Up the Rhestwash by boat (Red Hand - SPOILERS)

[Davelozzi]

As the title indicates, this thread will have Red Hand of Doom spoilers, so please stop reading if you are playing in that adventure, or plan to do so.










Anyhow, I have a session this evening in which the PCs will leave Drellin's Ferry to travel by boat to the Blackfens via the Elsir River and the Rhestwash through the Witchwood. The adventure does contain a random encounter table for both the Witchwood and the Blackfens, but the bulk of the encounters (in the Witchwood at least) are land-based. Anyhow, I'm not too worried about it as I can pick the few that could easily work on the water, however rather than have the whole session be a string of random encounters, I figured I'd turn to the wisdom of EN World.

Has anyone run this section of the adventure, or have any good ideas for fun and interesting encounters in this kind of terrain? For the unfamiliar, it's a wide slow river through a thick, hot forest, with large stretches of swamp.

A couple things that are worth noting are that one of the nights, the party will likely end up camping right near where the Old Forest Rd fords the river. More significantly, during the middle of another day, they will pass the confluence of Skull Creek and come within a few miles of the Red Hand Horde as they cross the creek on their way around Skull Gorge (yes, the party successfully took out the bridge), so I am considering some sort encounter with some outriders or something, although they do have a few goblin & worg battles under their belts already.

 

[Davelozzi]

One other thing, has anyone else noticed that the way the adventure is written, the allied NPCs all tell the party that a boat trip up the river is the fastest (though most dangerous) route north, but then when the DM text outlines the options, it actually takes twice as long to boat up the river than to ride around via Talar or Brindol? What gives, shouldn't these NPCs know?

Finally, the text descriptions seem to assume that the party is heading directly for Rhest, but when the town council asks the party to head north, they aren't even directing them to Rhest itself, but simply to check out the road blocks on the Rhest Trail? Again for the unfamiliar, the ruins of Rhest are now in the middle of a giant marshland, and the trail skirts it, but does not actually head to the ruins.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

My own players just finished the first section of the adventure, and I have a bit of a different problem. I dropped the adventure into the Birthright setting (for geography and NPC's). I was able to hand wave most of the geography problems when the adventure was local to Drellins Ferry. But now that they are going to travel to Rhest, the geography just does not match up so well. The adventure is set in the Rhormarch, with either Oden or Kleidel standing in for Brindol (mostly depending on whatever I wish to go with when the time comes). I can basically replace the Vampires Hold with the Ghost Lord, and most of the Wyrmsmoke Mountains being in the Chimaeron. But Rhest would be in a nation with no swamps in it, and the nearby river does not extend in that direction at all.

I will probably be able to keep the city its self as a sunken and swampy area. But the overland travel just will not fit so well.

The 2nd chapter will require a lot of fine tuning on my part given the differing geography. The distances are not so much of a worry, since I can keep them close enough. My idea of replacing the elves with an Orc tribe should be interesting to work out though.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Bagpuss]

One other thing, has anyone else noticed that the way the adventure is written, the allied NPCs all tell the party that a boat trip up the river is the fastest (though most dangerous) route north, but then when the DM text outlines the options, it actually takes twice as long to boat up the river than to ride around via Talar or Brindol?

Really? I won't read the adventure myself because I'm playing it (we are already past Rhest however), but looking at the map the DM gave us.

It's 30 miles to Terrelton
another 20 to Nimon Gap
about 25 to Talar where they can cut north to Witchcross
about 22 miles to Witchcross on a trail
then it's about 55 miles to the edge of the Blackfens
and then 10 miles through swamp to Rhest.

So about 162 miles call it 170 thanks to bends and stuff. They at best travel 32 miles a day (40ft speed, IE: Fighter, fullplate, and gear on a light warhorse) and most likely rest in each of the towns, although they can perhaps save a day if they push on past them and don't stop to shop and eat. So six days journey to the edge of the Blackfens, then virtual a whole other day to get to Rhest from the edge of the Blackfens. The adventure and the locals might assume travelling on foot at 20ft or 30ft speed, which would make the journey longer about 8 days in all.

It's about 120 miles by boat. A rowboat does 15 miles a day, but that's only for 10 hours, they can actually be moving for all 24 hours (assuming you have access to one character with darkvision or low-light) so 30+ miles. Which would be 4 days if they don't press on through the night eight days (which is about the same, if a little longer).

I'll give you the text is misleading really.

 

[Bagpuss]

Finally, the text descriptions seem to assume that the party is heading directly for Rhest, but when the town council asks the party to head north, they aren't even directing them to Rhest itself, but simply to check out the road blocks on the Rhest Trail?

This confused me when our DM mentioned it because if you look at the Elsir Vale map there are only two roads north, the Old North Road (which is really the extension of the Dawn Way), and the trail north out of Witchcross (which I assume is the Rhest Trail).

Now you'd be insane to take the Old North Road which is the only road north from Drellin's Ferry as it is the road the Red Han is coming in by, and the one you just collapsed the bridge on.

So the only other one means riding back along the Dawn Way and turning north at Talar. Which is what we decided to do. We decided against a boat since we all had horses.

Riding back along the dawn way also means you can alert all the other towns along the route and get word to Brindol. The fact that Brindol has the highest GP limit in the region also might have influenced our decisions a bit.

If they are going by boat then the only creature we've encountered that I can suggest are those greendragon spawn razorwing things. Goblin Worg riders riding along the banks firing arrow at them might make for an interesting encounter too.

Once in the swamp will-o'-wisp, lizardmen, elves, etc.

 

[Pedestrian]

I can't remember how long it took my lot to get up the river, but it was a good long while, maybe a week.

They headed directly there because the map mentioned something about a chap called Saarvith, and they knew there was Red Hand activity in the area (reports of Ogres on the road).

As for encounters, I had them be ambushed by goblin outriders while they rested in the forest for the night. The Red Hand was moving the bulk of its forces through the Witchwood at this point, and they decided to stay on the river.

The other two encounters were stirges while on the river, and then Giant Wasps while on the lake. The stirges I treated like a cloud of big midges, something just on the river. The Wasps were a nest suspended in a great big, dead, mangrove the party accidentally got too close to.

That was one hell of a boat ride. At least I didn't sink it.

 

[Davelozzi]

Really? ...[snip!]...I'll give you the text is misleading really.

Yeah, the book figured on 10 miles per day by boat, 11 days total, and only 5-6 by horse, if I remember correctly. Anyhow, thanks for the breakdown, that is handy.

Also thank you (and you Loup Du Noir) for the encounter suggestions, a few of those should do the trick (though I'm still all eyes if anyone has anything to add, will check the thread again before I head home today).

 

[Bagpuss]

A ran an adventure once for 1st level character as guards on a river boat there was a great moment when it was ambushed by kobolds, some shooting from the backs and other swinging on vines onto the boat to fight. Of course being inept kobolds some would miss and go flying over the boat and land in the river and others would slam on the side and fall into the water for comedy effect.

I think goblins worg riders, attacking from the banks would be more dramatic, and then the next day or later the same day you could have hobgoblins swinging in and maybe even a ogre or other gaintkin wading out or standing in the river a head as the big bad for the fight.

 

[s0rn]

While running the PCs up the river I rolled for a pair of trolls on the random encounter table. I decided to have to trolls shadow them from the forested river bank for a while, which the PCs failed to notice. Near a narrow bend in the river I had them ambush the party - the trolls had sunk a large weighted net in the river, and when the boat came by they pulled it tight, trapping the boat. The trolls began hauling the PCs to shore from the relative safety of the undergrowth/cover, while the characters are frantically hacking at the ropes/net trying to cut free. In the end the trolls got the boat to the shore, and the PCs jumped off to give battle, making the trolls wish they had left the boat alone

 

[Davelozzi]

I ended up using the troll idea (though the party landed the boat before getting to the nets) and the advance party from the horde with goblin snipers on worgs and hobgoblins swinging in on vines. We had a fun time...thanks again for the suggestions!