Harbin Wester

Harbin Wester was the townmaster of Phandalin circa 1491 DR and subsequently a member of the Phandalin town council.

Description
Harbin was a corpulent middle-aged banker and politician. He was the wealthiest resident of Phandalin and its biggest landowner, and he tended to dress in clothes than communicated his wealth.

Personality
Harbin was pompous and pretentious. He generally presented himself as polite and friendly, but this was just for politics. In fact, he was a greedy, calculating, and two-faced businessman at heart, unafraid to push the boundaries of decency or legality to get what he wanted. That said, he was also genuinely a fretful and hapless coward when faced with dangers beyond his control. When a dragon was spotted in the area around Phandalin, Harbin locked himself inside his home and insisted on doing all townmaster business from behind his closed door (including paying out rewards for bounties and jobs, leading to him sliding payments under his door one coin at a time).

Activities
As townmaster, Harbin served as mediator, judge, and record-keeper for Phandalin. He carried one set of keys to the jail cells in the Townmaster's Hall. He was also responsible for posting jobs and bounties, and for paying out the rewards for these tasks. In this capacity, there were a number of

Independent of his role as townmaster and later town councilor, Harbin acted as a banker in Phandalin, lending out both money and land. He was known to use the debts owed to him to pressure townsfolk and business partners into giving him what he wanted.

Relationships
Although he was good at pretending otherwise, Harbin cared relatively little for the townsfolk of Phandalin, a position which put him at odds with political rival Sildar Hallwinter. He had a number of connections in both Neverwinter and Waterdeep, which he claimed enabled him to field a small army if needed.

He had his wife and children with him in Phandalin during his tenure as townmaster. He supported the logging business of his half-brother, Tibor Wester, by using Phandalin's money to pay for the business's supplies.

History
Harbin Wester arrived in Phandalin as it was being rebuilt, and was soon elected townmaster mostly on the basis of his personal wealth and connections. However, his subsequent failures to address two different crises which both occurred circa 1491 DR led to the position of townmaster being abolished and replaced with a town council.

The first of these crises related to the arrival of the Redbrand brigands. Even as they began to terrorize Phandalin, Wester did not seem to want to engage the rough bunch. In fact, he felt threatened by them and claimed that they were "not all that much trouble, really". Wester refused to arrest any Redbrands until their leader had been slain, or the group disbanded, as the townmaster feared retaliation. Instead, he focused on reports that orcs had appeared close by to the area, specifically in Wyvern Tor, and put out a notice to cull the group.

The second of these crises was the arrival of the white dragon Cryovain, who terrorized the region from his lair in the Sword Mountains. Harbin was so frightened of the dragon that he barely left his manor, only venturing out to post jobs and bounties.

Following his failures as townmaster, the people of Phandalin abolished the position in favor of a three person town council. Harbin managed to secure a position on the council by blaming adventurers for the ills that the town had suffered under his leadership. Then in the, he ran for the newly created position of mayor using the same platform.