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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gwarok" data-source="post: 6921974" data-attributes="member: 12249">Some friends and I made up a whole list of random encounters we wanted to turn into adventure cards back in 3.5 days, but we never could find a good artist to work with.  Here are a few of them, apologies for any lingering 3.5ness in them I may have failed to scrub. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EVIL SHRINE - Description: Carved into the side of a hill deep in the woods, are steps where step should not be. They lead to a clearing at the top, a clearing which of not visible from the valley or surrounding hills. As you enter the circle, an uneasy feeling comes over you, unclear visions of of dark things and words spoken in alien tongues play briefly in the back of your mind. Around the clearing in the trees are small totems. Straw figues of people and animals hang from branches. They are stained with symbols written in blood or ink upon them. Twigs and small branches are bent and tied in strange, arcane shapes and placed on the ground and also hung in the trees like the totems.In the middle of the clearing is a large stone slab, stained dark with what you can only assume is a copious amount of dried blood. The top of this slab is flat and smooth save for a depression in it that would accomodate a human figure. On the south side of the stone are carved characters and pictograms whose meanings are obvious and make your blood run cold.Interaction: In the old language above the pictograms is the inscription "New blood on the new moon, and ye shall learn to tread on dark paths." At this shrine, every new moon, if blood is sacrificed, lethal to the giver, he or she who leads the ceremony becomes more powerful. With a DC 20 Religion check and a sacrifice you get xp based on what you sacrificed.  Plus 1 to the check for each follower you have that assists in the ceremony.  XP as follows:Animal Blood - 100xp, Goats Blood 500xp, Human Blood 1000xp, Virgins Blood 2000xp. The ritual can be performed but once per month and failure on the DC check means that the ritualist is cursed with a random curse.Background: This was once the site a local druid who invoked dark gods as well as the light to protect the people of this region and see that the blood rituals were observed lest the dark gods come and take what they wanted instead of what the people were ready to give. That particular group of druids was destroyed long ago. But if thats true, who put the totems up? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Troll Under The Bridge -Old GreenbellySpecial: Old Greenbelly's mother was a scrag troll; like a scrag, he has a 30' swim speed and can breathe underwater. Unlike normal scrags, he can regenerate out of the water. He's a bit arthritic now, but still strong and tough. He's also considerably brighter and more personable than your average troll.Possessions: none (treasure buried at the bottom of the river, see below).Trap (creaky bridge) CR0; Mechanical; location trigger; automatic reset; allows Old Greenbelly a second unpenalized Listen check to catch passersby; Search DC 15, Disable Device 20. Market Price: 0gp. (No XP should be awarded for the trap -- just fold it into the XP for the overall encounter.)Description: "The path leads you to the banks of a 80' wide river. A 10' wide wooden bridge spans the river only about five feet from the surface of the dark, turbulent water. The bridge looks old, but sturdy and serviceable. A weathered sign by the side of the road says, 'Beware Old Greenbelly! Be sure to pay the Toll!' Someone has carved in an extra 'r' between the 'T' and the 'o'."Background: Old Greenbelly has been living under this bridge for decades. In his youth, many young knights and warriors came to slay him. He ate them all. Now Old Greenbelly is arthritic, feeling the effects of age, and just wants peace and quiet. On occasion, he'll rise from the river to collect some sort of nominal toll from passersby -- food (a few sheep or goats), gold, whatever. As long as he's pacified with a bribe, he's not particularly dangerous... and he's even been known to have brief conversations with passersby. The local townspeople know of Old Greenbelly, and take a strange pride in their famous local resident. "He's our troll, and he's never been defeated," they say proudly. Ah, those countryfolk.Interaction: The river is quite deep (30') and rapidly widens to over 150' not far from the bridge. It will take a day's travel to find a suitable fording point. PCs who try to swim across face a DC 15 swim check, with an additional -2 circumstance penalty due to the rapids. Old Greenbelly is hidden just underwater, taking a light afternoon snooze on a submerged rock just underneath the bridge. A DC 20 spot check will detect the troll's form just under the water, near the middle of the bridge. Characters with Knowledge (local) may make a DC 10 check to have heard stories about Old Greenbelly and have a decent guess at his hiding place.Old Greenbelly's hearing is still quite sharp, and he will hear PCs who enter the river and start splashing around. He may also make Listen checks (at -10) for PCs who try to sneak across the bridge. If the PCs trigger the creaky bridge "trap", Old Greenbelly may re-roll his Listen check for each traveller, this time with no penalty. If roused, he hauls himself up onto the bridge in one smooth motion and roars at the PCs. "Whur's ma TOLL!" Old Greenbelly always tries to charge newbies much more than regular travelers; he'll ask for 100gp per head, but he's willing to accept as low as 25gp. (For locals, the charge is 1gp or less.) He'll also take food offerings ("yer horsies luk TASTY!"). Old Greenbelly also has a soft spot for music and stories; a DC 10 Perform check or DC 20 Diplomacy check will get the PCs by for free.This encounter can be quite dangerous for a low-level party; award XP for a CR2 encounter if the PCs successfully cross the bridge by either sneaking across or negotiating with Old Greenbelly. If the PCs foolishly attack Old Greenbelly, he simply tries to chase them off by slapping them around a bit with one claw. He'll only start rending the PCs if he is seriously hurt. Should the PCs somehow manage to slay him, his treasure lies buried in a chest just under the mud at the bottom of the river: 2000gp in silver and gold coin, 500gp in assorted jewelry, and a +2 cold iron dagger. (DC 25 Search check in the murky water.)</blockquote>

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