Brigands Attack Fort Rannick

Rather than turning this event into a siege as described in the original adventure, a group of bandits takes advantage of the poorly-defended state of affairs at Fort Rannick to try and take it for themselves. They have hired a skilled alchemist to fashion an explosive device to breach one of the fort's curtain walls.

The bandits arrive without warning, setting the explosive device and waiting for it to go off. The PCs are alerted to their presence by the fort's staff, and must choose to either engage them on the other side of the wall in an effort to disarm the device before it explodes, or wait for it to blow a hole in the wall and fight them within the grounds.

The combat encounter is mostly identical regardless of where the fight takes place, except that if the PCs take the fight to the brigands they can engage in a skill challenge to disarm the explosive device. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• Orc Alchemist (see Dragon #374)
  
• Human Blademaster (see Dungeon #158)
  
• Gnome Wolverine
  
• Human Dire Beast Hunter
• Slystone Dwarf Ruffian (see Dungeon #161)
  
• Eladrin Bladesinger
• 4 Streetwise Thugs (see Dungeon #161)
  
• Wall Breacher (optional)
  

Total: 4,100 xp / 4,600 xp (Level 13 / 14 Encounter)

The bandits have a combined 2,000 gold pieces worth of assorted coin and valuables on them (treasure parcel 9 from level 11).

Successfully repelling the attack before the wall is breached awards two victory points to the party. No victory points are awarded if the wall is damaged.

Stat block: