Chapter 3: Fortune Favors the Bold
Valek, a tiefling commoner, greets the characters and
gives them a letter from Shemeska indicating she is providing accommodation for
each of them.
·
Valek shows them to their rooms where they can
tidy up a bit. Valek offers to shine shoes, tour the facility, and answer any
questions the characters have, though most pointed ones he will defer to
Shemeska.
·
If asked about Shemeska, he will happily
surrender that she is an Arcanaloth information broker with influence across
the planes.
·
Valek tells the characters they have ample time
to get a full night’s rest before exploring the casino.
·
Additionally, Valek should insinuate Shemeska
will help them with their current situation, but the characters will need to
kill time until she is available.
Casino Map
·
Summary: Reception bar with a ghost stage
magician performing and a few patrons. There is also a stairway to hotel rooms
accessible via portal key.
·
NPCs:
o An
Oni bouncer named Viz. He has no time for nonsense but welcomes the characters
at Shemeska’s instruction.
o Brayson,
and equinal guardinal, minds the bar. He is taciturn but content to serve the
characters.
o Five
steam mephit cooks prepare meals for guests in the kitchen. They are a
mischievous lot who don’t take kindly to intruders.
·
Summary: Cages to trade gold for razorvines. A
welcome gift awaits each character.
·
NPCs: The imp behind the counter wears gaudy
makeup and a visor. They are very friendly and welcoming to the characters, and
encourage them to use their chips, and to go speak with Viz in the bar.
·
Rewards: Each character gets a satin gift bag with
10 razorvines. Additional razorvines can be purchased for 10 gp each.
·
DM’s notes: The pit cage worker might remind
players that the star attraction (Fortune’s Wheel, area F7) costs 5 razorvines
to play, so players should keep that in mind as they play the other games.
·
Summary: Entrance to casino with statue of Shemeska.
·
Secrets:
o DC
12 Intelligence (Investigation) to identify that the coins in the fountain are illusionary.
o Detect
Magic or DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) to determine the room is filled with
Divination magic, and the statue is likely a scrying device.
·
Summary: Characters can play a slot machine made
from a repurposed Modron.
·
NPCs: A night hag named Putrice just hit it big
on slots and is happy to explain how they work to the characters.
·
Rewards: Rewards if characters get:
o 2
out of 3 numbers the same on 3d6;
o 3
out of 3 numbers the same on 3d6 (a jackpot);
o A
roll of 2, 4, and 6 lead to dancing duodrones and a reroll on the next 3d6
roll.
·
Summary: Characters can play any of two
different table casino style games. A mezzoloth pit boss watches over the
games. The ante to play is 1 gold – the player that wins gets the pot.
·
Dead Hand’s Dice
o Each
player can roll as many d6s as possible.
o Everyone
rolls at once.
o The
highest result without rolling a 1 wins.
·
Olidammara’s Bounty
o Place
as many chips as desired on a number 1-20.
o Dealer
is a d20 shaped spectator that rolls itself on table.
o Roll
1d20 – if a player has a bet on the number rolled, they win five times the bet.
·
Summary: Display of the Apparatus of Kwalish, the
big-ticket prize from spinning the fortune wheel in F7. Joyriders get bounced
by mezzoloths in 3 rounds.
·
Summary: Location of namesake game of the casino
consisting of three concentric wheels that get spun.
·
Spinning Fortune’s Wheel
o Costs
5 razorvines to play.
o Player
rolls a d10 and consults outer wheel results. If the character rolls a 10, roll
1d10 again.
o Consult
middle wheel table for a prize. If the character rolls another 10, roll 1d10
again.
o Finally,
consult inner wheel table for a final prize.
o Consult
the table in the adventure for prizes.
·
Summary: A casino lounge with a sulking white
dragon.
·
NPCs:
o Phiwi,
a yeti bartender who makes the drink called the Abominable Yes Please.
o Winter’s
Bite, a young white dragon, gambled away its whole hoard except one gold coin. Worse,
he has a 100 gp bar debt!
o If
the characters don’t pay the bar debt, they will have to deal with a raging
white dragon when he snaps over his losses better.
·
Summary: A casino stage with three performers.
·
NPCs:
o Bimdom
Baffletrick: Gnomish illusionist with a weretiger named Felix.
o Estrella,
silver haired elf singer.
o Cecila
Tlapaya, ghost singer from San Citlan with a backing 10 brass piece skeletal
band.
·
Summary: Nothics look for cheaters through
surveillance statues in the casino.
·
Dm’s Notes: Nothics can look through statues in F1b
(Dragon Bar), F3 (Shemeska statue) and F7 (player’s seat on Fortune’s Wheel).
They can direct mezzoloths to intercept unwanted or unruly guests.
·
Summary: Private meeting rooms. Three hound
archons play dice in one of the rooms.
·
Summary: Portal to the more exclusive part of
the casino the characters will enter in a later part of the adventure.
Events
This scene is really silly, and I don't think it's a great fit for the flavor of a Planescape campaign I would like to run...but dnd is silly, and a lot of players will like it. Know your group if you want to run this scene. Leaving it out is perfectly fine.
Three Vecna impersonators – actually dopplegangers – walk
the floor doing Vecna impressions (just use Elvis impressions). Including “Give
a Lich a Hand.” While one distracts the characters, another tries to pick
pocket them. Characters can detect the pickpocket with a DC 16 Wisdom
(perception) check. They attack if they outnumber the nearby characters, or
scatter if not. You can do a skill challenge to chase them down and apprehend
them.
Some impersonator sayings:
·
You ain’t nothing but a demilich, casting all
the time
·
Don’t be cruel…to a heart that’s black
·
Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me
become deceased.
And some song lyrics:
To the tune of All Shook Up
Oh, well, a-curse my
soul, but what's wrong with me?
I'm lichin’ like a man on a hangman’s noose
My friends say I'm stinkin’ like a corpse
I'm a lich
I'm all shook up
Mm-mm, yeah, yeah, yeah
To the tune of Suspicious Minds
I’m caught in a trap
Phy Lac ter y
Because I wanted to live forever baby
Why Can’t I see
What the Dark Lords Doing to me
When I believe every word he’s saying
He wont let me live forever
With a suspicious Mind
And we cant build our army of the dead
With suspicious minds
If the characters didn’t pay Winter’s Bite’s tab, he goes berserk and attacks the current performer. If the characters don’t intervene mezzoloths eventually do. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion or Intimidation) check gets him to stand down. If the characters make Winter’s Bite stand down, I would have the mezzoloths reward them with 1 razorvine each.
Read the box text. Shemeska asks them how the casino
has been. Then asks them about their plight. If the characters find a misplaced
modron named R04M, she will investigate their pasts. The modron was last seen
in the outlands. It’s ok to distrust her because she distrusts them, she s a
fiend after all. She offers them each 300 gp to sweeten the pot.
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