On The Shuckstein

The Shuckstein was played on 8/7/24 in the Dubzaron campaign and run by the incomparable Bdubs. The event was set in the Sepia Uplands region, a barbarian stronghold with a large capital city that could justify the presence of The Shucked Oyster, some house of ill-repute from a PDF merchant. I was not looking forward to the degeneracy from a module based around a brothel. Imagine my delight when the session opened with it burning down!

That delight faded when some pimp and hooker showed up, fingered the PCs as the arsonists, and fled the scene as the authorities moved in to arrest us. My PC was Warchief Einar Fann, a barbarian warlord sworn to the service of the region's ruler. I hit 'em with the, "Do you know who I am?" When that didn't work I knew something was amiss, confirmed by the LT of the arresting squad's bloodlust. A short battle ensued wherein a handful of mercs tried to apprehend an adventuring party. Some of the party chased their fleeing accusers while the remainder resisted arrest.

I'm not great at these Diplomacy style games. I'm a direct player and don't utilize subterfuge well. Bdubs knows this and when my dumbass Barbarian dropped a cursed helmet of alignment change on his dumbass head months ago, the DM turned it into a hook to serve Surtur, the Norse Fire Giant deity, in order to force me into conflict. I've been playing into that betrayal for ages trying to keep it secret while working against the party to free Surtur from his prison beyond the curtains. I was even able to convert the most suspicious PC in the party with another helm before he could find any proof and out me to the Lawful and/or vengeful members of the party. The dungeon exploded before I could realize any other plans.

The players in Dubzaron, including myself, are cooperative. I'd started being less so during sessions and was standoffish to friendly PCs during the opening sequence of The Shuckstein, especially Xanthos the Lawful cleric and Standing Mountain the elf. Once we defeated the charmed LT, me and my henches grabbed him up and split towards my moderate sized army camped outside the city. I was second-guessing the decision to separate here as I know convergence brings resolution but with no ground to go to, unknown factions at work, and no faith in local forces to recognize my rank, I didn't have much choice.

Interrogating the LT confirmed my suspicion that he was charmed. When Xanthos showed up to inquire about him I turned him away to "come back tomorrow" to cast spells and such. I let him believe I had tortured the captive to death. My plan was to keep him as insurance in case the authorities came after me for real.

In the meantime, I sent a message to the Great Hall of Warchief O'Conner but he hadn't been seen for days. Uh oh. If Kyle was compromised, this whole thing could go tits up. I immediately asked whether security looked to have suffered in his absence with the intent to just take control of the city. Alas, it seemed the day to day operations of the place were still running smoothly.

I met with Jalaan who had the charmed Tuck and Doc in tow. I guessed his identity as Slenderman and he dropped the charade. He told me he was going back to Barsoom if he could get this evil altar and free Surtur. I wanted to free Surtur. I wanted Slenderman gone. Sounded great! If he betrayed me I'd just kill him or die trying. We got beef.

I needed to get back into the action so I let Bdubs know I was gonna find Lambert. After some delay I just asked Lambert's player if he could be found. Since he wasn't hiding and was looking for me too we met in the middle. Einar and Lambert had a professional relationship from session play but translating that into an event like this is difficult.

We met and neither offered violence. I implicated the cleric or the elf as the arsonist and turned over the captive as a gesture of good faith. Lambert agreed to arrest them and interrogate them to get to the bottom of it. Great, elves suck and Xanthos was the only PC able to discover my cursed helm. Win/win for me there. It was also agreed that I would "hang back" so Lambert's authority wouldn't be suspect when we arrived at the ruins of The Shucked Oyster.

Lambert and his crew went in hot to an ongoing battle. I crept up with my troops as perimeter security in case anyone tried to slip out the back. My goal here was to get the altar which was Svetlana's. I was also going to kill anyone that got in my way, especially if I could do it without witnesses. I no longer needed the party to delve the Queen's Rest dungeon since it exploded.

Some glittery silhouette showed up, I chopped it in the face, and it hit me with fear magic. My henches cured me and put it down, revealing it to be Svetlana herself. Xanthos ran around the corner into the alley, but the other part of the fight was over before I could kill him, too. I sent my thief to sneak into the ruins while Lambert was arresting everyone. He found the altar but it was too big to steal.

I wanted to kill Slenderman on the way to the mountain once we got clear of the city but it was too late in the night to run another combat. When he didn't immediately go back to Barsoom on Surtur's release I knew I shoulda forced it. I claimed violence then and there to be resolved at some later date in downtime.

The session was a fun way to resolve my particular loose thread from months of session play and rattle the status quo of the campaign world. We'll see if this Always Braunstein Daily takes off.