Destroy Artillery (6th

building siege weapons that will be usable within weeks. The duke calls the PCs into his chambers and asks them to slip through enemy lines and bring back reinforcements before the keep falls. The keep has an escape tunnel that opens in a cluster of trees behind the keep. Unfortunately, the horde surrounding the keep extends beyond that point.

Character Level: This encounter is designed for characters of 4th level.

Objectives:Primary: Get past enemy forces and reach friendly forces in a nearby citadel.

Secondary: Gather intelligence about the enemy army’s disposition while sneaking through it.

Allied Forces: The duke can spare a single squad of soldiers, who will accompany the PCs out through the escape tunnel and cover them as they make their way through the sleeping horde. This squad then retreats back into the escape tunnel, collapsing the tunnel behind them if their presence has become known.

• 10 human regulars (page 142) • 2 human cleric corporals (page 142) • 1 human soldier sergeant (page 142)

Enemy Forces: The goblinoid horde is made up of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears living in tents out past the range of the keep’s siege weapons. Squads patrol the horde camp. A typical squad has the following composition: • 10 goblins (Monster Manual page 133) • 2 hobgoblins (Monster Manual page 153) • 1 bugbear (Monster Manual page 29)

Terrain Features: The cluster of trees is an oval 60 feet long and 30 feet wide in the center. The tunnel entrance is roughly in the middle of the oval. The terrain beyond the trees is rolling farmland dotted by the goblinoid camps.

The horde extends for an additional 200 feet past the far edge of the trees.

Tactics: The duke’s troops fan out and take up positions at the edge of the trees to cover the PCs as they move through the sleeping horde. If the characters are spotted by a patrol, the duke’s troops open fire with their ranged weapons. The PCs need to concentrate on stealth—while they might be able to handle a single patrol, they will quickly be surrounded and overwhelmed if a general alarm is raised.

Aftermath: If the PCs make it through the horde, they will be able to make it to a nearby castle or city within a few days, where they might need to use Diplomacy to gain access to the local nobility or Gather Information to find out the location of the nearest battalion of the queen’s regiment. They can then return with an army and join the battle to save the keep. In this case, see the Take out the Trebuchet scenario (page 50), scaling that encounter as necessary. If the PCs are captured, they will have to escape to complete their mission. If they cannot find reinforcements in time, they can delay the attack by sabotaging the siege weapons being constructed.

Scaling This Encounter: For a 2nd-level group, the duke provides a smaller squad of allied troops, which consists of 5 human regulars and 1 human cleric corporal of 2nd level. The enemy squads consist of 6 goblins and 2 bugbears. For a 6th-level group, the duke provides a squad of elite troops, which consists of 5 human soldiers (page 142), 2 human cleric lieutenants (page 142), and 1 human knight captain (page 143). The enemy squads consist of 8 gnolls (Monster Manual page 130), 2 bugbears, 1 hobgoblin soldier captain (page 149), and 2 ogres. DESTROY ARTILLERY (6TH)

The enemy has a field of fire along a relatively clear approach, with two batteries of catapults to threaten the area. The PCs’ commander wants to attack at dawn the next day, but if the catapults are not destroyed or disabled by then, the strike will turn into a slaughter. The commander depends on the PCs to disable or destroy the enemy’s catapults on a strike mission during the moonlit night.

Character Level: This encounter is designed for a party of 6th-level characters. Objective: Primary: Destroy or disable half of the enemy catapults.

Secondary: Destroy or disable all the enemy catapults.