Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 SterlingRat Oct 31, 2014 9:40:16	I am running a group at my local game shop, and we are coming to the end of the Lost Mines of Phandalin (after this coming Sunday, anyway). I really like Phandalin and I'd like to stay here for a while rather than moving to HotDQ. Because the group is in a game store, I can have anywhere from 3 to 7 players at a time and no two weeks are exactly the same. That means I try to make each game session an individual episode that ties into the overall story; I only have 4-6 hours to have a beginning, middle, climax and ending. Now that the Lost Mine has been found and all the players are Level 5, I've got several episode possibilities - I'm going to just dangle them out there and see if the players start tugging one.   1) Thundertree - Some of the less frequent PCs will have gone missing when following up on some rumored activity in the ruins. 2) Slavers - The Redbrands were taking slaves, which means they were selling them somewhere. Find out where and stop them. 3) Lost Tower / Mere of Dead Men - Found a written order in Wave Echo Cave from a Wizard Tower in what is now the Mere of Dead Men. That order form gave instructions for summoning the tower out of an extra-dimensional space. It's possible the tower is intact, since the order was received but not filled. 4) Rebuilding - The townmaster, after the Redbrand menace, has contracted a mercenary company to establish law and order within the city. Their first task is to secure the travel lanes, so they are sending out crews to build guard stations along Trillboar Trail. The remnants of the Cragmaw will surely intervene, so they will gladly hire some extra help to defend the crews.   When the group is of a level that can handle it, I'll use "I am the Lizard King" set in the Mere of Dead Men... and I'd like to use "The Temple of Bazim-Gorag", but it's tough to get a remote location to put the temple at when you are on the Sword Coast.   I need some ideas for other episodes and I would like to have a BBEG around level 9 or 10 - a manipulative type that has been behind several baddies in different episodes.
#2 Theros Oct 31, 2014 10:07:03	Baron Balthazar Lawful Evil Bard 10 – Collage of Lore   Uses his almost supernatural charisma and manipulation to destabilize the region so his troops can annex the area to his barony once the PC’s have done all the heavy lifting.   He goads the antagonists from the shadows while pretending to be the PC’s friend. He even provides healing and other benefits to the PC’s to throw them off the sent.   He travels on a flying carpet accompanied by his honor guard of Pegasus rider knights.   He will at no point betray the PC’s once their usefulness is at an end. He’s a dark business man, and sees no reason to fall like all the evil villains the PC’s have killed before him. He uses the law to beat the system and force the PC’s to become outlaws if they want to take him down.