Sudden Stampede

We need a few more non-combat events in our growing Wilderness Trek Wandering Monster table, so let’s get crack-a-lackin!

Who doesn’t love a good stampede?! Well, certainly, it’s not the first choice for your players, but as a DM, distant thundering sounds and crashing trees frantically drawing closer and closer might be the definition of a juicy encounter.

We thought long and hard about what sort of 3D-printed creature would work best here, and we just had to pick Axe Beaks! You might recall our previous post on this freak-ass bird, which became an instant hit once we saw it in the most-excellent Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves movie.

There’s a very brief scene in the film where a herd of these ostrich-esque birds streaks across a field, and it’s glorious. Once DM Ben saw that clip, it became a must to ultimately include something similar in our own campaigns!

And if you haven’t seen this movie, go do so now…like right now. Go. Now.

Our run-forest-run miniatures here are from ClayRade on Printables.com. He made three free models in various poses that are simply adorable. They also printed like a champ. Resident painter Kimmy Utah colored up these beauties, and it’s a paint scheme we can all get behind. We printed a bunch of these birds and are mustering up the courage to try and paint more of them ourselves.

DM Ben thinks the narrative could go something like this: “As day turns into night, you drift off to sleep under the stars. [Character name here] takes the first watch (and makes a Perception check). About an hour in, you start to feel the ground vibrate beneath you. Odd snapping sounds are heard in the distance. These feelings and sounds get stronger…louder. You begin to see smaller trees snap and fall in the distance. Something is coming, and they’re closing in fast!”

These freaked-out Axe Beaks are running at full tilt and have zero interest in the player’s campsite. Simply put, the group needs to get out of their way or take a bird claw beatin’!

DM Ben will ask each player to make an Athletics check (DC 15) or suffer 2d6+3 bludging damage. The stampeding herd will consist of eight Axe Beaks, and the DM will roll a d6 (as we have six players) and assign a save accordingly to see which character has a frenzied bird crashing toward them!

If a player succeeds with a 20 or higher on their roll, they safely duck and roll out of the way entirely and don’t have to make any additional saves. If any player fails by 10 or more, he/she will take an additional 1d6, as that means it was a full-on, high-speed collision. Consequently, any additional checks will then be made at a disadvantage as that affected player has become completely disoriented.

This wilderness wandering monster roll has the potential to get out of hand in a hurry, so as the DM, you can dial this one back by limiting the number of Axe Beaks, reducing their stomp damage, or lowering the Athletics DC.

There’s one other way to vary the difficulty of this encounter. The sequence would go something like this:

• DM asks all the players to roll a d6.
• If any player rolls a one, it’s wandering monster time.
• Then, this Sudden Stampede event was rolled on the table.
• If numerous players rolled a one, stick with 8 monsters.
• If only a few players rolled a one, go 4 or fewer Axe Beaks.

You can apply this difficulty method to several Wilderness Trek Wandering Monster events btw. 🙂

Next time, we’ll share what was chasing these traumatized Axe Beaks!