The treasure looted from the Greenfields is headed north on the Trade Way, hidden in unmarked freight wagons that are part of the regular merchant traffic of that well-traveled road. The heroes must find out where all that loot is going, which means taking a long, danger-filled trip northward.
The characters should travel from the abandoned cult camp southeast of Greenest to the city of Elturel on the River Chionthar. Their route takes them back through Greenest, where they can return any stolen goods that they recovered from the cult and recuperate from their wounds. Nighthill greets the characters with delight and respect. He tells them that before Leosin Erlanthar left town, he bought horses and riding gear for the characters to speed their journey to Elturel. The horses are being kept at the dealer’s stables until the characters are ready to leave for Elturel; all their costs are paid for.
On horseback, characters can travel the 200 miles from Greenest to Elturel in about six days. They make the journey without incident, unless you throw an encounter or two at them to spice up the trip or to increase their XP totals. Encounters with bandits, humanoid clans, and roving monsters are appropriate in the untamed expanses of the Greenfields.
Elturel
Elturel, a large, orderly city overlooking the River Chionthar, is filled with merchants, river traders, and farmers' markets. Its most distinguishing feature is a brilliant magical light that hovers above it, illuminating it day and night. This light is painful to undead and is visible from almost every corner of Elturgard (of which Elturel is the capital), appearing from afar as a star or distant sun.
When the characters meet Ontharr Frume, they find him to be a good-natured paladin of Torm, the god of heroics and bravery. He is a man of action who loves jokes and pranks, a stiff drink, and a friendly scuffle.
If characters ask for Leosin Erlanthar when they arrive in Elturel, none of the locals know him. If they ask for Ontharr Frume, anyone can direct them to the “headquarters” of Frume’s faction, the Order of the Gauntlet, at a tavern called A Pair of Black Antlers. If the characters arrive within a tenday of Erlanthar’s departure from Greenest, then the monk is still there with his handful of disciples, too.
You can spend as much or as little time on interactions in Elturel as you and your players want. Characters are guaranteed to have a good time in Frume’s company, provided they consider continual drinking, arm-wrestling, horseback riding contests, sparring, and weapon training to be a good time. If the players don’t realize it, Erlanthar finds a quiet moment to be sure the characters understand that impressing Frume with their prowess, their honesty, and their drive is in their long-term interest. The characters can make a positive impression on Frume by winning a few contests (resolved quickly with opposed skill or ability checks) or sparring matches against his troopers or by telling entertaining tales of their exploits during the Greenest raid, in the raiders' camp, and in the dragon caves.
The Order of the Gauntlet
Late in the evening, after a day when Frume has been suitably impressed by the characters, he sends one of his squires to summon them to a private room in the tavern.
Frume’s squire shows you to a private space off the tavern’s common room and closes the door when he leaves. Waiting for you in the room are the broad-shouldered human paladin, the monk Leosin, and many pitchers of dark red wine. The paladin’s face wears a serious expression, unlike its usual open countenance.
“My friends, we have important business to discuss. At this point, you know almost as much about it as we do, and thanks to you, we know twice as much today as we did a tenday ago. Something rotten is afoot. We have no formal organization to oppose these rascals—not yet anyway. We’re working on that. And we need people like you, who know how and when to fight, and how and when to keep their heads down and observe. We can’t promise you anything except long days filled with danger and stress—but what could be better than that, eh?”
Ontharr Frume and Leosin Erlanthar, along with a handful of other concerned leaders and scholars along the Sword Coast, are in the early stages of organizing against the Cult of the Dragon.
Erlanthar’s organization is the Harpers. Characters might have heard of the older Harpers, but they’re unlikely to know much about the secretive group beyond what is generally rumored: that the Harpers are dedicated to furthering equality and justice and to keeping power out of the hands of those who don’t deserve it. Erlanthar explains that the Harpers are loosely organized; agents are allowed wide freedom of action.
Ontharr Frume represents the Order of the Gauntlet. His order shares many of the Harpers' principles, but the two organizations are very different. The Order of the Gauntlet emphasizes faith, vigilance, and constant struggle against threats of evil. Many of its members are clerics and paladins, but the order welcomes anyone who shares its ideals. Discipline is key, and the order is distinctly more structured and hierarchical than the Harpers.
The top concern of both groups is the Cult of the Dragon. In the past, the cult was more active to the east and it was focused on creating dracoliches. Its shift to the Sword Coast and new emphasis on living dragons and on Tiamat are cause for concern. The cult is on the move and it’s up to something big; the Order of the Gauntlet, the Harpers, and a third allied group known as the Emerald Enclave want to thwart the cult’s plans.
In this meeting, Frume and Erlanthar are offering the characters the chance to join their factions. At this early stage, there is no pay for members and there are no ranks. What they can offer is help and support from other members and allies, who are spread from Nashkel and Candlekeep in the south to Neverwinter and Mirabar in the north. The horses that Erlanthar arranged for the characters are just one small example of the aid the Harpers and the Order of the Gauntlet can provide.
Harpers can be recognized by the group’s symbol: a silver harp nestled between the horns of a crescent moon. Some people wear the symbol openly, and others keep it concealed. Erlanthar wears his as a medallion around his neck when he is certain that he’s not heading into a potential captive situation—sometimes openly and sometimes tucked away. Members of the Order of the Gauntlet wear their holy symbols openly. (Frume’s is the right-handed gauntlet of Torm.) The order’s universal symbol is a gauntlet grasping a sword by the blade. Frume wears such a symbol on a pendant around his neck, hidden below his flowing beard.
Characters don’t need to join either faction, but there are advantages to doing so and no real drawbacks. Even if characters don’t agree to join, Frume and Erlanthar try to enlist their aid in tracking the cult’s shipments.
The Mission
Thanks to the characters, the Harpers now know that the cult is amassing treasure and shipping it north. Where exactly this treasure is going and what the cult plans to do with it are the next two questions that need answering. Frume and Erlanthar would like the characters to join the cult’s caravan and accompany it on the journey. They could get themselves hired as guards—if not by the cult’s wagon masters, then by other merchants who are traveling in the same direction at the same time. Merchants from different companies commonly join together to form larger trains for protection. Frume has contacts among the many merchants of the region and is certain he can arrange a job.
Timing is an issue. The tracks leaving the cultists' camp and the map from Mondath’s chamber both indicate that the wagons were heading west to pick up the Coast Way road, where they would turn north to Beregost and Baldur’s Gate, a journey of about 550 miles. The wagons would take twenty-five to thirty days for that trip, depending on conditions. The wagons pulled out at least a day ahead of the characters' return to the camp, and the characters probably spent a day exploring the abandoned camp and clearing out the dragon hatchery. Returning to Greenest, resting, and traveling to Elturel account for eight to ten more days. Unless the characters walked to Elturel or lounged for days in Greenest before coming north, they should have at least ten to fifteen days before the cult’s wagons reach Baldur’s Gate.
The River Chionthar flows directly from Elturel to Baldur’s Gate. A sailing vessel can make that trip downstream in about three days if it ties up overnight for safety, or two if it risks pushing on through the night by lamplight. Frume has already arranged for such a boat to leave at dawn the next morning. They are also provided with 50 gp each to cover expenses on the trip.
If the characters turn down this mission, Frume makes some remarks about how they aren’t the people he thought they were, and he leaves the meeting more than a little bit angry. Erlanthar stays and makes one more appeal to their sense of honor and duty. If the characters still turn him down, he reaches into his tunic and pulls out a soft leather pouch, which he hands to one of the characters. Inside is a magnificent ruby worth 1,200 gp. He explains that if they take the mission, this ruby will be waiting for them in the hands of a Harper agent in Waterdeep.
That night, Frume sees that the characters are all equipped with new clothing and gear, and even new weapons if they want. He suggests that they change their appearance as much as they can in simple ways, to reduce the odds of anyone they might have met at the cult camp recognizing them.
The trip downriver to Baldur’s Gate is uneventful, regardless of whether it takes three days or two. The characters can bring their horses along on the boat if they wish. The horses won’t like it, but they’ll manage.
Baldur’s Gate
Baldur’s Gate is a bustling center of trade, with goods coming from north and south by wagon along the Trade Way and by ship on the Sea of Swords, and from the east along the River Chionthar and from Cormyr and Sembia. Baldur’s Gate is situated on a prominent bluff next to the river, overlooking an excellent natural harbor. It is divided into three distinct segments: the Upper City where the richest and most influential citizens live and where the city’s marketplace (the Wide) is located; the Lower City, which surrounds the harbor and where most of the city’s merchants live and conduct their business; and the Outer City, which lies outside the walls and where most of the city’s laborers reside in conditions that vary from crowded but clean to squalid.
Depending on timing, characters might have just a few days to wait in Baldur’s Gate, or up to a tenday. Most of that time should be spent contacting a merchant recommended by Frume and arranging affairs so they can spot the cult wagons when they arrive.
Frume’s contact is a human trader named Ackyn Selebon. He operates an equipage business in the Outer City north of the city wall, in a district called Blackgate. There he sells all the material needed for long-distance freight hauling: wagons, rope, netting, grease, chains, wheels, and so on. His shop also repairs wagons. He is not directly involved in the hiring of guards for caravans, but he knows people who are. With him to vouch for the characters, they should have no trouble getting hired on as guards for a northbound caravan, but he can’t give them work with a specific merchant.
Hiring Out
Baldur’s Gate doesn’t allow wagons, pack animals, horses, or even dogs into the city. The streets are so narrow, steep, and slick from frequent rain that heavy wagons would be a menace. This is actually one of the reasons why Baldur’s Gate is such a bustling commercial hub: for goods to pass through the city from south to north, for example, they must be unloaded in the Outer City east of the wall, carried through the city by porters on foot, and reloaded onto different wagons north of the city for the rest of their journey. No road conveniently bypasses the city—a situation that the gate’s profiteering intermediaries work hard to maintain. Most merchants find it easier to sell their loads to those intermediaries and consignment dealers when they reach Baldur’s Gate, buy a new load of exotic goods from somewhere far away, and turn around and head back home, where they can again sell the new goods at a profit.
Along with wagons, guards seldom make a continuous journey through Baldur’s Gate. Guards for northbound caravans are typically hired in Blackgate where northbound wagons begin their journey. Selebon tells the characters that if they hang around any of the taverns or tent saloons near his shop, they are sure to see all the northbound traffic. They shouldn’t hesitate to use him as a reference if a potential employer asks for one.
The northbound journey from Baldur’s Gate is arduous, so merchants travel together for safety. Each merchant hires guards independently, but the common belief is that if everyone hires two or three and enough wagons travel together, the caravan is well protected.
Within a few days (the wait is up to you and the timing you’ve worked out for the cargo’s arrival from the camp), characters spot people they recognize from the cult’s camp on the plateau. Rezmir, being a half-dragon, can’t travel openly in Baldur’s Gate; she’d be attacked by a mob. The city’s wealthy elite, however, often travel the streets in screened or curtained palanquins for both comfort and privacy. Rezmir does the same. When characters spot familiar faces from the cult camp, the cultists are carrying or accompanying a palanquin where Rezmir rides. They might catch a glimpse of her through a briefly parted curtain if they’re observant.
Rezmir and her bodyguards come to Selebon’s yard to purchase five wagons and supplies (having sold the other wagons south of the city). Once they are equipped, local porters pack merchandise and supplies onto the wagons, cover them in canvas, and lash them down.
After the characters have identified the cultists' wagons and seen their arrangements, they should have an easy time getting hired as guards. They can apply to the cultists if they feel like being reckless, but other merchants are making the same preparations to leave on the morrow. Select anyone from the list of merchants and travelers to be a potential employer. Each character makes a Charisma (
Hiring Out
| Result | |
|---|---|
| 0–5 | No one is interested in hiring the character, but he or she can tag along as a traveler. Guards sometimes quit or die on the road, and a replacement has a chance to find employment. |
| 6–10 | Hired as a basic guard for 5 gp per tenday, plus food and living expenses on the road. |
| 11–15 | Hired as a sergeant for 8 gp per tenday, plus food and living expenses on the road. |
| 16+ | Hired as a bodyguard for the merchant at 10 gp per tenday, plus food and living expenses on the road. |
All hires are for the journey to Waterdeep. Sergeants are expected to manage two to five other guards. Bodyguards are expected to stick close to their employer and protect him or her against harm.
Fellow Travelers
During the course of this journey, the characters have opportunities to meet a range of people from across Faerûn. Merchants, mercenaries, pilgrims, scholars, thieves, and explorers all mingle on the great Trade Way.
Key Nonplayer Characters
Two NPCs who join the caravan partway through the trip are especially important: Azbara Jos and Jamna Gleamsilver. Both join the caravan at Daggerford, about 120 miles south of Waterdeep and the last place where the caravan takes a day-long rest. They are not traveling together; being in Daggerford at the same time is coincidental.
Azbara Jos (see appendix D for statistics) is a male human and a Red Wizard of Thay. Red Wizards are widely disliked and mistrusted, so he takes some pains to disguise his membership in that group by always wearing a wool cap with ear and neck flaps to cover his shaved, tattooed head. It’s not an especially effective disguise; characters who make a successful DC 15 Wisdom (
Jos buys space aboard one of the cult wagons, although they turned away everyone else who sought passage earlier in the journey. He does not mingle with the other travelers and seldom speaks to anyone except the man who seems to be the leader of the cultists.
Jamna Gleamsilver (see appendix D for statistics) is a female gnome and a member of a secretive organization called the Black Network, also known as the Zhentarim. Outwardly, the Black Network provides mercenaries and other forms of muscle for hire. Informally, it is known as a criminal society akin to a widespread thieves guild. Secretly, its leaders seek to extend their shadowy fingers into every throne room and ruling council chamber in Faerûn. Like the Harpers, the Zhentarim too are aware that the Cult of the Dragon is on the move, and they need to know the cult’s plans so they can prevent them from interfering with the Zhentarim’s own plans, plus perhaps take advantage of the plunder possibilities.
That’s why Gleamsilver joins the caravan. The Black Network’s spies learned that the cult is moving freight northward, and, like the characters, she was tasked with finding out what they’re hauling and where it’s headed. Those above her seriously considered wiping out the caravan with mercenaries disguised as bandits, ransacking the wagons, and torturing cult members for the desired information. Fortunately for the characters, Gleamsilver persuaded her superiors to give her a shot at uncovering the truth in a less bloody fashion. If she hasn’t come up with something useful by the time the caravan reaches Waterdeep, she will put plan B—the one involving mass murder—into action.
Despite the vast gulf between their outlooks, the Black Network and the Harpers have a common enemy, and that is pushing them into an unlikely alliance. Gleamsilver is the antithesis of a hero—she is self-serving, a skilled thief and liar, and willing to murder anyone who stands between her and her goal.
Other Nonplayer Characters
This list of twenty NPCs is provided for when you need one quickly. You can, of course, change any details about them that you wish. Use them to flesh out the caravan, to spice up the journey, to help bring the trip to life, and to give characters people to like and protect, or dislike and quarrel with, along the way.
Achreny Ulyeltin (Male Human Merchant)
Ulyeltin is an independent wagon master with two wagons in this caravan. Both are hauling cured furs and uncured hides. He is a boorish man without a trace of civilization about him. He’s not unfriendly—just smelly, vulgar, and utterly without manners. His second wagon driver and two laborers, on the other hand, are perfectly pleasant.
Aldor Urnpoleshurst (Male Human Lawyer)
A lawyer by training but a skunk by inclination, Urnpoleshurst is relocating from Baldur’s Gate to anywhere that isn’t Baldur’s Gate. Gossip around the caravan is that he was driven out by a scandal, and that’s hard not to believe. He is suspicious of everyone and makes outrageous accusations at the drop of a hat.
Beyd Sechepol (Male Half-Elf Merchant)
Ale and beer are so common that not much money can be made hauling them long distances. But that’s what fills Sechepol’s wagon. He will make his money on the road, selling his stock to his fellow travelers in the caravan. He is diplomatic and has a gift for defusing arguments to everyone’s satisfaction before they escalate to violence, but he is careless about gear and horses—a fault that can cause friction with those who hate to see a horse mistreated through thoughtlessness.
Edhelri Lewel (Female Moon Elf Merchant)
Lewel’s wagon is loaded with exotic wood from the Jungle of Chult for the master carpenters and cabinetmakers of Waterdeep to turn into exquisite furniture. She is the exact opposite of Beyd Sechepol in temperament: impatient with people but exacting about her wagon and doting on her animals.
Eldkin Agetul (Female Shield Dwarf Guard)
Agetul has made this trip several times before and never hesitates to wave that experience in others' faces. She is a perfectionist, and she wants others to know it.
Enom Tobun (Male Lightfoot Halfling Teamster)
Tobun has driven freight wagons across Faerûn for the past forty years, from Waterdeep to Calimport and from Baldur’s Gate to Hillsfar. He is a font of stories and legends, but it’s impossible to tell the truth from fiction in his tales. If anyone challenges him on the truth of a story, he grows argumentative, then sullen and vengeful. As long as a traveler stays on his good side, Tobun is a wonderful traveling companion.
Green Imsa (Female Human Traveler)
The reason behind Imsa’s name is obvious: she is green from head to foot. Her skin, hair, eyes, nails, teeth—everything about her is green. She readily admits that she is traveling to Waterdeep in search of a remedy for her condition. The coloration doesn’t seem to bother her, but she becomes flustered if anyone asks how she came to be this way. She is friendly, if somewhat quiet, as long as the conversation stays away from her past.
Lai Angesstun (Male Gold Dwarf Merchant)
This ambitious merchant is hauling scented cooking oil and perfumes from Amn, hoping to make a huge profit from the aristocrats and dandies of Waterdeep. He talks about money constantly: how much he intends to make, how he will spend it, and how others will envy him for it. He will not spend a single copper buying anyone else a drink or a roasted turnip during the entire trip.
Lasfelro the Silent (Male Human Merchant)
From time to time, Lasfelro inexplicably breaks into merry songs and short stretches of joke-telling. His voice is a fine tenor and his jokes are hilarious. But these gregarious moods are always short. The rest of the time, he is silent as the grave, staring sullenly at the road ahead, barely moving on the seat of his wagon, seeming hardly to breathe. No one knows what he transports in his wagon, but it is guarded by a brooding gargoyle that is tethered to the wagon by a slim, silver chain.
Leda Widris (Female Human Guard)
Widris is as honest and courageous as mercenaries come. She has spent many years in the south and now wants to see the snows and frozen seas of the far north and experience what a truly cold wind feels like.
Losvius Longnose (Male Lightfoot Halfling Teamster)
Although Losvius’s nose is respectably large, even for a halfling, the appellation Longnose was hung on him for a different reason: he is curious about everything, including other people’s business, and especially other people’s embarrassing secrets. Losvius doesn’t poke his nose where it’s not wanted in a search for blackmail material. He is just overpoweringly curious about what other people don’t talk about. If he is along, there’s a good chance one or more of the characters will find him nosing through their belongings when he thought their backs were turned.
Noohar Serelim (Male Moon Elf Merchant)
Noohar and his mute brother, Selvek, are hauling exquisite wooden carvings made by the elves of Cormyr. Where his brother communicates only through sign language, Noohar may be the most articulate person the characters have ever met. Speech springs from him like music from the harp of Milil. The fact that he seldom has anything to say never seems to stop him from talking or others from listening.
Nyerhite Verther (Male Human Merchant)
A load of Calishite silk will make Nyerhite Verther a rich man in Waterdeep, or so he believes. Sadly, he did not inspect his silk carefully when he bought it, and it’s infested with worms. If anyone spots them and points them out to Verther during the trip, he becomes unhinged in his anger and grief.
Orvustia Esseren (Female Human Guard)
Esseren grew up in the farmland outside Baldur’s Gate, and this is her first trip more than two miles away from home. She is smart, tough, and talented with both spear and bow, but she knows nothing of the world beyond her aunt’s farm or of people who deal dishonestly. Her aunt, a wise woman, believes this trip will be good for her.
Oyn Evenmor (Male Human Merchant)
Evenmor is an independent wagon master hauling exotic birds to the lucrative markets in Waterdeep. He is a stubborn, argumentative man with strong opinions about almost everything, but he is generous when it comes to pouring drinks for those who will sit and argue with him endlessly.
Radecere Perethun (Male Rock Gnome Traveler)
No one knows where Perethun is ultimately headed or why. He eats alone, seldom speaks, and always rides in the back of the wagon, staring wistfully at the road gone by. The only thing that brings him out of this shell is a game of chance. He gambles boisterously and well.
Samardag the Hoper (Male Human Merchant)
Perhaps someone who hauls crates of expensive, fragile porcelain in a bouncing, jarring wagon along the Trade Way must be a born optimist. In Samardag’s world, the sky is always blue, the weather is always fine, and the outlook for tomorrow is always bright. Odds are he would be a wealthy man if he hung onto his money, but he is a soft touch for every urchin and hard-luck story that crosses his path.
Sulesdeg the Pole (Male Human Guard)
Among his tribe in his homeland of the Shaar, Sulesdeg’s name means “tall as a lodge pole.” On the Sword Coast, he is just known as “the Pole.” At 7 feet 5 inches in height, he probably is the tallest human the characters or anyone else in the caravan has ever seen. He doesn’t talk much, but when he does, people generally listen.
Tyjit Skesh (Female Shield Dwarf Guard)
It won’t take long before everyone in the caravan knows to steer clear of Tyjit Skesh. She is quick to anger and quicker to resort to her blades when something sets her off. She is honest to a fault and never fails to let people know why she was angry, so they can correct their behavior in the future. She will not tolerate bullying.
Werond Torohar (Female Human Teamster)
Quiet, unassuming Werond Torohar can handle a team of horses or mules better than anyone on the Trade Way. She has an uncanny knack for making animals understand what she wants from them with only a twitch on the reins, a whistle, and a snap of her whip. Mud, stones, and ice seem to not be obstacles at all when Torohar is handling the team. She is a starry-eyed romantic at heart, and she can bring strong men to tears with her tales of long-ago lost loves and thwarted passion.
Life on the Road
The stretch of road from Baldur’s Gate to Waterdeep is a journey of 750 miles. Horse-drawn or mule-drawn freight wagons cover 15 miles per day, depending on conditions. The animals need one day off after every six days of hauling to recover from their work. All things considered, the trip is expected to take two months.
The caravan leaving Baldur’s Gate contains the three wagons of the Cult of the Dragon plus
Nothing identifies the cult’s wagons as anything but typical merchants hauling northbound freight. They don’t bunch up during the day or camp together at night. As far as anyone else knows, their only connection is that they’re part of this caravan.
Rezmir and eight of her guards leave Baldur’s Gate secretly ahead of the caravan and ride north at a fast clip. They are headed for Castle Naerytar in the Mere of Dead Men and won’t be seen again until chapter 6. She leaves twelve Guard behind. One travels with each wagon, acting as a guard and assistant to the teamster. The other nine are cloaked as private travelers in two distinct groups, seeking company and protection in the caravan for their journey.
The wagons travel for about eight hours per day, with a few stops to feed and water the horses and mules. Many nights are spent camping along the road. Most small towns have roadside inns if travelers want more comfort, and walled hostelries catering to wagon caravans are spread a few days apart. Animals and travelers can rest comfortably at these walled compounds while wagons are safely locked inside. The map for chapter 5 shows a structure that once served that purpose. It can be used as the model for a typical hostelry if needed.
The most difficult part of the journey is near the beginning. A few days' travel north of Baldur’s Gate brings the caravan into a countryside known as the Fields of the Dead. The road twists and wanders through hills dotted with ancient battlefields, dolmens, and barrow mounds. Common wisdom holds that it’s a very bad idea to light a fire on a hilltop at night in the Fields of the Dead, because the light attracts monsters from miles around. Crossing this territory takes several days, during which everyone will be edgy and on watch.
Random Road Events
The journey north lasts about forty days, and most travelers hope these days are monotonous and uneventful. This being Faerûn, that’s never the case.
Many days pass with no excitement, but others see monster attacks, strange incidents, excitement at roadside stops, meetings with NPCs, and the ever-present question of where the cult’s wagons are headed. You can pace these events however you like. Use a few, use them all, or make up more of your own.
On a trip of this length, checking for random events every hour is excessive. The Trade Way sees a lot of travelers and it is relatively (if not entirely) safe. Check for a random event each day by rolling a
- 16 means an event occurs in the morning
- 17 means an event occurs during the first rest stop
- 18 means an event occurs in the afternoon
- 19 means an event occurs in the evening or night
- 20 means one event occurs in the morning and another during afternoon or night
When an event occurs, select one that seems appropriate to the location, the timing, and the backstory that the characters have thus far, or you can roll a
Experience point awards for these events are up to you. We recommend 300 XP per character for each situation the heroes resolve successfully. Ideally, the characters have the chance to complete eight or nine of these events. If you use the milestone experience rule, the characters reach 5th level at the end of this journey.
Trade Way Events
| d12 | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | area Adventuring Life |
| 2 | area Animal Abuse |
| 3 | area Bane of the Mountains |
| 4 | area Contraband |
| 5 | area Everything Has a Price |
| 6 | area Fungus Humongous |
| 7 | area The Golden Stag |
| 8 | area Payback |
| 9 | area No Room at the Inn |
| 10 | area Roadside Hospitality |
| 11 | area Spider Woods |
| 12 | area Stranded |
Adventuring Life
Another group of adventurers joins the caravan or is staying at the same roadside inn. Judging by their boasting, they have bested some of the most ferocious monsters and foes Faerûn has to offer. They look prosperous, they’re filled with exciting tales, and they strike up a bond with a merchant who employs one or more of the characters. The next morning, that merchant informs the characters that their services are no longer needed because he has hired more experienced guards.
The newcomers are a troop of actors trying to pay their way to the next town. They are gambling that no danger will arise that needs them to step up and fight. When it does (as it surely will), it becomes painfully obvious that not one warrior or wizard is among them; they are five human Commoner with charisma to burn and shiny stage props for weapons and armor. After they’ve been rescued from danger, the characters' former employer, now suitably chastened, is willing to hire the characters back at slightly increased wages.
Animal Abuse
One of the travelers—a noble—is regularly seen mistreating his horses. He allows their collars and girths to chafe sores in their hide, skimps on their feed, and whips them when the aching, hungry animals don’t pull hard enough or fast enough to suit him. If the characters still have their horses, he admires them and offers to buy one or more to replace the “useless nags” he is stuck with. Eventually, one of his horses will collapse in its harness, and he will either beat it to death in the road or cut it loose and leave it to die, unless one or more characters intervenes. He has a knight and a mage traveling with him as bodyguards.
Bane of the Mountains
High above, two Peryton are watching the road for fresh hearts they can consume before laying their eggs. They circle at an altitude where they are easily mistaken for eagles. Each character can make a DC 15 Intelligence (
Contraband
One of the cult wagons overturns on a difficult corner or when a wheel breaks on a rock. Of the crates that tumble free, one smashes open, revealing dozens of beautiful items of jewelry wrapped in wool for protection. This is an excellent opportunity for the characters to see some of the contraband and even to get friendly with the cultists by helping them repair their wagon.
The cult members are angry that people saw the contents of their spilled cargo. Their instructions, direct from Wyrmspeaker Rezmir, were to keep the material secure and secret. Witnesses who show much interest in the jewelry or who ask questions might need to be silenced. NPC witnesses could disappear overnight or die unexpectedly from sudden illness (which a successful DC 10 Wisdom [
Everything Has a Price
Someone in the caravan develops a fancy for a treasured possession that belongs to one of the characters. The NPC tries to buy it, but the offered price is low. The NPC persists through the day, becoming more obnoxious without getting any more generous. Unless the character takes special precautions, the object disappears overnight. If the character accuses the NPC publicly the following morning, they make an enduring enemy; that NPC doesn’t have the item and is incensed at the accusation. Someone else who witnessed the conversations the day before decided the other NPC provided perfect cover for a little nighttime thievery and took the missing item. To find the item, characters need to surreptitiously search people’s bags and wagons, since few people will agree to have their belongings rifled through as if they were common thieves—especially not a common thief.
Fungus Humongous
After two days and nights of rain, lightning, and strange whistling sounds on the wind, characters awaken to see that the surrounding countryside is blanketed with fungus. It grows everywhere, including on the road. When anyone steps on a mushroom (it’s nearly impossible not to), it emits a puff of black spores and a moan of pain. These tiny shriekers sprout from an immense mycelium that has spread beneath the area from shallow caves. They can be identified with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (
The merchants are terrified of the things and refuse to drive through them, fearing that they may be poisonous or worse. Besides that, the sounds spook the animals and make them impossible to control.
The mushrooms are growing so fast on the rain-soaked ground that a person can almost see them getting bigger. They were the size of champagne corks when first noticed; within an hour, they grow six inches tall, and a foot tall an hour later. Their growth slows down after that, but by then, most people in the caravan are certain that all is doomed.
Anyone can literally sweep a path through the mushrooms with a heavy broom, a scythe, or a tree branch. The noise is distressing. Everyone involved in this process must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. Failure means the character is overcome with feelings of grief and remorse, seemingly triggered by hearing thousands of tiny cries of pain and death groans but which is in fact the result of inhaling mildly toxic spores released by the immature fungi. Affected characters break down after
People can clear a path through the mushrooms with six man-hours of work (six people could do it in one hour, or three people could do it in two hours).
The Golden Stag
On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, a herd of deer is spotted grazing on a nearby hill. The travelers take such opportunities to hunt fresh meat for the larder. This herd, however, includes a magnificent stag (use elk statistics) that shimmers in the light as if its coat is spun from gold and its antlers plated with platinum. Nearly everyone in the caravan who can handle a bow wants to bring down that beast. Its pelt would be worth a fortune, even if it’s not real gold. A few of the more cautious types warn that the creature is clearly a blessed being and that killing it would bring bad luck on the caravan, but no more than two or three people are persuaded. In minutes, the hunt is on, and the deer herd scatters into the nearby forest and through farmers' fields.
The characters can join the chase, try to talk people down, protect the stag, or ignore the situation, as they see fit. It can be tracked through the forest with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
The stag leads hunters on a 1,500-yard chase to a moss-grown, ivy-draped ruin in the forest. There, one of three things can happen. Choose the one that best suits your game.
- The stag can be cornered, fought, and killed. It is a normal stag but with a breathtakingly beautiful coat of golden fur. If the local farmers learn that it’s been killed, they grab their pitchforks and longbows and threaten to overrun the caravan unless they are paid 500 gp for their loss; the stag brought them luck.
- The stag greets the characters in Sylvan. If none of the characters speak that language, it switches to Elvish, and if no one responds again, it tries heavily accented, pidgin Common. It assures them that they are on the right track, and they must continue following the river of gold until they reach the castle in the sky. Sadly, their path will be filled with hardship and blood. To aid them, it offers the character a +1 longbow. The bow appears on the ground before them, and then the stag fades from view saying, “Not all will survive…”
- When the characters search the tumbled ruins, they find no sign of the stag but see a thin person who resembles a wood elf with bright golden skin. The young male is naked and either is wearing an antlered headpiece or has delicate antlers growing from his head. He drops to his knees and beseeches the characters in a dialect of Elvish that is archaic but understandable. He is an elf prince, and the stones around them were once the beautiful castle where he ruled. But he was cursed by the father of the woman he loved to transform into a golden stag whenever he steps outside these walls. He has lived with the curse for so long that his kingdom is forgotten, his castle is fallen to ruin, and he no longer remembers his own name. He believes that a wizard somewhere can release him from the curse, but wherever he goes, people try to kill him for his golden coat. If the characters allow him to accompany them and protect him, he will do his best to reward them at the end of the journey. The story is true; several wizards in Waterdeep could remove the curse. The elf cannot pay a reward at the end, but the characters earn 500 XP apiece for believing him and protecting him. That job won’t be easy, because people in the caravan find their story ridiculous and look for opportunities to kill the stag.
Payback
As the caravan rounds a bend in the road, a human head can be seen sitting in the middle of the road a hundred yards ahead. From a distance, characters with a passive Wisdom (
The buried human is in bad shape from exposure and dehydration. Any healing magic or some water and a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
Many of the merchants in the caravan are of the opinion that whoever this is, if someone or something went to the trouble of marking him as a traitor and burying him up to the neck in the Trade Way, he probably deserves it and should be left there. If characters are working as guards for NPC merchants, at least one of their employers is among this group. It’s obvious from wheel tracks on the turned-over earth that other wagons have indeed passed him by during the last few days.
Digging the man out of the ground takes two diggers at least two hours, and refilling the hole takes another hour (you can’t just leave a hole in the road).
The buried man is Carlon Amoffel. He is a human spy and a member of the Harpers; characters discover a Harper tattoo on his arm if they dig him up. He has nothing but the loincloth he was buried in.
Publicly, Amoffel’s story is that the oath he broke was a promise to marry a woman. He broke the engagement because he discovered that her father and brothers were all bandits and that he was expected to join them.
If any of the characters are Harpers and they reveal their association to Amoffel, he tells them the real story. He was on exactly the same mission they are: tracking a shipment of stolen loot north. But the smugglers—he’s sure they’re members of the Cult of the Dragon—became suspicious of him. Amoffel passed information to another Harper at a roadside inn, and members of the caravan witnessed the meeting. The cultists manufactured a story that he was passing information to bandits. The merchants were unwilling to kill him outright, but they were willing to leave him buried in the road and “let providence decide the man’s fate.”
Amoffel has Harper contacts in Waterdeep and knows his way around the city. He can be a useful ally when this caravan reaches its destination.
No Room at the Inn
After a miserably wet, cold day that promises to become an even wetter, freezing night, the caravan arrives at a large inn. Upon entering the warm, comfortable common room to make arrangements for the night, the embarrassed innkeeper tells the characters that the entire inn is sold out; all the private rooms are taken and the common room is reserved for a private party. The caravan will need to spend the night outside. Looking around the room, the characters see just one group: an aristocratic judge and his entourage of three human dilettantes. They smirk at the characters while making comments such as “sleep tight” and “have a pleasant evening” followed by insults muttered under their breath about the characters' mud-spattered clothing and low breeding. If characters ask about sleeping in the stable, one of the nobles speaks up, saying, “Our horses are rather picky about who they share space with. We had to reserve all of it, too, for their sake. You understand, I’m sure.” His snooty friends have a good chuckle over that.
Spending this night in the wagons will be hard on the characters but will be misery for the unprotected horses and mules, and the only reason for it is the cruelty and arrogance of these snickering twits in the inn.
The NPCs in the inn won’t be influenced by any sort of reason or debate or by offers of money. They find the situation enormously amusing and seem pleased by the prospect of the merchants and their animals suffering in the freezing rain all night. They needle and goad the characters and their fellow travelers at every opportunity, including from the doorway and windows of the inn when no one else is inside. If the characters don’t start a fight, someone else from the caravan might.
In fact, these NPCs are four disguised Veteran traveling to Baldur’s Gate in search of employment and out to have a good laugh over someone’s misfortune. They drop all pretense after violence breaks out.
Roadside Hospitality
When the caravan reaches its stopping point for the night, two buxom twin sisters are there ahead of them, setting up camp and tending to their horses. Arietta and Zelina Innevar take a liking to some of the travelers—possibly, but not necessarily, a few of the characters—and spend the evening asking about their past, where they’re headed, whether they have family, and so on. The sisters are actually two Doppelganger. They can either attack someone that night or join the caravan for a few days while they study the travelers and choose their victims. When the time comes to strike, they wait until after dark, then try to lure their target away from other people by calling for assistance in a familiar voice. Fortunately for the characters and their fellow travelers, if one is defeated, the other one flees in a flurry of curses and vengeful threats.
Spider Woods
The Trade Way skirts around and between the huge Trollbark and Misty Forests, but it passes through many other, smaller forests that don’t appear on maps. When the caravan is passing through one such wooded region, three Ettercap and two Giant Spider attack it. They are chiefly interested in taking horses, not merchandise, but they won’t balk at taking people if they can’t get horses. Two ettercaps go after horses while the third ettercap and the giant spiders keep the caravan guards busy. An ettercap can cut a horse free from its harness in 3 rounds. After that, they retreat into the trees, leading the horse away with reins of webbing. Without horses, the wagons are stranded. The characters' employer insists they go after the ettercaps and retrieve the stolen horses.
If the characters move quickly, they have a good chance to retrieve the horses alive. The animals leave a trail through the underbrush that’s easy to follow; a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
Stranded
This is an ideal event for the Fields of the Dead region, if one occurs there, but it can be used anywhere.
The caravan sees a fight happening ahead. A freight wagon is stranded on the road, its draft animals dead. A merchant (noble) and three Guard are sheltered under the wagon, with crates dragged between the wheels for cover. They are plentifully supplied with crossbows and bolts, but the six Hobgoblin and one hobgoblin captain assailing them seem content to keep them under siege until sundown, when they plan to rush the wagon with darkness as cover. These are Urshani hobgoblins, recognizable by their unusually savage appearance (even for hobgoblins). Urshani hobgoblins adorn themselves with wolf furs, paint worg heads onto their shields, and incorporate other wolf parts and icons in their armor and clothing.
First the hobgoblins must be driven off, then the injured attended to, and then something must be done about the stranded wagon. The trader has money to buy more horses if anyone is willing to sell. Otherwise, he’ll take a lift to the next hostelry, where he can buy animals, while his three guards stay behind.
Planned Road Events
After Jamna Gleamsilver and Azbara Jos join the caravan, three planned events must take place. Their timing is up to you.
Recognized!
If the characters spent much time wandering through the raiders' camp on the Greenfields and talking to cultists, they might have struck up a conversation there with a cultist who is now one of the wagon drivers. Have each character make a Charisma check on the first day of the journey, but don’t tell players what it’s for. At some point during the journey, the character who scored the lowest result on the Charisma check is recognized by a cultist. The cultists assume that, at best, the character must be a deserter from the cult. At worst, he or she is a spy and a saboteur. At a dramatic point on the journey, when the caravan is away from Baldur’s Gate, this means trouble.
Optionally, you can dispense with this die roll and have someone recognize one of the characters automatically, for the sake of using this event.
If a character is recognized, allow that character to make a DC 15 Wisdom (
Unwanted Attention
The day after the caravan leaves Daggerford, have each character make a Wisdom (
- 9 or less: The character notices nothing.
- 10–12: The character notices that the gnome who recently joined the caravan shows an interest in the human who joined at the same time and who was welcomed aboard one of the cult wagons as a passenger. They aren’t together, but during stops, the gnome often sidles up near enough to overhear anything the human might say, and she has also been spotted hovering near the cult wagons when the cultists are busy with tasks other than guarding the wagons closely.
- 13–15: The character notices that the gnome shows an interest in the characters. She has spoken to several of them, asking innocuous questions and commenting on the weather. She leaves the impression of being someone who flawlessly takes in every detail about people and her surroundings.
- 16+: The character notices both and has the impression that Gleamsilver is aware of the characters watching her, too.
If someone reveals a Harper badge to Gleamsilver, she responds with a curt “put that away, fool,” and leaves.
Who’s Your Friend?
On the morning of the day when the caravan is four days' travel from Waterdeep (two days after “Unwanted Attention”), Jamna Gleamsilver approaches the characters just as they are sitting down to the morning meal. After glancing around to make sure none of the cultists are watching, she puts her fingers to her lips, then takes the bowl of oatmeal that one of them is about to eat.
After poking through your oatmeal with the blade of her dagger, the gnome lifts it out and shows you an oatmeal-smeared object resembling a tiny bead. She glances over her shoulder toward where cultists sit at their breakfast. “It’s a sliver of bone,” she whispers, “curled into a circle so you can swallow it in a mouthful of gruel without noticing. Once eaten, it slowly uncurls inside you, exposing needle points that pierce your guts and kill you slowly. I suspect they’re in all your breakfasts.” As she gets up and walks away, she adds, “Let’s talk this evening.”
No more bone slivers are in the characters' gruel. The one Gleamsilver showed them was already stuck to the underside of her dagger before she poked it into the bowl. If characters dig through their oatmeal looking for slivers, let them make DC 15 Intelligence (
That evening, after most of the travelers have bedded down, Gleamsilver comes to the characters. She begins by introducing herself if that hasn’t happened previously. Otherwise, she gets right to the point.
“We don’t work for the same people, but we’re all on the same side—we share a belief that the Cult of the Dragon must be stopped. I need to know what they’re carrying in those wagons and where they’re taking it. Will you help me find out? We can do it tonight.”
If the characters tell Gleamsilver what they know about the cult’s cargo, she expresses gratitude and relief that she doesn’t need to risk breaking into their wagons. In fact, she already knows, but she needed to find out what the characters know. She pumps them for every bit of information they’re willing to share while offering little in return except confirmation of what they already know. If the characters haven’t figured out that Azbara Jos is a Red Wizard of Thay, she points that out and raises the question of why a Red Wizard is chumming it up with Cult of the Dragon members.
Gleamsilver is especially cagey about why she’s interested in all this. The gnome never mentions the Zhentarim or the Black Network. She never comes out and says she works for the Harpers, either. Gleamsilver is an expert at picking up on the subtlest clues and using them to seem to know things she doesn’t actually know and to say what people want or expect to hear. She uses that talent to great advantage against the characters in all their dealings. If players ask to use Wisdom (
Murder Most Foul
Two days after “Who’s Your Friend?” happens, the camp awakens to a killing. One of the cultists acting as a wagon guard was murdered overnight. He was stabbed in the back with a sword (the wound is too big to be from a dagger) and left where he fell beneath a cult wagon.
The dead man’s companions immediately accuse one of the characters and demand to inspect the characters' weapons. If the character carries a shortsword, it will be a match, although that proves nothing. Any sword that size would be close enough. Many footprints are around the wagon, but a successful DC 10 Intelligence (
By this point in the journey, the characters should be popular with the other travelers; they probably have saved numerous lives and the entire caravan more than once. The cultists, on the other hand, are not so popular. They are standoffish and even a bit odd. This works in the accused character’s favor, because many people will speak up in his or her defense.
If a character suggests that the wagon’s owners should open their crates to see if anything is missing, the accusations die away. (If a character doesn’t suggest this, an onlooker in the crowd does.) Uncharacteristically, Azbara Jos comes forward and tries to calm the situation, in the process saying more than anyone has so far heard him say at one time.
In the end, the caravan’s most prominent merchants agree that without witnesses, nothing can be done. The gods will punish the guilty party and life will go on.
Most of the cultists never again look at the accused character with anything but undisguised hatred. This animosity becomes important later on in chapter 5.
The murderer was, of course, Jamna Gleamsilver. Knowing what was in the cargo, she couldn’t resist helping herself to some. The theft itself is undetectable, because she left no signs, and the cult isn’t carrying a manifest of its looted treasure. The guard interrupted her in the act and had to die; it was just that simple.