Solo Black Powder and Brimstone: The Enemy Within - Episode 3

--/-- Welcome to a Black Powder and Brimstone Solo attempt at The Enemy Within. BPnP, by Benjamin Tobitt, is a 3rd-party creation of the Mork Borg family of RPG rules. 

--/-- Mature content warning: content refers both to the original WFRP campaign and to the more hellish world of BPnP. Listener discretion is advised.

--/-- Episode 3: Tod Weiss spots trouble and rearranges the wedding tackle of a noted protagonist, Max Ernst. He accepts a job offer from an old friend he barely remembers.

--/-- Background music "The Madding Crowd" and "The Hearth Inn" from Tabletop Audio

https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This podcast is rated F the filthy. Ha! Filthy! Ha ha ha! It sounds like a joke. Four Hectors, two roaring boys, and a Tucman come in to the boatman tavern one night. Seeking a quarrel. I know the Tucman. Max Ernst. Expert with a rapier. It looks like he knows me too. That's probably not good news. Well, at least said soon as Bandit. Put a hand behind me, grab up my S5, sling my pack back on my back, and put the chain shirt under my arm. The papers I was about to show Yosef will have to wait. I'll make straight for the door. And sure enough, Max steps in my path. I keep my face open. As he begins to say something about better think again. I toss the pack at him, chest high. Automatically he begins to catch it. Then, it's chained shirt to the face and boot to the groin. As he doubles over, I scoop up my belongings and leg it out the door. Yosef begins two steps behind me. But by the time we've made down 11th Street, he's four steps ahead of me. Pretty spry for an old man with a beard as big as his belly, which is saying a lot because that belly is swaying to and fro like a pregnant cow. Welcome to episode three of my palate cleanser. Using black powder and brimstone rules to follow the plot as best I can of the enemy within. In case the disclaimer at the front of the show did not warn you, this is not a PG show. Chaos, depravity, and unspeakable vileness stalk the roads and cities of the now decayed empire. Our last scene ended. Post-parade, with our hero, Todd Weiss, looking around him for the two characters who appeared to be trying to tell him or ask him something. But at that point, he was hailed from behind. But in his usual way, Todd is going to tell the story, ask about face. Starting with the exciting bit and then filling in the details as need be. At this point, a flight and a well dignified withdrawal is interrupted. Some wild eye freak of an agitator screams at me. After I'm raised, eyes rolled up. Quite the professional. Shadows of a broken heaven. Yeah, yeah. Love and more. Huh? Esperance of green sick of my screen, river. Sure. I guess that's where we headed. Death on the rock, stained hand. Unspidey lord, under throne. Horned rat claims a broken king. Throne of lies, white wolf. He's not talking about me, is he? White wolf. Empire in Romans, as though it's not already. End times it can. You're telling me. Return back to Yosef. So, where was this boat? Eight points. And we keep legging. It's not really all that long until we're safe on Joseph's boat. And assuming that Max Ernst, the man in black, will be hard put to live down the bullet kicking I've just given him. I set a trip wire on the gang blank of the barge. And now, at last, in supposed safety. I'm free to think back on what Joseph has said. And what he's avoided saying. Let me think back now. Ten years. That's what Josef said. Was I called by death ten years ago?

unknown 4:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Maybe I was, just sure. I kinda bless him. He was in the boat train. Not exactly a camp follower. An important part of the supply. He doesn't seem to have heard that my company was completely wiped out. Back when I was a young Hellion, I did spend time in his company. Lifting a happy handle or three or five. Back then, I think. He was a legendary drinker. We took a kind of innocent pleasure in making younger members of the company pussy drunk. And leaving them with their brakes down, bum up. To be rogered by any passerby. I was too wise for that. I do remember throwing up in his boat one day. Yeah. He did see me home safe to camp that time. So yeah. Maybe he is to be trusted. He probably doesn't know that I'm no longer the young Alien I once was. I'm more of a pious man now, although a pair of fine childbearing hips does have the old soldier standing to attention still. Then I look at him, sitting next to me at the boatman. The place he's invited me to. Something to bear in mind. At this point, with a reasonable suspicion to go on, Todd makes an important presence check. And he rolls a two for a dirty one. Thanks to his minus one on presence. He can't read his quote old friend, unquote, at all. But I have a couple of papers in my sabotage. I need an advocate to look at. Yosef might be the one to advise me about it. The man with my face had the monument, along with a copy of that pamphlet about adventure in the wilds. Sergeant Fluster told me I should investigate once I get here to Althorf. Josef probably knows this place must be safe. He prattles on. It begins to sound as though he wants me for muscle on a boat ride. I keep my mouth shut and ears open. Let's see how the boatman's clientele pan out here. If I can get some advice on another matter. That armor I scavenged, that'll be a bonus. Come to think of it. If Yosef noticed me from before the parade, did he see me recover my gold heavy purse from that pickpocket? That changes things. Well, if he's using me, I can use him. As the evening deepens to night. I confirm the boatman has a mixed bag. Friendly clientele. Probably not a front for press games or a knocking shop. I'll make sure we share the same bottle as Joseph orders another one. Once we have a minute's quiet, I can tell Joseph that I'm a more sober man these days. And that I'm the last of the company. At this juncture, I've made a decision to collapse two NPCs into one. I can't see the point of the writers insisting that the protagonists see the NPC Adolphus, the bounty hunter, but never get to talk to him. And also get accosted by their old friend Joseph. I've decided they're going to both be the same person. And so, in the person of Todd Weiss, I'm weighing how much he really was my friend back in the old days. Or is this just something where he's presenting me with what sounds like an opportunity, but he's using me for my muscle? Back to the present, or I should say, back to the flashback where our hero Todd is recollecting the events of the evening that have led him to the barge. Joseph gets straight into the pitch. I have saw coming. He wasn't really listening to what I was saying. Yes, he wants crew for his boat. But I'm getting the implication that. Are you telling me this place has no rooms? I ask. Yeah, you can sleep in the boat free of charge, he responds. I'm fighting down the sudden urge to punch something. It seems my friend Joseph is not interested in why I'm here at all. Still, let's be practical. Josef is talking about Bogenhoven. Well, they have advocates there, I'm sure. And one of the papers I've got specifically mentions some law firm in Bogenhoven. Maybe it's time to see what Joseph thinks. I go to extract the papers. And at that point, another interruption. The man in black, Max Ernst, famed Tuckman. Or if you're not in the business, Rapier Man, swaggers in. He picks me out, of course. And I have to work out whether he's here to kill me? To pick a fight in general? Or just having a quiet drink. He drags a little table near the door off to one side, so he's not in line of fire from it. Fair enough. Yosef and I are at the main board. Big table nearest the bar. An easy earshot of the other drinkers. But my back's to the wall. Zvehander leaning against a back beside me. Chainmail on top of that, waiting to go. This is just a stopover. Then, very, very suspiciously soon afterwards, a couple of Hectors. Probably professional bodyguards. Push in. They're followed by the two roaring boys I mentioned. Some of the upper crust, out for a bit of vicious fun. And two more Hectors. Yeah. They might be out in the town, but they're making sure they're well looked after. They seem to be pretty cut already. They head up to the bar and giggle about how quaint it all is. I'm beginning to feel a little too exposed. Yeah, this is really uncomfortable. I let go the papers, and that's where we came in. Heading to the door and a kick to the bowls. Since we've taken ourselves to the endpoint of the earth on the bodge belonging to Joseph Kortijan. We can pick through the scene's activities and I'll explain the different roles and choices and oracles that I made. First, I've decided to collapse two characters into one. There's a bounty hunter named Adolphus, whom I'm permitted to see but never to interact with. And an old friend, supposedly from my past, named Joseph, whom I'm forced to interact with. Well, that's alright. The trouble is, the module insists on pushing the player characters with no agency into the next scene. And the next scene. And this is very, very typical of Warhammer. Warhammer scenarios, whether they're 40k or the original Woofrop, are very much a railroad written as narrative. The authors have a story they want you to act within, with very strict with very strict boundaries. I'll probably be harping on this a lot. Forgive me. Me and Warhammer go way back. I bought the original box set of wargame rolls. I bought the first edition Withrop. Back when it was new, you understand. And I've certainly got nothing against the basic roleplay D100 Roll Low approach. Since one of the first games I ever owned was RuneQuest 2nd edition. I find it frustrating that they also have subsystems, but let's set that aside. I think they're peeling those away with each new edition. I happen to think the approach of having multiple skills is ludicrous, but that's neither here nor there, since I'm playing b black powder and brimstone with this game. Now, to remind you of where Todd Vice fits into all this, his old nickname was White Death. He saw all of his old Lansnack company slaughtered. If Joseph Kortyne is referring back to them and ten years ago, it was when Todd was a lot younger and not so pious as he is now. Not that he is a saint. It seems likely, just on common sense grounds, that Joseph is angling for Todd to be his hard muscle, or possibly free muscle. As I listen to Joseph, I think he's become quite the old windbag. Almost as though he's trying really hard to remind me of the good time we had together when I was a young Hellion. He must want something. These days I'm all pious. Where a fine pair of childbearing hips is concerned, I'm prone to sin. My main concern is this. I have a couple papers in my sabotage that I need an advocate to look at. The man with my face had them on him, along with a copy of that pamphlet about adventure in the wilds. Sergeant Fluster told me I should investigate once I get here to Altdorf. Still, Joseph probably knows. A good place to stay. And as I listen to his prattle, he mentions the boatman. Some tavern. Todd decides to keep his mouth shut and ears and eyes open. And see how the boatman's clientele plan out. This doesn't require any skill check. It's just his background, interacting with his eyes. But he also has another secondary matter in mind. That Joseph may be able to put him on to an expert in. Or possibly one of the clientele at the boatmen. It's more of a technical BP and P rules thing. Todd has begun with light D2 armor, which are reinforced gauntlets that absorb a little bit of damage and won't slow him down. But the ex-coach driver's male shirt is a D4. And Todd's gotten mine to having it sewn into oiled leather. That would protect it from the terrible weather here in the north. And also be a practical answer to a man who prefers flamboyant gear, but will adjust as conditions' needs must. In the boatman, which is a cavern on the street of a hundred, Todd is in for a disappointment. This is not a cheap, safe inn. Joseph has specifically brought him here to pitch him on the idea of sailing come the dawn on Joseph Barge. So whatever Todd has been saying, Joseph hasn't really been listening. Todd makes a presence check. Unfortunately, he gets a duty one rolling a two and adjusting it by his meager presence. He can't read Joseph's own inner thoughts. He can only deal with what's in front of him. And this is where Joseph gets straight to the pitch. This whole reunion that Joseph has been pushing, talking about happy times, has just led up to Todd being hired muscle. And here, the module, as usual, calls in at least two scene elements. First is what is known in the Warhammer world as a protagonist. To set up a contrast with Todd's own Zweihander style, I've decided that he uses a rapier for specialty work, which makes him, in that particular slang of the time, a Tuckman. Not long after Max Ernst, the famed Tuckman, and yes, he and Todd both know each other, four bodyguards, or as Todd refers to them, Hectors, enter the tavern and they are escorting two upper crusters, young nobles out for mischief, who have specifically come here to force a confrontation. Their plan is to either or both humiliate someone who has to be one of the player characters, force a confrontation between the player character, so humiliated, and Max Ernst. Given that in the Warhammer campaign, the player characters are beginners, this seems exceptionally difficult encounter. I haven't looked at what XP they award for this. However, good news for Todd. After I use placement dice using a can 2e technique, where you roll a D6 to discover the number of D6s you'll roll, and then roll the D6s on a A4 kind of page to get the general layout and features. The relevant positions of all of the bodyguards and nobles and Todd and Joseph and Max are all reasonably clear. Max Ernst is positioned so that he can intercept people making towards the only door. And two bodyguards will also block the door. The nobles begin at the fireside nook, but then go to the bar and start scelling brandy. This is a clear signal, to Todd at least, that something is afoot. Todd makes a presence roll and rolls a knack twenty. He's completely under control. The confrontation will be of his choosing. The nobles need to be avoided. As he's explained, he grabs his viander and gear and walks directly to the door. It's too soon for the bodyguards to have done anything about blocking the door. And that leaves Max Ernst, who, her script, tries to face down anyone attempting to leave. So as a free action or an interact action, Dog tosses his main pack at Max's chest. Instinctively, Max has to catch it because his defense roll is terrible. He rolls an O4 on his DR-12 defense. Then as the action hits a toss though chain shirt directly at Max's face and boot to the groin. Max is left with a toughness check. Now this is a little difficult because and I know this isn't really how black powder and brimstone are supposed to go, because the rolls are supposed to be player facing. But that's the best way I can express it. Max rolls a very inferior O7 on toughness, and so I can picture him doubled over. Now, it's time to check how close those bodyguards are. I roll a D6 for how many six feet squares there might be behind me. One, oh dear, very close. Next, a player-facing role of strength to heave the now doubled over Max into the path of the bodyguards. I roll a feeble O5. I've still got one devil's luck left, and I spend that. The re-roll is 13, adequate. While not lifted bodily off his feet, Max is definitely blocking the path of the two bodyguards. And with that, there's time enough to grab up pack and chain armor and run like hell. One can imagine that Joseph is on to the same kind of danger and is just behind Todd as he exits. That pretty much brings you up to date.