Part 2. A Little Nightly Mischief

This part of the adventure involves placing laced wine in the wine cellar and sneaking into the prison to free Thaylia by replacing her with Larry. There’s a hitch though and Thaylia won’t want to leave until her son is safe. As such, the players must find a way to sneak or con their way into the North tower and replace the boy with Larry and then get the boy safely back to the stables to hide in Lord Witdale’s carriage.

Step 4. Preparing the Wine

After everyone has gone to bed, River initiates the next part of his plan. He needs to get the wine casks that Barrick has brought into the royal wine cellar. Barrick is waiting for a special whistle signal just outside castle walls with the wagon. The players can come up with a plan or they can let River come up with it. River’s plan is simple. Haul up the wine through window in the room, sneak it down to the wine cellar, distract the guards, and put the wine casks in the cellar. The players can come up the distraction if they want or River will pretend to be drunk and lost. The wine cellar butts up against the vault. As the group carries the wine into the cellar, one of the wine casks is very, very heavy and a grunting noise can be heard coming from it. Inside, is a drugged baby bulette. Once in the cellar, River plans on using it to dig a hole into the vault from the wine cellar since they are near one another. The only challenge is that the bulette wakes up first. The players will need to help subdue and control the animal without attracting the guards. They must use non-lethal attacks and spells to try to make it more pliable. Once the baby bulette is down to half hit points, any player or River can try an Animal Handling check (DC 16) to control the creature. If the players knock the bulette down to quarter of its hit points, the DC is reduced to 12.

Baby Bulette

Medium-sized monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 15

Hit Points 60 (6d10+24)

Speed 40 ft., burrow 40 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

17 (+3) 10 (+0) 18 (+4) 2 (-4) 10 (+0) 6 (-3)

Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Tremosense 60 ft., Passive Perception 14

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Magic Resistance: The Baby Bulette resists all spell attacks and has advantage against any Charm spells.

Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d12 +3) piercing damage.

Situation Challenge: The baby bulette will make a racket if it is not subdued quickly. The players have five rounds to take down the baby bulette or 3 + (player number) guards (see Monster Manual) will investigate and will need to be defeated. If the players manage to subdue the baby bulette in the required time they will receive an additional 2,000 XP bonus.

Once the baby bulette begins to dig, it will create a hole to the vault. Barrick will load the treasure into a teleportation box. A teleportation box is a pair of boxes with a teleportation rune inside them. Anything placed in one box will appear in the other. It’s a useful item to move things from one place to another but they have a very limited range. The other box is in Witdale’s carriage and will dump its contents there.

Step 5. Breaking out Thaylia

The next step of the plan is to get to Thaylia’s prison. Larry has already disguised himself as a guard and is currently sitting with the three other guards in front of the door playing cards. As the players arrive, the guards are drunk and singing loudly. The players can sneak up behind them with a stealth check DC 14 with advantage and then they may attempt to knock them out. Dealing 10 non-lethal damage in one turn will cause a guard to fall unconscious. The players will need to subdue three. If the players fail to sneak up on the guards or fail to knock them all out, they will need to fight the guards. The guards are drunk and suffer disadvantage on all roles. Once the guards are out of the picture, the door to Thaylia’s cell can easily be unlocked with the keys in the room. Thaylia, however, will not leave unless the players free her son first. His name is Clef. Instead of replacing Thaylia, Larry will need to replace Clef instead.

Step 6. Saving Clef

Clef is being held in the north tower. The entrance to the tower will require getting past the royal quarters. Keldor, the captain of the guards, has the only key to the tower. This late at night, he will probably be resting in the guard house. When the players enter the courtyard, they will see Clef sneak out of the guard house and stealthily make his way up a ladder and towards the gardens. As the players get close, he will hear a noise and call out, “Geneva? Is that you?” Clef is waiting to meet one of the kitchen maids. Unless the players spent some time in the kitchens they will not know this person or recognize her name. Clef will need to be tricked or subdued to get the north tower key. If the players wait a while, Geneva will come in about thirty minutes to meet Clef and they will sit at the fountain holding hands and whisper to each other for a while.

Once the players, have the key to the north tower they will be able to enter it. Four suits of Animated Armor are in the room guarding the boy. They will de-activate if they hear the password, “Shut it, metal heads!” which only Clef and the king and queen know. Otherwise, they will need to be defeated and then set back into place. A Performance check (DC 10) allows the players to prop the suits of armor back into place to allay any suspicion. Once freed, Clef can be moved back to the player’s quarters while Larry takes his place. This will end the set up needed for the heist at the party.