| Title | The Stack |
|---|---|
| Age | 5 years |
| Leadership | Bubba Bufo |
| Location | Canal District, Kalashport |
| Status | Active |
Overview
The Stack is a thieves' guild operating out of the Velvet Leaf Spa in the Kalashport Canal District. It is run by a grung businessman named Bubba Bufo, and its members are all "monstrous" species such as goblins and kobolds who would be outcasts in other parts of the city. For five years it has organized small-scale heists around the city to support the poor community of East River. It is an antagonist faction in the Faction Campaign.
Operations and Goals
The goal of The Stack is to bring in money to support the neighborhood of East River in the eastern part of the Canal District. Bubba Bufo is a popular community figure in East River, appearing publicly as a chartiable businessman and local policymaker in the Canal Authority. Bufo understands however, that the weak Canal Authority cannot solve the region's problems, especially when the Church of the Dragon takes a sizable amount of the Authority's budget. Bufo takes young people off the streets and employs them in his spa, which of course is the cover operation for the thieves' guild.
Allies and Enemies
Through its operations, The Stack has made enemies with the much more powerful Curds Mafia, though the Curds have not been able to pinpoint blame on Bufo and The Stack for the burglaries thanks to their greater focus on the subway system. The Stack targeted Downtown in a large firebomb attack in Chapter 4 of the Faction Campaign to distract the Curds and allow the thieves to steal Manchego's map of the subway system. Fet recently made an agreement with Bubba Bufo that he would leave Downtown alone if Fet helps rebuild the Canal District, ending the animosity between the factions.
Bubba Bufo specifically has a dislike for the Church of the Dragon and Clarinet, though this is more of a political and personal grudge rather than a faction matter. Bufo thinks the church is irresponsible with its large budget it recieves from the Canal Authority, which he thinks would be much better utilized invested into local businesses. The party managed to turn the church around somewhat, so Bufo has gained a begrudging acceptance of the organization.
The Stack had a brief alliance with The Cloud, beginning when the secret society contracted the thieves guild to find the green dragon scale in exchange for a large sum of money to go toward revitalizing East River. The party convinced Bufo The Cloud was dangerous, however, so he abandoned his side of the agreement.
History
For a long time, the residents of the Canal District, especially grungs, goblins, and kobolds, faced discrimination from other parts of the city. The Canal District branch of the Kalashport Police Department was notorious for enforcing laws arbitrarily and making arrests without ample evidence, so about five years before the events of the Faction Campaign, local businessman Bubba Bufo had had enough. He decided that if his community was going to get punished for crimes, they may as well actually do crimes in the process and maybe even raise some money to help East River. Thus began the thieves guild.
The Stack since then conducted small scale heists mostly in Downtown Kalashport. They remained under the radar thanks to their small numbers and Bufo's talents for deception and discretion. The Stack remained pretty much unchanged after FerrCO's collapse, as the event only minimally affected the Canal District. Though the Canal District Police branch fled to Midtown, Bufo still kept his spa cover operation post-collapse to protect his reputation. After the collapse, former FerrCO tax attorney Icy Wendy fled Downtown and joined The Stack, becoming their most skilled thief.
The Cloud contacted The Stack in Chapter 2 of the Faction Campaign to hire them to find the green dragon scale before Manchego's Curds could. In exchange, the Cloud promised to give Bufo a large amount of money to go toward revitalizing East River. The Stack planned to take Manchego's map of the subway by trapping him in Highland Heights and staging at attack on Downtown to distract the Curds. Icy Wendy contacted her former business partner Abigial Hailbut to organize the Heights meeting, and once Manchego was stuck in the Heights, they orchestrated the attack and stole the map with ease.
With the map, The Stack immediately went underground to find the green scale. They made it almost all the way to the Empire Drake's chamber before they got attacked by earth elementals, significantly weakening their forces. The party, who had tracked the thieves in the tunnels, found an injured Bubba Bufo in the tunnels. Icy Wendy and Bufo's assassins attacked the party, but they counter-attacked and defeated all of them. The party spared the thieves convinced Bufo to abandon his agreement with the Cloud.
Known Members
- Bubba Bufo: leader
- Icy Wendy: member
- Tess Mystique: not a member, but a fellow thief and friend of Bubba Bufo
Trivia
- The Stack is named after the image of several kobolds stacked together in a trench coat.
- The Stack is the only joinable faction in the campaign that no party members aligned with.
- Bubba Bufo and Icy Wendy were among the first NPCs designed for the Faction Campaign. Bufo was later refined to be a parallel to Fet.
- Icy Wendy attributes her thievery skills to her previous career as a corporate tax attorney. White collar crime skills are surprisingly transferrable!