The story so far:

Gundren Rockseeker - adventurer, miner and entrepreneur extraordinnaire, hired a ragtag group of adventurers -our heroes- to deliver a shipment of supplies to his newest prospect near the town of Phandalin.

However, the mission was derailed by a goblin ambush, and the discovery that Mr. Rockseeker had been kidnapped and taken prisoner by a bandit group. Tracking the bandits to a nerby cave, our heroes defeated the bandits and freed Gundren's business partner, Sildar Hallwinter, who sadly informed them that Gundren had been taken prisoner by the Black Spider, a mysterious figure whose identity remains unknown.

Heading to Phandalin to reorient themselves and gather information, our heroes did some shopping, interviewed a number of unsuspecting villagers, and clashed with a group of ruffians in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. However, it now seems that victory in this clash may have greater reprecussions than our heroes anticipated...