Ran the first session for our B-Team last night.
To refresh everyone, I've decided to let them all make their own character for the B-Team. They are starting as 2nd level characters, and I'll run them through a few sessions now, before we start Always on Time, a few between that and Cauldron Born, and then they'll be using these characters during the B-Team scenes during Cauldron Born, until they meet up with Lorcan Kell (if that indeed happens, of course).
There are four members of the B-Team, with a fifth joining next week, after my wife decided she wanted to join these side adventures, but didn't necessarily want to commit to the larger storyline.
UNIT 16:
Gemma Liefsdottir -
female Changeling bard (this is my wife's character, thus she wasn't involved in this week's session, she has a fiddling grig accompanist/arcane familiar)
Gragg Stonesmith -
male dwarf runepriest, eschatologist (played by Gareth Carter's player, seems to be the de facto leader for this group as well)
Maggie Bythesea -
female human sorcerer (played by Reginald Battersea's player, Maggie looks up to the others as her adopted uncles)
Morgran -
male dwarf fighter/warden, spirit medium (played by Casimiro del Garra's player, Morgran loves being up in the middle of it all)
Papa Carl -
male human monk, docker (played by the late Viktor Bays's player, the middle aged pugilist Papa Carl runs a pizzeria and assisted Unit 42 with the battle at Axis Island)
For this side quest, I'm running a highly modified version of the
Shards of Selune adventure from Dungeon Magazine. I liked it, because it's a city-centric adventure (and I wanted the B-Team's first adventure to take place completely in Flint), and because it relies heavily on the themes from the Neverwinter sourcebook, which took some finagling, but it goes well with what I really like about Zeitgeist so far.
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Shortly after the battle at the RHC, new Assistant Chief Inspector Gareth Carter was tasked with assembling a new team to help Unit 42 share the load while they prepared for their mission abroad. After an extensive search, he arrived with a motley, but well-rounded crew.
One evening, after the group had been assembled, they gathered at Papa Carl's pizzeria for a drink, and to get to know one another. While they sat on the patio overlooking Parity Lake, three objects, that looked much like shooting stars, fell into the city.
The next morning, Carter called the unit into his office and introduced them to the Skyseer Lady Jasmine. She explained that the three stars were troubling to the skyseers, and she requested that they bring them in, so they could adequately study them, to determine their meaning. One, she said, landed in the swamp near the Battalion, one landed in Parity Lake, and one landed on one of the islands in the Ayers, near an old, abandoned watchtower. They could search for them in any order they wished.
After a brief discussion, the unit chose to go to Parity Lake first. They had been warned that the docker protests had gotten more and more intense, and the news that high ranking RHC officials were corrupt did not help matters. They were also warned to watch for Lorcan Kell's men, who had become more and more brazen in the previous weeks, as if they were unafraid of the law at all.
So, carefully, they headed into the district, keeping their ears open for news of this mysterious "star".
It was easy to learn information, the whole district seemed to be talking about it. Something had landed in the district, and almost immediately a brawl opened to see who would claim it. As they surreptitiously patrolled, they came across a cabbage vendor being shaken down by some of Kell's men - they claimed he owed them money for protection.
The constables were not about to stand by and let this happen, so Maggie stepped up and asked to buy some cabbages, hoping to break the tension up a bit. Instead, the thugs shoved her aside and continued their shake down. So, the rest of the group came over to admire the cabbages, and the crooks, eager for a fight anyway, decided to take their aggression out on these new interlopers. Before jumping in to battle, each took the time to change form, they were all wererats!
The fight was brutal and fought in close quarters. Maggie nearly dropped in the first round after being surrounded by two of the men, and only after Papa Carl knocked one prone was she able to scoot out and climb up a nearby statue to gain some distance from the diseased men. In anger, the thief slashed at the vendor and wounded him gravely.
However, the constables were victorious in the end, and compensated the vendor for the trouble they had caused by giving him the gold they found in the thugs pockets - nearly 300 gp! Thankful, the vendor told them he thought the shard fell near Heward Sechim's factory, close to where all the protests were going on, and the constables made their way.
When they arrived, Papa Carl was approached by and old friend of his - Thames Grimsley. They spoke for a minute about the protests and the recent events in the district, before getting to the matter at hand. Grimsley said he heard about everything, and that after the large brawl a halfling named Palas came out with the shard. Palas and his crew had been absorbed by Kell's guild recently, and the halfling reportedly saw this as his opportunity to get out from under his eye. They had a hideout under the docks near Pine Island.
On their way, the were approached by a pair of twin elf sisters, each carrying an extremely fancy magical sword. They introduced themselves as Sylvara and Ayala, and they were trying to earn their way into an enclave of the Unseen Court by upping their reputation. They asked to have a friendly duel with the party, and they would put their swords up as a wager for the favor.
After a brief discussion, the party agreed. The fight was quick, brutal, and friendly, with the two sides taunting each other, but afterward, when the sisters had been defeated and handed over their swords, the two sides walked away friendly.
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That's where we stopped for the day. It wasn't a lot, but we started a bit late. I'm trying to incorporate as much of the setting material as I can, and the players seemed to enjoy trying out the new characters. However, I'm already aware of this going too long, so hopefully I can keep the pace up and finish this side quest in just a week or two.