After their time at the Wayside Inn, the characters have less than twenty miles of travel along the High Road to reach Leilon. Silla asks if she can travel with the party. If they say no, she simply follows behind them at a short and indiscrete distance, forlornly playing a sad tune on her harmonica at the thought of being shunned by the party.
A Town Meeting
When the party gets less than a mile from the location where the town is being rebuilt, they come upon an impromptu town meeting. Most of the town is here; they have been evacuated to this point because the town guards sent up a warning that someone or something was invading Leilon.
When the adventurers approach the settlers, use the following read-aloud text to describe the scene:
Roughly fifty people stand in a clearing just off the High Road, where the forest to the northeast and the swampland to the southwest give way to grassland for a bit on each side of the road. The beginnings of gardens or larger fields of crops are half-dug here.
The people mill about in a panic. Some shake in fear, others shout in anger, and in the center of it all an enraged dwarf waves her arms and tries to get those around her to listen. A bored-looking human in a chain shirt and shield decorated with the sigil of Neverwinter stands next to the dwarf. He finally bangs his spear against his shield to quiet the tumult.
The dwarf is Grizzelda Copperwraught, who the settlers call “the Growler,” but never within earshot of her. She was personally hired by Lord Neverember to oversee the rebuilding of the structures that will comprise the new town. She instructs the builders and gives them their pay at the end of each tenday.
Next to Grizzelda is Sergeant Hazz Yorrum. Yorrum is a human guard, and in charge of the Neverwinter soldiers who protect the settlers while the town is being built. He is a coward, as lazy as he is corrupt.
Two other persons of note are here as well: Merrygold Brightshine and Valdi Estapaar. Merrygold is a priest of Lathander, the Morninglord. He and his church were given the rights to build the first temple in Leilon. The church of Lathander paid handsomely for the honor, and Merrygold and his staff assist in making sure that the workers get fed and cared for outside of their normal duties.
Valdi Estapaar is a half-elven fisher who is tasked by Lord Neverember to oversee the fishing industry that is supposed to support the town as it is built. The fish she and her subordinates catch feed the town, and the excess fish are cured and transported to the nearby cities for sale.
The Growler, Merrygold, and Valdi comprise the Leilon Town Council at this point in the town’s development. While the Growler is ostensibly the leader, the council votes on major issues, so the Growler can be overruled if Merrygold and Valdi agree on a different plan.
A Hard Decision
The characters come within earshot of the meeting just as the Growler is about to address the townsfolk. The characters are free to step in and interrupt at any point, but use the bullet points below to guide the talk until they do:
- The Growler begins by berating the townsfolk for being such an unruly mob as they evacuated the town. She calls out a few individuals by name, shaming them in front of the group.
- She asks if anyone saw anything strange happening in the town as they were evacuating. One of the stonemasons claims that she saw something strange happening in the water out on the swampland, past the marsh islands, but then she picked up her tools and ran as the soldiers ordered her to evacuate.
- Another stonemason claims to have seen heard some of the returning fishing-folk, who were still out on their skiffs in the marshland, shouting in panic. Others nod and “harrumph” to indicate they heard this as well.
- At this point a short dragonborn wearing a holy symbol of Lathander shouts, “May the Morninglord forgive me! We are missing two of the children. Smithwell and Burnice aren’t here. They were right behind me as we left the town.” (The two human children are best friends, the son and daughter of two of the fishers who are still out in the water.)
- This pronouncement sends the collected townsfolk into a panic again, forcing the guard Yorrum to put spear to shield to quiet the crowd.
- Merrygold insists that they must immediately go back to town to retrieve the children, consequences be damned. The Growler insists that they stay right here until one of the soldiers from the town comes to tell them that it is safe. Until then, no one is going anywhere. Valdi seems unsure what to do, as no one here (except Sgt. Yorrum) is much of a fighter.
At this point that party should have heard enough to intercede into the conversation, even if it is just to volunteer to be the ones to head into town and check on the situation, retrieving the children if danger remains.
Chasing the Children
During the town meeting, two servants of the Morninglord are tasked with keeping an eye on a group of about twenty children between the ages of four and twelve. These kids belong to some of the workers in the town. While the parents work, the children are looked after and taught by the acolytes of Lathander who inhabit the Shrine of Lathander, which is currently the only finished stone building in the town.
These children, some of them terrified and missing their parents, others mischievous and too young to understand consequences (much like adventurers), decide to run off in different directions during the meeting.
Any players not engrossed by the town council discussion can be called upon to have their characters help the acolytes round up the wayward children. This could involve DC 10 ability checks like Strength (
Whichever adventurer does the best job of corralling the children might gain an admirer. This child can be totally smitten or intrigued by the character, following them around, asking them questions constantly, and wanting to be just like the character (regardless of how inappropriate that might be).
Storm’s Moving In
After the drama (or comedy) of the town meeting has played out, and the party has decided on a course of action, the first threat comes to them in the form of a wagon full of anchorites of the Cult of Talos.
The forces of the cult include one archer and one dark tide knight (see appendix A) for every two characters, including sidekicks, rounded down. If there is an odd number of characters, add one dark tide knight.
As enemy approaches, use the following read-aloud text to describe the situation:
Strange knights bearing a symbol with three lightning bolts striking ride horses made of water. Accompanied by a wagon full of archers, pulled by another of the water steeds.
The steeds move at 30 feet per round, and otherwise cannot attack or be harmed.
As the Cult of Talos members attack, the rest of the citizens of Leilon scatter. The acolytes of Lathander shepherd the children to safety, and the rest of the adults move toward the safety of the nearby trees. Sgt. Yorrum, it should be noted, flees faster than anyone.
Aftermath
If the party defeats the cultists, they find that each of them bears a tattoo of three parallel lightning bolts on their forearms. If any are taken prisoner and questioned, they answer with the ominous ravings of those touched by divine madness. They claim that the Stormlord is coming to drown everyone and cleanse the world of the unworthy.
The wagon was stolen from the town, and still contains the remains of some fish that were meant to be taken to the fishery. One of the dark tide knights carries a
The Request
Seeing that this threat came from the village itself, the town council now understands the dire nature of the situation. It is possible that the guards and anyone else who was left in town is dead, and the town could be overrun with enemies. The council asks the party to sneak into town and assess the situation there. If the town is no longer safe, the settlers must return to Neverwinter in defeat.
Something Fishy in Town
After dealing with the members of the Cult of Talos, the characters should be in a hurry to get to Leilon and see what is happening.
Approaching the Town
By following the High Road, the party can easily get to town. They may also decide to approach from a less conspicuous direction. Either way, they can get to the edge of town without being spotted.
When they reach Leilon, use the following read-aloud text to describe the situation:
The progress on the town’s rebuilding has been slow, it appears. The holes for a palisade have been dug, but only a few logs are in place. At the center of the ruins, a tall tower, mostly collapsed, rests atop a bluff. The only intact stone building sits at the bottom of the bluff, its white façade bearing the mark of Lathander.
There is an intact wooden building closer to the water marsh at the southwest side of town, smoke rising from two chimneys.
In front of this building stands a tiefling dressed in blue robes. She raises her hands to the sky, and dark clouds appear in response. Before the tiefling, at the end of the swampy water, stand a small number of humans, greataxes raised in the air, who chant in response to her.
Children in Danger
In the previous scene, a plot point was introduced: ten-year-old friends Smithwell and Burnice were still in town during the attack. How you use them is up to you, as you know your players. Some players do not handle children in danger well. If this is the case, simply have the pair hiding safely in the Shrine of Lathander, emerging when the threat is gone.
If you want to add drama and motivation for the party, you can place the children out in the open, needing to be brought to safety before they are seen by the Talos cultists. Just remember that giving the characters something else to do in the encounter increases the difficulty of the encounter for the party.
The tiefling standing in front of the fishery is a kraken priest (see appendix A) named Nixoxious, and before her in the water there is 1 berserker per character, including sidekicks. They are trying to perform a ritual to summon water creatures to destroy the town. (These water creatures are faced in the next wave of the battle, as described below.)
The characters start 500 feet from the priest. She has already completed enough of her ritual to summon the water elemental, and every four rounds she is alive, she summons another water weird, up to the maximum described below. Once she has summoned the maximum number of creatures, she stops chanting and joins the combat, assuming the party has engaged in combat with her and the berserkers.
Note that even though she performs the ritual to summon these water creatures, they do not attack or even appear until this part of the battle has ended.
Ritual. If the characters watch what is happening for at least a round, they can attempt a DC 10 Intelligence (
Aftermath
After defeating the forces of Talos on land, the party can find a
Marsh, Unmellow
On the marsh islands with the pagan ruins, fishers and soldiers captured by the cultists are
Monsters
Based on the number of rounds that the kraken priest chanted before being defeated, there is at least one water elemental, and a maximum of one water weird for every two characters, including sidekicks.
When the creatures arrive, set the scene using the following read-aloud text:
The watery marshland bubbles and roils. Lightning flashes in the sky, revealing several humanoid forms lying on muddy marsh islands 60 feet from the shore. The waist-high water between the shore and the islands suddenly erupts as large watery forms emerge.
Tactics
If the characters do not intervene, the monsters move out to the islands and kill the
Aftermath
If the party defeats the water creatures, the immediate threat to Leilon is eliminated. The
The damage to the town was minimal, and only a few of the settlers were killed, most of the them brave Neverwinter soldiers who gave their lives to protect the fishers caught in their boats during the attack.
Time to Rest
Now that the threats are removed, the party can inform the settlers that it is safe to return to Leilon. The settlers return to their work: construction, farming, fishing, and otherwise building their new home.
Building a Town
As this adventure and the other two adventures in the series progress, the Leilon locations presented in the adventures represent the default growth of the town if the characters do not intervene too much. The more interest the adventurers take in building the town, however, the more is at stake when the town in threatened.
For players interested in the town-building aspect of the campaign, you can even let them help plan the growth and building of the town, changing the map dramatically. This is not only fine—it is wonderful! You may need to tweak later adventures in and around the town, but that is one of the joys of running a D&D campaign: the unfolding story belongs to you and the players.
Let the characters use their downtime to help build the palisade, create homes, fish and hunt, or otherwise pitch in if they desire. Otherwise, you can just declare that time passes with no more attacks until the next adventuring quest comes along.