Basements and Braunsteins

Session 114: We Didn't Order Any Mandingos

This session was played 4/11/25. Adventuring lasted until 4/12/25.

#BroXT members meet up and join our longstanding campaign. Everything just fits like a glove!

Roster

Graador – Half-Orc – Fighter 2 – Caller
Gonad – Human – Fighter 1
George Clooney – Thief 2
Nick McNutly – Thief 1
Joe Hendry – Paladin 2

Downtime

Joe Hendry spent his downtime scouting the Goblin Reservation to find a secret entrance. This seemed to me to fit the description of the Thief’s ability. I let Joe Hendry roll on the thief table at 50% of a level 1 thief’s ability. He didn’t find any secret entrances, but was able to get a general estimate of the dimensions of the reservation, the type of walls it had, and where the entrances and exits were.

Graador spent his downtime hiring henchmen. He wanted to find at least one half orc if possible. He wanted someone else sympathetic to the HOAG cause by his side. I did some excel calculating and determined the proper number of henchmen for the population, found out how many were coming each day, and let him make some offers.

Session Report

4/11/25

The session began with Graador still in desperate need of the antidote to the poison he had been forced to take. Allegedly, he had five days left. While at the Chicken Jockey Inn, Graador and Joe Hendry met Gronad, a fighter who shared Graador’s sentiments about Bandos, the god of war.

Graador still needed a competent thief for his plan to work. Luckily, Nick McNutly was in the bar with him. The self-proclaimed “good thief” agreed to the job—lifting some personal belongings of the goblin chief and planting a murder weapon. The only condition: no one was to get hurt.

Unfortunately for McNutly, he was the newest member of the party, and his skill set predisposed him to this unique task, so he was forced to conceal the weaponry wherever he could. (He boofed it.)

The problem of getting past the goblin guards still remained, but Graador had a plan. He wanted to “enslave” the party and present them as his property when they passed into the Goblin Reservation. Slavery is legal under goblin law, so this should not be a problem.

Some of the party was naturally nervous, unsure of Graador’s secret intentions. They went along with it anyway.

At the gate, Graador presented himself as a traveling fight promoter. These “slaves” were his Mandingo Fighters, and he intended to showcase their abilities for the goblin chief.

“We didn’t order any Mandingos,” the goblin guards replied.

Graador insisted that the goblin chief see these once-in-a-lifetime human specimens. The guards relented but reminded him it was ultimately the chief’s decision. At the chief’s longhouse, Graador offered a percentage of the winnings and promised to personally help set up a DraftChiefs gambling program. Every placation was used to convince the chief to allow the Mandingo fights.

Finally, the terms were agreed upon. The reservation traditionally had a very low rake percentage, but the chief wanted to raise it for these games. The fights were set to take place that evening, a few hundred yards from the base of the chief’s hill.

While they waited for nightfall, McNutly gathered grass, leaves, and other greenery to make a green-face paste. Once the fights began, he planned to sneak away to plant the evidence.

The first Mandingo fight was between Joe Hendry and Gonad. The matchup seemed even until Gonad struck, and Joe Hendry countered, knocking him out. A rematch followed as soon as Gonad regained consciousness. Again, Joe Hendry landed a counter blow and knocked him unconscious. The chief loved the action but wanted the fights to last longer. They fought with clubs, and Joe Hendry won again.

It is worth noting that Joe Hendry dishonorably used his Lay on Hands ability mid-fight to heal himself.

Gonad could no longer continue fighting, but the chief was not ready to end the bouts.

“BRING ME HOBGOBLINS!” Joe Hendry yelled.

The goblins cheered, eager to see their kind fight humans. The first match against a hobgoblin was nearly fatal for Joe Hendry until Graador intervened, calling the fight. Graador stabilized Joe Hendry and carried him to a local armorer who was his friend.

During these rounds, McNutly slowly sneaked toward the chief’s longhouse. He approached from the front, threw rocks to one side of the building, and worked his way up the hill. Halfway up, he created a small fire to distract the guards. He climbed through a rear window and entered safely.

He searched for personal belongings he could take: a goblin tapestry depicting scalping, an ornamental dagger, and an ivory field horn. He dashed back the same way he came.

He forgot to plant the murder weapon and failed his Hide in Shadows roll.

Assuming he was spotted, he ran for the trees as shouting erupted. He climbed a wall, failed his roll, fell, and broke the ivory horn. Still, he made it to the other side and retained the evidence required by the Booga Bros. Success through repeated failure—but the murder weapon remained unplanted.

The rest of the party had taken shelter in an armorer’s house inside the reservation. By then, the reservation had partially erupted into riot, as the energy from the fights spilled over and locals realized someone had broken into the chief’s house and stolen sacred ornaments.

Graador had established credibility and was escorted out. Joe Hendry remained behind to heal. The party returned to Backwash to rest for the night and regroup before meeting the Booga Bros.

4/12/25 – Saturday

Since Joe Hendry’s player had him still at the reservation, he introduced another character: George Clooney, who had not been played for months. Clooney introduced himself at the bar, taking particular notice of McNutly.

“McNut, you could become a top earner if you sign up for our course. I see the potential. I see the Wolf in you,” he said.

All lies, of course.

The party remained at the Chicken Jockey Inn. Gonad bought a round and asked about rumors. It was a full moon, and the usual supernatural stories surfaced. Clooney interrupted to warn of the Matrix and the elites controlling life, urging the bar to join K.R.U.V. to reclaim Krozpont from the CCP.

Remembering last week’s events, Graador sought maximum protection. He spent part of the morning hiring as many half-orc laborers as he could and returned to the goblin reservation to recover Joe Hendry. Unfortunately, Joe Hendry had already been sold. Fortunately, George Clooney had purchased him.

Graador, his thirty half-orc laborers, and Gonad walked to the Purple Fountain to meet the Booga Bros contact, Soldier Boy.

At the tavern, the exchange proceeded as expected. Graador handed over the stolen goblin tapestry and received three “potions,” only one allegedly the antidote. Graador paid Gonad 1,000 gold to test them. Gonad sampled the three, recommending the second vial for its sweet flavor, despite the almost instant headache it caused.

Graador drank the potion, failed his poison save, and died in the street.

Graador had equipped all his bearers with oil flasks, instructing them to burn the area if he did not survive. The half-orcs did not care about his death or the Booga Bros. As the flasks were lit, Gonad removed Graador’s backpack while Strong Stack carried the body to safety. Lt. Heavy Belly and B.U.S.T. established a perimeter to secure the area.

Back at the Chicken Jockey, Clooney devised a plan to rob a silver merchant and use the silver weapons to collect loot from the rat-infested sewers. Half the party set up a fake merchant stall at the alley entrance, with Clooney out front and McNutly in the tent.

The other half located a merchant and requested knives, swords, and arrows. The merchant agreed to meet later with additional supply.

McNutly waited to subdue the merchant but failed his stealth attempt. George Clooney seized the opportunity, surprise-attacked the merchant, and killed him. The two guards were quickly dealt with. The silver weapons were looted, the bodies stuffed in the tent, and the party fled to Hustler University for asylum, managed by the Wolf Pack.

Aftermath

Slain

Treasure

Score

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#1e #brosr #broxt #krozpont #mandingo #session report