1001 Merchant Caravans

[Warren Okuma]

1001 Merchant Caravans. Just add your caravan. From anytime, any system.

I'll start:
1) Caravan of Ithar the Thin:

An elderly cadaverously thin merchant in brilliant metallic red colored robes. His guard/pack mule is a lone stone golem (in +1 plate). They claim to have come from the deep swamp in the middle of the desert. He does not know where the dyes come from. He trades for them in another city and shows up twice a year.

This caravan carries two dyes.

A) A strange type of rust that is used to get a brilliant metallic red color and the cloth lasts longer. Ithar calls it god rust. Alchemist check 25 to discover it is adamantine rust. Unheard of! To convert it back to Adamantine is a Alchemist 30 check. Still you save 20%... if you can get enough of it. Each dose is 50 gp, and enough for a robe. He has only 1000 gp worth of this at any time.
B) Banana sap from the Boon Uoop banana tree. This gives the cloth a luxurious brown earthy color. 20 gp a dose. If used as a poison it is DC15 alchemy to detect if disguised and fort DC 18 or have the runs. He has only 500 gp worth of this at any time.

 

[phindar]

Kind of on topic, but there was a great random underdark caravan generator in an old module, I want to say Vault of the Drow. You could roll up stats for the goods, the guards, the mounts. Something like that would be very handy, especially if you were running a highwayman game. Back in 2e when I was playing in my friend's Night Below game, the group animated a bunch of giant lizards as skeletons and upholstered the inside of the rib cages and armor plated the sides. Cont Light marbles in the eye sockets, the occasional wand of fireballs fired out the mouth, it was quite the procession. We didn't use them on the adventure, but we did use them a lot for moving loot back and forth. Those were good times.

Undead mounts are just so economical. They never get tired, never have to feed, you can even gentle repose them so they don't freak out the townsfolk. Sure they're evil, and instinctively hate all life... I didn't say there were no downsides. Only that it was very economical.

 

[KrazyHades]

2) Caravan of Torvan of Dorano

A large, loud, and amiable dwarf wearing robes with small metal rings sewn into it (effectively ring leather armor). He carries a large hammer (flaming weapon) at his side, and it looks like he knows how to use it, but he seems all laughter and grins. He can be met going to and from dwarven mines. He carries armor/weapons, and valuable ore.

A) He carries several axes, swords, and some half-plate, all dwarven made, and even an occasional set of Dwarven Stone Armor or Dentritic Armor.

B) Torvan carries 1000 gp worth of adamantine or mithril on any given journey. It has yet to be forged.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Caravan of Jallathan, the half-orc trader (noone knows where he's from originally)

He leads a train of overloaded mules, carrying huge bales of cotton. The caravan is very well protected. One might wonder why he feels the need for so many brutal-looking guards for a load of cotton...

Because inside the cotton there's a hidden cargo of raw mithril ore, that's why. He's got this from a dishonest foreman in a dwarven mine, either through blackmail or simple bribes. He's going to sell it to a clan of orcs (maybe his father's tribe?). They'll be meeting him in the remotest location possible along his route.

 

[Warren Okuma]

4) Caravan of Kithra the Unclean.

She is the neutral priest of the god of Boccob the uncaring. She only uses undead monsters that threaten humans, thus his entire caravan is undead monsters. She never enters good countries and has clandestine meetings with other caravan masters. She does the middle man trade between good and evil, is Lawful Neutral, honest, and deals in minor magic. She often goes off with her core party, a rogue and a sorcerer that optimizes in combat, and another clerics of Boccob. They adventure to increase the size of the caravan.

 

[KrazyHades]

5) Caravan of Ellevair the Unseen

This caravan carries only the most dangerous, illegal, powerful, and expensive items on the personal charter of the realm's richest and most influential men. Ellevair is LN, so he is trustworthy and will carry goods for any customer. He never turns down a job which he is confident he can fulfill. The caravan uses phantom steeds, and the wagons all have permanent invisibility, and Ellevair has a Mantle of Greater Invisibility (magic item, user is permanently invisible while Mantle is worn), and the horses and wagons can fly as the spell cast by a 20th lvl sorcerer 3/day. Ellevair is extremely secretive and attempts to avoid letting people know the true power of his caravan; he tries to remain unseen, and avoids using the fly ability when in sight of creatures which can see invisibility, if possible.

 

[jmucchiello]

Just a comment: you might want to stat these things up using modified city stats. A caravan is going to have a population, a GP limit, even a government type (with possible secondary power sources) and (most importantly) notable figures.

Just a thought.

 

[Warren Okuma]

6) Procession of Princess Thrushisa of Aragass

Thrushiasa is a captivatingly beautiful female aristocrat who is also a princess. She often leads a caravan carrying government offerings to the main temple at the holiest site of the most common religion. She fills the ecological niche of victim and sacrifice.

 

[KrazyHades]

7) Wagon Train of Korvuth the Greedy
Korvuth is a notoriously rich, haughty, and greedy man. He is a human expert 3/rogue 6, stands under 5 feet tall, but weighs 200 lbs. He has small, beady eyes, and a constantly-sweating forehead, and carefully-groomed black hair. His loyalty lasts as long as you are the one paying him most, but he is extremely competent. He owns nearly 40 wagons, all transporting luxury goods for the powerful and elite. He IS honest, in that he doesn't steal outright from his employers (such as by pilfering from the goods he is hired to transport), but his prices are abominably high. These prices go mostly into his own pocket, but Korvuth does not compromise quality for personal advancement; he cannot risk having even one incomplete contract or his reputation will be ruined. He hires the best caravan guards, of nearly any race, such as humans, rust monsters, minotaurs, and even an occasional Young/Juvenile/Young Adult dragons (whom he pays VERY well). He uses underhanded techniques to protect himself, his wealth, and his reputation, but never against a current employer or any of his underlings (to prevent betrayal and thievery in the ranks).

The PCs could be hired to either cause one of his caravans to fail in its current task (in order to ruin his reputation and business) or to protect it from another such attempt. They could also sell to/purchase from him some expensive items (magical or otherwise).

 

[Warren Okuma]

8) Pack of the Ferals

Feral Druids staff this convoy with awakened trees. Cast wood shape on a sapling, then plant growth repeatedly, and then awaken. These awaked pack trees are controlled by the leadership feat. Cargo mechs that fight. Because they are tree kin they are mostly carnivores, and constantly hunt, thus are mostly mid level or better. They carry rare forest animal products, hides, and darkwood dead wood. They trade for magic items and salt. They sometimes use these caravans to attack axe wielders.

These humans are so feral the orcs refer to them as eaters of orcs (taste like boar, but more tender, no natural armor class after all) and call them savages. They do not use fire and follow the code of the Ferals. Help the group, kill despoiler's of the forest, and eat or use what you can from your kills. They are neutral evil with good tendencies.