So… T brought his friend D today. D brought his babysitter; D lives across the street, and DD is babysitting for him tonight because his parents are out at some conference or another.

D has brought his 3rd level fighter. named Faramir. Of course. Hmm. This is a problem, because I have an adventure planned for a 1st level thief. Change of plans. Time to rethink.

Then DD explains that she’s played online games before. She wants to play too. A ranger. Another change of plans. Hmm.

How to integrate them? T is picking pockets. Not a good idea to pick a future PC’s pockets, so I have him pickpocket one last guy, who catches him, crying “thief, thief.” D is allowed to rush in at this point to save the victim from the thief, only to discover that the thief, T, is his cousin! Way to save a PC via familial relationships! Phew. Then, to my surprise, with three excellent rolls, T successfully bluffs his way out of that situation; the bystanders and his victim actually believe the bluff completely, I rolled so terribly (T’s lie? “I didn’t steal it, I just saw it fall off his belt. Here you go.”)

D believes the lie too, and he picks this moment to step in and get reacquainted. He’s been on a long journey, he says, by sea. Yes. He was on the crew of a ship. For this guy. He went places. (This is all with some prompting from me). At this point, D picks up on the fact that he’s supposed to explain to his cousin where he’s been, and T is wondering why D missed a family reunion. T is getting into being a roleplayer, it’s cool. D finally explains that he’s carrying a letter that he has to deliver, and they go off to deliver said letter together.

Send in the thugs. It’s now been two sessions since the combat with the chair, and now with at least two PCs and a third about to enter, I send four thugs after the pair. The thugs want — what else? — the letter! T kills one, D renders one unconscious; and then both of them get rendered unconscious. The game stalls. The two survivors grab the letter, and start to run off.

Suddenly DD gets into the act; she seizes her bow, rolls first a 19 and then a 20 for her attack rolls on two consecutive inititiative roles, and is able to fell both thugs with two well placed critical-shots. At this point the guard arrives, or will next time, and discover that the city is holding together yet again. The city Watch shows up to cart everyone off to the lockup or the hospital, and we called it a night.

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