Sliberberg is under martial law, the streets are full of Royal Army patrols, and the players are now wanted fugitives. Worse, there are checkpoints at every gate in the city, every ship exiting the city harbor is being searched, and the Royal Army is patrolling every inch of the countryside, searching for the players. In short, the players are trapped inside the city until they can defeat Murtagh and his army.

 If the players want to defeat Murtagh and his 5 top commanders, they must learn how to survive on the street, form and manage resistance, and ultimately take the fight to Murtagh. This chapter explains the mechanics of moving around the city stealthfully, dealing with encounters with enemies patrols, and running the resistance.

Moving About the City

The players are being hunted by the usurper’s men in the city. Unless the players want to fight every soldier in the city, they will probably prefer to move stealthfully through the city. Fortunately for the players, Sliberberg is a city of narrow, maze-like, pedestrian-choked streets with numerous back alleys and storefronts that make it relatively easy to hide from the patrols. However, the commanders and their officers know this as well, and as the resistance gains traction, they will do everything in their power to counter the resistance.

Stealth

When the players travel through the city, have them make a group stealth check for every neighborhood they travel through. The dc for the check is determined by the commander’s awareness level for that particular neighborhood (see the Awareness section of this chapter for the rules regarding commander awareness). On failure, the players encounter a random encounter from the encounter table corresponding to the commander who controls the neighborhood.  If the players took the time to devise and implement a strategy to move through the city without anyone noticing, for example, hiding in the back of a loaded delivery wagon, using well-made disguises, or traveling underground via the sewers, the players automatically succeed on the check for each neighborhood traveled through unless the commander of the ward has taken special precautions to prevent the strategy from working, see commander awarness tables in chapters 5 through 10 of this book for more on the possible countermeasures the commanders and their men will use.

 Restricted Zones

As well as patrols on the city streets, the commanders have restricted access to parts of the city. These zones come in two flavors, semi-restricted areas that allow citizens into them under very specific circumstances and restricted areas where the patrol will attack outsiders on sight. While in semi-restricted areas, the players will have disadvantage on any checks to avoid enemy patrols, roleplay their way past guard patrols, or escape from patrols. Semi-restricted zones include:

• The Old Castle
• The shipyard
• The campus of the Coláiste Draoidheil
• Checkpoints

In restricted zones, on the other hand, the players will have a disadvantage on checks to hide and will be attacked if spotted by guard patrols without any chance to roleplay their way out of trouble. Restricted zones include

• Castle Sliberberg
• The Carrey Batteries
• IronHold
• SilverHold
• MithrilHold

Looting

With the players running a resistance on a shoestring budget, ransacking the dead seems like an ideal way to get some much-needed equipment for the resistance. However, looting dead soldiers has its own risks in a city where the military is firmly in control, and it’s only a matter of time before another patrol arrives to check on their missing fellows. If the players decide to loot a patrol, start a timer d4; when the timer reaches zero, a patrol arrives on the scene. Create a new encounter as if the players rolled 10 on the encounter table for the area. Every action the players take while looting ticks down the timer. Example actions include gathering loose weapons and bags, removing a suit of armor, and rifling through the soldier’s pockets and belt pouches.

Looting, generated with Google Imagen3

Alarms

Murtagh’s men have covered the city with alarm bells. There are dozens of them all over the city, located in watchhouses, public buildings, temples, marketplaces and anywhere else that the regime could find space to put a bell. When rung, the bell summons dozens of soldiers to the area where the bell is located. The players must either deal with them or learn to be mindful of the alarms to defeat Murtagh.

Triggering Alarms

If the players get into a fight with regime personal and one of the enemies escapes, the players try to escape from a group of regime personal or are spotted during a major resistance activity, start a timer d4. The timer counts down every round of combat, when the players take an action or overcome an obstacle in a chase. When the timer hits zero, a random group of enemies from the corresponding commanders’ random enemy group table arrives on the scene. For every subsequent round or obstacle overcome, roll a d6 on a roll of 1, and an additional group arrives. Repeat until the players successfully escape.

Disabling alarms

To disable an alarm bell, the players must physically access its location. To find a bell, the players can make a DC 15 investigation check to search a neighborhood; on success, they learn the location of every alarm bell in the neighborhood. Then they must get to the bell, which is easier said than done because most of the bells are located in watchhouses and other strongholds of the Murtagh regime or will have a small detachment of regime personnel guarding them. If the players manage to get to one of the alarm bells, they can choose to smash the mechanism with a DC 16 strength check.

Commander Awareness

Murtagh’s top commanders will not remain idle as the players grow their resistance and undertake operations in the city. They will take note of where the resistance is operating and where the players have been seen by guard patrols. They will adapt their strategy for suppressing the rebellion and capturing the players accordingly.

Each neighborhood of the city has its own commander awareness score. This score represents how closely the usurper’s forces are monitoring that area. A low score means the resistance can operate with relative freedom, while a high score indicates that the enemy is on high alert, making it more difficult for the players to move and act undetected. As the score goes up or down, the players will find obstacles to travel, and operations will either be added or removed. Each commander has a table of additional forces and tactics to capture the players as the score increases.

Changing Commander Awareness

Every action the player does can change the army’s presence in a given neighborhood. The following table outlines the various actions that can increase or decrease this score:

Action	Change
Players spotted and recognized by patrol	+1
Players engage in combat with patrol	+2
Minor Resistance mission fails	+2
Major Resistance mission occurs	+3
An alarm is raised	+3
Resistance Safehouse discovered	+2
A week goes by without resistance activity in a neighborhood	-1
Players bribe patrol	-1
Players successfully bribe an officer.	-2
Assassination of any of the commanders	+5

Running the Resistance

The Resistance is the player’s best weapon against Murtagh’s army. It allows the players to significantly increase their reach. Not only does the Resistance give the players the numbers to take on each of the commanders and their bodyguards, but it also allows them to delegate tasks and quests to their resistance fighters. Most of the sidequests in this adventure can be undertaken by resistance members on their own, except for the assassination missions.

In reality, running a resistance is a complicated endeavor involving intelligence gathering, resource management, and political maneuvering.  Such complex topics can quickly overwhelm most players or detract from the fun of heroic action that DND players expect. While there are RPG systems like Spire, Rebel Crown, and The Sword, The Crown, and the Unspeakable Power designed to explore these concepts in depth, the rules in this chapter are meant to abstract away these complexities to something that can be dropped into any dnd campaign with minimal effort and make running the Sliberberg Resistance a fun and rewarding part of the game.

Logistics

The logistics involved with running a real-world resistance can easily overwhelm many people. To simplify this complex subject, the wealth and material assets of the Resistance are abstracted away to their monetary value.

Resistance Members

Resistance members are the core of the players’ resistance movement; without them, the players would have to do everything themselves, greatly diminishing their potential reach. The players started the campaign with the 5 resistance fighters (See Appendix B) equipped using the supplies from Tansy’s supply cache in Chapter 1 and as many commoners as they could escort out of the prison.

Recruitment

While it might seem tempting for the players to use their money to recruit as many warriors and mages as possible, they will quickly realize that Murtagh has already beaten them to the punch. He has drafted or conscripted every adventurer, mercenary, and soldier he could find to fill out his army and imprisoned the ones who resisted. What skilled fighters are left in the city are members of the factions, which means the players will have to recruit from the general population.

The players will have to find willing recruits to recruit new resistance members. They must undertake the Recruitment Drive mission to find a group of willing recruits to do this. All recruits start as commoners.  The players can undertake the training mission to transform these raw recruits into resistance fighters, soldiers, scouts, or spies (See Appendix B for stat blocks). Each resistance member type has a training cost that represents the cost of the fighter’s equipment and training and a training time that is the required amount of time in days for the resistance member to complete their training.

Upkeep

In addition to the cost of training and equipping their resistance fighters, the players must also provide for the resistance members’ food, drink and medical care when on active duty.  Each active resistance member has an upkeep cost of 50sp per week of active duty. Furthermore, the number of active resistance members the players can have is capped by the living space in the resistance’s safe houses. If the players have more resistance members than safe house beds, the resistance member will be dismissed from active duty. The member will return to civilian life and no longer accrue an upkeep cost. However, they will no longer be available to undertake missions for the resistance.

 Resistance Morale

The player’s resistance fighters desire to free their city from Murtagh’s tyrannical regime, but even the most steadfast of resistance fighters have their limits. When those limits are broken, it can strain their morale. Resistance morale is an entirely optional rule meant to give the resistance fighters a little more depth and to make it clear to the players that these are people who, despite the odds and the danger, choose to stand up to the regime. Resistance member morale works very similarly to the morale rules on page 273 of the 2014 Dungeon Master guide with the following additions and changes. In addition to the circumstances in which a creature might flee in the DMG, resistance members might flee in the following circumstances.

• If one of the players is reduced to zero HP.
• If the players and resistance figures are outnumbered 2 to 1.

Resistance fighters will also be forced to make morale saves in the following circumstances.

• The resistance member was part of a mission that was a critical failure.
• The resistance member’s friends and family are targeted for reprisal from the regime.

When circumstances occurr when resistance fighters might flee make a dc 11 wisdom saving throw for each resistance member, on a failed save the resistance member breaks and flees. Players can attempt to rally their resistance fighters  by making a dc 13 charisma check, on success all wisdom checks are made with advantage.

When a resistance fighter fails a morale check, they get one step closer to their breaking point. A resistance member’s breaking point is equal to 2+ their wisdom modifier. When the resistance member reaches the breaking point, they quit the resistance and return to their civilian life; what happens to them afterward is up to you, the dungeon master, to determine. A resistance member who is given 1d8 days to rest will have their breaking point count reset, and players can use skill tests (which skills are relevant, and the DC will be up to you to determine) to reduce their breaking point count by one.

 Safehouses

A vital resource of any resistance army or rebellion is safe houses, where the players and Resistance fighters can rest and recuperate between missions.  The players start with a basic safehouse in slibermond provided by Tansy with the additional beds special feature. The players can set up multiple safehouses to serve as bases throughout the city.

Establishing a Safehouse

To set up a safe house, the players must make a dc 15 perception, investigation, or charisma check to find a good place to set up one up. Depending on the army attention level for the neighborhood, the check may be made with a disadvantage. Once the location is selected, the players then must pay the safehousecost and spend 2d4 days of work to set up the safe house.

Safehouse types

There are three different types of safe-houses. Each can house different numbers of resistance fighters, require different setup and upkeep costs, and have different slots for special features.

Basic

Cost: 30gp

Upkeep: 1gp

Capacity: 9 Resistance Members

Special feature Slots: 1

As basic as it gets, this safe house is little more than a hidden room inside a basement, a small house, or a small chamber in the city sewers.

Large

Cost: 60gp

Upkeep: 2gp

Capacity: 20 Resistance Members

Special feature Slots: 3

A small set of rooms hidden within a building or in the sewers

Hidden Base

Cost: 100gp

Upkeep: 5 gp

Capacity: 46 Resistance Members

Special feature Slots: 6

 Special Features

Players can add several unique features to safehouses to enhance its functionality.

Additional beds

Cost: 20 gp

Slots: 1

Effect: increases capacity by 6 resistance members

Armory

Cost: 50 gp

Slots: 3

Effect: Storage space for up to 30 sets of arms and armor

Escape route

Cost: 10 gp

Slots: 1

Effect: creates an additional hidden entrance to the safehouse

Hidden Entrance

Cost: 20 gp

Slots: 1

Effect: grants advantage to stealth checks to avoid detection

Infirmary

Cost: 20 GP

Slots 2

Effect: Heals an additional 2d6 hit points during a long rest

Magical Defenses

Cost: 50 GP

Slots: 2

Effect: A set of wards and traps of the player’s choice set around the safehouse

Storeroom

Cost: 10 GP

Slots: 1

Effect:  adds additional space for up to 50 pieces  of large equipment (weapons, armor, etc.) or 200 pieces of small equipment (rations, etc.,.)

Workshop

Cost: 40 GP

Slots: 2

Effect: Allows for the execution of the crafting resistance mission

Raids

To remain undetected, a safe house must pass a stealth check, the DC of which depends on the neighborhood’s commander’s awareness. If the safehouse fails, the DM will start a timer d4: When the timer reaches zero, the safehouse will be raided.

The players have the choice of either evacuating the safehouse stealthfully or trying to fight off the raid. If they choose the stealth option, they must succeed on a group stealth check dc15 with a disadvantage to successfully evac the resistance fighters and recover any documents and equipment in the safe house. If they choose to fight, roll twice on the commander’s random enemy group table. The combined force will be the raid encounter. Successfully defending or evacuating a safehouse allows the players to establish a new safe house at half the cost. The compromised safehouse is no longer safe for the players or their allies to use

Bastions

If you allow bastions in the game the players can use them as safehouses with the following caveats.

• Bastions can only be built in neighborhoods where the Murtagh regime forces are in disarray after the death of a commander.
• A bastion can only host a number of resistance fighters equal to the number of defenders it can support, with resistance fighters quartered in the bastion serving as defenders.
• Bastions do not have to make stealth checks to remain undetected.
• Any roll of one on the 6d6 during the attack bastion event results in losing a resistance fighter.

Resistance Missions

Resistance Missions are the lifeblood of the resistance, representing the myriad covert operations that the player’s resistance fighters undertake. These special sidequests are designed to be simple and quick to run but provide the player with resources and bonuses that benefit the players when they succeed.

The missions are purposefully designed to be resolved in a single check so the DM can resolve the mission quickly while the players focus on the bigger objectives of the resistance. However, just because these missions are simple does not mean there is no risk whatsoever if the check fails; there will be consequences for the players and resistance. If they get a critical failure, a natural 1, the consequences will be severe.

 Bribe the Army members.

The players can send an agent to bribe members of the army into looking the other way.

Requirements:

1 resistance member.

Cost: 10gp

Check: charisma

Outcomes:

Success: Choose one of the following

• Commander awareness drops by 2 for a single neighborhood
• All checks in a neighborhood are made with the advantage
• Gain one piece of information from a commander’s rumor table

Failure: The soldiers accept the bribe and does nothing

Critical Failure: The agent was captured, and the money was confiscated

Contact faction source

The players can send resistance members to contact informants in a faction to gain intel on going on in the city.

Requirements

1 resistance member.

Cost: 50sp

Check: Stealth

Outcomes

Success: The source in the faction is contacted, and the players gain one piece of information of the dm’s choice

Failure: The resistance members fail to meet their contact, and no information is gained

Critical Failure: The usurper’s agents detect the meetup before the agents make contact. Commander awareness increases by 1, and faction opinion decreases by 1.

Bribing the army, geneated using Google Imagen3

 Craft item

 Craft a piece of equipment or magic item of uncommon rarity or lower

Requirements

At least 1 resistance member with skills is required to craft the item and a safehouse with a workshop

Cost:  depends on the cost in gp of the item

Check: dependent on the item and is at the Dm digression

Outcomes

Success: The resistance gains the item in question after a duration in days equal to the item’s cost in gp divided by 50

Failure: No item is created

Critical Failure: 1d4 resistance members are injured, and commander awareness increases by +1

Create Secure Routes

 Create a hidden route through a neighborhood that allows for speedy transit without detection.

Requirements

4 resistance members

Cost: 20gp

Check: Group Wisdom (Survival)

Outcomes

Success:  Transit through the neighborhood no longer requires stealth checks

Failure: No effect

Critical Failure: One resistance member is captured, commander awareness increases by 1

Crafting, generated using Google Imagen3

 Deploy Reinforcement Squad

Sometimes, you need some backup at the worst possible times. Deploy a squad in a neighborhood to come to your aid when a fight is going bad.

Requirements

Maximum of 6 resistance members

Cost: 10gp

Check: at dm digression.

Outcomes

Success: The reinforcement squad arrives in the designated neighborhood in a timely manner, ready to lend assistance to the players in battle

Failure: Despite their best efforts, the reinforcement squad arrives too late to provide assistance

Critical Failure: The reinforcement squad is captured on route

Distract Guards

Sends some resistance members out to harass the guards and paint graffiti on walls. The guards will be so busy looking for the hooligans that they will not notice you.

Requirements

Minimum of 12 resistance members

Cost: 30gp

Check group athletics or deception check.

Outcomes

Success: The enemy is too busy dealing with the distraction team to pay much attention to the players. Stealth checks are made with advantage, and all roleplaying checks to interact with soldiers are made with advantage. There is a 50/50 chance that a distraction team member will cut in when enemy soldiers interacts with the players.

Failure: Patrols unaffected. Commander Awareness increases by +1

Critical Failure: Commander Awareness increases by +2. 1d6 resistance members are killed or captured.

 Faction training

If one or more of the factions have a good opinion of the watch you can ask them to train your fighters unique skills.

Requirements

Minimum of 1 resistance members

Minimum faction opinion of +15

Cost: 10gp per trainee

Check group strength, dex or intelligence check (Dm’s Choice)

Outcomes

Success: The trainees gain either a new trait (if the trainee is an npc) or a new feat (if the trainee is a player character)

Failure: The trainee failed to learn anything

Critical Failure:  A training accident occurred during training. The trainee receives 1d4 damage and cannot be sent on missions for a day.

Guerrilla Warfare

Turning a neighborhood into a warzone may put a commander’s attention squarely on the neighborhood, but conversely, their attention will not be on the other parts of their zone of operations.

Requirements

Minimum of 40 resistance members

Cost: 160gp

Check group dexterity or charisma check.

Outcomes

Success: Increase commander awarenessby 3 in the affected neighborhood and decrease it by 3 in all neighborhoods in the ward. 1 in 4 chance that enemy encounters in the neighborhood will be interrupted by a guerrilla attack.

Failure: All neighborhoods across the ward are on high alert, and the players’ and resistance members’ checks are made at a disadvantage.

 Hearts and Minds Propaganda Campaign

Having the common folk at your back is critical for any revolution. Having a few resistance members spread the word is a great way to make a good impression.

Requirements

Minimum of 6 resistance members

Cost: 50gp

Check group charisma check.

Outcomes

Success: For the next two weeks, the players and the resistance gain an advantage on all checks to interact with townsfolk. Recruitment is also 50% cheaper for the next week.

Failure: For the next week, the players and the resistance suffer a disadvantage on all checks when interacting with the townsfolk.

Critical Failure: commander awarenessin the neighborhood rises by one.

Critical Failure: commander awareness in the neighborhood rises by three.

Infiltration

Send an agent into the lair of the beast. If they succeed, they might bring back some choice bits of information.

Requirements

1 resistance spy

Cost: N/A

Check: deceptionor stealth check

Outcomes

 Success: The players learn one true piece of information regarding the five commanders’ activities, weaknesses, or vulnerabilities.

Failure: The players learn no new information.

Critical Failure: The Infiltrator’s cover is blown, and the resistance member is captured.

Guerrilla Warfare, generated with Google Imagen3

Intelligence Gathering

In warfare, all information is potentially useful, and this is doubly so in a rebellion. This mission sends members of the resistance to collect rumors.

Requirements

A minimum of 2 resistance members

Cost: 10gp

Check: group dexterity or charisma check.

Outcomes

Success: The resistance fighters uncover 1d4 pieces of information from the rumor table for the ward or the commander in charge of the ward

Failure: The resistance learns one piece of false or useless information.

Critical Failure: The resistance finds false information planted by one of the commanders. Following up on this information leads to some form of trap.

Intimation Campaign

Even the bravest soldier value their lives. If the resistance can put the fear of god into the occupying army’s soldiers through some nighttime ambushes, intimidation, and other fear tactics, it may make your lives a little easier.

Requirements

Minimum of 6 resistance members

Cost: 60gp

Check: group intimidation check

Outcomes

Success: Enemies encountered in guard combat encounters suffer a disadvantage on wisdom-based throws and attack rolls.

Failure: commander awareness increases by +2. No other effect

Critical Failure: commander awareness increases by +3, 1d6 resistance members are captured, and the players have a disadvantage on all checks made to interact with army patrols

Misdirection campaign

 Spread rumors and lies about where the resistance is operating

Requirements

2 resistance members minimum

Check: Group Charisma (Deception) check

Outcomes

Success:  Decrease commander awareness in a single neighborhood by 1d4 per additional  3 resistance members involved, minimum 1d4

Failure: No effect

Critical Failure: One resistance member captured, commander awareness increases by 2

Procure Supplies

An army marches on its stomach, and a resistance army is no exception. Send your resistance fighters out to buy, beg, borrow, or steal the critical supplies you need.

Requirements

Minimum of 2 resistance members

Cost 1gp

Check: group intelligence check.

Outcomes

Success The resistance gains 3d12*10 Gp of supplies plus an additional 1d8 GP for every additional resistance member tasked with gathering resources.

Failure: The resistance member acquired only 2d8 gp worth of supplies

Critical Failure: The mission fails, and 1d4 resistance members are captured

Rabble rouse

Send some resistance members to make fiery speeches to anyone who will listen. Who knows, they may inspire some people to action.

Requirements

A minimum of 3 resistance members,

Cost: 10gp

Check: group charisma check

Outcomes

Success: Choose one of the following

• Receive 30gp in small donations.
• Random townsfolk will aid the players in hiding from the patrols for the next 1d4 days. All checks made to avoid contact with a patrol are made with advantage
• For the next 1d4 days, there is a 50/50 chance of 1d6 commoners joining any combat encounter on the player’s side.

Failure: The rabble-rousing failed to sway anyone

Critical Failure: The resistance members get captured

rabble-rousing in progress, generated with Google Imagen3

 Raid

Murtagh’s army has numerous weapons workshops, armories, jails, and watchhouses throughout the city. Raiding such facilities can produce several different rewards depending on the facility. This mission is unique because it allows the players to define the raid’s objectives. Here are a few examples of raid rewards

• Raiding an armory, The resistance fighters claim 10d20gp worth of arms and armor.
• Raiding a weapons workshop. The resistance fighters claim 1d8 uncommon magic weapons and pieces of armor
• Raiding an alchemy lab. The resistance fighters claim 1d12 healing potions and 1d4 uncommon potions.
• Raiding a jail. The resistance member freed 1d12 incarcerated individuals.
• Raiding a watchhouse. The resistance members disable the watchhouse’s bell

Requirements

A minimum of 12 resistance members,

Cost: 40gp

Check: group strength check.

Outcomes

Success: The raid achieves its objective, and all the combatants return with light injuries. Increase commander awareness by +1.

Failure: The raid is only partially successful, one or more objectives are not achieved, and 1d6 resistance fighters are dead. Increase commander awarenessby +2

Critical Failure: The raid was a complete failure, and 1d12 resistance members died. Increase commander awareness by +2

Recruitment Drive

A resistance needs manpower to succeed. Send some resistance members to search for those willing to join the cause

Requirements

4 resistance members

Check: Persuasion

Outcomes

Success: The resistance fighters find 1d6 recruits for the resistance

Failure: The resistance fighters find no new recruits

Critical Failure: The resistance fighters are detected by regime soldiers. Roll a d4 on a roll of 1 the resistance fighters are captured

 Request Faction support

You send a resistance member to contact a faction about actively supporting the resistance in some way.

Requirements

1 resistance member

Cost: none

Check: Stealth

Outcomes

Success: The agent meets the faction contact. The players gain the requested faction support.

Failure: The agent and contact are detected before they meet but escape. Commander Awareness increases by 1

Critical Failure: Agent and contact are both detected mid-meet and arrested. Commander Awareness increased by 1, and factions’ opinion decreased by 1

Sabotage

The regime has built dozens of facilities all around the city. Destroying a few of them will definitely make it harder for the regime.

Requirements

3 resistance member

Cost:  40gp

Check: stealth check.

Outcomes

Success: The facility is destroyed

Failure: The mission fails, and the facility remains intact

Critical Failure: The resistance members are captured or killed, and Commander Awareness increases by one in the neighborhood

Raid, generated using Google Imagen3

 Unique recruits

Along with the city’s various citizens willing to take up arms against the usurper, there are a number of unique recruits who can provide significant benefits to the resistance. However, each has its own caveats for recruitment; several are unwilling members of the Murtagh’s army, and a few are saddled with minders from the military, or one of the commanders has leverage over them. If the players want to reap the rewards these recruits can provide, they must first earn their trust or free them from Murtagh’s influence.

Aidan MacCogadh

Aidan MacCogadh is a talented hobgoblin artificer who initially sided with the coup several months ago. When the battle ended, he was placed in charge of a brand new magically enhanced foundry called the wonderforge. However, witnessing the atrocities committed by Murtagh and his mercenary army has left him deeply troubled and conflicted.

Recruitment Challenge:

Limited Availability: Aidan spends most of his days in the wonderforge, producing arms and armor for the army. The wonderforge is heavily guarded. At night, he drowns his troubles at a hole-in-the-wall bar in the goblin market. 

Moral Conflict: Aidan MacCogadh grapples with a profound ethical dilemma, torn between loyalty to Murtagh and his conscience. To recruit him, the players must convince him to switch sides by appealing to his sense of morality and offering assurances for his future.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

•  Aiden provides 1d8 common magical arms and armor every week.
• Aiden can complete the craft item resistance mission to craft arms and armor at half the gp cost and craft one rare item per month.
• Provides a steady stream of 3gp in misplaced materials and weapons every week

 Duchess Muirín Uisceanna

The mermaid Duchess Muirín Uisceanna  is the Duchess of the Duchy of the Seas and Ilse. She supported the initial coup but changed her mind after seeing Murtagh become a tyrant.

Recruitment Challenge:

Kidnapped Daughter: To keep the Duchess loyal to the cause, Admiral Kraggath has kidnapped Muirín’s  beloved daughter Aeliana and is holding her captive on his flagship, the Terror.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Gain a steady stream of 2d20 gp per week.
• While in the dock ward, merfolk and selkies occasionally come to the player’s aid in combat.
• Gain detailed intelligence on the moment of Kraggath’s men and ships
• If given 3 days prior notice, she can mobilize a group of 1d12 selkie guards to aid the player.

Elandor, the Devoted High Priest

Elandor is an elderly elf who has dedicated his life to serving the divine as the High Priest of The Cathedral of the Radiant Sun.

Recruitment Challenge:

Fear of Reprisal: Elandor has repeatedly been subjected to harassment from Murtagh’s men. These visits have mostly followed Elandor’s attempts to help the victims of Murtagh’s reign. He has also been placed under constant surveillance. He fears more extreme reprisals if he joins the resistance. The players must convince him of their ability to protect and deal with the spy watching him.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Elandor has access to a supply of 5th-level cleric spell scrolls, including raise dead, which he can cast for no cost beyond material costs
• Elandor’s presence increases the number of times a resistance member can fail a morale check before they break
• Elandor can undertake a variant of the rabble rouse mission called evangelize for no cost. Recruitment Drive and hearts and minds campaigns missions performed in the same neighborhood where a successful evangelize mission was completed done with advantage for the next week

Elina Foul

The Elina Foul former owner of Elina’s Hex B Gone. This young hag has become a stunning teenage witch. She is a potent young spellcaster eager to help her new friends in the resistance.

Recruitment Challenge:

A selfish request: Elina wants to avoid being an ugly, friendless hag like her mother, Aunty Foul. If the player completes her quest and promises to be friends, she will join the cause.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Elina can complete the craft item resistance mission to craft potions and antitoxin twice as fast as other resistance members. Furthermore, she can craft Elina’s brew and Elina’s curse be gone (See Appendix C).
• Her steadfastly cheerful personality grants resistance fighters who interact with her advantage in moral checks
• She can lend the players her awakened broom of flying Bristles on request.
• On missions that require stealth, she makes the checks with advantage.

Farid

Farid owns The Enchanting Caravan Emporium, a large magic item shop in Slibermond. He is also a major importer and exporter of magic items, specifically flying carpets.

Recruitment Challenge:

Recover Inventory: Recently, the army confiscated a large portion of his inventory, including a deck of many things. If the players can recover the items from the Slibermond watchhouse, they will join the resistance.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Gain a discount of 15% on magic items bought at The Enchanting Caravan Emporium.
• Gain access to a deck of many things on request at the dm digression.
• The players can borrow magic carpets from the shop.
• He teaches the players how to make Smoking Arrows (See Appendix C)
• The Farid donates 1d6 uncommon potions per month.

 King Fredrick

King Fredrick is the kingdom’s eternally depressed minor fey sovereign ruler. In times long past, he was regarded as a potent swordsman. Still, he has spent the last few centuries dedicated to pining after his missing love, writing poetry, the occasional misadventure searching for her, and painting pictures dedicated to her.

Recruitment Challenge:

Imprisonment and Torture:  Fredrick has spent the last few months at the hands of  Murtagh torturers who seek the means to access the royal treasury and how Fredrick achieved his fey soverignstatus. He is being held in the castle dungeon and can only be rescued during the King’s Gambit quest.

Physical Rehabilitation: Fredrick’s treatment in captivity has left him physically weakened.

Emotional Healing: Already depressed, the recent trauma of his imprisonment has broken the king emotionally.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

•   If Fredrick can be brought back to fighting form, he can serve as a resistance soldier (See Appendix D for his stat block).
• Fredrick is a talented poet. Skill checks to rabble rouse and for the propaganda campaigns are made with advantage
• Fredrick presence grants a permanent 25% discount for recruiting and training resistance fighters.

Lukas O’Lenaghan

Lukas O’Lenaghan, a goblin merchant, seasoned ship captain, and smuggler, was forcibly conscripted into the  New Mountainheart navy, and his vessel commandeered. He would rather serve the Sliberberg Resistance than usurper Murtagh’s navy.

Recruitment Challenge:

Limited Availability: Lukas is sporadically in town, making recruitment opportunities scarce and time-sensitive.

Internal Threat: His “first mate,” a staunch Murtagh loyalist, and the squad of marines under his command pose a significant obstacle to recruitment efforts.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Gain access to Lukas’s cog, allowing for smuggling operations.
• Lukas has 20 sailors loyal to him that can serve as resistance fighters in a pinch.
• Luka’s ship has several ballistas. When in port they can bombard targets along the coast.

Panthor Silverhoof

Panthor Silverhoof is a charismatic satyr with a flair for the dramatic. He owns the Elmwood Hall, the city’s premier theater. He is well-connected in artist circles and devoted to King Fredrick.

Recruitment Challenge:

Constant Surveillance: Panthor Silverhoof is under continuous watch by the Murtaghs men, with six watchmen assigned to babysit him at all times.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Gain access to the Elmwood Hall as a safe house.
• Gain advantage on all checks for propaganda and misdirection campaigns.
• Gain advantage on checks to interact with the Panthor’s contacts in the nobility.
• Every 1d4 weeks, Panthor and his artist friends produce a new work of art that parodies or satirizes  Murtagh and his band of co-conspirators. For one week 1d4, random neighborhoods experience the effect of the Hearts and Minds propaganda campaign and distract guards’ missions.

Sir Lorcan Ó Ceallaigh

The youngest of Murtagh’s sons, Sir Lorcan Ó Ceallaigh decided to stand by his oaths to Fredrick rather than join his father’s coup.

Recruitment Challenge:

Prison Incarceration:  Murtagh decided to throw his son in the city jail in an attempt to change his son’s mind.

Rewards Upon Recruitment:

• Lorcan joins the resistance as a knight.
• Lorcan can make educated guesses about where other knights loyal to Fredrick are hiding. He has a 50/50 chance of being correct.
• Lorcan leverages his connections in the nobility. Procuring supplies, conducting heart and mind propaganda campaigns, and conducting recruitment drives in Kronenhöhen and Alteburg are done with advantage.

 Contacts

Some people want to help the players fight the good fight but don’t have the resources or the brawn to directly help or are too high profile or in the system to do much openly against the regime. However, a significant gap exists between can only help a little and cannot help at all. The gnome who can provide you blueprints for any given building in the city, the arms dealer who owes the players a favor, the wizard who can cast certain spells for the players for cheap, these are contacts, the people the players turn to when they need that special form of help that the factions or their resistance fighters simply cannot provide.

The animal revoultionaries

Any time the players are in combat in the lower ward or Schwarzrauchgasse, there is a 1 in 4 chance that a group of 1d6 bulls or 1d8 draft horses will join the fight as the player’s allies.

Branagor Stonecipher

As the head of Branagor Security Solutions, Branagor Stonecipher can provide blueprints and disarmament instructions for every trap, safe, and lock in the city he has worked on.
 

The Faoghair Clan

As keepers of the catacombs under the city, The Faoghair Clan lead the players to any point in the city north of the Silver Flow River through the twisting maze of burial vaults and tombs. Moving through the catacombs does not require stealth checks.

Master Thistledown

As the most powerful chronomancer and artificer in the city, Master Thistledown can provide the players with reset bombs (See Appendix A) for 500gp a piece and lend the players a timepiece of returning.

Nib Master of the Goblin Market

Large amounts of information flow through the goblin market every day. Nib can provide the players with 1d4 rumors every day. He will also appraise acquired loot and identify magic items for no charge

Grex Saexx

Grexx, the goblin arms dealer, owes the players one for recovering his inventory. He can get the players uncommon magical arms and armor at a %15 discount on the list price in the DMG. Furthermore, he can also sell the following exclusive magic items to the players: See Appendix C for item descriptions.

• Banner of sanctuary
• Hand of Hidden Blades
• Ring of the hearth
• Thunderclap Arms
• Vice Grip Hand