Locked

Locked is the title of the thirteenthth episode episode of Jarren's Outpost Hustle, a D&D Is For Nerds Adventure.  It features Adam Carnevale as the Dungeon Master.  The episode was released on twelfth August, 2017.  The introductory soundbite is "Sanspants radio: where the curtains don't match the drapes" spoken by Joel Zammit. The previous episode is Shadowboxing and the following one is Trouble On The Homefront.

## Events

1. Periwinkle and Greg decide to kill shadowless prisoners in Rhodes keep dungeons while Leo picks the lock into the next room.
2. At a guardpost, the party find the tattered remains of some shadow creatures.
3. When they get to the vault, Greg tries to open it and fails.
4. Leo uses the knock spell to unlock it, and Greg freezes one of his hands on a lever, but Leo helps him.
5. When the vault door opens, Leo, Periwinkle and Saturday enter. The Thursdays guard Greg.
6. Magic prevents those inside from taking the weapon, which is on a table with two other magic bags.
7. Greg uses a mage hand to take the bag from outside the vault, then tries to close the door on those inside.
8. Leo throws Thunder at Greg, downing him, and the Thursdays pull the door open before it closes completely.
9. O'Rourke's comrades stabilise Greg while Periwinkle and Leo manage to pull the other two bags out of the vault.
10. The party decides to lock Greg Piss in the vault.
11. On their way out, the party encounters 20-odd Surefoots.

## Players & Their Characters

* Jackson Baly as Greg Piss
* Joel Zammit as Leo Shadow
* Handsome Tom as Periwinkle O'Rourke

## NPCs

* Thursday R, Thursday T, Saturday
* Prisoners in Rhodes keep
* 20 halflings from the Surefoot family

## Locations

* Jarren's Outpost
* Rhodes Keep
* The vault

## Plot

The party continues deeper into the castle. As they walk down the corridor, they see cells on either side of them filled with political prisoners, chained to walls. They all look sickly and starved. None of them cast shadows. Some are dead, and their injuries replicate those dealt by the party to the shadow creatures they faced earlier. Some others are dead from other means - the party discerns that their shadows are involved in the fights going on upstairs. They consider freeing the prisoners but know they would be too weak to escape on their own - they also consider killing the prisoners to erase the shadow creatures the party and Periwinkle's comrades may have to face. Leo is opposed to this idea and endeavours to pick the lock at the end of the corridor while Greg and Periwinkle decide to start killing the prisoners. The two Thursdays join, but Saturday, disheartened, gives his crossbow to Greg. Periwinkle uses a small bee canister to kill several prisoners at once. He throws it, killing about ten. Then he throws another to kill a similar amount.

It takes Leo half an hour to pick the lock. By the time he's finished that, the others have killed the prisoners. They move through uninhabited dungeons as well as some other miscellaneous parts of the castle. In an armoury, Saturday picks up a greatsword slightly better than his own. According to their map, they're getting close to the vault. Leo peers around a corner to find several shredded bits of shadow on the floor by a guardpost. It's hard to tell how many individuals' shadows are before them, but there would be ten to fifteen opponents to face - had Greg and Periwinkle not killed the prisoners. Leo casts detect magic, noticing that the vault door radiates with powerful evocation, abjuration and necromatic magic; the tattered shadows linger with conjuration magic as they pass on.

Greg Piss casts alter self to look like Eaton. Leo and Periwinkle step back to see how Greg's plan will fall apart. He approaches the vault and sees handles, six combination locks, a "spinny bit", and touches it. It feels warm to him, but it doesn't do anything. Leo has a sneaky cigarette. Greg gives Leo the finger. After Greg gives up, Leo has a look at it. He discerns some sort of spell of protection on the door, and that if anyone were to try to get in that didn't own the vault's contents, it itself would know. As Leo reads out the knock spell scroll Periwinkle gave him a moment ago, Greg and Periwinkle step back. With a series of clicks, each of the six locks are sorted and unlocked, then a bolt on the other side of the door slides. Leo detects that the magical spells are still activated. Greg tries to turn the levers - the first one successfully, the second one staying static. Greg's hands become frozen to the door. Ice starts to chill up his arms.

The party argues over how to deal with this as Greg takes more damage. Panicked, Leo tries to open the door too, telling it that he, too, is Damian Eaton, attempting to fool it as Greg did. It turns! The effect on Greg ends and the door starts to swing forwards. The vault door opens into a tiny room. It has a table: upon it, three bags - one of which the party recognise as the one which would contain the weapon. The other two seem also to be magic bags, but not ones the party is familiar with. Leo tries to detect magic - nothing - then Periwinkle goes to grab the bags. He feels, as he walks into the room, different, changed; as if he had walked through a waterfall. He calls out to Leo who follows, experiencing the same strange feeling. Saturday steps through too (without appearing to notice the change, only the "waterfall"), and the Thursdays stay with Greg on guard.

Periwinkle and Leo do not feel right. When he tries to take the bag, something compels him not to steal it, as if there could be another way. Leo, too, seems to feel bad about it. When Saturday tries, he too protests the possibility of a better way. As Leo troubleshoots an idea, he can't stop thinking "theft is wrong". Greg summons a mage hand and uses it to take the bag. Once he's got it, he tries to close the vault door, which would lock Leo, Periwinkle and Saturday in there... He's almost shut it. Leo hurls his charged dagger at Greg. It slips into his thigh. He feels an awful pain shooting up his leg, then everything goes black. The two Thursdays grab the door before it closes and pull it back open.

They leave the vault and no longer feel compelled not to steal. Leo uses mage hand to grab one of the other bags from in there, but the other seems too heavy. The Thursdays and Saturday, together, stabilise Greg, while Leo and Periwinkle discuss whether they should kill him. Together, the party throw a rope and pull at the table, bringing it to the vault door. Periwinkle tries to reach in and grab the final bag but he can't. After a couple of tries, Leo is able to throw the grappling hook at the bag, catch it on a strap, and pull it out. Periwinkle holds on to the weapon and Leo stashes the other two.

Leo takes Greg's lute, then goes through his loot, leaving him his blanket. Periwinkle pops out Greg's fake eye, then he crushes it. They roll Greg into the vault and close the door. As it shuts, all the locks reactivate.

*"Hey, Thursday, remember how you always wanted to learn the lute when you retired?" - Periwinkle*

*"Aye, I remember that." - Thursday*

*"Have this lute." - Periwinkle*

As the party starts to leave, they see some 20 halflings down the other end of the corridor. Periwinkle recognises the Surefoot family.

*But are these newcomers friend or foe? Find out next time...*

## Quotes

* "Saturday is his name, Piss." - Periwinkle, angrily.
* "If Greg Piss is dead, that's all right." - Periwinkle
* "Greg Piss is stupid. He's not *that* stupid." - Jackson
* "Can I intimidate the door?" "You growl at the door, but it doesn't seem to notice." - Handsome Tom and Adam
* "Yo, yo, it's me, Damian Eaton, don't even think about it." - Greg Piss
* "I grab Greg Piss by the waist, and I pull, until his hands snap off." - Handsome Tom
* "Greg Piss, motherfuckers!" - Greg Piss, attempting to lock his friends in an enemy vault
* "Do we hate him enough to kill him is my question." "Do you want to kill him now or... later?" - Leo and Periwinkle, regarding Greg

## Trivia

* The boys make a reference to "that guy in se7en", Sloth, who was discovered after being handcuffed to a bed for a year.
* A combination dial is the name of the "spinny thing" found by the party on the vault door.