205 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
205 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
---
|
||
campaign: Avalon Adventuring Academy
|
||
type: session
|
||
session_number: 8
|
||
date: 2026-01-12
|
||
arc: gangs
|
||
status: planned
|
||
tags:
|
||
last: "[[session 7]]"
|
||
next: "[[session 9]]"
|
||
---
|
||
## Session Start: “Okay… so something’s wrong.”
|
||
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> The party is loud in that way that feels like victory.
|
||
> Your worst playlist is doing psychic damage to everyone within earshot.
|
||
> Drinks are flowing.
|
||
> People are laughing too hard to notice they’re being watched.
|
||
|
||
> [!note] DM Quick Prompt (do this BEFORE initiative)
|
||
> “Where are you, exactly, in the house/yard? Who are you closest to?”
|
||
> - Ben: ___
|
||
> - Joe: ___
|
||
> - Soren: ___
|
||
> (Lock positions. You’ll thank yourself.)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Prep Payoffs (recap them like they matter)
|
||
|
||
### Soren: Greased Doorknobs (SUCCESS)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> You’ve never realized how many times people touch doorknobs at a party until you’ve ruined all of them.
|
||
> Every door in this house is now a betrayal waiting to happen.
|
||
|
||
**Mechanical effect (simple):**
|
||
- The **first time each round** an enemy tries to open a door: **DC 12 Dex save**
|
||
- Fail: door doesn’t open + they make noise + **their movement ends**.
|
||
- Success: door opens normally.
|
||
|
||
(Doesn’t stop players; it just slows invaders.)
|
||
|
||
### Soren: Caltrops in the Carpet (FAIL)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> You were trying to be tactical.
|
||
> Instead you created… Home Alone.
|
||
> The carpet now has teeth.
|
||
|
||
**Mechanical effect (fun, not lethal):**
|
||
- Any creature that **moves more than 10 feet** in the living room/hallway carpet must make **DC 12 Dex save**
|
||
- Fail: **1 piercing** + **speed -10 until end of turn** + “ow” noise.
|
||
- Success: fine.
|
||
|
||
(Yes, this can hit allies too. That’s the failure.)
|
||
|
||
### Ben: Worst Playlist (SUCCESS)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> The speakers blare something so aggressively unlistenable it circles back around to confidence.
|
||
> It’s like the house is daring someone to complain.
|
||
|
||
**Mechanical effect:**
|
||
- The house is LOUD: enemies have **disadvantage on Perception checks based on hearing** inside.
|
||
- Also: once this fight, Ben can “weaponize cringe”:
|
||
- **Bonus action** to spike volume → one enemy who can hear must make **DC 12 Wis save** or suffer **disadvantage on their next attack** (they flinch / lose timing).
|
||
|
||
### Ben: Drinks Secured (SUCCESS)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> Drinks are everywhere.
|
||
> Which means: people are slower, bolder, and easier to herd.
|
||
|
||
**Mechanical effect:**
|
||
- Once, when panic starts, Ben can make a **Persuasion (DC 12)** to keep the crowd from stampeding.
|
||
- Success: crowd stays mostly contained (no “difficult terrain everywhere”).
|
||
- Fail: the crowd becomes a hazard.
|
||
|
||
### Joe: Perimeter Traps (SUCCESS x2)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> The fence line isn’t just a fence line anymore.
|
||
> It’s a statement.
|
||
|
||
**Mechanical effect:**
|
||
- First enemy who tries a “quiet entry” (fence/side gate/yard) triggers Joe’s setup:
|
||
- **DC 13 Dex save**
|
||
- Fail: **Restrained** until they use an action to free themselves (snare wire) OR they take **2d6** from a nasty tripline trick (your call).
|
||
- Success: they still make noise and reveal the vector.
|
||
## The Kickoff Beat (no initiative yet)
|
||
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> The backyard motion lights click on.
|
||
> Not in the yard.
|
||
> Beyond the fence line.
|
||
> Down the slope where there shouldn’t be anyone.
|
||
|
||
Call for ONE roll (player choice):
|
||
- **Perception (DC 13)** (watching outside)
|
||
- **Insight (DC 13)** (watching the room)
|
||
- Spend **1 Prep Point** (if you use them) for advantage, BUT you can also just say “Joe’s traps count as advantage here.”
|
||
|
||
### On Success
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> Three silhouettes.
|
||
> Not drunk. Not lost.
|
||
> Moving like they already picked their angles.
|
||
>
|
||
> One of them signals—two short flicks of the hand.
|
||
> And the porch light *flickers* in reply.
|
||
> Someone inside just answered.
|
||
|
||
### On Failure
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> You stare too long and see nothing.
|
||
> Then the motion lights click off.
|
||
> Like someone *wanted* you to look.
|
||
>
|
||
> And right then—
|
||
> the doorbell rings.
|
||
> Once.
|
||
> Patient.
|
||
|
||
## Vector Choice (pick 1, or let the players pick by action)
|
||
|
||
### Vector A: Front Door (most RP)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> The doorbell rings again.
|
||
> You glance at the peephole / camera rune.
|
||
> Three teens on the porch.
|
||
> Wrong posture. Hands too still.
|
||
> One holds a cheap gift bag like it’s camouflage.
|
||
|
||
**Talker line (through the door or when opened):**
|
||
> [!quote] Talker (easy smile, dead eyes)
|
||
> “Yo. Party’s sick.”
|
||
> “We’re here for Ben. Just need a quick word outside. No drama.”
|
||
|
||
If they try to stall:
|
||
> [!quote] Talker
|
||
> “Clean or loud. Your call.”
|
||
|
||
### Vector B: Side Gate / Fence (most “invasion”)
|
||
If they focus on the porch and ignore the yard:
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> Somewhere to your left, the fence gives a soft metallic *tink*.
|
||
> Joe—your trap line goes taut.
|
||
> And someone outside makes a quiet, angry sound.
|
||
|
||
(Joe’s trap triggers here.)
|
||
|
||
### Vector C: Garage seam (paranoid horror)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> A soft *tap* at the garage door.
|
||
> Once. Twice.
|
||
> Like someone testing for a ward ping.
|
||
## The Exact Moment Initiative Starts (choose)
|
||
|
||
### Option 1: The Grab (best for “kidnap Ben”)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> The talker’s smile stays polite—
|
||
> and the guy behind him lunges for Ben’s sleeve with a strip of ash-paper between two fingers.
|
||
|
||
Roll initiative.
|
||
|
||
### Option 2: The Fire Threat (if they hesitate too long)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> You smell it first—solvent and oil.
|
||
> The third kid flicks something in his palm: a rune-sealed bottle.
|
||
> He doesn’t throw it.
|
||
> He just shows it to you like a promise.
|
||
|
||
Roll initiative.
|
||
|
||
### Option 3: Seb calls it (if you want the “starter pistol”)
|
||
> [!quote] Narration
|
||
> Seb goes quiet.
|
||
> Lowers his phone for the first time all night.
|
||
> “Those dudes aren’t here to party.”
|
||
>
|
||
> And in that same moment, the smile disappears.
|
||
|
||
Roll initiative.
|
||
## Featured NPC Assists (keep it fast)
|
||
|
||
Use each ONCE. No full turns.
|
||
|
||
### Bobby Poets (super-senior)
|
||
- **Once:** “Crowd control” — clears a 10-foot path OR blocks a hallway for 1 round.
|
||
> “Everyone inside. Now. MOVE.”
|
||
|
||
### Chaz Ironwick
|
||
- **Once:** “Tackle” — immediately grapple a goon within 20 feet (no damage).
|
||
> “OH WE DOIN’ THIS?”
|
||
|
||
### Jax Hollow (Subaru)
|
||
- **Once:** “Car play” — pulls the Subaru to block the driveway OR create cover.
|
||
|
||
### Seb Castillo
|
||
- **Once:** “Evidence” — gets clear footage of the first hostile act (helps later with cops/admin).
|
||
|
||
### Fouadriel Al-Mir
|
||
- **Once:** “Accidental help” — knocks over a table for cover / causes a distraction.
|
||
(He helps… but in the dumbest way possible.)
|
||
|
||
### Sumri Tord
|
||
- **Once:** “Spot weakness” — points out an exit / a failing ward / a goon’s focus target.
|
||
> “They’re not here for the party. They’re here for *him*.”
|