Onsdagsdrager, Sess. 1 - 01.08.2018

First session, none previous.

Next Session: Session 2

Recap:

On a dark steamy night in Ben Hattilan, a group of nefarious individuals gather, summoned by the leader of the Riverside Gang, Renart Achille.

Within the Stuffed pig Tavern, the mood is expectant, but with a nervous edge. There's an important announcement coming.

The camera pans across the room. The last arrival is just coming in, a tall and thin man wearing a turban and an impassive face. One of our heroes - Samuel Sterns. The two guards at the entrance lock the doors behind him. Around the room is seated some 25 people, drinking beers and waiting for the men at the tables in the back to speak. Four men, speaking privately

Two halflings, a middle-aged human, and a wood elf staring into the middle distance, unconcerned with the conversation.

Finally, Renart Achille stands up. He's good looking, salt-and-pepper hair and short beard, hint of mischief in his eyes. There's a job - but it's dangerous as all hell. He won't force anyone here to go, but everyone who won't will stay here tonight.

A half-orc youth stands up, aggravated at being potentially captive for the evening. One of the halflings steps forward. He sits down. A dashing rogue figure at his table leans over to share a joke with him. Our last hero on screen, finally. Aziz.

People raise their hands, to show participation. Those who join the heist are told to put the names of closest relatives in the book kept by one of the halflings, Nordbert. If you die, they get your share. The rogue, Aziz, puts his own name, and that of his new half-orc friend, Jens, in the book. Each will get the others share, should they die.

Those unwilling stay and drink - the rest are lead by circuitous route to the sewers.

Once in the sewers, they are all briefed. A scouting party is needed, to find the way through the sewers, to the correct manhole. A transport of gold from the Platinum Exchange has been ambushed on the Square of the Septarch. The Red Hands, a rival gang, are behind it - but they underestimated the quality of the mercenaries employed by the Platinum Exchange.

While the initial ambush was slaughtered, the armored transport has been stuck, unable to drive, on the square of the Septarch for a day and a half. The mercenaries make no showing to surrender. The Red Hands swarm in the neighbourhood like flies, preventing relief.

Renart needs that transport.

The scouting party heads off.

Aziz the rogue, Aneurin the barbarian, Samuel the sorcerer and Notker & Nordbert Noakes, halflings of the Riverside Gang. Oh - and Jens, faithfully spurred on by his new friend.

The initial going sees only a little trouble. Aziz stumbles into sewage, and is nearly swallowed by a giant carp, but he gets out before anything terrible happens. The sewers are cool and dank, labyrinthine with vaulted ceilings and dim light spilling in from the moonlit night, where grates are in the ceiling.

Then Notker and Aneurin step on a thunderstone mine, only barely surviving by diving in the muck of the sewers. Around the corner swarms three bandits!

While the situation nearly comes to blows, the bandits recognize the group, and Aziz the bandits, as colleagues from the Riverside Gang, and the discussion turns to compensation. These are members of the ratblooded, loyal to Big Fang Abukar the wererat leader that runs the sewers.

First Snout Amadio, leading the two bandits Khaled and Isan is distracted, however. Something horrid and violent stalks the wererat guild, even in their own domain. He wants to end the negotiation, and move along. It is not to be. The troglodytes strike before anyone can escape.

A violent battle ensues, leaving most involved nearly incapacitated with wounds. During the battle Amadio summons the power of the Rat King, and swarms of rats fight alongside the party.

The troglodytes however, are defeated and only one man of the scouting party dies. Poor Jens, the brave half-orc fool. Khaled and Isan both make it through.

The rats retreat to their lairs at the bottom of the sewers, to lick their wounds, and demand no further tribute. The Scouting party decides to rest for half an hour, and allow the rest of the heist team to catch up.

After this, it is a swift and decisive route to the reserve cisterns, where the manhole the party seeks is located. Nothing bad happens along the way, and once at the cisterns, the party takes captive the fat caretakes Thropp, extorting from him information about the cisterns layout, and the dangers in them; Thropps girls; The otyughs named Martha, Mathilda and Mary.

With Thropp's unwilling participation and a little luck and foresight, the entire heist-team negotiate the cisterns, successfully not becoming otyugh food. They are in place - the heist can begin.

The last thing we hear is a musket, ringing out from above.