The count asks for help – part 1

We were supposed to play a D&D game. Near the game day, the DM was unable to make it. So no game. Then someone suggested I host a Lone Wolf game instead. All of us were prepared to meet and play on that game day anyway.

I said OK, and immediately felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. The arranged game day was exactly 1 week after my previous Lone Wolf session. That turned out fine, relatively speaking.

So I took a couple of hours throughout the 1 week interval to flesh out my other home brew adventure that I didn’t play out the last time. Let me just say that, preparing a Lone Wolf adventure was much easier than preparing the kind of D&D games my friends play. My biggest challenge was preparing story plot points, and I’m good at that. Enemy statistics were minimal, so I didn’t have to balance the combat difficulty too much.

The night before the game day, I was fretting about the story plots. A friend reminded me that I’m the DM. I already know what behaviour to expect from my friends. If they completely destroy my story, and I’ve no way to continue, just say “Rocks fall, everyone dies“. I’m the DM. I’m the local Divinity. What I say is the final rule.

Yeah right…

I’ll continue to use the call signs of my friends.

• Catatonia. The DM who couldn’t make it.
• Blender. The behind-the-scenes kind of guy.
• Torturer. Panic-inducing extraordinaire.
• Beastmaster. Don’t give him a gerbil. Just don’t.
• Archer. Arrows shoot out of his bow faster than you can say “Save”.
• Chaosbreaker. Our new Kai initiate.

You’ll find out more about Chaosbreaker soon.

They completed the introductory adventure. I just felt they didn’t do it in the spirit of a Kai monk. So in the spirit of a good DM, say yes. Just create consequences for it.

So I ruled they don’t get the level up. No new discipline to learn. It’s not much of a punishment. The rule book sort of implied this anyway. “Fail” at the adventure, and no level up. But I’ve got more…

The punishments

The next morning at the Kai Monastery, Kai Master Stormsong summoned them.

“It has come to my attention some distressing news.” Stormsong started. “A Kai tracker returning from his duties told of a red fox in the forest. It was clearly agitated and frightened. Now this would be unimportant, except for the fact that when the tracker looked into the animal’s mind, he saw a fellow Kai. The fox was very scared of that Kai, even more so than another memory of Giaks.”

Stormsong looked at them, eyes moving slowly from one to another. “The tracker returned to the Monastery. And coincidentally recognised you as that Kai in that poor animal’s mind.” Stormsong stopped at Beastmaster.

“But it was for completing the task in front of us!” defended Beastmaster.

“The City Watch of Toran lodged a complaint to the Monastery.” continued Stormsong. “Apparently, there was widespread panic about a non-existent outbreak of leprosy. It took them several hours to calm the people down, and confirm that there wasn’t any leprosy cases. Witness accounts told of a Kai jumping on top of a beggar, announcing him as a leprosy carrier.” Stormsong stopped at Torturer.

“But we needed information, and the beggar was exploiting us!” defended Torturer.

“I have also a missive from Farah, the landlady of Golden Sun Inn.” continued Stormsong. “She told of a Kai sexually assaulting one of her maids. The maid was wrought with grief and traumatised.” Stormsong stopped at Archer.

“I paid 8 Gold Crowns to her! That lying, conniving wen–” Archer stopped as Stormsong glowered at him.

“For today, all of you are to perform physical tasks for the Monastery as punishment.” said Stormsong.

“But I didn’t do anything.” pleaded Blender.

“And that, is your crime.” said Stormsong. “You should have stopped your fellow Kai. I would have Catatonia be punished as well, but he’s in the infirmary, tending to his back.”

The punishment I gave was simple. 2 choices: chopping firewood, or hauling water. Chopping firewood was a straight -2CS penalty. Hauling water was a bit more complicated. It’s a 4-step sequence. The first was a difficulty 23, with bonus from their natural COMBAT SKILL. Then followed by 3 blind luck Tests. Failing any of the 4 was a -1CS, and they stack up. Penalties from both choices of punishment were temporary, and would last 1 day.

All of them chose chopping firewood. I was expecting maybe one of them to try their luck.

Torturer said Stormsong didn’t know about Dunal Torn being “held captive”. So if they’re going to do anything, all witnesses must be “eliminated”. Beastmaster said the next time he sees that red fox, he’s going to cook it and eat it.

I groaned. My NPCs (human or otherwise) were never going to make it past their first scene…

The count asks for help

The next morning, Stormsong summoned our adventurers again. “I have 2 requests for help. And I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourselves and bring glory to the Order.” There was another Kai initiate standing beside Stormsong. “This is Chaosbreaker. He will assist you while Catatonia is recovering from his back injury.”

The first task was from Count Gerrich. He donated generously to the Kai Monastery before, and had shown himself to be a good friend of the Kai. The count had asked Stormsong to discreetly investigate his sister, Mathilda. His sister had been behaving strangely of late. He would have done so himself, but he needed to travel at that point in time to conduct business. He and his sister lived in an estate south of Toran, and his sister loved visiting Toran, if only because she’s bored at home. His manservant, Occula, always accompanied her for security. Occula would have followed even if the count didn’t ask the servant to do so. Her next visit to Toran would be a few days later, and she usually stayed at the White Lion Inn.

My friends immediately speculated on my choice of word. Manservant. Does he “serve” her? I sensed innuendo. I said there was only one servant in the house. He “serves” the whole house? *raucous laughter at table*

I said there was only the count, his sister and the servant. Questions started bouncing up. Why only one servant? Is the servant in an affair with the sister? What kind of business was the count in? There was more, but I planned to reveal it a bit later when circumstances made sense. For now, they had to be kept in the dark…

“We’ll do that task. Wait, there’s 2, right? Let’s hear the second task.” said Beastmaster.

The second task was from the City Watch. There were reports of strange purple lights occurring in the southern part of Toran. Moaning and cries of pain could be heard when they were seen. The City Watch would like the Kai to help investigate. Discreetly, of course. No point causing a panic.

Up next, strange lights and abandoned houses.