Journey to Phandolin
A Forgotten Realms Campaign — Sword Coast, Late Fall
A merchant caravan races to beat winter through a mountain pass, hauling weapons and secrets to the frontier town of Phandolin. Among its passengers: a disgraced knight, a vengeful healer, a fanatical priest, a gentleman bounty hunter, and a pyromaniac in chains. The dead are waiting.
The Cast
Locations
Items
Enemies
Organizations
Cast of Characters
Setting
Late fall, Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms.
The party is hired by a Waterdeep merchant house to escort a shipment of seeds and fertilizer to the frontier community of Phandolin. The caravan started in Waterdeep, then stopped at the coastal Dwarven settlement of Thornhold to pick up a supply of weapons; orcish raids have increased in Phandolin.
The merchant house is trying to undercut competition from Neverwinter — they have a lock on supplying Phandolin. They believe they can beat the Neverwinter caravans by taking a route through a pass in the Sword Mountains. The pass is inaccessible during winter, but the caravan believes it can beat the first snows.
Thornhold
A coastal Dwarven settlement that has been transformed by outside investment. The port venture led to others, most notably securing the eastern border of the Mere of Dead Men, unlocking colonization of Kharum's March (The March).
The Stronghold
The dwarven seat of power, now decadent and ceremonial.
The Port
Built by outside investors, the engine of Thornhold's prosperity.
Merchants Quarter — First Bank
Home to the First Bank of the Sword Coast.
The March (Kharum's March)
A fast-growing province between the mountain ranges, enabled by Thornhold's infrastructure investment. Well-maintained roads transition to dirt and stone as settlements thin toward the mountains.
The Mere of Dead Men
A vast marshland along the coastal road. Thornhold invested in a defensive bulwark and maintained road to secure passage, enabling the colonization of the March.
The Antareg Pass
Twenty years ago, the mountain clans attacked settlements in the foothills, including the fort at this pass. The uprising was put down by a combined army of humans and Dwarves. The clans were forcibly resettled, and this victory led to lasting peace — and the colonization of the March.
Crannogh
A mountain clan settlement destroyed during the uprising. Its men joined the attack on the Antareg fort. In their absence, Brint's survivors visited their fury upon the women, children, and elderly, locking them in the ossuary beneath the chief's hall. The settlement is now cursed, haunted by the undead.
The Ossuary
The bone chamber beneath the chief's hall where the massacre victims were locked in.
The Longhouse
Stone shelter where the survivors take refuge. The undead cannot enter.
Phandolin
A frontier town at the end of the route. Vulnerable, indebted, and in need of "modern solutions." The First Bank established a branch here to introduce consumer credit, normalize the gilder over coin, and align the town's future with Waterdeep interests. The bank was robbed and burned by Cinder.
Organizations
The Institute for Modern Endeavor (IME, Ltd.)
A secret society seeking to build a new, modern world power along the Sword Coast. Founded by three visionaries who believe that capital, not gods or kings, should govern civilization.
The Three Pillars
- Edrin Vale — Shepherd of Capital. Believes obligation persists where wealth decays. Created the gilder (fiat currency) and the First Bank.
- Lord Ashcombe — Shepherd of Progress. Engineer and infrastructure builder. Proposed systematic resource extraction along the Sword Coast.
- Octavia Ketter — Shepherd of Knowledge. Natural philosopher who joined reluctantly, providing the intellectual framework and credibility.
The Sigil
A closed eye above balanced scales — Vale's personal mark, appearing on contracts, warrants, and manifests across the Sword Coast.
The Gilder
Fiat currency backed not by metal but by institutional acceptance and legal enforcement. A society governed by capital bypasses kings, bloodlines, and gods entirely.
First Bank of the Sword Coast
IME's primary instrument. Not built to store wealth but to abstract it. Bonds funded the port at Thornhold. Credit unlocked the March. The gilder converted frontier life into legible obligation.
Branches in Thornhold (managed by Morcant) and Phandolin (managed by Reyne). The Phandolin branch was robbed and burned by Cinder.
Items of Note
Her Most Radiant Majesty Queen Elsbetta — "Betsy"
Jasper Laidlow's ornate polished arquebus. A distinctive and deadly weapon, as genteel as its owner. After Jasper's death, Betsy can be claimed by the party.
Cinder's Chain
An enchanted chain binding Cinder wrist-to-wrist with Jasper Laidlow. Suppresses her fire magic. The enchantment breaks upon Jasper's death.
Brint's Sword
A clearly magical longsword wielded by Sir Gareth Brint. Its origins and properties are unknown, but it glows when drawn against the undead.
The Stolen Documents
Papers Cinder stole from the Phandolin bank before burning it down. Carried in Jasper's satchel. Contains evidence of IME's operations — the manifesto with all three seals. Cinder's parting gift to the caravan.
The Gilder
Fiat currency of the First Bank. Backed by institutional acceptance, not precious metals. The mechanism by which IME converts frontier autonomy into controllable debt.
Pagan Totem
Ancient roadside totems with antler motifs and spiral carvings, hung with bone charms. Remnants of the mountain clans. Father Matteus destroys any he encounters.
Enemies
Hrothain, Clan Chief of Crannogh
Now a Wight. The undead remains of the clan chief, guarding the meeting lodge where his people were massacred. Commands the shadows and undead of Crannogh.
The Vengeance of Crannogh
The collective undead of the destroyed clan settlement:
Zombies
The reanimated dead, attacking in waves through the blizzard.
Shadows
The spirits of the massacred: women, children, the elderly. Including Yrsa, Mara's daughter.
Devil Dogs
Undead beasts prowling the settlement ruins.
The Watcher
A gestalt creature formed from the bones in the ossuary, summoned by Matteus's invocation of the Helmic Watchful Eye. The final boss.
IME, Ltd.
The true antagonist is not undead but institutional. The Institute for Modern Endeavor operates through debt, currency, and legal obligation. Their agents — Morcant in Thornhold, Reyne in Phandolin, Vale in Waterdeep — are more dangerous than any wight.
Plot
Act I: The Pass
Scene 1: Thornhold
The caravan arrives at Thornhold. Qassim meets with Morcant at the First Bank and receives payment (30 GP per party member). They learn they must take the Antareg Pass to beat the Neverwinter caravan. Additional cargo joins: a passenger wagon (Mara, Matteus, Brint) and a sealed weapons wagon escorted by Brenna.
Scene 2: The Road
The journey along the well-maintained road, through the March, and into the foothills. Opportunities to learn about the cast through vignettes: hunting with Hakim, campfire stories with Brint, Matteus destroying a pagan totem, helping Brenna with the cargo. The road deteriorates. Nasir reports snow ahead.
Scene 3: The Storm
Unnatural blizzard. Wagons stuck. Hakim argues with Qassim. Qassim draws his sword — then zombies attack.
Scene 4: The Village
Near-zero visibility. Rafiq's body found. A light in a ruined building — Krug fighting zombies outside. Jasper opens the door with his arquebus.
Act II: The Lawman
Scene 1: Stories
Jasper proposes weapons on the table, stories shared. He goes first: arquebus and hidden daggers. He introduces Cinder — "The fugitive does not tell her story." Matteus prays in the corner. Krug reluctantly shares his sparse tale. Brint arrives half-dead, supported by Brenna.
Scene 2: Confrontation
Jasper probes Krug. "I know you, friend." A hidden pistol appears. Cinder yanks the chain. Krug strikes. Jasper dies. The chains lose their enchantment. Cinder's flames engulf the longhouse. She takes Jasper's satchel with the bank documents. Everyone flees.
Act III: The Witness
Scene 1: The Settlement
Fighting through the ruins. The clan chief wight emerges from the meeting lodge, shadows forming a ring. Defeated, the party enters and bars the door.
Scene 2: The Ossuary
Stairs to a cellar. A pit of bones. Children's bones. Mara: "I'll never forget the screams. They took their time with my Yrsa." She reveals everything. She arranged this journey so Brint would bear witness.
Brint confesses, weeping. Begs for death. Mara offers mercy. But Matteus intervenes: "You have borne witness. You have confessed. Now you will be punished." He invokes the Helmic Watchful Eye. The bones coalesce into the Watcher.
Scene 3: Aftermath
The party returns to the caravan. The snow has melted — no evidence of the storm. Krug organizes a ceremony. On the lead wagon: a dagger pinning a page. The IME manifesto. Three seals. Cinder's handwriting burned into the bottom:
"Found this at the bank in Phandolin. These are the fuckers you're working for."
❤️
Episodes
Three acts, three episodes. Narrated dramatizations of the campaign's key events.
Episode 1 — The Pass
A merchant caravan races through the Sword Mountains before winter closes the Antareg Pass. Among its passengers: a haunted knight, a healer with a secret, and a pyromancer in chains. When an unnatural blizzard strikes and the dead begin to rise, the caravan is shattered.
Episode 2 — The Lawman
Trapped in a ruined longhouse by the undead, Jasper Laidlow proposes a truce: weapons on the table, stories shared. But beneath the genteel exterior, the Marshall is hunting. When he turns his hidden pistol on Krug, it is Cinder who moves first — and the flames follow.
Episode 3 — The Witness
In the ossuary beneath Crannogh, among the bones of women and children, the truth emerges. Mara's twenty-year revenge. Brint's confession. And Father Matteus's final judgment. The Watcher rises from the bones of the slaughtered.