#arcane sesson 2

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Crying like I’m 5.

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ARCANE SESSON 2 RELEASE DATE HOLY SHITHEGSUSHSGISNAHWOSHDUWK

FICKUFCKFUFUKKCCUILFCUKKFKCUJFKCK

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Campaign Diary: The Heist!

I said I’d do it, so here it is!

So, a few days ago we played D&D, and then played a sesson right after, and now we’re probably gonna play D&D Tonight too, a rare opportunity but one I gladly accept.

I asked Tumblr to come up with Characters and Thieves for this Human Druid and Tortle Wizard to hire.

If you need context for this Campaign Diary, you can find it here.

So, we begin this session after the Party had recruited the Team, since they requested to do that between sessions rather than spend the night searching for Hirelings.

And the Team consisted of: Kenzo the Wood Elf Rogue, who helped the two assemble the Team, Talon the Human Wizard, Joey the Tabaxi Bard, Sunna the Human Sorcerer, Mars the Fire Genasi Pugilist and Jamkas Moonshadow, the Drow Rogue.

Now, they did have aid in a Wizard called Allister, but on the request of the Tumblr Person that made them, they were intended to be an NPC, and so I played them as an NPC...

Now, I didn’t intend for this to happen, but the Players ended up actually playing the Thieves, and let me tell you, DMing a Group of this kind of size isn’t easy, but oh boy was it fun.

So of course I gave the crafty Players the Wizards, the Leader-Type Player got Kenzo (The Leader of the Group), the Player that likes Combat got the Pugilist, the Players that like Roleplaying got the Rogue and the Bard. You see where I was going with this...

Part 1: Spreading Rumours

I’m gonna just break this session down into parts, because this session was about 7 hours long and I’m tired just writing it all down...

So as the session began, Kenzo the Wood Elf Mastermind Rogue (and Leader of her own little Thieves Guild, did ya know?) decides to sows rumours in the Capitol City to lead the Guards and Mages away from the Library during the time of the Heist.

So after running through the DMG to find the Rules for it, Kenzo’s Player rolled 6d6 for the amount of Days it would take for the rumours to take hold, and rolled horribly, getting 32 and meaning that the rest of the Group now had 32 Days of Downtime to fill before the Heist.

On the bright side though, Kenzo’s Player ROCKED her Charisma Check, rolling a Natural 19.

Plus, 32 Days of Downtime means even more time to prepare, which actually turned out to be VITAL!

But while this is happening, Talon the Wizard (also known as Roland) is inscribing a Spell Scroll of Teleportation Circle to gift to Hard Hat the Tortle Necromancer (don’t ask about his Name, it’s a long story...) as part of the Heist Group’s “Escape Plan”.

I will admit, the first maybe 3 hours of the session was just talking and planning, but honestly I didn’t mind it, since this “Phase” of the Heist is the Planning Phase, so of course they’re going to talk about how they get in, how they’re gonna get out, and what precautions need to be made to stop anything horrible from happening mid-heist.

Now back to the Scroll Writing!

To scribe this Scroll of this kind should take 4 Workweeks and 5,000GP, at least according to Xanathar’s Guide.

So where did Talon get 5,000 Gold from? Well he just asked Hard Hat the Tortle to get it for him.

And as it turns out, Hard Hat does not have 5,000 Gold Pieces on his person. Actually, he has no Gold at all.

So what does he do to get the Money?

Well to get the 5,000GP to cover the Cost of making the Scroll, Hard Hat uses a combination of Enthrall, Suggestion and Charm Person to con a bunch of townsfolk into handing over a bunch of their money.

Now this definitely deserves an Alignment change from Hard Hat to Neutral Evil, at least for a while, and I’ll tell you why...

The reason I’m ruling this as a “temporary” alignment change is because the actual Player's literal justification for these acts is: “Well the ends justify the means, we're hurting people to help people...”

And his alignment was partly Neutral already, so a shift that steps him towards the Evil Side for this Section of the Adventure definitely seems appropriate after this...

I’ve actually talked about this already, and you can read that Post about how I deal with Alignment VS Player Actions right here, but let’s continue...

Part 2: The Exit Plan...

It was weird that they started making an Exit Plan before they made an Entrance Plan, which kinds told me how the Players were expecting this to go just fine...

Their Exit Plan was this: A Series of Horse Drawn Carriages, with each carriage having a pair of Thieves in it. And when they reach the outside of the City, they all meet up at a predetermined location and teleport back from the Capitol City to the Eastern City of Fostin.

They planned for the Carriages to each go in different directions, just in case...

Part 3: The Pre-Heist

And so with their Plan, which they called “Pretty Much Okay”, Talon handed off the finished Spell Scroll of Teleportation Circle to Hard Hat the Tortle and the Group made their way on the several day journey to the Capitol City.

I had the Party roll for random Encounters on the Road. The way it works for me is if the Players roll an 11 or 12 on a d12, they have an Encounter. An 11 is a Hard Encounter, and a 12 is a Deadly Encounter.

But luckily they never had an Encounter, because they rolled horribly every day of travel, great for them I guess?

And as they enter the Capitol City through the Gates, the “Official” Pre-Heist began, and the Puzzle Pieces began to fall into place.

Part 4: The Actual Plan...

The Actual Plan was to disguise themselves as Construction Workers aiding in the restoration of the Library after the recent fire that destroyed the Edhel Halls West Wing.

Mr. Moonshadow used a combination of ridiculously good charisma checks and a great disguise kit to disguise himself as “Not a Drow”...

The others used a combination of disguise kits, disguise self and a hell of a lot of illusions to get into the site.

And from there... They got to work...

First they gained a Map of the Library thanks to their undercover work as Construction Workers, then they started to talk to the Guards around the area, and through observation they learned what kind of Armour the Guards wore, what Weapons they had on them, and realised that each Guard had a specific Patrol and had Signal Whistles around their necks.

And since they were actually working 9 to 5 as Construction Workers to aid in their Undercover Work, they soon gained the trust of the actual Construction Workers that were there to rebuild the Library.

The actual Construction Workers quickly learned the (disguised) faces of the Group and thanks to a few drinks after work and a few pretty darn amazing Charisma Checks (I'm serious, I'm pretty sure Moonshadow's Player didn't roll below a 15 all night), the actual Construction Workers found them trustworthy.

Part 5: Pensive Allister is the Most Helpful NPC...

Pensive Allister (remember him?) was the NPC Team Member and a pretty darn amazing Divination Wizard.

Every day during the “Scouting” Phase, Allister would remain in one of the Carts that brought the Group to and from the Construction Site, and then used a combination of Spells that slowly blew my mind at how useful they were together.

Those Spells were Rary’s Telepathic Bond, and Arcane Eye.

Rary’s Telepathic Bond allowed Allister to communicate wordlessly through telepathy to every other Member of the Heist Team, and the best part was the Spell didn’t require concentration and lasted for a whole hour.

Combine that with Arcane Eye, and this meant that Pensive could scout out the entire building and communicate it through telepathy to the rest of the Group without even getting out of the Cart.

And every now and then, the Group would need to crack open a window or a door to let Allister’s Arcane Eye through, but through scouting, Allister and the Group discovered that the basement was full of fog and strange symbols, but eventually, through Undercover Work, the Heist Team did in fact find the walls and walls of old scrolls.

Part 6: The Heist! (Finally!)

And so the day comes, the Heist is here, and they chose rather weirdly to do it during daylight!

The Players, one by one, sneak away into the deeper parts of the Library, with a lot of them just turning invisible and walking straight from the Cart into the Basement, the others creating the cover story of them being called to oversee and aid in another construction job happening to a tavern down the street.

So now they’re in the Library’s Basement and have about 8 hours to go through the Library (which thanks to Pensive made it incredibly easily to avoid the web-filled stairways) but they still had to deal with the Fog, the Stinking Clouds, and all the Arcane Locks that filled every door and entrance.

How did they deal with it? With Magic of Course!

Sunna the Sorcerer came especially useful here, using a combination of Silence and Knock (and a few Sorcery Points) to silently open every arcane lock and door.

They deal with the Fog by literally blowing it away, which I found to be a hilariously simply solution...

The Stinking Clouds however proved to be much more difficult, and caused Sunna to cast Gust of Wind after her Gust Cantrip did diddly-squat to get rid of the giant fart clouds in the Library...

But, finally, they made it to the Wall of Scrolls, and again, thanks to Allister and his Arcane Eye, they quickly located the Spell Scroll they needed, pocketed it, and then decided to be a bit cocky...

They stayed. They had the Spell Scroll literally in-hand, but in order to make it look like they weren’t Thieves, they stayed and did their work as Construction Workers, mostly because the Group wanted to be cocky and show off, but also to keep up the facade of actually doing Construction...

Part 7: The Getaway

And so as the evening came, the three carts they hired arrived at the site, and to everyone except the Party themselves, it appeared as though the Workers from out of town were just getting a cart back home, with those that snuck in invisibly having to roll Stealth Checks, which again, they succeeded because of course they did at this point...

So each Cart drives down a different street, and as soon as they reach the outskirts the city, Joey the Bard casts Sending to Hard Hat and tells him he has 10 Minutes to start inscribing his teleportation circle using the Spell Scroll Roland had given him almost two months ago at this point...

And then the group executes their Real Exit Plan, with everyone using Dimension Door (which is why they saved their Spell Slots!) to teleport just outside the forests near the Capitol.

Joey then casts Leomund's Tiny Hut with everyone standing inside and Sunna and Joey both up-cast Invisibility to hide the Group while Roland the Wizard begins inscribing his Teleportation Circle inside the Tiny Hut.

And so, with the entire Group Invisible and standing within the camoflaged Tiny Hut and standing on the Teleportation Circle, the Group teleports from their Teleportation Circle to the one Hard Hat had just inscribed in Fostin, and they return with the Spell Scroll of Sequester in hand.  

Part 8?: Where Are The Other Two?

Meanwhile, the other two, Hard Hat the Tortle Wizard and his Human Druid Friend Nemo are chilling in their Tavern until Hard Hat hears Joey’s Sending message giving him the 10 Minute Warning to get somewhere private and start casting the Teleportation Circle.

So naturally, rather than sneak away somewhere private, Hard Hat casts Phantom Steed, jumps upon his ghostly horse, and gallops out from his bedroom, on a magical horse, down the stairs, out of the tavern and out into the wilderness near Fostin.

Nemorith (Nemo for short) realises what the heck is happening, turns into a Panther, and also runs out of the tavern...

Weird day for the Barkeep, am I right?

So they get out into the wilderness, Hard Hat uses his Scroll, and with a bright flash of blue light, the group appears standing within the circle, Stolen Spell Scroll in hand...

Part 9: My Thoughts

First off: Fate was on their side. No one rolled less than maybe a 10 all night.

Second: They planned way more than I thought they would. I expected them to overthink it but still be unprepared.

Third: DAMN THIS HEIST WAS FUN!

This was the first time I had ever run a Heist as anything more than “Sneak In, Kill Guys, Get the Thing, Get Out.”

So running a whole 6+ Hours of a Heist was definitely jumping into the Panic Zone, but honestly, I maybe said a couple of pages of text, and the rest was the Players roleplaying through their Planning, Scouting, and the actual Heist.

Overall... I kinda loved it. And I wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime....

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Tell me they don't give off the same vibe.

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The fact that this is supposed to be Vi at her worst...

[perfectstudentwombatbanana]

Blushing like I’m 12 again