If the heroes decide to follow up on the lost bugbear army, they must travel across both R’Kaas and bullywug occupied areas to area M on the map where the hidden exit from the city is located. The party must take care not to alert either group to their presence, though an isolated fight in either area will not be noticed.
The party has a 50% chance of encountering a R’Kaas patrol every hour they are in the lizards’ territory. While in the bullywug’s territory, they encounter a bullywug gaggle at least once and then once every hour. There’s an 80% chance this is a Rukrug group, who will not immediately attack, but will demand tribute of food, weapons or gold (in that order).
Both groups send messengers back to their main force at the beginning of every encounter. Lingering in the area more than a handful of turns yields another similar encounter.
R’Kaas (Velox) – 1 per PC; 1 per NPC
Jungle Orc Veterans – 1 per PC
Huge Spider – 1 per 2 orcs
Bullywugs (4 per PC, 1 per NPC) – if of the Rukrug tribe, these are armed with tridents and shields.
If the party is incapacitated or otherwise captured, they are taken back to the enemy camp, tortured and questioned. Within the day they are either sacrificed (Bullywugs) or executed (R’Kaas). See specific mission sections for each area for details on that area.
The hidden passage out to the jungle is covered in a mass of vines infested with giant wasps. Once the heroes begin hacking their way through (10' per turn -- 30' total), the wasps fly out and attack.
The vines are an impenetrable wall, 30’ thick. Characters can chop through at rate of 5’ per round.
Giant Wasps (2 per PC; 1 per NPC)
The passage beyond is a natural cavern, relatively straight, leading 200’ through the cliff face. It emerges at the Peaceful Glen.
The exit from the cavern emerges to a sloping grassy hillside devoid of trees. A small waterfall beside the exit pours into a deep pond then continues down the hill in a babbling stream. Waist-high tropical plants, seemingly of the same type, cluster around the pool and along the sides of the stream. Others dot the grassy hillside.
The plants are described in Monster. The party can find clues to the lost army’s whereabouts in the Development section.
The tropical plants are actually voracious predators called Tendrils. Once the heroes walk out of the cave mouth, the two closest plants shoot out their leafy tentacles and attack. The others attack if the heroes get within 10’.
Tendrils (See Tactical Map – All “spiky” plants are 2 HD. All “rounded” plants are 3 HD)
At the red star markers on the tactical map, the heroes can locate a clue concerning the whereabouts of the bugbear army.
The bugbear’s message pouch contains a sealed letter addressed to Staffal from Ghel. Crudely written in Goblin, the letter tells the bugbear war leader that Ghel was not able to raise the sizable army as was requested, though he did find four companies of hardy bugbears for the cause – however, they are currently prevented from entering the city by a small army of “sword-lizards.”
Beneath each Tendril are a handful of coins (1d12 gps total). Beneath a random Tendril are any 2 magic items (10%).
The dead bugbear carries the message (above) and a pouch with 50 gps in assorted coins. He lies on a Cloak of Shadows.
Beyond the peaceful glen lies the hilly jungle that surrounds Treluk. Though the going is rough, there are several intersecting game trails that should ease the party’s passage (Move 3/4). Moving through the jungle directly reduces movement to 1/4.
The bugbear scouts left a good trail from their near-fatal encounter with the Tendrils, though that ends with their completely fatal encounter with the velox. The trail they left to get to the peaceful glen is much harder to find, and the velox trail is almost impossible since they move through the jungle more directly.
The characters must collect clues to find the location of the Lost Army, hidden somewhere in the jungle nearby. The heroes have a base 0% chance to find the bugbear army, with each clue adding 10%. A ranger seeking a clue via tracking has a 10% chance to do that once per encounter. The party can attempt to use their clues to find the Lost Army twice per day. If successful, run the R’Kaas Assault encounter.
This is run as a quick series of random encounters along the web of trails down to where the bugbear army is camped. The heroes should have no more than 2 or 3 combat encounters, since this could bog down quickly.
If they spend more than two days searching in the jungle, the battle starts, and the party can find its location. By the time they arrive, however, the R’Kaas army has destroyed most of Ghel’s army and routed the rest.
To run this, roll or select from the tables below.
Roll Encounter
1-3 Jungle Denizens
4-5 Enemies
6 Clue
The jungle crawls with life eager to take the PC’s lives…
Bombardier Beetles (7)
Leopard (2)
Buckawn (5)
Displacer Beast (1)
Hyenas (6)
The R’Kaas have the bugbear army locked in a valley, unable to proceed. Their patrols range the jungle trails ensuring that no messengers get through. Any encounter includes some or all of the below in any combination the DM desires.
Jungle Orcs (2 per PC, 1 per NPC) 1 per mounted on giant spider
Giant Spiders
Velox (2 per PC)
R’Kaas Sword (1)
Any clue encountered provides the heroes a 10% bonus on finding the Lost Army. Clues include:
Monsters and treasure for this section...
Frequency: Uncommon
No. Appearing: 2d10
Armor Class: 6
Move: Nil
Hit Dice: 2-4
% in Lair: 100%
Treasure Type: J-N, Q, C (magic only)
NO. of Attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: See Below
Special Attacks:
Special Defenses: Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Animal
Alignment: Neutral
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Tendrils are an intelligent plant related to Strangle Weed. Groups of this carnivorous plant typically kill all other major plant life (with the exception of grasses) in the general area to make a killing field. Though the plant itself is only about 4’ across with broad thick leaves, the center of the plant shoots out up to three 10’ long tendrils that are incredibly strong (4-16 STR points).
A hit by one of these indicates that the victim is entangled by one or more vines. Each vine deals 2d4 damage and drags the victim up to 5’ per round. Once the victim reaches the center of the plant, the slicing leafy maw deals an additional 1d4 damage per round. The victim can attempt to escape each round with a successful Open Doors roll. Any entangled creature fights at -2 on “to hit” rolls.
Tendrils devour most of their prey, though they mulch whatever they can’t digest (including treasure) under the topsoil near their roots.
The Cloak of Shadows is a greenish black cloak of dull material. It grants a +20% to Hide in Shadows checks, both urban and wilderness.
OSRIC Adventures |
The R'Kaas Monster Entry (PDF) |
Treluk City Description |