Monday, August 3, 2009

Broken Camp

The following is a preview of our latest 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons adventure "What's Mine's Yours", now available here.

In this encounter, while traveling through the wilderness to root a group of kobolds out of a mine, the party's slumber is disturbed by a group of kobolds intent on protecting their claim.

Encounter: Broken Camp

The PCs are attacked in the night, during second watch.

The evening's fire dies down to a few embers, with most of the party drifting into a weary traveler's slumber.

Skill Challenge: The PCs who remain awake on watch will have to make DC 15 Perception (to hear the rustling in the leaves) and DC 15 Endurance (to stay awake) checks. Each of these two checks will have to be succeeded two out of three rolls.

Success: If the PCs remain awake and perceive the kobolds:

The sound of a twig breaking on the ground brings your attention to the uphill side of the camp.

The PCs on watch will have time to wake the rest of the party before the attack below.

Failure: If not:

The sound of bowstrings startles you on your watch, as arrows fly through the camp, casting fast shadows across your companions' faces.

See tactics below for more information on starting this combat.

Creatures: 2 Kobold Slingers (p168 MM), 2 Kobold Skirmisher (p 167 MM)

Tactics: As the PCs slumber, on second watch, the kobold sneakers will make their way to positions where they can deliver critical missile attacks upon the stronger party members. Those on watch can make perception checks to notice the sneakers moving into place and call an alarm, disrupting their plans. The two brawlers wait for the arrows to be fired, then charge into the fray, the darkness and smoke of the dying fire providing cover for their actions. They will start by attacking the stronger member of the party, hopefully weakened by the first volley of arrows. If the sneakers are discovered, the four kobolds attack as normal.

Development: When the kobolds are defeated, one will notice the party, cursing, "You greedy ssscum, you'll get yoursss!” If the party carefully checks them over in the morning or with a strong light source, they will notice the Guild’s logo branded onto them.

XP: 400

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I really like, in this encounter, how you set the tone for keeping watch at camp. An endurance check could influence the way a player assigns his/her skills, and could make characters more diverse.