It was a quiet night and The Dog And Faring, small knots of people dotted around the inn and faint music emanating from an enchanted box on the bar.
Igil spoke first, “We need to keep our heads down, he’ll be chasing us”
S’largin nodded, his blue scales shimmering in the faint firelight, “Easy for you to say”
Their third companion, Popples the diminutive halfling was silent, his face low under his hood, his hands shaking ever so.
“Pop? You ok Pop?” Igil reached over, before pulling his hand back sharply, “Gods, you’re cold, as ice!”
The voice that came out of the hood wasn’t Popple’s usual lilting voice, but something darker, rougher, “Sorry, Popples isn’t here anymore, but I do thank you for following his suggestion for where to hide, it made this a lot easier.”
S’largin caught the sound of chairs pushed back and steel being drawn from all the tables around them, as the barkeep grabbed his box and ducked away. He bunched his reptilian hands into fists, but by then it was too late, the trap was sprung and the cold cut of steel was the last thing they felt, ever again.
Ambush Thugs exist for one job, and one job only - to catch their targets unaware, strike first, and strike hard. You’ll find them all over the civilized world, and a few places outside it, they are the innocent bystanders who stab you out of nowhere, the pile of leaves that leaps up and surrounds you, or the bar patrons who were planted there hours ago. They server their masters by being unnoticed, and viciously deadly.
So on we roll with our Minion Masterclass, and whilst last week’s Snivelling Lackeys were a hive of activity and chaos, this week’s Ambush Thugs are the calm smile before the storm, the blade hidden up the sleeve of the friendly merchant.
The style of fighting this week is the overwhelming ambush, the crushing surprise attack. So the core of this monster is the boosted Stealth skill (+5!), and their Who, me? ability. These minions live and die by their ability to get the surprise condition on their enemies, no matter what.
I also added in the Hit and Run ability to not trap my ambushers into melee they certainly won’t survive - if the initial attack doesn’t fell the enemy, they need to step back and reassess. This this end, I’ve given them a little higher AC than the usual bandit, but kept the HP still down at 11.
In terms of running these folks, they need two things to be effective, numbers and backup.
The first is to bolster their first round of combat - they should be effectively hidden from all but the highest of perception rolls, they launch their attacks, using Hit and Run ability to dart away through all the PCs. You should be looking to bring all your players down to at least half HP here, or target the Thugs - taking down the healer or the wizard first.
The second is for what happens next. These boys aren’t going to last long in real combat, so they need someone to be softening the PC up for, likely some sort of Gang Boss, or a low-level arcanist. Remember the Minions always need a boss.
And that’s the Ambush Thugs, check back next week for The Pack…