Kobolds, Wood Elves, and Dragons, Oh My.
The party trekked a short ways away from the minefield of bear traps to make camp. During the watches of the night, the party felt like they were being watched, and more than once a dark shape was seen overhead in the sky. Just before morning dawned, Thorrfig realized that Hada was gone. His equipment was still in the campsite, but where his body lay was just a fine ash-like substance quickly fading.
As the party looked around for any sign of Hada's departure, a loud snap from above happened and a Wood Elf dropped into the middle of camp "No wait I'm a frien--". Thorfig whirled around and cast Hold Person on him paralyzing the elf, Rovu fired off a bolt of energy, Stuu started trying to read his mind.
After a brief moment, Stuu realized that this elf did not mean them harm. And Craven Tolarian introduced himself.
I've been following you for quite some time. In that time, I've noticed the comradere you share and the belonging you feel towards Phandalin. I seek to take part in that. I am employed by some nasty people who have heard the tales of wealth arising from Phandalin. They are already moving towards ensuring that they are the ones who benefit from this. I want to help you in your quests, even if that means going against them.
The Zhentarim are a wide reaching underground organization, and they have a growing presence in Phandalin. The black network assigned me to follow you ever since you first encountered Cragmaw Clan and report back when possible about your actions. There's not very much they don't know. I'm very good at what I do.
Matters more to hand: You're wandering into Kobold territory. Little dragon-kin that live under ground and are notoriously clever and territorial. They worship dragons, and usually if there's a group of kobolds in an area, there's a dragon there too.
After daybreak, the party looked around and realized that in the night, more traps had been placed around the campsite. Additionally the kobolds had deliberately created tracks leading all over the mountainside. In spite of this, Craven soon proved his worth to the party as they followed him up the mountain, skirting around the main trail they followed yesterday, until the party arrived at a pair of old dwarven stone doors set into the side of the mountain.
As they examined the door, they noticed the place where a lock should be had been burned away and the stone itself was old enough to have removed most of the detail work in the carvings. Peeking inside, the interior was pitch black.
While the party discussed what to do next, a loud rythmic thumping like the beating of great wings came from outside, up the mountainside. "Quick! Inside!" and both Rovu and Craven jumped in the doorway. The floor beneath them gave way and a pit dropped down some 10 feet into a pool of dark acid. Avoiding this danger cost the party precious seconds and just as they were closing the door behind them, they saw a massive black dragon land outside the door.
A long moment passed until the dragon was heard taking off again, during which time the party realized several things about the cave. Once the coast was clear, the party began exploring the first chamber.
- The air is unaturally humid.
- It smells strongly of an acidic nature.
- It's colder than it should be.
- There are large chunks of original stonework missing from the walls, cielings, and floors.
- Something has disturbed the natural stone on the other side of the missing worked stone.
- It is very dark.
A fair number of traps were triggered during the exploration of the first few rooms of the cave. Blades popped out of walls, Stones swung from ropes, and of course pit traps were found or suspected. Moving further through the cave, the party arrived at a pair of doors with a lever next to them. The lever was stuck in the down position, but the doors opened easily enough.
The room beyond had a matching lever, a sekelton, a very ornately locked door on the far side, and a pile of boxes with a key on top. Once Stuu's lantern shone into the room, Rovu noticed the key and approached. Seeing how ornate the key was, he reached for it and an undtected needle pricked his hand. A venom coursed through his body and as he felt his muscles tense, the room's walls reverberated.
Kobolds attacked the party quickly, one priming and throwing a device the sprayed shrapnel all over the party, another spraying acid from a device on its back that seemed to absorb the acid damage slung back at it. After no more than a few seconds, as many kobolds as could retreated back through the walls, but several lay dead by the party's hands.