Caravans face enough dangers from the sides of remote roads without also having to watch the skies. As caravans troop along one stretch of the Old Road at the foot of a tall, craggy cliff, guards now crane their necks skywards and listen for whoops and cries from above.
A group of bandits flying on trained psuedodragons have been attacking caravans along this stretch of road for weeks now. They swoop down from the sky, throwing spears and firing arrows, causing guards to scatter and creating general mayhem. Once the caravan shows signs of surrender, the bandits land and their leader steps forward.
Their leader is a well-dressed, aristocratic female tiefling who calls herself Menace. She rifles through the caravan’s goods, always looking for something specific: a magic staff that a cabal of evil sorcerers is trying to smuggle to a nearby city.
The bandits are a particularly thorny threat, since they can retreat to the sky at any time, and they lair in a cave on the side of the cliff. Anyone attempting to attack their lair would either need flying mounts, flying magic, or the courage to rappel silently down dozens of feet of vertical rock.
As a friendly faction, Menace is actually a silver dragon named Moonstone. Moonstone doesn’t want to tip the cabal off about her knowledge of the staff, so she’s decided to disguise herself as a bandit.
When attacking a caravan, the bandits take a surprisingly small amount of loot, not enough to significantly cause trouble for the caravan, and when they arrive at their destination they inevitably find an “overlooked” bag of coins worth the same amount as the loot taken. Moonstone always makes sure the caravans she “robs” aren’t actually inconvenienced.
As a foe faction, Menace was once a member of the cabal of evil sorcerers, but split from the group and wants the staff for herself. It’s as simple as that. And if that staff were to fall into the PC’s hands, she would make for an easy recurring villain, since any time the PCs are in the open her bandits could swoop down from the sky.
As a foe, Menace’s bandits do actually rob each caravan they attack, taking as much plunder as their psuedodragons can carry.