The return of the D&D campaign: This time it's potatoes

[Sly Boots]

Just finishing dinner, may be five or so minutes late...

[Sly Boots]

Brilliant session, and very much looking forward to the next one!

[Wrathbone]

Glad you enjoyed it! I’m pleased we got to Jeff as I’ve been sitting on that bombshell for a while.

[Mantis]

We were so close to pretty much ignoring Luskan on our way to sort out this Cloak Tower item too. Now suddenly we've infiltrated the deepest levels of its leadership.

That was pretty brilliant. Quite the roller coaster session.

[Raid]

Salvo Backdraft may be the coolest off-the-cuff pirate name I'll ever come up with.

[Mantis]

Good possible name for a back-up character if Charr meets his untimely end.

Imagine playing a character who has to deal with the ramifications of a previous one of your characters carrying out actions whilst impersonating him.

[Wrathbone]

Right, so the planning phase:

Clara rolls out a large, detailed map of the Blood Island vaults.

1 - Entrance
2 - Overseer's office
3a - Common Vault chests
3b - Common Vault safes
4a - High Security Vault chests and records
4b - High Security Vault safes
5a - High Captain's Vault security checkpoint
5b - High Captain's Vault safes
6 - Sealed tomb
7 - Barracks
8 - Guard recreation and storage area

X - Portcullis
Y - Alarm lever
Z - Security automoton

"About a century ago, the High Captains ordered the construction of a vault in an abandoned cultist temple under the garrison fortress on Blood Island. The vaults are used by most of the captains to store their plunder and other valuables, since Blood Island is neutral territory amongst the High Captains, although strictly speaking the men who guard it are paid by First High Captain Beniago. Anybody can store something there, captain or not, and there are three vaults with better security for higher fees."

She points at the area marked 3a and 3b. "The Common Vault is where lesser captains, merchants and other people of some minor importance store their treasure. This area -" she points at 4a and 4b on the map, "- is the High Security vault. If you can afford it, you can be sure anything stored here will stay out of unwanted hands. Present company excepted, of course," she winks, before laying a finger on areas 5a and 5b. "This is the prize: the High Captains' vault. Each of the five High Captains has their own private safe, and heavens only know what they keep in 'em. The ones on the sides belong to the second, third, fourth and fifth High Captains, and they've been known to send trusted servants to access them on their behalf. The top safe is Beniago's, and only he himself opens it. Got some trust issues, that one, and probably not without cause."

"As you'd expect, the security is unrivalled and unbroken to date, which is why I've been scouting and testing it for some time," she continues. "Here's how it works..."

Clara details the security setup as follows:

- Visitors are greeted at the entrance [1] by a duty officer, usually a young ensign named Bella Dervish, who first escorts everyone to the overseer [2], Captain Walter Carrington, so he can record their business in the vaults and arrange accounts, deposits and withdrawals as required.

- For access to the common vault [3], Dervish escorts visitors there.

- For access to the High Security Vault, Dervish escorts visitors to Lieutenant Vela Verones [4a] and hands them over to her care.

- For access to the High Captains' Vault, Carrington requires a Letter of Access stamped with the relevant High Captain's seal. Once he is satisfied, he personally escorts visitors to the vault [5a]. There are dual locks on either side of the vault which must be unlocked simultaneously: Carrington uses his key, and the visitor is expected to use their key. Clara has learned that Verones has a spare key for emergencies.

- Various sections of the vault are protected by portcullis [X], which are mechanically operated by a switch inside a lockbox next to each gate. The guard next to each gate has a key which opens only their lockbox.

- If any suspicion is raised, alarms can be triggered by levers throughout the vaults [Y]. Clara forced an alarm trigger in her scouting and confirms that it closes all portcullises, sounds a magical alarm noise and activates some terrifying mechanical automotons [Z].

- Clara has learned that the High Security and High Captains' vaults are magically protected from teleportation (in or out), but all other areas are not.

- The chests in the Common [3a] and High Security [4a] vaults are operated by key. Clara is no lockpicking expert, but she believes that the locks are complex but potentially pickable by an expert.

- The safes in the Common [3b] and High Security [4b] vaults have dual security. Each outer main safe has a combination lock known only by the officers (Carrington, Verones and Dervish), and inside there are ten smaller safes, each with their own combination lock known only by the owner. Clara understands that while the safes may be crackable, incorrect combinations are met by lethal traps (with a single warning). She has not put this to the test, however.

- The safes in the High Captains' vault [5b] work similarly, except they do not have smaller safes within, and there is NO allowance for incorrect combinations (possibly why most of the High Captains send underlings to access them). Clara has heard rumours that the last time an incorrect combination was entered, there was no body left to recover.

- Access to area [6] is effectively sealed off by a portcullis, and entry is forbidden to all. The rumour is that when the vault was first constructed in the ruins of the temple, strange noises were heard coming from a tomb down here and so it was thought best not to disturb it. Clara suggests that it could be used as a high-risk distraction if necessary, though she is aware that protocol is to sound the alarm if the portcullis is seen open.

"That should be everything," says Clara. "It's a lot, but there's a way to get into Beniago's safe, I know it! Ever since his wife, Marie-Anne died three months ago, he's stopped going there. And stranger still, his men say he never took anything in or out. There's something about that safe - something that Beniago doesn't dare let anyone else know about. We find out what that is and Captain Brighteyes here can use it to take him down! Right, Cap'n?"

Jeff wakes up from a snooze, apparently not a details man. "Whut's that? Oh, right, take down the establisment, yarrr! His days be numbered, arrr, an' any other scurvy lubber who dare cross old Cap'n Brighteyes! Ah-harrrr, mateys!"

Clara and Meg both cheer and drink deeply. "So," says Clara, "any questions? Any other information you think we need, or tasks we need to perform before we come up with a plan?"

[Mantis]

Blimey. I suspect we might not be able to wing this one.

What do you think, guys? Got to say that Sage would immediately be more curious about the mysterious tomb vault with the strange noises more than being remotely bothered about how much treasure the pirates are keeping down there.

[Sly Boots]

Got a thing this evening, but will take a proper look at it all tomorrow.

[Raid]

If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Charr won't turn his nose up at magical trinkets, but I suspect you already know he's going to be in this for the chaos theory. He's going to want to poke things until stuff happens.

I'll have a better look at this tomorrow when I've had less gin, but I think you're right that this is something we're going to want an actual plan for. My first thoughts are that although something like Dominate Person could be highly useful, it's a risky strategy and I'll only really get one or two shots at it. Is it worth looking at combat strategies for a change? There are a ton of chokepoints in there that I could do some serious damage in if we draw enemies into them, but I'm not going to want to stay out front for long. How resistant would we say Truss was to, say, lots and lots of fire? I'm only talking mid-level burning here - not quite "apocalypse", more "ruined steak".

[Wrathbone]

Truss is resistant to physical damage when raging, but alas not fire damage. That being said, he does have 93 HP.

[Raid]

That's only 14 more than me! Obviously I don't like to use mine though.

[Mantis]

Yikes, you have a lot of HP for a sorcerer. I think I'm sitting in the low 60s somewhere, and I always seem to lose half of it in one blow during fights.

I do think it's worth coming up with a battle strategy in case things get violent but I think our initial plan should be focused on subversion and stealth. We are already embedded as the fake Unmentionables. We could use that to learn a little more and pose as other people that might get us into the higher security areas.

If we could do this whole thing without them ever even realising I would be impressed. We could even potentially blame it on another High Captain and turn them on each other if we impersonated the right people.

[Sly Boots]

*readies false moustache*

[Wrathbone]

That's only 14 more than me! Obviously I don't like to use mine though.

Truss’s separation from his soul has left him somewhat hobbled compared to his full potential.