Players’ Introduction
Brigands plague the Gnarley Forest. The tracks through the forest are perilous enough in normal times, but now brigandry in the forest has markedly increased, and the brigands themselves show an unusually high level of organization and coordination. Not even the Rangers of the Gnarley seem able to stem the upsurge in brigandry in their domain.
So it is that the leading merchants of the town of Narwell on the Wild Coast have commissioned you to look into the rise in brigandry and stop the attacks. You are offered 500 g.p. for the successful completion of your mission, plus whatever booty you can obtain from the brigands. The merchants will also outfit your expedition with riding horses and other supplies (but not arms or armor).
The merchants have arranged for you to accompany a small caravan scheduled to go into the forest in two days’ time. It is carrying cloth from Almor and wine from Onnwal, and will meet up with a much larger caravan once it reaches the village of Hommlet on the far side of the forest.
Once the caravan is safely seen to that point, your mission is over, assuming you have managed to retrieve intelligence about the bandits, or even managed to inflict a serious blow to them. You should give a complete report to Burne, the Most Worshipful Mage of Hommlet, who will pay you for your service.
TRAVELING WITH THE CARAVAN
The PCs have a full day to purchase any supplies they wish. Assume that any equipment on the standard equipment list (including mounts) is available in Narwell, but this will not leave sufficient time to have custom equipment manufactured.
The caravan consists of four ox-drawn carts, each with a driver; two hold wine and two hold cloth. Two merchants (not the ones who hired the PCs, but aware of their mission and happy to have the protection) on horseback accompany the carts. The small caravan’s wares are worth a total of 4,000 g.p., and the trip should take slightly less than two weeks to reach Hommlet, a small village in the Kron Hills. The PCs are expected to provide their own food.
Cart 1: Driver (level 0 human, 3 h.p.), merchant Evard Luthwin (level 0 human, 5 h.p., armed with a dagger, has 34 g.p. and 16 s.p. in a belt pouch). Cart holds 6 large barrels of Onnwalish red wine, each worth 100 g.p. and weighing 200 lbs.
Cart 2: Driver (level 0 human, 4 h.p.). Cart holds 3 large barrels of Onnwalish red wine and 8 small casks of Onnwalish white wine, each worth 75 g.p. and weighing 30 lbs.
Cart 3: Driver (level 0 human, 3 h.p.), merchant Ewin Rasgor (level 0 human, 4 h.p., armed with a dagger, carries 4 p.p., 27 g.p., and 17 s.p. in a belt pouch). Cart holds 40 bolts of Almorish linen, each worth 25 g.p. and weighing 10 lbs.
Cart 4: Driver (level 0 human, 4 h.p.). Cart carries 50 bolts of Almorish wool, each worth 30 g.p. and weighing 12 lbs. Also holds enough food and water for 6 people for two weeks.
Because the forest is unclaimed territory, there are no roads directly connecting the Wild Coast to the Kron Hills, so the trip through the Gnarley forest will have to use trails and tracks.
All of the drivers (except the driver of cart 4) and both of the merchants have traveled this route before, so there is very little chance of becoming lost unless the PCs find themselves the sole survivors of the caravan.
