The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 14 - Scum and Villainy

The prep...

So it was time for the Rogue to deal with her debt and meet the bounty hunter I cooked up for her. I reviewed the bounty hunter's stats and got Haylia's toughs ready in case they were going to get involved in this whole mess.

But the real prep revolved around getting Gnomengarde ready and rolling. I was dreading this section a little bit. It was the most involved map we've worked with yet. It has a bunch of characters, nearly all of them are extremely wacky and wild. Speaking of wild, there is wild magic going on, and my Druid and Donnabella are primarily spell casters. I wasn't sure if the players would find this fun, or just annoying. And then there the gnomish voices - how high pitched did I want to make them?

But really the big issue was the murder mystery element. I wanted to give the characters enough to learn and explore so they didn't get frustrated, but I wanted to keep in intense and interesting all at the same time. I decided to seed some additional clue into the story when it seemed appropriate. I also used some advice from Sly Flourish about turning Facktore into a witness to the murders (see more about that in the next diary).

The way I saw this, it could either go really well, or flop really hard.

The story...

"I is spy."

So the session started with the Rogue and Druid accepting Haylia's invitation to meet with her at night. As they headed to the Miner's Exchange they moved slowly and kept eyes open for a trap. Sure enough the WORST SPY EVER halfling was watching them. I rolled for stealth for the little guy and he got a one. So I said he was hiding in the shadows of a building when someone put a oil lamp in the window and illuminated his shape. The Rogue snuck up behind him as the Druid distracted him by playing with her Produce Flame cantrip. It worked, the Rogue captured his sorry butt and dragged him into the Exchange to confront... meet with Haylia.

Haylia's poker face broke for a second when she saw the captured halfling but she waved off the spy as just an inept fool who she regretted hiring. More important was the fact that the messenger from Neverwinter arrived asking about the Rogue's debt, and made it clear that a bounty had been issued. Haylia explained that if the Rogue paid a bit of the debt right now, it would give Haylia leverage to negotiate with the messenger.

The Rogue wanted to talk to the messenger, to find out what they knew. Haylia gestured to the mysterious cloaked figure in the corner. I described the figure as being mostly in shadow, but they could make out fine leather boots with some scrollwork on them, as well as a rapier scabbard of excellent make. The Druid being part of the Circle of the Underdark recognized the scrollwork as Drow in style and I mentioned of wisp of silver white hair peeking from the hood. The player became convinced it was Jarlaxle (an infamous Drow crime lord) which gave me a chuckle. The figure didn't say anything, but Haylia kept talking, telling the Rogue that it was in her best interest to fork over a little gold, 10 pieces at least to start.

Dark elf assassin or bard groupie?

The Rogue grumbled and handed Haylia 50 gold pieces and said the rest would be coming soon. Haylia was pleased and said it put her in a much better position to bargain with... the messenger. The adventurers left, grumbling to themselves and securing their bedroom in the Stonehill Inn. The next morning they met Donnabella already waiting for them and bursting to go on a real adventure with two real heroes. The fan-girl antics made both players chuckle.

So it was off to the mysterious Gnomengarde. The ladies chatted a bit as they headed to the river and followed it up to the waterfall that marked the entrance to the gnome enclave. They got a kick out of the little islands dotted with giant mushrooms. Of course the Druid had to check those out and I described them as having different scents and attributes (the green ones had a yeasty smell, the purple ones smelled fermented, and the red had an oily sheen).

It was a little tricky describing the entrances to the complex. I was trying to avoid using the map for this one and stick to theater of the mind. But my players did get a bit confused by the whole thing. Eventually they decided to climb up to one of the ledges on the west side. This lead to the "bunkhouse" full of sleeping gnomes. The group rolled really well with stealth and passed by the snoozing gnomes without an incident.

From here they went to the laboratory to meet the two bickering gnome inventors. This was a fun encounter as I had both gnomes constantly arguing with each other, talking rapidly and getting off course with any bit of conversation that reminded them of one of their inventions. Eventually the two inventors pleaded with the heroes to find a killer in the complex. If they caught or killed this murder, then the gnomes would give them some of their best magic items. The players agreed.

"It will work perfectly, as soon as I figure out what it does."

I described how one of the gnome kings had gone mad after seeing two of his people murdered right in front of him. After it happened he ran to the throne room and locked it tight. He then proceeded to glue the other king to the throne so he would remain out of danger. This makes perfect sense because... gnomes. The inventors advised the heroes to try to talk to the mad king and see if they can get anything out of him. They said he was ranting and raving and that maybe if the killer was caught he would return to his normal state.

The players also found out that one of the inventions here was a strange portal that lead from a "trash barrel" to the "treasure barrel" in Barthan's. They also learned that the clockwork goldfish they found way back at the start of the campaign came from here. The gnomes were fascinated by this development and asked the characters to try an experiment by forcing "Bruce" the goldfish through the barrel at the other end to see if appeared in Gnomengarde. The players found this funny, not sure if they are going to try it or not.

So the characters went to meet with the king. Sure enough he sounded pretty darn crazy. He refused to open the door to the throne room. But he did tell them that he saw massive sharp teeth, a long tongue and a sparkle of light right before the attack. Now I added that bit about the sparkle of light because I thought the dining room (where the attack happened) was closer to the waterfall than it turned out to be. This caused a bit of a problem as the players became obsessed with the sparkle of light as they tried to piece together the mystery.

The inventors had warned the characters about Facktore, a gnome who had also gone mad and was shooting anyone who came near her with a massive crossbow device. The characters wanted to avoid her. So they left the complex the way they came in (awakening a gnome named Quibby who thought she was having a dream about elves and demons). They crossed the river (with all three failing their Dex checks and getting soaked. And then climbed to one of the eastern platforms. Here they found the dining room.

Gnomes come running for the great
taste of 1up.

Here is where the mysterious murderer of gnomes attacked the king and his subjects. But it looked pretty darn normal in there. They searched around and with some good Investigation rolls they determined the the cutlery cabinet had been moved. Adjusting it themselves they found dark stains on the wall and on the back of the cabinet. They also noticed the cabinet had some damage inflicted on the back of it. They looked around for the source of the sparkle. They spent a lot of time on that. Teaches me not to spout out colorful descriptors during a murder investigation.

The trio proceeded to check out the kitchen and see the gnomes at their whimsical work with the mushrooms. They headed into the pantry and checked out that area, but didn't find any more clues. They headed back to the dining room and discussed what they wanted to do next. It sounded like Facktore would have to be talked to, but they weren't sure how to approach her.

We ended the evening there, allowing them some time to think of the next move and the clues they had.

The post...

Nope no wild magic to see here. Just normal magic.

Overall I think the session went well. The first part with Haylia and the bounty hunter was just as intense as I wanted it to be. I'm going to have the bounty hunter watching the Rogue carefully going forward, and if no more money is paid to the bounty she will come after them.

As for Gnomengarde, it was a lot of fun. The role-playing was entertaining and engaging. The players seemed to like the crazy personalities of the gnomes and the murder mystery. While I did mention the wild magic to them in the laboratory, they haven't seen that in action yet.  But they did like seeing the extra stuff I added with the treasure barrel and the clockwork fish.

I'm curious to see where they end up next session, and how they handle the monster hidden in this complex. It looks to be a fun one.

Up next...

Session 15: Fractured Facktore Tales and the Amazing Blunicorn