Entering Cragmaw Castle - The Lost Mine of Phandelver

An update concerning our ongoing Dungeons and Dragons campaign, using the fantastic Starter Set!

Campaign Update: Our major subplot is that my junior players have purchased an old house in Phandalin and have been busy renovating it as the Forgotten Realm’s first pizza parlour! Droop the Goblin, who they rescued from the Redbrands, has been hired as the waiter and the first hour or so of our most recent session was spent organising the business.

All the adventurers have agreed rates of pay – one is the bouncer/bodyguard, one is the chef and the wizard lights the ovens with his spells, so they can boast their pizzas are magically baked! They had a lot of fun working on the menu, with different pizzas for different prices, interacting with the customers (Linen Graywind for some reason is a regular patron) and sorting out the staff room (which has a dart board, so cue some fun playing darts).

Toblen Stonehill came to inspect their outfit and made some disparaging remarks, but their response was to try and talk him into a more cooperative business arrangement. I’m thinking that a future session may see a less cordial intervention by the remnants of the Redbrands up at the Sleeping Giant Taphouse, which could be interesting.

Finally, the Townmaster decided to pay a visit to talk about their tax liabilities now they are a business. At first the owner (our halfling rogue) thought he was sitting pretty with a pile of gold pieces after some good trading, but the Townmaster has bought him back down to earth, requiring the initial payment of the lease for the premises and then a (seemingly rather hastily created) Beverages and Vittles Tax, set down by the Town Council (namely him). The net effect of these payments was to leave Errich, the owner, with a balance of two silver pieces. That’s business!

All this fun has been generated by the players (average age 11) and totally unexpected. It’s wonderful to see this happening.

Eventually though, and with urgent calls from Sildar to rescue Gundren, they set off for Cragmaw Castle, with Droop acting as their scout to find it for them in the southern part of the Neverwinter Woods. They decided to venture in at dusk, through the postern gate rather than a frontal assault.

They quickly became embroiled in a large melee in the banqueting hall but this was brought to a crisp end by the wizard Leumas’ use of his Burning Hands spell. Grimli, the dwarf cleric, almost walked into the grick but this was dispatched soon enough, only for him to then run into the hall dedicated to the goblin God, Maglubiyet. As he did so, a large goblin, seemingly a priest of the goblin deity of war, angrily turned to him, as did his two servants, caught in a moment of worship of their god. And the session ended on that cliffhanger!

I had a lot of fun making a cardboard Cragmaw Castle for the session and afterwards realised that the height of the walls I had made (roughly to scale) might get in the way during play, but the players weren't concerned. Didn't have time to add in the rubble piles, which is probably just as well.