Cobblepot's Big Score Game 1

Game Master: Elijah
Game Edition: D&D 5
Players: Andrew, Dave
Starting Level: 5
Current Level:5

Quote of the Evening:
"Do you have any Salad?"

Introduction

For JADE's very first 5th edition game, we decided to return Elijah's Anthropomorphic Setting.  Elijah's very first campaign was a world full of anthropomorphic animals created for D&D 3.5. However, he was never very happy with how it turned out, and decided to relaunch the campaign setting as a small 5th ed adventure, from a much less heroic perspective

In Cobblepot's Big Score, we play as a group of Criminals under the Penguin Boss Cobblepot (Jeff). The goal is to pull off a heist where we have to steal a certain item from the king as he visits the town.

However, Jeff couldn't make it to last game, and thus Cobblepot was not there for the first game of Cobblepot's Big Score. So it was up to "fish-out-of-water" the Shark Monk Bruce "Sharky the Shark" McCoy (Andrew) and the Psychic collective of turtles; that is the Sorcerer and genetic anomaly Legion (Dave) to make their own adventure!

It was like a Saturday morning cartoon!

But what exactly would an Shark and four turtles do in a town of mostly reptiles and Mammals?

Scene 1 Trouble at the Festival.

Sharky and Legion stood outside the tavern where Cobblepot was spending his cut from their last job. As usual Sharky had been given very little (only 10gp) and Legion had been paid nothing. Cobblepot was known to go on these binges after a big pay out, leaving Sharky and Legion to their own devices.

The street outside the tavern was busy with people preparing for the festival which would be in two days. Rumour was that the Prince himself would be attending and the air was a buzz with tales and half-truths about His Majesty's coming.

Legion was enchanted by the bright banners of the festival and wanted to go right away, not understanding that it would not be on for a few days. Sharky on the other hand had never heard of a festival and was more interested in finding something to eat.

Ooooh! Colours!

Despite Sharky's hunger, Legion was insistent that they head over to the festival grounds, and convinced Sharky there would be games where he could prove his strength.

Intrigued at the idea of earning some respect for the McCoy tribe, Sharky agreed and followed Legion to the fair grounds.

FESTIVAL!

Of course, the festival was only just being setup and none of the games that Legion had promised were ready yet. Sharky was very confused by the whole setup, and decided to ask someone about it. He found a very strong looking dog who told them that the festival was not for a few days.

Sharky asked him why he was here, and the dog told them that he was going to participate in the archery tournament in a few days, and pointed over to some tents that had been set up at the back.

Legion and Sharky went back to investigate and found a small community of competitive archers training for the upcoming tournament. Most of the tents were open and unattended with most people huddled around the range.

Sharky looked at legion and told him to "investigate" the scene. Legion smiled and without saying a word cast an invisibility spell on himself. Sharky knew the drill: Legion would search the tents for anything of worth, while he distracted the on lookers at the range.

Knowing that archers have good strong arms, he head over to the range and called out a challenge. He would give 1gp to anyone that could best him in arm wrestling. No one answered.

Would you?

Sharky called out his challenge again, and finally someone answered his call. A hippopotamus rose and grunted in agreement. Sitting at a nearby table, the two wrestled with their right arms. The Hippo won.

Switching to their left arms the two tried once more, and again the hippo won. Grunting in victory, the hippo held out his hand and Sharky gave him the gold piece. The Hippo nodded and left.

Imagine it is a hippo instead of a cat.

While the Shark was arm wrestling with the Hippo, Legion was rifling through people's tents, and not finding much. None of the archers had much of value to their names, and it would seem that all of them kept their gold on them.

He was about to give up and return to Sharky when he found a chest in one of the tents. It was locked, and he had no way of opening it, but he could enter it with a Ghost Form Spell!

Casting that he floated through the seem between the lid and base and into the chest. Inside he found a coin purse with 3 gold pieces in it! He took the gold, cast another Ghost Form and left.

Deciding to stay in his Ghost Form, Legion drifted out of the tent: which proved to be a terrible idea. As his ghostly image wafted into the festival grounds, some one saw him and screamed: "GHOST!"

A crowd gathered, all screaming and yelling angrily. Some even rushed over with weapons in hand.

After being defeated by the Hippo, Sharky heard the commotion and knew exactly what was going on. Legion was in trouble.

He rushed over to the crowd and saw Legion in his Ghost Form. If he dropped the spell in the middle of the crowd, they would certainly kill him, claiming him a demon or a spirit.

Without breaking his step, Sharky ran into the middle of the crowd and shouted to Legion: "DROP THE SPELL!"

Legion Dropped the spell as Sharky ran through the crowd and grabbed him. He kept running as the crowded shouted in anger at him.

Legion Tried to turn the two of them invisible so they could disappear into the fair, but Legion's unpredictable Sorcerer's powers did something much different. The air vibrated and every thing's fur stood on end. Then with a SWOOOSH, Legion let forth a powerful blast of energy sending a helpless beaver archer flying up into the air.

Ever seen a beaver fly?

Sharky gave Legion a look of confusion, and the turtles shrugged. The moment was broken when an arrow pierced Sharky's back causing him to cry out in pain!

With the archers chasing them, Legion and Sharky wasted no time, and fled the festival winding their way into the back alleys of the town and out of sight.

Thinking they had left the scene behind, they rested for a moment,  only to have their peace broken by the closing scream of the beaver archer who was returning from his flight. His body hit the ground with a bone shattering thud.

And with that, Sharky and Legion decided to move to another alley.

Scene 2 Need Food. Legion's Lettuce.

Sharky had legion pull the arrow from his back and the five rested for a moment. At this point Sharky was hungry and Legion admitted he was pretty hungry as well. So they headed over to the market in search of food.

Legion wanted salad, while Sharky was only interested in finding raw meat, so they went their separate ways; Legion to find a "salad merchant" and left Legion to find a butcher.

Legion wandered around the market, asking people our quote of the evening:

"Do you have any salad?"

Finally someone directed Legion over to an elderly vegetable merchant. The turtles ran over to the stall and asked the Old Cat if she had any salad. She replied that she did, and asked how much he would like?

Legion thought about it for a moment and then asked how much 3gp would get him. The Cat was shocked! She had never seen more then a silver in her life! She told the turtles that they could buy the stall and she would retire. Thinking it over the Turtles agreed, and gave her three gold.

The Cat's Vegetable stall was now Legion's and the four quickly began devouring lettuce, until they grew bored. They asked the Cat if she would watch the stall while he went and looked for Sharky, in exchange for half of the profits. The Cat agreed and Legion went off to look for his friend.

Scene 3 The Bar Brawl.

Sharky's luck had not been as good as Legions. While Legion was becoming the Salad Baron, Sharky had found a butcher, but the Fox proprietor did not have enough coins to break a gold piece.

Sharky Figured that the tavern would be a good place to get some change, as well as make a quick buck gambling. So he returned to where he began his adventure and entered the establishment.

Cobblepot was no where to be found, but there was a group of tough looking mammals sitting around a table: just the kind of people would accept a challenge of strength. Thinking he could easily best one of them at arm wrestling, Sharky went over the table a issued his usual challenge.

A rather rude Badger accepted ad put his hand on the table. Sharky was not going to be beaten this time, and began using his training as a monk to focus to carnal rage into the challenge.

With a great cry the Shark slammed the Badgers hand against the table and he roared in victory; but his opponent was not so impressed. Sharky had almost broken the badger's arm. Enraged, the Badger swung a fist at him, hitting him in the nose.

Jerk.

Sharky returned with a furry of blows that knocked the badger to the ground unconscious. With blood on his hands, Sharky went into the red, and unleashed his carnal self, as several other animals attacked him. He dealt with each one, but by now there was a group of thugs surrounding him, trapping him in the corner of the room.

Sharky turned and grabbed the coin purse from the badger he had defeated, and then flung his unconscious body at the crowd. It knocked most of them down and we was able to barge and leap his way out of the tavern and into the street.

As he burst from the building, he bumped into legion, who he again scooped into his arms and fled into the alleys. This had thus far been a poor day.

Scene 4 Monopolizing. Sharky McCoy's Seafood.

In the back alley ways, Sharky was able to get his carnal rage under control. But he needed to eat immediately. Luckily, the coin purse he had taken from the badger had enough change for him to buy some meat from the butcher.

With his hunger satiated, He was able to pay attention to Legion who had been going on about his Legion's Lettuce franchise the entire time. The Turtles showed him the stand and Sharky was impressed. It seemed like a great idea! They could laundry dirty money through the legitimate business.

Using some of Sharky's gold, Legion hired a family of hares to look after the stall. The family was the Brantfords and they were grateful for the job offer.

Seeing the growth potential, Sharky decided to buy more business and used much of his gold to buy a fish stand which he quickly named Sharky McCoy's Seafood.

Nice sign...

The Brantfords again were hired to run the business, who Sharky Realized would also be the perfect scapegoats if anything went wrong. With their business secured, Legion and Sharky decided to secure some suppliers.

Scene 5 We Need More Salad. To Get a Horse. Bandits.

The cat woman's notes for her contacts were vague at best, but spoke of a farmer she met each morning outside the main gate. Sharky and Legion decided they would explore the country side and find a farmer, but they both realized they would need a horse if they wished to cover any ground.

They found a raccoon at the stables who was willing to sell them a horse, but in their purchasing of stalls in the market, Sharky and Legion did not have enough money. There was only one thing to be done. For years Sharky had kept the trophy of his first kill: a rare species of octopus, and figured that an Apothecary might be interested in acquiring it.

Though he did not get as much as he wanted for it, Sharky and Legion found an Apothecary who was interested in buying the trophy, and got just enough money to rent the horse for the day.

The five rode out of town and followed the road for an hour, until they were stopped by three men standing in the road holding crossbows.

Without heading to the bandit's demands, Sharky leaped at the thieves dodging their bolts, while Legion fought off a group who had attacked them from the rear.

Cowabunga!

After the first bandit fell, the fight left the others and the retreated back into the woods. However the commotion had scared off the horse and it was no where to be found.

Scene 6 A Town in Need.

Evening was falling as Sharky and Legion journeyed along the road on foot. They walked for hours until the darkness was scattered by the flicker lights of a small village.

The weary travelers entered the hamlet, and were approached by the towns spokesman: a squirrel with a worried look on his face.

He explained that bandits dressed as a performance troop troupe had raided their village earlier, taken most of their food, gold and two of their daughters! They would give anything to get them back!

Without hesitation, Legion accepted their offer and asked if they had a horse. The villager said they had found one earlier that day, that they could borrow, and brought out the horse they had lost during the battle with the bandits!

Reunited with their horse, Legion insisted they leave immediately, and they were back on the road again.

Scene 7 Rescuing the Daughters.

Sharky was trying to explain to Legion how unlikely it would be for them to just find the bandits in the darkness, when he was stopped short by a light shining out from the woods.

Sharky and legion crept silently into the forest and observed the camp, and there they were: a party of sleeping bandits and a troupe's carriage. One of the bandits was awake on watch, but his droopy dog eyes sagged heavily as the evening waned.

Using his hunting skills, Sharky quietly approached the watchman from behind and in a swift motion broke his neck. The dog never knew what him. Sharky then stood motionless in the camp in a ready stance, as Legion ran forth and began exploring around.

Probably the most bad ass scene of the night.

Using an invisibility spell, Legion investigated the trailer. He heard voices within and found the door locked. Playfully, the turtles knocked on the door. A slat slid nosily open, and the gruff voice of a cat asked who was there.

Legion did not respond, and waited for the slat to close. Once it had, he knocked on the door again. The slat slid open once more and an irradiated cat voice complained about hearing things before shutting it again. Giggling, Legion dropped his invisibility spell and signaled Sharky to come to him. the shark slipped over as Legion knocked on the door again. Once more the slat slid open, and with a powerful kick, Sharky burst the door down and flung into the room.

All Sharky could see was red as he slaughtered each bandit that dare oppose him, until finally he could no longer contain himself, and he feasted on the succulent flesh of his recent kills.

While Sharky ate, Legion found and rescued the performance troupe, who the bandits had robbed and tied in the back, as well as the village's missing daughters!

The troupe thanked them, introduced themselves as the Donlan Valley Mummers Troupe and offered to to take them to the village the following morning.

Scene 8 An Ungrateful Town. Cattle Rustling.

The party and the troupe rode back to the village the following morning, but they were not met with the cheers they were expecting. Instead the townsfolk were bitter and suspicious.

They would not give Legion or Sharky their reward, and told them they were no longer welcome. Sharky was infuriated by the insult, and Legion still felt he was owed.

The Troupe on the other hand was much kinder and told them that they could be found on the festival grounds in town. they asked if they wished to accompany them back to town, but Sharky and Legion had other plans.

Using another Invisibility Spell, Legion went around to the other side of the village, while Sharky stayed with the horse by the village's cattle. Once Legion was in position, he used a Fireball Spell to ignite a hay stack. It worked perfectly; the whole town came running to try and deal with it.

Your Hay. She Burns.

While the village was distracted with the fire, Sharky opened the gate to the cattle field, and charged at the cows. The beasts charged out of the enclosure as Shark rode along side them snapping his jaws to keep them in line.

Quote of the Evening runner up: "Man we did some straight up cowboy shit this game!"

Sharky drove the cattle around the village, picked up Legion and then drove the herd off back towards town with the villagers yelling and screaming behind them.

Scene 9 Selling the Cattle.

Out the front of town, the local mornings dealings were taking place. Farmers and craftsmen from all over the countryside had shown up to sell their wares; it would be the perfect place to sell cattle.

The five found the towns Cattle Commissioner and showed him the 25 head of cattle they had stolen. The Commissioner knew exactly what was going on, and rather then offering the standard 8gp per head, he offered 4gp.

Sharky understood and accepted the money. 100gp was not bad for a day's work!

Scene 10 Franchising.

Using their new found wealth, Sharky and Legion bought the four largest vegetable stands and hired the previous owners as shopkeepers. The owners agreed feeling that the industrious group would make them more money then before. Legion instructed them to go about their business as they would normally and grabbed some of their produce to bring to his first Lettuce stand. 

With four new Legion's Lettuce Stands, Sharky and the Turtles returned to the town with the intention of going to the docks, and securing a fish supplier.

 And that was where we left off for the evening.

Conclusion

Both Dave and I enjoyed our first, if unconventional, run of D&D 5! The character creation is fun and easy, and the role elements are built right into the character as you make them. A great addition to the D&D family.

Elijah's second run of the Anthropomorphic world was fantastic and Dave and I both look forward to beginning our heist next game!