Redbadge's Campaign (there will be spoilers)

[Isklexi]

Our group finished the first Dying Skyseer session this weekend. This session was purely RP and skill oriented; the party didn't engage in any combat encounters.

The constables went to investigate the death at the consulate by carriage. There they split into two teams: one to stay outside and question bystanders, and the other to investigate inside the consulate itself. Both teams collected witness testimony and regrouped to compare stories before examining physical evidence. They quickly discovered discrepancies between the stories of outside witnesses and the consulate staff.

From the odd behavior of some of the guards, the constables investigated the "breakfast" that the victim had brought and discovered them laced with fey pepper. The team collected some of the tainted chocolates for further analysis later.

Upon examining the corpse, the party discovered that the angle of the bullet wounds corroborated the story that the victim had been shot after she was impaled on the fence. They also discovered a mostly empty vial of an elixir of invisibility and that some kind of facial wound had been healed to hide it.

Upstairs the team uncovered a strange blood spatter on the floor that could only be caused by a slashing weapon; security chief Lebrix insisted it must have come from the broken glass of the window. The party was unconvinced.

Stymied by the consulate's stonewalling and diplomatic immunity, the group decided to split up and pursue what leads they had.

Bellicose and Doran went to the Bosum Stand docks near the canal. They were following up on a deed of ownership found the the alleyway near the consulate. After questioning some sailors, this appeared to be a dead end; the only thing the sailors had to report was the occasional piece of missing cargo.

Kirk hitched a ride with the police coroner to ask the police for any information on Nilasa. While the police in North Shore compiled the information, he left to pursue an other lead. Kirk returned to his apartments in the central district to speak with his landlady, Widow Rinsin. Ms Rinsin has a side business as a drug dealer for the Family and has a taste for her wares. After "analyzing" one of the chocolates, the widow informed Kirk that the drugs probably came from somewhere in Pine Island.

Meanwhile, Irony and Rai went to investigate the House of Blue Birds hostel on a tip from an angry carriage driver. The hotel staff allowed them to see the doctor's room but dropped a shocking piece of information: a policeman had been by already! The alleged officer had turned the suspect's room upside down. The only evidence they retrieved was from a cleaning maid who had picked up a dirty rag before the policeman had arrived. Irony quickly detected the faint necrotic magic emanating from the strange black fluid on the rag. The concierge also mentioned offhand that he had heard the doctor had some business at the Danoran consulate. With nothing left here, they decided to head over to the North Shore police department to ask about an officer Porter. The news was grim; they had no record of an officer Porter. The two were able to pick up the file on Nilasa Hume that Kirk had requested earlier that day.

The party regrouped in Bosum Strand to track down the residence of the Consulate's on site healer. Initially Bartide Jannis stuck to the consulate's official story, but after some persuasion, he admitted to concealing Nilasa's facial wounds. A few more questions revealed that Bartide knew nothing about what had happened.

The constables were left with more questions than answers. What had Nilasa been after? Was the mysterious doctor an accomplice? What had maimed the woman's face; an assailant with clawed gauntlets or maybe a monster of some kind? Who is the mysterious officer Porter? What secrets are the Danoran diplomats and chief Lebrix hiding?

The constables had covered a lot of ground by splitting up, but there is only one or two hours of daylight left. Perhaps they will follow up at the consulate to question the one person there who sees everyone coming and going, secretary Tia Jedeau.

 

[Isklexi]

Whew, with the college semester and a bunch of projects finishing up, I completely forgot to update this thread. Unfortunately, my memory of some of the past sessions is a little fuzzy at this point, so I'll just stick to highlights I remember.

With the party still split, half the party investigated the Waryeye Apothecary in Pine island. The constables accepted Danisca's offer of drinks, giving her the chance to chug a potion of glibness. Danisca completely pulled the wool over their eyes and they left none the wiser. As fortune would have it, the constables will be visiting the Waryeye's again thanks to a tip about smuggling from the convicts in the Goodson Estuarial Reformatory.

The constables also contacted Dr. Kindleton. They first went to her office above the butcher shop, but she had already left for the morgue with her class. Kirk (the party thief) broke into her office through an outside window and found a letter to her from Dr. Recklinghausen. Once they caught up with Dr. Kindleton they see through her poor bluff skill and use the letter back at RHC headquarters as leverage to get her to confess. She agrees to arrange a meeting with Wolfgang but insisted on seeing him alone. After some arguing, the team convince her to allow Irony (Female Eladrin Bard) to accompany her on the trip.

The biggest highlight was the trip up Cauldron Hill with Nevard. The midnight fracas grew quite desperate at times, but the constables were able to successfully fend off the frightful spirits. It helped that they had set up a false camp complete with campfire and its own (much smaller) ring of goats blood; this made the start of the fight a little easier as many of the spirits had to take several turns to get to the constables once the fight broke out.

After Cauldron Hill, the constables rushed to the factory district to foil the arson plot backed by a full squad of Risuri soldiers. The dramatic fight involved exploding carts of fire dust, knocking over water towers, and spilling into the alleyways. The fight concluded with Bellicose (Tiefling Gunsmith) having to choose between pursuing the badly wounded Valando and Eberardo or pulling his dying squad leader Kirk (Human Yearosal Vet) out of a fire (everyone else was trapped on the other side of the flaming wall). Bellicose saved Kirk and the arsonist brothers escaped.

Operating at the bare minimum rest at odd hours, the RHC constables have managed to cover a lot of ground quickly. Danger has become prevalent, and the party won't be able to risk splitting up for much longer.

For other DMs: I strongly suggest you encourage players to follow one investigation thread at a time. With the party splitting up and following whatever leads they found, I had a very tough time keeping track of everything. It also made preparing sessions very difficult, and I spent a lot of time flipping pages (I printed out the adventure). This also lead to an unfortunate confluence of events: during our games next day the players have appointments with Gale, Wolfgang, smugglers, and Nevard's speech. The party is pretty tough though, and I'm interested to see how they'll handle the pressure.

 

[RangerWickett]

Uff da. That's a busy day.

Cool to see heroic tieflings putting fire resistance to good use.

Thanks as always for posting this. I wonder which of the groups are going to finish up Dying Skyseer first.

(But, y'know, focus on college first. Good luck!)

 

[gideonpepys]

For other DMs: I strongly suggest you encourage players to follow one investigation thread at a time.

I respectfully disagree, because I think the very 'confluence' you refer to is part of the fun of the adventure, although you are right to warn other DMs about the sheer complexity of running a complex multi-thread adventure.

I drew out a kind of flow chart on a single side of A4 (with the body at the consulate at the centre), sketched out a rough timeline - which I alter after every session - and read the adventure several time. It was still a head**** keeping track of it all, but very rewarding.

My players are in exactly the same predicament. Next session they will be trapped in the Church on the same day they're supposed to protect Nevard at Dawn Square, and meet Morgan Cippiano. But it's fun watching them sweat!

 

[Isklexi]

Oh it certainly makes for interesting tension. It's just a lot of work with this being my first real attempt at DMing a campaign.

Technically my first attempt at DMing was in 3.5, but it went down in flames after one session with such quotable soundbites as "but according to the players guide hay has negligible weight" and "you're character is an elf they're good with magic you heal him".

PS I hope everyone had a great winter vacation

 

[gideonpepys]

Yes, Zeitgeist is fairly complex, and a tough call for a novice DM. Good luck, and thanks for posting.

 

[Isklexi]

Last weekend we had to cut our session short after just one encounter; one of the players was feeling sick and had to leave.

The constables performed a sting operation on the Waryeyes' businesses. After realizing he'd been duped, Kirk, the ranking officer on the team, wasn't willing to give the gnomes a chance to escape. Rai and Irony, the constables who weren't present on the original visit, went into the apothecary to confront Danisca. Kirk kept watch over the entrance to Blander's studio while Doran and Bellicose guarded the alley between the buildings.

When confronted, Danisca tried to feign ignorance, but the constables already knew she was guilty and demanded she come with them. Danisca lured Rai and Irony to her lab, claiming she needed to tend to her alchemical devices before leaving. Once there, Danisca snatched a gas mask off a table and set off the dreaming dust trap. Both Irony and Rai shrugged off the effects off the gas and attempted to subdue Danisca. The culprit turned invisible and fled through the back door into the alley.

Danisca took advantage of her temporary invisibility to charm doran. Blander, alerted by his wife's empathic alert, burst into the alley from his studio to help his wife. The fight broke out in force in the alley. Bellicose used slowing and immobilizing powers to keep the gnomes from fleeing.

Upon hearing gunshots, Kirk rushed into the studio. As he dashed through the stage area, He inadvertently set off the pyrotechnics there. Thinking quickly, he jumped up on stage and dived behind the velvet curtain. Kirk's triumph was short lived when he found that he had tumbled into the midst of Blander's badgers. The badgers had been following their master into the alley before being distracted by Kirk's intrusion.

Meanwhile in the alley, the apothecary guards joined the fracas after having to run around the building to avoid the dreaming dust trap. The alley brawl was short but fierce. Kirk managed to subdue the badgers after their initial assault bloodied him. The rest of the team was able to keep the Waryeyes trapped in the alley long enough to subdue them and their guards.

Next session, the constables will interrogate the gnomes to find the location of the smuggling deal.

One minor issue I noted during play, the badgers' diehard ability is pretty much a non-issue. The ability states that they have to be dealt at least 5 damage in a single attack to kill them outright, but any level one PC with an 18 in their primary ability score can do that with a roll of 1 on their damage die. The ability may as well not be there. The ability should be buffed to let them absorb more damage (maybe boost it up to 7-9). It still wouldn't affect actual strikers, but it would make the badgers better at harassing leaders or absorbing area or burst attacks.

 

[Isklexi]

The constables interrogated the gnomes and discovered the location and time of the smuggling deal. After requesting aid from the local police for tomorrow night, the constables retired for the evening.

The following day was busy indeed. The party set out in the early morning to meet Gale. As the sun rose over the waterfall, Gale recounted her experience in the bleak gate and gave the constables a ritual and a magical orb of wind to contact her with. Irony surprised the rest of the team when she gave Gale a strange mirror from her the Unseen Court.

The constables rushed back to town to investigate the strange rumors in Bosum Strand that Doran had heard about in a tavern. Using the new ritual, they quickly located a strangely tainted warehouse. Kirk and Bellicose climbed through a second story window to gain access to the warehouse's catwalk. They spotted several men destroying documents under the watchful gaze of a large golem. After watching for a few rounds, They decided to take action. Bellicose crippled three of the technicians in a surprise opening volley. Upon hearing gunshots, the rest of the constables rushed in through the front door.

The golem engaged the officers on the ground floor. Kirk jumped down from the catwalk to land unceremoniously amidst the conspirators. He recovered his footing quickly and with Bellicose's help subdued the technicians while the golem was occupied with the other constables. The party regrouped and unloaded all they had on the golem.

I was once again caught off guard by the amount of burst damage the party could pull off in a nova round. The golem only got to have 3 or 4 turns to act. Their nova backfired a little, because it led to the golem having two unspent action points on its last turn. The golem's final barrage of attacks was enough to land a lucky blow on Kirk and slay him (the thief does a lot of damage but certainly has a glass jaw going from 4 HP to dead in one hit).

Reluctantly Irony called Calaphax. Cal offered to revive the dead commanding officer in exchange for one of the party's remaining wishes, or if they sacrificed their prisoners to him. Shrewd as ever, Irony used the threat of having their souls devoured to quickly get the technicians to spill their guts. The group was unsettled to learn that Mayor Reed MacBannin was behind this strange experiment. Irony then used her wish to revive Kirk after asking Calaphax if he knew anything about the strange oil in the golem.

Calaphax informed her that it was a necromantic oil extracted from the bleak gate. He revealed the oil's dangerous ability to absorb the souls of the recently dead to create a convenient fuel source. Calaphax also revealed that the original technique for generating the oil was developed by the infernal overlords of the Demonocracy millennia ago to power their profane rituals as well as a convenient food supply.

I took the liberty of giving witch oil a history going back to the demonocracy, because it sounded like a good fit. If that tidbit of info ends up not syncing well with the actual story, I can just blame it on an unreliable narrator (he is a devil after all).

The constables marched their prisoners back to RHC HQ only to have them suddenly disappear as they approached the building. Flustered by this turn of events most of the party returned to the warehouse to investigate further. Irony had to split from the party to provide Dr Lynn with her promised escort. At the warehouse, Rai studied the remains of the golem and iron ring carefully and discovered that the technicians had probably traveled from the bleak gate using the golem and the ring. Once the spell's power faded, the technicians had been pulled back through to the other side.

Irony escorted Dr Lynn into the nettles with her guide. Near Parity Lake, the guide betrayed them with an ambush. After a short but tense fight with the three thugs, Irony was able to defeat them. After a brief interrogation, Irony learned that the thugs had been working for the crime lord Lorcan Kell. Irony and Dr Lynn had to flee back to the city proper empty handed.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had to provide security for Nevard's rally. Kirk received a mysterious letter from a street urchin asking him to stop his investigation on patriotic grounds. With little time to prepare, the team took up positions on stage with Nevard while Kirk did a quick sweep of the crowd. Kirk discovered the old rusting ring in the fountain; remembering the ring the technicians used, he broke it with the butt of his pistol, earning him angry glares from nearby rally goers (the noise made it hard to hear the speech).

Nevard had barely begun his speech when disguised skeletons unloaded rusted iron rings from two wagons and called forth terribly mutilated jaguars. Bellicose quickly dispatched one group of skeletons with a hail of bullets while Doran and Kirk engaged their jaguar. Rai moved to intercept the other group. Doran broke the iron ring, and with Kirk's help killed the jaguar. The team was unable to break the other ring before three more jaguars joined the fray. Without Irony to heal them, the battle was tense but ultimately ended in the constables' favor. Nevard was unhurt thanks in part to the willing sacrifice of some of his attendants that formed a human shield to protect him. Nevard imparted his vision to the party, and they left to prepare to foil a smuggling ring.

The party regrouped at RHC HQ and debriefed Delft on the day's events. Delft was not pleased with their accusations against MacBannin. He insisted the constables find hard evidence of Reed's involvement before he would get them a warrant.

 

[Isklexi]

The constables came up with a pretty clever plan to take out the smugglers. In exchange for parole and dropped charges, the party convinced Danisca Waryeye to help them with their sting operation. With the help of a small police squad, the constables took out the Family thugs at the docks and stole their boat. Taking Danisca with them, they rendezvoused with the smuggler ship and had Danisca distract the captain and crew by starting the trade. Meanwhile, Rai, Kirk, and Doran snuck around to the back side of the smuggler ship using a water walking ritual cast by Irony. They climbed up the far side of the ship and took the distracted crew completely by surprise. Some of the smugglers attempted to fight back using the wands, but the fight went downhill for them very fast (their captain went down in the first couple of rounds from focused fire).

The next day, the team set out to find crime boss Lorcan Kell and ascertain the whereabouts of Dr Wolfgang. They knew that Kell based his operation out of an old theater near Parity Lake (Irony had interrogated the attempted kidnappers that were after Dr Kindleton). They didn't know the exact location of the building, so they began to search the area. It wasn't long before they witnessed a robbery in the streets. Kirk, Bellicose, and Doran chased after the thieves while Rai and Irony stayed to talk to the weeping woman. Irony quickly discovered that the robbery was a ruse, and Rufus Hammerton came out to speak with them. Rufus' friendly tone quickly chilled after Rai stabbed his leather ball (the bouncing annoyed him). Bellicose rejoined Irony and Rai just in time to be escorted by a sizable group of thugs to the theater (Bellicose had fallen behind the faster Doran and Kirk). Doran and Kirk had come to the theater and decided to check out the building before following the thieves inside. Once Rufus and the rest of the party showed up, they had little choice but to enter the theatre under guard.

Kell greeted the constables "warmly" and offered entertainment while they negotiated for the location of the doctor. As a docker, Doran was not pleased by the choice of entertainment. Kell attempted to extort the party for an exorbitant 1000 gold. Irony was considering paying up when Rai decided to take his own swing at a counter offer. Rai offered to put Kell in contact with Callaphax. Cal showed up but remained invisible during the conversation (something to do with a theater full of gun toting brigands). Kel was skeptical of a disembodied voice and demanded they prove that an actual devil was present by having him possess someone. No one privy to the conversation was willing to play host, but Cal offered an alternative; he can possess a corpse instead. Kell had his men bring up the poor docker from the stage whereupon he immediately stabbed the man through his left eye with a 5 inch long dagger (again Doran was less than pleased). Kell's amusement at calling the party's "bluff" quickly sobered when the dead man got up off the floor and began negotiating. Seizing the opportunity for supernatural power, Kell gave the PCs Wolgang's location, and they left to find the doctor while Cal stayed to negotiate with the crime lord.

The constables arrived at the abandoned church and searched it a little before confronting Wolfgang (Kell's thugs handed over the place so there was no resistance). Kirk found the latrine and immediately pulled aside the tapestry to reveal the hidden passage behind it (he then made use of the bucket). It didn't take long for Wolfgang to realize his guards had abandoned him and confront the party. He quickly backed down after realizing how outnumbered he was. The constables showed their badges to prove they were with the RHC. Wolfgang told them what he had discovered in the documents and where to find them. When the group tried to leave they were ambushed by the shadow man and a group of assassins.

The party quickly caught on to the ambusher's light snuffing tactics and threw a sunrod to the far back of the room out of the nethermancers' range. With at least partial lighting restored, the constables closed rank on the ambushers and began eliminating them quickly. The shadow man fought the party well, but he was quickly surrounded and outnumbered. With the threat isolated, Irony told Wolfgang to head to the latrine since the church's door was barred. Confused, Wolfgang asked why he was heading to the latrine. Caught up in the heat of battle, Kirk shouted out that there was a secret passage in there. Upon hearing this, the shadow man immediately used his phasing to withdraw from combat and warn the ambushers outside.

The party moved to the entrance and spotted Leone Quital. Leone claimed he wanted to talk. He demanded they hand over the doctor and his documents. Irony attempted to distract Leone while the others made it through the latrine tunnel. Unfortunately, squeezing through the tunnel was slow going and Leone's scouts returned with the location of the tunnels exit before they could make it through. Leone sealed the latrine tunnel exit with more iron bars. Irony continued to use her diplomatic skills in an attempt to stall the ambushers while the rest of the constables frantically searched the church for another way out. The party found the bricked up chimney and managed to escape before the first hour was up.

Our sessions have been a little sporadic lately for various reasons, so I haven't updated this thread in a while. One thing i noted from these sessions is that my group continually surprises me with how well they can coordinate and plan their efforts. I'm thinking of making some of the scenarios harder to challenge them more, but I don't want to overwhelm them (I'm afraid my inexperience with DMing will make it difficult to tell).
The party also keeps throwing me some curve balls. When Rai called up Cal during the negotiations, it made sense in the context of Kell's character for him to leap at the chance for that kind of power, but I don't want the party to get off scott free from that. When the constables have to take out Kell and his followers in a later adventure, I'll probably make the encounters more difficult. In the short term the gang wars are going to get very ugly much faster than normal.
I also didn't expect Kirk to spontaneously pull aside the tapestry and find the hidden passage before any combat at all had occurred. I felt that would drain all the suspense out of the confrontation with Leone, so I used Wolfgang's confusion to draw the info out of the party during combat so the enemy could overhear it. I think that worked pretty well to heighten the tension during the following encounter by denying their original escape route.

 

[RangerWickett]

Nicely done.

Except for the poor docker, though.