Lost Mine of Phandelver (Kolbitr DM)

"Agreed.  Let us move out before we get any more attention."

You can head straight to Phandalin, Wave Echo Cave, or back the way you came. (I honestly don't remember what you decided to do with the horses when you left camp, but if you turned them loose they would make their way home and leaving a busted up wagon at Conyberry is no great loss.) If you return to Phandalin you can turn Gundren over to Sildar and stock up on anything you need before continuing to Wave Echo Cave. It will take roughly a day and a half to reach either destination from here, and about a half day to travel from Phandalin to Wave Echo Cave.

"If we're going, we should head back to Phandalin first so we can figure out what's going on with Gundren here," Vandar says.

"That is a sound plan. We shoukd move then before the goblins think enough to come looking for him." Tibern says as he titls his head slightly to point towards Gundren.

The dwarf, unable to move or talk, glares at the group with a cold calculating stare.

You can either carry Gundren or free his legs and make him walk with you. Carrying him will make the trek take 1/2 day longer but allow him less opportunity to escape.

Silas says " we should let him walk so we can get back faster. If the real Gundren is alive we will need every hour we can to find him". Silas will then basically tie a leash from himself to "Gundren".

Vandar nods in approval at leaving Gundred tied, even if his legs are free.

The group sets out navigating their way through the woods with the assistance of the sun shining through the canopy. Gundren dosen't go willingly and attempts to slow Silas down at every opportunity, occasionally pulling the dwarf towards an obstacle or just trying to generally throw him off balance.

Silas please roll a dex check. 

Tibern will move knock the dwarf out when he keeps trying to drag Silas off. "We should have brought the horses so we coukd tie him to one."

11 dex

The dwarf causes enough problems to slightly slow your progress through the fastest, but not significantly. Tibern getting fed up with the dwarfs behavior attempts to knock the dwarf unconscious.

Tibern please roll an unarmed attack (this is non lethal damage, just need a roll to determine how long he is out for and in case of a critical failure.)

Tibern was going to hit him with the hilt of his rapier actually but is so annoyed he instead punches the dwarf in the head.

Attack: Attack: 2 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.

Tibern punches Gundren and the dwarf falls over backwards. Gundren hits the ground and groans as he resists the blackness brought on by concussion, then his eyes roll back and the group observes a rather disturbing occurrence as the form of Gundren begins to writhe and twist. The muscles appear to slither under his skin and rearrange themselves as the bones grow and change. You hear grinding and popping accompanied by squelching and tearing noises as the color of the flesh darkens. After a few moments the dwarf is gone, replaced by a doppelganger. None of you have seen one of these creatures before but you have heard enough stories (you probably thought they were just stories to frighten children) to know what you are looking at.

(In case you are wondering he is still dressed in Gundren's clothes which looks rather silly despite the disturbing transformation. It wouldn't hurt to check his bindings though, since he has changed shape.)

Silas is terrified at the sight of this creatures transformation. He feverishly tries to untie himself from this thing. Eventually just grabbing his short sword and cutting the rope. 

"So....definitely not Gundren then?" Vandar says dryly.  "We should probably head back adn look for the real dwarf.  I suppose we could ask this...thing...when it wakes up, but I'm not sure we would be able to trust it's answer..."

"That would be a good idea and we could question this thing to find out more hints about where he is." Tibern says as he looks at the creature.

(Just a note that this is spring break week, so I’m traveling with family. I’m hit and miss all week)

After a few moments the creature begins to stir, suggesting that it will soon wake up.

Silas is going to try to hide. Behind a log or rock, whatever he can find.