Rumble in the Jungle by Rob Torno
Written by Kirk Duplessis
Edited by Jonathan Jacobs
Illustrated by Rob Torno
Cartography by Paul King
Difficulty: medium
Magic: medium
Keywords: ambush, elves, traps
Terrain: temperate forest
Treasure: minor
The road is smooth and well maintained, though narrow. You can see sunlight up ahead; it looks like there is a break in the tree cover where the road veers around a small rocky hill.
Background
Immeril has been proceeding further south over the last few months, leaving good works and unsolved missing person cases behind him. He is bright enough to realize the Furum require the sacrifice of those he befriends; therefore, he has made a point to only befriend the unimportant, and to antagonize his bodyguards.
The players have been hired by a Marquise; she is the sponsor of numerous orphanages in the province. She has been receiving reports of missing street children over the past few months and has hired the party to look into it.
The party has determined a pattern to the disappearances; they seem to line up with the schedule of a visiting dignitary, Prince Immerel Lithose. The Prince himself seems beyond reproach; he is charitable, friendly and well-loved. The party suspects that someone in the Prince’s entourage is responsible.
The Prince is crafty; he knows he’s being followed by the party. He has dispatched a team of Visha to waylay the party on the road, disguised as bandits. They are to capture the party if possible so that Immeril can determine the extent of their knowledge of his situation; however, he has authorized the team to use deadly force if necessary. The Visha must also avoid capture at all costs.
Objectives
The party is following Immeril’s entourage with the intent to learn more about the string of recent disappearances.
The Visha squad has been instructed to capture at least one member of the party. Lethal force is allowed, but discouraged; if the battle goes badly for them, they will try to melt back into the woods and evade capture themselves. Immeril will use information from the failed Visha attack to learn about the party’s strengths and weaknesses.
Tactics
The Visha squad is part of an elite cadre of the King’s Deep Wood Rangers known as the Forest Terrors. These warriors combine military combat training with supreme woodcraft skills. They specialize in the tracking and ambushing of prey, animal or otherwise.
The six man squad leaves a two-man team to shadow the party once they enter the forest. The remaining members prepare an ambush site further along the road; this team includes a nature focused spellcaster such as a druid or shaman.
Environmental Effects
The road is wide enough to accommodate a cart. Low brush and turf border the road for 5 feet on each side; beyond this, the terrain should be considered difficult.
The ambush site is just over a day’s march along the road; if the party decides to push on through the night, the Visha will not have finished all of the traps they planned. Remove the pit trap, but remember to impose darkness penalties on the party. The elves should have no problem seeing in the dim starlight.
Development
As the party approaches the site, the two-man shadow team signals their compatriots further up the path with a birdcall not native to the area. Player characters attuned to working in the wilderness may be able to detect this signal, thus tipping them off to the impending ambush.
The ambush site has been thoroughly prepared to receive the party; due to the nature of their mission, three of the enemy sharpshooters have a number of arrows that are coated in a sleep poison.
There are five traps on the path; their locations are indicated on the map.
P – This pit trap is 10 feet deep; it is designed only to trigger under someone in heavy armor
D – These dart throwers are coated in sleep poison, and are designed to fire when someone steps on the pit trap cover
N – This net trap covers a 5×5 ft space; it is triggered at the discretion of one of the Visha ambushers and suspends the captive 20 ft up in the air.
T – This is a tree that has been either treated or enchanted to burst into flames when it hits the ground, throwing up a 5 foot high wall of fire across the path
The Visha are hoping for the following scenario:
A stealthy scout-type will be the vanguard of the party. When s/he steps on the pit trap cover, it will no be enough to trigger the pit, but sufficient to trigger the dart throwers. Once the scout succumbs to the sleep poison, heavier combat types will rush to the fore, triggering the pit. With any luck, the confusion will also allow the Visha to net a PC with the net trap. Finally, the burning log is dropped across the path to separate melee combatants from their support.
Once the tree comes down, the Visha shadow team will start sniping at the party rearguard.
Meanwhile, the Visha, hidden in blinds in the trees or on the ground will open fire to disable or incapacitate party members. They begin their attacks right after the pit trap is triggered, to maximize confusion. Both the tree and net traps are manned by Visha and require only a moment’s notice to trigger.
Awards, Findings, & Treasure
- Victory – Capturing or killing the Visha reveals that below their thin bandit disguises, they are very well equipped and associated with Immeril’s entourage.
- Partial victory – Driving off the Visha, the players are free to search the area; if successful, the find a campsite used by the Visha and reveal the information as above.
- Failure – One or more captured NPCs leads logically to a chase and breakout, ultimately revealing the connection to Immeril’s entourage.
Click on the image below to download the map for this encounter.
Rumble Map by Paul King
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