Chapter 7: Attempt the Second at Cave Fighting

The Loud Boys in the Lost Mine of Phandelver, a D&D report

By the time everyone was awake again, the world was shrouded in the grey, cold clarity of pre-dawn. Stiffness had crept into joints and spiders were merrily spinning webs in hair and between pieces of armour. Kila's eyes opened first and he sat up with a groan, although Jake had been awake for minutes before that. Dried blood flaked from his hair as he ruffled his hair and evicted the spiders. He rolled his shoulders and attempted to stand, succeeding on the second attempt.

"Whoa. The world just got really sparkly. Did you cast something, Jake?"

Jake mumbled and continued to pretend to sleep.

Holding his hands out to balance, Kila shook his head. "Ah, I'm a bit dizzy."

Uayak rolled over and grunted. "You took a bit of a knock to the head back there, boy-o. We're lucky to have survived. You can't just go running into places chopping, sometimes you've got to be a bit more careful."

Kila looked abashed and a bit nauseous at the same time. "Can we make this spinning stop?"

Uayak hesitated, then reached into a hidden pocket. "Here, have a potion. It should help a bit. You too, Jake."

Jake finally gave up pretending and got up. As he did so, he winced and grabbed at his thighs. His velvety robes had been glued to his skin with blood. Cautiously, he peeled them away to reveal several long lacerations across his legs where the goblins had sliced at him. His face turned pale and a little whimper emerged from his lips. Small beads of blood were still oozing.

Uayak gestured towards him with the potion bottle, then realised that Jake not only had not seen the movement but was not in much of a state to notice anything apart from his injuries.

"Come on," said Uayak, getting up. "It's just blood."

"Yes, but it's my blood," gasped Jake. "Coming out."

"Don't be a whinger, just take this like a good boy," said Uayak, and he grabbed Jake's chin, forcing his mouth open and tipping the emerald liquid in. Jake choked a little but most of it went down the right way, and within seconds the skin had sealed over and the colour had returned to his face.

"Where did you get those?" said Jake. "I want to carry some."

"They were in my pack," said Uayak vaguely. "Which I had to leave behind to save you two, by the way. I've only got a few on me, I'd better hang on to them."

"Wait a minute," said Kila. "Weren't we fighting a bugbear? Weren't we inside a cave?"

By the time Uayak had brought the two young men up to speed, the sun was shooting warm rays over the horizon. Although it was still cold at present, it was evident it would warm up significantly later. The sky was a deep summer blue without a wisp of cloud. Birds warbled happily in the briar bushes, hopping between the thorns with a wondrous dexterity. Bees buzzed in nodding pink blossoms that were heavy with pollen, and there were already finger-length lizards looking for warm rocks to sun on. The three finished planning their second attempt to clear the cave while softening hardtack they found in Kila's pockets, held in the palms of their hands in the stream. The merry bubbling of the stream lifted everyone's hearts as they messily choked down the mushy result.

"I wonder what happened to that goblin you made hold his friend's head," said Jake.

Uayak shrugged, uninterested. "Don't forget, we've got to get the weapons I had to leave behind before we can find that bugbear. There won't be any point trying to fight him with our bare hands. Except for you, Jake, of course."

"Can we get moving?" said Kila.

This time, they paused at the cave mouth to look and listen for movement. Lighting a torch, they ventured further, pausing at the doorway where they had fought the wolves to listen again. The cave was completely dark by the time they reached the place where the rickety wooden bridge crossed high above, and either one or another of the adventurers would hiss and grab at the others, only to realise that the movement they had seen was the flickering shadow cast by their torch. As they neared the turn to the cave of the twin pools, they stopped again, straining to hear even a breath, or a waft of bugbear's pungent odour. Nothing.

Uayak gestured for a huddle.

"There were still two goblins, besides the bugbear," he breathed into their ears.

"I'll use all my magic missiles on one," whispered Jake.

"I can chop the other one in the face once I get my sword back," whispered Kila. As much as he tried to imitate the stealth of the others, his whisper was about the same volume as their normal conversational tone.

Uayak quickly stepped backwards into shadow, and seemed to meld into the stone behind him. They could just make out his outline, and hear his voice murmur, "And I'll clean up."

As Kila thrust the torch around the corner, they saw the two goblins now picking at the packs that Uayak had had to abandon in his rush to rescue the young men. Kila's greatsword lay gleaming in the uncertain torchlight between them. Behind him, there was a whisper of magic as Jake released his spell, and several shining darts slammed into one of the goblins. As his companion fell, the other goblin screeched and jumped away, allowing Kila to rush forward and snatch up the sword as he dropped the flaming torch on the ground. With a shout, he swept the gleaming blade around in a huge arc and lopped off the head of the remaining goblin. The screeching stopped immediately.

Uayak stepped out from the shadows behind them and inspected the bodies. "Good job, my Loud Boys. I thought we were going to try to be quiet and avoid notice, but it's all right. There's no one in the other room. I just looked."

Tucking his freshly retrieved daggers away, he waved at their packs, still lying on the ground where they had left them almost a day ago. The goblins had taken some of their things out and they worked quickly to shove everything back in, aware the bugbear might return at any moment. Tying up the laces of his pack, Jake paused. "Should we check the other room for loot?"

"That's my boy!" said Uayak, grinning. "Always remember the loot. No, I had a look while you were dealing with the goblins. There's crates and barrels of supplies, but they're all marked the same way- with a blue lion. I know I've seen the mark before, but I can't remember right now where. We'll sort it out later. We've got to deal with that bugbear first."

Jake pointed at another dark passageway, between the one they had entered by and the opening to the bugbear's room. "My elvish eyes can see in the dark better than both of yours," he said. "Shall I have a look?"

"There isn't any other way the bugbear could have gone?" said Kila.

"Not from the other room," said Uayak.

"Let's go together," said Kila. "It's probably safer with all of us together."

Cautiously, with Kila holding the torch in his left hand and the greatsword in his right, followed by Jake and Uayak again cloaked in shadows, they advanced down the hallway, and found that it ended at a wooden bridge, high above a stream. The bridge was an old rope and wooden plank contraption, poorly made and rather unstable.

"Wait," said Jake. "Isn't that the stream that came in from the entrance of the cave? The one next to the path we were following?"

"So we've circled back around," said Kila.

"He'll eventually come back this way," reasoned Uayak. "That was his bedroom just now. The furs smelled of bugbear."

"Maybe we can lure him!" said Jake.

"Okay," said Kila. Without hesitation, he stood on the first plank of the wooden bridge and roared, "We're back and we're the Loud Boys and we're going to KILL YOU!"

Uayak winced from the shadows.

After a minute, when nothing happened, Kila tried again. "HELLO! ANYBODY HOME? WE'RE HERE TO KILL YOU!"

The burbling of the stream twenty feet below continued cheerfully.

As Kila opened his mouth to shout again, there was a distant snarl from the rough stone passageway on the other end of the wooden bridge. Uayak nocked an arrow to his bowstring, gently using his foot to push Jake to stand just behind him. The elf rolled up his filthy sleeves and readied a spell with his hands poised over the halfling's head, ready to release it as soon as the bugbear appeared.

Suddenly, the bugbear was standing at the mouth of the opposite passageway, its wild eyes glaring. It raised its morningstar and stepped onto the rickety bridge.

Instantly, Uayak and Jake simultaneously released. The arrow and the shining darts flew together and hit the bugbear in the leather armour encasing its torso. It seemed annoyed but not seriously injured, and it took another step forward. Kila swiped forward with the greatsword- but not at the enemy. Instead, he aimed his blade at the ropes supporting the bridge on their side. With a loud twang, the bridge fell towards the opposite wall. The bugbear made a desperate grab, dropping his morningstar into the rushing stream below, and managed to grab at a plank. The ropes on the opposite side still anchored the bridge solidly, but the bugbear was hanging by both hands precariously. The combined weight of his heavy muscle and armour made it impossible for him to lift himself back to safety. He was too high above the stream to drop without sustaining injury to himself. Frustrated snarls and curses echoed through the passages.

Kila glanced back at the other two, then put down his greatsword on the ground beside him. He held the still-flaming torch and cocked his arm back.

"Um," said Jake. "Are you trying to throw our only light source at him?"

"Yep," said Kila. "I think I left my bow somewhere."

The torch flew through the air, spinning end on end like a meteor going off course. Kila had thrown it too high and it landed in the opening of the opposite passageway, a mere handspan from the edge, above the bugbear. Jake groaned and Uayak was muttering curses under his breath. The darkness pressed around them. The halfling and the human didn't move, for fear of slipping over the edge where the bridge had broken away from. The light dimmed and they could make out the shape of the bugbear swinging his legs side to side, trying to gain momentum to move upwards.

Then they saw the flame of the torch creep to the anchoring post of the bridge and catch on the dry rope. It quickly ate its way across to the planks and suddenly flared up with the increase in fuel. One rope suddenly gave, and the bridge dropped again. The sudden weight and the fire combined to break the other side, and the entire structure fell with the screaming bugbear into the stream. The sound stopped abruptly as the body tangled in the rope and planks and was pushed underwater. Only the stream continued to move.

"So," said Jake. "You were trying to hit the bugbear, right? Not the bridge?"

Kila hesitated.

"I have a more important question," said Uayak. "Anyone remember why we're here?"

"To kill a bugbear?" said Kila.

"No," said Uayak.

"Wasn't there... something about a dwarf..." said Jake, scratching his head.

"We were supposed to find our employer, Gundren Rockseeker," said Uayak.

"That's right!" said Jake. "But we haven't found him yet."

"Guess he's not here," said Kila.

"We haven't finished exploring this place yet," said Uayak. They looked behind them, then looked ahead, where the rocky walls that rose from the stream were broken only by a single passageway opposite them lit by the cheerfully flickering torch Kila had thrown into it. Twenty feet above the stream.

"How... How do we get over there without a bridge?" said Jake.

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Here is Chapter 6:

And here is Chapter 1:

And then there is Chapter 8: