Bat-fit Crazy

One of the coolest things about a yet-to-be-played encounter is that sometimes the DM has a new idea or simply gets more time to make it even better. Here’s a great example!

Previously, we shared a home-brewed encounter about a scared kitty cat and an angry swarm of bats! DM Ben loves the encounter but wants it to be a little more challenging and ultimately have two different decision paths for the players to ponder.

So, DM Ben doesn’t want to change the roots of the encounter. The goal is to still investigate the strange noises coming from the cavern and rescue our poor feline from the angry swarm of bats. It’s what happens next that we want to elaborate on here.

The players will certainly defeat our bat swarm (AC 18, HP 44, +6 to hit, and 1d4+2 damage). The nameless kitten will then be rescued and probably taken back to the top floor of their Bastion. However, DM Ben wants the players to encounter three Werebats who formally protest the attack on their bat swarm and declare that a truce with the Night Hag has been broken.

This what-gives discussion means we needed some bats that are less swarm-ish and more NPC/soldier-ish. Thank goodness Brite Minis has the 3D prints we need for this tense diplomatic exchange. This Werebat is part of their immense Patreon library of monsters for a mere $5 a month and is completely supportless!

Resident painter Kimmy Utah took the coloring task here and delivered in her usual magnificent way. We often send her a pack of 3-5 monsters and ask that she color them slightly different so it’s obvious which mini is which in initiative and combat. Aren’t these guys pure awesome?!

So, how does this encounter unfold? Well, DM Ben is going to have the initial Bat Swarm fight play out. Then, those frenzied fellas will either bolt if their HP gets too low or simply fall victim to the group. Shortly thereafter, these three Werebats will appear from the darkness under a white truce flag.

The leader in all black will then speak in common, “You’ve violated the terms of our agreement! We had a deal!” After a series of diplomacy checks, he will identify as Lord Silas Vane. He explains that a truce was set with the Night Hag on this portion of the cavern. Think of it like an East vs West Berlin sorta setup.

DM Ben wants this storyline to hang around (pun intended) and do some cool one-shots with the expected tenuous truce. Besides, we’re talking cool a$$ Werebats here – what’s not to love?! For the stats, we’ll go with the SRD numbers.

Until next time!