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 lengths of rope lie where workers set them down.
Then something growls beneath an overturned wagon.
Blight-Touched Wolves
Two wolves that have been scavenging around the abandoned camp have become aggressive and visibly sickened by the same disturbance affecting the Palakar. Use normal Wolf statistics; describe blackened gums, oily sap caught in their fur, and frantic behavior rather than changing their mechanics.
For a larger party, add another wolf only if needed for the desired encounter budget. The animals fight while cornered but do not pursue characters far beyond the yard.
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.
Nature or Medicine DC 16: Water from the pump has a faint metallic, stagnant odor and leaves an oily trace on standing water. Characters who investigated the Sanctitude Saunas recognize this as another sign that something is affecting water below the surface.
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. Let the silence do the work. |
| 3 | Scavenger. A single blight-touched wolf or other appropriate local animal stalks the party. It retreats if given an easy escape. |
| 4 | Shifting Timber. A loose stack or suspended load suddenly settles. A nearby character attempts Reflex DC 16 or takes minor bludgeoning damage and falls prone. |
| 5 | Black Sap Seep. A root pushes through disturbed soil and slowly beads with the same oily black sap seen in affected timber. No combat occurs. |
| 6 | Metal Below. A single distant clang comes from the river-bluff side of the camp. Characters who investigate are naturally drawn toward the hoist, sawyard, or lower landing. |