“Aid from Phandalin” is balanced for characters of 8th level, though characters of 7th level should be able to survive the encounters.
Location Overview
The town of Phandalin rests along the Triboar Trail between the High Road and town of Triboar. Nestled into the hills of the Sword Mountains, it has become a bustling area of trade and mining since brave heroes vanquished some of the threats to the area.
Quest Goals
To complete the Aid from Phandalin quest (see “area Leilon Quests"), the adventurers must escort the goatherd and her flock to Phandalin, pick up the goods at Barthen’s Provisions, and survive the separate attacks of the forces of the necromancer Ularan Mortus and the Cult of Talos.
Travel to Phandalin
The town council approaches the characters one morning and asks them to undertake a different kind of mission. One of the town residents, a gnome named Pinchwit Wigglehoof, is an expert goatherd. But her flock of goats are no normal herd. She raises Giant Goat, excellent producers of milk and meat, and even their goat-hair is highly valued for its tensile strength and warmth.
Elmar Barthen, proprietor of Barthen’s Provisions in Phandalin, is brokering a deal with a wealthy Waterdhavian merchant to sell some of Pinchwit’s stock for a very lucrative profit. As a goatherd in the employ of Dagult Neverember and the town of Leilon, Pinchwit’s profits are the town’s profits.
However, part of the deal is that the goats must be brought to Phandalin. While Pinchwit is an excellent goatherd, she is less capable as a fighter. She and her goats need an escort from Leilon to Phandalin. The town council of Leilon also asks the characters to buy wagons to bring back a plethora of supplies that the town needs.
The distance from Leilon to Phandalin is only twenty-one miles or so, but the route goes through forest and grassland unsullied by anything resembling a road or a path. Pinchwit wants to keep the flock off the main roads.
Additionally, goats are not the most obedient animals in the wide kingdom of creatures. They can only travel about three miles per day, making the trip to Phandalin a seven-day ordeal. And with a couple hundred unruly goats, what could possibly go wrong?
Encounters on the Way
The characters have the following encounters as they travel to Phandalin.
Goat Check
At some point during the trip, a pair of Wyvern fly above the goat-train heading for Phandalin. The wyverns do not attack; even with their limited intelligence, they understand that such a large group of people could prove dangerous to them.
The goats, however, panic at the sight of these large predators, causing them to flee in every direction. The characters must do everything in their power to keep the goats together, because the wyverns do not hesitate to pick off stragglers.
Herding
When the goats bolt, each character can attempt a DC 10 Wisdom (
- They can stay together, saving half the herd but losing many of the goats to the wyvern attack. This reduces that money that the town could make from the merchant.
- They can split up and each go after one of the groups of goats that split off. That means, however, that half the group must fight one wyvern, and the other half must fight the other, and they are 3000 feet away from each other, likely unable to help each other.
Hungry Ogres
One night (or day if the situation dictates), while the traveling goat show is resting for the evening, a family of ogres catches their scent. Being ogres, always hungry and particularly grumpy around goats, the ogres decide to attack.
Assuming some of the characters are sleeping for the night, anyone on guard duty can attempt a DC 15 Wisdom (
After three rounds, the Ogre, numbering three plus one per character, excluding sidekicks, charge out of the darkness and begin grabbing goats. When the characters intervene, the ogres drop the goats and attempt to smash the adventurers.
Your Campaign, Your Phandalin
Since this adventure and the ones that follow were designed to continue the story of Dragon of Icespire Peak, there’s a good chance your players have already interacted with the NPCs in the town of Phandalin. If that is the case, then they have their own stories and their own relationships with the people of Phandalin. The town and the NPCs, as they are presented here, should be seen as just the beginning. You should change the attitudes of the NPCs, or the actual NPCs themselves, based on what has come to pass in your campaign.
If the characters have not been to Phandalin, you can learn more about the town in the D&D Starter Set or D&D Essentials Kit. If you do not wish to purchase any products that detail Phandalin, you can create your own Phandalin based on the areas described in this adventure.
Arrival
When the characters arrive in Phandalin, Pinchwit scurries off to Barthen’s Provisions to finalize the deal. The characters are free to go to the merchant’s establishment with her, or they can explore the town, picking up a wagon and the supplies needed by the town of Leilon.
If the characters are heroes of the town, they are greeted as such wherever they go. Townsfolk who know them offer free food and drink, with plenty of handshakes, pats on the back, and requests for autographs.
On the Town
As the characters go about the business of procuring and securing wagons, horses, and the supplies needed back in Leilon, they might learn about some spies who have recently arrived in Phandalin, some working for the Cult of Talos, and others employed by Ularan Mortus and the followers of Myrkul.
Stonehill Inn
This is a modest, two-story roadhouse with rooms for rent and a common area for purchasing food and drink. Toblen Stonehill, a short, friendly human, runs the establishment.
While the characters are in the common room at night, Toblen looks up as the door opens. The door closes quickly without anyone entering, and Toblen shakes his head in wonder. He says he thinks it was Argus Skeel who just opened the door and left immediately. Skeel is a newcomer who claims to be a prospector but never seems to be prospecting. He only comes around at night.
Following Skeel
If the characters leave quickly, they can spot Skeel ducking into an abandoned shack on the edge of town with a successful DC 16 Wisdom (
If the characters follow Skeel into the shack, they cannot find him. A DC 20 Intelligence (
Lionshield Coster
Linene Graywind, a middle-aged woman, runs the coster, and she sells the horses that the characters need for Leilon. She doesn’t have any carts for sale but tells the characters that they can probably pick some up at the Miner’s Exchange in town.
Linene has a new assistant, a red-haired elf going by the name of Velleen Firecrow. Velleen makes deliveries and manages trade in the surrounding area, with a team of kobolds who seem to adore her. Velleen is also a member of the Cult of Talos, acting as a spy for the comings and goings in Phandalin. (See “area The Attack” below for more information on Velleen and the kobolds.)
If the characters find the Talos symbol at the Shrine of Luck and show it to Linene, she recognizes it as something Velleen wears as a brooch, although she hasn’t seen her wearing it in a couple of days.
If the characters approach Velleen about her lost brooch, the cultist and her kobold servants attack. If they are defeated, the characters do not have to face them later as they pack to leave the town.
Barthen’s Provisions
Elmar Barthen runs this general store with help from his two assistants, Ander and Thistle. Elmar and Ander know rumors and are happy to spread them, but Thistle is a little more reluctant to talk. A successful DC 15 Wisdom (
If the characters push him for information, he can be prompted to talk with a DC 15 Charisma (
Phandalin Miner’s Exchange
The characters can procure carts and wagons at the Phandalin Miner’s Exchange, which is operated by the crafty Halia Thornton. Halia knows about the spies in town, but she won’t reveal anything without getting paid at least 50 gp for the information.
She is willing to tell the characters as much or as little information as you want her to provide. And if the characters treat her rudely or try to pay her less than she asks, she happily tells Skeel, Velleen, or both exactly what the characters know and what their plans are.
Shrine of Luck
The characters were asked by the Leilon town council to pick up ten vials of holy water at the shrine. When the characters arrive, the place is empty, and the shrine has been ransacked. There is no sign of anyone who worked here, but with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (
Townmaster’s Hall
This stone building has a wooden roof, a bell tower in the back, and an empty job board in the front. Harbin Wester, the townmaster and a wealthy banker, is polite if the characters see him, although he seems to be worried and fretful—more so than usual.
If the characters ask, he confides in them that the weather has been particularly fierce recently. Winds have come out of nowhere and damaged buildings, and three people have been struck by lightning.
Also, a few people seem to have gone missing over the last couple of tendays. No one can say for sure, because the people who may be missing are visitors or travelers with no ties to Phandalin. It’s possible that they simply left town, but some of them seemed to indicate that they were going to be around longer.
The Attack
When the characters are packing up to take the supplies back to Leilon at the end of their visit, the spies from both the Cult of Talos and the followers of Myrkul independently decide they are too big a threat to let live. (If the characters have already dealt with both spies, this encounter doesn’t happen.)
Use the Backlot Map to run this encounter. As the characters load the wagons, storm clouds descend and block the sun. Argus Skeel (male vampire spawn) and two Ghoul, plus one ghoul per character, including sidekicks, approach. If it is daylight, Argus wears heavy clothes to protect himself.
At the same time, Velleen Firecrow and two Kobold Dragonshield (see appendix A), plus one dragonshield per character, including sidekicks, approach from the other direction. Velleen is a female Damaran master thief (see appendix A).
As the combat begins, the two evil groups recognize each other, and also attack one another when appropriate. (See “Running a Three-sided Battle” sidebar for advice.)
Running a Three-Sided Battle
Combat is a highlight of the game for a large number of players: they love the challenge, the tactics, and the drama. A battle involving three different sides at the same time can provide all of those highlights writ large. Running such a combat, however, takes care and practice.
With a three-sided combat, it is very easy to simply overwhelm the characters if you turn all the attention on the party. On the other hand, such a combat can be too easy if the other two sides simply wipe each other out while the adventurers watch.
Below are some tips for running a three-sided combat:
Start by focusing most attacks on the characters. Doing this establishes the tone and danger of the situation quickly. The players should be aware from the outset that if all the enemies turned on them at once, the encounter would likely go very poorly for them.
Keep a close eye on the hit points of the characters. When the adventurers begin to feel a sense of hopelessness or peril beyond their capability, then have the other sides focus on each other for a while, giving the characters a chance to recover and regroup.
Encourage tactical thinking. If one of the sides of the battle consists of savage monsters or mindless undead, give clues that they attack the nearest enemy rather than thinking tactically. This might encourage characters to move away from those enemies, or push other enemies into their path. This highlights the kind of tactical play that some players thrive on.
End dramatically. Three-sided battles can sometimes take longer because of the number of combatants participating. Use your discretion as the DM to have the excitement of the battle build up rather than fizzle out. When it’s clear that the characters have the upper hand, turn on the monster toward them. But when it is clear that the characters will be victorious, have the remaining enemies fall quickly to avoid a drawn-out and anticlimactic denouement.
Aftermath
After the characters have dealt with the spies, either individually through investigation or at once as they are packing to leave, the characters can search them for clues.
The ghouls working for Skeel bear the same skull marks at the ones who attacked the Wayside Inn during the introduction of this adventure. Skeel’s clothes are riddled with thorns and barbed seeds from plants that are only found in the Mere of Dead Men. This can indicate to the characters that the larger undead threat may stem from that marsh.
Velleen and her kobolds each conceal hidden symbols of the Cult of Talos. She also carries a case containing a pair of lenses and a note in Common that says, “The lenses show the secrets of the map.” If these lenses are used to view the map found in the basement of the Wayside Inn, it reveals secret writing that points out various other locations of Cult of Talos activity up and down the Sword Coast, with the Thunder Cliffs circled as the central hub of activity.