• The party proceed to the broken boundary wall and spot a path that heads off towards the woods.
• Silanne takes the lead and examine the paths and observe several tracks, then heads to the isolated tree and then skirts to the south of the woods, before heading north into the woods. The path is well hidden under the canopy of the trees, Silane continues quietly up the path which emerges at a rock wall. Silanne points to the wall and signals Fiorana to come up and examine it. A hidden door is discovered that Fiorana proceeds to open.

The faint path around the woods

The party order

• The door opens into a tunnel that is just about wide enough for 2 persons, Fiorana takes lead followed by Crom, Silanne & Bluebell, Tarqual, Trem & lastly Tharbin. The tunnel continues north leading to and opens up into a cavern. Fiorana whispers to the group I'm hearing an ominous voice in my head, anybody else hear it?
• The Tunnel eventually opens up into a cavern & Crom takes lead preparing for what ever lays ahead, Crom moves forward and steps up to a bridge, as he does so the bridge emits a loud cracking sound and collapses underneath him. He tumbles down.

The map as initially seen by Tarqual

The map as seen by Tarqual after the initial moves

• Fiorana heads east along a path then disappears down stairs out of sight, A expression of concern that turns into a look of worry comes over Tarqual. He whispers something to Bluebell
• I heard the words i like it when i can play with me food which I mention to Bluebell. I then hear the words you’re not like the redbrands are you? you seem too know what you are doing

The map as seen by Tarqual after moving deeper into the caves

• Fiorana disappears I hear the sound of a door being open, and all hell breaks open, Drunken voices and Crom screaming down the corridor to the east can be heard
• There are sounds of shouting and whispers all round, and the party proceeds to disperse and target at range. Silanne hasn’t been seen since disappearing down the right hand tunnel near where we entered the cavern.
• Fiorana & Crom attack the band to the east down the stairs, whilst Tharbin myself & bluebell target the creature to the North

The map as seen by Tarqual at the end of the session

AI's best interpretation of Crom's fight (it's nothing like the fight but still....)

• The fight continues in all directions, Crom continues in a rage & moves back down the stairs backed up by Fiorana. Chanting is heard by the party but seems faint & fades into silence again.
• Silanne moves north, I head for a vantage point on the bridge we both observed something appear, possible supplies but I notice a light emanating from its location, I think I see something materialising from within.
• Tharbin continues his pursuit of one of the enemies but is hit by a trap with spikes, he flinches and takes a slicing blow.
• To the south light appears as Fiorana lights a lantern - illuminating much of the main cavern. Silanne moves to the object and observes its some sort of door but with light emitting from it. I join Silanne at what I think is some sort of portal as Fiorana moves up to our position. Tharbin appears a few secs later and heads to our position and Fiorana rushes past him advancing up the northwest tunnel towards the door to the south.
• Bluebell tries to stuff blueberries down Trem's face, not realising it's Crom that needs healing and heads down the tunnel towards him.
• Tharbin is heard shouting a warning saying creatures are appearing from the green portal, which confuses me as I am stood next to it. I realise there must be a second portal, whilst I peer at the portal next to me.
• The battle continues to the south, an ice explosion is heard & Croms battle cry echos down the tunnel, in the thick of the battle you can hear some of the party shouting warnings amongst the chaos erupting all around. I head back down towards the noise and cast my light to illuminate the area. The main party continues to retreat to the south whilst Crom keeps the Redbrands & bugbears at bay to our left. He is joined by Tharbin & Fiorana, who collectively whittle down their opponents before Fi is heard shouting out that Tharbin is injured, Trem casts his spell that energies Tharbin and allows him the strength to retreat slowly.
• Fi is heard shouting bugbear heading from the north. Silanne guards our exit route whilst I head out to check the entrance to ensure the door is accessible & our escape route is clear.

A map of Phandalin

Once the ambush has been dealt with, investigation of the goblin dead leads to the observation that the goblins had their teeth sharpened, some of the party suspect they may be cannibals.

Tremen, Basher and I tend to the dead, collecting the bodies and creamating the bodies. The smoke from the funneral fire will be seen some distance away, hopefully detering any other ambushers.

The party collect the right ear of each goblin in order to claim the bounty. The barbarian Basher, makes a move to cut off a goblin head to post on a spike as a warning, however it is strongly pointed out that the spread of decease will be a problem. In the mean time Silanne has scouted ahead and found a goblin path that is well used and plenty of signs of use by goblins.

The party reassemble with the cart and move further up the track aiming to hit the turning before night has covered us. Tharbin takes the reigns with Bluebell staying on the cart and myself walking along the side. Silanne scouts ahead with the rest of the party taking positions up in between. Silanne signals that they have discovered some discarded armour and is continuing further up the path, and instructs Thrabin to send Fiorana forward.

Fiorana arrives at the place marked by Silanne and checks items and location out, and indicates its safe to move up, which we do. Fiorana continues to move forawrd and follow up Silanne.

On inspection of the discarded equipment, a emblem is made out, and is recognised as the Lord Alliance emblem.

The night draws in and it is becoming difficult to see ahead, the main party have not heard back from Silanne & Fiorana for a while. We continue with the cart along the path and arrive at a suitable camp site.

Sometime later, they both arrive back at the cart and Silanne discloses that a goblin camp / guard post is up a head and looks like the owner of the armour was killed by the goblins.

The party settles into the evening, watch parties are set up.

Ist watch is Tarqual & Basher.

2nd watch is Silanne & Fiorana.

3rd watch Tharbin & Tremen.

The rest of the night passes uneventful, and we awake to the smell of a cooked breakfast.

Day 4. Once everybody has eaten and gear is packed we set off the following morning. We soon approach the town of Phandalin, which consists of about 40 log buildings, some on flag stones with some in ruins. we see children playing out on a green and the locals seem happy to see us as they smile as we pass.

We arrive at a building with a signpost outside - Barfin supplies, which we pull the cart upto and announce our arrivial. Tremen ventures in to talk to the owner and assures the owner that everything is secure and safe. The woman informs Tremen to pull the cart up around the back where their is a stable. We eventually get paid our 10 gold pieces.

The women owner pops her head back out of the building, with a tabard on her arm and asks Tremen where we got it, as she informs us that it belongs to Silard the proctector of the dwarf. Silanne informs her that it was a few miles back and neither of them will be returning.

While Silanne and Tremen go to the Townmaster's Hall to report, Basher heads of to Stonehill Inn to secure some rooms if available, Tharbin head to the smithy, Fiorana to the sleeping gaint, myself to the miners trail.

Fortenbrass

• After Klark is killed, the party investigates the various crates which contain food & weapons. Tremen begins moving the supplies to our cart outside.
• I tend to the monkey who seems excited and willingly takes food from me. I than open the cage to allow it its freedom, as soon as I open the gage it bounces onto my shoulder before heading off behind a carte on the far side. I follow and discover it digging and recovering a fez which it proceeds to put on its head.
• Silanne tends to the Wolves and starts organising the release of the pack outside in the woods. Silanne senses something that aligns to appreciation / thanks, as the wolves cautiously.
• A discussion takes place about what to do about the dam and it is decided that it should be destroyed, so a plan is agreed upon using rope tied to the key wedges which we will pull once we have safely exited the cave. Tremen checks that the cart is on high ground the likely direction of flow of the released water from the dam.
• Bluebell attempts to communicate and befriend the monkey and find out any information about previous owner or where he came from. The monkey informs Bluebell his name is Fortenbrass.
• Dwarf Grundrem who gave us the initial quest is Fortenbrass friend.
• The Party then sets off back to the village & returns the supplies to the town general store, the villagers cheer the party on our return appreciating the return of their supplies. Tremen attends to the administration tasks and chasing payment from the town clerk for completion of tasks. He also confirms free room & board plus meals at the inn, which the party are great full.
• Silanne after resting informs the party they will be discreetly watching the Sleeping Giant and heads off. Everything seems quiet, people come and go during the evening. Later, Silanne explores the trail & walls to the right taken by some of the exiting patrons from the Sleeping giant, & notices the trail appears to get busier later in the evening.
• The following morning around 6 the party starts to assemble & take breakfast as it is served, Cromagon takes a stroll in the town after breakfast.
• Sildar (rescued from the dungeon) joins the party at the tavern and conveys his thanks for his rescue. He mentions to Tremen a map of the mine that Grundem & his brother had discovered, and it was the map the goblins were after. Sildar mentions the Redbrams & perhaps they are involved in stealing the map.
• Tremen notices that Silanne isn’t around and suggest it might be an idea to gather the party, so myself & Crom take a stroll, doing a loop but nothing is observed about Silanne’s whereabouts. Bluebell joins myself & Crom as we do loop to the south, but again we see no signs of Silanne.
• Silanne eventually turns up at the inn a bit later, and a discussion takes place about dealing with the Redbrams. Silanne relays their last night observations. Tremen is reluctant to confront the Redbrams, without any further evidence, and then proceeds to talk to the town clerk to see what his position is on the goings on of the Redbrams & the sleeping giant.

The only image where the AI was persuaded to show two oxen. As for the composition of the team, the AI seemed determined to show what the goblins were hoping for (despite the goblins not being mentioned in the image prompt!)

Day 1. The party has assembled in Neverwinter, where we meet a Dwarf wishing to hire us to escort a cart of provisions to Phandain, 2 days travel to the south. there are rumours that the dwarf & his brothers have discovered something.

Day 2. The dwarf and his protector leave in advance of our party the following morning, our ranger keeps a curious eye on them, we set off the a few hours later with the party split with some riding on the cart and others walking. The party is a mix of characters. Silanne an elf ranger, Tharbin a curious dwarf, Tremen the tremulous, Bluebell Maples a druid, Basher & Fiorana Naskill. The day goes uneventfully and we arrive at the camp site chosen by Silanne.

Day 3. The evening watches were uneventful, we wake to a wonderous day, hunters of the party have returned with ample food to fill our bellies. As we begin our journey our ranger takes the lead and heads off to scout ahead. A few hours later some of the party take leave of themselves to head off towards the position of Silanne, we bring the cart to a stop. Up head the advance party have spotted a Goblin ambush and proceed to disperse into the surrounds to seek out the raiding party & dispatch them as fast as they can.

Bashers secures 7 rooms at a reasonable price for the party - 1GP per night at the Stonehill inn.

Silanne & Tremen head to the townhall and report the possible deaths of the dwarf and his protector at the hands of some goblins, that we adequately hunted down and dispatched.

A potential view of the Sleeping Giant Inn

The dwarf that I meet in the miners exchange, after exchanging greetings we begin a discussion. He seems upset at the news about the dwarf missing possibly killed by the goblins, he mentions they think somebody called spider may be controlling the goblins, after I mention that they seemed to be a little organised. I inquire about the mine and where the dwarfs brothers might be, to which he mentions they will be at the secret mine at echo cave. I relay this to Tremen whom I meet on my way back to the inn.

The party assembles in the inn, Basher & Fiorana decide to check out the Sleeping Giant. As they head out a commotion is heard outside. A cart is seen heading into town escorted by locals, full of goblins. The towns folk are cheering. After a short time they head off and discreetly gain entry into the Sleeping Giant. A little bit of snooping around discloses some rooms and a crowd downstairs in the cellar. Basher returns to the party and informs us that Fiorana is hidden inside the tavern and listening to the crowd. Some time passes and no sign of her return yet

Interior view of the Townmaster's Hall (entrance hall)

A short time later a messenger arrives and asks for the party, we are told we are wanted at the town hall as the town clerk wishes to hire us, to rescue the dwarf & human mentioned by the goblins. Tremen heads off to negotiate our fees, & 20GP per person is agreed. He then heads off to question the goblins about the location of the cave, which they disclose as the north of the funeral fire (the hidden goblin path discovered by Silanne). One of the goblin warns him about the water, and a big goblin with stick, which Tremen believes is a lookout.

Our ranger is absent, but is mostly likely doing a sweep of the village perimeter. The party don't worry as Silanne is experienced and very good at not been spotted