Yesterday, I shared my thoughts on how to gently guide characters toward the Stonehill Inn using bad weather in the box text to set the scene for their arrival to Phandalin. But then what? Many players struggle with the social pillar of the game. So, what happens if the party seeks the shelter of the inn, but not the companionship of the locals in the common room (who have clues about the adventure in the form of rumors)?

Make them privy to overheard gossip.

As a frontier town, Phandalin has little in the way of entertainment. With a lack of singers and storytellers traveling through the area, townsfolk pass the time by taking an intimate interest in the personal lives of their neighbors, which is often whispered across the the tables of Stonehill Inn’s common room. The more ale, wine, or cider involved, the louder the whispers.

As the characters nurse their beers in the common room, they may hear a few things that interest them, without making it necessary for them to say a word to the locals. Or better yet, it may prompt a social encounter if they’re drawn into the conversation by overhearing a rumor that piques their interest.

Overheard gossip. Spending time among the locals in the common room of the Stonehill Inn can provide the characters with a number of leads to explore in and around Phandalin, as well as information about the townsfolk themselves. NPCs present in the Stonehill Inn and the rumors they pass on include:

• Narth, an old farmer: “Who knows where Garaele goes off to when the fancy takes her. I doubt it’s anywhere I’d want to go. Why, just the other day, she returned to town from an errand looking like she tumbled down Icespire Peak. All scratched up and bruised from head to toe, she was. But still as lovely as a sunset to behold. Are all elves so beautiful?
• Elsa, a chatty barmaid: “I’m afraid there’s no salt in the stew today, Daran. With the lack of traders coming through town lately, we’re down to pepper. Townmaster Harbin says orc raiders have been attacking caravans at the east end of Triboar Trail. He just posted a notice outside his hall looking for mercenaries to run them off so we don’t have to keep going without.” (See the “Townmaster’s Hall section for more information.)
• Lanar, a miner: “Laugh all you want, lads. But I saw it. Peering out at me from the woods by Alderleaf Farms.” (Unintelligible crosstalk at the table) “Never you mind what I was doing in those parts, but it had nothing to do with Quelline’s fine tobacco, I promise you that. Anyway, as I was saying…(shuddering sigh). Staring out at me from the wood, an enormous, lidless, baleful green eye that…I could hear it in my…head. Dammit, Ander and Thistle. It’s not funny!”
• Trilena Stonehill, the innkeeper’s wife: (imperiously holding her son Pip by his earlobe) “Qelline, it would seem our idiot boys need more chores to keep them busy. Apparently, the two of them found a tunnel in the woods – where they have no business being – and my Pip here dared your Carp to go exploring inside. Turns out, your Carp nearly had a run-in with some of them awful ruffians, who were lurking inside the tunnel. One of them, the one they call Farmer, just came to my back door with a warning to keep the boys away from the woods or there’d be trouble.
• Freda, a weaver: “If that lot took an interest in your wife, Toblen, you’d pack up your family and clear out, too. Them ruffians are little better than orcs. I heard Thel snapped when one of them got handsy with Mirna. He marched right up to the one they call Quipper and got in his face. The brute beat poor Thel senseless. The Dendrars must’ve fled back to Neverwinter, because no one has seen the family in almost a tenday.”

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