Dagult Neverember has commissioned the party to assist with the rebuilding of the towns of Phandalin and Leilon and to helping secure the Triboar trail and as much of the area around the Mere of Dead Men, particularly to the north.
Phandalin, and its nearby coastal neighbor of Leilon, lay at the crossroads of two especially important trade and travel routes, the High Road between Neverwinter and Waterdeep and the Triboar Trail which connects at the High Road between Neverwinter and Leilon and heads east to Triboar. The Triboar Trail is important because it is the only easy passageway east of the High Road without having to go into the Sword Mountains and its accompanying crags or Neverwinter Woods. Alternate routes add weeks to travel time to reach inland to the Dessarin Valley since the travel route would north to Luskan or south to Waterdeep then cut back around behind the numerous forests and mountains of the area.
The town of Phandalin is built on the ruins of a much older settlement. Hundreds of years ago, the town was a thriving human town whose people were firmly allied with neighboring dwarves and gnomes. Then an orc horde swept through the area and laid waste to the settlement, and Phandalin was abandoned for centuries. It has since slowly started rebuilding over time and has somewhat reestablished itself as an important town along the Triboar Trail. Since the lost Forge of Spells and Wave Echo Cave was found several years ago and subsequently sealed shut, settlers from the cities of Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Triboar have begun the hard work of reclaiming the ruins within and surrounding the town. The settlement has now become home to settlers, business people farmers, priests, stonecutters, woodcutters, blacksmiths, traders, prospectors, investors and families, who came from distant cities to eke out a life amid the harsh wilderness, wanting to start business in a small town or were drawn by stories of gems, gold and platinum in the nearby foothills of the Sword Mountains.
While Phandalin is key to inland trade, Leilon is vital to the shipping industry in the central coast. However, it is currently nothing more than just a settlement, encircled by an earthen rampart. It still values a usable inlet from the Sea of Swords that edges the Mere to the north. Off of this inlet, settlers attempt to build docks for barges, made to cross the marsh and meet merchant ships in the sea. Outside of town, a settler camp nestles under the trees alongside the High Road. At the center of town a destroyed wizard tower, rises like a beacon, four times the height of every other building. The town lies in ruin, but the settlers from Thornhold (on the southern edge of the Mere), Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Phandalin work quickly, clearing and reconstructing.
Sildar Hallwinter, a retired soldier from Waterdeep and current sellsword, along with Phandalin’s current townmaster, Harbin Wester, sent word back to both Waterdeep and Neverwinter that displaced creatures are roaming all over the Triboar Trail area between Leilon and the coast and the town of Triboar, including a white dragon that continues to grow its claimed territory. Although travel on the Triboar Trail has been disrupted, the dragon has not attacked the town of Phandalin yet, but its just a matter of time before it or the displaced creatures from the area do.
The arrival of the white dragon and other creatures threaten to destroy all the work that has been done to rebuild the town and to the security of the tradelines and passageways that are vital to the Sword Coast and to the rebuilding of the towns of Phandalin and Leilon.
The party's current focus in with the town of Phandalin and its surrounding area. Meet with Sildar and other members of the town to obtain more information about what is going on.
