Tracking Trains
Originally posted by Isklexi on Saturday, 25th June, 2016, 08:35 PM
The constables ran into problems the moment they came into the harbor. Drakran customs officials demanded to search their ship and held them for questioning over their business in Drakr. After an hour or so of arguing and threats of impounding their ship, the constables decided the best way to deal with corrupt officials was to simply bribe them. A few minutes of haggling later, the constables left the customs office with somewhat lighter purses. However, the party didn’t travel very far along the docks before trouble found them.
The constables were discussing their next move in Drakr when they came under fire. Half a dozen riflemen scattered across the docks began firing on the party as six other cloaked assailants closed in, throwing black orbs that exploded in cloying darkness. Doran and Maddox also spotted two snipers on nearby rooftops. The docks erupted in panic as civilians fled the hail of bullets and the constables took cover behind abandoned merchant stalls. Irony quickly realized that the cantankerous customs officials hadn’t just been shaking them down for a bribe; they’d been stalling the party for an ambush!
Doran used the power of his Icon of Avilona to leap atop the nearby buildings and engage a sniper at close range, negating the advantage of his rifle. Maddox and Bellicose returned fire on the shooters along the docks while Rai and Kirk moved to battle the assassins with the blinding grenades. Irony provided tactical support and healing to every constable as called for. The riflemen on the docks were quickly mowed down and Maddox used his grapple beam to attack the second sniper along the rooftops. It took a scant few minutes to turn the tides on their ambushers. Unfortunately, it left the Drakran docks and nearby merchant stalls in smoldering ruins with alarms sounding through the city. Drakran police aren’t known for their restraint or for being particularly reasonable.
| GM: | This encounter is the repercussion for their contact with Nicodemus in between adventures. He knew they would be coming for Leone eventually and put contingencies in place to ambush them when they started following Leone. This encounter was almost three times larger than the normal ambush encounter outlined in the adventure. The players had their entire day’s worth of combat resources to pull on, so they weren’t really in danger of a TPK, but it certainly put them on the defensive early in the fight. |
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The constables had little time to decide what course of action to take when a large figure called out to them from a nearby alley. The party was surprised to find an impeccably dressed Minotaur waiting for them in the alley. He claimed to be a friend to Asteron and Shakul and urged the constables to follow him. The party decided to take their chances with him rather than wait around for angry Dwarven law enforcement. As the Minotaur lead them on a circuitous route through the tunnels beneath Trekhom, he introduced himself as Dieter Cadagyr, a Minotaur noble visiting Drakr to negotiate trade on behalf of his family. Irony wasn’t as familiar with Beran politics as she was Risuri, but she did recognize Cadagyr as the ruling family of the third Minotaur city-state, Ursaliña. Dieter led them to an inn in one of the underground Dwarven districts. Dieter’s family had rented all of the rooms in the inn out, so Dieter offered the constables some of the rooms not currently used by him or his entourage.
When questioned about how Dieter knew who they were, he explained that Asteron and Shakul had told him stories about the Risuri constables, and he couldn’t imagine that there were too many people in the world that matched their descriptions and ended up in massive firefights in broad daylight. Dieter went on to explain that Shakul had actually traveled with him on the first half of his trade expedition but had stayed in Crisillyir to wait for the constables. Shakul hadn’t told Dieter how he knew the constables would be heading there, but he’ll probably be annoyed when they don’t show up. Irony used a sending ritual to contact Shakul to confirm Dieter’s story. Shakul replied that Dieter was who he said he was and that it would take him several days to meet them in Drakr. The constables decided to head to Mirsk, the last known location of Leone from Irony’s divination, after the excitement in Trekhom died down and start investigating their quarry’s whereabouts.
| GM: | In the original campaign story, Dieter isn’t introduced until adventure 11, but a confluence of player choices and my own tweaking of the campaign made this a good opportunity to introduce him ahead of schedule. I’d planned for Shakul to help the party in Crisillyir as El Extrano’s chief intel officer, but they skipped over Crisillyir and went straight for Drakr. I didn’t want them to be without the support of Ber’s spy network in case they made poor choices or the dice turned against them during the investigation, so I needed a way to bring Shakul to them that made sense. I had already retooled the Minotaur’s in Zeitgeist to primarily come from 3 city-states including Ursaliña (which wasn’t originally fleshed out in the earlier material). With Ursaliña actually playing a role in adventure 11, I’ll need to swap out the primary species present from Orc to Minotaur including the Cadagyr family. Dieter made the perfect choice for bringing Shakul back into the adventure because it would make sense for him to know Shakul and introducing his character earlier would help build a connection between the players and Ursaliña for when it comes into play in adventure 11. |
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Irony and Rai used their magical disguises to ask around the city while the constables prepared to leave for Mirsk. By questioning officials at the rail office, they learned that Leone had purchased and modified two private passenger rail cars. The cars had been equipped with sturdier undercarriages for increased load and the windows along the left side of each car were sealed shut with steel sheets. Since the private rooms were situated along the left side of the rail cars, the party surmised the steel sheets were to deter prying eyes on their private quarters. The constables left by train the next morning, thanking Dieter for his help and wishing him luck with trade negotiations. He in turn thanked them for livening up an otherwise boring trip, but he couldn’t offer them much more in the way of help (something about being allergic to mortal danger).
The party arrived in Mirsk without incident and rendezvoused with their RHC contact in the city. John Salt was the name of their contact. John is an undercover spy that works as an accountant for a mining company in Drakr. He helps monitor shipments of metal ore and goods through Mirsk for the Risuri government. He was a bit flustered to be hosting one of the RHC’s most famous Special Forces units. John got the constables set up in a basement safe house near his apartment. The party started their investigation with a barrage of questions for John. He was able to tell them that modified private train cars aren’t that uncommon in Mirsk. Wealthy Dwarven oligarchs periodically visit Mirsk to keep an eye on their interests in the crucial industrial city. As a manufacturing hub in the heart of Drakr, Mirsk also has rail lines extending to practically every corner of the frigid country. This made the constables’ job much more complicated. Doran was able to question some of the workers at the rail yard and learned that the workers had seen cars modified like Leone’s several times. The cars were always transferred to different trains and left immediately after maintenance unless they arrived late at night and then spent the night in the rail yard before departing first thing in the morning. The cars also left for a different destination each time they passed through the city. Investigation in town revealed that there were periodic sightings of the courier from Irony’s divination but no one had ever seen anyone matching Leone’s description. The constables concluded that Leone likely never left his private train cars and stayed on the move as much as possible.
| GM: | My players wanted to know if there were any RHC agents in Drakr they could make contact with (like Joe Hobner in Crisillyir). I thought it was reasonable for Risur to have at least a few spies in every major country. Of course, John isn’t a James Bond kind of agent like the party. He’s the more boring real life kind of spy that spends his days pretending to be an accountant while spying on foreign military industrial complexes. |
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Without any better options, the constables opted to stay in Mirsk and monitor all the trains coming into Mirsk. This required the party to split up and watch each of the train tracks leading into the city. Fortune smiled on the constables because that very evening a pair of cars matching Leone’s pulled into the Mirsk rail yard to spend the night. The two cars were pulled aside and attached to an engine car facing a line exiting the city. The constables could see that there were several human guards staying on and around the cars. With the train prepped for a quick escape, the constables decided that stealth would be paramount in their assault on Leone’s train.
| GM: | I’d actually made a table to roll on for what city Leone’s train was in. I’d planned on rolling it twice a day (once for a midday stopover and once for where he was spending the night). As it turns out, Fortuna smiled on them and they got the second roll to come up Mirsk. Granted, Mirsk had the highest chance of coming up because the adventure mentioned he passed through there the most. Oh well, the dice are capricious masters, and I’m sure the players won’t be this lucky every time. |
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The constables gathered at the rail yard and decided to wait until midnight to make their move. The party decided that, after the next guard change, the stealthiest members would move in to eliminate the guards outside the train (Kirk, Maddox, & Bellicose). Between silenced pistols and Kirk’s rapier, they were able to take down the outside guards without raising an alarm. The constables reconvened outside the train and cautiously peered in the windows on the right side of the train to scout. The right side of the train consisted of the hall that ran the length of each car. They were able to carefully plan coordinated strikes to quietly eliminate the guards in the halls. At one point, Irony even used her magic to teleport Kirk inside one of the cars behind a guard. The first car contained two large storage rooms. Inside the storage rooms, the constables found two dormant Bleak Golems. Fortunately, the constables had taken down all the guards before they had a chance to activate the golems. The party decided they couldn’t just leave these dangerous weapons here and Irony performed a teleportation ritual to send each of them to Flint. The second car had more living spaces in it, including Leone’s room. When the constables crept into Leone’s bedroom, they found him hunched over at a desk, reading letters by feeble candlelight. Noting his almost drunken swaying, Kirk called to him in a whisper, asking if it was Grappa. As it turns out, Grappa was indeed in control, being able to do so whenever Leone fell asleep.
| GM: | The players opted for a more Splinter Cell approach rather than their typical guns blazing MO. They rolled well on their stealth checks and had good plans for it. I can only imagine the amount of paperwork they generate for Stover Delft with all the crazy things they teleport back to Flint. Given the size of the golems, Irony actually had to perform the ritual twice, drawing the magic circle around each golem rather than trying to push them through a portal. They also waited until midnight to even begin their assault, so it made sense for Leone to be asleep at the time. I didn’t feel too bad about skipping a climactic battle because they’d already had a fairly tough ambush in Trekhom. |
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In a stammering voice, Grappa outlined his plan. During his work for the Ob, Grappa learned of a secret research facility in northern Drakr. The research site was located in the ancient Demonocracy fortress city of Knütpara. More importantly, one of the city’s original residents still lived there, an ancient frost giant lich. The lich had apparently been destroyed during the Clergy’s siege of the city centuries ago, but his phylactery hadn’t been destroyed with him at the time. The lich was able to reform its body, but by the time it did, a glacier had swallowed the city’s ruins, and the lich was entombed in the ice. Knütpara had been a terrifying place, home to all manner of profane experiments carried out by the demons and their servants. Grappa was keenly interested in one specific innovation that came from the terrible city, the ability to rip out a person’s soul and replace it with another. The Demon Lords had used this ritual as a way to reward their favored servants with a form of immortality but also to infiltrate their enemies. Grappa had used a sending spell to make a deal with the trapped lich. In exchange for freedom, he would teach Grappa the ritual. This would allow Grappa to take over Leone’s body permanently and give the constables the perfect way to infiltrate the Ob’s convocation. The constables readily agreed, causing Grappa to stop short after launching into an obviously well rehearsed argument. The constables then handcuffed Grappa (in Leone’s body), relieved him of Leone’s magical items, and had him climb into the Absurdist Web, that they had received from Copperhat the Headless, for safekeeping. They then vacated the rail yard and began preparing for the trek north.
| GM: | The players have just started exploring the ruins. I'll try to finish catching up the thread soon. |
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