Kythorn 24 - 26, 1491 DR
The PCs approached the encampment slowly, carrying their injured friend Nash in his litter. Ara hung back while the rest proceeded, gathering the attention of those within the camp. They were in fact all Tabaxi, dressed in various colourful outfits and leathers. Some even wore heavier armour. There were six colourful wagons and as many tents set up. A fire burned in the center of the circle with some musician tabaxi entertaining. Several smaller cooking fires were set up near most of the wagons as they prepared their evening meal.
They were greeted and introduced to Plume of (Smoke), the group's leader, who invited them to join them and expressed concern for the PCs fallen friend. Several more tabaxi came down from their tree perches to investigate the adventurers. There appeared to be 25 - 30 tabaxi in the group. They were well armed and well protected.
Smoke brough them to their healer, (Shadow) of a star. He inspected Nash and seemed very concerned. He performed a ritual over Nash's body and when completed he said that they would know by morning if Nash would survive. The PCs spent some time getting to know the tabaxi group. They came from a distant continent called Maztica, and gathered a group of tabaxi of mixed tribes who wanted to join their pilgrimage to the far east.
Smoke and Shadow follow The Cat Lord and he has given them purpose to travel and explore. They will know where they are going when they get there. Keeper feels that there is something about back home that Smoke is holding back, but could not get any more information about it. They enjoyed libations, stories and music into the night and eventually all but their sentries found sleep.
The next morning (Kythorn 25) there was a light mist in the air and it was chilly. The Tabaxi were already at work breaking down their camp when the PCs awoke. Thankfully, the strange rite that Shadow had done on Nash seems to have worked, as he awakened, exhausted and with many questions. His coma was filled with sad visions of his life before meeting the others in this party, and the tragedies that lay behind him.
They parted ways with the tabaxi caravan and soon found themselves rounding the hill and entering their destination - Phandalin. Everyone wanted to do a quick resupply, cash in their quests, and check in with certain folks in town. Ara went and spent time with Garael the elven cleric of Tymora in her shrine. Farooq wanted to sell the half-plate Armor they had taken from King Grol. Gundren wanted to check in with Sildar at the Townmaster Hall. The others stopped in to see how Toblin Stonehill and his family were doing with the inn. They were starting the reconstruction and were hoping things would be back to normal in a month or so. Nash wanted to make sure Elsa the barmaid was recovered from her wounds and was okay. She was.
Gundren wanted to make haste to the mine and the group travelled for the rest of the day, passing by the odd miner prospecting in the hills and streams along the way. They made camp and the night was uneventful.
In the morning of the 26th, the group got up early and started out. It was a nice enough day to be trekking through the rough terrain of the foothills of the Sword Mountains. They were following a general heading towards Icespire Peak which could be seen away in the distance. Today Gundren spent more time looking for specific terrain markers to help him find his way to Wave Echo Cavern.
By mid-afternoon Gundren had found the hard to spot, concealed entrance to the Cavern. He couldn't contain himself and burst forth into the tunnel, anxious to check in with his brothers. The others followed as cautiously as they could into the long, curving roughhewn tunnel. The tunnel ended in a large cavern with a deep rift on the eastern side - leading to a lower section where they could see tunnels leading off in the north and south. A rope was tied off to a stalagmite and draped down into the lower section.
They could hear Gundren's sorrowful wail echo throughout the cavern as he had discovered the remains of his brothers' camp, and the bodily remains of his brother Tharden. His other brother Nundro was nowhere to be found in the area, but some of his personal items were found here as well. After a fell tense moments, Gundren was ready to proceed and followed the PC's down into the lower pit area.
The decision was made to go north and that way led into a series of dwarven miner sized passages with low ceilings and criss-crossing corridors, some ending in unfinished dead ends. It was in this area where Farooq was attacked by a Ochre Jelly dropping on him from above. It was a tough fight, but with everyone's help it was soon defeated.
Travelling deeper, Farooq came to a door and burst through to find an ancient miner's barracks with a few ghouls inside trying to suck the marrow from the ancient bones of the long dead who lay strewn about the chamber. They look up with yellow eyes at Farooq's interruption.
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