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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Meech17" data-source="post: 9339631" data-attributes="member: 7044459">SESSION 4 - Early March, 2024All five of my players, Barb the level 3 Gnome Sorceress, Beanz the lvl 3 Tabaxi Barbarian, Gazhan the lvl 3 Half Orc Paladin, Randy the lvl 3 Halfling Wizard, and Willy the lvl 3 Elf Ranger were in attendance. I asked the party to recap the previous session and Randy, who was absent was aghast. They were a bit distraught over the party killing the Green Wyrmling, and her being annoying was not a reasonable justification in Randy's eyes. They were bound and determined to hunt down the mercenary troupe who razed the village of Mapledale, The Midnight Company. I explained that they spent the last fortnight on the road, following their trail. Unfortunately for the party the MC was better equipped, and mounted. Each new town and village they visited offered increasingly troubling reports. "Oh yeah, we saw those guys.. They were just here this morning." to "Yeah, that description matches the group that passed through here yesterday." to finally "I think those might have been the fellas here a few days ago." They also heard tales that the news of Mapledale's destruction was making the rounds. Supposedly it was the work of giants. The Valiant Midnight Company had tried to stop them, but were too late. Fast forward to now. The party is in poor spirits, worried that their prey had eluded them, they sit at the bank of a wide river, awaiting the ferry that connects two sister towns. As the ferry lands, and passengers depart the party overhears talk of murder. Some probing leads to the discovery that the town of Diskmir (The one they're heading to) just had a murder the night before. This is the second murder in just a few days, which has shocked the usually peaceful town. The party haggles with the ferryman about the fare. They finally suggest that the Gnome and the Halfling should be able to share a fare, as they take up the space of one medium sized passenger, and I relent and give it to them. Leave it to players to do anything to save a silver.When they get into town they have a few goals.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Visit a black smith. They are eager to get better gear. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Visit an apothecary. They killed a couple of  Cockatrice and asked about harvesting parts of it for potential loot. I don't remember if it was the ranger making a survival roll, the paladin with a medicine roll, or the sorcerer with an arcana roll, but I ended up letting them know that the feathers and beaks both had properties used in various alchemical creations. They wanted to sell these parts to help perhaps fund goal 1. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Learn more about the whereabouts of the Midnight Company. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Look into the murders.</li> </ol>Visiting the blacksmith proved fruitless. The ranger is determined to upgrade to studded leather armor. I think the PHB suggests the price of 45gp. I rolled to determine if this merchant would be above or below book value, and ended up above, so I rounded up to 50gp. I've wanted gold to actually matter in this campaign, so I've been reluctant to pass out too much of it thus far. I'm not sure how much money the party has but when they tallied up their combined gold, they had just over enough, and opted to not spend their whole nut on an extra +1 AC. The ranger has asked about this a few times now, so I do want to get him into some studded leather. I think I know a fun way to do it too. More on that next time.The Apothecary went much better. Randy schmoozed the old lady who owned it and was able to make a good deal with their cockatrice bits. I think they traded all the parts and a couple gold pieces for cockatrice based paralysis poison, and some healing potions. They felt like they got a good deal. The lady was also able to give them some information on the murders as well. It turns out the first murder a few nights ago was her neighbor, the scribe. Word is that he was murdered by the wheelwright in town, who was the one killed the night before.The party went to the scribes home/shop which had been taped off by the town guard. They were determined to snoop though, so they made their way around the back to find a locked door. With no rogue in the party, and neither of the mages having knock prepared they debated on what to do. Gazhan asked if they could use their sword as a pry bar to open the door. I told them totally, and laid out the DC. Something I'm trying to start doing is offering ranges of success instead of binary pass/fail rolls. So I told the paladin this: Opening the door is no problem. You're a big strong knight.. You'll get this door open. The question is how controlled can you be doing it? You're going to make a strength check. On a 1-7, you're going to absolutely obliterate this door. It's going to be loud, and it's probably going to draw attention. On an 8-15 you're going to get it open. It won't be pretty, but it will be a much lower chance of drawing attention. On a 16+ you'll very carefully break it open, with the least amount of noise possible, and you'll likely be able to leave it looking less than obvious that a break in occurred. At some point Randy remembered that traps were a thing, and I had the apothecary suggest the scribe who lived here was also a wizard. So Randy casts detect magic on the door. I didn't want the door to be trapped, but I figured this was an opportunity to have some fun. Reading the spell I figured there was a good chance for a false positive. The man was a mage after all. Perhaps there was a magic item on the other side of the wall. I rolled, and came up with yes. Then I rolled again for school of magic and got conjuration. So I told Randy he detected conjuration magic on the other side of the door. This threw him for quite the loop. His player spent the next few minutes thumbing through the spells section of the book to figure out what kind of trap it must be. While debating on if they should have Gazhan break down the door, Barb excited looked up from her character sheet. We had just picked her new spells for level 3 that morning before the session, and she took Spider Climb. She asked if there were upstairs windows, or a chimney? I said there were. So she suggested casting spider climb on someone and having them climb up and check the windows, or worst case scenario, pull a santa and shimmy down the fireplace. They all liked this idea, and I did too.. So I figured I'd give them an open second story window. They elected Beanz to do it, as he's a Tabaxi, and cats can squeeze into tight spaces. Beanz climbs up the wall and goes straight for the chimney. He proceeds to sneak around the house. I describe it as being living space, that has obviously not been used in several days. He goes down stairs and I describe this as being more of a working space. The owner was a scribe, and a wizard. He had a large office full of parchment, and other supplies needed for his work, and then there was a storefront, where he received clients and what not. As he approached the back door I described it as being the kitchen. He remembered Randy detecting magic and asked about traps. I had him roll and said as far as he was concerned it was a perfectly normal door. Next to the door was a table with a backpack under it. Beanz holds his breath, and opens the door............. Nothing happens. It was just a door. So the party comes in and starts investigating. Randy finds the backpack and sees that it's the source of the magic. Inside is a scroll of Misty Step. Also inside are letters, and some research material. The macguffin in this adventure are a set of magical gemstones. It turns out the scribe had been digging into them for his friend, and possibly his murderer, the wheelwright. He found some interesting things too. Namely that they were used to bind a powerful entity of some sort. The wheelwright owns one of these gems and believed it was a powerful artifact. The scribes research suggests he's correct.After this the party decided to go investigate further. The figured the next step would be to visit the local sheriff. Upon entering the jail/guardhouse they see something they threw them for quite a loop. There, sitting with his feet propped up on the desk, having a friendly chat with the sheriff, is a man wearing black armor, with a crescent moon insignia, the sign of the Midnight Company. This was a lot of fun because it was a big DUN DUN DUN, record scratch moment. The party had a run in with the MC last session, and got to talk to their captain. This man was not him. I had them rolled, and I rolled. I suggested that one of the players recognized this man as having been there that night, but they didn't interact with him. My roll suggested that he didn't remember them. They get to talking with the men and mention that they met in Mapledale. I roll and suggest that the Midnight Company lieutenant maintains a cool and collected demeanor. They ask what happened and he gives an obviously rehearsed answer. The MC had stopped in Mapledale for R&R, they were coming off a big job. That fateful morning a couple of giants rolled into town with an ax to grind and laid siege. The MC had already left but noticed smoke from the road. They sent back a small squad to see what was happening, and those brave men were able to beat back and force the giants to flee back into the mountains, but unfortunately the damage was done. The town was burning, everyone was dead. The party mentions they also had a giant run-in in the mountains near Mapledale and the MC Lieutenant suggests their rat catcher shenanigans are probably what got the giants in a frenzy to begin with. The questioning turns to the murders. The Sheriff at first tries to shut down the questioning. Who are these adventurers to be coming in here and interrogating him? But the Lieutenant says he doesn't mind and tells them another story. The MC had rolled through town recently, and he stayed behind. He is from this town and has a residence here. As they aren't on a current job, him, along with a few of the men under him stayed behind to continue their R&R. Lucky too, because that was when the first murder occurred. The brave Lieutenant was looking into it himself, and discovered the relationship between the scribe and the wheelwright. He questioned the wheelwright, and then that night, last night, the wheelwright tried to murder him as well! Thankfully he was alert and on guard, and was able to defend himself. The party knows this is all garbage, but they were worried about the relationship between the guard and the MC. Would they be able to convince the sheriff that this man was actually the murderer? I liked that they picked this up. I was trying to convey that these two got along. I was going to require them to dreg up some actual evidence and do some convincing but they could have gotten him on the hook for his murders. They however decided it was a fruitless endevor and moved on. I was a little sad about that, but sometimes you feel like the machine is too powerful and the wheel is unbreakable. They move on and go investigate the Wheelwright's(hereafter referred to as WW) home. When they arrive a woman is busy packing up the store into a wagon parked out-front. When they talk to her they discover she is the wife of the WW. She is distraught and it takes some convincing but she finally relents and tells the party her story. The short of it is that WW was obsessed with this magic gem. It was a family heirloom and he was certain that there was something special about it. Obsessed like Nick Cage in National Treasure. She says that she doesn't believe he was actually a murderer, and that the scribe was his only real friend aside from his brother. She gives the party his journal where he does a little more lore-dumping, and it ends on a recent entry about how he finally convinced his brother to help him quest for the other gems. WW's Brother had taken the gem as a good luck charm on his current adventure, but promised to help him when he returns. At this point the party pieced together my murder mystery. MC is looking for these gems. They know that the scribe is researching them, making him target one. Turns out scribe was researching them for WW, making him target two, and his obsession makes him a convenient scape goat. Instead of bringing this to the law, they assume the justice system is corrupt (Which isn't unreasonable). They decide to try and bring down the Lieutenant themselves. After asking around town they find a couple of his men at the local tavern. Willy and Barb get the idea that they should chat them up. Try and schmooze them. They start buying them drinks, and start asking questions. The men get intoxicated and spill some beans. They party doesn't really learn much here, but they are able to determine that the MC's story is bogus as the men struggle to keep their telling of it straight. They get a little aggressive with their questioning and miss a couple of charisma rolls, so the men start to catch on that they're being phished for info. The final bit of information they garner from the men is that the Lieutenant's mother is a prominent merchant in town, and owns a jewelry store, among some other businesses.  They decide to go pay her a visit, and the dice say that she's not in. So instead they question the employees but aren't really able to gather any info. As they are leaving however they encounter the Lieutenant and his mother coming in. He bids his mom a good day and pulls the party aside to the alley. He heard from his men that the party was sticking their noses into his business. He confronts them, and demands to know what they're doing. At this point they are of the mind that they need to infiltrate the MC, so they convince him that they're trying to join up. He proposes a trial mission. There is a very special shipment coming into town tonight, and a certain merchant would prefer the shipment not to make it. He refuses to give details beyond an insignia, which will be adorned on the cargo so that they can know they're targeting the correct shipment. The party agrees, and sets out to where they expect it. They come up with the idea that Randy the wizard will use mold earth to dig ruts in the road. Bard the sorceress will stand by to flag down the cart to warn him of the rough terrain. While she distracts him, Willy the ranger will use the magic ring they got last session to transform into a squirrel and go check the cargo and make sure it's their target. Randy, Gazhan, and Beanz each hide in the trees on either side of the road waiting to strike. It's a good plan. I liked the plan. I flipped a coin and picked a side of the road, and it ended up being the side that Gazhan was hiding on. He failed his perception check to notice the kobolds hiding among the trees near him, also awaiting this shipment. Besides that, the plan goes off without a hitch. The cart stops, Barb chats up the driver, and Willy is able to scurry up the back, where he finds half a dozen barrels covered with a tarp. Each barrel is adorned with the insignia he was given. He turns back into his elf self and throws off the tarp, giving the team the signal. Barb tells the driver he needs to get lost. The party is feeling pretty proud of themselves, until Gazhan steps out of the three line only to get shot in the back by an arrow. Time for initiative. The fight was a good one. I think it was six kobold fighters and one shaman. I really like using magic users as monsters. The players never know what kind of spells they have at their disposal, so they end up being a wild card. So far I've only used spells from the book, sticking to cantrips, first, and second level spells.. Being the same levels the party has at their disposal. I think I'm going to try coming up with custom spell-life effects sometime soon. The fight goes on for a couple of rounds. On the cart driver's turn I describe him as attempting to un-hitch the horse, likely to ride it away and flee. The party agrees that they intend on letting him. They are still do-gooders at heart and didn't want to hurt him anyway. I say it'll take him two turns to get the horse un-hitched. The fight progresses and Randy has the kobold shaman pinned against the side of the cart. He decides to use Burning Hands, suggesting that they need to destroy the shipment anyway, this can be a two birds with one stone situation. I must have made a face because the party all looks at me with concern. I suggest we take a quick break as I need to look up how much damage barrels of firewine cause when ignited. 3/5ths of my party has been playing Baldur's Gate 3 and they all immediately gasp when they realize they never bothered to check what was actually in the barrels. I didn't find anything I liked, so I make a judgement call. I said in the squares immediately around the cart anyone would take 3d6, anyone two or three squares out would take 3d4, and anyone in four or five squares out would take 1d6. They were all happy about this, and it ended the fight. Barb went down, the cart driver was dusted, and somehow the horse survived. So they healed it, took it back to town, and sold it lmao. Many memes were shared in the group chat that night about how Randy started the session by chastising the party about the Wyrmling, and then ended the session committing war crimes. Regardless of how it turned out, they completed the task for the Lieutenant, and he agreed to take them onto a bigger job. They were to meet him outside of town at dawn the next day, where he led them to a ravine about a day's hike away. This is where they believe the WW's brother to be, and they need to find him and recover the gemstone. Down in the ravine is a temple, supposedly built by a dragon cult. At some point in the past a powerful mage was able to open the ground beneath the temple and drop it, in an attempt to destroy the cult. As the party climbs down the rope the Lieutenant leans over, and mentions that the Midnight Company believes in sinking or swimming, and that failure is not an option. He says that is that fail to recover the gem, they might as well stay in the ravine. And then he cut the rope. Next session we start the (modified) Sunless Citadel.</blockquote>

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