The road to Phandalin was meant to be simple: escort a wagon, collect coin, and move on. Gundran Rockseeker’s excitement hinted at something more, but his early departure left the party with little more than unanswered questions and a job to finish.
  Along the Triboar Trail, the promise of an easy journey collapsed at a forest choke point. Dead horses and embedded arrows told a story of violence moments too late. When goblins struck from the trees, the party survived the ambush and chose pursuit over caution, tracking the lone survivor to a hidden cave where torchlight and running water marked the edge of something larger.
  The truth inside sharpened quickly. A sizable goblin force controls the area under the rule of a bugbear named Clarg. More troubling than the numbers was what the goblins were connected to: a stolen map, a captured dwarf, and the resurfacing legend of Wave Echo Cave. The Forge of Spells, the fall of Phandalin’s Pact, and the destruction that buried the mine have returned from history into immediate danger.
  With Sildar Hallwinter rescued but wounded, the party now turns toward Phandalin carrying more than supplies. A missing wizard, a shadowed fortress called Cragmaw Castle, and a figure known only as the Black Spider tighten around the same mystery. The path forward is no longer just a road. It is a choice, and the consequences are already moving.