The Great Chase

For today’s RPG entry, we’re piggybacking on a previous runaway wandering monster table entry — the awesome Axe Beak!

As a quick refresher, our table will feature 20 different 3D-printed events, but not all will be immediately hostile. To keep things interesting, we’ll sprinkle in some ability checks and even a potential future NPC plot hook. The point of our Wandering Monster tables remains to disrupt their long rest and not just bring down heaven and earth on our worn-out party.

Earlier, entry four on our table was all about a runaway stampeding herd of spooked Axe Beaks. The mystery remains though – what on earth was chasing them?! Welp, today is the day we answer that question.

DM Ben loves the unexpected miniature(s) drop on the gameboard. He’s always looking for a “What on earth is that?” type of reaction. So, when he saw this “Townsfolk K” sculpt by STL Miniatures, he instantly knew he had the right pick. This adorable duo is from their Fantasy NPC 2 Kickstarter (which, as a late pledge, still has immense value).

We don’t like it when our 3D-printed minis don’t take up a full D20 square, so we nudged his STL size a tad. Plus, we wanted to give resident painter Kimmy Utah a little break, as there are a lot of tiny details here. We just love how this one turned out!

Clearly, this gnome has an axe to grind and wants a piece of those beaks! They’re fast, though, so he needed a trusty steed to make chase and a giant hampster was the perfect mount. DM Ben will describe the sheer quickness and leap distance on this whiskered beast.

Here’s how we expect this encounter to unfold. While cute and adorable on the outside, our galloping hamster has quite the mean streak! So, in terms of tactics, DM Ben is going to have this odd galloping duo catch up with one of the Axe Beak stragglers. The rider will suddenly leap off his trusted mount, and the hamster will suddenly transform into a 2×2 d20 square chomper!

It will then be up to the party to decide if they want to intervene in the surprise combat or if they’ll be partial observers.

Now let’s craft up some more details on this runaway:

• Rider: Roote Rallascant | Gnome
• Giant Hamster: Kwee
• Stat Block: Bite +11/2d8+6 & Claw x2 +11/3d6+6 | Energy Ray
• Persona: Cordgill (but stay in your lane).
• Reason for Capture: Kwee is hungry. And Axe Beaks prey on baby hamsters.

We think the D&D 5e Space Hamster stats work swell here, as we want them to make quick work of the lagging Axe Beak (. Roote is polite, but he’s all business and in a rush. He says that he’s marked that fleeting herd as his game and respectfully asks the group to “stay clear” of his prey.

For Roote Rallascant’s NPC gnome stats, we utilized RPGTinker.com’s awesome D&D 5e NPC Generator online tool. The builder is just quick and easy for those scenarios where you don’t expect the NPC to fight, but then all of a sudden, you do need ’em! DM Ben thought it would be a hoot if this tiny little gnome were a freakish swordsman.

The group will also note that Roote viciously chops off the beak and slips it into his pack before quickly moving on.

Pretty fun, though, right? You’ve got a memorable and unique encounter that may or may not include a future story and NPC hook at the DM’s discretion. Time to update our group Wandering Monster table!

Until next time!