Ambush on the High Road

"**Ambush on the High Road**" is a *Dungeons & Dragons* adventure played by Scott, Sam, Wes, Anthony, Charley, and Hunter on 24 March 2023.

The game was DMed by Agent\_Jules, and hosted in person at the Gamer's Guildhall in Morehead City, North Carolina.

## Party

* **Tarthus** (Scott) – High Elf Wizard
* **Sorah** (Sam) – Fire Genasi Rogue
* **Duncan** (Wes) – Dragonborn Fighter
* **Errick** (Anthony) – Hill Dwarf Life Domain Cleric
* **Jojen** (Hunter) – High Elf Paladin
* Yukaka (Charley) – Lightfoot Halfling Rogue

### NPCs

* Gundren Rockseeker – Dwarf merchant
* Nundro Rockseeker – Dwarf scout
* Tharden Rockseeker – Dwarf wagon driver

### Villains

* Goblin #1 (CR 1/4)
* Goblin #2 (CR 1/4)
* Goblin #3 (CR 1/4)
* Goblin #4 (CR 1/4)
* Goblin #5 (CR 1/4)

## Summary

High Elf Tarthus, Fire Genasi Sorah, Dragonborn Duncan, Hill Dwarf Errick, and Lightfoot Halfling Yukaka are among the patrons drinking at the Driftwood Tavern in the city of Neverwinter when a Dwarven man enters and announces that he will pay 10 gold to anyone willing to protect a shipment of provisions traveling to the nearby town of Phandalin. Errick and Sorah agree, and having lost a game of cards to the Genasi, Duncan reluctantly joins to pay off the 200 gold debt, while Tarthus joins the group out of curiosity.

The party stay the night at the Driftwood and leave after breakfast the next morning with Yukaka silently accompanying them as well, receiving instructions from the bartender; they meet up with the provision wagon near the western gates of the city, and set out along the High Road toward the town of Phandalin with Yukaka hanging onto the underside of the wagon. Not long after departing, they are approached by a party of rieklings, which Errick recognizes as the more sophisticated culture of goblins native to the north. Duncan prepares to attack, but Tarthus speaks to the group in Ghukliak, and learns that they are heading toward Neverwinter to attend a meeting of riekling tribes because their leader died recently.

The wizard instructs the party to let the rieklings pass, and they continue toward Phandalin, spotting a green dragon soaring overhead shortly before lunch. Sorah spots an item fall from the dragon, and breaks from the group to find a single dragon scale in a nearby field; she examines it briefly before offering it to Yukaka, who promptly licks it and returns it, after which the Halfling begins hallucinating vividly. The group travels uneventfully for another six hours before finding a well-used site off the side of the road and setting up camp for the evening, and Yukaka scampers into the trees as the party decides on a watch rotation.

Insisting that he does not need to sleep, Duncan takes the first watch, and experiences nothing unusual. Sorah takes the second watch, during which a creature wearing a deerskull mask enters the camp and wordlessly sits beside her next to the fire; she offers it some of her rations, which it eats before silently leaving again. Errick takes the third watch, during which he realizes that Yukaka has abandoned the camp and disappeared into the forest; some time after, he spots an elf in plate armor who stumbles into the camp and introduces himself as Jojen, explaining that he was tracking a Wendigo through the forest. Tarthus, having been meditating for most of the night, then takes the fourth watch and experiences nothing unusual; he wakes the party for breakfast the next morning, and Sorah finds a crown of woven flowers next to her bedroll.

The party sets out again along the High Road, encountering a man wearing strange shoes with wheels attached to the bottom who persuades the group to let them tie himself to the back of the party's wagon in order to test his invention. Shortly before lunch, the group spots a hastily-constructed barricade blocking off the road, and Jojen uses his Divine Sense to detect five goblins surrounding the roadway. One of the goblins strikes him with an arrow as Sorah lights one of Duncan's bolts on fire before stealthily sneaking into the woods to kill another of the goblin. Duncan fires his flaming bolt into the barricade to ignite it, causing two of the creatures to flee, and Tarthus casts *Magic Missile* to kill a third goblin and injure the one that attacked Jojen; Sorah is struck by an arrow from the goblin that attacked the Paladin, and Errick heals the Rogue as Jojen casts *Ray of Frost* to kill the final goblin that struck him.

The group clears the barricade, spotting a trail where the two goblins fled into the forest, and they decide to proceed on to Phandalin and deliver the wagon before returning to deal with the remaining goblins. They continue along the road as the green dragon soars overhead again, and four more scales fall from it as it passes over the town up ahead and disappears behind into the mountains; Sorah breaks from the group to collect the additional scales, and spots Yukaka scampering through the field, chasing after the dragon on her own. The party reaches town by early evening and delivers the wagon to Barthen's Provisions, collecting their payment before heading to the Stonehill Inn to secure lodging.

Duncan heads to bed, and as the rest of the group drinks together, a dwarf approaches Errick and challenges him to a drinking contest; the cleric realizes that the dwarf is attempting to cause a spectacle, and Tarthus notices that the stranger is wearing a distinctive scarlet cloak. Errick agrees to the contest, and Sorah uses the distraction to stealthily investigate the rest of the patrons, discovering that four more of them are wearing the same scarlet cloaks and finding encoded messages written in Thieves' Cant around the tavern.

Errick manages to outdrink his challenger, who passes out on the bar after his sixth drink, at which point Sorah offers to let the cleric lick a dragon scale; Jojen tries to prevent him from doing so, but fails when the Rogue intercepts him, and the Dwarf licks the scale, hallucinating vividly and finding the Genasi inexplicably attractive. Jojen quickly administers *Lay on Hands* to cure the cleric of his hallucinations, though the dwarf remains thoroughly inebriated, and the party decides to retreat to their rooms and rest for the night.

## Total Damage

Overall, damage was inflicted and suffered thusly: