Summary

The players find themselves the sudden custodians of a wayward barbarian, charged to bring him home safely to avoid a war. The barbarian, however, isn't concerned with such matters and wanders of on a whim...

Introduction

The players find themselves at the edge of The Gravorri plains, escorting a caravan in exchange for a free ride and rations along the way. The town of Han’s Hill is little more than a hamlet of thinly built houses and shops in a scattered pair of rows not far from the crossroads. A tall but oft-repaired wooden watchtower keeps an eyes on the wide-sweeping grass dunes of The Gravorri plains and the waving grass seems to stretch from horizon to horizon, with only the smallest specks to break up the massive waves of grass sweeping in the wind. No roads extend beyond the hilltop, and there’s no easy way to tell which path should be used to cross deeper into the grass sea.

<Map: Watchtower as west anchor, shops along the row with it, and a second row of houstes. Branching both rows is the haphazardly placed inn that partially spans both rows.>

The scenario starts at the Flag's Inn.

The Hilltop town

Hilltop town is a collection of tents that grew to a semi-permanent settlement that takes advantage of the relatively benign weather and lack of major dangers to create a minor trade hub between the civilized nations to the south and the nomadic Gravvori tribesmen. Citizens are very cognizant that their existence is largely dependent on the protection of the watchtower, its garrison, and the continued protection of the Sunbreathers tribe.

The Flag's Inn

The players begin at the Flag Inn. The Inn is so named because, like the other buildings in Han’s Hill, only the back of the building is a solid wooden wall. The other three ‘walls’ are built of a thin frame covered in sewn-together flags and spare silk. The gaps between the overlapping fabric allow a strong breeze to waft and take away the heat of the day. Wooden stools and tables are laid in a haphazard fashion about the main area, and a few early employees and patrons are dragging them into position from where they’d been thrown. The proprietor is shaking his head and looking at a sleeping man strewn about the remains of a broken chair.

He brightens when he sees the adventurers and scrambles towards them as they enter. “Ah, just what I need. Are you all hired blades? yes? Fancy some quick coin?”

If the players refuse, he’ll press his case again after serving them. If they outright decline, the captain of the watch may offer a similar quest, since the Innkeeper and the Captain are in communication about the problem. If the players are willing to listen, he’ll all but drag them to the unconscious man.

“Are you familiar with The Gravorri people? Korvin is…actually, I’m not certain what he is, but they bring him with them on every trade visit. The problem is that they all got drunk and left without him last night. I need someone to get him back home before anything happens to him.”

If asked as to why getting the barbarian home is so important, the Innkeeper explains that Korvinn’s tribe, the Sunbreathers, is the biggest of the local tribes and extends a kind of protective truce to the town. The truce only stands, however, provided nothing bad happens to member of the tribe during their frequent trade visits. The Innkeeper is worried that if Korvin isn’t returned home in good shape, his uncle and the tribal chief may blame the townspeople for breaking the truce. They will try to pass this off as a minor task and offer a couple of bags of coins for the task, but pressing them for details reveals that it's actually a three-day journey to where the tribe came from, and depending on their movements, it may actually be four. If bargained with, the Innkeeper will go as high as 40gp or 4 bags per escort, provided the players sign a paper taking responsibility for the man. This is insurance on the town’s part - they intend to show the paper to the next trade mission if Korvin doesn’t make it home.

The watch captain will offer a similar deal, but he’ll only go up to 30Gp/3 bags per head, and he will insist on the players signing the paper no matter what. If he can’t convince them either, he’ll try to spare a pair of guards for the journey and will ask the players to stick around for the inevitable barbarian raid when the pair cannot arrive.

Waking the Barbarian can be achieved roughly (DC10 strength) or gently (DC12 Charisma). He’ll stumble around for a bit before shaking himself awake. The wild warrior clearly knows the bartender and most of the locals. When his missing companions are mentioned, Korvin happily waves it off and explains that he needed to run an errand before going back to camp and his companions. He’ll try to stumble off on his way, but the bartender will beg for him to wait for breakfast (and the arrangement of an escort) can be performed. If the players have not yet agreed to the task, feel free to have Korvin fall asleep at the breakfast table.

Martin's Tradestop

Martin is a tall Kur merchant who makes a brisk trade buying gods from nearby caravans, storing them in his shop, and then selling them to Gravorri tribes that pass by. He currently has barrels and crates from two caravans in his storage area and will be in the process of buying vegetables and curios from the caravan the player arrived in.

The Tradestop is a massive location compared to the others, but this is mostly because of Martin's unique approach to security. The outer fabric walls are actually followed by a set of inner walls about two feet behind the outer ones. This creates a set of long corridors with easy-to-see sight lines that his guards can easily cover. Inside this, half the area is taken up by storage, while the rest is split between his shop and a living area.

The shop itself is partially open at the front, meant to guide interested eyes towards the selection of steel weapons and exotic plants offered for sale. The Gravvori have trouble growing plants with their nomadic lifestyle and lack of arable land, so Martin knows he can fetch high prices for melons and tubers the clan wouldn't otherwise have access to.

If the party shops with Martin, he will offer any common item or gear at standard rates. He can also offer a Stone of Luck or Cloak of Elvenkindi. If he likes the players, he may also offer to sell a number of silver blades he has at market value - the leftovers from a failed attempt to sell the items as rare magic items to the local barbarians.

Sacrifice's Smithy

Sacrifice, a Saltarri blacksmith, is also one of the merchants doing a brisk business with The Gravorri. They do very little actual smithing these days, delegating those tasks to Fael Kor-Levi, their apprentice. Instead, Sacifice spends the majority of her time melting down metal salvage sold to her by the tribesmen down to ingots. Caravans happily buy these ingots of of Bronze, Brass, and Iron to take back to the major city-states.

Sacrifice will allow Fael's time to be 'rented' during downtime to assist with smithing tasks, and can sell smithing tools if asked. When the party returns Korvin to his people, they will happily sell ingots to the party as well, encouraging them to take the ingots to their next destination for a possible profit.

The Watchtower

The Watchtower is the only building in Hilltop town that has actual solid walls. The tower was built with solid oak timbers with pine plank walls imported from the south, some of which used to be in the wagons that brought the wood in. It was built almost twenty years ago to provide protection against Gravorri raiders and to encourage the tribesmen to rely on formal trade instead of pillaging. The lord of the Tower is Watch Captain Fremont, who is a level five fighter and is charged with the protection of the town and the watchtower. While he commands a company on paper, in reality, there are only sixty-five serving men under his command, at least a platoon (twenty men) of which is always on patrol within a day's travel of the tower. It's a sizable force, but Fremont is more than aware that they would serve as little more than a speedbump to one of the major tribes like the Sunbreathers.

The tower is split into three levels, not counting the long stairs between the first two ground floors and the third story that contains the viewing deck and command post.

Floor One

The first floor is meant to provide services to the town and the public. The entrance is a well-guarded hallway, with two at-rest stations that provide crossbow slots to fire into the hallway. Beyond that is the Warden station, which has a holding cell and a pair of individual cells mostly used to hold drunk locals and Gravorri to sleep it off. The desk at the front also contains a shortbow and arrows under the counter, meant to support the funneling of any invaders. At the back of the ground floor is the barracks, where the men sleep on bunk beds with personal storage underneath. The four Lieutenants (including Lieutenant Yor) sleep in a seperate room with desks.

Floor Two

The second floor is meant for the company's internal use. The armory and maintenance rooms are here, along with storage rooms meant ot hold contraband. A training area is here as well, mostly used to hold assemblies and briefings, since the company finds it easier to train outside where they can be seen. A shared courier's office contains the tower's support staff, which is a half dozen non-combat sargents that collate reports and handle messages to and from the tower.

Floor Three

The third floor is surrounded by the viewing platform, and its crenelated walls are meant to provide cover for the archers. At least four men are on watch at each wall, providing redundancy in the often boring job of watching the grass sea. At the center is the command post, where the watch captain and his assistant (Lieutenant Yor) spend their day directing the tower's day-to-day operations. There is also a desk for Helen Shieldbreaker, a human mage assigned to the tower. She is technically meant to provide artillery support in case of an invasion, but she's found the post impossibly boring and can often instead be found wandering the town, spreading and collecting gossip.

The Grass Sea (Gravorri Empire)

The so-called Gravorri empire is located in a giant expanse of the Grass Sea, populated only by occasional outcroppings and ruins of what was once great floating islands that roamed the area. Normally, people only use the wide expanses of the Grass Seas for travel, since the ground is unsuited for cultivation or building, but the nomadic Gravvori do neither and so are comfortable living in the great expanses with their herds, hunting the other inhabitants of the area.

The players will want to get Korvin to the Sunbreather Camp, a three-day journey from Hilltop town. Korvin first wants to travel to a landmark called the Stone Tree, which is a two day journey to the tree, and an additional two days from the Sunbreather camp

As the players travel through the area, they will have a number of encounters based on the table below. Roll once per day of travel and check the relevant location below:

Bowden Herd

The party comes upon a great herd of Bowden beasts, passing through the sea, heading to parts unknown. See Bowden for their description.

If the players wish, they can simply wait for the Bowden to pass; the beasts aren't aggressive if left alone, however, any action towards them will trigger a stampede.

If the party is heading to the Sunbreather camp without visiting the Stone Tree first, Korvin will take this opportunity to ditch the party by shouting and striking one of the calves on the hind quarters. He is experienced enough to slip away during the resulting stampede while the players deal with it. From there, he will proceed toward the Stone Tree, forcing the party to follow unless they can catch up to him.

For the Stampede, see the Stampede rules. The base DC for the stampede is 10, the damage threshold is 12, the damage is 1d10, and the number of rounds is 2

Grimblekin Ambush

A group of Grimblekin has scouted the party's travel and laid an ambush in the tall grass ahead. The lure will be a lone Grimblekin, that will cry out as if hurt in the center of a shallow depression. For a large party, when they enter the area, four Grimblekin, two from each side, will close on the party. (2 Grimblekin, one on each side for a small party) Korvin and the Grimblekin will ignore each other at first, but if attacked or if a Player Character falls, then he will join the battle with gusto.

Reference the Grimblekin stat block for each of the attackers.

Lone Khondra

Have the party make a Perception check. The two highest checks will notice a wide parting of the grass headed in their direction. As the mysterious creature gets closer, everyone will begin to see the thick green skin and horns rise above the grass like a shark.

The party has encountered a long Khondra, thrown out of its pack and looking for a quick meal. It will run at the smallest character and attempt to bring them down. If the party resists, it will attempt to drag the target away from the others in hopes of benefiting from the quick meal.

The Khondra will retreat if it feels threatened, only to appear on nearby hilltops as the party continues to travel. As the DM, you can choose to allow the party to hunt down the beast at the cost of a day or two of travel.

For a small party (2-3) use the Khondra, Lone (Weak) statblock. For a larger party, use the Khondra, Lone (Strong) statblock.

Lone Merchant

As the party watches, a horse-drawn cart escorted by a stocky Elf appears over the horizon. The elf notices you and waves cheerfully before changing his direction to meet you.

The party has crossed paths with Loca Lare-Dovia, an enterprising merchant who is on his way to the last known location of the Palewalkers tribe to ply his trade. If conversed with, he will reveal that he had only moderate success selling his goods at Hilltop town, lacking a shop of his own, but has found The Gravorri are willing to pay a little more when someone shows up at their doorstop.

If the players wish to buy from him, he stocks all the kits found in the Dungeon Master's Guide as well as a wide array of vegetables. He will sell any of it to the party, but at a 10% increase from the usual stock price. He will also exchange gems or foreign currency for local coins as requested.

Metal Ruin

A pile of brass-covered metal plates sits in the middle of the sea, the remains of one or more automatons that sit partially disassembled or dead. Korvin will happily jump onto the pile, shifting through the collection of plates and gears. He will explain that the machines once served the 'old Garvorri', before turning against their former masters as punishment for their sins. He claims that the tribes still sometimes find a working automaton wandering the grass sea and that hunting one was seen as a great honor in his grandfather's day.

Whatever Korvin is looking for, he doesn't find it in the pile.

If the players want to search through the pile, there is a great array of beautiful bronze-covered plates, some with decorative glass gems embedded in them. Korvin explains that these are often hammered into breastplates of armor, such as he wears. The gears and fine internal workings are sometimes melted down to create pots and tools for the clan, as wood is very rare and precious to them

Players may wish to take some of the plates for themselves; Korvin will not object. He does warn the players that the objects hold almost no value for trade, which is true. The Hilltop and Gravorri merchants know that such items are common and won't bother haggling for them. However the plates can be converted into armor using the relevant section of the Dungeon Masters guide (cut the cost of materials for plate or half plate in half to account for the plates) or can be used by an artificer to reduce the cost of their crafting in half or apply +1 AC bonus to any steel defender, familiar, or hommoculus they create using the plates and gears as materials.

Palestrike Patrol

The party meets a Palestrike patrol out scouting for the tribe's next campground. The Palestrikes and Sunbreathers are not enemies at the moment, but the patrol is aware of how vulnerable Korvin is. He will happily engage with the patrol in conversation, even discuss trading a few baubles between them, seemingly unaware of the danger.

The patrol will attempt to persuade the party to stay with them for the night. If that happens, they will attempt to lure Korvin away from the rest of the group and then kidnap him. While luring Korvin away works, he proves nearly impossible to tie up, and the resulting ruckus will be heard by even sleeping party members. The party can attempt to convince the leader to part ways and let bygones be bygones with a DC 16 Persuasion or Intimidation check, provided none of the Palestrikes are bloodied or down. Otherwise, the party will have to fight or drive the Palestrikes off. Despite the violence, there are no further repercussions to the event as the Palestrikes won't want to admit to the attempted kidnapping.

Snake Migration

Someone or something has disturbed a nest of Pit Swarm snakes. The resulting mass, consisting of hundreds of animals, is migrating over the party's path with very little warning. Players with particularly high perception may notice the grass shaking before the mass appears, but the players will generally only have enough time to gather in their formation before the stampede hits. As the event occurs, read the following entry to them:

"As the grass shakes violently, a thin emerald snake slithers past your legs with an alarming speed. Soon another snake flies out from the grass, then another. Soon, the ground seemed like a carpet of tiny writhing snakes. As you look towards the source, you see a gathering pile of the same snakes rising above the grass like a tidal wave, poised to crash into you and sweep unprepared adventurers away like a great wind."

To handle the stampede, see our Stampede rules here . The DC here is 12, the damage threshold is 6, with a damage of 1d6 and three rounds.

Stone Cache

Korvin will start to veer off to the left while the party is walking. As they follow him, he'll happily explain that his friend Grazen is a very greedy fellow, who often buries caches a short way from the tribe's travel path in order to hoard wealth he doesn't want to share with the tribe under small stone plinths that have not yet been swallowed by the Grass Sea. If the player follows him, he'll reveal a small stone plinth, too worn to have any identifying marks, but with a small gap underneath that is filled with loose dirt.

If they help him dig, the party will pull out a small iron box covered in runes and an artistic rendering of the sun. Korvin will cackle at the discovery, but then frown as it's revealed that this box contains a complex puzzle lock. Grazen must have realized someone was raiding the caches, and Korvin can't figure out how to open the box.

If you find yourself wanting to reuse this encounter or desiring a more intricate puzzle, you can use a third party resource like Seltzer's Legendary Lootboxes (Legendary Strongboxes - Seltzer

— DriveThruRPG) to change the puzzle and surprise the party all over again

The box has six dials, all marked by a thin triangle, and arranged in a circle around a raised disk. The dials can be rotated, pointing in any direction. If Korvin is pressed about the box or Grazen, he will throw his hands up in the air and say that Grazen is a religious zealot of the sun cult and that Korvin can't be bothered with anything this complicated.

The box can be opened in one of several ways:

• Lockpicks. If a player attempts to bypass the lock, it will be a DC15 sleight of hand check, with the usual bonuses for Thieves' tools.
• Solving the Puzzle: If a player rotates each of the dials so that the triangles point away from the central disk, they will form the image of the sun and open the box safely
• Breaking the box open: Forcing an iron box open is a daunting task, but a particular enterprising or violent player can attempt to bash it open with a DC20 Strength check. A success will open the box, but the impact will break the potion glass and cause the arcane liquids to mix, resulting in a foul-smelling cloud. Remove the potions from the rewards in this scenario

If the box is still intact, it can be sold back in Hilltop town for a single gold piece to Sacrifice (the Hilltop Smith), who will refuse to open the box but is willing to buy it back to curry favor with Grazen.

The Stone Tree

The Stone tree becomes quickly visible from a distance. It is a giant stone plinth, connected to a second plinth at a right angle, creating the rough image of a partial tree. As the players come even closer, they can see a giant pile of parts and plates from Gravorri automatons around the base. The plinths are likely the remains of a building, and had once been covered in runes, but someone has carefully chipped and sanded away.

Korvin will ecstatically jump into the pile of salvage, pulling apart plates and looking for something specific. When he does so, a thrumming sound can be heard behind the plinth, and Korvin will stick his head up. "Hey, are you all busy? I think you might need to handle something for me..."

The 'something' is an ancient Gravorri machine that has been using the pile for self-repair. Its original design, that of a three-legged walker, still shows through in places, but layers of gears and scavenged plates have been crudely placed around the machine's core to keep it running long after a previous fight nearly destroyed it.

Korvin will return to his scavenging and only engage in the fight if he feels like the players might lose. The machine, for its part, will focus on whichever of the players is wearing the heaviest armor first, and then focus on those who damage it.

Construct Statblock:

When defeated, the players may take apart the construct to reveal its power core, a large sapphire-like stone that brims with energy. Korvin will advise the players to smash it, but any merchant in Hilltop would easily pay two hundred gold pieces for the artifact - the cores are extremely rare since The Gravorri destroy them on sight. Whichever path the players take, Korvin will toss aside the plate he was looking for and eagerly pull off one from the machine, excitedly checking its dimensions and thumping his fist against it to test its durability. With this plate under his arm, Korvin will then excitedly announce the need to return to the Sunbreather camp, which he can guide the players to.

The Sunbreather Camp

No matter whether they go to the Stone Tree or not, the party wil eventually make their way to the Sunbreather camp. The Camp is much larger than Hilltop, containing almost two hundred tents and a wide array of horses, beasts of burden, and herd animals. Korvin is cheerily greeted by virtually every tribesman. There are two series of events based on whether or not the party has visited the Stone Tree

If the party has Korvin's plate

If the party visited the Stone Tree and let Korvin obtain the plate from the Automaton, a growing crowd of older men and women will walk alongside the party as Korvin enters the camp. Unable to resist showboating, Korvin will happily hold up the plate for onlookers to gawk at, while slapping away attempts to touch the plate. The growing procession will accumulate at the chief's tent, where a smaller procession will meet them, a young man at its head. Korvin will hold up the plate one last time and announce "For my favorite nephew!" before laying the plate on the ground before the young man. A massive human Gravorri, the Chieftain Peltas, will then instruct the smiths to get to work. As the party watches, the plate will be hammered into a better shape and pre-measured leather straps will be riveted to the plate.

When its all done, the newly formed breastplate is fitted to the young man and a great celebration is held as people thump on the breastplate and shout congratulations. Korvin will briefly pull the party aside to explain that with this new Breastplate, his nephew has been declared a hunter, a full adult in the eyes of the clan. Korvin had a soft spot for the boy and wanted to make certain the breastplate he wore was exactly the right on. He will thump his own breastplate confessing that his uncle, the Chieftain gifted him his own a decade ago.

The players are welcome to spend the night, indulging in drink and minor contests to the amusement of all. In the morning, the chieftian, aware of the difficulties of escorting Korvin anywhere, will offer the party a gold bar worth (250 gold pieces) as compensation for the trouble.

If the Party only has Korvin

Korvin will still be greeted warmly as he arrives, but without much fanfare. Korvin will take them to the chieftain's hut, who will acknowledge that Korvin is home safe and thank the players for their efforts. He will let them stay the night before they return to Hilltop in the morning. If the party looks to the West, however, they will see the striding form of Korvin, heading out to the Stone Tree and his fate.

If Korvin dies

If Korvin dies, the party may elect to bring his body to his people. In this situation there will be much wailing when his body is presented, but the Chieftain will acknowledge that Hilltop is blameless in his death. The players will likewise be absolved of any blame, but the Chief will insist they leave immediately.

Back to Hilltop

If the players make to the Sunbreather camp and back again, the Watch Captain will happily pay the offered bounty regardless if Korvin survived or not. If the party returns without having visited the camp, they will find Hilltop preparing for siege, as the Sunbreathers have been spotted on the horizon. The captain will be furious that Korvin didn't make it, but he will forgive them if they assist in the defense.

The Sunbreathers will attack, engaging the defenders and the party, but only long enough to set fire to the watchtower and the tents. Once sufficient chaos has been caused, they will fall back into the wilds.