As with Tharden Rockseeker, I think it’s ideal to make Nundro Rockseeker mostly nonverbal, focusing on his quirks and traits rather than burdening the Dungeon Master with an additional voice in the story, or run the risk of him outshining his brother Gundren, who is central to the plot of Lost Mine of Phandelver.

Like Bifur from the Hobbit trilogy, my version of Nundro Rockseeker would have the rusting remnant of an axe lodged in his head from his days as a soldier. Of the Rockseeker brothers, Nundro is the only warrior among them, giving the DM an opportunity to inject some lore into the game. Is Nundro a survivor of the Battle of the Cold Vale during the War of the Silver Marches? Did he fight against the tide of orcs that conquered Sundabar? Or perhaps he was a part of the Dwarven army that recently reclaimed Gauntlgrym. You can have a lot of fun playing with recent Forgotten Realms lore to give Nundro some depth and provide stories for Gundren Rockseeker to tell about his brother.

As with Bifur, the axe that remains lodged in his head gives Nundro some form of indefinite madness. For Bifur, the result of his head wound was that he lost his fluency in not only the common speech, but his native tongue as well, as he can only speak in an archaic form of Dwarvish (Khuzdul). Why not do the same for Nundro Rockseeker? Only, he speaks in the Riftspeak dialect, an archaic form of Dwarvish that’s over 10,000 years old.

If that’s a little too out there, maybe his injury gave him some form of indefinite madness where he has a permanent ear worm that makes him incapable of speaking anything other than the verses of the Canticle of Gauntlgrym. Or perhaps bring a little bit of A Song of Ice & Fire or Guardians of the Galaxy into your game where the only word Nundro is capable of uttering is his own name, in the same way that Hodor and Groot can only say theirs. Yet Gundren has a close enough connection with his brother that he is able to intuit what Nundro is saying.

If you need extra muscle to get a low level party through the Goblin Arrows chapter of Lost Mine of Phandelver, Nundro’s background as a soldier could come in handy as help un-looked for if an encounter in the Cragmaw Hideout goes south.

When the party spots the carcasses of horses belonging to Gundren Rockseeker and Sildar Hallwinter laying in the road, perhaps Nundro’s dismay and subsequent determination to follow the clues down the goblin trail have the potential to inspire the characters to engage with the plot hook central to the story (Gundren’s captivity).

Just as Neznar the Black Spider lured Gundren Rockseeker away to begin Lost Mine of Phandelver, he could also lure the other Rockseeker brothers away from Phandalin once the characters start working their way through the adventure. If the players at your table take a shine to Nundro, it’s possible they’ll be concerned about his welfare and whereabouts when they find Tharden laying slain at the entrance to Wave Echo Cave.

Up next: Gundren Rockseeker (Bofur).

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