Session 2: Something Amiss on the Road
Played: (Session 2 — Friday March 20th) Setting: The Triboar Trail, approaching the side road to Phandalin
Recap
The morning after the Wheel, the party continued south. By midday they were nearing the junction where the side road to Phandalin branches off the Triboar Trail. As they came around a bend, they found the road ahead in disarray.
The Ambush Site
Two horses wandered loose at the scene of a recent fight. Saddlebags ransacked, an empty leather map case discarded in the dirt, arrows and torn fabric scattered through the underbrush, no bodies anywhere. The horses turned out to belong to Gundren Rockseeker and Sildar Hallwinter — and (the party named them) Theo and Todd.
Through one of the druids speaking with the horses, the party pieced together what had happened: roughly ten goblins had ambushed Gundren and Sildar at this spot, captured both men, and stolen something from Gundren’s saddlebags — almost certainly the map he had been so careful about. The goblins had retreated down a small game trail leading away from the road into the hills.
The party hid their wagon behind some boulders, left Theo and Todd to guard it (instructed via Speak with Animals), and started down the goblin trail on foot.
The Trail and the Goblin Camp
A short way down the trail, four goblins tried to ambush the party. The party countered with a Sleep spell — two went down immediately — and dispatched the rest. One captured goblin gave up under questioning: 10–15 goblins at the cave, a single human prisoner (Gundren) held inside, the other human (Sildar) somewhere unknown, the camp roughly 40 minutes farther down the trail.
The party recovered some weapons and 27 silver pieces from the goblin boss.
Traps on the Approach
The trail itself was rigged. The party spotted and disarmed a rope trap (a 24 Sleight of Hand) and avoided a pit trap by routing around it with the captured goblin’s grudging help.
The Cave Mouth
The trail ended at the entrance to a cave set into the hillside, with a small stream running out of it. Four goblins were at a wooden fortification just inside the cave mouth.
The first attempt at stealth went poorly — Grom slipped in the stream and made noise — but a well-placed Sleep spell took out three of the guards, an Entangle restrained the sleeping ones, and the boss was cut down by a combination of Sacred Flame and arrow fire from the rest of the party.
Into the Hideout
The party pushed into the next chamber of the cave: a goblin den common room with five goblins still unaware of them. From the upper level of the chamber, they could hear sounds of interrogation — a human voice, weakened. Sildar was alive and somewhere up there.
The party took positions for a rescue. Cliffhanger.
What the Party Walks Away With
- Confirmation that goblins took Gundren and Sildar — captured, not killed
- The map case is empty; the map itself is in the goblins’ hands
- A goblin captive who has, grudgingly, given up the layout of the cave
- Theo and Todd waiting at the wagon
DM prep / session plan for this session: see DM notes.