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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1425704" data-attributes="member: 6294">Goldurnit, I never intended to actually start writing my own modules for this campaign  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men ...In any case, on March 27 I will be running the next CotRE.There will be 5-6 PCs, all of 3rd-4th level:Mnk4Pal3 (light armour, greatsword - you haven't met him yet in the SH)Rog3/Brd1Clr3 (light armour)Ftr2/Wiz3 (finesse fighter)possibly a Drd4Here are my notes for the adventure so far:Babes in the WoodsPremiseCompany are tasked by Marikest Council to travel to the small village of Oder's Ford, and meet with a man named Parkryn, who apparently has information about the recent rash of elementals emerging from Brightstone Mines.  Council knows Parkryn, an elderly and infirm wizard.Arriving in Oder's Ford, find everyone dead - killed by a substantial (30+) force of goblins and wolves.  Signs also of larger humanoids though not clear what they are.One set of tracks leads out of the town, departing several hours after the battle - it seems there is a survivor.  Based on the size, it is likely to be either a halfling or gnome (actually, a half-orc child).Company must find the youngster, who has stumbled alone into a dangerous forest, or lose the information they seek.Need to include reason not to go after the goblin force.  Possibly have them enter and leave by many different paths - could take days to track them all down.NPCsThese are new NPCs mentioned or met in the adventure:DenbalForester who knows the route and dangers when going to Oder's Ford.  Can warn the PCs about the 'Bridge Troll'.ParkrynWizard at Oder's Ford.  Brok's guardian.  Used a sending to contact Marikest.  Old and physically infirm.BrokHalf-Orc child at Oder's Ford.  Parkryn's ward.  The one who learned about the goblinoids at the Keep.  Saved by a rope trick spell.OutlineGet the offerTold if want info on route and terrain talk to DenbalEncounter en route: 'Bridge Troll' a la Billy Goats Gruff (a Merrow with improved grapple, tries to pull people into water).Reach Oder's Ford - everyone deadExplore town - encounters (Dire rats, what else?)Find Brok's tracksFollow Brok (why not follow goblins?)Brok fled into forest.Forest contains spiders, an aranea ranger (who is not necessarily hostile) and a Green Hag (who has Brok)Hag lives in a 'gingerbread cottage' (or some thing similar)Defeat Hag, Rescue Brok and learn about keep.As can be seen, there is a 'fairy tale' theme to a lot of the encounters: I'd welcome suggestions for reinforcing this theme, both in terms of monster selection, encounter ideas and suggestions for treasures.Additionally, I want to try and include some cool environments for combat: Merrow Bridge, Aranea's Cave, Hag's Cottage, etc.  Any ideas for things to do here would be cool.In total, I'd like to award about 9,000 to 10,000 XP and roughly the same amount of treasure, in GP terms.  I'm quite amenable to giving XP for solving encounters in a non-lethal way and resolving plot points.Any ideas people want to offer will be appreciated <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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