Session 1: The Goblin Ambush

The road to Phandalin had been quiet for too long. Three days of mud, merchant wagons, and the smell of someone else’s campfire. Four strangers, drawn together by the same job board posting in Neverwinter, trudged south through a light autumn drizzle.

Then the arrows started falling.

The Ambush

Six goblins dropped from the treeline with the overconfidence common to their kind. They had counted on surprise, and had it — for exactly the three seconds it took Theron Ashwood to nock an arrow and put one through its ear.

What followed was a chaotic, bruising skirmish that nearly claimed Zax’s life when three goblins swarmed him simultaneously. Sister Mira’s Healing Word arrived just as he dropped to his knees, and the dwarf fought back to his feet with the kind of feral energy that makes enemies reconsider their life choices.

“I have survived sieges, famines, and one very determined badger. This is nothing.” — Zax, spitting blood

Lyria spent the fight darting between cover, hurling Vicious Mockery at the goblin lieutenant and successfully making it trip over its own feet at a critical moment. The party captured the lieutenant alive.

The Interrogation

Under considerable pressure from Zax (and a surprisingly persuasive performance from Lyria), the goblin — it gave its name as Snarg — revealed that the ambush was not random.

They had been hired. The employer: a robed figure who spoke in whispers and paid in obsidian coins the party had never seen before. The instructions were simple: delay or kill any travellers heading south toward Phandalin who were “asking questions about the old tombs.”

The party exchanged glances. None of them had been asking about old tombs. Yet.

Zax suggested killing Snarg. Mira refused. Lyria proposed releasing it with a coin and a stern warning. Theron, who had already tied it to a tree, simply walked away.

They left Snarg tied to the tree with a waterskin and resumed their journey.

Arrival in Phandalin

Phandalin was smaller than the job posting implied — a cluster of stone buildings around a central square, a tavern called the Stonehill Inn, and more suspicious eyes per square foot than Neverwinter’s dock ward.

Over supper, the innkeeper let slip that several caravans had been attacked on the Triboar Trail in recent weeks. The miners were nervous. And someone had been seen skulking around Tresendar Manor, the ruined estate east of town, at night.

The party resolved to investigate in the morning. Lyria began writing in her journal. Theron sharpened his blades and watched the door. Mira said a quiet prayer to Lathander. Zax ordered a second ale and fell asleep at the table.

Session end: XP gained, bonds established, one goblin released to the woods.