After resting in Phandalin and selling off their excess gear, the party prepared to venture to Wave Echo Cave. Gundren Rockseeker, now rescued, agreed to lead them. Before departing, the artificer Fizwick thanked them again and promised to craft them something upon their return, with the party requesting holy hand grenades. Bjorn also concluded his business with Halia of the Zhentarim, receiving a hundred gold pieces for dealing with Glasstaff, despite not bringing him in alive.

Led by Gundren, the group traveled into the hills towards the mountains. Their path brought them to a massive, ancient stone bridge spanning a deep ravine shrouded in fog. As they began to cross, the voice of King Grol, the hobgoblin leader they had previously let escape, echoed through the chasm. He declared that the Spider had tasked him with their demise, and an ambush was sprung. Hobgoblins emerged from the trees on both sides of the bridge, releasing wild boars to charge the party.

The battle on the bridge was a chaotic affair. The party formed a defensive position, using makeshift barricades to funnel their attackers. Nissa and her panther Jasper, along with Bjorn and his dire wolf Avalanche, held the front lines against the charging boars. Clara used her magic to bolster her defenses, while Breith unleashed a wave of divine light that vaporized a cluster of goblins. Bjorn, in a show of brute force, grew to a massive size and began kicking goblins off the bridge into the ravine below.

As the fight raged on, King Grol appeared, commanding more forces to join the fray, including bugbears and vicious bloodhawks that swooped down from the sky. An enormous ogre also lumbered onto the bridge, its steps shaking the ancient stone. The ogre, however, proved to be a berserker. After being struck by Nissa's arrow, it flew into an uncontrollable rage, attacking anything nearby, including its own goblin allies, smashing them and tossing them from the bridge. The party capitalized on the chaos, fighting off waves of enemies while the ogre inadvertently thinned the hobgoblin ranks. The battle was still raging fiercely when the session concluded abruptly.