Building Bhakashal - Session Report 

My after school D&D starts off in a few weeks, but my home game has been going on all summer. We haven’t been able to meet that often, the game is two fathers of my son’s friends, and summer is filled with family events.We played again last night. In the last session, the PCs rescued a warlock, Bhomar the Bronze, who had been petrified by a basilisk. Bandits had taken over his tower after he was petrified, the PCs cleared out the bandits and discovered a plot

The PCs found out that the bandits were hired to harass caravans and patrols in the area around the tower. Each Noble House in Bhakashal has a section of the marshlands under their jurisdiction, this area was under House Rostus. The bandits were hired to disrupt trade and activities in an area controlled by House Rostus, this brings dishonor to their House. So this wasn’t just a case of “bandits attacking caravans”, it was part of a larger scheme.

The party brought this information to their patron, Kamerli the Ivory or House Quannar. Kamerli saw an opportunity to gain an alliance with House Rostus. He approached Lord Kammershorn the Iron and the Warlock Tairnay the Sphene of House Rostus. These two were responsible for House Rostus interests in the marshlands, and they were very keen to hear this news. Kamerli, wanting to ingratiate himself with House Rostus with a potential alliance in mind, offered to “solve” their problem. He then tasked the PCs with finding out who hired the bandits, and kidnapping them! In Bhakashal kidnapping is an honor crime, victims are NEVER harmed, instead they are captured, the House is dishonored, and a huge ransom is demanded.

So that was their task. They had one advantage, Maglane the Malachite, a Bhakashal Thaumaturge (thief/magic-user) was with the bandits but switched allegiances after they left her to die with the party after a botched attempt to repel the PCs. Maglane knew that after being routed the bandits would likely head back to the city to find work, she had five leads as to their location- The Iron Galleon (a tavern where they look for work), Kelgir’s Brand (a tattoo shop of one of his friends), the Temple of Xoam (many of his crew worship Xoam), The Arena (they like to bet) and The Ivory Door (a tavern in Raosk where they recruit)

They decided to ignore the arena as it was busy enough that it would be hard to spot the bandits. They also decided against the Temple As they felt the priests might not take kindly to inquiries about worshippers. That narrowed it down to the Iron Galleon, Kelgir’s Brand or the Ivory Door. The PCs decided against the tavern in the Raosk as they were in the city already, the Raosk could wait for another day.

To keep it spontaneous, I created a list of options for daytime and night time activities for the bandits, so when the PCs wanted to look for them, I rolled to see where they were. It was mid-afternoon, and I rolled the tattoo place. They had two options to choose between. It just so happened that one of them was right, but they didn’t know that. At this point it was a matter of luck. 

Then the gods intervened, as one of the players decided to cast Augury.

Side note, I routinely see people complaining that PCs can get “stuck” trying to make decisions, but they don’t even think to use spells like this. It isn’t guaranteed, but using divination in a game with magic should be a go-to. It’s another reason why priests are awesome.

“Will it bring weal or woe to go to the Iron Galleon rather than Kelgir’s Brand?” The party Seer (Bhakashal priest), Ghollen Taz, threw his gem inlaid lizard bones and read them, the answer was strong and clear, “Woe”. 

Now, the interesting thing about Augury is that “woe” could be any number of things unrelated to the bandits, all it means is that things won’t go well if they go to the Iron Galleon. The bandits might actually be there! Augury is sort of vague, but it was enough to tip them towards going to the tattoo parlor, and that happened to be the right place. I then rolled to see if the bandit leader was at the tattoo place, or just some bandits. 1 in 6 chance, and I rolled a 1. So the bandit leader was there.

So, suddenly, the party was on a track to get to the bandit leader about 10 min into the game! I know some refs would have thrown in complications so it wouldn’t be “too easy”, or to make it “more dramatic”.

Nonsense. 

The PCs went to Kelgir’s Brand.

They didn’t know they were about to hit paydirt, they walked into the place and the bandit leader, Rojmi Yin, was there with three of his lieutenants, all talking to the tattoo artist, who was a friend of Yin’s. I rolled for surprise, and the bandits won. 

Now, the PCs were there with Maglane, Yin and Maglane knew each other as former colleagues, and Yin had fought the party before, so he knew who they were. How would he react? 

Here is another place where I find that there is a default to combat with many refs. They fought before, so he would naturally attack (particularly as they had surprise) on sight, right?

Thing is, Yin doesn’t know exactly what happened at the tower, I do, but I’m the ref. So he might think that Maglane was charmed, or threatened, or that this isn’t really Maglane, as illusions are a thing. Just because she left with them doesn’t mean she is a traitor. If it IS Maglane, and she did turn on them, then he would want to know what she “gave up” before slaying her. So, attacking right away isn’t necessarily the smartest thing to do. Then again, maybe he’s angry, maybe he has been dishonored, maybe he and Maglane were close. 

What I have realized over the years is that there is no right answer to these sorts of questions, all sorts of decisions could “make sense”, so I roll the encounter reaction dice, with mods based on the fact the party kicked his ass a few days ago, and it comes up negative/no immediate action.

So, he isn’t happy about the situation, but he doesn’t act as he wants to know more, and to talk a bit of smack. He asks questions of Maglane, the threatens the party, but he doesn’t pull steel. At this point, the PCs make him an offer, give up his boss and they will pay the bandits off handsomely. Rojmi Yin was wary, his boss would already be pissed that he was kicked out of the tower and lost men, if he turned loyalties he was as good as dead.

No deal.

Instead he counter proposed, not knowing who the PCs worked for. Help him retake the tower and defeat Bhomar the Bronze (now that he was de-petrified), and he would give up his employer. They quickly refused that offer. There was some shifting of feet, Rojmi Yin, three bandits and the Jugyi (turtle person) tattooist outnumbered the PCs by one.

Then, the party Seer chimed in, I’m not sure where he got the idea, and why he thought he could make the offer, but he told the bandits that they could work for the PC’s patron instead, they just had to give up their current patron. 

At that point it was time for another encounter reaction roll, how would he respond?

It was a positive result, so I had to decide WHY the bandit leader would shift alliances. When you make these decisions you end up not just resolving the actions, but also creating the fabric of the game world. So I decided that Rojmi, having failed his current patron, was eager for the protection of a new patron. 

So he agreed to their terms and gave up his now former employer. The bandits were hired to disrupt trade and activities by Mitrax Toma the Bold and Calligaster Naukan, a House Omander Lord and Warlock.

Now they had a target.

They left the bandits with promises to get them new employment and headed to Kamerli the Ivory. Kamerli was pleased at their progress, and armed with this information quickly found out about the pair. Calligaster lived in the tower of the Magus Warlock of House Omander, Mar Kassan, and spent most of his time there. That location was far too dangerous. Mitrax spent most of his time at the House Omander barracks, also an impossible task to infiltrate.  

Mitrax Toma the Bold, however, has a villa in the city, the PCs decided to surveil the villa. They started by looking in the area for a tavern or inn to stay at, they found one and then they spent a morning from dawn until noon walking around the surrounding neighbourhoods. Their plan was to get to know the area well enough that they would have an advantage when fleeing later.

I rolled for encounters in that time but nothing came up.

They repeated this routine for the afternoon, and called it a day.

The next day they returned to their watch point and kept an eye on the villa. By 1 pm Mitrax emerged from the villa, flanked by two soldiers, and rode to the barracks. The PCs decided to take advantage of this opportunity. The players were running a warlock and a seer, and they were travelling with a Thaumaturge (Maglane the Malachite). They waited until night to act. As it happens, Maglane had the gear necessary to infiltrate the villa, and in cases like this I give the NPC to the players to control, otherwise they are just watching me play. 

That’s no fun.

They looked over Maglane’s character sheet and came up with a plan. They found an alley near the villa and Maglane the Malachite took out two scrolls. The first had a Fly spell, the second had an Invisibility spell. She then flew over the wall surrounding the villa and found an open window (many windows in Bhakashal have no glass, they  are completely open, due to the incessant, infernal heat). She entered and saw a guard inside the house, clearly bored.

As she landed on the floor and was walking around inside I asked for a Move Silently roll, which was passed. Slowly she looked at the different rooms in the house. She was sorely tempted when she found a chest in Mitrax’s room, but decided against trying to open it as they wanted to look around without it being known they were there. She had to pass back by the guard and I asked for another Move Silently roll, which she also passed. 

After surveilling the whole villa, she left the way she came and made it back to the PCs. 

I should note here that the gardens around the villa were filled with berry laden plants, these berries burst when people brush against them, and the scent summons a pair of giant wasps from hiding. Since Maglane flew in she circumvented this trap. The players made that decision for her without knowing.

Lucky!

They decided they would head back to the tavern to wait. The party warlock has a familiar, a red hawk, and they directed the hawk to fly around and watch the barracks while they waited. Mitrax didn’t always come back to his villa at night, sometimes he stayed in his accommodations at the barracks, or was out on maneuvers overnight. I rolled to see what he would do… and it came up that he came home to the villa. 

The warlock now felt a tug in his head, closed his eyes and saw what the hawk could see, Mitrax and two of his guards returning to the villa from the barracks. The party decided to get close and picked a spot near the villa to watch Mitrax pass. They were contemplating following him and then entering the villa and sneaking in to kidnap him.

Then, the party warlock suggested they just ambush him on the way by. It was the kind of decision that gives some players grey hair. They had spent a good chunk of the session casing his villa and his guards, and carefully stalking the guy. Now they were just going to grab him in the street. 

The party Seer had a Hold Person spell, and the Warlock had a Emyar’s Armor Lock spell on a scroll. They found a spot to wait. Mitrax and his guards appeared, riding on gess (giant lizards). I rolled to see if there were any people passing by, none came up. I rolled to see if anyone was watching from nearby windows. Nothing there either.

As he passed by their spot, they cast the two spells. The Seer decided to cast Hold Person only on Mitrax, to maximize the save penalty. It was successful, and he was paralyzed on his mount. The warlock cast Emyar’s Armor Lock on the guards, crushing one to death and holding the other. Then the Thaumaturge cast Magic Missile, slaying the other guard. 

They quickly ditched the bodies and rode off on the mounts with Mitrax. The last hurdle was to get to their hideout with a paralyzed body without being spotted by anyone suspicious. Since Mitrax was riding when he was paralyzed, it was possible that someone riding by, sitting behind Mitrax on the mount, wouldn’t arouse suspicion. So I rolled to see if any city guards or other NPCs might have noticed them. They passed through 4 wards on the way back, and each roll came up negative.

Home free.

They had successfully found and kidnapped Mitrax Toma the Bold. 

The neat part is that Mitrax will be freed with a hefty ransom, dishonored as he was kidnapped by a rival, and he will have it out for the PCs and their patron. They have made a new enemy, and a powerful one at that. If he hadn’t failed the save Mitrax would have been able to slay the PCs quite easily, he is a high level Mercenary (fighter) and at close range they would have been at an extreme disadvantage.

This session was another reminder to me of why I don’t like “success with a cost” or “failure but you move forward” style mechanics in my games. Pass/fail is far more dramatic and fun. There were dozens of rolls in this session that could have completely changed the adventure if they had gone a different way. That wouldn’t have happened if I felt the need to attach a disadvantage to a success, or an advantage to a failure.

So that’s two successful missions for their patron, one to rescue a Warlock, another to kidnap a Lord. 

Let’s see if the third time is the charm…