The Bloody Bonerattlers; Scene I; Caravan Ambush Encounter

Setting the Scene

Before getting into the actual adventure material directly of this initial incident, it is best to handle a little background. Each of your players will need to be traveling with a small two wagon caravan for any one of a variety of reasons, some potentially tied to their background trait, some perhaps not. Allow them each a small back and forth sort of 'roleplay/introductory' moment with their character and you portraying the appropriate NPCs based on whom they are. If they are a caravan guard for example, then they'd be meeting with Banik Dorin, the dwarf whom runs the shipping and logistics for the Vorgistal Quarrying operations. Blunt, well spoken, and to the point, he would outline the job in no uncertain terms, though he would only mention the stone and block.

(allow them a TN 14 Intuition roll should they choose) If they succeed, they can tell he's not giving them all the scoop about the shipment, but if pressed, unless somehow made compliant, which should be a high difficulty to accomplish no matter which method they wish to employ. However if this player (or players if more than one were to choose caravan guard) find out about the

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Void Stone Powder

contraband make sure not to spoil it for other players, whisper or chat privately, and inform them of the nature of it, then roleplay out from there. They may pressure for a higher payout, which could be negotiated if it also is to buy silence, however Banik will make clear that should they talk, there would be 'consequences' from his boss.

If a player wishes to be a driver, then they are actually working for Evers Lumber and Timber, run by the Evers family in Spruce Point, and this is their normal run, they make once a week. Two and a half days or so up to Vorgistal, a half day to switch the goods, two and a half days back, with a day off and then do it all again. Its generally considered a pretty good gig, though lately there has been some danger to the job, more than usual with the increase in goblin raids. However your journey has been calm and peaceful, and with only another ten to fifteen miles to go, your feeling confident it's going to be another calm and easy run under your belt this early summer day. For this you could do a flashback with their boss, or to the load switching in Vorgistal.

If a player wishes to be a laborer, similarly they'd work for Evers Lumber and Timber, being on the payroll for less than the drivers of course, and kind of apprenticing to them, learning to drive on the calmer more open stretches of the trip. For this you could also flashback to when they were leaving Evers Lumber and Timber or perhaps to the load switching in Vorgistal, let them go through a little roll or two for the work they'd have to do.

Finally if a player wishes to be a civilian you can sort of have them join up with the caravan in a little moment, a little flashback to the day before perhaps, or maybe in Vorgistal the night before leaving they approached the drivers. Drivers have discretion about letting civilians travel with them, if they don't have any reason to suspect ill intent, they can choose to allow it. After all it is a dangerous land, even in this relatively peaceful region, safety in numbers is preferred. A wolf pack wouldn't even think twice about trying to pick off a foolhardy lone traveler after all.

Plot points/Scenes

Once the above introduction is handled, and you perhaps allow the group a little bit of time to poke around the caravan during the 'traveling time' and meet the other NPCs whom fill the rest of the (minimum 8) people traveling with these two wagons, you may begin working your way through the actual encounter.

Structure

Exposition

Set Our Scene

First establish the party's traveling positions as if the wagons are traveling down the road about ten feet apart from one another, single file. Do not reveal the map fully, even if you wish to use it as a visual aid for them to understand how the wagons are traveling. In particular do not let them see the felled trees until it is time.

It is early in the short tundra summer, the sun is shining, there is a light breeze. It is midday, and your but some ten to twenty miles away from Spruce Point. The forest is quiet, the drone of insects, the occasional sounds of birds or the tapping of a woodpecker off in the distance. The mating call of an elk flutters into your ears, clearly carried over many miles. Your stomach is rumbling, and its nearing mid-day as (one of the NPCs) calls out, asking if its time to stop and break for a meal.

If both drivers are PCs, let them decide what they wish to do. If one of them is an NPC, engage in banter and discussion. If the consensus is to stop and eat, stop and eat, allow the roleplay and such. If the consensus is to keep going, let the wagons travel another kilometer (half a mile) and then proceed with the next paragraph.

TN 16 Awareness to realize something just isn't right. Maybe its noise at the edge of your hearing, like rustling from the brush and undergrowth of the forest around you. An 18+ just catches sight of a small form hiding amongst a tree alongside the road.

As you continue on, following the roadway for another half an hour, the woods seem still and calm all around you, making you feel comfortable. Its been an easy trip, and profitable with no real trouble of any kind.... Suddenly the horses of the lead wagon panic, as two trees slam to the ground near you, in front and behind! Clearly you are under attack, the screams all around you make that undeniable. You aren't sure what is happening right away, its all so fast. One of the horses on the lead wagon whinnies in agony, and drops to the road, bleeding everywhere, convulsing, the other panics, rears, breaking loose of the tack in its fear, breaking into a gallop and managing to just clear the spruce tree that blocks the road in a mighty leap. The other two are struggling against the reins, their nostrils flared violently, their screaming whinnies blending with the high pitched war cries as goblins rush from all around!

Have the party roll for initiative and run the combat via the instructions of the combat encounter. See the below section labelled Goblin Surprise if no one managed their Awareness 16 or 18 checks.

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Only utilize these next sections for NPC deaths. If characters have filled all those roles (such as drivers) then roll one attack for each goblin against that PCs full Armor Score, do NOT remove their Agility Boost. This is not a full surprise, but a narrative surprise, so do not treat it as such.

Before any of you can fully react some of them are among you! Two of them clamber up onto the driver's seat of the first wagon, and the young man, fumbling for his coach gun, lets out but a half a scream as the first spear pierces him, before the second rips through his jaw, teeth and neck. Two more rush by the front flanks of the left side horse on the second wagon, one having to pull back their attack to avoid getting stomped on, the other however slashing open a vicious wound on the poor creature's upper left leg as he dances between the creatures screaming and cutting with his Cutter. Another pair are moving fast from the north side of the road, clearly intent on reaching the second driver and a fourth pair fall upon one of the guards violently, though they hold their ground, managing to avoid injury. Two more arrows slash through the air near the rear wagon as one of the (laborer or civilian, whomever would be an NPC) leaps from it, clearly panicking, just in time to catch both shafts in the back and side. They fall to the ground unmoving.

For any PC whom made their Awareness 16 check, they should be allowed to dictate a turn worth of actions they take during Goblin Surprise, even including presumedly attacking a goblin or two. Allow them to roll attacks and damage if they hit as they should. Besides their actions the Goblin Surprise scene should proceed more or less as described above however. If at least one PC made their Awareness 18 check and did choose to shout a warning, then you will not wish to use any part of the Goblin Surprise additional section and simply roll initiative and start combat without it.

The goblin attack may at first seem just a savage looting assault, but this is not their only goal, though despite their orders it is a primary one. The horse that took the two arrows and fell and is now convulsing is not merely injured, it is for all intents and purposes dead. However with two Voidstone Dust coated arrow heads sunk deep into its flesh, the direct exposure to the reality breaking essence in its blood stream has given temporary mutation and life to part of the corpse.

Any character watching the convulsions whom has Aethyr Sight or some sort of Arcane sensitivity may attempt a Lore (Occult) or Lore (Arcana) skill roll automatically for free, requiring no action to realize what is happening. However they must spend an action to communicate to the people around them if they succeed and wish to share the warning. The TN of this check is 15. On a success they realize the creature is mutating, though the horse would seem dead, part of its corpse is altering and coming to life via the corrupting influence of some sort of fell magick. If they succeed by 10 or more, they realize it must be Voidstone exposure somehow, given that no shaman has revealed themselves amongst the goblins.

Either way upon succeeding they realize that the horse that's been shot, part of its body is still 'alive' and will rise as some sort of mutated horror if not addressed immediately. If this knowledge is shared, the PCs should easily be able to prevent this, as it only takes two attacks against the corpse to stop the mutative process, to kill whatever fell essence is trying to mutate and twist part of the corpse into some sort of mock life force to inflict its viciousness upon the world. The attacks would be made against an Armor Score of 10.

However should the PCs not realize what is happening, regardless of if they've managed to more or less vanquish some or most of the goblin attackers, after the second round of combat, proceed with the following section;

The attack is swift and sudden, but as quickly as it starts, as you bring down some of the vicious beasts, seemingly they suddenly retreat, though not in a typical goblin fashion, not dropping their weapons and fleeing screaming, but communicating with each other instead, those that are left alive. Any Player with Language (Goblin) as a skill can attempt a Skill roll of TN=11 to understand.

"Is working, is working! Horse Head will lash them, slash them, some will flee. Panick, terror, yes, then in woods we catch and beat them. Prisoner for Chief, Prisoner for Bonerattlers!! Run run, we find them in trees!!

The goblins all begin to flee taking a special prepared reaction, as a group, and fleeing two full strides into the treeline. The horse that had been shot in the initial moments of the ambush convulses one last time, before violently and audibly splitting apart, the front legs powering the chest, head and neck to their feet, as blood and organs begin splattering to the ground behind it. From the lower neck and chest in front of the legs two bony growths rupture forth extending almost five feet each, these segmented and barbed bony whip like appendages swaying back and forth. Above them a gash opens in the neck, revealing hooked teeth in a snarling, shrieking visage. All of this happens as the head of the creature cracks, crunches, and suddenly turns inside out, the eyes disappearing, only to reappear as feral red eyes above the gash-mouth. The head now merely a crown of skull bits, brain matter and tissue.

The Horse-Head Horror lets out a vicious monstrous shriek, rushing towards the nearest target.

At this point, the 'beginning' of the third round of combat, roll the initiative for the Horse-Head Horror, which starts play where the horse with the blood around it is depicted on the map when it spawns. Before commencing with the third round of combat, everyone whom sees or hears this thing coming to life needs to make a Sagacity Defense roll against a TN of 10. If they fail, they are afflicted with the Fearful (1) Condition. If they roll a natural 1 they also take 1d4 psychic damage.

Backdrops

Locations

Caravan Ambush Encounter Map

Open full size

1 square=5 Feet

Encounters

So if one of the PCs succeeded the Awareness skill roll of 16, the encounter proceeds as if everyone but that PC is surprised (meaning only that PC gets to act in the first round). If any PC succeeded the Awareness roll of 18, then the encounter starts off completely normal, as they noticed a goblin in the trees right as the first two fired their arrows into the horse on the right of the lead wagon, and will have presumedly called out a general alarm (so inform that PC of what they saw so that they can do so. If they for some strange reason choose to not call out a general alert, treat it as if they only succeeded the roll of 16.) If no PC succeeds either Awareness roll however, the first round happens without them taking part. If this occurs simply read the aloud section under the Exposition labelled GOBLIN SURPRISE to narrate what happens around them all, and move necessary goblin starting positions for the conflict from what is shown on the GM Master combat layout appropriately.

• 8 Goblin Raiders, 2 of which are archers, the other six are using Stabbers



• 2 Goblin Raider Veterans using Cutters



• 2 Goblin Sharp-Eyes

Your PCs are in luck on some level. First off, the two felled trees to haphazardly block the road is about as complex as goblin ambush tactics truly get. Otherwise their archers are not well hidden, and their infantry is...at best undisciplined. However they also have a general strategy they will stick to until they realize that perhaps others of their potential victims are actually threats.

This simple order of tactics is one born of necessity and hard experience passed down from goblin to goblin from past failed (and even successful) raids. Those that survive do learn a little bit. First off a kick from a horse will utterly destroy most every bone in a goblin's body should it land central to their small forms. Because of this the archers primary targets (and the target for the void dust coated arrows at the beginning of the ambush) were and are the horses.

Next, its normal practice across Suranth for wagon or carriage drivers, and mushers alike to keep a well loaded blunderbuss, commonly referred to as a coach gun, with them on the driving bench. One well placed shot would turn a goblin into fine mist at close range and as such a secondary mission is to basically close the gap and kill the drivers as swiftly and savagely as possible.

After this, the hired guards are to be gang rushed by all the goblins and ideally overwhelmed. Then when the mutated part of the horse corpse starts attacking everyone, the goblins flee, knowing the creature won't follow them, it will be far more interested in the bigger targets. The goblins also know the creature that is formed from this fell toxic exposure won't live very long, a minute or two at most, but in that time it can cause a lot of damage. They will simply regroup some distance away, turn around and begin jumping, and beating into unconsciousness any fleeing or wounded individual from the wagons to take prisoner. So despite their initial mad dash and seeming complete lack of coordination, there is in fact an overall plan being followed, and their behaviors and tactics will reflect this.

After two full rounds of combat, if no one has noticed, Requires a 15 on Lore (Occult) or Lore (Arcana) check, the convulsing horse corpse ruptures, the front half standing on its two legs, the head turning inside out, the blood vessels and inner tissues and bone structure becoming the exterior, as rupturing from the chest come two spiked and bony whip like appendages each five feet in length, with many sharp bony barbs. When this transformation begins to occur as round two is ending, all the goblins still alive burn a special reaction, sounding a retreat and flee at top speed, as if they were taking two stride actions, as fast as their little legs will carry them.

Your PCs might be tempted to chase the goblins, and if the whole group do so, they should return to a scene of absolute carnage with every NPC who'd still be alive when they'd left brutally slashed and gashed to death by this now dead horror-show of a corpse they discover. Otherwise the goblins leave the initiative, and the Horse-Head Horror enters it.

• 1 Horse-Head Horror

Once the Horse-head Horror is defeated or is forced back out of reality by its own instability the encounter is more or less over, unless any surviving NPCs fled into the woods from the Horror's arrival, in which case perhaps some or all of your PCs try to follow and track some of them, and will have a small encounter or two with the remaining goblins as they try to jump these panicked individuals and take them alive. However if only 4 or less goblins remained after the initial assault, they did not stick around, but turned tail and routed. Despite their panick they are not easily trackable, requiring a Survival Skill roll of 18 or higher.

After the assault and the horror are vanquished, the caravan is left is a tricky position. The large spruce tree blocking their forward progress at minimum needs to be moved, and ideally if they can they need to clear them both for future trips. If not they need to at least alert Spruce Point, so that a local cleanup crew can be dispatched, with escort of course, to remove the large tree. But besides this, naturally there are a few other issues your PCs and the surviving NPCs must sort.

• Escaped Horses: The horses will be easy enough to track, requiring only a Survival Skill roll of 12 or Investigate skill roll of 14 to follow effectively, and they'd be found an hour or so down the road, off in a small clearing around a little pond drinking and grazing, clearly still agitated. An Animal Care-Taking skill roll of 14 is enough to calm them down enough to approach, get lead's on them, and guide them back. This can be reduced to a 10 if the person or people in question thought to bring an apple or carrot or some other sort of treat they can use to bribe the creatures.



• Felled Trees: The easiest way to move these is naturally with the horses, requiring only an Animal Care-Taking skill roll of 14 to set up properly, allowing two of them to make the Power roll as one, adding both Power Boosts (so at +10) and the person guiding them's Persona Boost to the test. The tree is quite hefty, but can similarly be moved by people working in a team fashion, making one roll and utilizing everyone who wishes to help's Power Boost. Moving the tree five feet requires a Power roll of 22, and every failed roll results in everyone involved taking 1 non-lethal damage. You need to move a tree at least fifteen feet to create enough space for the wagons to squeeze by 1 by 1.



• Wounded/Injured: Naturally it is presumed that some of the PCs and any NPCs whom survive are likely to be missing wounds, perhaps even having gained the Wounded (1) condition. If so this is the perfect time to introduce your players to how a Regroup works (for 5e players they would know this as a short rest) and if needed and they desire to do so, how the injury kits work (since these require a Regroup to actually be used).



• Dead Driver(s): This may not be an issue if two PCs decided to be drivers, however it likely is an issue, which then leads to the question whom will drive the wagon(s). If three horses are left, one of the wagons will be easy enough to drive, requiring only a Drive (Wagon/Carriage) skill roll of 12 to successfully handle. Any wagon with only 1 horse however will be hard pressed to maintain pace and insure the animal doesn't drop from exhaustion, and that will require a Drive (Wagon/Carriage) skill roll of 16. The NPC drivers make this roll at +9, having a +2 familiarity bonus for the route and a +2 familarity bonus for knowing their horses. Every time this roll is failed, the horses gain Exhausted (1) and they will drop into unconsciousness and begin dying if they hit Exhausted (5). Once the roll is successful once, then the trip will be smooth for that wagon the rest of the way to Spruce Point.