C1S1 ("The Ambush, a.k.a. Too High A Level")

General Details

 * DM: Benny
 * PCs: Firushi Fulan Ku, Morfir, Salazar Jinn, Woodrow, Bonk, Cindy
 * NPCs: Steve the Goblin
 * Locations: Neverwinter, Road to Phandalin

Synopsis
After a group of young thugs harass a Dwarven man with a mecha arm named Gundren Rockseeker, several inhabitants scare the thugs away. Gundren urges the party to leave by completing an escort mission to nearby Phandalin, but only two accept. The other two decline and hide in the dark corners of Neverwinter. Gundren and his human assistant Sildar Hallwinter leave ahead of the party. The party of two leave the city of Neverwinter, only to notice there are two horses in the path with arrows through them. After perceiving there are goblins waiting to ambush them from the nearby brush, they try to surprise attack. They are slain in battle. A day later, a bugbear rogue named Bonk and a wood elf ranger named Cindy notice the two horses while walking on the same trail. They also detect the goblins and stealthily defeat two of them, knocking one non-lethally unconscious. They find an empty leather map case among the dead horses. They tie him to a tree in the brush and surround him with the corpses of his friends, intimidating information out of him. They learn that he is a goblin named Steve whose king had ordered his leader Klarg and their Cragmaw kin to search for a dwarf named Gundren, and seize a map from him. He reveals they have taken Gundren and his map to the nearby eating cave, the Cragmaw cave, and is intimidated into revealing the path to its destination, which is laid with traps. The two heroes untie him and let him go free, before shooting him in the back as he runs away. He groans in agony and passes away. The two then travel via the revealed trail to the nearby Cragmaw Hideout.