Now, consider the delver as a penguin. . . [SPOILERS]

[Yssa]

For those of you in my campaign, read no further.

Spoiler:  

My wife suggested that I create an encounter based on this scene from Blue Planet II, which we like to call, "the wall of blubber."

Here's how I imagine it: the party has booked passage on a merchant vessel, only due to their ill repute in town, they cannot board at the wharf. Instead, the mate explains he will seed a dory to pick them up on a spit of land just outside town after night has fallen. The party heads to toward the rendezvous, only to find a massive colony of giant elephant seals between them and the meeting point.

The Elephantine Elephant Seals don't have particular animosity towards humans and will not attack humans unless threatened. However, they have so little regard for humans that they are liable to run into them/tromp over them without even noticing. There is particular risk during full moons (though colonies are rumored to use other times particularly inconvenient for delvers) when they engage in a mating “dance” in which they charge and smash their very large fronts into each other.


I worked up some stats for the beasts:

ST: 20 HP: 20 Speed: 5 Dodge: 7
DX: 8 Will: 4 Move: 5 Parry: /
IQ: 4 Per: 10 SM: +2 DR: 2 (Tough skin and thick layers of blubber)
HT: 12 FP: 12 Damage: 2d

Attacks:

• Charge (14): 2d-2.
• Double Charge (14): When two Sea lions charge at each other and a delver happens to be in the middle, Always count as all-out attack (Strong). If delver is equidistant from starting locations, damage is 3d+2 if both roll a hit. If delver is closer to one, or if only one rolls a hit, treat as overrun, 2d damage
• Rollover (14): Treat as overrun, but it’s pretty languid: +2 to dodge.

Currently I'm thinking of it like a series of traps. Assuming they party doesn't attack or try some ploy/magic to drive the animals away, they will have to sneak their way through the mass of animals, unable to predict when one (or two) will charge or roll over.

But, I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas about better ways to run it or advice for making it a more fun obstacle.

[martinl]

Spoiler:  

But, I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas about better ways to run it or advice for making it a more fun obstacle.

• If you have a particularly odorous, macho, or huge PC (usually the same PC in my experience), have one of the bull seals try to court him. Aggressively.
  
• Swarms of ticks the size or your hand.
  
• One of the sleeping seals is wearing a valuable nose ring. The PC with greed notices. Maybe he just riles an angry giant seal. Maybe he gets cursed. Maybe the seal transforms into a lost princess with an attitude problem. Maybe the PC passes up on the easy score ... never mind the last one, too crazy.
  
• Quicksand.
  
• Those fun shore rocks that make terrific water spouts. This water happens to be full of flesh eating crabs, toxic jellyfish, or hallucinogenic seaweed.
  
• Luke shows up, looking for milk.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by martinl

Spoiler:  

• Luke shows up, looking for milk.

Spoiler:  

Whomp whomp.

Seriously though...

Spoiler:  

• At least one overly aggressive junior male should take the intrusion of the PCs as a personal challenge to his au-thor-i-tah and rush them. The other males and females will clear a space and let the hot-headed male get into trouble, the herd doesn't need yet another overly aggressive bully... this might also indicate the Elephant Seals are smarter than average.
  
• Definitely have one or two pools of shallow water that have something gleaming into. Hard to see until the PC can get up close, but doing so puts them dangerously in the path of young bucks fighting for female attention. Or instead of the gleaming of coin/jewels, it can clearly be an adventurer's worn backpack, the straps broken, but contents bulging. Or an old sealed steel scroll case...

[Yssa]

This is exactly what I'm looking for!

Martinl, I particularly like

Spoiler:  

the halucinagenic seaweed; that will be perfect for my cleric with with both curiosity and weirdness magnet. . .

evileeyore,

Spoiler:  

the glittery pool-treasures is great too. By crazy random coincidence, the shiniest one is in a hex that the biggest seal keeps flopping his tail onto. . .

[evileeyore]

Of course you know what doing all the work for this encounter means right?


The Players will blow right through it, ignoring every sidetrack, miraculously acing every check and it'll barely be a speed bump...

[Taliesin]

HMMPH!!!

I'll have you know I count giant elephant seals among some of my closest friends.