Our story begins in a crowded tavern in Danarim, where 5 adventurers would unknowingly begin their quest through Gaion together. After a truly tavern-esque meeting, the gang gets acquainted: Aethelflaed the Busty steals Ichigo's wallet and runs away, soon chased by him. They stumble onto Yuri's poker table, who is clearly annoyed by this intrusion. Eventually, after further commotion, Selise the Wanderer joins in, curious as to who this strange group of people is. They all make their way to get drinks for each other, and stumble across Jorah, the Roaring Thunder, enjoying a drink and scaring everyone around him with his presence. As everyone gets acquainted over a few rounds of Soju shots, the bartender overhears that they are looking for a job. Intrigued, he gives them an address and tells them to meet him there in 40 minutes.
The group stumbles their way around town and eventually makes it to the lower income housing, where they find a decrepit home in place of the address they followed. They knocked on the door to find the bartender (real name is Aelsor) waiting for them, which was strange since they left before him. After walking through the house and down the stairs, they make their way to his operations room, filled with parchment, messages, books, and other business items. The job he has for the group is a heist; steal the inventory of a nearby mercenary group and sell it to the buyer for payout. The group is handed a dossier by Aelsor, which causes a stir of fights and moves on who got to keep it. After a series of unfortunate events that led to strict tensions between Yuri and Aethel, the Sojus finally open the dossier to read the following information:
- The Heist: Infiltrate a mercenary outpost in the woods northwest of Danarim and obtain their inventory
- The Sale: Aelsor has arranged for the contents of the warehouse to be sold to a third party for their total value + 10% markup for the job. Aelsor will collect the 10% markup as his bookie fee, while the Sojus pocket the rest of the proceeds.
- The Rewards: 20 Goultani Longswords, 10 Goultani Battleaxes, 7 Goultani Longbows w/ 7 20-arrow quivers. The buyer only cares about the weapons, so the group can choose if they want to sell anything else they find or withhold it from the job.
- A map of Danarim and the woods, with location of the hideout
- Notes on the mercenaries: Appears to be guarded by the infamous Sake Squad
After reading about the job, Yuri insisted that he turn in for the night and headed to a fancy inn (with the dossier in toe), while the rest of the gang chose to spend the night in the woods outside the city. While walking to the gate, the whole gang encountered the marketplace and Aethel successfully stole the following items from one of the stands:
- 5 Potions of Healing (regains 2d4 + 2 HP when taken)
- 5 Potions of Armor (+2 to AC for 1 hour)
- 2 Vials of Goultani Extract (effects are unknown to the group, but it is pure Goultani energy in liquid form and highly volatile. Great for explosives, can even be dipped in by arrows/weapons for a powerful strike)
After getting past the stand, Yuri makes it to his fancy inn and spends the night there, paying 1 gp to the innkeeper. The rest of the gang walked to the gate of the city, to which they easily got the guards to open the door and wished them caution. They found a place in the woods near the gate to camp out.
Before sunrise, Yuri wakes up hungover and after a brief/cranky conversation with the innkeeper, makes his way to the gate that the gang passed through last night. Looking to make an extra buck, Yuri tried to sell off the dossier (which unbeknownst to the guards, will be useless after the gang completes the heist) to the guards, to which he is unsuccessful. After leaving the city, Yuri is able to follow the disturbed woods and shrubbery to find the gang eating snacks by the campsite, who found his surprise entrance to be rude (?). Despite a cranky awakening, the group discusses their options to infiltrate the base and comes to a plan: Yuri will use his nobility to acquire a horse and carriage for transportation, then the gang will ride as close as they can to the base, taking the path through the woods that leads out of the main gate they had been travelling in. Once they are there, Yuri and Jorah will appeal to the mercenaries and pretend that they have a job for them, while Aethel robs their vault and takes it back and forth to the carriage (?). On their way back, Aethel uses her bustiness to learn that Yuri unsuccessfully tried to sell the dossier to both guards.
They successfully rent a JACKED horse and armored carriage, after some deliberation on carriages and spats with the owner about not recognizing Yuri. The crew hops aboard and rides through town to the forest gate, then on the road through the woods. Eventually, they come across a small trail just off the road, determining that the mercenaries must be hiding here. As planned, Yuri and Jorah walk down this path, with Yuri loudly complaining about trail maintenance, while Aethel moves stealthily through the woods and Selise/Ichigo guard the carriage.
Yuri and Jorah's plan goes as well as anyone could have expected, with both characters getting grappled by an Entangle spell. A Wood Elf emerges from the bushes, demanding to know who these two are and why they are here. Yuri is not only able to smooth talk his way into being heard out and led to their base, but successfully flirts with Laeyara, to which she gives a knowing smirk. They get to the base and meet Morgoth, who is guarding the door. They agree to bring out the whole team to hear his proposal.
Meanwhile, back at the carriage, Selise hears footsteps coming towards the carriage. As Selise and Ichigo sneak around the carriage to hide, they see a woman in shiny armor walking towards the trail. She stops when she sees the carriage and eventually discovers the two, who narrowly avoided suspicion by telling her they have a proposition. The woman reveals herself to be Captain Hena, calling their bluff and leads them to her base.
At this point, the entire crew is outside and Captain Hena returns with the remaining Sojus, so the Soju Gang (including Aethel, who is still hidden in the woods) is able to see the Sake Squad:
1. Morgoth, a Rouzhai Half-Orc barbarian. No one knows where he's from, as he rarely talks about his past. However, one thing everyone knows for sure is that when someone says "fight", a switch flips in his brain. He goes from a quiet, stern presence to a near-unstoppable force on the battlefield, committing acts of violence. He does not believe in honor, and will kill without hesitation or remorse.
2. Laeyara, a tribal druid Wood Elf. From a family of dark druids, she seeks to use her powers to pervert nature for her own needs, rather than live in total peace with it like Selise does. She does not fight unless she has to, but is not above surprise attacks to quickly detain potential assailants.
3. Ezzymandus, a Pluronis mage with a pulsating brain, so he usually hides in a Gnome form illusion to avoid suspicion. A clear big brain thinker, he is the idea guy of the group and has spent decades whispering in the ears of important people, including the Captain. He always looks like he's up to something, but his team has learned to rely on his brain to work effectively. However, this doesn't mean he doesn't have a dark side, as he is willing to commit seriously fucked up crimes to succeed.
4. Kenyuzu, a Streetfighter-esque travelling martial artist. A human Goultani who was trained in a dojo far away, he seeks to challenge people across Gaion with the powers he learned from his master. However, unlike Ichigo, he fights for himself and for glory, not for his people.
5. Captain Hena, the obvious leader of the group and an ex-GoultaKnight. A human woman who, despite being extremely busty herself, does not draw much attention to it. Rather serious (and jaded from her days as a soldier), she would prefer to test her squad members in combat against the Sojus before fighting herself.
Captain Hena shows clear confusion and asks why there are two groups. Laeyara states that these two are here for a job, to which Captain Hena gives her a hard time (since they already have a job) and teased her for flirting with Yuri. Nevertheless, the captain states that since they are all here, they are ready for this proposal. Captain Hena leads Yuri, Jorah, and Laeyara to their conference room, while the others stay outside.
Despite his best efforts to sell Hena on a "body collecting" gig and determine where the vault is, Yuri is unable to persuade Hena. Realizing this, he and Jorah consider the operation to be blown and Jorah attacks both ladies with a powerful lightning breath, doing solid damage to both. Outside, Morgoth, Ezzymandus, & Kenyuzu hear the attack, so they get into battle positions: Ezzymandus drops his illusion and reveals his true form, Morgoth roars and loudly declares "FIGHT", and Kenyuzu runs inside to check on the girls. Aethel takes this opportunity to shoot an arrow at him, but he simply catches it, breaks it in one hand, and roars in his general direction.
Meanwhile, Captain Hena is PISSED and says "two can play that game" before her eyes and body glow with golden electrical energy. She shoots a torrent of lightning at both men, which drops Yuri and does solid damage to Jorah (but does not kill him due to his lightning resistance. She helps Laeyara up and tells her to hold them off while she checks on the outside gang. Jorah is able to heal Yuri with his health potion, getting him up and ready to deal with Laeyara.
Outside, the crew is having some mixed results. Ichigo does a running slide dash followed by a critical upper cut, dealing over half of Morgoth's total HP as damage. This sends him into a rage, revealing that he is indeed a Rouzhai Barbarian. Ken has an interesting time, running back and forth between fights to check on the girls. Ezzymandus gets a magic missile off on Selise and Ichigo, after taking a brutal Poision Spray from Selise. Suddenly, from the woods, another arrow flies straight into Ezzymandus' mouth, preventing him from crying out for help as he bled out. Captain Hena arrived just in time to see him dying with an arrow in his throat, so she heads over to the woods to begin searching for an archer.
Inside, Laeyara gets a revenge hit on Jorah with her escrima sticks, but Jorah merely taunts it off and swings at her with his glaive. Yuri, still wanting to bang this elf chick, reluctantly kills her with Toll the Dead. Outside, Ichigo is not able to land another blow, instead getting boxed into oblivion by this raging orc. Selise, fortunately, heals him just as Yuri and Jorah arrive outside. Morgoth, being in a blind rage, sees Kenyuzu and rushes to attack him, thinking that he is Ichigo (the guy he literally just downed).
Yuri appears saddened by what he had to do, Selise moves closer to Hena (and Aethel), and Morgoth challenges Jorah. Kenyuzu follows suit and engages Ichigo, though his punch does not land. Captain Hena, seeing that two of her teammates are dead and the Soju Gang is still standing, looks to Yuri and asks why they are really here, to which Yuri and Ichigo unsuccessfully lie. She decides to take things more seriously, but is hit with a strong Cause Fear spell from Yuri and a powerful sneak attack arrow from Aethel. Yuri finishes her off by cradling the weakened knight in his arms while nailing her with Toll the Dead, saying "you shouldn't have made me kill her". This horrific kill shocks the party, but not enough to distract them from their own fights.
Morgoth, having witnessed two teammates die in the span of a few minutes, angrily expels a torrent of Rouzhai Fire from his mouth, right at Jorah. However, this mans was somehow able to dodge a point-blank Fire Breath while taunting the orc, leaving Morgoth, dare I say, breathless. Meanwhile, Kenyuzu is enraged by the death of his future waifu, so he ferociously charges at Yuri with Goultani-enhanced speed and a high jump kick, yet somehow misses. Even his second strike after landing cannot tag this slippery Naelin. As soon as he does this, Ichigo strikes with a couple punches of his own, but is outsped by this superspeed ninja. Aethel fires an arrow right through the bushes with sneaky prejudice, finishing off the raging barbarian with a humiliating shot through the crotch.
Alone, Kenyuzu tries to avoid this gang of lunatics, but is caught by a Chill Touch from Yuri and a knee-shattering maul strike from Jorah, knocking him unconscious and breaking his legs. With that final blow, in a stunning victory, the Sojus have successfully defeated the Sake Squad, earning 300 XP per player and 100 net RXP for the encounter. The gang takes the spoils of their victory by looting the bodies of their victims:
- Yuri finds nothing on Ezzymandus (thanks to a really shitty Sleight of Hand roll, even with advantage).
- Jorah finds a Rouzhai Greataxe (+1 to hit & damage, secondary roll of 1d4 if Rouzhai or Fire user) on Morgoth, taking this powerful weapon for himself
- Aethel finds a military Goultani Longbow (+1 to hit & damage, secondary roll of 1d4 if Goultani or Fire/Sky user) from Captain Hena, along with 5 Explosive Arrows. She also cuts off her breasts and takes them for herself, and takes her Goultani Longsword (same enchantments as the longbow)
- Ichigo finds a set of Combat Meditation Beads (can meditate for 5 minutes once per short rest, gives you 1d12 of inspiration) on Kenyuzu
- Selise finds a Totem of the Wild Walkers (+3 to Stealth when in nature) on Laeyara
After his unsuccessful loot, Yuri searches the house and finds what looks to be the storage vault in the basement. However, it is designed to be opened by two people: one person to turn the heavy wheel and another to unlock it while its held. Yuri successfully convinces Aethel and Jorah to help, prompting the whole team to come inside (reluctantly bringing the unconscious Kenyuzu) Jorah and Aethel get the vault open with some strength and lockpicking, showing the Soju Gang the true rewards of their mission:
- 20 Goultani Longswords (1 row)
- 10 Goultani Battleaxes (1 row)
- 7 Goultani Longbows (1 row) with 7 20-arrow quivers
- Bag of holding & two spell scrolls for Spare the Dying and Ice Knife (in the corner, taken by Yuri)
- 5 Incense of Gaios (not discovered yet)
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