Encounter idea help for Lv5 duo game

[GodGoblin]

Hey guys so this weekend me and 2 friends are off to a festival and for some evening entertainment im going to run some D&D! They havent played before so its going to be simple and hopefully have the classic D&D feel.

The party will be lv5 and made of a Generalist Wizard and a Barbarian. Ive given the Wizard mainly control and de buff spells to stop him ending encounters before the barb does his thing.

So onto my planned adventure (Warning, Cliches ahead!):
It will start with the two of them just having lost the guards after fleeing a town after they got wrapped up in a brawl. After a further walk up the road they come across a man running up towards them, he begs them for help as he had just returned to his village to find it in flames and its inhabitants ripped apart. Smoke can be seen in the distance. Ill probably throw some smaller encounters at them on the way to the village, beasts fleeing etc.

They find the village as described and look around for signs of life/clues. (Here I might give the barb some stuff to help close the power gap) Once some investigation has been done the great beast will burst out of the nearby forest and monster battle will begin!

Once its dead it will turn disintegrate telling the wizard that it was summoned and they can follow its tracks back to a cove of evil druids and there they might be captured/fight some spellcasters/animals/skill tests etc. Thats still a work in progress.


If anyones seen D&D Wrath of the Dragon God its where the main idea came from. So yeah what creature can I use for them to fight? I want it interesting and a fair challenge, maybe a breath weapon or spell likes to stop it being pure hack slash. Hell would a dragon of a certain age be apropriate?

tl:dr- A level 5 wizard and barbarian enter a wrecked village, whats a cool monster to have waiting for them?

Edit: Any other ideas for the adventure would be welcomed too, something to make the druids more interesting would be nice.

Thanks in advance!

[BowStreetRunner]

A Salamander (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/salamander.htm) would be one possibility. It is actually on the Druid summon list, which would make it easier to explain its presence. And you could create some fun interactions if you design the PCs accordingly. Give them the tools they need to overcome the encounter and see if they can figure out how to use them properly.


Give the Wizard at least one fire spell and one cold spell - since the salamander has both immunity to the first and vulnerability to the second it creates an opportunity for either to come into play. He should be able to hide behind a circle of protection that hedges out summoned creatures, if he hasn't used this up already.
Make sure the Barbarian has a decent grapple ability, so he can deal with the salamander's improved grab and constrict attacks on an even footing. This is the kind of encounter where I would like to have the barbarian carrying a masterwork two-handed sword and a magical dagger - between the damage reduction and grappling, it creates a nice dilemma as to which to wield.
Don't forget that because the salamander was summoned, it cannot use its own summoning ability during the encounter.

[HalfQuart]

You could do a bunch of smaller CR creatures too... maybe a half dozen Orcs, or a mess of Kobolds, or three Gnolls? Those are all cliche D&D bad guys...