Friday Encounter: A Pilgrim's Burdens

This encounter should be used when the PCs are on a road, on a journey from one place to another along the route. It will have the most impact if the system you're using has encumbrance rules and if the players track them.

Dark Souls III

While traveling the road, the party should cross paths with an old man heading the same direction they are. He has a long white beard, and he wears a wide-brimmed hat and a weather-beaten cloak pinned by a seashell; a DC 7 Religion check will indicate that this is the mark of a pilgrim. His back is bent and stooped over with age, and he teeters along on a walking stick. Most notable, however, is the fact that he is carrying a great load of bags on his back, clearly struggling against their weight - his body shudders as he moves, and the bags bulge from the load shifting around inside of them. As he walks, one of the many satchels he carries on his back splits open, and a few gold coins and jewels spill onto the road behind him; he continues on his path, seemingly unaware of this.

The "pilgrim" is, in fact, Meili, the god of roads and travelers. Characters that pass a DC 15 Religion check will know that Meili often walks the roads in disguise to test the virtues of mortals; clerics or paladins of Meili, or characters with the Acolyte background that belonged to an order devoted to him, will know this automatically. As a matter of fact, Meili intends to test them through this encounter.

If the PCs ignore the pilgrim, nothing of note happens - but as soon as he is out of their field of vision, the next time they look in the direction he was, both he and the spilled wealth are nowhere to be seen. Nothing else happens.

If the PCs attempt to help the man carry his burdens, or point out the money he's dropped, he will be grateful for their aid and commend them on the care they are willing to show another traveler. He mentions he is on a pilgrimage to a shrine not far from where the party is headed to, and asks to join them, citing that a weary old man like him is at the mercy of bandits and the elements if he was to make the trip alone. Optionally, you could spin this out into a whole escort mission, introducing other encounters along the way (such as an attack by highwaymen, or a rickety bridge that the man is liable to fall from); at each step along the way, Meili will be judging the PCs for their honesty and their courtesy to their fellow wayfarers, especially those weaker than they are. He will also ask them questions about who they are and where their journeys have brought them - but he may make reference to information about the PCs' pasts or other adventures that they have not shared, indicating he is more than he seems.

Once the PCs are within sight of their destination, when they are out of sight of any onlookers, Meili reveals himself. He tells the party they have passed his test and that they display all the virtues an honorable traveler would. As a reward, he will grant them a blessing - the next time they embark on a journey of similar length, they will find they are able to make it in less time than they anticipated, and arrive at their destination in half the time it would take them otherwise.

If, however, the PCs try to steal the man's treasure, or attack him or otherwise accost him, Meili will be displeased. He suddenly rises to his full height with strength and spryness defying his apparent age, and announces in a booming voice that the PCs are cruel and callous ruffians who would take advantage of an old man, no better than bandits. He will then inflict a curse upon them that they may bear the weight of their sins!

PCs receiving the curse will find that the weight they are carrying is unnaturally heavy and cumbersome. The weight of all the items in their inventory is multiplied by three if they tried to steal the pilgrim's wealth without him noticing, or by five if they attacked him. If using other encumbrance systems, feel free to come up with a suitable effect that carries the same penalty (for instance, for a slot-based encumbrance system, the PCs may lose two-thirds or four-fifths of their slots). Alternatively, PCs traveling under the increased load take a level of Exhaustion each day unless they abandon two-thirds or four-fifths by weight of their inventory. As this is an act of divine intervention, a remove curse spell or similar effect will not alleviate the curse; it will only go away when the PCs reach their destination, hopefully having learned something from the ordeal.