Adventure for 3-5 players at levels 4-6

Overview: A group of bandits are terrorizing merchants and travelers. They are being lead by Tybalt Turien, a human bard who wields Thaylia’s Lyre.

Setup: A wagon arrives in town with a couple of injured merchants. The wagon is barely standing with holes and char marks all it. The horses are uninjured but badly shaken. The merchants are a human father and daughter pair, named Will and Mary. They have been badly beaten and are covered in burns and cuts but will survive. Their family runs a winery about a three days journey to the north called “Gulping Griffin Farms.” They were transporting six crates filled with wine bottles to sell but were waylaid by bandits. Will and Mary will recount a harrowing attack.

“It was in the forest to the north of here,” recounts Will. “The weather had been fair our whole trip but I had a bad feeling. We’d hired four guards. Big brutes. I thought they would be enough to scare off any robbers but I guess they weren’t big enough. We rounded this one corner in the road and then we had a dozen of them with arrows pointed at us.”

Will’s daughter Mary chimes in, “Aye. They had the drop on us. Two of our guards rushed forward like chumps and they got turned into porcupines. But at least they showed moxie. The other two just tossed their weapons down and surrendered like cowards.”

“We tried to run,” says Will. “But their leader starts playing music and singing and the next thing we know the wagon was on fire.”

Mary shakes her head sadly. “They beat us up good. All the while that one thief just kept strumming on his instrument. They turned it into a party. And after they’d had their fun, our paid guards up and joined the thieves. Can you believe it?

If the party is willing to retrieve the stolen goods, Will and Mary offer one of the wine crates and 200 gold as a reward.

Tracking down the bandits: Based on Will and Mary’s story, the group easily finds the ambush site. A couple of vultures are feasting on the remains of the two dead guards. The dead have been stripped of anything of value. There’s no sign of the bandits. A successful survival check DC 15 will find tracks that will allow the party to follow the bandits back to their camp. The group can also randomly walk the road or search the road. For every hour in the forest, roll a 1d6. On a 5, the party are attacked by a group of 2 bandits +1 for each player. The players may force one of the bandits to lead them to the bandit camp. On a 6, the party may make another survival check to find more bandit tracks and possibly follow them to the camp.

The Bandit Camp:

Surrounded by trees, the bandit camp has a ten foot high roughly made fence running around it. There are two entrances for the bandits. During the day the gates are open but at night they are closed. A 15ft. high guard tower stands just behind the fence, one near each entrance.

1. This guard tower stands 15 ft. high allowing the guard standing on it to get a good view of the forest entrance. He is actively looking and will get to make a perception check against anyone who tries to sneak up to the camp. If he detects trouble, he will blow loudly on a horn and alert all of the bandits in the camp.

2. This guard tower stands 15 ft. high and is reached by a wooden ladder. When the party approaches this entrance, the guard is not standing at his post. He has climbed down to walk a little into the forest in order to urinate. If the party sneaks up on the guard, they may be able to disable him without attracting attention.

3. A shallow well sits on the far side of the bandit camp. It has clear and clean water.

4. A set of cages here include a whole bunch of chickens and a small pen with a few pigs in it. The animals are loud and will generally ignore anyone who walks past them.

5. The barrels of wine stolen from Will and Mary sit here against the far wall of the camp. One of the casks is empty. The other five have not been opened.

6. When the players arrive, most of the bandits are inside this small wood building. Through some of the windows, the players can see the bandits drinking and playing cards. Beautiful music drifts from within as a male voice sings to the lovely notes of a lyre. Twelve bandits are inside the building along with Tybalt.

Singing Bandit

Medium humanoid (multiple races), Neutral Evil

Armor Class 14 (leather armor)

Hit Points: 16 (3d8+2)

Speed: 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

12(+1) 14(+2) 12(+1) 10(+0) 10(+0) 11(+0)

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Languages: Common

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Singing (free action). While Tybalt plays his lyre, each bandit hums and sings along. This motivates the bandit and grants the bandit advantage on any saving throw.

Actions:

Short Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage.

Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit 5 (1d8+1) piercing damage.

Tybalt Turien is a human, male about 25 years of age. He’s a friendly man with a wicked grin and a very sharp tongue. He has long brown hair, bright blue eyes, and wears a lot of gold embroidery on his bardic costume. He enjoys a good joke and a party. He is also a masochist and enjoys pain. He takes great pleasure in the burning flames from Thaylia’s Lyre.

Tybalt Turien

Medium humanoid, Neutral Evil

Armor Class 16 (leather weapon)

Hit Points 58 (9d8+18)

Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

14 (+2) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 13 (+1) (17 +3)

Saving Throw: Dex +6, Cha +6

Skills: Acrobatics +6, Perception +4, Intimidation +6, Insight +4, Perform (Lyre) +10

Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven, Halfling, Goblinoid

Challenge 6 (2,300)

Jack of All Trades: Tybalt adds an additional +1 bonus to any ability check he makes that he isn’t proficient in.

Spellcaster: Tybalt is a level 9 spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). He has the following spells prepared. Tybalt wields Thaylia’s Lyre so all of his spells deal fire damage instead of their normal type with an additional +1d6 damage.

Cantrips (At will): mage hand, minor illusion, vicious mockery

1/day (Lyre bonus spells): burning hands, create bonfire, firebolt, wall of fire

1/day each: hold person, hypnotic pattern, major image, mass healing word, dispel magic

3/day each: color spray, faerie fire, healing word

Song of Rest: Tybalt can perform a song while taking a short rest. Any ally who hears the song regains an extra 1d8 hit points if it spends any Hit Dice to regain hit points at the end of that rest. Tybalt can confer this benefit on himself as well.

Actions

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage.

Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing damage.

Bonus Action

Bardic Inspiration (4/rest). One creature (other than Tybalt) that he can see within 60 ft. gains a d8 bardic inspiration die. The creature can add the bardic inspiration die to one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within the next 10 minutes.

Tybalt carries a +1 leather armor and Thaylia’s Lyre. While using the lyre, Tybalt takes 1d4 points of fire damage per round.