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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AustinHolm" data-source="post: 9770460" data-attributes="member: 7054007">Crashed in the Coin TreeAn Adventure for TroikaIngredients: Coin Tree, Existential Threat, Upper Decks, Week of the Monster, False Negative, Mysterious FlowersBREAKING NEWS: Troika City Port Authority reports harbour snafu! The Golden Barge Existential Threat, known for dangerous cargo, ran aground on a strange silver tree, spawned from its own treasure hold. Rumour says the ship holds the False Negative, a legendary photograph that threatens the Autarchy’s existence.Cross the City! Navigate the Week of the Monster’s carnival-riots! Scale the Coin Tree! Pluck mysterious metal flowers! Board the upper decks of the ruined Existential Threat; Troika, the Great City, depends on it!The False Negative (Player-known information)The last remaining photonegative depicting the Autarch in an embarrassing situation. It’s illegal to speak of, except to decry its deceitfulness. This taboo imbues it with intense magical power. Aristocrats wish it recovered. If published, it'll weaken the Autarch!Hooks:Secure the False Negative (for sale or political leverage)Clear the portInvestigate wreck, rescue survivorsWeek of the MonsterThis traditional seven-day Troikan festival involves monster masks, simulated crime, and real debauchery. It celebrates the Great Scam, when Troika convinced invaders they’d raided hell by mistake. The festival makes travel slow and dangerous. Count each delay; the PCs race against the Autarch’s forces!Immediately, Mask Vendors accost the party. They won’t sell without ‘a sporting haggle’ (causing delay). Navigating the parades, riots, and wet t-shirt contests filling the streets creates three more encounters.D6 Encounters (x3)1.Werewolf-masked Shopkeepers pretend to rob themselves, throwing promotional loot to the mob, trusting their insurance to cover the giveaway. Delay earns a Pistolet, Velare, or strung coin necklace (d66sp).2.Tower Wizards in Devil Masks cast Purple Lens on anyone looking serious. This enchantment causes optimism and delay.3.Parchment Witches wear papier-mache human masks and lure unmasked victims into alleys with spellbooks (Flash, Jolt, Find).4.Pickpocketed by Gremlins wearing Gremlin masks! They don’t ‘get’ the holiday. Chasing them causes delay.5.Eyeball-masked culture critics (d3 Trolls) demand you delay. “Explain how your mask expresses your soul!” They flee if questioned.6.Living Dead wrapped in toilet paper pose as mummies, boasting of ‘majestic pyramidal tombs’. Listening causes delay; not listening causes offense!Coin Tree RootsHarbour chaos! Golden barges hover, plasmic reserves dwindling. An enormous silver tree pierces the Existential Threat. Longshoremen debate solutions.Delay >2: 2d6 Autarch-serving Man-Beasts arrive.The tower’s origin is clear from its base; each silver pence aboard the Threat split like a seed, sprouting a silvery tree. Those metal growths fused into this massive structure. Test Climb to avoid delay.Coin Tree BranchesA choice! Take the scenic route through Mysterious Flowers, causing delay? Or make straight for the Threat’s breached underhull, risking trouble with the d6 Harpies harvesting silver bark?Mysterious FlowersAmidst the branches, strange flowers bloom, enticing the curious and greedy. Harvesting causes delay. High branches grant access to the Threat’s upper decks.FlowersGold - Attracts Jolt spells. Worth 100sp.Copper - Test Shield to reflect Jolt spells. Worth 1sp.Silver - Throw as Knives+1. Worth 10sp.Tin - Sniff-potion: Assume Shape.Lead - Sniff-potion: Immunity to metal magic (flowers, idols, Stormgulls).Iron - Sniff-potion: Deal and take +1 damage for a day.The Existential Threat Lower Decks (Haz-Mat Hold)Branches pierce the ruined hull. Bosun Soren Alsarte clutches a Golden Idol and babbles about life’s meaninglessness. He’s mad, but knows the False Negative’s canister is ruptured. Given purpose, he becomes a Henchman.Coins near the Idol burst into metal trees (Spear damage within melee). Worth 10,000sp; tricky to sell, anathema to banks.Upper DecksCpt. Camus and crew are frozen in violent death, eyes flashing irregularly like photobulbs (2:6 chance/round of casting Flash). Blind combat movement is dangerous; Test Luck or fall!Stormgulls, bloated on conductive metals, cavort in the light. They attack as 3d3 Owls, cast Jolt, and can’t be blinded.A locked door and blackened windows block the Captain’s Quarters.Delay >2: It’s night when you arrive.False Negative Finale!In the Captain's pitch-black quarters, a sunproof tent contains the False Negative’s film canister. It hides a micro-rupture! Exposed to light, the artifact’s magic flares, creating colour-inverted duplicates of the PCs. These Negatives fight as Khaibits and take damage as Firebolt from Flash and sunlight. Their originals can’t harm them. Slain victims freeze, like a photo with flashing eyes. The Negative panics in light, but longs for rescue. Its shadows try explaining their strengths and weaknesses as they fight; they’re incapable of truth-telling. Once they’re dispatched, the rupture may be seen and patched.If the unpatched canister falls, Troika itself is duplicated, threatening its existence.</blockquote>

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