Welcome to the next post in a series where I describe the adventures during a 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran a little while ago.
In the last post, the players had a roleplay-focused session where they negotiated first with Mother White, the local healer, to find what ingredients they needed for a potion to cure the very nasty zombie-inflicted disease their paladin had picked up. One of the ingredients was a tail feather from one of the sacred ravens of Andraste, so they had to negotiate with Sister Raben, the high priestess, to try to persuade her to part with one.
Both she and Mother White want some Blue Lizardwort, which can be found growing in the woods, so it's off to the woods they go !
Into The Woods
The Heimial Forest turns out to be a dank and overgrown place. A fitting abode for the brigands rumoured to dwell there. There is a single road through it, which connects Tarak with the nearby Duchy of Filrath. Despite being notionally a key trade route, it is little more than a muddy path just wide enough for a single wagon, with occasional wider passing points and camp sites where travellers can pitch a tent overnight.
Away from the road, the woods are filled with ancient trees, and thick brambles and undergrowth broken up by pools of fetid swampy water. The most notable wildlife appears to be the clouds of biting midges hovering over each stagnant pool. But our characters also notice that there always appear to be at least a few magpies watching their every move from high up in the treetops or a safe distance on the other side of a pool.
Magpie Spies - image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio
The Hodagh Brigands
It is in these woods that the party has their first encounter with the brigands. These bandits call themselves the Hodagh Brigands, after their leader of the same name.
I used a mix of bandits, brigands and scouts straight out of the back pages of the D&D Monster Manual for the rank and file of this gang. Although they are low level opponents, I played them as intelligent enemies, not as cannon fodder. They used cover and concealment, ambushes, snares and traps to make life difficult for the players.
The party had only just made second level, so weren't ready to face really tough opposition. The brigands were a persistent and repeated opponent, and as the party gained levels I made each encounter progressively more challenging. Sometimes it was just more of the brigands, sometimes it was more constricted terrain, and as time went on I introduced more and more of the leaders.
The brigand band's leaders were;
- Hodagh - a 4th level ranger (hunter)
- Binor Cernunn - a 3rd level eldritch knight fighter; the man who wants to supplant Hodagh as leader
- Johann Diminus - a 3rd level fighter (champion), not too bright but very good with a quarterstaff
- Bill Crimson - a 3rd level rogue, and probably the smartest guy in the outfit. He wears a red liripipe hood, and his favourite trick is to lure his marks into an ambush and then bluff them into believing they're totally outnumbered.
- Brother Upfold - a 3rd level cleric, a plump and seemingly-jolly psychopath with the trickery domain as his specialty.
It took the players a while to realise that what I had actually put them up against was a savage and twisted variant of Robin Hood and his "Merry" men. See if you can work out who is who !
Lurking brigands - image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio
Picking Flowers
The first encounter our intrepid adventurers had with the brigands was with Bill Crimson and four archers.
Blue Lizardwort - image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio
Just as Ronald the Ranger spotted the blue lizardwort they needed, archers popped out from prepared ambush positions behind trees, with Bill calling out from a hidden position that they were outnumbered five to one and should lay down their weapons, treasure and all other possessions and just walk away.
Being of the Murderhobo persuasion, the players of course didn't do this. Snatching up a few handfuls of lizardwort, they charged back towards the road, bursting through the brigands and killing two of the archers. Then they fled back to town, with a few arrows fired at their retreating backs. Bill and his two surviving archers were in no position to pursue them (although the players didn't know this), but promised that next time, things wouldn't go so easily....
To be continued.....
Previous posts in this series;
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Setting Part 1
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Setting Part 2
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Setting Part 3
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Player Creation and Briefing
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Arrival At Tuadun
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Mayor Gerd's Problems
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Saving Shepherd Mirag
The Tarak D&D Campaign - Mother White and Sister Raben