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[Zeitgeist] Chronicles of Unit 42
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<blockquote data-quote="d2OKC" data-source="post: 6079130" data-attributes="member: 97351"><p>So.</p><p></p><p>Here are the highlights from yesterday.</p><p></p><p>After capturing Kaja Stewart and her mechanical bodyguard, the heroes of Unit 42 were requested to a crime scene by the agents who took over their old case. They found the body of an old man, whose head was bashed in and the remnants of some sort of mechanical creature. Through some extremely high skill checks (something that would become a theme for the evening) they determined that someone had moved human consciousness into the mechanical creature before it had been destroyed. Reginald Battersea, the artificer, remembered a ritual that would allow you to see the last moments of a creature, if you had access to its head. So, he cast the ritual on the mechanical head to see what he would see [his arcana check allowed him to see the two rounds before the creature was destroyed].</p><p></p><p>The first round he was actually looking through the eyes of the dead man, not the golem. Someone was above the man, pouring a vial of witchoil into his mouth while he used all of his concentration to cast some sort of spell. The second round, he was suddenly in the head of the golem, which moved over to the other two and bashed in the head of the victim before the other man turned around, revealed himself to be Leone Quital, reached out to the golem, and suddenly his vision ended.</p><p></p><p>This was pretty terrifying to the players, and their characters. I knew I was giving away a bit more than I should at this point, but the effect was good (and, the player's rolls were great), so I let it all happen. I like to say yes to my players whenever possible... what can I say?</p><p></p><p>After the vision, they found the scrap of eladrin dress, and immediately decided to go visit their friend Morgan Cippiano, which is great. They are starting to really enjoy talking with him, and it will be really interesting to hear them explain their relationship with him to the Viscount.</p><p></p><p>He explained how rare this fabric was, and asked if he could keep it, which they allowed. He also explained that Quital's family was famous mostly for their vineyards, but at this point I wasn't sure exactly how much information Morgan would have of Quital, so I left it there. He hinted he'd be asking for a favor from the constables in the near future, and they made it clear they wouldn't break the law for him, and he suggested he might be able to find out some of their friend Lorcan Kell's dealings, which was definitely something they'd be interested in stopping.</p><p></p><p>Finally, they made their way to the museum to speak with Prof Hans Weber. They had already turned over the artifacts to the university, so he was more than willing to speak with them. He told them of Xambria, and something about her benefactor, and set up a meeting with the archaeologist.</p><p></p><p>They made their way to her place, and she was eager to speak with them. She told her side of the story, and asked if they would please visit the ziggurat and learn what happened to her team. They were hesitant to make any promises, but said they would speak with their supervisor. They asked very few questions from her, so they did not receive a lot of information before heading out - they still don't quite have the hang of this whole investigation thing, and I suppose they never quite will.</p><p></p><p>The trek through the High Bayou was taxing on them, but they made it eventually, and without any real incident, though Victor Bays, the wizard, lost four healing surges during the trip. They quickly surveyed the campsite outside the Ziggurat, and decided quicker was better than thorough, especially when the Ziggurat affected Reginald and Gareth Carter, the swordmage, with Distant Madness.</p><p></p><p>Once inside, they investigated the initial room a bit, but never decided to really look over the mummies. They chose to turn left, instead of right, which was disappointing for me, because I knew that meant they would be missing the Rainbow Room puzzle, which I spent a bit of time preparing for. I may have the Voice of Rot send them back in so they can solve it and learn how to defeat the thoughtform creatures...</p><p></p><p>Xambria's warnings of traps had a definite effect on them, however, and they proceeded extremely cautiously. Casimiro del Garra, the monk/shaman, has a passive perception of 22, which means he spotted the spear traps without even trying, and they were able to bypass those rather quickly. They also devised a system to break the spears when they shot out so they wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. So, that was interesting.</p><p></p><p>They quickly figured out how to deactivate the fire traps, but the earth trap was trickier, and they decided to bypass that passageway completely. Instead, they made their way into the larger room with the symbol of the moon. Gareth approached slowly (I decided the monsters wouldn't attack until the floor started to open - which was probably a mistake, but oh well). He never made it halfway across the room, so he never triggered the trap. In fact, Victor rolled a 30(!) on his religion check, and specifically asked what kinds of things were associated with the moon that they might place on the symbol, and with such a roll and such a good question, I have them several things to try, and they went so far as to search the swamps outside for flowers. I gave it to them, for the lucky rolls alone. So far they hadn't triggered any traps!</p><p></p><p>They made their way around to the room with the welcome mat. They had grabbed the ten-foot pole earlier and were carrying it around with them, which turned out to be a godsend for them. Reginald used it to drag one of the corpses from the room back into the hallway, which meant it was pulled right over the welcome mat, exposing the symbol of Nen underneath. They couldn't, however, figure out what to do with this one, and finally made their way into the room to inspect it.</p><p></p><p>Here they put most of the pieces together. The tieflings had tried to move this seal, and something had gotten loose. They were a bit flummoxed about their next step, and so they decided to head on to the next room. When they stepped outside, Casimiro's good ears heard the sound of water running and a torrent poured forth from a room down the hall. The body Reginald had dragged out a few minutes earlier snapped to life, and they knew they needed to get out, quick.</p><p></p><p>That's where we ended things for the night.</p><p></p><p>A few things:</p><p></p><p>- What does Morgan know about Quital?</p><p></p><p>- They chose to go to the Ziggurat before approaching Caius, hoping more information would help their case against him... oops.</p><p></p><p>- They really, really, really want to take it to Lorcan. They discussed for almost 30 minutes whether they were strong enough to do so, before deciding they were not. If he gives them any provocation at all, I'm afraid they're going to run into a buzzsaw.</p><p></p><p>- They had both extraordinary luck, and a lot of caution, and got through the east side of the Ziggurat pretty much unscathed. They were pretty clever, actually, and lashed everburning torches to the Jierre symbols so they never reset. However, they're about to have to make their way back out. How does that work for the traps? What if they get stuck in the sliding floor room while they run out? Does it still trigger? </p><p></p><p>- I'm pretty sure they won't make it back out of the Ziggurat alive. But, I'm pretty excited to see how it goes!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="d2OKC, post: 6079130, member: 97351"] So. Here are the highlights from yesterday. After capturing Kaja Stewart and her mechanical bodyguard, the heroes of Unit 42 were requested to a crime scene by the agents who took over their old case. They found the body of an old man, whose head was bashed in and the remnants of some sort of mechanical creature. Through some extremely high skill checks (something that would become a theme for the evening) they determined that someone had moved human consciousness into the mechanical creature before it had been destroyed. Reginald Battersea, the artificer, remembered a ritual that would allow you to see the last moments of a creature, if you had access to its head. So, he cast the ritual on the mechanical head to see what he would see [his arcana check allowed him to see the two rounds before the creature was destroyed]. The first round he was actually looking through the eyes of the dead man, not the golem. Someone was above the man, pouring a vial of witchoil into his mouth while he used all of his concentration to cast some sort of spell. The second round, he was suddenly in the head of the golem, which moved over to the other two and bashed in the head of the victim before the other man turned around, revealed himself to be Leone Quital, reached out to the golem, and suddenly his vision ended. This was pretty terrifying to the players, and their characters. I knew I was giving away a bit more than I should at this point, but the effect was good (and, the player's rolls were great), so I let it all happen. I like to say yes to my players whenever possible... what can I say? After the vision, they found the scrap of eladrin dress, and immediately decided to go visit their friend Morgan Cippiano, which is great. They are starting to really enjoy talking with him, and it will be really interesting to hear them explain their relationship with him to the Viscount. He explained how rare this fabric was, and asked if he could keep it, which they allowed. He also explained that Quital's family was famous mostly for their vineyards, but at this point I wasn't sure exactly how much information Morgan would have of Quital, so I left it there. He hinted he'd be asking for a favor from the constables in the near future, and they made it clear they wouldn't break the law for him, and he suggested he might be able to find out some of their friend Lorcan Kell's dealings, which was definitely something they'd be interested in stopping. Finally, they made their way to the museum to speak with Prof Hans Weber. They had already turned over the artifacts to the university, so he was more than willing to speak with them. He told them of Xambria, and something about her benefactor, and set up a meeting with the archaeologist. They made their way to her place, and she was eager to speak with them. She told her side of the story, and asked if they would please visit the ziggurat and learn what happened to her team. They were hesitant to make any promises, but said they would speak with their supervisor. They asked very few questions from her, so they did not receive a lot of information before heading out - they still don't quite have the hang of this whole investigation thing, and I suppose they never quite will. The trek through the High Bayou was taxing on them, but they made it eventually, and without any real incident, though Victor Bays, the wizard, lost four healing surges during the trip. They quickly surveyed the campsite outside the Ziggurat, and decided quicker was better than thorough, especially when the Ziggurat affected Reginald and Gareth Carter, the swordmage, with Distant Madness. Once inside, they investigated the initial room a bit, but never decided to really look over the mummies. They chose to turn left, instead of right, which was disappointing for me, because I knew that meant they would be missing the Rainbow Room puzzle, which I spent a bit of time preparing for. I may have the Voice of Rot send them back in so they can solve it and learn how to defeat the thoughtform creatures... Xambria's warnings of traps had a definite effect on them, however, and they proceeded extremely cautiously. Casimiro del Garra, the monk/shaman, has a passive perception of 22, which means he spotted the spear traps without even trying, and they were able to bypass those rather quickly. They also devised a system to break the spears when they shot out so they wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. So, that was interesting. They quickly figured out how to deactivate the fire traps, but the earth trap was trickier, and they decided to bypass that passageway completely. Instead, they made their way into the larger room with the symbol of the moon. Gareth approached slowly (I decided the monsters wouldn't attack until the floor started to open - which was probably a mistake, but oh well). He never made it halfway across the room, so he never triggered the trap. In fact, Victor rolled a 30(!) on his religion check, and specifically asked what kinds of things were associated with the moon that they might place on the symbol, and with such a roll and such a good question, I have them several things to try, and they went so far as to search the swamps outside for flowers. I gave it to them, for the lucky rolls alone. So far they hadn't triggered any traps! They made their way around to the room with the welcome mat. They had grabbed the ten-foot pole earlier and were carrying it around with them, which turned out to be a godsend for them. Reginald used it to drag one of the corpses from the room back into the hallway, which meant it was pulled right over the welcome mat, exposing the symbol of Nen underneath. They couldn't, however, figure out what to do with this one, and finally made their way into the room to inspect it. Here they put most of the pieces together. The tieflings had tried to move this seal, and something had gotten loose. They were a bit flummoxed about their next step, and so they decided to head on to the next room. When they stepped outside, Casimiro's good ears heard the sound of water running and a torrent poured forth from a room down the hall. The body Reginald had dragged out a few minutes earlier snapped to life, and they knew they needed to get out, quick. That's where we ended things for the night. A few things: - What does Morgan know about Quital? - They chose to go to the Ziggurat before approaching Caius, hoping more information would help their case against him... oops. - They really, really, really want to take it to Lorcan. They discussed for almost 30 minutes whether they were strong enough to do so, before deciding they were not. If he gives them any provocation at all, I'm afraid they're going to run into a buzzsaw. - They had both extraordinary luck, and a lot of caution, and got through the east side of the Ziggurat pretty much unscathed. They were pretty clever, actually, and lashed everburning torches to the Jierre symbols so they never reset. However, they're about to have to make their way back out. How does that work for the traps? What if they get stuck in the sliding floor room while they run out? Does it still trigger? - I'm pretty sure they won't make it back out of the Ziggurat alive. But, I'm pretty excited to see how it goes! [/QUOTE]
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