#Dungeon23 week 3: Little Helper Hideout

This is week 3 of my #Dungeon23 entrees:

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This part of the dungeon is basically all a part of a lair, making it rather more interconnected than the previous posts. 

Discussion

The Little Helpers basically fulfill the same niche as goblins: They are small, fight unfairly, use unreliable contraptions, and should in a fair one on one encounter not really be a threat. 

They are also inherently victims of a structural problem: All are orphaned, most because of the war, and a lack of social support has left them all alone on the streets. The organisation, despite being a menace to adventurers and society, is for the most part just kids looking out for each other. That sort of loyalty is something I see among my students as well, and I see all the time. Despite saying horrid racist shit, my students seem to understand basic principles of solidarity surprisingly well when they are uniting against a teacher.  

Using children as enemies might give some GMs and players some pause. What if your players do something horrible? I for one am not concerned about it too much, as i) I hope I wouldn't play with folks who would induldge in doing horrible things to children and ii) I feel confident that when something like that came up my table would be mature enough to be open to discussing how we feel about this before continuing. 

Really, to me this is just another typical OSR problem: How do we overcome this obstacle (aggressive children) when the obvious answer isn't an option (killing them). 

Faction: Richy's Little Helpers

Leader: Richy, Last Ditch's first orphan. 
Goals: Take care of orphans that aren't part of the group yet; Start their own town away from adults

Resources: Lots of stolen goods, access to the shrine of Arnaut god of the now fallen Kingdom which once build the Star's Prison, their own boat for accessing the Prison without having to go through Otis. 

Relations: Sacrifice live humans to the Spiders on Level 2 so the Spiders won't bother them. Like bothering the Frogs. Are mostly scared of the Birds. 

Encounter table while within the Little Helper Lair:

Richy the First Orphan

Physique: Stout, covered in grime, frizzy black hair

Mannerism: To children: Supportive, mild mannered; To adults: Snarky, demeaning

Wants: To make a paradise for kids; For people to stop being adventurers

Fears: To be left alone; The Spiders

Knows: Her way around town, how to worship Arnaut, god of the Kingdom (she does so in secret), how to make stuff (she designed the traps, the onager, and the stinkbombs)