THE COVEN
When the characters approach a clearing in the forest, they will see 4 ogres who are guarding, and preventing from escape, 4 human males, and 3 human females. The ogres will see the party and leap to attack. The females will scream "OUR SAVIORS!!" and run screaming straight across the currently forming battlefield, in between ogres and party members, to hide behind the rearmost party members. They will be safe there. The males will try to skirt the battle to the north side to join the women.
To the south, giants will be hiding in the thick underbrush until the party has engaged the ogres and then attack the most opportune target EXCEPT the ones that the females are next to.
It should be noted that the female commoners are not female commoners at all, nor are the male commoners actually male commoners. The female commoners are the hags, who have polymorphed themselves as the commoners in their stewpot to escape detection. The males skirting the battle are actually MORE ogres, the hags were in the process of polymorphing ALL the ogres into regular humans for ambush purposes. The REAL commoners are already dead, having found their way into the coven's cauldron for dinner.
The hags (the women) will position themselves near to any spellcasters in the rear first, and then near anyone else in the back of the fight. The ogres (the men) will wait until the hags shift form, and then attack first the rear folks, then shift into the melee.
It is possible that the characters, as they approach the ogres, will notice the giants in the bush, and be able to warn the others of the ambush.
GAME NOTES: If you sell the screaming women correctly, they will not even be suspected until it is too late. Therein lay the problem. This encounter is ESPECIALLY deadly to the rear eschelon of the party. It is entirely possible that the hags will finish off half the party before they even realize they have been duped. Caution is required if the game master wishes to avoid a TPK(total party kill).
By: Monument |
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November 14, 2005, 16:22
November 15, 2005, 23:04
November 16, 2005, 8:59
They would add to the atmosphere of a haunted house/ barn, with millions of cobby webs around.
Also the webbing can be gathered and used for other purposes (and real cultures besides the Drow have done this).
They are a color animal mostly. Something to fill in the background with a number of scary webs.
What were you looking for an insect that is dangerous to adventurers?
December 4, 2005, 5:05
December 4, 2005, 9:50
December 4, 2005, 10:22
Nevertheless: This post can readily be used in any setting. It is good in that way, and I think I will do just that. In my next session Cor-Spiders will be a part. :)
May 23, 2006, 3:08
Personaly I like this, the fear factor alone is good, and I sometimes prefer ahving stuff thats more 'real' to set the players against than the fantastic (but perhaps thats jsut my style of play)
May 23, 2006, 16:40
May 23, 2006, 18:02
May 24, 2006, 4:14
May 24, 2006, 8:23
My tu’penny-worth – love that people will be scared just coz they’re spiders, even though they’re not that dangerous (unless you try you harvest their webs of course) – definitely worth 4/5
May 24, 2006, 11:07
June 3, 2006, 10:56
July 16, 2006, 13:17
I personally like these critter. They are not world shaking, but they are the kind of thing that will cause your players grief and actually have an active part of the ecology and economy.
March 13, 2007, 19:03