Friday, April 7, 2017

Burning Down a Murder Brothel

Campaign: The Situational Heroes (Scarabae, 5e D&D)

Characters:

  • Edmund Folderol, wood elf hunter ranger (background: outlander). Edmund says nothing about his past because he is super paranoid for reasons we don't yet understand.
  • Jester Jones, hill dwarf thief rogue (background: entertainer). Jester is a renowned juggler who can't help but steal things. Bit of a klepto, really.
  • Algernon Wurthering-Byrd, goliath oath of the ancients paladin (background: courtier). Algernon is a hulking brute who behaves like a mincing dandy. He really likes nature, thinks it's just darling, old chap.
  • Miranda Lowe, air genasi storm sorcerer (background: noble). Miranda is a noblewoman from a far-off country. She's on the run from something, but she doesn't want to talk about it.
  • Mulga, half-orc valor bard (background: acolyte). Mulga believes that the world would be better if we all joined in a drum circle and really felt the cosmic connection, maaaaaan.
  • Pharasmos the Abjurer, human abjurer wizard (background: criminal). Pharasmos insists that he is not an arsonist; rather, his experiments just get "out of hand," sometimes.
  • Kestrel Raa, tiefling pact of the blade warlock (background: criminal). Kes made a pact with a demon mostly out of boredom. Well, that's one way to escape your hometown.
Objective: Obtain one-half of a treasure map.

Events:
  • The party learned from Gabby's prior research that there were two halves of a treasure map secreted in to two locations on Lapin Island. Both owners of a map half wanted the whole of the map for themselves, but had yet to make a move on each other. The crew decided that uniting both halves of the map and seeking its treasure should be their purview.
  • One half of the map was in the possession of Sanjay T. Druitt, the minotaur operator of a floating brothel. The brothel is a literal pleasure barge anchored offshore. Asking around and gathering information indicated that Druitt's Pleasure Flotilla catered to the most debased of pleasures.
  • The crew posed as clients looking for a night of obscure and unnameable pleasures--a ruse enabled by the previous taking of a pirate captain's trove. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
  • While some of the party drank, ate, and made conversation with Sanjay, the rest began snooping around the barge. It was discovered that Sanjay's courtesans had been abducted from their homes and sold into slavery. It was also revealed that one of the rarefied pleasures on offer in the brothel was the chance to murder these men and women either before, during, or after bedding them.
  • The crew are tried and true murderhobos, but this is a step too far. Once the treasure map was located and duly pilfered, the slaves were set free, the clientele dispatched, and the barge was set aflame.

Downtime:
  • Edmund carouses again and gets himself into hot water with the local militia. Now he's a wanted man!
  • Jester and Algernon also get themselves into hot water--literally--by visiting a bath house and getting contacts for fences so they can sell the goods they stole from the pleasure barge.
  • Miranda does research in the local library and discovers where the other half of the treasure map is located.
  • Mulga attempts to make converts of some locals by setting up a drum circle workshop. It is under-attended.
  • Pharasmos and Kes scout around for a building to rent and set up a gambling and/or opium den within. (Kes will be busy setting up this business next session as her player had to step out of the game for a bit.)