I'm still stingy.

Great descriptions, Chain! It's so fun to read the many ways this adventure can play out. It's all about player choices and ingenuity. I'm rooting for the linkboy to take all the treasure after the PCs die. ;)

 

AS&SH Campaign Session 5 (October 15, 2014)
cadam11 – Gadas the Kimmerian warlock (level 3)
capitalbill – Gunnr the Viking berserker (level 4)
lige – Brandoch the Kimmeri-Kelt barbarian (level 3)

Summary. After a little carousing, our heroes decided to check out the Death’s Door Inn and Tavern, where one of the rescued maidens placed her kidnapper. They had a few drinks (and got into a bar fight), tried to climb the front of the building (and got busted by the night watch), broke into the candlemaker’s place next door (and realized he was harmless) and finally snuck downstairs to investigate the Ixian innkeeper (Nabazos Methakos) and his dim-witted servant (Pagos Methakos), who turned out to be tricky slavers (surprise!). This was kind of a silly session, with almost no fighting and no treasure - but we laughed a lot and had a good time!

Carousing! capitalbill’s Viking berserker and lige’s Kimmeri-Kelt barbarian both opted for a little carousing after kicking ass in the Xavadar crypt (or barely surviving, depending on your perspective). As befits a barbarian, lige failed his saving throw vs poison (i.e., drunken lunacy) and wound up in a huge barfight at the Laughing Skull, one of Khromarium’s notorious pits of villainy. Thankfully he survived, though it will come back to haunt him, as there’s now a little-known gang (Southside Punks) out looking to avenge their public humiliation. Bill’s Viking also failed his save vs poison (i.e., smoking lotus) and wound up at a lotus den, waxing philosophic on the virtue of wild bloodlust and battle frenzy. He unknowingly endeared himself to a few members of a Ymir cult. They welcomed him into their fold and said they’d be in touch.

A beggar, eh? Beggar this! After a few weeks of training and carousing, our crew met up at the Death’s Door Inn and Tavern to surveil the place. Nabazos, a retired Ixian magician, tended bar with a smile while his slow, dimwitted helper Pagos ran out food from the kitchen. They ordered a few rounds and drank for several hours. Eventually four rogues rolled in and took a seat at a nearby table. One guy kept eyeballing lige’s barbarian, then approached him and demanded lige buy him a beer because lige was a “wealthy adventurer.” lige responded “I thought beggars stayed out in the street!” The ruffian immediately drew his sword, inspiring his friends and lige’s friends to rise to their feet, all swords drawn and snarling. Nabazos ushered them into the street with Pagos yelling “No blood inside, out, out, out.” Everyone filed out in the street, including many patrons, with lige’s barbarian and the rogue each standing in front of their respective crews, ready to tangle. Tests of constitution were failed, so the drunks set upon each other, swinging with the precision of too much ale. The ruffian’s crew laughed as their man was cut down in the street, while the barbarian’s crew stood by menacingly. The ruffians laughed one last time, stripped their dead companion of his wealth and took off, acknowledging their friend’s foolishness with a wave goodbye.

Ignore the men climbing the front side of the inn. Moving back inside, the crew continued to drink, watch and listen. Eventually the place cleared out and Nabazos and Pagos went to bed, exiting through the kitchen door. cadam tried to follow, but the door was locked. cadam then cast invisibility on the barbarian and tried to provoke Pagos to open the kitchen door again, so that the barbarian could sneak past. Unfortunately, Pagos only barely opened the door (“Go to bed you drunk fools”). At this point, the guys decided they’d get to the roof and check things out. They marched into the street and the barbarian quickly climbed to the roof (three story building). From there, he spied a trapdoor to the third floor and a four story building adjacent to the inn, behind it, with some windows. They decided they’d all go up, so he dropped a line down. A patrol of guards came walking by and immediately ordered them down. The crew played it off as a drunk thing, which the guards kind of bought. They encouraged the men to go to bed and left two guards downstairs.

No way he’s just a candlemaker (or maybe he is). This ruckus with the guards caused some noise, drawing Pagos out of the kitchen, at which point the still-invisible barbarian quickly snuck through the kitchen door. In front of Pagos and the guards, cadam and capitalbill feigned drunken stupidity for the climbing bit and went upstairs. Instead of heading to their rooms, though, they went to third floor and up onto the roof. Capitalbill snuck through a window into the adjacent building, finding himself in a workshop for candlemaking. He tip-toed through the room into the main building, but broke a step on the stairs leading down, causing a great noise. He scurried back out onto the roof and watched as an old guy came to check things out. capitalbill then crept back in and down the stairs, finding a bunch of crates of candles and barrels of whale oil (etc) on the third floor and two old people sleeping on the second floor. Deciding this building was not in fact related to the kidnapping, they then returned to their rooms.

You say you’re innocent? Carry on then. Back inside, lige’s barbarian watched Pagos come through the kitchen door, activate a secret door, then leave the room. He followed, finding himself in a narrow hallway with stairs leading down and up. He went down, discovering a small living quarters with two beds and some bookshelves. He saw Nabazos sleeping, but the other bed was empty. He crept up behind Nabazos, put a blade to his neck and interrogated him about the kidnapped maidens. Nabazos feigned ignorance, begging for his life, claiming jealous rivals had framed him. lige’s barbarian thought that made sense, but he wanted to explore more, so he locked Nabazos in a nearby storeroom and then went upstairs to check out the other stairs. He found that these led to a secret passageway running behind the second-floor rooms, from which someone could spy on the guests through cleverly hidden peepholes! In fact, he saw Pagos moving back and forth, peeping into his crew’s rooms! Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him – it was Nabazos in the hallway, decked out in scale, with one hand holding a sword and the other glowing green with magic! Happily still invisible, he heard Nabazos whisper to Pagos, “Nabazos, they’re not who they say they are – we have to killed them!” lige realized the dim-witted server was actually Nabazos and the bartender his helper, Pagos! The real Pagos then moved away, back downstairs. lige moved through a secret door into the second-floor hallway. The three adventurers coincidentally bumped into each other in front of their rooms on the second floor, unsure of their next move.

Time elapsed: 1 day (after two weeks of training)
Treasure won: none
Maidens rescued: zero
Enemies overcome: Southside Punk (x1)
Adventurers slain: zero

Hey man! Thanks for posting. Hope to see you around here more.

Glad you had fun - this game's only as good as the people playing it.

lige wrote:

It was a really fun session - we even split the party and chainsaw kept things moving splendidly.

Beginner's luck, haha. Glad you had fun. I know it can be tough to devote 9-12AM time on a work night, so I appreciate the effort from you guys. For example, I loved the beggar line - I laugh whenever I think about it, heheh. Keeps things exciting!

I was pretty surprised when the dude I thought I had locked up suddenly appeared. 

I thought, "He will never believe there was a secret passage leading out of that storeroom - I'll have to show him the map to prove I didn't fudge the "Nabazo's" reappearance."
 

Scalydemon wrote:

Cool stuff Chainsaw.

Thanks! I am not a great referee, so anytime people don't regret playing, I'm happy.

I have run Charnel Crypt twice, once via Skype and once face to face. Good times in both instances.

Nice! Ever since my son was born, I've had less time to create original material, so I've relied more on modules. I've still had to change them a bit though because capitalbill reads them all (jerk!), but so far it's worked out fairly well, as the players get some exposure to a common experience and yet part of it's unique as well.

When do you run your games? Do you ever accept additional players?

Usually we run games from 9PM-12AM EST on M, T or W depending on people's schedules. We're not averse to doing two weeks in a row, but it's typically wound up as an every 2-3 weeks game on account of real life complications.

Because of the limitations of the G+ format, I like keeping the group small, no more than a few players. I like having three, but I would not be opposed to four under the right circumstances. Five would be too many for me (weak refereeing skills!).

capitalbill wrote:

Chainsaw wrote:

Ignore the men climbing the front side of the inn.

Very fun session. I crack up every time I picture the guards rounding the corner and seeing us climbing up the side of the building.

It is a silly image, hehe.

Can't believe they didn't buy the "We're just training" line!

I know! What the hell?!?!?

Ghul wrote:

Chainsaw wrote:

capitalbill wrote:

Can't believe they didn't buy the "We're just training" line!

I know! What the hell?!?!?

Did you guys seriously try that line? LOL

Yes - it was so dumb that I ruled it made their second explanation that they were drunk more persuasive (which was true because they'd actually been drinking and failed rolls vs drunkenness).

My character had a jug of wine in one hand during all his reonnoitering.  With my own intake I like to think of it as method role playing. 

I'm still a stingy bastard. Ask any of my players.

EDIT: Oops, I was responding to earlier conversations about treasure dispersal.

EDIT #2: And..... it looks like I already responded with pretty much the same reply. I need my coffee.

 

Last edited by Ghul (10/25/2014 9:16 am)

Chainsaw wrote:

Ghul wrote:

I'm still a stingy bastard. Ask any of my players.

EDIT: Oops, I was responding to earlier conversations about treasure dispersal.

EDIT #2: And..... it looks like I already responded with pretty much the same reply. I need my coffee.

Haha, well, at least you are consistent.

Consistently dense, perhaps!