A massive bridge built by talented Dwarven engineers used to span this gap. Also, this should be an encouraging sign that they’re on the right track, as this is likely the road that once connected Phandalin to Wave Echo Cave.Īs they crest the next peak, however, they find themselves facing a large ravine. Obstacle: The Broken BridgeĪs the party emerges from the valley, they start to notice the remnants of a centuries old road, which, although it has deteriorated quite a bit, it’s far better than the deer trails they were following. Or, if you want to create your own custom creature, you can use this 5e statblock generator. This creature might be a bit too easy for a party of level 4 PCs, so consider using this beefed up stat block:

If the party offers no beast for the dinosaur to consume, it will attack the party and attempt to drag one PC into the water. Should the PCs investigate the altar, the plesiosaurus will emerge from the lake, expecting an offering from the party. This is where kobolds would capture mountain goats and leave them as a sacrifice to what they think is the god of the lake, a giant plesiosaurus. If they get closer to it, however, they notice that there’s a rudimentary altar built by kobolds covered in spatters of blood. The PCs can choose to avoid the lake if they wish (This is what the Rockseekers had done). “There are little more than deer and hunter’s trails leading into the foothills of the Sword Mountains, and it’s certainly slow going as you crest the first ridge and descend into a green valley with streams from the surrounding range filling into a silver lake.” To set up this encounter, read the following flavor text: Here are some potential encounters to use as the party makes their way to the Cave: Encounter: The Lake God This way, arriving at the Cave feels more like an accomplishment.

Since Wave Echo Cave is deep in the Sword Mountains some fifteen miles East of Phandalin, we should probably make it feel like it’s a difficult place to reach. In addition to that, I’ll add some encounters for the journey to Wave Echo Cave as well as suggestions for effectively running some of the areas of the dungeon. This post will focus exclusively on the first challenge, as I have already written separate articles about The Forge of Spells and Nezznar the Black Spider. Image Source: “Crystal Caves” by JoshEitenĪs a dungeon, Wave Echo Cave poses three challenges to GMs: The immense size of the dungeon’s map, the underwhelming nature of the Forge of Spells, and the lack of challenge that Nezznar the Black Spider presents to a 4th level party.

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