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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 8007114" data-attributes="member: 6776411">The Adventures of Fap Longwood #17 (Lost Mine of Phandelver)Infuriated by how easily they were tricked into welcoming a shapechanging assassin into their midst – and the tragic consequences of that oversight – the party return to Cragmaw Castle and this time they are out for blood. They arrive at dawn and Fap picks the lock on the postern gate.Horatio kicks down the door to what turns out to have once been a banquet hall. Eight goblins – including Droop - scamper around a long table laden with filthy dishes and half-eaten food. The goblins stage a half-hearted resistance before turning tail. Two goblins flee through the northern doors, forgetting the tripwire strung across the floor. There is a loud crash as they are both crushed beneath a pile of heavy rubble, completely blocking that exit.The party pursue the fleeing goblins through the ruined castle. After clearing several rooms and passage ways, they enter a neglected chapel to Lathander, abandoned and rededicated to Maglubiyet (a goblin deity). Brian is enraged by this desecration!Three goblins pop up from behind the blood-stained altar, catching the party by surprise. Two goblin acolytes attack with ceremonial daggers, while the cleric of Maglubiyet hangs back, imploring its wretched god to smite the infidels. Mara’s Firebolt hits him in the chest and he flies back, trailing smoke. Spitting curses, the goblin cleric retaliates with Sacred Flame. Brian stomps passed the befouled altar and breaks the cleric’s head open like an egg. Fap and Horatio take out the two acolytes.Brian finds a few holy relics discarded amidst the rubble of the fallen chapel and takes custody of the items until they can be rehomed or the altar re-consecrated.The party push through a thick curtain to the south and enter a long, dark hallway. Fap senses movement up ahead and shouts a warning, moments before a horrible octopus-snake-monster-thing erupts from the shadows, slithering toward the party, maw agape. The creature tries (and fails) to grapple Fap, then Horatio chops it in half.The party continue forward and find two hobgoblin veterans guarding the door to King Grol’s audience chamber. The party kill the guards and kick open the door. The room beyond is carpeted with thick animal furs and the walls are hung with gristly trophies of the King’s former conquests. King Grol, an old – but still physically intimidating – bugbear patriarch sits atop his makeshift throne, flanked by a pair of vicious looking wolves. An unconscious dwarf lies in the corner of the room, secured to the floor by a length of rusty chain.King Grol barks a command and his savage pets lunge to attack! The wolves attack Fap and Horatio, inflicting damage but failing to knock either hero prone. King Grol pulls a javelin off the wall and hurls it at the half-elf ranger/rogue. Fap spins aside (Matrix-style) and avoids the missile by a hairs-breadth. Brian invokes the might of Ilmater and smites the King with Guiding Bolt. King Grol literally pulls the rug from under Fap’s feet, knocking the half-elf prone. Seizing his advantage, the King moves forward and clobbers the dazed ranger for massive damage, reducing Fap to a single point of health. Mara casts Burning Hands, driving the King and his pets back before they can finish the job. One wolf is killed and cremated in the same instant. Horatio puts the second beast down. Fap crawls away and Brian moves in to stop the King going after his wounded companion. King Grol wallops the dwarven cleric! Mara casts Magic Missile. Four bolts of arcane force hammer into King Grol’s chest, driving the life from his body. Horatio hacks off the King’s head and hangs it on the wall above the throne.“Very nice. Very tasteful.” Fap remarks, “If this dungeoneering lark doesn’t pan out, you can always pursue a career in home décor.”Fap draws a bead on the unconscious dwarf and Horatio nudges the figure (none too gently) with the toe of his boot.“No… No more! I told you everything I know!” the figure moans.Brian casts Zone of Truth, centred on what does appear to Gundren Rockseeker – but the party have made that mistake before and they aren’t planning to repeat it. The interrogation begins!“Who are you?”“Gundren Rockseeker.”“Are you sure you’re not a shapechanger pretending to be Gundren Rockseeker?”“What?! No!! I mean, no I’m not a bloody shapechanger!”“Do you know what happened to Sildar Hallwinter?”“We were ambushed by goblins on the road to Phandalin. He was knocked unconscious.”“What did the Black Spider want with you?”“My brothers and I found the lost Spell Forge of Phandelver in a place called Wave Echo Cave. The Black Spider seeks to control the power of the forge and twist it to his own ends. He stole my map so he could find the forge, but he’s not been able to activate it. His goblin allies have been torturing me for information about how it works.”“Do you know how to activate the Spell Forge?”“No. Not yet. My brothers, Tharden and Nundro stayed behind to study the forge while I returned to Neverwinter for supplies. Nundro is a smart lad, I’m sure he’ll have worked it out by now. Oh! I hope they’re OK!”“So what does this Spell Forge actually do?”“In a bygone age, masters of artifice and the arcane would gather in Phandelver and craft magical weapons and armour, using the Spell Forge to seal the magic into the steel.”The party are convinced that this is the real Gundren Rockseeker and break his chains. They break the news of Sildar’s murder, at the hands of a shapeshifting assassin wearing his face. Gundren is furious and insists on joining the party on the quest to Wave Echo Cave, to rescue his brothers and avenge his friend.The party advance to level 4!</blockquote>

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