Session 6

 A few weeks back I dropped in a hook about a young boy named Byrne who had gone missing while fishing on the southern bank of the Thundhr River. Byrne also happens to be the son of the local cattle rancher Bran Drover. This last week, Lord Commander Rogget received word from Bran that he received a letter from the bandit Ruthless Bill detailing that he has Byrne in his possession, and demanding a ransom of 5000 GP. That letter also contained one of Byrne’s little fingers, and a bloodied dagger that Byrne received from his father on his birthday. For this session our adventurers, now considered local folk heroes due to their exploits against the wolfmen, decide to help Bran get his son back.

They head to Bran’s ranch, and greeted by his men. Bran himself tells them about the letter and it’s grizzly memento. He tells them about how Ruthless Bill and His Gang have harassed his ranch, his cattle, and even his men. The rancher lets the party know that he believes the gang’s hideout is somewhere in the Lowland Hills about a day west from his ranch. Bran doesn’t think Ruthless Bill has many members in his gang and probably wouldn’t pose much of a threat if they were caught unawares by an unknown group. He devises a plan where he will send out three men to deliver the money at the set location, while the party is making their way stealthy to the hideout. By only sending only three men, this leaves Bran with nine men to help him defend his ranch in case Ruthless Bill decides to make a visit.  

Ruthless Bill!

The party sets out the next morning and make their way through the northwestern area of the hills until the find two men on horseback. They attack the men, killing one instantly, while the other was thrown from his horse. He’s tied up and integrated. He gives up that the boy was back in an abandon mine. The party heads out, with their hostage guiding them, all the while expecting Ruthless Bill and most of his gang at their hideout. They arrive and see only two men guarding the entrance. Laughing Fox locates two wild boar, and puts them under his control. He tells the boars to attack the men. While one boar is injured from an arrow, it doesn’t stop him or his bacon companion from attacking, killing, and then feasting on the men.

Rumbo and the party came down, and they knocked the door loose and let the boars run in and cause mayhem after commanding them not to attack the boy. Except they didn’t find Ruthless Bill or his gang. It seemed Ruthless Bill did indeed take his most of his men to wreck havoc upon Bran’s ranch and cattle. They untied the boy, told him who they were, and proceeded to head back to his father’s. But before they left, they let the boy cut one of their hostage’s fingers off in retaliation, and let the hogs have him.  

 They missed Ruthless Bill and his men on their way back, though they did see some sort of optical illusion in the hills, like the Flying Dutchmen. Arriving, they saw some of the barns burning, blackened corpses of cattle, and Bran trying to get things settled down. Seeing his son, he gave him a hug, and thanked the party for their help. He also told them how only one of his men came back injured from the drop-off point, with the other two being killed. With that, the players ended the session at Bran’s ranch.

But we’re not quite done yet. Earlier in the week I finally brought in patron play. What’s that you ask? Well, the quick version is that it’s allowing an outsider party, probably someone who would like to play in a regular session, but not able to due to conflicting schedules, to run an npc or npc faction of the game. This eases the burden for the DM, but also has the potential to make the campaign more dynamic. There’s a good chance that someone controlling the npc or faction will make decisions and think of things that the DM will never think of. It’s pretty cool if I say so myself. So what does this have to do with this session?

Well, simple. I gave control Ruthless Bill and His Gang to a patron to see how their actions would effect the game. Not only that, but during the session, I was also in communication with Ruthless Bill’s player and was able to see how he would react to the players in real time. Really amazing! Patron play is great, and adds another dynamic layer to the whole game. But one that’s not really new, but sadly forgotten. Patron play is derived form Braunstein, a sort of proto-rpg from before the days of D&D, and one even played by Dave Arneson, co-creator of said D&D! It’s great, and the BROSR has not only brought this technique back into play, but like everything else we do, are using it and other forgotten rules to lead the charge in playing D&D the way it was meant to be played!

 Players & their XP total:

Rumbo Battlecock (10%): 44 XP

Laughing Fox (0%): 40 XP

Stonewall (5%): 42 XP

Henchman:

Mysterious Anon (formerly Man With No Name): 40 XP