During the third round. two more hobgoblins r ush to
join the attack from a nearby room. One of those hob-
goblins carries and will use two spC'// scrolls (see ··T rca-
su re·· below).
All t he hobgoblins MC pragmatic professionals. If it
looks lik e the light is going against them. or i f two hob·
goblins quickly fall. the survi\'ors ask for quarter.Treasure. Each hobgoblin has 25 gp and a potion of
healing. Additionally. one carries a potion of resistance
(necrotic) and the other carries a spell scroll of cause
fear and a spe-11 scroll of blindness. deafness (i f t hose
weren't used i n th~ fight).
The charact('rs can also tak(' the acid spray gun.
and they find a s:ick holding ten vi;1I<; of acid near the
hobgoblins.
Development. Any i\ PCs the characters rescued from
the dungeon or ldt in the ruins hide during the comba1.
Those characters <•merge from hiding only when the sit·
uation is safe.
I f questioned. 11ny survivi ng hobgoblins proudly ad-
mit that they work for Dran Enterprises. and that they
were hired to dean up the manor site and prepare it for
annexation. The hobgoblins claim (truthfully) to know
nothing about what happened to reduce the manor to
ruins. or the fate of the missing tiening from the Fellow-
ship of the Goldl'n Mongoose. Tlwy have no connection
to th e Oran Enterprises insignia scribed Clmong the
manor ruins. They can't say for certain thm Oran Enter-
prises didn't have some involvement with the incident.but if so. it had nothing to do with tlwm.
CONCLUSION
With their adventures in Phandalin complete, the char-
acters attain 3rd level! More importantly. after clearing
th e r uins and dungeon of Tresendar Manor, they arc
able to officially launch their own Acquisitions Incorpo-
rated franchise! The charac1crs need to send a message
10 Om in Oran to report 1heir findings. 'ot long aft<'r.
Omin contacts them using magic. congratulating them
on their success. telling them to rcst up. and i nforming
t hem that a representative of Acquisitions I ncorporated
will arrive soon l(! deliver paperwork and any o ther in-
fo rmation a new franchise needs.
Sure enough. well-known Acquisitions Incorporated
operative \'iari (sec appendix A) arrives the next day
to deliver the documents and supplic!>, and to officially
christen the 1ww Acquisitions Incorporated franchise.
He has each o f the character s sign a contract crammed
full of legalese and double-talk. Any C'haractcr who reads
th e document and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (In·
vestigation) check can decipher the jargon to learn the
following. or \'iari can explain the highlights:- Franchisees pa) a monthly fee to Acquisitions Incor-
porated to maintain their franchise.
As par t of that fee. Acquisitions l ncorporated handles
parts of t he franchise's operations. including location
procurem ent. i;taff rnanagcmcnl. and o ther benefits.
Th<' monthly fee paid to Acquisition<> l ncorporatcd
by a starter franchise co-crs the sal<lfies of a major-
domo. a skilled hireling. and two un1rai1wd hirelings.
I II \ 1• I ~I{ I I 111 () IU< t ]{) '>I l 111 \' I\ I• rJH I{
Franchisees must pay any hireling..., <'mployed beyond
this number.
The franchise is licensed to operate· in Phandalin and
within 5 m iles o f the town. and is protected against
interfere11ce in that area from other franchises.
Acquisitions Incorporated will deal with acquiring the
rights LO Trescndar Manor from Harbin \\'ester. a!>
they did for the Fellowship of tlw Golden ;\longoose.
··franchise /\clvancement" in chapter 2 has detailed
explan ations of <ill these benefits and more.
One of t ht· franchise's first hi res 111i14ht be right i n front
of them aln·ady. G ilda Duhn. former majordomo for the
Company of the Golden Mongoose. i..., grieving her lost
employers and anxious to put her lik back together.
With previous experience running a franchise (and no
fault i n that fri!nchisc's dest ructio11). !>h<• makes an ex-
cellent choice for majordomo. and sug!'.(csts that role for
herself i f the characters don't ask her. T he rcmClining
episodes in this adventure assumt' tlwt the characters
selected Gild ha Duhn as their franchise\ majordomo.
If they chose another;\! PC to fill that role, simply adjust
the text throughout the adventure an·ordingly.
With the contract signed. the ruins of Trcsendar
Manor become the franchise's slart<:>r IH·adquar tcrs!
One of the be 11 cfits o f Head Office negotiating wit h H ar-
bin Wester for tlw lease to the manor is that the com-
pany can drive a much harder bargain than the charac-
ters would ever be able to strike. This berwficial deal
mi~ht ha,·e hidden downsides. though, as thl' thin profit
mar~ins oft he lease become a point of ongoing conflict
between the characters and the corrupt banker.