Friday Encounter: Gold Rush

This encounter is probably best suited to a town, either one the PCs are currently staying at or one they encounter on the road.

While the PCs are at some public space (such as a town square, inn, or tavern), they hear a great commotion all around them as one of the villagers runs in, waving around a map. They explain the news - apparently, a group of treasure hunters were recently passing through this area, and they pinpointed the location of the burial mound of an ancient king somewhere nearby. As was typical in the area, the king is surely buried with a great treasure hoard.

Now, the whole town knows there's a untold riches buried nearby, just waiting to be discovered. This certainly isn't something the people are willing to keep to themselves. Now, it's a race to find the burial mound, and the treasure, before anyone else does - and the PCs are tied up in the middle of it all!

This encounter could easily kick off several sessions in the campaign. The idea is to throw the party into conflict with a number of different factions with a common interest. The town agrees that whoever can discover the treasure first rightfully gets to keep it, but everyone would like to get a hold of it for different reasons. If the PCs decide they want to get in on the hunt as well, they may end up butting heads against the other factions, or they might decide to ally with one or multiple parties - or even play them against each other!

A few rival parties are listed below, but feel free to add your own if you run this encounter. To give the PCs more of a hook to get involved, it's a good opportunity to bring in existing NPCs the party has met before - possibly enemies, but possibly even allies to stir up conflict.

• The Treasure Hunters: A band of itinerant adventurers looking to get rich quick by whatever means necessary. They aren't from around the town, and many of the townspeople distrust them, citing their nature as outsiders as a reason to cast doubt on what they say. Nevertheless, they boast of many accomplishments and heroic deeds, and have won some villagers to their side. Consists of Edmund von Schlosser, a stoic and dutiful but not very bright fighter; Trude Dreschner, a nervous mage; Ingiz Kibiteb, a canny, scheming, smooth-talking dwarf; and Hermann, a local with romantic ideals and delusions of grandeur swayed by the adventurers' tales and motivated to join their cause.
• The Nobles: Led by Dame Berit Hoekstra, a knight in service to the local lord; she feels that the wealth would strengthen her family's treasury, and has pressed her retinue into service in seeking out the hoard. She comes from a proud lineage of knights and looks down on the common people, but believes strongly in the ideals of chivalry and will not willingly lie or misrepresent her cause. In addition to Dame Berit, the party also includes her squire Erik, a mild-mannered boy who wishes to impress her but is afraid to speak up; and two men-at-arms named Sigmund Grosse and Natascha Sonnen.
• The Destitute: A band of beggars, farmers, and other poor sorts who have banded together under the leadership of Brenno Edernsert, a local who has appointed himself as a self-proclaimed champion of the people who wishes to stand up for the common folk against the oppression of the elite. They openly spurn the nobility, but insist that the treasure must go to those who could use it most and do not believe in hoarding wealth for personal gain. They insist on dividing the treasure up among each other, so if the PCs join in they may end up with a smaller piece of the pie. In addition to Brenno, the party also includes Hilda Dreier, the daughter of an ailing farmer who wishes to support her family through uncertain times; Arne Olson, a monk seeking alms to distribute to the poor, and Matthias, a runaway slave looking to buy back his freedom.
• The Outlaws: A gang of brigands hiding in the woods on the outskirts of town who have also gotten wind of the treasure, and would be happy to have it to line their purses. They have no interests in benefitting anyone other than themselves, and have no loyalties to the town or anyone in it, existing outside of society. They are not afraid to use lethal force against anyone who gets in their way. Consists of Hector the Red, a calm and cold-blooded swordsman; Leberecht von Baren, a boisterous, hot-tempered brawler with a taste for ale; Gustav Durr, a clever cutpurse who would rather hide in the shadows than engage threats directly; and Tanja Strobel, an expert markswoman who is keen on making ambushes.
• The Lone Wolf: Franz Sauter, a gruff old mostly-retired mercenary whose years of experience have made him grow cynical and weary of the world. Still, he thinks that he has one more brush with his glory days in him, and sees the treasure hunt as an opportunity to rekindle that spirit. He insists on working alone, arguing that he knows how to handle himself, and isn't interested in sharing - or in admitting that he would need to rely on help from anyone.

To give the PCs time to interact with the different parties, make alliances, or scout out the area, it's best to run this encounter over a period of several in-game days - perhaps a week, but you can adjust this period to be longer or shorter depending on what you're looking for in terms of pacing.

There are six possible locations for the treasure, shown on the diagram here. This information represents the treasure map shown to the party, so it's helpful to provide your players with a copy; their characters know where the treasure could be, but not where it actually is.

Each hex equals three miles, requiring an hour to traverse. Roll a d6 to determine which location the treasure is at. Once a creature is in a hex containing a possible treasure location, they must make a DC 20 Investigation check to search the hex. On a success, they know whether or not the hex contains treasure; on a failure, they waste one hour looking, but can reattempt the roll at a DC of 5 less (this can stack multiple times).

The first night, none of the competing parties will attempt to search out the treasure, but the second night, one party will make a move; the third night, two parties will make a move, and so on. Determine which party will make a move randomly, then roll 1d6 to determine which location that party will attempt to search. The rules for searching a hex are the same for the competing parties as they are for the PCs.

The party can spend one hour meeting with any of the competing parties, though they may or may not share information with them depending on their relationship with the PCs. Keep track of which hexes each party has searched to determine what information they might be able to share with the PCs - though they may also try to mislead them, if they see them as opponents!

If the PCs manage to find the treasure before any of their rivals do, it contains 1000 GP's worth of gold and jewels per party member, plus one magic item that would be useful for each member of the party (DM's choice). Even if an NPC party gets to the treasure first, though, that doesn't preclude the PCs from trying to take it from them...

There are a number of ways to customize this encounter. In addition to adding more rivals, you can add monsters, hazards, or additional threats as you wish to add to the challenge - and interesting interactions could occur if the other parties run into them too. You could even run the burial mound as a dungeon with its own traps, puzzles, and guardians if you want to give the PCs an extra challenge in retrieving the treasure. An alternative way to trigger this encounter would be for the PCs themselves to find the treasure map, and for them to be a little too loose in talking about it while in public - if the locals learn of treasure nearby, it's only a matter of time before word spreads...