D&D 5E - How should I lead my players from Phandalin to Greenest?

Here's another methodology if you didn't want to have them make the actual trek down to Greenest (but bear in mind I haven't read Lost Mines, so my connective tissue might be a tad off):

- As Phandalin is right near the Mere of Dead Men, you basically want to remove Episode 4 of HotDQ entirely since there's no need to travel anywhere.

- Replace Greenest with another village that is around Phandalin. Leilon, Thundertree, Conyberry... whichever one might work best.

- You can then run Episodes 1, 2 & 3 plot-wise pretty much as-is, selecting a good area in the hills of the Sword Mountains to put the raider's camp and dragon hatchery. You will need to increase the power/number of the cultists and monsters... probably swapping out kobolds for hobs or lizardmen or someone.

- On the map the party finds in Frulam Mondath's chamber in the hatchery at the end of Episode 3, instead of the map showing the cultists heading to Beregost and then north, replace it with arrows heading to the Carnath Roadhouse on the eastern edge of the Mere of Dead Men. The other sheet of paper mentioning Castle Naerytar can remain as-is.

- Skip Episode 4 for the most part, as there won't be time for the party to insinuate themselves into the Cult's caravan. Instead, you could use a couple of the encounters from the episode for the party to come upon on their own as they rush southwest trying to catch up with the cultist caravan.

- Have the party arrive at the Carnath Roadhouse either as the caravan arrives or slightly after. They then can observe the Roadhouse and all the stuff that goes on there, before following the Cult into the Mere heading into Episode 6 and the rest of the adventure.

That should work pretty well I'd imagine.

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