My group is playing through Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk on every Monday evening. (I will get to finishing the Dragonlance reports, I promise – I just wanted to get this down while it was fresh).

We are playing on Roll20 using D&D Beyond (Beyond20 integration). Skype for voice.

Two players are quite experienced, the third, playing a sorcerer, not so much. An NPC fighter accompanies the party, choosing well for his actions. As I’m controlling him, that’s why he plays in a superior manner. They probably need the help!

Party:

• Simeon Tesper, Human Noble Fighter
• Syzoth, Yuan-Ti Artificer
• Nymia, Satyr Tempest Cleric of Silvanus
• Velrali, Tiefling Divine Soul Sorcerer

For those unaware, Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk begins as a modified version of Lost Mine of Phandelver. I will note in the text where it diverges from the original.

The adventure began as the party drove a wagon of supplies for the small village of Phandalin, having been hired to help the dwarven miner, Gundren Rockseeker. Well, some of them had been hired.

Simeon is a noble of House Tesper in Waterdeep. He’s neutral good and has a real love for the common folk – even if he doesn’t really understand them. His family helped stake the dwarf Gundren Rockseeker to find the lost mine, and he was tasked to keep an eye on the dwarf’s progress. The rest of the party are unaware of the dwarf’s true goal at this point. Nymia had grown up near Phandalin and befriended Simeon when she visited Waterdeep. However, by this stage, she was sick of the big city and wanted to return to home and the wilderness.

Velrari is a devotee of Sune, travelling to Phandalin as a missionary. And Syzoth had heard there is a green dragon in the area; he wanted to gain a sample of its point and had joined the wagon for safety. (Normally I’d say “caravan”, but they only have a wagon.

The Ambush

As they slowly made their way along the Triboar Trail towards Phandalin, they saw a pair of lone horses ahead, with scattered belongings all around. Simeon and Nymia quickly realised that they were the horses of Gundren and his friend Sildar, who had ridden ahead to the village. Very soon it was obvious that the pair had been ambushed by goblins. The party realised this when they were… ambushed by goblins.

I had everyone roll Wisdom (Perception) checks against a DC of 16 – the passive Stealth of the goblins. Only Simeon made it, but I ruled that the others weren’t surprised because Simeon had seen the goblins. (Rules as written: You are surprised if you see no other foes).

However, the goblins rolled very well for initiative, and were able to fade into the forest and hide after most attacks. Frustration. Simeon spent his first turn of the combat (last in initiative) spotting the goblins with an action to perceive them – he rolled well again. Nymea and Simeon attempted to engage the goblins in combat, while Syzoth and Velrali used ranged attacks and spells.

It was over quickly, within two rounds. Three of the goblins were killed, while the last fled along a small track into the forest. The party had taken a couple of “minor” wounds. Nothing is really minor at first level. Velrari darted after the goblin, with the rest following behind, with Syzoth just pausing to pick up an empty map case from the ground.

This encounter mostly works as it did in the original, although this time the horses were still alive, and the empty map case provides some foreshadowing.

The Forest Trail

We were all happy to follow Velrali along the trail, although she was patently not the best for the task. Squishy sorcerer with a +1 Perception bonus on a trapped path? I was all ready for some terrible results.

Although many DMs use passive Perception to determine if characters spot traps, I want there to be some element of chance. So, I gave Velrari the opportunity to roll her checks when she would have walked into the traps. Incredibly, she made both DC 15 checks, and failed to be ensnared or fall into a pit. The party went a little slower along the trail after the first trap, I must say, also attempting to be stealthy.

Three of the characters are in suits of armour that give disadvantage to Stealth checks. They were not stealthy.

Finding the Goblin Cave

For some reason, I completely forgot to add the goblin who fled to these encounters. Let’s assume he was arguing with the goblin guards outside the gate, trying to persuade them that there were Big People coming.

There was no surprise when the heroes and goblins met, a little stream beside them and a few bushes providing cover. Simeon rolled well for initiative for once (+0 Init), was missed by the goblins twice before he came in and hit the first with a critical hit, slaying it. The goblin boss proved more troublesome, striking Nymia once before Vekrali took it down with a 10-damage Toll the Dead spell.

(This encounter was originally with two goblins; the revision adds a goblin boss).

The first chamber within the cave contained three hungry wolves, collars attached to chains from a pole. Nymia took pity on them and gave them food and befriended them – a natural 20 on her Animal Handling check. That was one encounter they didn’t need to fight!

Although there’s a chimney leading up to the boss encounter, none of the party explored enough to spot it, instead moving further into the cave system. I think this is partly due to running on a Virtual Tabletop: the party assume they can see everything based on the map. The very first time I ran the adventure (back when it was first released in 2014), the party used the chimney. No-one has since, though!

Goblin! Snake! Argh!

As the party continued deeper, taking the path the stream ran along, Simeon (again) saw a goblin moving on a bridge above them, and pointed it out to the rest of the party. Initiative was rolled, which Velrari won with a 22 to the goblin’s 21. He loosed a firebolt – and got a critical hit for 12 damage. The goblin fell off the bridge, and floated down the stream towards Syzoth, who dragged the body onto shore, possibly for food later.

A side passage to the west wended upwards. Velrari decided to investigate, and the tiefling leapt over the stream and began to climb up the loose shale. She was very surprised to encounter a giant poisonous snake that bit her for 12 damage – and that was after she successfully saved against poison. (7 piercing plus 10 poison damage). Well, that was all of Velrari’s hit points, though the saving throw saved her from death. Her body fell down the shale into the water, and floated down the stream towards Syzoth, who dragged her body onto shore, possibly for food later.

This conversation had occurred a few moments before the snake encounter:

Syzoth’s player: “So, if I see live humanoids as food…”
DM: “Yes…”
Syzoth’s player: “Can I cast purify food and drink on my fellow PCs to remove poison?”
DM: “…”

No, Syzoth couldn’t use purify food and drink. But he could heal Velrari, which he did.

Syzoth was also overjoyed to see the snake – as he was able to befriend it, providing it didn’t make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. It rolled a 15. Poor Syzoth, who muttered that it was probably the only snake in the adventure. (He may be right).

The party abandoned the side passage and continued upwards alongside the stream.

The snake is a new addition in the adventure.

Goblins!

In some play throughs, the goblin on the bridge has gotten away and alerted the next group of goblins to the party’s approach. And they let loose a flood of water to wash them all out!

However, thanks to Simeon’s eye and Velrari’s aim, the scout had been slain and the goblins were unaware of the party’s approach. And so, in a very cramped cave, three goblins and two wolves fought our heroes.

Wolves are tough – their pack tactics ability can be brutal. The terrain significantly aided the goblins in this fight.

I also made the decision not to
have a goblin warn Klarg, the bugbear leader of the group. It was a hard enough fight already – especially after the wolves managed to drop Simeon as they moved to flank. The party was very strong on healing magic, but they were expending their spells. It was a great relief when the last foe was dropped.

And then it was time for Klarg.

The original adventure does not include the wolves.

Klarg the Mighty

As the party approached the throne of the bugbear leader, he growled at them. “I will have your bones for my throne!”

This set off a selection of bone-inspired insults, which I will refrain from repeating here. But it was pretty obvious there was no negotiation possible.

And Klarg, a mighty bugbear warrior, dealt entirely too much damage when he hit. And his pet wolf, Ripper, hit Simeon with a critical hit on his first attack. 12 damage! Reduced to 9 due to heavy armour mastery, it still was too much. He went down. Syzoth scurried up to heal him, as Nymia stayed in melee.

Simeon stood up. Klarg struck him – for 8 damage, reduced to 5. He was on six hit points! Simeon stayed up and struck back for 12 damage, enough to slay the bugbear.

Everyone was hurt badly, and no-one had any healing spells left, and Sildar and Gundren were still missing.

But there were a lot of trade goods here – and a secret stash that included two potions of healing. Simeon and Nymia downed them, and the party was ready to continue.

The original adventure has the same monsters, but the new version has conditions under which Klarg retreats to the shaft. Amusingly, he can also get trapped in the tight space.

Critical Goblins

The last cave in the goblin mine, accessed over the rope bridge they’d seen earlier, held many goblins – and the captured Sildar.

But the goblins were still aggressive, and in the opening round, Simeon was hit by yet another critical hit, and went down. Thankfully, a couple of goblins had perished by this stage, so Yeemik, an ambitious goblin boss, hailed the party and asked for a trade (or parlay, depending): If the party brought him the head of the cruel Klarg, he’d give them Sildar and allow them to leave.

The party accepted.

A Medicine check was used to stabilize Simeon, and the party retreated, successful, out of the cave, as Yeemik held a party for the goblins, who had seen the death of one tyrant. (And the appointment of another? Surely not).

The original encounter is six goblins, one with 12 hit points. The revised encounter is five goblins and two goblin bosses.

Gundren was missing, Sildar rescued, and the party had only just escaped with their lives. It was time to travel to Phandalin and gain some XP – enough to reach level 2!

Notes and Comments

Running this adventure using a VTT rather than with theatre of the mind makes it very clear how cramped and unfun to play in the goblin caves are. For a group of four characters, the additional foes make the goblin caves far, far too tough. With six characters, lots of characters can’t participate in battles!

Both the divine sorcerer and tempest cleric had thunderwave. Neither could get in a position to use it in any of the caves (save the last fight, and then they were out of spells!)

There is some nice new art. Sildar has art! So does Klarg!

Overall, I am not a fan of the increased difficulty of the opening dungeon. It might be okay for a six-member party, but the map hasn’t been redrawn to make combats more doable with larger groups.

Storywise, it’s a good start to Lost Mine of Phandelver. But this is The Shattered Obelisk! Let’s see where it goes next!