Pressed for Time (LMoP Session 13)

Game: Lost Mines of Phandelver
System: Dungeons and Dragons 5E
Adventure: Lost Mines of Phandelver
Session: 14
Players: 6
Gameplay Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 5.5 hours

Game Recap

The groups confront road bandits on the Triboar trail without a short rest. On their compressed timeline, will they return to Phandalin in time to complete the next leg of their adventure?

Confrontation on the Triboar Trail

The players ended the previous session in a stand-off with some orcs on their return from Conyberry and Agatha the Banshee of Neverwinter Wood. The lead orc called out to them, kicking off the classic “toll stop” scenario. The group had just had an intense fight with ghouls in Conyberry and had elected to skip a short rest, so a combat encounter would prove to be dangerous. The players role-played well enough, including some good persuasion rolls, and combat was avoided. They opted to pay out the toll as a “cost of doing business” and to avoid combat, especially given their depleted resources. The orcs, also deciding the group would be more trouble than it is worth, opted not to intitiate combat and accept the collected gold as a win. The party then continued on, heading down the Triboar Trail to the west and back to Phandalin.

Resting on the Trail

During an evening’s long rest on the trail, the wizard received visions of the defiled altar of Oghma that had drawn him to Phandalin in the first place.

Sister Garael, Your Information

Returning to Phandalin, they immediately go to speak with Sister Garael and give her the information she had asked them to collect from Agatha. They find out that they lost several days passing through the dimensional rift in Conyberry, further compressing their timeline. She thanks them and returns the favor, by directing them to someone she knows will help them find Cragmaw Castle. Reidoth the Druid. She then reveals where he can be found…the ruined town of Thundertree. In addition to travel taking several days, she warns them of the undead and rumors of a dragon having taken residence there recently. The group becomes quite worried about their compressed timeline and travel, and one of the character’s heavy ties to the town of Thundertree adds complications. Sister Garael offers to help them, but seems hesitant, and remains secretive about how, only that they must return in the morning while she prepares.

A Night to Regroup

Several of the members take the charred body of an unknown person they had brought with them since the Ogre fight to the Graveyard/Orchard of Daren Edermath. There Daren reveals a little more of his grave cleric past and they hold a brief burial ceremony for the unnamed person. The other characters return to the Stonehill Inn and begin drinking, the wizard discussing his worry that they made the wrong choice by asking Sister Garael’s question and not just asking where Cragmaw Castle was, skipping all of this “wasted” time. The characters have a deep discussion about choices, making them, and moving forward.

Sildar Hallwinter enters and catches them up on the happenings of the town since they left. Many of the Redbrands have agreed to become actual town guards and have begun training under Sildar and direction from Halia. Two of the former Redbrands that the group liberated previously remain at the old Transendar Manor as 24/10 guards on behalf of the characters, alongside Droop the goblin.

A Secret Revealed

The next morning they meet Sister Garael at the shrine of luck. She waits for them there with a packed bag, saying she’ll be leaving Phandalin for a short time to deal with the information they had given her. She has them stand around the shrine, facing outward. She then reveals she is a wizard by activating the teleportation circle, hidden beneath the daily dust of the outside shrine, and teleports them away. Just as they teleport away she makes eye contact with the party wizard, Venael, and he hears her whisper, Vicdarai’navishari, a phrase from his backstory that has deep meaning, but knows nothing about.

The players then find themselves standing in a ruined temple, all but one character vomiting as a result of their first teleportation circle travel on failed constitution checks. As they managed to gather themselves, the session ends with a description of a ruined town to the west…Thundertree.

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