Training Room

Not every mission is about stopping the end of the world. Most missions are about stopping the end of the world *for some small group*. Bite-sized danger is perfect for beginning Player-Characters.

Introductory missions should have an emphasis on simplicity, with a pace to facilitate learning the tools of the trade. They aren't necessarily low on lethality, but with the support of the party, or NPCs in the larger platoon, players should find a battlespace forgiving enough to qualify as a learning environment.

If the DM hasn't yet browsed the **Stonehearth Ambitions**, this is the perfect time – especially the "Completed Goals" portion. Even though the Coronet can cross off some objective, they still need to patrol and maintain that area.

This might be for the North Point highlands villagers or townsfolk suffering an infestation of something with teeth – that just happens to move through a previously unknown seam in the underdark. If it's estimated to rate only a mild threat, that's the perfect assignment opportunity for a squad of future Mobile Infantry solders. Dragoons and Musketeers just getting out of Basic Training, before they're assigned to a unit, would be formed up to track it down.

Maybe they're out of Basic and already assigned to a unit. This would be perfect for dipping into the "Short-Term goals." Because of the troll threat, there is a wide, wide swath of territory outside Marquisate jurisdiction that nobody else has claimed either – *so Stonehearth patrols it*. Some of these patrols are directed based on traveler intelligence: witnessed monster sightings.

These should all be simple search and destroy missions. *Should be*...

## READY ROOM

**Patrol Run 041A**

* Reports of unidentified monsters near [a frontier village].
	+ Well-organized scouting party of hobgoblins is looking to trap and destroy a Stonehearth Arms patrol and seize their weapons.
	+ Suggested by former ghost town, now-resurgent **Kheldrivver**; but could be in any Stonehearth frontier area not already dominated by trolls.

**Patrol Run 235A**

* Confirm troll condition at Trollclaw Ford.
	+ No troll presence is suspected at the ruined town. The predictions are wrong: a significant troll presence is moving through and the patrol is the picket force that makes the discovery.

**Patrol Run 509A**

* Status check of Dragonspear Castle.
	+ Increased reports of bandit activity near the castle. Is this a fluke, unrelated, or has somebody moved into the old ruins?

**Patrol Run 772A**

* Troll Interdiction, Troll Hills (South Face)
	+ A small gang of trolls have taken to surface raids – and they're known to be based in the southern foothills of the Troll Hills. Search and Destroy.

**Patrol Run 811A**

* Troll Interdiction, Trollbark Forest (coastal)
	+ A small gang of trolls commandeered an Orlumbor fishing vessel and have been using it to raid further south. It is suspected they have some sort of leadership. Search and Destroy.

**Patrol Run 424G**

* Criminal interdiction mission in North Point.
	+ As a freshly minted Guard, locate and arrest a known fugitive.

**Patrol Run 867G**

* Embed security in a merchant run along the Trade Way. Prompted by complaints of reptilian humanoids raiding merchant traffic.
	+ The serpent kingdom of Najara is on a harvesting campaign for slave labor. This could be the opening salvo of a major war.

### Training Qualifications Achieved

Once the player feels comfortable in the adjusted environment, the DM should switch to Zero Hour and use that as a springboard to assignments out of the “Ambitions” campaigns.

The roles there will vary depending on the kind and level of character created and their roleplay-background into the fabric of this campaign’s reality. If they’re a low-level soldier in the Arms, they’ll be on patrol and face some straight-up battles… and maybe the aftermath or complications as they dive into the tunnels to root out trolls.

As players get higher, they could have command functions, be on a special operations detail, or any of the “normal” missions that adventurers are used to… but in the context of a much larger effort.