Campaign Summary

A living reference for Owen’s campaign. Last updated: Session 5 (7/14/26).

Setting: Forgotten Realms, Phandalin region — Dragon of Icespire Peak, D&D 5e (2014 rules), level cap 6. House rules: no Neverwinter location; no tracking of ammunition or weight except special ammunition or absurd loads.

The story so far

Sessions 0–1 — The Road to Phandalin (4/27/26)

The party formed on the road and entered Phandalin, where they worked the quest board, met the Quest Master, and picked up the Gnomengarde Quest: warn the reclusive gnome tinkerers about a dragon, with a bonus for recovering magic items. Dragon rumors first surfaced here. A strange figure watched them at the inn — a thread that pays off later. Camping en route, they killed a wild boar — Barnaby’s Dragon’s Breath and Sage’s reluctant finishing arrow — and preserved it for food.

Session 2 — Dax Joins (5/15/26)

The party found Dax wounded amid five dead orcs, on a parallel quest to Gnomengarde and carrying orc rumors of an area dragon. He cautiously joined. They explored Gnomengarde, met gnome mushroom-farmers, and a brusque baker who pointed Dax toward the king. Then Facktoré, an unhinged gnome, shot Thom with a crossbow ballista; Thom slept her, Dax tied her up, and Bean pocketed her 10 gold. Rut later freed her, and she fled screeching.

Session 3 — The Mimics (5/18/26)

The party worked through the throne room (hidden passage, peephole into the king’s chambers, a bound queen, a paranoid king checking everything for mimics), disabled traps, crossed a goop-covered rope bridge, and beat two mimics in a storage room. The Guildmaster’s contract was delivered to the King, and Dax received a sealed envelope from the King — proof of the completed trade.

Session 4 — Back to Phandalin, and a Squeeze (6/22/26)

Harbin Wester paid 135 gold (19 each), returned the wand, and offered two contracts: Umbrage Hill (get midwife Adabra Gwynn, a Colletite of Chauntea, to leave her windmill, 25 gp) and the Dwarven Excavation (warn dwarf prospectors about a white dragon, 50 gp). At the Miner’s Exchange, Dax delivered the King’s sealed letter to Guildmaster Holia Thornton; the letter’s dragon mention prompted her questions. She then revealed a Zhentarim dragon-pin (recognized by Hamish), leveled crossbows at the party, and forced an intel-sharing pact, paying for dragon information. The guard posted outside — one of her Zhentarim people — was the same strange figure who’d been watching the party at the inn back in Session 1. With his original contract discharged, Dax stayed pragmatic — happy to keep working with Thornton so long as coin was on the table. Thornton also flagged a ruined temple south along the Trivial Trail where locals stash gold. Bean lifted Harbin’s private notes on Thornton during an unauthorized return visit (Dax and Rut sat it out). At Umbrage Hill, the party fought off two manticores (Dax burned an Action Surge; Barnaby shielded him with a reaction; Bean and Sage landed the kills). The windmill mostly survived.

Session 5 — Adabra, Orcs, and the Temple of Abbathor (7/14/26)

Post-manticore, Rut’s Goodberry and Barnaby’s Lay on Hands stabilized the party; Rut ripped a tail-spike from a manticore corpse and kept it — why, he hasn’t said. Adabra Gwynn refused to relocate (she can only brew the town’s healing potions at her windmill), gave a free healing potion (Dax tossed it to a bleeding Thom), noted rising orc activity, and sent a note back to Harbin. En route to the excavation, the party found day-old orc tracks and confirmed a large orc encampment down a split trail (bypassed). At the excavation — a ruined settlement behind a broken black-stone gate — they met dwarf prospectors Norbus Ithermel and Dazlyn Grayshard, delivered the dragon warning, and negotiated a 60/40 treasure split in the party’s favor (Thom) plus lodging. Dax’s Dwarvish introduction earned goodwill. The site is a ruined temple of Abbathor (god of greed): displeased with his priests, the god buried the settlement in an avalanche and transformed the survivors into the ochre jellies now blocking the dig. In the morning fight the party learned that slashing splits jellies (Dax’s longsword follow-up backfired after his thrown handaxe already split one). Notable beats: Thom’s Magic Missile triggered a Wild Magic Surge that aged him years; Bean’s natural-20 sneak attack; kills spread across the group. Loot: a hidden coffer of gemstones (Dax found it, went to Thom, dwarves unaware), and an acid-etched gold necklace overwritten in ancient Dwarvish — “This is what happens to those who displease me” — that Rut pocketed. Two secret doors opened: one to a glinting rubble hallway, one to a closed door. The session ended with Hamish investigating the glint — another ochre jelly lurking in the rubble.

Open threads

Immediate: an active ochre jelly in the rubble — Session 6 likely opens mid-fight.
The cursed-seeming necklace Rut carries blind (no one has flagged the risk in-game).
The hidden gemstone coffer kept from the dwarves — tension if the 60/40 split is ever audited.
The nearby large orc encampment — bypassed, not resolved. Orc activity is rising region-wide.
The white dragon the region is bracing for.
The Zhentarim intel pact with Thornton, plus Harbin’s stolen notes on her (Dax not privy to the notes’ contents; he knows the break-in happened but didn’t participate).
Rut’s true name — the party still only knows him as “Friend.”