ZEITGEIST [ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.

Ajar said:

I must spread XP around before I can XP you again, but I love the idea of running stuff out of chronological order at the table. Now I'm thinking of ways to incorporate that into my games...

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Thanks. Here's one way I did it before, but this is pretty weird:

I had two parties adventuring in the same setting as friendly rivals whose paths crossed occasionally (on separate days of the week, with one player in both groups).

Group A had an encounter with two umber hulks, and almost suffered a TPK, fleeing after they lost two members.

I began the next session in media res with Group B fighting the same umber hulks, although they did not know how they got there. They won, and we played the rest of the session in flashback, when they then heard about the defeat of Group A (and the treasure to be found) in the umber hulks' lair. Knowing that they won the encounter there already they headed straight there, only to find the umber hulks dead and the treasure missing (courtesy of a third party of NPCs who dogged the steps of both groups).

Then they were hired to perform at a huge ball, full of influential nobles - to show off the prowess of the adventurers in the employ of their patron. They chose to go head-to-head against a pair illusory umber hulks - which was the encounter they won at the start of the session! (It also meant they demonstrated their ability to beat the umber hulks in front of Group A, who were also at the party. Heh heh heh...)

Session 52

• Their road blocked by Lord Peppick and Ashbark, the unit were forced to take a more circuitous route. Leon had to use the Fey Roads ritual under duress - harassed and pursued by death butterfly swarms.
• Perhaps it was for this reason that, when the group emerged at the end of a day's travel, Dantes had somehow disappeared.
• They waited for him, called and searched, but to no avail.
• The woods they passed through were very eerie. Rusty chain links and mummified body parts occasionally dropped from the canopy.
• A pair of exhibitionist pixies could be seen kissing, giggling and petting in the trees.
• The group heard whispered voices in the trees, and were attacked by Aribella, the Lady Clatterspin and her ettercap brethren.
• They slew the lady and chased off her minions, and Uru claimed her title, according to fey law.
• Some time later, the group came to another river crossing.
• Here, they were set upon by a Nixie and her sisters, accompanied by a brutish merrow.
• Lured into the water by the songs of the sisters, things became desperate for the group.
• Before any parley could be entered into, a shot from Matunaaga felled one of the sisters.
• This so enraged the eldest that she unleashed the full force of the river, causing the unit to fall back.
• The disembodied voice of the river pursued the group: "Justice will be sought at the court of the River King."
• Only now, both river crossings were blocked, and Leon was at a loss how to proceed, as the fey road required them to cross by one of those two points...

Nothing but fights this week, but difficult fights, only one of which the unit managed to win. It was my intention to demonstrate how hostile and dangerous the Dreaming can be. They have really had quite a hard time since they went there.

The next session will (hopefully) be dominated by roleplaying as the unit finally reach the court of the River King and seek audience with him.

I've tried to link the buffer adventure with the central threads of Zeitgeist by having the River King in failing health as a result of the pollution of the Rivers around Flint. The Vekeshi are working behind the scenes to dissuade him from backing an incursion into the 'real world', which would break all manner of treaties with Risur.

Uru is now a minor dignitary of the Unseen Court, according to esoteric fey law. Not sure how I'll have that play out. The regalia of the creeping fey is an item included in the module which could have far more resonance in Zeitgeist than in a regular campaign.

@RangerWickett - there's a dragon in the module. Could it have been hiding in the Dreaming all this while, keeping its scaly head down, or should I replace it with something else? Does its inclusion spoil anything major? (I have a cool way of connecting it to other buffer adventures, but a lack of dragons is an interesting element of the Zeitgeist world.)

We have one gimp dragon show up in adventure 6, given mechanical enhancement by the gearbuilder, Tinker Oddcog. And in epic tier the party will have an opportunity to find an older dragon ally to help fight the Ob. But it's not critical that there be absolutely no dragons. It's just believed that they're extinct. Any big ones went into hiding, and it's possible a few young ones survived or recently were hatched.

I intended to post an answer to your other question yesterday, but at the very least the text for adventure 5 will be available this month. We just finished layout on Admiral o' the High Seas this past week, but we'll be starting layout on #5 soon.

Oh, and Uru should be immune to divination now. Unseen Court, and all that.

RangerWickett said:

Oh, and Uru should be immune to divination now. Unseen Court, and all that.

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Uru's going to love you for that! (Assuming he ever finds out you suggested it...) He's a stealth specialist so immunity to divination will come in handy.

I thought a few hidden dragons might be interesting and this one is connected to an NPC the unit met in an earlier buffer adventure. (In fact, he is that NPC.)

It's a relief to hear that Admiral and Cauldron will soon see the light of day. I'm very much looking forward to reading them.

Session 53

Session 53

• At a loss as to how to proceed, the unit was relieved when their supposed guide, Dantes the satyr, showed up.
• He had become separated from them when their fey roads ritual failed, as the casting was rushed (harried by death butterflies).
• Dantes was accompanied by a hengeyokai hare named Sly Marbo. Marbo had come out to find them, and turned out to be both a Vekeshi Mystic contact and a member of the RHC, here in the Dreaming on a spy mission for both groups. (The unit would only learn that he was an RHC man later, but strangely, it would always seem as if he told them straight away...)
• Sly was concerned about the delays in their mission and couldn't understand why Leon hadn't sought out a previous mystic contact in the Birch Queen's fair. He was even more concerned when Leon said that he didn't know about this supposed contact, or who he was.
• The Vekeshi's problem was that the River King had recently become far too hostile towards Risur.
• Sly reported that the King was ailing - rumour had it that he had been poisoned by the pollution of the Stray River.
• If the River King continued to support Lord Flax's proposed incursion into Riverbend, it would break all manner of ancient treaties between the Unseen Court and Risur.
• The group brought Sly up to date on their adventures so far.
• Sly told them that the nixies they had encountered were sisters of the River King (which greatly worried Matunaaga, who had killed one of them).
• He also said that Lord Peppick was a wanted criminal known as 'the butterfly bandit' whose capture would earn the group kudos at court.
• So the unit retraced their steps and once again came face-to-face with Peppick and the deranged treant Ashbark.
• This time they were victorious, felling Ashbark and capturing Lord Peppick.
• They used the treant as a raft, floating down river to the splendid, white palace of the River King.
• There, though their victory over Peppick gained them entry to the outer court, Grumphollow the talking frog would not allow them beyond.
• While Korrigan and Leon set about negotiations, Uru took matters into his own hands.
• He stole across the river, climbed up the sheer walls of the palace, tiptoed past the guards and arrived at the inner court, where he frightened the lesser nobles and servants into admitting his 'retinue'.
• Together they went before the River King, Ulorian, who was slumped on his throne, drowning in his own heavy robes.
• A beautiful woman stood as adviser to the king, and was hostile to the party from the start.
• Other courtiers spoke for and against the group.
• Korrigan learned that his wife had made a bargain with the River King: for Korrigan's safe return from Yerasol IV, she had promised their first born son. The king and his adviser were both angry that she now sought to cheat them with her briar barrier.
• Little else was achieved before the King tired of the conversation and ordered the group to withdraw.
• Shortly afterwards, armed guards came and arrested Korrigan and Uru.

Session 54

A lot happened this session:

• Only Leon and Matunaaga remained, of the original unit.
• Dantes and Sly Marbo were on hand to help, and together they set about deciding what to do next, and how to free their friends.
• They learned that the River King’s beautiful advisor was none other than Jenny Greenteeth. They also discovered that she had been in the fey strike force that helped Duchess Ethelyn of Shale to recover Axis Island. A staunch opponent of Risuri technological advancement.
• They discovered that Bernard of Glenwade was renowned here and he might be able to gain access to the inner court once again. Unfortunately, the one person who could order the Birch Queen to free Bernard was the River King! Catch 22…
• Conquo had left the palace in the company of a kobold. The only kobolds in the Dreaming were servants of…
• Throughout their time here, the group had experienced the coming and going of information and memories. This was the fifth or sixth time they had learned of the same name, only to have it slip out of their grasp. This time, they made an effort to hold on to it:
• Somewhere in this region of the Dreaming lived a dragon named Tatzel who controlled the means to leave and return to Lanjyr.
• At a loss, the group decided to visit this Tatzel if they could, and Dantes was able to learn of his whereabouts.
• They feared travelling without a strong companion, and wished Rumdoom was with them. That night they all dreamed about their dwarven friend, and the next day, he was right there, ready to accompany them!
• On the way to see Tatzel, they spent a night just outside the Birch Queen’s fair. Their camp was visited by Ellesandra the Miller’s wife. She told them her sad tale – of how she had been punished for falling in love with a mortal by being charmed into love of the Miller of Riverbend. When Froderick began to skim extra profit from his deal with the River King (who gave him a magical millstone and powered his mill), Jenny intervened, ending Ellesandra’s charm. It was then that she and Froderick had argued, causing Froderick to forget his duties and break his deal more openly by neglecting to keep the millstone turning. And so Jenny Greenteeth had taken both the millstone and Ellesandra. Thus it was that Ellesandra was passed from Jenny to Ambertain to the Nain Rouge, and was still no longer welcome at court following her escape. She claimed that Jenny Greenteeth was jealous of her beauty, which was odd, because they looked almost identical!
• The party then visited Tatzel, a green dragon who revealed that he had met the group before in polymorphed form, as the Lizardman Minister who gave them the Jade Idol and once owned (and trained) Rahu Ketu, Leon’s pseudodragon pet.
• He immediately reclaimed the idol and demanded to know how it worked. Reluctantly, Leon handed it over.
• Tatzel also made them swear an oath that they would never reveal his existence to any non-fey, or anyone outside the Dreaming.
• Tatzel told them that Jenny Greenteeth was a servant of Avagdu (the same exarch of the Voice of Rot to whom Leon was bound). He warned Leon that it would be dangerous for him to tangle with her.
• He also told them that Conquo had been here, as had Conquo’s creator, Lavanya. The latter passed through the Dreaming many years ago searching for memories to buy. Conquo was supposed to bring the whole group, but misinterpreted the message. Tatzel had awakened ‘something of the spirit’ within Conquo and given him a clue as to where his mistress had gone (which he would not share with the party). He told them Conquo would need to find his mistress before the energy that now powered him (initially provided by the death of Krauss) was used up.
• Tatzel finally agreed to give up the location of an exit from the Dreaming in return for Rahu Ketu’s return. Leon reluctantly agreed.
• They could exit the Dreaming via the False Mill – a mirror image of the the Mill at Riverbend located some distance from the River King’s Court. This also happened to be the same place Lord Flax would launch his incursion ‘tomorrow’ (when the Birch Queen’s Fair ended).
• He also suggested that the party could lie to the Birch Queen and secure Bernard’s freedom.
• But the party chose a much more persuasive path: Leon, Matunaaga and Dantes conspired to create a moving tale of love and betrayal which could only end happily with the Birch Queen’s help. She acquiesced and released Bernard.
• The old man was in a very bad way, but the group were able to get him back to the palace, where he secured a second audience with the King.
• Bernard could see immediately that the King was not suffering from ‘pollution’, but from poison. He stepped forward and drew the affliction onto himself, collapsing.
• At once Jenny Greenteeth took on her true form as a hideous hag, and called four merrow guards from the watery palace walls.
• She drew Leon to her and, calling upon Avagdu her master, broke his warlock pact!
• Rumdoom took on all four merrow at once, while the rest of the group brought the hurt to Jenny.
• She would have been far too powerful for them, were it not for a vendetta bullet from Matunaaga. The very fact of being wounded was enough to cause her to withdraw and live to fight another day…

So poor Leon lost his pet pseudodragon, his artifact-level item, and his warlock pact in one session!

Session 55

Session 55

• With Ulorien the River King free from Jenny Greenteeth’s influence, and Korrigan and Uru freed from their watery cells, negotiations resumed.
• Ulorien hinted at a schism in the Unseen Court, but doubted he could free Korrigan from the debt owed to Jenny Greenteeth: The fey ‘debt-collector’ was in the habit of buying up debts, not just pursuing them, so the debt once owed to Ulorien was now owed to her and it was unlikely she would forgive it any time soon…
• The King did reward the group with a huge jar of hurtloam, which possessed great healing qualities if properly used. This gift was directed at Leon, who had no doubt suffered the most from the loss of his pact. Ulorien hoped that the hurtloam would even mend his terrible scars (suffered during the last Yerasol War). He also spoke of granting Leon an even greater pact than the one he had enjoyed with the swamp-thing Avagdu.
• But there was little time for talk: with Bernard released from the Birch Queen’s clutches, her Fair would end, and begin again with her search for a consort. ‘Tomorrow’ would finally arrive, and Lord Flax’s incursion into the mortal realm would begin at dawn.
• The River King needed time to prepare: his messages to Flax had not been heeded, and the hot-headed young half-fey would soon reach the False Mill. Ulorien requested that the unit race ahead and hold the crossing until his forces arrived.
• (That is not how the unit at first remembered things, they only remembered them as being just so when the reinforcements finally arrived. For the time being, they set off on their own, with only Sly Marbo, Dantes and Redcoat the Talking Bear to help them, determined to prevent Lord Flax from breaking the treaty with Risur.)
• At the False Mill, they found Flax and his vanguard of elven archers and night elf lurkers. They dispatched them and seized the mill, driving Flax away.
• The lordling soon returned with his full force – a horde of minor fey, merrow and ogres, with Ambertain the Black and the Green Knight too.
• Things went badly for the unit. Leon’s call to end the battle on behalf of the king fell on deaf ears and the mill was surrounded and began to smoulder as unit fell back under the might of merrow blows and the insidious spells of Ambertain.

Session 56

Session 55

• “Is it raining?” said Uru. An arc of water had risen out of the river and put out the fires, and Ulorien’s forces arrived in the nick of time and swept Lord Flax’s before them.
  
• Matunaaga made a stunning leap across the battlefield and felled the half-fey before he could flee.
• Ellessandra arrived and claimed that the creature before them was not her son at all, but some kind of fey changeling.
• Leon departed – one minute he was there, the next, not. But it did not seem strange.
• Trouble was, they had spent far too long here. Weeks had gone by, in search of help for Korrigan’s wife. Just as they despaired of arriving in time to prepare for their planned spy mission, they remembered Gale’s strange wooden compass. At last they discovered a use for the device: to guide them in time, not space.
• They wound it as tightly as they could.
• Then they touched the False Millstone and arrived in Riverbend: Korrigan, Uru, Matunaaga and Leon, with Bernard of Glenwade and Sly Marbo, who had decided to leave the court of the River King behind. (Leon was not the only mystic in the employ of the RHC, though Marbo’s affiliation to the group seemed to be tentative at best.)
• Rumdoom was no longer with them, having existed only as a figment of the Dreaming. (But the real Rumdoom was already on his way back to Flint.)
• They headed to meet with Kolya the Reeve, fearing the worst for the Miller. When they arrived they were surprised on two counts: first, Malthusius was waiting for them (having been told of their arrival in a vision); second, it was mere hours after their departure!
• A letter from Ellesandra exonerated the miller, who gratefully extended a blessing upon the party.
• They then made a beeline for Flint.
• Korrigan used the ritual of the Birch Queen to pass through the briars, taking Malthusius with him. Within, he found Elizabeth in repose, barely seeming to breathe. Malthusius counselled against taking her from this place until Jenny Greenteeth could be dealt with. Korrigan needed to gain a greater influence within Risur if he could ever hope to influence their dealings with the Unseen Court!
• For now, he dismissed his men, sending them off to be debriefed by Delft while he attempted to recover from the ordeal and put his affairs in order (not the least of which was dealing with Elizabeth’s overbearing father).
• Korrigan was the first, but not the last, of the group to receive legal papers from one Quentin Augst – Lorcan Kell’s attorney – warning them off any further harassment (and implicating them in a recent assassination attempt).
• Uru returned to the Nettles and resumed work on his deep, dark garden. He set about building some little clockwork gardeners.
• Matunaaga retired to meditate and seek the guidance of his ancestors. He believed now more than ever that his role was to provide the most effective support he could to the Kings of Risur. His meditations encouraged him to embrace the old and the new with renewed vigour. From now on he would combine mankind’s very latest weapon, with its most ancient…
• Malthusius paid a visit to a representative of the Family but was given short shrift when he suggested they work together to bring down Lorcan Kell. Clearly, he needed to find some means to convince them…
• Sly Marbo headed for Bosum Strand and was loudly and cheerfully embraced by his old comrades, met for the first time with union leader Thames Grimsley, and dusted off his trusty accordion (an instrument which the higher fey had, for some reason, forbidden him to play). He also visited Stover Delft and requested new marching orders. Delft suggested he join the unit – if he wasn’t unwilling to return to Danor…
• Later that same week, Korrigan answered a knock at his front door to find Rumdoom standing there. The two of them embraced and then Rumdoom told his story – of how he had frozen the kraken in an icy block and then passed out, waking up on the shore of Ber, divested of his armour and weapons.
• Rumdoom seemed very different. He refused a drink, for one thing; for another, he had an evangelical gleam in his eye, and insisted on being called by his real name, Kagan…
• Rumdoom/Kagan did not want to go back to his room above a pub. Instead, he went to Hewerd Sechim and secured temporary lodging above his factory, where Nilasa once slept.
• Korrigan resumed his duties as Chief Inspector some few days later.
• Meanwhile, the unit – now joined by spymaster Marbo – prepared to infiltrate the Avery Coast railway and find out more about the Obscurati…

Finally, the buffer adventure in the Dreaming is at an end, and not before time.



We're taking a wee break from Zeitgeist to let the adventure path do some catching up with us (and playtest Monte Cook's Numenera). Normal service will hopefully be resumed in the New Year.

Session 57

Okay, I thought we were going to take a break from Zeitgiest, having run out of buffer adventures, and determined not to start adventure #4 until #5 was released - mainly because #4 is low on combat, high on exploration and interaction and my group busts through the latter like nobody's business. So I thought we would try a bit of playtesting. But that wasn't scratching our Zeitgeist itch.

So we decided to devote our last two sessions before the Xmas/New Year break to the opening Act of Always on Time.

This is what happened during the 'planning montage':

This week, the unit began preparations for their mission in Danor. Over the next seven weeks they endeavoured to throw the Obscurati off their scent; develop secret identities; anticipate problems they might encounter on the spy mission and make appropriate contingency plans.

My group loved this stuff. One of my players said it was his favourite session ever.

The session began with a debriefing in Stover Delft's office, in which Delft explained the limits of their mission, encouraged them to think about unexplored leads (whereupon they remembered the bronze golem) and explained why they could not take their suspicions any higher and get more powerful help. (Fear that whoever they contacted might be corrupted/compromised.)

They aced their secrecy checks (which is a shame, cos one of the players is feeding information to Governor Stanfield...), successfully developed two layers of secret identities and prepared for a wide number of contingencies:

• Sly Marbo set off for Danor ahead of the rest of the group and worked to get a job on board the Avery Coast rail line.
• His success in this mission led to the accrual of two '20-20 hindsight tokens'. (The player was absent.)
• The group have arranged for a relief package of additional supplies to be waiting for them in Trekhom, along with their support ship.
• They took the very intelligent precaution of comissioning both the Khalundurrin and the Roscommon. The former would take them to Beaumont and then return to Flint, while the latter would be waiting in Beaumont and follow them along the coast. The captain of each ship would only receive their final orders once they had sailed.
• They developed the secret identities of a former Yersaol vet, come wealthy landowner, now touring the Avery Coast with his son, bodyguard, Danoran guide, manservant and war buddy.
• With time to spare they developed a second layer of identities, should their initiial disguises come into question - another genius move IMHO. If compromised, they would then 'confess' to being Danoran secret police and produce authentic documentation - complemeting the suspicious party on their acumen and requesting their complicity and assistance...
• They managed to obtain special passes that would enable them to use teleportation circles along the Avery Coast rail line. (Though this would still incur a cost, they would not require any additional documents or proof of purpose, as Danoran secret police.)
• They arranged for a huge reinforced but empty 10'x10' crate to be loaded on to the train, complete with a secret hatch. (To serve as a makeshift prison, interrogation chamber or hidey-hole. Who knows what they will end up using this for...)

Meanwhile, each member of the unit experienced the following developments in their personal lives:

Malthusius

1. Contacted by Dozy Mendici on behalf of Cippiano. Recent events (namely the failed strike on Kell) had left the Family feeling exposed. Reprisals had already occured. Further cooperation with the unit on the subject of their 'mutual friend' would only be possible if the RHC was proven to be serious about tackling him.
2. Isaac dan der Grimnebulin was installed as Mayor of the Nettles on a provisional basis. He managed to gain access to Macbannin's lab, and raised the question of where the excess Witchoil disappeared to.

Uru

1. Became interested in working on the shattered Bronze golem Carlao's unit had found. Liaised with the Royal Engineer, Justin Rollins, who was somewhat guarded and too methodical for Uru's liking. Not much progress made here. (Yet...)
2. Visited by local Nettles urchins interested in playing in his garden: twin sprites, a hedgehog hengeyokai and a young lad with motorized caterpillar wheels for feet. (Uru has planted a garden with plants from the border of the Dreaming and the Bleak Gate - where his people the deep faen come from. The spores enable the spirits of dead children to manifest and play in safety.)

Leon

1. Returned from the Dreaming a changed tiefling, with a new fey pact and a cemented affiliation with the Vekeshi. (He now has a dual theme, having begun the campaign as a Martial Scientist.)
2. Used diamond dust to empower the hurtloam given to Korrigan by the River King. This was used to heal the terrible scars he had borne on his hands and face for seven years. (+1 to CHA!!)
3. Lily (his scarred tiefling liver) was disturbed and bereft by this change.

Korrigan

1. Having disbanded Carlao's unit at the end of adventure #3 (with only Dima left in Flint), Korrigan was charged with putting together a Team B to look after matters in flint while he and the 'A-team' were away. (Enabling us to run some low-level buffer adventures ahead of Cauldron Born.)
2. Bernard and other followers of Nevard Sechim volunteered to watch over his wife's sanctuary in Korrigan's absence.
3. Healing Leon with hurtloam led to the Marshal developing strange, eerily glowing lines on his face and hands whenever he adopted his Urim manifestation. They appeared to grant him ongoing healing powers. (Mark of healing feat and healer's hide. Korrigan's skin is his armour.)

Rumdoom

1. Rumdoom began the slow process of having a mighty kraken tattooed on his torso and arms.
2. Heward Sechim had been impressed by Rumdoom's newfound zeal for eschatology and his rejection of booze and excess. He also learned that that Black Star Mining were working in tandem with Pemberton Industries (for whom Heward had a profound distaste) and hoped that Rumdoom might be able to thwart their ambitions. To that end, he provided funds to establish a meeting house.
3. Hildegaard and her father, Harn, rallied supporters for Rumdoom's first address. At first it did not go well, but when Rumdoom spoke from the heart (instead of trying to sound learned) it won his audience over. Only Thered and Thangir were unimpressed and accused him and his vision of being 'soft'. (These guys, Rumdoom's own contacts, will join the extremist eschatologists in adventure #5.)
4. Just before the unit set off, Hildegaard and Harn presented Rumdoom with a fine suit of armor, a brand new shield and a craghammer, all emblazoned with eschatological runes. (These will tie in to his multiclass runepriest feat at level 10.)

Matunaaga

1. Matunaaga continued to develop his fighting style, utilizing fists and firearms. (He is now a hybrid ranger/monk - heavily houseruled to allow this cool concept to actually work.)
2. He left Flint to visit his family - Ayesha and his six children. She confirmed her belief that the path he now trod was the right one. Her skyseer visions confirmed this. (Matunaaga, as a maustin caji, is actually an alien - a reskinned githzerai. Though he looks human, he is not. The children are not really his, but adopted by him and Ayesha.)

Sly Marbo

1. Was introduced by his Docker friends to works of the Grumbler.
2. Headed for Danor six weeks ahead of the others.

Sly's character has developed very nicely. Based on a cross between Stephen Rea and Pete Postlethwaite, he is a rough Docker who plays the accordian and sings rebellion songs. His player is great at this type of stuff. Keeps the rest of the group laughing.

Next week - the Battle of Colmarr's Folly!