D&D Session 20, Part Four (8/3/21): The Secret Lives of NPCs

 Text by Paul O'Connor, Dungeon Master 

Rubar's sudden, tortured scream alerts even someone as thick as Snafu that something is up -- leaping across the tavern, he slashed at Mac, who evaded behind the bar. Brutus came bursting into the tavern, knocking out a good chunk of the doorway along the way, and leapt into a life-or-death struggle with Dog, the wolf, while Frank grabbed Lissa and held a knife to her throat!

Mac gave Snafu the old one-two, a punch on the button and a hook to the temple when Snafu got the jelly-leg; the would-be King of the Western Goblins was dead before he hit the floor. Mary started babbling on about frequent visitor points and treasure and fresh linen and anything else that came to mind to convince Frank to let her daughter go -- the crack of Brutus snapping the wolf's spine was the punctuation mark, and all that Frank needed to hear before throwing Lissa aside and making a break for it, evading Mac and running for the hills.

Frank's tales spread wide and far, particularly among the goblins, of a wolf-killing demon that lives in the basement of the Fyre Wytch. Even if the goblins overrun the whole damn island, they will certainly give the tavern a wide berth. Mac & Mary are safe (though they've killed any business they might have gotten from goblins!)

It almost goes without saying, but LEVEL UP for Mac & Mary!

(and that concluded one of the top RPGs I've ever had the pleasure of playing ...! We almost should end the campaign here, we have hit our zenith)

D&D Session 20, Part Three (8/3/21): The Secret Lives of NPCs

Text by Paul O'Connor, Dungeon Master 

With much cuffing and kicking, the goblins drive our heroes into the tavern, where Snafu, Janfu, and Rubar set up at a table and demand food and drink, while Frank -- clearly the junior member of this brain trust -- menaces Lissa in a corner with Dog. Mac manages to spike the drinks with rat poison, which finishes off Janfu ... but the others figure he's just sleeping, and Snafu demands more. MORE!

That's when Mary has an inspired idea. The REALLY good stuff is down in the cellar, and she convinces Rubar to come down and help her bring it up. What Rubar didn't know (but which was canonically established at the head of the adventure), is that Mac and Mary have a shameful secret, in the form of a monstrous son -- Brutus -- who they keep chained in the basement. Brutus may have more teeth than IQ points, but he loves his mum, and he happily tore Rubar apart when he got off his chain.

D&D Session 20, Part Two (8/3/21): The Secret Lives of NPCs

Text by Paul O'Connor, Dungeon Master   

It all goes sideways when Mary's legendarily sharp tongue sets off a brawl -- her Vicious Rebuke smacks Snafu like a fist, who manages to shout something about "Sorcerers!" and "Kill them!" and before you know it, Mac has fired off his blunderbuss (to disappointing effect) and gone down beneath a rain of scimitar blows. The only option is surrender.

Dr. Sketchy's, Seattle at the Rendezvous. Great night. Great Model.

 

D&D Session 20, Part One (8/3/21): The Secret Lives of NPCs

 

• With two of our number on vacation and the main campaign on hold, we changed our focus back to Ragaman Isle, where the intrepid Mac & Mary -- proprietors of the Fyre Wytch Tavern -- face an uncertain future. Spring has sprung and the roads have cleared, but no business is coming to the tavern, no doubt owing to the goblins that swarm the local woods. Perhaps worse, Lissa, their daughter, is heartbroken that her beloved, Sark, has vanished without a word. Fearing that he is captured or dead, the melancholy girl has taken to long walks in the woods, while Mac & Mary busy themselves with their chores, which mostly seem to entail arguing with each other about why the tavern is a failure and who has ruined who's life the most.
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• A scream outside the tavern brings Mac & Mary running, where they find Lissa being accosted by a goblin gang: Snafu, who fancies himself the new king of these parts, and his three henchmen -- Janfu, Rubar, and Frank (who holds a wolf -- named Dog -- on a chain). There is much breast-beating and threats, the upshot of which is that Snafu demands tribute, and he'll kill Lissa if he doesn't get it.

D&D Session 19 (7/20/21): The Better Part of Valor

Text by Paul O'Connor, Dungeon Master

Let us list all the things our heroes DIDN'T do. They didn't rush half-cocked into a battle against the Ogre work-gang, they didn't betray their location to any of the castle's many guards or fall through a hole in the roof of the Ogre barracks, they didn't listen to Fraz's lies or let him raise the alarm, and they didn't blow on the damn horn (yet).

But they did get a good sense of the layout of the castle, they are well along the way to freeing half the slaves cooped up in this miserable place, and they know King Gud is mining Snow Sapphires and raising a mighty army to conquer Icewind Dale.

Restraint, good plans, good rolls ... they can take you a long way. We will see if their luck holds out when we return from hiatus!