The Sideways Master
! This NPC is part of the continuing Trade Disputes of Crestwold > A series of Events in the Trade Disputes of Crestwold.
He has connections in the Mud Vipers of Richfield.
SM’s Grand Plan
Plan Master = Person directing the plan. (Plan Master)
Phase 1 SM Plan
[Previous] 5-6 months (happens in the background of other events)The (Plan Master) hires a group (3 of The Lily Road Breakers) from Lily Glen to perform attacks around Point Saril and the Black Shore Road. They are set up to harass (shoot at range, disturb at night, etc.) all who move through the area – travelers, bandits, and smugglers. It is made to look like an adventuring group targeting the area (they are to leave tracks, and move stones in ruins, leaving obvious campsite remains alongside them) – and has given them a commission and told them that bandits have stopped all movements along the road. He uses various disguises, giving them false reports, maps, incident descriptions and records of eye witnesses provided by someone named “Sidruff Mell” – S.M. for short in many documents.
[ i ] INT DC 22 check to make the connection of where SM is.Phase 2 SM Plan
After a few months of shutting down the Black Shore Road with the attacks, (Plan Master) goes to the group associated with the Tolman Guides through his henchman Trevor, posing as a wool merchant from The Lowland Council of Bar-Innis. He complains that trade is being stifled and their group has some claim on overseeing trade in that area. He formally requests aid, pledging his company resources if the problem is solved. The documents appear official, it is a strange seal that looks like a merchant’s but has hidden letters in it. Tolman Guides will hire some real “unhireable” mercenaries waiting for low end work around Mev and march about a half dozen down the Black Shore.
[ i ] but has obscured letters that say “Sidruff Mell”; DC 20 Intelligence check-Map with ‘Swanson, Michael’ as author
Phase 3 SM Plan
(Plan Master) was feeding them information on when some shipments were being sent by his own men. The Tolman Guides send a few mercenaries past Lily Glen along the Black Shore to take care of the “bandits”, but the group is wiped out when they confront the “adventurers” and are lured into a trap. One wounded made it to Point Saril to tell them that they were attacked, that magic was used, and he later died of an infection he gained hiding in the bogs of the Black Shore.
Steven Morrit (S.M.) = find documents with date and coded instructions from
NEXT STEPS
(Plan Master) gives money to help Toman Guides sponsor a militia to go after them. Captain ___ leads the “expedition” of a posse of 10 and a half dozen of the Barons guard. They find the attackers in a hideout on the edge of Yarans Vale, north of Point Saril. They were tracked down and defeated 4 months ago. Additionally, a bunch of young thugs and old bandits were driven from the ruins of Point Saril, just using it as a self-sufficient campsite.