Main
Central Yard
The Silent Heart of the Camp
The central yard should be the loudest place in Reiver's Right. Instead, loose canvas snaps in the breeze between motionless carts. A hand pump stands beside a low stone trough. Axes, wedges, and coils of rope lie where workers set them down, and one wagon remains half unloaded in the middle of the yard.
Near the trough, the packed earth has split apart. Dark roots protrude through the soil, and thick black sap has gathered in the cracks. A surprisingly healthy shrub has grown beside them, its branches heavy with fruit.
A sharp wooden knock breaks the silence. Something small shifts among the lumber on the wagon. Another shape rises from behind the trough, unfolding thin, angular limbs of living hardwood. Overhead, a third creature emerges from the canvas rigging, spreading broad, leaflike wings.
The three creatures turn toward you. One chatters in a strange, rapid language, and the others answer with a series of sharp clicks and creaks. Then they spring into motion.
Three Hardwood Scamps
Mischief Among the Abandoned Timber
Three Hardwood Scamps (Creature 1) have established themselves among the abandoned lumber and equipment. The small wood elementals have become increasingly agitated by the corruption spreading beneath the camp.
The scamps are not blighted creatures and have no connection to the Golden Hand. They regard the yard as their territory and harass anyone entering it, using the scattered lumber, wagons, and equipment to their advantage.
| Creature | Level | Quantity | Total XP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwood Scamp | 1 | 3 | 120 |
Party: Five 1st-level characters.
Difficulty: Between Moderate and Severe.
Encounter XP: 120 XP.
Starting Positions
- Scamp 1 — The Wagon: Concealed among the half-unloaded lumber in the center of the yard.
- Scamp 2 — The Trough: Hidden behind a magically grown shrub beside the water trough and exposed roots.
- Scamp 3 — The Rigging: Perched above the wagon, ready to take flight when combat begins.
Creature Tactics
The scamps attempt to attack from several directions. One engages the nearest character while the others exploit the wagons, lumber piles, and available cover. They prefer harassing isolated targets rather than standing together in an exposed position.
Their 20-foot land Speed and 25-foot fly Speed allow them to move rapidly between elevated positions and the ground. They do not have to remain airborne.
Their resistance to bludgeoning and piercing damage makes them troublesome opponents, but their weaknesses to fire and slashing damage provide opportunities for the party to defeat them quickly.
If two scamps are defeated, the survivor attempts to escape over the palisade or into the surrounding forest. They are mischievous and territorial, not fanatical, and do not deliberately fight to the death.
Before the party arrives, one of the scamps has cultivated a plant using Verdant Sprout. The spell has had more than 10 minutes to grow into a sturdy, Medium-sized shrub beside the trough.
The plant provides standard cover when positioned between an attacker and a creature. Its space is difficult terrain.
AC: 10
Hardness: 5
HP: 20
Its branches carry enough nutritious fruit to feed one Medium creature for a day. Unlike the exposed roots nearby, the shrub appears healthy.
GM Reminder: If Verdant Sprout is cast during combat, it does not immediately provide standard cover. The plant requires 10 minutes to finish growing.
The scamps speak Muan. Characters capable of communicating with them may attempt to end the confrontation.
The scamps have noticed the corruption spreading through the yard's roots. They dislike the oily black substance and avoid the most heavily affected ground.
They cannot identify the source of the corruption, the hidden excavation, or the Golden Hand's activities.
The yard is the best place to establish that work stopped suddenly. Tools remain out, a cart is only half unloaded, and the pump bucket was left beside the trough. Whatever happened here interrupted an ordinary working day.
The ground around the trough is more important. Several roots have forced their way through the packed soil, and dark discoloration runs through them beneath the bark.
Nature DC 16: The corruption is moving through living root tissue. The oily black sap is the same unusual substance found in the affected Palakar timber, but here the damage is far more advanced.
Medicine or Crafting DC 16: The substance coating the exposed roots is not ordinary resin, rot, or fungal decay. Characters who examined the affected timber in Macridi immediately recognize the same distinctive oily residue.
Nature or Medicine DC 16 — Water: Water from the pump has a faint metallic, stagnant odor and leaves a thin oily trace when allowed to stand. Characters who investigated the Sanctitude Saunas recognize this as another indication that the disturbance is reaching water from somewhere beneath the surface.
With the yard quiet again, the characters can examine the broken ground without interference. The roots around the trough contain the same oily black sap found elsewhere in the Palakar.
Beneath sections of cracked bark, thin angular markings glow faintly reddish-gold before fading. The contrast between these diseased roots and the healthy magical shrub is especially striking.
The remains of any defeated scamps are ordinary elemental wood. Although the creatures were disturbed by the corruption, they show no evidence of having been transformed by it.
Following the exposed roots does not reveal the source. They disappear beneath the packed yard and continue deeper under the camp. Digging here turns up only increasingly corrupted root growth rather than a central growth or obvious point of origin.
This is intentional: the Central Yard confirms that the corruption is active beneath Reiver's Right, but it does not yet reveal the hidden excavation or the origin of the blight.
Do not roll after every room. Use this table after roughly two locations have been thoroughly searched, after a particularly noisy search, or whenever the camp needs pressure. Once a result has occurred, replace repeated rolls of that result with no event.
| 1d6 | Event |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Dead Quiet. Nothing happens. Wind moves through the palisade and empty buildings. Let the silence do the work. |
| 3 | Roots Moving. A patch of disturbed earth shifts as blackened roots slowly push toward the surface. They withdraw again if approached. This is evidence of active corruption below, not another combat encounter. |
| 4 | Shifting Timber. A loose stack or suspended load suddenly settles. A nearby character attempts a DC 16 Reflex save. On a failure, the character takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage and falls prone. On a critical failure, the character takes double damage and falls prone. |
| 5 | Black Sap Seep. A root pushes through disturbed soil and slowly beads with thick oily black sap. Beneath its bark, a few angular reddish-gold lines briefly become visible before fading. |
| 6 | Metal Below. A single distant clang carries from the river-bluff side of the camp. After several seconds, another quieter metallic sound follows. Characters who investigate are naturally drawn toward the hoist, sawyard, or lower landing. |