“You’re walking through pretty thick woods,” I said. “You can’t see more than about forty feet in front of you because of trees or rocks or the lay of the land. But you can get to a position where you might be able to see a fair distance up a valley. How do you approach it?”
“Cautiously,” said Melissa. “I have my bow out. I’m probably up front.”
“Yeah,” agreed Mike. “I’m looking out for stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” I asked.
“Oh, you know, anything,” he replied.
“Okay, so you’re just being generally jumpy.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Carl?”
“I stride forward confidently, shield raised, mace in hand.”
“Oh great,” said Melissa.
“Okay, Carl, you get to the top of the hill first. Melissa and Mike, you arrive about a minute later. You can see that up the valley there’s a small settlement. It’s probably about a mile and a half away. There are a couple of buildings, some farmlands, some cattle. What looks like a little shrine. What might be a blacksmith’s shop. Only a couple of families at most could live here. And sure enough, there are figures moving about down there. It’s too far to make out any details. It appears that there’s a big swamp between you and them, though.”
“Oh, let’s wait until night!” said Carl.
Melissa sighed and looked at him.
“No, no, wait. It makes sense. Look.” He gestured towards the village. “If they have sentries out, they’ve already seen us. They know we’re here. If we can sneak up on them,” he says, glancing at Mike, “we can surprise them. They know we’re coming, but they don’t know WHEN we’re coming. And if they don’t have sentries out, they deserve to die and have their belongings ransacked. We need the cover of night to do this properly.”
“How about just going up and talking to them?” asked Melissa.
“Or we could do that,” replied Carl. “Up to you.”
“If we just walk on up and be friendly at them, are you going to horribly betray their trust and turn on them when they least expect it?”
“Of course I’m going to horribly betray their trust.”
“I want you to promise me that you won’t do that.”
“I what?”
“Promise!” she said, finger upraised.
Carl sighed. “Okay, I promise not to horribly betray their trust and turn on them when they least expect it.”
“No sacrificing any of them.” Melissa added.
“Aww… “
“No sacrificing!”
“Okay,” said Carl. “I promise not to sacrifice anyone from this village.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” said Melissa.
Mike nodded and grunted in assent. “Is there any way to this village other than straight up the valley?” he asked.
“Roll Nature,” I replied.
“Uh,” he said. “I’m no good at Nature.”
“Can I help?” asked Melissa. “I have Nature.”
“Sure,” I said.
“Fifteen with advantage,” said Mike.
“Okay, It looks like there’s a path along the cliff faces on one side of the valley. You might be able to drop down into the swamp from higher up the valley. You could skip most of it except what appears to be the densest part closer up to the village. Lines of sight are going to be short in there.”
“And we can’t avoid that bit?”
“That’s right. You can avoid most of it, but that’s where the ledge will dump you into the valley.”
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do that.”
“Okay. Are you trying to be sneaky?”
Mike and Carl looked at each other.
“Nah,” said Melissa. “Let’s just, you know, be ready, but let’s walk straight on up there. What time of day is it?”
“Midmorning,” I replied.
“Okay,” she said.
“Right. So you head on up the left side of the valley. It’s a bit hard going. I’m going to need everyone to make a Dexterity saving throw.”
“Eighteen,” said Melissa.
“Sixteen,” said Mike.
“Nine,” said Carl.
“Okay, Carl, as you’re making your way along a ledge, shuffling sideways above about a twenty-five foot ditch… “
“Wow, I didn’t think it’d be that deep!”
“I said it was hard going. A chunk of rock falls out from under one foot and you fall a fair way down the rock face. You take four points of bludgeoning damage.”
“Ouch. Okay.”
“But you all get there in the end and you drop down into the swamp. It’s wet underfoot, but not awash, and there are straggly trees and bushes everywhere. You’re under the canopy of larger trees and in pretty deep shadow. Mike, you realise that there could be some elevated firing platforms in some of those larger trees.”
“Are they like sniper nests?”
“No,” I reply. “Just sturdy branches and places that archers might be able to stand to get an angle.”
“Do I see anyone occupying those platforms?”
“No. You make your way into this dense swamp. Traversing the cliff took most of the afternoon and it’s getting dark. You can see for about thirty feet. The land gets higher and dryer as you move up the valley towards the village. After a few minutes you can see a light up ahead. It looks like it’s moving towards you, but you can’t see what’s emitting it yet. What do you do?”
“I stand out in the open, hand on my mace.” said Carl.
“I step in front of him and raise my hands to show that we’re not a threat.” said Melissa.
“Can I hide?” said Mike.
“Sure. Roll Stealth.”
“Fourteen,” he said. “I’m rolling well today.”
“You are. You find a place down in a ditch that conceals you. Problem is that you don’t have line-of-sight to what’s about to happen.”
“Oh.”
“So what happens?” asked Melissa,
“You see that the light is coming from a candle that is being carried by a small girl, aged about seven or eight. She’s walking amongst the brambles and wherever she touches, little white flowers bloom. She seems to be accompanied by one or two moths that flitter about her candle flame.”
“I grip my mace tighter,” said Carl.
“Hello, I say.” said Melissa.
“Oh, she says, looking up. Hello.”
“Hello,” said Melissa. “What’s your name?”
“She just looks at you. She cocks her head a little. You’ll want to talk to Mummy and Daddy, she says. She turns and beckons. This way. She walks back into the swamp.”
“I guess we’ll follow her then,” said Melissa. Mike and Carl nodded.
“Okay,” I said. “She leads you on a safe path up through the valley. Tiny flower blossoms trail in her wake.”
“I hate this girl.” said Carl.
“It gets brighter as you come out from the swamp, and you can see that the entire village has come out to meet you.”
“The entire village?” asked Mike.
“Looks like it. There might be one or two still hiding away somewhere, but it looks like they’re pretty much all here. There are two upfront, a man and a woman. They look middle-aged, but worn around the edges. They’re wearing simple farmer’s garb and carrying no weapons. To one side is the village blacksmith looking all dwarfy, and just to the left of the central pair is the priest. And there are some children.”
“Children?” asked Carl.
“Yes. There’s one dwarf child and several humans. The dwarf is barely a toddler, and is playing around in the dirt with a hammer, but there are two human children as well. They look like they’re playing a game of ‘Adventurers’. They’re pretending to cast spells at each other. The younger one appears to be getting the upper hand when a gout of actual flame erupts from the older one’s hands and strikes the younger child square in the chest.”
Mike gasped. “What’s going on? I cry, and I try to help.”
“Well, before you can do anything, the older child looks at his hands in shock. Mum, mum! he cries. I did it! And a big grin spreads across his face. The older man and woman look over, and go over to congratulate him with big hugs. He’s jumping up and down, he’s so excited. The little girl you were following cheers and joins in. The younger child… “
“The one who just got blasted?” asked Mike.
“Yes. The priest goes over to him and casts a healing spell, and the child gets up and joins in the celebrations. The priest comes over to you. They’re so proud, he says with a smile.”
“What did we just see?” asks Melissa.
“Oh that’s the first time young Roger has successfully cast that cantrip,” I said. “He’s going to be a powerful sorcerer one day, just like his mum.”
“What, did we just stumble into the Village of Retired Adventurers now?”
“Make a Perception check.” I said.
“Nineteen,” he said.
“You are rolling well,” murmured Melissa.
“Okay, now that you’ve got context you can totally see it. Top two are a fighter and a sorcerer. You’ve got the cleric right here. Dwarf is probably a rogue.”
“The one with the child but no mother present?” asked Carl.
“Yeah,” agreed Melissa. “Definitely a rogue.”
“At this point the youngest child is coming up to you saying, did you see that? Did you see that? He tugs on the cleric’s robes. He was like pkkkkowwww and I was like waaaahhhh! Just like Mom when she blew that giant up she was like PKKKOWWWWW BOOOOOMMMM! And the priest just shushes him and redirects him back to his parents, who are coming up to you now. The child jumps up into his mother’s arms. Hello, she says.”
“Er, hello,” said Melissa.
“Hello madam! It is very good to finally meet you in person, I say,” said Carl, “striding forward, weapons stowed, hand ungloved and outstretched.”
“She takes it.” I replied.
“My name is Atur, these are my friends Helna and Umfrey.”
“Vagabond!” said Mike.
“Umfrey Vagabond,” said Carl. “We are simple travellers on our way from Point A to Point C and you happen to be at point B in between.”
“The man and the woman glance at each other.” I reply.
“I mean you’re in our… path.”
“Make a Charisma check,” I said.
Carl smiled.