Level Up (A5E) Help! What does the bandit captain want his young recruit to do in the city!

[Faolyn]

Due to Reasons, I haven't done nearly enough prep and game is just hours away. One of the PCs, a rogue, picked the Marauder background. Last session, which due to Other Reasons, was two weeks ago, he said that he was going to go back to his captain and get orders.

His backstory was that he and a cohort had been told to go into the city and free one of the gang's members, Otto, from jail. They did so but got caught, then escaped, and now they're PCs.

My first inclination is that they have to find Otto either because he was doing something important or because the gang wants him back, but my sleep-deprived brain isn't telling me why.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

i mean, there's a few easy reasons you could go with, like
1. Otto is the captain's son/nephew/brother
2. Otto knows things about the gang that could get them in trouble (which opens the possibility of killing him instead)
3. Otto was caught on a scouting mission for, say, a heist, and the captain wants to know if he found anything before he got caught

 

[Piperken]

Other possibilities:

• The captain expresses concerns that Otto may have snitched to the law or to others, while in jail
• Otto may desire to leave, but blooding out of the gang is difficult
• Inspo off W'rkncacnter's last point: say Otto was caught during reconnaissance for a heist, were any pertinent items that could be helpful to the gang gotten rid of before they were arrested i.e. a map they drew, notes they may have taken, a key they acquired that opens particular doors, drawers etc. If so, where, and do these need to be retrieved?

 

[Faolyn]

I do like several of those options! The key is giving me ideas, @Piperken. The local government is colonizing a nearby plane, and the key might be a literal key to a portal to that plane. But the bandit chief could be worried that Otto is going to use it for himself for whatever reason, and nobody gets to do that.

 

[haakon1]

Too late now, I suppose, but the mission could be something mundane, like buy supplies for the pirate ship.

Cap’n needs 6 new block & tackles and 8 ropes each 150 ft. long.

But there are supply chain issues. What to do with such a simple mission?

 

[Faolyn]

Too late now, I suppose, but the mission could be something mundane, like buy supplies for the pirate ship.

Cap’n needs 6 new block & tackles and 8 ropes each 150 ft. long.

But there are supply chain issues. What to do with such a simple mission?

Fortunately, the other players' RP took a while so we're going to do the bandit thing in a 1-on-1 session tomorrow, most likely.

I know the term "marauder" implies boats, but everyone is very land-locked. It could have been supply run of some sort, though.

 

[haakon1]

Fortunately, the other players' RP took a while so we're going to do the bandit thing in a 1-on-1 session tomorrow, most likely.

I know the term "marauder" implies boats, but everyone is very land-locked. It could have been supply run of some sort, though.

Horses need shoeing? But the cavalry sent to put down local marauders are all at the only ferrier for their own needs?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

I know the term "marauder" implies boats

...it does?

 

[Faolyn]

...it does?

Well. Maybe a little.