“Thorn’s men,” Mery told them as she lead them down a dark alley, “need places to stow the children. I’ve spent a lot of time watching, and I’ve finally found one of their houses.”

“And what’s the plan, though?” Isa asked. “What if there are no children there?”

“I’m looking for letters, journals, names. People are taking the children to other towns and cities, and I need that information.”

Joth nodded. “If you can cut off his buyers, you can hobble his business.”

“I want to weaken the fucker, rot him out so it’s easier to take him down.”

“The men last night, they mentioned Thorn, so he’s in charge? Where is he? Surely the town guard--”

“Like I said, he needs to be weakened. Right now Aletar Thorn has plenty of gold to spread around, and when men are looking at a pile of gold coins, well, they aren’t looking at anything else.”

Mery stopped and crouched beside a building. She pulled a piece of chalk from her pocket. “Three story house, yeah? My best guess is that if there are kids there now, they’re in the basement. Bedroom space upstairs and living area on the main floor.” She drew quick lines to illustrate. “Seems that there is always a man there. Always. Sometimes 2-3. I’ve never seen more than 4, but that’s snatching glimpses as the door opens.” She wiped the drawing away with the palm of her hand.

“So, you want the 3 of us,” Isa gestured between them, “to take on maybe 4 guys?”

“We’ll take out 1 right away. I’d planned on using minor illusion--”

“To draw one man out or distract him?” Joth finished. “I have that spell, too. So I--” He stopped. “You’re not a rogue? I thought you were a rogue.”

“A rogue? Isn’t that like a thief?” Isa seemed to remember that Alice from Marissa’s D&D group had played a rogue. She’d spent the night unlocking doors and stabbing bad guys in the ba--

She looked at Mery. “You want to, like, sneak-stab the lookout. Is that what you mean?”

“‘Sneak stab’. You do have a way with words.” Mery grinned. “I have classical training as a bard - family business,” She said to Joth. “But I have my own plans for my life.” She sighed. “Crouching in an alley on a cold fall night sounds more glamorous when you're sitting beside a nice fire. But yes, wizard, if you please, use your illusion spell. Make a noise to draw out the one man, I can sneak attack him, and we’ve one less to deal with.”

“Surely you wouldn’t kill him. Just - I don’t know - knock him out?”

Mery looked at Isa. “We don’t have a lot of time. So I’ll say that in my experience, knocking someone out only lasts about 10-20 seconds and then you have an angry enemy at your flank.”

“This,” Joth said, “is how you weaken a ringleader, Isa. You take out their minions.” He patted her knee. “Trust me, these are not nice guys.”

“No, indeed.” Mery touched Isa’s chin. “It’s a messy, bloody business being a hero. It just is.” She stood up. “Now, let’s go wreak havoc.”

Spoiler: Character Sheet

Name: Isa Chamberlin

Race: Human

Height & Weight: 5ft 6inches / 120 lbs

Class: Fighter Level: 3

Alignment: Good

Background: Stranger in a Strange Land

Hit Points: 20 AC: 13

Current Hit Points: 20

Combat: +4 to Hit

Weapons: Rapier (left hand) 1d8 +2 (piercing) / Quarterstaff (right hand) 1d6 +2 (bludgeoning)

Coin: 13gp, 10sp, 22cp

STR

11

0

DEX

14

+2

CON

11

0

INT

13

+1

WIS

13

+1

CHA

12

+1

Saving Throws: Str and Con +2

4

Acrobatics* (Dex)

1

Medicine (Wis)

1

Animal Handling (Wis)

1

Nature (Int)

1

Arcana (Int)

3

Perception* (Wis)

0

Athletics (Str)

1

Performance (Cha)

1

Deception (Cha)

1

Persuasion (Cha)

3

History* (Int)

1

Religion (Int)

3

Insight* (Wis)

2

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

1

Intimidation (Cha)

2

Stealth (Dex)

1

Investigation (Int)

1

Survival (Wis)

Special Attack: Two weapon fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Class Features:

Second Wind - On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to regain hit points equal to 5 + your fighter level. Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

Action Surge - On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible Bonus Action. You must finish a short or Long Rest before using it again.

Martial Archetype: Surgical Fighter

3rd level - Clinical Eye: Spend 1 combat turn studying your enemy and learn one of the following: if the enemy is equal to or stronger than you in strength, dexterity, or constitution. Can spend up to 3 turns to discern all 3. Can be used outside of combat as a free action - spend 1 minute to learn all three.