I was thinking...maybe Phil getting shanghaied into becoming part of their posse? I mean, my guy needs 17 more years before he can use his one-use power, but he isn't the type to even draw out his sword unless for defence of himself or a bystander. Literally, he is the guy you leave to guard your horses when you go clean out a cave of monsters, or the person you have standing by to record what a tortured prisoner has been saying in their delirium. Phil is pretty damned normal a traveller.