Friday Encounter: The Giant's Farm

This encounter is best used in a fairly settled area, perhaps along a road. It's another example of one of my personal favorite genres of encounters - one that presents the PCs with a difficult moral dilemma, with the promise of interesting complications no matter what option they choose.

Background

In days of old, the hill giant Ronan was a fearsome threat who laid waste to many of the settlements around his domain, demanding tribute from the people and wiping out entire villages if they refused to comply. No hero could best him, no matter how many tried. But those days are in the past. Ronan has grown old, and his strength has waned. After taking a few injuries, he has decided to retire from a life of banditry and settle down, retreating to a secluded valley and tending to his crops. In fact, Ronan has come to realize that the farming life is far more to his liking than raiding and pillaging. And, as long as he keeps himself occupied with his farm, he leaves the people alone.

However, when the village of Dunmore was stricken by a famine, the people grew restless. Their crops are failing, and they struggle to sustain themselves. The elders remember the days that Ronan ruled the land with an iron fist, and they know that he has taken up farming. Surely if his crops can sustain a giant, they will be all that is needed to save the village. But doing so will mean trying to steal them from under his nose...

The Encounter

The easiest way to run this encounter is to have the party come across Dunmore on the road. They should pass by several blighted and barren fields on the way in, and all the people they meet along the way are thin and weak; the buildings are crumbling under disrepair, as everyone has fallen into a malaise. If the PCs ask around, the villagers will explain their plight, and point them in the direction of Ronan's valley, which is located about two hours from the village to the northwest. As they explain it, only a single pumpkin would be necessary to feed the whole village for the rest of the season.

If the PCs investigate the valley, they will note that it is blessed with great fecundity. The crops are all scaled to a giant as they would be to a human, so berries are the size of apples, apples are the size of watermelons, and pumpkins are the size of boulders. Surely a pumpkin would be enough to sustain the village. The problem, of course, is transporting the giant gourd - especially without being noticed!

If the PCs arrive in the daytime, there is a 75% chance Ronan is present, working the field. Fortunately, he is distracted by his work. In order to approach a pumpkin, each PC must make a Stealth check opposed by Ronan's passive perception of 12. They have Advantage on this check because Ronan is busy, and because the underbrush is thick enough for a medium-sized creature to sneak through on their knees. The PCs should overhear Ronan mumble to himself during his work, noting how much easier farming is than raiding, and how he hopes he never has to go back. If the PCs arrive at night, Ronan is asleep, but noise may still alert him to what is going on - see below.

Once the PCs get to a pumpkin, enter Action Time. In order to sever the pumpkin from its vines, three successful attack rolls must be made against the vine's armor class of 12. Fire damage completely destroys the vine, but has a 50% chance of alerting Ronan right away. A critical hit counts as two successful attack rolls. If the PCs are doing this at night, they make their attacks at Disadvantage unless they have darkvision. However, each time the PCs make a successful hit, they must roll a Stealth check against Ronan's passive perception of 12 (without Advantage if he is present; with advantage if he is not). On a failed check, Ronan is alerted to the noise and decides to investigate - and he will not be pleased with the PCs messing with his crops! He will not hesitate to charge into battle! 

Optionally, you can add more challenge to this encounter by having the PCs be noticed by six dire rats that function as giant-sized field mice in the farm. As with attacking the vines, any attack rolls the PCs make against the rats require a Stealth check to be rolled.

Either way, don't forget to use terrain for this encounter. The dense vines of the field have the Concealing, Dense, and Difficult tags. The pumpkins have the Climable, Concealing, Total Cover, High Ground, and Ledge tags.

Once the pumpkin has been severed from the vine, there is still the matter of carrying it back - not the easiest when it's giant-sized! PCs may need to bring a cart to carry the pumpkin, and that itself may present trouble in keeping something so large hidden from suspicion. If the PCs attempt to haul the pumpkin manually, they require a DC 15 Athletics check to transport it out of the valley; if they fail this check, they must make another Stealth check.

Further Developments

You might remember me talking about this being a moral dilemma earlier. Well, there's a reason for that. Hopefully, the players have picked up by now that while Ronan kept himself occupied with farming, he wasn't attacking the surrounding villages.

The pumpkin is indeed enough to feed the people of Dunmore, and they will thank the PCs for their aid; they will be welcomed as heroes every time they return there, and they will allow them to sleep at any home in town free of charge. However, Ronan will eventually realize that his pumpkin has gone missing. He will see this as a sign that maybe he wasn't cut out for farming after all - and go back on his campaign of raiding! Dunmore may not be his last target...