The Witcher D&D: The Heist

Surprised by the players

If you’re new to our Witcher Dungeons & Dragons adventures, then I suggest to start with our first adventure.

Today we’re going on an Italian-job style bank robbery. I planned to give the players a nasty Witcher-style twist at the end, but they surprised me in a very clever way! It’s the perfect example of how a D&D game typically goes: there’s a script, but the actions of the players always influence the experience.

The assignment

Our heroes (Sherga, Rhay and Spark) were still celebrating after their previous adventure, when suddenly a messenger arrives, urging them to go to Novigrad. Just then Letho arrives with Alex (a mysterious elf), and they start off on their adventure.

Blow the bridge

On their way towards Novigrad, they pass close to the bridge over the Pontar. When they notice the Rhedanian army, they decide to set up their camp and spend the night there. Sherga and Alex decide to stay awake to keep watch, but both of them fall asleep.

They all wake up, surrounded by the Rhedanian army. They can convince the army that they are not Nilfgaardian spies, and help the army by blowing up the bridge. This will set those Nilfgaardians back!

It’s a trap!

The party arrives in Novigrad, and goes straight to the inn where they are supposed meet the messenger. No one’s there yet, so they have a couple of drinks and enjoy the live performances (check the playlist with medieval metal versions here). But after a bad performance (the last song in the playlist), a tavern brawl breaks out.

Our party fights their way to the stage, and they put Rhay the bard on stage. His awesome performance manages to calm the audience.

After the performance, they are contacted by a shady person who claims to be the messenger. While discussing, the party falls asleep, because the shady guy has poisoned the drinks. Except for Letho the witcher of course, who’s immune to poison. But a quick blow to the head also makes an end to that.

A mandatory mission

They wake up in a cell, and are greeted by a man and a mage.

The man claims to be working for king Radovid, and tells them that a couple of Nilfgaardian spies want to steal the plans to the city. These plans are kept in the bank, and can only be retrieved by the mayor and the alderman together. Unfortunately, the alderman is in Kaedwen, gathering troops for the war.

So the idea is to steal the plans before the Nilfgaardians do, and store them in a secret location.

They are to meet again on a boat (called Boaty McBoatface) in the harbor.

And he has an extra argument to convince our party to volunteer for this assignment: while unconscious, one of the party members has swallowed an enchanted amulet that will explode after 3 days.

After that last message, the man and the mage leave.

Preparations

Sherga uses her magic to detect the party member with the enchanted amulet, and discovers that she has it! All dispel actions don’t work, so they have no other option than to rob the bank.

Spark the craftsman is handy enough to pick the prison’s lock, and the party is free. They decide to go to the bank.

A quick reconnaissance shows that the front entry is protected by 2 guards. But on the first floor, there’s a passageway to the house next to it, where the bank director lives.

Then the party decides to split up:

• Alex (elven criminal) and Spark go to the Passiflora. Alex convinces a former Passiflora colleague to be present at night to give the bank director a bit of female distraction
• Sherga, Letho and Rhay find the shady messenger, and interrogate him for extra info. Even a little torture can’t help them to extract extra information.

Robbin’ time!

At night, they meet again. Alex’s colleague gives the bank director some distraction, while Spark, Rhay and Letho stealthily enter the bank. Alex and Sherga are on the lookout.

Spark breaks the lock, and they’re in the bank! But they are not alone. Other robbers are there as well, just robbing the bank for gold and jewels. Each party decides to continue with their own business. Spark, Rhay and Letho solve the riddles protecting the vault, and take the plans of Novigrad!

A happy ending

All of this only took 2 days, so there’s still a day left before the magic amulet explodes.

Alex the criminal has a forgery kit, and decides to use the last day to make a false copy of the papers.

They take these false papers to the boat, and give them to the man and his mage. The Nilfgaardians do not detect the forgery, and lift the curse on Sherga.

When the party leaves the boat, it starts sailing away. At that time, Emhyr var Emreis himself appears on deck. So they actually stole the plans for Nilfgaard!

It was a fishy thing from the start. Luckily, they were clever enough to create the false copy.

While the boat sails away, our party acts as if they have been fooled, but they are actually happy with how it all ended up!