Travel in Katapesh

Base Caravan Speed

This is a recap of basic overland travel info from Table 7–6 in the Core Rulebook. A caravan’s speed is determined by its slowest member. The base travel distance per day is then modified by the terrain type; the journey legs detailed below incorporate the modified distance totals.

Speed 20

16 miles per day. A dwarf, halfling, or encumbered human traveling on foot. A mounted caravan might be traveling at this speed if they’re relying on Survival checks to bolster their supplies, but otherwise it’s pretty unlikely.

Speed 30

24 miles per day. A human traveling on foot.

Speed 40

32 miles per day. An encumbered camel, horse, or dire hyena. The adventure assumes the party is riding on camels, and the caravan guards’ camels at least are definitely carrying medium loads, so this is the party’s expected speed.

Speed 50

40 miles per day. An unencumbered camel, horse, or dire hyena. For my own campaign, I’m assuming that until the Sons of Carrion’s numbers are whittled down by flubbed ambushes, the elements, and infighting, they are traveling on dire hyena mounts and living off the land, abandoning or even eating anyone too wounded or exhausted to keep up. This additional speed allows them to outpace the PCs’ caravan and set up their attacks.

A “day” of travel is 8 hours, though in my take on the AP that actually means 4 hours of travel in the early- to mid- morning, taking a break of up to 4 hours in the heat of midday, and then putting in another 4 hours of travel starting in mid-afternoon and ending in the early evening. This gives the caravan the Survival bonus for remaining stationary during the hottest period of daytime.

Journey Legs

Kelmarane to Bronze Hook is the only leg that follows a road; all the others are trackless terrain (though most follow the Obelisk Trail). With the exception of the hills near Kelmarane and a possible diversion to the sandy desert of the southeast, the terrain is generally all plains.

Kelmarane to Bronze Hook

Distance & Terrain: 26 miles (hills, with road)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 12 hours (1-1/2 days);

Speed 30: 11-1/2 hours (1 day, 3-1/2 hours);

Speed 40: 9 hours (possible in 1 day with a short forced march);

Speed 50: 5-1/2 hours

Kelmarane to Sabkha

Distance & Terrain: 125 miles (26 miles of hills followed by plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 26 hours (3 days, 2 hours) to cross foothills, then 66 hours (8 days, 2 hours) to cross plains (11-1/2 days total);

Speed 30: about 17 hours (2 days plus 1-2 hours) to cross foothills, then 44 hours (5-1/2 days) to cross plains (nearly 8 days total);

Speed 40: 13 hours (1 day, 5 hours) to cross foothills, then 33 hours (4 days, 1 hour) to cross plains (nearly 6 days total);

Speed 50: about 10-1/2 hours (1 day, 2-1/2 hours) to cross foothills, then 26-1/2 hours (3 days, 2-1/2 hours) to cross plains (4 days, 5 hours total)

Kelmarane to Sleeping Dove

Distance & Terrain: 52 miles (30 miles of hills followed by plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 30 hours (3 days, 6 hours) to cross foothills, then about 15 hours (1 day, 7 hours) to cross plains (5 days, 5 hours total);

Speed 30: 20 hours (2-1/2 days) to cross foothills, then nearly 15 hours (1 day, 7 hours) to cross plains (4 days, 2 hours total);

Speed 40: 15 hours (1 day, 7 hours) to cross foothills, then just over 7 hours (1 day) to cross plains (nearly 3 days total);

Speed 50: 12 hours (1-1/2 days) to cross foothills, then nearly 6 hours to cross plains (2 days, 2 hours total)

Bronze Hook to Sleeping Dove

Distance & Terrain: 30 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 20 hours (2-1/2 days);

Speed 30: about 13 hours (1-1/2 days);

Speed 40: 10 hours (1 day, 2 hours);

Speed 50: 8 hours (1 day)

Sleeping Dove to Floater's Pond

Distance & Terrain: 60 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 40 hours (5 days);

Speed 30: about 27 hours (3 days, 3 hours);

Speed 40: 20 hours (2-1/2 days);

Speed 50: 16 hours (2 days)

Sleeping Dove to Sabkha

Distance & Terrain: 90 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 60 hours (7-1/2 days);

Speed 30: 40 hours (5 days);

Speed 40: 30 hours (3 days, 6 hours);

Speed 50: 24 hours (3 days)

Floater's Pond to Sabkha

Distance & Terrain: 42 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 28 hours (3-1/2 days);

Speed 30: about 19 hours (2 days, 3 hours);

Speed 40: 14 hours (1 day, 6 hours);

Speed 50: about 11 hours (1 day, 3 hours)

Floater's Pond to Selkelas

Distance & Terrain: 65 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: about 43 hours (5-1/2 days);

Speed 30: about 29 hours (3 days, 5 hours);

Speed 40: about 22 hours (2 days, 6 hours);

Speed 50: about 17 hours (2 days)

Sabkha to Katapesh

Distance & Terrain: 90 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 60 hours (7-1/2 days);

Speed 30: 40 hours (5 days);

Speed 40: 30 hours (3 days, 6 hours);

Speed 50: 24 hours (3 days)

Selkelas to Palace Mortales

Distance & Terrain: 78 miles (sandy desert)

Travel Time

Speed 20: 78 hours (9 days, 2 hours);

Speed 30: 52 hours (6-1/2 days);

Speed 40: about 40 hours (5 days);

Speed 50: 21 hours (2 days, 5 hours)

Palace Mortales to Katapesh

Distance & Terrain: 80 miles (plains)

Travel Time

Speed 20: about 53 hours (6 days, 6 hours);

Speed 30: about 36 hours (4-1/2 days);

Speed 40: about 27 hours (3 days, 3 hours);

Speed 50: about 21 hours (2 days, 5 hours)

Side Note: Why take the long detour to Selkelas? In my game, the Sons of Carrion are going to attempt their flubbed ambush at Floater’s Pond, by which time the PCs will be fully aware that they’re being hunted, and should probably know by whom. From Floater’s Pond, it’s still more than 5 days’ ride to the safety of Katapesh, but less than 3 days to Selkelas, which marks (among other things) the edges of the Duenas tribe’s territory. (In my campaign, the Duenas tribe’s desert is also the homeland of one of the PCs’ badawi tribesmen.) Garavel’s going to recommend cutting south for the desert. With luck, they’ll encounter the PC’s kinfolk, who can help them out, but failing that, it’ll force the Sons of Carrion to either break off their pursuit or to extend it into the lands of a rival tribe, hopefully pitting one pack of gnolls against the other. While hopefully ditching the Sons of Carrion in the desert, the PCs will also hear about the Deep Well of Paradise, which might serve as a last-ditch effort to run somewhere the obsessive Sons of Carrion won’t go.