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So my group is moving toward their planned attempt to track and ambush the Grey Men, a small group of slavers operating in Old Kintargo (which I've included in Book 2, Order of the Torrent), and in their investigations they found that the Grey Men were using Ryk (the tiefling merchant squatting in the building) for a contact using the Sending spell. They suspect there was more going on and also were interested in the "haunting" of the building, so they decided to go in from the sewers.
I decided what they'd need is a DC 15 Knowledge: Dungeoneering check. All three who had the ability to make the check promptly failed. Temporary Hero Points were rolled and failed. I decided to include Knowledge: Engineering, and THOSE also failed. Finally I grabbed a real die (rather than Roll20's virtual dice) and rolled a modified 16 and ruled the group (after being lost for an hour) found the right way out and to the basement of Odde & Daughter.
Everything was done off-the-cuff. I quickly looked up rules for the haunts and given I'd already described it as "screaming and bleeding walls" I obviously went for the Bleeding Walls haunt - of a maiden trapped behind the wall. But then I also found "scratching walls" and that has a different tale - of a servant trapped behind the wall... and quickly crafted a tale of woe.
Odde's daughter fell in love with their servant, a young woman close to her age, and Odde caught the two of them in bed. He was furious as he had plans to wed his daughter to another merchant and make money from the deal... but his daughter refused him and his plans and stated she'd run away with her lover rather than marry anyone else.
So Odde chose vengeance. He told his daughter he was wrong and offered her and her lover a family meal to welcome her into the fold. But he spiced the food with a sleeping draught... and as the two girls slumbered he entombed them alive in the walls. They tried to claw their way out but could not make more than scratches in the wall... and finally died in each other's arms of thirst in the darkness. And after that they started to haunt the cellar.
There's a third haunt as well - a cold spot that would flash supernaturally cold, but I never decided what caused that. Maybe that was where the two girls slumbered as Odde broke through the wall in preparation to entomb them. Or maybe that was where some trespasser died of fright a couple years ago. I don't know, and it's not that important to be honest.
What happened to Odde? I haven't decided. When the haunting began, he fled. He may have become something undead himself, or cursed in some way... but his shop remained unoccupied until the tiefling Ryk decided to ignore rumors of hauntings, chose to ignore the screams and blood, and set up shop there. But one of the group, the skald Kyōfu, suspects Ryk was the one to kill the girls... and plans on telling a tale of woe in songs suggesting he was the one to murder them.
Given he's working (under duress, but even so!) for the Grey Men, the slavers, I doubt much sympathy will be had for him if he is wrongfully convicted. But it will be an interesting twist... especially given how he'd seek vengeance against the Skald who spoke lies of him and led to his death. Assuming she goes through with this, that is. ;)
And I hope you enjoyed this dreadful tale of woe, and feel free to add it to your own renditions of Hell's Rebels. :)
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I like it.
It's pretty good, yeah. Dark, but cool. You could have made the ladies into undead like Walcofindes. Can still, I guess.
Maybe Odde killed himself - grief, guilt, paranoia, or bitterness. Only to raise as undead. And once the Skald starts spreading rumors, he's drawn to "silence" him. He could be living too, but undead feels better.
He could be the Cold Spot. Died of fright. And now he's back as a Geist that dwells in the sewers....
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I know this isn't the point, but, man, the players really should have taken ten on one of those initial rolls. Even if you fail, it's useful to try it out. Players at my table don't use take 10 enough--love to roll.
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I know this isn't the point, but, man, the players really should have taken ten on one of those initial rolls. Even if you fail, it's useful to try it out. Players at my table don't use take 10 enough--love to roll.
Players need something to do with their hands.
Or perhaps their whole bodies. Anyone ever run a session as an interpretive dance?
To be honest, my group is mostly vague about the rules. We run this online and I doubt most of them have purchased the Core Rulebook. One player has done a grand job of memorizing the rules (if only she could choose her actions in under five minutes!) and may actually know them better than me at this point... but seeing we meet once a month usually, knowledge of the rules isn't a priority for most of my players. ^^;;