Smugglers Hideaway

Recommended Level : 1

The first area my players went to! Upon arriving at Rockfern Creek, a huge explosion at Kaufmanns Inventory is followed by two wagons fleeing into the rockferns, artefacts in tow still sealed in their metal crates. Mr Pirks, Kaufmanns assistant, pleads with the player characters to retrieve the artefacts, promising each of them an artefacts for free in return.

The first grove contains one of the wagons, broken down, with two bandits (d&d 5e goblins) in front of the entrance to Smugglers Hideaway. Upon confrontation, one of the bandits will collapse the entrance with the same explosive device used at Kaufmanns and fight the players. With the bandits being dealt with, the players return to Mr Pirks with half of the artefacts, explaining the cave in.

This gives Pirks an idea, and he enters the back room of the shop and returns with artefact 003 - Woodstone Idol. He explains that this can be used to turn the rubble into harmless leaves (and also warns any shale teifling players that it might damage them if they are close enough). He also unlocks a crate for each of the players (my players chose 001, 022, 035, and 036).

The players return to the grove, and clear the cave in. Inside the cave, two bandits are sat at a table playing cards with a bandit leader (I just slightly buffed the goblin stats) inspecting the crates containing the artefacts. The bandit leader will attempt to lockpick the crate, but as they do this their lockpick turns to a fine white powder and a magic seal flashes upon the metal. As well as this, a Lesser Snapping Tortus (d&d 5e mastiff) is sleeping soundly by the fire. My players ended up adopting the Tortus, and called him Spike, but if the bandits are provoked the Tortus will fight along side them.

After dealing with the bandits, the lead bandit has a key to their storeroom. The storeroom consists of a few more of the metal crates strewn around, an alluring treasure chest, and a looming stone statue of a horned monster. If either the treasure chest or crates are touched, the gargoyle (a slightly nerfed d&d 5e bugbear) will attack. If the players are smart, they will use the Woodstone Idol to turn the creature to wood, leaving it happier and docile. My player are not smart. They instead gave the gargoyle a makeover, a pep talk, and he left the cave of his on volition feeling better about himself.

The chest contains 1000G for each of the players, as well as a d8 fortune crystal for each of them. This is a small, golden trinket we in the real world would recognise as a d8. When rolled, the player will receive 100x the amount they rolled in gold.

Upon returning to the shop, Pirks thanks the players and pays them an extra 500G each. He admits that this is the first time he has looked after the shop alone while Mr. Kaufmann is away seaching for artefacts and reveals that his only other companions were killed in the explosion. With this in mind, he asks the players to work for Kaufmanns Inventory as artefact collectors, and the story begins!

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