Phil Flowerforge

Start-class article · First seen: s12 · Last seen: s15
Phil Flowerforge
Phil
Portrait of Phil Flowerforge.
Character
StatusAlive
First seens12
Last seens15
FactionEldwythe civilian, Phil's old brigand network

Phil Flowerforge is the dwarf baker of Eldwythe who, as a brigand, escaped his last heist with a dragon egg and has raised the hatchling Briochebane in secret behind his loaf-shaped bakery [14]. He confessed to the party in session 12 and offered 100 gold in all for Brioche’s return [25]. In session 15 his smoke bomb and the cry “Follow me if you want to live!” got the party out of an Aurelian ambush and into the Eldwythe sewers, where he named his contact Hett Varn and parted from them with Brioche [5][15][7].

Overview

Phil Flowerforge runs Phil’s Bakery in Eldwythe, a shop shaped like a loaf of bread, with a brass bell over the door [11][12]. His “trade secret” is that his pastries are toasted with dragon fire. The dragon is Briochebane, hatched from an egg Phil took on the last heist of his brigand days, and the coin from that heist paid for the bakery [13][14].

The party came to him through Edith Applegarth’s fire in session 12 and later brought Brioche out of the Candy Cottage. With Eldwythe occupied by Aurelian forces, Phil repaid them in session 15 with a smoke bomb, a way into the sewers and the name of a contact in Aurelia [5][15][16].

Appearance and demeanour

A dwarf with bushy eyebrows and a clean-shaven face, who came out of his kitchen with a tray of cinnamon rolls and a cheerful “G’day” [12]. Evasive when asked about the fire, he sweated and gave way when Caelumn showed the dragon scales on his throat [13][17]. He speaks of Brioche fondly, “crusty on the outside but soft on the inside” [18]. Underground his old trade shows: he leads through the sewers by feel with his lantern pointed down, a little ashamed of the old occupation [19].

Relationships

  • Briochebane: the dragon he raised. Woken from Uncle Nibblecheek’s control, Brioche asked after Phil at once and fretted for him [20][21].
  • Edith Applegarth: fellow seller of sweets in Eldwythe, whose burnt shop led the party to him [22].
  • Ruin: threatened to report the dragon, then took 20 gold up front and a dozen cinnamon rolls [23][24].
  • Hett Varn: his old contact in Aurelia, to be greeted with “Phil sent you” [7].

Disposition towards the party

Friendly once found out. He offered gold for Brioche’s return and gave them a sack of warm rolls as bait, risked himself to save the party in session 15, and gave them an introduction for Aurelia [25][26][5][27].

Notable quotes

“on my last heist, I nearly died. But I managed to escape with a dragon egg.” — Phil, [14]

“he’s just like any good bread he’s crusty on the outside but soft on the inside.” — Phil, [18]

“Follow me if you want to live!” — Nick (DM) as Phil, [5]

“as you know I used to be a brigand and I had all kinds of unsavory business all over Eldurae” — Phil, [6]

“Give him this note and tell him that Phil sent you.” — Phil, [27]

History in the campaign

Session 12: Eldwythe and the Candy Cottage

Main article: Session 12

An orchard keeper on the road praised Phil’s new bakery and its cinnamon rolls [28]. After Edith’s fire, a half-eaten cinnamon roll behind her shop was traced to Phil’s loaf-shaped bakery [29][11]. Phil denied everything until Caelumn’s Insight roll of 20 and a glimpse of dragon scales made him confess: a former brigand, he was raising Briochebane in secret and feared the dragon had started the fire [30]. He offered 100 gold in all for Brioche’s return, and Ruin took 20 up front and a dozen cinnamon rolls [25][24].

Session 14: The Gummy Mummy and Aurelian Eldwythe

Main article: Session 14

Phil is off-screen, but his baking drives the rescue. Hugo suggested that the brioche buns Phil had given them might break the dragon’s trance, and Terry woke Briochebane from Uncle Nibblecheek’s control with one [31][32]. Brioche’s first question was whether they knew Phil [20]. Back at Eldwythe, now held by Aurelian forces, the bakery lay near the middle of town [33]. Told he could not go home, Brioche was “visibly saddened” and fretted for Phil’s safety, and the party thought of sending the freed boy Asger in with word [34][35][36].

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

With the party pinned in the clearing by an Aurelian patrol, a smoke bomb arced out of the trees and Phil shouted: “Follow me if you want to live!” [37]. He ran them through the forest and in by a cellar door at the edge of the town walls, rather than the gate [38][15]. In the tunnels he told of his brigand past, said he would meet Brioche and head for Arcanthys, Velkris or Wyrmbough, and named Hett Varn, a tinkerer with a safe house in Ashward, giving a note and the words “Phil sent you” [39][7]. He pointed them to a hat of disguise in his old stash, then turned back [40][41].

Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff

Main article: Session 16

In a crate in the sewers, water broke the invisibility on a top hat, and Terry knew it at once as “the hat of disguise that we were looking for”, hidden down there by Phil’s account [8]. Althea identified it and Vasquez attuned it on the boat [42][43]. As the skiff left the sewer mouth the DM asked whether they would “seek out Phil’s contact”, and Hugo recalled the instructions: “tell him Phil sent us” [44][45].

Session 18: The Wyrm Falls, the Catfish Escapes, and Mike Dies on the Road

Main article: Session 18

Phil is off-screen. Before the party went inland to find his contact, a red-haired dwarf with goggles, Terry read the password from his notes, “Phil sent us”, and Caelumn doubted it was a code phrase at all, since they had only been told to say that Phil sent them [46].

Session 19: A Penitent Priest, an Unmade Leash, and the Pixie in the Dark

Main article: Session 19

Phil is off-screen. Weighing whether to visit his contact first, Hugo pointed out that Hett did not know they were coming and that the party would only be “redeeming a favour that he owes Phil”. The party then chose to head back towards Eldwythe and Umbrafall, not the shrine [10][47][48].

Status

As of session 19. Alive and off-screen since he parted from the party in the Eldwythe sewers in session 15, travelling with Briochebane, possibly to Arcanthys, Velkris or Wyrmbough [49]. The 100 gold promised for Brioche is not shown being paid [25][50]. The party never used his introduction: they turned back before the White Lantern Shrine and Hett Varn [48].

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 12, line 707-740: Confession to the party; Briochebane named; 100gp reward.
  2. ^ Session 12, line 730-740: Ruin's private 20gp + dozen-cinnamon-rolls side deal.
  3. ^ Session 14, line 971-980: Terry wakes Briochebane with one of Phil's buns; Brioche asks "do you know Phil?".
  4. ^ Session 14, line 1602-1655: Brioche, told he cannot go home to Phil while the Aurelians hold Eldwythe, is "visibly saddened" and fears for him.
  5. ^ Session 15, line 448: Smoke-bomb rescue; follow-me-if-you-want-to-live moment.
  6. ^ Session 15, line 590: Brigand-past confession: 'all kinds of unsavoury business all over Eldurae'.
  7. ^ Session 15, line 655-695: Names his contact at the White Lantern Shrine.
  8. ^ Session 16, line 65-69: The Hat of Disguise from Phil's hidden stash turns up in a sewer crate.
  9. ^ Session 18, line 1832-1839: Terry's notes give "Phil sent us" as the password for Hett Varn.
  10. ^ Session 19, line 251: Hugo notes that the party would only be redeeming a favour Hett owes Phil.
  11. ^ Session 12, line 667: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 12, line 707: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 12, line 713: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 12, line 739: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 15, line 573: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 15, line 655: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 12, line 736: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 12, line 767: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 15, line 584-586: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 14, line 980: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 14, line 1639-1656: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 12, line 605-626: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 12, line 745: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 12, line 770-771: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 12, line 741: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 12, line 765: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 15, line 695: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 12, line 396-398: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 12, line 605-611: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 12, line 707-739: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 14, line 529: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 14, line 971-974: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 14, line 1627: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 14, line 1603: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 14, line 1639: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 14, line 1660: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 15, line 446-448: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 15, line 508-512: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 15, line 590-611: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 15, line 668: Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 15, line 693: Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 16, line 159: Inline citation.
  43. ^ Session 16, line 1671-1676: Inline citation.
  44. ^ Session 16, line 1626: Inline citation.
  45. ^ Session 16, line 1710: Inline citation.
  46. ^ Session 18, line 1832-1841: Inline citation.
  47. ^ Session 19, line 374-379: Inline citation.
  48. ^ Session 19, line 397: Inline citation.
  49. ^ Session 15, line 609-611: Inline citation.
  50. ^ Session 14, line 1631: Inline citation.