ZEITGEIST BSI: Bosum Strand Irregulars

[RangerWickett]

I feel somewhat responsible for this. How did the players take it?

 

[skotothalamos]

I feel somewhat responsible for this. How did the players take it?

They took it well. I warned them on Facebook the week before the first session of this two-parter that their characters were about to go into a deadly situation, and (being Zeitgeist rather than regular 4e), they might find themselves in unwinnable positions if they weren't careful. I told them that this encounter was not balanced for them, and there would be plenty of chances for small victories and even chances for heroics, but there would be just as many chances to die. Since we've had three "oh never mind" deaths so far, I also warned them that they might run into a situation where Raise Dead was not an option (I decided ahead of time that the Nem energy would just suck the person's soul straight to Nem if they died from it or were dead already when it hit them).

With all that info, most of them were careful. Malkie's player seemed like she wanted to die. First, when reality went transparent, she reminded me that Malkie would take sunlight damage. Malkie scrambled to put on her big black cloak, but then (when reality was transparent again) Malkie went unconscious and the player says, "welp, I'm dead. She can't hold her cloak over herself and gets destroyed by sunlight." I offered Malkie a save to see if she fell under the cloak. She did. When the Worm maw critted on its Devour attack (for 48 damage vs an already-unconscious 49-hit point character), we both knew it was meant to be. I gave her the consolation prize of auto-succeeding on Rally the RHC, and then she took over one of the B-Team constables (her second character from our previous, aborted Zeitgeist game, which she started after Malkie was killed by Leone Quital at the buried church). It seemed like she had kind of tired of Malkie's schtick anyway, and is suddenly reinvigorated with ideas for her new character.

Mort's player was at first pretty down. He was due for a comeuppance after killing Kaja Stewart and various other encroachments of party trust. I'm the sort of DM who likes to make serious consequences for people behaving like, well, like your typical D&D party. I definitely wanted to drive home the "you brought this on yourself" point by having the Thing teleport him into trouble. If Mort hadn't shot, both he and Sijhen could have just walked away. instead, they're both dead now. After thinking about it for a good 20 minutes (while we dealt with the aftermath logistics and he flipped through the PHBs and Zeitgeist Player's Guide), he said "I know who my next character is" and took narrative control (which he's never done before), talking about the black ship that sailed into Flint Bay on the day of Mort's funeral. It was pretty cool (and conveniently gives the party the ship they need just in time for Always on Time. I was so excited when he said that). He went through a full campaign of Scales of War with the same character from level 1 to level 30, only dying once (temporarily, resolved by a side quest). At the end of the night, he said, "Wow. I've never had one of my characters die -- really die -- before. This is so intense. That's awesome."

so, all in all, I think it went over pretty well for a 33%PK

 

[skotothalamos]

Cat Planet

I feel there's something I have to share with y'all:

When our Skyseer saw a vision of Sijhen, she really locked onto the tentacles around his face. While everyone else screamed "Mind Flayers!" she just said, "like a weird alien cat with tentacles for whiskers?" When I told her that he was a warrior and conqueror who might be looking for new territory, she just nodded and called him a cat again.

When she had a vision of Gidim, she immediately called it Cat Planet. Alien, thoughtbeast, tentacle cats, but still --to her -- cats. When I told her she felt like the entire planet was alive, she got very excited about CAT PLANET, the planet that is also a cat.

Inside jokes, they do go on, as I'm sure you're aware.

So, now the whole group refers to Gidim as Cat Planet, and they are expecting to be invaded by more brain-occupying bipedal tentacats any day now.

Our skyseer player is also an artist. Today, she made a t-shirt: http://inksterinc.com/product/cat-planet/

I just wanted you to know that happened. I fully expect her to show up to the next session in her Cat Planet t-shirt

 

[RangerWickett]

I feel there's something I have to share with y'all:

When our Skyseer saw a vision of Sijhen, she really locked onto the tentacles around his face. While everyone else screamed "Mind Flayers!" she just said, "like a weird alien cat with tentacles for whiskers?" When I told her that he was a warrior and conqueror who might be looking for new territory, she just nodded and called him a cat again.

When she had a vision of Gidim, she immediately called it Cat Planet. Alien, thoughtbeast, tentacle cats, but still --to her -- cats. When I told her she felt like the entire planet was alive, she got very excited about CAT PLANET, the planet that is also a cat.

Inside jokes, they do go on, as I'm sure you're aware.

So, now the whole group refers to Gidim as Cat Planet, and they are expecting to be invaded by more brain-occupying bipedal tentacats any day now.

Our skyseer player is also an artist. Today, she made a t-shirt: http://inksterinc.com/product/cat-planet/

I just wanted you to know that happened. I fully expect her to show up to the next session in her Cat Planet t-shirt

That is probably the strangest fan art I've ever seen for something I worked on. I kind of love it. [MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION], were you going for 'cat' when you designed this guy?

[MENTION=53273]Rugult[/MENTION], do we need t-shirts for Gen Con? Personally, I'd probably go for 'Voice of Rot world tour' first.

 

[skotothalamos]

Also, I used my time off to build a train:

 

[skotothalamos]

mini-update

We're three sessions into Always on Time. The new characters

Alienor Contessa Soliogn-Stark (Tiefling Gunslinger Ranger) Mother of Mort Stark, former owner of Hana "Gale" Soliogn. As a child, Madame Soliogn was one of the few survivors of the destruction of an orphanage during the siege of Cherage in the Third Yerasol War. She was rescued by the eladrin woman known as Hana Soliogn, and the Soliogn family took her in. As a convenient survivor of Risuri war crimes, Alienor was a bit of a celebrity in Danor, and when she grew up, she enlisted in the army and became a sort of traveling morale booster for the troops. On Axis Island, during the Fourth Yerasol War, Alienor, her husband, and Hana were visiting the troops when Hana discovered her latent powers and tried to escape. She and Lord Stark had an altercation. Alienor leveled her gun and shot. To this day, even she could not say where she was aiming, but her shot struck her husband, and Hana made her escape. Madame Soliogn seeks to find answers about the shadowy conspiracy known as the Obscurati, and why they caused the death of her son.

Coniglietta di Mezzaluna (Human Spirit Medium Paladin) Formerly of the Clergy in Alais Primos, Coniglietta (or "Coney") previously was charged with corralling restless spirits form the Bleak Gate for the bleaker holy days. During one of these missions, she discovered that the spirit she had taken was not an evil person after all, but just some wayward soul that had not found its way to its rest. When the priests scourged it of its supposed lifetime of sins and burned the remains of the soul away, simply for the spectacle of it, Coney knew she had to leave. She took a vow of poverty and eventually made her way to Flint, where she begged on the streets. She donated all of her profits to various soup kitchens and homeless shelters in the city. The Family in Flint did not fail to notice a Crissilyiri woman begging on the streets, and they "suggested" that Coney make her donations to the "correct" charities -- those that catered to expatriate Crisilyiri, mostly. Upon hearing the rumors of the RHC investigating disturbances in the Bleak Gate, Coney awkwardly accosted them in the streets and offered to help in any way she could. Delft was so suspicious of her that he immediately hired her in the hope that she was an Ob spy and would accidentally spill information.

These two joined with Cazara, Summer, James, and IronPeak to board the Avery Coast Railroad, hoping to find out what the Obscurati would be meeting about in Vendricce. They also talked Rock Rackus into having a traveling performance tour along the rail line at the same time, hoping that Rackus would serve as a distraction to help them keep their cover. And thus was born the first ever Rock Tour...

 

[skotothalamos]

A different perspective

I've been avoiding doing writeups during our run through Always on Time, mostly because I crosspost these writeups to our group's Facebook page, and I didn't want to accidentally give anything away to the players by forgetting or overemphasizing any particular NPC interactions. Last night, we did the Hobo Maximus encounter. Once they hit the Crypta Hereticarum, I intend to start on the writeups again, catching up.

However, one of our players has to tell the internet how awesome our session was last night. Here, unedited, is her blog entry:

• so tonights d&d was absolute madness and im gonna try to recap it bc SO THERE
• one PC, Ironpeak, got roped into an arena fight allied w a level 13 NPC (party is level 7) due to being in the presence of the NPC (his name is Mister Mapple we love him) during an arrest. The entire party is undercover on very important Police Work and is unable to come to their aid. All PCs except one are WATCHING the arena fight.
• Ironpeak, Mister Mapple, and another PC, Connie are pitted up against a direbear in the arena. in their first move against the bear, Ironpeak attempted to befriend it w Nature and Diplomacy. Scored in 20s. Rolled Nature to touch the bear. CRITS. MOUNTS THE BEAR.
• IRONPEAK CALLS OUT to the NPC responsible for her arrest, who is in a special suite with two PCs. This NPC is selling a slave and we hate her but we cant let her know. The NPC is challenged by Ironpeak, riding a bear.
• The NPC RELEASES A PYRECAT which is roughly as large as an elephant, has a hook for an arm, and is on fire.
• Mister Mapple hates slaver NPC and starts climbing the arena wall. The bear (w Ironpeak) begins to climb the wall.
• Connie charges the Pyrecat. Connie is promptly impaled on the Pyrecat’s hook and is grabbed. The Pyrecat goes after Ironpeak, with Connie still attached to its hook.
• Slaver NPC tries to get away. Is refused and locked into the room w the 2 PCs and 3 other NPCs who are all Potential Buyers and therefore trash.
• Cazara, a PC, gets the slave being bought and protects her (pretending not to have motives that include FREEING THE SLAVE). The other PC, Alienor, gets pissed at slaver NPC for accusing an innocent person of a crime and insists that she go fight (insists means she has a gun out)
• A buyer NPC grabs Alienor and INFESTS HER WITH BEDBUGS which is disgusting we can all agree.
• Another buyer NPC attempts to call a chorus of angels, crit fails, and spends the rest of the encounter in the corner probably crying like a nerd.
• I think at this point Mister Mapple has successfully SCALED THE 40 FOOT WALL and comes after Slaver NPC. And I think punches someone. Probably.
• Cazara asks permission from the game master arena dude to leave. He lets her and the slave NPC leave. They start their escape.
• I think the Pyrecat makes it up??????? There is a Pyrecat with a human attached to its hook leg on top of a goliath on top of a Dire Bear and a slaver NPC and three other NPCs and Mister Mapple in one suite what the .
• The Pyrecat kills the slaver NPC.
• The last buyer NPC is a NECROMANCER AND RAISES HER AGAIN AS A GHOUL.
• Bedbug NPC transforms into a huge roach and skitters over to an adjacent suite, where the remaining two PCs are mostly just chilling.
• This is gross and we attack the out of him but he mostly gets by and tries to get the slave.
• Cazara lights the hallway on fire bc she can do that.
• I think the bear kills the Slaver NPC Ghoul.
• And the Pyrecat sets the entire suite on fire????????????
• Alienor says This and teleports to a different suite, which involved shooting a bullet past her two newest NPC friends and hitting a chair, into which she teleports.
• Mister Mapple and Ironpeak and the bear are basically Slaying It.
• My character Summer attempts to teleport Bug NPC into the arena but just moves him to a couch and runs after the slave to make sure shes safe.
• Bug and Cazara run after the slave and are effectively removed from combat.
• James, the last PC, sends a small model train he made over to the suite that is on fire bc it can shoot the cat for him while he drinks and watches the show.
• I think Mister Mapple throws the Pyrecat out of the suite????????? He rolled crits like FOUR TIMES DURING THIS ENCOUNTER????????????????????????
• The Pyrecat falls on Connie and kills her.
• Connie resurrects as a ghoul which is horrifying for the player on many levels.
• Mister Mapple falls on the Pyrecat, taking the model train with him, which he uses as a bludgeon while the train uses itself as a gun.
• Ironpeak and the bear fall on the Pyrecat and beat it up a lot.
• Ghoul!Connie survies for far longer than she should with 1 hit point and it is still horrifying.
• Alienor and her friends have ed off officially.
• Mister Mapple kills the Pyrecat???????????
• The slave was able to get away in spectacular fashion, as the owner of the arena is part of an underground railroad type system for Eladrin women who are rare in this world and therefore coveted as slaves. Both Summer and Cazara have particular interest in keeping Eladrin women safe (Summer IS Eladrin) so this is exciting.
• Ironpeak gets to keep the bear.

 

[RangerWickett]

Thrilled to hear the campaign is still going on.

Apologies for the bedbug thing. I'd just had to deal with an infestation when I was editing the adventure, so I decided to share my revulsion.

 

[skotothalamos]

Aftermath

After the destruction of RHC Heqdquarters, the surviving constables – Cazara, IronPeak, James, and Summer – attended many memorial services for their fellow employees. Newly-minted Chief Inspector Stover Delft had many positive things to say at Malkie’s funeral. Mort Stark’s funeral was held at the Danoran Consulate. Julian LeBrix spoke about Mort’s dedication to Danor and the bright future of cooperation between Danor and Risur.

As Mort’s memorial was winding down, an imposing black steamship pulled into the Danoran Consulate’s private pier, belching black smoke into the sky. A black-clad tiefling woman with a set of horns that would make a water buffalo jealous emerged from the ship. Followed by her dwarven assistant, she swept majestically down the pier, where she demanded Mort’s ashes. LeBrix was clearly expecting her, and he handed the urn over, addressing her as “Madame Stark.”

“Soliogn-Stark,” said the dwarf, as he made a note on his clipboard.

Mort’s mother held the urn high over her head and dumped its contents over herself, looking up and spitting forth the fire from her belly as the ashes fell. The ash burned again, wreathing Madame Alienor Contessa Soliogn-Stark in a conflagration composed of her son’s ashes and her own sorrow. She leveled her gaze at the constables. “Who is responsible for this?”

Delft introduced himself, and praised Mort’s contribution to the RHC, and explained that he was in the process of forming an independent task force to answer exactly that question. Alienor invited Delft and the constables into her ship, where they could meet in private and discuss matters. Her office on the ship held more guns than some RHC offices. Delft and the constables explained that they were investigating an international conspiracy that had started the series of events which led to the deaths of Mort, Malkie, and about 80% of the RHC’s Flint-based staff.

In fact, the next step of this investigation would involve traveling to Danor and boarding the Avery Coast Railroad in secret, to spy on a meeting of the conspirators. Delft and the constables secured Alienor’s assistance in this effort. Not only would she join with the group, she would use her ship to support the mission, and her not-inconsiderable resources to secure passage aboard the train. As a popular figure, known to many throughout Danor – including the Jierre family – Alienor could easily help with paperwork and logistics. The mission would not launch for nearly two months. Alienor decided to stay in Flint for the interim, ostensibly carrying out her own business. Officially, she and the RHC would have no association.

The RHC headquarters were relocated to the first floor of an old Pemberton Industries building in the Pardwight district. The building was an abandoned testing ground for the discredited Pemberton Industries’ experiments with personal arcanoscientific devices. Most of the old equipment was moved into storage on other floors of the building, but the creepy paintings of Benedict Pemberton remained. The building had the advantage of being in a far more fashionable neighborhood than the old RHC building, with restaurants, shops, and Pardwight University all within a short walk of the front door. Delft began the long process of hiring new constables and staffers.

About a week after the constables had moved in to their new facility, they were accosted by a street urchin on their way back from lunch. The young woman latched on to IronPeak, saying she had seen stories of her escapades in the newspaper. The beggar asked if they could “speak privately” down a back alley. IronPeak was not quite sure whether she was being propositioned for prostitution or a mugging, but she went along, while the rest of the crew headed back to the office.

The woman introduced herself as Coniglietta and said that she had abandoned the Clergy but that she knew many secrets about the Bleak Gate and she had all read about IronPeak’s heroics on Cauldron Hill and during The Incident that destroyed several city blocks. Coniglietta said that she had a unique perspective on the events happening in the Bleak Gate, and she would like to help. IronPeak told her to come in to headquarters and make a statement, not to accost people in random alleyways.

When IronPeak told the rest of the group about it, they all pretty much agreed that this woman with “a unique perspective” was probably an Obscurati spy. Delft put forth the theory that maybe if they hired her, they could keep an eye on her, so the next morning, that’s exactly what he did. He took Coney’s statement that she “just felt” she belonged with the group, ran her through the loyalty ritual, and hired her for the coming mission to Danor. Everyone hoped the new Ob spy would do something stupid and reveal herself before long.

For the next seven weeks, the constables went about planning their operation to Danor and beyond. They knew that Caius Bergeron has been planning a train trip from Beaumont to Vendricce, thanks to the creepy letter he wrote to Finona Duvall. The letter also revealed that there would be an important Obscurati meeting in Vendricce. The constables and Delft hoped that other Obscurati members would be making the same 3,000-mile train voyage, so they could find out information from them. Ideally, the constables would travel the train with cover identities, find out as much as they could about what the Obscurati was up to, and then return to Risur without anyone knowing they had been there.

For cover identities, the main snag was their new unofficial association with Alienor. She was too well-known to travel under cover, but they thought of a way to use that to their advantage. Alienor “hired” Cazara and Summer to be her handmaidens. The three of them would travel first class, boarding the train in Alienor’s home city of Cherage, one day into the six-day journey. Alienor booked freight through from Beaumont to Vendricce, and secured IronPeak passage as a guard for the freight. James and Coney would board independently. James would simply be traveling as a train enthusiast; Coney, who once served the Clergy, would be a pilgrim, traveling to Crissilyir for religious reasons.

In order to keep the Ob from finding out what they were up to, the constables met in secret and acquired false papers and tried to find out if anyone was spying on them. IronPeak confronted a young woman in the new secretarial pool who was spying on her for a man she thought worked for the newspaper, but was actually working for Lorcan Kell. The young woman never came to work again.

The constables secured the release of Rock Rackus from jail, informing him of the untimely death of his promoter Malkie. They talked to him about the fact that he had been mentioned in Caius Bergeron’s letter, and Rock told them a fantastic story of using a scroll he had found in another ziggurat dig, partying with the fey, finding himself suddenly on the moon, and being accused of a crime, for which he then had to defend himself in a trial by combat. He was paired off against a fairy with a large rack of antlers; Rock shot him and immediately won his freedom. He went back to partying and later awoke back in the forest, but his gun had turned into his now-famous solid-gold, diamond-encrusted piece. He mentioned that he had some more scrolls, but he couldn’t remember where he’d put them.

Rackus mused on the difference between fey laws and mortal laws. The Unseen Court said they thought he might be a criminal, so he shot a man who was trying to kill him, and that meant that he was free to go. Back in the “real” world, a man tried to kill him, Rock shot the man, and the mortal government said that he was a criminal and would have to be locked up. Rock seemed to like the Fey way better. The constables convinced Rock to make a concert tour of Danor, Drakr, and Crisillyir, which just happened to sync up with their own journey. They hoped he would provide enough of a distraction to throw off anyone looking for Risuri spies.

All the pieces seemed to be falling into place. In the last week of Autumn, the constables and their new ally Alienor set sail for Beaumont, on the west coast of Danor.

 

[RangerWickett]

Man, the number of parties that bring Rock Rackus with them on the train mission is hilarious. I think your group is the third.