Descent into Avernus

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

186


LOWER CITY RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
d20 Encounter
1-6 No encounter
7-10 Harmless interaction (roll on table D)
11-16 Denizens (roll on table E)
17-20 Threat (roll on table F)

TABLE 0: LOWER CITY HARMLESS INTERACTIONS
d12 Interaction
A band of crew members with purple armbands and

fabulous eye makeup-the Bloomridge Dandies-


stop the party to tell the characters they're watching
them and to keep their noses clean.
2 A reporter from Baldur's Mouth waves the party
over, hoping they'll help her get information for a
story about some outrageous conspiracy.
3 A man offers to sell the party a glass eye. later, a
drunk stumbles away from the Blushing Mermaid
tavern, searching every gutter for his missing eye.
4 An undertaker from Candulhallow's Arrangements
approaches and asks if the party has considered un-
death insurance, ominously warning about liabilities
should their corpses commit post-death damages.
5 Scalm Shilvin of Eastway Expeditions mocks a party
member's armor. She offers to apply "raptor repel-
lent" at the discounted price of 10 gp.
6 A man with a dreadful fear of rats races down the
street and slams into the party, having witnessed a
bunch of rats feeding on a corpse in an alley.
7 The druid Torimesh offers one party member a
st range symbol stained on a piece of bark. He tells
the party that the Drawing Tree in Insight Park sent it
as a message.
8 The city's sketchiest tea enthusiast invites the party
into Jopalin's for a free cup of the cafe's special
blend.
9 A rough-and-tumble woman gets chummy with the
party and tells characters that laraelra Thundreth is
hiring bouncers at the low lantern.
10 A winding crack in the street shrieks when a specific
party member steps on it. The crack runs for blocks,
tracing back to Mandorcai's Mansion.
11 Two drunk sailors invite the characters to join them
in s inging a well-known shanty called Really Big Oys-
ters, but quickly forget the words and stumble away.
12 A reeking, damp "druid" flees from the direction of
the Sewer Keep. If stopped, the panicked man claims
"Something hatched in the yuck!"

neighborhood taverns wearing expensive swords and


purple armbands. More often, physical territory is the


result of a citywide crew having a natural local nexus,


such as the Porters' Union and the Butchers' Block tend-


ing to dominate Eastway, as their members congregate


near the Basilisk Gate for easy access to the stockyards


and incoming caravans.


BALDUR'S CATE CAZC:1TE£R

TABLE E: LOWER CITY DENIZENS
dlO Denizens
2d6 gang members o r pirates (both thugs)
2 ld4 + 1 crass merchants (commoners)
3 1 d6 kenku minding their own business
4 3d6 angry crew members (commoners) protesting
the Flaming Fist's brutality
5 2d4 Flaming Fist soldiers (veterans) on patrol
6 ld4 Guild pickpockets (spies)
7 ld8 beggars (commoners)
8 1 Baldur's Mouth reporter (commoner)
9 ld4 patriars (nobles) and 3d6 bodyguards (thugs)
10 1 Guild kingpin (bandit captain) and 2d6 operatives
(bandits)

TABLE F: LOWER CITY THREATS


dlO Threat
ld4 swarms of rats
2 ld4 invisible imps
3 Dead Three abduction squad (see the "More Dead
Three Encounters" sidebar on page 28)
4 Dead Three murder squad (see the "More Dead
Three Encounters" sidebar on page 28)
5 Press gang of 1 d4 + 1 half-ogres
6 ld6 Guild operatives (spies)
7 2d4 street brawlers (thugs)
8 ld6 Flaming Fist mercenaries (veterans) who don't
like the look of adventurers
9 1 ghost from Harborside Hospital
10 ld4 mimics posing as cargo

Unless there's active conflict between two crews,


most members are content to work with members of


other crews, and see little point in staking out physical


turf. After all, a neighborhood needs many different pro-


fessions to thrive- carpenters and cooks, grocers and


apothecaries- and the fact that siblings and spouses


often belong to different crews helps keep inter-crew


conflict to a minimum.


LOWER CITY GAZETTEER


Presented below in alphabetical order are some of the


most noteworthy Lower City locations. These locations


are also marked on the city map (pages 172-173).


BALDUR'S MOUTH

Patronized by all levels of society, Baldur·s Mouth is the


city's primary news service and gossip rag. Utilizing a


small army of lantern bearers, the Mouth spreads news


both by selling broadsheets on street corners and by


shouting summaries of top stories at passersby. From


the s lums of the Outer City to the finest manor house sit-


ting rooms, the Mouth is where Baldurians go to be in-


formed, incited, and pleasantly scandalized. While some


of the news- such as word of new laws passed by the


Council of Four or official election results-is handed


down directly by the government, most comes from


freelance journalists, and official pronouncements often

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