Keys from the Golden Vault

Creating a Heist Crew

This book's adventures require the characters to practice teamwork. Encourage your players to think of their characters as longtime associates or perhaps relatives so they feel tight-knit from the start.

Similarly, ask your players to consider creating characters suited to undertaking heists. Combat prowess is less important when sneaking through a guarded complex, for example, whereas stealth, skill with locks, social skills, clever problem-solving, and versatile character abilities will shine.

Well-outfitted characters are also more likely to succeed at these adventures. Equipment such as thieves' tools, rope, and a grappling hook might mean the difference between taking a shortcut to the objective and getting caught.

Characters can accomplish these adventures' missions in multiple ways. As the Dungeon Master, reward creative thinking!

A Campaign of Heists

You can combine the adventures in this book to form a campaign. Each adventure would be an episode in the campaign, with you filling in the details of the characters' stories between jobs.

If you go this route, encourage the players to create a crack team and a base of operations, a supporting cast of allies, and other hallmarks of a heist crew. Have your group decide on these details before play begins so the adventures progress seamlessly.

To ensure the characters are always prepared for their next heist, make sure their level matches the heist's level, as shown in the Heist Adventures table. For example, the characters should be 2nd level before undertaking "The Stygian Gambit."

Keys from the Golden Vault

If the characters become Golden Vault operatives, they receive an ornate, key-operated music box from their handler. Each adventure in this book includes a "Using the Golden Vault" section, in which the Golden Vault dispatches a golden key to the group, usually via a hired courier. When the golden key is inserted into the characters' music box and turned, the box pops open and plays a message that assigns them a heist, provides basic details, and sets them on the right path. After the message plays, the box closes and the key vanishes.

Heroes in the Shadows

Secrecy is paramount for the Golden Vault. To protect the organization, the characters' handler never provides more information than is absolutely necessary. Similarly, Golden Vault operatives are aware of only a handful of their fellow members. This compartmentalization ensures no one individual knows enough to jeopardize the organization at large.

Should operatives be caught breaking the law while serving the Golden Vault, the organization does its best to protect them. It may pull strings to ensure members aren't incarcerated—or worse—depending on the organization's resources in the area.

Meera Raheer

[image: Meera Raheer]

Meera Raheer (lawful good, human commoner) is a Golden Vault handler you can assign to oversee your players' heist crew.

When Meera was young, her kindhearted and upstanding mothers served as city clerks. But when they began investigating financial irregularities, the unscrupulous mayor framed them for embezzlement to cover his own corruption. The only evidence of the Raheers' innocence was a packet of letters between the mayor and his conspirators. The letters were locked in the mayor's office.

Luckily for the Raheers, a crew of Golden Vault operatives infiltrated city hall, retrieved the letters, and revealed the mayor's crimes. The Raheers kept fighting against government corruption, and Meera has followed in her parents' footsteps, continuing their anti-corruption work by becoming a city's clerk and a member of the Golden Vault.

Meera lives and breathes city protocols, procedures, and statutes. She also understands that sometimes doing the right thing means operating outside the law.

The Moving MacGuffin

Many of this book's heists involve procuring a MacGuffin. Part of preparing for these heists is determining where the MacGuffin in question is located.

If the characters are having too easy of a time finding the MacGuffin, consider shifting its location to another place that makes sense. Or consider revealing that the MacGuffin is a fake, and the real prize is still nearby. The characters should still be able to determine where it's really located.

For example, in "The Murkmire Malevolence," perhaps the MacGuffin is no longer in the Gemstone Wing and is being stored in the museum's attic overnight. The characters could learn this detail by reading notes they discover in the curator's office or by questioning one of the museum guards.

If you use the moving MacGuffin complication, be careful of moving the MacGuffin more than once. Having trouble locating the object of the heist could unduly frustrate your players.

Rival Crew

A rival crew vying for the same goal can increase the pressure on the characters. Regardless of your players' goal, once another crew appears, the adventure becomes a race to accomplish the objective first.

You can add a rival crew to an adventure at any time. When you do, make it clear to the characters that they have competition. The characters might see evidence of their rivals, such as an alarm that has already been disabled or an incapacitated guard. At some point, the characters might even catch their rivals trying to steal the adventure's MacGuffin from right under their noses!

The rival crew could include some or all of the following members:

Arlo Kettletoe (neutral halfling) is abrupt and direct with their compatriots. Arlo loves puns and wordplay.

Enna "The Silence" Galakiir (neutral elf) is an intimidating, stealthy woman who rarely speaks; when she does, her voice is a quiet hiss.

Gregir Fendelsohn (lawful neutral human) is loyal and passionate. He insists on the crew getting paid no matter what.

Sabrina "Kill More" Kilgore (chaotic neutral human) is a brash, violent woman who loves thrills and sweets.

Torgja Stonecrusher (chaotic neutral dwarf) has a jovial, happy-go-lucky nature that belies her ruthlessness.

Tosh Starling (neutral orc) is loquacious but always focused on his objective. He takes pride in his meticulously groomed appearance.

If a fight breaks out between the characters and a rival crew, use stat blocks for the rivals that are appropriate for the adventure's level, as indicated in the Rival Crew Statistics table. The stat blocks can be found in the Monster Manual.

[image: Careful planning is key to pulling off a dangerous heist]