Campaign of the Month: May 2008

Dragonhunter Cronicles

The Search for Jonathon

In the city of Haven, our adventurous heroes were hired by Grand Magus Alain to investigate the disappearance of a mage. Magus Jonathon had disappeared from the city of Prylin leaving 3 mutilated bodies behind him. The Grand Magus also asked that they look into reports of civil unrest while they were in Prylin. He promised them 15 gold pieces for the successful completion of this mission. He even lent them horses to speed their journey to Prylin.

Riding fast through the country side the party arrived in Prylin on the third day. They quickly noticed that patches of the crops around Prylin were dying or dead. The farmers told them that no one knew why the crops were dying and to make matters worse, something was killing their livestock at night. An investigation of the farm led them to one conclusion, whatever was killing the animals was probably one or more Slithers, snake-monsters of the Scourge.

Inside Prylin they talked with the beleaguered Governor Vincent Arith. Eager for help, Lord Vincent said he would do anything he could to help fix the problems, yet he seemed to have no idea what to do. They also encountered the tomboyish Lady Adeline Arith. With little aid from the Governor, they headed over to talk with Captain Indorian, commander of the local guards and Defenders. Captain Indorian gave them the details of Jonathon’s disappearance and mission. He also had a couple of guards show them to Jonathon’s house.

Inside the house they found Jonathon’s journal which revealed that he was being pursued by some unseen monster. With this information they headed out for the sinkhole to find Jonathon. Inside the cave they found the mage, badly wounded, but conscious. After some healing he told them about the monster that was hunting him, a humanoid hunter with claws and skin that blended into the background. Our heroes rested in the cave with Jonathon for the night and came up with a complex plan to lure out and kill the monster. It involved ropes, horses, sharpened grappling hooks, and Jonathon as bait, much to his discomfort. In the morning they enacted their plan with great success. The monster attacked, badly wounding Jonathon, but giving the others a chance to hook the monster with the grappling hooks. They then had the horses (which the grappling hooks were tied to) run in opposite directions. The resulting dismemberment left bloody smears across the forest.

Returning triumphantly to Prylin the heroes must now deal with the other issues facing the town, crime, blighted crops, and potential beast attacks.


Would you mind adding how the plan was laid out and enacted? I live for this kind of thinking in my games but alas, can never think of things on the spot.

The Search for Jonathon

The plan was to have 3 people with grappling hooks (attached by rope to horses) with Jonathon standing in the middle. Go out and wait for the creature to attack Jonathon, then hit it with as many grappling hooks as possible. Once hooked, they would have the horses run in opposite directions.

I think the plan started as just a way to stop the creature from running. They knew it used hit and run tactics and was very good at them so they needed to stop it from getting away. Jonathon was bait because the creature had been hunting him in particular. I think using 3 grappling hooks started as a way to make sure one of them hooked the creature. Going from just stopping it from running to pulling it apart was, as far as I remember, a random leap in planning. My players do that sometimes.

In action, the creature didn’t attack when Jonathon was in the middle, he was too well protected. So they made him more exposed. The creature jumped him and clawed him up pretty badly. They threw the grappling hooks, snagging the creature. On its next turn it tried to run, but was stuck. Then the horses started running. That ended the combat.

The Search for Jonathon
