Building the Behind Bars One-Shot DnD Encounter P3

Our prisoner transfer one-shot is nearing the end of its mini-journey! Let’s get into Part 3 today!

Here is a quick look at our sub-encounter goal list:

• Part 1: Feast Gone Wrong | group gets captured 
• Part 1: Behind Bars | start gathering intel 
• Part 2: Waterdeep Express | time to hit the road 
• Part 3: Chance to Live | get a chance to regain their freedom

So, let’s see what we can do here in terms of the narrative, the gameboard terrain, and the accompanying miniatures.

DM Ben used the first half of this captive one-shot to help the party figure out who had taken them prisoner and why. Escaping without any intel is much more difficult than doing so armed with the right knowledge and plan.

And here’s the sorta info the group can obtain through a series of successful skill checks:

• The Cultists were hired by a group called “The Six.”
• A member of The Six is with the Cultists.
• This liaison has a small tattoo.
• The Cultists love to gamble and drink.
• The Six is ultimately going to sell the group to Slave Traders.
• The group has friended another prisoner named Fignor.
• There’s a disgruntled Cultist guard is named Tybris.
• There’s a compassionate Kobold servant named Fen.

That’s a lot of powerful intel that could help your game group escape and, more importantly, exact revenge.

In Part 2 of the encounter, we created a campfire scene with numerous skill check choices that the group can use at multiple rest pitstops along the way to Waterdeep. Now, we’re going to give the players their best opportunity to make a break for it.

The caravan (which consists of two wagons) will ultimately come to a fork in the road, with the most direct route to Waterdeep now blocked by a downed heavy horse and rider. The Cultist Captain of the Guard will hop out and inspect the disturbance. Travel to and from the capital city is always fraught with danger, so this roadblock won’t be a tremendous surprise. If anything, the Cultists will be ticked off because it means they have to take an alternate route that is known to be quite perilous. The Slave Trader auction starts soon, so time is of the essence – the Cultists have to take the alternate route.

We’re using some awesome road terrain by Infinite Dimensions Games, and our downed horse and rider are from Vae Victus Miniatures.

Share with the group that the Cultists blurt out that it looks like another Troll attack, as the freshly smashed victims and heavy boulders are big signs of such an ambush. Nobody likes Trolls (and our next character knows it), so seeing this sorta carnage makes complete sense here as a reason to take the detour.

What the Cultists don’t realize, though, is that this scene has been staged by an infamous vigilante who despises the slave trade and wants to wreak havoc on this injustice whenever she can. This no-nonsense-gal is beloved by countless locals but has also made just as many evil enemies.

DM Ben has already created this marvelous hero in another campaign. Her name is Shelley Packatase of the East Indies Trading Company. Let’s introduce her to this game group, too! We love reusing home-brewed content from our other games, but we have the learnings to improve upon it this time!

Our character card is from LokeBattleMats’ must-own Long Road RPG Toolbox. Our female hero is a slick miniature from EC3D Designs’ Scorching Sands set.

Tomorrow, we’ll go into the actual ambush scenario narrative and its combat mechanics! Time to give your adventurers a chance to earn their freedom back!