I realize that in my previous thoughts, I pitched Falcon the Hunter as this Phandalin-adjacent local hero. But the more I sit with it, the more I’m convinced:

This Falcon guy has a screw loose – though you’d never know it until you get to his home.

I’m actually impressed with Falcon’s Hunting Lodge. It is literally thirteen keyed areas of nada.

It feels like the designers wrote: “Here’s where cool stuff would go,” then got distracted by lunch before sending the module off to the printer.

There are no monsters. No treasure. No interesting NPCs lurking about. Player characters should rightly be excused for wondering why the fuck they’re there in the first place.

And thennn you get to the Dining and Trophy Hall, where humanoid HEADS are mounted as trophies.

Let’s pause to reflect on that for a moment.

Imagine if great grandpa, grandpa, uncle, or brother came home from the war, and there were like, the heads of Nazis or religious militants mounted on the balcony walls above his dining room table.

Not helmets or weapons or insignias. HEADS.

Heads. Sawed off of other humanoids. To be displayed as the trophies of a NEUTRAL GOOD war veteran/hunting guide. Because he can’t abide them as neighbors.

I have shared a wall with many people over the years who I did not particularly care for. But it never occurred to me that I should hang their heads as a trophy from that wall.

And they’re not in some hidden chamber you discover behind a false wall like a medieval true-crime podcast. They’re hanging from the walls of a balcony above the dining room table, looking down upon the dinner party, as if they’re about to ask one of the dinner guests whether they’re finished with those french fries or not.

You can also use the orc heads to advance the Anchorites of Talos thread in Dragon of Icespire Peak. Describe the red lightning bolts tattooed on their faces. Some of them wear eyepatches. Based on these characteristics, a successful DC 13 Intelligence (Religion) check is sufficient to identify the orcs as worshippers of Talos. Perhaps someone in the party who has proficiency in Religion recalls lore about Gorthok the Thunder Boar, and their dinner host is like “aye, I’ve seen the beast with me own eyes.”

Everything else about Falcon’s Hunting Lodge is spectacularly mundane, except for this sole instance of WTFFF, which can shake loose some adventure hooks about the Woodland Manse and the Circle of Thunder in an organic manner. So, there is in fact a reason to steer the players toward Falcon’s Hunting Lodge.

But don’t pass up the chance to make this a weird and memorable encounter with those mounted orc head trophies. Introduce this fun bit to the characters as if you’re slapping them in the face with a quipper pulled from the Neverwinter River, then play up how weird the moment is, and how kooky this Falcon guy is once they meet him in person.

If you’d like to support my work, please consider checking out my free/pwyw supplements for Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak over on Dungeon Master’s Guild!