TheSword
Legend
So our session last night was an interesting one. Fans of Kingmaker the Adventure Path or CRPG will recognize the situation.
The party are rulers of their lands. Earlier in the campaign they had a run in with a gnome spy who screwed them pretty hard. They also made a truce with a tribe of kobolds as part of trying to found their kingdom. This was about two months earlier.
They came upon a horse drawn caravan part way through crossing a ford above a weir. It was manned by gnomes that were in the middle of defending the caravan from Kobolds. The party ran into combat, spending the first round convincing the kobolds to stop fighting. After failing to stop via talking - the rapids were loud and the kobolds and gnomes hate each other - the Paladin attacks the nearest kobold striking with disadvantage to try and knock it unconscious rather than kill.
The gnome leader is on his wagon and is advising the gnomes to fight harder to defend the caravan. The Druid decides instead of targeting the kobolds to instead cast call lightning on the gnome leader who wasn’t fighting and was standing on the caravan top. The strike doesn’t kill him but the leader shouts that they are being attacked by bandits.
The horses rear and break free because of the lightning Strike, this causes one to rear wildly and the other to tumble off the weir into the river below breaking its neck. The struggling horses almost drag the caravan over the weir, shattering a wheel, and causing the caravan to flood, ruining the belongings inside.
More kobolds join the fray including their mortal-enemy-gnome-spy who is in kobold form. He demands the kobolds continue the attack... also casting ice storm that brings the gnome leader to 0 hp and dying. Over the next seven rounds the party kills the rest of the kobolds and all but one gnome dies in the process (apart from one that grabs the reins of a fleeing cart horse and escapes).
It transpires that the gnome leader was a travel writer and academic who was touring the realm to write an article about their kingdom. he bled out on the roof of the wagon in the five rounds after the ice storm. He wouldn’t have fallen but for the call lightning.
The Paladin asked why on earth the Druid attacker targeted the gnome who was clearly on the defensive. The Druid said he’d ordered people to stop fighting and the gnomes didn’t and he made the point that up to that point he’d had better relations with kobolds than gnomes. The Paladin wasn’t impressed as he believed they should defend innocent travelers not attack them. He proposed the party pay to take the gnome body to their neighbors and pay to have the gnome leader raised. the party agreed and returned to their capital had one of their advisors to cast gentle repose on the gnome and have their agents set off with the coin.
Some things to consider...
- The gnomes we’re ambushed by kobolds and while they did continue fighting it was unlikely with their caravan half way across the ford, that they were the aggressors.
- The kobolds were a different tribe to those they had come across and were particularly well armed and armoured with good steel weapons. They attacked fanatically, chanting the name of their leader.
- The Paladin is lawful good but this is 5e, the Paladin did try and stop the fight and didn’t attack innocents - however he did see his brother the Druid attack the gnome leader
- The Druid is Lawful Evil and warned everyone fighting to stop. He says he doesn’t care who the aggressors were - as a high lord of the land he gave an order.
- A gnome escaped and witnessEd the Druid cast call lightning that targeted the gnome leader and the wagon.
- The gnome leader can be successfully raised, they have the clout, have tasked competent agents with the mission and have paid the coin needed. They are on good terms with the church which has a high enough priest to cast raise dead.
- the gnome leaders wagon was ruined along with all their possessions - including several books the gnome had written himself. 3 of the gnomes companions/assistants died in the ambush.
What possible consequences would people suggest?
The party are rulers of their lands. Earlier in the campaign they had a run in with a gnome spy who screwed them pretty hard. They also made a truce with a tribe of kobolds as part of trying to found their kingdom. This was about two months earlier.
They came upon a horse drawn caravan part way through crossing a ford above a weir. It was manned by gnomes that were in the middle of defending the caravan from Kobolds. The party ran into combat, spending the first round convincing the kobolds to stop fighting. After failing to stop via talking - the rapids were loud and the kobolds and gnomes hate each other - the Paladin attacks the nearest kobold striking with disadvantage to try and knock it unconscious rather than kill.
The gnome leader is on his wagon and is advising the gnomes to fight harder to defend the caravan. The Druid decides instead of targeting the kobolds to instead cast call lightning on the gnome leader who wasn’t fighting and was standing on the caravan top. The strike doesn’t kill him but the leader shouts that they are being attacked by bandits.
The horses rear and break free because of the lightning Strike, this causes one to rear wildly and the other to tumble off the weir into the river below breaking its neck. The struggling horses almost drag the caravan over the weir, shattering a wheel, and causing the caravan to flood, ruining the belongings inside.
More kobolds join the fray including their mortal-enemy-gnome-spy who is in kobold form. He demands the kobolds continue the attack... also casting ice storm that brings the gnome leader to 0 hp and dying. Over the next seven rounds the party kills the rest of the kobolds and all but one gnome dies in the process (apart from one that grabs the reins of a fleeing cart horse and escapes).
It transpires that the gnome leader was a travel writer and academic who was touring the realm to write an article about their kingdom. he bled out on the roof of the wagon in the five rounds after the ice storm. He wouldn’t have fallen but for the call lightning.
The Paladin asked why on earth the Druid attacker targeted the gnome who was clearly on the defensive. The Druid said he’d ordered people to stop fighting and the gnomes didn’t and he made the point that up to that point he’d had better relations with kobolds than gnomes. The Paladin wasn’t impressed as he believed they should defend innocent travelers not attack them. He proposed the party pay to take the gnome body to their neighbors and pay to have the gnome leader raised. the party agreed and returned to their capital had one of their advisors to cast gentle repose on the gnome and have their agents set off with the coin.
Some things to consider...
- The gnomes we’re ambushed by kobolds and while they did continue fighting it was unlikely with their caravan half way across the ford, that they were the aggressors.
- The kobolds were a different tribe to those they had come across and were particularly well armed and armoured with good steel weapons. They attacked fanatically, chanting the name of their leader.
- The Paladin is lawful good but this is 5e, the Paladin did try and stop the fight and didn’t attack innocents - however he did see his brother the Druid attack the gnome leader
- The Druid is Lawful Evil and warned everyone fighting to stop. He says he doesn’t care who the aggressors were - as a high lord of the land he gave an order.
- A gnome escaped and witnessEd the Druid cast call lightning that targeted the gnome leader and the wagon.
- The gnome leader can be successfully raised, they have the clout, have tasked competent agents with the mission and have paid the coin needed. They are on good terms with the church which has a high enough priest to cast raise dead.
- the gnome leaders wagon was ruined along with all their possessions - including several books the gnome had written himself. 3 of the gnomes companions/assistants died in the ambush.
What possible consequences would people suggest?
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