We begin with Danak unconscious and Raslin staring down A giant goblin, two smaller goblins, and a wolf after chasing a third small goblin as it fled from the group. Liarel stabilizes Danak and pulls him behind a stalagmite. Raslin kills the running goblin and runs back to the group. Mella misses the large goblin with a fireball and hides behind a second stalagmite.
Noticing the firebolt the large goblin yells “Who dare defy Klarg?” and rushes out of the adjoining room followed by the wolf and smaller goblins, one of which stabs Mella in the leg. Never hurls a witch bolt at Klarg as Liarel entangles the wolf and small goblins in magical vines. Raslin kills one of the entangled goblins as Mella heals themself and backs away from the wolf.
The goblin and the wolf break free from the vines and Klarg strikes Never, who collapses. Raslin casts sleep on the remaining small goblin. Mella strikes the wolf before being bitten. Klarg rushes Raslin who puts up a magic shield at the last moment. Liarel stabilizes Never as Raslin runs up the wall of the emptied reservoir and Mella kills the wolf. Klarg runs downstairs, out of the room.
Liarel ties up the sleeping goblin while Mella wakes Danak. The group heads into the adjoining room, Danak carrying Never. The room is filled with crates, all of which have a Lion Shield on them, the mark of a merchant group in Neverwinter. Liarel keeps watch while Raslin and Danak rummage through the crates looking for supplies. Raslin finds a chest behind the crates. In the chest is a bunch of copper, some silver, a jade frog statue, and two bottles.
The group examines the liquid in the bottles but cannot decide what it is, so Liarel force feeds some to the now-conscious, bound goblin and questions her about it. The goblin identifies herself as Fritz and claims to be our friend, but is otherwise unhelpful. Danak makes an executive decision to give the potion to Never. Never wakes and the group keeps the remaining bottle for future use.
Continuing to question Fritz, we discover that King Grohl took a dwarf (we presume Gundren) to Kragmaw Castle and that there is a human in the “eating cave”. We place Fritz in Danak’s backpack and she gives us directions to the eating cave. We eventually come to a room with bedrolls, five goblins, and on a second, higher level two large lumps. We ask Fritz to parley for us, but she begins calling out in goblin. Danak takes Fritz at knifepoint to the entrance of the room as a hostage and we notice a large, fat goblin holding Sildar at swordpoint. She calls for a truce, asking us to kill Klarg and bring her his head in exchange for Sildar. Raslin counters by offering the coppers and silver we found (presumably Klarg’s treasure) along with some bones we had collected. The goblins seem excited by this and agree to the trade.
Having retrieved Sildar we decide to get the fuck out of dodge and leave the cave, releasing Fritz once we get outside. As we head back down the forest trail to our caravan, Sildar tells us that someone named the Black Spider wanted Gundren. Apparently Gundren and two other dwarves had found Wave Echo cave, a rich mine once shared by dwarves and gnomes under Phandelver’s Pact. Wave Echo cave was a source of great magic and so was attacked by wizards and orcs and in the resulting turmoil the location of the cave was lost to time. Sildar says he has a contact in Phandelver names Irno and that he will pay us 50 gold if we escort him there. Never says that payment won’t be necessary and the rest of the group quickly shushes her.
We make it back to the caravan around midday and set off, Mella resting in the back and Liarel riding the ox. It begins the grow dark, but Sildar believes we are close to Pandelver so we press on and eventually come to a small town. On our way to the Stone Mill Inn we pass Barthon’s Provisions, the place we were meant to drop off the caravan. The store appears to be closed so we decide to come back in the morning.
At the Stone Mill Inn we meet the innkeeper, Tobin, who seems wary of Never but is otherwise quite welcoming. Sildar and Raslin each take private rooms while Danak, Liarel, Mella, and Never share one. We decide to pass some time in the common room and overhear Tobin’s wife discussing someone named Thel who had stood up to something called the Red Bands and had been killed, his entire family now missing. Mella approaches a farmer named Narth who tells them of Sister Garlele, who can be found at the Shrine of Luck across the square, saying she had recently returned to town after being hurt in the fight. As Mella begins to leave Narth tells them to watch out for the Red Bands, says they’re bad news, “thugs”.
We all go up to our rooms for the night.