The group bursts in to the chamber of Grol, the goblins’ bugbear king. He engages them with his morningstar and his wolf backs him up with fangs and claws, while the drow woman he was arguing with tries to attack the unconscious Gundren. She wounds him but then Balrag engages her; the fight is brutal but short and soon Grol, the wolf and the drow lie dead. As the drow lies there, however, her form becomes amorphous and after a few moments she no longer looks like a drow – nor like any species in particular.
Gundren is beaten up and recovers considerably after a little healing, but he is still fragile and keen to return to Phandelver so that he can recover and venture to Wave Echo Cave to find his brothers, Nundro and Tharden. He overheard that someone named ‘the Black Spider’ orchestrated his capture; he doesn’t know who this is but hopes that the heroes can stop this villain.
Searching Grol’s chamber yields some treasure, some healing potions and Gundren’s map to Wave Echo Cave.
Enderman is keen to seek out the defiled altar before they return to Phandelver so they press on. As they sneak through a high, narrow hall a hideous serpent-like creature with a beak and tentacles drops down on them from the shadows. Despite being surprised by the attack, they manage to defeat it mostly with the magical frost rays that Enderman shoots from his fingers.
The room beyond the hall is clearly the goblin shrine and on the far side is the altar that Enderman seeks, but as he approaches three goblins hidden behind it open fire from cover. One of these – the shaman – is killed swiftly but the acolytes prove more troublesome, ducking around nimbly and remaining in heavy cover. With the aid of Hadron’s spiritual weapon they are eventually defeated and Enderman is able to perform a ritual and consecrate the altar in the name of Oghma.
Their job done the group returns to Phandalin to recover from their wounds and stock up on supplies. A grateful Gundren gives them a small reward and promises that when the mine is up and running he will give them a tenth share of his income.
After a few days rest it is agreed that they will return to Thundertree and aid Joe in his attempt to drive off the dragon. Pushing their way through heavy undergrowth they climb the central hill and approach the building there from the side, avoiding the spiders’ webs on the main road. Peering through arrow-slits in the main ruined tower they can see that a green dragon is indeed asleep inside, but a plan of attack cannot be agreed on so they decide to camp out until it emerges.
When nothing has stirred after a day of waiting however, they decide to clear the rest of town of threats. The old barracks turns out to be filled with ash zombies but these are fairly easy to kill now they know how to avoid their ash clouds.
In the southeast of town they find the farm building where the ‘cultists’ are located. They are quickly overpowered without bloodshed and tied up; their leader, a man called Favric, appears baffled as to why they have been attacked.
Leaving the six cultists tied up some more exploring is done and a few more ash zombies and twig blights are destroyed, by which time it is clear that apart from the giant spiders the rest of the town has now been secured.
The group returns to the cultists. They are interested in allying themselves with the dragon and Favric suggests that they could team up and achieve both their aims. The cultists are untied and everyone begins to discuss plans …