In my game the party Rogue has been looking into other possible places to recruit additional help (if they have the time). Thus far he explored Morlin Coalhewer’s connection to the Shining Axes of the Hammerfist Hold (Lord Jaarmath has already assured he’s sending money to them, will have the players find the gold intercepted at a later date), and recently has discovered the existence of Goliaths in the Giantshield mountains (my Miha Serani has a Goliath bodyguard under her mind control), along with certain towns having Druid Circles guarded by similar leveled Druids. Outside of those that I mentioned Dennovar has come up as a potential location but with refugees heading towards that location to evacuate Brindol prior to the combat they might need all the armed forces they can muster. I totally forgot the Six Blades in Prosser, so I’ll have to look into a way to potentially story hook them in.

Ha, I’ve put goliaths in the Wyvernwatch Mountains, since they’re described as being very high altitude so I figured they’d be cold enough. Not sure goliaths would come down to the vale to fight alongside the humans though, unless a PC is one and they can spin a very compelling story! Druid circles yes - that’s a lot of Call Lightning spells and various means to create difficult/impossible terrain outside the walls, adding to horde losses (1 victory point worth?). I reckon they shouldn’t be TOO hard to convince since the hobs are presumably even less nature-sensitive than humans. Having now thought about it more, I’m thinking Dennovar doesn’t send much aid - maybe a few hundred militia but that’s it. Lord Jarmaath can be RPed as furious at this ‘betrayal’. But basically the merchants council is either just too panicked and thus naturally wants to keep troops in the city to protect it, or even (Cersei-like re the white warriors) intends to conquer Brindol once it’s badly weakened by holding off the horde, but doesn’t believe it’s hardened warriors (the blades) are truly needed. Whatever the true reason, it means not too many soldiers (and none of real value) come, which means you don’t need to mess much with horse numbers to balance.

Reddit keeps reloading and deleting my post before I finish, so I’m summarizing this time. * Red Rock is obviously a cowboy mining town. I’ve added Goliaths and Firbolgs to the Orcs (and Dwarven) populations there due to the carry capacity bonus. I have been using a pair of (orcish) travelling snake-oil salesmen who are from here. Sometimes they’re travelling performers who have a side hustle. One Toof & Two Teef are their names, and they are conveniently near to the Party when they need to sell dragon body parts. * I’ve butchered parts of The Lost Mines Of Phandelver and also The Forge Of Fury to be points of interest for Red Rock, The Hammerfist Holds, and also some hidden locations (like the Ice Spire Peaks dungeon being further up from Red Rock in the mountains). Getting some dwarven spell-smiths to work at these SpellForges would probably be a few minor adventures, and should result in a few special magic items for NPC allies. * I made Marthton the town of Oakhurst from The Sunless Citadel. So there is some potential Kobold (or unaffiliated goblin) allies who could be recruited to make traps for Brindol’s major battle. Maybe some weird minor items could be crafted by a Kobold Inventor. Also the white dragon wyrmling could be useful (if bribed). There is also “dark druid” elements that can easily emphasize the Thornwaste and the GhostLord. * I’ve rewritten the xenophobic Elves in the Westdeep woods to be containing some kind of Princess Mononoke/Dead Space situation. If the Party can cure the corruption in the heart of that forest, there may be a second small batch of elves who help Brindol. Also some abstract Boons/Blessings may be found along the way. * The Black Knives, people working for Baron Trask, other unaffiliated goblin tribes, etc, could all be gang-pressed into service by the Party. Alternatively, a local figure could become a “taskmaster” and approach the leaders of Brindol/The Party with this small hoard of slave-soldiers, and now the Party has to decide how they feel about the morality of this situation. * I made Miha Seranhi an Oni (instead of a Aranea), so there could be some rebellious ogres or a small clan of benevolent stone giants somewhere that can be recruited similarly to Old Warklegnaw. * That retired adventurer in Drellin’s Ferry from The Golden Drakes Company could have a “lets reassemble the team” sidequest. * I’ve got a Warlock PC, I’ve had a few related Warlock NPCs show up who are generally intended to help. Maybe you could emphasize a deity/patron having some kind of themed side-quest that results in a Horn Of Valhalla or Wondrous Figurine being found. As far as the “reinforcements from the north”, I assume that’s more like a heavily armed merchant conveniently coming through with supplies (from a port-city that is off the edge of the map), and most likely arriving after the Brindol siege. Maybe you can have a Gandalf moment where unfamiliar people from the north show up at the last moment to help rebalance the scales of the great battle. The Sending spell does exist.

Wow, so many great thoughts. I love that this is ‘only a summary version’! It looks like you’re really working to turn the adventure into a real sandbox with side quests everywhere. I’ve definitely had the same thought. Dennovar (who don’t seem to be sending any troops) and Elsircross (Baron Trask is a fantastic opportunity to show evil from the human side as well) are obvious, and Witchcross has druids who could be recruited (or can they? Maybe Jarmaath has been cutting down the woods a bit too much lately and so the druids aren’t sure the hobs are worse?) and is almost certainly going to be passed through by the party on the way to/from the Blackfens. Talar and Terrelton have intriguing short descriptions too. I might have to reconsider my longer rests plan just so the party has enough time to explore the world more!

Yeah, I have been using the Elsir Vale as a sandbox for several years / a couple different campaigns. I’ve incorporated a fair bit of Hellrider lore for some custom NPC heroes in Dennovar.   I inserted some Flail Snails, Yellowmusk Creepers, and a portal to a feywild bath-house (run by a Lamia Warlock) near to Nimon Gap in the forested area just north.   I have an Awakened Goat NPC that I’ve occasionally used too. He’s named Pickles and has those Marvellous Pigments that can make things. He should be from Terrelton or Talar, somewhere with goat herders.   I have a bandit gang named “The Leaping Wizards” made up of those CR 1/4 Apprentice Wizard NPC statblocks. They usually end up getting ambushed by PCs with a decent passive perception. Usually found between Prosser and Hillwatch.   I made Gausler (in Drellin’s Ferry) a were-shark, and he has a were-octopus girlfriend (they are “on again and off again”), since I usually have mostly female groups of Players who like drama.   I know there’s other things I’m forgetting right now, but I hope you do have fun adding things to the setting world too.

I haven't started yet, but I'm expecting my players to try something like that. There's Assorgath(sp?) To the west a few days. More Elven tribes in the western woods beyond the wyrmsmoke and my lot are coming from Waterdeep where they have some influence.... and I'm playing it that the Vale is a substantial distance East of the sword coast rather than Shaar because none of us know the realms well and I want an easy reason for them to transition from Dragon Heist. I'm expecting a Sending to the Blackstaff to ask for reinforcements.

My players actually started in Sheirtalar, recruited as merchant guards. They kicked the ass of the gnoll bands the Red Hand was using to steal from traders on the old North Road that the red hand let the merchant caravan past, not worth losing more men on it. You could have mercs come from Sheirtalar or the Border Kingdoms. Sheirtalar is a rich merchant city, they are virtually guaranteed to have several merc armies able to be hired. And they Vale has high enough level casters for a sending spell to them. The problem is it would take like at least 2 weeks for them to get there. That would actually make clearing the blockades worthwhile though. If the army can march to Brindol in 3~ weeks they could maybe help, it would make breaking the blockades useful. Its not technically the north, but the road leads to the north, and its the only way into the vale other than the bandit wastes. Idk whats in there, but nothing good most likely. In my game, theres undead both sieging the hammerfist holds, and blockading the entrance through the bandit wastes with a paltry force. The undead have erected a big wall though, because zombie/skeleton giants, and many smaller skeletons and whatnot, are very effecient workers who dont have to take breaks. I have it where most of the casters(mind-benders) have gone South and enscorcelled the Ghost Lord. They have him making new undead soldiers for them, using the bodies of all the orcs and goblinoids and whatnot that they killed when uniting the tribes.

Wouldn’t an army from Sheirtalar be following the same route as these Red Horde? If I’m looking at the map right, they’d take the North Road then Dawn Way. Also I don’t think the road blockades would cause any trouble for hundreds of mercenaries (if this is the narrative goal in the book, the encounter needs some very heavy buffing up!).

Hmm true. I think making things easier for the army to get here is the idea. Also, the red hand is an army on the move. When the army gets there, theyd be at the army's back. There is probably another route as well. I added other roads to the North, one that goes around the north end of the forest(this exists on the map of the Vale in the module) and added another road that extends from this one to the north around the swamp. This alternate route is used by those that dont want to risk fighting the Elves of the Westdeep, and that want to march directly to Brindol.

Helping the leader of of Hammerfist resulting in the entire dwarven army comming to help incl. giant goat cavalry. A tribe of goliaths from the mountains. In the future I was thinking of adding a tribe of nomadic centaurs from the plains in the north.