Side Quest: A Cave in Neverwinter Woods

After driving off the dragon in Thundertree, I was a bit concerned that the PCs still weren't prepared for what lay ahead of them in Cragmaw Castle. So, I quickly threw together a little encounter that would give them a bit more experience in combat, and some minor magical items to make the challenge they were about to face a little more manageable. This was put together very quickly, so the map I'm including below was one that I found on CartographersGuild.com (via a web search on Roll20), made by a user by the name of Torstan. For anyone looking to re-use this adventure stub, it assumes a party of four players, averaging level 3-4.

On the ride from Thundertree to Cragmaw Castle, the PCs become aware of an eerie silence that has overtaken the woods. No birds chirping. No animals skittering to and fro. Even the winds seems to stop blowing. Soon, they begin noticing spider webs covering the flora. A few, at first, but more and more as they travel onward.

Suddenly, the silence in the forest is broken by a piercing scream. The party desperately searches for its source, eventually discovering a web covered hole in the ground. They descend into the earth, and find themselves in a large, hollow cavern, covered in spider webs. Immediately, they see the dried, mummified remains of a humanoid corpse hanging from a web, sucked dry of all it's juices. Several other human shapes hang in webs around the room, wrapped in silky cocoons... and none of them moving.

Here is the map of the cave the party now finds itself in (disregard the "Up to Large Cave" note... as I said, I didn't create this map):

One Square = 10 Feet

Suddenly, a thick, sticky stream of web shoots down from the ceiling of the cave. From above, an Ettercap (Monster Manual pg. 131) descends, alongside three Giant Spiders (MM pg. 328). In the rounds that follow, three more giant spiders skitter forth from the web covered dens in the back of the cave. When all the monsters are slain, the party is free to explore the rest of the cave.

Webbing obscures the entrances of the five chambers chambers marked with dashed lines, as well as all walls, and the central pillars. Any player attempting to move through the webbing becomes stuck, and must spend their action attempting pass a DC 12 strength check to break free, or be restrained. Depending on the party's health, feel free to throw additional spiders in the chambers on the eastern wall. Any living spiders detecting a stuck victim in a web will immediately attempt to bite the victim, injecting its' poison (see description in Monster Manual). The webbing burns easily when set to fire, eliminating the hazard.

Moving clockwise from the recessed area at the north end of the cave, there are eight distinct regions of the chamber. These are:

1. Northern nook. Contains a body, sucked dry, and suspending in webbing, Visible immediately upon entering the cave.
2. Upper eastern chamber. Contains the corpse of Carric Amastacia, a traveling elven wizard.
3. Central eastern chamber. Contains a corpse suspended in webbing, long since sucked dry.
4. Lower eastern chamber. Contains a corpse so long dead that nothing but bones remain.
5. Southeastern chamber. Contains a giant spider, which joins the Ettercap in combating the players after three rounds of scrambling across the cave.
6. Southwestern chamber. Contains two giant spiders, which join the Ettercap in combating the players after three rounds of scrambling across the cave. Also holds a secret treasure horde, consisting of: 5pp, 50gp, 200sp, 800cp, 1 Azurite (10gp), 1 Blue Quartz (10gp), 1 Black Onyx (50gp), and 1 box of turquoise animal figurines (250gp) (adjust these values as necessary to fit your game's economy). The horde also contains 4 potions of healing, a scroll of False Life, a Shield +1, and a Rust Bag of Tricks (Dungeon Master's Guide pg. 154).
7. Central western nook. Contains the body of Taman Starag, wrapped in a spider silk cocoon. Taman has zero hit points, but a DC 15 medicine check will reveal that he is not dead, but rather being kept unconscious by the spider's poison. A healing potion or spell will revive him.
8. Northwestern nook. Contains the cocoon wrapped body of Pavel Chernin, a human and friend of Taman's. Pavel was recently eaten, and an inspection of the body will reveal portions of his flesh which are dissolved.

Taman is a human male of about 18 from the city of Neverwinter. If the PCs manage to revive him, he will be confused and overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his companions. He and his friend Pavel met the elven wizard Carric in a tavern in the city, and were intrigued by his tale of a treasure horde hidden in a cave in the forest. Believing himself and his friend Pavel to be capable swordsmen, Taman convinced the two of them to go in search of the treasure. However, they were attacked by spiders in the forest before they could ever find the cave, and were dragged back to the ettercap's lair. Taman watched in horror as the spiders ate Carric alive, but was, mercifully, poisoned into unconsciousness before he could watch them kill his childhood friend. His shame and remorse is made even greater by the fact that it was his idea to seek out the treasure, and he sees now - too late - that he was only "playing" at being an adventurer, and the true heroes are the ones who saved him from suffering the same fate as those foolish enough to follow him. 

Taman's chief purpose is to help begin the process of spreading tales of the party's heroism outside of Phandalin. He owes them a debt of tremendous gratitude for saving him, and if the PCs seek him out in Neverwinter, they will find him an unflappable ally who will tell any that will listen of their selfless acts.

Don't forget to award appropriate experience bonuses if the players save Taman!

After running this side quest for my players, I'd say it was pretty successful. It got them used to coordinating their actions in a protracted battle, put some treasure in their hands, and made them feel like heroes - a prophecy which tends to become self-fulfilling. If I ran it again, I'd probably reduce the treasure in the horde by removing the gems. The rust Bag of Tricks, however, has proved a great addition to the campaign, and has been employed in many clever ways by the party ever since. 

I had one player complain that she was expecting to enter Cragmaw Castle in this game session, but instead felt like she lost the whole night fighting spiders in a hole in the ground. Side-quests such as this serve a very important role in my campaigns, and I'm glad I ran it, but it probably would have felt less abrupt if I'd put an adventure hook in a couple of sessions prior. A mention of Taman, Pavel, and Carric from a tavern wench when the party was in Neverwinter, or the blood drained corpses of a few deer on the outskirts of Thundertree, for example. Still, this little mini-adventure provides a nice break from the standard goblin slaying fare of most low level campaigns, while still staying true to tried and true epic fantasy tropes. Here's hoping it finds some use in your campaign!