ROF-002-SVA-001: The Unseen

The characters pick up this quest when they arrive in Svarholt. It begins as the characters enter the quiet village, which is being tormented by invisible thieves.   Led by Xardorok Sunblight's younger son, Nildar Sunblight, invisible Duergar are searching Svarholt for Chardalyn, bringing whatever interesting things they find back to their outpost on the side of Analor's Cairn. It's up to the characters whether they help the people of Svarholt restore their stolen valuables, or confront the Duergar for their own personal gain.  

Getting the Quest

  The town sits quietly at the foot of Analor's Cairn, a few bundled-up people shuffle between snow-battered houses, keeping their heads down, barely bothering to give you a look as you walk past them.   A pile of snow stirs as you pass it, and someone hidden beneath it suddenly stands. The figure looks around and yells, "Who goes there? Is it thieves? Have I found those creeping bastards?"   When he pulls down the scarf covering his face, you see it is a silver dragonborn holding onto an empty wine bottle as if it was a weapon. He belches, grins at you and says, "Pardon my manners. Bit jittery with all the thieving going on. I'm Trovus, the town speaker."   Trovus spends most of his days drinking and reminiscing about his bygone adventuring days. He's been patrolling at night looking for thieves, but after yet another night of heavy drinking, he passed out in the snow after a few hours. He has no recollection of how he ended up in the snow pile or why he was outside drinking in the first place.   If he's asked about the thieves, Trovus takes a deep breath, trying to suppress his hiccups, before explaining the situation:   "The town has had some thievery troubles. No one's seen anything really. Just the other night, the lantern over at the Northern Light was stolen. Cori won't let me hear the end of it because I haven't been able to find those responsible. Not yet, anyway. But I have a knack for this stuff."   If he's not stopped, Trovus starts a long speech about the adventures he went on in his younger days. His stories include one where he kicked a half-ogre into a river and watched it float away while it yelled profanities at him. Another tells of the time he tricked a group of kobolds into believing he was a dragon in humanoid form.   If the characters ask about the missing lantern, he offers to take them to the local inn so they can talk to the Shorard sisters, who run the establishment. He seems less bothered by the cold than anyone else in the settlement, due to his silver dragon heritage. As they walk, Trovus talks about what has been taken from Svarholt over the past three nights:  

• A colour-switching magic latern, taken from the local inn

• A pair of goats, stolen from the local tavern

• A small sack of pearls carved into decorative beads, gone missing from the stores of Frozenfar Expeditions

  If the characters inquire about a reward for dealing with the thieves, Trovus explains that the town doesn't have the coin to pay someone to investigate the matter. Most of the valuables in the village have disappeared already, so there's little left to use as compensation.  

Helpful Sisters

  Trovus leads the characters through Svarholt to the The Northern Light on the eastern edge of town. An empty hook, meant to carry a lantarn, hangs above the entrance.   The inn appears to be mostly empty. A young woman looks up as you enter, gives Trovus a chastising smile, and says, "Did you fall asleep outside again? I'm telling you, Trovus, one day you're going to have to stop relying on the kindness of strangers."   The woman then opens a door into what looks like a kitchen and calls out, "Heat up something for Trovus. He's been out 'patrolling' again."   The woman, Allie Shorard, is one of the Shorard sisters (netural good human commoners), who own the inn. The other owner, Cori, is working in the kitchen. Allie Shorard settles Trovus into a chair before approaching the characters.   She confirms that the town has been experiencing break-ins and robberies lately, but no one has witnessed a potential culprit. The only clue is a set of tracks leading in the direction of Analor's Cairn. Allie Shorard thinks the tracks were made by dwarves who live in the valley at the base of Analor's Cairn. She suspects that the endless winter has made the dwarves desperate for food and ale, though she can't explain why the dwarves would steal the inn's lantern and other valuables. Allie Shorard is also surprised that no one in Svarholt has seen or heard the dwarves, remarking that "A quiet dwarf is an oxymoron."   An interatction with Allie Shorard is interrupted when Cori Shorard exits the kitchen:   The door to the kitchen swings open as a stern-looking woman enters holding a steaming bowl of soup. She places the bowl down for Trovus and says, "No dwarf did this. Someone would have spotted'em. Caught 'em. No, there's something more going on. Besides, what use do hungry dwarves have for a lantern?"   If the characters ask Cori Shorard for details, she explains that the magic lantern that used to decorate the outside of their inn doesn't do anything other than light up the area with different colours.   If asked about a reward for dealing with the thieves, the sisters say they have little coin, but they can provide food and comfortable beds in exchange for the party's help. They'll even throw in a few flagons of beer if the characters can bring their magic lantern back to the inn.   If the characters accept the quest, Allie Shorard takes them to the back of the inn, where faint footprints lead towards Analor's Cairn. If they refuse the quest, Svarholt continues to be tormented by invisible thieves until the Duergar stop searching the town for Chardalyn.  

Getting a Dogsled

  If the characters are interested in following the suspicious tracks, the Shorard sisters suggest they visit Frozenfar Expeditions and secure a dogsled before setting out on their adventure. If the characters do so, they discover that Jartha, the mountain guide at Frozenfar Expeditions, is willing to acommpany the characters for a small fee of 10 gp per day of travel. Jartha has advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks made in the vicinity of Analor's Cairn.