Bleak Generation

As laid out last week, Berith’s an evil Guvner, and taken a bribe from some vengeful Athar to make sure M’narr ends up in the Gatehouse. With Berith’s fees set at 200gp per session, I set trial length as 1+1d6 sessions. On rolling a 6, the player must roll another d6 and add that to the total. Rolling a 6 always means adding another die, so the trial length is potentially infinitely expensive. The Twelve Factols is a tavern mentioned in the Sigil guide In the Cage . The lower staircase into Sigil’s catacombs might be an entrance to the Gatehouse for any would-be kidnappers, we’ll see. Rough description of the Prison and the Gatehouse can both be found in the Factol’s Manifesto , as can (rather simple) maps. This session was not exactly “fun”, but compelling and enjoyable in its own grim way. Every location, even the short journey through the Hive, was fleshed out with details. The table was truly shocked when M’narr stabbed himself in the eye. Berith (and me) offered the Oedipal se...

Back in the City Courts, M’narr is researching cases and precedents in the Guvner library with his attorney, Berith Mormo. Ragados and 12-Bar, freer but considerably poorer than they were a few minutes earlier, go to the nearest tavern to deal with their problems with alcohol. They pass the Singing Fountain, a fountain known for the beautiful singer that minds and tends it, and head down into the Twelve Factols Tavern. Seeing the singer sets off Ragados thinking about Daniphe again. 12-Bar orders the tavern’s special brew and sings a new song about Daniphe. He rolls a 29 on his performance check and brings the house down. Whole tavern’s rapt. Once the applause dies down, an old boy tells 12-Bar that he saw an elf just like Daniphe recently, after his lodger (an old guy with an eyepatch) invited her home for a meeting. Ragados is confused with that. So he takes a walk to the court and collects M’narr’s possessions from Berith. M’narr is then taken to the Prison, where the Mercykillers...

What to do when your players go full murderhobo is a problem almost as old as D&D itself, and one that caused me some grief. Ultimately, I turned the question to the players: how long do you want to spend dealing with consequences of this? Do you want to just get away with it? Your group might want to play D&D like it’s Grand Theft Auto, and if everyone – DM included – is happy with that, then that’s okay. There’s no “right” way to play D&D. Some players want realistic consequences. The problem is, following the crime through to a 'realistic' punishment, there’s little guidance in the setting as to what the penalty for manslaughter would be; so I, as the DM, must make a purely arbitrary decision. If it’s arbitrary, why not ask the player if they want their character to live or not? And so to the solution. Important external factors are as follows: Sigil’s punishment for murder is clear (see In the Cage pg. 35): execution. The Athar are out for blood, and are lik...

So M’narr blew up a bunch of defenceless Athar, 12-Bar nearly got cut down in revenge, and Ragados is running for dear life wondering what’s happened to his friends to make them so reckless. Ragados and M’narr take cover in the Park of the Infernal and the Divine, a park full of ancient statues, and take cover behind a monument of marble hands. Ragados sends Gerok skywards, and the homunculus is able to find 12-Bar on the edge of the Lower Ward and lead him to the group. Ragados and M’narr have time to catch their breath before fleeing a Harmonium patrol and catching a pony cab home with 12-Bar. Ragados wants to know why 12-Bar didn’t counterspell M’narr. 12-Bar isn’t really sure. Otherwise, the journey passes in silence. Getting back to the Clerk’s Ward and the workshop, M’narr barricades himself inside the workshop. Ragados and 12-Bar gently talk him into heading upstairs to the apartment. The next day, the poison of Demogorgon’s Rot leaves M’narr, and the emotional hangover begins...

Wand, very rare (requires attunement by a spellcaster) This wand has 4 charges. While attuned and holding the wand, you can expend a charge to cast dispel magic. If dispelling the magical effect requires an ability check, you make the roll with a +3 modifier. Alternatively, you can expend a charge to target a common, uncommon, or rare magic item you can see within 60 feet. If the item is being worn or carried, the wielder must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the magic item loses all charges and is rendered inert for 1 minute. When all charges are expended, the wand crumbles into ashes and is destroyed.

Truly, this was a session. I had statted Mhavor, and made an online battlemap of the Ubiquitous Wayfarer. They’re both below, use them if you like, I won’t be needing them any more. I had planned for an Athar bruiser to appear and wake Ghear, telling him loudly the Signers had holed up in a tavern nearby. Ghear would respond in an ominous way, making the looming bloodshed clear. Instead, we had a massacre and some serious drama. I was truly surprised by my players’ decisions. I did not expect combat to continue in the way it did, but played it out as best I could, rolling 2d4 for the number of rounds it’d take for Athar backup to emerge from the nearby building. The backup includes the 4 th level Transmuter from the adventure. I gave them the spell hold person. Harmonium would arrive in 5 minutes, as stated in the adventure. Other than that, there’s little else to say. Preparing the next few sessions will be a lot of effort. There’s likely to be a reckoning between players/char...

So what now indeed? A score of Athar warriors stand opposite our planewalkers, some hypnotised, some ready to attack. It’s M’narr’s turn to act in initiative, and the Gith is still feeling deadly paranoia. He draws his sword, and prepares to fling a fireball right at the centre of the Athar crowd. Ragados cries out for 12-Bar to stop him. 12-Bar readies a counterspell, but something makes him pause.   He lets the spell go off. The fireball explodes, and all but one of the Athar are incinerated. Ragados is stunned by what he’s just seen, but regains his composure in time to run up to the last standing Athar soldier – the flustered leader of the group, now stunned and horrified – and knock him unconscious. The path to the church now surprisingly clear (if you ignore the sea of dead bodies on the ground), 12-Bar seizes the moment and runs for the front doors. Inside, the modron sees the bare walls; the five curious stones built into them; the rubble on the ground; the quiet dilapida...