I realize I used a vague title, but hear me out. Basic question first, backstory second.
I am going to have my party get dropped into a section of jungle that is overrun with spiders, like Mirkwood but more rainforest. Because of this I am torn on two directions to take this event/encounter. One option is have it be a sunny day where fire has a threat to not only burn up all the spider webs, but potentially start a massive fire likely killing a friendly village full of villagers. Second option is have it during a massive rain storm where vision is obscured (darkness+rain) and footing is treacherous, it might be possible to burn some of the webs but the rain will likely put them out quickly.
That is the quick and dirty, now for the why's of this scenario.
I am running Tomb of Annihilation and have meddled with locations and such. I moved the Goblin Village of Yellyark to a little east of Righteous. While the party was exploring the temple of Man and Crocodile they got accosted by the goblins, before things could really become a fight, a group of undead came to crash the party. The adventurers cleaned up the undead and kept most of the goblins alive through the ordeal, to which the Batiri were quite grateful. They get brought to Yellyark and are getting a ride in it as it launches further east away from camp righteous. The party has been working on getting the goblins to like them to trade for the Control amulet of Vorn from them, but are also hoping to enlist the help of more of the goblin tribes in the area to try and deal with the rising undead threats.
The Yellyark is a big 'wicker ball' of sorts, with all the living spaces inside, the batiri can launch their home to safety incase of a big attack. My particular flavor made it more of a living root ball with some of the goblins being druids. The plan is when they launch they end up going further in the Yellyark than expected and land smack dab in a web infested section of the jungle, replete with spider monsters of various types. One player REALLY has a thing against spiders, and since he is an arakocra, I plan to have some of the bird folk caught in the webs that might be saved thus potentially leading to Kir Sabal. I am still trying to decide if this is a demonically driven scrouge of spiders, perhaps purposefully brought here by one of the evil factions, or more natural infestation.
TL:DR do you think I should have my players fight in a dark rain slick hellhole infested with spiders? Or a drier, fiery, sticky web nest with far too many legs in it to make anybody comfortable.
Other random cool ideas also welcome, Even just interesting ones. Ok so any idea can be a seed for something great.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'd have them as creatures that had lived in Chult for centuries and are more generally evil then demonic. Then have the party stumble into a nest of them during a rainstorm in the middle of the night.
The party makeup is a Aasimar Bard 5 (Glamour), Tiefling Warlock 5 (Archfey), Half-Orc Fighter 3/Bard 2 (Samurai), Aarakocra Rogue 5 (Swashbuckler), Half-Elf (wood) Rogue 5 (Assassin), Rock Gnome Artificer 5 (Artillerist). I can do a more thorough breakdown if the nitty gritty is important, like spells and traits/feats.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Depends on how intense you want the encounter to be - the dark and rain will build suspense and can be elongated, but the fire gives you an option to ratchet things up very quickly and give them a time limit. Do you have a fire mechanic in mind? I ran an encounter in a library where they used fire on a book golem, but rilled a d6 to see how far the fire would spread each round. Gave a real sense of urgency to the encounter. Also - spider webs won't generally burn unless they are dry and full of flammable stuff - you could have the dark and fire, then if you wanted to cool things off (sorry, awful pun) have it rain to control the pace of things. Sounds fun!
Even in a rainforest, it would be hard to catch on fire, but the mood of the rainstorm is a much better visual... just remember to emphasize how muggy and humid and hot the conditions are the following day.
Thanks folks, seems the rain and darkness is the strong winner with fire webs being difficult.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I realize I used a vague title, but hear me out. Basic question first, backstory second.
I am going to have my party get dropped into a section of jungle that is overrun with spiders, like Mirkwood but more rainforest. Because of this I am torn on two directions to take this event/encounter. One option is have it be a sunny day where fire has a threat to not only burn up all the spider webs, but potentially start a massive fire likely killing a friendly village full of villagers. Second option is have it during a massive rain storm where vision is obscured (darkness+rain) and footing is treacherous, it might be possible to burn some of the webs but the rain will likely put them out quickly.
That is the quick and dirty, now for the why's of this scenario.
I am running Tomb of Annihilation and have meddled with locations and such. I moved the Goblin Village of Yellyark to a little east of Righteous. While the party was exploring the temple of Man and Crocodile they got accosted by the goblins, before things could really become a fight, a group of undead came to crash the party. The adventurers cleaned up the undead and kept most of the goblins alive through the ordeal, to which the Batiri were quite grateful. They get brought to Yellyark and are getting a ride in it as it launches further east away from camp righteous. The party has been working on getting the goblins to like them to trade for the Control amulet of Vorn from them, but are also hoping to enlist the help of more of the goblin tribes in the area to try and deal with the rising undead threats.
The Yellyark is a big 'wicker ball' of sorts, with all the living spaces inside, the batiri can launch their home to safety incase of a big attack. My particular flavor made it more of a living root ball with some of the goblins being druids. The plan is when they launch they end up going further in the Yellyark than expected and land smack dab in a web infested section of the jungle, replete with spider monsters of various types. One player REALLY has a thing against spiders, and since he is an arakocra, I plan to have some of the bird folk caught in the webs that might be saved thus potentially leading to Kir Sabal. I am still trying to decide if this is a demonically driven scrouge of spiders, perhaps purposefully brought here by one of the evil factions, or more natural infestation.
TL:DR do you think I should have my players fight in a dark rain slick hellhole infested with spiders? Or a drier, fiery, sticky web nest with far too many legs in it to make anybody comfortable.
Other random cool ideas also welcome, Even just interesting ones. Ok so any idea can be a seed for something great.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
What's the party(Race, Class, Etc.)?
I'd have them as creatures that had lived in Chult for centuries and are more generally evil then demonic. Then have the party stumble into a nest of them during a rainstorm in the middle of the night.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
The party makeup is a Aasimar Bard 5 (Glamour), Tiefling Warlock 5 (Archfey), Half-Orc Fighter 3/Bard 2 (Samurai), Aarakocra Rogue 5 (Swashbuckler), Half-Elf (wood) Rogue 5 (Assassin), Rock Gnome Artificer 5 (Artillerist). I can do a more thorough breakdown if the nitty gritty is important, like spells and traits/feats.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'd go wet and make it raining. It rains in rain forests all the time. That way fire will still work but less so.
Also if the forest is dry you run the risk of fire getting out of control really quickly and that is a TPK right there.
Depends on how intense you want the encounter to be - the dark and rain will build suspense and can be elongated, but the fire gives you an option to ratchet things up very quickly and give them a time limit. Do you have a fire mechanic in mind? I ran an encounter in a library where they used fire on a book golem, but rilled a d6 to see how far the fire would spread each round. Gave a real sense of urgency to the encounter. Also - spider webs won't generally burn unless they are dry and full of flammable stuff - you could have the dark and fire, then if you wanted to cool things off (sorry, awful pun) have it rain to control the pace of things. Sounds fun!
Even in a rainforest, it would be hard to catch on fire, but the mood of the rainstorm is a much better visual... just remember to emphasize how muggy and humid and hot the conditions are the following day.
Thanks folks, seems the rain and darkness is the strong winner with fire webs being difficult.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."