Friday Encounter: Powder Keg

Here's another encounter designed to give the PCs access to a potentially powerful strategic asset, but one that presents plenty of dangers too. It would make the most sense on a road, and should ideally be used in an area with a developed military. If you're using it, you should do so in a setting that has developed gunpowder or similar technologies.

While on the road, the PCs come upon an abandoned cart on the side of the road, carrying a large barrel filled with a fine black dust with a strong sulfurous odor. A DC 10 Arcana or Nature check will determine that the barrel is full of gunpowder; a character who has served in a military setting in which gunpowder weapons were used will know this automatically. The barrel was being transported to a military camp to refuel their cannon, but was lost along the way, and now sits unclaimed. If you're concerned that the players might think the army will return to the barrel in the immediate future, you can put some skeletons dressed in armor around the cart, making it clear that whoever was guarding it have long been slain.

The idea here is to leave the PCs with a large explosive device on their hands - a setup ripe for mayhem, as many a DM would know. There are many situations an adventurer might get into where having access to an improvised bomb is an appealing thought. However, there are a number of logistical difficulties to this as well. The barrel weighs 80 pounds and must be transported by a horse or other Large-sized creature, or by two Medium-sized creatures pulling the cart. It's also quite cumbersome and may be hard to get through narrow passages, though enterprising players might see potential in rolling it down hallways, ramps, or staircases.

If a fuse is attached to the barrel and lit, it will explode in one round. Any creature in a 20-foot radius of the barrel must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 8d8 fire damage, taking half damage on a failed save. The explosion could also be used to blast through rocks, potentially bypassing obstacles or creating an avalanche.

Alternatively, this much gunpowder would draw a substantial price at any marketplace. The barrel can be sold for 3000 GP, or 5000 GP to a particularly invested buyer, such as an alchemist or a rival commander (be they a bandit or a leader of another army). However, if the PCs go around toting a large barrel of gunpowder everywhere, they may attract suspicion, and the army that owned it in the first place may want it back. If the PCs sold it to a rival power, that might land them in even bigger trouble. And if something could kill even an army detachment with a barrel of gunpowder on their hands, that could pose a problem if it's still in the area...