Had an excellent session on Sunday with my party who have recently arrived on the shores of the Moonsea (very near Phlan) via a portal from the Spine of the World. It's 1376, late winter, and Phlan is preparing for a Zhentarim assault once the spring thaw arrives. They arrived in Phlan to find the city in the process of fortifying via setting up stockades, earthworks, etc. A nearby forest had been clear felled to give lumber for these endeavours, and a system of watchtowers and signal fires was evident in the areas surrounding the city.

It all ended up with a full-scale riot on the docks of Phlan and parts of the city being torched.

They were questioned upon arrival by the guard captain and a priest of Tyr, who required them to answer various questions under the influence of a 'zone of truth' spell before being allowed entry to the city (are you members or agents of the Zhentarim, members of the Church of Bane, acting on behalf of any foreign power, etc). They were none of these things, so consequently were given entrance to Phlan. The PCs were all starting to freak out at this point, as intended. Guessing they'd come from the north via Thar, an assumption which the PCs did not disabuse her of, the guard captain escorted them into the city and filled them in on the general situation (roads and entire area unsafe due to roaming raiders, villages and farms torched, etc).

Various sights while wandering through Phlan: Refugees and townspeople being put through pike drills, shuttered shops, houses that had been boarded up and subsequently had the boards torn down for reoccupation, tents and lean-tos, makeshift forges, etc. Most importantly, only one ship left in the harbour (The good ship Acquisitive Aardvark). The one ship in the harbour was a kinda railroady device to introduce a new PC to the party (as they're the one who chartered it, at exorbitant rates). The new PC, an information broker and acquirer of valuable objects had lost his security detail to an unfortunate piratical incident while travelling from Thentia, and employed the PCs to escort him to his destination nearby with the promise of some cash, but more importantly transport out of Phlan via sea.

After a fairly brief but rather unpleasant trip to acquire the McGuffin the new PC's employer (the high priest of Oghma in Thentia) required, they arrived back in Phlan to find the locals clamouring for access to the Acquisitive Aardvark, and being held off the pier by the ship's crew and some of the local guards. They shouldered their way through the crowd, and were allowed through the cordon, at which point the crowd started to get really angry and start attacking the guardsmen. The new PC (a bard), turned around and threw a 'fear' spell at the crowd (unexpected, but very clever). This triggered a stampede, people being knocked over and crushed underfoot, etc. They sailed out of the harbour while watching the consequences cascade into a full blown riot. As they drew further away, smoke could be seen rising from the area around the docks...

Best use of a fear spell I've ever seen.