Solo Black Powder and Brimstone: The Enemy Within - Episode 6

--/-- 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 6: "Off with the zweihander - and hey - there's plenty of room to swing it" - Tod Weiss confronts ultimate chaos: deals with it: then loots and submits a very neutral report.

--/-- Background music "Defiled Temple" and "The Hearth Inn" from Tabletop Audio

https://larrymannplayssolobickering.blogspot.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

As I picked myself up out of the sewer, back onto the walkway. Trousers and boots possibly ruined. Or Gautry, back on the other side of it, says us, Did you keep a hold of your dagger? I'm just telling you this, so that you've got in mind the state of my temper as we finally cite something worth investigating. A body floating in the sewer. Up till that point it's been pretty straightforward. Back at the sewer entrance, I muttered Godry, as he's lighting up the light, know anything about hunting goblins? And he kinda grins under his filthy beard and says, They thought I was sleeping it off. What I heard, talking about final measures. An attempt to chaos, or one of the chaos lords. I guess that gobbo will be drawn there. Well, it's as good a way of investigating as any. So we start tricking along. After a while, it feels like everything is going downhill, shit included, and us, carried along. It's almost as though the Reich is carrying me bobbing along, I mutter to him. And then he shushes me, sniffs. And we have a very nasty couple of minutes of absolute dark methane pocket, Gottry mentions, as he guides me past. I've got flint and steel, obviously. So it's no trouble to light up the lantern again. Welcome dear listener, to episode six of my palate cleanser of episodes using black powder and brimstone rules, following as best I can 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. And now, at Todd Weiss, our hero, is fully engaged on events in Bogenhaven. Since we've deviated from the railroad, even the options that the fourth edition writers provide, I'll need to explain more than just the roles that I've been making. First, just a reminder of Todd's capabilities. He used his level 2 gains to iron out some of the weaknesses of his original role. He has plus two strength, plus two toughness, representing his big muscular build. He's corrected Agy to plus one, which will compensate for his loss of Aji once he gets his male shirt sewn into a nice oiled leather coat, and he's corrected his presence to zero. The events at the Schaffenfest caused him to spend two of his devil's luck. One to impress his new female acquaintance, Salida, and one to make sure he caught a runaway goblin. From that point, the railroad provided by the writers takes any character directly to a hunt in the sewers for that same runaway goblin. It ran away again, because of course it did. Having said that, I would recommend Red Moon roleplaying again because they did a much better job with the goblin than the original scenario. But there's also a WTF moment in the writing. There's more than one, but let's just focus on this one. As I read ahead to understand what the roles they'll be making are, I discover that the dwarf is supposed to die even though you may have taken steps to get him out of the Schaffenfest. I don't see why that's at all necessary, and in fact, one person trying to manage a light source and blades down in the sewer doesn't strike me as at all sane. And so I'm happy by saying that Gotri got arrested again, not murdered, and he is the companion character that will be needed to provide light. The presence of the dwarf almost immediately pays off because there are methane pockets in the sewer, and that's something that a dwarf would automatically sniff out. So then we move to the major encounter, so-called, a shifting section of the stone walkway, or side of the sewer, where Todd is precipitated into the sewer. He makes a good edgy roll and does not slip over and spoil his total attire and does not lose his dagger. The final set piece encounter is, of course, with the floating body, and that marks more or less where the panel leading into the secret temple is to be found. We're each carrying a dagger. Both mine, I might add. I've got my big rondel. Godry's got my misery cord. But it's after that. But I have my well, mishap shit happens. But I'm in a really foul mood by the time Godry's lamp picks out a corpse floating. Probably the goblin. Who's to say? It's just a faint, filthy blob slowly sinking. And that's as good a marker as any for the panel that leads to the hidden temple. Funny thing is though, it's nice and clean. I'm by far and away the filthier thing in it. There's some kind of huge pentacle on the floor, naturally. Not much sign of the goblin except for a big bloodstain. We head over there towards a cabinet. Some kind of rag. But then there's a kind of a bubbling hiss from the pentacle. And a fucking demon materializes in it. Clocks us. And starts trying to talk me down or something. I look at Gautry. He's beginning to freak out, as you might. Me, I'm a good sigmarite, and maybe that's what stands me in good stead. So instead of shitting her pants, I haul out that vial Selita slip me. And I ask Gautry, any clue on what this does? Well, having something like that to think about calms him down. He takes a look at it, sniffs it, says, I wouldn't drink it, maybe put it on your blade. So, off with the Zweihander. And hey, there's plenty of room to swing it. The Zweihander kinda closed. And then I turn to the demon who is for some reason still talking to me, and I cut the fucker in half. Lightning, everything goes off. There's a sizzle and a clap of thunder, and the thing has kinda melted into the floor. Godfrey says, Huh. And we start picking through the room. The module as written explains that the summoner has long since gone, but it has left the lesser demon trapped in the circle. Not visible to begin with, but manifesting once the characters are inside the temple. A manifested lesser demon has many disgusting features, but Todd makes a Nat 20 on his presence check, restores a missing, a very valuable missing devil's luck, bringing him to two total, and he immediately having applied the potion to his Zyhander, uses both those devil's luck to, first of all, up the damage of the magic on the blade, which I randomly roll off the BP and B list of witch spells, and secondly, use the second devil's luck to up the Zhyhander damage as well. The total of the combined magic and great sword attack is 25. That's enough to kill a BP and B greater devil. Yeah, that rags are kind of a fancy hanky, a cabinet. Ras Gottry, I guess dwarf kind of good with locks. Gothry cracks his knuckles, has that cabinet open. It's got a nice silver tray in it, and a nasty looking knife, and a scroll. Well that's evidence if I ever saw it. We confiscate every piece of evidence, although it's hanky now. Monogram FS. F for frilly, S for shit. It'll take a bit of legwork to find the embroiderer that stitched it. Uh that's not really my P. The scroll now. I think about Heinstalk and being burnt alive. Then I burn the scroll, then I gather the burnt pieces and I burn them again. And then I push the crumbled up ashes down into the sewer. After that, it's a long walk back, and a report to the magistrate. Richter as right name is, as it turns out. And following the law of no names, no pact drill, I report Goblin corpse in the sewer. Probably sunk by now. Secret temple just hard by. I'll sketch the bearings. We only found it because of a corpse. Here's a handkerchief we found there. And a knife from it. I'd guess Herr Heinstork, you know, the witch burner, I add, will be interested in it. No need to mention the silver. Gotrie needs drinking money. We take our exit. Todskon very ordinary ten on the room check, but the handkerchief in the pool of blood is unmissable, and we can also, obviously, assume that the cabinet is open eventually. Reporting back to Magistrate Richter, Todd is very careful to drop Heinstalk's name. It's so that the magistrate won't press him into even more onerous service. And now we can rejoin Todd as he and Gottri leave the magistrate's quarters. I'm sure the magistrate was extremely glad to see the last of the stinking pair, particularly shit-covered Todd. The reward for the service so far was ten crowns, and that's very useful, although at the moment Todd has plenty of crowns stored at the fighting lion. Todd decides to head for a bathhouse and to find a really good boots boy. He's staying at the Fighting Lion in the rich part of town, and they are able to provide good services of that kind, that is, to put him in touch with the right people. In the case of the laundry and bath being a good inn, they employ a very good boots boy, who can probably restore Todd's boots, a very necessary part of equipment for a land snack type character. But I may be getting too far ahead in my tale of Todd. Let's let him take over the narration again. Now let's have a look at this letter Joseph gave me. The much red one. Now that I've got leisure as I lie back in the big bath. So a man with my face was on Castro Liborong on something to do with uh what would that translate to? Master of trash. Oh, I remember. That's from the baggage train. So yeah, Joseph would know. Master of the baggage. Well, I was never in the baggage, but the likeness he's been given is as much like me as any other miniature is. So I can see where he was coming from. But that doesn't excuse him. I mean, sure, he might have thought I was this uh master of baggage, but why didn't he just ask me as he said, we're old friends? Then I would have said funny thing, I found a dead man as like to me as a twin. Yosef was trying to sell me so hard he didn't listen at all. Well now, feeling a lot better. Time to gear up with my daggers and five hundred and take a visit to those advocates in the evening, hopefully, so later.