Category: Steal this Encounter

Last week, one of Stuffer Shack’s premier writers, Dixon Trimline, asked for a list of encounters that take place On the Road.  I was instantly inspired – recalling several of my most memorable gaming sessions that featured interesting events taking place while the heroes were en route between locations.  So, without further ado, here’s this week’s Gamecraft 25.

1. The heroes pass through a (seemingly) abandoned village of no more than a dozen or so buildings.  There is no sign of destruction or carnage, other than that of a smashed crypt door in a nearby cemetery.
2. A horse with a slumped-over rider races toward the heroes.   The rider is mortally wounded and dies in the heroes’ presence, uttering the cryptic words, “…the, bridge…”  Were his final words a warning, clue, or something else entirely?
3. Just off the side of the road, folded neatly on a large, flat rock, is a set of fancy clothes.
4. Up ahead and out of sight, the heroes hear a titanic explosion.  Around the bend they find a heavily scorched patch of road and small fires burning nearby.  In the middle of the apparent blast zone is a small, undamaged item.
5. At a crossroads, there is a strange, young woman who dances atop a large circular stone.  Rumors say that she never leaves the stone’s surface, but that an offering which pleases her will grant the gift-giver the answer to one question.
6. The heroes come across a bridge that is missing the road-deck, and must cross the expanse using only the remaining bridge framework.
7. The heroes are approached by a group of well-armed children traveling along a seldom used road, one known as an extremely dangerous trek.  They seem unconcerned about the danger – almost nonchalant.
8. The heroes’ mounts suddenly start choking, and die.  Foamy blood oozes from the animals’ orifices as the group is left without transportation.
9. The group encounters a spectral caravan of religious pilgrims.  The apparitions seem unaware of the living, but if followed, observers will watch a horrific scene play out as the ghostly caravan seems to be attacked and destroyed by unknown assailants before vanishing altogether.
10. The heroes happen across a statue dedicated to a god they know as evil.  However, the shrine and statue depict what appears to be a benevolent deity.  Stranger still, it appears as though offerings have been left recently.
11. An associate of the heroes is found hung from a tree near the road – a warning to the party has been pinned to the person’s chest with a dagger.
12. The corpse of a mundane animal (one that isn’t native to the region) is found along the road (perhaps a walrus along a desert trail or a boa constrictor high in a mountain pass).
13. The heroes are forbidden the use of a bridge by a religious sect that claims the avatar of their god will soon appear upon the bridge.
14. A pair of oxen pulls an ornate cart without any signs of driver or passengers.  The oxen are adorned with strange brands that look more like arcane sigils and runes than typical brandings.
15. A low wall made from stacked stones crosses the road and extends as far as anyone can see in either direction.  The trail passes through an unlocked, but closed, iron gate.
16. Near sunset, the heroes happen upon an encampment of other travelers stopping for the night.  There is a festive atmosphere in the camp.  The heroes share wine, women, and song with the strangers.  When they awake, the travelers are gone, as if they had never been there (no trash, pits, burned out campfires, etc.).
17. As the heroes near a village, they see what appears to be most of the town’s residents in the local cemetery on a nearby hill.  They’re probably just attending a funeral, right?
18. The heroes pass a roadside attraction, perhaps it’s the World’s Smallest Dragon (a captured kobold) or maybe a preserved medusa head (human head with sewn-on snakes).
19. An elderly couple tends their garden near the side of the road.  Without warning, they are set upon by an exceptionally powerful foe (perhaps a demon).  Before the heroes can react, the couple quickly dispatches the enemy and returns to their work.
20. As the heroes cross the border between peaceful kingdoms, they pass a watchtower under construction.  Upon closer examination, they realize the workers are all skeletons and zombies going about their tasks without any sort of control or supervision.
21. The heroes happen upon an ornate bridge of incredible craftsmanship.  The bridge spans a grassy meadow that appears as though it would be easy enough to cross on foot.
22. The road winds along the banks of a lake.  Up ahead, the heroes spot what appears to be various crates and other pieces of cargo washed up upon the shore.
23. The heroes encounter a group of gypsy-like travelers along the road who run a mobile brothel from their wagons and cater to a very “diverse” crowd.
24. Recent storms have made a mess of the road.  Fallen trees, mudslides, and washed out bridges impede the heroes’ progress.
25. A small unit of soldiers is traveling along the same road as the heroes.  Several of them are wounded and they have some sort of creature imprisoned in a cage.  They refuse to discuss anything with “civilians.”

That’s it for this week’s 25, I hope you guys find it useful.

Until next time…

Wolf’s Run actually involves a Skills Challenge and a Combat Encounter.

As the PCs are traveling across the land to another town, they start to notice wolves in and about the surrounding uninhabited hills.  Any Nature-oriented character will easily be able to discern that the PCs have entered wolf territory, and that the wolves are just keeping an eye on them.  They will later notice an animal trap that has not been set off yet.  Also, any skill checks made to control horses take a -2 penalty for the rest of the day, due to the presence the wolves in the area.

As the day rolls on, thunder clouds charge through the area, indicating a forthcoming heavy rainfall.  As evening comes around, winds have picked up, lightning streaks the sky, thunder rolls the hills, and rain pounds the characters.

With one more day of traveling before reaching their destination, the heroes hear sheep through the twilight thunder.  Following the sound, they come upon a secluded, small ranch.  A man, his wife, and their two children are attempting to herd the sheep into their barn, but are having difficulty due to the weather and darkness.  Two sheep wander over to the player characters.

Regardless of whether the heroes offer to help them, they are offered a night’s rest (if the PCs haven’t asked already).  The heroes are invited to a late supper, and the youngest of the two children (a boy of 8), wants only to play with the PCs.  The family seems down-to-earth and friendly, and will ask any cleric or paladin to bless their ranch.

As it happens, the father explains that some wolves have been taking his sheep.  With no money, and no other way to trade goods for food, the father has had to resort to setting traps for the wolves.  He’s managed to kill a few of them, but they just keep coming, getting more bold each time.  The alpha male is some sort of hugely, freakish wolf, the likes of which he has never seen before.

The next morning, as the players are packing their horses, the family bids them farewell and a safe journey.  After the kids say goodbye, they run around to play.  Just as the heroes mount their horses, a huge ruckus of sheep banter erupts from the barn, and the young girl can be heard screaming.  As the PCs get over there, they see a pack of wolves running into the trees, and a huge thunder wolf carrying off the little boy.  The little girl screams, “They just grabbed him and ran off!”

The chase includes movement through very thick vegetation, bushes, trees, tree trunks, ravines, and creeks.  Visibility is very poor, many times losing site of the wolves, and the ground is very wet from the previous storm.  The difficulty numbers for the chase are difficult.

Giving chase on horseback provides a +4 bonus to all of the character’s skill checks for the skill challenge.  However, if they don’t have the Mounted Combat feat, they must use their horse’s skills (most likely a flat horse ability check, with the +4 bonus), or they can just run on foot, using their normal PC skills.  Each player must make three checks, and each is responsible for their own failures (there’s no group failure).

When all rolls are completed, all characters lose site of the wolves as they crash through yet another wall of vegetation.  Unfortunately, everyone (horses included) falls down into a steep, slippery sinkhole (it wasn’t visible from up top, and no – there are no saves to keep from falling in).  As the characters and horses fall in, they lose one healing surge for every failure they accrued from the chase (remember, each character is responsible for their own failures).

In the sinkhole, the wolves are just getting up from their own fall, and getting their bearings.  Some have tried to get out of the sinkhole, but slide down every time.  As the characters stand up, the wolves realize a fight is brewing, and turn to face the characters.  The horses are screaming something fierce, and then the huge thunder wolf spits out the injured child.

Fight on. Much of the sinkhole is difficult terrain due to puddles, mud, and downed trees.  Climbing out of the sinkhole is difficult, and the wolves are forced to fight to the death.

The Twist: The thunder wolf is angry that the rancher has been keeping ‘his sheep’ from him and his pack.  He’s even angrier that traps were set for the wolves (killing a few of them).  The snatching of the child was retribution for the traps.  The pack wolves just go with the flow because, you know, he’s a freakin’ thunder wolf.

Should the characters survive (and they should), they have made friends of the family for sure.  Keep them nearby, so they may be used again in the future.

Oh yeah. Have fun getting the horses out of the sinkhole.

Jaskryn has been undead for over 900 years, though he has spent much of that time imprisoned to his chair.  You see, one of his sirelings had aspirations of power, and attempted to defy his master (Jaskryn). Jaskryn responded by attempting to beat down the sireling, but was unsuccessful.  The sireling (still slightly dominated by his master), could not attempt the killing blow.  Instead, he chose to imprison Jaskryn.

He took Jaskryn’s throne and had it altered so that once his master was forced into it, barbed spikes would pierce his back.  Attempting to leave the chair meant much more damage being inflicted than from simply being placed into it.  Thus, Jaskryn was forced into the chair, and has remained there ever since.  Should he ever attempt to get out of the chair, he would cause too much damage to survive, even for an undead master vampire.  In addition, the chair was constructed to withstand being destroyed or taken apart.

Without their master to lead them, most of his sirelings have wandered off or been killed.  Only a few remain out of loyalty to tend to his needs.  They patchwork his clothing back on, give him some of their blood (or from some animal/monster they found in the dungeon), and try to keep him company.

The Player Characters: The PCs come into this encounter because they have gotten lost in a forgotten dungeon.  They haven’t seen light, felt air currents, or come across any intelligent life for days (maybe weeks).  Then one day, as their rations are winding down, they hear some footsteps.  As they investigate, they come across a tattered woman in a torn, dirty gown.  She does not want to fight the PCs because she knows she can’t win.

The woman is a vampire, and wants nothing but to get the PCs back to her master.  Perhaps if he feeds on one of them he might be strong enough to break out of the chair and survive.  She does not offer that she is a vampire, but will not dispute it.  She will tell them that her master might be able to get them out of the dungeon, but will not elaborate.  No, she does not know how to get out herself.

If the PCs agree, she will lead them back to his chamber.  Jaskryn wants nothing but to feed on fresh blood so that he might gain enough strength to break free of the chair.  The problem is that if he does, he will become enraged, and go insane.  He will agree to any terms the PCs give (truthfully), as long as one of the PCs will cut his own arm (donating two healing surges) so that blood can drip into the master’s mouth.

The Twist: Before the session starts, have a private talk with one of your more mature players.  Tell him, “When Jaskryn asks you to do something, you do it. His request sounds completely reasonable to you, and you feel compelled to do it.  Make it look like your character is not dominated, because he is. 

During the encounter, Jaskryn will ask the PCs to donate some blood to him so he can gain enough strength to survive getting up from the chair.  This is a condition of him leading them out of the dungeon.  If they all refuse, ask the specific player character (whose player you have already talked to).   (he should agree to it).  I tried this on my group, and it worked like a charm – everyone loved it.

The Kicker: When Jaskryn drinks the PCs blood, he gains enough strength to break free of the chair (and ripping apart much of his back in the process).  However, the infusion of fresh blood is too much for him, and he goes berserk.  Before Initiative is rolled, he is able to kill his two remaining sirelings.  After that, he goes after the the PCs.

If the PCs survive, they are still stuck in the dungeon.  How (or if) they get out is up to you.

As the adventures are traveling, they are startled to see a female figure in flowing white robes being chased by a Dire Wolf.  The chase takes place about a hundred yards away, and both are moving quickly.  The female is running as fast as she can, getting scraped up by thorns and/or branches along the way, not to mention getting her robes snagged and ripped.  The dire wolf simply powers through any vegetation, trying to get to her.  Every so often the woman manages to turn around and fire a couple of arrows at the wolf, but it keeps charging after her.

After giving the description of the chase, the player characters should be running after them to assist.  Just as they get close enough for any ranged attacks to reach the dire wolf, the woman reaches the edge of a small cliff, drops her bow, pulls out a long sword, and then turns to face the dire wolf.  Immediately as she turns to face the wolf, it charges into her and the two tumble over the edge, out of sight of the player characters.

As the player characters reach the edge of the small cliff, they see below (about 30 feet) the woman pulling herself out from under the motionless dire wolf, obviously tired and scraped up.  When the players get down the cliff (an easy roll), they see her leaning back onto the large wolf, with her sword wedged into its body.  The wolf is breathing faintly, and will obviously die within the next few moments.  If anyone attempts to kill off the wolf, the woman stops them, saying that it is her kill.  She then extends out her hand, wanting the player character to give her a weapon (even if it’s just a dagger) so she can finish off the beast.

Later, after retrieving her sword, she explains that she and her brother were traveling to the next city when their wagon was ambushed by three shifters and a dire wolf.  The dire wolf chased her several hundred yards, and she’s sure that the shifters got her brother.  She will then plead with the player characters for help, if they don’t offer first.

When the player characters get to the ambush site, they see an overturned wagon with a few supplies scattered around it.  The wagon is at the beginning of a ravine, creating a nice ambush-worthy corridor for the players to walk into.  The area is scattered with patches of tall grass, providing good concealment (make sure that the patches of grass are visible on the map).  Almost immediately, the PC’s notice in one particular tall patch of grass (down the corridor) someone punching another person (repeatedly) on the ground. It’s all very hard to see because of the grass.

Assuming the players either start a fight, or try to get closer, the woman freaks out and hides under the wagon.  Apparently, she can’t handle this.  As the players move forward, the ambush is triggered.  Three shifters and another dire wolf come out of hiding to attack the player characters.

And then after a round or two of fighting, the players are surprised to see the wagon sent flying violently into the air as a werewolf emerges from underneath it, with shredded white robes falling to the ground.  The werewolf tries to block off the ravine to prevent any escape, or goes after any archers behind her.

What Really Happened: This group spends a lot of time setting up an ambush site some distance away from a road, and then waits for weeks for the right target group to come along.  These NPCs try to save their ambushes for adventures (who would be inclined to help others, and/or be carrying valuables).  Conversely, this could have been a trap set up for the player characters in particular (do the PCs have any enemies?).