ZEITGEIST Adventure 3 - What did Caius keep in his journals?

[Nnesk]

My group did as half-expected, and when they met Caius for the first time in his inn, one of them sneaked away to check his room.

"If PCs manage to examine Bergeron’s room at the Silver Swan, it is as described in Act Two" - I went with that suggestion, but discovered that something important is missing. My PC managed to discover and break into the hidden compartment in the bottom of the trunk (He's an expert rouge tiefling with amazing rolls), and after all of this, he really should get something juicy - but in Act Two, it only says that Caius's personal journals used to be here, but it doesn't explain why, or what was in them. Are they to be taken by Xambria? I decided they're still there, then, and so now he has some journals in which Caius keeps his most secret info (probably).

What's in them? Because they're encoded, I can say it'll take lots of time to crack the code, so this can be something that the group should learn for the next adventure anyway. But more than that, I'm just wondering - what was he keeping journals about?

 

[RangerWickett]

He's writing a novel about an evil baker who uses oppressive zoning laws to disrupt the heroic efforts of a party of adventurers trying to save the world.

More seriously, he could have some info about other Risuri dig sites. Maybe some Ancient language and culture notes. And some notes about people he'd like to recruit or steer to be invited into another cell.

Also a lot of Sudoku.

 

[hirou]

Writing from memory here, so you should search for this in full AP, but I think Caius was overseeing dig sites not only in Risur, but also in the Methia region (Nem ziggurat) and somewhere in Crissilyir (Jiese). Rock Rackus was part of one expedition, as well as Rush/Merton dynamic duo, so you can foreshadow their involvement in adv.6 by including some stellar (or less than stellar in the case of Rock) reviews. Perhaps even hint at their abilities, e.g. "Day X, orc somehow stopped a raging stampede of axebeaks with nothing but his flute. Then he directed them at his companion, who beat each and every one into submission".

Note that he is more of a proper researcher than a member of a conspiracy. He seems to be genuinely interested in Ancient history, so you can speculate that his journals contain his drafts for scientific papers - about Ancients' magic, their culture, races of pre-Kelland Lanjyr (I wonder if he accepts the truth of prehistoric orcs dominion), perhaps theories about the cataclysmic event that shattered the Yerasol archipelago (although this may be close to spoilers).

 

[Nnesk]

This is all excellent, thank you!

 

[Andrew Moreton]

Lots of invective about how Rock is a total A-Hole with really annoying good luck. Anything you want the players to know about pre-history , the Orc(and in my campaign Goblin) world rule interested my players so something about that, you could include information about the attacks from other dimensions but emphasise the demons and devils no details on the mind controlling aliens like Seijin. Hints about them planning to seal off the world from other dimensions using the Ziggurats maybe but nothing about Axis Island and its importance or the ability to change the planar links.
A comparitive criticism of the quality of baked goods in the various towns and cities he has visited