Play Report: Assault on the Hidden

Not exactly the headquarters, but I've been lazy on scanning...

So, sometimes when I’m running my game, I get a little excited, especially when the players are running through encounters I think are particularly cool. I’m pretty detailed with my maps, so geographically wise, I’m pretty on top of my game. But when it comes to my antagonists, I keep forgetting shit. Particularly second damn attacks. This session, I only forgot on like one encounter, so I was pretty happy with that. However, one of the baddies I had was using poison weapons and I completely f’n forgot. Grr…

Anyway, I digress. A lot of things have happened throughout this campaign, and not only do they players forget particular events, so do I, so I figured I’d try to keep track of things with brief play reports to just keep track.

Background: The Hidden (a faction consisting of a combination of Yakuza and Mafioso traditions) have had their own civil war. The side still loyal to the Empire had been soundly defeated by the group willing to take contracts from Anglypur allied groups.

Last session: The players on visiting their favorite “massage parlor,” Seung’s Path to Nirvana, discovered Snake, their Hidden contact, at death’s door. Badly injured (and suffering the effects of poison), they smuggled him under the tarp in Halbert’s cart to the Monk’s Foundry where he could get the level of healing he required. In Snakes infrequent bouts of consciousness, he was able to reveal the secret entrance in the Abandoned Sewers to the Hidden’s Headquarters.

Cast: Anatoly (Dale): Monk Faction ranged attacker.
Halbert (Doug): Unaligned Tank
Hurst (Dave): Unaligned well-rounded fighter type capable of both melee and ranged attacks
Klaus (John): Guild Faction wizard
Zachariah (Bob): Legion Faction fighter

Thieves: From Shadows Over Bogenhoffen NPCs.
Assassins: Soldiers from SOB NPCs wearing leather armor.
Bodyguards: From SOB also.
Siddich: Reskinned Chaos Warrior
Danata Jovino: Master Thief
Sandro Volpe: Master Assassin

The players convinced the Legion and the West Anglypur Company to serve a search warrant at the Hidden’s front door while the party infiltrates through the sewers. The sewer exit at first seemed sealed by concrete like all the others (for damn good reason), but it was a merely some well-painted canvas, and after some debate to go up before the allotted time, the party decided to ascend early.

Discovering a cramped tunnel and a heavy but slightly warped wooden door, Anatoly slid a dagger through the slats to lift a beam blocking the entrance from the other side. Lacking the strength to lift the bar, Zachariah was able to lift it, but failed the dexterity check to keep it, and the attached bells, silent. The party piled into the basement to see a thief sticking his head down the stairway across the room screaming the alarm.

The party ran to the bottom of the stairs, ready for the old ultraviolence, but the bastards wouldn’t come down. Klaus investigated a strange fishbowl containing what looked like armored piranhas, and Anatoly investigated a voice Zachariah heard coming from a bare corner of the basement. Anatoly hug around below while the party scrambled up the stairs, investigating the overheard voice, but finding no secret door, he checked another door to find a room where odd fungi and mushrooms were being grown (here, he had to bail and go to bed).

Zachariah stormed up the stairs to face an assault from a thief and an assassin. Shrugging off the attacks he made short work of the assassin while the thief ran off. Hearing a racket south of the stairwell, Halbert jumped out into the Hidden’s gym area in time to see a group of Legionnaires arresting a few of the Hidden’s members at the buildings entrance. Spying Lenora Hatley (a cruel land-owner with political aspirations) Halbert heard her say, “That’s good enough, boys. They can handle the rest of it,” indicating the party and shutting the door. Seeing their back-up summarily dismissed, the party gets one more reason to take care of her despite her status with the community.

Finding the second floor stairs guarded, some slick role-playing and good fellowship role convinced him they were reinforcements hired by Sandro Volpe and that Lenora had taken care of the Legion intruders, everything was okay. The party proceeded to the top floor unhindered.

Bitching about doors, the party came to a large door with the sounds of nails being pried out it. Waiting for it to open, Hurst called through the door that he was the stairway guard and the coast was all clear. As soon as they heard the boards on the other side drop, Zachariah barged in and immediately swung madly at the master thief, Donata Jovino. Halbert and Hurst engaged the bodyguard, and I was in heaven because I remembered my second attacks (but forgot the f’n poisoned blade on Jovino, arg!). Despite my plethora of attacks, the boys left the room with one dead bodyguard and a master thief bleeding out on the floor.

Hearing a door slam around the corner of the hallway, the party played a game of see how they could bounce down the hall after they slammed into the locked door. Finally, the door burst open in time to hear another door slam and find they were facing 3 of the bodyguards and a Siddich. Herein begins my tale of woe as I hit and hit and hit, but parries and dodges and plate armor started driving me insane. Klaus, being the wizard-type gave as good as he got after unleashing Rends (reskinned fireball) but was heavily wounded in return due to his soft and squishy unarmored state. The Siddich lost all of his wounds once the magic casting was over, but every other attack bounced off of him for a long while. By the time it was over, everyone in the party was lightly wounded (except for poor Klaus), they had captive, and the room was covered in gore.

Getting their captive talking wasn’t much trouble for them, and the party found that Sandro Volpe had escaped through a trapdoor in the ceiling. After that, the group called it a night, and the pursuit of the master assassin will continue at a later date.