Last session, the party finished exploring the first parts of the Whispering Cairn, and agreed to help Alastor Land. They did a good job examining the remains at the Land Farm, and made their way back to town, where they split up to sell items and investigate their clues.
The bard disguised himself as a miner, and his disguise checks were good enough to mix in with some others at the Feral Dog. With a few good diplomacy, gather information, and bluff checks (as well as buying a few rounds) he quickly discovered that Kullen lost one of his men in a fight with an owlbear.
He left, changed up his disguise enough to not be recognized, and returned later to talk with Kullen. He didn't quite win Kullen over to his side with his diplomacy and bluff checks, so he decided on sharing a drink.
Bard: "Let's continue this over a drink... what are you drinking?"
Kullen: "Miner's Milk. And some Diamond Water Ale to wash it down. You drink that down, and sure... I'll talk to you."
The Bard feared to drink the M'Milk (the M'M should be pronounced like "Mmmmmm... Cookies") and tried a slight of hand to toss the shot over his shoulder. The check was pretty bad, and ended with an unconcious dog being kicked out the front door.
Kullen overlooked the spilled M'Milk, and handed the Bard a second shot. The Bard drank, made his Fort Save, then downed the Ale, and made his second Fort Save. He spoke with Kullen, and got the information the party needed, but was so excited about making his two Fort Saves, that he continued drinking at the bar for the rest of the night, used his Perform (Percussion) and belted out several verses of "Ironman" while banging on a bar table with his fists.
Pretty entertaining.
How did your groups handle this encounter?
Pretty much the opposite of you.. the bard failed his checks miserably, which got Kullen's attention. One bar fight later and the bard was lying out in the streets in his underwear, everything else got stolen. The paladin and cleric still managed to get the information out of Kullen, but he refused to give the bard anything (except his bagpipes). A level later, Kullen and his gang got what they deserved when the group beat the crap out of them. Kullen escaped however and his plotting his revenge..
My group took to heart one of the rumors about the easy mark in the Able Carter Inn. They kept using that rumor to start a conversation with Kullen and his cronies. Got them nowhere and now drew attention to themselves.
It did give the newbies some roleplaying time, which they need badly. So it wasn't a total loss by any means.
Peace and smiles :)
j.
|
OK guys...this is the best one, I promise. To start with, the party decided they could not fight them straight up, so the halfling Bard came up with an ingenious plan. They went to the alchemist, and paid for some slow onset sleeping poison. They then paid the barmaid to put it in Kullen and the boys drinks. Well, later that night they followed Kullen and his men, and when they dropped, they loaded the unconscious bodies into a cart, and drove them to the Land farm, where they buried the thugs up to their necks in the open graves, then awakened them. All the thugs failed a Will save, because of the parties Hexblades curse, so I ruled they were scared out of their wits. The Bard proceeded to tell Kullen that "someone was getting buried here tonight. It can either be the Land family, or you and your friends" Well, Kullen spilled the beans, and since has been giving the party a wide berth.
We are starting 3 faces next week, and I plan a little revenge, and a final showdown between Kullens boys and the party...
I was laughing so hard, and thought it was such a cool plan, I had to let it work.
This is one of the best posts I have read in a while. Thanks for the stories.
The party in my game was pretty upset when the ghost wanted them to leave the Cairn again to help him out- especially the self-centered hexblade (they have no wizard or area effect spells, so they'd already had to leave to deal with the brown mold, and were forced to run screaming from the beetle swarm, plus they kept needing more potions). But they agreed and went to the Land Farmstead, and found their way to the owlbear. The rogue and hexblade both used to work for Smenk, so they recognized the tattoo on the severed arm. The rogue thought Kullen's gang had disposed of an unwanted member in the farmhouse. The hexblade grabbed the baby owlbear and the rest of the party spent and hour trying to convince him that it wouldn't be a good idea to keep it- they ended up selling it to Allustan, who promised to send it to a menagerie owner he knew in the nearby city.
Since the rogue and hexblade were former Smenk employees, they knew a great deal of Kullen's habits, and with the ranger's help, tracked him to his home one night after he left the Feral Dog, did a few non-lethal coup de graces, and bound him, then took him back to their hideout (the suggested abandoned building a few hours out of town). They pried Kullen for info, and then the rogue and hexblade, hating both Kullen and Smenk from previous experience, convinced the rest of the party to let them execute him. The hexblade had worked as a hitman for Smenk, who wore a black mask and was known as the Executioner, and so he insisted on practicing his trae on Kullen, then took his axe (which happened to be the hex's favored weapon) and renamed it "executor". They proceeded on to Filge, who also recieved the Executioner's treatment.
In the initial encounter with Kullen, our group intimidated him into giving up his info by threatening to turn him in to the Cult of the Green Lady.
The group just finished Three Faces of Evil, during which they investigated Dourstone mine at the behest of Smenk. When they exited the mine, it was to find that Ragnolin had closed up shop and fled Diamond Lake. The group reported back to Smenk (who had blackmailed them in the first place by threatening their loved ones) and considered themselves finished with him.
On the way to Encounter at Blackwall Keep, I'm running a linker from Dungeon 121...Fiend's Embrace. While camping in the swamp, Kullen and his boys, on Smenk's orders to eliminate any potential witnesses against him, ambushed the group in the middle of the night. However, the ruffians were no match, and got thouroughly hammered. Just desserts.
In the initial encounter with Kullen, our group intimidated him into giving up his info by threatening to turn him in to the Cult of the Green Lady.
What a great idea! Maybe you'll be able to use more of the Cult of the Green Lady later on. I'm working on a couple of ideas myself.
I doubt my story tops Patman's but it was pretty funny anyway. My PCs are paranoid of Smenk, so when they actually killed Kullen, it was a true accident and they were deathly afraid. The surviving thugs, picking up on their fear, decided to play on it, "uh, yea, you're gonna be in trouble now, we'll tell Smenk and he'll have it out for you." So the PCs beg them not to tell Smenk and promise to let them keep their equipment if they don't. The thugs smirk to themselves, gather their equipment and leave, telling the PCs they'll say Kullen died fighting the owlbear. Of course, they don't. :) They told Smenk everything.