TEXT: 1
  Wild OneShots
  
  Wild One-Shots
  In this book
  One of the most useful tools I ever ran across as a young DM in the early 90’s 
  was AD&D’s Book of  Lairs II. I had run a few classing modules, but wasn’t very 
  good at writing any original stories beyond dungeon crawls - but in that book I 
  really started to learn how to write.  
  Every critter in the Monster Manual can have it’s own story, it’s own unique 
  challenges, and nothing has to be a boring throw-away trash mob.
  I prepared the encounters in this book in that spirit, hopefully giving you a 
  tool that will let you take some simple, short encounters and use them to tell  
  great stories at your game table. You can play them however you like, completely 
  ignoring the backstory or diving deep into the role.
  Just remember to have fun, and happy adventuring! 
  Encounter Tables 
   
   
  1
   
  ‘On the Road’ Plot Ideas
   
  Random Wilderness Encounters
   
  Random Mountain Encounters
   
  Random Swamp Encounters
  Raiders of the Sky Stone 
   
  3
   
  for Level 1-3
  The Magical Spring of Hauttfer 
  6
   
  for Level 2-4
  Through the Night Gate 
   
  8
   
  for Level 4-6
  Rampage on Breakburn Fen  
  11
   
  for Level 5-7
  No Good Deed 
   
   
  14
   
  for Level 6-8 
  The Toad Temple 
   
   
  17
   
  for Level 8-10 
  Riddle Me This 
   
   
  19
   
  for Level 11-13 
  A New Sister  
   
   
  23
   
  for Level 12-14 
  A Giant Squabble 
   
   
  27
   
  for Level 15-17  
  The Carrion Field 
   
   
  30
   
  for Level 16-18 
  Brassman Foundry
  William Fisher, Principal
  Matthew Charles, Lead Designer
  Anna Alexanian, Creative Director
  info@brassmanfoundry.com
  www.brassmanfoundry.com
  Encounters written by: William Fisher
  Editing: Matt Charles, Maggie Kirk and      
  William Fisher
  Cover Art: Andrew Weinman
  Design: William Fisher
  Cartography: William Fisher 
  Credits
  Contents:
  
  1
  Wild OneShots
  Wilderness Plots and encounter tables
  How to Use this book
  There is no right or wrong way for a Dungeon Master to use these stories - we created this book 
  as a tool you can quickly pull off the shelf and quickly add some flavor to your table, so feel free to 
  change, ignore, or add anything that works best with your story 
  Each writeup is split into the following sections:
  Background - There’s a story behind every fight, so we’ve given you plenty of information to be able 
  to role play the baddies and their motivations.  If you want to jump right into a fight, feel free to skip 
  right to the crunchy bits.  
  Encounters - Each story is broken down by major plot events or settings, and gives you details about 
  how enemies or NPCs will act and how the players should be guided through the story. In addition to 
  the maps and stat blocks in the book, each encounter also has a Quick Card which details the enemies, 
  map, and special rules and tactics for the fight, as well as a place where you can track enemy HP.
  Fitting it in - All of these encounters have NPC and placenames for generic settings, but they are 
  designed so you can include your own villians, towns or forest names to fit best in your campaign. 
  Each encounter also includes plot hook suggestins on how to motivate your players into getting in-
  volved, but as always feel free to make up your own.
  Rewards and Scaling - The last section of each encounter writeup includes XP, Treasure, and Scal-
  ing suggestions.  These are more quick tools so you don’t have to go look anything up, but feel free to 
  change them to better suit the advancement speed, level of wealth, and magic you want in your world.
  Play Mechanics - A basic stat block for all creatures in the encounter are included in the writeup 
  and on the quick encounter cards, as well as a map that you can use to set up the main action for your 
  players. You may want to familiarize yourself with powers and spells of any given enemy, and the 
  specific book refernce pages can be found in the “scaling” section. 
  • You come to a river where a ferryman says
  the price of passage is saving a stranger’s life.
  • A druid convinces your mounts to go on
  strike until they get wages and benefits.
  • As you walk, rocks and boulders begin to fol-
  low, rolling along beside and behind you.
  • An Orc and an Elf in prison clothes run out
  of the woods, shackled together and breathing 
  heavily from running.
  • A tiny elderly woman camps beside the road,
  chopping wood for a fire with her bare hands.
  • A man with pure black eyes has a fruit stand by the
  road, and something is banging under the counter.
  • You grow suddenly sleepy, and realize you are
  in the center of a large patch of mushrooms 
  emitting strange spores.
  “on the road” plot ideas
  Stuck for a story idea? Here are a bunch of 
  open-ended events that you can use to base an 
  encounter on.  
  • You cross a border into a land where writing
  is outlawed by the church.
  • A Tavern and a crossroads suddenly, magically
  appears ahead of you in the road. 
  • A talking cat tests riddles on all travellers,
  apprenticing to become a sphinx.
  • A hunting party of pixies riding squirrels
  overtakes you, on the trail of the “changeling 
  fox.”
  • A small cairn of stones is in the center of
  the road, painted with runes reading “Warning: 
  minimum safe distance”
  
  2
  Wild OneShots
  Mountain/Hill Encounters
  Swamp/Coast Encounters
  Roll a d10 and tailor the challenge to your level
  Roll
  Result
  1
  Basilisks (mm24) sleep hidden in a 
  grove of statues
  2
  Air Elementals (mm124) swarm around 
  a magical gem
  3
  Yeti (mm305) have blocked the road
  4
  Owlbears (mm249) compete for mates
  5
  Perytons (mm251) fly out of nowhere 
  and try to fly off with the smallest PC
  6
  Gargoyles (mm140) Guard a tomb
  7
  Duergar (mm122, mtf190) pan for gold
  8
  Gold Dragon (mm115) has a shrine 
  where it is answering pilgrim’s questions.
  9
  Orcs and Orogs (mm247) camp just off 
  the road with captured slaves
  10
  Giant Elk (mm325) escort a child to a 
  druidic ceremony 
  (plot ideas continued)
  • You approach a hard line where the vege-
  tation is massively overgrown in a wide circle 
  around a huge statue of a dragon.
  • A jewel sparkles in the road ahead of you.
  When you pick it up it opens a massive sinkhole
  • A dog walks out of the bushes and drops a
  human ear in the road.
  • The sky darkens as a massive flock of birds
  fly overhead from the west, where distant music 
  is playing
  • A woman in white walks suddenly up, asking
  to travel with you for protection. As night falls, 
  she rises up to the stars on a beam of light.
  • You approach a huge stone sarcophagus large
  enough for a giant.  You hear a grinding noise as 
  the lid begins to move.
  Wilderness/Forest Encounters
  Roll a d10 and tailor the challenge to your level
  Roll
  Result
  1
  Yuan-ti (mm309) are rounding up 
  snakes and reptiles into a cage
  2
  Giant Crocodiles(mm324) hide in a pool
  3
  a Catoblepas (vgm129) lumbers by, 
  knocking a tree onto the path
  4
  Ochre Jelly (mm243) devour a wagon
  5
  Shambling Mound (mm270) waits direct-
  ly in the road for someone to step on it
  6
  Banshee (mm23) surround a burial mound
  7
  Lizardfolk (mm205) drag a litter filled 
  with dragon bones and scales
  8
  Water Elementals (mm125) are bound to 
  a spring of clean water feeding an aqueduct
  9
  Sahuagin (mm263) drag a bound elf 
  towards the ocean
  10
  Troll (mm291) and Ogres (mm237) are 
  collecting tolls
  Roll a d10 and tailor the challenge to your level
  Roll
  Result
  1
  Boars (mm319) and Giant Boars 
  (mm323) are circled in a clearing
  2
  Bugbears (mm33) lead a caravan of 
  wagons - it is probably stolen
  3
  Griffons (mm174) guard an egg clutch
  4
  Ettercaps (mm131) and Giant Spiders 
  (mm328) guard bolts of spidersilk cloth
  5
  Young Green Dragons (mm94) are prac-
  ticing hunting
  6
  A Revenant (mm259) and other venege-
  ful dead seek their murderer
  7
  Carrion Crawlers (mm37) strip a corpse
  8
  Quicklings (vgm187) and Pixies (mm253)  
  have a racetrack set up
  9
  Elf Shadow Dancer (mtf225) trains 
  apprentices deep in the woods 
  10
  Awakened Plants (mm317) have taken 
  over the area surrounding a spring
  
  3
  Wild OneShots
  Wilderness Encounter:
  Raiders of the Sky Stone
  About the Encounter
  A band of warriors from a remote tribe have wan-
  dered far from home in search of a sacred relic, and 
  they won’t let anyone interfere.
  For: 4 level 2 characters
  Setting: Wilderness or Forest 
  Play Time Estimate: 45 minutes
  Background
  Sha’an Burningeye, the Skyspeaker of the Bright 
  Eagle Kin woke in the middle of the night shouting, 
  and most of the village was soon awake with her 
  as she sought out the collection of maps that the 
  hunters have brought back over the decades.  The 
  stars had spoken to her in dreams, and they would 
  soon send a gift to the Kin - one that the far-hunters 
  would have to travel for months to receive.
  The stars had not sent a sky stone to the kin for 
  decades, and this one would be exceptionally powerful 
  as it was foreseen falling from the blade of the War-
  rior. A small band left the next day to travel hundreds 
  of leagues to the spot where the meteorite would fall 
  to earth (if the Skyspeaker was to be believed,) with 
  Nukilik offering to lead them. The Skyspeaker quick-
  ly agreed that he was the best choice, he is one of the 
  most skilled and powerful hunters of the Kin, but he 
  is not yet huntmaster or warmaster and the village 
  would not be threatened by months of his absence.
  The hunters have now traveled for weeks through 
  unfamiliar lands, avoiding civilized peoples who may 
  interfere with their sacred mission or covet the stone 
  for themselves. They have been encamped for al-
  most a week near where the shaman indicated, but 
  either the terrain changed, or the map was inaccurate 
  because when the fiery tail of the skystone lit the sky 
  last night it appeared to fall miles from the Bright 
  Eagle camp.
  And now, after months of walking and waiting, 
  Nukilik and his hunter band have to race to find the 
  fallen skystone before someone else reaches it and 
  he fails his sacred duty.
  Getting the PCs Involved
  • Any- The PC’s witness the burning line in the sky
  and flash of impact as an object falls to earth nearby.
  • Travelling- While traveling through the woods, they
  reach a spot where the trees are damaged, flattened in 
  a pattern originating from a blackened crater.
  • Retrieval- A master smith has gotten word from
  a sage that a large meteorite will soon fall to earth, 
  and it’s metal could be used to forge an incredibly 
  powerful weapon.
  • Lawful- A magistrate has gotten complaints of
  some stealth and skilled hunter poaching small 
  game from one of the local estates, and is looking 
  for help tracking the culprits down. 
  The Encounter
  The Night before
  Any sleeping PC’s are awoken in the dead of the 
  night by a loud rumbling. 
  It is obvious which direction the meteorite was 
  traveling in, but it should take a Survival Check 
  DC14 to estimate the accurate distance and path to 
  the impact site.
  “A strange glow appears in the northern sky. Half  a 
  minute later the glow proves to be coming from a massive 
  streak of  fire on the northern horizon, headed your way. 
  As the fireball crosses overhead it takes on a greenish hue, 
  and the low rumble turns into a roaring wall of  sound.  
  Almost as fast as it came overhead, it has crossed the sky 
  to the east and vanishes behind trees.  Suddenly there is 
  a massive thunderous sound, the ground shakes, and the 
  eastern sky brightens almost to daylight for several seconds. 
  A minute later all is eerily silent once more.”
  Quick-Use Encounters: in the wilderness
  
  4
  Wild OneShots
  Meeting the Tribe
  The PC’s should meet the men of the tribe well 
  away from the site where the meteorite fell to earth.  
  One of the Bright Eagle scouts will be on reconnais-
  sance in front of the main group (Passive stealth 16, 
  although they would be actively avoiding detection) 
  and spot the party, signaling back their location. If 
  spotted himself, the scout will do everything possi-
  ble to vanish into the wilderness.
  To make sure they don’t interfere in his sacred mis-
  sion, Nukilik wants to peacefully confront the party 
  and determine their interest in the Sky Stone. Although 
  he has no desire to be openly hostile, his distrust of 
  outsiders means he will be cautious, with enough 
  demonstration of strength to discourage a fight.
  Nukilik will be polite and calm as he tries to deter-
  mine the PC’s intentions.  He will volunteer as little 
  information as possible about his mission, although 
  will freely discuss his tribe and how far they are from 
  home. If a player brings up the meteorite he will ca-
  sually try to learn what they know and if they are also 
  seeking the impact site. If they turns hostile, one of 
  the scouts will fire a warning arrow from behind the 
  party, and Nukilik will remind the players that he is 
  not looking for a fight, but he is prepared to win one.
  Aside from a fight, there are several ways this con-
  versation can end.  
  • If the party is actively seeking the meteorite, 
  Nukilik will clearly warn them against seeking fur-
  ther and his band will withdraw and sneak off.
  • If anyone offers to help the tribe to find the 
  stone, he will try to discourage them but will ulti-
  mately accept them accompanying his band (so he 
  can keep an eye on them)
   • If the PC’s seem convincingly disinterested in 
  the meteorite (and the massive explosion overnight) 
  Nukilik will give them a cautious benefit of the 
  doubt, he will wish the players well, and take off 
  without the need for stealth.
  If a fight does occur, the tribe will try to disable 
  weak PC’s while remaining under as much strategic 
  cover as possible. If they manage to drop a player or 
  two they will strategically withdraw from the battle-
  field with their own wounded and make best speed 
  to the crater.  If they are obviously outmatched 
  (more than half of them are defeated) they will 
  retreat and scatter in multiple directions.
  However this first meeting ends, the players will 
  probably want to investigate the impact site, which is 
  still several hour’s travel away.  Navigating there will 
  yet again take a DC14 survival check (although as the 
  players get closer, you can lower the DC as they nar-
  row in on the right spot.)  It is possible to track Nuki-
  lik’s band, but they will actively try to throw pursuers 
  off their trail (Contested survival check) Lastly, if the 
  players have a way of getting a bird’s eye view (from a 
  familiar, for instance) the site the meteorite landed is 
  obvious even from many miles away.
  The Crater of the Sky Stone
  The place where the sky stone fell to earth is now a 
  massive crater, 100ft wide, 200ft long, and 30ft into 
  the earth at the deepest (The crater itself is blasted 
  almost smooth, but the trees closest to the blast site 
  have been flattened, creating difficult terrain for 30ft 
  all around.  Further away from the impact there are 
  still trees, battered but standing.
  Scout  
  Med. Humanoid    
  HP 16       AC 13        Move: 30’
  Per: 15       Init: 12      Keen Hearing and Sight
  Attacks: Multiattack(2), Shortsword+4 
  (1d6+2pi)   Longbow+4 15-/600ft (1d8+2pi)
  Skills: Nature+4, Perception+5, Stealth+6, 
  Survival+5
  Tribal Warrior 
  Med. Humanoid    
  HP 11       AC 12        Move: 30’
  Per: 10       Init: 10      Pack Tactics
  Attacks: Spear+3  5ft or 20’/60’ (1d6+1 pi)
   “Suddenly a man steps from behind a tree into your 
  path. He is tall and lean, wearing roughly sewn leather 
  and furs and wielding a long spear with a bone blade. As 
  he looks you over, several similarly dressed figures make 
  themselves known, remaining in the shadows of  the trees 
  behind him.
  He addresses you formally in accented common ‘I am 
  Nukilik, of  the Kin. I wish you peace. My band is only 
  passing through, and seek information on these lands.’”  
  
  5
  Wild OneShots
  In the center of the crater the sky stone lays, half 
  buried in loose soil.  The stone that caused such 
  destruction is a rough chunk of dark metal speck-
  led with shining silver flakes, only 5 inches across 
  and a little over 10 lbs. It has lost it’s explosive heat, 
  instead being almost ice cold to the touch although 
  not enough to cause any ill effects when handled.
  Unless they accompanied the Kin, PC’s arrive 
  to find the warriors of Bright Eagle have already 
  reached the site and are cautiously approaching the 
  center of the crater. The scouts remain hidden in 
  the remaining trees and in the event of combat they 
  will use the woods as ½ Cover (+2 AC.) The warriors 
  are spread out near the deepest part of the crater, 
  with Nukilik himself in the lead, slowly advanc-
  ing while offering prayers to the stars in the tribe’s 
  native tongue. All of the band is alert for strangers 
  approaching to interrupt them, and if they spot the 
  players approaching will call out a short signal.
  The scouts will fire a warning arrow at anyone 
  spotted approaching through stealth, but Nukilik will 
  pause and address anyone who openly approaches, 
  or if a player gets closer to the stone than he is.  The 
  conversation will follow a similar line as the previous 
  encounter, although he will be insistent that he be 
  the only one to touch the stone and he will be leav-
  ing with it.  If they are negotiating, he is willing to 
  offer a boon, and ultimately to pay the players every-
  thing the band has to peacefully retrieve the stone.  
  Ultimately Nukilik knows there are only two 
  options - he returns home with the sky stone or he 
  and his men die trying, so if negotiations stall he 
  will offer one final warning before personally begin-
  ning combat. The scouts will use their bows from 
  the cover of the treeline, focusing on the strongest 
  fighters.  Similarly the warriors and their leader will 
  close and focus on one combatant at a time.
  If the players offer to surrender they will be given 
  quarter, and if the Kin end up holding the crater, 
  they will attempt to stabilize any players who have 
  been reduced to 0 hp. On the other hand if the fight 
  turns badly, any warrior left standing will attempt to 
  claim the meteorite and flee.
  The Reward
  Depending on the tone of your campaign, the 
  encounter should yield full experience (300xp) for 
  negotiating with the raiders or for a combat victory. 
  The Sky Stone is not in itself magical, but is made 
  of a rare metal that may have special properties of 
  its own.  It is priceless to the Bright Eagle Kin and 
  probably to others, and they would gladly part with 
  all of their money and goods (20gp) to leave with it.
  If the tribesmen are defeated, they can be searched 
  to find the following coin and trade goods: 17 Silver, 1 
  Platinum, 12 animal furs (3gp), 1 tiger eye worth 10 gp
  Remember, you can scale this reward to better fit 
  your campaign wealth level.
  Scaling
  Scale the encounter by changing the number of Kin.
  The full listings for the creatures involved in the 
  encounter are:  Scout CR1/2 (MM349)  Tribal War-
  rior CR1/8 (MM350) 
  Version1: 1 Scout, 4 Tribal Warrior 400xp encoun-
  ter 200xp award
  Version 2: 2 Scout, 4 Tribal Warrior 600xp en-
  counter 300xp award 
  Version 3: 2 Scout, 6 Tribal Warrior 875xp en-
  counter 350xp award
  encounter
  Lvl 1
  Lvl 2
  Lvl 3
  Lvl 4
  Version 1
  Deadly
  Med
  Easy
  Trivial
  Version 2
  Deadly
  Hard
  Med
  Easy
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Med
  Easy
  
  6
  Wild OneShots
  Wilderness Encounter:  
  The Magical Spring of 
  Hauttfer
  About the Encounter
  A spring near town is reported to have powerful 
  magic, but the legend is only half right.
  For 4 characters at level 4
  Setting: Forest or Wilderness near a settlement
  Play time estimate: 60 minutes
  Background
  Decades ago a great wizard was traveling through 
  the town of Hauttfer and told the publicans of the 
  town that, in exchange for their warm hospitality, 
  he had enchanted a nearby spring to grant youth 
  and beauty to anyone who drinks of it. Since then, 
  countless treasure hunters, adventurers and hopeful 
  locals have searched the forest near the town to find 
  the mystical fountain. 
  Almost every word out of the mouth of the legend-
  ary ‘Wizard Erisster’ was a lie. He wasn’t even a wiz-
  ard, just a con man looking for free room and board 
  for a week. The spring is quite real, but the magic en-
  chanting it is quite different and much more danger-
  ous than the legend states. ‘Errister’ slipped a stone of 
  contagion into a spring deep in the woods, and most 
  of those who have stumbled across it never survive 
  to spread the tale. Why he would do this is anybody’s 
  guess. Some people just want to see the world burn… 
  or drink lethally contaminated ‘magic water.’
  Some of the unfortunate seekers of the spring did 
  not go quietly into that long night; either the pain 
  of their torturous deaths, the anger at being cruelly 
  tricked, or the dark magic that took their lives have 
  left them clinging to this world. The undead are 
  clustered around the ‘magic spring,’ where they suc-
  cumbed. They quickly mass to drive off any living 
  thing that approaches the spring, possibly to protect 
  the foolish from the same fate but more likely out of 
  a burning hatred of the living.
  Getting the PC’s Involved
  • Any- The innkeep at the The Boiling Boar Arms 
  in Hauttfer has a “treasure map” that points to the 
  legendary spring of youth that lies in the forest 
  near the town. He will sell it to the PC’s for a mea-
  ger 10gp.
  • Traveling- On a little-used path through the 
  woods, the PC’s notice the forest has gone silent, 
  and a phosphorescent glow comes from mush-
  rooms on a nearby rock face.
  • Good PCs- A young woman is looking for a track-
  er to help find her brother, who never came back 
  from hunting two days ago.
  • Hired work- A noble seeks the magical healing 
  water of the spring to heal his dying daughter, and 
  sends the PC’s to Hauttfer to find it.
  The Encounter
  The Road from Hauttfer
  Unless you have your players randomly stumble 
  across the spring, they are probably going to be 
  seeking the legendary waters. This should be chal-
  lenging (as it is a truly ‘lost’ spring that very few live 
  to tell the tale of) but should not be discouraging or 
  seem impossible.
  By asking around Hauttfer, greasing some palms 
  and loosening some tongues, you should let the PC’s 
  acquire a questionable map or vague directions to 
  the rumored location of the spring.
  The journey should take most of a day, leading 
  the PC’s more than a dozen miles away from town 
  and away from all roads.  The forest is teeming with 
  wildlife and generally safe, with signs of light foot 
  traffic, woodcutting camps, and deer trails.
  Eventually the players will reach a section of the 
  woods where the paths are all overgrown, the trees 
  are old and there is more shade than sky above 
  them. When they get close to the spring itself, the 
  change in the atmosphere should be apparent - 
  either by having the players roll perception DC 11 
  to notice a sudden lack of wildlife, or just through 
  narration.
  
  7
  Wild OneShots
  The Spring 
  They place they are seeking is a small, mostly 
  nondescript rocky extrusion that has formed a small 
  hill. On one side of this formation, the bare rock 
  face has a crack with water spilling out of it into a 
  4ft wide, 2ft deep pool that has worn into the rock 
  ground. The water is so clear that it almost sparkles, 
  especially with the steady trickle of water falling 
  down from the rock face. 
  Trees and shrubs come up almost to the edge of 
  the pool making it hard to spot unless you know 
  what you are looking for, despite the underbrush 
  being sparse. The local forest is almost completely 
  empty of animal life but strewn with mushrooms, 
  giving the area a serene, mystical feel. Of course at 
  second glance the verdant plant life is growing off 
  abundant corpses and the bones of animals and men 
  litter the forest floor.
  Several  undead victims of the pool’s curse lie ran-
  domly on the forest floor among the other corpses, 
  and will slowly rouse to confront anything larger than 
  a dog that approaches the pool. The undead are most-
  ly mindless, and will initially attack the closest creature 
  to the water without fear or organization. Some may 
  be slower to rise than others, and will attack the near-
  est creature if combat has already started.
  At the bottom of the pool is a small emerald per-
  manently enchanted with a potent Contagion spell, 
  which contaminates the water and will affect anyone 
  who touches the stone with bare flesh. The stone 
  radiates strong necromantic magic.
  Any animal or person that drinks from the pool 
  itself will contract an extremely deadly strain of 
  Flesh Rot. Initially, 1 level of exhaustion is removed 
  and individuals feel an immediate surge of strength 
  and well-being, but within 2 hours the disease takes 
  effect and the affected individual must make a Con 
  save DC15 or take 1d8 necrotic damage, suffer Cha-
  risma disadvantage and vulnerability to all damage. 
  Every consecutive 2 hours, they must make another 
  DC15 Con save or take another 1d8 necrotic. As 
  with contagion, passing 3 Constitution saves will end 
  the disease, but the disease persists until they have 
  passed those checks or the victim dies. Anyone who 
  dies of this disease has a 10% chance of rising as an 
  undead creature sometime in the next month.
  Skeleton 
  Med. Undead    
  HP 13       AC 13        Move: 30’
  Per: 9       Init: 12      Darkvision 60ft
  Attacks: Shortsword+4 (1d6+2 pi) Short-
  bow+4  80/320ft (1d6+2 pi)
  Vulnerable to blunt, Immune to Poison
  Zombie 
  Medium Undead 
  HP 22       AC 8       Move: 20’
  Per: 8       Init: 8      Darkvision 60’
  Attacks: Slam+3 (1d6+1 blunt)
  Undead Fortitude if reduced to 0 hp, takes 
  a con save DC5+dmg to drop to 1hp instead. 
  Radiant damage or critical hits cancel this save.
  Warhorse Skeleton  
  Large Undead    
  HP 22       AC 13        Move: 60’
  Per: 9       Init: 11      Darkvision 60ft
  Attacks: Hooves+6 (2d6+4 blunt)
  Vulnerable to blunt, Immune to Poison
  
  8
  Wild OneShots
  On one of the fresher corpses there is a journal 
  detailing the adventures of Markain Hawklight, who 
  followed the trail to the spring several months ago 
  and had the forethought to write down his final 
  experiences as the disease coursed through his body. 
  His last journal entries describe exactly how he 
  ‘outwitted’ the undead ‘guardians’ of the spring, and 
  then how he came to the horrible realization that the 
  water is cursed rather than blessed.
  The Reward
  Depending on your story goals, you should reward 
  the PC’s 200xp or other appropriate amount if they 
  decide to deal with the corruption of the spring, in 
  addition to the 600xp for defeating the undead. Also, 
  putting the many corpses to proper rest should yield 
  xp or inspiration.
  The disease spreading emerald will be of worth to 
  someone (300gp) although the corruption is in-
  stantly evident to any potential buyer, and it would 
  probably be unwise to sell to anyone who actually 
  WANTS a horribly dangerous cursed gem.
  A thorough search of the many possessions and 
  corpses around the spring reveal that most of the 
  weapons and gear have long since weathered to junk, 
  but PC’s can find:
  210cp, 90 sp, 70 gp, 2x Onyx (50gp), 2x Jasper 
  (50gp), Moonstone (50gp) 
  Remember, you can scale this reward to better fit 
  your campaign wealth level.
  Scaling
  The full listings for the creatures involved in the 
  encounter are: Skeleton CR1/4 (MM272)  Warhorse 
  Skeleton CR1/2 (MM273) Zombie CR1/4 (MM316)
  Version 1: 3 Skeleton, 2 Warhorse Skeleton, 1 
  Zombie 800xp encounter 400xp award 
  Version 2: 4 Skeleton, 3 Warhorse Skeleton, 2 
  Zombie 1500xp encounter 600xp award
  Version 3: 6 Skeleton, 4 Warhorse Skeleton, 3 
  Zombie 2550xp encounter 850xp award
  encounter
  Lvl 3
  Lvl 4
  Lvl 5
  Lvl 6
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Easy
  Trivial
  Version 2
  Deadly
  Hard
  Easy
  Easy
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Med
  Med
  Wilderness Encounter: 
  Through the night gate
  About the Encounter
  A powerful Fae Lord is traveling away from the 
  Feywild, and the guards he set on the door home are 
  restless
  For: 4 characters at Level 5
  Setting: Any Remote Wilderness 
  Play Time Estimate: 60 minutes
  Background
  The faerie Lord Sléibhín Scalaidhe (SKA-ly), 
  Count of the unseelie court and keeper of the night 
  roads is on vacation. This happens regularly enough, 
  as the guardian of secret passages to and around the 
  Feywild he and his entourage spend a lot of time 
  on the road. Today Lord Scalaidhe is on a rare trip 
  to the mortal realms, traveling deep under the earth 
  to an audience with a powerful drow priestess that 
  seeks favor of the dark fae.
  Which means that deep in the forest the gate he 
  came though, a door into the deep dark reaches of 
  Faerie, stands open waiting for the ambassador’s 
  return.
  Of course, it is Scalaidhe’s duty to protect the ways 
  into faerie and leaving a gate standing wide open 
  (even in the middle of nowhere) would be a faux 
  pas.  However entertaining it would be for a mortal 
  to wander into the night paths and become lost in 
  the Feywild, it would probably annoy the Queen of 
  Air and Darkness, so the Count has left a loyal guard 
  behind him.
  For today at least, at the bottom of a wooded dell, 
  an ancient runestone stands and crossing behind it 
  widdershins will reveal the gate to night. Posted in 
  front of it are a pair of displacer beasts and their 
  darkling footmen, the loyal guards of Scalaidhe 
  tasked with keeping mortals ignorant and the ca-
  pricious beings of the Feywild on their side of the 
  
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  Wild OneShots
  gate.  They will stand guard for the next two days 
  and nights as the envoy concludes his business and 
  returns to close the gate behind him.  And they are 
  very, very bored.  
  Getting the PCs Involved
  • Camped at night- a very stealthy intruder rifles 
  the groups possessions, takes some odd trinkets, 
  and wanders back into the woods.
  • Caster PC- A player’s familiar (or an unrelated 
  enchanted messenger animal) becomes suddenly 
  distracted, leading the PC’s to a powerful magic 
  deep in the woods.
  • Traveling- on a secluded road the party sees a 
  large and obvious track where a band of heavy feet 
  and hooves came out of the deep wilderness.
  • Good PCs- A faerie dragon (or other good fae) 
  approaches the PC’s for help with intruders in her 
  territory. 
  The Encounter
  Finding the Gate
  The gate into the Feywild is several miles off of 
  any traveled path and so randomly stumbling across 
  it is unlikely, however there are plenty of ways the 
  players could be drawn towards this particular loca-
  tion.
  Most notably, the energy of the feywild leaking 
  into the material should be creating strange reactions 
  that even mundane mortals would notice.  Animals 
  may behave strangely, a lone cloud or a rainbow may 
  hover in the sky over the gate, faint music or faerie 
  lights may appear to players even miles away. This 
  should be enough to let the PC’s know that there 
  is something out there they should investigate, and 
  point them in a general direction.
  To point them all the way to the location, the 
  players will be able to find the obvious tracks of the 
  Baron’s entourage which can be followed (Survival 
  check DC11) back to their point of origin.  Also, 
  the darklings that have been left to guard the portal 
  have taken to wandering the wilderness and making 
  trouble. They are ranging fare enough to raid nearby 
  settlements for milk and honey, and will be curious 
  enough about the players to size them up.  On a 
  Wisdom (perception) check DC15, a PC can spot 
  a shadowy figure watching them from the woods, 
  which runs off towards the gate when spotted.
  However they approach, the players will travel for 
  several hours through the woods until they approach 
  a quiet, shadowy spot deep in the wilderness.
  The Guards
  The chief guards of the gate are two Displacer 
  beasts, who are much more intelligent than simple 
  beasts. They are diligent and patient wardens, acutely 
  aware of the importance of this portal and the con-
  sequences of failure to secure it - The unseelie lords 
  do not tolerate incompetence.
  The Beasts also have several Darklings with them 
  to act as squires, scouts, and interpreters. These 
  cloaked, halfling sized figures are true fae - capri-
  cious, distractable and almost wholly unmotivated by 
  the future consequences of their actions.
  One displacer beast lies in front of the menhir, 
  feigning sleep. A second is hiding on the top of the 
  hillcrest at the back of the depression. Darklings 
  hide among the branches of the trees (DC19) flank-
  ing the mouth of the dell.  As the PC’s proceed into 
  the clearing and approach the one obvious opponent 
  the cat-like beast will keep “napping.”  One of the 
  Darklings will instead address them from its hiding 
  place in the trees.  It will initially warn them off say-
  ing “this is no place for mortals.” Given practically 
  any response the hidden Fae will boast, threaten and 
  generally run at the mouth about how he ‘guards this 
  place for the Lord Count who travels in the mortal 
  realms’, and how ‘if you are near the gate to Faerie 
  when the master returns, he will claim your soul.’
  “The flat floor of  the forest drops gently ahead of  you 
  into a shallow depression flanked by low hills. The branch-
  es of  the surrounding trees arch over this dell covering it in 
  shadow, although nothing larger than a bush grows in the 
  low point itself. In the center of  the clearing, back towards 
  the hills a roughly hewn four foot tall stone sticks straight 
  out of  the ground. You see faint carvings in the stone’s 
  surface, illuminated by a very faint glow emanating from 
  behind the menhir. “ 
  
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  Wild OneShots
  The Displacer Beast will quickly decide that this 
  verbal barrage is revealing too much information. 
  From it’s cat-nap it will growl, long and low, as it 
  slowly picks it’s head up to look towards it’s unruly 
  minion and cutting it off mid-threat.  Before the 
  players have any time to react to this the gate behind 
  the runestone snaps open, bathing the dell in purple 
  light. A pixie darts out of the portal, laughing at its 
  own cleverness and shouting over its shoulder in a 
  high, clear voice, “You’ll never catch me, giants! I’m 
  off to the mortal wo….” 
  A displacer beast tentacle comes out of nowhere 
  and sweeps the tiny fae out the air, slams it against 
  the menhir with a crunch, and then disappears back 
  into the grass. The beast keeps its concentration on 
  the trees and the Darkling speaks once more, “I am 
  supposed to let you know that she guards the way to 
  the night lands, and you should probably back off if 
  you want to keep breathing.”
  The guards are reasonable and will not attack unless 
  provoked by an action such as attempting to approach 
  the gate.  They will explain that the portal is perfectly 
  safe and guarded, and anything attempting to travel 
  from either side will be stopped (cue whimpering 
  from a very broken pixie.) And they will insist that 
  once their Baron returns, the gate will be closed.
  The PC’s are welcome to stay peacefully as long as 
  they don’t approach the gate (which will fade back 
  into invisibility in less than a minute.)  The bored 
  darklings will attempt to taunt and goad them into a 
  fight if they do stick around.
  Though a fight is not inevitable, the Fae guards are 
  prepared for one and none of them will retreat - a 
  displacer beast is a mean opponent, and she still has 
  allies hidden nearby.  The other darklings will open 
  by throwing knives from cover, then close on less 
  armored targets near the back. The second displacer 
  will wait until a good ambush opportunity presents 
  itself, then join the fray against any strong fighters.
  None of the fae are out for blood, and they will 
  actively stabilize any wounded PC’s after the fight 
  (who will remain unconscious as the remaining 
  events continue, waking up in an empty dell in the 
  woods after the Baron passes.)
  Return of the Count
  Assuming there was a fight and your players come 
  Darkling     Small Fey   
  HP 13       AC 14        Move: 40’
  Per: 15  Init: 13   Blindsight 30’ Darkvision 120’
  Attacks: Dagger+5 thrown 20/60ft (1d4+-
  3pi) if at advantage add (2d6 pi)
  Skills:  Acrobatics+5 Deception+2 Percep-
  tion+5 Stealth+7
  Death Flash: on death, any creature in 10ft 
  save Con DC10 vs blind
  Light Sensitivity
  Displacer Beast     Large Monstrosity   
  HP 85       AC 13        Move: 40’
  Per: 11       Init: 12     Darkvision 60’
  Attacks: Multiattack(2), Tentacle+6 10ft 
  (1d6+4 bl)& (1d6 pi)
  Avoidance: if a Dex save allows half damage, 
  takes none if successful 
  Displacement: has an illusion that disadvan-
  tages attacks against it. If hit by an attack, the 
  illusion drops until end of it’s next turn
  
  11
  Wild OneShots
  out on top, they are now in the presence of an open 
  door into another plane - which is an irresistible 
  big shiny for any curious adventurer.  The portal 
  remains hidden unless a creature circles the stone 
  twice widdershins (counterclockwise,) which will 
  make it appear and allow anyone to pass through it.
  Unless you want this encounter to lead your play-
  ers into the feywild, the Count and his entourage will 
  emerge from the woods where they have been observ-
  ing just as the players have reached a decision point (or 
  if the players just decide to wait on him.)  You should 
  make it clear that he is a large armored fey man, radiat-
  ing primal power, riding on a massive faerie horse and 
  backed up by a dozen enigmatic but powerful looking 
  retainers. A fight will not go their way.
  As his retinue all begin to walk a circle around the 
  stone and through the gate, the Count will warn 
  them that his road is no place for mortals. and that 
  the gate will close forever once he is through.  He 
  won’t be angry if the players fought his guards (who 
  were obviously incompetent) but will take their re-
  mains off the field and back through the gate.
  Lastly, as his path was discovered by a mortal, he 
  will answer three questions or requests (which he is 
  magically bound to do.)  He won’t bring this up and 
  will try to avoid it, but a chatty darkling may reveal 
  this if they are dealt with peacefully.
  Once all his business is concluded, the Baron will 
  be the last to enter the glowing portal and it will 
  snap closed behind him, leaving no trace of magic 
  or of his passage through the mortal realm.
  The Reward
  Depending on your campaign and RP goals, keep-
  ing the gate protected and closing it (or keeping it 
  open) may yield experience beyond the 1700xp for 
  combat. The Count may offer some item or service 
  as a boon.
  The dark Fey don’t often keep treasures on them 
  that the mortal world would recognize, but if defeat-
  ed the darklings carry the following: An apparently 
  empty flask, A scrap of paper or parchment with an 
  unintelligible note scribbled on it, A gem or small 
  piece of jewelry worth 43 gp, a bottle of honey, 6 sp.
  Since they are from the feywild, any of these 
  things may be more valuable or important than they 
  first seem (the empty flask holds a baby’s first breath, 
  the honey is from faerie bees, etc.)
  Scaling
  The full listings for the creatures involved in the 
  encounter are: Displacer Beasts CR3(mm81) Dark-
  ling CR1(vgm134)
  Version1: 1 Displacer Beasts 5 Darklings 2400xp 
  encounter 1200xp award
  Version 2: 2 Displacer beasts 2 Darklings 3400xp 
  encounter 1700xp award
  Version 3: 3 Displacer Beasts 3 Darklings 4800xp 
  encounter 2400xp award 
  encounter
  Lvl 4
  Lvl 5
  Lvl 6
  Lvl 7
  Version 1
  Deadly
  Med
  Med
  Easy
  Version 2
  Deadly
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Hard
  Wilderness Encounter:        
  Rampage on        
  Bleakburn Fen
  About the Encounter
  A legendary monster is tearing a swath of destruc-
  tion in the wetlands, and the nearby homesteads are 
  in its path
  For: 4 characters at Level 6
  Setting: Swamp or Forest near a settlement
  Play Time Estimate: 60 minutes
  Background
  All the local bards know the story of Gurrath 
  Pegason’s fight with the beast of the White Copper 
  River - if you walk in to any popular tavern or public 
  house you can hardly avoid hearing how the paladin 
  and her band tore the heads from the foul serpent 
  one at a time.  Frankly it all sounds a little exaggerat-
  ed and melodramatic to me, but it is always easier to 
  be an art critic than an artist.
  
  12
  Wild OneShots
  The part that most of the bards 
  don’t tell is how hard it is to burn a 
  giant hydra body when it falls back 
  into the river it is attacking from. 
  Or how the Lady Gurrath’s squires 
  almost immediately set into their 
  sack wine once the battle rush left 
  them. And event they didn’t know, 
  although they should have suspected, 
  that one of the foul beast’s heads 
  washed downriver with a spark of 
  life in it still.
  Near Esterbrook the White Cop-
  per river widens and slows, and 
  much of the marshland on it’s gently 
  curving banks have been drained to 
  create incredibly rich farmland.  Of 
  course the currents that drop the 
  richest silt also deposited the twitch-
  ing remains of the Hydra several weeks ago, and it 
  has been recovering since.
  After weeks of regenerating in a the small swampy 
  woodland the locals know as the Bleakburn, the 
  Hydra is almost back from being just a head to full 
  strength. Sick of measly meals of bugs, snakes, and 
  toads on the fen the monstrosity has begun to pur-
  sue livestock - rampaging into farms, smashing barns 
  into splinters and consuming the farmers alongside 
  their cattle. As it eats it grows, and the attacks are 
  coming more frequently.
  Getting the PCs Involved
  • Any- The party comes across massive lizard 
  tracks marring the peaceful countryside and point-
  ed towards town
  • Good PCs- A bandaged farmer flees down the 
  road with all the possessions he could save on a 
  cart, warning travelers of a monster.
  • PCs For Hire- The local lord is throwing a feast, 
  and needs someone to fetch a prized boar from a 
  farm near the river.
  • In a Town- A bard spins the tale of the Beast 
  of the White Copper River, and has a rumor of a 
  similar beast so hero may win fame by slaying.
  The Encounter
  Finding the beast
  Given that a huge monster is mindlessly raging 
  around a populated land, finding the Hydra is more a 
  matter of time than of difficulty. The massive tracks 
  that the beast leaves cross the landscape in several 
  places, including crossing the main road 5 miles east 
  of Esterbrook. The Hydra has destroyed at least 4 
  farmsteads already and every night it marches raven-
  ously forth from the swamp to find a meal.
  The people and authorities in Esterbrook are ter-
  rified that the beast will attach the town sooner than 
  later.  They all urge the players to go into the swamp 
  to slay the hydra - clearly glossing over the fact that 
  fighting in its home territory on the marsh may be to 
  the monster’s advantage.
  As they cross through the countryside, word of 
  the PC’s has already spread enough that farmers 
  and travelers alike stop them to talk. They are also 
  terrified, but the country folk will beg the players to 
  instead stay and protect the farms, where they can 
  prepare defenses and a strategy. Their desperate ar-
  gument is clearly flawed as there is no way the party 
  can cover every vulnerable site in a ten mile radius. 
  The players need to pick between two bad plans.
  If they go on the hunt the last few miles of the 
  trail run through the difficult terrain of the Bleak-
  
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  Wild OneShots
  burn Fen, where many crossed layers of the beast’s 
  tracks become confused.  The hydra has eaten or run 
  off anything large enough to be a threat, so the only 
  real hazard of the marsh is getting lost.  Succeeding 
  on a DC13 Wisdom (survival) check will mean they 
  find the monster’s nest in short order, otherwise they 
  wander lost in the marshland for several hours.
  During the day the Hydra sleeps in a shallow (5 to 
  10ft) brackish pool 50ft inland from the riverbank. 
  There are sparse swamp trees nearby, but generally 
  the lines of sight are clear enough that the players 
  should see the massive creature from far away.  Of 
  course, the hydra always has one head on the look-
  out, and it will spot the heroes just as easily. 
  The monster will wait for the players to close on 
  it’s pool.  If they try to wear it down from range it 
  will first sink deeper into the water (Gaining ½ cover 
  and +2AC) and if they persist it will just dash to the 
  river and vanish.
  If they do close in, the players will be fighting in 
  water that is either 5ft deep and difficult terrain or 
  10ft deep causing creatures to make athletic checks 
  while swimming in heavy armor and suffer disad-
  vantage on most melee attacks (phb198.) The Hydra 
  will also be resistant to fire damage when mostly 
  submerged (although fire damage will still block 
  it’s regeneration.) Other than terrain advantage, the 
  beast doesn’t have any strategy deeper than being 
  vicious and nearly impossible to kill.
  Other than the glory of the battle and bragging 
  rights, there is almost nothing of value in the mon-
  ster’s nest (see rewards below.)
  The beast finds you!
  If the players decide to find a defensible position 
  or farm, they need to pick a battleground. If they’re 
  having problems deciding, a wis (survival) or int 
  check should direct them to a location. This decision 
  should seem important, but the hydra should attack 
  whatever location they choose (unless you want to 
  intentionally slow the story down.)
  Wherever the PC’s choose to make their stand, 
  they should have some time to set up quick defenses 
  out of re-purposed wood and anything else clever 
  they can come up with.
  Once they have set up it should be close to dusk, 
  and the hydra will find them about an hour after 
  sundown. The night sky is overcast, and despite its 
  size the monster can move quickly and silently and 
  be within 100ft of the farm before the players spot 
  it moving rapidly towards them.
  The hydra will dash straight in towards any live-
  stock or people and attack anything alive in its path.  
  It will attack defenses or walls to access anything 
  alive behind them, although it will avoid obvious 
  large fires. It will concentrate on the enemy in range 
  that is most damaging to it and move on once they 
  have dropped. It won’t stop until it goes down or 
  everything on the field is dead.
  You can review damaging objects on dmg246, but in 
  brief wooden objects have AC15 and stone has AC17.  
  Reinforced medium barriers have 20hp and farm 
  building wills will have 40hp. This means that the hy-
  dra, which has an attack with each head that deals 10 
  damage on average, can essentially instantly obliterate 
  any object standing in its way (which may be surpris-
  ing and understandably concerning to players.)
  In the end it should be a fight that the bards tell 
  tales of for a generation, because there are many 
  local eyes around to report how the heroes saved the 
  farms and the day… hopefully.
  The Reward
  There are not many ways to deal with a rampag-
  Hydra     Huge Monstrosity   
  HP 172       AC 15        Move: 30’ swim 30’
  Per: 16       Init: 11     Darkvision 60’
  Attacks: Multiattack (1/head), Bite+8 10ft 
  (1d10+5 pi)
  Hold Breath can hold its breath for 1 hour
  Multiple Heads (5) while it had more than 
  1 head, has advantage vs blind, charm, deaf, 
  fright, stun, and unconscious. Each head makes 
  an attack. When hydra takes 25 or more damage 
  in a single turn, one head dies. At end of its 
  turn, hydra grows two heads for each head that 
  died since its last turn, and it regenerated 10hp/
  regrown head.
  Reactive Heads: Each head has a reaction 
  that can be used only for opportunity attacks.
  
  14
  Wild OneShots
  ing Hydra other than fighting it - yielding 3900xp, 
  although you may award xp for protecting farms or 
  saving innocents.
  The hydra is not interested in treasure and has not 
  collected anything of use in his lair, but it does have 
  a +1 dagger embedded in one neck, and a local au-
  thority should offer a 200gp bounty for the beast.
  Scaling
  As there is only one Hydra, which is CR 8 
  (mm190), altering the number of heads the beast 
  starts with will let you scale the encounter.
  Version 1: Hydra starting with 4 heads and 140hp 
  CR7 2900xp encounter 2900xp award
  Version 2: Standard Hydra (5 heads CR8) 3900xp 
  encounter 3900xp award
  Version 3: Hydra starting with 6 heads and 200hp 
  CR9 5000xp encounter 5000xp award 
  encounter
  Lvl 5
  Lvl 6
  Lvl 7
  Lvl 8
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Easy
  Easy
  Version 2
  Hard
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Med
  Med
  Wilderness Encounter: 
  No Good Deed
  About the Encounter
  An innocent girl is on the run from very bad men, 
  but she is leading them into a trap.
  For: 4 characters at Level 7
  Setting: a road leading through settled lands
  Play Time Estimate: 60 minutes
  Background
  Retima may be a small town, but it is large enough 
  to have a bully.  Bren the Buzzard is an incompe-
  tent, petty thug but long ago he learned to use the 
  tools of violence and intimidation to make up for 
  his intellectual shortcomings. This particular combi-
  nation also proved very useful to Baron Nofort, the 
  county’s reeve and a profoundly greedy, thoroughly 
  corrupt bureaucrat.
  With Nofort’s patronage shielding Bren from legal 
  repercussions of his bad actions, it has been several 
  years since anyone in the podunk village has dared 
  stand up to the Buzzard. Most people would take 
  offense to none of their neighbors ever making eye 
  contact, however Bren deludes himself that he has 
  respect like unto a king (even though he has to lick 
  the Baron’s boots to keep his meager power.)
  The classical downfall of all petty tyrants is not 
  knowing when they’ve pushed too far. In the Buz-
  zard’s case the last straw came when the prodigal 
  daughter of a Retiman tanner came home after years 
  of learning the hard lessons of the wide world. 
  Salmia Farroweye spent most of her teen years as a 
  spy for Bayalla trying to prevent war with the Hurang-
  ian Empire, and then spent two more years as an aux-
  iliary scout when the inevitable fighting began.  When 
  at 23, as a veteran of a bloody foreign war, she decided 
  to finally return home only to find a small town bully 
  running rampant it was annoying.  When the Buzzard 
  cornered her in the tavern to let her know he ‘owned’ 
  her just as he owned the rest of the town it became 
  a problem. Of course every young lady of the town 
  would probably get the same treatment.    
  Luckily Salmia is the type of person who knows 
  how to deal with trouble and the resourcefulness 
  to make it stick - she just had to plan a way around 
  Baron Nofort’s protection.  For days she approached 
  the burghers of the town with a plan, finding them 
  perfectly willing to put up coin to protect their 
  daughters. Then came one easy part, hiring a bigger, 
  badder dog to sic on the Buzzard. And the hard 
  part - getting him away from anyone the town and 
  anyone who may report his fate back to Nofort.
  Getting the PCs Involved
  • Shady PCs- There is word in the criminal under-
  world that someone in Retima is paying handsomely 
  for some illicit work.
  • Rumors- Locals in the tavern are talking about 
  the tanner’s girl, who had a loud fight with “the Buz-
  zard” in broad daylight.
  • For Hire- A merchant needs guards for their 
  caravan headed to the nearby town of Retima.
  
  15
  Wild OneShots
  The Encounter
  In Town
  Salmia’s plan is contingent on two things.  First she 
  intends to taunt Bren the Buzzard into following her 
  to a remote location where no one can see his fate 
  and report it to the Baron, and then she intends to 
  ambush him with overwhelming force and make him 
  disappear - permanently.
  As they are preparing to leave town, the players wit-
  ness Salima putting the first part of this plan in motion.
  Salima has made sure that enough people saw her 
  rob the Buzzard in broad daylight that word will get 
  around town. When she leaves this encounter, she 
  makes a bee-line to a local tavern and begins treating 
  others with the stolen coin and bragging.  
  She has a lookout, and when the Buzzard finally does 
  come for her an hour later, she slips out the back and 
  takes off, leading the thug on a chase out of town.
  If the players intervene at any point, she will shrug 
  and insist it was a harmless prank. She will even give 
  them the stolen coin to give back to him - her goal 
  is accomplished as she knows that he can’t let the 
  slight against him stand.
  The Tables Turn
  When the players decide to continue with their 
  travels, they are interrupted not far outside of town 
  as they see the thieving girl again.  Bren the Badger 
  has tracked her down and now she is running, terri-
  fied, and being pursued by the tyrant and his flunkie. 
  This is of course exactly where she wants to be - 
  letting them chase her to the point where her own 
  hired enforcer is waiting in ambush.
  Salmia didn’t expect the players to be here, but 
  she is staying in character until she knows if she can 
  trust them or use them to her advantage. Her plan 
  still relies on having no witnesses that can tip Baron 
  Nofort off as to the fate of his flunkie.
  Bren is annoyed that he has been robbed, more 
  annoyed that he has had to chase a measly girl down 
  in the woods, and will be very impolite if the players 
  try to interrupt him.  He won’t break directly into 
  violence, but arrogantly (and truthfully) explain that 
  the girl stole from him and this is none of their busi-
  ness the punishment she gets.
  Oh, and there one more party who has a stake in 
  this game.  Perched in a blind in a nearby tree sits 
  Agrona Four-Fingers, the notorious highwaywoman 
  that Salima hired to ambush Bren.
  She will follow Salima’s lead but knows the score 
  - no one is supposed to survive to talk about the 
  ambush.
  The bandit is well prepared, in the tree blind she 
  has ¾ cover (+5AC) and to make this job foolproof 
  set up traps at the ambush zone. One will send a log 
  sweeping at chest level along 15ft of the road and 
  dealing 4d8 blunt (Dex save DC14 for half damage.) 
   “Passing the open door of  a tailors, you overhear shout-
  ing. A scarred brute of  a man emerges in a huff, shouting 
  behind him ‘And don’t be late again. You don’t want me to 
  have to get rough.’
  No one on the street makes eye contact as he begins to 
  stalk off, tossing a coin purse casually in the air. His brisk 
  pace is interrupted when a young woman walks suddenly 
  out of  an alley and the two collide, knocking her over.
  She looks up from the ground with wide eyes, stammering 
  “I, I’m sorry, Bren.  I’m so clumsy, you know.” He kicks 
  at her, shouting obscenities and how she’s a stupid peasant, 
  but she scrambles to her feet and takes off  down the road.
  He angrily shouts after her for a moment, then turns and 
  continues the way he was headed.
  The woman, on the other hand, pauses once his back is 
  turned and pulls out the brute’s coin purse. She notices you 
  watching, gives you a quick wink, and scapmers down the 
  next side street.”
  “The girl from town runs in a panic towards you, 
  glancing back at the two rough looking men who are 
  jogging behind her with cruel grins on their faces. With her 
  attention focused over her shoulder her foot snags on a loose 
  stone and she sprawls face first in the dirt. As she starts 
  to recover her feet she looks up and sees you. A brief  look 
  of  confusion crossing her face before she shouts ‘you have to 
  help me! He’s going to…’ The rest of  her words are lost as 
  the lead thug reaches her and stomps on her back, forcing 
  her into the dirt once more.”
  
  16
  Wild OneShots
  The second is a last resort, as it will hurt Salima 
  as well, but will release a cone of thunder damage 
  from the base of her tree, 40ft towards the road. 
  Four-Fingers can trigger either of these traps at will.
  The PCs get to choose between backing an arro-
  gant criminal thug or a frightened, defenseless thief.
  If the players begin to side with the thugs, or try 
  to take everyone back to town for justice, Salima will 
  trigger the ambush.
  If they try to help the girl, Salima and Four-Fin-
  gers will both stand by as Bren annoys the PCs and 
  they give him a beating. Once they have ‘rescued’ 
  the damsel in distress Salima will stand up, suddenly 
  composed, and thank them. She will however insist 
  that they move along, and not tell anyone else what 
  they have seen. 
  If the players begin asking questions, asking for 
  payment for defeating the thugs, or try to provide 
  medical treatment to the Buzzard, Selima will simply 
  say “sorry about this” and signal to Four-Fingers. 
  However the fight begins in earnest, the hidden 
  bandit will take advantage of cover and the traps, 
  and Selima will try to sew confusion while taking 
  cover herself.  Both of them are aware that leaving 
  witnesses essentially means their own death, and will 
  fight accordingly.  If the fight turns against them, 
  either will run without disregard for their partner.
  The Reward
  The PC’s should get the combat reward of 2400xp 
  defeating the ambushers, whether or not they are 
  killed or they escape.
  The master thief is the purse-keeper, and if she re-
  mains on the battlefield the PCs will be able to find 
  7 sp, 87gp, A jade necklace worth 100gp, a potion of 
  Polymorph Self, a potion of healing
  Scaling
  The full listings for the creatures involved in the 
  encounter are: Thug CR 1/2 (mm347)  Scout CR 
  1/2 (mm349) Master thief CR 5 (vgm216)
  Version1- 1 Thug, 2 scout, 1 Master Thief  4000xp 
  encounter 2000xp award
  Version2- 2 thug, 3 scout, 1 Master Thief 6000xp 
  encounter 2400xp award
  Version3- 2 thug, 2 scout, 2 Master Thief 8000xp 
  encounter 4000xp award 
  encounter
  Lvl 6
  Lvl 7
  Lvl 8
  Lvl 9
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Easy
  Version 2
  Hard
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  Scout  
  Medium Humanoid    
  HP 16        AC 13        Move: 30’
  Per: 11        Init: 12     Keen Hearing and Sight
  Attacks: Scimitar+4 (1d6+2 sl), Shortbow+4 
  (1d6+2 pi)
  Skills: Multiattack(2) Shortsword+4 (1d6+2 
  pi)  Longbow+4 150/600ft (1d8+2 pi)
  Master Thief 
  Medium Humanoid    
  HP 78       AC 16        Move: 30’
  Per: 13       Init: 14    Resist Poison
  Attacks: Multiattack(3) Shortsword+7 (1d6+4 
  pi) Light Crossbow+7 80/320 7(1d8+4 pi)
  Sneak Attack 1/turn add (4d6 pi)
  Saving Throws Dex+7, Int+3
  Skills Acrobatics+7, Athletics+3, Percep-
  tion+3, Sleight of hand+7,  Stealth+7
  Cunning Action each turn can use dash, dis-
  engage or hide as a bonus.
  Evasion if a dex save allows assassin to take 
  half damage, it takes no damage on a success
  Uncanny Dodge as a reaction the thief 
  halves the damage from one attack that hits it.
  Thug  
  Medium Humanoid    
  HP 32        AC 11        Move: 30’
  Per: 10       Init: 10 
  Attacks: Multiattack(2) Mace+4 (1d6+2 sl)  
  Heavy Crossbow+2 100/400ft (1d10 pi)
  Skills: Intimidation+2
  Pack Tactics
  
  17
  Wild OneShots
  Wilderness Encounter: 
  The Toad Temple
  About the Encounter
  A mysterious temple stands by the river, dedicated 
  to some forgotten batrachian god
  For 4 characters at level 9
  Setting: Jungle or Swamp near a river
  Play time estimate: 90 minutes
  Background:
  No one remembers why the Toad Temple was 
  originally built, the few people who live on the 
  Qul’aan Fens just know that the ornately carved 
  stone temple has always been there, looming out 
  of the forest. Someone certainly put a great deal of 
  time and craftsmanship into the relief sculptures of 
  toads and lizard men covering it’s surface and the 
  millennia it has stood, structurally sound despite 
  being unattended by man, is testament to the skill of 
  its architects.
  That is not to say that the Temple is abandoned. 
  A wealth of wildlife has taken up residence inside 
  the cave-like interior of the temple, the undisputed 
  masters of this place being a colony of Giant Toads 
  who have been living and breeding here for as long 
  as anyone can remember. Although the original 
  builders of the temple are long forgotten, the boat-
  men and fishwives of the Fen still respect whatever 
  power once resided there, and occasionally leave 
  livestock or even precious offerings for the great 
  Toads, for good luck.
  Getting the PC’s involved:
  • Lawful PCs- The toads of the temple have 
  become aggressive lately, and are interrupting 
  river traffic. The locals are trying to find someone 
  strong enough to cull the monsters. 
  • Any- In their travels, the party runs across a large, 
  ancient, abandoned temple near a small river. Ob-
  viously someone must have put something really 
  interesting inside…
  • Retrieval- the wife of one of the local fisher-
  men, thinks that her foolish superstitious husband 
  left a family heirloom ring at the ‘damned frog 
  shrine’ and would like the PCs to retrieve it.
  • Greedy PCs- There is a temple in the woods near-
  by that is dedicated to frogs… and the idiot locals 
  offer gold to the dumb beasts!
  The Encounter
  The Temple
  The Toad Temple is a 120ft square stone struc-
  ture that rises into a high, tiered pyramid style roof 
  a hundred feet above the forest floor. Its exterior 
  surface is extensively covered in carvings and re-
  liefs, depicting frogs and toads, lizard-men, and men 
  interacting with giant frogs.
   It sits beside a minor river in the Qul’aal Fens, 
  which sluggishly feeds into a large pool inside the 
  cavernous main chamber. The temple itself is built 
  one of the solid patches of ground in the spongy 
  fens, and is surrounded by a dense forest.
  The temple only has one door through an obvious 
  grand entry, which is made of heavy stone and is 
  stuck mostly open by mud that has collected on the 
  floor (str DC18 could get it moving.) Anyone daring 
  enough could easily swim in through either of the 
  water entrances, which pass beneath the stone walls 
  just two feet underwater, however the toads of the 
  temple would quickly react to anyone in their pool.
  Inside of the temple it is dark and fetid with the 
  smell of water, rot, and wildlife. There are no win-
  dows to let light or air in, so it is dark and uncom-
  fortably warm inside. Most of the giant toads stay 
  hidden, but those with exceptional eyes may see one 
  or two sitting outside of the mud piles near the back 
  of the room (around a 100ft from the main door.)
  The floor of the temple was made of cut stone, 
  but has long since been covered in mud and algae. 
  A colonnade runs along two walls of the interior of 
  the temple which has a stone ceiling 15ft high, and is 
  strong enough to support weight. It’s pillars are wide 
  enough to provide cover from the interior.
  
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  Wild OneShots
  (1) The Altar
  Located just inside 
  the door in the center 
  of the temple is a large 
  stone altar, 3ft high and 
  10ft long. It is carved 
  with the same skill and 
  detail as the exterior 
  of the temple, but has 
  been caked in mud and 
  slime over the years. 
  There are offerings, in-
  cluding gems and gold 
  coin, placed carefully on 
  top of the altar as well 
  as scattered remnants 
  and leavings, including 
  rope and bone from 
  animal offerings that are 
  occasionally left for the 
  toads. 
  A careful search 
  through the junk around the altar will yield 30gp 
  worth of coin, 4x 10gp gems, and 4x 10gp carved 
  art objects (toad figurines.) However, anyone staying 
  near the altar for more than a minute will attract the 
  attention of the toads in the pool, who are used to 
  food being left here.
  (2) The Pool The very center of the cavernous 
  temple interior is dominated by a large, murky pool 
  which is 10ft deep in most places but not stagnant 
  due to the lazy flow of the river through the chan-
  nels under the temple walls. The pool is edged in 
  stone, but is caked in sucking mud and slime to an 
  extent that, within 10ft of the edge of the water the 
  muck offers no footing and is difficult terrain.
  Roughly half of the toads in the temple rest below 
  the surface of the pool, and will react to most dis-
  turbances by jumping from the water to eat whatever 
  is causing the ruckus. When badly injured, the toads 
  will attempt to dive back into the pool, taking any-
  one they may have swallowed with them. 
  The pool is the Toad’s ‘safe spot’ and they won’t 
  retreat out of the temple, but continue to ambush 
  from underwater until the threat is neutralized or 
  they are all dead.
  (3) Inner Shrine A solid stone chamber is built 
  into the corner of the temple, with well serviced 
  stone doors on three sides. None of the doors lock. 
  The floor is slightly elevated inside, and the room 
  is clean and orderly unlike the rest of the temple, 
  although caked in dust and cobweb.
  The focus of this room is shrine built into the outside 
  wall with a large stone frog effigy. Candle stubs and ash 
  surround this shrine, as well as many more offerings 
  that some long forgotten caretaker moved from the 
  main altar into this chamber. Elaborate stylized relief 
  panels cover the walls, depicting some event or ritual 
  with men and toads in a primeval forest. They was 
  once paint embellishing the carvings, but it has peeled 
  and faded over the years. Ancient wooden benches sit 
  along the walls, but have rotted to near splinters. 
  Decorations and other things of value are quickly 
  apparent with even a cursory look, listed in the ‘Re-
  wards’ section below.
  (4) Toad Burrows Over the centuries the toads 
  have heaped mud 10ft high into the back corners 
  of the temple, and now the mounds are dried hard 
  as concrete and riddled with 4ft round tunnels and 
  burrows. The other half of the Toads will be gath-
  ered near these burrows, with one or two lounging 
  outside either mud pile. 
  
  19
  Wild OneShots
  These tunnels are strewn with refuse and bones, 
  and nothing of value has survived in them. None of 
  the tunnels are very deep, providing hiding spaces 
  and cover from ranged attacks but being spacious 
  and shallow enough that they don’t interfere with 
  close combat.
  If there is a commotion within the temple, these 
  toads will move to investigate. If someone ap-
  proaches the burrows, a toad will leap to ambush 
  them from inside a tunnel, assuming there are still 
  toads there.
  The Reward
  Defeating the creatures in the temple yields 2400xp
  Aside from the 110gp of scattered items near the 
  altar, the shrine room holds most of the temple’s 
  wealth and it is almost entirely unguarded. The 
  shrine is not sanctified to any known deity, and is 
  not ‘hallowed ground.’
  In the shrine room: 250 cp, 130 sp, 150 gp, rough 
  pewter pendant, set with a beryl (70gp), Painted 
  Glass Statuette of a Toad (25 gp), alabaster ring, set 
  with a piece of jade (225gp), Carved Wooden Bowl 
  (25 gp), Carved Ivory Rod (50 gp),  2x Potion of 
  Water Breathing.
  As always, you can scale this reward to better fit 
  your campaign wealth level.
  Scaling
  The full listings for the creatures involved in the 
  encounter are: Giant Toads CR1 (MM325) 
  Version 1: 10 Giant Toads: 5000xp encounter 
  2000xp award
  Version 2: 12 Giant Toads: 7200xp encounter 
  2400xp award
  Version 3: 15 Giant Toads: 12000xp encounter 
  3000xp award
  encounter
  Lvl 8
  Lvl 9
  Lvl 10
  Lvl 11
  Version 1
  Med
  Med
  Easy
  Easy
  Version 2
  Hard
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  Wilderness Encounter: 
  Riddle Me This
  About the Encounter
  Centaurs have come from far and wide for a con-
  test of wits that outsiders are not meant to witness.
  For 4 characters at level 12
  Setting: Jungle or Swamp near a river
  Play time estimate: 60 minutes
  Background
  Once every ten years, the reclusive centaurs choose 
  the wisest and cleverest of their respective tribes to 
  participate in a ritual contest of wits and lore.  The 
  chosen make their way alone across the continent 
  to a “great moot” held in the Pelion glade sacred 
  to their people. The champions spend three days 
  celebrating, sparring, and trading the news of all the 
  tribes before the final challenge, a contest of riddles 
  and songs to determine the Lore-keeper for all the 
  tribes.
  It just so happens that the secret Pelion Glade is 
  very nearby, and the champions gathered two days 
  ago to begin the Moot.  Under the watch of the 
  last lorekeeper Aegampos the centaurs have been 
  celebrating, socializing, and testing out their minds 
  and mettle for two days (while drinking heavily and 
  disturbing the locals.) Now the final competition, the 
  most sacred rite of all the tribes, is about to begin.
  Gant Toad  
  Large Beast    
  HP 39        AC 11        Move: 20’ Swim 40’
  Per: 10       Init: 11       Darkvision 30’
  Attacks: Bite+4 (1d10+2 pi) & (1d10 poison) 
  & Grapple DC13
  Swallow+4 against grappled creature, if suc-
  cessful is blinded and restrained, takes 3d6 acid 
  damage at start of toad’s turn.
  Amphibious, Standing Leap: long jump 20’ 
  and high jump 10’
  
  20
  Wild OneShots
  Getting the PCs Involved
  • Rumors- Local residents have seen an encamp-
  ment in the wilderness, and heard loud noises for 
  the past few nights. When anyone approaches, a very 
  tall figure with a long spear warns them off from the 
  shadows.
  • Curious PCs- A scholar of ethnic cultures asks 
  the PCs to accompany her on a “once in a lifetime” 
  research opportunity.
  • Any- The PC’s find “cavalry” tracks or hear the 
  sound of battle which leads them to a clearing in the 
  woods.
  • In Town- A drunken centaur walks into the local 
  tavern, calls for a round of drinks for the bar “on 
  him” and promptly gallops off, not paying his tab.
  The Encounter
  A mythic Gathering
  Whether they are specifically sent to the gathering 
  of the centaurs, or the stumble across it, the first 
  indication that the players have found the correct 
  place is the sound of a raucous party taking place in 
  the middle of nowhere. The sound is easy to follow, 
  and after a short walk through the woods the PCs 
  will find the source.
  Centaur 
   
  Large Monstrosity    
  HP 45        AC 12        Move: 50’
  Per: 13       Init: 12       
  Attacks: Multiattack(2), Pike+6 10ft (1d10+-
  4pi) Hooves+6 (2d6+4 bl) Longbow+4 
  150/600 (1d8+2 pi)
  Charge If centaur moves at least 30 feet 
  straight toward a target, it deals extra 3d6 pi 
  with its pike
  Skills Athletics+6, Perception+3, Survival+3
  Centaur Sage 
  Large Monstrosity    
  HP 59        AC 11        Move: 50’
  Per: 13       Init: 12       
  Attacks: Shillelagh+5 (1d8+3 bl) Hooves+6 
  (2d6+4 bl)
  Skills Medicine+6, Nature+6, Perception+3, 
  Survival+3
  Spellcasting  The Sage is a 3rd level spellcaster 
  based on wisdom (+5 to hit, DC13)
  At will:    druidcraft, guidance, shillelagh
  1st level (4 slots) entangle, fog cloud, healing 
  word, longstrider, 
  2nd level (2 slots) hold person, pass without 
  trace
  Centaur Champion Large Monstrosity    
  HP 82        AC 12        Move: 50’
  Per: 13       Init: 12       
  Attacks: Multiattack(2), Greataxe+7 10ft 
  (2d12+4sl)  Hooves+7 (2d6+4 bl) Longbow+5 
  150/600 (1d8+2 pi)
  Charge If centaur moves at least 30 feet 
  straight toward a target, it deals extra 2d12 sl 
  with its greataxe
  Skills Athletics+6, Insight+2, Perception+3, 
  Performance+6, Survival+3
  Brute, Leadership or 1 minute champion 
  may command any non hostile creature within 
  30ft, adding 1d4 to an attack or save whenever 
  they roll.
  “You emerge from the treeline opens into a large glade 
  where hundreds of  centaurs are having a massive party.   
  Centaurs male and female, young and old are drinking, 
  eating, cavorting, sparring and gaming all across the field.
  Several carts are laden with barrels and barrels of  wine 
  and beer, and every partygoer seems to be enjoying the 
  libations - including several already sleeping it off  on the 
  outskirts.
  One of  the larger warriors spots you spying from the 
  trees and trots over. As he approaches he laughs, and offers 
  a massive drink stein ‘ah, little manlings, welcome to the 
  Pelion Moot! Accept Aegampos’ hospitality in peace.  Just 
  don’t have too much fun, eh?’
  He leaves the drink with a wink, and gallops back to 
  the festivitie”
  
  21
  Wild OneShots
  In this giant bacchanal the players can find any 
  number of ways to get into trouble - the centaurs 
  are open, friendly, and will actively try to engage the 
  PCs in the celebration. Practically anyone they ask 
  will tell them why the centaurs are gathered, and 
  insist they should enjoy themselves in preparation 
  for the ‘big contest.’
  Your players can spend as little or as much time as 
  they like carousing with the centaurs, role-playing, 
  listening to songs and poetry, or participating in any 
  of the many contests that the creatures are having 
  amongst themselves. Magical aid or clever cheating, 
  are just as acceptable ways to win as raw skill in this 
  culture, and no one will have any hurt feelings about 
  the results of these minor challenges.  
  Keep in mind that these challenges can count to-
  wards “defeating” an opponent, and so your players 
  are earning XP this entire time. 
  • Drinking Contests - One thing that every cen-
  taur at the gathering will be happy to engage in is 
  a contest of imbibing. You can use the Carousing 
  rules (dmg128), you can narrate the party, or you can 
  have the NPC and the Player roll to see who gets 
  more drunk. Everyone surrounding will probably 
  get in to a very lucrative betting pool when the 40lb 
  gnome challenges the 800lb centaur to see who goes 
  down first.
  There are no official rules for drunk effects in 
  5E, but a simple system is for a player to make a 
  Con save vs poison, starting around DC13, with 
  each failure temporarily lowering either Wis or 
  Dex by 1 and similarly raising Str or Cha.  Each 
  succesive check should be at increased difficulty, 
  and 4 failures will find the PC at -2 Wis, -2 Dex, +2 
  Str, +2 Cha - completely hammered.  A 5th failure 
  means the character passes out drunk.
  • Contests of Strength - Most centaurs have a high 
  strength and are skilled in Athletics (+6) so any player 
  brave enough to accept a raw strength contest. Wrest-
  ing, lifting, and throwing are in abundance and any 
  PC can step in.  These challenges should consist of a 
  series of contested checks, allowing for roleplaying, 
  intervention, betting, and drama to occur between the 
  three or four rolls before a winner is declared.
  • Contests of Wits - The “big challenge” is a 
  contest of wit and wisdom, so many of the partic-
  ipants are practicing against each other throughout 
  the gathering.  They are also the ones on the sober 
  side. Riddle or lore contests, card or dice games, 
  and “lying” contests are all battles of wits that allow 
  for a variety of both Int and Wis skills to come in 
  to play. As above, wits challenges can be a series of 
  contested rolls, or you can add a lot more roleplaying 
  into these challenges.
  • Sparring - The centaurs warriors are actively 
  sparring all around the field, and will be happy to 
  provide wooden sparing weapons in a variety of 
  types. Sparring can either be point sparring or full 
  combat, which should be treated as a standard fight, 
  assuming that all blows are pulled to be nonlethal. 
  Any 21th level PC should be easily able to take a 
  centaur in single combat, but this will just impress 
  the gathering as to the party’s skills. 
  • Archery or martial challenges - Lastly the 
  players could just challenge an opponent to a martial 
  demonstration of target shooting, log cutting, or 
  other martial demonstration. Unlike other challeng-
  es, this one can involve multiple opponents, all of 
  which would roll an attack or martial skill to see who 
  gets the highest roll.  The Players will be the most 
  skilled, but there is an element of chance in the rolls 
  that they may still lose - but it is traditional to have 
  three rounds of attempts and be judged on the best.
  Once the Players have had their fill of the festival 
  and earned some XP and some renown in the gath-
  ering, it is about time for the sun to go down and 
  the sacred contest to begin.
  The Sacred Contest
  As soon as the sun goes down, the centaurs begin 
  to gather around a large circle of torches, with a 
  huge stallion Aegampos, the previous champion, and 
  a ritually dresses mare, Eupheia, in the center. The 
  Players are welcome to watch.
  The priestess Eupheia opens the ceremony, invoking 
  Skerrit and beginning a tale of the history of the cen-
  taur tribes. Aegampos, holding a massive ritual spear, 
  takes up the tale and recites a long list of the previous 
  lorekeepers, ending with his own name. He then drives 
  the spear deep into a boulder (placed for this purpose) 
  and calls for new champions to be brought forth. 
  
  22
  Wild OneShots
  Eupheia rounds the circle with a sacred urn, col-
  lecting names from the heads of the centaur clans. 
  When all names have been collected, she returns 
  to the center and the champions are called forth by 
  name.
  This is when all hell breaks loose, as someone has 
  included the name of the PC with the highest wis-
  dom (or one that won a contest of wits previously.) 
  That character is pushed forward into the circle with 
  5 centaurs, and the crowd erupts in shouts, cheers, 
  and all the usual shock and confusion of a surprise 
  twist.
  “Amidst the confusion the officiants confer briefly, then 
  Aegampos calls out to the crowd “Although this has never 
  happened before, the names were placed in Skerritt’s 
  urn and he judged them meet and good. The challenger 
  is allowed.” Once (the Player) is lined up with the other 
  challengers, the massive centaur whispers to them “It is ac-
  ceptable that you take this honor and not sully the contest, 
  but understand that you should not prevail, or there will be 
  consequences.” 
  You should make it apparent that the party is sur- 
  rounded by almost a hundred drunk and riled up centaurs.
  The contest itself if a series of riddles which Aegam-
  pos asks of the contestants, who must answer correctly 
  within a minute or be eliminated. They can guess as 
  many times in that minute as they like, but can have no 
  outside help. The initial rounds can be rolled as simple 
  wis or int checks (DC14) or you can roleplay them with 
  the riddles provided.  The player can throw the contest, 
  or may feel free to compete to win. 
  In each round one of the five centaur champions 
  will fail to answer correctly, and will be cheered and 
  excused. After 4 rounds of riddles, a stallion named 
  Caseon will emerge as the last centaur standing and 
  will either be anointed as the next decade’s lorekeep-
  er, or will face the player directly, each having to ask 
  their own riddles until one cannot answer. 
  This final round should include real role-played 
  riddles, but if the player doesn’t want to come up 
  with anything clever when it is their turn to ask they 
  may make a contested wis or int roll against Caseon, 
  who will roll int (history+5.)
  Some sample Riddles
  Q: What is greater than God,
    more evil than the devil,
    the poor have it,
    the rich need it,
    and if you eat it, you’ll die?
  A: Nothing
  Q: Who makes it, has no need of it.
    Who buys it, has no use for it. 
    Who uses it can neither see nor feel it. 
    What is it?
  A: A coffin
  Q: What gets broken without being held?
  A: A Promise
  Q: Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not.   
  What am I?
  A: A Ton
  Q: What occurs once in every minute, twice in 
  every moment, yet never in a thousand years?
  A: the letter M
  Q: I’m the tip of safety borne
    Upon the ends where riches worn,
    My dented shield will push afield
    The mighty lance you likewise wield.
    I fend away these weapons true
    You send to me as we renew.
  A: A Thimble
  Q: Treasure waits beyond the reach
    gold within a hold,
    remnants of the dead are stitched
    to keep the living whole.
    Broken bones among the weeds
    scattered ‘round and round,
    where untouched gems wait silently
    o’er blades upon the ground.
  A: Birds nest
  If the player loses, the ceremony concludes shortly 
  and the party goes on through the night.  When the 
  party wakes with truly wicked hangovers, the field is 
  empty except for hoof marks and the trash from a 
  wild party.
  
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  Wild OneShots
  If the player wins, the centaurs object and get very, 
  very hostile.  The party will have to decline the vic-
  tory to get out of the gathering without a fight, but 
  they can certainly still be diplomatic.
  If they insist on being declared the victor, or gen-
  erally fail to respect the situation, a fight will break 
  out.  Most of the congregation are non-combatants 
  and will fall back and leave the strongest warriors to 
  fight the party, which means they are only facing 8 
  centaurs, along with Eupheia (the sage) and Aegam-
  pos (the champion.)
  The centaurs will fight for real, taking advantage 
  of numbers and the large field to attack the players 
  with wheeling charges and bow-fire. The champion 
  will close to direct combat, and the sage will use hold 
  person and entangle to make the PCs easier targets.
  The Reward
  Combat should not be encouraged in this encoun-
  ter, but remember that winning ‘peaceful’ contests 
  such as strength and riddle contests should also 
  yield experience, so surviving the moot should yield 
  7000xp (whereas straight combat would yield 5400xp)
  Gambling or outright winning the contest should 
  yield some portion of the treasures the centaurs 
  have brought with them.  Slaughtering them will 
  also allow PC’s to gather all their loot: 200 cp, 60 sp, 
  40 gp, Javelin of lightning, Cloak of protection, 2 
  moonstones (50gp), Silver plated compass (25gp), 
  engraved bone dice (25gp)
  Scaling
  The listings for the creatures involved in the en-
  counter are: Centaur CR2 (MM38) with custom vari-
  ants Centaur Sage CR3, and Centaur Champion  CR4
  Version 1: 5 centaur, 1 Centaur Sage, 1 Centaur 
  Champion 10125xp encounter 4050xp award
  Version 2: 8 centaur, 1 Centaur Sage, 1 Centaur 
  Champion 13500xp encounter 5400xp award
  Version 3: 9 centaur, 2 Centaur Sage, 1 Centaur 
  Champion 19650xp encounter 6550xp award
  encounter
  Lvl 11
  Lvl 12
  Lvl 13
  Lvl 14
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Easy
  Version 2
  Hard
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  Forest Encounter:
   A New Sister
  About the Encounter
  A powerful hag is seeking to step into leadership 
  of the local coven and needs a pawn to help her 
  break the ice.
  For 4 characters at level 13
  Setting: Jungle or Swamp near a river
  Play time estimate: 90 minutes
  Background
  Deep in the wilds in the south of the White-
  wood the Sisters of Barrowdell have lived for as 
  long as any living human can remember.  The hags 
  mostly keep to themselves, doing whatever it is that 
  nightmare fae creatures do with their days, and only 
  occasionally interacting with the civilized people of 
  the Whitewood or stealing infants.  The locals, for 
  their part, know to avoid the Barrowdell and mourn 
  any children who disappear in the woods as certainly 
  dead - if not worse.
  Such was the status quo until Maggie Mudnuzzle 
  wandered into the Whitewood.  You see, while she 
  was on one of her notorious trips “meeting the local 
  babbies” a band of do-gooders came through and 
  slaughtered the other two crones at the blasted crag. 
  No elderly hag wants to be alone in the world and so 
  once she came home and discovered the deaths of 
  her sisters, Maggie immediately set out to get herself 
  a new coven - by hook or by crook.
  As one of the greater Annis hags Maggie knows 
  she has a right to disrupt the Barrowdell coven and 
  step into their circle, but there is a certain etiquette 
  to these things.  She arrived in the Whitewood sev-
  eral nights ago, and has been patiently trying to find 
  someone who is both brave enough to venture deep 
  into the wilds despite the legends of dark witches, 
  and dumb enough to go with a complete stranger.
  Sounds like every adventurer party I’ve ever en-
  countered!
  
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  Wild OneShots
  No hag shows up on another circle’s land unan-
  nounced without gifts, and so Maggie plans to bring 
  some nice stupid fat adventurers as offerings to the 
  coven. And if the ensuing fight manages to eliminate 
  one of the sisters, that will secure the Hag’s position 
  all the sooner.
  Getting the PCs Involved
  • Any- A middle aged woman comes through town 
  looking distressed, claiming that the witches of the 
  Barrowdell are hunting her.
  • Good PCs- Several children have gone missing, 
  and the bereaved mothers are positive that the 
  hags have taken them.
  • Arcane PCs- A magic tome lists the Sisters of the 
  Barrowdell as the last keepers of arcane knowledge 
  the party is interested in.
  • Any- A dark cloud has settled over a mountain 
  nearby, and has not moved for several weeks.  Ani-
  mals and birds are avoiding the area.
  The Encounter
  A Mother’s Plea
  Old Maggie Mudnuzzle has a plan to ingratiate 
  herself into a new coven, and it starts with her re-
  cruiting some noble heroes.  Using Disguise Self, the 
  Annis Hag will adopt the guise of a farm-wife and 
  find the players on the road or just leaving town.
    She woman spins a tale that many locals may 
  relate to. The Hags of Barrowdell have been known 
  to snatch local children, and even though ‘Peg Gren-
  ville’ and her husband gave them wide berth, her son 
  vanished last night. She knows none of the towns-
  folk are strong enough to help her, but she will offer 
  the players anything she owns to go rescue Jamie 
  from Barrowdell.
  The Hag is a practiced liar with a solid story, and 
  will actively use deception (+5) to convince the 
  players.  She will offer to lead them to Barrowdell, 
  and will promise her ‘life savings’ of almost 50gp 
  as a reward. If the players hesitate she will try any 
  argument to convince them - killing the witches will 
  protect all the people of the Whitewood
  If the players ask to investigate her home or get 
  any money up front, she hysterically insists that the 
  witches could be cooking her boy for dinner even 
  now and every minute counts.
  Assuming the players agree, she will thank them 
  profusely, and lead them almost 10 miles into the 
  wilderness, straight towards a small mountain peak 
  rising alone out of the woods.  
  If she fails to convince the PCs old Mudnuzzle 
  will fall back to another, crueler plan and snatch a 
  child right from under their nose.  She will then lay 
  an obvious trail for the players to follow to the Bar-
  rowdell, and sneak along behind them.
  Into the Barrowdell
  The Hag’s lair lies a thousand feet up the side of 
  the mountain, on a rocky shelf in the lee of a sheer 
  rock face.  The only clear approach is a rough 10ft 
  path that was carved long ago into the mountain. It 
  is possible to scale the rock face, but it would mean 
  a climb of 200ft or more from below.
  The Barrowdell itself is primitive - the only struc-
  ture is a 20’ diameter rock hut and the only decor 
  are a massive cauldron set in front of a rough stone 
  table. Set right against the rock face is a wood fenced 
  pen where two young children huddle in piles of 
  leaves and bones. In fact, weathered animal and hu-
  man bones litter the entire area, in piles towards the 
  edge of the shelf but under foot everywhere.
  Due to the difficulty of the climb up, the Hags will 
  have certainly spotted the players coming to the very 
  center of their land, and are waiting around their 
  cauldron to receive ‘guests’.
  The sisters of Barrowdell are Granny Spiderfeet,       
  “A middle aged woman with a tear-streaked face 
  approaches you. ‘You lot look scrappy. I don’t suppose you 
  can spare a minute to listen to a sob story?’ she says.
  ‘It’s them witches in the Barrow. They done it - they took 
  my Jamie!’ 
  Her eyes well with tears as she plainitvely holds up a 
  child’s woolen cap, but turns her head aside and blinks her 
  vision clear.”
  
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  Wild OneShots
  Scrappaddle the Knobby, and GayleAnne Nerve-
  wrangle, and they are more amused than threatened 
  by a bunch of adventurers climbing the mountain. 
  They are used to desperate or nefarious locals com-
  ing to them for favors, and will assume the players 
  are here to do business. 
  If the players approach to talk, they will find 
  three very knowledgeable fae who are willing to cut 
  deals for knowledge or arcane favors. The caveat 
  of course being that it requires dealing with truly 
  evil monsters who kidnap children - and actively 
  have two tied up and crying in the corner. The Hags 
  will ask the PCs to provide them more hidden lore, 
  magical artifacts, and promised favors. They will deal 
  in good faith, althouh when evil fae make promises 
  they sometimes keep their bar-
  gains in unexpected ways.
  Out of hospitality, the Hags 
  won’t attack anyone who hasn’t 
  shown active hostility to them. 
  Of course, most players will 
  realize the dangerous nature of 
  negotiating with the Sisters of 
  Barrowdell, and sooner rather 
  than later they will probably begin 
  a fight.
  Breaking the circle
  Assuming she accompanied 
  them, Maggie Mudnuzzle hangs 
  back when the players confront 
  the coven, watching for the best 
  time to reveal herself.
  She is ideally waiting for hostilities to break out 
  and hopes that the players will eliminate one of the 
  Barrowdale hags so that she can simply step into 
  that absence.  
  If the players seem to be dealing peacefully, she 
  will reveal herself saying ‘sisters, look at the gifts I 
  brought you!’ Mudnuzzle will then offer her own 
  deal - they work together to defeat the players, snack 
  on their bones, share their loot, and then negotiate a 
  new arrangement for the Coven.
  However the inevitable hostilities break out, the 
  players are up against a precarious tactical situation. 
  The coven has a great deal of magical power and the 
  PCs are literally perched between a rock face and a 
  sheer drop (with a turncoat behind them) and the 
  Hags know it.  
  The sisters will fight to disable a number of players 
  with magic so they can concentrate on defeating them 
  one at a time. Granny Spiderfeet (the night hag) will 
  immediately cast eyebite and begin trying to disable 
  players, one Green Hag will cast polymorph, and the 
  last will pay attention to counterspelling player casters.
  If the fight turns against them even after the Annis 
  Hag reveals her betrayal, she will begin attempting 
  to toss players off the side of the mountain. This is 
  an all-or-nothing fight, as the hags won’t retreat and 
  abandon their sisters, and the players don’t really 
  have a way to retreat. 
  “Three monstrous, withered crones stand on the other 
  side of  a bubbling cauldron, watching you as you reach the 
  top of  the path.
  The center witch, with matted white hair and dark 
  blotchy grey skin, speaks with a growl. ‘You’ve come a good 
  ways up our mountain, mortals, so you must have a reason. 
  Do tell me you’ve brought a gift for our favors?’
  One of  the other hags cackles, ‘I do believe they ARE 
  the gift, Granny! But do let’s hear what they have to say.’”
  
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  Wild OneShots
  The Reward
  Depending on the nature of your campaign, you 
  should award at least 1500xp for freeing any captives 
  or any other roleplay goals you set, plus a maximum 
  8800xp combat reward.
  The Hags have an extensive treasure pile in their 
  hut including the following, but feel free to replace 
  some with exotic or arcane items to make things 
  more interesting. - 200 cp, 73 sp, 280 gp, 40 pp, 
  Shortsword+1, 2 lvl1 scrolls, Ornate Bronze crown 
  (250gp,) Gold bird cage with electrum filigree 
  (250gp)
  As always, you can scale this reward to better fit 
  your campaign wealth level.
  Scaling
  The listings for the creatures involved in the en-
  counter are:  Sea Hag(Coven CR4)(MM179) Green 
  Hag (covenCR5) (MM177) Night Hag (coven CR7) 
  (MM178) Annis Hag CR6 (VGM159)
  Version 1- 1 Green Hag(coven) 2 Sea Hag(coven) 
  1 Annis Hag 12600xp encounter 6300xp award
  Version 2- 2 Green Hag(coven) 1 night Hag(co-
  ven) 1 Annis Hag 17600xp encounter 8800xp award
  Version 3- 2 Green Hag(coven) 1 night Hag(co-
  ven) 1green hag 1 Annis Hag 21200xp encounter 
  10600xp award 
  encounter
  Lvl 12
  Lvl 13
  Lvl 14
  Lvl 15
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Med
  Version 2
  Hard
  Hard
  Hard
  Hard
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  When three Hags from a Coven (MM176) they 
  share an additional pool of spells, spell attack+7 
  DC15
  Lvl 1(x4) identify, ray of sickness
  Lvl 2(x3) hold person, locate object
  Lvl 3(x3) bestow curse, counterspell, lightning bolt
  Lvl 4(x3) phantasmal killer, polymorph
  Lvl 5(x2)contact other plane, scrying
  Lvl 6(x1)eyebite
  Green Hag Medium Fae    
  HP 82        AC 17        Move: 30’
  Per: 14       Init: 11       Darkvision 60ft
  Attacks: Claws+6 (2d8+4 sl)
  Skills Arcana+3, Deception+4, Stealth+3
  Mimicry, Amphibious, Illusory Appear-
  ance, Invisible Passage
  Innate Spellcasting (DC12)
  At will: dancing lights, minor Illusion, vicious 
  mockery
  Night Hag 
  Medium Fae    
  HP 112        AC 17        Move: 30’
  Per: 16       Init: 12       Darkvision 120ft
  Attacks: Claws+6 (2d8+4 sl)
  Skills Deception+7, Insight+6, Perception+6, 
  Stealth+6
  Resist cold, fire, blunt slash & pierce from 
  nonsilver nonmagic weapons
  Magic Resistance advantage on saves vs spells
  Change Shape, Etherealness, Nightmare 
  Haunting 1/day
  Innate Spellcasting+5 (DC13)
  At Will: Detect Magic, Magic Missile
  2/Day each: Plane Shift (self only), Ray of 
  Enfeeblement, Sleep
  Annis Hag 
  Large Fae    
  HP 75        AC 17        Move: 40’
  Per: 16       Init: 12       Darkvision 60ft
  Attacks: Multiattack(3) Bite+8 (3d6+5 pi)
  Claw+8 (3d6+5 sl)
  Crushing Hug+8 (9d6+5 bl) & Grapple 
  DC15 while grappled, creatures take (9d6+5 bl) 
  at the start of hag’s turn, hag cannot make other 
  attacks.
  Save Constitution+5
  Skills Deception+5, Perception+5
  Resist cold, blunt slash & pierce from non-
  magic weapons
  Innate Spellcasting+5 (DC13)
  3/Day each: Disguise Self(including medium 
  humanoid), Fog cloud
  
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  Wild OneShots
  Mountain Encounter:
  A Giant Squabble
  About the Encounter
  Two giants who aren’t being very good neighbors 
  pose a risk to anyone traveling nearby
  For 4 level 16 characters 
  Setting: Hills or Mountains
  Play time estimate: 90 mins
  Background
  Vorvag and Ovbog have been neighbors for de-
  cades, but now the otherwise pleasant and peaceful 
  giants have gotten into a dispute over their herds 
  and the feud has devolved to the ‘throwing giant 
  boulders at the other guy at all hours’ stage, which 
  can be hazardous to the local population (not to 
  mention the landscaping.)
  It’s an old story really, one neighbor has a herd of 
  rams and the other has a herd of boar. Given that 
  stone giants have a fairly communal view of per-
  sonal property and freedom, the animals have never 
  been penned and the specific details of who owns 
  what have been muddy for decades. 
  Two weeks ago, one of the rams went missing, 
  prompting Ovbog assume that his neighbor had 
  butchered it and greedily kept all of the meal for 
  himself.  In turn, he took one of Vorvag’s boars ad 
  roasted it up for his own dinner, making sure that 
  the scent of the meal drifted all across the valley.
  Since then both of the giants have been pas-
  sive-aggressively escalating the sudden feud, until 
  today when the simmering tensions exploded into 
  shouting and boulder-hurling.
  Getting the PC’s involved
  • Good PCs- A giant goat is eating a local farm-
  er’s crops, it wears a collar with “Goat of Ovbog” 
  scratched crudely on it.
  • Travelling- suddenly a giant boulder crashes to 
  the ground near the PCs. It seems to have come 
  from up that hillside...
  • Looking for Work- A nearby town has ordered 
  several sculptures for the town square, and send the 
  PCs to pick them up from the giants that are carving 
  them.
  The Encounter
  The trouble with Vorvag and Ovbog
  Although a pair of raving, boulder throwing giants 
  is an obvious target for ‘let’s go smite that’ you 
  should at least hint to the PC’s that stone giants are 
  generally peaceful and rarely known to be of the evil 
  persuasion. The party is walking into a simple neigh-
  borly squabble, albeit on a dangerously grand scale, 
  and the pair of giants are willing and almost eager 
  for a peaceful solution. This can be hinted at by 
  what the squabbling neighbors are shouting about.
  The two giants live in caves on opposite sides of 
  a small valley that formed just above the treeline 
  high up in the mountains.  The path leading there 
  is cleared and leveled enough that it can easily be 
  walked up, even hauling carts. The valley itself is a 
  grassy field several hundred feet across, strewn with 
  large rocks and gently sloping up towards the north 
  where it narrows and meets the mountains.
  (1) The Fields Ovbog maintains several large veg-
  etable patches (large patches, the vegetables aren’t 
  particularly giant.) and there are crates filled with 
  produce with a normal-sized plow stacked against it. 
  The fields themselves have large rut holes in them, 
  which a boar is climbing out of when the PC’s ap-
  proach.
  (2) The Ram Grove The Giants’ herd of rams 
  lives primarily around a small copse of trees. Some-
  one has begun building a stone wall on one side of 
  the trees, but it only runs several feet and then trails 
  off into a pile of unfinished stone. The rams wear 
  cowbells, but they are wandering all around the val-
  ley grazing. Several trees have been cut and stacked 
  nearby as lumber and firewood.
  (3) The Boar Run The herd of boars live in the 
  rocky north end of the valley, which given the large 
  boulders and temperamental pigs can be a dangerous 
  
  28
  Wild OneShots
  place to walk if you are not a giant. When any PC 
  enters, roll 1d6, and on a 1 one of the boars decides 
  to charge them, attempting to knock them down 
  then wandering off as if nothing happened.
  The boars all have rope collars, one of which has 
  a dented cowbell hanging from it. More damaged 
  metal bells can be found scattered on the ground. 
  (4) Ovbog’s Cave
  In the eastern wall of the valley is a cave one giant 
  cared out long ago and furnished into a comfortable 
  dwelling. Quarried stone blocks and half carved stat-
  ues are organized outside of the cave entrance, along 
  with a pile of huge pig bones.  
  The main cave is dominated by a table and two 
  massive wooden chairs, one of which leans from a 
  broken leg. The walls have alcove shelving built into 
  them holding a variety of stoneworking tools, and 
  strangely enough a crate of cowbells. A leather ma-
  son’s apron hangs from a hook by the entrance, giant 
  sized but so tattered it is held together with woolen 
  rope.
  (5) Vorvag’s Cave
  In the west valley wall is another cave, interior of 
  the cave holds a massive firepit with a great bubbling 
  cauldron which seems to have an incredibly bland 
  broth in it. The room boar skulls decorating the 
  walls, and has several 10ft wide tanning frames with 
  pig leather stretching on them. Giant woodworking 
  tools are out where the giant has been at work build-
  ing another tanning frame
  The rear of the cave holds a massive bed as well 
  as a giant, empty loom and a stone spinning wheel, 
  but the wheel itself is cracked and piles of unspun 
  wool are everywhere. A huge wool dog collar with     
  “Wilpur” embroidered on it lays on the bed.
  Negotiations
  Each giant wants several things from his neighbor, 
  and has clues to this in/about their caves, and they 
  will settle down if offered two. Assuming the players 
  decide to intervene in the squabble, there are clues 
  to what the giants want scattered around the valley 
  and in their caves. The players can spend as much 
  time as they like exploring, talking with the giants, 
  and running back and forth to propose a compro-
  mise while the two yell back and forth.
  Vorvag wants:
  • Two barrels of vegetables to cook
  • A new stone wheel for spinning
  • Cowbells for the boar herd
  • An apology for butchering a boar (“Wilpur”)
  Ovbog wants:
  • A new leather sculptor’s apron 
  • A new or repaired wooden chair
  • A fence to pen in the rams
  • The boars to stay out of the fields (which cow-
  bells will help)
  The players can choose to leave 
  at any time of course, but they will 
  miss out on any reward, and leave 
  angry giants threatening the coun-
  tryside.
  The giants will continue to hurl 
  insults across the valley (and occa-
  sionally a boulder, intentionally not 
  aiming at anyone.)  If the players 
  approach them each will calm down 
  almost instantly, greet the visitors, 
  and begin to gripe about their life 
  and their neighbor. The giants can 
  be magically calmed or persuaded, 
  but they will obviously keep their 
  grudges unless their needs are met. 
  
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  Wild OneShots
  Vorvag talks about:
  • how greedy Ovbog is, having gobbled up his 
  favorite piggie
  • his work keeps backing up
  • the boars keep wandering into the mountains
  • he can’t even cook a meal other than pig
  Ovbog talks about:
  • Vorvag being a lazy neighbor who can’t even 
  finish a wall he started.
  • he can’t entertain guests lately
  • animals running all around the valley ruining things
  • no one make giant clothes in these parts
  Neither giant will come out and say what they 
  want, insisting “a good neighbor should offer a gift 
  as an apology.” If a player suggests a good gift for 
  the other, or some way that giant should “mend 
  fences” they will readily agree to do so, as long as it 
  is reciprocated. 
  Once they are promised two gifts they are looking 
  for, they will announce, “It is enough! Go tell that 
  other windbag.” Once both are satisfied the giants 
  will reconcile, Vorvag will cook a big pot of stew, 
  and they will invite the players to dine with them at 
  Ovbog’s and act as if nothing has happened.
  If the players decide to attack the rowdy giants 
  from the start, if they attack the charging boars, or 
  generally start a fight, all the denizens of the valley 
  will turn on them.  It will doubtless turn into a need-
  less slaughter of peaceful giants and hyper-agres-
  sive livestock as the players murder-hobo their way 
  through life.
  The Reward
  The PC’s should be awarded a full 9100xp award 
  if they find a peaceful resolution of the giant’s 
  squabble, and possibly a 2000xp bonus for a creative 
  role-playing solution.
  If the giants are killed, in Vorvag’s cave is 30 gp, 
  2x 50gp Onyx gems, in Ovbog’s is 140 sp, 20 gp, 1x 
  50gp bloodstone.   
  Scaling
  To scale down, the herds are smaller. To scale up 
  the encounter, there is a 3rd giant trying to mediate 
  the dispute.
  The listings for the creatures involved in the en-
  counter are: Stone Giant CR7 (MM156) Giant Boar 
  CR2 (MM323) Giant Goat CR1/2 (mm326)
  Version 1: 2 Stone Giants, 3 Giant Boars, 5 Giant 
  Goats: 19125xp encounter 7650xp award
  Version 2: 2 Stone Giants, 6 Giant Boars, 6 Giant 
  Goats: 27300xp encounter 9100xp award
  Version 3: 3 Stone Giants, 6 Giant Boars, 6 Giant 
  Goats: 36,000xp encounter 12000xp award
  encounter
  Lvl 15
  Lvl 16
  Lvl 17
  Lvl 18
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Easy
  Version 2
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  Hard
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  GIant Boar  
  Large Beast    
  HP 42        AC 12        Move: 40’
  Per: 8       Init: 10       
  Attacks: Tusk+5 (2d6+3 sl)
  Charge If boar moves at least 20 feet straight 
  toward a target, it deals extra 2d6 sl & str DC13 
  vs prone
  Relentless: 1/short rest, if boar takes 10 or 
  less damage that reduces it to 0hp, it drops to 
  1hp instead. 
  Stone Giant  
  Huge Giant    
  HP 126        AC 17        Move: 40’
  Per: 14       Init: 12       Darkvision 60’
  Attacks: Multiattack(2), Greatclub+9 15ft 
  (3d8+6 blunt) Rock+9 60/240ft (4d10+6 bl) & 
  str DC17 vs prone
  Saves: Dex+5, Con+8, Wis+4
  Skills Athletics+12, Perception+4
  Stone Camoflauge, Rock Catching Dex 
  DC10 to catch object thrown at giant
  GIant Goat  
  Large Beast    
  HP 19        AC 11        Move: 40’
  Per: 11       Init: 10       
  Attacks: Ram+5 (2d4+3 bl)
  Charge If goat moves at least 20 feet straight 
  toward a target, it deals extra 2d4 bl & str DC13 
  vs prone
  Sure Footed Adv. on Str and Dex vs Prone
  
  30
  Wild OneShots
  Wilderness Encounter: 
  The Carrion Field
  About the Encounter
  In the wake of a recent battle some incredibly dan-
  gerous scavengers have moved in to clean up 
  For 4 characters at level 17
  Setting: Any wilderness
  Play time estimate: 60 minutes
  Background
  Several months ago a legion of hobgoblins came 
  over Peymen’s Gap and into the foothills east of the 
  Zenealian Baronies.  The horde gathered strength 
  from the giantkin and goblinoids that live hidden in 
  the borderlands, and a call rang out through the bar-
  onies to all true Knights of Zeneal to take up arms 
  protect the land.
  The rest was as predictable as the steps of a 
  dance - one that has been going on for centuries - 
  and after weeks of stalling and maneuvering the two 
  armies finally came together when the demihuman 
  host occupied a hill 40 miles east of Larcbost. The 
  battle lasted most of two days, and was a mutual 
  massacre.  The knight-barons of Zeneal hadn’t seen 
  a real battle in two generations, and their untested 
  leadership splintered against the iron fist of the 
  hobgoblin warlord Movlod’s forces. As the hope 
  of humanity routed leaving half of their number 
  dead on the hillside, the Grand Master of the Eagle 
  Knights and his elite guard punched straight up the 
  hill and decimated the hobgoblin command taking 
  the head off both Movlod and his entire army. The 
  routed human forces fled to their home territory in 
  panic. The leaderless giants and goblinkin immedi-
  ately began squabbling and drifted back towards the 
  mountains.
  And the battlefield was abandoned by both sides, 
  leaving thousands of dead from both sides untended 
  and unburied.
  The crows feasted. The beetles and worms feasted. 
  And then the plants began to feast - the sheer vol-
  ume of the putrefaction and death attracting the at-
  tention of some of the nastiest scavengers possible 
  - Corpse Flowers and Shambling Mounds.
  Getting the PCs Involved
  •Good PCs- A noble’s widow wants someone 
  to recover the family signet from her husband 
  who fell in the great battle
  •Traveling- the PC’s see a massive flock of carrion 
  birds is circling over a nearby hill.
  •Wealth Seeking- A local merchant is paying 
  scavengers to bring arms and scrap metal from the 
  nearby battlefield, although he will admit that not 
  everyone he sends actually comes back.
  •Cleric PC- A message from their patron deity in-
  sists that the abandoned dead of the battlefield be 
  put to rest properly, and the field be consecrated.
  
  31
  Wild OneShots
  The Encounter
  The Battlefield
  Whether the players ask locals about the location 
  of the battlefield or they stumble across it while 
  traveling, the site of the recent battle is impossible 
  to miss. Huge numbers of carrion birds and the 
  overwhelming stench of decay make the location 
  obvious once the party gets within a few miles of 
  the site.
  On the field itself corpses litter the landscape over 
  a full square mile surrounding a 30ft tall hill where 
  the hobgoblin army centered their line, and where 
  the command tent still stands. Though many animal 
  scavengers and a few intelligent ones have had their 
  run of the field for weeks, no organized effort to 
  deal with the dead has been made and most bodies 
  still lay where they fell.
  The players can wander freely around and search 
  the battlefield undisturbed by anything other than 
  angry crows, finding mostly deteriorated equip-
  ment and rotting bodies. Even though it is a large 
  area to explore, be careful to establish the positions 
  and actions of your players because when anyone 
  approached the command tent, they will trigger an 
  ambush.
  When plants attack!
  The camp remnants and piles of bodies all around 
  the field make spotting irregularities especially 
  difficult, especially when they seem to be inanimate 
  objects.  Hence the corpse flowers (A) and sham-
  bling mounds (B) are biding their time concealed by 
  the dead (DC22 Wis perception to spot.)  All of the 
  monstrous plants are ambush predators with blind-
  sight, and so are aware of exactly where the living 
  are unless they are magically concealed.  Until they 
  reveal themselves they will attempt to take ready 
  actions to ambush PCs that pass near them or who 
  engage with another target.  
  The exception to this is the corpse flower in the 
  command tent which will remain motionless, lying in 
  wait for a living humanoid to approach. As soon as 
  a player ends their turn within its range of 30ft (20ft 
  move plus 10ft reach) the creature will spring into 
  action with a surprise attack.
  Unless they have somehow spotted the well-hidden 
  plants or have magical protection such as a weapon of  
  warning, the players should lose a round to surprise 
  (review surprise rules on phb189) and once the trap 
  is sprung by ANY predator, they will all jump into 
  the fray.
  Other than their ambush tactics, the scavengers on 
  the battlefiield are largely uncoordinated and will act 
  independantly to overwhelm individual PCs through 
  their own tactics. In addition to attacking, the corpse 
  flowers will begin pumping out distracting zombies, 
  and the shambling mounds will try to engulf weaker 
  targets.
  Do keep in mind that, since there are bodies as 
  far as the eye can see, the corpse flowers can (and 
  will) Harvest the Dead every turn (using 1 of their 3 
  attacks) and then either ressurect a zombie or heal 
  themselves as a bonus action, which means the bat-
  tlefield can very quickly become overrun by undead.
  Your PCs should be high enough level that this 
  will be a quick and dirty fight.  The killer plants 
  will either surprise and overwhelm targets from the 
  beginning, or they will be overmatched in a few 
  rounds, even with engulf and zombies keeping play-
  ers occupied and outnumbered. 
  “As you top a shallow rise a hellish scene lays ahead of  
  you.  The dead of  two great armies lay all around, food for 
  thousands of  vultures and crows which are the only living 
  things you see. The dead have been rotting here for weeks, 
  and the stench of  decay is overwhelming. The scavengers cry 
  and take to wing in reaction to other living things inter-
  rupting their feast. 
  As you go deeper into this charnel field, scattered bodies 
  of  humans and goblinoids turn into veritable piles where 
  the battle lines met on the shallow slopes of  a low hill. 
  The remains of  wooden pickets outline a rough military 
  camp on the hill, with tents and supplies of  one army lay 
  suddenly abandoned on the field.  A massive command 
  tent rises skeletally from the crown of  the hill, as most of  
  it’s canvas has been ripped to tatters by the battle and the 
  elements.”
  
  32
  Wild OneShots
  The Reward
  Aside from any story or roleplaying xp award for 
  accomplishing specific tasks, the combat award of 
  13200xp should be the only way to gain experience.  
  Note that any zombies that are resurrected in the 
  course of the fight should yield additional xp.
  It would take a week to search and sort through 
  the thousands of dead, and though exposure to the 
  elements are quickly decaying most of the combat-
  ants’ arms and armor, They should be able to find 
  any sort of standard gear somewhere on the field. 
  With time and mules or wagons, PC’s could collect 
  scrap metal and low quality arms and sell them for 
  1gp per 5 lbs of hauling weight (up to 2000lbs, or 
  whatever is appropriate for your game)
  A discerning search (investigation check DC14) 
  should take about an hour to reveal the most valu-
  able caches of coins and valuables - including 
  590 sp, 340 gp, 55 pp, weapon +1, Elemental gem, 
  Bag of holding, 1 Citrine(50gp), 2 jewelry items (50 
  Gp), 2 rings (150gp)
  Scaling
  The listings for the creatures involved in 
  the encounter are: Shambling Mound  CR5 
  (mm270)  Corpse Flower CR8 (mtf127) Zombie 
  CR1/4(mm316)
  Version 1: 1 Shambling Mounds, 2 Corpse Flowers 
  19200xp encounter 9600xp award
  Version 2: 3 Shambling Mounds, 2 Corpse Flow-
  ers 26400xp encounter 13200xp award
  Version 3: 2 Shambling Mounds, 3 Corpse Flow-
  ers 30600xp encounter 15300xp award 
  encounter
  Lvl 16
  Lvl 17
  Lvl 18
  Lvl 19
  Version 1
  Hard
  Med
  Med
  Easy
  Version 2
  Hard
  Hard
  Hard
  Med
  Version 3
  Deadly
  Hard
  Hard
  Hard
  Shambling Mound 
   
  Large Plant    
  HP 136        AC 15        Move: 20’ Swim 20’
  Per: 10         Init: 9        Blindsight 60’
  Attacks: Multiattack(2) Slam+7 (2d8+4) & 
  DC14 grapple if medium or smaller
  Engulf  when grappling, the target is en-
  gulfed. Target is blind, restrained, and unable 
  to breathe. At the start of Mound’s turn target 
  must save Con DC14 vs 2d8+4 bl. Can only 
  engulf one creature, if the mound moves the 
  creature moves with it.
  Resist cold, fire
  Immune lightning, blind, deaf, exhausted
  Lightning Absorption healed by lightning dmg
  Corpse Flower 
   
  Large Plant    
  HP 127        AC 12        Move: 20’ Climb 20’
  Per: 2          Init: 12       Blindsight 60’
  Attacks: Multiattack(3) Tentacle+5 10ft 
  (2d6+2 bl) & Con DC14 vs (2d6 poison)
  Harvest the Dead corpse flower grabs a dead 
  humanoid within 10 feet and stuffs it into itself 
  to be used with the corpses trait.
  Corpses contains 1d6+3 corpses (up to 9) 
  Corpse flower can use a bonus to either 1) 
  digest a body and gain 2d10HP or 2) animate 
  a body into a zombie (mm316) which appears 
  within 5ft and is an ally.
  Stench of  Death Each Creature starting a 
  turn within 10ft save Con DC14 vs incapaci-
  tated until end of turn by poison. On a success 
  creature is immune for 24 hours.
  Zombie 
  Medium Undead 
  HP 22       AC 8       Move: 20’
  Per: 8       Init: 8      Darkvision 60’
  Attacks: Slam+3 (1d6+1 blunt)
  Undead Fortitude if reduced to 0 hp, takes 
  a con save DC5+dmg to drop to 1hp instead. 
  Radiant damage or critical hits cancel this save.
  
  33
  Wild OneShots
  OPEN GAME LICENSE VERSION 1.0A
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  30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the 
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  unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent neces-
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Reference Document 5.0 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, 
  Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney 
  Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, 
  Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary 
  Gygax and Dave Arneson.
  Wild One Shots Copyright 2019, Brassman Foundry
  END OF LICENSE
  Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product 
  Identity, as defined in the Open Game License 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are 
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  proper names (characters, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, characters, art-
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  34
  Wild OneShots
  Brassman Foundry
  info@brassmanfoundry.com
  www.brassmanfoundry.com
                         @brassmanfoundry 
  What’s in the book?!
  Maybe your players just wandered down a side road you didn’t expect.  May-
  be you’re looking for content for a quick 2 hour adventure. Maybe you just 
  want to find some plot hooks for the campaign you’re writing.
  Well, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve created this DM Tools book so 
  any busy Dungeon Master can pull it off the shelf and jump straight into ad-
  venturing without all the research and prep time. We know how long it takes 
  to create good stories, so we have done all the hard work for you.
  Inside Wild One-Shots you will find 10 encounters designed for parties of all 
  levels to have instantly playable adventures for D&D 5e Games. Each write-
  up has a thorough backstory, and we’ve included a mix of roleplay and prob-
  lem solving scenarios alongside with the more traditional fights.
  These encounters are all written for a wilderness or rural setting, because 
  even though we all meet up in the local tavern the real adventure happens on 
  the road!
  May 2019:  DM Tools  -  Wild One-Shots 
  AC002
  
  Encounter: The Sky Stone
  Map Notes
  The crater descends fairly smoothly 
  to 30ft at the deepest.
  In an 30’ area around the crater the 
  ground has been torn up to create 
  difficult terrain (half movement.)
  The trees and underbrush provide light 
  obscurement and ½ Cover (+2 AC.)
  The Tribal warriors fan out in the 
  crater, the scouts are concealed as indi-
  cated in the treeline.
  A meteorite lies in the center of 
  the crater.
  Enemies
  4x Tribal Warriors CR⅛ (25 XP)
  HP 11     AC 12      Mv: 30’
  Spear+3 (4 pi) 
  Pack Tactics
  HP:    
    
    
    
   
  2x Scouts CR½ (100 XP)
  HP 16     AC 13      Mv: 30’
  Multiattack(2), Shortsword+4 (5 pi), 
  Longbow+4 (6 pi)
  HP:  
   
   
   for 4 level 2 characters 
  Hard - awards 300XP
  Notes: Wilderness, Humans
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 4)
  A band of warriors from a remote 
  tribe have wandered far from home 
  in search of a sacred relic, and they 
  won’t let anyone interfere.
  Encounter: The Magical Spring of Hauttfer
  Map Notes
  There are several corpses around, 
  and so the ones that have become 
  undead are not readily apparent, 
  until a character gets close enough 
  to draw their attention, possibly 
  leading to a surprise round.
  A cursed emerald is the source 
  of the undead, contaminating 
  the water of the spring where it is 
  easily noticeable.
    for 4 level 4 characters 
  Hard - awards 600XP
  Notes: Forest, Undead
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 7)
  A ‘magical spring’ in the wilderness 
  draws in fortune seekers and travel-
  ers only to offer them the curse of 
  undeath.
  Enemies
  4x Skeletons CR¼ (50 XP)
  HP 13     AC 13      Mv: 30’
  Shortsword+4 (5 pi), Bow+4 (5 pi)
  HP:  
    
    
    
   
  3x Warhorse Skeletons CR½ (100XP) 
  HP 22     AC 13      Mv: 60’
  Hooves+6 (11 bl)
  HP:  
   
    
       
  2x Zombies CR¼ (50 XP)
  HP 22     AC 8      Mv: 20’
  Slam+3 (4 bl)
  Undead Fortitude
  HP:    
    
    
  
  Encounter: Through the night gate
  Map Notes
  The darklings and one displacer 
  beast hide in nearby trees (DC19 to 
  spot) and will wait to join and back 
  up the obvious beast if a fight breaks 
  out.
  The trees and underbrush provide 
  light obscurement and ½ Cover (+2 
  AC.)
  A gate to the feywild lies open 
  behind a stone glyph, and anyone 
  walking clockwise around it will pass 
  through.
  Enemies
  2x Darklings CR½ (100 XP)
  HP 13     AC 14      Mv: 40’
  Dagger+5 thrown 20/60ft (5 pi) if at 
  advantage add (7 pi)
  Death Flash
  HP:    
    
    
  2x Displacer Beasts CR3 (700 XP)
  HP 85     AC 13      Mv: 30’
  Multiattack(2), Tentacle+6 (7 bl) plus 
  (3 pi)
  HP:    
    
   
   for 4 level 5 characters 
  Hard - awards 1700XP
  Notes: Wilderness, Fae, Planar Gate
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 11)
  Minions of a Faerie Lord guard 
  a gate to the depths of the feywild, 
  and are determined to challenge 
  anyone seeking it.
  Encounter: Rampage on Bleakburn fen
  
  Encounter: The Toad Temple
  Map Notes
  spell attack+7 DC15
  Lvl 1(x4) identify, ray of sickness
  Lvl 2(x3) hold person, locate object
  Lvl 3(x3) bestow curse, counterspell, 
  lightning bolt
  Lvl 4(x3) phantasmal killer, poly-
  morph
  Lvl 5(x2)contact other plane, scry-
  ing
  Lvl 6(x1)eyebite
  Enemies
  12x Giant toads CR1 (200 XP)
  HP 39    AC 11      Mv: 20’ swim 40’
  Bite+4 (7 pi) and (5 poison) plus grap-
  ple DC13, Swallow
  HP:    
    
    
    
            
            
    
    
    
   
            
    
    
    
    
   for 4 level 9 characters 
  Hard - awards 2400XP
  Notes: River, Beasts, Toads
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 17)
  A mysterious temple stands by the 
  river, dedicated to some forgotten 
  batrachian god, and the giant toads 
  inside don’t like company.
  Encounter: The new Sister
    for 4 level 13 characters 
  Hard - awards 8800XP
  Notes: Mountain, Hags
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 25)
  Three hags form a coven and stand 
  at the cauldron, the fourth (Annis 
  Hag) is disguised and remains on the 
  path down the mountain, waiting to 
  turn the tables.
  Two young children are captive 
  in a pen near the mountain face.
  2x Green Hag CR5 (1800 XP)
  HP 82     AC 17      Mv: 30’
  Claws+6 (13 sl)
  Spellcasting (DC12)
  At will: dancing lights, minor Illusion, 
  vicious mockery
  HP:  
    
    
  1x Night Hag CR7 (2900XP) 
  HP 112     AC 17      Mv: 30’
  Claws+6 (13 sl)
  Magic Resistance, Spells+5 DC13 
  At Will: Detect Magic, Magic Missile 
  2/Day ea: Plane Shift, Ray of  Enfeeblement, Sleep
  HP:  
   
  1x Annis Hag CR6 (2300 XP)
  HP 75     AC 17      Mv: 40’
  Multiattack(3), Bite+8 (15 pi), Claw+8 
  (15 sl), Crushing Hug+8 (36 bl) and 
  grapple DC15
  Spells+5 DC13 
  3/Day each: Disguise Self, Fog cloud
  HP:   
     
  Map Notes
  Toads hide in the pool (2) and in mud burrows 
  (4) so that the temple seems mostly empty when 
  first entered. They will be attracted to any noises or 
  disturbances in the temple.
  The mud and slime all around the pool makes 
  10ft around the water difficult terrain.
  Stone doors without locking mechanisms protect 
  an inner shrine (3) where decorations and other 
  valuables are stored.
  While in a coven, 3 hags share:
  spells+7 DC15
  Lvl 1(x4) identify, ray of  sickness      
  Lvl 2(x3) hold person, locate object       
  Lvl 3(x3) bestow curse, counterspell, light-
  ning bolt 
  Lvl 4(x3) phantasmal killer, polymorph 
  Lvl 5(x2)contact other plane, scrying 
  Lvl 6(x1)eyebite
  Map Notes
  It is possible to climb up the cliff face 
  from the east, but there is a 200’ climb to 
  reach this plateau (or fall back down it)
  
  Encounter: A Giant Squabble
  There are boulders readily available 
  everywhere for giants to throw.
  Any hostile action will draw the 
  boars from their runs (3) and the 
  goats from their field (2) along with 
  the giants themselves, who will band 
  together to drive off threats. 
  Enemies
  6x Giant Goats CR½ (100 XP)
  HP 19     AC 11      Mv: 40’
  Ram+5 (8 bl), Charge - add (5 bl) and 
  str DC13 vs knockdown
  HP: 
   
   
   
   
   
  6x Giant Boars CR2 (450XP) 
  HP 42     AC 12      Mv: 40’
  Tusk+5 (10 sl), Charge - add (7 sl) and 
  str DC13 vs knockdown
  HP:  
   
   
   
   
   
     
  2x Stone Giants CR7 (2900 XP)
  HP 126     AC 17      Mv: 40’
  Multiattack(2), Greatclub+9 (19 bl), 
  Rock Throw+9 (28 bl) and Str DC17 
  vs prone
  HP:    
    
    
   for 4 level 16 characters 
  Hard - awards 9100XP
  Notes: Giants, Beasts, Mountains
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 28)
  Two giants are having an argument 
  in the valley where they live along 
  with their livestock. Their shouting 
  and rock hurling is a hazard to all 
  travelers.
  Encounter: The Carrion Field
  Map Notes
  The battlefield is dominated by 
  piles of bodies, which provide cover 
  and camouflage for the monster 
  plants that are scavenging the field.
  A corpse flower (A) will attack 
  anyone who enters the tattered 
  command tent.  The other corpse 
  flower and shambling mounds (B) 
  will follow up during the surprise 
  round.
    for 4 level 17 characters 
  Hard - awards 13200XP
  Notes: Battlefield, Ambush, Plants
  Details: Wild One-Shots (pg 31)
  On the site of a recent battle, 
  deadly scavengers have set up to prey 
  on anyone who comes to investigate 
  or loot the dead.
  Enemies
  2x Shambling Mound CR5(1800 XP)
  HP 136    AC 15      Mv: 20’
  Multiattack(2), Slam+7 (13 bl), if both 
  hit the target is grappled (DC14) and 
  engulfed(each turn/con DC14 vs13 bl)
  HP:  
   
   
  2x Corpse Flower CR8 (3900 XP)
  HP 127     AC 12      Mv: 20’ climb 20’
  Multiattack(3), Tentacle+5 (9 bl) and 
  con DC14 vs (14 poison)
  Harvest the Dead
  Stench of  Death - creatures starting 
  within 10’ save con DC14 vs incap 
  until end of turn
  Corpses - bonus action, animate zom-
  bie or heal 11hp
  HP:  
   
   
  Zombies CR¼ (50 XP)
  HP 22     AC 8      Mv: 20’
  Slam+3 (4 bl)
  Undead Fortitude
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/Brassmans Adventure Club - Wild Oneshots.pdf