Starter Set Sandbox 18 - Using Red Hand of Doom to expand LMoP

I decided to post this for two reasons:

1. I was about to post something like this anyway because it's the direction that my own game is taking; and 

2. +Banesfinger posted an interesting question in the comments at the bottom of <this post>.

However, I need to add one disclaimer: I am not a fan of Tiamat. I also think she has been horribly overused as a BBEG across multiple editions of D&D and even in the execrable D&D cartoon from the 1980s. She also doesn't seem to me to be a classic FR villain but, of course, YMMV. 

But there is one major advantage of sticking with the idea of Tiamat as the BBEG of an adaptation of Red Hand of Doom: it will help tie the adventure into the wider events of the Tyranny of Dragons adventures, Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat, should that be important for your game.

The Simplest Approach

In theory, the simplest approach involves simply finding a section of the regional map from Lost Mine of Phandelver and simply overlaying the regional map from Red Hand of Doom. However, I emphasise in theory as there is nowhere that is really a good match particularly when you consider the map of the Elsir Vale in Red Hand is some 320 miles (EW) by 240 miles (NS) which is larger than the regional map in Lost Mine!

In practice, you really would need to move the whole adventure further east, off the regional map from Lost Mine, and then place the key locations from Elsir Vale elsewhere. I may edit in some comments about that another time but, for now, I want to focus this post on using Red Hand to expand a campaign set in and around Phandalin.

The More Complicated Approach

This involves ditching the Elsir Vale map from Red Hand and relying instead of placing key locations, or reasonable analogues, on the regional map that came with Lost Mine. 

When Red Hand of Doom was first released, WotC posted the introduction and a synopsis of the five parts on their website for public consumption. I saved a copy of this and it is probably still there buried beneath the sheer incompetence that characterises any WotC attempt at using modern technology in conjunction with D&D.

What I am going to do is, beginning with the introduction, quote each section of the synopsis and provide some ideas as how to make this work in and around Phandalin.

The quoted sections will appear in this format.

Introduction

Red Hand of Doom casts the player characters in the role of heroes fighting to stem the advance of Azarr Kul's horde. There are far too many enemy warriors for the PCs to deal with them all personally. Instead, the heroes undertake vital missions that influence the outcome of the war. These missions include the following:

• Spying out the movements of Azarr Kul's army.
• Defeating roving bands of marauders.
• Leading the effort to rally an elf army to meet the Red Hand horde.
• Disrupting an alliance between the Red Hand and a powerful lich.
• Killing important enemy commanders, champions, and monsters.
• And, finally, infiltrating the Fane of Tiamat to defeat the Red Hand warpriests and their leader in their secret stronghold.

The adventure is divided into five parts, describing five key locations the PCs are likely to explore in the course of the adventure. Event-triggered encounters are also woven into each of the five parts. The adventure locales and events are designed to interact: Events will steer the heroes toward adventure locales, and things the heroes do in the locales will trigger events.

At this point you need to decide whether to stick with the existing BBEG or to change it to something/someone else.

In my game, the real threat is the Zhentarim but the Zhentarim are split into two factions: the more traditionalist, but smaller, Bane-worshipping faction and the newer and larger Cyric-worshipping faction. The Banites need a significant victory to return to dominance of the Zhentarim so they're the ones behind the Red Hand of Doom. And an aspect of Bane is the replacement for the aspect of Tiamat as the final "boss" monster. (It's also helpful that I have an aspect of Bane miniature, but lack an aspect of Tiamat.)

That also means that the various spawn of Tiamat that are encountered during the course of the original Red Hand of Doom don't really have a place in my adaptation. That said, there is a beast of Bane template in 3.xE to represent creatures that have been touched by the Black Lord. So, for example, rather than having those greenspawn razorfiends flying around, I will just have wyvern or manticore beasts of Bane.

Azarr Kull also does not fit into my more Zhentarim/Bane-oriented adaptation. Rather than the half-dragon, the leader of the horde is either a hobgoblin warlord (and possibly also an evil paladin) or a human Zhentarim commander (who may also be an evil paladin: if you have the 5E DMG then you will also know such things exist in 5E too!). I don't need to make a decision about his identity right away so I will leave that undetermined for now.

However, for those of you who are sticking with the Tiamat-based storyline, unless you're running 3.xE you will need to convert the spawn of Tiamat to your preferred edition.

Part I: The Witchwood => Raid on Phandalin

The adventure begins when the player characters confront a powerful warband of raiders threatening the small town of Drellin's Ferry. Under the command of Wyrmlord Koth, the warband of hobgoblins and goblins lairs in the ruins of an old keep buried in the dense Witchwood, scouting out the surrounding lands in preparation for an attack. Soon the Wyrmlord and his warband intend to sweep down on Drellin's Ferry and slaughter its inhabitants.

In the course of their fight to drive off the marauders, the PCs learn that Koth's warband is just the tip of the spear, and that a horde of goblins, hobgoblins, and their allies is marching south. They also learn that their enemies are driven on by the fanatical warpriests of Tiamat. Drellin's Ferry can't be saved, but the heroes can give the townsfolk time to flee by wrecking a bridge on an old dwarf road the Red Hand horde needs to cross. There they confront the youngest of the Red Hand's dragon champions, a green dragon named Ozyrrandion.

By the end of this part, the war has begun. Thereafter the PCs divide their time between fighting to stem the advance of the Red Hand horde and foiling the plans of the other Wyrmlords, whose work will give the horde an irresistible advantage if left to run its course.

Firstly, the easiest thing to do is replace Drellin's Ferry with Phandalin. Sure, there are some terrain mismatches but the goal here is to make Red Hand an extension of Lost Mine: Phandalin is the only option.

There are quite a few options here, and none of them involve an area of forest: ditch the Witchwood.

Instead of destroying a bridge, there is instead a dwarf-crafted tunnel or a key pass that is facilitating the horde's access from the southern side of the Sword Mountains and the Kryptgarden Forest to this side. Collapsing the tunnel or causing an avalanche to block the key mountain pass will buy the "good guys" time to prepare for the horde's arrival.

Oh, and a green dragon may still be appropriate. Maybe it too is a follower of Bane.

Part II: The Ruins of Rhest => Ruins of Leilon

Something has cut off the Old North Road in the vicinity of the Blackfens. None can flee by that route, nor can help from more distant cities reach besieged Elsir Vale. While scouting the swamp and seeking an answer to the question of who or what has cut off the road, the PCs encounter the reclusive owl-riding wild elves known as the Tiri Kitor. From them, the PCs learn that Wyrmlord Saarvith has allied with a black dragon named Regiarax, and together they have established a hatchery of sinister dragonspawn in the ruins of the drowned city of Rhest. The PCs must defeat both the Wyrmlord and the dragon to prevent the appearance of these vicious creatures in the war. If the PCs play their cards right, they can even gain the aid of the Tiri Kitor elves against the advancing Red Hand horde.

At the end of this section, the PCs discover the threat of the Ghostlord (see Part III). Meanwhile, the Red Hand horde is striking deep all across the vale's western marches, and the war is going poorly indeed for the beleaguered humans.

The hatchery is instead in Leilon. This means a different take on Leilon compared to the version I posted earlier in this series of posts, but I would keep the enchanted tower that can paralyse those who gaze upon it.

You could also keep the Thayans if you assume that, as is the case in the 4E Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, these Thayans are followers of Bane which is, of course, the state religion of Thay thanks to The Haunted Lands trilogy of novels by Richard L Byers. Perhaps these are Thayan clerics who have been instructed by the Black Lord to prepare the wyvern or manticore beasts of Bane in support of the goblin horde. FR purists may find the idea of an alliance between the Zhentarim and the Thayans shocking but they are united by a common religious belief... and it provides further variety in terms of the encounters.

Part III: The Ghostlord's Tower => Master of the Dread Ring/Ebondeath Mausoleum

Azarr Kul brings a deadly new ally into the battle when Red Hand agents steal the phylactery of the human druid lich known as the Ghostlord and coerce this powerful undead menace into joining the war on the Red Hand's side. After gaining possession of the stolen phylactery, the PCs travel into the Thornwaste and do battle with Wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller in the lich's lionshaped lair. Eventually, the PCs must confront the Ghostlord himself and either destroy him (no small task) or purchase his neutrality by returning his phylactery in exchange for peace. By the time they dissuade the lich from joining his forces to those of Azarr Kul, the Red Hand horde is bearing down on Brindol.

I don't think a lion-shaped lair fits it with the Neverwinter Wood or anywhere nearby but YMMV. Personally, I think there are at least three other options that would be better:

1. The Dread Ring in the Neverwinter Wood can be seen on the earlier version of the regional map that was originally published in the Neverwinter Campaign Setting. Instead of a druid lich, the Dread Ring suggests the possibility of Valindra Shadowmantle who now haunts the benighted ruins of the Dread Ring cursed by Szass Tam himself.
2. I have already covered Agatha's Lair but what if the banshee stood in for the Ghostlord? She doesn't have a phylactery but perhaps, as my post about her lair suggests, there is something else she values than can be used to manipulate her?
3. Finally, for those who have access to Dungeon 73 and the Eye of Myrkul adventure - fifth in the first Dungeon adventure path, the Mere of Dead Men series -  what about Strongor Bonebag, a former cleric of Myrkul, as the lich that the bad guys control? On a related note, what about the black dragon Ebondoom returning as a dracolich?

Obviously, any of these changes would require a bit of work on the DM's part to create a new lair etc....

Part IV: The Enemy at the Gates => name unchanged

While the PCs have managed to counter some of the Red Hand's outlying efforts, the horde has been advancing remorselessly into human lands. Now the characters confront the main army of the enemy directly in the Battle of Brindol, in which the PCs' actions make the difference between the human city's survival or destruction. Depending on how successful the PCs were in the previous parts of the adventure, the battle can end in anything from a hard-fought draw to a catastrophic defeat. Either way, in the aftermath of the battle it becomes clear that the best chance of winning the war is for a brave band of infiltrators to strike into the heart of the hobgoblin lands and decapitate the horde by destroying the Red Hand order.

Brindol? No! This is a battle for Neverwinter itself, parts of which are still in ruins. Beyond the change of location and the use of Neverwinter's map, this section of the adventure may be largely unchanged.

That said, Neverwinter has a large band of orcs camped out in one of its districts: are they allies - and, if so, do they need to be won over? - or are they enemies? That could add an extra dimension to this section of the adventure, as could negotiations with a unit of Cyricist Zhentarim who may offer their services as mercenaries to help defend the city.

Part V: Fane of Tiamat => Fane of the Black Lord

The PCs assault the High Wyrmlord's stronghold, the Fane of Tiamat, deep in the Wyrmsmoke Mountains. Temporarily checked in the Battle of Brindol, Azarr Kul and his circle of high priests are seeking infernal aid from the Nine Hells, summoning devils and fiendish monsters, including an aspect of Tiamat herself, to break the last human resistance. The PCs fight a desperate battle in the dark temple, and ultimately confront High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul himself in the heart of the Fane of Tiamat.

Clearly I cannot call this the Fane of Bane so if I am going to stick with "fane" I suppose it has to be Fane of the Black Lord. However, I may steal one thing from Tyranny of Dragons: this picture of a temple of Tiamat could just as easily be a picture of a temple of Bane as there is nothing particularly draconic about it.

But if you want a picture that says "Bane" and "Zhentarim", you cannot beat, IMO, William O'Connor's cover art for 3.5E's Mysteries of the Moonsea:

Banite Monsters

And that picture segues nicely into another issue in the event that you're using Bane instead of Tiamat: what do you replace all the dragons with? For me, the quintessential Banite monster is the beholder: use them liberally. And if a straight-up beholder is too much of a challenge, use gauth, their weaker cousins. They have yet to be officially statted up for 5E but I ran one on the fly using a few adjustments to the spectator stat block in the 5E Monster Manual.

Otherwise, 3.xE introduced the beast of Bane template to represent a creature touched by the Black Lord. They had a barghest-like ability to devour a creature and they could produce fear by howling or roaring. It wouldn't take too much to do the same thing in either 4E or 5E and give such creatures as wolves, worgs, hellhounds, manticores, wyverns etc... a howling attack that created some sort of fear effect. And other than that, all you would need to do is change their colour to black with emerald green for their eyes, tongues, breath weapons etc.... (I rather like the imagery of a black manticore firing off bolts of baatorian green steel [that's a substance introduced in one of the 3.xE books: Arms & Equipment Guide, perhaps?].) 

But the main reason to run Red Hand of Doom is to fight goblins and lots of them. And that doesn't change whether the BBEG is Bane or Tiamat.
 

Summing Up

Speaking selfishly, I now have the outline for the rest of my campaign following on from events in Phandalin and possibly a side-trip to the Caves of Chaos. That aside, I think there's a fairly logical progression from Lost Mine of Phandelver to Red Hand of Doom with a penultimate confrontation against the goblin horde around the walls and within the gates of Neverwinter, followed by a final battle in a temple of either Bane or Tiamat with an aspect of the appropriate deity.

While there it doesn't then allow an easy segue into Hoard of the Dragon Queen or Rise of Tiamat because of the level of the PCs, if you were to skip Part V: Fane of Tiamat/Fane of the Black Lord as detailed here then Rise of Tiamat does become a possibility. However, a few more easter eggs may be required to better link it into Rise.

But for my game this is nearly perfect. It's an outline based on a tried and tested adventure and it allows me to continue to feature the Zhentarim as the BBEGs of my first foray into 5E. And that to me feels more like the Realms than trying to stop Tiamat from being freed....

Starter Set Sandbox 17 - Hexcrawling Around Phandalin (post updated - previous post incomplete)

As per the revised post title, I originally posted this before I completed the post. I've edited in the missing content now.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had now begun a 5E campaign set in and around Phandalin which I am currently calling The Twilit Land: Rise of the Zhentarim but may eventually be called by its original name - Tyrant of the Twilit Land - after a few more sessions. And If I end up with a beholder as the BBEG, it may even become I, Tyrant.

For me, 5E is the third edition of AD&D, although I also recognise the influence of both 3.xE and 4E in its design, but it feels and plays like AD&D, IMO (and YMMV).

And in a conscious homage to that old school vibe that it gives me, the campaign has begun with the basic idea of having an updated version of the Caves of Chaos from B2 The Keep on the Borderlands as its centrepiece. However, besides the Caves of Chaos, and in keeping with the old school vibe, I wanted to throw in a hexcrawl with various locations that can be explored and/or avoided.

So that's all a long way of saying that I've prepared a hexcrawl map for the 10 mile x 10 mile area south and east of Phandalin and some other DMs may find it useful. The scale is 1/2 mile per hex. (It was created using Hexographer which is such an elegant programme that I wished I had used before.)

And for those who want a little bit of inspiration for the locations I have placed on the map, here are my rough notes which I will gradually expand as we play.

01.01 Phandalin

This also includes hexes 01.02 and 02.01. This is the village of Phandalin described in Lost Mine of Phandelver.

04.12 The Statue Mines

Although these mines are rich, nobody will go there because of the petrified miners around the entrance and through the entrance tunnel. Basilisks lair here… and grimlocks can also be found.

The grimlocks worship a petrified, coiled, purple dragon (aka deep dragon) that "resides" in the middle of a vast amphitheatre-like cavern. The petrified dragon has been rubbed smooth over the centuries by the hands of grimlocks devotees.

04.17 The Moathouse

I think anyone reading this blog is familiar with the the Moathouse from T1 The Village of Hommlet or the execrable T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil. I think it's a fantastic little dungeon and I think it might work here. Otherwise, this could instead be the Place of the Unicorn or even The Shattered Circle.



(I note that the Place of the Unicorn should probably be northwest of Phandalin rather than south... but maybe the Spellplague caused it to shift? That statement, of course, is entirely tongue-in-cheek....)

05.05 Mines of the Goblin King

This is the location nearest to Phandalin and thus the one most likely to be explored first. I've already set up a Zhent-sponsored goblin threat to Phandalin in my game so this set of mines is going to be ruled by a goblin "king" but there will also be a Zhentarim presence.

10.03 The Last Copper Mines
 
The reason for the name is that miners believe you would have to be down to your last copper before you tried to delve these played-out mines which supposedly date back more than a thousand years…

… and are notorious for bad luck so lots of small shrines to Beshaba can be found along the way. Failing to pay homage at these shrines - or, even worse, desecrating same, can result in the Maid of Misfortune visiting the unbeliever with disadvantage on all saving throws, attack rolls, or skill/ability checks, or even all three.

It would also be a good location to run 2E's Dungeon of Death (which includes mines), although that adventure is set in The North so would require a few changes to place names and background details. And for those running it using 5E, you would need to convert a few monsters including the nabassu demons.

10.11 The Nexus Caverns

I am probably just regurgitating some ideas I had for the Old Owl Well, but I want at least one "weird dungeon" location in this area and I am thinking these could be something like S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.



Frankly, I should also take a fresh look at the wilderness portions of Lost Caverns and see if I can translate them to this hexcrawl map....

13.04 The Pit of Whispers

I want to take the basic idea of The Shattered Circle but have access to it be via a sinkhole or pit which resonates with weird whispers from the ancient past.

13.07 The Spire of Uruth Ukrypt

Ahhh, this is the orc-raised tower from the classic 3.5E adventure Sons of Gruumsh. Besides orcs - and orogs! - this adventure also conveniently includes Zhentarim which suits my purposes perfectly. It's one of my favourite adventures that I have yet to run and the maps are simply superb.

14.05 Forgotten Temple of Amaunator
 
I ran a year-long 3.5E campaign at a game store that began a couple of days after the revised edition's release and it was set in and around Deadsnows in the Silver Marches. I ran it as something of a hexcrawl using the map of the area around Deadsnows that appeared in 3E's The Silver Marches (one of FR's best ever regional supplements, IMO).

One of the few dungeon locations I used in that campaign was a lost temple of Amaunator that dated back to the Netherese era and still contained the clerics of that time, albeit as undead huecuvae (I am hoping that's the correct spelling of the plural of huecuva). The map was actually based on the dungeon in B3 Palace of the Silver Princess.

Anyway, I want to use it again. It's high up on a cliff top and accessible by a carefully hidden switchback path.

15.10 Lost Forgebar Mines

These are the Caves of Chaos from B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. They're supposed to be the focus of my new 5E game but I'm now not sure if the PCs will get there! :)

15.13 The Zhentarim Iron Mines
 
To support their activities in the area, and the eventually fitting out of the army they're raising, the Zhentarim have reopened some iron mines at this location and have pressed slave labour into doing the work. I don't have a published adventure to steal from at this point, but I may use the maps for the first section of the Mines of Tethyamar that appear in 3E's Lords of Darkness.

16.02 The Deep Delve

I want these to be active mines because the PCs have met a band of dwarven miners who were heading there... but I am also so very tempted to run 3E's Forge of Fury at this point, in large part because this campaign needs a dragon and there is a black dragon in Forge of Fury....

Alternatively, this could also be 4E's Orcs of Stonefang Pass....

18.15 Vulture's Roost

This is from the DDi adventure of the same name.

19.02 Temple of the Winds

This is based on the Lair Assault involving the temple of Shaundakul. However, it may now be the demesne of an ogre mage or three.

Basically, I want one location on this map to be up in the Sky. Temple of the Skygod is probably the best published fit, although I recall there is at least one published Dungeon adventure set in a cloud castle....

Starter Set Sandbox 15 - Leilon (and Night Below!)

While Leilon does not play/has not played a significant role in my current Neverwinter campaign, I have some fairly major plans for it in my next Neverwinter campaign where it will serve as a major base for Thayan slave traders.

And that's the reason for the picture to the left: wyvern-riders are a significant part of the Thayan forces based in the ruined town, but more on that later in the post.

Realmslore

Old Grey Box

The first reference I can find to Leilon is in the Old Grey Box. It is not a direct entry about the town but, rather, it's in reference to an adventuring party known as the Swords of Leilon. Here's a partial quote:

Based in the small coastal town of Leilon, on the High Road north of Waterdeep, this ragtag band of local toughs has done surprisingly well in a brief career of adventuring, plundering (and surviving) at least six of the Mage-Tombs in the mountains east of Leilon, slaughtering a colony of lizard-men in the nearby Mere of Dead Men (gaining some strange magical treasure thereby), and doing some caravan guarding for merchants in Neverwinter. 

FR1 Waterdeep & The North
This is where Leilon begins to develop its own identity, as FR1 notes:

This small human mining town sprawls along the High Road, on the Sword Coast. It lacks walls (an earthen bank surmounted by a wooden palisade shields it from the landward side, but where the road pierces these works there are no gates), and also lacks a proper harbour. A dozen massive, battered barges are loaded in the shallows in the spring and summer, and are poled and then rowed out to meet ships and unload by means of rickety cranes that rise from the stems of the barges into their holds. Needless to say, this is a fair-weather operation only, and tricky even then if the wind is fresh and the seas high. Increasingly, Waterdhavian entrepreneurs have sent wagons north to buy the copper, nickel, and silver of Leilon at bargain prices and take it south to sell at Waterdeep’s harbour. Leilon’'s mines are guarded by “the Lances of Leilon,” a force of some two hundred fully armed, mounted lancers used to fighting off pirates, orcs, bugbears, and trolls. Each lancer carries an axe and knife, usually a sword of some sort, his lance, and a light crossbow which he is experienced in firing from horseback. Leilon'’s total population is some 3,000; its ruler is Pelindar Filmarva, Lord of Leilon. Leilon is a firm ally of Waterdeep, and considered a friend of the Lords’ Alliance. In the mountains east of Leilon’'s mines is at least one important abandoned dwarf-hold, “Southkrypt,” said to be home to many strange and dangerous creatures.

I rather like the fact that in two small entries we have hints of at least two major dungeon complexes, the Mage-Tombs and Southkrypt. Combined with the references to trade and you have an ideal "home base" for adventurers from which they can combine caravan duty, raids on the lizardfolk in the Mere of Dead Men, and dungeon delving. Oh, and that's forgetting the fact that this is a mining town and mines in the D&D multiverse always seem to end up uncovering balrogs monsters....

FR1 also later notes that it takes 11 days to travel by wagon from Waterdeep to Leilon. Ahhh, I rather miss the simplicity of adventures involving simply guarding merchant wagons....

There's also a secondary entry about Leilon which notes:

... The mines east of Leilon are rich in copper, nickel and silver. The mountains are honeycombed with mine shafts and tunnels, including several that open up into the town itself, and some that go very, very deep....

Volo's Guide to the North

The first reference to Leilon in this book is in relation to the Place of the Unicorn:

One sight the Coast traveller should not miss is the Place of the Unicorn in the hills northeast of Leilon. The place can be found only at night. Wizards of the Coast believe that it lies in another dimension, reached only by a moongate (a magical gate that operates only in moonlight). The Place is sacred to Lurue, the unicorn of the Beast Cult. It is a stand of trees whose leaves are brilliant blue, surrounding a bluegrass meadow. Beings who rest therein are healed of all diseases, poisons, curses, and insanity. Unicorns (only) are also healed of physical damage. Beings who have no faith or are wavering in their beliefs often see Lurue herself in the trees, and their reaction may reshape their lives.

I have already mentioned my own forthcoming campaign that is going to include Leilon as an important adventuring location. At the moment, it would appear that one of the PCs is going to be a tiefling fey pact warlock and, if that is the case, I plan to include the Place of the Unicorn as part of her quest to be freed from diabolic influence. The healing power of this location could also feature in a campaign where a PC (or NPC for that matter) is cursed with lycanthropy or something similar. Too many campaigns - mine included - forget to include magical sites such as this....

Leilon & surrounds

Leilon is addressed more directly as well, with an entry that expands on the one in FR1. I will just quote some of the expanded portions:

... Leilon consists of stout stone cottages with slate or thatch roofs, the latter being covered with a hardened
slurry of mud. The houses cluster together within a crescent-shaped earthen rampart on the landward side of the settlement. The rampart has a ditch on the outside and a wooden palisade on top.

... The hard-working miners of Leilon concentrate on digging rich lodes of copper, nickel, and silver from deep mines in the mountains east of the town, though a few older shafts even descend from within the town itself.

... Leilon is a growing community. Lord Filmarya has established a shrine to Tyr in town. It stands beside older shrines to Lathander and Tymora. The Cult of the Dragon and the Zhentarim are both reputed to be active in Leilon, and there are also dark tales of local cults who worship undead mages or spirits of the mine deeps.

An abandoned mage’'s tower, known as the High House of Thalivar, rises in the centre of town. It is guarded by its own ward. Details on the powers of the ward and the existence of tokens remain unknown. It is known, though, that it has guardian monsters, and they have so far proven deadly to all adventurers seeking to plunder the magic reputed to be therein....

Right at this point in my post, and also as I look at the map I just uploaded to the right, I cannot help but think how Leilon would make a perfect place to start a campaign much like Lost Mine of Phandelver but larger in scope. Like Phandalin in Lost Mine, Leilon is a ruin in the 4E/5E era and all its features - abandoned mines under the town, former lairs of the Zhentarim and Cult of the Dragon, a sealed wizard's tower, numerous nearby dungeons - simply scream out, "Here's a great place to run a campaign!"

You could even call it Lost Mines of Leilon....

And one last thing from Volo's Guide, there is mention of Manyclaws Alley, an alley notorious for being haunted by the ghosts of trolls. A footnote explains this a little bit more:

The alley is actually haunted by nine heucuva. These are all that remains of a long-demolished temple to Loviatar. The monsters guard treasure that still lies buried beneath the alley in vaults long forgotten by the folk of Leilon.

A haunted temple of Loviatar? Now that's a dungeon adventure that almost writes itself.

The North boxed set

The sections on Leilon in this boxed set are an abridged version of what appears in Volo's Guide to the North. Move along; nothing to see here....

Neverwinter Campaign Setting

Is that the High Tower of Thalivar?

And this book brings us to the end of canon references to Leilon and also to the "present day" in FR terms, as there is unlikely to be any official update on Leilon for quite some time from WotC.

This sleepy mining town once served as a convenient resting place for travellers on the High Road. Now, the few travellers who still take this route shun Leilon, going miles out of their way to avoid even laying eyes on the town.

The High Tower of Thalivar long stood as a landmark here, abandoned by a forgotten mage. For generations, the tower proved a tempting target for plunderers - and, too often, a grave for them as well. The people of Leilon knew that the tower held guardian monsters, and they were content to leave it alone. However, the Spellplague's twisted magic unleashed the creatures trapped in the tower, which quickly ravaged the helpless village. Now, the tower is a place of terror, its magic freezing in place all creatures whose eyes rest upon it, even for a moment.

OK, there's a bit of material to work with.

Putting it All Together

The purpose of this series of posts was really to expand the adventure in the 5E starter set into a much bigger sandbox and I think Leilon offers a really great starting point for what I am calling LMoP Expanded (it now has its own tag). Frankly, you could even run Lost Mine of Phandelver with Leilon replacing Phandalin completely and then simply add in such things as:

• The High Tower of Thalivar could be a fairly old-school wizard's tower with lots of weird stuff inside. Ghost Tower of Inverness could provide some inspiration, but it also seems like a perfect lair for, say, the Red Wizards of Thay. Oh, and the sight of the tower may still paralyse but only within, say, 5 squares unless, of course, you happen to be carrying a ward token....
• There are rumours of a treasure-laden lost temple of Loviatar beneath the city streets. Unfortunately, for failing their deity, the clerics of said temple continue to exist as unusual undead determined to protect the sanctity of the temple that they failed to protect in life....
• Numerous played out mines are still to be found beneath Leilon. There may be a black dragon in one, and a nest of aboleth in another, while a third has connections to the Underdark and a mysterious trading bazaar.
• Beneath the streets is the former lair of the Cult of the Dragon (I wonder if Azurl's Hoardseekers might be found here?) hiding a dracolich and various Cult treasures.
• The signs of new life in Leilon have attracted attention from the sea and, while the PCs are exploring the ruins, sahuagin attack!

Here are some ideas inspired by published adventures (in publication order, more or less) which I mention as a reference:

A0-A4 Against the Slave Lords (1E)

This is largely taken from the notes for my next Neverwinter campaign. (My current campaign is simply called Neverwinter: Year of the Ageless One because it's set in 1479 DR. My next campaign will be called Neverwinter: Year of Deep Water Drifting because it's set in 1480 DR. While there is no overlap in players, the events of the former are helping to shape the background of the latter campaign.)

While some Red Wizards of Thay have allowed themselves to be distracted by Szass Tam's plans for the Dread Ring, others have decided to focus on building their own wealth and power by a very traditional Thayan method: slave-trading.

The fundamental lawlessness of the docks and Blacklake district of Neverwinter means that taking slaves is easily accomplished, particularly when Neverember's mercenaries are rather susceptible to bribery. (This also ties in to a reference to press gangs that can be found in the DDi article about The Beached Leviathan, a ship converted to an inn in Neverwinter.)

I imagine that this campaign would actually begin in Neverwinter, take to the Sea of Swords, and then head to Leilon where the PCs seek to beard the Thayan slave lords in their new lair. The Thayans may also have established cordial relationships with the Cult of the Dragon, Zhentarim, and even the lizardfolk of the Mere of Dead Men, all of whom are happy to sell captives to the Thayans in exchange for Thayan gold.

And where do all the slaves go? Skip ahead to Thunderspire Labyrinth....

Ruins of Adventure (1E/2E)

I think Ruins of Adventure provides an excellent blueprint for a Leilon-based campaign. The idea is simple: clear out the bad guys from the ruins a block at a time. The patron could be the Lords' Alliance or Lord Neverember of Neverwinter and Waterdeep, with both the Alliance and Neverember wanting to reopen Leilon's lost mines. 

And competing with the PCs are at least three factions: the Red Wizards based in the High Tower of Thalivar, the Cult of the Dragon who have found their old base, and the Zhentarim who also see the mercantile potential of such a key location on the High Road with mines to boot.

I must admit, the thought of these three groups cooperating makes me think this would be an interesting place to also run an update of Curse of the Azure Bonds.... (Oh, and I wonder if the Place of the Unicorn could remove the titular azure bonds...?)

Night Below (2E)

The longest running campaign I have ever DMed was a 3E campaign that spanned levels 1-24, was set in the Shining South of the Forgotten Realms (from the Forest of Amtar to Dambrath and the Underdark beneath) and was heavily inspired by Night Below. Ever since, I find it difficult to think of a D&D campaign without aboleth: for me, they are the ultimate mastermind monster, especially if you retain the original flavour whereby they remember everything that was in the mind of every creature they have ever devoured.

Night Below consists of three basic parts: raiding for slaves above ground, exploring the Underdark, and dealing with the aboleth in their sunken city. I can easily see the earlier mentioned Red Wizards et al filling the role played by the orc raiders in the first part using Leilon as a base. The second part could be filled by expanding Thunderspire Labyrinth (see below) leaving only the third part to be converted.

IMC, I have an aboleth city beneath The Chasm in Neverwinter. It's Golismorga from the Savage Tide adventure path published by Paizo during the last 12 or so issues of Dungeon's life as a printed magazine. It may not suit every campaign as Golismorga is a city of slumbering aboleth. A curse has drained the water from the city and blocked its return and, as a result, the aboleth have turned to stone and sleep. (This phenomenon was first described in Lords of Madness, the 3.5E book about aberrations and one of my favourite D&D books of all time.) Again IMC, the PCs have lifted the curse from the city causing water to return and the aboleth to awaken and now they actively need slaves to help rebuild.

While your campaign may not have PCs who caused Golismorga to awaken, it could easily have NPCs who have done the same thing. Maybe the same Red Wizards who are running the slaving operation fell prey to some sort of psionic effect of the slumbering aboleth? Or was it drow explorers? Or maybe your Golismorga was never in a state of slumber. Another option is the flying city of the Abolethic Sovereignty: what if it, or one just like it, is hovering invisibly above Leilon?

Anyway, personally I prefer the idea of the aboleth who have just awakened and need slaves to rebuild. There is a certain logic to it both in terms of their current goals but also in the sense of why they haven't posed a threat until now.

Thunderspire Labyrinth (4E)

The main thing I would steal from this adventure is the market city of the Seven-Pillared Hall which is the destination for many of the slaves that come from Leilon on the surface.

I would have several competing factions present including drow from Menzoberranzan and Skullport (the latter is beneath Waterdeep), duergar from Gracklstugh, illithids from Ch'Chitl, and neogi representatives of the aboleth. (I like neogi and think they're underused... plus I like the idea of the aboleth contracting out the work of gathering slaves as they're still not completely au fait with the present time. That also reminds me: if aboleth can retain the memories of any creature they devour, it would make sense that PCs or NPCs trained in History - or the equivalent skill in non-4E editions - might be considered targets for the aboleth to devour so that they can learn what has happened during the time they have been asleep.)

For those who have the Menzoberranzan boxed set, I see Thunderspire Labyrinth being something very much akin to Mantol-Derith. Another option would be to use the city of Pedestal from the 3.5E adventure The Sinister Spire or even Skullport itself from beneath Waterdeep.

And while this location can be dangerous, it's meant to be something of a safe haven the PCs can return to in between forays to the Underdark.

Summing Up

As I have already said, or at least implied, this post is very much inspired by my plans for my next campaign involving Thayan slavers and the aboleth beneath Neverwinter. But it's also a great way, IMO, to take Lost Mine of Phandelver and continue the adventure in the Starter Set to levels 6-12 or so.

If you're reading this and running 5E, you might think a city of 5E aboleth each with a challenge rating of 10 is a bit too high-powered for the level range I mentioned. That's also an issue in 4E, the edition I use, where aboleth are mid-Paragon Tier monsters. What I have done, though, is to reduce the level of the aboleth to match their 1E hit dice. As a result, my standard aboleth are level 8 controllers which puts them in the level range that suits my games. It wouldn't be difficult to reduce the aboleth in 5E in the same way, and maybe even lower in CR, and simply explain it as a loss of power caused by their slumber (assuming you take the slumbering but now waking up idea I mention above).

So, start with Lost Mine of Phandelver, make a few of the enemies aboleth pawns, include some slavers, and then lead your PCs to Leilon where they can experience a great mash-up of, inter alia, A0-A4 Against the Slave Lords and Night Below. I think that's a campaign your players will remember!

Starter Set Sandbox 12 - Phandalin & Wave Echo Cave (Updated 26Feb2017)

Realmslore

Until Lost Mine of Phandelver was published, all we basically has by way of information about Phandalin and Wave Echo Cave was this:

Phandalin was an important farming center located northeast of Leilon, where the Triboar Cutoff East fades into a trail. The road was abandoned after years of orc attacks obliterated every caravan that passed down the road, conquering Phandalin in the process. When the orcs were driven out, the village was left largely in ruins, and it remains so today.

Under the leadership of a chieftain called Uruth, the orcs expanded steadily, building a realm called Uruth Ukrypt (Home of Uruth). Its name echoes today in Kryptgarden Forest. Too lazy to support themselves by farming, the orcs devastated the game in their realm and subsequently took to raiding human holdings for food. Some 400 years have passed since then, during which time concerted human attacks decimated the orc kingdom and nearly drove the creatures from the area entirely.

No one lives here now but monsters, though passing hunters and rangers often camp in one of the more secure buildings. It still has three usable deep wells, one of which is considered to be heavily tainted with an undetectable poison that kills the imbiber three days after ingestion. Orcs and half-orcs are supposedly immune to the toxin.

The orc attacks forced gnomes and dwarves to abandon a mountain delve near Phandalin where they mined mithral in a union they called the Phandelver's Pact. This lost lode was called Wavecho Cave because the roll of waves beating on the shore could be heard in the natural cavern. Shortly before the
mine was abandoned, a lode of platinum was discovered. The size is unknown, but a very old dwarf who worked the mine remembers that the vein "held great promise".

Phandalin is the best preserved of the many ruined keeps and villages scattered along the Sword Coast, most of which are little more than heaped stones, graves, and cellars hidden by reed grasses and creeping vines. Many of these areas shelter predatory beasts or passing adventurers.

And that's pretty much it. (I am quoting from The North boxed set.)

Adapting Other Adventures
 
Red Hand of Doom
 
If you've been reading my other posts and my rough ideas for the Cragmaw tribe to be orcs seeking to rebuilt their lost realm of Uruth Ukrypt, you can imagine that a place like Phandalin, once reduced to a monster-filled ruin by the orcs of Uruth Ukrypt, would seem to the orcs as a logical target for the modern day depredations.

One of the few genuinely good adventures published by WotC in the 3.xE era was, of course, Red Hand of Doom. (And, unfortunately, its success led to WotC thinking that Tiamat was the "go to" BBEG for the next two editions with the execrable pseudo-adventure path Scales of War for 4E and now the Tyranny of Dragons RSE for 5E.)

And while the hobgoblins of Red Hand are very different in play to an orc horde, I think the structure of that adventure can help inform a mini-campaign based on a rising orc threat with Phandalin one of the targets on the way to, say, laying siege to Neverwinter.

I will be starting another Neverwinter-based campaign shortly and I expect the orcs to play an even bigger role in that campaign and Red Hand of Doom is definitely going to inform some of the design choices I make.

Of course, some Lost Mine of Phandelver DMs are probably looking at my idea to turn the Cragmaw tribe into orcs rather than goblins as something they don't want to do. In that case, Red Hand of Doom might be much more useable "as is" other than stat block conversions.

With a bit of work it might also be possible to tie it into the Tyranny of the Dragon storyline if that's something that interests you.

Anyway, I'll stick with the orcs and maybe have a balor general driving the horde forwards....

Keep on the Borderlands
 

One of the really interesting things about B2 Keep on the Borderlands, and particularly the Caves of Chaos, is that it makes nearly no sense. Why are all these evil humanoids, many of whom are fundamentally opposed to each other, dwelling in close proximity without some sort of civil war taking place?

For me, that's not just a rhetorical question. I want to know what is uniting them and keeping them at relative peace with one another.

But before I post some ideas about the answer, let me throw out a suggestion: What if Phandalin replaced the titular keep? And related to that is this: What if Phandalin became the party's home base to scout out rumours of evil humanoids in the Sword Mountains which ultimately lead to the Caves of Chaos from Keep on the Borderlands?

So, what is uniting the evil humanoids? In the final section of the Caves of Chaos - marked with the letter K on the original map - there is a series of chambers that includes THE TEMPLE OF EVIL CHAOS (room number 58). I think whatever unites these disparate evil humanoids is the power represented in this temple.

And here are some FR-appropriate options:

Bane: The Black Lord is the deity of tyranny. Since the Spellplague, he's also been the official deity of Thay because of a deal struck between him and Szass Tam. Maybe this is a Thayan temple to Bane where they perform various arcane and necromantic experiments while also moulding these evil humanoids into an army of conquest. (This probably makes the most sense and also fits in well with the presence of Thayans in the Neverwinter region.)

Cyric: The Prince of Lies is a creature of chaos, murder, and strife. He is also the patron deity of most of the Zhentarim (this is in the 4E era rather than the 5E era where the Zhentarim are now almost player-friendly!). I do like the idea of Zhentarim recruiters training disparate humanoids to perform raids on various caravans and settlements only for the Zhentarim to then turn up and offer protection money to drive the humanoids away.

Garagos: The Reaver the chaotic evil version of Tempus, and possibly Tempus's predecessor as the deity of war. And Garagos is not happy about being supplanted. What if he and his bloodreavers (his clerics) decided to mount a campaign to increase his influence once more? Gathering war-like humanoids could be part of that. I also note that Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue referred to the tanarukka (tanar'ri-blooded orcs) of the Scourged Legion and that their leader was now a bloodreaver of Garagos. That's another option beyond the ideas I have previously posted about the Cragmaw orcs being directed by clerics of Luthic.

The Scourged Legion

Ghaunadaur: I admit, I like drow. I like really evil drow. I like the traditional Gygax-created pre-Drizzt drow. And as much as I like spider-flavoured drow, I also like the insane servitors of Ghaunadaur. (On that note, one of the best combats I ever ran in 3.5E involved a drider cleric of Ghaunadaur. It took five hours to run 15 rounds and, at the end, we all thought it had only been an hour-and-a-half. It was brilliant.) What about an outcast drider cleric of Ghaunadaur with his (or her) fellow drow heretics gradually building their strength to raid a drow outpost somewhere beneath the Sword Mountains?

Lolth: Ahhh, drow again. Some of you may be familiar with the idea of the Demon Weave (just click on the link for more information otherwise) so maybe these humanoids are being used by the Lolthite drow to gather various items and sacrifices as part of the preparation for the creation of the Demon Weave. It also ties in with the drow BBEG at the end of Lost Mine.

Shar: Shar used to be my favourite evil deity but the whole return of Netherese city of Shade and its Shadovar caused me to lost interest in her. However, it would make sense for a band of Netherese as part of an experiment to determine if these various humanoid tribes can be turned into effective troops.

Tiamat: Again I admit I don't like Tiamat but, if you want to use her, look at Red Hand of Doom for inspiration and make this one of her temples. Frankly, this could potentially tie in really well with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen and the whole Tyranny of the Dragons story. Unfortunately, it's not something I can get excited about....

Summing Up
 
Let's face it, for all of its faults, Keep on the Borderlands is a great starter adventure. Maybe you could use it as part of a Lost Mine of Phandelver-inspired campaign with multiple delves in between completing chapters of the adventure proper?

I must admit, I already have an introductory adventure planned for my next Neverwinter campaign but I am sorely tempted to move the action to Phandalin and kick off the campaign with an updated version of the Caves of Chaos....

Oh, and I have nothing to offer regarding Wave Echo Cave so I simply made it part of this post. Sorry.

26Feb17: About Wave Echo Cave...

When I first did this post, I must confess I didn't actually bother to read the Wave Echo Cave section of Lost Mine of Phandelver. Actually, I may have but clearly I paid no attention to it. That was a mistake because it clearly has potential for expansion and adaptation consistent with some of the other ideas I've posted in this series.

So, thanks, to +Ibskib and +Ben Green for prompting me to take a proper look at it.

The Forge of Spells

The key feature of this location is, of course, the Forge of Spells. While it is implied that it was once a rather potent feature, it has been emasculated to be more suitable for a level 1-5 adventure. I run 4E and use the 4E version of the Forgotten Realms in my games so let me throw around a few ideas from that perspective.

One thing I have failed to do in my 4E games, as my players keep avoiding rituals, is to include magical locations which could conceivably replace the component cost of using certain ritual magic. (3.xE's Midnight Campaign Setting has these sorts of locations and WotC experimented with a similar idea of planar touchstones - go to a place, get a special power - during the course of 3.5E and particularly in the Planar Handbook.)

If I was going to use the Forge of Spells I would have it be, for the purpose of the Enchant Magic Item ritual, the equivalent of the gp value of a level 5 item each day (arbitrary number) but its entire power could be exhausted to produce a level 10 item (another arbitrary number), even for an item crafter of a lower level. That gives the players to choose between a renewing resource or a single major item (and maybe it needs to be level 15 or higher to make it really tempting.) I'm not sure what the equivalent is with respect to magic item creation in 5E but perhaps a 5E fan can comment on that below.

Beyond its usefulness in item crafting, what if it is the remains of an older, purer form of magic?

During the 3E era, Dragon published an article about the computer game Neverwinter Nights and the writer created his take on the reptilian creator race (this has subsequently been replaced by the sarrukh introduced in 3.5E's Serpent Kingdoms). That article postulated that there was a type of magic that predated the Weave which I think it referred to as "old magic" (or "whole" magic) and that the creator races had access to this "old magic" which combined the Weave, the Shadow Weave, and some unknown power. What if the Forge of Spells is, similarly, a legacy of this "old magic"?

Also, <this post> about the Old Owl Well mentions the spell-storing gemstones known as chardalyns. What if the presence of the Forge of Spells has the side effect of seeding chardalyns through the Lost Mine and, indeed, the "stars" - the glittering minerals - in the ceiling of 13. Starry Cavern. What if the presence of the Forge of Spells has the side effect of seeding chardalyns through the Lost Mine and, indeed, the "stars" - the glittering minerals - in the ceiling of 13. Starry Cavern are actually chardalyns that the PCs can recover.

Antagonists

Obviously, Wave Echo Cave is completely useful as is but, if you think about expanding the importance of the Forge of Spells, you may also want to think about how that could change the inhabitants of the 'Cave.

Aboleth

As mentioned by +Ben Green in the comments below, the presence of a dark lake linked to the Underdark (area 16) immediately suggests that an aboleth is present.

So, what would an aboleth want with the Forge of Spells?

SPOILERS FOR NIGHT BELOW. A rough synopsis of the classic 2E boxed set adventure Night Below goes like this: Aboleth-controlled orcs are raiding the countryside and capturing spellcasters. Those spellcasters are being sent into the Underdark where they become the raw material (I forget how - I will need to read it again) for the creation of mind-controlling obelisks which the aboleth will raise around the region to bring the region under the thrall of the aboleth in their city below.

Oh yeah.

Imagine that. With a few changes to LMoP, including making orcs more important and having them capturing spellcasters, you're now looking into a much larger and longer campaign that ends up in the Underdark.

So what purpose does the Forge of Spells serve? In such a scenario, the enslaved spellcasters are brought to Wave Echo Cave and rituals are performed using the Forge of Spells in order to create the mind-controlling obelisks. And once the threat is ended in Wave Echo Cave, the PCs are tasked with exploring the dark lake and travelling further underground to seek out and destroy the real threats.

And you get to run Night Below. Ask Matt Colville; that's a good thing!

Beholders

I admit, I have beholders on the brain. My favourite bad guys in FR are the Zhentarim and the Zhentarim are not the same without beholders behind the scenes. I think I have already mentioned a few times in this series how I used the Zhentarim when I ran my own version of this adventure.

But the main reason the Forge of Spells makes me think of beholders is because the beholder section of 3.5E's excellent Lords of Madness suggests that beholders derive nourishment by exposing magic items to their central eye's anti-magic gaze. I can only imagine how satisfying something like the Forge of Spells might be by comparison!

So, if your version of LMoP Expanded has the Zhentarim playing a key role, perhaps their beholder masters have them searching for this location because it would increase the potency of the beholder hive to the point where they could produce more beholders.

Drow

In the 4E era, WotC made a half-assed attempt with the Rise of the Underdark metaplot/megaplot to tell a big story about how Lolth was going to create her own version of the Weave called the Demon Weave. (I actually like the idea but its execution was, unsurprisingly, botched.) If you look for the Demon Weave tag on this blog, you will be able to find out more about the whole scheme or you can read a short version in the excellent Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue.

If you go this route, the subsequent investigations of the drow plot could lead the PCs into a slightly different version of Out of the Abyss allowing the campaign to continue to level 20 or so with only a few changes to the story.

That's Enough For Now...

This has been very much a first draft based on a 15-minute reading of part of a product I haven't looked at for 2+ years. But even with no real research, it's plain that this can easily be expanded into a much larger campaign and even segue into either Night Below or Out of the Abyss. Of course, committing to such a choice also means making a few changes to LMoP to help tie everything together but, if you've run LMoP before, you're probably ready for a few small changes to keep things fresh and interesting for you as the DM.

My FR Metaplots 0 - An Introduction

In the back of my mind, but not yet fully committed to writing, are a few metaplots for my version of the Forgotten Realms which seem to inform nearly every idea I have. These are:

1. The return of a younger Manshoon as head of the Zhentarim and his subsequent attempts to purge the Zhentarim of its mad Cyricist influence and bring it back under Bane's dominion... which is both a beholder plot and a prelude to the Black Age of Bane....

2. Graz'zt the Dark Prince still has Waukeen in his custody and uses his daughter, Thraxxia, to impersonate her. What this means is that the dark heart of the church of Waukeen is a demonic cult dedicated to the Dark Prince... and the Heretics of the Harlot's Coin do not represent a heresy, per se: they are the rulers of the church of Waukeen.

3. In a plot entirely stolen from WotC and their Rise of the Underdark plotline - that came and went without a trace! - Lolth is trying to become the deity of magic and to create the Demon Weave.

I'll give each of these their own post and try and keep them updated.

Silver Marches Sandbox 15 - Reavers of Harkenwold & The Caves of Chaos

I could probably title this post Leaving the Sandbox Behind. It's also a return to my earlier Keep on the Borderlands post taking some of the ideas I expanded on a little in my revised introduction and now turning the Silverymoon Pass into the location of a larger adventure.

So think of this as Reavers of the Silverymoon Pass but also as a mash-up of B2 Keep on the Borderlands, Raiders of Galath's Roost and also Reavers of Harkenwold. There is definitely a plot at work in this adventure outline....

Reavers of the Silverymoon Pass Harkenwold

Reavers of Harkenwold is one of the few 4E adventures published by WotC that receives nearly universal praise, which is no surprise considering that the designer is listed as Rich Baker and additional design is credited to Chris Perkins. Mike Mearls, the author of so much d20 glut and two of the worst adventures in D&D's lifetime - Keep on the Shadowfell and Pyramid of Shadows - is not mentioned at all. That is no coincidence.

Until Rich Baker's forced departure under one of WotC's cretinous "let's get rid of our good people (and promote the clown who killed 4E to oversee 5E) because it's cheap"- redundancy programmes so beloved by corporate USA, he was one of two WotC employees who consistently turned out great adventures; the other was Chris Perkins and Chris has publicly acknowledged that he considered Rick Baker to be the best adventure writer working for WotC at the time. Frankly, I think he was also their best designer who was responsible for many pieces of innovative design... and he was also the only WotC game designer whose novels were actually not only readable but worth reading.

I can't wait for his new campaign setting Primeval Thule to be published....

Introduction

And that was a rather large digression. Back on topic, here is an extract from the introduction for Reavers of Harkenwold:

Reavers of Harkenwold pits the heroes against the Iron Circle, a company of cruel mercenaries that has seized control of the small land of Harkenwold. In this adventure, the heroes become daring rebels and lead the folk of Harkenwold against their oppressors.

I feel a certain temptation to use the Iron Circle because of the great art that accompanies the adventure but I am sticking with the Zhentarim simply because I think they're an important part of the Forgotten Realms... and I have lots of Zhentarim miniatures that I want to use.

Here's a revised introduction for my campaign:

Reavers of the Silverymoon Pass pits the heroes against the Zhentarim, a company of cruel mercenaries that has effectively seized control of the Silverymoon Pass preventing trade from flowing between Silverymoon and Sundabar. The keep of Hawk's Nest, normally used by the Knights in Silver to protect the pass, is now a Zhent fortress, falling under their control during the winter months when it is largely vacated by the Knights. In this adventure, the heroes take back control of the Silverymoon Pass from the Zhentarim, they evict them forcibly from Hawk's Nest, and discover a darker plan to bring ruin to the Silver Marches.

This is also where I need to mention my mash-up. My plans for Hawk's Nest are inspired by the titular keep from B2 Keep on the Borderlands and the Iron Keep from Reavers of Harkenwold. The map is definitely based on the Iron Keep simply because it is so much better (the cartographer for Iron Keep is Mike Schley; need I say more?).

Adventure Synopsis, Part One: The Iron Circle

On the outskirts of Harkenwold, the adventurers encounter a band of Iron Circle marauders threatening a farmhouse. They intervene and rescue the widow llyana and her sons. Ilyana tells the heroes about Harkenwold's troubles and begs them to help end this evil. She directs the heroes to the nearby village of Albridge and two key figures in Harkenwold's growing resistance: a retired adventurer named Dar Gremath and the druid Reithann.

Dar Gremath is keen to deal with isolated Iron Circle detachments. He suggests certain targets, among them a supply caravan. For her part, Reithann advises the heroes to strike at the Toadwallow Caverns, the lair of a bullywug tribe allied to the Iron Circle. If the heroes defeat the bullywugs, the rebels in western Harkenwold are free to bring the fight to the Iron Circle. Regardless of which option they pick, the adventurers can return to the other quest whenever they want.

Cleaning out the Toadwallow or raiding the Iron Circle brings the adventurers to Nazin Redthorn's attention and convinces him that they are a serious threat. He dispatches strong patrols to hunt them down. The defeat of one of these strike forces emboldens freedom fighters throughout the region. Heartened by the adventurers' aid, the people of Harkenwold prepare for battle against the invaders. The leaders of the resistance ask the heroes to contact the Woodsingers, a clan of elves living in the Harken Forest south of Harkenwold. To gain the aid of the elves, the adventurers must defeat the evil lurking in the wizard sanctuary of Dal Nystiere. Accomplishing the quest concludes this part of the adventure.

This obviously doesn't suit an adventure in the Silverymoon Pass but there are bits that I can definitely use - it's part two of Reavers that I am more interested in.

That said, the opening encounter involving the Zhentarim (rather than the Iron Circle) threatening a farmhouse is a great opening. Riffing off that, I think I will instead have a larger force attacking the village of Khelb and that makes me think I should also draw on some ideas from 4E's Rescue at Rivenroar published in Dungeon 156, the first adventure in the Scales of War adventure path, for further inspiration.

Here's the first draft of  revised synopsis:

Part 1: The Zhentarim Revealed

The PCs are hired by Silverymoon to investigate the raiders that have brought the spring trade through the Silverymoon Pass to a virtual standstill.

Approaching Khelb, a small caravan town at the western end of the Silverymoon Pass, the PCs notice smoke over the hill and see that the town is under attack by orcs and others. The PCs rush to Khelb's aid and help the defenders to drive off the orcs, an ogre throwing barrels of alchemist's fire and a band of Zhentarim mercenaries.

As the town cleans up, it is noticed that the raiders who escaped took captives with them and the PCs quickly agree to pursue the raiders and recover the captives. This brings them to a dwarven ruin which has been transformed into a Zhentarim supply station and the PCs not only rescue the captives but recover a large amount of trade goods.

Returning to Khelb, the PCs receive fresh supplies from Silverymoon as well as fresh instructions. Now that it is known that the Zhentarim are involved, the leaders of Silverymoon are assuming that this is why they haven't heard from Hawk's Nest and the PCs are asked to focus on that keep. This leads to part 2.

Adventure Synopsis, Part Two: The Die Is Cast

Returning from the forest with Woodsinger warriors as allies, the adventurers learn that Nazin Redthorn is marching to destroy the resistance. In the Battle of Albridge, the heroes lead the Harkenwolders and their elven allies against the Iron Circle. With hard fighting and some luck, the Iron Circle is defeated, and the surviving mercenaries retreat to Iron Keep-a stronghold too well fortified for t!he Harkenwolders to storm.

In the climactic challenge of the adventure, the heroes infiltrate Iron Keep. With fortune on their side, they strive to free Baron Stockmer, defeat the remaining Iron Circle soldiers, and kill or capture Nazin Redthorn. Their heroic efforts bring freedom to Harkenwold once again!

Actually, it's funny reading that synopsis and comparing it to what I see in my mind's eye based on my memory and my reaction to reading the adventure. Like a lot of DMs, I find that my memory of an adventure that I have yet to run is more like an edited and reshaped version than the actual adventure that appears on paper or PDF. Clearly Reavers is one of those adventures!

One of the other things I notice reading these synopses is that there is an opportunity to gather allies in Reavers and that's something that hasn't really occurred to me in relation to my adaptation. But it does make sense. It adds another element to the adventure particularly in the context that this is supposed to be a campaign for new players.

One option I quite like is to have a tribe of goliaths that the Zhentarim have been raiding for slaves for any construction work they need because of the goliaths' great strength. That leads to another thought: there could be a village of goliaths comprised only of females and young plus their Zhentarim guards. The male goliaths are being forced to labour for the Zhentarim otherwise the Zhents will kill their wives and children. The PCs have to stealthily infiltrate the village and neutralise the Zhentarim. Some of the wives will then set off to find their husbands and, when the PCs most need it, they will find a band of angry male goliaths behind them ready to inflict major damage on the Zhentarim on behalf of their rescuers.

Yeah, that would work.

Ultimately though, this is about the PCs heading into the Nether Mountains, or at least the foothills, and carefully infiltrating Hawk's Nest - the substitute for the Iron Keep of Reavers but using the same map - and ending the Zhentarim threat.

Here's a first draft of a revised synopsis:

In response to the fresh instructions from Silverymoon, the heroes head into the Nether Mountains in search of the keep of Hawk's Nest which they suspect is under Zhentarim control.

En route, they happen across a Zhentarim-controlled village of goliaths where the females and young are hostages securing the heavy labour of their husbands who have been forced into servitude by the Zhentarim. Freeing the goliaths from the Zhentarim, the PCs continue on to Hawk's Nest with a clear sense of direction and the knowledge that they will soon have a warband of very angry male goliaths at their backs.

They soon find the keep of Hawk's Nest but it is too well fortified to simply storm but the timely arrival of an appropriate NPC reveals the existence of a secret entrance (tunnel? well?). Using that secret entrance, the PCs carefully infiltrate the keep and end the Zhentarim threat... but also discover that the Zhentarim are working for the Netherese (some Shadovar emissaries will be present) and that there is a major Zhentarim base nearby where more forces are being gathered. This leads to part 3.

The Caves of Chaos

I thought this idea would work best as a mash-up of Reavers of Harkenwold and B2 Keep on the Borderlands, and I have previously posted some ideas about setting an adaptation of Keep on the Borderlands in and around Hawk's Nest so this definitely isn't a new idea.

While the keep of Hawk's Nest serves as the headquarters of the Zhentarim in the Silverymoon Pass - as well as providing a hawk's eye view over those using the pass - the primary gathering point for their humanoid raiders are the Caves of Chaos, a placeholder name from the principal adventure location in Keep on the Borderlands.

Up until now I have only mention the Zhentarim using orcs and ogres but part of me wants a bit more variety in the foes that the PCs will face. That, of course, also needs some sort of justification. For the moment I will go with some as unoriginal as any of my other ideas and have the justification for the gathering of normally antagonistic creatures be the presence in the temple complex of the Caves of Chaos of a splinter from the Shard of Evil at the heart of the Abyss.

This relic of absolute evil has been sending out a siren call to creatures of evil within the Nether Mountains. Previously quiscient, it was awakened by a cleric of Cyric who now serves as its high priest.

There's not much reason for a synopsis here. Basically this is the Caves of  Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderlands but with this much better map by someone called The Weem:

And I'll drop the gnolls and kobolds - I don't think they're geographically appropriate - and limit the creatures to goblins, hobgoblins, ogres and orcs. But my favourite encounter will be, no doubt, with a particularly vile cleric of Cyric who is able to draw on the power of the Shard of the Abyss.

So that's my part 3.

Ultimately, the PCs end the Zhentarim threat in the Silverymoon Pass allowing trade to flow once more. They will receive both rewards and recognition from the leaders of Silverymoon and, unless I have an idea for another mission, will be free to go off and explore the Silver Marches sandbox....

Then again, perhaps as they return to Silverymoon they come under attack from undead bandits and realise the Zhentarim threat is not yet ended. Instead, the Tombs of Deckon Thar await....