"Wolfsong, ma'am", Sildar readresses you, "The story of Wave Echo Cave isn't widely known anymore unless you happen on a arcane, Dwarven or Gnomish local historian. Rockseeker is my Dwarven connection and Albrek,  a human wizard is my arcane, so I have a bit more of the story than most. It is said to contain great mineral and magical wealth. More than five hundred years ago, clans of dwarves and gnomes made an agreement known as the Phandelver’s Pact, to share the rich mine. Human spellcasters allied themselves with the dwarves and gnomes to channel and bind that energy into a great forge where magic items could be crafted. It was supposedly a prosperous time for Phandalin too."

"The story goes, disaster struck when orcs swept through the North and laid waste to all in their path."

"There was a huge battle, and much of the caverns were destroyed. Few survived the cave-ins and tremors, and the location of Wave Echo Cave was lost."

"For centuries, I'm told, rumors of buried riches attracted treasure seekers and opportunists to the area around Phandalin, but no one ever succeeded in locating the lost mine."

"In recent years, people have resettled the area. Phandalin is now a rough-and-tumble frontier town. My acquaintance, Albrek, was supposed to head out there to help establish order, but we haven't heard from him, so I was going to check on him when Gundren got my attention."

"These Rockseeker brothers, a trio of dwarves, seem to have discovered the entrance to Wave Echo Cave, and they intend to reopen the mines."

"I'm pretty sure Albrek could substantiate their claim, if I can find him."

Sildar looks down to Robwin on the lower level, "Hey! Elf fellow, I didn't catch your name. Is there anything there looks like quality armor? I don’t see any of my gear about up here. At least they left me in breeches (torn and patched as they are) and undershirt.  To take a man's boots?" (( As described before, there isn't anything of emence value. With work, much of the stuff in this eating cave is salvageable, but that's it. ))

(( TT or Robwin might have heard of Wave Echo Cave roll History or Arcana DC 16 ))

Rinn, While Glufs is clearly seething, she also seems to be listening to you. She takes a few deep breaths, crosses her arms over her chest and seems to think for a while before saying, "Maybe."

She takes another deep breath and starts another question and answer round in goblin. 

After about five minutes of back and forth, she looks at you.

"Farx say no one knows Black Spider. Say Klarg and Yeemik start ambush trail riders for things first. Word to look for dwarf come next. Say word come from King Grol not from Black Spider. Black Spider buy Grol."

"Farx say Grol is chief of Gragmaw. Makes Gragmaw lashers before other clans. Say clan leaders at castle not survive. Say Stonehill die first. Before we leave castle and we not know."

"Farx believe what he say."

Robwin’s history/arcana check (both +5): 18 

Robwin listens to Sildar’s tale. But he doesn’t recall anything immediately, about Wave Evho Cave, from any of his studies...

He gathers the things together that he found. And when Sildar addresses him directly, he wanders back over to the man. He offers him his hand to shake, and says “I’m Robwin Windrobe, apprentice wizard at the school in Neverwinter..... there seem to be scraps of armour here and there, but I can do one better...”.

Still holding the man’s hand he casts mage armor on Sildar, and with a faint “sshhh-ing!!...” sound, a glimmering breastplate of pure magic appears around Sildar before fading to almost nothing. “It will last the day. I can refresh it if need be, but I hope we’ll all be safe again before then!”.

Robwin gives Sildar’s hand one last shake, and offers him a smile, and says, “I’m glad we could find you. Perhaps we should go after your friend Gundren too?”. 

He also hands Sildar the shortsword he found, with a knowing and trusting nod.

Rinn looks between Glufs and Farx in thought for a moment, considering what Glufs just said. "So your kin have been killed then, Glufs? Is that what was upsetting you a moment ago?" Rinn looks at Farx for a long minute, then places a hand on Glufs' shoulder. "Don't worry little friend. You say Farx here believes all that he said, but there is still hope. Perhaps Klarg and Yeemik lied to them all and your king has not thrown in with the Black Spider?" 

Blaire comes back into the eating cave after a bit, "Hey, ya lot, let's gather up in that south cave on the otherside, yeah? It smells better."

Arcana 5

(Magic, what's magic?)

Quote from AndrewFairall >>

Arcana 2

 

(Magic, what's magic?)

   LOLZ!!!!

Rinn, Gaatbort approaches you and Glufs. He says a few things in goblin then goes back across the bridge. 

Glufs says to Rinn, "You right. Maybe." 

"Gaatbort say gather in south cave. Helmet and Blaire and he find things. Tell everyone."

She grabs Farx br the scruff and collar of his outfit at the back of the neck and starts dragging him across the bridge. 

Rinn nods and helps drag Farx across the bridge and to the south cave.

Following Blaire’s suggestion, Robwin gathers with everyone back in the Southeastern cavern. He’ll help Sildar that way, if it looks like he needs any help.

When they get there, he says to everyone, “What’s next? How far are we from Phandalin here? Should we head straight back there now? I think I’d rather have a bed in the tavern than sleep here... ... Sildar? What’s you next move?... ...Should we regroup in town? Let Barthen and the townmaster know what’s going on?”.

The wolves are in the northwest corner of the cave. Gaatbort and Blaire are between them and the rest of the room.

Responding first to Robwin's spew of questions.and observations Eli says, "If I may, these crates and whatnot look like it mostly belongs to Linene Company. You remember the Lionshield Coster? The shops symbol is on most of this stuff."

"Separately, I found 600 cp, 110 sp, two potions of healing, and a little pocket size jade statuette of a frog with tiny golden orbs for eyes. Looks like it's worth something."

Sildar puts in, "I definitely want to get to Phandalin as soon as possible. I am willing to put in fifty gold to your team purse for the escort."

Blaire puts in, "Ikki is out with the horses. He said there is a wagon pushed off the Triboar Trail. We could probably move this stuff to it and use our horses to pull it."

Robwin, with comprehend language, you hear the bound goblin telling Glufs there are traps on the trail between the hideout and the wagon. The clan ate the wagon team.

Glufs nods and looks like she's waiting for a moment to speak.

(( It would probably take you all three or four hours to get everything loaded and pulled together and five hours by wagon to get back to Phandalin. ))

(( With the horses going cross-country, you reached the Cragmaw clan hideout around 1:30 pm. All that's happened within the initial entry and battle was less than a half hour, so I would say with rooting around afterward it is roughly 3 pm now. If you started by 4 pm, you could probably get everything loaded and get to Phandalin by 1 am. You would be exhausted, but could potentially sleep it off with a day of down time/light activity in Phandalin. Enough of you have a high intelligence and have seen enough maps of the area to know this. Whether that is the best action or not is your call. ))

((Robwin is happy to help bundle all this stuff up and get going back to Phandalin. But he’s also chilled out if anyone still has stuff to do or wants to head anywhere else))