Encounter: Pigs and Nobles

[Houston GM]

Here is another encounter from my game for your entertainment (and for anyone to shamelessly steal if they're so inclined).

 

It was not intended to be nearly as humorous as it ended up being.

 

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As the sun set, the group began traveling toward Mintopua. Traveling at night was difficult for Radka, but the two elves were able to guide her along. She generally preferred traveling in the daytime, but the Marks of Chaos they had been afflicted with ensured that the locals would attack them on sight (as would most civilized beings in the Old World).

 

But this trip could change all that. If they succeeded in recovering the Book of Changes from the cultists, the sage might be able to remove the Marks of Chaos.

 

As they left the outskirts of the city, they began their journey south. They had to swing away from the coast to avoid the ruins of the ancient elven port. The ruins were said to be haunted by the undead and worse.

 

Lindiil, the elven beast mage, paused occasionally to cast detect animals. The overgrown ruins to their right were surprisingly devoid of life, except for a sizeable rat population. "Something about those ruins is not natural," he whispered, "Let's make sure we don't wander into them."

 

As dusk deepened into darkness, they spotted some light ahead of them. The quickly stopped and tied the mule behind a stand of trees, so he would not betray their presence again. Radka stayed with the mule, while Lindiil and Eldanth snuck forward for a closer look.

 

As they approached, they saw a small group of people standing about 100 yards from the edge of the ruined city. One was holding a torch and a lantern was set on a rock near another's feet.

 

As they got into easy bowshot, Eldanth, the elven mercenary, turned to Lindiil and whispered, "I'm going closer to get a better look. You stay here and cover me."

 

Lindiil nodded. Eldanth was as good at sneaking through the wilderness as he was. He kept an eye on the group ahead as Eldanth disappeared into the tall grass and bushes.

 

When Eldanth got within 20 yards of the group, he paused to peak over the bushes. He found himself looking at a group of four young nobles engaged in a hushed but heated debate. Two of the nobles were looking for trouble and seemed eager to go into the ruins and find some. The other two seemed reluctant to get any closer to the ruins than they already were.

 

Eldanth disliked human nobles almost as much as he despised elven nobles. He decided to have a little fun at their expense. He searched around his feet until he found a stone. Picking it up, he quietly stood up, then threw it over the heads of the nobles where it crashed into the bushes beyond them.

 

The nobles instantly spun in the direction of the noise. "What ho! Who goes there?" one of them challenged as he and the other bold noble whipped their rapiers from their scabbards. Holding his torch higher, he took a step forward to get a better look. One of his nervous friends quickly snatched the lantern up off the ground. He also tried to see what made the noise while taking a step back.

 

Eldanth ducked back down behind the bush and began searching for a few more stones to throw. Lindiil decided to join in the fun, so he tilted back his head and howled like a wolf. Normally Lindiil could mimic animals with uncanny accuracy, but this time he was trying too hard to stifle his laughter. He winced as he realized that his wolf howl hadn't come out quite right. "Oh well," he thought, "perhaps those fops won't notice the difference."

 

The four young nobles spun around and faced Lindiil's direction. "There's a wolf over there!" one of them cried. "That's not a wolf howl," one of the bolder ones claimed. "If it wasn't a wolf, then what was it?" replied his friend, not at all reassured.

 

Eldanth quietly picked up a few more stones. As the nobles stood there with drawn swords, he threw stones to their right and left. "It moved!" one of the nervous nobles exclaimed. "We're surrounded by wolves!" the other nervous noble cried, looking in the other direction.

 

"Those aren't wolves," said one of the bolder nobles, "If they were wolves, they would have howled when the other one did." Holding his torch high and his blade in front of him, he headed towards the ruins looking for the source of the noise.

 

Lindiil slipped back to let Radka know what was happening. As she came forward with him, he asked her, "Do you want to play the damsel in distress while Eldanth and I continue to torment the nobles?"

 

"Sure," she replied. She had played that role before on stage, and it shouldn't be difficult to play it up for a few noble dandies. She followed closely behind Lindiil as they began sneaking toward the nobles.

 

Eldanth threw another rock to the right of the nobles, right at the edge of the ruins. The two bold ones continued toward the sound with their companions trailing reluctantly behind. As the two anxious nobles tried to dissuade their friends from entering the ruins, Eldanth snuck up even closer. This time he threw the rock at one of the nobles, but it missed and went sailing into the ruins.

 

As Eldanth searched for another rock to throw, he heard something else moving in the ruins toward the nobles. He grabbed a rock and stood up, ready to throw it at whatever emerged.

 

Lindiil and Radka peered over the bushes just in time to see a huge boar burst out of the ruins and charge at the nobles. The boar was taller than a horse and sported foot-long tusks. Its pale hide was stretched tight over its face, making it look like a skull.

 

The boar charged into the nearest noble. Jerking its head, its tusk pierced through the young man's shoulder, flinging him over the heads of his friends and onto the rocks behind them. From the burst of arterial spray, Eldanth could plainly see that the noble was mortally wounded.

 

Lindiil fired two quick shots from his longbow. The first bounced of the boar's thick hide. The second nicked it, drawing a thin line of blood.

 

Eldanth quickly decided that throwing a rock at the boar was a bad idea. He wildly heaved the rock away from him. He had been planning to drop it, but he didn't want it making noise anywhere near him. He then ducked back behind the bushes.

 

One of the nobles lunged forward at the boar, but his rapier failed to pierce its hide. His two friends froze in terror, unable to fight or flee. The boar swung its head at the new antagonist, narrowly missing the noble.

 

As Eldanth began sneaking away from the fray (wanting to be anyplace except face-to-face with it), Radka finished cocking her crossbow. She stood and fired, but missed the boar in the darkness.

 

Realizing that arrows were not effective against this brute, Lindiil cast know the beastial mind on the boar to find out why it had attacked. As he connected with the boar, he realized that the nobles had intruded on its territory ... and the nobles looked a lot like food.

 

The noble tried stabbing the boar again, but couldn't get his rapier to penetrate. "Don't just stand there. Help me!" he yelled at his friends.

 

Radka was torn with indecision. She was sure that her matchlock pistol would hurt the boar, but it was only effective at point blank range. She was certain that she didn't want to get that close.

 

Lindiil was thinking quickly. He could compel the boar to leave them alone, but the best command he could think of was, "Those four men will be enough food."

 

The two timid nobles finally recovered enough to try to fight back. One swung wildly at the boar, nearly hitting his friend with his rapier. The other took the lantern and swung it down on the boar's back. The lantern smashed and sprayed oil over the boar which quickly ignited.

 

Inspired by this turn of events, Lindiil cast his compel the beast spell. "Find some water and put out the fire on you," he mentally commanded the boar. Squealing in pain and rage, the boar spun and ran back into the ruins.

 

Eldanth, Lindiil and Radka remained hidden as the nobles picked up their fallen friend and carried him back toward the city. After they had gone, Eldanth walked back to the others. "They came here looking for trouble," he said, "Do you think they found enough?"

 

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The boar wasn't originally planned into the encounter, so I don't have a full set of stats for it. I only made up these necessary stats on the spur of the moment and ran with it.

 

Giant Boar / Dire Boar / Skull Pig (or whatever you want to call it)

 

20 BODY

60 STUN

7 OCV

4 DCV

13 PD/ED (3 points of each were resistant)

2d6 HKA (including STR)