Mama Bear's Revenge: Barkley's Men
Barkley’s Men have abandoned all semblance of work. They guard a basic perimeter of pit traps, gates and sharpened poles while they wait for the next attack.
Barkley’s Men are “reformed” orcs from the Crawley Hills (11 orc bandits led by Barkley, an orc scout ). Half a dozen orcs have already been killed during the animal raids, and tensions are high.
Note: use the varying heritage rule to apply the orc heritage to the bandit and scout statistics referred to here.
Some notable folk include:
- Barkley: Barkley (orc scout ) is small for an orc. With pinkish skin and dirty-blonde hair, he likely has a bit of human in his veins. Nonetheless, he commands his crew with authority. After all, it was Barkley that saved the orcs from execution and led them on their long journey here.
- Lewin: Lewin (orc bandit ) is currently injured from a skirmish. He is dull, barely understanding that this whole mess is his fault. Though quick to anger, he is an otherwise kind fellow.
- Evan Goldwood: Evan is a gregarious, spoiled, and extremely well dressed human noble . His father buys the crew’s lumber as it comes downstream and crafts it into trade ships. Evan is set to inherit his father’s fortune, but he likes getting his hands dirty in the meantime. He has been sent up to check on the missing shipments.
The foresters don’t know exactly what Fanghort did. All they know is that Lewin killed a bear, Fanghort went to the bear’s cave, and then talking animals attacked. They are largely suspicious of Fanghort, and believe that he has gone over to the other side.
The foresters can point the PCs to the bear’s den, where they (correctly) suspect Fanghort ventured.
Should the PCs spend more than a few hours at the campsite, they witness a wolf attack (6 wolves ). The attack is immediately preceded by a group of squirrels that hang in the trees and provide distractions and reconnaissance.
Barkley and two other orcs join with the PCs in repelling the attack, while the rest of the orcs stay back in case the wolves break through.