Skill Challenge#16: Seven Days in the Desert, Part II.

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The desert offers the promise of water and shade in an oasis just ahead. Desperate travellers are said to conjure such illusions for themselves after some time; their words mean less than the promise of refreshment before you.

Ask each player which is most important for the character right now:

Quench Thirst: You must, before all else, slake your undying thirst in the desert.  Make a Charisma (moderate) or Intelligence (moderate) check.  Success:  You find yourself in the middle of illusion.  Your hands cup sand but you have not yet drunk it. It’s not good but it could have been worse.  You will not be tricked so easily next time. Gain 1 survival and  gain 1 sand, and +2 on checks made during days five and six. Failure: You gulp down a handful of sand.  Giving in to the illusion has left you in a worse state than before.  Lose 1 healing surge until the end of the skill challenge and lose 1d4 survival.

Truth above all: You mistrust anything that the desert offers.  You will yourself past the oasis and towards true sustenance.  Make a Constitution (hard) or Wisdom (hard) check.  Success: Your endurance is stronger than the desert; you look to the sun and let it know this.  Gain 1d4+1 survival. Failure: You can’t help but fill regret at not having at least examined the oasis. As the sun looks down on you, this regret rolls in your mind through the day.  Gain 1d4+1 sand and take a -2 penalty to your next check.

Surrender to the Desert(easy): If you give it sufficient fealty, the desert does offer something to you.  Surrender and even  the illusions can become real.  Skills:  Religion, Bluff, Diplomacy, Nature.  Success: You drink a handful of refreshing water.  It soothes your spirits, though you feel as though you’ve lost something in the exchange. Gain 2 extra healing surges( useable for the remainder of the skill challenge), 1d4 sand and -2 on check on any skill that is not a Surrender check for the rest of the challenge. Failure.  The desert spits back your paltry sacrifice. It rips away even the illusion from you as you approach.  You’ll need to offer it more than that.  Lose 1d4 survival and take a -2 to all checks for the rest of the challenge.

Day 5: Laughter Medicine

The desert has a sense of humor.  This much you gather from the laughter  of the hyena pack sent as emmisarries.  They detect weakness in your group, and now  the hyenas follow, circle, flank and stalk you.  No matter what they do, the barking laughter of the yellow dogs trots through the desert air.

Each player gains 1 sand.

Each player chooses 1 of the following approaches:

I’ll Show You Laughter: There is only one way to put that laughter to a rest.  You attempt to lure the dogs into a fight and then take them on. Make a melee basic attack or a ranged basic attack versus AC (level+14).  Success:  You drive the dogs back. gain 1d4+1 survival. Failure:  Hyenas are cowards but they can fight to some degree.  You come out worse for the wear.  You gain 1d4 sand and lose 1d3 healing surges until your next extended rest. Special:  Three successes with “I’ll Show You Laughter” ends the challenge.  The players will be able to eat the hyenas, gaining 2 survival and replenishing up to 1d3 healing surges lost due to this skill challenge.

Cleverer than Dogs(hard): You will show these dogs who is the true master by out-thinking them, leaving them confused and off your trail.  Skills: Bluff, Stealth, Nature, Intimidate. Success: Gain 1 survival. Failure: Lose 1d3 healing surges until the end of this encounter, and gain 1 sand.

Surrender to the Desert’s Dogs(automatic): The hyenas are the desert’s emissaries.  If you offer them gifts, you are more likely to survive.  You offer the hyenas some rations in hopes that will satisfy them and make them leave.  Special: the first player to choose this ends this part of the challenge immediately.  All other players gain 1d4 survival.  The player who chose this option gains 1d4 survival, and 2d4 sand.

Day 6: The Desert’s Divide.

Your travel is nearly done. It is now when you face your worst challenge yet — the furious, scorching sirrocco rakes sand across your flesh.  The tearing wind is the desert’s whip, and you must survive the lashing you will undergo.

The penalties taken to healing surges can be very harsh here.  Make sure to notify your players of this before they make their choices.

Soul of a Survivor (hard): You brave the desert storm choosing not to hinder your progress. You face the storm head on. Skills: Endurance, Nature, Heal.  Special:  If you have more survival than sand, the DC of this check is lowered by 2.  If you have more sand than survival, the DC of the check is raised by 2.  Success:  The worst the desert can do is not enough.  Your body is battered and bruised, but your mind is stronger than ever. Lose 1d4 healing surges until the end of the challenge. Gain 2d4 survival.  Failure:  Lose 1d4+2 healing surges, and gain 2d4 sand.

Seek Protection (hard): You will endure best through constructing a defense against the winds.  Skills: Nature, Thievery, Perception, History.  Success:  Your defenses work.  gain 1 survival, and the next player to use Soul of a Survivor or Seek Protection gains a +1 to the next roll.  Failure:  Your defenses are blown aside by the sirocco.  gain 1 sand, and lose 1d4 healing surges.

Surrender to the Desert (automatic): All it takes is surrender and the desert gives you safe passage.  Special: Any player choosing this option ends this part of the challenge immediately.  All other players gain 2 survival.  The choosing player loses 2d4 survival and gains 3d4 sand.

Day 7: The Sand’s Reckoning.

The Desert will have it’s due, one way or another.  What has become clear to you is that the desert doesn’t care about your bodies; any creature can die on a dune.  What the desert wanted of you is  your will.  It wanted you to surrender to it.  Have you done that?  Your heart and the desert know.

Tally up each player’s survival and sand totals.  Any player with higher survival than sand gains a boon of your choice.  Any character with higher sand than survival takes a -2 to Will defense for the next 2d4+2 days.

Notes:

Losing Surges. What do you do when players lose all their surges?  While it is tempting to put them out of action, better is to bring them back up to 1 surge, and then apply an effect base on how low they went.  At the beginning of an encounter for that day, the player who went into the negatives takes a penalty for the first 1d3 rounds based on how far into negatives they went that day.

0 to -1: slowed

-1 to -3: weakened and slowed

-4 and up: slowed and vulnerable 5 all.

Using Sand and Survival. This skill challenge assumes that you are having other encounters as the players travel through the deserts.  You can use the player’s sand and survival totals during the encounters for additional effects.  A desert ghost may act negatively to a character with higher survival than sand, jealous of someone who has retained their desert survival instincts where the ghost had given up.

Mix and Match. You can use less days, of course.  You can mix and match days, or you can spread out threats between “ordinary” days.  The only day you really need to include (for obvious reasons) is day 7.

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