Ceinture verte - Rencontres Aléatoires
- Were it not such a wretchedly ugly country, perhaps I’d find our travels upon these cursed plains more bearable. For days I’ve worn, eaten, and inhaled dust, our every step stirring it up as though the land were trying to bury us mote by dingy mote. While I first welcomed this morning’s rain, the belligerent land drinks quickly, and my mind and muscles screamed for a return to dust after but a few hours of slogging through the resulting shin-deep mud. But by Pharasma, were that mud the worst this place imagined to vex us, as through the haze we’ve heard the tramping of men that move on hooves, seen trees stalk like beasts, and fled before terrors that can be nothing less than all the muck and malice of this place brought to hideous life.
- —From The Record of Truan Iolavai
This month’s entry into the Pathfinder Bestiary reveals several denizens of the Stolen Lands, both natural beings native to that wilderness and deadly creatures known to haunt and stalk its deadliest reaches. While some might be nothing more than benign beasts that explorers into these lands may become quite familiar with during their travels, others offer entirely new threats to any who would dare trespass upon their lands.
Wandering Monsters
The Stolen Lands bear a notorious reputation as the home of deadly beasts, lurking monsters, and brutal outlaws. The Greenbelt cuts a swath of forest through the heart of this realm, flanked by the uneven mounds of the Kamelands to the east and the Hooktongue Slough farther west. Through this wild realm all manner of beasts create a deadly ecology, which for centuries has deterred settlers from Brevoy, the River Kingdoms, and beyond from doing more than claiming the land in mere boast and upon maps. Now, though, as stalwart explorers venture into the storied land, the truth of monstrous legends comes to the test.
Presented below is a list of random encounters the PCs might face as they explore the Greenbelt. These creatures are native to the land and have little regard for matters of character level or CR. Thus, the GM might want to adjust his rolls to assure the characters don’t run afoul of a threat beyond their means to combat, or be lenient when encounters with deadly creatures force retreats. GMs should also remember that just because an encounter arises from this chart doesn’t mean that it has to be combat-related : a meeting with trolls doesn’t have to be anything more than a sighting from a distance, for example. Experience, however, is of course only awarded for defeating such creatures, but even just making characters aware of the deadly things that inhabit the lands can make for a dramatic and humbling encounter.
From ed greenWood
The Kingmaker Adventure Path comes closer to the edge of the map than any campaign previously published in these pages. Just east of Brevoy and the Stolen Lands sprawls the barbaric realm of Iobaria, a land of ancient ruins, rugged wildernesses, and strange creatures. To populate this new land, we’ve had Ed Greenwood turn his prolific imagination on creating six new monstrous natives of that strange realm. Watch for a new Iobarian creature every month, concepted by famed world creator Ed Greenwood and brought to life by some of the best designers in fantasy. This month brings us the thawn, but who knows what menaces might claw their way forth from the depths of Iobaria in the months to come?
Greenbelt Random Encounters
| Forest | Lake/River | Plains | Hills | Encounter | CR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | 1–5 | 1–6 | 1–8 | 1d6 bandits | 1 | See page 12 |
| 5–11 | 6–11 | 7–15 | 9–14 | 1d4 boars | 3 | Bestiary 36 |
| 12–14 | 12–17 | — | — | 1d4 boggards | 3 | Bestiary 37 |
| 15–20 | 18–21 | 16–20 | 15–19 | 1 brush thylacine | 2 | See page 86 |
| 21–29 | 22–28 | 21–28 | 20–27 | 1d6 elk | 5 | See page 80 |
| 30–35 | 29–32 | 29–32 | 28–30 | 1 faerie dragon | 2 | Bonus Bestiary 9* |
| 36—42 | 33–35 | 33–38 | 31–35 | 1d4 grigs | 2 | See page 19 |
| 43–47 | 36–41 | 39–40 | — | 1 grizzly bear | 4 | Bestiary 31 |
| 48–54 | 42–49 | 41–51 | 36–45 | 1 hunter | 1/3 | See page 12** |
| — | — | 52–55 | 46–51 | 1d8 kobolds | 1 | Bestiary 183 |
| 55–57 | — | 56–57 | 52–55 | 1d8 mites | 1 | Bestiary 207 |
| — | 50–57 | — | — | 1 nixie | 1 | Bonus Bestiary 15* |
| 58–63 | 58–62 | 58–59 | 56–59 | 1 owlbear | 4 | Bestiary 224 |
| 64–68 | 63–69 | 60–63 | 60–62 | 1 shambling mound | 6 | Bestiary 246 |
| 69–71 | 70–75 | — | — | 1 slurk | 2 | See page 22 |
| 72–75 | 76–79 | 64–66 | 63–67 | 1 tatzlwyrm | 2 | See page 82 |
| 76–79 | 80–83 | 67–71 | 68–70 | 1d4 trolls | 7 | Bestiary 268 |
| 80–82 | — | 72–75 | 71–74 | 1 werewolf | 2 | Bestiary 198 |
| 83–85 | — | 76–80 | 75–81 | 1 giant whiptail centipede | 3 | See page 35 |
| 86–90 | 84–90 | 81–86 | 82–86 | 1 will-o’-wisp | 6 | Bestiary 277 |
| 91–97 | 91–96 | 87–95 | 87–95 | 1d6 wolves | 4 | Bestiary 278 |
| 98–100 | 97–100 | 96–100 | 96–100 | 1 worg | 2 | Bestiary 280 |
See paizo.com for the Pathfinder RPG Bonus Bestiary
Use the same stats as bandits
Greenbelt Random Encounters 2
- What drowned nightmare we found ourselves unable to awake from I cannot say, for the world I once trusted had betrayed us in every fundamental way. Dry earth seemed a distant dream, and sky and stars but fading memories. Everywhere clawing branches and hidden roots cursed our steps, while trailing vines and moss smothered us. Never had I so execrated the gods of life, for here their work piled upon itself in such slithering, crawling, squirming fecundity as to make every birth a blasphemous curse. And ever just beyond our sight, seen only in glimpses and ghost light, were the masters of that fetid green Hell, those who long ago forsook skin for scales and whose voices were the smothered cries of all who had ever died gasping in the muck.
- —From The Record of Truan Iolavai
This month’s Bestiary delves into the fetid swamps and overgrown recesses of the Stolen Lands, revealing a handful of the dangers lurking at the heart of its bogs and forests. Although some are little more than beasts, hunting the shadowed places of this deadly wilderness, others form strange communities in their savage sanctuaries, far from the eyes of any other race, while still others are creatures of legend, held in awe by the people of the north and far beyond. Let those who intrude upon the eldritch depths of the Stolen Lands beware, for menaces unknown to the civilized realms lurk where men rightly fear to tread.
Wandering Monsters
With the completion of “Stolen Land” in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #31, the PCs have explored much of the northern portion of the Greenbelt, meeting and doing battle with a wide variety of its inhabitants. Between the end of that adventure and the beginning of “Rivers Run Red,” little changed in the region, but now things begin to stir deep in the brush-choked recesses of the Narlmarches and the rugged crags of the Kamelands. As if alerted to the presence of trespassing humans by growls in the distance and the scent of man-flesh on the wind, the beasts and inhabitants of the land have grown deadlier and more daring. This might be, in part, resistance to the influx of settlers flocking to the newly risen banner of the PCs, though a more subtle menace might seek to strike back against the invaders and test their brazen leaders. Whatever the case, the Greenbelt is at once much the same as it was in days past and all the deadlier.
This nascent change is reflected in this month’s random encounter table. While much of the chart remains unchanged from volume #31’s offering, several dangers have grown more pervasive while wholly new threats rise to face the PCs as they venture into the Greenbelt’s southern reaches. GMs who made use of random encounters in the first Kingmaker adventure—especially those with natural animals—might revisit such battles, but now with even more or bolder beasts. It might also be suggested that such attacks or groups are unusual, perhaps unnaturally so, hinting at some strangeness in the region, though not definitively enough for PCs to reasonably infer a supernatural danger.
GMs seeking to increase the danger found in the Greenbelt even more can make use of any of the environmental encounter tables found in Appendix 14 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Especially while the PCs are hunting trolls through the later portions of this month’s adventure, the GM might increase the frequency and likelihood of coming across such creatures.
Greenbelt Random Encounters 2
| Forest | Lake/River | Plains | Hills | Encounter | CR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–5 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–7 | 1 barghest | 4 | Bestiary 27 |
| 6–13 | 4–10 | 5–15 | 8–14 | 1d8 boars | 6 | Bestiary 36 |
| 14–17 | 11–17 | — | — | 2d4 boggards | 6 | Bestiary 37 |
| 18–23 | 18–21 | 16–20 | 15–19 | 1d6 brush thylacines | 5 | Pathfinder #31 |
| 24–29 | 22–28 | 21–28 | 20–27 | 2d6 elk | 6 | Pathfinder #31 |
| 30–35 | 29–32 | 29–32 | 28–30 | 1 faerie dragon | 2 | Bonus Bestiary 9* |
| 36—42 | 33–35 | 33–38 | 31–35 | 2d4 giant spiders | 5 | Bestiary 258 |
| 43–49 | 36–41 | 39–40 | — | 1d4 grizzly bears | 6 | Bestiary 31 |
| 50–53 | 42–47 | — | — | 1 hydra | 4 | Bestiary 178 |
| — | — | 41–51 | 36–43 | 2d6 kobolds | 2 | Bestiary 183 |
| 54–57 | — | 52–54 | 44–45 | 1 manticore | 5 | Bestiary 199 |
| — | 48–54 | — | — | 1 nixie | 1 | Bonus Bestiary 15* |
| 58–63 | 55–59 | 55–59 | 46–53 | 1 owlbear | 4 | Bestiary 224 |
| 64–68 | 60–68 | 60–63 | 54–58 | 1 shambling mound | 6 | Bestiary 246 |
| 69–71 | 69–75 | — | — | 1d6 shocker lizards | 5 | Bestiary 248 |
| 72–75 | 76–79 | 64–66 | 59–65 | 1d6 tatzlwyrms | 5 | Pathfinder #31 |
| 76–79 | 80–83 | 67–71 | 66–70 | 2d4 trolls | 9 | Bestiary 268 |
| 80–82 | — | 72–75 | 71–74 | 1 werewolf | 2 | Bestiary 198 |
| 83–85 | 84–88 | 76–77 | 75–81 | 1 will-o’-wisp | 6 | Bestiary 277 |
| 86–93 | 89–94 | 78–86 | 82–88 | 2d6 wolves | 6 | Bestiary 278 |
| 94–97 | 95–98 | 87–95 | 89–95 | 2d6 worgs | 7 | Bestiary 280 |
| 98–100 | 99–100 | 96–100 | 96–100 | 1 wyvern | 6 | Bestiary 282 |
See paizo.com for the Pathfinder RPG Bonus Bestiary.