of the scientific method)

• Ebira pays 1500gp for Plate Mail Armor. He’ll get it in 2 days.

• They move out, exploring and talking.

• Encounter the trail of hobgoblins and successfully ambush them.

• One of them sounds a horn.

• This better not be a cliffhanger, Dron I swear to god this better not be a motherfu—

Session 14:

• Destroy Hobgoblins and their Ogres. Fireball OP

• Kilarash’s dog is a bit damaged but he heals himself

• They find “Wanted Alive” posters of themselves worth 25gp (the ultimate insult)

• Posters have the handwriting of The Black Spider

• Kilarash gets a call from Waterdeep Institute of Technology, says they got him an internship. He and Vanguard portal out of there.

• Move on, discover cave with one orc scout.

Session 15:

• The orcs are injured, arrow shafts with blue feathers sticking out of them

• Elris recognizes the arrows and tries to negotiate, but the orcs detect him

• Before either of them can act, Erxhalim shoots, thus starting combat

• It goes decently until the Gigachad war chief comes out and… wait what

• HE DECREASES EBIRA’S FUCKING ARMOR CLASS WHEN HE HITS?

• Oh, it gets worse

• He YELLS AND INSPIRES ALL HIS TROOPS, GIVING THEM ADVANTAGE?

• OH, AND HE GETS PHYSICAL DAMAGE RESISTANCE.

• THEY CRIT ON MOTHERFUCKING HERBAXE?!!!!

• HerbAxe is down, so is Nagina

• The chieftain KO’s Ebira.

• Erxhalim heals HerbAxe a few times, he gets back up and does some damage with Wild Shape forms and Heat Metal.

• But the orcs in the cave have advantage and fucking waste HerbAxe’s Wild Shapes.

• While the tanks are tanking, Ebira, Erxhalim, Elris and Farzumin deal out some very impressive damage!

• Then Farzumin takes a hit and is bloodied.

• It’s looking like #TPK for a moment but then Erxhalim crits with his Psychic Blades and does the second-highest Player damage in the game, ending the chieftain’s onslaught.

• Combat ends.

• Party finds some treasure

  • Perfume
  • Some coin
  • Knowledge of Gruumsh (not really the loot they found but knowledge is the best treasure, right?)

• On the way back to Phandalin, they meet… a fox named Kit!

• Kit is interested in the party, particularly HerbAxe, for reasons he can’t say.

• The party thinks he’s adorable and eventually say goodbye.

• They go back, get Ebira’s armor fixed from Thagren.

• Sildar has been elected the Townmaster, and Daran his Second-in-Command.

• Farzumin tells Erxhalim he’s proud of how he handled himself, and that he’s sorry he wasn’t there for him in his youth.

• Everyone takes a nice, relaxing long rest!

Session 16

• I said the long rest was nice and relaxing.

• I said nothing about the next morning.

• MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

• The party wakes up to find Erxhalim, Elris, Farzumin and 75% of the town poisoned, including Linene and Sildar.

• HerbAxe sees that the water is a very slight tinge of green.

• Ebira gets his old armor back from Thagren.

• Sister Garaele is taking care of the patients. Tells them a little bit about Gruumsh.

• She tells them to find Remus, a druid who visits from time to time and helps out with nature.

• Meanwhile HerbAxe and Daran are looking aorund for a cure.

• Enter… Kit!

• And behind him, a wood elf wearing a painted fox skull mask and carrying a staff. He has a beard. Elves do not have facial hair. How old is he?!

• He introduces himself as Remus.

• Tells the party that the source of the poisoning is a young green dragon who has laired in Thundertree.

• Thundertree is at the base of a dormant volcano. The river runs through a region of volcanic activity, creating purifying springs that are rich in mineral content.

• This is the river supply of Phandalin, and the dragon is corrupting it.

• Remus advises the party to not trust it, as green dragons are the most manipulative types of dragons, and warns them to NOT kill it, since it is a part of the ecosystem so that would only bring more trouble to Phandalin.

• The party sets out for Thundertree.

• HerbAxe sends out his familiar, which recons Thundertree for a bit and gets annihilated by the dragon.

• Dragon calls out to them, tells them that he wants a ceasefire and that they can discuss it in his lair.

• They approach. The dragon introduces himself as Venomfang and begins conversing with the party, all the while moving effortlessly about his lair and throwing furtive glances outside.

• Venomfang says that his sister is out for his hoard, and that he’ll leave his lair if the party takes care of her.

• Says he’ll give them a map to her location.

• … he lied!

• Venomfang unleashes his poison breath weapon.

• Ebira succeeds his CON save but is bloodied.

• HerbAxe and Erxhalim fail.

• HerbAxe is KO’d.

• Erxhalim Ahlai’s body becomes puckered and blistered as he takes his final breath.

• Witnessing this, Farzumin enters a rage and chases after Venomfang who flew to the top of the tower. Despite being poisoned and having disadvantage, he CRITS! doing 48 damage. Black energy erupts from his mind blade and leaves a permanent burn mark on the area around Venomfang’s right eye.

• Ebira revives HerbAxe and armors up.

• And you thought the last cliffhanger was bad.

Session 17

• The dragon unleashes its breath weapon again, KO’ing HerbAxe AGAIN before diving into the springs. Elris is running away, and Farzumin hits Venomfang.
• Pyraxis Emberhorn, a Dragonborn sorcerer, appears from the cottage and runs to the spring. He throws an acid splash which luckily causes a methane explosion which HerbAxe follows up with a moonbeam, severely damaging Venomfang and making him retreat.
• Farzumin and HorseHerbAxe leave for Phandalin with Erxhalim’s corpse to revive him.
• Pyraxis and Ebira find:
  • 470gp
  • Scrolls of Misty Step and Lightning Bolt
  • A battleaxe with Dwarvish runes
• Leave for Phandalin
• HerbAxe and Farzumin arrive and all of Phandalin is mourning Erxhalim’s death. They ask Garaele to bring him back, Remus tries to argue but HerbAxe actually convinces him!
• He goes to Halia’s to get a diamond and also finds the wanted posters that the hobgoblins had, in her drawer. He KO’s her and asks Daran to keep an eye on her.
• The rest of the party also arrives and they all try to bring Erxhalim back to life as Garaele casts Revivify.
• Farzumin, Pyraxis and HerbAxe all make contributions to the ritual to help anchor Erxhalim’s soul.
• The spell succeeds.
• Erxhalim meets Chronus, the God of Time and Death.
• Chronus decides that Erxhalim’s death wasn’t unjust… but his life was. And that if Erxhalim is willing to return, change, and accept Chronus’ bargain, that his life has more value than his death.
• Chronus tells Erxhalim to accompany Ebira on his quest and makes Erxhalim one of his Reapers.
  • Erxhalim must end those who have cheated death, including all Undead and some other targets, including the Elite Assassins.
  • Erxhalim gains The Reaper’s Curse:
    • Erxhalim must always attack an Undead creature when possible. He may make a DC 15 INT save to willingly resist the effect, but the DC will keep increasing by 1 on each of his turns. Vice versa for the Undead creatures.
    • Erxhalim’s attacks have advantage against Undead creatures and vice versa.
    • Erxhalim can sense the presence of Undead within 30 feet of him and vice versa.
    • He may choose to mask the fact that he is a Reaper from other Reapers but then also cannot discern whether someone is a Reaper.
• Erxhalim is back!! But he needs rest. He gets a Ring of the Weak Barbarian from Remus, who tells him to use it well.
• The rest of the party deals with Halia. Asks her some questions about the Zhentarim and throws her in jail.
• They get the axe checked out. It’s “Hew”, a +1 Battleaxe, with the curse that its wielder feels anxious whenever they’re in the forest.
• HerbAxe speaks with Remus. Remus upgrades HerbAxe’s staff to its intended power. However, when HerbAxe falls unconscious, the staff will shatter. HerbAxe asks Remus about his past, but Remus refuses to reveal it “for [HerbAxe’s] sake”. He also cautions HerbAxe against Erevan before transforming into a wolf and departing with his pack and Kit.
• Party takes a long rest.