Phandalin

As Colten starts to push the door open he hears quite the commotion from behind him as Etch flips over the work table sending all of its items crashing about the room. Etch brings his greatsword straight down on the stunned rat, who lets out a quick squeak before being slice in two. Both halves of the rat wriggle about momentarily before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Colten peeks into the room through the open door and sees what appears to be a bedchamber of some sort, with walls covered with drapes of scarlet cloth. The furnishings include a small writing desk with a matching chair and a comfortable looking bed. A small wooden chest lies at the foot of the bed.

"Secret door in that room!" Droop explains proudly, hoping to show his worth to his new friends.

Rifling through the now scattered contents of the work table Delg is able to determine that Glasstaff was trying to brew potions of invisibility, but he can't tell if the wizard was successful or not. Among the scribbled notes and tomes of basic alchemy Delg uncovers one that is written in Dwarvish.

It's the journal of an adventurer named Urmon and it describes the history of the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the Forge of Spells (some details provided below). In addition there are notes about a magic mace named Lightbringer that was commissioned by priests of Lathander, the god of dawn, from the gnomes and dwarves of the Phandelver Pact. The mace was lost when Wave Echo Cave and its mine vanished from history.



More than five hundred years ago, clans of dwarves and gnomes made an agreement known as the Phandelver's Pact, by which they would share a rich mine in a wondrous cavern known as Wave Echo Cave. In addition to its mineral wealth, the mine contained great magical power. Human spellcasters allied themselves with the dwarves and gnomes to channel and bind that energy into a great forge (called the Forge of Spells), where magic items could be crafted. Times were good, and the nearby human town of Phandalin (pronounced fan-duh-lin) prospered as well. But then disaster struck when ores swept through the North and laid waste to all in their path.
A powerful force of ores reinforced by evil mercenary wizards attacked Wave Echo Cave to seize its riches and magic treasures. Human wizards fought alongside their dwarf and gnome allies to defend the Forge of Spells, and the ensuing spell battle destroyed much of the cavern.
Few survived the cave-ins and tremors, and the location of Wave Echo Cave was lost.

"That one!" droop says, pointing to the far corner of the room. Inspecting the wall Colten finds that there is indeed a door there and it's been left slightly ajar.

Pushing the hidden door open the rest of the way you find yourselves in a hallway which contains a small flight of stairs that appears to ascend into a solid wall.

"Another secret!" Droop yells from behind before he pushes past everyone to get to the top of the stairs. "Up the stairs and to the right!" he says proudly, pointing to the left. He quickly scans the wall and with a quick push of bricks the wall slides open revealing another room.

This room is at the north end of the large natural cavern that you had found when you first entered the hideout. The room itself has been finished with dressed stone block walls and a flagstone floor. Several barrels are store against the walls here along with a number of empty crates, straw for packing, hammers, pry bars, and nails.

Droop starts to run to the for corner of the room before coming to a halt as a familiar voice pierces your head.

Iarno says you are all food now!

The nothic that you had ran into earlier stands just outside the southern entrance of the room, ready to pounce.

The nothic's scream fills your heads as Colten's rapier rips through skin and tendon knocking the creature to the ground. Sensing an opportunity Etch charges forward and slams his greatsword into the ground just missing the fallen creature.

You will be food!!

With a growl the creature gets back to his feet, taking a swipe at both of his attackers with his clawed hands. Colten is easily able to parry and dodge the attack, while Etch simply lets the beast's claw bounce off armor. Your minds hum as the eerie creature projects his thoughts…

i will feast on your insides when I'm done with you and then

…but before he can finish a bolt of fire strikes him in the chest and the humming stops.

With its attention on Etch, Colten is able to quickly strike at the Nothic and his blade penetrates deep into muscle. Hoping to follow up with another attack to the creature's thigh Colten once again whips his blade downward, but the Nothic is able kick its leg just enough inward to avoid the blow.

same trick again… not going to work…

The creature shrieks as Etch's blade slices across its just. It staggers back half a step and prepares to unleash its rage when suddenly a scream from behind you pierces your ears.

Droop, yelling what you can only assume to be some sort of battle cry, comes out of hiding and launches a stone at the nothic, striking it square on the head. With a quick yelp of success the orange goblin scurries back to his hiding place.

Wounded the nothic stands motionless and simply stares at Colten.

this hurts me more than it does you... oh wait... it doesn't hurt me at all *maniacal laugh*

Colten suddenly feels a sickly warmth radiate through his body. [Make a DC 12 Constitution Saving Throw or take 10HP of necrotic damage]