Come At the King: Chapter 1

*While the original Rude Tales gang waits out quarantine in Stirfry’s pocket (no food), here's a tale from Cordelia's mysterious past: COME AT THE KING, a miniseries set 500 years before the events of Rude Tales!*

The first episode of Come At The King, a campaign following the past events of Cordelia. Namely, it follows the assassination attempt on the emperor of the Cordelian empire in Paola during the year 3 BA.

## Summary

The story begins in Paola, an ancient and thriving city in Cordelia’s past. We are introduced to the party as they are one by one recruited by Snake Professional, a mysterious tieflings working for an even more mysterious employer.

Smellulus the loxodon is fired from his job as a tax collector. In his desperation, he is tempting into joining Snake’s plan to get him rich.

Butter St. Beef is a minotaur lawyer who, after defending a very guilty gnome in court, spit-takes on the judge. He is sentenced to trial by combat where despite some polite conversation between the two, he kills his opponent in a fit of rage. Disgraced, he quickly accepts Snake’s offer of wealth for a job.

At the Peacekeeper’s headquarters, the Chief Penny Downtown pitches her newest acquisition to a shadowy council. She introduces Grimothee Steel, a psionic assembled that she bought on discount to revolutionize the Peacekeepers. She frees Crime Boy, a stereotypical criminal, but Grimothee takes so debating the chief that the council leaves before it can be resolved. Penny fires him on the spot, leaving Grimothee to be recruited by Snake instead.

Deli the harpy is being questioned in one of the Peacekeepers’ interrogation rooms. She quickly confesses to the murder of a horse (wanting to see if he had trinkets inside him), but the recording kenku was not paying attention. She changes her mind about confessing and stalls long enough that her interrogator leaves, allowing Snake to make her an offer. While she accepts to help in exchange for his shiny cufflinks, she is the only party member to inquire about the job: an assassination. Deli's lawyer appears to get her free, only for her to attack him, steal his hair, and fly away.

In the slums of Filet Town, a young high elf Torrin "Skunk" cherishes the single bean she was able to obtain. She fends off a would-be robber before her best friend and fellow tramp The Beautiful Avoider returns to tell her that he has been adopted by a wealthy family and will be leaving her behind. Bitter about this, she swears that she would never accept an offer for massive amounts of money (right away). Snake Professional appears with such an offer, taking a stab at her with a dagger. She summons a sigil that protects her from his weapon, much to Snake’s vocal relief about finally having tried to stab the correct child. She agrees to take the job, but only if Snake opens a charity to help support scrappy tramps and orphans like herself.

The party is assembled at the docks where Snake confesses that he expected more to show up, having pitched it to a dwarf who may have just been polite. He explains their mission is to kill the emperor, laying out the start of their plan. They are to visit a tavern called The Trim Cuckold where they will meet a beautiful bugbear that will give them their next lead.

Before they can depart, the dwarf he spoke to appears after running late to the meeting. Snake panics and stabs him to death. As a sign of their pact, the party each takes one of the fingers from the dead dwarf’s hands. Snake takes the palm and enchants it to bind them to their contract with a fate worse than death awaiting if they fail or betray him.

## Link

https://rudetalesofmagic.simplecast.com/episodes/new-miniseries-come-at-the-king-chapter-1