COMPANY Pos1r10Ns
At chc signing of the franchise agreement. each char-
acter picks one o f the positions d et:tiiC'cl in "Company
Positions" in chnpter 2. When they do so. Viari hands
out any special position gear and instructs the charac-
ters in how best to fulfill their roles. Chapin^2 has more
details on these positions. the benefits they confer. and
what they mean 10 the franchise. Hopefully. the players
have already ronsidercd what positions <1r e the best lie
for their charnrter s and for the franchise as a whole. but
if not. give tlH'm time. Make sure it"s c lear what each po-
sition entails a11d what franchise duties a character w i th
a given posit ion i s expected to perform.
In addition to the char acters' positions. the franchisemajordomo ean also select a company position if de-
sired. This b especially useful if there\ a key position
that none of tlH' players wants to take. o r if the party
size is small.FRANCH I SE DOWNTIME
The process of rebuilding Tresendar Manor will take
some time. and as proud franchise owners. the char ac-
ters need to lw around tO pitch in nncl make sur e nothing
goes awry. At the same time. their newly awarded terri-
tory is ripe for exploratio n and inte rnet ion with potential
c ustomers and business partner s. /\s th e character s
take stock of their situation. they c:in engage in down-
time activities and undertake some of the franchise
ta::.ks that operate alongside the downtime rules.
All the activities nwntioned in thb section are in-
troduced or talked about in the ··Franchise Tasks and
Downtime·· section in chapter 2. Th~\l section notes
which books existing activities can b e found in.Ni::w Bus1N~:ss
As the chnractcrs spend time cstablbhing their new
commercial home turf. the explore territory downtime
activity can yield up all kinds of new opportunities
and connection-,. ln1crcsting NPCs mig ht be r evealed
on a walkabout in the woods around Phandalin, or
the characters might locate stands of prime timber
o r abandoned min<'s still holding valu able ore. Such
r esources can become part of the franchisc·s ongoing
revenue st ream.
Commercial connenions forged with 'PCs could also
be formalized and n:fined. The lizardfolk of the Me re
of Dead M en and th<' Splincfig sisters arc just two of
the potential business partnerships from this episode.
whether the character s engage those NPCs them-
sel\·cs or allocate 1Tw111bers of their brand-new staff for
those tas ks.THl!'\KJ:-:G LOC ALLY
In Phandalin. the character s might U'>t' the markc-
teering ac1ivi1y^10 set up a partne r ship with Lincnc
Graywind at tht' Lionshicld Coster. or with Sharna
Quirstiron of th e Phandalin Miner"~ Exchange-whethe r
they know Sharna·s true allegiances or 1101. Depending
on how well th<' character s ar e getting along with Har-
bin v\"ester. the -.,hady business practice activity might
let them get mon' din on the banker. o r gain his fa,·or b)
going afte r some of his rivals.Shady busirwS!> practices might be an even bigger
part of the characters· plans fo r their franchise. Any
number of do dgy N PCs in town might be interested in
partnering wi1h character s who w ant l o skirt the law.
Smuggling ore without paying taxes. 'ikimming from the
coffers of either temple. running illc14al gambling at the
Sleeping Giant any o f these activities could n et a nice
profit \\·ith relati\·cly limited risk.STAYI.'.\:C ON T11 £ Gooo S1 DI:.
If the charac1crs have nobler aspirations for their fran
d1ise-or if thcy"rc savvy enough to want to hide their
franchi se's i gnoble aspirations from the get-go- a phil -
anthropic cnwrprise can go a long w<1y toward shoring
up the party's rt'putation. A franchi<.,c could work to sup-
port the existing charity efforts of either of the local tem-
ples. or the drnracters could create tht>ir own fund for
out-of-work miners. Doing so makes acquiring ongoing
concessions or information from towm;folk much eas-
i er, but puts thr clrnraclers in th<' bncl g races of Sharna
Quirstiron at the Miner's Excha nge.LEADS TO n1 F LtGHTHOuSE
E,·en as the diaractcrs ar e setting up their new fran-
chise. you"ll want to work in hooks to lead them to the
next stagc in thC' adventure. Based on what they"ve
learned during this epi sode. the character s are aware
that the only other survivor of the attack on the Fellow-
ship of the Golden rv1ongoosc was the tiefling paladin oc
cuham Talnnatha Three-Coins. Clearly the best source
of informa1ion regarding the a11ack on the manor. Tala-
natha u sed the timepiece of1ra1-c/ to tt'leport away, but
no one know s wher e she went.
Many of the l ocal!'i had inte rac tio ns with Tal<inatha
in the three m onths that the Fellows h ip of the Golden
Mongoose wnc; a r ound Phanda lin. and characters can
use the schmooLing o r carous ing downtime activities to
learn more about the tiefling. In particular. a number of
the regulars at the Sleeping Giant remember drinking
with Talanathn. S he o ften grumbl<·d about whether the
Company of the Golde n MongooM' was th e bes t Iii for
her. and tal ked about a good friend^11 <1med Wizzy who
worked fo r <1nothrr Acquisitions I neorporated franchise.
The details o n Wizzy"s franchise an· vague. but Talana-
tha spok e of her friend having ··an awesome headquar-
ters up the coast:·
Character s can a lso spend downtime invcs1igating theOrrery of tlw Wa ridt-rer and the timepiece of tra1^1 e!, us-
ing either the scrutineering or r<'s(':irc h activities. In ad-
dition to revea ling more details of the orrcry as you sec
fit (sc<· appendix D). such investigation could r eveal that
the last place the timepiece tcleporwd someone to wa!>
a location on the Sea of Swords. north of Neverwintcr
but south of Luskan. Scrutinecring or inquiries through
H ead Office turns up information on an Acquisitions
Incorporated franchise based in that area-the Orde r
of th e Stout I l alf Pint. which has its headquarters in an
old lightho use iilong a stretc h of coast known locally as
Silent Sound.
\Vhntever clues the characters obtain regarding Ta-
lanatha's likely clt>stination , ha,·e thos<' hints play out
over the full length of the downtime rather than rushingI I L \ I' I I ll I Tl!' "1rn I I:\ c >I I 11 J~ \\ \ ' I) r I< I R