Travel Encounters - Desert

Desert 1

The ground below begins to rumble and shift as 2d6+1 Earth Elementals emerge and attack the party.
Their only goal is to drag the party's corpses into the depths of the earth below, and they will fight to the last to achieve that end.

Desert 2

The party is ambushed by 1d4+3 Giant Scorpions rising up from below the sand.
A passive perception of 18 will notice the slight signs in the sand that the beasts are buried ahead and can give the party a chance to start with all scorpions in front of them instead of surrounding them.

Desert 3

As the party walks, they feel a distant rumbling in the loose ground below their feet.
As they frantically look around, they see nothing coming on the horizon and come to the frightening realization that it must be coming from below. Suddenly a Purple Worm emerges and attacks the party.

Desert 4

The party comes across a bright yellow door with a spiral pattern on its face.
The door and its frame are standing alone with no walls or structure to support them. All party members present must make a DC 15 WIS save to avoid being compelled to open the door and step through.
On the inside of the open door is a long hall that curves to one side and stretches impossibly far without ever looping. If they enter, the party is stalked by a distant Flesh Golem that gets closer every time they stop to check a door. First it appears 150ft away, but then quickly begins to close the distance; 120ft, then 90, 60, 30, until it upon them.
To escape the PCs must open a door and roll 1d20. Only one door can be opened at a time, and any door passed through closes immediately behind whoever passed through it.

• 20: they exit the door 5 minutes after the true door was last opened.
• 19-16: they exit an hour after the true door was opened and take 1d10 psychic damage.
• 15-10: they exit 3 hours after and take 1d10 Psychic and 1 level of exhaustion.
• 9-2: They take 2d8 Psychic and 1 level of exhaustion, and enter another identical hallway.
• On a 1: they take 2d10 psychic damage and 2 levels of exhaustion. Behind the door is only a mirror.

After any creature passes through the true door (entering or exiting), it will cease to be a true door and another must be found.

Desert 5

A caravan of what appear to be traveling merchants approaches the party.
When they get close, instead of offering to trade or sell, they attack! 2d4+2 Bandit Captains spring out of the dilapidated looking carriage.
Each bandit has 1d4+3 GP on them. Inside the cart is an additional 2d10 GP.

Desert 6

The desert heat becomes unbearable as 2 Fire Elementals descend from the glare of the sun and each demand 1d4 day's rations as tribute, else they'll find something more lively to burn in the name of almighty Desolation.

Desert 7

A small pyramid shaped mausoleum juts out of the sand.
Inside is a flight of stairs leading to a small, near empty 45x25ft room with a small chest and another flight of stairs leading down. The chest contains 10 GP.
Each flight leads to an identical room with identical chests and stairs, but every chest contains 10 more gold than the previous.
The pattern continues forever and there is no bottom room. It's only when the party starts to ascend that the doors slam shut and the Gargoyles start to appear.
Once the party starts to ascend, each room becomes closed off. The lowest room they reached doesn't change, but first room they come up into has 1 gargoyle. The next has 2. Then 3, then 5, then 8, etc (following the Fibonacci sequence). Once the gargoyles in a given room are defeated, the door up will reopen, but the door down will remain closed.
Gargoyles will not start to attack until someone crosses the center of the room they are in. When all living creatures have exited, the mausoleum turns to sand and falls away. Riches taken from the chest will remain. Anything left in the mausoleum that was not a part of it will remain burried underground roughly where it was left.

Desert 8

A passing vagrant asks the party for food.
Nothing happens if they give him some.

Desert 9

A man is found beaten by the side of the road.
If the players help him, he steals 1d4 day's rations and runs off when they're not looking.

Desert 10

Three large vultures circle above before descending on the party.
As the heat waves distort their silhouetted forms, they coalesce into a single massive raven.
It eyes the party up and down before stating in a vaguely familiar feminine voice "Your souls are not yet... ripe". It then turns and flies away.
DM Note: While the birds are not illusory, any spells or attacks on them will either miss, fail, or pass harmlessly through.

Desert 11

The party finds a normal chest half buried in the sand. In the chest is a small hand-mirror with a scrap of paper. On it, written in a script that is understandable by anyone who can read at least one language, are the words "behind you".
The mirror, when first checked, reveals a dark figure watching from behind them, its eyes bright and glaring. when they look back, there is nothing there.

Thel's Looking Glass

This hand mirror provides sight into either the ethereal, astral, or shadow plane for 10 minutes once per day (recharges at dawn). However, any spirits observed know they are being watched and will begin to watch the viewer in return.
When someone uses the mirror roll 1d6. On a 1, a spirit reaches across the boundary and deals 1d4 necrotic damage.
When not being used to peer into other planes, the looking glass functions as a regular hand mirror. Detect Magic identifies the mirror as using Divination Magic

Desert 12

A caravan of what appear to be 4 traveling merchants approaches the party. They have nothing currently to sell, but will buy spare weapons or rations for value full price! Can't be too careful with all the brigands about.
They've only got about 2,000 GP on them to spend (6,000 GP total), so they can't afford too many items, or to expensive.

Desert 13

A stranger asks to be escorted to the nearest town. They were travelling with a caravan that got raided by bandits, and are now the only survivor.
If the party agrees, the stranger will give them 1000 GP from their house upon delivery.
While traveling with the party, they have commoner stats and while able to attack with their club, will more-often-than-not need to be protected in combat. They can however answer 1d6+2 general questions about the area or their town.

Desert 14

A small pyramid shaped mausoleum juts out of the sand.
Inside is a flight of stairs leading to a small, near empty 25x45ft room with a small chest and another flight of stairs leading down. The chest contains 10 GP.
The next flight of stairs leads to another room, this one is 45x25 with a lone stone sarcophagus against the back wall. Etched into the wall above the tomb are the words,

Beneath the stone/ a treasure lies/ for one who stands/ the way all die.

A DC 16 Investigation check finds on the surface of the sarcophagus is scralled the words "Prove yourself for the blessing of Solitus" in common.
A DC 12 Religion check (or DC 18 if unfamiliar with the pantheon) recalls that Solitus is one of the names of Shuune, the God of Solitude.
The sarcophagus can only be opened if only 1 person is in the room.
When the sarcophagus is opened, a 1,500lb stone slab falls, closing off the doorway to the stairs and a Giant Scorpion materializes in the room. The stone slab slides back up when either the scorpion is killed or the character is knocked unconscious. inside the sarcophagus is 400 gp, 2 one carat rubies, and a 5' tall humanoid skeleton.

Desert 15

The wind kicks up some sand revealing a crate partially buried in the dunes.
Upon inspection the party finds it full of glass bottles, all but one of them smashed. Inside the remaining bottle is a cloudy, swirling orange liquid. The faded label reads "...otio...f W...".
A DC 15 Investigation check can deduce from the other remnant labels that the name should read "Potion of War".

Desert 16

The party stumbles across a bright yellow door with a spiral pattern set into the stonework, or standing in a lone frame. All party members present must make a DC 15 WIS save to avoid being compelled to open the door and step through.
On the other side is a long straight hallway that leads to an open door revealing what is recognizably a location that is 1d4 days farther along the party's current path than their current location.

Desert 17

A mysterious traveler appears out of the desert covered from head to toe in cloth wraps and bandages, with a brown hooded cloak overtop.
They tell the party that they know a special way to cut the meat that'll practically double their meat rations.
If the party agrees to let them inspect their rations, they'll perform some cuts almost faster than the eye can see on the meat. Sure enough, the party now has 1.5x the number of day's rations they had before (rounded up to the nearest whole).
A DC17 Insight check reveals that the mysterious butcher definitely has something up their sleeve, but their intentions are indeed pure.
A DC18 Investigation check may reveal that the butcher is just a little bit shorter after their trick than when they showed up.
If the party ends up with more rations than they can carry, the butcher will gladly pay market value for the extra. "Why waste perfectly good meat?"

Desert 18

A passing vagrant asks for food.
If given any, the vagrant reveals themself to be a powerful elven mage. For every day's rations the party gives them, they will bless the party 1d10+5 temporary hit points that refill at dawn for half that number or days.
If another source of temp HP is picked up before the previous boon is lost, the new points will overwrite the mage's blessing and fade on a long rest like normal for that character.

Desert 19

A traveling merchant named Beedle Bones approaches the party with an enormous backpack slung over their shoulders.
Their stock includes limitless supplies of his unique potions:

• Beetle Juice: a drink to make one seem undead
• Potion of Ant Strength: an tonic to increase strength
• Sticky Bug Soup: an elixir to enhance climbing ability
• Hive Honey: an edible salve that acts as a cure for status ailments, and
• Royal Jelly: a thick jam-like substance that can bring someone back from the brink of death, but has adverse affects if too much is consumed.

He will also pay top coin for any worthwhile bugs adventurers wish to sell. Just not spiders.
DM Note: Beedle is carrying 1,000 GP on him and will pay up to:

• 5 GP for regular bugs
• 10-15 GP for large bugs
• 25 GP for Giant bug parts (legs, body segments, paired items)
• 100 GP for a Golden Beetle
• 600 GP for a Hylian Fairy

Desert 20

What once appeared to be a mirage in the distance is in fact real!
The players find an oasis. The trees surrounding the natural rest stop bear fruit and the water in the center is dark and cool, and it seems far deeper than any desert oasis has any right to be.
If the players stare deep into it's depths, they may find something impossibly large moving just past where the light refuses to reach.
The party gains +4 day's rations. No encounter rolls will be made while staying at the oasis. All manner of beasts respect the sanctity of the watering hole.