ZEITGEIST [SPOILERS] Expedition to the [REDACTED].

Shimrath · Sep 14, 2018

Chapter 5, Part 3: Into the Gate

Regarding the Expedition to the Bleak Gate, in the description of the three main entrances to facility, it says:

"Each of these also has a nearby U-shaped tunnel carved into the hillside, lined with rusted ring gates. These passageways, magically concealed, let Ob operatives step out of one of the front entrances, then immediately go through a short loop to transition four-fifths of the way into the real world. These gates have different sigils than the Stanfield Canal gates, and only have 4 gates, not enough to fully transition between the planes."

The purpose of these transition tunnels evades me. What is the intention?

Thanks,
Shimrath.

Andrew Moreton · Sep 14, 2018

It is I think how groups like the assassins at the RHC HQ in book 3 and the steelshapers group in Book 2 get out to cause trouble and possibly how some larger shipments of material reach the place.

Karma Kollapse · Sep 14, 2018

Rather than start a separate thread, I'm going to ask a related question: How do you imagine what the players see when they go through into the bleak gate?

I'm imagining it as dark and barren, but the complex on Cauldron Hill is very noticeable and easy to seek out. The entrances would be easy enough to find.

Though this also got me thinking about the dark creeper/stalker people... do these guys ever get explained? As in what their deal was and why they are helping the Obscurati?

RangerWickett · Sep 14, 2018

The Bleak Gate is supposed to be sort of like if the whole city was abandoned, and you're exploring it on a clouded night with almost no light. But yeah, the Cauldron Hill complex is lit up, and easy to spot.

I believe adventure three was where the 'dark creepers' first showed up, and if I'm remembering correctly that adventure was written for PF first, then converted to 4e. In PF, dark creepers were an enemy of the appropriate CR that were thematically appropriate for being 'shadow creatures.' My own view of the Bleak Gate was that it would not have any sort of 'communities' in it, just monsters - undead, the occasional insane fey that got stuck there. So in the 4e version, those changed to just, like, dudes who worked for Kell or the Obscurati. I wasn't comfortable enough at the time with Pathfinder to tweak the PF stats.

If I could do it over from scratch, I'd probably only have one or two 'dark creepers,' and have a scene or two of them doing something noteworthy, to give hints that they're native to the Bleak Gate and working with the Ob in exchange for something, but leave their general purpose and motivations unclear and spooky.

Karma Kollapse · Sep 15, 2018

RangerWickett said:
I believe adventure three was where the 'dark creepers' first showed up.

There's a few that show up in adventure #2 working with Cillian Creed + Leone Quital, too. It was an odd thread that I realised never got explained, at the time they just felt like another Bleak Gate Twin Peaks reference. Players haven't really mentioned them but I might have Grappa mention they are a native people as you say... either subdued or inspired to work with the Obscurati. Maybe they think of them as liberators who will take them and Borne into the Dreaming in hopes of a better life?

If the Bleak gate has a more abandoned city feel... maybe some sort of indication that it is mirroing Flint's construction? Maybe an abandoned building being built seemingly by no-one because it's real life mirror is being constructed at the same time?

Shimrath · Sep 18, 2018

I guess what i'm unsure of is how transitioning 4/5 of the way out of the Bleak Gate is useful? Perhaps if they need to evacuate the facility, someone inside has a way to open the escape route entirely?

What was the intention here?

Thanks,
Shimrath.

RangerWickett · Sep 18, 2018

It lets you stab the PCs but then fade back into the Bleak Gate afterward.

Shimrath · Sep 20, 2018

Another question:

If the Constables use the Wayfarer's Lantern to get into the Bleak Gate, finalizing the transition with a wand, then how do they get back to the world? Can you burn something in the Lantern? Or do you need a specific route out (like the canal route)?

RangerWickett · Sep 20, 2018

In this particular adventure, the colossus ripping up Cauldron Hill makes the two planes coterminous and you kinda just tumble back into the material plane. But yeah, normally you'd need some, like, oil that's native to your world. Nothing special.