Army of Denagoth Bivouac

You have been riding north from the village of Geron over a distance of about 24 miles. To the northwest of the roadway, about 700 yards away, you can see many tents and the smoke of numerous fires. As you proceed you can make out many banners and flags flapping in the wind.

The tents are crude and sloppily made. The banners are recognizable as typical orcish type, probably indicating the presence of several tribes. The banner in the middle of the camp bears the token of the red wyvern. Once per hour, roll a d6 and check the result below.

• 1-3: A patrol of 60 Orcs passes on - the Orc officer ignores the parly on the assumption that they have reasonable business being there. lf the party is in lancer guise the Orcs will steer clear of them.
• 4-6: A patrol of 40 Orcs marches directly toward the party's location. Allow the players an opportunity to take evasive action. Quickly leaving the open road and hiding in the trees is possible. The Orcs will not bother searching the bushes.

If the party runs into the Orcs, the Orcs' first move will be to encircle the PCs and attempt to capture them alive. If more than half of the Orcs are defeated, the patrol will retreat and avoid mentioning the event to their superiors in order to avoid certain punishment.

If the PCs are captured, they are disarmed and carelessly tied up. One of the Orcs will come out of the ranks, claiming to be the leader. Krumz, as he calls himself, is drunk and will start questioning the prisoners. Krumz will debate with his lieutenant, Foopch, whether or not to kill the alleged "spies" right away and save the trouble of reporting the deed. Finally, Foopch will manage to convince Krumz to tie up the party, hide them in thick bushes and sell them later to a band of slavers due in the area in a few days.

If captured, the PCs can escape rather easily due to the carelessness of the Orcs. A PC can escape his ropes by making either a Strength Check or a Dexterity Check. With a little stelth they can escape unobserved (50% chance). If they make a break for it, they will elude pursuit.

Infiltrating the Army Camp

If the PCs are disguised as Dark Lancers, they can easily investigate the camp - the other evil soldiers fear and avoid the Dark Lancers. As lancers, the characters may freely move throughout the bivouac area excluding the field headquarters - provided, of course, that they do so with a degree of restraint. Investigations of non-human camp areas will produce surly looks and nasty grumblings from the assorted Orcs and Goblins. There is no love lost between the human lancers and the dark demi-humans in the army ranks. However, a complete tour of these areas will provide the characters with fairly accurate notion of the enemy forces.

Infiltrating the lancer field headquarters is another matter. Currently the commanding officer of the lancers (and the army) is not present. His name is Gevren and he is at Gereth Minar conferring with the Shadow Lord. At this stage the lancer camp is just a collection of tents and corrals (strength 80 lancers).

If the disguised characters attempt a friendly exchange with any of the soldiers they will learn of the following rumors, some true and some false (indicated by the adjoining explanation):

• That the Shadow Lord has mobilized a battery of wyverns to spearhead the attack on Wendar (false)
• That the Orcs and Goblins will be used to terrorize the countryside around the city-state in order to demoralize the rural population (true)
• That the Shadow Lord himself will lead the attack mounted on a black steed that breathes fire (false)
• That Wendar is sure to fall because Gylharen, the Wizard-King, is already dead (false)
• That regardless of the wyverns, lancers will conduct the actual takeover of the city after the 500 bowmen shower 20,000 arrows on the populace (true)
• That the Shadow Lord is holding 500 lancers in reserve. (Actually the number is closer to 150.) (true)
• That Gevren is at Gereth Minar working out the final details of the attack with the Shadow Lord (true)
• That Landryn Teriak plans to make Lord Camla master in wend to hold the realm on the Shadow Lord's behalf

If the characters act in a foolish manner the DM should mobilize the 80 lancers. On the other hand, if the party makes mischief in an intelligent fashion, the DM should be lenient as the characters attempt to withdraw from this encounter. Give the PCs a scare by taking on the roll of a inquisitive lancer officer. This fellow may insist on an explanation for these new faces in the camp. He might want to know who their commanding officer is, and so on. Generally, the DM is encouraged to have some creative fun with this risky, but open-ended encounter.

Type

Military, Camp