Adventure Summary for Phandelver’s Red Hand
Adventure Summary for Phandelver’s Red Hand (Chapter Two)
Phandelver’s Red Hand began as a simple escort job. Twenty-one sessions later, that job has become something much larger, and we’re looking for a couple of new adventurers to help carry its torch.
The Story So Far
The party answered NPCs/Gundren Rockseeker|Gundren Rockseeker’s call and escorted his supply cart toward the frontier town of Places/Phandalin|Phandalin, but the road turned into an ambush, Gundren was kidnapped by goblin raiders, and the characters followed his trail deep into the Sword Mountains.
What they found waiting was bigger than one dwarf’s kidnapping. Behind the goblins stood hobgoblins, behind the hobgoblins stood a captain named NPCs/Vyerith|Vyerith, and behind Vyerith stood a shadowy figure known only as NPCs/Spider, The|The Spider, whose interest in this stretch of wilderness runs deeper than banditry. Along the way, the party stormed Places/Cragmaw Castle|Cragmaw Castle, cut down the goblin king who ruled it, and rescued Gundren. They also learned that the real prize was never the castle at all: it was Establishments/Wave Echo Cave|Wave Echo Cave, a legendary dwarven mine sealed for five hundred years and rumored to house the Items/Forge of Spells|Forge of Spells, a font of magic capable of enchanting arms and armor.
The party found the cave, fought their way past its guardians (ghouls, zombies, and something far stranger floating in the dark), and reached the Forge itself, still burning green after half a millennium. It works. Weapons that touch its light come away enchanted, and the region has already begun to feel the implications settling in.
But victory came at a cost, and the cave has not given up all its secrets. Gundren’s brother NPCs/Tharden Rockseker|Tharden Rockseeker was found dead near the entrance, killed before the party arrived. His other brother, NPCs/Nundro Rockseeker|Nundro Rockseeker, is still missing somewhere in the depths. Vyerith has slipped away from the party’s blades twice now, and something down in those tunnels hasn’t left a single track, which is either very good news or very bad news. Meanwhile, Phandalin itself keeps sending up flares: a green dragon has been sighted at Places/Thundertree|Thundertree, a white dragon has been driving settlers out of the hills to the south, orc spellcasters are massing in Places/Neverwinter Wood|Neverwinter Wood, and the Organizations/Cult of the Dragon|Cult of the Dragon has been spotted trading in secrets it has no business knowing.
What This Means for You
Our table has room for one or two new player characters to step into this story. Two of our original adventurers, a devoted cleric of Selûne and a watchful tabaxi monk, have had to step away from the campaign, and their absence has left real gaps at the table, both in the party’s tactics and in its story. If you’ve ever wanted to walk into a tavern in a half-rebuilt frontier town, overhear talk of a dragon nobody has actually seen up close, then this is your opening.
You would be joining a party that has already proven itself against a goblin king and the horrors of a five-century-old ruin, in a region that is only now discovering how much bigger its troubles really are. The Forge of Spells is reclaimed, but who else wants it? The Spider is still out there, still unseen, and still very interested in what happens next in these mountains. And somewhere between Phandalin, Thundertree, and the deep dark under the Sword Mountains, the dragons that give this campaign its name are staging their move.
As always, this campaign remains built to run the full course, from humble first-level beginnings to the kind of power that makes demons and devils take notice. We are further down that road than when we started (all characters are currently level 4), but we are still very much in the beginning. There is a great deal of adventure ahead, and we would be thrilled for you to be a part of it.