I want to create an adventure that can involve flying mounts... help.

[SoulsFury]

I run a one on one post cataclysmic game. The world literally has less than 500 civilized people in the known area. These are mostly elves, some goblins (there is a tribe of civilized goblins), and some dwarves. The player runs two characters and there is one NPC. I have run them through modified versions of Keep on the Shadowfell and Orcs of Stonefang Pass.

Slight spoiler alert for Stonefang Pass:

The first encounter that involves the hippogriffs, well my player decided to have his PC mount and break in the hippogriff. I set a few very high DCs and he succeeded. The player understands that he can't use the hippogriffs all the time, but I would like to run at least a short adventure that features him using the hippogriffs.

The adventure would need to utilize an elven swordmage, an elven avenger and two hippogriffs. I could also send an elven wizard mounted on a hippogriff as well.

Currently, they are trying to explore areas with the hippogriff that they couldn't explore from the ground. So I need an adventure, at least 6-7 encounters that will utilize the hippogriffs and mounted combat. I don't mind creating the encounters myself, but I'm trying to think of a story that I can run the characters through that makes sense. I don't want the characters to just be flying along and have to fight something in aerial combat. Aerial combat should only be a small part of the adventure, maybe just the climatic battle at the end.

Any ideas? This is a 4E game.

 

[SoulsFury]

Also, they will be able to fly about 25-30 miles a day before having to turn back to make it home in time for night fall. I would like to put a few interesting spots they can see, but not everything. Anything interesting that might have been missed from the ground that can be seen from the backs of the grifs?

 

[DracoSuave]

Two words.

Airship.

Pirates.

 

[SoulsFury]

Two words.

Airship.

Pirates.

That is what I have been thinking about. Airship+Gnome Looters+Winged beasts of burden.

I know nothing about airships though, not sure where to even start with them. I have never used them.

 

[fba827]

Let's see... just trained hippogriffs...

Encounter 1: Getting use to the hippogriffs - skill challenge (easy). and failure results in loss of a surge representing falls they took (from low hieghts) while trying to get used to it.


Encounter 2: While flying, spot a scuffle down below. flying down closer, see a woman being forceably dragged/taken by orcs/whatever. They rescue the girl and during 'clean up' she mentions that the orcs were trying to take her to put with the other girls (and some mention of other girls from the area that have gone missing)


Encounter 3: follow the direction that the orcs were trying to take the prisoner (if they go on foot, have this a short distance so that they can easily go back for the mounts) they see a cage connected to the ropes/vines and the orcs there have some large flying mounts that have the cage attached to their harness. As the PCs arrive, the orcs take off (so the cage is in flight, as well as some orcs on their own mounts). begin ariel combat, where the tricky part is the PCs trying to grab the cage or take over the cage's mount so that the caged prisoners don't fall to their doom by just killing the orcs and their mounts.


Encounter 4: Escort the prisoners back to their home village with some random minor encounter along the way (i.e. wolves/bears/kobolds/etc as appropriate to the setting - but a low threat that represents someting 'natural' going on rather than yet another evil plot by evil people (tm).


Enconter 5: They head back to their original starting point or head off elsewhere. while flying, they get an eagle eye view of a well known forest. however, in the center of this forest is a clearing that is not known on any maps, etc. (Apperently the clearing is a sacred grove, and the trees of the forest somehow shift to keep people from actually ever getting their if they don't know the right ritual). So they go down and investigate and find wild elves frolicing. some minor role-play interaction (or skill challenge) as the wild elves are so focused on frolicing that they aren't focused on conversation (unless the PCs join in the dancing and can show off great physical feats of acrobatics or athletics to represent thier dancing style). (success means the wild elves are able to talk about themselves and the history of the grove in very basic terms; failure means that encounter 6 is harder - perhaps more minions or something).

Encounter 6: It seems that the sacred grove is hidden for a reason and that it is there to imprison some storm giant or natural flying creature or primal-style storm effect. The presence of outsiders has broken the wards and this creature/storm escapes. It either flies (if a creature) and is able to spit fire or other hurl rocks or tear apart buildings of surrounding areas and throw it at the PCs. Or if it's a storm-creature, it rises like a storm cloud above the sacred grove and the entire area is affected by a massive storm that will erode and destroy the local lands unless it is stopped (and the PCs must take some sort of protective seeds and get them in the clouds at the eye of the storm to re-imprison it).




okay... so a little corny and it's two plot ideas mixed together (the orcs and the prisoners and then the sacred grove with storm idea). but maybe something useful can be fleshed out in there...

 

[TheClone]

That is what I have been thinking about. Airship+Gnome Looters+Winged beasts of burden.

I know nothing about airships though, not sure where to even start with them. I have never used them.

Gnomes and an aerial scenario creates this image in my mind: No airship, but a balloon crafted by the goblins and drawn not by horses but by some flying beats. Giant eagles or anything more strange. But not Pegasus (whatever the plural is), that would be too much of a cliche.

 

[SoulsFury]

This is where I am at right now...

Nearby villager warns of attack
V
V
PC fly off on hippogriffs
V
V
Encounter 1, Gnomes vs PCs
V
V
Encounter 2, Gnomes leading off prisoners
to an air ship that is on the ground, the air
ship is inopperable for whatever reason and
they are fixing it as PCs arrive
V
V
PCs continue onto village
V
V
Encounter 3, spot an airship
flying above, gnomes on flying
mounts attack
V
V
Encounter 4, Airship attack, ballistas, gnomes, etc
Landing on the deck to fight will be vital
V
V
Encounter 5, taking control of the wheel room.
This will make things difficult as the wheel man will
be turning the wheel, shifting the characters around,
but giving advantages to attacking gnomes
V
V
Encounter 6, depending on what the
characters do on the airship, this could
change how this encounter goes down, boss
match, Boss is on ground with the next group
of prisoners, and his guards making sure
everything is looted