ToD - HotDQ - Ch4 - The Golden Stag

Tyranny of Dragons - Hoard of the Dragon Queen On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, a herd of deer is spotted grazing on a nearby hill. The travelers take such opportunities to hunt fresh meat for the larder. This herd, however, includes a magnificent stag (use elk statistics) that shimmers in the light as if its coat is spun from gold and its antlers plated with platinum. Nearly everyone in the caravan who can handle a bow wants to bring down that beast. Its pelt would be worth a fortune, even if it’s not real gold. A few of the more cautious types warn that the creature is clearly a blessed being and that killing it would bring bad luck on the caravan, but no more than two or three people are persuaded. In minutes, the hunt is on, and the deer herd scatters into the nearby forest and through farmers’ fields. The characters can join the chase, try to talk people down, protect the stag, or ignore the situation, as they see fit. It can be tracked through the forest with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check. A new check must be made every 500 yards. The stag leads hunters on a 1,500-yard chase to a moss-grown, ivy-draped ruin in the forest. There, one of three things can happen. Choose the one that best suits your game. The stag can be cornered, fought, and killed. It is a normal stag but with a breathtakingly beautiful coat of golden fur. If the local farmers learn that it’s been killed, they grab their pitchforks and longbows and threaten to overrun the caravan unless they are paid 500 gp for their loss; the stag brought them luck. The stag greets the characters in Sylvan. If none of the characters speak that language, it switches to Elvish, and if no one responds again, it tries heavily accented, pidgin Common. It assures them that they are on the right track, and they must continue following the river of gold until they reach the castle in the sky. Sadly, their path will be filled with hardship and blood. To aid them, it offers the character a +1 longbow. The bo