Axe to Grind

We’re jumping right back into our Wilderness Trek Wandering Monster table and adding a non-combat interruption to your party’s attempted long rest.

We want to ensure our tables have a nice mix of encounter types, so the goal remains to alternate entries between drawing swords and using one’s wits and abilities. DM Ben always loves to stress to the group that they aren’t alone and that their actions can bring forth uninvited guests at any time.

So, we’re leaning on EC3D Designs today and utilizing a couple of different miniatures because this encounter requires a couple of NPCs. First, we have our Elven Merchant from the Everyday Folk Part 1 Kickstarter and our axe holder, which we think is from either Ec3D Designs or Brite Minis (because it’s a supportless STL mini). We also included a scatter terrain prop from Thingiverse and Dutchmogul as an extra touch.

Let’s set the scene here. The party has found a suitable spot in the forest to catch their breath and begin their long rest. The player on watch makes a Perception check and suddenly hears some rather argumentative shouting from a distance. A few moments later, a hand axe flies through the camp and lands directly into a nearby tree.

It turns out an adventuring duo had a few too many sips of ale and decided they would have an axe-throwing contest. However, the friendly competition turned a bit ugly when one accused the other of cheating. The next thing you know, the next throw sailed a bit off target. Now, something is rapidly clearing a path towards the impact point and blabbering loudly…”No way! That last throw does not count. You bumped my elbow!”

Thanks to Reddit, we found this marvelous NPC Statblock Compendium PDF, so let’s flush out the details:

• NPC 1: Eleven Noble (the brains) | Madal Whisperbane
• NPC 2: Elven Barbarian (the muscle) | Jaegah Dawnsplitter
• Stat Block 1: Chief Berserker (AC 16, HP 67)
• Stat Block 2: Monster Hunter (AC 14, HP 82)
• Purpose: Mercenaries for hire & forest scavengers.

They abruptly march right into the adventurer’s camp, still bickering profusely. Before they notice the party, Jaegah begins to dislodge the off-target hand axe from the tree. Once they realize what they’ve done, the two immediately stop talking and put their hands cautiously over their weapons.

“Welllllll, hello! It seems we have disrupted your camp. We mean no harm. Ol’ Jaegah and I were having a spirited debate about his axe skills lately, and ummmm….well, that last throw got a tad away from my esteemed colleague.”

Madal continues, “What brings you to the forest? We’re some of the best hunters around these parts and frequent these woods often. Maybe we can help you in some way in exchange for a warm meal.” “And a mug or two of suds!” adds Jaegah.

This is where the party can once again seek out critical intel for any of their current larger missions and smaller side quests. This hunting tandem won’t join the party, but they will negotiate honestly and fairly.

They also ask the party if they’ve recently seen any signs of a large, roaming Corpse Flower (“You can’t miss the decaying stench it emits!”). Apparently, this body-carrying plant has been raiding forest grave sites, and Waterdeep citizens are making a fuss. Omin Dran recently put a reward out on it because disrupting the dead is “bad for business.”

The cool thing is that you’ve given the players a new side quest. If they kill this nasty monster first, it might miff these NPCs and offer a new storyline later in your campaign. We’ll probably skip adding this deadly plant monstrosity to our Wandering Monster list because it’s a handful: AC 12, 127 HP, three tentacle attacks, and its Stench of Death/incapacitated Con saves.

All that’s left to do is update our growing table!

Until next time!