ENCOUNTERS: UNUSUAL ROADSIDE ENCOUNTERS
BY DAVIS CHENAULT
EDITOR: STEPHEN CHENAULT
ART DIRECTION/INTERIOR ART/LAYOUT/PRODUCTION: PETER BRADLEY, JASON WALTON
P. O Box 251171, Little Rock,
AR 72225
email: www.trolllord.com
website: www.trolllord.com or
www.castlesandcrusades.com
Interested in Castles & Crusades ® the role playing game? Want to learn more? There is a large online
community of gamers who post home brewed rules, adventure discussion and help incoming players
disgest the game and it’s potential. Please visit our online forums at the web address mentioned above
and get involved. All are welcome!!!
© 2009Troll Lord Games. All Rights Reserved. Castles & Crusades ® is a Registered Trademark
of Troll Lord Games. All Rights Reserved. C&C, Castle Keeper, SEIGE engine, Troll Lord Games,
and the Castles & Crusades, SEIGE engine, and Troll Lord Games logos are Trademark of Troll
Lord Games. All Rights Reserved.
OGL
This book is published under the Open Game License version 1.0a by permission
of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The Open Game Content appearing in this book
is derived from the System Reference Document v 3.0, copyright 2000 Wizards
of the Coast, Inc.
DESIGNATION OF OPEN GAME CONTENT: The following is designated Open
Game Content: all stat block information of characters, monsters, and traps that
appears in the parenthetical following the character, monster, or trap, including
the names of items and spells; and the general names of monsters, but not any
unique named NPC, character, or monster, appearing in any table or preceding
any stat block. Also, the following open game content related words, phrases, and
abbreviations wherever they appear: Strength (Str), Dexterity (Dex), Constitution
(Con), Intelligence (Int), Wisdom (Wis), Charisma (Cha), Class, Fighter, Ranger,
Rogue, Assassin, Barbarian, Monk, Wizard, Illusionist, Cleric, Druid, Knight, Bard,
Paladin, Race, Demi-human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Hit
Dice (HD), Hit Points (HP), Alignment, Lawful Good (LG), Lawful Neutral (LN),
Lawful Evil (LE), Neutral (N), Neutral Good (NG), Neutral Evil (NE), Chaotic
Good (CG), Chaotic Neutral (CN), Chaotic Evil (CE), Level, “to hit”, Damage,
Experience Point, Saving Throw, Player Character (PC), Non-player Character
(NPC), Turn Undead, Spell, Arcane, Divine, Magic, Spell Resistance, Item,
Equipment, Armor, Weapon, Potion, Rod, Staff, Wand, Scroll, Ring, Wondrous
Item, Artifact, Cursed,d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d%, round, and turn.
DESIGNATION OF PRODUCT IDENTITY: Product identity is not Open Game Content.
The following is designated as product identity pursuant to OGL v1.0a(1)(e) and
(7): (A) product and product line names and other names, including Castles &
Crusades, C&C, Castle Keeper (CK), Castles & Crusades: Player’s Handbook,
Castles & Crusades: Monsters and Treasures, Castles & Crusades: Castle Keeper’s
Guide, Into the Unknown: Vakhund (B) logos, identifying marks, and trade dress;
(C) all artwork, logos, symbols, graphic designs, depictions, likenesses, formats,
poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual representations;
(D) logos and trademarks, including Castles & Crusades, Castle Keeper, SIEGE
engine, and Troll Lord Games, any and all Trigee Enterprises Company logos,
identifying marks and trade dress, or any other trademark or registered trademark
clearly identified as product identity by the owner of the product identity, and
which specifically excludes the open game content; (E) the story, storylines, plots,
thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, depictions, likenesses, concepts,
world and campaign descriptions, proper names of the characters, creatures, groups,
spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses, skills, items, deities,
and special abilities other than those designated as open game content above, as
well as places, locations, settings, and environments and their descriptions and
other accompanying text, though not their stat blocks.
All text, artwork, and maps appearing in this book is property of and copyright
2007 Troll Lord Games. All Rights Reserved. Castles & Crusades, C&C, Castle
Keeper, Troll Lord Games, and the Castles & Crusades and Troll Lord Games
logos, and products published by Troll Lord Games are Trademarks of Troll Lord
Games. All Rights Reserved.
OPEN GAME LICENSE VERSION 1.0A
The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright
2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.
1. Definitions: (a)”Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark
owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)”Derivative Material”
means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including
into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition,
extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which
an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to
reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise
distribute; (d)”Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the
methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not
embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any
additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor,
and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative
works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product
Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks
including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots,
thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs,
depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic
and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters,
spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities;
places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural
abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark
or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of
the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content;
(f) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are
used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products
contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or
“Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise
create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the
licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains
a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in
terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content
that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as
described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any
Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate
Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License,
the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive
license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original
material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your
original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by
this License.
6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE
portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE
of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You
must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to the
COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity,
including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another,
independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity.
You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or
Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content
Unusual roadside encounters for levels 1-6
except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of
such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open
Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product
Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall
retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate
which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish
updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License
to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under
any version of this License.
10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every
copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the
Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written
permission from the Contributor to do so.
12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the
terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to
statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open
Game Material so affected.
13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to
comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming
aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such
provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast,
Inc; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on
original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Castles & Crusades: Players Handbook, Copyright 2005, Troll Lord
Games; Authors Davis Chenault and Mac Golden.
Castles & Crusades: Players Handbook, 2nd Printing, Copyright 2006,
Troll Lord Games; Authors Davis Chenault and Mac Golden.
Castles & Crusades: Players Handbook, 3rd Printing, Copyright 2007,
Troll Lord Games; Authors Davis Chenault and Mac Golden.
Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure, Copyright 2005, Troll Lord
Games; Authors Robert Doyel Stephen Chenault.
Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure, 2nd Printing Copyright
2007, Troll Lord Games; Authors Robert Doyel Stephen Chenault.
Unusual Roadside Encounters, Copyright 2009, Troll Lord Games; Author
Davis Chenault.
 UNUSUAL ROADSIDE ENCOUNTERS
THE ZOMBIE HUNT
LEVEL: 1-2
THE SETTING: This encounter should occur along a lonely stretch
of unfamiliar road when the characters are traveling, quite
unwisely, at night. Further, they should have very recently been
bloodied in battle and still suffer from their wounds. It is the blood
upon their bodies that attracts the zombies who haunt a nearby
barrow.
The characters enter a thorp quite by surprise after a bend in the
road. There are half a dozen old dilapidated shacks and houses
stretching along the road. Three large barns are tangled in a
web of vines and brush further off from the roads. Fields lie long
abandoned to either side of the road. A misty rain begins to fall
and howling wolves break and run into the forest from one of the
shacks as the characters pass along the road.
All the buildings are one or two room affairs with collapsing roofs
and walls and littered with the long abandoned debris of a poor
farming community. Nothing lives here and the buildings have
long since been ransacked and all the goods of any worth taken
away. There is, however, several places to shelter the characters
from the rain and enough wood and surviving fireplaces to build a
raging and warm fire.
2 CASTLES & CRUSADES
Within a few hours of setting up camp, the characters should be
made to feel comfortable, warm and safe. A quiet falls upon the
thorp, the rains stop, the moon comes out and a warming breeze
shuffles the branches of the trees. Branches scrape against the
walls of the buildings, a door swings wide and slams shut, and old
pulley in the barn creaks and sways in the wind. The sounds of
night prevail – almost.
After the moon reaches it apex and the skies clear, the winds
pick up and the sounds of nature, the bugs, hooting owls and
other scurrying creature cease to make a sound. Any ranger or
druid would note this immediately. Others must make a wisdom
check to notice the unusual sound of silent nature. At he same
time however, the winds knock things around a bit in the thorp,
blowing dangling ropes around, opening and closing shutters,
ruffling loose shingles etc.
There are zombies sauntering into town. They come from a nearby
barrow mound where the thorp’s dead were once laid to rest. They
come into the thorp slowly, attracted by the fresh blood on the
characters. They arrive in small numbers throughout the night,
one to four at a time. Some linger longer than others so that they
can be found around the town.
The characters have several options:
1. They can leave the thorp as quickly as possible in which case
there are zombies coming down the road towards them and
from the woods equal in number to the party plus two. After
which the characters can escape along the dark road ahead.
2. They can stay wherever they are and hole up until morning in
which case they will be attacked all night long in ever greater
numbers. The first encounter is with 1d4 zombies, the 2nd
wave has 1d4+2 zombies, the third wave has 1d4+4 zombies
and the final wave would have 1d4+8 zombies.
3. They can go zombie hunting. Although possibly the last
route the characters may choose, it is the best route. In this
case, the characters never meet more than three zombies at
a time and have a long night of zombie hunting ahead of
them as they move through the thorp’s houses and into the
woods killing zombies. No more than 36 zombies should be
encountered and some should be hidden perhaps surprising
the characters.
Zombies can see at night, move fairly silently until close to living
bloodied flesh when they begin to groan and screech, are slow but
attack relentlessly and are as dumb as a box of rocks. Zombies are
very strong with a strength score of 14 for the purposes of breaking
things and knocking them down.
There is a mound cemetery outside of town about 1⁄2 mile away.
This is where the zombies are coming from. Should the characters
inquire as to the nature of this thorp in a neighboring village or
area, they learn it was abandoned nearly a decade ago when the
dead began to rise from the earth.
 ZOMBIES (These neutral evil creature’s vital stats are: HD 2d12,
AC 12, HP variable. Their primary attributes are: physical.
They attack for 1d8 damage by biting and clawing. Special: slow,
collective overbearing. Slow: zombies always act last in a combat
round. When three or more zombies are attacking one opponent,
they collectively attempt to overbear him. This is one overbearing
attack at +1 and an additional +1 each zombie above three up to
a maximum of 6.)
FURTHER ADVENTURES: The zombies were brought to life by an
evil cleric who came to this area seeking to locate an old temple
to the deity of the dead. He located the temple several miles from
the thorp and brought the dead back to life in order to scare
away or kill its inhabitants. The cleric himself was killed by a
wight or other similar creature who haunts that temple and the
surrounding region to this day. Rumors of the temple abound in
local communities.
THE BROKEN AXLE
LEVEL: Any
THE SETTING: The characters are traveling along a road leading
from a small farming or fishing village to a larger town where it
is nearing Market Day. A farmer is attempting to take his goods
to market. He is traveling with an overloaded wagon with too
few oxen to pull the wagon and his whole family. He is carrying
food. Depending upon the season it is either potatoes, pumpkins,
watermelon, carrots, cabbage or fish. The characters are traveling
behind the wagon by several miles.
Upon a particularly rough stretch of the road, the characters
see some of the spillage from the wagon. Any of the above items
mentioned are falling off the wagon and are scattered along the
road. As the characters move along they eventually see a large
family standing around a wagon with a broken axle, squabbling
and fighting with one another. Piles of produce lay all around the
wagon.
The farmer, Tom Goodfarmer and his wife, Betty are both very
large individuals. One might call them corpulent in the extreme.
Their six children, aged 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 are also very round for
their age. If nothing else, Tom Goodfarmer is a very productive
farmer and he and his family eats well and heartily. Yet, Tom is
not the brightest apple on the tree and has loaded his wagon with
produce far beyond its capacity to carry it. He has also acquired
too few oxen too pull too large a load. As a result of the bumpy
road, and the excessive load, his wagon now has a broken axle.
As the characters approach, the family steps back as Tom
Goodfarmer senses an opportunity for help. He approaches the
characters and asks, pleads and even begs for help. He explains
his situation. This is his season’s produce that must get to market
and be sold or he and his family will die of starvation. In return for
their help, Tom offers to feed them the whole length of the time it
takes to get him to market.
Tom is a talkative person and given to being obsequies when
dealing with his superiors. Betty is an argumentative sort and
given to belittling anyone whose efforts to do something fail even
in the slightest. The children are noisy and ill behaved with no
sense of decorum at all. They re generally only concerned with
the source and timing of their next meal. That is their bad nature,
which is so apparent at a time like this.
On the good side, Tom is a hard worker, honest to a fault, forgiving
to a fault and even, so his wife believes, a bit if dupe. Betty has a
flair for poking fun at people’s faults in a humorous and innocent
manner that generally uplifts rather than irritates. She is a
phenomenal story teller and can weave yarns of everyday life both
humorous and sad all in one telling. The children are, for all their
ill behavior, happy and given to acts of random charity and show
genuine concern for those in need.
The wagon, about 10’ long and 4’ wide, is designed to carry roughly
3000 lbs of goods. Tom has placed nearly 5000 lbs of goods in it.
He has strapped and netted the goods as well as he could but this
has not prevented some from falling out, much to the irritation of
Betty who spent many hours in the field harvesting the material
and the children who see potential meals being scattered along
the road.
They have 48 hours to get to the market to insure they get a stall.
The town they are headed to is approximately 25 miles away. The
oxen are tired and worn out and move at half their normal speed
even if the wagon were carrying the proper load or about .5 miles
per hour. They can do this for 24 hours straight before one just
dies of exhaustion.
The characters must figure out how to help the Goodfarmer family
get their goods to market. The players will come up with many
options. No matter which route they go, the castle Keeper should
infuse the solution with problems or issues. The point is not to
make it impossible to move 5000 pounds in 25 miles in 48 hours,
but rather to have a fairly comical event of everyday nature mix
with the characters often violent and deadly lives.
The Goodfarmers are, all in all, good people and ultimately very
grateful for any help the characters provide even if they get to
market late. Betty Goodfarmer is an astonishgly good cook and
has an uncanny knowledge of natural herbs and spices. She can
take an average pot of potatoes and turn it into a feast fit for a
king given a day or so to collect all her ingredients. Forever and
anon, the Goodfarmers welcome the characters into their house,
feeding them and caring for them as family. That is, assuming the
characters are of good disposition about the whole thing.
FURTHER ADVENTURES: Tom and Betty Goodfellow are more
than they seem. They can grow and cook up marvelous stews
with magic qualities. These stews can effect healing, restoration,
strength, will power and other aspects the Castle Keeper desires.
It would be wise to keep these stews as rare concoctions (as the
ingredients are difficult to gather and grow) and should be offered
to the characters as gifts of friendship in times of need.
In future encounters, the Goodfellow family could fall on hard
times, be beset by malicious fay, loose a child to a forest goblin
or some other extraordinary event in which they call upon their
friends to help them.
UNUSUAL ROADSIDE ENCOUNTERS 3
THE HAUNTED THORP
LEVEL: 3-4
The Setting: The characters are traveling through civilized lands,
though lands that are sparsely populated. They pass through
a thorp consisting of eight houses with associated barns and
outbuildings. The characters immediately notice that no one is
in the fields or on the road. Some dogs can be herd barking from
one of the larger houses. The shutters and doors of all the houses
are closed.
About a week before the arrival of the characters, a barghast
entered this thorp and killed several people. Sensing easy prey the
barghast has remained. The villagers at first sought to oust the
creature that had come to their homes and killed two farmers, but
upon loosing 3 more people, they all gathered up their goods or
valuables and have barricaded themselves in one house. They are
terrified of leaving the house, (though know they must soon) for
fear of falling prey to the creature which stalks their village.
The people inside see the characters coming down the road and
come out to greet them imploring them for aid and help in ridding
their community of the creature which stalks them. They are a
rough looking lot. A week indoors, terrified, hungry and thirsty,
the people’s wretched appearance is similar to those in a besieged
city about to be overrun.
entering a barn or building it begins growling and barking as if
something were inside. It also backs away. It then moves back if
the party starts to enter the building. If it should happen and the
party splits leaving one party member with the barghast it may
attack or it may attempt to charm the person.
And the games should begin. The barghast is a highly intelligent
creature and very capable of using its spells and spell like abilities
to generate fear in the party members and hopes to split them up,
killing them one at a time. If it has the opportunity or senses the
opportunity to kill something, it runs away first (in dog form) and
sneaks back as the barghast. It tries to keep its dog form a secret.
Bear in mind, other dogs can sense the barghast in canine form so
it will not enter the house where the other people are since there
are other dogs in there. Further, if need be, the barghast can change
self and act like a traveler coming down the road to get people out
of the building or cause them to move around. The barghast is
quite willing to spend days or weeks tearing the party and people
down one at a time. If it senses it is completely outmatched, the
barghast leaves.
BARGHAST (These lawful evil creature’s vital stats are HD 4d8,
AC 18 (20), HP 23. Its primary attributes are mental. They
attack with a bite for 2d4+6 and 2 claws for 1d4+3 damage.
Special: spell-like abilities, feed, change shape and darkvision.)

The barghast does not know of the characters’ arrival and is

sleeping in dog form in a barn as the characters arrive.

There are 32 people in the small two room house. Half of these are
children under the age 15 and half of the total are women. There
is none amongst them trained in the art of war or otherwise useful
as a class. Several of them can track as 1st level rangers though.
They are variously armed with simple weapons like clubs, spiked
clubs, scythes, axes, hand axes and other tools found in a farming
community.

The barghast has taken up residence in a nearby barn and waits

there in dog form. It has decided to leisurely kill these people
and devour each and every one of them. Since it has met little
resistance to this effort so far, the barghast has decided to make
the killing a pleasurable experience as well. He wants to torture
his intended victims with fear. It also pays little attention to
the villagers, assuming, quite rightly, they are unable to act in
a coherent manner and are incapable of defending themselves.
The barghast’s equation did not account for the arrival of help of
course.

It does not take the barghast long to realize the characters have
arrived. When the characters come out to hunt for it, the barghast
stays in dog form but has tied a rope to a pole and placed a slip
knot around its neck. Just before the characters come near, it casts
misdirection upon itself and acts like a wounded animal. This is
not completely out of place because there are chickens wandering
about freely, cattle meandering around and sheep grazing in the
garden.

The barghast will try to accompany the characters as a dog. It acts

like a wounded domesticated guard dog. At some point, before
4 CASTLES & CRUSADES

SLEEPING BEAUTY
LEVEL: 2-4
THE SETTING: In lands that are sparsely
populated, but where civilization is
encroaching, a dryad, Tulia by name lives
in a tree. Civilization has slowly, but inevitably encroached upon
her home to the point where a road passes a mere 200 yards from
her home. In the year previous she released a man who had been
her fawning companion for over a decade. He had grown old and
she weary of his company. Having no memory of the decade but
10 years older, the man wandered off into the woods trying to
accomplish something he did not remember and never owned
but was owned by. The dryad has grown lonely and seeks to bring
another companion and protector to her side.
She watches the road from afar for travelers. Should one of the
characters in the party have high charisma, the dryad chooses that
person to be her companion. She attempts to charm the person
with the highest charisma. She has pre-planned her escapade.
She lies down as if in a deep slumber in a bed of flowers upon the
side of the road. Her hope is that one or more of the characters
attempt to wake her. Nothing seems to work, because she isn’t
really in a deep slumber, but acts as if she is.
She is waiting for the person she wants to charm to attempt to
wake her – with a kiss. If that does not appear likely, if her target
gets close enough, she kisses him. The target must be very close
however as she does not want to give away her ruse. The kiss
would be more along the lines of a brush across the cheek. This is
the most potent of charms a dryad can cast. The kiss charm check
is made at a CL 8. Its effects are absolute. The charmed person
falls immediately in love with the dryad and is quite desirous of
staying with her for the rest of his live long days.
If it does not occur, the dryad simply lies there acting asleep and
awaits the next possible candidate of her potent charms. If a
person does become charmed, the dryad slowly awakens, feigning
exhaustion. Once fully “awake” she explains to the characters
that an evil man bound her and cast some potent magic upon her
causing her to sleep. He stole all her possessions and left her here
by the road. She expresses a desire/command posed as a question
that the the charmed one help her protect her property.
If the charm does not work, she will not try again. She uses
the same tale of an evil man to engage the characters but at an
opportune moment she disappears into her tree and does not
make an appearance again.
Many things can happen should the dryad successfully
charm the character. The player should be made aware
that the character is irrevocably in love with the dryad and
would willingly die to protect her and wants to stay with her
forever. Should an argument with the rest of the party ensue,
the dryad uses her normal charm abilities in an attempt to
ensnare others to her side of the argument. She focuses
the attention on clerics or wizards in an attempt to exploit
their magic against the other characters. But in any case the
charmed character will not let her be killed.
The dryad is an altogether clever being. She is not willingly going
to die or allow herself to be endangered in her attempts to charm
someone. Should a fight likely appear to result, she disappears
into a tree and releases those she charmed with the hope that the
event can just pass over. She quickly becomes aware that keeping
the character imprisoned is going to bring the wrath of the party
down upon her. So she subtly offers a deal whereby the characters
must secure her forest area from the local threats of the woodsmen
and in turn she will release the charmed character.
The dryad is not an evil being either, but vain. She sees doom in
her future. The axe wielding humans are encroaching upon this
land and some of the woods in which she dwells will come under
the axe. More than anything, she prefers a willing protector to
fawn over her. If attacked she eventually escapes to her tree.
Should the characters pursue her that far, she makes no effort to
defend herself but climbs the highest branch and watches as the
characters cut down the tree (thus killing her) or find some other
method of ending her life.
TULLIA, DRYAD (This neutral creature’s vital stats are: HD 2d8;
AC 17; HP 12. He prime attributes are mental and physical. She
attacks with a dagger for 1d4 damage. Special: Spell-like abilities,
tree dependent, tree stride, wild empathy.)
UNUSUAL ROADSIDE ENCOUNTERS 5
FURTHER ADVENTURES: The dryad is really seeking a permanent
protector at this point. Should the character actually willingly
fawn over her and offer to protect her in times of need, then
the dryad will not only be permanently grateful but bestow
upon various party members powers over time. She can teach
one each of the following to any party member. It takes time to
teach someone something and she can only teach one person at a
time. Tracking (1 month), Extra tracking skill (+1 to all tracking
checks for a ranger, 2 weeks), goodberry (3 months), hide in
woody areas (3 months), move silent in woody areas (3 months),
calm animal (usable once a day, 2 months), pass without trace
(4 months) etc. In all the dryad can become a companion to the
characters, teaching them things over time. The limitation is up to
the Castle Keeper. In return the dryad would like protection and,
well, some fawning. The dryad will eventually be attacked or come
under mortal threat. The characters must save her.
THE TOLL BRIDGE
Level 2-5
THE SETTING: The characters are crossing a fairly well traveled
bridge. The bridge is broad, constructed of stone, has shallow
railings and pylons spaced at 20 foot intervals across its length.
The bridge should cross a broad, shallow, fast flowing river. As
the characters cross the bridge, a small creature jumps out from
behind a pylon. It is about a foot in height, looks much like a small
spindly old man with brown skin but has long crooked legs – muck
like a grasshopper. Its wearing a yellow pointed hat, a silk blue
waistcoat and is twirling a little silver medallion on a leather band.
Its joyfully approaches the characters singing a ditty about crows,
cows, scarecrows and crowbars. It stops short of the characters,
introduces itself as Nizzlebit, asks how the characters are and
starts a conversation.
In a very abrupt way, this little grig, stops the conversation and
tells the characters that if they want to safely cross over the
bridge, they must give him 1gp. If the gold is proffered he says
that he failed to mention that it was one gold per person. If this is
proffered, he says he meant to say one gold piece per person, and 1
gold piece per back pack. In general, the grig continues to ask for
money until an argument or threat ensues. He quietly backs away
6 CASTLES & CRUSADES
at that point and tells the characters to pass at their own risk
As soon as the characters begin to move forward, another grig,
hidden behind a pylon further down the bridge begins to play a
fiddle. The characters must each make a charisma check or begin
dancing and singing to the jig. The grig keeps the music going
until the gold is proffered.
In general, the grigs do not mean any harm. They intend to
return the gold after the characters cross the bridge. For them
it is all great fun anyway. They enjoy watching others dance (as
they believe others do not dance or sing enough). There are a
dozen other grigs looking on in amusement at the site of their
two brethren playing this trick and giggle and laugh loudly should
the characters begin dancing. Even should the grig gets a lot of
gold, the fiddle player still plays the fiddle. The grigs want the
characters to dance.
Should the grigs be attacked, they at first attempt to flee and the
fiddle player uses the music to slow and hinder the characters
violent reaction. They then disappear into the woods only to
come back and haunt the characters later. Should the encounter
go off well and the characters realize and accept the hilarity of
it all, the grigs invite the characters to a larger gathering where
much more hilarity and joy ensue – as well as some beneficial gifts
for the characters such as a bundle of goodberries, a dozen grig
crackers that feed one person for one day and weigh but an once
– and never spoil.
GRIG X14 (This neutral creature vital stats are: HD 1d4, AC
18 and HP: variable. Their prime attributes are: mental. They
attack with darts for 1-2 damage or daggers for 1-3 damage.
Their special abilities are: change self, invisibility, pyrotechnics,
trip, ventriloquism, and agility.)
FURTHER ADVENTURES: The grigs are in this area because they are
supposed to be holding a special dance. The dance is held once
a year beneath a weeping willow near a small village. The willow
has recently been enclosed within a sheep pasture and a barn built
right next door. The grigs would like the barn removed so they can
do their dance – in three days time.