WIP Wednesday! Packs a Punch

Another week and another work-in-progress Wednesday! Let’s check in on the status of our randomly built road encounter that we rolled up courtesy of Loke Battlemats: The Long Road RPG Toolbox.

Here’s our outdoor encounter checklist:

• Motiv: Hired hands for a caravan escort
• Setting: Travel from Water Deep to Phandalin
• Main NPC 1: Mimford Fugelfort of NewCastle Imports Exports
• Main NPC 2: Today’s Task
• Plot Twist: Which NPC do you trust? Was this a planned ambush?!
• Monsters: Red Caps (7)
• Rewards: 1 scroll, 1 potion, 2 items, 3 ammunitions
• Scatter Terrain: TBD
• Ancillary Miniatures: TBD

So we need another NPC to create a little more intrigue and to trade jabs with Mimford. And that’s where Miss Shelley Packatase of the East Indies Trading Company comes into play! We took the actual logo from the history books for ol’ nostalgia sake to serve as her enterprise’s moniker.

Let’s get to know Shelley! She is Mimford’s arch-rival and their relationship isn’t very congenial since they compete for valuable trade routes. She’s certainly no angel but she isn’t as brutal as Mimford’s iron fist management style. DM Ben loves using face cards in his D&D campaigns so we utilized this cool NPC card from the Loke Battlemats: The Long Road RPG Toolbox. The pic has the grit we’re looking for as Shelley came from nothing and is a no-nonsense gal. Plus, notice how the partial image on her book matches our actual company logo?! It’s like it was meant to be. Plus, we love how Loke Battlemats includes handy suggested stats on the reverse side.

Now we need a marvelous mini to represent Shelley Packatase (pronounced “pack-a-tas-e” with “tas” rhyming with “has”). We didn’t have to look too far as EC3D Designs had super Desert Rogue sculpt from The Empire of the Scorching Sands set. It’s perfect.

The miniature’s subtle details match up perfectly for this NPC. The headscarf (mysterious), her sword (strong), the leather satchel (rugged), and then finished with the consummate paint scheme.

Shelley needed a bodyguard but she’s quite the loner so an animal companion makes the most sense here. Gamers Decide wrote an excellent article on “D&D Best Animal Companions” and we wholeheartedly agree with a panther as the top pick (but the mastiff was hard to resist). So for our animal companion, we’ll be using the Guenhwyvar mini from WotC’s Underdark set. The red hats monsters will concentrate nearly all their surprise round sling bullet fire on Shelley and her panther (aka Nori)…it’s gonna be a bloodbath of D6’s.

Next week we’ll reveal our scatter terrain selections and ancillary miniatures!