Let’s Make a Deal P2

We’ve got a follow-up post to our D&D Beyond Acquisition’s Incorporated Let’s Make a Deal encounter! Let’s get up close and personal with our next vile villain!

Poor Thetsis, a capitalist Lizardfolk, is just trying to sell nutrient-rich algae (used in potions of water breathing) at a fair price so she can help her tribe survive. Alas, Rasqel, the human bandit, wants to “negotiate” dreadful terms for his shifty side deal. He’s backed the Zhentarim, but they don’t know he’s cutting them out of the picture. Things are getting pretty heated, and that’s when the party locks with her pleading eyes from a distance.

Last week, we featured part one of this encounter and selected all the Bugbear henchman miniatures to represent Rasqel’s muscle. We had a nice variety of pre-painted minis to choose from, and these cranky bodyguards will do nicely here.

So, we needed a menacing villain miniature, and we turned to good ol’ DutchMogul for a fitting STL. He calls this mini “Greel, Opportunistic Warlock,” and it 3D-printed like a champ. And best of all, it’s a free download.

For painting purposes, we enlisted Sunrise Sven’s help. He’s colored several pieces for us, and we’re pleased with his skills. We loaded him up with a big batch of character miniatures, like this guy. He crushed it by using a variety of colors that complement one another, but that fur shirt is our absolute favorite part.

DM Ben would love it if Rasqel could sneak away from the party as the battle unfolds, and he realizes he’s no match for the group, even with his Bugbear brutes. So, this fight should be pretty interesting. Hopefully, the group will strike a new deal with Thetis, who could easily send his potion cargo to a future Forgotten Rails Hovertrain.

Thetis and his Lizardfolk are excellent at growing and harvesting nutrient-rich algae, which is also a critical material component for potions of Water Breathing. Sadly, Rasqel kept altering the deal until he demanded it for free or they would feel the wrath of his mercenaries (which is the point in the “discussion” where the group interrupted).

The terms of a new deal are straightforward:

• The Lizardfolk harvest the algae.
• They sell it to the players for 50 gp.
• They send it to the players by rail.
• Keanu Leaves would buy that algae for 100 gp.
• This deal occurs once a month.

DM Ben will make the players start by doing DC 12 Nature or Survival checks to realize this is a good deal and fair terms.

Pretty fun, right? Now, we’ve got an engaging encounter that sets up an ongoing revenue opportunity for the players to fund their Bastion expansion plans. All they have to do is remove some crooked crooks first.

Until next time!