First session of Lone Wolf multiplayer game – part 4

Read part 1, part 2 and part 3 first.

Previously, our Kai adventurers defeated the bunch of fake soldiers and captured the leader, Dunal Torn. I decided that facing his employer Jasper Kleth with the failure of his murderous attempt was worse than being in the hands of the Kai. Not that being with the Kai was any better. So Dunal bit his tongue and died.

I was rather proud of how I handled that.

Arrows and exploding scrolls

Everyone was shocked for about a second. Then anticlimactically,

“Can I get my arrows back?” asked Archer.

He shot 2 arrows, one at Dunal, another at one of the fake soldiers. I gave him a difficulty 3 to pull the arrows out. He rolled…

“The arrow snapped in 2 while you’re trying to pull it out.” I said.
“Oh. Hm.” Archer shrugged, mimicking a throwing away of a wasted arrow motion. “What about the other arrow?”
“The other one’s lodged deep in the body of the soldier. You can’t get it out.” I smiled.

Archer said something that cannot be repeated here. Small comforts…

They searched the bodies and surrounding area. And found a sealed scroll case. And started hemming and hawing on the merits of opening it.

The scroll case could be masked with exploding runes. One of the previous D&D DMs apparently riddled his scroll cases with exploding runes, and my friends couldn’t forget that. They were throwing the scroll case to each other like a hot potato. Eventually, they decided to brave it, and open it.

Inside was a letter. The gist was that Dunal had sent the Giaks to kill the merchant, Harbold. They failed. The writer then told Dunal to fix it. It was signed “JK”.

Then my friends turned to Harbold. Who was this Jasper Kleth? Can he take them to Jasper?

I had to think. Harbold wasn’t supposed to lead them to Jasper. But my friends’ arguments were reasonable. If Jasper was Harbold’s business partner, how come Harbold didn’t know where he lived? Don’t they have a venue to conduct business? All reasonable.

I said Jasper was secretive, and that businesses were conducted in existing venues. Harbold might have an office, but Jasper certainly didn’t have one. In any case, Harbold didn’t know where Jasper could be found. It’s a logical hole. How come the author didn’t see that?

Arriving in Toran

Anyway, my friends abandoned the soldier disguise plan (thank goodness), but they hung on to the soldier outfits, which worried me. Blender said he would wear his Kai robes, while the others were in King’s Guard uniforms. They escorted Harbold to the town Toran without incident. Then Harbold thanked the Kai, said they could hang around for a few more days (just in case), and they could have his room at the Golden Sun Inn. Then he turned and walked away into the streets.

There were 2 story branches. Either my friends accompany Harbold, or they return to the Kai Monastery. As expected, my friends chose neither. They were going to stalk and follow Harbold.

I said, after a few streets, Harbold stopped and turned around. And there they were! So back to the accompanying Harbold story branch. Astoundingly, none of them put up a fight on why Harbold could so easily spot the Kai. A couple of them had the Camouflage discipline.

At the Golden Sun Inn, Harbold introduced them as Kai to the landlady Farah, as written in the script. “So much for disguises,” said Torturer. Then Harbold left the inn. Beastmaster mentioned how calm Harbold seemed, considering he was the target just recently.

Farah said Harbold was paying for their stay, and she would keep quiet about their identity as Kai. Then she sent a maid by the name of Nyssa to show them to their room.

My friends were deciding what to do next. “Aw, my back!” cried Catatonia. No strenuous activity there, so they sent Catatonia to get information from the streets. Where Jasper could be living, could be found, his business venues and the like. Well, that wasn’t part of the script. But I shrugged and let them do it. And it’s time for the next part of the action.

The kidnapping

Nyssa the Sommlending maid burst into their room, crying out that Mister Harbold was taken. I did my best falsetto voice to simulate a hysterical woman. No small feat.

Did my friends give her a herbal drink to calm her down? No.

Did my friends speak calmly to her and coax her for more information? No.

Did my friends use the Healing discipline on her? No.

Did my friends use the Mindshield discipline to possibly block her mind from the terrible event? No.

Did my friends do anything to try to calm her? No.

So what did they do? Archer went up to Nyssa, grabbed her by the legs and flung her over his shoulders. Like a Neanderthal carrying his hunt of the day. Then he went into the room and shut the door. Well, he’s a man, and she’s a woman… he has needs I guess, even a Kai monk.

Wait. What?!

So, with my NPC with the only source of information gone, I had to think. The best I could do was come up with another maid. This time, I didn’t bother with a name. Who knows which Kai monk has urges too?

The new maid came to them and just blurted out the facts. I didn’t want any of my friends to have any weird ideas before they know the pertinent information. I summarised the facts into 2:

• There was a big man hauling Harbold away.
• There was a woman escaping over the rooftops.

Catatonia was out on the streets gathering information. And Archer was, uh, busy with the maid. So Blender, Beastmaster and Torturer decided to go after the big man.

The leprous beggar

They went to the streets. I was supposed to tell them that they should ask around about that big man and Harbold. I was nervous. I forgot. Well you handle having one of your NPCs being dragged off to satisfy a male sexual urge.

So I introduced them immediately to the next story section. A beggar beckoned them over. He said he’d be willing to tell them information about the “kidnapping”. For the price of 1 Gold Crown each. If they were willing to pay 3 Gold Crowns per player, then the beggar would bring them to where Jasper lived.

I was role playing the beggar with as much sinistery and unsavoury a feeling as I could. I dragged his words a little, lingering just a tad on the S’s. I think that was the beggar’s downfall.

“I plunge my spear at the beggar,” announced Beastmaster.

That’s starting to become a habit…

What?!? “I don’t like him. He gives me the creeps.” said Beastmaster. I held my head in my hands. Why? Why? Why?

I thought fast. I said the beggar, looking at the wound, stumbled away from them. He ran into the streets, thinking he’d be safe. He wasn’t.

Torturer was right behind him.

The beggar turned round to see a huge figure jumping after him. The two collapsed in a heap, the beggar pinned down by Torturer. Before the beggar could cry out for help, Torturer clamped his hands discreetly over his mouth. I said a crowd was beginning to form, hopefully to scare Torturer and the rest away.

I was wrong.

“Leprosy!” shouted Torturer.

I had no choice. It was a valid move. Leprosy was a scary disease, particular if in a setting such as Magnamund. The crowd started to disperse in fleeing terror. But not before another beggar ran forward, and dragged the “leprous” beggar away.

I didn’t even get to tell them the beggar’s name. It’s Tinker Grime.

Ok. So 1 of 2 branches where my friends could continue the adventure completely killed off. Let’s hope they don’t kill off the other one…

Up next, a thief and a slave trader.