Back to Phandalin, and a Squeeze

After wrapping up business at Gnomengarde, the party headed back to Phandalin to collect their reward and figure out next steps.

First stop: Harbin Wester’s house. After a comical series of unlocking sounds, the nervous, portly townmaster cracked open the door, scanned the sky, and hurried the party inside. He paid out 135 gold total (19 each) for the Gnomengarde job, returned the wand, and offered two new contracts:

• Umbrage Hill — convince the midwife Adabra Gwynn, a Colletite of Chauntea, to leave her stone windmill and return to town for safety (25 gp).
• Dwarven Excavation — warn dwarf prospectors southwest of town that a white dragon has moved into the area (50 gp).

Next, the Miner’s Exchange. Dax delivered the King’s sealed letter to Guildmaster Holia Thornton — proof of the completed trade — and the letter’s mention of the dragon prompted her questions about the threat. Then she drew back her cloak to reveal a pin bearing a dragon symbol, which Hamish recognized as the mark of the Zhentarim, a shadow organization with fingers in organized crime and politics. The guard posted outside — the same strange figure who’d watched the party at the inn back in Session 1 — was one of her people. What started as a conversation turned into a strong-arm: Thornton had crossbows trained on the party and pressed everyone into an information-sharing agreement, demanding to be kept informed of any dragon intelligence and offering payment for updates. With his original contract discharged, Dax stayed pragmatic — happy to keep working with her so long as coin stayed on the table. Thornton also let slip a lead: a ruined temple south along the Trivial Trail, where locals stash their gold.

While most of the party went shopping, a few members made an unauthorized visit back to Harbin’s place. Bean turned up some of his personal notes on Thornton. Dax and Rut sat this one out.

The party then set out for Umbrage Hill — and found two manticores actively trying to tear the stone windmill apart. A long, scrappy fight followed: fog cloud, magic missiles, handaxes, sneak attacks, and an Action Surge from Dax, with Barnaby burning a reaction to shield Dax mid-fight. Bean landed the kill on the first manticore, and Sage put an arrow through the second one’s eye to close it out.

Adabra’s windmill survives. Mostly.