Tags: Wilderness, Theft, Thieves, Bandits

Setup: The PCs are lured away from their camp so their belongings can be looted.

Encounters:

As the PCs are finishing a meal before some turn in to bed, a ruckus is heard in the distance. If all the PCs don’t go to investigate, a few arrows are shot into camp to get the party more interested. The thieves all have darkvision. (They are demi-humans, orcs, etc.)

Once the PCs are away, three thieves stealthily enter their camp. If more than two PCs stayed behind, these thieves stay away, and make a bird-call signal to let the original agitators know to break off the ruse. Both groups of thieves then do their best to slip away.

If one or two PCs stayed behind, the three thieves entering camp attempt to sneak in and knock out the PCs. One could have a scroll to try to magically put the PCs to sleep. The PCs have a small chance of hearing them.

One thief luring the PCs away has boots of speed (or some other way to be much faster than usual). If needed he can drift within sight, then move out of range to keep the pursuers interested.

The speedy thief may even run them past some traps the group has set up in advance: a pit trap or a trip wire that causes a log to fall on the pursuers.

If all of the PCs are gone/unconscious, the other thieves loot the camp. Even though they have darkvision, they’ve only got a slightly better than average chance to get something particularly valuable because they are hurrying.

Once the thieves in camp have loaded up, they get away to their lair. They try to cover their tracks, but it is still possible to later track them.

After two minutes, the thieves leading the PCs away, stop letting themselves be seen. If extra fast, they keep running to be so far out of range then hide, or simply hide. They may have pre-made hiding spots that are particularly hard to spot. Later, they too head back to their lair.

Follow-up Ideas:

If the PCs want their stuff back, they’ll have to track the thieves.

The thieves left behind a clue (a scrap of a letter) framing the nearby town mayor for the thefts (they don’t like him because he sent them to jail). The mayor will instantly know who the likely suspects are and share what he knows.

[We started this series with the title “Rest Sidequests” but Encampment Encounters is a better fit. It still may change again, but this is a better candidate for the final name.]