A Robbed Wagon (Patreon)

You find an overturned wagon that hasn’t been fully robbed of its merchandise for some reason. Who could have done this?

You’re traveling to the capital in hopes of finding better paying work there. At one point you find an overturned wagon. You examine the remains of what must have been a small, one-person caravan. The former owner, a merchant, is lying in the bushes – dead. The horse must have escaped. But the realization that the wagon has not been robbed of all goods makes you wonder – who or what attacked this man, and why?

You don’t have to wait long to figure out the answer as you suddenly hear noises coming from the bushes on the left side of the road. You prepare your weapons and magic just in time as a bunch of goblins spring out at your party, armed with spears and short bows. The green-skinned monsters seem to have decided to use the caravan to lure in concerned passersby so they can rob them of even more goods.

However, now that you’re the ones under attack, the goblins’ luck has run out. You’re skilled in the art of adventuring and eliminating monsters, so you make quick work of the noisy enemies. The poor merchant should have known better than to travel alone. This incident is not the first time you have witnessed a caravan that has fallen prey to monsters or bandits, and you suspect it won’t be the last one either.

Adventure Hooks

• On your way to the capital you find an upturned wagon with merchandise still lying around. As you wonder who would attack the merchant but fail to didn’t steal all of the items, you are ambushed by a group of goblins. Hopefully, disposing of the enemies will be quick work for skilled adventurers such as yourselves.
• You are tasked by the Merchant Guild with finding out why a merchant has not yet made it to Thorwood with the items that the general store requested. You follow the man’s route to that town only to find him dead and his wagon lying on the side. It seems the man suffered a bear attack, as the footprints suggest. You can’t leave the animal to prey on any other caravans, so you decide to venture into the forest to hunt the beast.
• You witness a group of bandits attacking a caravan on the road to Thorwood. Before you manage to spring into action against them, they turn the wagon over to act as cover as they shoot arrows at you. But you’re a party of skilled adventurers, so you won’t have a problem getting rid of the enemy, right?

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