The following is an exerpt from The Trove Lord’s Tribute:

It’s not all business at the Phandalin Miner’s Exchange. Halia Thornton keeps a discreet reserve, making the Exchange an unofficial saloon once the day’s ore is tallied. Sourced from other locales in the North, Zhentarim caravans keep Halia stocked with the following libations:

• Flamebeard’s Firebrandy. A famed and fiery liquor from Bryn Shander. Served by the finger for 1 sp.
• Goldengulp. Brewed in the settlement of Goldenfields on the Sword Coast North, this beer is made with the finest barley and hops. Served by the tankard for 6 cp.
• Gnomengardian Plonk. A purple mushroom wine, described as being an acquired taste. Served by the glass for 1 sp.

During Halia’s happy hour, miners linger to swap stories and shake off the dust, often handing a chunk of their hard-earned pay right back across the counter for a strong drink and some camaraderie, making the Phandalin Miner’s Exchange an excellent source for information gathering about the surrounding hinterlands.

Rumors. Spending a little time in the Phandalin Miner’s Exchange and chatting up the miners can provide the characters with a number of good leads to explore around Phandalin’s hinterlands. NPCs present in the Exchange and the rumors they pass on include:

• Gundren Rockseeker. “Aye, it’s a lonely stretch o’ mountains these days, the Sword Mountains. Once, ye’d hear dwarven anvils ringin’ from ridge to ridge. But the clans that lived ’round here? Gone. Axeholm was the last. Stout folk. Proud folk. But that fortress sits cold now, haunted an’ hollow. Some say a few o’ their priests bent the knee to Abbathor, the god o’ greed. And greed’ll rot a clan from the inside faster than any orc horde. Others talk about a ghost haunting the place. Nonsense, if ye ask me.”
• Halia Thornton. “That Shrine of Savras, out by Conyberry (snort). How does the fate that befell that place make a lick of sense? A temple, dedicated to the worship of the all-seeing god of divination, laid low by a tribe of savages?! Well, it would seem that even the gods misplace their spectacles from time to time (snort). Now if ‘He of the Third Eye’ would tell someone where his priests hid all of Conyberry’s gold, maybe fools would stop venturing out that way.”
• Lanar. “I know it sounds cracked, but I ain’t makin’ this up. Three nights past, out by Umbrage Hill, starin’ at me from the treeline while I was takin’ a squat. It had the face of a man, a body like some lion you’d see in one of them travelin’ circuses, and wings – big as barn doors! Gods help me, if I hadn’t seen it so clearly…dammit, Nundro! It ain’t funny!”
• Pickled Pete. “Their mushroom wine tastes like puddle water, but I’ll tell ya. Them gnomes got the right idea with their gadgets. Clever folk out there in Gnomengarde, I tell you. Last time I was out that way, they showed me a gnomish gizmo that chopped vegetables and played a tune!”

If you enjoyed this content and you’d like more, please check out The Trove Lord’s Tribute, a scalable, low-level one-shot adventure that reimagines the Dwarven Excavation quest from Dragon of Icespire Peak. Now available as a free/pwyw offering on Dungeon Master’s Guild!