Runa's Taxes
The Halfling Merchant Runa Of Shireton arrives in your Town and having rented a small stone storehouse (20'x20') from the Merchants for a few gold hires four labourers for the week. A visit to the bank to arrange funds in the form of sixteen sealed coin firkins (each capable of containing five hundred coins) branded with the seal of the Bank and a large open urn of one hundred silver coins. With two labouers guarding the store house armed with a club each, Runa proceeds to the bank and has her two remaining labouers and begins shipping the firkins of Bank coin to the storehouse across town. It takes a day but by the evening all the coin firkins and the silver filled urn are safely locked up for the week. Two guards are left to guard the storehouse until dawn, and they swap places with the other two guards in the mornings.
Question to the Players: How do you rob all that gold and get away with it?
For the DM: This is a trap to lure PCs into a crime.
Of course each of the Players interested in robbing this described how they would do it... tunnel in, bribe, murder the guards...
A Chat with the Guildmaster
Having made off with the Coin firkins you find they are filled with five hundred copper pieces each - barely worth the effort. Soon after you and your three companions are detained by the towns guard and taken before the guildmaster of the thieves guild. In his office are four life sized portraits - one of each of you shown in a scene of the robbery.
"I have a job for you." The Guildmaster looks at a portrait and laughs. "You will sneak into the sewers of the Baron's Castle by the lake."
"Once inside," the guildmaster places what looks like a coin die on the table. "You will steal one of the coin dies he uses to mint new coins and replace it with this."
The PCs have little choice, and their objections will be met with intimidation.
Objections of Rail-roading: If a pc wants to not do what the guildmaster tells them, even though they failed to ask for a wisdom check to percieve the mortal danger your pc is in, your pc gets their legs broken. The world is cruel. Its also built on intimidation and a twisting knife blade to a pc's throat- not what a player thinks is fair. The players can lie, and do a runner, but leg-breakers will come looking.
"Excellent." A bald, seven foot tall leg breaker steps from the shadow behind the guildmaster. "We have an understanding."
Into the sewers
The sewers are a narrow modular ceramic structure which an individual may crawl unarmoured. It enters at the lake edge and services multiple waste disposal locations through the castle.
There are latrines located on various castle levels.
An unarmoured thief can climb though it is inconvenient to combat.
1d6 Encounters
1 1d4 normal rats
2 1 giant rat
3 1 snake
4 yellow mold
5 green slime
6 1 spider
Infiltraiting the castle is easy. Unfortunately the coin mint is heavily guarded by ten soldiers at all times- the barracks serving as a gatekeep. They would need to lure most of them out. An option might be half the party making their way up to the Baron's Lavatory, taking the Baron hostage, and causing the castle to be alerted to their presence so that most of the guard are called to rescue the Baron. Then sneak into the coin mint, swap a coin die, and escape. Meanwhile those who take the Baron hostage will likely be imprisoned or executed depending on how bad it all goes.
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