Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ArwenOfRivendel Feb 01, 2015 16:49:25	I'm DMing a family game.  It is our (pre-teen & teen) children's first experience with D&D; my husband and I played when we were younger (though not together).   While in the Redbrands' hideout, Glasstaff's rat familiar alerted him to the presence of the adventurers, and he fled.  The adventurers then finished clearing the hideout, and because they nearly died doing so, they took a long rest at the Alderleaf farm.    They attempted to confront the Redbrands at the Sleeping Giant, only to learn from Grista that Glasstaff had come to the inn, and upon learning that the adventurers had killed 4 of the Redbrands in town (before they entered the hideout), he takes the remaining 2 Redbrands with him and leaves.   After reprovisioning and a few other errands, they are on the adventurers are headed for the Triboar Trail, based on information from Grista.   The bit about Glasstaff stoping at the inn and picking up "remaining Redbrands"is extemporaneous on my part: the guide is unclear about the number of Redbrands at the inn, beyond the 4 (potentially) lounging on the porch, which I presumed were the 4 who confronted the adventurers in the street earlier in the adventure and are now dead.     Now, however, I have a two part problem/challenge:   -I need to figure out where Glasstaff is headed.  He doesn't know the location of Wave Echo Mine, so he can't go there.  There's no indication that he knows where Cragmaw Castle is, either.  Does he flee to Neverwinter? I don't see that any of other the side-quest areas in Part 3 would hold appeal to him.   -Once I figure out where Glasstaff is headed, how do I sort out how/if the party is able to track and find him?  He has at least a day's lead on them, and they have no real idea where he is headed.  Tracking particular group on an established trail seems unlikely, especially given their skill set.     I'm leaning towards letting them search fruitlessly; I worry, though, about the frustration level for them.   Figuring out Glasstaff's destination would help me sort of under what conditions they might actually encounter him.   I know ultimately it's my decision, but I'd appreciate some suggestions/ideas.
#2 Devils-Advocate Feb 01, 2015 17:06:49	Honestly, I would just replace Hamun Kost from the Old Owl Well portion of the adventure with Glasstaff. They're both Evil Mages anyway. Say he went there to regroup and give him a small entourage of Redbrand Ruffians instead of Zombies.
#3 Hepius Feb 01, 2015 18:57:31	Have Glasstaff attempt to ambush them on Triboar Trail.  Give him a couple of goblin allies if he needs help. Maybe he's decided that if he knocks off the party he can retake Phandalen.
#4 BRJN Feb 01, 2015 19:56:18	Maybe Glasstaff decides to "turn the tables" on these meddling interlopers and (a) sets up an ambush on the trail or (b) charges back to teach them a lesson.  Either way, the PCs can meet him and his henchmen in the wilderness.  Or he could set up shop in some hillside cave (not marked on the map) and wait until he can collect his thoughts.   What relationships does Glasstaff have with other power groups in the area?  Maybe somebody owes him "a favor to be named later" that he can cash in, in the form of some muscle and a trained expert to help him beat up the adventurers.
#5 dungeondude Feb 01, 2015 20:25:33	Hello there!   Welcome back to the game! I myself, am just loving the new edtion. I stopped playing when 4th Edition hit, so I've been digging getting back into things.   My group, was absolutely in a "non-stealth" mode while going through the mansion! Add the rat, and Glastaff had penty of time to bail!   Now, my characters had "clues" on this mage, but nothing solid. They just knew he fled.   Instead of putting him back in the game in a different location, I thought it would be fun to have him plot some type of "long term revenge" against the party. So, I've made him into a on-going type villian! He'll send spies to check out the characters! Harras them! Do what he can to manipulate and throw a wrench into their future plans!   THEN, if they ever catch him, it's sort-of a mini, full circle plot thing.    Just a thought! Just have fun!
#6 iserith Feb 01, 2015 20:28:27	ArwenOfRivendel wrote:
#7 Durn Feb 01, 2015 22:00:17	I like the Old Owl Well idea.  I'd have farmers report seeing them flee north on horses.  Then have them meet a group of elves in the who tell them they encountered Glasstaff heading toward the Old Owl Well.  They could also find out the location of Cragmaw Castle from the elves (who have been recently attacked by Hobgoblins from the Castle).  This gives them the choice of searching for Gundren at Cragmaw or chasing down their old foe.  If they choose not to chase him, then perhaps have an ambush or some such later on. If you use the Well location, it might be a neat touch to say he has a telescope set up and looking through it shows the Orc hideout many miles to the north.  Perhaps Glasstaff is going to try to ally with the orcs for his revenge. This way you are continually giving them choices without going far afield of the module.
#8 ArwenOfRivendel Feb 02, 2015 4:53:31	Thank you!  This is all very helpful.  I'm leaning either toward the ambush or putting him at Old Owl well.  I'm still pondering if others want to chime in.  I'll post back once I've decided and we've run it.
#9 Angry_Steak Feb 02, 2015 8:03:50	Neither of my groups have managed to get to Glasstaff before he slipped away. I handled it like so:   The Bugbears were sent as extra muscle for Iarno, but the Redbrands had been fine up to that point. After losing everything, I pictured Iarno trying to make a desperation move and fleeing Phandalin to Cragmaw Castle. Here he would try to convince King Grol to offer some of his legion to rebuild/retake Tresendar and Phandalin. Worst case scenario, he warns Grol (and the Doppelganger) of the players' strength and they begin preparations in the form of: Hostage situation with the DoppelDwarf, Cragmaw being on High Alert or sending out strike teams, or the Doppelganger racing a message to Wave Echo Cave about interference and going from there.   Iarno is a member of the Lord's Alliance, and pending how fast a message gets sent to them (presumably via Sildar) of his treachery, he may be able to requisition some arms and armor for Cragmaw using the guise of "My mission is going well, but I need to outfit our officers." I don't picture him as being a foolish man, but it's possible that while attempting to contact his sources something could go wrong. Desperation can lead to slip ups, after all.   In one of my games, the players managed to inform Sildar within the alotted time so Iarno's request was never fulfilled. Given more time, Grol may become impatient and take Iarno's staff for his own(and use it in the encounter with the PCs). I could leave his body slashed up in the tiled tub attached to Grol's room for extra effect.
#10 Touc Feb 02, 2015 8:15:44	Putting my voice in for Old Owl Well. Makes sense he'd have a "fallback" to gather his thoughts safely. His Staff is a nice reward for the players who manage to hunt him down; I'd give them a reasonable chance at this rather than move him beyond the area where they're not likely to follow.
#11 Johris Feb 02, 2015 8:25:34	I recently ran this and brought Iarno back in after he fled.  I originally had planned him to be at Cragmaw with Grol and the doppleganger.  a littel extra magic in the fight since my party was mostly 4th level buy this point.     but after the dragon fight, they were pretty beat up and travelling to find cragmaw, so I had Iarno leading a Hobgoblin ambush of their camp in the middle of the night so they coudln't get a long rest.   It worked out pretty good.  I didn't have the extra magic at Cragmaw, but I added a few extra hobgobolins and released the owlbear on em.  Out of a party of 6, they did manage the fight but 3 dropped at some point during the encounter.
#12 Greenstone.Walker Feb 02, 2015 18:41:36	Iarno, the respected Lord's Alliance member, reappears in Neverwinter with a report on how his efforts to bring law and order to Phandelin were thwarted by a group of ruffians who entered town, killed some townsfolk, and then attacked and looted one of the buildings.   If the PCs have actually been heroic then it won't take that long for the people of Phandelin to set the record straight, but it wil make things difficult for a few days.
#13 Archon007 Feb 02, 2015 18:52:10	Why? Glasstaff can just get away. The PCs never have to go after him at all. Remember, he is a side quest character. The important part is them finding the missing and captured dwarf and Wave Echo Cave.
#14 Touc Feb 03, 2015 8:42:31	Alternately, if the goal is to give the party a shot at the staff, just have it as a treasure elsewhere, probably with the necromancer.  Makes his fight a bit tougher.
#15 Archon007 Feb 03, 2015 13:39:53	Touc wrote:
#16 DrunkenHobgoblin Feb 03, 2015 15:40:45	My family party (mom, daughters 6 & 8), managed to corner Glasstaff by entering his chamber from the east, vice where the rat familiar was. That said, I think he is an important NPC (alive or dead) to the general flow of the adventure. I like the Old Owl Well option, but with an option to have the party ambush along the way. Also, by now, I had Sildar discover what Iarno has been up to, as he is a capable agent of the LA and was able to deduce that Iarno was Glasstaff from his investigation in town. I think that makes him more of a living NPC, while the party has been doing their thing.
#17 akr71 Feb 04, 2015 5:39:35	I like the Old Owl Well scenario.   However, there is nothing that says Glasstaff does not know the location ofwhere Cragmaw Castle.  I would have Iarono & the remaining Redbrands skip town on their way to regroup at the Castle - perhaps that is how he communicates with the Black Spider?  This could make for an interesting encounter too.  Either the party gets amushed my Glasstaff & the Redbrands, or they are part of the encounter at the Castle with King Grol and the doppleganger (perhaps the Redbrands would be playing dice in the barracks with the goblins?)
#18 ArwenOfRivendel Feb 18, 2015 19:18:14	Our various schedules meant it took a while before we could sit down and play again, but we finally did.  I chose the Old Owl Well scenario: Glasstaff and two Redbrands were there.   I had thought about adding more Redbrands, but the group has struggled to get through fight encounters in one piece up to this point, so I was worried about throwing too much at them.  As it happens, it ended up being too easy.  They snuck up on them at night, when Glasstaff and one Redbrand were asleep.  After numerous previous encounters with poor rolls and low damage, they took out the Rebrand on watch pretty quickly, one of the rogues got a sword to Glasstaff's throat before he was fully awake, and he surrendered.   In retrospect I was probably too easy on them, but live and learn.   To answer/respond to a few points above:   -In terms of the "why bother" question (i.e. Glasstaff got away):  I was fine with that option.  The players clearly were not, and were determined to go after him.  (One because she has a history with Glasstaff, others because they were concerned he would just regroup and come back to take over Phandalin again).   -While it's a perfectly legitimate choice to decide Glasstaff knew the location of Cragmaw Castle, I read it differently: the human redbrands had been getting along without the Bugbears' help, and there wasn't much interaction between them, per the adventure guide.  I read that to mean there was tension/distrust/competition between the goblinoids and Glasstaff/Redbrands, thus decided he didn't know the location of Cragmaw Castle.  On a more practical note, I was concerned about increasing the difficulty of the Cragmaw Castle portion of the adventure, given the difficulties they have been having.     A couple other notes in terms of adapting the adventure:  I replaced all the treasure listed at Old Owl well with the items that Glasstaff took with him when he fled the hideout (his staff, 2 spell scrolls, a couple of potions, etc.).  I did move the ring of protection which was part of the treasure originally at Old Owl Well to another place.  I don't have the adventure guide in front of me, but in one of the locations in section 3 (Thundertree??) there are remains of an adventurer who died, and some treasure specified.  I added the ring there.   They are likely to end up at Cragmaw before they hit level 4, and I thought given them a chance at the ring made more sense that disappearing it completely from the game.   Thanks again for the suggestions!