Barty's "Lost Mine of Phandelver"

It was not the first dwarven blood oath Finna witnessed and on the road it usually meant "next attack - no prisoners". Brutal, but justified. She decided that scouting can wait for as long as they are on a familiar (to the group) territory and for now just followed Nemean, cursed with the leadership and at least some knowledge of the place.

Nemean places his hand on Thulgrims shoulder and silently consoles him. He looks to Roland for assistance moving the body and loading it into the wagon. Doing his best to maintain the dignity of the fallen comrade. 

After the body is loaded into the cart, he solemnly leads the way to another fallen friend and seeks to recover Nimbles remains as well.

Tochi quietly picks up the lantern and assists the party in moving the body. Afterwards, he says:

"This wretched place has claimed another soul as well, Nimble, our friend. We should retrieve his body as well" and with that, he goes towards the place where Nimble was killed.

Roland watches and listens to Thulgrim with a sober reverence. When the dwarf's ritual is complete, he follows alongside him.

"Blood for blood it is, then." he agrees.

Roland draws his rapier in one hand, and a dagger in the other. Leaving Talon in a scabbard on his back, he creeps along, trying to conceal himself in the shadows of the cave.

Tharden's body is laid peacefully in the wagon, and with Droop standing vigil, the party returns to the mine. Thulgrim leads the way into the pit, descending the rope with ease, and Nemean takes the lead through an area consisting of numerous intersecting passages. The ceilings here are only six feet high, uncomfortable for all but Thulgrim. Several of the passages end in partially excavated rock faces, one of which holds the fallen body of a half-elf, laid to rest in his chain mail. His pack still holds a wondrous pair of boots, clearly magical, among many simple possessions of an explorer and a pouch filled with gold, electrum, and silver coins.

"We should bring him back to the wagon with Tharden. His possessions could be distributed or buried with him, I'll let you guys decide. The boots he found seem obviously useful, does anyone want them?"

The boots seem strangely familiar to Thulgrim, and if no-one else is laying claim to them, he would like to take them for now at least. He thinks perhaps they are of dwarven make ...? He says that Gundren is more of the treasure-hunter and may probably know something of them. If no-one is opposed, he will put them on, and then help bear Nimble's remains back to the cart.

"I will not preclude anyone from taking whatever item they wish, however, I would prefer to leave the body untouched, with his worldly possessions remaining with Nimble" Says Tochi, carrying the body back to the wagon.

Finna is helping whenever her help is needed, but otherwise does not interfere: honouring memory of a fallen comrade calls for a respectful silence from those, who did not know the guy. She was waiting for the party to reach the unexplored areas, where she would ask the group to stop.

"Let me scout ahead," it was a request but made in a quite insisting tone. "I'll run a couple of rooms forward, then come back and report. I'll be fast and careful, a lone animal would run unnoticed to creatures of that caves. At least less so, than a group of armed people."

Thulgrim grunts his assent to Finna's request, then gritting his teeth and gripping his axe he adds:

But when it comes t' th' fightin' I'll nae be sneakin' up an' stabbin' 'em in th' back.

OOC: For the newer folks, the properties of a magical item can be learned by spending a short rest focused only on that item (or by using identify, which is quicker and can potentially reveal hidden information). Then, if an item requires attunement to use, a different short rest must be spent in meditation with said item.

Added unidentified boots to Thulgrim's inventory.

If everyone is okay with Finna scouting ahead, where would you like her to scout to?

The red square marks the location of the tunnels where Nimble's body was recovered.

(OOC: I'd suggest Finna start by scouting the unexplored passages to the left - probably quick and easy, and don't want anything sneaking up behind.)

(OOC: Also, if Thulgrim dons the boots, and they do have a static property, he would notice their effect under the right circumstances?)

Finna did not argue about direction - leaving no corner unchecked sounded like a good decision. "Ok, here is the thing - after transformation I would not be able to speak, and if I am right, non of you can talk to animals. So, instead of playing Charades, let's simplify things. What monsters did you see here?" Actually Finna was trying to get every known bit of information about caves on the way here and now she took a sharp pebble and draw on the wall several symbols and letters: "Here - this one means "dead end", that square - "big room", G - goblins, BB - bugbear, S - skeleton, M - monster and U - general undead. Now, uless you have a strong stomach - close your eyes, and if you are arachnophobic by any chanse - do not open them."

Finna dropped her backpack, and began. Actually, she exaggerated the horrors of transformation process - druids are not werebeasts.  Watching could give some kind of dizziness to the one watching, but was quite fast and actually hard to catch - one moment you see a girl, then picture becomes fuzzy, you blink - and see an animal. In this case - a Giant Wolf Spider, depending on your view of arachnids - the definition of practical beauty, or the living nightmare.

Spider friendly waved his (her?) front left leg, climbed to the ceiling and disappeared in the left (west) corridor.

(Finna will be as careful and alert as possible! Watching, listening and feeling (vibration)) 

Roland observes the grisly transformation with a mixture of disgust and glee on his face. "That is... very interesting. I think we're going to get along well, although you should know that I murdered several large spiders here earlier. Is there some way to tell you apart from them?"

Good point if a bit too late - before disappearing Finna tapped at the symbols in hope that the group will understand, that other spiders (should they still be here) would not exactly try to communicate. Theoretically, Wolf Spiders had to be easy to tell from usual cave spiders but no one here was an entomologist ... Finna made a mental note to approach group openly and carefully.

DM Screen:

Spider-Finna disappears for a few minutes, leaving the party standing in the glow of Tochi's lantern. The sounds of scraping and scrabbling can be heard, but whether they come from the shapeshifted druid or some other threat lurking in the darkness of the tunnels, they are occasionally drowned out by a familiar boom in the distance that repeats at irregular intervals.

Finna returns, having scouted through as much of the tunnel system as she is able. Many of the unexplored passages end in partially excavated rock faces, but one tunnel leads to an ascending staircase.

In the meantime, Thulgrim has further noticed the quality of the boots he wears. Light as a feather, yet sturdy and hardy like a dwarf, his steps feel lighter and springier in the clearly magical shoes.

That could be because Thulgrim is bouncing impatiently from one foot to the other, eager to get into battle.

He remembers a favorite line from a famous bardic tale called "Scar Wars" ...

      "Bring 'em on, I'd prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around." - Hans Olo, human swashbuckler

"Thank you, Finna, you may have saved us a lot of valuable time", Tochi says, then continues: "Now then, from what I can gather, we have several avenues we can venture towards. First, northward, to the place where we managed to apprehend the Black Spider. It is relatively well-explored already, so I would recommend a different route. Alternatively, we can go east, where there are still quite a few passages untouched by us. I believe that, since we have arrived from the south, and we have no intention of leaving this place until it is entirely scouted out, we should find the southernmost unexplored direction and see it through. Once done with this, repeat the same approach, until the northernmost and southernmost are the same. Only then shall we know, that the cave is fully free of danger and evil".

Then, seeing Thulgrim's unease, he says: "Do not worry, my friend. Your honor will not be besmirched and we shall take the enemies, once we find them, head on. However, we are still in a rather unknown place and, well, indulge me in listening to a quote from a bard's tale. It was the great Rotten Berry, the famous bard from the west, who once said in his immortal work, "Trek under the Stars", that "the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, and irrational fear of the unknown. There is no such thing as the unknown. Only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood". Hence, one must not fear the unknown, but the best manner in which we beat the unknown is to make it known. That is why exploration before the battle is a great thing, it allows us to know the dangers facing us and make sure we emerge victorious. Such a thing is worth losing a little time, don't you agree?"

Thulgrim grunts his approval that Tochi is also well-versed in the classics, but counters:

Hrmph! If'n I recall aright, Rotten Berry also spake thus: "A man either lives life as it 'appens to 'im, meets it 'ead-on an' licks it, or 'e turns 'is back on it an' starts t' wither away." But I suppose we all 'ave our own way o' meetin' things 'ead-on, an' if'n I prefer knowin' by kickin' down the door, and if'n ye feel better 'bout knowin' first afore the kickin', I'll nae complain. They won't be temporarily 'idden fer much longer ...

While Tochi and Thulgrim recited to each other the great bards of old (unsurprisingly both were great fans of good poetry), Finna took some rest - shape-shifting does not come cheap in terms of energy. She studied uncovered map (so many dead ends were both reassuring and disappointing). "What's that here?" she pointed at the marks in the room with a star symbol in it. "Looks like doors. Are they really? You did not have time to look or they are under some spell-lock?"

OOC: I'll drop that form for now. Finna has 1 more of 2 hour Wild Shape before short rest, right?