Premade Campaign 05: The Sole Survivor (1/2)
The Sole Survivor is intended for Heroic level characters and is Part One in a Two Part series.
“Sitting outside your town’s gates is a hungry Hill Giant. When attacked by local guards she knocks all of them to the ground, rambling in a giant language about something that no one can understand.”
A party member who speaks Giant (or one given the ability to do so by a kind DM) speaks to her and finds out her story. A group of Ettin Marauders have attacked and killed her tribe, eating some of her brethren and keeping the rest bound up. She asks for some food, any type, so that she can pursue trying to enact her revenge, but does not think she will do much more than add another body onto their fire.
The large hearts of the adventurers can not bear to hear the plight of the large heart of this Hill Giant, and she eventually breaks down and asks them for help. The town has decided to stay out of the issue, for fear of bringing the Marauders clubs down on their own homes, and the guards have insisted that any intervention must be done in their own name, and without any ties to the city.
There are several ways to run this campaign, as the group can either have a large, overpowered companion or the DM can find a way to keep her away. The easiest solution is to have her agree to meet them at the camp in a few weeks, as she has some others that she must ask for assistance. On the way to the camp, which is actually quite a journey, the party will meet other groups of individuals who can be persuaded to help in your efforts. Here are some example encounters:
1. The party sees a caravan of traveling entertainers passing by, drinking and swerving around. The driver of the front most wagon catches sight of the party and loses sight of the road, swerving and crashing into a valley. He and his companions are alright, but one of his horses has escaped and the wheels to his wagon are destroyed. Distraught, and for fear of losing his job, he asks the party to go find his horse as they repair the wheels, and the traveling group will gladly aid them in an assault on the Ettin Camp in any way they can. The horse, of course, has been nabbed by some nasty goblins over the hills. If the party chooses to help them the musicians in the group will distract the giants with a performance (until they eventually become frustrated and try to eat them) while the party moves in.
2. An Ettin Marauder is seen lying in the middle of the road, arrows in his chest, gasping for air. When approached (and if healed) he explains that he was sent out to retrieve a special kind of wood for a roast they planned on having, but became very lost and was eventually assaulted by adventurers. He expresses some hatred for the rest of his tribe, and can be easily convinced to help the party by giving them information on the layout of the camp, with details on guards and information on their generals. With enough diplomacy, it wouldn’t be out of the question to convince him to help in just about any way, no matter how suicidal it may be.
3. The same adventurers that attacked the Ettin Marauder above can be found later down the road, telling stories by a campfire of their adventures. Just letting them know about the Ettin Maruader camp is enough to get them ready to fight, all the party needs to do is point them in a direction.
It shouldn’t be too hard to find ways to level the party to 9 or 10 before they get to the camp, and depending on how many encounters they have on the way they could either have a huge amount of support or none at all. The map from the rogue Ettin could show an easy path into the camp, allowing for them to free the Hill Giants and arm them for battle, and any other people they enlist the aid of could lend them air, ground, or magical support. Even after defeating the camp and freeing the giants, there is still more to be done, however…
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Paragon conclusion to this two part campaign!
» Blog Archive » Premade Campaign 06: The Giant’s Revenge (2/2) says:
[...] Part One: The Sole Survivor [...]
June 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm