Encounter Idea From Dual Survival
This idea came from Season 3 Episode 4 (Into The Frying Pan) of Dual Survival after watching the new guy fiddle with a Rattlesnake he found living near their campsite. I liked the idea of that kind of encounter turned on its end.
The encounter begins with the PCs bedding down for the night and have their camp stumbled upon by a small team of Hill Giants. One of the giants is a seasoned outdoorsman, hunter, and survivalist and the others are at best proficient warriors but inexperienced compared to him at life in these wilds. These giants discover the PCs and panic. They are looking to bed down near here too and knowing the danger armed humans can cause want to dispatch them before they can, “slip into their camping bags and stab em to death with their sharp knives”. The elder just sort of snickers at this, he knows that humans and adventurers are dangerous but that they are more scared of you than you are of them. If they just spook them away and/or don’t bother them much they won’t bother them. But these other giants aren’t having it, they want to kill these dangerous critters before they wake up with them in their traveling bags and want the elder’s help.The elder sign and waves them off, saying if they want to pick a fight they don’t need to have they can but he won’t participate.
Meanwhile, the party beds down for the night when suddenly a small group of giants comes bounding out of the wilds, brandishing long stick, spears, and other pointing weapons and stabbing at them while another larger, better armed one seems to hang back. The fight begins and plays out about like a normal fight, the elder laughing “quietly” to itself the whole time. If the Giants win they kill all the people and bury them so that they can’t rise in revenge (like all humans do when they are mad) or keep swinging. They take any shiny stuff they are sure won’t poison them and bury the rest with them in a quick pit to keep the camp safe and go back to their business. If the PCs start winning the elder starts laughing harder but his mood changes if any of the giants drop to below ¼ hp. At this point the elder steps in, fighting the PCs off but not actively trying to kill them, shouting for the others to retreat and help any wounded escape. He quickly retreats once everyone is away.
If the players know Giant though or have some way to understand them though they have a chance at diplomacy. They hear the elder giant laughing and understand the giants yelling back and forth. The Elder laughs at how such trained warriors can be so scared of such tinyfolk to which the other giant retort that they don’t find it funny. The Elder even mentions that it was their idea and that they didn’t have to really do this in the first place if they didn’t want to. At this the PCs have the opportunity to parley. If they can communicate with the giants they can stow their weapons and ask for peace and what happened. On a successful Dip check the Elder looks at them shocked and tells his compatriots to stop, he apologizes for his friends behavior and explains what’s going on and asks them what they are doing here? If the PCs answer honestly they can potentially get into a lively conversation with the Giant and end the whole thing amicably, the Giant apologizing for his friends and saying that if they do not enter his camp they will not antagonize theirs.
I love the image of the PCs woodsman bonding with a fellow hunter giant and everyone laughing off the camp attack as a big misunderstanding, the giant saying, “I’ve lived in these woods for decades, I know when people are going to be trouble and when they are just sleeping in a tent. Unfortunately my friends have only heard of “adventurers” in books and fables. They think all of you just wander into camps in the dead of night and stab Giants in their sleepin’ bags!”
This is a really good encounter idea I am going to use in my next campaign.
