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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Isklexi" data-source="post: 6208187" data-attributes="member: 6684948">[gm]Finally got another session in. I’m setting up maptools, so hopefully we can get more sessions in on weeknights when weekends aren’t open.[/gm] The constables boarded the train amidst a much-diminished crowd of passengers. Amidst the rumors of another murder, they noticed the minotaurs from the market overseeing the loading of crates into the freight cars before boarding the train themselves. The constables decided they could not stand idle as a serial killer lurked aboard the train and set out to identify the culprit. Kirk strongly suspected Boone, the philandering Tiefling. Kirk brought Boone into the first class lounge for drinks and conversation. Meanwhile, Irony sat nearby having used a discern lies ritual and eavesdropped on the conversation. Boone became suspicious as Kirk pressed him about the murders. Partway through the interrogation, Luc Jierre purchased meals for everyone in first class. Kirk barely touched the meal believing something devious may be afoot from the suspected Obscurati agents. Boone left Kirk’s company after growing tired of his probing questions. Fortunately, he walked a table down to flirt with Irony. Irony’s greater skill for wordplay allowed her tease more lies from the Tiefling but still not enough to conclusively prove their suspicions. After Boone realized he wasn’t getting anywhere flirting with Irony, he got up to leave the car. Kirk attempted a gamble and bumped into Boone while feigning drunkenness to pickpocket Boone’s dagger. He succeeded, and they convened in their first class suite to use the object reading ritual on the weapon. The ritual proved beyond a doubt that Boone was the murderer. While most of the constables were helping investigate Boone, Bellicose decided to explore the rest of the passenger cars for anything interesting. He passed the eccentric dwarf Verzubak. Verzubak was playing with some dice in a cup. He claimed to be performing an experiment on the probability of certain die values coming up based on the proximity of nearby individuals. Bellicose smiled and nodded at the unusual fellow before moving on to the second-class dining car. There he found the minotaurs that had boarded in Trekhom. He sat down next to them and struck up a conversation using his cover as a weapons manufacturer. The pair introduced themselves as Asteron del Medine, a field commander in the Beran army, and Shakul Montoya, Asteron’s adjutant. Bellicose discovered that they had been in Trekhom paying for a shipment of weapons destined for Ber, and they planned to take a ship from Vendricce to Seobrigga. Their conversation continued over a complimentary lunch paid for by Luc Jierre. Bellicose claimed to be interested in expanding his company’s foreign sales and mentioned his real family’s custom gun shop. Over the course of the meal, Bellicose also discovered that the two men are a couple. After finishing the meal, Bellicose bade the pair farewell and returned to the other constables in first class. [gm]The writers for Zeitgeist have done a good job of making the cast of NPCs quite diverse. I’m pretty bad at doing that myself. My NPCs are invariably white men when they’re human (projecting and all that), so I thought I’d make these extra NPCs a different kind of diverse. I’d originally had more ideas planned for their first conversation with Asteron and Shakul, but I forgot about quite a bit of it after the long downtime between sessions. If the players ignore them for the rest of this adventure, I can still have them show up again when they go to Ber in a later adventure. I’ve got plenty of ideas on how to expand the culture unique to the various races of Ber.[/gm] Bellicose returned to the cabin in time to participate in the argument over how to deal with Boone. Kirk wanted to lure the murderer back to their suite where they could incapacitate or kill him. Irony was very concerned about the danger that would pose both to their true mission and to the other passengers. Before their debate could progress very far, someone knocked on the door to their suite. Bree had arrived with a bottle of wine as thanks for saving the train from the malice beasts the day before. Irony had grown to like the Danoran veteran and revealed their discovery of Boone’s murderous nature. Irony claimed that she had learned to use the read object ritual as a kind of party trick to entertain wealthy peers. Shocked, Bree urged them not to risk confronting a dangerous murderer. Bree and Irony convinced Kirk to take the dagger and warn Malia, the head of the train’s guard in first class. Malia was aghast at the accusations being leveled. Malia was unwilling to risk the safety of the passengers, and she could not witness the evidence first hand as only Irony actually saw the visions from the ritual. Malia confiscated the dagger and assured the constables that the conductor could contact the guards at Nalaam to apprehend and question Boone. [gm]It’s getting very late here, so I’ll finish this post tomorrow evening.[/gm]</blockquote>

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