A few more comments on chapter 4 and how it played out for my group, including some tweaked and alternative encounters. Here they are, in the order they happened in my game.
The Golden Stag: I used the "prophecy" variant and transferred this to earlier in the game, while the party was in Elturel. Our cleric has the "former gold dragon" background, so I made the stag a messenger of Bahamut. It said that Bahamut was pleased with the cleric's work so far, delivered the prophecy, and gave him a Periapt of Wound Closure.
Stranded: Happened in the Fields of the Dead. I made sure to mention that there were other hobgoblins fighting the rest of the caravan guards, and that the part we were playing through was just where the PCs happened to be. The book doesn't say what the wagon was hauling or why the merchant was traveling without a caravan. I said they were hauling barrels of cider, which Beyd Sechepol promptly purchased. Fortunately, the group didn't ask why they were traveling alone, but I did have the merchant say they were foolish to do so. It's a good way to illustrate the need for the caravan travel.
Contraband: While crossing a river in the Trollclaw Mountains. This encounter was useful because the PCs didn't know who the cultists were when they started out, so they identified one wagon this way.
Adventuring Life: Picked up at the first inn after Dragonspear. Our PCs were spread out in different wagons, so it didn't make sense for them all to be fired. Instead, I had merchant fire an NPC friend of theirs because he could get more experienced adventurers for less pay. She came to them in tears, and they had to help her find a new job. The fakes eventually became obvious, of course. Still, when they got to Waterdeep, our party's wizard was persuaded to invest 100 gold pieces in their attempt to start up a new theatrical company. I think I'm going to have them write plays about the group's adventures.
Bane of the Mountains: Soon after picking up the fake adventurers (who hid under their wagons during the fight). Not much to say except that those peryton dive attacks are wicked.
Fungus Humungous: Near the High Moor. I set it up by having it rain for several days leading into it. I don't usually use sound effects/music at the table, but I played this for the mushroom screams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFqHyCoypfM. It went over very well.
No Room at the Inn (alternate version): Happened within a day or so of Fungus Humongous. I really played up how cold, wet, and miserable everyone was after all that rain and how they were looking forward to staying at the inn. I decided to try out the version with the homebrewed young slaads (see
post 42 on page 5). My party was pretty strong, and several members have high AC, so I tossed in one or two extra slaads; the party could handle them, but the slaads have a lot of hitpoints, so the combat went on for a while. If I were to run this again, I'd modify a few to be weaker but hit harder. Also, my group likes to play with a battlemap, so I used one I found at dundjinni,
here. Tip: make sure you work out what the innkeeper's attitude is and how far he/she is willing to go to help the party. In my game, the innkeeper occasionally participated in the fight by throwing beer mugs.
Payback: Just before Daggerford. Carlon has become the PCs' main Harper contact in Waterdeep, and he introduced them to Remallia Haventree just before they left for Carnath Roadhouse.
Who's Your Friend? Be ready in case your group asks who's doing the cooking and serving that day, because they'll probably want to confront whoever they think put those bone splinters in the oatmeal. If you don't want them to get too sidetracked by trying to find and punish whoever did it, consider having Jamna advise them to pretend nothing's happened and talk to her later.
Spider Woods: Three or four days out from Waterdeep. I made the spiders target Samardag the Hoper's wagon, which had made it all that way with the pottery intact. The Ettercaps knocked it over as they dragged the horses away, causing a very loud crash and much breakage. (One of our PCs has the Mending cantrip, so he made some good money by mending the broken pottery.) For the fight, I used
this map and said the silver bit was a giant web, rather than water.
High Holy Day: I tossed this in as the caravan approached Waterdeep, using Steve Winter's description of it
as summarized at Sly Flourish. It was somewhat amusing as a pure roleplay encounter, but I wish I had figured out a way to work more of a challenge into it--either by adding a spokesman for them to negotiate with, or maybe asking the PCs to make a will save if they tried to oblige the cultists by whipping them.
Events I Didn't Run: Animal Abuse (couldn't find a good spot for it), Everything Has a Price (no one had a suitable item in a noticeable place), Roadside Hospitality (didn't want to split the party).
I also didn't run Murder Most Foul because the party really disliked and distrusted Jamna after they realized she tricked them about the bone splinters, and I wanted to keep her around for a bit. I did sort of get a chance to work it in in Waterdeep. The PCs fed Jamna some information, hoping to start a war between the cultists and the Zhentarim, but she just quietly killed a particularly annoying cultist by defenestrating him and then brought the PCs a note she found in his pocket directing him to contact Ardred Briferhew.
