Weight of Empty Pockets
- vaseodin
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
by Vase Odin Crisan
Phase II x Deimos Infinitum
A drop-in encounter for any town or village. Usable mid-session, mid-campaign, or as a palate cleanser. Lower level parties (level 4 or below) are recommended.
The intent of this encounter is to test the morals of the player characters and help define their growth as heroes (or anti-heroes). Regardless of the outcome, this encounter is going to give a clearer picture of who the characters are, and their role in the world around them.
Check out Horror at Yishusu Landing, a horror campaign your players will love!
Someone in this town is watching the party and they've been watching for a while.
His name is Edric Fenn, thirty-two years old and he looks like he hasn’t eaten for weeks. He's not a criminal by trade: he's a tanner's apprentice whose family is currently collateral.
The Hollow Vein, a mid-tier thieves' guild operating out of the city's underbelly, took his wife and daughter three weeks ago. The ransom: 500 gold pieces. He has eleven, and the deadline is in six days.
He picked the party because they looked like they could afford it.
The Theft
At some point during the party's time in town (resting or passing through the market) Edric makes his move on the PC with the loosest coin pouch (READ: lowest Dexterity) . That player makes a DC 13 Perception check.
On a success: The PC feels the hand. Edric freezes. Go to The Catch.
On a failure: The PC loses 10 gp and notices nothing. Edric disappears into the crowd. He tries again the next day against a different PC, same DC. This continues until someone catches him.
He won't run far because he can't afford to.
The Catch
Edric doesn't fight. The moment he knows he's caught, his shoulders drop and both hands go up. His hands are shaking.
He begs quietly so as not to draw attention.
"Please. I'm not... I know how that sounds. Just give me a moment to explain."
What the party learns depends on how hard they press.
No check required: Edric is visibly terrified, but not of the party. He keeps glancing toward the far end of the street. He'll admit he needed the money, but won't say why unless asked.
DC 10 Insight: He's not lying. The fear is real.
DC 12 Perception: He has a crude map folded in his boot. A building is marked with an X.
DC 13 Persuasion or Intimidation: He breaks. His wife's name is Maren. His daughter is seven years old. The Hollow Vein criminal organization has them in a counting house on the east side of town. He has six days and has eleven gold, but he needa five hundred.
DC 15 Medicine or Passive Perception 13: His wrists have old rope burns. He's been held before, probably as a warning early on.
Give the party enough to move forward regardless of rolls. The checks just determine how quickly the picture forms.
The Decision
Once the party understands what's happening, they have a choice.
Turn him in. The local watch holds him. Maren and the girl don't make it, as they are sold by the organization to more nefarious agents (maybe a necromancer who has plans for living flesh).
Walk away. Edric is back to eleven gold and six (or less) days. Same ending.
Help him. If the PCs decide to help, they can do so by fronting the coin (if they can afford to), or by trying to save his family.
The Infiltration
The Hollow Vein's counting house is guarded, warded, and full of people who do this for a living. Direct assault isn't an option: the guild has twice the numbers and enough local authority in their pocket that the watch won't intervene cleanly. The road out of a swordfight here ends badly for everyone. In other words, this is clearly a job for patience.
Edric knows the layout. He knows the guard rotation: two at the door, one inside, shift change at midnight. He doesn't know where Maren and his daughter are being held.
The party's approach is theirs to design. Suggested skill challenges:
Deception DC 13 — Talk past the door guard as a merchant or debtor.
Stealth DC 14 — Move through the building without triggering the interior watch.
Sleight of Hand DC 12 — Lift a key or wax seal to forge credentials.
Perception DC 11 — Find which room is locked from the outside.
Persuasion DC 15 — Convince a low-ranking guild member that their boss already authorized the release.
Getting Maren and the girl out quietly is the best outcome the PCs and Edric can hope for. Getting caught means the PCs may need to negotiate (fighting is a fool’s errand, as stated at the top of this section), and luckily the guild would rather be paid than escalate into violence.
The Aftermath
There's no loot here (unless the players are foolish enough to try to rob the guild).
What there is:
If the PCs saved the family: Edric, Maren, and a seven-year-old girl stand in an alley at midnight holding each other lovingly, and very much alive because the party made a call.
If the PCs didn’t make the attempt: Edric survives, and possibly becomes a powerful villain hellbent on revenge against the guild and the PCs.
If the PCs made the attempt and failed: Edric’s sorrow eventually leads him to make pacts with forces beyond his understanding and becomes enveloped by dark thoughts. Maybe he becomes a necromancer or warlock, with the hopes that one day he can bring back his family.
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