Hilltop West

A. Drogan's Farm
B. Drogan's Barn
C. Toman Bross' House/Szaren's Shop
D. Chicken Coop
E. The Smith
F. Herbalist
G. Community Hall
H. The Bubbling Cauldron
I. Piper's Congregation
J. To Hilltop East

As you leave Drogan's farm, you'll see a barn nearby, as well as some tracks leading into it. Characters with tracking skills (druids, rangers, and barbarians) and characters with high intelligence will determine that they are kobold tracks. Head into the barn and kill the two kobolds inside.

If you have the animal empathy skill, speak with any of the dogs running around the area. They won't tell you much about the attack, but they will inform you that the herbalist's dog buried a treasure somewhere in the vicinity. Likewise, druids and rangers can speak with the chickens in the coop and learn that there's a gem in the nearby water trough.

The Smith

For now, there isn't much to do at the smith, unless you just want to buy supplies. Fiona, the smith, is just a merchant, and a merchant with a terrible sense of humor at that.

However, later in the chapter you can return to Fiona for different, alternate outcomes for two quests. Rescue Glendir and Horns of the Shadow Hart can both yield minor loot if you return to Fiona and speak with her before solving them. See the appropriate areas for those quests (gnoll caves and Hilltop Foothills, respectively) for details. Fiona is also involved in one of the solutions to An Excess of Prophet, found at the community hall.

The Herbalist

Farghan the herbalist can give you two of the necessary herbs for the A Cure for Drogan quest, and he will tell you that Mara at the Bubbling Cauldron bought the rest of his helmthorn berries.

Druids and rangers can speak with Farghan's dog, Bethsheva. She knows very little about the kobold attacks, but if you've spoken with any of the stray dogs you can ask her about her treasure. A successful persuasion skill check will cause Bethsheva to reveal the location, which is a woodpile behind the smith. Search the woodpile after leaving the herbalist's house and you will find the Ring of the Wolf, a fairly powerful magic ring for low-level characters, which provides +2 to your animal empathy skill and can summon a wolf.

Community Hall

There are only a few things to do in the community hall. You can talk to Gilford, the exhausted priest of Ilmater. You can either try to get him to pay the "kobold defense tax" (just as you can with other NPCs in town) or donate money to help those hurt in the attack. The latter option will adjust your alignment toward good.

Talk to Haniah, standing near the inebriated mayor. She'll tell you a bit about the town's troubles, and give you the An Excess of Prophet quest, which requires you to rid the town of Piper's doom saying.

The Piper problem.

Quest: An Excess of Prophet
Exit the community hall and head east. Piper is standing near the hall, speaking to a large group of followers. There are several ways to deal with him. You can just kill him outright. Characters with decent persuasion skill can convince him to leave for Silverymoon or Neverwinter, but you will need to pay him one or 10 gold pieces (depending, again, on a persuasion check) to leave. Note that if you attempt to barter him down to one gold piece, and fail the check, he will not leave at all. If you choose Waterdeep as the suggested relocation city, you will not need to pay him at all.

You can also get him to leave by asking him if he had anything to do with Hol's death. After he admits to having defiled the corpse, his followers will become disgusted and leave.

Finally, you can get Piper to stop his doom saying by retrieving his sword from Fiona. Follow the conversation thread that begins "There is need for you in the village, but you go about it all wrong," and he will ask you to retrieve his sword. Go to the smith and speak with Fiona, who will give you the sword. Return to Piper and give him the sword, and he will leave to join the guards.

There are numerous ways to deal with Piper the "prophet.

The Bubbling Cauldron

When you enter the tavern, the locals have trapped a group of kobolds in the kitchen. Unfortunately, the kobolds have taken the cook, Mara, hostage. Talk to Lodar the tavernmaster to start the Kobolds in the Kitchen quest. Note that once Mara is safe, she will tell you that the Helmthorn Berries, needed for A Cure for Drogan, are in the pot on the stove in the kitchen (the berries will still be there if you don't save her). Once the kitchen is clear, remember to grab them.

Quest: Kobolds in the Kitchen
Again, there are several ways to solve this. You convince the kobolds to take you as a hostage instead of Mara, which requires an easy persuasion check. You can then let them go, convince them to leave, and ambush them, or just attack them yourself in the kitchen. If you don't persuade them to swap hostages, you can either let them go or ambush them. Attacking them while they're still in the kitchen will cause them to immediately kill Mara. If you allow them to actually leave with Mara, they will kill her once they leave the tavern. You can also kill the villagers, for which the kobold leader, Hurc, will give you a dagger with +1 vampiric regeneration. Note that if you allow Hurc to leave the tavern, he will help you later.

Toman Bross' House

You can break into Toman's house, but he doesn't have much to say. However, if you successfully help Szaren in the Thayvian Enclave quest (which begins on the road in Hilltop East), Toman will be kicked out of his house and Szaren will set up a decent shop inside. The benefit of this shop, other than its low-level magic items, is that Szaren will give you a much better deal than Fiona.