(076) Off the Beaten Track

[waysoftheearth]

A windy night passes on Hezmog's doorstep...

The ref dices for a night encounter: d6 → 6, so yes!

When will this encounter occur (1-2 evening, 3-4 midnight, 5-6 pre-dawn): d6 → ?

okay, now we need some undated watch info from the players...

[coffee]

Karl volunteers for second watch. He's used to getting up in the night to check on the fire and things like that, so segmented sleep doesn't bother him.

[ehiker133]

If nobody minds, I just took the character sheets in order and assigned numbers for the shifts. It ended up with 3/2/3 for shift rotation in order to have a second fighter during the medium's shift. If you want something other than assigned, we can adjust.

[waysoftheearth]

It is the very dead of night when a strange calm descends upon the otherwise cool and windswept campsite...

Leudigar and Karl are on watch as the remainder of their company sleep uneasily. It is well they are alert, for they spy the glimmer and glint of moonlight reflecting from the smooth, white scales of a gaggle of unusually large, white-skinned snakes that slithering slowly, and silently along the rocky ground, no doubt out on their night's hunting. The dangerous looking reptiles pause now and again to taste the air with their flickering tongues before they continue onward.

Our pair of fighting-men are sure the snakes haven't detected them yet, shadows that they are, but equally sure the snakes will shortly glide right into their sleeping camp sight if they don't intervene!

Thank you...

So, as we were saying, will this night encounter occur (1-2 evening, 3-4 midnight, 5-6 pre-dawn): d6 → 3, so it's the midnight shift, while Leudigar and Karl have the watch.

Now the referee dices to determine what manner of creatures should be encountered out here in the middle of the night!

d20 → 17, so it's large snakes (up to 10ft long). Perhaps a fortunate roll, perhaps not...
2d8 → 8, so there are 8 snake-heads among them.
Will the snakes surprise our watchmen? d6 → 3, so no.
The players are not surprised, so the encounter distance is 2d6 → 3, so just 30yd from the camp site. Close in.
Will our watchmen surprise the snakes? d6 → 6, so yes!

The players have a free segment to exploit...

How do Leudigar and Karl react?

[coffee]

Karl will fire his horsebow at the lead snake. Even if he misses, it might drive them off (we don't need to fight them, really).

If they keep coming, he'll cast aside his bow and draw his sword, all the while calling out and raising a hullabaloo to rouse the rest of the party.

[ehiker133]

Leudigar likewise fires his newly acquired crossbow at one of the snakes and then lets out a cry of "Tucke! Tucke! Snakes approaching" as a way of further trying to ward off the snakes as well as alerting the others to the fact that something is upon them.

[acodispo]

Feeling as if he had just barely closed his eyes, Wetzel starts up and scrabbles for his helm & his spear. He's more than accustomed to sleeping out, but not in dangerous situations like these, and is more than a little groppy.

"Where? What?" he mumbles and cries as he tries to orient toward the enemy, and find out who/what they are.

After putting on his helmet, if he can determine that they are encountering snakes, Wetzel will commense yelling, stomping on the ground and hitting it with the butt of his spear, in an attempt to drive the beasts off. If they continue to approach he will stab at their heads from as far away as possible.

[riftstone]

| If Faengol wakes, I would assume he would need the surprise round to rouse and assess the situation. If there is a fire, he will grab a flaming branch and use it to keep the snakes at bay. If no fire, he will rummage through his pack for his tinder box to start a fire. |

"Fire! We need fire to keep them at bay."

[The Red Baron]

Dopey mumbles groggily and rolls over to turn away the noise.

If the others manage to wake him, Dopey guards the prisoner.

"If they come for me, I'll throw them three of my rations," the hobbet decided. "Failing that, I'll have Thick-Neck to distract them."

[mushgnome]

Boggs trips over the sleeping Dopey in the excitement. "Wake up, dammit, there's snakes everywhere!" Thinking quickly and calling upon his rat-catcher's training, he whirls his sling-shot noisily around his head like a bull roarer to frighten the snakes away from the campsite. He knows his aim isn't very good, so he is selective and only fires if a clear opportunity presents itself. He sticks out his tongue and squints one eye as he concentrates.