Plunder Siege

Plunder Siege is the 6th Oxventure episode, in which the Guild partake in a unique challenge.

Synopsis
Following their recent ordeal with an order of shushy paladins, the Oxventure heroes Corazón, Dob, Egbert, Merilwen and Prudence travel to Redcastle for a spot of relaxation.

Only instead of a resort and spa, the Oxventurers find a fancy mansion gearing up for an annual criminal free-for-all, in which the duke of the manor invites violent thieves from across the land to try burglarizing his home. So then they do that instead.

Summary
The day after their adventure with the Owlbear and the Fyengeh Bus, the Guild head to a town named Redcastle, a town where the titular castle has become the manor of a Duke, named Duke Kabayo. As they head towards the tourist spot, hoping to eat and relax, they are joined on the bath by some brigands. When they ask why they are walking with them, the brigands explain that it's All Crim's Night, the day that Duke Kabayo tests his guards by allowing anyone to rob his castle. The goal of the game is to get past all of his guards and get into the duke's bedchamber, where the duke will shake the victor's hand and let them steal whatever they want as a reward. Although, the game has been going on for so long the prizes have gotten worse and worse. Corazón takes this opportunity to talk to the brigands in Thieves' Cant, since he rarely gets the opportunity to do so.

They arrive at the castle of Redcastle, and are insulted to see that it is actually beige. They see loads of thieves talking to each other, much like teams before a sporting match. Corazón looks for any helpful hidden hints left behind by previous thieves in Thieves' Cant, but only finds words of warning towards them promising death. Dob suggests that, instead of stealing from the duke, they could open the house to the public. And just as Corazón wonders if there is a place to sign up for the competition, Duke Kabayo appears in reddish robes. He explains the rules, no killing the guards but you can kill your competition. A with that, he leaves the thieves to wait on the starting whistle.

Dob comes up with a plan to throw Cat Merilwen up to the first floor, so she can lower a rope down to them and they can bypass everyone else. Corazón tries to see how many guards there are on the first floor, but is unable to on the count of being drunk, but is sure there are some guards up there. With no better plan, Merilwen turns into a cat and Dob prepares to throw her. Just then the brigand appears to wish them luck, promising not to kill them if they run away from him.

The whistle is blown, and all the criminals run in. Dob throws Merilwen as soon as it's blown, but instead of getting her to the first floor, he throws her into a flowerbed by mistake. Corazón throws a grappling hook up to the first floor for everyone to climb up, but Egbert lights a bomb and, instead of blowing the wall up, lies on top of it with his shield to launch himself over the wall. Feeling out done by Egbert's show-off-ness, everyone else decides to go in the front door.

Once they do, they see that a dead man has been chucked out one of the windows and the foyer has been robbed by thieves who were content with what they got rather than winning the competition. Corazón steals a candle stick holder and a couple of oil paintings. Dob then kicks down a door, causing the guards to hear them. They then "stealth cheese it" to another door, which leads to a library. They see that it has three guards in it, two on the ground floor and one on the mezzanine level, and make plans to deal with them.

Cat Merliwen distracts the guard on the top level, while Dob stag leaps behind him. Dob casts sleep on the guard, who falls asleep, and Merilwen curls up to sleep on top of him. Not distracted by Merilwen's cuteness, Dob ties up the sleeping guard. Corazón steals some more oil paintings, before he sneaks on one of the guards downstairs and chokes him until he's unconscious. He then ties him up and pickpockets him, discovering a note from the duke thanking him for helping him improve his security, unless the guard is dead, in which case the duke will hunt him down. Luckily the guard isn't dead. Prudence tries to find the spookiest book in the library, but finds it guarded by the last guard. Egbert, who has been daydreaming about his amazing stunt this entire time, is instructed by Dob to knock over the bookcases to help Prudence. After a brief confusion, Egbert knocks the bookcases with more force than he intended, accidentally injuring Corazón and incapacitating the guard. Egbert heals Corazón halfheartedly and Prudence gets the Grimoire, much to Cthulhu's praise.

Corazón steals the rest of the valuables in the library and they all gather to leave via a door upstairs. After Corazón casually removes a booby trap from the door, they enter a feasting hall, containing eight thieves. Corazón tries to communicate to them in Thieves Cant, but the leader isn't having it, as Thieves Cant doesn't work on All Crims Night. He tells the Guild that they aren't going anywhere. Corazón tries to convince them not to fight them, trying to convince them that there is a secret passageway in the library that they were too scared to explore, but he's not interested. Knowing that this is going to lead into a fight, Dob invites the leader to share a bowl of stew with him from the nearby pot on the fireplace. The leader doesn't know what Dob is planning, and neither do his fellow Guild members, but takes him up on the offer. Dob then borrows Prudence's new book and dumps it into the stew after getting his portion of stew, without the bandit leader noticing. The bandit then takes his portion of stew, slightly suspicious of what Dob is doing, and turns into a Goblin when he eats it. Dob tries to convince the thieves that their leader was secretly a Goblin the entire time, and commands them to attack him, but they don't believe him and they prepare to fight the Guild.

Corazón immediately hides, using Mage Hand Legerdemain to take one of Egbert's bombs, lighting it on Egbert's nose, and throwing it to the back of the room. This kills three of the thieves, but one survives the blast. Merilwen turns back into an Elf, and Dob cast Heat Metal to make one of her arrows hot. It passes through two of them, killing one them, and lands in the Goblin who was once the leader. Prudence senses that the leader was a Tiefling racist and Agonizing Blasts him to death. Upon seeing this the remaining thieves decide to leave, but Egbert Commands them to vomit before they do. Dob rescues the book from the stew, cast Prestidigitation to clean it up and flavour it like hot sauce, and hands it back to Prudence.

Prudence licks the book and accidentally unlocks a secret passageway. They investigate it and find that it is a short cut to the duke's bedchamber. They enter the duke's private chamber, with Corazón kicking the door open in a cool way, and are greeted by the duke. Duke Kabayo comments on how it's been awhile since someone has discovered the secret book licking passage, and congratulates them for winning. The duke toasts to the winners and drinks from his goblet. When suddenly he coughs and turns into a rat. Realizing what this means, Corazón yells out M. Channail's name, before the Gnome himself appears before him. It is revealed that the brigands that they ran into before the game began were hired by Channail to keep an eye on the Guild. Channail explains that he has come to take revenge on them for ruining his potions business and his logging machine.

Before the Guild can do anything Channail summons weeds and vines to ensnare the Guild, only capturing Merliwen, Corazón and Dob. Dob cast Hideous Laughter, causing Channail to lose it, confusing his lackeys. Prudence cast Vicious Mockery on Channail, psychologically damaging him, catching him in the middle of two emotions. Egbert casts Divine Smite to make his Breath Weapon stronger, instantly killing the Gnome, but Channail yells that it was worth it. The brigands give up, Corazón loots everything (including Channail's skeleton), Dob lets everyone else in, Egbert surfs down the staircase, and everyone makes off with their spoils.

Notable Events

 * The guild kill M. Channail, ending their rivalry.

Guild Hijinks

 * Eggbert uses a bomb under his shield to propel himself in the air and surpass the wall instead of using the rope how everyone one else was doing.
 * Dob turns a man into a Goblin, through a very complicated plan.

Trivia

 * The name "M. Channail" is based off of Mike Channell's name, and he ends being killed by Eggbert that is Mike's character.

Behind The Scenes Trivia

 * During the final confrontation with M. Channail an announcement about the end of the event was played twice and the crew jokes about Chtulhu wanting to end the battle already.