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Gears of Revolution: Notes on my campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Colmarr" data-source="post: 5754593" data-attributes="member: 59182"><p><strong>Session 9</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Session Recap:</span></p><p> </p><p>Upon arrival at headquarters, Erik went to speak about Heward Sechim with Ziggy in administration, an old contact of his who had access to the RHC’s archives. Ziggy knew of Sechim as an industrialist and was happy to help, disappearing into the record stacks for a few minutes before returning empty-handed. Neither Sechim nor his factory had previously attracted the RHC’s attention. When Erik mentioned the bail ticket they had found on Nilasa, Ziggy advised that the RHC did not have access to the Flint police’s records. RT3 would need to visit the issuing station in Parity Lake.</p><p> </p><p>RT3 travelled to Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings, only to discover the street filled with women protesting the imprisonment of their husbands, sons and brothers by their industrialist masters. When Tok questioned one of the protesters in the guise of a young woman, he learned that the men had been locked in the factories as a response to docker campaigns for improved wages and working conditions. The factory owners, led by Mr Dupont, were refusing to release the workers until someone came to replace them.</p><p> </p><p>The doors to Sechim’s factory were not locked, and there was no crowd of woman protesting outside. RT3 were shown into the factory by the guards stationed on the front door, and met personally with Heward. Although initially disappointed that the industrialist was not the goateed man who had taken Nilasa’s bundle, Sechim nevertheless proved to be a font of information.</p><p> </p><p>Nilasa had been one of Heward’s first workers, and he was distressed (but not surprised) to hear of her passing. A week earlier, Heward’s skyseer uncle Nevard had told him that “an adopted daughter would blindly ride the wind to her demise”.</p><p> </p><p>Heward had done his best to protect Nilasa from the ‘wrong crowd’ with which he knew she associated, but he had also given the half-elf her privacy. He knew her boyfriend Braden by description, and that Nilasa had been enthralled by the activities of the eladrin terrorist Gale, but he knew little else about her. He asked RT3 to find her killer.</p><p> </p><p>When they agreed, he asked them for another favour; to visit his uncle Nevard in the Cloudwood. Heward hoped that Nevard might serve as a facilitator for a meeting between Gale and the authorities, and might therefore prevent further people dying. RT3 again agreed and Nevard gave them directions on how to reach Nevard’s henge. Then he bid them good day.</p><p> </p><p>As RT3 left Sechim’s factory, the guards out front queried whether ‘the boss’ had spoken to them about ‘the guys who smelled like burnt grease’. Realising that the industrialist had left something out, RT3 returning inside. Heward admitted that he had been approached recently by two men who had asked him to sell them universal solvent off the record. When he refused, the men had grown angry and made heavy allusions to the fires that had been striking the warehouses around Parity Lake. They left, saying they’d be back, but Sechim hadn’t heard from them again.</p><p> </p><p>RT3 then split up. Wilheim and Tok headed to the Thinking Man’s Tavern to investigate its connection to Nilasa and Braden. Erik and Cassi headed to Parity Lake police station to investigate Nilasa’s arrest. Thornt returned to the Danoran consulate, intending to stakeout the entrance until Braden emerged and then follow the young man home.</p><p> </p><p>Erik and Cassi reached their destination first, and were shown in to see Sergeant Belastair. The policeman seemed more helpful now that he was back in his office, and happily fetched Nilasa’s file. The half-elf had a significant juvenile record that had been expunged under Stanfield’s Matriculation Act of 328, and her subsequent recorded history was slight. The file did however name two known accomplices, Ford Sorghum and Travis Starter, who had pleaded guilty to various warrants and were held in Goodson’s Estuarial Reformatory. </p><p> </p><p>Erik quizzed the officer on his men's response to the factory owners locking in their workers. Sergeant Belastair shrugged non-committally and said only that it was a matter for the workers and their bosses; clearly they hadn't checked their work contracts well enough.</p><p> </p><p>As Erik and Cassi prepared to leave, Belastair proudly told the constables that his men had also tracked down a carriage driver whose vehicle had been hired by a blood-covered man with a goatee. Belastair had directed the man to RHC headquarters. Keen to follow this new lead, Erik and Cassi went to meet Thornt and the three of them set off across town.</p><p> </p><p>Tok and Wilheim found the Thinking Man’s Tavern crowded with patrons but dominated by two distinct groups; a dozen minstrels and musicians known as The Band, and a cluster of professional scholars. As they entered, a tremor shook the room, causing a small panic and distracting attention from their arrival. Wilheim’s keen eyes picked out Thames Grimley sitting alone in the darkened corner of the bar, but Tok instead moved to speak to the old woman who acted as the tavern’s hostess. Barb took an instant liking to the disguised changeling. She was devastated by news of Nilasa’s death, and informed Tok that Nilasa had had dealings with both of the main groups that frequented the tavern. </p><p> </p><p>While Tok comforted Barb and escorted her home, Wilheim attempted to maintain a low profile at the bar. Unfortunately, a scholar named Hennet spotted him and somehow made him out as a constable. He challenged the deva to a philosophical debate about the rights of authority to enforce its will, and Wilheim promptly responded by hand-cuffing the man and leading him back to RHC headquarters. The Band followed behind, loudly singing songs about repression and heavy-handed authority and drawing a crowd of onlookers.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, Erik, Cassi and Thornt had arrived at RHC headquarters to find carriage driver Jack Byron impatiently waiting for them. Byron told the investigators that he had collected a goateed man with bloody hands from an alley near the consulate that morning, and had taken him to a hostel named the House of Blue Birds. The man, dressed in respectable clothes, had been carrying a bundle that the carriage driver opined were surgical tools. After dropping the passenger off at the hostel, Jack had waited half an hour for his fare to be paid, then left disappointed and returned to his pickup point. He had discovered the Flint Police in the area and told them his tale.</p><p> </p><p>Erik thanked the carriage driver for the new information. “Let me know if you get my fare, won’t you?” Jack asked as he left.</p><p> </p><p><span style="color: darkorange">Commentary:</span></p><p> </p><p>This sessions marked two in a row that contained no combat - or confrontation - at all. It went surprisingly well, and I don't think anyone really missed the combat. </p><p> </p><p>I did fall foul of a split party though. When Wilheim and Tok headed to the Thinking Man's Tavern, I paid that portion of the investigation far more attention that I payed to Erik, Cassi and Thornt. That's somewhat due to the in-game time those three spent travelling to various destinations (I wanted to remain chronological), but also heavily due to how much fun the tavern can be from a roleplaying point of view. </p><p> </p><p>Either way, be careful to not leave players with nothing to do. I'm going to use a 5-minute timer in future to make sure the scene spotlight doesn't stay too stationary.</p><p> </p><p>The player who ended up handling the tavern scene was the one least inclined to engage with the tavern's patrons on their level. His response (handcuffs and a dubious assertion that being tapped on the shoulder constitutes assault) didn't go down well with the bards and his heavy-handed response will no doubt cause trouble if Docker/Flint support is needed in future.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Colmarr, post: 5754593, member: 59182"] [b]Session 9[/b] [COLOR=darkorange]Session Recap:[/COLOR] Upon arrival at headquarters, Erik went to speak about Heward Sechim with Ziggy in administration, an old contact of his who had access to the RHC’s archives. Ziggy knew of Sechim as an industrialist and was happy to help, disappearing into the record stacks for a few minutes before returning empty-handed. Neither Sechim nor his factory had previously attracted the RHC’s attention. When Erik mentioned the bail ticket they had found on Nilasa, Ziggy advised that the RHC did not have access to the Flint police’s records. RT3 would need to visit the issuing station in Parity Lake. RT3 travelled to Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings, only to discover the street filled with women protesting the imprisonment of their husbands, sons and brothers by their industrialist masters. When Tok questioned one of the protesters in the guise of a young woman, he learned that the men had been locked in the factories as a response to docker campaigns for improved wages and working conditions. The factory owners, led by Mr Dupont, were refusing to release the workers until someone came to replace them. The doors to Sechim’s factory were not locked, and there was no crowd of woman protesting outside. RT3 were shown into the factory by the guards stationed on the front door, and met personally with Heward. Although initially disappointed that the industrialist was not the goateed man who had taken Nilasa’s bundle, Sechim nevertheless proved to be a font of information. Nilasa had been one of Heward’s first workers, and he was distressed (but not surprised) to hear of her passing. A week earlier, Heward’s skyseer uncle Nevard had told him that “an adopted daughter would blindly ride the wind to her demise”. Heward had done his best to protect Nilasa from the ‘wrong crowd’ with which he knew she associated, but he had also given the half-elf her privacy. He knew her boyfriend Braden by description, and that Nilasa had been enthralled by the activities of the eladrin terrorist Gale, but he knew little else about her. He asked RT3 to find her killer. When they agreed, he asked them for another favour; to visit his uncle Nevard in the Cloudwood. Heward hoped that Nevard might serve as a facilitator for a meeting between Gale and the authorities, and might therefore prevent further people dying. RT3 again agreed and Nevard gave them directions on how to reach Nevard’s henge. Then he bid them good day. As RT3 left Sechim’s factory, the guards out front queried whether ‘the boss’ had spoken to them about ‘the guys who smelled like burnt grease’. Realising that the industrialist had left something out, RT3 returning inside. Heward admitted that he had been approached recently by two men who had asked him to sell them universal solvent off the record. When he refused, the men had grown angry and made heavy allusions to the fires that had been striking the warehouses around Parity Lake. They left, saying they’d be back, but Sechim hadn’t heard from them again. RT3 then split up. Wilheim and Tok headed to the Thinking Man’s Tavern to investigate its connection to Nilasa and Braden. Erik and Cassi headed to Parity Lake police station to investigate Nilasa’s arrest. Thornt returned to the Danoran consulate, intending to stakeout the entrance until Braden emerged and then follow the young man home. Erik and Cassi reached their destination first, and were shown in to see Sergeant Belastair. The policeman seemed more helpful now that he was back in his office, and happily fetched Nilasa’s file. The half-elf had a significant juvenile record that had been expunged under Stanfield’s Matriculation Act of 328, and her subsequent recorded history was slight. The file did however name two known accomplices, Ford Sorghum and Travis Starter, who had pleaded guilty to various warrants and were held in Goodson’s Estuarial Reformatory. Erik quizzed the officer on his men's response to the factory owners locking in their workers. Sergeant Belastair shrugged non-committally and said only that it was a matter for the workers and their bosses; clearly they hadn't checked their work contracts well enough. As Erik and Cassi prepared to leave, Belastair proudly told the constables that his men had also tracked down a carriage driver whose vehicle had been hired by a blood-covered man with a goatee. Belastair had directed the man to RHC headquarters. Keen to follow this new lead, Erik and Cassi went to meet Thornt and the three of them set off across town. Tok and Wilheim found the Thinking Man’s Tavern crowded with patrons but dominated by two distinct groups; a dozen minstrels and musicians known as The Band, and a cluster of professional scholars. As they entered, a tremor shook the room, causing a small panic and distracting attention from their arrival. Wilheim’s keen eyes picked out Thames Grimley sitting alone in the darkened corner of the bar, but Tok instead moved to speak to the old woman who acted as the tavern’s hostess. Barb took an instant liking to the disguised changeling. She was devastated by news of Nilasa’s death, and informed Tok that Nilasa had had dealings with both of the main groups that frequented the tavern. While Tok comforted Barb and escorted her home, Wilheim attempted to maintain a low profile at the bar. Unfortunately, a scholar named Hennet spotted him and somehow made him out as a constable. He challenged the deva to a philosophical debate about the rights of authority to enforce its will, and Wilheim promptly responded by hand-cuffing the man and leading him back to RHC headquarters. The Band followed behind, loudly singing songs about repression and heavy-handed authority and drawing a crowd of onlookers. Meanwhile, Erik, Cassi and Thornt had arrived at RHC headquarters to find carriage driver Jack Byron impatiently waiting for them. Byron told the investigators that he had collected a goateed man with bloody hands from an alley near the consulate that morning, and had taken him to a hostel named the House of Blue Birds. The man, dressed in respectable clothes, had been carrying a bundle that the carriage driver opined were surgical tools. After dropping the passenger off at the hostel, Jack had waited half an hour for his fare to be paid, then left disappointed and returned to his pickup point. He had discovered the Flint Police in the area and told them his tale. Erik thanked the carriage driver for the new information. “Let me know if you get my fare, won’t you?” Jack asked as he left. [COLOR=darkorange]Commentary:[/COLOR] This sessions marked two in a row that contained no combat - or confrontation - at all. It went surprisingly well, and I don't think anyone really missed the combat. I did fall foul of a split party though. When Wilheim and Tok headed to the Thinking Man's Tavern, I paid that portion of the investigation far more attention that I payed to Erik, Cassi and Thornt. That's somewhat due to the in-game time those three spent travelling to various destinations (I wanted to remain chronological), but also heavily due to how much fun the tavern can be from a roleplaying point of view. Either way, be careful to not leave players with nothing to do. I'm going to use a 5-minute timer in future to make sure the scene spotlight doesn't stay too stationary. The player who ended up handling the tavern scene was the one least inclined to engage with the tavern's patrons on their level. His response (handcuffs and a dubious assertion that being tapped on the shoulder constitutes assault) didn't go down well with the bards and his heavy-handed response will no doubt cause trouble if Docker/Flint support is needed in future. [/QUOTE]
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