Session 113: Your Lives Matter But Our Lives Don't
This session was played 3/29/25 and adventuring lasted until 4/2/25.
Roster
- Joe Hendry – Paladin 2 (Caller / Mapper)
- Graador – Half-orc Fighter 2 (Mapper)
Session Report
Back to our scheduled programming. We had been on a short gaming hiatus—my son, Dax, was born, and other table members were handling job changes and other commitments.
We were already light on players for this session, and unfortunately, another member overslept. The two remaining players used their small numbers to their advantage, attempting to go undercover.
The party was currently following several leads into the criminal underworld:
- Known were-rats living in the sewers beneath Backwash.
- Goblins building tunnels to undermine the Krozpont walls.
- Orcish bone weaponry used in the assassination of Dr. Fagét, the leading medical professional in Krozpont.
- Infiltrating one of the many crime syndicates in Backwash on behalf of Lt. Heavy-Belly.
3/29/25 – Saturday
The party’s first objective was to locate an entrance into the rumored goblin tunnels running beneath the city walls. They searched the area between the goblin reservation and the outer Krozpont walls for unusual land features: fake or illusionary trees, rocks, or other structures potentially hiding tunnel entrances. They also noted any cave openings for later investigation.
Early in the morning, the party discovered something unusual: two soiled mattresses aligned side-by-side near the edge of a dry creek bed. Footprints in the mud and slide marks along the mattresses suggested they had been moved recently. Lacking a skilled trap-disarming ability, the party exercised caution.
Joe Hendry used his pike to probe the mattresses and tried to wiggle them to test stability. Behind the mattresses was a wooden board. Once removed, they revealed a tunnel. Joe attempted to detect evil, but found nothing significant.
Graador, with his half-orc infra-vision, took point. The tunnel measured roughly 10′ high and 20′ wide, ideal for transporting equipment or troops under the city walls. The party also noticed two rope systems: one overhead, likely for bucket transport, and one along the side with brass bells tied at intervals. The tunnel was reinforced with large animal bones and wooden beams.
They debated whether to cut the bell rope but decided against it for the moment. Realizing they didn’t have enough torches, the party returned to the tunnel entrance. Joe Hendry went back to Backwash to buy more torches, while Graador traced the tunnel’s path above ground, confirming it ran beneath the city walls.
They regrouped and returned to the tunnels, proceeding further. The passage veered slightly right and opened into a room with a large church-style brass bell hanging from wooden beams. A door was to the right of the bell, an opening behind it, and an open passageway to the left with doors on opposite walls.
The party debated cutting down the bell but left it intact. They searched one room before the left passageway and found used tunneling equipment. Joe Hendry gave a pickaxe to one of his hirelings.
They continued down the left passageway (north), encountering a locked door they could not open. Crossing a red-painted line on the wooden support beams, they assumed they had entered city limits.
Further along, Graador used infra-vision to detect heat signatures on doors. One door appeared recently opened, so the party chose the other. Inside, they found what resembled an underground well. Joe Hendry inspected it, but there wasn’t enough torchlight to see the bottom. He cut the rope, producing an echoing thud from below. Realizing it was a “Pippin in the Mines of Moria” situation, the party scrambled to retreat the way they had entered.
Unfortunately, a guard room across from them moved to confront them. The bell rang in the south. The party quickly dispatched them and fled south toward the bell room. Tragically, one hireling was killed by goblins.
In the bell room, the two adventurers and remaining hirelings faced a dozen goblins and the threat of reinforcements. They decided to charge through the goblins, killing as many as possible, then disengage and flee down the tunnels.
Two hirelings and two goblins were killed, but the party successfully broke through, survived opportunity attacks, and exited the tunnels. They recovered the entrance with the mattresses and returned to Backwash.
4/2/25 – Wednesday
The party spent several days recovering and copying their maps before resuming adventuring. They handed a copy to Lt. Heavy-Belly, who thanked them and said he would assemble a task force to investigate. He also asked if the party had new information on gang activity in Backwash; they did not.
To gather intelligence, Graador went undercover, attempting to sell narcotics to local gangs. This was poorly conceived: as a conspicuous half-orc, not very intelligent, and unable to speak Thieves’ Cant, he was quickly suspected as a narc or informant. He was subdued by three gang members, knocked out, taken to the cellar of the Purple Fountain Tavern, stripped, bound, and interrogated.
During interrogation, Graador bonded with the gang member over their shared hatred of goblins. He agreed to use his access to the goblin reservation to assist the gang by planting assassination materials in a high-ranking goblin official’s room. This would either blackmail or frame the official for Dr. Fagét’s assassination. Graador complied but was forced to drink a poison serum. He was promised an antidote upon returning within two weeks with an item from the official’s personal belongings to confirm the task.
Fatal due date: April 16th
Aftermath
Joe Hendry – S – Led the party through goblin tunnels without fatalities. Graador – S – Did not betray B.U.S.T. or Lt. Heavy-Belly; redirected gang members’ anger toward the goblins.
Leave a comment below.