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

gideonpepys said:

I should have been more detailed: Cardiff attracted their attention all right; they followed him in Orithea but gave up after that. Then, during the Screaming Malice encounter his actions impressed them (in fact one player decided he was their 'new favourite NPC') and they simply wrote him off their suspect list. So they know who he is and would remember enough to register any fallout. I just liked the idea of a repercussion for not doing something - not a punishment, just a consequence. But okay, I guess I'll let this one go.

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Cardiff played exactly that way at my game. The group made an attempt with him on Orithea, one of my players managed to have dinner with Cardiff at the super-exclusive restaurant and it seemed just another business man. After the malice encounter they labelled Cardiff as a "good guy", they even had a chance to open the case with the documents but didn't bother. At Trekhorm one player followed him to the warehouse watched the spy operation but since those where Danor plans going onto Drakar hands it was just OK for them.

Cardiff

RangerWickett said:

Now I'm tempted to have Cardiff reappear in #7 or #8. Not sure what we'd do with him.

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You could have one or two sidebars throughout the campaign, dropping in optional cameos for characters who may/may not have survived. He could be living it up with his ill-gotten gains in some exotic location and offer some insight into Danoran military secrets (which might connect to the Ob). It would provide another opportunity to check the ethics of the team, especially if they know he betrayed Risur:

After Always, during debriefing, I plan to have Delft chew them out: "You saw a man acting suspiciously with a briefcase and you didn't even bother to check him out? Well, he turned out to be one of ours, who's gone rogue and sold Danoran secrets to the Drakrens. Nice going, guys. We should either have those secrets ourselves, or be in position to hand them back to the Danorans." His point being that if the unit entirely missed Cardiff, fair enough; but spotting him and deciding not to check him out for no real reason other than that they kind of liked the cut of his jib (and before they had identified a genuine Ob target) - there's no excuse for that, is there?

I'm thinking Cardiff's activities will be an embarrassing factor during the peace negotiations in Cauldron Born: The Danorans know a Risuri spy stole their secrets and he just so happened to be on the same train as an RHC unit. Coincidence? They, naturally enough, think not...

Session 64a - Unit B

Looking ahead to Cauldron Born, I have a couple of issues with the Unit B concept:

1. A couple of DMs on these boards have said their players were not wholly engaged during these cut-scenes.
2. Unit A leader, Marshal Korrigan, newly promoted to Chief Inspector, disbanded 'unit B' after they sided with Margaret Saxby. He had Carlao and Serena shipped out of Flint, though he installed Dima as his assistant.
3. I have already had Lorcan Kell massacre a group of characters created by my players, so I don't plan to do that again. They hate him enough already.

There was also the practical matter of generating material enough to fill the void between each official adventure, without over-complicating the main plot. And I plan to flesh out the Cauldron Born threads and provide more than enough material to allow a full-blown second unit to have a viable function within the adventure.

So I asked my players to generate brand new first level characters to form a unit that had been hand-picked by Korrigan himself. The idea is that Korrigan has chosen officers he considers 'incorruptible'. This was back when we had seven full-time players, and at that point the roster looked like this:

Captain Theren Silverspire - grounded elven lifespirit warden (guardian theme). Has been running a small unit out in the Cloudwood, dealing with local goblinoid and fey threats. Level-headed and loyal. His marks and attacks cause roots and vines to entwine his enemies. Very thoughtful, and down-to-earth, in marked contrast with...

चमकीलापक्षति - decadent elven fire elementalist (skyseer). Theren's brother. He changed his orginal elven name to an ancient eladrin one (based on Sanskrit and a translation of 'Resplendent Plumage'). First name pronounced 'Brajham'. Wears colourful robes and lots of gold. Flighty and impetuous, but beguiling despite his strangeness, it was Brajham who encouraged his brother to request a transfer to Flint around the time Korrigan was looking for fresh blood. Brajham sensed that the city would play an important part in the future of Risur and Lanjyr. His 'fire' attacks take the form of fire flowers and rainbows of light, often bursting from the roots and vines created by his brother.

Fenwig - female bugbear slayer (gunsmith). The Silverspires' scout. Player absent. The RHC has taken a long time to clear her for duty (so she does not appear in this first session). I have no idea what she'll turn out like at the table.

Niniel Erendis - enthusiastic female 'half-elf' cunning bard (docker). A longtime RHC associate. She is half-fey, not half-elf and is actually a reskinned changeling (as many fey can alter their appearance and appear as alluring humans). Used to be a dancer - not a lapdancer, but a traditional dancer. Glad to have been embraced as a full-time member of the RHC who she hero-worships.

the Badger - surly halfling tempest fighter (unspecified theme). Niniel's partner. (Dockers sometimes refer to them as ‘Honey & the Badger’.) Together they have been taking down various small gangs throughout Parity Lake, proving their trustworthiness and incorruptibility. Fights with whip and short sword. Player absent, so we decided he was not brought in as a unit member initially.

Sevitar Anrathi – ruthless revenant assassin (martial scientist). A real loner who no-one wants to work with, and the feeling is mutual. Decades ago (around the time of the RHC’s inception) one of the first Flint units chased a powerful necromancer into the Bleak Gate around Cauldron Hill. None of them returned, until two years ago, when Sevitar Anrathi walked out of the Bleak Gate. At first it was assumed he was a ghost, but spirit mediums determined he was still the real Sevitar, though his form had been drastically altered by years in the Bleak Gate. Sevitar despises modern Flint, and works relentlessly to bring unscrupulous factory owners and landlords to book.

Doctor William Stanmore– human wizard (technologist). (Another absent player.) Will is a veteran of the war and has never really let go of the military mindset. It’s not so much about enforcing the law as it about destroying the enemy. He is unconcerned with morality or ethics as long as the mission is achieved. Will is fiercely loyal to the King and adheres to a strict command structure. He supports the industrialization of the nation and views people who oppose it as idiots or traitors. Not much of a talker and uninterested in debating the mission at hand. He requested to transfer to Flint from the capital as he believes the nation’s future is Flint. He knows a few people in the military but other than that has very few contacts in the city. I have a feeling he and Sevitar will get on famously.

This week, the main unit was about to undertake the Nalaam Arena encounter, but Leon’s player was out (along with the other two medium-to-long term absentees). I couldn’t very well press ahead with the climax of the Vekeshi Mystic subplot without him (or justify his absence) so we played out the first Unit B session instead, with only Theren, Brajham, Niniel and Sevitar.



Details to follow…

Session 64b - Unit B - First Mission

In media res encounter to begin with, dropping the four players (Theren, Brajham, Niniel & Sevitar) straight into combat against slavers shipping human traffic by night to keep Flint's factories running; then a prolonged social encounter with a series of fey entities (kudos to anyone who can spot where I pinched it from).

Unit B - First Mission

Shortly after their arrival in Flint, with precious little time to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings, elven brothers Theren Silverspire and चमकीला पक्षति - were quickly introduced to one of their new teammates, comely half-elf Niniel Erendis. Then all three were instructed to head for Bosum Strand where Sevitar Anrathi, the fourth member, awaited them.

Sevitar was a grim and disturbing individual who was clearly not inclined to work with others. He told the newcomers that he was about to stake out a ship which he suspected was operated by slavers, their cargo destined for the manufactories of Parity Lake where worker strikes were bringing production to a standstill. He planned to wait until the slavers met their contact in the city (one Falkcrow the Fixer). Sevitar sent his three teamates to wait round the corner in the shadows, while he stole into a building which overlooked the quayside.

At length, two horsedrawn covered wagons arrived and Falkcrow jumped down from one of them. The ship unloaded its human cargo, under the watchful eye of the especially brutal and violent slavemaster Galkiss, who was paid with a huge bag of gold. With that exchange, the crime was beyond doubt. The unit leaped into action and engaged in a protracted struggle. Eventually, they subdued the local thugs, the slavers and one horse.

Falkcrow escaped, and Galkiss surrendered with a smirk. Sevitar refused to accept his surrender and beheaded him, much to the consternation of unit leader Theren. (Sevitar did not explain as much, but he knew Galkiss had high-level contacts who would see him freed within the month.)



A debriefing session was held with Deputy Chief Inspector Dima during which the importance of teamwork - and the obvious necessity to work as a group, given the dangers of working in the urban environment.

Dima also made reference to a fifth member of the group, Professor Ludo Marcione, whose ongoing investigations meant he could not yet join the group. He then gave them marching orders for their next case:

Second Mission

Unit B traveled a day out of Flint, to a plantation where lizardmen sightings had been reported. Several workers had gone missing following foraging expeditions into the Cloudwood, as had an overseer and five guards who had headed out to deal with the matter.

The plantation owner suggested the unit speak to an elderly worker and his wife, whose retarded son Georgie spent all his days running wild in the forest, in hopes he might be able to help them find the lizardmen. "We used him to track down a injured labourer five seasons ago. Like a bloodhound, he is."

But Georgie's parents were sorry to say that he would not come back to the house anymore when they were around. He wasn't fond of people, they said, but suggested the unit speak to the fey spirit of the house, who they called Grandfather Spark, to find out if Georgie had returned while they were away.

With the assistance of Niniel and Theren, चमकीला पक्षति summoned Grandfather Spark, who turned out to be a timid spirit, concerned only with warmth and comfort and bowls of milk. He suggested (in a ridiculously squeaky voice) that they talk with the spirit of the barn.

The spirit of the barn was altogether more malicious, and enjoyed pranks like turning milk sour and injuring the farm hands. Niniel managed to get him laughing at Georgie for being so stupid, but all he could tell them was that Georgie didn't come into the barn any more and might have been in the cornfields.

So the team went to talk to the Polevik - the Grainfathers: sinister and spindly, these spirits emerged from the cornfields en masse, talked in sibilant whispers and demanded 'harvest' for their answers. The agents paid in blood and learned only that Georgie never left the forest these days, so they went to summon the forest spirit, Leshy, who reigned in this region of the Cloudwood.

Some said Leshy was an avatar of the Father of Thunder, others that he was allied to the Ashwolf or Granny Allswell. The ritual to summon him was very complex, too much for the flighty चमकीला पक्षति to handle, but Niniel turned out to be not just a pretty face, and a dab hand with fey rituals too. At length, the group found themselves conversing (somewhat nervously) with Leshy's chamberlain, Father Bear.

Father Bear said that, in order to gain Leshy's help, the group would have to do a service for him: they would need to talk to Vodyanoy (the Drowner) down by the lake, and bring back 'what he stole'. This made the unit very nervous, and before they went, Theren asked simply if Father Bear or his master knew anything about the 'lizard men' the unit was hunting.

At that, Leshy revealed himself: a giant wooden man with curling goat horns, he crashed into the clearing where they stood and roared, in a voice rather too loud for comfort, that if they would deal with the 'unwholesome' presence in his forest, he would dispense with any further requests. The creatures, which he could not name, had destroyed many trees and bore some sort of unnatural taint. But they also made themselves hard for Leshy to find through some magical means.

Leshy said that Georgie was indeed their best bet. He reached out and grabbed a passing pigeon to guide them to him, killing it the process. A quick breath from Leshy and it was alive again, and flapping off through the woods - far to quickly for the unit to follow. Leshy impatiently imbued a more sluggish servant - an aardvark - with the necessary guile, and the unit followed this creature through the woods to a strange bower in the trees which Georgie called his home.

They waited for him to return, and found that the 'boy' was a grown man, in his thirties, perhaps, naked and dirty, with long disheveled hair and beard and curling fingernails. He was too timid to approach at first, but Niniel was able to coax him out.

Georgie could not speak, but the group discovered that he was quite able to understand them and, despite his wild behaviour, was cunning and wise. Through sign-language and pantomime he was able to tell them the following:

• The creatures in the forest were scaly, large and ferocious humanoids. Georgie was terrified of them.
• They breathed fire.
• They were very destructive and, yes, they had killed the villagers.
• There were six of them.

Despite his fear, Georgie also said he could show them where to find these creatures. Unit B decided that on this occasion, discretion was the better part of valour, and returned to Flint to get back-up...

Session 65 - Hobo Maximus

• Following Rumdoom's departure, the rest of the unit returned to the rail enclave. Sly Marbo slipped away from the others to try to arrange some kind of back-up for their dwarven comrade from his contacts in the city.
• Leon, Uru, Malthusius and Matunaaga went back to the hotel, and were surprised to find Marshal Korrigan sat eating at the dining table in heir suite (albeit in his long johns). He felt reinvigorated, and the filigree patterns on his dark brown skin glowed a silvery blue. Whether this was due to the Icon of Urim Malthusius had requisitioned for him, or the wellspring of mana beneath Nalaam, was unclear - but the unit was glad to have their leader back, and they brought him hastily up to speed.
• Korrigan was concerned that the mission had lost focus, and quickly ordered Uru to establish whether Bree or Boone were in the hotel. (Luc and Ottavia certainly were - the others had seen them in the foyer returning from a sight-seeing stroll.) Uru was able to confirm that the two suspects were still in their rooms.
• The decision was made that Korrigan, Leon, Matunaaga and Malthusius would accept Elanor Yanette's invitation to the 10pm show at the arena. Meanwhile, Uru would tail Bree Kaldeckis in disguise.
• Bree led Uru into the stands, very close to the box occupied by Luc and Ottavia (and out of sight of the others).
• 'Royston Porcher' and his retinue found themselves in a lavish box adjacent to one occupied by Elanor, Isobel, and three infamous mages - Nikolai the Necromancer, Jaime the Weevil and Father Balthazar. The unit was particularly concerned because the reputation of these three men preceded them; also, word had it that they had easily overpowered Mister Mapple earlier that evening, when he had attempted to wrest Isobel away from Elanor.
• Lord Kulp, one of the more magnanimous Lords of Nalaam (and played in the movie by an aging Bruce Campbell) appeared at the centre of the arena to introduce the evening's entertainments but to his chagrin was interrupted when Elanor gave Isobel the instruction to rise and shed her outer robes. The crowd wolf-whistled and cat-called when a statuesque and scantily clad eladrin woman was revealed, and Elanor could be overheard crowing to her three companions about the priceless opportunity to own Isobel, and starting their bidding war at 500000gp!
• Leon stood, paralyzed with indecision. As a Vekeshi Mystic, he could not allow this sale to take place - the opportunity to free an eladrin maiden from slavery really was priceless - but to oppose these three powerful mages, in full view of the entire arena, and at the risk of jeopardizing the unit's entire mission... Korrigan, Malthusius and Matunaaga fell to tense discussions as their tiefling companion paced anxiously around the box.
• They all but ignored the slaughter below: a dozen petty criminals attempted to dodge a herd of angry bulls; a pack of wolves were torn apart by a dire bear. Luc Jierre watched with dispassionate fascination, while Ottavia turned her head as people began dying. Then a group of poorly armed men had to face the creature - among them Mister Mapple. While the others fought and died or ran and died, Mapple first tried to scale the arena walls (but was blasted back by security mages) before grabbing a two-handed axe and embedding it in the bear's head. The crowd went wild.
• Elanor rose and, having paid for the spotlight, announced that she would like to know the name of Mister Mapple before paying for his next fight. Mapple replied: "Ask my name? How ’bout I name you first? Bitch! No other word would let itself be worn by you. When I am free, no man, woman, or child will recall your name, but remember me they will. I, Bitch, am Andrei von Recklinghausen, and if I have to tear out your heart, I swear to free the woman next to you. Send me more beasts! I shall build a ramp and walk out of this pit!"
• The crowd cheered wildly again, but Elanor did not look in the least bit concerned. She calmly raised a bag of gold aloft and demanded, "Lord Kulp. Bring out the pyrecat."
• The only other survivor in the arena hid behind Andrei von Recklinghausen as a mechanical rumbling beneath the arena floor presaged the arrival of the pyrecat: a Malice Beast of such huge size that the hook replacing its missing foreleg was itself as big as a man. The creature was wreathed in blue flame, and its single remaining eye glowed a hot white.
• Korrigan and his men had decided that now was not the time to help Isobel. They watched as Andrei avoided the pyrecat and the second hapless survivor was incinerated. For several minutes, the valorous hobo ducked and dodged with preternatural agility, and even when he was struck, was able to carry on, healing minor wounds, even stuffing his own intestines back inside his belly at one point. Then he managed to clamber onto the back of the cat, raised his axe to strike, and was engulfed in a ball of fire that blasted him onto the arena floor. Andrei batted at the flames: here, it seemed was an injury he could not bounce back from so easily...
• Though they had already made a firm decision that raising a finger to help Isobel in full view of Luc & Ottavia could only harm their mission, the unit began to cast questioning glances back at Korrigan. Then someone pointed out that 'Royston Porcher' was a war veteran after all, and his crew had already showed their hand against the Screaming Malice. What's more, they were Risuri, and what self-respecting Risuri would allow an eladrin to be sold by a Danoran?
• Andrei von Recklinhgausen was on his last legs, prone before the slavering pyrecat, when Malthusius lobbed a radiant ball into the neighbouring box. Before the three mages could react, the unit was on them: Leon used his strange fey magic to slide Elanor and Father Balthazar into the pit, while Matunaaga aimed and fired at the pyrecat. Korrigan yelled at Recklinghausen to get back on his feet, then made a heroic (but ill-advised) lunge over the parapet into the neighbouring box, which saw him plunge forty feet onto the arena floor. Uru then sprang into action and lobbed his latest toy - a punishing eye - into the arena, enhancing the attacks of his friends. (For anyone interested in the mechanics, we decided a long time ago that Uru had picked up Karl Krauss' punishing eye when he died in combat with the Thing from Beyond. Now he has fixed it up, he can use it instead of one his daily uses of assassin's poison, keying off WIS not INT. Executioner assassins can get a bit boring to play unless you spice them up a tad...)
• A scrappy fight ensued, with combatants slipping and sliding all over the place. But the unit kept their initial edge, and despite some setbacks, began to dispatch the mages one by one. Elanor Yanette died screaming with rage, and crowd cheered every reversal for the trio of wizards. They had clearly taken to Andrei, following his heroic declaration and were hugely enjoying the sudden in-fighting between the occupants of first class.
• The wizards were down, but the pyrecat remained a considerable threat. Unfortunately, following a spectacularly heroic flourish, Korrigan lost control of his condition and was revealed in his full monolithic glory. His earthshock power, too, was difficult for him to control, and when he used it on the pyrecat, the ground almost swallowed the monster whole. The pyrecat was down; the crowd erupted in cheers. And Luc and Ottavia left their box.
• Lord Kulp invited the adventurers, along with Andrei and Isobel, to his private quarters.
• The unit stuck to their story that they were simply unwilling to watch sex slavery go unpunished and Lord Kulp agreed: he was glad to see the back of Elanor and equally glad that Nalaam was rid of those three unpleasant wizards. He offered to ensure that Isobel was swiftly escorted to Elfaivar. Andrei swiftly stepped up close to her and vowed that he would accompany and protect her wherever she went.
• Malthusius cast remove affliction on Isobel so the poor girl could speak for herself. When she came to, it was hard for her to take in everything that had happened, but she managed to say that she had heard of Hana Soliogn and her escape to Risur, and felt that if she could be safe anywhere it would be under the protection of this woman. The unit revealed their connection to Gale and agreed to have her meet with Isobel, and Lord Kulp arranged for passage to Flint for both Isobel and Andrei.
• Before going their separate ways, the unit spoke to Andrei and told him they recognised his surname: They said they had met Doctor Wolfgang von Recklinghausen as he passed through Flint and asked if Andrei was related to him in any way. To their astonishment (and disbelief) Andrei claimed to be his son (though he looked to be more or less the same age). Clearly there was more to this than met the eye. Andrei, for his part, was fascinated to hear word of his father. Then he muttered something about being 'done with that now' and focused all of his attention on Isobel. His behaviour towards her was touchingly chivalrous and polite, almost naively so, and Malthusius felt sure the young woman was in safe hands.

• The following morning, in reply to their latest report, Stover Delft responded: "Possible mission compromise? Suggestion: disembark at Sid Minos. Leave agents Marbo and Ciotog on train. Teleport ahead to Vendricce. Meantime, verify Jierre connection with Ob."

• (The players loved this sneaky suggestion - Luc and Ottavia have no idea train guard Marbo is even connected with the group, and Uru can stay on board in any disguise he likes. Of course, they won't get to implement this plan as they'll be leaving the train a lot sooner than they think, but it keeps them grateful to Delft for all his cool but redundant ideas, and stops them being too paranoid towards Luc & his crew. Further to this note, I have a few DMing comments about this last session, which I'll have to save for next time.)

As promised, a quick word to DMs about the Hobo Maximus encounter. A terrific finale to the Vekeshi Mystic thread, which is entirely optional. The only trouble is, there are so many reasons for your players not to engage with it, and no real indication that it is the last chance they will have to deal with Elanor.

My vekeshi-involved PC was determined not to drag the whole party into his personal mission, and was intent on pursuing Isobel after the arena. The party as a whole felt that weeks of planning and careful spycraft could not now be jeopardized by circumstance. I like the fact that the adventure presents them with a stark moral choice, but it really does feel like helping Isobel and Andrei is the out-and-out wrong decision.

The fact that the reputations of the three evil mages precedes them was enough to convince the group that they must be out of their league (and that this was what the adventure was hinting at). Then there was the simple fact that their intervention needed to take place, not only in front of Luc and Ottavia, but a baying crowd of thousands.

Don't get me wrong: I fully expected this to be a tough decision, but the scales really are tipped very far in favour of not intervening, so it is worth DMs thinking in advance about how they can encourage the players to get involved.

My only input was to point out that a group of Risuri soldiers (whether RHC or not) would be justified in staging a rescue of Isobel, but this was pretty feeble. Although it just so happened to sway the players, who were desperately looking for an excuse to pitch in, knowing that it was an insane thing to do on so many levels.

Their hour-long debate about whether to join in was all-but resolved in favour of inaction when I began to describe Andrei's final moments. There was a lovely exchange of meaningful glances and 'f@@k it' shrugs, before they rolled initiative on a surprise round and did the heroic thing after all.

This is not a criticism of the adventure. I love the fact that Zeitgeist throws up moral conundrums. But unless you are prepared to think fast, or simply think ahead and present the players with more information about what they are up against (and give them solid reasons to get involved) you might as well kiss this encounter goodbye. My session was a hair's breadth from moving to Three Milestones when the players overturned their own decision.

My opinion about Andrei. My group really loved the previous encounters with "Clean Ninja" as they dubbed Mr. Mapple, particularly the moment the ranger of my group tried to sneak on Eleanor's room climbing the hotel façade and got a "good night gentleman" and a bow from Recklinghausen Jr climbing down.

Before the encounter at Nalaam I clearly portrayed master of Arena hate to Eleanor and only mentioned the background of the necromancer because it was disgusting as hell.

When the arena show began I had Xambria's voice push for action and once again the master of the games looking with anger at Eleanor, my group jumped as soon as Andrei was just going to "die". They tried to cover their actions saying they were showing the weapons they produce at "Scorpio Industries" (their cover is that they are weapon manufacturers who in fact are trying to smuggle weapons to the Elfaivar terrorists who in FACT are trying to get in contact with Bergeron associates to sell them high-tech weapons, like the steam powered armour from Flint Arms fair.... yes sometimes they get THAT complicated)

That's exactly the sort of approach that's needed, and one I intended to use and then just plain forgot. Having the group run into Lord Kulp ahead of the show is a great way of making the group feel safer.

Session 66 - Three Milestones

• Having received a message from Rumdoom saying that both he and Damata Griento were safe and well, Korrigan intercepted Damata's letter to his wife, went to reassure her that her husband would rejoin them in Sid Minos, and escorted the family onto the train.
• Luc & Ottavia were already on board, ensconced in their private suite. Bree was in the first class lounge, and nodded professionally at the unit. Boone was there too, in a pretty bad mood, giving Kov the chef a hard time. By contrast, Verzubak was cock-a-hoop, flashing his winnings about and enjoying several plates of luxurious food.
• The unit loudly announced their intention to disembark at Sid Minos, and kept their profile low, leaving Sly Marbo to keep an eye on things during an uneventful final leg of their journey.
• As they approached Sid Minos, Malia Baccarin did her rounds and herded first and second-class passengers back to their respective seats. Uru gave the compartment a quick once-over to see if it had been interfered with, but (having found nothing on previous occasions) his inspection was sadly perfunctory.
• A knock on the door of the unit's suite came as a surprise. Acting on instinct, Uru quickly hid in the toilet until curiosity got the better of him and he moved to listen at the bedroom door instead:
• Matunaaga answered to find Olivert Boone in the passageway. He asked if he could come in and, after checking with his 'master', the dutiful manservant beckoned him in. Boone said that he thought he could be of help to the unit, and spy on the people he worked for.
• Korrigan pretended to be nonplussed and asked Boone to explain himself. There followed an achingly discreet exchange in which neither party would or could admit to much without a concession from the other. Malthusius got the feeling that Boone was playing for time.
• At length, the negotiations were interrupted when the lanterns in the suite flickered red and glowed a dim purple. Outside, the sky deepened to a bruised grey, and all within the suite experienced a very strange sensation. It took Malthusius a moment of concentration before he announced that they had been somehow transported into the plane of Nem!
• Matunaaga checked outside. The train appeared to be empty - no other guards or passengers.
• At once suspicion fell on Boone, though he appeared to be as shocked as the rest of them; and when wailing spirits began to manifest around the tiefling and accuse him of their murder, the unit rounded on him too.
• Korrigan demanded he hand over his gun. Boone refused and Matunaaga drew on him. Boone said if he had to he would fight to keep hold of his only weapon, but with the wailing spirits in his ears, he confessed that he had been sent to their suite to ensure they were all together: he had been told they would all be subjected to a sleep spell, not this altogether more deadly effect. He had been betrayed, it would seem.
• Nonetheless, knowing now that he was a serial killer, and believing the effect to be emanating from his pistol, the group insisted he disarm. Boone lost his temper and shouted, "This has nothing to do with my ing gun!" at which point Malthusius suddenly cried, "The lanterns!" He resumed Uru's inspection and discovered small sigils above the door of the compartment. Leon then realised that waves of Nem energy were flowing from the front of the train.
• Before they could respond to this, the group were beset by reapers - spirits that flew in from outside and tried to claim living victims. Fighting them off, the unit discovered they could phase, and Leon quickly hopped up onto the roof of the train and saw a purple light glowing in the distance - on the locomotive engine. This was the source of the Nem energy, and it needed to be destroyed to restore them to life.
• Realising that time was now of the essence, the whole unit, with Olivert Boone in tow, began a mad dash along the train to reach the very front. Along the way they were assailed by vestiges of the tragedy that befell the train in the Malice Lands - spirits of the dead who rose up from the damaged carriages and tried to cling to them. They fought them off, but were then attacked by more reapers.
• Leon was able to teleport ahead out of danger, but Matunaaga was brought to his knees by the cold claws of these creatures. Olivert Boone seized his chance: he felled Matunaaga with a single shot, and then turned and emptied his revolver at Korrigan, before phasing down into the train compartment below.
• Korrigan gave chase while Matunaaga was dragged to his feet. Boone was unable to reload his gun before the marshal was on him, knocking him to the ground and killing him.
• Meanwhile, the others had come face-to-face with a ruin wraith, a cunning spirit that sought to keep them from the front of the train and trap them in this realm. It lashed out at them, trying to knock them from the train. In Uru's case, it succeeded and he disappeared from view, only to reappear, moments later, in the first compartment where they all started.
• The ruin wraith was unable to stop Leon from getting past it. The cunning tiefling used his fey teleportation powers to reach the source of the purple light:
• A baroque lantern, matching the description of the one Uru had seen in Orithea and Trekhom. At once Leon could see that this one was splintering under its own energy, overloaded with whatever eldritch fuel it fed on.
• He broke it.
• The unit found themselves back in their suite, suffering momentarily from sleep paralysis. They could see Boone's corpse sliding onto the floor, as the train slowed to a halt and idled.
• Gradually, freedom of movement returned to their limbs and they were up in an instant, trying to establish exactly what was going on: Malthusius looked out of the compartment window, and saw the outskirts of Sid Minos in the distance; Matunaaga checked and found that the Grientos were safe and unaffected; Leon looked out of the far side of the train, and saw that Luc, Ottavia and Bree had disembarked, and were clambering into a waiting cart!
• The train lurched into motion once more, leaving the unit to hastily grab what belongings they could and leap off the moving train in pursuit.
• The carriage had set off along a switchback trail down a steep incline, where forested cliffs descended to meet the shoreline. There was no easy way for the group to follow - certainly not at the speed of a horse and cart. Except for Matunaaga, whose people were trained to handle this kind of terrain at speed. He set off through the undergrowth, and when he reached a steep drop, was able to use his aeriad bracers to drift along the treetops below, angling himself down towards the roadway.
• Meanwhile, Korrigan sent a message to Sly Marbo, letting him know what had happened, while Leon, Malthusius and Uru collaborated on a phantom steed ritual. When it was done, they set off down the trail at a gallop.
• Matunaaga had tailed his quarry to a shale beach, where rough seas battered a few old fishing boats about. Luc, Ottavia and Bree dashed across the beach and clambered into an old rowing boat. They paid the owner, who at once struck out for a desolate islet some distance from the mainland. Matunaaga took a shot at Bree who fell into the boat. Then he waited for the others to arrive and, some moments later they were galloping over the waves, as they had done on that moonless night two weeks ago when they first arrived in Danor.
• They passed the fisherman in his rowboat returning from the island alone.
• Malthusius began to fear that this might well be Odiem - a place of forbiddling legends, where ships often found themselves wrecked in bloody seas and the clergy once constructed a vault designed to hide ancient and unholy relics.
• So it was with some trepidation that the unit stepped down from their steeds and on to the island, a trepidation that increased when they could only find a single set of footprints (small, a woman's, so Ottavia's) leading from the beach. Keeping their eyes out for the other two, they walked warily towards a ruined lighthouse building.
• Now a voice resounded in their minds:
  
  “I am Ottavia Sacredote, oracle of the Clergy, and my task is to protect the man you pursue. He acts for the betterment of civilization, and he has deemed you a threat. But unlike some in my faith I do not rush to judgment. If you can defend your aggression, do so, and I shall listen. If you cannot, let he who is willing to risk his life to harm my charge be the first to step across the lighthouse threshold."​
• Whatever method Ottavia was using to communicate with them in this way, it rendered her emotions almost palpable. They could feel that she was in earnest but there was also an edge of fear and desperation.
• At once, Korrigan challenged her to explain their own aggression. But Ottavia scorned his outrage: "You have followed us for days. Do you deny that, had the time been right, you would have struck at us first, without troubling to understand our ends? You are the servants of a foreign nation, operating undercover - what more could you expect on our discovery of your true identities?"
• Malthusius spoke of events in Flint - of the nefarious schemes of Reed Macbannin, and how his Obscurati-related plot almost buried thousands of innocent in rivers of witchoil. Ottavia countered that she knew nothing of this, nor had she any reason to believe it was connected with the profoundly humanist vision the people she worked for pursued. She challenged Malthusius' own faith ("if you are the man I believe you to be") and spoke of her own disillusionment with corruption in the clergy, of how the priesthood had abandoned the poor and the weak in pursuit of wealth and personal power. How the Ob was going to change things for the betterment of all. She talked of Triegenes, of the purity of his word; how it was sullied by the selfish and Byzantine institution she once wholeheartedly served; how the truest interpretation of Triegene's word had been distilled by the great philosopher William Miller "- and what did they do? They burned him alive on a pyre of his own writings. I don't want to live in a world where the truth burns and lies flourish!"
• She spoke of her mission: to protect and serve Luc Jierre until he was safely delivered to Vendricce. There was now ardour and passion in her voice as she spoke of Luc, of what a wonderful mind he had, and how his privileged, naïve worldview would be profoundly altered with his induction to the Ob, where is brilliant scientific mind could be used to bring enlightenment for the betterment of all sentient peoples.
• It was here that Malthusius experienced a nagging sensation which he gradually recognised as Xambria's voice, growing louder and louder in volume. "Stop listening to her! Stop listening and wake up!"
• Only then did Malthusius realise how long he had been standing on the muddy beach, as the sun went down and dozens of figures shambled out of the sea towards them - the drowned dead of Odiem who had now come within arms' reach thanks to Ottavia Sacredote's enthralling spell.

• And then there was another voice, breathless and insistent, feminine and sultry. A whisper in the wind that seemed to narrate their story:
  "The priestess' sermon will see her foes dead. Her rivals, visitors to this island, are welcome below where it is safer..."

• Elsewhere, on the Avery Coast train that had just pulled in to Sid Minos, Sly Marbo was struggling to drag the dead weight of Olivert Boone into the toilet cubicle of the first class suite, where he could hide it until nightfall. He'd just got the corpse sat on the loo, when a noise behind him caused him to spin around just in time to take a blow to the face so powerful it sent sent him reeling back on top of Olivert, where he slumped as limp and lifeless as the tiefling.

Session 66 - Post-match analysis

I'd been looking forward to the Three Milestones encounter for some time. As it features both the lantern and the moving train, I think it is the keynote encounter of the adventure. (Much as the RHC HQ set-piece in Digging for Lies, and the mountaintop fight in Skyseer.) I wasn't sure it would go according to plan, but I wanted to start the session in relaxed mode, then set the tempo to 'fast' as soon as the lanterns flickered purple, and keep the momentum going through Follow that Carriage and onto the island of Odiem.

The timing and the tempo elements worked very well. But I fluffed Boone's treachery somewhat by forgetting to impose the slowed condition on Korrigan. Hate it when I miss a trick with a cool enemy like Boone! Still, the session went extremely well. I rolled Ottavia's enthrall attack ahead of the encounter so as not to tip my hand. She hit everyone! So I had her make a roll against Xambria as well (which she failed), so Xambria's host got a warning at the very last minute (just before they would have woken up anyway, heh heh heh).

So we ended the session with the group surrounded by dozens of zombies. Perfect cliffhanger!

Those who know the adventure well will have noticed that I altered transition from Three Milestones to Follow that Carriage for two reasons:

1) First off I wanted to maintain the momentum. And knowing my group, I worried they might plough straight into Luc's group the moment they escaped the plane of Nem.

2) I wanted to give Matunaaga a chance to show off an ability he rarely gets to use: as part of his homebrew theme he can ignore difficult terrain when he runs, so I put the group in a position where they would be unable to keep up with their quarry without him.

That was the only major change I made this time round, although I have turned the vaults of Odiem into a major dungeon-crawl, just to spice things up a bit.

Oh, before I go, I should mention the fabulous philosophical exchange that took place between Korrigan, Malthusius and Ottavia. I love the shades of grey presented by the AP and the fact that the bad guys aren't out-and-out evil. Must make sure to emphasise the palpable honesty and 'goodness' emanating from Ottavia (thanks to her headband of telepathy) as she rains down holy fire on her foes next week! That should confuse and conflict the poor buggers no end!