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

RangerWickett said:

I love all the characters having their own goals and personal stories.

Click to expand...

Me too. It's one of the advantages of running all those buffer adventures back in the day. But also a sign of how much the players have invested in the campaign. They're never short of ideas if I say, "anyone got anything they want to do right now?"

I particularly enjoy the fact that this makes Matunaaga the exception when he chooses not to bother with personal goals or downtime activities. Except cleaning his gun and studying the Palimpsest. He vowed to support Korrigan and that's all he's there to do.

RangerWickett said:

Are you using the prestige classes for Uru and company.

Click to expand...

Well, we're using the Cypher system, so no. But the additional raft of powers we are introducing to slow down progession are drawn from or influenced by those paths, yes. Uru will pretty closely follow the Urban Empath (as my write-up suggested), while Rumdoom will gain one or two features of the Logos . Korrigan already has some features inspired by the Monument of War, but won't be taking it much further. There are no plans as yet to use any of the other paths, much as I enjoy them.

The players will hit the 6th (and highest) tier (with three foci each) by the end of adventure 9. Then we'll start using Cypher System Supers rules to mimic epic tier. Each of them will have a title of some sort that marks them out and lends them superhuman power: King of Risur, Fading One, Living Weapon, etc

Session 35, Part Two - The High Priest of Rumschatology

Trekhom was low and flat, and existed more underground than above it. Factories and a truly vast railyard dominated the aboveground landscape, surrounded by squat buildings and dotted with a few towers that rose into the smoggy air. Most people lived in tunnels, or in homes that extended two or three stories into the bedrock.

The unit had been there a few times before, and Rumdoom had lived here for three years, though Hildegaard never liked the place (hailing as she did from the Northern mountains). Locals didn’t care much about outsiders unless they were buying or building something. (Though elite police used borderline-evil magic such as mind control and pain-wracking necromancy to deal with lawbreakers. Criminals, in exchange, felt few compunctions about sucking out policemen’s souls or turning their enemies to stone and leaving their severed head next to a smashed pile of rock that had once been their body. Dwarven society still lived in the thousand-year shadow of the demonocracy.)

Rumdoom’s followers had hidden the Skull of Cheshimox in a secure area some distance from the port. When they arrived in port, they checked for memory events and discovered that there was nothing here for Uriel to learn. He stayed on board the ship. The others decided to escort Kasvarina to her memory events before travelling to pick up the Skull.

Her first event took her in search of the Obpeyeble Nipneka Mobicneten (Doomed Order of Thinkers), a nightly gathering of eladrin philosophers, led by Bhalu Varal, who was married to Kasvarina from 119 to 248 A.O.V. Today the shaggy and portly Bhalu spent his days sleeping and his evenings drinking and discussing philosophy and politics without ever being motivated to effect any changes in the real world. Following the Arc, the unit attended one such meeting and a memory-event triggered:

Kasvarina imperiously stalks into a room filled with pipe-smoking dwarves, where Bhalu lies passed out in the corner. She splashes him with water to wake him, then drags him outside to ask how being a drunken lout is contributing to the mission she sent him on. He was supposed to make allies in Trekhom and learn which philosopher parties might be a threat.

Bhalu says that she sent him to kill too many people, and that the occasional bedding down with her isn’t worth the blood he was spilling. Blood is something for the body, anyway, and he thinks it’s time for the eladrin to just die. He’s vowed to devote his life to his mind, and to punish his body with the greatest beer the dwarves have crafted.

She says she’s staying to clean him up. He’s too valuable. He shrugs, and challenges her to be more convincing than his friends inside.

The memory-event faded, and the modern Bhalu was flabbergasted (though he seemed quite pleased to have taken part in such an impressive display in front of all his cronies). He smirked and made an ingratiating comment about Kasvarina, but she ignored him.

Rumdoom engaged Bhalu in a serious conversation to establish how much use the man might be, and discovered him to be something of a fan of Rumdoom’s interpretation of the Heid Eschatol. Bhalu had been in Trekhom for a long time, had a lot of friends and had made many contacts. He offered to help them negotiate the city during their stay. He told Rumdoom that the Kamanov cult had grown increasingly confident and reckless of late – bold enough to show itself rather than lurking in the shadows. But word had it that Rumdoom’s sect had done a good job in rooting out the cultists and was now thought to be free from infiltration.

When Kasvarina announced that the arc was calling her elsewhere, Bhalu and some of his eladrin friends accompanied them. They took an underground train through the city and disembarked when Kasvarina felt the impulse had grown stronger. Down a disused tunnel they came to a lonely tower. Though abandoned, it was elaborately wrought and expertly warded. Kasvarina felt her memory event lay inside. When initial attempts to enter the tower failed, they began to talk of seeking help elsewhere, before someone reminded Rumdoom that he had once inhabited the body – and frequently shared the mind – of the late Kiov Hetman, expert in Drakren tower defences. Rumdoom tried to recall what he had learned, but it was too long ago and in too much detail – until he tried on the Arc of Reida, whereupon his ‘memories’ of this place came flooding back, and he was able to remember the passwords to gain access. (In fact, Kiov’s knowledge was so extensive it was tempting to wonder if he hadn’t set up these defences himself.)

Once inside, nothing happened until they climbed the tower, whereupon Kasvarina – now wearing the arc again – was assailed by something far more sinister than a memory event: a dark cloud of negative energy that might have consumed her mind had she not been so well-versed in abjuration. Nonetheless, she collapsed back into Leon’s arms before she regained her composure. (Bhalu was heard to mutter a disgruntled, “Huh!”)

The memory event was clouded in a magical darkness so powerful that it thwarted the magic of the Arc! Then Rumdoom remembered where he had seen the distinctive patterns around the door to the tower: on an engraving on the walls in Knutpara, where ancient dwarves had recorded the history of the ‘Kum Ruk Nazar’. The Stone of Not had the power to negate not just life but knowledge, and could be used to thwart even the most powerful divinations. It had been taken to a tower in Drakr, and the knowledge of how to bypass tower defences ‘thrown’ into it and forever lost, until it was stolen by the Deep Ones several centuries ago. (The spy Silas Fennac had seen it, and said that the aboleth used it to power the magic that hid their undersea lair from discovery.)

Rumdoom had secured an undertaking from the Deep Ones that he could access the Stone if ever he needed to, for whoever had power over the Stone could reveal its secrets. A plan began to formulate in Rumdoom’s mind, but first he needed to find his followers and secure the Skull of Cheshimox.

They took a short-cut to the hiding place, led by Bhalu. He and Rumdoom were getting along famously by now, and Bhalu said he felt some of his long-lost lust for life returning. He was glad to help a fellow eschatologist and would continue to help in any way he could even after the unit had left Trekhom.

Rumdoom’s followers were very glad to see him (and there was an enthusiastic welcome for Thurgid and Hildegaard too). They had lost several of their number repelling the Kamanov cultists and would be happy to be rid of the Skull. They were wholly devoted to Rumdoom, and were heartily glad that rumours of his death had once again proved premature, bearing out their absolute faith in him.

They set off for the docks in two mechanised vehicles: a larger steam-driven cart for the Skull, which Rumdoom himself accompanied along with his followers, while the unit crowded into or onto his clockwork carriage. Having easily and successfully repelled the inevitable ambush by the Komanov cultists, they were therefore less prepared for the second, more concerted one which came just after the convoy left the tunnels.

A bomb exploded under the steam cart, sufficient to destroy its front wheels and kill the driver (were it not for Rumdoom’s pronouncement which kept the driver alive); snipers opened fire from the windows and rooftops; crazed cultists threw themselves out of side-tunnels, led by a douty female warrior wielding an enormous mordenkrad; a dwarven wizard waved a rod and summoned a diamond-hard ice elemental to block their escape.

As usual, the battle went in the unit’s favour, but was notable for several events:

Fighting side by side on the rooftops, Leon took a bullet for Kasvarina which almost killed him. “What were you thinking of?” she snapped (but the gesture did not go unappreciated). Leon also used the curse of mouthless muttering to silence the wizard before he could summon another elemental.

Korrigan strode to the centre of the battlefield and called out, “Who dares to insult the High Priest of Rumschatology and his retinue?” Then he went toe-to-toe with the elemental to stop it from attacking the others.

Matunaaga used a newly-minted fire bullet to destroy the all-but-impenetrable ice elemental, which had proved able to withstand most other blows.

Kasvarina proved her worth, grabbing snipers telekinetically and dropping them off the roof.

Gupta took tiger form in battle for the first time, but could not control who she attacked. When the fight was over, and their foes were all dead, Korrigan was able to challenge her and fend off her savage attacks long enough for her to revert to human form. (She had eaten a dwarf, so she felt okay. Better than okay – exhilarated!)

After the fight, Kieran Sentacore found himself beset by competing reminders of individual valour while writing up his notes. (Or perhaps he made that bit up.)

At last the Skull of Cheshimox was brought to the harbour and loaded onto the Impossible.

The unit prepared to teleport back to Seobriga. Then Rumdoom announced that he and Uru would be staying behind. Everyone thought that this was something to do with the Icy End of the World Grenade the pair had been designing, but no: Rumdoom had decided to go in search of the Stone of Not once again, and Uru was going with him (as were a carefully chosen entourage of Rumschatologists). They would establish what had been hidden from Kasvarina in the Stone (and maybe, Rumdoom hoped, retrieve it – though stealing the prized possession from a coven of aboleth might not be as easy as all that…).

Session 36, Part One - The Man in the Stove-pipe Hat

Although the initial plan was to return to Flint, Uriel was concerned by Rumdoom’s absence. Who would save him from death during memory events without Rumdoom’s ability to counter it? Leon wondered if Uriel would actually die if his current form was ‘tougher’ than his prior incarnation (which, in the case of, say, the Hierophant, or Cardinal Tadeas, it clearly wasn’t). If the ‘killing blow’ was administered and Uriel ‘played dead’ would that cause the event to be fulfilled? Uriel wasn’t confident of his ability to lie still if he was being attacked, but Leon had already experimented with reshaping these events through his Dreaming powers, and thought he might be able to provide a convincing enough illusion.

It was decided that the best way to try this out was revisiting some of Uriel’s weaker incarnations – the two poor souls who were murdered by the Ob to prevent him becoming Malthusius once again. This had the added advantage of throwing pursuit off their scent: it would take a few days to cover all that ground, and they wouldn’t be expected back in Flint when they returned.

(As they prepared to leave Leon apologised to Kasvarina for underestimating her prowess in combat when he stepped in the path of a sniper’s bullet. She laughed the matter off and said it was very sweet of him.)

If Leon concentrated very hard, he found he could overcome the strange waves that were skewing long-range teleports. It was an exhausting thing to do, but his aim was true and the group arrived on the isthmus of Shale on the road where Leon left his friends when they first came in search of Malthusius.

(Although Korrigan had stepped down from leadership of the unit back then – to spend time with his new-born son, and focus on his political career – the group were still following his orders to ‘find the blue guy’. Uru had planted Malthusius’ arm (severed in combat with Lya Jierre) in his garden and some days after his death it started twitching. They realised it was using the same sign language Malthusius had learned from Ottavia Sacerdote, and what it was communicating – first performing the role of the right hand, then the left, which needed to be pieced together like a code – were map co-ordinates that led to a village in Shale. (Leon left the group just as they approached the village as he was seeking a route into the Dreaming after most such crossings were closed in protest at Aodhan’s banishment of the colossus into the fey realm. Leon found his crossing, and had a strange encounter with a mysterious crone; but that is one digression too far.))

The inhabitants of this nameless backwater were not pleased to see outsiders again. Leon and Korrigan smoothed things over, but their patience wore thin when they saw the unfolding memory event: The villagers held a trial of the poor, bemused deva just days before the unit arrived. This trial was held at the behest of earlier visitors – a man in a stove-pipe hat and a strange, multi-coloured sprite or fairy – who told them this deva was responsible for the devastation in Flint, which even they had heard about. This stranger paid them in gold to conduct the trial. The deva was found guilty and sentenced to death by drowning, but the river was running low at this time of year, so he was drowned in a bucket. (Kasvarina helped with a ritual that enabled him to breathe and no illusion was necessary; but as there was nothing much to learn from this incarnation it wasn’t clear if he needed to die or not.)

Uriel played along and was very nice about the whole thing afterwards. The villagers were nonetheless shame-faced and fearful. Last time “the little black one” had placed a fey curse on all their homes before he departed. No one saw the point in trying to re-educate these people any further. They simply left, slightly depressed by the thought that it was people like this who they were fighting for.

From there they rode on phantom steeds to the central grasslands of Flint. This took two days of hard riding, even after Kasvarina cast a better version of the ritual than Leon’s and they wound up on flying steeds. While they camped, Gupta took the opportunity to roam and hunt in tiger form (with the group’s permission). She asked Uriel to provide a protective circle just in case, but Uriel said he had learned another trick from the Hierophant and could speak magical words that would soothe any savage beast. “And if that doesn’t work, I can always shoot you,” said Matunaaga. (He was joking, wasn’t he? They have a very dry sense of humour, the gith.)

When they arrived at the ranch where Uriel’s next incarnation was murdered they found that it had been rebuilt and was now inhabited by close relatives of the family who had been killed alongside him. Three years ago, the whole place had been razed by fire before the unit arrived, and the family and ‘Uriel’ slaughtered as they fled. Their relatives were persuaded to allow the memory event to take place (in pursuit of the culprits, of course) but they did not want to witness the slaughter and so departed, to return once it was done.

The event played out in two parts: First the man in the stove-pipe hat arrived in daylight and demanded that the family hand the deva over. The head of the household rudely rebuffed him and told him to return with a warrant, if his claims of legality were true. Later, against a dark background, they saw the ranch ablaze. As the householders stumbled coughing from within, they were shot down one by one, as was ‘Uriel’. This was painful and injurious, but after the event ended, Korrigan and Gupta were able to help him heal up and the event was not fatal.

They thought about his relentless assassin and realised that he was one of a group who Malthusius had once witnessed in a vision pieced together from the burned-out theatre where Andre von Recklinghausen was captured: the man in the stove-pipe hat and the colourful sprite had been there (along with Norm/Sylyx and a rakshasa). These two also matched the description of the individuals who had come to take Isobel Travers away from the Cloudwood, bearing tokens from Andre and promising to take her to Elfaivar…

Session 36, Part Two - Chatwood

Kasvarina felt the pull of the Arc to the North-East, which they guessed must mean Slate. They travelled there from the ‘bread-basket’ of Risur and arrived in a day-and-a-half. (It was best not to use RHC teleport circles as Leon was still wanted.)

Kasvarina was drawn to a private residence. It had been the home of a young eladrin woman named ‘Chatwood’, who now languished in an insane asylum, but the house was still maintained by one of her friends, Bosede. She recognised Kasvarina and allowed the memory event to unfold in her living room:

In the recent past, Kasvarina and Chatwood share tea, and Chatwood – who is only just an adult by eladrin standards – seems nervous around her elder. Kasvarina explains a mission for Chatwood: to ingratiate herself into Duchess Ethelyn’s circle of advisors and offer her skyseer visions as aid in the ongoing Fourth Yerasol War. The visions can all be accurate, and Chatwood should try to honestly help the war effort, with the exception of anything having to do with a place called Axis Island. When possible, Chatwood is to fake visions saying that the island is dangerous, and to let the Danorans take it and lose soldiers without a fight. Chatwood asks why, and Kasvarina won’t explain. So Chatwood refuses, saying that Risur is her home now, far more than Elfaivar was. Kasvarina seems to realize that her spy can no longer be trusted to be silent, but since there are so few eladrin women even now, she cannot kill her. The memory-event ends with Kasvarina casting power word blind and leaving, with Chatwood calling desperately after her.

Everyone was horrified, especially Kasvarina. She could not remember, in response to Korrigan’s questions, if her actions had been orders from above or self-motivated. Though she sought to remain in control, Leon saw tears limning her eyes. Bosede told them that Chatwood’s blindness had been diagnosed as ‘hysterical’. She had begun to talk to anyone who would listen about a conspiracy, and that had only reinforced her diagnosis. She took them to the Royal Slate Asylum for the Lamentably Unstable, where they were met and stonewalled by Doctor Mayhew Fisher. No amount of pressure or intimidation from Korrigan would convince him to allow them to see Chatwood without official documentation. Suddenly Uriel blurted out, “Obscurati?!?” having picked up this thought from Gupta (who had just recognised Fisher’s Ob ring, but planned to be more surreptitious). The doctor leapt to his feet but Korrigan punched him with his stone fist. The rest of the staff were more amenable after that, and they found, cured and released Chatwood, who despite her intense gratitude was unable to tell them more than they already knew. (Kasvarina avoided meeting Chatwood face to face; Leon found her outside and tried to comfort her.)

They took Fisher to jail, as they knew questioning him was useless.

Having already smoothed his path with sendings, Korrigan paid another visit to Duchess Ethelyn of Shale, under solitary ‘home arrest’, to bring her word about Sokana. Ethelyn was very grateful and confirmed that she had indeed been somehow drawn into their shared vision (in which she encouraged Sokana to help them). Ethelyn confirmed her opinion that Korrigan and his unit were now Risur’s best hope to thwart the dangers she had tried to oppose. Korrigan told her about Chatwood and Ethelyn was very sorry to hear what had happened to the poor girl. Korrigan wanted to know if anyone else had taken Chatwood’s role and offered Ethelyn tainted advice. Ethelyn dismissed this. She was well used to hearing criticisms of her handling of Yerasol IV and said that she had never wavered in her attempts to take Axis Island. (Korrigan remembered thinking differently at the time…) She also said that her actions against Aodhan (who was working to industrialise Risur and Flint, and planned to marry Lya Jierre) could not have been influenced by the Obscurati, as Aodhan was clearly working in their best interests – however unwittingly. Korrigan asked Ethelyn if she still had any influence over the fey and she shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re the only person I’ve spoken to in over a year.”

Gupta went to talk to Lauryn Cyneburg. Cyneburg was excited by the findings of a team of arcanists who had been investigating the temporal waves Gupta had hypothesised. They had confirmed the existence of such waves, but had yet to establish their cause. (“If their cause lies in the future, that’s hardly surprising,” said Cyneburg.) But that was not all: while experimenting on these waves one of the arcanists detected sound waves, which he recorded using cutting-edge technology. He replayed the sounds using a crystal-powered gramophone. It was a female voice singing lullabies in elven! At one point Gupta thought she heard a segment from the song of Vekesh. No one had any idea where (or when) these sounds were coming from, but they were working on it. Later, when Gupta rejoined the group, Matunaaga said, “I wonder if this has anything to do with the colossus…?”

Session 36, Part Three - Forced Faith, Reprise

Disguised by Kasvarina’s seeming, they took a leisurely train back to Flint. On the way, they received word from Mayor of the Nettles, Isaac Dan Der Grimnebulin – once a good friend of Malthusius – that their return to the Cauldron Hill facility had been approved.

There were a lot of competing memories for both Uriel and Kasvarina in Flint: they both felt themselves tugged and pulled many directions at once. Kieran Sentacore suggested they head for the Navras Opera House first – built several centuries ago by an old friend of Kasvarina’s. Just walking through the streets was enough for Uriel to experience brief flashbacks of Malthusius – and occasionally Malthus (whom Malthusius knew to be his own immediate forebear). Uriel had to concentrate just to keep on walking.

At the Opera House, Kasvarina experienced the following:

Kasvarina comes to visit her Navras during the opera house’s construction. They walk through the skeleton of the structure, still open to the sky. She wonders why he’s building this thing here, rather than back in their homeland, and Navras says that he doesn’t like what Elfaivar is turning into. She asks if he’d mind her staying until the building is complete so she can hear the first performance. Navras sneers and threatens to have security drag her out if he sees her.

Once again, Kasvarina was left crestfallen by what she had witnessed. Her last few memories had been the worst so far. Everyone seemed to have grown to hate her.

Somehow, the magic of the arc resonated strangely with the energies of the Opera House. It had long been held that performances at the Navras bestowed magical powers on certain items, and sure enough, the unit sensed a burgeoning of magical power from their own belongings – treasured possessions of each person present: Korrigan’s military-issue boots; Gupta’s book on William Miller, given to her by Captain Smith; a family token made by Matunaaga’s eldest son; Leon’s flute; The White King from Malthusius’ chess set (which Uru had passed on to Uriel). All and each glowed with power – as did an embroidered handkerchief belonging to Kasvarina and Kieran Sentacore’s quill pen.

They were in the midst of examining their properties when Uriel was drawn into an extended memory event, which played out all around them on the stage of the opera house. They did not have to move to witness the events, even though they took place throughout Flint: in the Governor’s Mansion; down on Parity Lake; on both the ‘hunch’ and the summit of Cauldron Hill. Through these memories, Uriel learned about Malthus – about how he had come to Flint one hundred years ago in the company of Amielle Latimer with a warning for King Lorcan, and how he had taken part in an all-out assault on the coven of the Red Contessa.

The rest of the unit stood by dumbfounded, except at one moment, where a memory troll rose up in their midst and mistakenly attacked them instead of the King and his retinue. (They swiftly dispatched it without disturbing the event.) They also learned that the Contessa had been defeated when Melissa Gahlot caught her in a golden net, and King Lorcan threw her off the mountain. She fell so far that her ritual bond with the king and his allies broke before she hit the ground!

[For full details of this event see sessions 22 & 23, the Bonds of Forced Faith.]

Oddly, Malthus did not die during this event, and Uriel now found himself drawn towards the Governor’s Island.

Roland Stanfield was in residence and was only too happy to do anything he could to help his old friend Malthusius. He was able to tell Uriel that Malthus had sacrificed himself to save Stanfield from assassination by Sister Languor – one of the witches who escaped the fight on the Hill. Stanfield then brought Malthus’ reincarnation back to Flint and reacquainted him with his old life. But Malthus did not feel like Malthus any more – as most of his early life had been spent elsewhere – so he decided to change his name just a bit and took up a post at the new University.

Uriel thanked Stanfield and prepared for the worst as he re-enacted his death at the hands of Sister Languor. Stanfield played the part of himself, of course, while he and Malthus discussed the re-emergence of the threat on Cauldron Hill, about twenty years after the events of the Bonds of Forced Faith. Advising them was none other Sevitar Anrathi whom the unit knew as a member of Unit B – then a shadow of his former self, who now stood warning the Governor of a necromancer named Cedric San who had taken up residence on the Hill. (The unit knew that Sevitar had disappeared while pursuing this necromancer into the Bleak Gate, only to reappear eighty years later.) While they talked, an angular female form detached itself from the shadows and lunged at Stanfield. Malthus cried out a warning and interposed himself. A poisoned blade hit home, and it was all Korrigan and company could do to save Uriel from the wound. (Although, thankfully, when the event ended, the poison vanished too.) Uriel had not died, and yet he was able to remember skills and abilities that Malthus had possessed – most of which Malthusius had accessed too.

While he had Stanfield in front of him, Korrigan took him to task. During their last fleeting visit to Flint, Nevard Sechim had told Korrigan that promises made to the Clockwork Count had not been met. In return for the count’s help in developing the schematics left behind by Tinker Oddcog, Delft and Korrigan had – with royal approval – promised to better the lives of the forgotten folk of the under-city of Flint. But this had not happened, and according to Sechim, the only reason the Count had not complained was that he did not think the responsibility was Korrigan’s. If something was not done, he would simply relinquish his vow to work with the RHC (and possibly his pledge of loyalty to the king). It turned out that the funds to enable this improvement program were intended to flow from the office of the Governor, and had dried up shortly after they began. Now Stanfield flannelled and squirmed like a true politician – all too well aware that Korrigan had once posed as his political rival (shortly before disappearing entirely for three years) and had little time for his ruthless exploitation of the common folk. Stanfield tried to argue that the under-folk were hard to reach – that improving their lot created problems for the industrialists who would find it even harder to justify the living conditions of their own workers – and that Risur couldn’t afford to lose the arms race now that war with Danor loomed ever closer. But Korrigan reminded Stanfield of the huge strides they had made with the Clockwork Count’s help, strides that would mean just as much if not more in military terms, and in the end Stanfield yielded to his arguments. The funds would be released and the Count would be appeased.

During this session, the players reminded me of a bit of research they wanted Ken Don to perform on their behalf, but it had slipped my mind: they wanted him to find out any secret or hidden information about William Miller. They are close to guessing his true identity at this point so I thought I might hint that Miller had adopted a nickname during his time as a healer in the war. Is there any other juicy info I could reveal instead or as well as this? I want to reward their adoption of this NPC. They've also asked him to research nascent clergy philosophies that withered on the branch (taking a hint from one of the memory events that Nicodemus may have striven to direct clergy doctrine). I was thinking he may have sought to encourage them to remain warlike and aggressive. Any thoughts on either of these ideas?

Random Miller history facts:
1. While official version states that he was judged and convicted after trial in Alas Primos, the truth is that Clergy was too impatien (and perhaps afraid of the man), so they burned him in Pala after mock trial
2. You may not reveal the Nicodemus alias outright, but mention casually that Miller was a chain smoker.
3. No rituals were successful in summoning Miller's soul, but some have confirmed that it is in the other world (red herring/hint to the second Miller in Gyre)
4. (pure fanon) Miller's position on choosing your course of action with your eyes open instead of blindly following the stated beliefs and ideals was loosely based on much earlier heretical teaching by one Godr the Apostate, dragonborn zealot of Triegenis, who stated that there is a handful of people in each era, whose actions direct the course of history and who are and should be unfettered by laws of man and morale (a cross between Great man theory and meta-joke of PCs role in world's history).
5. I have this summary of Miller's teachings saved on my Google drive since forever, but I have forgotten the original author, it may have been you, actually.

Session 36, Part Four - Return to Cauldron Hill

When they first visited the Mayor’s Mansion, Isaac told them to come at back at dawn, so they did.

On their way back down, they were visited by Gale – still accompanied by her retinue of rajput – who told them she had been unable to find Isobel Travers. They reassured her that they would look into the matter, and had a feeling it might coincide with their current mission. Gale then departed as quickly as she came.

The next morning, the cheery Lieutenant Dale met them and – having enacted his cherry pie technique to ward off despair – accompanied them up the hill with a squadron of his specially-trained men. After several hours climbing they reached the huge breach, where Borne had smashed through to the surface. It was decided that Lt. Dale and his company would not come into the facility with the unit; more people attracted more spirits. Instead, they would wait on the surface for the unit to return. They lowered well-secured ropes and rappelled down into the gloom.

To reach the right part of the complex was not easy. Collapsed rubble and twisted metal barred their way in places, the dolorous chill of the Bleak Gate seeped through in wide swathes, and moaning spirits were drawn to them like moths to a flame. (If only Uru had been here, they might have been able to find their way through the service hatches.) It took just as long to penetrate the furthest recesses of the base as it had to climb the hill and they were physically and mentally exhausted by the time that Kasvarina began to pick up memories.

First they saw a montage of brief, incidental memories of Kasvarina touring with Leone Quital, watching the colossus being built, or her laying geas spells on the key workers there, or doling out punishment to workers who try to sneak out and return to the real world. She also spent a great deal of time with Alexander Grappa and the golem prototypes he built, training them and raising them so they would be trustworthy (and encouraging them to ignore Tinker who tried to teach them all kinds of nonsense). During one of these scenes Gupta was astonished when Kasvarina began to sing to the golems. This was the exact same voice she had heard just a few days ago on the gramophone in Slate! (Grappa could be seen on the fringes of the memory, recording Kasvarina’s lullaby on some new-fangled device.) She reported this to the others, who were equally astonished. (“Called it!” said Matunaaga.) Right now, though, they did not have time to ponder the ramifications and pressed on in search of other memories.

Kasvarina’s most important discovery here followed a brief memory in which she and Quital discussed Grappa’s evident disloyalty over a bottle of fine wine and some bromagio cheese. Quital maintained that Grappa was sowing doubts in the minds of his charges – particularly Colin. Kasvarina said she would speak with him. And so she did, in the company of his finely wrought bronze golem:

Grappa welcomes her to sit and at first begins to deny the accusations and exonerate himself before suddenly reaching out a hand and placing it on her face. He casts a powerful spell to lock away her memories and then apologises. “All people are is the sum of their lives. I’m giving you another chance to be a decent person. Perhaps someone will do the same for me one day.” An earthquake shakes the facility and the memory event ends.

Kasvarina blinked. “It seems I owe a lot to this Mindmaker,” she said.

Again, time and the elements were against them, so they pressed on – this time pursuing Uriel’s memories into the main colossus chamber. This enormous room had seen some of the most catastrophic damage following Borne’s escape and was choked with mountains of debris. They found a broad, empty space at its centre, and Malthusius’ deaths scene began to play out. (Malthusius had disappeared a day before the unit’s assault on the complex. Somehow he had ended up here, in the clutches of Leone Quital, who wrapped him in barbed wire and threatened to kill him if the unit did not surrender. Determined not to allow this, Malthusius caused himself to disintegrate, and cast his spirit far away to reincarnate in Shale.) Uriel was uncertain how this would affect him, and had asked them to interrupt the memory if he was unable to resist disintegration. And so the unit was watching him intently when a figure stepped quietly from the rubble behind them.

Matunaaga turned first, followed by the others.

“Please allow me to introduce myself…” said the man in the stove-pipe hat.

He reached up to doff it, and revealed his bright sprite companion hiding beneath. She unfurled her wings and irresistible hypnotic waves of colour and emotion washed towards them.

They were transfixed.

End of Session

Session 37, Part One - Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself…

Waves of euphoria and happiness washed over the unit, and they all gawped helplessly at the beautiful, rainbow-coloured sprite.

Only Matunaaga had been fast enough to raise his rifle before the interloper took off his hat and, though he too was transfixed, his readiness made him a target. The man replaced his stove-pipe hat, drew two pistols from his cloak and fired at Matunaaga until he dropped.

Then he fired at Gupta, Korrigan and Leon, skipping Kasvarina (and ignoring Uriel, who – in the form of Malthusius – had already begun to discorporate. Uriel found he could not control this and the others were in no position to help).

Kasvarina’s magical wards dispelled the sprite’s charm. Leon and Korrigan both shrugged it off. Leon averted his gaze, and Korrigan raised a wall of stone between them. The sprite simply flew above it and Gupta remained transfixed, but Leon kept his eyes averted, while Kasvarina was protected from further effects by her impressive array of arcane wards. Korrigan meanwhile, chose to stare right at the sprite and fend of the glamour through sheer force of will.

Kasvarina drew a wand and fired a lightning bolt at the sprite. Stunned, it folded its wings and dropped slowly, like a feather.

While the wall remained in place, Korrigan dashed to Matunaaga’s side and used his healing hands (long ago infused with hurtloam) to stop the mortally wounded gith from bleeding out.

The wall dropped and the man in the stove-pipe hat fired again. There seemed to be no limit to the number of bullets he could fire! Korrigan strode towards him and challenged him to a fair fight. The man answered with a smirk, and unloaded his pistol at Korrigan. Korrigan absorbed most of the damage and his filigree markings began to glow more brightly.

The sprite recovered before it hit the ground and unfurled its wings again. Her partner could now see that Korrigan could resist the powerful charm and his confidence faltered.

Behind them, Uriel discorporated fully. As he did so he called out, “Korrigan. Where we first met.”

Gupta fought free of the charm too and looked away. Unable to see what was going on, she drew Reason from her back and fired the rifle in the air. Anyone who attacked now would be struck by a magical bullet. “Can’t we all just talk?” she shouted.

“I’d love to,” said the gunman. “But I have urgent business elsewhere. Festoon, if you please.”

In response to his command, the sprite shifted her wings and they pulsed a different colour. At that, the pair of them vanished. (Leon detected a short range teleport, but was in no mood to give chase.)

Matunaaga was down, badly injured and Uriel had vanished too. Korrigan was fairly sure what the deva had meant: he had relearned Malthusius’ knack for controlling the site of his next reincarnation. He had spoken as Malthusius, whom Korrigan had first met in Pardwright University. Knowing this might give them a head-start on the Ob…

As for their present situation, it would be a difficult journey back through the complex, given the extent of Matunaaga’s wounds. They needed to teleport somewhere safe. Korrigan considered the Governor’s island, as none of them thought Uru’s garden would be a safe bet without Uru. But in the end they decided to risk RHC HQ, with Leon in disguise. Once there, they arranged for Matunaaga to receive medical care and set about getting access to Malthusius’ old rooms in Pardwright.

This pair of foes is based on the image from the front cover of The Investigation Begins. Their names are Festoon and Mehmood. The sprite Festoon autohits with her mesmeric aura during the first round of combat unless her foes are fast enough to look away. Mehmood has magical pistols that require no ammo and can fire multiple shots per round. Mehmood also has a magical watch that casts time stop once a day but he didn't get the chance to use it. They are Ob assassins who work for Governor Stanfield and seek to prevent Uriel from regaining Malthusius' memories, because he will then know Stanfield's secret.

Uriel's player knows Stanfield is a bad guy, of course. He had to watch helplessly while the others took him to Stanfield's mansion in pursuit of memory events during the last session. Even more amusing was the conversation at the end of this combat about where it was safe to teleport to. Uriel's player looked on in silent anguish as the Governor's mansion was mooted. Ho ho.

I was wondering what was up with those two. How many assassination attempts is this, now?

RangerWickett said:

I was wondering what was up with those two.

Click to expand...

They made an appearance before the reboot - present when Andrei Recklinghausen was taken by the Ob. (This event took place in Flint in my campaign and happened when Andrei followed Wolfgang to his meeting with the Ob, without realising Wolfgang had already fled the city.) Although the unit weren't there, Malthusius was able to view the kidnapping with his location loresight power.

Since they got away, they may have to reappear in adventure 9. (I was going to have them jump the unit again when Uriel reincarnated, but as you will see from Part Two, that didn't happen. I decided that Uriel's idea to forewarn Korrigan about the location was such a good one, it would allow them to get ahead of the Ob on this occasion.)

RangerWickett said:

How many assassination attempts is this, now?

Click to expand...

This one doesn't count as one of Han Jierre's attempts, as it was triggered by Uriel's reappearance in Flint. But if you include this one, I think it makes six, along with: Fog of War; the Gates of Rumar Terakir; Resal; Macdam and Seobriga harbour. That's what you get for Level 6 Prestige with the Obscurati!

We've been playing Diaspora for quite a long time now. Since September. By the time we're done it will have taken almost as many sessions as 6 & 7 combined. Not only has Uriel's quest for his memories added to the length, but I've taken the opportunity of globe-trotting to reacquaint the players with the world that they're fighting for, reintroducing NPCs they might have forgotten about and making the most of each location. Then the Trekhom stop was expanded by Rumdoom's eschatology subplot.

Although I promised myself that I would not focus subplots too much when we rebooted, this one has been impossible to ignore. I dealt with part of it narratively at the end of adventure #6 but that turned out to be unsatisfying and forgettable (show, don't tell...), so for the next couple of sessions we'll be running a full side-quest featuring Uru and Rumdoom. (I'll post a synopsis of this subplot as a pdf document for anyone who's interested in catching up so that the side-quest makes sense. Not for the faint-hearted, as its 9 pages long!)

Returning to Diaspora, I would advise any DM running this adventure to be on their toes. My players went to Cherage this week (see Session 37, Part Three when I eventually post it) and I really hadn't prepared for the full implications of this (low magic; enemy Empire). But that worked out nicely because the players were nervous, so it felt very much like they'd pulled a fast one when they extracted events from under the Danoran's noses.

Crissillyiri locations are problematic too: bringing an eladrin matriarch into the heart of the clergy nation feels like it should be dodgier than the text implies. (Again, Leon's ability to teleport at will should smoothe things over for my lot, but other parties may get into trouble if the DM runs the authorities reactions harshly.)

Also, the adventure can turn into a lot of exposition if you're not careful. I thought I would break it up with Uriel's memory events, but that just doubled the problem! Fortunately, my players are invested enough to enjoy it, or polite enough to pretend to. But I think I should have thought of more ways to disrupt the memory events and make the whole thing seem more fraught and time-sensitive.
[MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION] - Another minor 'problem' I have is that I quit playing the campaign after the drafts of these adventures came out, and didn't read the final adventures until recently. Does it make too much difference if Nicodemus plans to visit Odiem from the outset, as he does in the draft? I like the idea that he is always trying to cut the Gordian Knot with outlandish solutions, not just suing for peace, but as you made the changes, I thought I'd check there wasn't some implication I had missed. In my planned version, he needs Kasvarina to get past the clergy wards on the vault, and to take word of their success to eladrin leadership (from whom he has extracted a promise not to destroy Crisillyir when the clergy armies fall).