This post details the three encounters in Prey for Smiley Bob by Chris Perkins.
1
I ran this adventure as a one-shot in order to introduce two new characters to group - a Illusionist Mage and a Fire Elementalist. Little did I know what a destructive combination they would make...
SPOILERS AHEAD
Encounter 1
The original adventure called for a Windmill. Though I'd recently built one of those, I am saving it for a different adventure with this group. I also had a watermill I'd built without any specific use- so I used it instead:
{There's a thread elsewhere about it's construction...}
So .. The party is hired to investigate a the disappearance of several young halflings, kidnapped (and presumably mauled) by a mad bear nicknamed Smiley Bob as the result of a knife scar given in a fight with one of the said victims. The bear was last seen in the vicinity of the the old abandoned watermill about two miles away...
Cut to the chase: The party approaches the mill to see 6 hobgoblns in in two teams playing toss-the-rock at each other...
OOPS! Don't forget the trees and rocks - easier to see cover that way...
The mages learn how fast minions die with 100% hit rolls on their AOE spells and the party moves quietly from the trees to the mill...
Encounter 2
They sneak around the outside of the building and peek in through cracks in the old rotting walls... Inside they see more hobgoblins and a sleeping bear.
The thief uses a dart and a sleeping poison in an attempt to keep the bear out of the coming fight.... Then (the walls come off and) they charge in!
The fire elementalist, fresh of the success of burning up some guys outside, uses his "ignition power" on the baddies in the corner while the satyr/bard runs upstairs to try to find the missing halflings...
The old timbers of the mill ignite and begin to burn the old dry building down. The Bard finds a single halfing tied and with a horrific story about what the hobgoblins had planned (it seems the bear was trained to hunt halfling by the badguys ) - and word that the leader should be returning soon! He slings her over his back as the smoke rises up the tower and he starts running down the stairs and out...
The bear awakens just long enough to head outside and collapse in slumber just outside the mill.
The fighters keep the hobgoblins pinned inside as the retreat - finishing them off just in time.
Encounter 3
The smoke from the burning mill hastened the return of the hobgoblin leader and his crew - ready for revenge...
A bloody battle, framed by a great pyre with our heros unloading everything they had was ultimately victorious:
And though the mill was lost, Smiley Bob was released and one halfling were spared.
Build Notes
Watermill and Floor:
Mill interior props:
Map Tiles:
Staircase:
Trees, Rocks & Bushes:
Area Markers and Fireballs :
