My player's characters are Magnus, a human sorcerer from Julkoun (a village east of Daggerford), Felis, a wood elf druid who has lived as a hermit in recent years, Draxilraen, a half-drow rogue who is an agent of Bregan D'aerthe (home-brewed background), and Johan, a human fighter who is a member of the Roaringhorn noble family from Amphail.
I've used bits of Scourge of the Sword Coast as my starting point (rather than Chapter 1). The PCs arrived in Daggerford along with a caravan of refugees fleeing villages bombarded by rampaging hill giants. The Daggerford gates were firmly closed though and no new arrivals were being allowed us. Johan persuaded the guards to let him in to see the Duke while Draxilraen and the others sneaked in behind them. Once in Daggerford they found the city almost full to the brim with refugees and the Duke in a rage because someone had stolen something from him. After a brief investigation the characters found themselves roped into investigating the disappearance of the item--the Deliymber Bloke. Leads within the city walls pointed to a dwarf who had recently left for Firehammer Hold and a sculptor he had dealings with who had also left town--apparently to Julkoun. Deciding to follow this lead the characters headed towards Julkoun. A day or so outside the village they were attacked by goblins riding wolves. Dispatching them, they were then contacted by a dryad who told them that the goblins were part of a larger group who were following hill giants around, taking advantage of the destruction and havoc.
Approaching the village from the north the characters could see some hobgoblins in the lower section but, more importantly, they spotted what looked like a way through the walls without being spotted in the higher section. Their entrance took them into the back of the Jester's Pride Inn where they came across the resting goblins and hobgoblins. Working their way through the Inn they cleared it out without too many issues and then moved onto the lower village, dispatching the remaining goblinoids (my dice rolling was appalling!)
They did manage to capture one alive though and questioned him as to the location of the villagers. From this they learnt that the villagers had been sold to some duergar who had taken residence in Firehammer Hold. After resting, they started the journey north. Upon reaching the Hold, they found a secret door and started exploring. In one of the rooms there where engraved murals depicting dwarves battling a blue dragon. Felis and Magnus racked their brains and recalled some information about a blue dragon that was once known in this part of the world--Iymrith.
The characters managed to sneak further into the Hold but their luck failed them at the wrong moment and they found themselves assailed by a large number of duergar. Things started looking very grim but, thanks to some
careful spells, the tide turned and they were victorious. They have holed up in a secure location to recover before descending deeper into the Hold to rescue the villagers.
OOC Notes
I gave the players a hand out on Iymrith taken from the
Wyrms of the North article in Dragon magazine. Likewise, in the deeps of the Hold they will come across a similar mural, this time depicting Kaluth--and again there will be a hand out on him. I've done it this way to provide some foreshadowing but hopefully it won't be too overt
Once the characters have cleared out the Hold and rescued the villagers they will receive the quests that the villagers from Chapter 1 of SKT would have given out. Probably directing them to Goldenfields as I'm keeping things, kind of, local at the moment.
