Infiltrating the Stag Lord Fort - Help, how did you run this?


Kingmaker


So, we ended our adventure, with my players discovering the shipment of booze, disguising as bandits and planning to sneak into the fort. They are now in view of the fort, and that is where I ended our session.

I must confess I really don't know how to run this, Ive read the book a few times, but its not really giving me a feel for what would/should happen.

I presume theyll roll in, tell some bandit they have the booze, and the Stag Lord will come out and start getting drunk...

Then what? How do I make this interesting? How did or do you plan to run this?

Dark Archive

Give it another read; I believe that disguises or not, they'll have to deal with the zombies on the path to the fort. That'll likely draw the attention of the bandits, who are armed with bows.

Do they know the "password"? It's unlikely they'll be able to keep up the ruse if they don't.

We don't start our campaign for a couple weeks yet, but that's what I can remember of the encounter without going back to it.

Sovereign Court

Golbez57 wrote:

Give it another read; I believe that disguises or not, they'll have to deal with the zombies on the path to the fort. That'll likely draw the attention of the bandits, who are armed with bows.

This is incorrect, the zombies are NOT on the path to the fort, they are on the other side. The bandits don't have to run a gauntlet of zombies to get inside each time they want to make a delivery lol.

The Stag Lord will come out, tell Akiros to reward them and go and get drunk. Play Dovan as a little suspicious and with probing questions, but involve the PC's with the bandits in drinking with them, playing card games etc. As far as the bandits know the PC's are just another group of independent bandits- and Dovan may see them as a useful tool for getting rid of Akiros...


Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:

This is incorrect, the zombies are NOT on the path to the fort, they are on the other side. The bandits don't have to run a gauntlet of zombies to get inside each time they want to make a delivery lol.

The Stag Lord will come out, tell Akiros to reward them and go and get drunk. Play Dovan as a little suspicious and with probing questions, but involve the PC's with the bandits in drinking with them, playing card games etc. As far as the bandits know the PC's are just another group of independent bandits- and Dovan may see them as a useful tool for getting rid of Akiros...

They should avoid the zombies, as they are walking straight in... And they have the passwords.

Alexander, I like where your going with this.... This could form the basis for an INCREDIBLY interesting session.... They walk in, get drunk with everyone, and get to know them. Dovan, approaches them in secret with a job (why not, no one else knows them, maybe he sees the assasin in them). They kill Akiros with Dovans, help... then they move on to the stag lord, and by the end of it theres almost no one in the building. Sort of a pitch them against themselves approach.

Only problem is it will take a LOT of roleplaying from me that Im not necessarily sure I can do.. still good general story for the session...

Any other ideas? These kind of things really get my brain rattling more then mountains of text in the books..

Sovereign Court

At the end of the day the players will give you more options and decide what will happen- the bandits will mostly be business as usual, except those who have something to gain from their presence. In my 6 player conversion i've added a bit more intrigue with a bit more hostility with the three extra bandits I added.

Causing the bandits to in-fight in some way, or simply drinking with them until they aren't in a great state to fight (apply the sickened condition) and then attacking isn't a bad idea either.

Really though, just have your notes ready and react to what the players do- remember in particular that Dovan opens theOowlbear's cage. Its not up to you to worry about their strategy. The hardest parts merely getting past the walls, the bandits have already lost their edge as the players have infiltrated the fort. Sadly my RL group was short on time before the summer break in the last session, so they just drew weapons and attacked once they were in.


Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Its not up to you to worry about their strategy.

I dont think of it as me strategizing so much as me enabling them to have strategies... if I dont remember the important details, then it will turn into he gets drunk... they kill him in his sleep... and then they wander around room to room killing... boring and been done.

Just looking for ideas to create the intrigue, thanks for helping. Im going to find out what you mean about the owlbear? Guess I missed that, I just wade through so much useless (to me) information that I guess I miss the important parts to making the encounter interesting.

Dovan approaching them about assasination is a great thing at least.

Sovereign Court

hanexs wrote:
Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Its not up to you to worry about their strategy.

I dont think of it as me strategizing so much as me enabling them to have strategies... if I dont remember the important details, then it will turn into he gets drunk... they kill him in his sleep... and then they wander around room to room killing... boring and been done.

Unless they are extremely quiet about their attack, it won't really be room-to-room, it will be one big battle, followed by the basement (if they find it)


Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
hanexs wrote:
Alexander Kilcoyne wrote:
Its not up to you to worry about their strategy.

I dont think of it as me strategizing so much as me enabling them to have strategies... if I dont remember the important details, then it will turn into he gets drunk... they kill him in his sleep... and then they wander around room to room killing... boring and been done.

Unless they are extremely quiet about their attack, it won't really be room-to-room, it will be one big battle, followed by the basement (if they find it)

Im not really following the encounter exactly as described.. My main interest is making the encounter fun and different... I was thinkin maybe donovan would offer to provide a distraction (spell, or even just some event outside or something), during that time the players may be ablke to off both characters... Hmmmm :)


I need to review the info my players have before they head for the Stag Lord's Fort next session..I'm not sure I gave them the password so I'm wondering if I should use it.

It's been a while since they took care of the Thorn River Camp. They came back a few weeks later to finish exploring the forest hex and the ranger lost the track of a few horses in the camp. They took the time to explore the whole map and they haven't encountered any other bandits yet(3 months in game more or less). I guess the bandits might have thought of the password during those couple months/weeks without news.

Not sure how long it's been for your players in-game but maybe the Stag Lord changed the password?

I'm thinking my group will wait until a patrol comes out for food/water or something..or charge the fort. You never know!!


legallytired wrote:


It's been a while since they took care of the Thorn River Camp. They came back a few weeks later to finish exploring the forest hex and the ranger lost the track of a few horses in the camp. They took the time to explore the whole map and they haven't encountered any other bandits yet(3 months in game more or less). I guess the bandits might have thought of the password during those couple months/weeks without news.

Only been a day or two for my group, this was pretty much the first thing they did.. maybe I dmd it that way.. but mostly I just think they like semi direct hooks, not really a wandering group.

For you I would change the password, certainly. 3 months would be lots of time for word to get out that the camp was destroyed, or that oleg has rebelled, or that the shipment of booze isnt coming (lol). Also it would be lots of time for information to come back to the fort that some new party of adventurers is wandering around the green belt like they own the place.


I ran this last night.

My players (5 level 2's, one guy couldn't make it so didn't run Alexander's awesome 6-player upgrade :() disguised themselves as bandits (except the Paladin in platemail - tied up with a slipknot)

It was about 3 weeks after attacking the river camp, so the cant had expired, but they had the booze and their disguises were perfect, so they got in.

They delivered the booze to the stag lord then started to mingle with the bandits in the main room (Dovan and 4 others). They didn't actually explore at all before challenging Dovan to a drinking game - who called down Auchs to join in - so the bard (with Iron Liver) faced off with Dovan, Auchs, and 2 regular bandits (Fat Norry and another).

Impromptu drinking game rules - They're drinking super strong moonshine, fort DC16 for each cup (about 5 shots worth). Each failure adds a status effect: Sickened, Fatigued, Exhaused, then unconscious.

Short version of the events: 1 bandit KO'd by Auchs for cheating. Fat Norry bowed out after being reduced to exhausted. Dovan drank himself to unconsciousness. Bard after being sickened tried to cheat, spitting out the drink, which Auchs took as him throwing up - claiming victory. (The party rogue bet on Auchs, hehe!)

The bard then lured two bandits outside but failed charming one, while inside the rogue attempted a coup de grace on dovan, but only did 3 damage (rolled 3 1's!!!), and Dovan made his save, getting woken up in the process, but still at massive penalties due to drunk, and then the fight was on.


So possibly a dumb question but I've never understood the Stag Lord's intentions. Our group never interacted with him except "He's the big bad, arr." Can you ally yourself the Stag Lord at all? What if the characters decide they like being bandits?


So when I ran this encounter I was a little overwhelmed by all of the stat blocks. I made sure to take the time to make some notes about all of the unique NPCs and how to run them, and then let the players go.

Here's the synopsis. In an earlier random encounter with the bandits they were exposed to the pass phrase, and managed to learn it then. So they decided to rebuild one of the catapults at Oleg's, and lay siege to the fort while another group would sneak in the day before and try to disarm some of the guards and open the gates.

Now I expected a complete disaster when they split up, but that wasn't the case. The two that snuck in delivered the alcohol, had role-playing encounters with the bandits and spent their time seducing, gambling, and faking getting drunk with them. Around dawn they opened the gate to let the rest of the group in.

Meanwhile the other group had two and some horses dealing with the catapult and another who was a cavalier preparing to charge. Well the two on the catapult didn't follow the path and were attacked by zombies before dawn. One PC died, the other only barely lived but had to run around in the dark.

By the time that had all happened, the Cavalier had charged right in mowing a bandit down, and everyone was so confused and the two disguised players rolled well on their bluffs to maintain their disguise as the bigger NPCs went into action attacking and releasing the Owlbear.

The Owlbear killed more of the bandits than anyone else because the cavalier went straight to the back room where he fought Aikros and then the Bandit Lord alone. The other PCs who were still disguised quietly made their way out, and Auchs who wasn't known for his smarts tried to jump down on one of the PCs, missed their check and became a wrestling partner for the Owlbear before it turned on the other bandits.

Basically, my advice is just know that there is potential for some serious crazy to happen.

Oh, they also knew about the guy downstairs, but just boarded his hole up. Now they keep him as a prisoner in their kingdom and throw prisoners down to him and see who lives. They also kept a patch of zombie grass. Why? I suppose for the zombie apocalypse kingdom event.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Tomb Guardian wrote:
So possibly a dumb question but I've never understood the Stag Lord's intentions. Our group never interacted with him except "He's the big bad, arr." Can you ally yourself the Stag Lord at all? What if the characters decide they like being bandits?

The Stag Lord wants to be King of the Stolen Lands just as the PCs do. His plan to finance his Bandit Kingdom is to rob travellers and merchants blind. He hopes to do so and attract the attention of Naryssa.

If the characters decide to become bandits they can either:

a) Work with the Stag Lord, and be given quests to gain funds. In his regularly inebriated state the PCs will be called on more and more to make city building decisions.

b) Kill the Stag Lord and start their own bandit kingdom, unfortunately that means they won't be getting money from Restov.

c) Forget the kingdom all together and just explore for their own reasons. It might be a little bit more difficult to give them direction though...


Tomb Guardian wrote:
So possibly a dumb question but I've never understood the Stag Lord's intentions. Our group never interacted with him except "He's the big bad, arr." Can you ally yourself the Stag Lord at all? What if the characters decide they like being bandits?

If your players take this path, it definitely becomes a different type of adventure.

I don't think allying with the Stag Lord would work out too well. He's a drunken sociopath on a path of self-destruction. I don't think he is looking for allies. Minions, most definitely, but not allies. And I doubt your group is going to be happy working for him. He's brutal, and increasingly irrational due to his drink and his mental fragility. Sooner or later there will be conflict with him.

As far as enjoying life as bandits, this would cut ties with Restov pretty quick, since they were sent specifically to pacify the area and deal with bandits. The players would be forced to go independent pretty quick, and wouldn't get the benefit of support from Restov going into the kingdom building that starts in the second chapter. They might even find themselves wanted men, with a bounty on their heads from the Swordlords. It is quite possible, perhaps even likely, that another adventuring group would be hired to deal with them.

All of that is not to say that they couldn't succeed in scratching their own bandit kingdom out of the wilderness, but it would definitely be a lot more challenging doing so with a hostile neighbor to the north, rather than a supportive patron.


One way I've run disguise-its in the past is to have the NPC's give the PC's a couple of close-calls via questions and comments (ie Where's your lieutenant? I've never seen you lot before. That was a bit of an old password wasn't it, what camp are you coming from again? Awful lot of booze to be toting around, not that we aren't parched with thirst out here but where'd you get it? etc etc).

It'll test your player's fast thinking if you want it to (you could always give them tons of time to think of a response or just boil it down to bluff, perception/sense motive type rolls). The benefit to throwing a couple curve balls at your players (even though their disguises may have been exquisitely done) is that it might just make your more hasty characters throw down even though the NPC's haven't decided the PC's are frauds. If they keep their cool and don't get found out right away with hasty actions and poor roleplay then they'll feel like they really accomplished pulling the wool over the bandits' eyes over and beyond the disguise rolls and diplomacy checks. Actual player perception can weigh in interestingly in these types of situations.


My guys half infiltrated the camp. Basically they stayed and leveled up exploring this and that, and then camped in site of the fort, and made sure to light a fire. The bandits thought it was some of there boys coming in and send out two scouts, whom my party ambushed, killing one and taking the other captive. They questioned the guy and he sold out the stag lord pretty quick. Gave them the current passwords, and what not. Then they used some dust of disguise they got off... Something I can't remember what and one party member mimicked the guy they captured, and one of the other guys used a disguise check to try to be the other guy. The plan was to get in there wait till everyone went to sleep and go to town. Then they tied up most of the party members as 'Prisoners' and 2 of them and just dead, and entered the fort to be met by everyone whom had been awaken by the guards watching for the scouts return.

This is where things almost went bad, because they had been hoping there wouldn't be many guys waiting, and they got everyone but the Stag Lord, so the plan to get inside and start attacking was out. Anyway Akiros asked them to stow the prisoners, but he knew what the stag lord would do with live prisoners and that was his breaking point, so once the guards locked the living ones away, Akiros approached them with a plan to kill the Stag Lord. They confessed there duplicity to Akiros, and he gathered the two disguised party members, who were with the "dead" bodies of there friends trying to figure out what to do. After getting them all together Akiros sent everyone off too loot a wagon the prisoners had left back at the camp site, and were getting ready to rush what was left.

Now as to Donvan. After Akiros sent off most of the bandits he got suspicous. And when Akrios went back to plot the final assualt I had him listening at the door. Gave everyone a listen check which they failed. So when they opened the door, they were meet by Auch, and Donovan opening the cage to the owl bear. After which he quickly ran out. The owl bear drew the stage lord, so the final fight was between Auch, Stag Lord, and Beaky. Which while rough was still manageable.


Thanks for the info! I wouldn't want to ally myself with the Stag Lord knowing what you guys told me.

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