Meech17
WotC President Runner-Up.
The Story so Far:
The Current Plan:
My party consists of a Half Orc Paladin, a Wood Elf Ranger, a Tabaxi Barbarian, a Gnome Sorcerer, and a Halfling Wizard, all of third level. The Wizard is likely to be a no-show due to some family issues. She may attend, but she hasn't confirmed yet, and I'm assuming she wont. We're playing in a homebrew setting that is largely based off the Forgotten Realms. The party is chasing after piecemeal macguffins, and last session I introduced them to a mercenary crew that beat them to the item they were hunting for, and did some crimes along the way. The party is now set on pursuing these mercenaries. I should have expected this, but I wasn't prepared for them to be so gung-ho. I laid it on pretty thick about how the mercs outnumbered them, and were better equipped. I incorrectly assumed they'd have wanted to get stronger first.
The Current Plan:
The last session was one that the party was able to overcome with a combination of stealth and roleplay rather than combat, and they expressed that they really liked that, so I'd like to give them another good session where they don't have to fight their way to the answer.
I expressed to them that the mercenaries are well equipped, including horses. So realistically I could tell the party they just weren't able to keep up with them. With that said, I feel like that would be un-fun and anti-climatic. So I was thinking about describing the party as having spent the last week or so traveling from village to village following up on leads, knowing that they're always a day or two behind the mercs, and the gap is only growing. I'd have the session start with them entering a new town and getting a lucky break. The majority of the Mercenaries have continued forward, but a small squad, maybe two or three lower level individuals stayed behind to handle light work. Maybe the strong start to the session can be they arrive in town as everyone is gathered in the town square for a large public execution or perhaps just arrest of a wanted criminal, at the hands of the merc squad, putting the mercenaries in a position of higher standing with the town.
Ideally I'd hope my players would try a diplomatic approach. They have only met with this group once so far, and the meeting was amicable, so there's no reason for it to be a fight on sight. Not from Merc's point of view anyway. My hope is that maybe they will try to get into the good graces of these guys to get more information on the company as a whole, and the squad will set them out to do some dirty work for them as a way to build trust.
What I've got: So far the only mission I came up with was insurance fraud: A merchant wants to make a bad investment disappear so he can cash in on an insurance policy. He's hired to Mercenaries to rob his caravan and take off with the loot. This will put the party in a position where perhaps the mercenaries don't explicitly order them to kill anyone, but heavily insist that the wagon driver shouldn't survive.
I was hoping to come up with a few more missions so I can lay them out in front of the party and let them pick. I figured it might be fun to do one or two of them if time allows.
How I Intend to Move Forward:I think I want to run a modified version of the Sunlit Citadel next. A big multilayer dungeon with two warring factions. I can replace the family signet ring that is the default macguffin of that adventure with the one from my game, and say that the reason the Mercenary Goons were left behind in this town to await the return of the person in possession of it. After they do these jobs for the mercs, and earn their trust they can spill the beans about it, and say the person never returned, and they need to party to go with them into the dungeon.
So this is what I've got, and I'd love your guys' opinions. I know there's a lot of great DMs on this forum and I have gotten great ideas from you guys in the past. I'd especially like idea for more missions for the goons to send the party on.
Thanks in advance.
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