The Amani Encroachment

A ranger at Fairbreeze Village told you of the recent troubles at Farstrider Retreat, a ranger lodge to the east in Eversong
Woods, and of the Amani trolls who have been encroaching on the site. The rangers are spread too thing to deal with the
situation themselves, and they tend to pay handsomely for help offered to them.

An adventure for four to five 3rd level characters.

Work in Progress
There are some later parts of the adventure that I didn't have time to finish writing. A rough gist for this parts has been
included, and I'm hoping to have time to put pen to the paper on the adventure and finish it later, including a few maps and
everything.

Until then, this document is a WIP. I'll update it at this same spot in the future when I continue on it!

Written by u/TangerineThunder for a Warcraft 5E monthly theme jam.

Introduction
The Amani Encroachment is a Dungeons & Dragons
adventure set in the World of Warcraft, during the
rebuilding of Silvermoon at the start of The Burning
Crusade. The adventure has been loosely adopted from a
storyline by the same name from the game, with some
creative liberty where it felt appropriate.
The adventure is designed to be completed in about 4-6
hours of play, with combat encounters that should present
a hard challenge to 3rd level characters and somewhat less
difficulty one for 4th level characters.
If you are running this as a standalone adventure, you
can use the text block provided in this introduction to set
the stage for your players, before moving on to the next
section, Farstrider Retreat.
If you're running it as part of a bigger campaign, feel free
to repurpose it to suit your needs.
As a short summary, Ranger Degolien (blood elf
ranger, male) of Fairbreeze Village has requested the party
head off to Farstrider Retreat in order to help them fight
back recent encroachment from the Amani trolls. He has
sent a messenger bird ahead of time to inform Ranger
Lieutenant Dawnrunner (blood elf ranger, female) of
their coming.
Differences from the Game
This is a short summary of things that differ in this
adventure from how the same storyline was portrayed in
World of Warcraft:
If you're planning on running this as a one-off adventure,
read the following section aloud to your players and
proceed to the next section, Farstrider Retreat.
To Farstrider Retreat
A few days have gone past since your meeting with
Degolien, a ranger stationed in Fairbreeze Village near
the middle of the Eversong Woods. He told you of the
troubles at Farstrider Retreat, of the Amani trolls who
had been encroaching on the site and of the recent
skirmishes between the trolls and the Farstrider rangers.
You are nearing the end of the road now. At the top of
a hill just ahead, you can see the marbled walls and
crested roof of Farstrider Retreat — a key lodge of the
Farstriders. Guards are standing watch at its towering
gates, and a young dragonhawk spreading its wings in
the air above the aviary near the lodge's main building.
Within those walls, Ranger Lieutenant Dawnrunner
will be awaiting your arrival. No doubt she already has a
task cut out for you. According to Degolien, entry into
the lodge should be as easy as stating your business to
the guards.

Poured a lot of new detail into Farstrider Retreat so that

it would make sense for the adventure.
Gave all mentioned NPCs full names, where they didn't
have any.
Made Areyn and Zalene betrothed to one another,
because that felt like it would be really cute to do.
The attack on the trolls is an attack only on Zeb'Watha,
which is a sizeably large village, just to scope the
adventure in a little. So there is room to expand on this
by making Tor'Watha a larger next step in a longer
adventure.

Statblocks Needed
Tribal Warrior (CR 1/8) — D&D 5E Basic Rules
Scout (CR 1/2) — D&D 5E Basic Rules
Troll Headhunter (CR 1) — WC5E Manual of Monsters

1
Part 1: Farstrider Retreat
The adventure begins at Farstrider Retreat, a lodge and
point of command for the elite group of Quel'Thalas
rangers known as The Farstriders. This first section lists
all the locations at the lodge, and then the next section is
where the adventure begins.
Locations at the Lodge
Farstrider Retreat is not a large location, but has the space
to house around 60-80 rangers and other inhabitants,
travellers included. At the moment, there are approxim-
ately 30 rangers stationed at the lodge, alongside other key
residents.
The Main Lodge. This is a large building with a circle-
shaped center that stands three floors tall. It has white
walls with golden trims and accents, and a large ruby-red
mirror at its highest floor that overlooks the courtyard
down below.
First Floor / Ground Floor. At the building's first floor
lies the main hall of the lodge, where the stationed
rangers gather to eat and drink. To the left and right
inside the room, a wide arch opens the hallways that
lead off to the first-floor dorms kept by rangers or by
visitors. There is an arrangement of tables on either
side of the red carpet that runs through the room, and at
the far end of the room is a crescent-shaped bar counter
that is kept by the elven couple Areyn and Zalene
Firstlight.
Second Floor. From the top of the staircase to the
second floor, a similar red carpet as on the first floor
goes to the end of a long hallway. The walls on both
sides are lined with doors — most of them leading to
dorms, others to storage or other utilities. The staircase
from the first floor also continues up further, to the
third floor above.
Third Floor. This floor is similar to the second floor,
but the hallway is considerably shorter and a large door
stands at the end of it. This is the door to the lodge
commander's office and chambers, who presently is
Lieutenant Lanaria Dawnrunner.
The Armoury. This is a building to the east of the
lodgethat splits off in two wings past its front doors. To the
left is the lodge bowyery, where Paelarin Wildhide tends to
the Farstriders' bows and arrows, while to the right is the
forge and smithy that is kept by Arathel Sunforge.
The Stables. This is a building to the west of the lodge,
and the one primarily wooden structure within the lodge's
walls. Most of the animals kept here are hawkstriders, and
so it has been equipped for such, but the Farstriders on
shit tending to the place are used to dealing with other
riding animals as well.
The Aviary. Located not far from the stables, the aviary is
a circular, two-storied building whose open interior acts as
a nesting space for the lodge's dragonhawks. There are not
many of them, and those that are here are still fairly young
and awaiting training. It is the one part of the lodge where
the Farstriders are less willing to allow visiting outsiders
to enter.
Important NPCs
This is a list of NPCs central to the workings of Farstrider
Retreat.
Arathel Sunforge (Blacksmith). Arathel is a blood elf
woman who tends to arms and armour at the lodge.
Though the trolls easy of the lodge are often trouble,
she finds a certain respect for their skills in making
weapons. She has a pair of blacksmithing apprentices at
call as well.
Areyn and Zalene Firstlight (General goods, inn
services). Areyn and Zalene are two blood elf women
who together handle the logistics of general goods at
Farstrider Retreat. They also organize lodgings for
visitors and stationed rangers, and manage the closest
to a pub that the lodge has to offer. The two are
betrothed to one another.
Lanaria Dawnrunner (Ranger Lieutenant). Lanaria
is a steadfast and headstrong blood elf woman. As a
lieutenant of the Farstriders, she is the currently acting
commander of Farstrider Retreat, rotating the post with
a handful of others.
Paelarin Wildhide (Bowyer and fletcher). Paelarin is
a young and keen-eyed blood elf man who is an expert
fletcher and bowyer for the Farstriders. He has never
been fond of trolls, even to a fault when concerning the
trolls of the Horde. Much like the blacksmith, Arathel,
he has an apprentice at hand.
2
Meeting with the Commander
Upon the party's arrival, the guards at the gates will ask
them for their business at the lodge. The lodge is
welcoming to visiting travellers, if they do not wish to
state their business, but it will definitely be in their own
interest to be upfront and honest with the guards. The
names of the two guards is Armarin (blood elf, male) and
Matthaen (blood elf, male).
Upon being told that they are here to meet with
Lieutenant Dawnrunner, either of the two guards will
proceed to open the gates and inform them where to find
her.
"We were told to expect your arrival." the guards at the
gate tell you. "Carry on ahead, the lieutenant should be
in her office. It is at the topmost floor, at the far end of
the hallway."
Dawnrunner is in her office at the third floor of the lodge,
behind the door at the end of the hallway there. A golden
plaque on the door carries her full name and status as
lodge commander on it.
Inside Dawnrunner's Office
The inside of the Lieutenant's office is a half-circled room
with a large desk facing toward the door into the room. She
is sat there at the desk, and behind her is the large scarlet
window the party would have seen on the way toward
Farstrider Retreat.
As you make your way into the office of the acting lodge
commander, Lieutenant Dawnrunner, you find her
making the last finishing touches with her quill on a
small strip of parchment. Once done, she sits herself
upright to give you all a firm but welcoming nod.
"You must be the ones I was told to expect. Your
appearance certainly matches the description given.
Please, make yourselves comfortable, let us talk." she
says as she gestures to some chairs put off to the side,
that could be brought up closer to the desk.
She has just been finishing a missive back to Silvermoon as
the party's entry, to inform of the developing situation with
the trolls encroaching on the lodge. The short of that
situation, should the party ask, is as follows:
The Amani trolls of the nearby villages Zeb'Watha and
Tor'Watha have been conducting near-daily raids of the
areas close to Farstrider Retreat.
They have harassed a few smaller places south of
Farstrider Retreat, and around a week ago were bold
enough to plunder one of the supply wagons headed to
the lodge.
The trolls have been an ever-lingering presence, but
were as badly affected as Silvermoon itself by the
Scourge's mark through Eversong. This level of
aggression has not been a thing from them for quite
some time.
The Plan of Attack
Dawnrunner has been staging for a counter-raid on the
closest of the two troll settlements, Zeb'Watha, since the
supply wagon raid took place. It is a village that should be
small enough that two groups could make a coordinated
attack on it from either end and wipe out the trolls there
without too much trouble.
She has been petitioning from reinforcements, but the
Farstriders are spread too thin these days. If she could get
help from the party, that should give her enough people to
execute her plan; with one group consisting of Farstriders,
and the party as the other group.
As payment for it, the lodge is willing to pay them 40 gp
per adventurer in the party as well as two potions of
healing. They are strained for resources at the moment,
but are able to offer up as much for the aid given.
Preparations Before Departure
It will likely take some time between the party's meeting
with Dawnrunner and when the Farstriders will be ready to
embark. If the party is interested in spending some time at
the lodge, tending to their gear or buying supplies, you
could give them the opportunity to explore and experience
the lodge at their leisure.
If you wish to have them encounter any of the other
Farstriders present, all the ones that will be departing to
Zeb'Watha together with the party are listed in the next
section.
3
Part 2: The Journey to Zeb'Watha
When the time comes for the party to embark, likely the
next day after their arrival, they are summoned to meet up
at the plaza of Farstrider Retreat, outside its main lodge.
There they meet up with the rangers who will also embark
on the journey, and Lieutenant Dawnrunner provides a
repeat reminder of the plan of attack.
Ranger group, party group. Since there are two groups
in the picture here, one with the player characters and one
with the rangers from the lodge, have them be evenly
numbered. If there are few player characters, you could let
them take a couple of rangers with them to bolster them
up. The adventure assumes that the player characters all go
together in the same group.
The Farstriders
This is a list of Farstriders who may be leaving the lodge
together with the party. Only their name gender is given, so
feel free to assign one as the leader of their group and then
portray them as you see fit.
Aelwe Duskbreath, female blood elf
Bevaren Leafsky, male blood elf
Caelian Swiftfeather, male blood elf
Olanna Summerrest, female blood elf
Sydra Wildblood, female blood elf
Velenthil Firefury, male blood elf
The encounters in this adventure are written to focus on
the party, and do not directly require any stats for the
Farstriders travelling with the party. If you would like to
have statblocks for them, you can portray them using the
CR 1/2 Scout and/or CR 1 Spy found in the D&D 5E Basic
Rules.
Travelling through Eversong
The journey to Zeb'Watha goes directly south from
Farstrider Retreat. First, the party must cross over a wide
river that flows from Lake Elrendar and the Elrendar falls
and westward through Eversong Woods.
Then, they must make their way through The Living
Woods; a densely forested region that runs from the river
and to a mountainous region near the border into the
Ghostlands.
Travel distance. Zeb'Watha is located approximately
40 miles south of Farstrider Retreat, on the western bank
of Lake Elrendar. If they leave the lodge early in the
morning, then at a normal travel speed and bar any
complications, they should reach the troll village late on
the second day of travel.
The Green Keepers
This adventure doesn't delve any deeper into the
journey from Farstrider Retreat to Zeb'Watha, but if
you want to extend it with additional challenges along
the way, one such challenge could be an encounter
with the treants of The Living Woods.
The rangers travelling with the party will know
these treants as The Green Keepers. They are sentient,
but gnarled and twisted creatures, and may be
prompted to attack should the party tumble across a
few of them.
For statistics, you could use the Twig Blight (CR 1/8)
and Violet Fungus (CR 1/4) for most of the treants, as
well as the Awakened Tree (CR 2) for an encounter
with a larger treant.
The Amani Scouts
During the last leg of the journey, a group of scouts spot the
travelling party, but are quickly discovered themselves.
When the party are only a few hours away from Zeb'Watha,
after a long journey through the dense woodland trails of
eastern Eversong, have them notice something skulking the
bushes and trees not far off the trail. Birds are taking wing,
and the leaves are rustling audibly.
A DC 15 Perception check allows the party to spot a
group of Amani scouts hiding in a nearby tree, before the
trolls get a chance to make their way down and out of
sight. A failed check means the party, and the Farstriders
with them, don't notice the trolls before they have already
gotten down and are trying to flee.
"Blast, the trolls have been watching this path! After
them!" the head of the group of rangers cries out. "We'll
take the ones on this side of the trail, you take care of
the ones over there."
The party is up against 3 troll scouts, which should be a
medium encounter for a 3rd level party of 4 characters.
Their goal is for at least one of them to get away and alert
Zeb'Watha. So two of them may be willing to stall the party
if it means a third can Dash away and hide between the
trees to disappear from sight.
The area. The trolls will be between the trees off the
side of a trail just wide enough to let the party travel two
by two along it. The trees are placed close together, but not
so big as to obstruct light from above, leaving a thicket of
light to moderately dense foilage along both sides of the
trail.
4
Conclusion of the Fight
Depending on how the chase goes, you could have the
following occur next:
They chase down and stop the trolls. The party is in
luck. On one of them, the party finds the hastily scrawled
summary of watch rotations. It should be enough to allow
them to plan their attack for the most opportune moment.
The trolls slip away. The trolls retreat back to
Zeb'Watha. By the time the party and the Farstriders reach
the village, they will be all alert and on the defensive.
They capture and interrogate the trolls. The party be
in for a challenge breaking the trolls' will to share anything
useful. Better yet, this could be a good opportunity to sow
some false information if the party cannot tell if they are
lying, or otherwise reward them with some useful
information regarding the situation at Zeb'Watha.
If they manage to take the trolls' possessions, other than
the scrawled summary of watch rotation, the party finds
20 gp and 60 sp in total.
Whichever way things go, Zeb'Watha is only a few hours
away, and will be waiting for them up ahead once they
come back out from between the trees again.

What if They Give Chase?

If the trolls do manage to evade the party, and they
want to give chase, let them have a real race against
the clock on their hands!
These trolls know the lay of the land near their
village well, but they are still hours away from home
and following the tracks they leave behind is only a
can be done with a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check.

5
Part 3: The Raid
When the party eventually arrive in the outskirts of
Zeb'Watha, they find the troll village spread out over an
open field by the edge of Lake Elrendar. Off to the west of
the village are the slopes of a hilly landscape, rising pretty
high up above the village.
The situation at Zeb'Watha depends on how the previous
part of the adventure concluded.
They managed to stop the trolls. The village has not
been alerted of the impending attack by the party and
the Farstriders, allowing ample time for the group to
plan their attack and even arrange an ambush.
The trolls go away. The trolls should all be at alert,
armed, and expecting an attack at any moment.
Depending on how well the party manage to pursue the
evading troll scouts, the village could still be
scrambling for their weapons.
You Take the North Side, we'll
Attack from the South
Having dealt with the trolls before, the Farstriders are well-
drilled with Lieutenant Dawnrunner's two-pronged attack
strategies. The leader of this group of rangers will propose
to the party that they, the rangers, will move around and
attack the village from the south, while the party proceeds
to attack from the north.
The leader of the ranger group turns to address you, as
you can all now see the silhouetted buildings of
Zeb'Watha just ahead in the distance.
"As the plan was set, we will find a safe trail to the
south of the village. The trees over there at the foot of
the hills should give us enough cover for that. Will you
wait here for our signal? Once we're in position, we will
sound the horn as we make our attack."
The North Entrance to Zeb'Watha
The northern entrance into Zeb'Watha starts with a few
troll huts along the well-trodden walk toward the village
center, the huts quickly growing denser on either side of
the walk.
Spikes along the perimeter. There are no walls or
palisades around the village, but a number of small, sharp
spikes have been seated into the ground to form a pretty
daunting boundary. Judging by the dried blood along
several of them, the contraption has seen a fair bit of use
already.
A creature can make a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics)
check to successfully slip between the spikes, taking 1d6
piercing damage on a failure. Making a DC 16 Intelligence
(Investigation) check can also reveal weak spots in the
defenses, where a medium-sized creature would be able to
slip past unimpeded.
4 tribal warriors (trolls) and 1 troll headhunter keep
watch together here, with the headhunter acting as the
watch captain of the entire group of five.
If the party managed to stop the scouts from reaching the
village, the watch group will be at alert but not expecting
trouble — a DC 12 Stealth check should be sufficient to
spring a surprise on them (or 14 if you wish to make the
headhunter proficient in the skill for a greater challenge).
If they did not manage to stop the scouts, however, these
five will be ready and expecting trouble. You could
potentially raise the number of tribal warriors to 5 or 6
and still keep the fight a medium encounter. The trolls will
also likely have hidden themselves if they saw the party
approach from the distance, hoping to spring an ambush.
The area. The most obvious space for the trolls to fight
off intruders is on the open walk into the village, though
they will know to use the huts as cover and to maneuver
around the party.
Conclusion of the Fight
After slaying or driving off the trolls that were keeping the
northern entrance into Zeb'Watha, the party finds 10 gp
and 2d4 gems worth 10 gp each.
This is where the notes for this adventure start to run
short. So everything from here is going to be blue-text
ramblings from the author about what the plan is further
on ahead in the adventure.
The Captive Troll
In this northern part of the village, there is a larger hut in
which the trolls keep prisoner. Between those who have
already died there, there is a darkspear troll adventurer
still alive. His name is Ven'jashi (troll, male), and he is
currently suffering a slow and painful death from being
poisoned by the Amani.
Ven'jashi is about to die, unless the party can somehow
neutralize the poison, such as with Lesser Restoration or
Protection from Poison. Whether they manage to save him
or not, Ven'jashi warns the party that he has overheard the
trolls of Zeb'Watha — who are led by the powerful Amani
shaman Zul'Marosh (troll, male) — are plotting
something greater than just the raids on Farstrider Retreat.
6
Making Way Southward
By the time the party reaches the southern end of
Zeb'Watha, where Zul'Marosh keeps the heart of the village
behind another ring of defenses (this time with a palisade),
it turns out the trolls posed too great a challenge — and
have subdued or slain the majority of the Farstriders. They
arrive just in time to see one running away from the camp
toward them, being hit by a throwing axe to the back.
So this will likely be one fight leading directly on into
another, ending with a stand against the leader of the trolls;
Zul'Marosh. After the fight is over, a missive is found on
Zul'Marosh that tells of the plans with the other trolls and
how they have been using Zeb'Watha and Tor'Watha as a
distraction to keep the Farstriders occupied.
Long enough so that a larger force of trolls can get ready
to march on Fairbreeze Village. Dun-dun-dun, big reveal,
there's even more trouble ahead!

Part 4: Warning Fairbreeze

Back to the Farstrider Retreat, tell the elves of what is
going on. Immediately they make preparations to send as
many as can be spared westward to Fairbreeze Village —
as well as a missive sent ahead of them to alert of the
situation.
The party should get paid for their work in sorting out
Zeb'Watha here now, but then afterwards pleaded to by the
Farstrider Lieutenant to come along and help defend
Fairbreeze Village from

Part 5: The Amani Attack

By the time the Farstriders reach Fairbreeze Village, the
elves there have had a little time shoring up defenses after
the missive came from the Farstrider Retreat. It could be
fun here to involve the party in bolstering the defenses
further, and then reward them for what they have achieved
in the fighting that then follows.
Next after that, a large battle against the trolls ensues,
but for the players it's handled in the form of a couple of
smaller skirmishes. Maybe one battle first to defend some
villagers, before they're asked to make haste to another
part of the village to stop some lumbering Amani troll
from smashing a few buildings to rubble.
Once the battle comes to an end, it's all celebrations and
good times. Adventure concluded, but there are a lot of
threads that could be fished together still. Imagine if it
turns out that Zul'Marosh did not die after all, or that he
was resurrected and then re-encountered in the
Ghostlands? And then, what about Tor'Watha?