I thought I’d follow up with another trinket tied to Gnomengarde, since I was just talking about the place yesterday: A sheet of parchment upon which is drawn a mechanical contraption.

Like yesterday, this trinket can help nudge players toward the Gnomengarde adventure hook, and can even serve as a bridge between Dragon of Icespire Peak and Tyranny of Dragons.

The parchment of paper is a schematic for the auto-loading crossbow platform built by Facktoré, a rock gnome recluse at Gnomengarde.

In my version of the adventure, the party travels to Gnomengarde as an escort for Sergeant Markguth of Greenest, enroute to Gnomengarde to retrieve the auto-loading crossbow platform that his Governor has commissioned the Gnomengardians to build for the defense of his keep.

Markguth is in Phandalin and requires an escort to Gnomengarde because much of his company has been slain during their journey. As such, the Sergeant requires mercenaries to help with his errand. Cue a meeting with the characters if they’re seeking employment.

But why would a character be in the possession of this schematic in the first place?

In my version of this adventure, Markguth’s company was waylaid by Brughor Axe-Biter, his scouts, and Gog the Ogre along the Triboar Trail. This parchment could easily be among the looted treasure taken from Markguth’s company, to be found by the characters should they succeed at driving the Axe-Biter and his lot from Wyvern Tor.

Upon their return from Wyvern Tor, perhaps this is where they’d have the opportunity to meet Sergeant Markguth as he waits for mercenaries to pass through town. Word of the party’s encounter with the Axe-Biter could lead Markguth to seek out the party, asking about whether they recovered any of the items his company lost from to the orcs, using the schematic of the auto-loading crossbow platform to build a bridge to the Gnomengarde quest.

Let’s be mutuals over on Bluesky! If you’re interested, I’m @ticklecorn.bsky.social. I always follow back.

If you’d like to support my work, please consider checking out my supplements for Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak over on Dungeon Master’s Guild! All of my titles are Free/PWYW offerings.