Nighthaven Session 3 Report

Undead Patrol, hold the undead...

Session three began with the return of Jurgen Flintknapper, the party’s Dwarven Cleric, who brought with him the introduction to one of Nighthaven’s most important tasks for adventurers; Undead Patrol. Nighthaven is built into the side of a mountain, so burying the dead is extremely difficult. As a result, most bodies are interred in mausoleums and catacombs. That coupled with the ancient and deadly magics associated with Nighthaven’s history mean that the undead are a huge problem in the city. As a result, the guard routinely calls upon the services of the city’s clergy to assist with patrols. Clergy are given the full authority of a city guard sergeant, including the ability to carry heavy weapons, wear armor openly and deputize others into guard service. In return, the city makes a donation to the cleric’s temple. With Jurgen being a cleric, it was made clear to him early on that he would need to participate in this patrol every so often by his superiors. Originally, I expected the party to continue their pursuit of Mugface and Dietrich the Devil, but they decided that helping Jurgen with his Undead Patrol would be the best way to get some experience points. As a result, the party took on a shift as part of the Undead Patrol…and encountered zero undead in the process.

I have created a series of encounter tables for all of the various districts of Nighthaven and a shift on Undead Patrol consists of a roll on the District Encounter Table each time they entered a new hex (1 mile per hex). They rolled on the table a total of four times and not once did they land on a wandering monster encounter, an undead encounter or a monster lair. Instead, the session turned into Law and Order: Nighthaven as the party inadvertently stumbled into the nightly grind of the city guard. Once again, the party’s first roll on the encounter table turned up an encounter with corrupt guards, this time harassing an old man who witnessed them collecting a debt for Hawke’s Talons. The party made some odd choices in questioning the victim, offering him 5 gold and then trying to vaguely threaten him into giving more information. He ultimately hobbled away from them angrily.

The second random encounter was with a group of Headless who were collecting a debt from a business. The party was able to dispatch them quickly due to some quick thinking and good use of spells, the party was able to run in all three on racketeering charges. While Nighthaven is corrupt, the Headless were operating outside of their territory and the guards, firmly in the pocket of Hawk’s Talons, were all too happy to place the Headless under lock and key. Throughout the process the party was routinely surprised that they were actually following procedure and performing the expected duties of the city guard. Considering that most of them had spent time in jail, in gangs or in both, the players were unprepared to be on the side of the law, but performed their duties with aplomb.

Roll number three turned up an encounter with Hawke’s Talons unloading a wagon full of illegal goods, although the players ignored it and went about their way. Roll number four made for the most exciting encounter when the players witnessed a man jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Once again, the players opted to ignore the situation until their hand was forced by Wulfgar the Barbarian. In keeping with his chaotic nature, Wulfgar decided to intervene and confront the shadowy figure directly. Wulfgar successfully scaled the wall and attempted to take down the figure, revealed to be an assassin from The Path of the Blade. With some assistance from Flinder, Wulfgar and Bracca were able to take down the assassin…who then promptly took a poison capsule to avoid giving away any information. The party saw him grab the pill, but didn’t really do much to stop him for whatever reason. They also tried to open his satchel, but didn’t check it for traps. As a result, the contents of the satchel burned up.

The session ended with the party collecting a bounty for killing an assassin and then sending Flinder into the holding cell to gather information on the three Headless they captured. As it turns out, they were pushing their racketeering into Talon territory at the behest of Mugface. The party then interrogated the leader of the three and got him to turn informer for them. Despite not encountering any undead during Undead Patrol, the night was not a waste. Informants are a huge part of my setting and essential for anyone looking to oppose the gangs. My players will now have to deal with cultivating an informant and keeping him happy until they get what they want. I don’t know what they expect, but I think they’ll be surprised at just how much it takes to keep an informer.