Back in Phandalin...

Life has been relatively quite in the small, but growing, village of Phandalin. Lander the Lucky continues his duties of training recruits and the town guard, and building additional fortifications, like watch towers. There are now enough towers between the town and the mine that each tower can see the next. The route is much more prepared and protected.

The growth of Phandalin, and it's apparent prosperity has not gone unnoticed. Several supply caravans, or merchants have been hit by bandits on the Triboar Trail. News reports also continue to come in about dragon attacks along the Sword Coast. The Drow have not attacked again, but those going to and from the mines have reported the feeling of being watched on the trail. The new towers were partly in response to those reports.

Reports have also come in about the major cities or political bodies gathering armies. This is confirmed when two people show up from Neverwinter with a personal guard. They seek out Sildar Hallwinter who immediately summons Lander to the town hall.

Upon arrival Lander is introduced to a captain in the Neverwinter Army, and the Chief Tax Collector for this area. Sildar tells Lander that they are here to collect taxes, equivilant to 10% of the towns gold, and to draft young men ages 15-30 in fighting condition for a coming war to save the city, and potentially the whole Sword Coast.

OOC: Is this homebrew, or something from one of the published campaigns?

ooc: Bit of both. Mostly a side effect of the dragon cult getting preety big in HotDQ and RoT. Its in preparation for the big fight.

This is my interpretation of the effects of HotDQ and future setup for CoW.

Sildar is distressed thinking that Phandalin was on their own given the state of affairs in Neverwinter. The city is still recovering from a nearby volcanis eruption, and Thundertree is still basically in ruins. However, whatever is happening along the Sword Coast has the Lords, and rulers completely stressed out.

In addition Sildar has been contacted by the Harpers, and the Emerald Enclave, as well as the Order of the Gauntlet looking for aid and support. He has been able to do very little as he follows Ulric's last orders and Lander's current input.

He turns now to Lander for more immediate feedback and guidance.

A stern voices hammers out a reply. "You are mistaken. We are not here to post a guard here. We are here to gain bodies to post a larger guard elsewhere, and bolster our armies." He crosses his large beefy arms. "This is not a negotiation."

"Ave, Lander, morituri te salutamus"

Lander's faithful 15-30 years olds wishing him goodbye as they leave to
boldly go where no man has gone before
seek out new lives and civilizations
die
die horribly
get eaten by dragons
"Save the city, and potentially the whole Sword Coast"

The military man responds in a very non-emotional way. "We need all the bodies you can spare. We'll determine how many after we've seen your stock. And, yes, I am using words like bodies and stock. Please, make no mistake, this is a war we are preparing for and I've been tasked with gathering resources not personalities and emotions. There are evils in this world you may not be familiar with, but they are growing in number and strength enough that even the best amongst us might falter."

He looks saddened for a quick second. "I take no pleasure in leading young men to an early grave, so for my own sanity I need to think about them more as objects than fathers and sons."