Against the Aberrancy
Agents of the Aberrancy sets the players as agents of a centaur resistance against the horrific conquering task-masters of the sprawling Aberrancy. It features formidable and cunning foes, fanatic loyalty, dangerous wilds, bleak slave camps, stealth, covert rescues, brutal choices between the good and the necessary, noble sacrifices, dangerous infiltrations, daring thefts, ancient artifacts, hasty escapes, running battles and deadly combats, petty politics and desperate alliances, gruesome executions, and an epic final battle.
It can be played in any game system in a Medieval to Renaissance/steam punk era setting.
Back Story
The Hundred Peoples, the Centaur tribes of the Megali Pediada grasslands, long lived wild and free with their gods of freedom and sky, hunting and racing all across the broad plains. Then came the ever-expanding empire of the Aberrancy, a twisted race from a dark plane where all was owned by the Prime Horrors and every job and bit of land leased out at their whim. When rumors arrived of the Aberrancy's spread, of their single-minded harvests of any valuable resource found, of their unnatural methods of taking what was wild and pure and creating walled, rigid prisons to grow and reap plants and animals – these were heard by the Centaurs, but so foreign and distasteful were these ideas that the whole concept was discarded as myth and fear-mongering.
They came on giant carriages of iron chained to the earth with spike and beam – a novel and risque form of transportation championed by Harvester Caeneus and regarded as ridiculous, impractical, and gauche by the conservative Aberrancy elites. A twisted creature riding a fearsome multi-legged mount of horror and metal and sinew, Caeneus had arrived to pursue the Knight-Harvester role granted to him by the newly-titled Duke of Mountebank, Lord of the Savage Plains. His stolen artifact armor, Ablative Balm has had no small part in his obtaining the position.
Caeneus arrived and called for a meeting with all the leaders among the Hundred Peoples. When they arrived, hesitant to enter Caeneus' mobile fortress of high walls and straight edges, he cajoled them with promises of peace and trust, the ancient magics of his powerful artifact scale mail Ablative Balm armoring them against their doubts. When they entered, they were penned in and slaughtered, only the young shaman Kentauros escaped to warn his people against Caeneus' treachery.
Despite his warnings, the Hundred Peoples – bereft of their greatest leaders – were quickly conquered by Caeneus' Paladins of the Pyre, his Iron Trains with their cannon-armed Siege Cars, and their centaur-unassailable mobile wooden towers. Before long, the remnants of the Hundred People were compelled to settle in a dozen Granges, walled estates whose entrapping walls and boundaries were inimical to the nomadic centaurs. Worse, each had a Soylent Plant into which centaurs were regularly herded and from which none ever returned.
Kentauros managed to organize a loose rebellion with himself and his few young disciples at the nucleus as the last Shaman of the Blue Sky. They have formed an secret network that smuggles centaurs out of the Granges beneath the walls – though the price of being caught is gruesome: Caeneus has them taken to the top of what was once called Grove Crag, a cliff face with a small clump of trees atop it, have a limb tied to a tree and are cast off the cliff, separating the limb from the rest of the body, which then plummets to the rocks below. The limb and its rope are left there as a grisly reminder. Due to its new appearance, it is now most commonly called 'O Nine Tails and is located in the heart of Birkau Grange.
Those few Free Peoples who still roam are scattered and demoralized and, unless Kentauros can find some way to unify them and depose Caeneus.
The Hook
The group could have several means of entering the situation:
• They are already members of the resistance to the Aberrancy from elsewhere that have been dispatched to aid the nascent rebellion in the so-called 'Savage Plains'.
• They are approached/hired by Free Peoples agents to meet with Kentauros.
• They are given a work lease by the Duke of Mountebank to work as consultants to Caeneus while actually following secret orders to depose him by any means since the Duke sees Caeneus as a threat – his remarkable successes in his current Knight-Harvester position might result in him being offered the Duke's lease at the next Aberrancy Cabinet. Even aiding and abetting the centaurs is not outside their job description if it has results.
The Free Peoples
Regardless of how they have entered the situation, the group will be approached by Kentauros. Kentauros is a noble and charismatic centaur with an incredibly loyal circle of young disciples who practically worship him, most noticeably an intelligent Eyrie Hawk named Sacree that has not yet gone through her adult molting. Eyrie Hawks old enough to leave the nest but not yet molted are sent out into the world to learn of the world before returning to adult Eyrie society and so stumbled upon Kentauros. She is one of their most powerful secret weapons, both as an aerial spy and unobtrusive lookout during rescue operations.
Roleplaying Kentauros: Kentauros smiles often despite the grimness of circumstances. He is straight-forward and honest and not without a (sometimes grim) sense of humor. He never belittles or speaks poorly of any centaur no matter how much he disagrees with them, reserving all his hatred for the Aberrancy. His eyes flare with anger and his voice becomes harsh whenever he speaks of them.
Kentauros fills the party in on what has happened, with special distaste for the nearly-blasphemous concepts of walls and ownership of land and animals and people, railing on them as blasphemous to their gods of Wind and Sky. He also reveals the scattered and divided state of the Free Peoples, who fall into one of several disunited factions:
• The Reclaimers – led by Kentauros, the Reclaimers seek some way to overthrow Caeneus, establish a united centaur government, and fight any further Aberrancy intrusions to the Megali Pediada.
• The Emancipators – led by an old female centaur named Apodrasi, the Emancipators seek to free as many centaurs as possible from the camps, but have little further ambition.
• The Exodi – led by a male centaur maimed while being tortured in one of the Granges named Treximo, this group believes the centaurs should flee the Megali Pediada and seek a new life in some distant land.
• The Survivors – led by a hardy female centaur named Zo, these centaurs concern themselves with little but trying to survive in the mountains, forests, and badlands where the Free Peoples roam who have little thought beyond just continued survival.
• The Remnants – this group makes up the majority of the Free Peoples. It has no leaders, instead those that are to sick, weak, starved. and/or despairing to do much of anything, many barely even taking care of themselves and putting great strain especially on the Survivors who struggle to provide for them.
Kentauros has tried repeatedly to bring the others around to his cause, but while he is the most known, respected, and even revered individual in the Free Peoples as well as their spiritual leader, the leaders of the other factions are increasingly fixed in their ways and the Remnants are to broken to be stirred into any action more significant than moving camp to avoid Aberrancy patrols. He does have a plan, but needs some outsiders who can pose as Aberrancy agents to succeed. If the group is more mercenary, he promises them their picks of Caeneus' armory and treasury should the plan succeed in addition to a small cobbled-together payment up front.
The Plan
The plan has several steps:
1) Free a centaur thief named Kleftis from the Aushwin Grange. Through contact with Sacree, Kentauros has recently learned that Kleftis has seen and can forge Aberrancy documents that could give plausibility if they were trying to bluff their way into Caeneus' operation. He has also revealed the special powers the armor, Ablative Balm, that Caedeus wears is said to posses.
2) Infiltrate Caeneus' headquarters in the mobile fortress Rustmourn. This would require non-centaurs with forged Aberrancy warrants and job-leases who can pass as Aberrancy agents.
3) Steal Ablative Balm from Caeneus. This task will be difficult as he rarely leaves the safety of his headquarters and the only time he has been spotted not wearing the armor is within his fortified, high-walled track-mobile fortress Rustmourn, currently sitting in the heart of Birkau Grange. Whoever steals it must be in Caeneus' good graces enough to be allowed into the fortress when Caeneus has his guard down. They will have to escape Rustmourn on their own, but can be smuggled out of Birkau Grange in the Resistance's tunnels.
4) Unify the Centaurs. Use the powers of Ablative Balm to bring accord to the centaur leaders, unify them behind a common goal, and armor them with courage enough to fight back.
5) Surrender Kentauros to Caeneus. The only time Caeneus leaves his fortress is to witness executions, placing bets as to how many times a victim will need to be thrown over before their limbs tear away, and giving them a last desperate chance to beg for their lives (which he never grants). Since Caeneus will likely be alarmed once Ablative Balm has been stolen, Kentauros is the only centaur that he is sure Caeneus will leave Rustmourn to see executed.
6) Attack 'O Nine Tails during Kentauros' execution to kill Caeneus. Even with the centaurs united, this will be a jeopardous gamble as they are weak from starvation, skirmishes with Caeneus' Paladins, and Caeneus' repeated purges of the strongest and most outspoken in the Granges from where the Free Peoples draw many of their number. They will face Caeneus' heavily-armored Paladins and their horrific mounts, a pair watch towers, and a guard of regular (mostly-humanoid) Aberrancy troopers.
1) Kleftis Contingency
Assuming the group agrees to help, they will be sent with a small group of Kentauros' disciples including Sacree to rescue Kleftis as well as to get a glimpse of Aberrancy procedure, organization, and tactics.
Roleplaying Sacree: Sacree has a screechy voice and, when landed, tends to hop from foot to foot when she gets excited. Once in a while she breaks off into a sudden bout of preening, complaining of “molt soon”. She constantly refers to Kentauros, using awed and reverent tones (as reverent as a hawk can sound anyway) as all the other disciples do.
The trip takes a few weeks, which can include any of the following Megali Pediada encounters if desired:
• Crossing a railroad track after watching one of the Iron Trains pass, belching acrid smoke. Amid the over-packed cattle cars full of centaurs and flatbeds packed with crates and barrels are a few step-pyramid-like Siege Cars with numerous cannons.
• If a more dangerous encounter is desired, the train could be broken down and they have to bypass it's mile-long length while avoiding patrols, the desire to rescue the centaurs inside – packed so close that the dead among them cannot even fall – and the like.
• Hunt down a great beast for food as the centaurs once did across the plains.
• Fend off one of the predators that hunts the same beasts and has picked the group as an easy meal.
• Be ambushed by Aberrancy Scouts, including a Paladin if desired.
• Have an opportunity to ambush the same, potentially rescuing the Free centaurs they are escorting back for execution.
• Seek shelter from and/or avoid dust or lightning storms, prairie fires, and/or blizzards (depending on season).
• Encounter travelers, merchants, and/or diplomats passing through on their way to or from the Aberrancy.
• Meet refugees fleeing from the last land the Aberrancy conquered.
Fights with Aberrancy troops: Whenever facing Aberrancy troops they tend to have the following tactics. Most are humanoid with a scattering of normal humans and non-humanoids:
• Aberrancy regular agents, officials, and bureaucrats are armed mostly for show and will flee to and hide behind the nearest regular troops.
• Aberrancy Scouts are lightly armed and armored, often with fast mounts. They will flee for reinforcements or perform fast hit-and-run attacks if forced to fight.
• Aberrancy Troopers are usually disciplined and moderately armed and armored. The smaller, more compact Troopers form shield walls in combat with taller musketeers (replace muskets with crossbowmen whenever mentioned if it doesn't click with your campaign) firing over their heads
• Paladins of the Pyre are berserkers. They are gigantic humanoid monstrosities of translucent, bulging skin containing living fire wielding massive Blood Iron weapons and plated armor riding multi-legged beasts akin to plate-barded centipedes or the like into combat. When wounded, some of the living fire gouts out, burning anyone nearby and, causing their form to diminish slightly. Their armor is designed for this and the overlapping plates collapse inward as the Paladins grow smaller, making the armor even more densely layered and harder to penetrate. They are fearless and terrifying, their bodies exploding in a blast of shrapnel and green fire if they are killed.
• All Aberrancy soldiers use Blood Iron weapons and musket balls/crossbow bolts. Wounds inflicted by these weapons almost always get infected. Mechanically, this can halve or negate magical healing, inflict diseases, slow normal healing, or some combination of these effects.
Once at Aushwin Grange, getting in first involves stealth to approach the walls, avoid patrols of Aberrancy troopers and the occasional horror-borne Paladin. Once they locate one of the hidden tunnel entrances, they pass through a long tunnel into the Grange, there to meet with a centaur agent on the inside who will lead them to Kleftis.
Once inside they might have any or all of the following Grange encounters. For most, Sacree urges them to not intervene as they might “save one to lose all”.
• Aberrancy troopers or agents whipping or beating centaurs.
• Emaciated, hollow-looking centaurs watching them pass with exhausted disinterest.
• A strong wind blowing smoke from the heavy smoke-stacks of the attached Soylent Plant, with its stink of burning flesh.
• Centaurs struggling weakly as they are dragged towards said Plant.
• Troopers laughing and gambling in walled compounds scattered throughout the Grange, often with broken centaur slaves attending them.
• A centaur informer hurrying towards the nearest Aberrancy compound to rat them out.
• Dead centaurs left to rot in fields or ditches.
• Meager farms outside crudely-built centaur stables. Sacree informs them the Centaurs have never been farmers and take to it poorly, unlike the massive mechanized farms beyond the Grange where Caeneus uses them as slave labor.
When they reach the ramshackle stable where Kleftis resides, he has changed his mind about escaping at the last moment as he fears the risks of escaping and the horrible death that will follow. While he is sure he can forge the documents, if he is given the details of the plan, he likely considers it too difficult to pull off and is sure it will fail. The players can convince him, but will require good rolls and/or good role-playing to get him to acquiesce.
Roleplaying Kleftis: Kleftis is a coward, but also hates the Aberrancy. He is jumpy, his tail flicking non-stop, and his eyes dart around at the smallest sound or movement.
If desired to spice up the encounter, any of the following Kleftis encounters might occur:
• An Aberrancy agent might arrive on inspection who must be killed, captured, or hidden from.
• Other centaurs arrive at Kleftis' house to find the group there. Kleftis whispers in the ear of one of the players that one of the centaurs informs to the Aberrancy in exchange for extra rations and will surely do so if he is allowed to leave.
• Kleftis demands they prove themselves first by stealing something from one of the Compounds, killing a member of the Aberrancy, or sneaking inside the Soylent Plant to discover what happens to the Centaurs who disappear within.
When they finally convince him, they must lead him to the tunnel and get him to freedom. For more flavor, any of the following Kleftis escape encounters or unused Grange encounters (above) might occur on the way:
• A stop to steal proper papers, inks, stamps, and waxes and/or actual warrants/leases from a compound or the Grange Main Compound for Kleftis' forgeries
• They have to hide from a patrol.
• They see a centaur being beaten to death by a few troopers and Kleftis insists they must intervene.
• Kleftis has second thoughts (perhaps after seeing one of the above) and must be re-convinced.
• A patrol has discovered the original tunnel and they must make their way to another one.
• Delays from any of the above have taken too much time and it is getting light, making their sneaking more difficult.
When they escape, they lead Kleftis back to the Free Peoples, perhaps having any of the Megali Pediada encounters (above) that were not had on the way there.
2) An Infiltration Aberrant
Kleftis first confirms the persuasive powers Ablative Balm is said to have from rumors overheard amongst the Aberrancy agents and troupers - namely it is said to give the wearer supreme insight and abilities to sway others to their side of any argument or disagreement (see Ablative Balm Powers, below.
Kleftis then takes a few days to perform the forgeries. He creates for the group the position of “Consult-elect, provisioned and provided the work-right of observation, alteration, and suggestion to any and all Aberrancy personnel within the domain of the current Duke of Mountebank, Lord-Assigned of the Savage Plain, oversight authority up to and including the granted position of Knight-Harvester.” They are listed as Consult-elect X, Consult-elect Y, with whatever names they wish to use.
With these papers and parting blessings from Kentauros, they are then given one of Kentauros' disciples to deliver to Caeneus to get in his good graces. The disciple, Thysia, is dying from a wound gained skirmishing with the Aberrancy that became infected (as most wounds inflicted from Aberrancy Blood Iron weapons do). She has no knowledge of the broader plan – in part for security reasons if she is tortured – but since she is dying anyway and trusts Kentauros implicitly, she has offered her life for the cause. The group must take her to Rustmourn in Birkau Grange, a week's travel away.
Roleplaying Thysia: Thysia is young and brave, but underneath the strong face, she is terrified of dying and often asks the group about distant lands, speaking wistfully of her dreams of traveling the world she had when she was younger. Like the rest of his devotees, her faith in Kentauros is absolute.
On the way, they might encounter any of the normal Megali Pediada encounters (above), as well as:
• Thysia's wound becomes do bad she might die before arriving. They must find rare herbs, perform emergency treatment, rapidly increase their pace, or all of the above to ensure she is alive when they get there.
• A friend or lover of Thysia's follows them, trying to convince Thysia to abandon her sacrifice. Thysia calls upon the players to side with her and support her argument.
• Thysia begins to recover from her infection and begins to have doubts (note, this circumstance will likely bring up some challenging and philosophical roleplaying).
When they arrive at Birkau Grange, they are met by a patrol of Scouts, then directed or led to Rustmourn. Rustmourn is a massive rusting fortress of red/black iron that rides astride two massive train tracks that stretch to the horizon, leading back to the Aberrancy. Its base is six feet off the ground, the only means of entrance one large ramp and two smaller side ones or via dropped chain ladders. Several swiveling cannon turrets loom above it. The Aberrancy flag of a world inside a drop of blood flies on purposely-tattered rust-red flags randomly about it.
When they approach, the main ramp is lowered, cannons tracking them as well as muskets. An agent meets them at the base of the ramp to look over their forms, then admits them. Once inside, they are met in the courtyard by Caeneus himself, escorted by two Paladins. He examines their paperwork personally and seems somewhat annoyed at how “the Duke's must always meddle.” He gloats over Thysia, then orders her immediately to the 'O Nine Tails “so our new compatriots can enjoy the spectacle.”
If they try to find a way out of it (quick execution, say they are tired from travels, etc) he immediately gets suspicious and rechecks their papers. They are then given the “honor” of choosing which limb to tie off first when she is thrown and places bets on how long she will beg when given a chance and how many tosses it will take before her a limb comes off.
If they for whatever reason did not deliver Thysia (she died, changed her mind, was left behind, etc) or tried to deliver her already dead, Caeneus will require more and more difficult tasks from the Abberancy tasks, below.
Roleplaying Caeneus: Caeneus is a huge, bloated aberration, but not without his own hideous charisma. He is forceful in everything he does – giving orders, laughing, eating, etc. He is also extremely calculated and cunning, quickly on to any slip of the tongue or hesitation. He likes to pound on things for emphasis – walls, tables, nearby slaves, his allies shoulders or backs and the like.
Ablative Balm Powers: Ablative Balm is a suit of bronze scale mail gone green with age. It is said to be the armor worn by one of the gods when they forged the world, used to get her way when in arguments with other gods. In addition to its potent protective capabilities, it also works to sooth out any conflicts, arguments, disagreements and the like by providing the wearer just the right words and phrases, psychologically maximized for their ability to charm, wound, placate, humor, humiliate, goad, inspire, or whatever reaction is desired in a given situation.
Whenever the wearer find themselves in such a confrontation, a dry, professional voice comes into the wearer's head asking “would you like my analysis and advice?” If they agree, one of the scales on the armor disintegrates and the user gains the armor's benefits for the duration of the encounter in question. As such, the more it is used in this manner, the less useful it becomes in combat. It is said when the last scale is used, the armor vanishes, to appear fully formed elsewhere in the world.
When not in use, the same dry voice occasionally comes into the user's thoughts, little barbs, jabs or comments precisely targeted to the user's personality to encourage them to use Ablative Balm's ability again (guilting, suggesting usefulness, inspiring paranoia, feelings of vulnerability, etc). This effect becomes more potent and insistent the further the wearer gets from the armor.
Caeneus then assigns them several duties, which may include any of the following Aberrancy tasks to gain his trust:
• Following with a patrol to look for inefficiencies and insubordination, poor behavior or discipline, lazy officers, and the like.
• Inspecting a Grange and providing him the names of five centaurs that should be “eliminated” as soon as possible along with their reasons for doing so.
• Hunting down an escaped centaur and bringing them back dead or alive (for execution at O' Nine Tails).
• Joining Caeneus at a feast in Rustmourn and having him inform them of world events going on beyond the Savage Plains.
• Finding a thief, centaur sympathizer, and/or inept agent and bringing them in for justice (O' Nine Tails, of course).
• A tour of one of the Soylent Plants to look for any ways to improve efficiency. If this task is given, they find that centaurs brought inside are carefully vivisected and their parts made into a dozen different “exotic delicacies” that have become the newest rage among high society in the Heartrealm of the Aberrancy.
• A tour of one of the intensely worked animal or plant farms that he has subleased to some of his Paladins, often requiring spending time with one of them. The Paladins are nasty, brutish, and violent, with all the worst aspects of a drunken tyrant, abusive taskmaster, and a raging inferno. Their mounts are worse and known to simply devour unsuspecting centaurs (or careless Aberrancy agents or troopers!) that come to close. This is invariably considered hilarious to the Paladins unless the agent or slave was especially useful, in which case it is merely annoying.
• An examination of the train routes, schedules, and packing techniques, especially any way to increase the number of centaurs that can be transported in one load without killing all of them.
• A tour of a mine, lumber yard, or other intense extraction focused enterprise to look for any ways to increase the already tremendous exploitation of any and all native resources.
3) Absconding with Ablative Balm
Once enough of these tasks are completed to his satisfaction, he trusts them enough to give them more-or-less an autonomous hand, letting them roam unsecured in the Rustmourn, Plants, farms, and Granges with order to report whenever they find something that might be improved.
It is up to the player's creativity to find, wait for, or create the opportunity to steal Ablative Balm at this point. It will only work when he is in Rustmourn as he always wears Ablative Balm when he leaves. When not wearing Ablative Balm, it is locked in a chest at the foot of his bed; his room left under guard at all such times.
Depending on their methodology for stealing it, they may be half-way through the Grange before the theft is discovered, or they may have to fight their way out of the fortress itself.
During this time, one of several Theft Escape encounters may happen:
• Running battles with Aberrancy troopers, scouts, and agents.
• Spontaneous (or perhaps Free Peoples-planned) slave revolts in the Birkau Grange.
• A stand up-knock down battle with a Paladin of the Pyre.
• A chase through a Grange, farm, large compound, Soylent Plant, or escape tunnel.
• Centaur resistance fighters holding a heroic rear-guard action at a tunnel entrance to give them time to flee.
• Hijacking a train and using it to escape, fighting the troopers protecting it and/or freeing centaurs as they go.
They shouldn't face Ceaneus directly yet. If situation seems to be forcing it, he will send one of his Paladins to fight in his stead, feeling vulnerable without his armor (Aberrancy assassins hired by the Duke weigh as much or more on his mind as suicidal centaurs and their allies!).
When they escape, the return may feature any Megali Pediada encounters (above) as usual until they reach the Free Peoples.
4) Coalition Building
Upon their return, Kentauros immediately takes Ablative Balm and begins learning how to use its abilities. In the mean time, he sends the players with word of their success to convince the leaders of the various factions to meet with him.
The various leaders might just require persuasion, or may also ask them to perform tasks to gain their trust such as:
• Emancipators – free one or more slaves from a Grange, find a group of Emancipators that are running late on returning from a mission, smuggle foodstuffs and/or weapons into a Grange
• Exodi – scout and/or map a path to the nearest nation that might harbor them, find information on which lands might be most favorable to taking them in as refugees or citizens, find information on and unclaimed lands that might be available for resettlement
• Survivors – help hunt, forage, find fresh water, shelter, or wild herbs, patrol for Aberrancy scouts, treat the sick or wounded
Once the group has gathered the leaders and Kentauros has had time to learn how to use Ablative Balm, he calls them all together, using the artifact's powers to help not only to bring them around to his position, but also to convince them to lead their strongest and most capable hunters and warriors on a desperate and potentially suicidal attack on 'O Nine Tails. Even with Ablative Balm's assistance, it will take all of his and the player's social skill and charisma to convince the strong and stubborn leaders to go with the plan and should be roleplayed to the hilt. The discussion may also delve into events after the assault such as dismantling the Granges and Plants, driving out the Aberrancy forces, setting up a new government, and dealing with further Aberrancy incursions if the rest is successful.
5) Surrendering the Shaman
Once the Free Peoples are convinced, they gather their best and strongest and prepare to set out. When they are ready, after a benediction and subsequent rousing speech by Kentauros, the party travels ahead of the main forces with Kentauros and his disciples to search ahead for any Aberrancy scouts that might warn of their coming. Any of the usual Megali Pediada encounters (above) may occur if desired.
When nearing Birkau Grange, Kentauros passes Ablative Balm to the party, telling them to deliver it to whomever emerges to lead the centaurs should their plan succeed and he not survive. He then gives a final speech and blessing to his disciples, most of which wail openly and many of whom must be convinced forcibly to not sacrifice themselves with him or whom attempt to talk him out of it at the last minute.
He then tells the group that they should lead the attack half-an-hour after he leaves and wishes them luck. He then departs. Sacree riding on his shoulder until the last moment.
6) O' Nine Tails
The attack is timed so the group will arrive at Birkau Grange near dawn. Agents inside the Grange are set to throw open the gates and at first light. The players and the disciples form the first vanguard of the Free Peoples' assault, rushing and fighting their way across the Grange to reach O' Nine Tails as the ragged force of Free Peoples and spontaneously uprising Grange centaurs following behind. Any suitable Grange or Escape encounters may be faced on the way, as desired.
Upon reaching the base of O' Nine Tails, they find Kentauros strung up, ready to be cast off the cliff. Several Paladins of the Pyre escort Caeneus, as well as a platoon of Troopers. A handful of Scouts that immediately rush off to bring reinforcements and a pair of light-cannon armed watch towers that overlook the approach to O' Nine Tails.
They must fight ahead of or alongside the centaurs, eventually fighting past the main melee to face the heavily armored Caeneus astride his hundred-clawed mount Megagith and bearing his huge cleaver-like bardiche, Limb Feast. As the players reach him, he says “you've come for him, I assume?” and casts Kentauros of the cliff with a laugh, leaving him to dangle as they fight Caeneus.
Free at Last, Thank Wind and Sky, We Are Free At Last!
Assuming they win the battle, the players must face O' Nine Tails. Depending on the game master preference, Kentauros may be uninjured, permanently maimed, or a heroic martyr (perhaps depending on how long the players took to defeat Caeneus and if they attempted to lift Kentauros up during the battle).
If he lives, he is unanimously elected as the leader of the Free Peoples and leads them in their further battles against the Aberrancy.
If he dies his disciples become fanatical Knights of Kentauros, taking up the fallen Paladin's armor – cutting away the excess to fit their small frames – and declaring a crusade against the Aberrancy until it or they have fallen.
The characters will likely have their choice of loot from Rustmourn's treasury and armory, as promised.
Future Adventures
There are many possible adventures that may follow Against the Aberrancy:
• If Kentauros died, finding a suitable leader for the again-factional centaurs.
• Ablative Balm is stolen, and they must track it down
• The battles to liberate the Granges, with each Paladin claiming their right to the title of Knight-Harvester and running their Grange like their own petty kingdom, perhaps with reinforcements from the Aberrancy.
• The formation of some new unified government for the previously clannish, tribal, disunited, and disorganized centaurs, as well as a standing army. This is made more difficult by Aberrancy assassins and saboteurs.
• The inevitable clash with the Duke of Mountebank and/or whatever Knight-Harvester is assigned to bring the centaurs back into line.
Ingredients
Knight in Shrinking Armor
Caeneus, Abomination and Knight-Harvester given a lease from the Farm Realm to oversee the Savage Plains. He wears Ablative Balm, scale mail that degrades when used (shrinking) as well as giving potent psychological insight to further the wearer's control of social situations (shrinking).
Also, his Paladins of the Pyre, whose armor shrinks down as their fiery substance depletes
Potentially, the Knights of Kentauros who rise up if he dies and take up the dead Paladins' armor, cutting it down to fit them.
Desperate Bluff
The gambit to have the players pose as Aberrancy agents to steal Ablative Balm.
Also, O' Nine Tails, where desperate escaped centaurs are given a (false) desperate last plea for their lives before they are executed.
Also, the same bluff where the desperate attack against the Aberrancy and Caeneus is staged at the climax of the adventure.
Centaur Politics
The separate parties within the centaur Free People who must be unified by favors and persuasion for the gambit to have a chance.
Underground Railroad
The Emancipators, the faction of the Free People who smuggle centaurs out under the Grange walls.
Also, Caeneus' new railroad, which is “underground” in the cultural sense that it is avante-garde and does not conform with the tastes and ideals of the mainstream Aberrancy culture.
Juvenile Disciple
The young, zealous followers of the Shaman and centaur leader Kentauros, especially Sacree, who is a pre-molt (juvenile) Eyrie Hawk.
Abomination from the Farm Realm
Caeneus, an abomination (in physical form) from the Aberrancy (an abomination culturally to the nomadic, free-spirited centaurs) whose structure is that of a single group of owners farming out lands and jobs to agents at its whim. They also immediately “farm” (I.E. focused harvest of a specific thing in gaming nomenclature) valuable resources to depletion upon arrival/conquest of a new territory.
