You are on your way back to Sharn from your last mission via the lightning rails, one of the fastest ways of travelling around Breland and even the rest of Khorvaire! Something tells you this might not be some ordinary train-ride. Will you able to figure out who's trying to ruin your ride?
A legendary artifact has been uncovered from the mysterious continent of Xen'drik. The artifact was en route to Morgrave University for further study but the halfling, Gossan Crestlit from the Boromar clan has somehow caught wind of this news. Such an artifact is highly coveted in Breland, especially in Sharn and Gossan wants it all for himself.
Knowing that the artifact is going to be heavily guarded, Gossan deploys a team of his most trusted companions and bandits to pull off this heist.
Gossan's Heist Team:
- Fodder: A group of bandits Gossan could afford
- Bruiser: Zarpin Fulgur, Human Blood Hunter (lightning)
- Safecracker: Quiscies Fairtaint, Halfling Rogue
- Mastermind: Gossan Crestlit, Halfling Bard
===START!===
Once the table is ready to begin, start with the following
"You are on your way back to Sharn from your last mission via the lightning rails. While boarding the train at the lightning rails station, you noticed something peculiar: An entourage of well-armed guards were accompanying a tightly-secured and embellished box into a furthest car of the train. No announcements were made so you simply have no clue what that was all about.It was just about to be another ordinary lightning rail trip. You watch the car's window as the greeneries of Breland speed past your eyes. Suddenly, you heard a scream, followed by a loud voice yelling at the back of the car:"Oi! None of ya'll do anything stupid now and no one gets hurt!" You quickly dart your eyes back to see a gang of cocky bandits holding their weapons toward the passengers with ill-intent. You can feel the hilt of your weapon with your fingers as your hand instinctively reach for it. What do you do?"
MONSTERS: 3 Bandits
The Halfling Bandit hang back and hold a passenger hostage while 2 bandits prowl around the car to rob the passengers.
These bandits intend to rob all of the passengers for extra loot but their purpose is to prevent anyone from reaching the first-class car.
Having beaten all of the main guards unconscious, they rob the rest of the car with confidence, thinking that the worse has already passed.
This map is not finalized. You will have to do some small editing of your own so as to fit the adventure.
What's Next?
There are 2 more cars after the current one and each of them have two to three bandits each. These bandits only want to collect valuables and are generally not interested in taking lives.
MONSTERS: 3 Bandits per car
REWARDS: 75 gp worth of stolen valuables which can be returned to the passengers. If characters choose the honorable path, the passengers are happy to allow them to keep 10 gp to share among themselves.
Discoverable Info: (A captured bandit or a journal reveals the following information)
- Turns out, this was no ordinary passenger train. The discovery of the Xen'drik artifact has already drawn a lot of unwanted attention.
- Morgrave University took initiative and prepared a decoy on the official cargo train. The real artifact was then placed in this seemingly ordinary passenger train.
- However, a rat in the University revealed the plan to Gossan and sabotaged their efforts.
- The brains behind this operation is a Halfling called Gossan Crestlit, a member of the Boromar clan.
===SAFECRACKER===
Having heard the ruckus outside, Quiscies promptly hides and plans to jump the unsuspecting characters.
"Upon entering this car, you noticed several bodies of unconscious guards laying on the ground. These were the same guards you saw earlier before boarding the train. Whatever they were protecting must have been compromised. You hear a noise up ahead. Sounds like trouble. What do you do?"
REWARDS: 90gp worth of stolen treasure.
INFO: Quiscies can be encouraged to tell on his criminal partners.
- My superb lockpicking skills landed the role of the safecracker. My job was to disable the security that grant my partners access to the treasure.
- My partner, Zarpin, is a blood hunter who made quick work of the guards while cracked the safe open. We've opened the safe long ago.
- Due to some... complications, I was tasked slow down any signs of resistance.
- A skycoach is catching up to this train as we speak. My partners must've already made it out with the artifact.
- The artifact was in the car after me.
Once the characters are done, read the following:
"At this moment you hear a strange noise coming from the rear door. You might not be too late after all. What do you do?"
===BOTCHED ESCAPE===
"This is the car at the furthest end of this train. You see opened locks dangling from their chains and an empty safe. At the furthest end you see a male elf with the strangest-looking set of armor you've ever set your eyes on. He is accompanied by a halfling and a few bandits with the same outfit as the ones you've fought before. Beside them is a half-opened door with a special sky-coach latched onto the car.
'What have you done with Quiscies?!' The halfling screams at you. 'To hell with this! Zarpin, we'll settle our problems later. Right now you have to kill them!' The elf brandishes his twin blades as he charges towards you. Brace yourselves and roll initiatives!"
The Boromars use a sky-coach that is simply a boat attached to crystals that powers it. They meant to escape with their prize much earlier but something held them back.
The Blood Hunter is wearing the Variant Living Armor and has the benefits listed in the item description.
REWARDS:
- Gossan has a gem stone worth 100 gp on him
- The Blood Hunter has the Variant Living Armor
Armor (any), very rare (requires attunement)This hideous armor is formed from black chitin, beneath which veins pulse and red sinews glisten. To attune to this item, you must wear it for the entire attunement period, during which tendrils on the inside burrow into you.
While wearing this armor, you have a +1 bonus to Armor Class, and you have resistance to the following damage types: necrotic, poison, and psychic.
Symbiotic Nature. The armor can’t be removed from you while you’re attuned to it, and you can’t voluntarily end your attunement to it. If you’re targeted by a spell that ends a curse, your attunement to the armor ends, and it detaches from you.
The armor feeds on its host's life force. Immediately after you finish any long rest, you must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be reduced to 0 hit points.
Once the characters reach Wroat's station, the authorities insists that they give the armor up. If they somehow wiggle their way out of the authorities' grasp and choose to sell it, they can find only one buyer who is willing to take the armor off their hands for 50 gp.
(They can, however, hold on to the item until a later level when they can find a more reputable buyer.)
===CONCLUSION===
If the Boromar clan members are defeated, the characters can choose to either round them up or execute them.
Whichever path they choose, the train makes a quick stop at Wroat, the capital city of Breland. They can either hand the felons over or inform the authorities of the events that transpired.
Eventually the Adventurer's Guild will hear of the party's deeds. This is one deed that can help the party gain infamy in Breland. Gaining enough infamy could gain the attention of the Wayfounder's Foundation which can open a lot of doors for the players.
House Orien, House Cannith and Morgrave University will eventually hear about the character's deeds and consider giving the Adventurer's Guild a little treat whenever the members need to catch a ride on the lightning rails.
In any case, this adventure will inexplicably change the fates of the characters. Malicious organizations will not like hearing about their failures to recover the artifact and will carefully think about their next move.
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