Time: 6/4/22-6/6/22, rest 6/7/22, active 6/8/22
PCs: Benjamin Bigboy Baum (Assassin 1), Bigtoe the Wombat (Machinist 1), Blair (Nightblade 1)
Hench: Blacknose (Teutch loaner Hench)
1:1 timekeeping had the legacy PC party hung up for a few weeks, leaving the players no choice but to roll into an alternative group. A backup party. They coincidentally named themselves in such a way that the B Team is literal. Go figure.
Tailored to the player-perceived cutthroat nature of Teutchland, this party showed up ready to murderhobo their way into history. Introductions were made with Lockleaf (Teutch hench) in Rushford, missions were laid out, and ultimately the party decided to rob liberate Daniel the Storm Giant’s castle.
They had too many members for Teutch to provide goats with butterfly wings for transportation, so they were forced to walk. But they had a good map and not too far to travel. They ran across some bandits that they were able to talk their way around and some purple worms that they surprised so they ran for their lives, because if there’s one consistent thing about D&D in any form is that purple worms are powerful.
Eventually they arrived at the fallen storm giant castle, looking like Gronk spiked it into the side of a mountain. The entry was still mostly intact and they made their way in, where a family of giant rats were frolicking about in a giant nest. The rats noticed them but were not hostile. This is where the first hint of murderhoboism displayed itself, as a suggestion to shoot them and lure them into a bottleneck at the entrance was floated by Bigtoe the Wombat. The party decided against it as there was little chance of material gain and they went around the rats-at-play.
The giant-sized entry chamber was all askew, fluted columns tumbled about and the floors and walls wildly uneven. There was a massive double door leading deeper into the castle and a couple side doors, one of which appeared to have been forced open very recently. A discussion was had about the humanoid tracks that Blair had found and how best to relieve their owners of whatever treasure they might have.
They decided to follow the tracks to identify the creatures, eventually sneaking up on a party of NPC adventurers apparently camping in a study or library of some kind that was in the same tumbled state as the rest of the place. Turns out crashing into a mountain is bad for the interior design.
They debated on whether to speak with the party or just murder them and take the treasure that they were CERTAIN this group had. It even went so far as to ask if Blacknose (Teutch hench) recognized any of them. Yeah sure, no shot of that. A very low chance was set, the dice were rolled, and what do you know Blacknose knew the guy on guard duty. He warned that the guy he recognized was tough and that he would not choose to fight him in a fair fight.
This information deterred them for only a brief moment before they decided to just shoot them. I rolled for surprise, the NPCs were surprised, and the fight was on. This randomly generated NPC party had simply no ranged weapons, so the B Team got off a few rounds of missile fire before the melee started, killing the one guy that Blacknose recognized. After a long fight, the B Team emerged victorious, Bigtoe weathering many attacks with the magical armor that Teutch had loaned them and Benjamin waiting the entire fight to land a crucial backstab to finish the NPC’s leader.
These cats were loaded, coins and ornamented weapons and shiny things, so the party policed it up and made exit plans, but Bigtoe wanted to search the books that were tumbled about. It was determined that this would take several hours, so they barricaded the door with broken furniture and went to work. Everything was written in Giant which none of them spoke and none of it appeared magical, so after several close calls with random encounters banging, skittering, and whatnot at the barricaded door, they sneaked their way back out. They found the giant rats destroyed in the entry chamber and bits dragged away in trails of blood.
The party had forced marched to get to the castle in a single day and then immediately started their delve, so it was very late and dark. They decided to hunker down outside the castle and wait for dawn. On the trip back, they were accosted by a Sphinx named Simba, who tossed his magnificent mane of hair about and preened under their flattery, but still demanded a tribute to travel his territory, which was apparently “Everything the light touches”.
Benjamin offered him a pouch of 100 gold pieces, which was laughed at. Simba wanted 4,000 gold pieces which the party certainly did not have in liquid value. While they sweated and looked concerned, the Sphinx cast detect magic and casually pointed out all of their items that were magical, several from the NPC party. Having no use for weapons or armor, Simba gestured with his massive paw at a bag carrying a matched set of fancy gold, ruby, and topaz rings bearing the Sun of Pelor and said he’d take one of them. Benjamin offered both, which Simba gladly accepted as his due.
Bigtoe attempted to learn of Simba’s lair under the guise of offering further tribute, but Simba laughed that off and warned them to be prepared should they travel his lands again, then flew away. The party arrived at the Purple Tower with no further encounters and crashed in the goat stable, which confounds the party every time they stay there. “Why goats? What does he do with the goats?” to which I reply “I dunno, he likes goats.” But does he eat them? Does he milk them? Are any missing? The goats are a big deal apparently.
They met with Teutch for the first time the next day, the mage flicking neon words at them through the lattice-work balcony overlooking his first floor lobby. They told of Simba, the two Pelor rings that were taken from them, and the giant library. They offered to escort Teutch to the library if he has interest in it. Bigtoe sucked up pretty hard on ole Teutch, the phrase “great and glorious master” used liberally, but the lattice work hid the mage’s body language, so who’s to say how he took any of that. They paid their 30% tax and asked Teutch to identify their magic items as previously offered, which after a long pause he agreed to.
Musings:
While the players are learning how to survive in a generally unforgiving world, I’m learning how to run the thing. There’s a rule (ACKS pg 92) that states “Characters or monsters that carry a light source are unable to surprise opponents, because the light gives them away ahead of time.” The encounter with the NPC party hinged on surprise, but both parties had light sources and thus there should have been no surprise. The little details are important and I will get better at keeping track of them.
XP from Kills: 230
XP from Treasure: 1795
Total XP Pool: 2025
Cuts: 8 total with PCs receiving 2 each.
PC Share: 0%: 506 5%: 531 10%: 557
Hench Share: 0%: 0 5%: 0 10%: 0
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