ZEITGEIST Cypherblade's Zeitgeist campaign

Cypherblade

Explorer
Hey folks,
In a couple of months I will start with the Gears of Revolution AP for my roleplay group.
So I'm in the middle of preparations and thanks to a lot of people here, I found a huge amount of advice and material to augment the experience of my players.
Thank you all for this awesome content!

On one thing in chapter 12 'The Grinding Gears of Heaven' I didn't find a satisfactory answer on the boards. let me explain....

In Chapter 12 Part 1, the party crash lands on Av and while trying to save some fey, Av breaks apart, consumed by the grinding gears of the Gyre.
In Part 2 there is some reference to Av as being plane 53 on the map which sits all way back, farthest from the destruction of the cogwheels.

How do I have to understand this? Is this a fundamental flaw in the AP? Did I misread this? Or are the remnants of Av thrown across the Gyre and will they be processed again in some distant future?

Thanks for clarification.

Hope to keep you all posted on further developments in short notice.
 

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yet another session.

34 Spring​

Most of the money in the recovered ledgers originated in Danor and was funneled through Macbannin. It was an enormous sum. The factories mainly produced raw materials, including items that had at one point been stolen.

47 Spring​

A new Flint Observer:
  • The paper reports that King Aodhan is arriving in Flint for the Iron Rite. The Coaltongue is a powerful steamship, designed by Geoff Massarde. Fitzcairn Luckshore, a technician, claims the ship will sail swiftly with its screw propeller—up to 18 knots.
  • The editors note that the paper appeared earlier than usual due to the Rite.
  • The police have increased security around the royal shipyard and the plaza. The RHC is helping with these efforts.
  • The launch will be a grand gathering of dignitaries: the king, the duchess (his sister), Harkover Lee, all the mayors, major industrialists, and naval representatives. (The admiral will not attend—he is suffering from exhaustion.) Dale has not yet replied to his invitation. In the Nettles, underground troubles continue. The governor of Shale will not be present—she is anti-tech—nor will the liaison of the Unseen Court, who also refused. Lya Jierre, Danoran Minister of Foreign Affairs, will not attend either, fearing accusations of espionage from nationalist groups.
  • Rebel workers overturned chemicals during protests against the authorities. Two workers were killed. Police are searching for the organizers. Demands for higher wages, shorter hours, and better safety remain unanswered.
  • Climate researchers warn that excessive smoke could block sunlight and bring on long winters. The end of the world may be approaching.
  • A benefit concert at the opera house, supporting the orphanage (a treetop school at the edge of the Cloudwood), will take place on Spring 62.
  • The Fey Court is displeased with the construction of the Coaltongue, claiming it disrupts the natural balance. This worsens diplomatic relations with the Dreaming.
  • Saxby confirms that RHC agents involved in the Cauldron Hill investigation have been removed for being “too personally involved.” A new team of inspectors is on the case. We, of course, consider this nonsense.
  • Archaeologists in eastern Risur are excavating a step pyramid, believed to be linked to the Ancients, according to Professor Xandria Meredith from another university.
  • A golden artifact is on display at the Partright Museum.
  • Smuggling of residuum is on the rise, costing the government tax revenue.

Staf gathers information about Leone Quital. He is of Crisillyiri nobility, often abroad, and mostly involved in wine and cheese.

Felix has been plagued for several nights by the same recurring dream: he sees a purple banner, then a crowd of people, then a map of an unknown city. A girl with a cleft lip sings the Risuri national anthem. Finally, he sees a bed and a broken whistle. The images return each night.

49 Spring​

Today is the inauguration of the ship. We prepared a profile of groups that might cause trouble:
  • Dockers – city laborers, restless, colorfully dressed.
  • Primalists – followers of old druidic faiths, with wild hair and sandals.
  • Former allies of Gale – elves and half-elves.
  • War veterans – still hostile toward Danor; men in their late 20s or in their 50s–60s, often missing an eye or an arm.
The inauguration is held on an island, with 700 guests admitted by lottery in addition to the dignitaries.

In the afternoon, Harkover Lee has requested that we provide security aboard the ship. Before that, we check the crowd gathering at the plaza. We coordinate with the police. Guests will only be admitted in another hour or two, so we take time to observe the crowd:
  • Ayleen uses her bat to scout from above.
  • Sarïa listens for emotions.
  • Felix and Staf mingle through the people.
  • Kane moves alone among the crowd.
The dockers are well represented, as are veterans and a number of half-elves.
  • Ayleen spots purple banners tied to a tree. A man stands nearby, watching the bridge. The elf addresses him; she warns something may be about to happen, but he denies any knowledge. When Staf and Felix arrive, Staf grabs him by the collar and shackles him. Interrogated under magical suggestion, he admits he is waiting for his companions. They plan to strike the king—and the governor as well. He provides the names of his four friends and agrees to help identify them when they arrive.
  • Kane notices a docker studying a map of Seobriga, a city in Ber. The man pretends to be alone, but he is lying.
  • Sarïa hears singing: a girl with a cleft lip joins in the national anthem. Two tough-looking men nearby take offense at this. She follows them, sensing their tension.
When the crowd is admitted, we screen them. The two men Sarïa followed turn out to be companions of the arrested man and are detained. The docker Kane saw is also one of them. Later, Thames Grimsley pushes through the crowd, relieved that we intercepted the group. They had been planning something, he says. He mentions a missing fifth man and hands us a letter addressed to the governor. Ayleen insists on inspecting it first; it turns out to be a respectful plea for assistance. She reseals the envelope with mending.

Two guests never arrive, and the fifth companion remains missing.

We continue to monitor the crowd. The first carriage to arrive belongs to the RHC. De Stoof steps out in his finest suit. We are not to address the nobility directly—if anything goes wrong, it’s up to us to handle it quietly. De Stoof mingles with the nobles, charming them to raise funds (though really for Saxby).

Harkover Lee soon descends the gangplank. He reminds us that tonight we must keep watch aboard the ship, eyes and ears open. Not all guests are pleased with today’s proceedings.

Shortly after, Duchess Ethelyn of Slate arrives, accompanied by an elven lady-in-waiting. The duchess adheres to the old traditions and opposes technology. The ship will set sail after the christening, hosting the evening’s festivities.

The next half hour sees the arrival of about a hundred important guests. Geoff Massarde, the tiefling engineer behind the ship, is among them. He always has a glass of wine in hand, tapping it with his cane whenever he gets a refill.

At one point, the duchess and her elven lady approach us. She requests a cabin aboard the ship where she can rest during the event—understandable, given her age (nearly 80). From her body language, we sense her opposition to the vessel. She also mutters something about “infernal” to her attendant.

“Vive le roi!” The king arrives. The governor disembarks first—a deva, his skin greyish-blue. No attack from the missing fifth man.

The king performs the ritual to christen the ship, to the joy of the crowd. The dignitaries then board the vessel. Eight four-masted ships wait in the harbor to escort us. We cross the gangplank last.
 

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Steam Power !!
Stanfield will not be overly happy being bypassed by the players and receiving orders from the king to handle the situation with the Dockers.....

With a thick plume of black smoke, the Coaltongue departs. A dinner is planned on deck. One striking detail: there is also a glass dome greenhouse on the deck.

The tour begins.
  • The ship is mostly wooden, but reinforced with 5-inch armor plating.
  • It is a warship.
  • It is steam-powered—firegems are fed into boilers in the hold.
  • “Eighteen knots, sir—that’s very fast.”
  • On the foredeck stands an unprecedented cannon. It fires magical shells.
  • On the gundeck there are 23 cannons.
  • Besides the captain’s and ship mage’s quarters, there are guest cabins.
  • The glass dome is a condenser, storing magical energy in coils, which then power the great cannon.
  • Mages can draw upon the condenser’s energy in some manner.
During the tour, we ask Elian Holsbrook to prepare the mage’s cabin for the Duchess (the mage is not on board). The crew all carry sailors’ whistles, but Felix does not immediately recognize them as the one he saw in his vision. On the gundeck, small runes hang at the powder room door, meant to ward against fire or explosions.

We sail toward the islands off the coast, the escort ships staying nearby. At one point, Pemberton approaches Ayleen, draws a knife, and cuts a thread dangling from her sleeve. Ayleen thanks him politely and accepts the thread.

The king complains to Harkover Lee of stomach pain and indigestion, saying the Fey Court “sits heavy on his stomach.” Odd. During a magical scan, Ayleen notices a halfling waiter carrying something magical. It turns out to be a +1 dagger. The head waiter does not recognize him at all. The halfling tries to slip away, but Ayleen spots him heading below. Just then, Chief Delft arrives to say we should fetch the duchess, but we ignore him and give chase.

The halfling runs ahead, dashing for the Duchess’s cabin. Luckily, Staf is on guard there and immediately grapples the little intruder. The cabin door swings open and the elven maid bolts out, stepping away with Fey magic. The Duchess is gone! Ayleen rushes inside and spots her through the open porthole—standing behind a figure on the back of a massive fish, diving beneath the waves, wrapped in an air bubble!

At that moment, a tremor shakes the ship. The halfling tries to snatch the dagger back from Staf but fails. Felix pursues the maid, who seems to be running toward the boiler room. Ayleen races after her, finding two stokers lying on the floor, unconscious. The maid is not visible, but Ayleen hears her speaking to someone feverishly shoveling coal: “I’ll throw it in!”

Staf knocks the halfling unconscious. Felix catches up with Ayleen and sees the maid with two accomplices loading the boiler. He casts Suggestion on her, but it fails. Kane arrives and casts Hold Person—she freezes for only a couple of seconds. Felix hurls a Chromatic Orb, which ricochets three times and sears one of the henchmen. Ayleen dashes into the engine room, searching for a way to vent the boiler pressure. Meanwhile, the maid hurls herself at the boiler door, sealing it partly with a wand of rust.

Staf has a flash of inspiration—he uses the halfling’s body to smash down the second henchman. Strangely enough, it works. Felix’s wild magic surge summons a Flumph, which, after a quick consultation, slimes the maid in stinking muck. She lashes out at Felix with Scorching Ray, but misses due to the Flumph’s nauseating stench. Ayleen opens the steam release valve and wedges it open. Staf grapples the maid and drags her toward the coal bunker.

Kane rushes to find Harkover Lee, meeting Massarde, the ship’s engineer, on the way. Kane warns him the boiler is about to blow. Massarde sprints down with two mechanics. Ayleen discovers the system can divert energy into the condenser, instantly relieving much of the pressure. Massarde helps her channel the excess power into the coils. With a thunderous blast, the railgun discharges. Cheers and shouts of amazement erupt on deck above.

Harkover Lee arrives, reassuring us that if we hold the situation for another ten minutes, the elemental will fade on its own. The elemental, lurking in a corner of the boiler, does not appear aggressive. Lee suspects it is an Archfey who spirited away the Duchess. The two surviving captives are secured. The halfling, however, has died. The maid carried a wand capable of rusting metal.

Afterward, we attend the king’s speech. He speaks of peace with Danor, announcing his intent to marry a Danoran.

Next comes the interrogation of the maid. She refuses to say anything—not about herself, not about the halfling. Kane resorts to Speak with Dead on the infiltrator’s corpse. His name was Ilton, and his allies were, as we suspected, the Duchess and her handmaiden. Their plan was to detonate the boiler. He does not know where the Duchess has fled.

Then Stover approaches us: the king wishes to see us. We are led to a salon, where he thanks us warmly. He knows each of us by name—and even mentions Kane’s mother, to the inspector’s surprise. The king clearly has keen, perhaps magical, insight. He invites us to dine, wanting to hear the full account directly from us. We recount everything in detail. He promises us an additional reward. We also hand over the letter meant for the Governor; the king vows to take it up with Stansfield at once.

By midnight, it is finally time to rest.
 

Axis Island.

57th of Spring​

We receive word that we’re to pick up a chest aboard the Impossible — a gift from King Aodhan himself. Staf and Felix clash briefly over cultural etiquette regarding how and when to open royal gifts. Eventually, Staf lifts the lid. Inside, we find a suitcase, three small boxes, and one long case.

The first small box holds a pink stone — clearly magical. When Ayleen opens it, the gem begins to float and orbit around her head. Staf opens a box with a white pearl, but this one doesn’t levitate. The third box contains a pendant with a red gemstone shaped like a heart supported by two hands — a Periapt of Wound Closure.

The long case contains a wand etched with a small lightning bolt. At first we suspect it’s electrical in nature, but it turns out to be a Wand of Magic Missiles.

Finally, the suitcase itself unfolds — it’s magical too: a Portable Forge that halves crafting time once per day (the first four hours of work count double).

Distribution:
  • Forge → Ayleen
  • Pearl → Felix
  • Periapt → Staf
  • Wand → Kane
  • Ioun Stone → Sarïa

58th–60th of Spring

A new issue of the Flint Observer circulates, full of stories about the events aboard the Coaltongue.

61st of Spring

Stover comes to fetch Staf — he’s to represent the RHC at a meeting about railway transport. Once Staf leaves, Stover calls the rest of us into his office. Waiting there is a female tieflingLya Jierre, the Danoran Minister of Outsiders. She wields a rapier made of the same strange metal as the Doctor’s blade, designed to fight undead, but hers has an extra energy cell attached.

Before discussing business, she challenges us with a riddle, which we solve only by thinking in three dimensions instead of two.

Then Stover and Lya brief us: former Duchess Ethelyn has launched an attack on Axis Island, a Danoran island with a fortress, mines, and a smelter. She currently holds the island, and our task is to infiltrate and reclaim it. Though it’s Danoran territory, we’re granted three days of operational freedom.

A second RHC team from Slate will also participate — they’ll have command; we’ll provide support. Five Risuri ships are already en route, and we’ll be delivered by the Impossible.

Mission Objectives:
  • Liberate the sea fortress.
  • Open the sea gate.
    All this must be achieved before the Danoran Congress meets to discuss the incident — and potentially escalate it.
Supplies per agent:
  • 500 gp
  • 1 × Potion of Water Breathing
  • 2 × Potions of Greater Healing (4d4+4)
  • Scrolls: 4 × Faerie Fire, 2 × Silence, 2 × Passwall (usable by anyone)
    We are also loaned a Gem of Brightness (30 charges remaining).
When Staf returns, we brief him on the mission. He recounts his past experiences on Axis Island during the war — haunting tales. Navigation there is unreliable, the jungle is lethal, and part of the island lies within a Wild Magic Zone surrounding Danor.

That evening, we depart aboard the Impossible. The voyage will take two days. Conversations with the crew turn philosophical — about dwarven fatalism, and about Miller’s theory that conversation breeds mutual understanding and lasting peace.

63rd of Spring​


The Impossible hoists black sails and activates camouflage mode. In the distance, Staf notices light signals aimed our way — another ship approaches. It’s the other RHC squad:
  • Tania, half-elf druid with a wolf companion
  • Letmas, human wizard
  • “Seven-Foot Danny”, a towering fighter wielding a chain flail
  • Burton, goblin knife-thrower
We near a sea cave. Tania casts Water Breathing, and we walk across the seabed toward a tunnel entrance. The other squad enters first — but suddenly, we find ourselves in a desert beneath a purple sky, with yellow frogs hopping through the sand. Ten seconds later, we’re back underwater — but the tunnel entrance has collapsed, sealed by a massive boulder. Burton is trapped beneath it, his leg crushed. Staf manages to lift the rock enough for us to pull him free, but his leg is mangled. Sharks circle closer, and we decide to move on.

Further along, we find Letmas’s body (Felix takes some components), then the tunnel blocked by Seven-Foot Danny’s corpse. Beyond that, Tania lies dead as well. Rocks fell, party died.

We press on and emerge into a cavern with a dock. Ayleen climbs up first — but a gunshot rings out. She’s hit and tumbles dramatically back into the water.

A voice with a Danoran accent shouts:
“You’ve already killed my comrades — come to finish me off too?”
We climb onto the dock. Felix manages to persuade him that we’re on Lya Jierre’s orders to free the fort. An Earth Elemental materializes from the wall beside us, but the man calls it off.

Felix steps forward to explain the situation. The man — Nicolas Dupied — listens. He wears two medallions, allowing him to control an earth elemental and a shadow. He says he found them in a vault just two days ago. A third medallion hangs from a rock ledge above; Ayleen climbs up to retrieve it. It bears a pointed star among clouds and birds. These relics were discovered by archaeologists and stored for safekeeping.

Ayleen puts on the star-shaped medallion and focuses — she senses it could summon an air elemental, though further attunement is required. Since she’s already attuned to several items, Felix keeps the medallion for now.

We were given three days for the mission — 48 hours have already passed, and it will take two more to exit the cave and another twelve to reach the fort.

Outside the mine, we find the corpses of miners, slain by the trees of the forest.

We choose to cross the mountains. Along the way, we find more dead villagers, slain only days ago.

Ayleen sends Pipistrella ahead to scout. The bat spots firelight. Sarïa alone notices the shadows cast by a campfire. We approach cautiously. Ayleen sends Pipistrella again — she sees dozens of people sheltering in caves. Felix approaches alone and speaks to the refugees around the fire. They’re villagers, fleeing from the invading troops. They tell us the fort lies beyond the mountain pass.

As we continue, the world shifts again — a blue sun burns in a purple sky, yellow frogs croak in the swampy mire around us. Kane curses under his breath about his soaked feet.

At last, atop the ridge, we see it below:
The fortress — a five-pointed stronghold with a sea gate. Inside its walls stands another pentagonal inner fort, and at its center, a tower rises like a dark spear.
 

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