In the beginning...

Two characters were created;

Gary Barlow - a human fighter, former soldier, Chaotic Good alignment. Equipped with chainmail and wielded a pike for most of this adventure.

Tommy Tippee - a halfling rogue, Neutral alignment. Wears a suit of leather armour and uses a short bow and short sword.

The adventurers were both summoned to Neverwinter by their contact, Gundram Rockshaft.
The heroes form a mysterious duo, with little known other than their names. It is unknown how they know Gundram, or whether they met him as a business contact, but nethertheless they agree to take on a simple task of escorting a wagon full of mining supplies to the town of Phandalin on the promise of 10gp payment apiece when they deliver the wagon safety to Barthen's Provisions. Gundram himself sets off immediately on horseback, escorted by a warrior named Sildar Hallwinter.

The heroes take the wagon, driven by Gary on account of his proficiency with land vehicles, south along the road from Neverwinter to Phandalin. The journey is uneventful until they steer east, and on a narrow part of the path flanked by thick forest the wagon is forced to stop on account of two dead horses blocking the road.

Gary dismounts the wagon and Tommy scouts ahead and notices that something is amiss - two goblins lurking in the thickets, short bows in hand, waiting for the heroes to get closer. Tommy looses a single arrow which strikes one of the goblins in the stomach, sending it screeching in agony along a trail to the north. Gary quickly subdues the other goblin and another arrow from Tommy finishes off the straggler.

The heroes notice that the horses have been killed by arrows, presumably from the goblins, and that the saddlebags and a leather map case have been completely looted. They don't make the connection that these are the horses belonging to Gundarm and Sildar, however.

After attempts to drag the horses out of the road using the cart and ropes from the mining supplies ends in disaster when the ropes break and become unusable, the heroes head north along the goblin's trail. Tommy scouts ahead and notices crude traps along the trail. The pair head past a snare and Gary disarms a pit-trap by throwing a long into it first.

A 5 mile walk brings the heroes to the entrance of a cave. They walk across the stream which flows from the mouth of the cave, and the splashing sound alerts two goblin sentries who set upon them with bows. Fortunately, one goblin is quickly killed and his companion, arm almost severed by Gary, throws down his weapons and surrenders. The adventurers interrogate the goblin about the cave, and he indicates there are approximately 6-7 of his kin inside along with their leader, Klarg. They ask the goblin to empty his pockets and Tommy takes a small glass cube; they elect to leave some 'questionable jerky' on their prisoner. Without asking any further relevant questions they let the goblin loose before realising he is heading directly south where the wagon is tethered - Gary easily captures the goblin and elects to send him in a different direction despite Tommy suggesting they should just kill him. He heads off to the East through the dense foliage.

Gary and Tommy enter the cave into a passage which branches to the East into a dank caves, where they find two angry wolves tethered to the floor. The wolves are shot with arrows successfully by Tommy, and less-so by Gary who's lack of dexterity causes him to fumble with a looted goblin short bow. One manages to break free and bite Tommy, before being piked to death by Gary.

The two make a horrendous show of trying to strip the carcasses for their pelts, and they leave the cave by a narrow 30ft shaft to the East. Tommy easily scales the shaft with his acrobatic ability, and Gary follows close with raw athleticism. They scout the area and see a bugbear, Klarg, distracted by a cooking fire in the centre of the cave. Tommy successfully sneaks towards a stack of crates and sacks in the South-Eastern side of the cave, bearing the mark of the Lionshield Cloister, a trading consortium, and finds an unlocked treasure chest containing some healing potions, money, and a small jade frog figurine with golden eyes.

Tommy shoots an arrow towards Klarg which misses completely, alerting him to his presence. Klarg rushes over but in his rage misses with his giant morning star and smashes some of the crates as he tries to crush the halfling. As this unfolds, Gary rushes at the mangy wolf and begins a clumsy battle, missing with his first swing. The wolf retaliates with a critical hit and rips off one of Gary's boots, leaving him with an unshod foot. Klarg continues to swing clumsily as Tommy lands a devastating blow in his side, causing the bugbear to go down. Tommy takes his morning star as Gary finishes off the wolf by piking it through the head and kicking the body cleanly away. Gary manages to successfully skin the wolf and gains a mangy pelt.

The pair continue North, having now gained the drop on the rest of the goblins in the cave. Two goblins in the next cavern are rapidly killed and another, seeing the spectacle, throws his hands in the air and begs for mercy. They interrogate the goblin and learn the layout of the rest of the cave and that there is a prisoner to the West. The goblin initially lies to the heroes about the layout of the caverns and is clumsily beheaded by Tommy in a horrific display.

Gary charges over to a rope bridge where a lone goblin sentry awaits, watching the stream leading to the main cavern entrance 30ft below. In his enthusiasm and perhaps due to his unshod foot, Gary critically misses with a swing of his pike and severs one of the ropes, causing the bridge to collapse. The goblin is caught unawares and falls head-first onto the rocks below, killing him instantly. Gary manages to hold on using his dexterity and using his athletic skill manages to manoeuvre back on to solid ground.

The pair head towards the eating-cave and negotiate some fragile natural stone stairs. Three goblins in the eating cave are distracted by food preparation, while a larger leader stands above on a low plateau. Tommy uses his bow to sneak attack the leader and lands an arrow squarely in the leader's abdomen, however the slightly better quality of it's armour prevents it from going down. The leader runs into the Eastern corner of the cave whilst the other three, to their demise, rush the heroes and are quickly killed.

The adventurers pursue the leader and find him stood against a prisoner, a near-naked human male who has obviously undergone some torments. They recognise him as Sildar Hallwinter, and the goblin screeches for a truce. The goblin leader introduces himself as Yeemik, and demands that the heroes kill Klarg so he can become leader of the tribe again. Yeemik is rather stupid and doesn't realise that his clan is all but destroyed. The heroes show Klarg's morningstar to the goblin who then demands they heal his wounds. They reluctantly toss him one of their healing potions, which Yeemik quaffs before trying to slink off. Deciding Yeemik should die anyway, Tommy quickly looses and arrow in his direction. The aim is poor, and the arrow clatters off the side of the cave, enraging Yeemik who in his final act, sprints towards Sildar and stabs him in the stomach with his dagger before being killed himself.

The heroes revive Sildar with a healing potion and he is thankful for being rescued. He promises 50p for safe escort back to Phandalin, which is immediately renegotiated as 60gp due to him lacking any upfront payment. The three head out of the cavern and back towards their wagon, as Sildar explains how Gundram and his two brothers have apparently found the location of 'Wave Echo Cave', site of the 'Phandelver Pact' between gnomes, dwarves and humans which granted all access to a mine of great treasures both mundane and magical which is now long-lost. Slidar also explains how he is aware that Gundram, along with his map to the cave, has been taken to the Chief of the Cragmaws at Cragmaw Castle and that this was on the orders of someone called the 'Black Spider'. Slidar doesn't know who or what the Black Spider is, or the location of Cragmaw Castle.

En-route, the group find the corpse of the goblin sentry they set free; apparently ravaged by wolves for the questionable jerky in his pocket.

With Sildar's help, the heroes manage to move the horses and the trail to Phandalin is clear.

Things we did Wrong
-Gary was using a pike, which is a two-handed weapon. We forgot to subtract his shield's bonus from his Armour Class.
-Tommy's sneak attack only applies when he is attacking an enemy against whom he has advantage or against whom he is adjacent AND is currently engaged fighting someone else.
-The characters now have 350XP (not 275 as I thought). This is enough to immediately advance to level 2.

Links
D&D Basic Rules PDF